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

Chapter 238: Tired Hawks and Dogs

At the same time that Wendun Hunyu and Pushandong were both killed, the battle at the front army camp had become extremely fierce.

Although the distance between the two countries was vast and the communication of scouts was difficult, the marching time could still be roughly calculated. As veteran generals, Meng Tian, the guardian of the country, believed that if nothing unexpected happened, Wen Dun Hun Yu would be able to reach the tactical position today.

Therefore, the Wuxing Army began to increase its frontal offensive. Two Meng'an participated in the frontal attack at the same time. Meng Tian, the state guardian, even went to the hills in person to supervise the fourth Meng'an's attack on the stronghold.

For Zhang Jueming, this is a big pitfall.

After suffering a great defeat the day before yesterday, it was originally thought that Meng Tian, the guardian of the country, would spare the Fourth Meng'an, but he did not expect that he would be sent out again after just one day to fight to the death in the mountain stronghold.

The news brought by Liang Yuaner, who was highly expected, was also laughable.

The conditions given by Liu Huai were so harsh that they were outrageous. Either he had to turn against his own side in the battle, or bring the head of one Xingjun Meng'an or ten Xingjun Moukes. How could Feihuzi open his mouth?

Meng Tian, the guardian of the country, forced him, and Liu Huai also forced him. The fourth Meng'an was completely like a rat in a bellows, with no way out.

Zhang Jueming could only walk on a tightrope. On the one hand, he had to perfunctorily satisfy Meng Tian about defending the country, on the other hand, he had to communicate with Liu Huai, and at the same time he had to pretend to attack the mountain stronghold with great fanfare, but he could not really sacrifice the lives of his men.

After careful consideration, Zhang Jueming divided the three Moukes of the Fourth Meng'an into teams of fifty people and sent them to sweep towards the stronghold of the Loyal Army. They did not rush through it, but actively sought out encounters.

Even though the Loyal Army's troops who came out of the ravine were familiar with the terrain, they were basically unable to conceal their whereabouts in this situation. After being discovered, they fought a fierce battle with the Fourth Meng'an before withdrawing.

The Fourth Meng'an did not dare to pursue, but simply dispersed to guard various intersections to blockade them.

Although the march was still slow, the battles continued. As the commander-in-chief, Meng Tian had no choice but to commend his men for their hard work and dedication.

In his cautious probing, Zhang Jueming finally identified a certain invisible and intangible line. As long as he crossed this line, he would encounter a resolute attack from the Loyal Army. Moreover, if he crossed this line, the Fourth Meng'an would not have enough troops to defend the forks in the road, and would be at risk of being surrounded from the rear.

Zhang Jueming did not dare to advance rashly, but instead fought with the Loyal Army around this line.

It wasn't that he wanted to turn against the Loyal Army and cut off his retreat. As the saying goes, peace exists through struggle. In Zhang Jueming's view, Liu Huai's daring to make such an outrageous request was simply treating the Fourth Meng'an as a soft persimmon.

Therefore, Zhang Jueming must demonstrate the value of united front work!
The Loyal Army must be made to feel that if they cannot get the defection of the Fourth Meng'an, they will suffer heavy casualties in the next battle!

The hills are divided into different areas, and the mountain roads are rugged, making it difficult to put on armor, so the battles in the mountains are quick and bloody.

The Jin army would often be shot down by arrows shot from nowhere while they were marching. Before they could even form a battle array, a group of loyal soldiers with swords and shields would emerge from the inconspicuous foot of a mountain. After a while of fighting, they would quickly retreat without waiting for the Jin army to form its formation.

Some Jin soldiers gritted their teeth and chased after them, but ended up breaking up their own formation. A few soldiers who took the wrong path disappeared silently.

After suffering several setbacks, Zhang Jueming keenly discovered that someone was commanding on the top of the hill, so he immediately organized brave men to attack the hill.

After driving away several scouts of the Loyal Army, Zhang Jueming felt that he was capable again. After agreeing on a flag signal with the scouts on the hill, he sent three more Moukes forward to try to compress the bottom line of the Loyal Army.

The advance went smoothly at the beginning, but after losing the command of the scouts on the hill, no matter how good the grassroots officers of the Loyal Army were at fighting and how well organized they were, they no longer had the ability to appear and disappear at will.

With the command in chaos, the sword and shield soldiers of the Loyal Army could only retreat.

Just when Zhang Jueming wanted to send his army forward to pursue the enemy, news came that the Mouke Gu Dashou, who was pursuing them the most, had been ambushed and surrounded in a ravine. He escaped in a panic after leaving behind more than 30 corpses.

The Fourth Meng'an came to an abrupt halt, and Zhang Jueming was terrified. He sent scouts to investigate those key mountaintops. But when the scouts never returned, Zhang Jueming understood.

This must be because the Loyal Army sent troops to reoccupy the commanding heights and re-establish the command system.

Zhang Jueming stood on a high slope, looking at the rolling hills, feeling like crying but unable to do so.

If we fight for each hilltop one by one, how long will it take?
Looking at his extremely exhausted subordinates, Zhang Jueming hesitated for a moment, but he couldn't open his mouth to urge them to continue fighting.

"Let the men retreat and rest. Send out more scouts and carry some horse manure with them. If anything goes wrong, we'll find a way to deal with it." Zhang Jueming said to Liang Yuaner, "Also, the main roads around here are all blocked. Don't let anyone touch your butt."

Liang Yuaner also looked exhausted. He nodded silently after hearing this: "Then what about today's battle..."

Zhang Jueming sighed and said, "We can only rely on the front battlefield."

On the front battlefield, the Sixth General Hui Te Mi Le said to the Eighth General Zhuo Tuo An with a wry smile: "We can only rely on the battlefield in the mountains."

Zhuo Tuoan also responded with a wry smile.

The fighting on the front battlefield was also very unsuccessful.

Today, along with a new batch of about 600 signed soldiers delivered to the camp, there was also some bad news.

Last night, a group of pirates suddenly emerged from Yishui and attacked Yishui County.

This group of pirates not only set fire to the ships that the two Meng'ans who stayed behind had worked so hard to collect, but also took advantage of the fire in the dock that attracted most people's attention, and made a big fuss in the camp of the Qian army, letting many Qian soldiers escape.

So, this is all the Han army we have today. You should save them for now and we will send you another batch tomorrow.

Meng Tian, the guardian of the country, could only helplessly face this result.

The Jin Dynasty originally lacked a navy, and several ministers who had some experience in naval warfare had gone to organize a navy, so only the Loyal Army was allowed to travel on the Yishui River.

To be fair, exposing your flank to the enemy is a very dangerous move.

But what else can we do?

Can the Wuxing Army withdraw its troops back to Dongping Prefecture?

Including the 600 signed soldiers sent today, there are a total of 6,500 signed soldiers in the Wuxing Army camp. However, many of these signed soldiers are skilled craftsmen and auxiliary soldiers, and there is no place to replace them if they die.

There are only two thousand soldiers who would not feel sad if they died.

Moreover, it is impossible to send all these 2,000 signed soldiers to the battlefield at once. Some experienced ones must be left as reinforcements.

Therefore, this time the Sixth Meng'an and the Eighth Meng'an sent out relatively more regular troops, a total of 400 regular troops, scattered among the 1,000 signed troops, and launched an attack from the front of the military camp.

Then, they encountered a resolute counterattack from the Loyal Army from the front.

(End of this chapter)