Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 220: Waiting for Action

Yelu Xingge was on the right wing, leading five hundred armored cavalrymen mixed with Khitan and Han people, standing on a gentle slope, observing the situation on the field.

Deputy General Li Yizhenjin said anxiously, "Brother, the fighting has already started in the west, why don't we join in?"

Yelu Xingge frowned and said, "Why are you panicking? It's not time yet. Don't worry. You will have to fight to the death later."

Li Yizhenjin immediately kept silent, but when he saw Xin Qiji's blue rhinoceros flag begin to move, he finally couldn't bear it anymore. Regardless of the battlefield, he whispered, "Brother, tell me the truth, are you still resentful of Chief Geng? Are you even taking your resentment out on the big blue rhinoceros and the big iron spear who refused to argue with you?"

Yelu Xingge was speechless, but he was observing the situation on the battlefield and was too lazy to pay attention to the guy beside him.

However, Li Yizhenjin became more and more excited as he spoke. "But big brother, although Chief Geng took away our 300 light cavalry, he also replaced them with 500 armored cavalry. Those guys are also skilled in archery and horsemanship. They have fought many battles in this poor place of Shandong and are no less capable than us Khitans.

And with the current situation in Shandong, do you have any other ambitions? The tribe has only so many people, and it can't support your ambitions! This is not outside the Great Wall, but Han territory, where all the people are Han. If every Han leader is in charge, who will follow us?
Besides, if you think the Tianping Army is harsh and you want to live a carefree life, does that mean the Zhongyi Army will let you do whatever you want? Just listen to my advice, let it be. It’s better to let the tribe live a good life than anything else…”

Li Yizhen kept on rambling on, his words becoming increasingly outrageous. Yelu Xingge finally lost his patience and said, "You're not done yet, are you? I just complained to you guys a few times after drinking. Why are you still thinking about me?"

After saying this, Yelu Xingge took a few deep breaths and continued, "Even if I don't care about Xin Wulang and Da Tieqiang's lives, don't I care about the lives of the two hundred Khitan men on the left wing? Don't I care about Xiao Pennu's life either?"

Xiao Pennu was a general trusted by Yelu Xingge and was capable of leading an army on his own. His status among the Khitans was higher than that of Li Yizhenjin.

Without waiting for Li Yizhenjin's reply, Yelu Xingge pointed his spear forward and said, "Do you see that big flag? That's where the Jurchen commander is. If he doesn't move, neither can we. Let the central army take up the fight first!"

After saying this, Yelu Xingge sighed again, "If you ask me, that fellow Geng Xing on the left wing acted too early. Who is Da Qingsi? He's the man Liu Dalang personally praised for his agility, resourcefulness, and bravery, and why does he need Geng Xing to rescue him? The smaller Meng'an on the other side was only attacked because of Geng Xing's reckless behavior!"

Just wait and see. If Geng Xing hadn't been smart and had led the left wing's armored cavalry out in full force, the left wing might have collapsed first, and then we would have had to desperately try to rescue them."

After listening to Yelu Xingge's analysis of the battlefield, Li Yizhenjin completely shut his mouth and began to think in his mind.

Yelu Xingge explained for a long time, and in a nutshell, this is actually a question of who comes first or later, but as to whether it is better to come first or later, it is really hard to say.

The fact that two completely opposite idioms, 'strike first and strike later', can exist at the same time is enough to explain everything.

When the time comes, the generals still have to adapt to the situation. This is the reason why they say the magic of military strategy lies in one's heart.

But now that Yelu Xingge feels that only those who strike later can win, as a general, Li Yizhenjin has nothing to say and can only wait anxiously.

As they spoke, the situation on the battlefield continued to develop.

It seemed that what Yelu Xingge said was exactly true. After Pushandong led his five Mouke infantrymen and three Mouke armored cavalrymen to join the battlefield, Geng Xing's 200 armored cavalrymen almost immediately fell into the dilemma of being attacked from both sides.

On the Tianping side, Xin Wenyuan led his infantry to support the enemy, but was blocked by Jin infantry, immediately engaging in a difficult battle. The reason for this difficult battle was not because the infantry strength of the two sides was greatly disparate, nor because the armored cavalry of the Tianping Army was truly incompetent, but because the coordination between the cavalry and infantry of the Wuxing Army was far superior to that of the Tianping Army.

To be more precise, although the Tianping Army learned the military system and formations of the Jin Army, it had not yet learned the essence of the tactics of coordination between infantry and cavalry and repeated attacks.

The Seventh Meng'an of the Wuxing Army, led by Pushandong, first used cavalry to intimidate, and then the infantry stepped forward to engage in battle. When the Tianping Army's formation loosened, the armored cavalry charged again, and then the infantry advanced again, occupied the Tianping Army's position, and pressed forward.

The set of military movements was so smooth and flowing that it was dazzling and breathtaking.

As for the Tianping Army, Geng Xing's 500 cavalry could only move in groups, and the individual captains were completely unable to coordinate with each other. The results of the small number of cavalry were simply not able to be expanded. Often, just after they defeated a group of cavalry, Jin infantry with long spears came to stabilize their position. Just as they had just weakened a group of Jin infantry, another Jin cavalry would attack instead of defend to rescue the infantry.

This is the tactic of repeated charges that made the Jin Dynasty famous. The infantry and cavalry covered each other, cooperated with each other, charged repeatedly, pressed forward layer by layer, and fought against each other layer by layer. When they encountered an ordinary army, they could basically defeat the enemy in one encounter.

I'd like to add that even during the founding of the Jin Dynasty, this tactic was only used by Meng'an units. This was because, on the one hand, elite troops were hard to come by, and on the other hand, a large number of troops would cause great chaos if they did not coordinate well with each other.

However, the general who truly developed this tactic and used it with ease in an army of tens of thousands of people, making the army as easy to use as his own arms, was a Han Chinese.

It was Yue Fei.

After the battle of Yancheng that day, the Jin Kingdom was defeated so badly that it didn't even want the Central Plains. Even a brave man like Han Chang, who was good at pulling out arrows and eating out eyes, was in despair. It was not because Wanyan Wushu was incompetent, but because the entire Jin Kingdom was frightened by Yue Fei.

Let’s get back to the present.

Including the cavalry on the left wing, the Tianping Army had about 1,500 troops at the beginning of the battle. No one expected that they would be overwhelmed by the Wuxing Army's 300 armored cavalry and 500 infantry.

This time, not only deputy generals like Geng Xing and Xin Wenyuan were dumbfounded, but even Xin Qiji and Li Tieqiang frowned frequently.

They had thought that the Tianping Army's combat effectiveness was inferior to that of the Jin Kingdom's regular army, but they had never imagined that the gap would be so huge.

Doesn't this mean that if these two Meng'an of the Jin army attack together, they can instantly drive the 3,000 soldiers of the Tianping Army into the Xianggong River like cutting melons and vegetables?
Of course, there are some objective reasons for this.

For example, the Tianping Army came from a long distance, and the Wuxing Army was well-rested and waiting for them to tire out; for another example, the Wuxing Army drove the Qian Army to fight against the Tianping Army; even though the 3,000 people of the Tianping Army were all elite troops from various units, they lacked coordination, resulting in poor cooperation.

But no matter how many reasons there are, the battlefield is a winner-takes-all situation, and reasons are meaningless.

After being defeated, can we still say it is unfair and we should take a rest, pick up our weapons and fight again?

For Xin Qiji and others, the severe test has just begun.

(End of this chapter)