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

Chapter 239: Unable to Show the Enemy the Power of Ability

Luo Shenyan said with some concern: "Commander-in-Chief, it seems that the Jin bandits are coming around the rear. Do we need to leave more troops to garrison?"

Liu Huai, already wearing armor, shook his head and said, "Since He Boqiu said he can hold out for another day, I believe he can hold out. Once we defeat the Jin thieves in front of us, it won't be too late to turn around and deal with the small group of Jin thieves behind us."

Seeing that Luo Shenyan was still somewhat puzzled, Liu Huai explained, "The Jin bandits have already divided their forces and moved behind our army, but from the front, the Qian army is still leading the charge. Of course, there must be a lot of regular troops mixed in with them, but this is enough to show one thing, that is, the Jin bandits are actually not coordinating with each other and the communication is not flowing. I guess the Jin bandits only roughly agreed on a time, and although they are attacking all fronts today, it is just a test.

If we show any signs of weakness or adopt a more conservative attitude, the Jin thieves might think that the bandit army that has come from behind has begun to attack our rear camp and that our army is exhausted, and thus they will attack us on all fronts.

Therefore, we must fight with all our might today, so as to make the Jin bandits think that we still have strength left, and thus continue to wait for the Jin army to attack from behind, without using all our strength.

Luo Shenyan nodded repeatedly when he was halfway through listening.

This is also the strategy that the front line has been implementing in recent days.

You must know that the front army has only 2,600 regular troops, and including Wang Xiongyi's 800 infantry, there are only 3,400 men.

The Wuxing Army was a military organization with a staff of 10,000 households.

If Meng Tian had truly made up his mind to defend the country and had fought head-on, regardless of casualties, and had used the regular army to attack the camp day and night without regard for casualties, then Liu Huai would certainly have been able to rely on the camp to inflict heavy casualties on the Wuxing army, but he would still have been defeated in the end.

By then, the Wuxing Army will be able to fly freely in the sky and the sea, and thousands of cavalry will gallop freely in the plains of Linyi County. Not to mention the Zhongyi Army, even the Tianping Army will find it difficult to stop them.

Therefore, the general idea of the front army's defense is to show the enemy that you can do what you cannot, and to launch a resolute and proactive attack to cause the Wuxing Army to make a strategic misjudgment, making them think that the main force of the Zhongyi Army is on this front, so that Meng Tian, the guardian of the country, will not dare to send all his troops forward.

This time, I just acted more decisively.

Luo Shenyan sighed, "What kind of battle is this that the Tianping Army is fighting? Three thousand men charged forward, yet they were still able to circumvent the Jin thieves? Could it be that this Great Blue Rhinoceros looks like a peerless hero, but is actually a silver-shafted wax spear?"

Wang Xiongyi, standing by, said something fair: "This isn't Xin Wulang's fault. The Jin bandits have many horses. If they were determined not to fight and just took a detour, the Tianping Army would have no way to stop them. If Xin Wulang really wanted to kill the bandits, he might be rushing to his aid from behind."

Liu Huai suddenly thought of Xin Qiji's bold poems, and then thought of his embarrassed posture as he desperately chased the enemy, and couldn't help laughing out loud.

After a moment of laughter, Liu Huai held his belt and said, "My father's reinforcements will arrive by this evening at the latest. We must spare no effort today and defeat the Jin thieves fiercely. I just received a report that Wang Wulang and Shi Qilang are fighting fiercely in the mountain stronghold. We can't fall behind."

As he spoke, Liu Huai began to issue formal military orders: "Wang Xiongyi, Pang Rugui, you lead your 800 light soldiers and attack from the east gate, attacking the Jin bandits from the side."

"Here!"

"Luo Shenyan, lead five hundred spearmen and attack from the front of the main gate."

"Here!"

Luo Shenyan's troops had a total of 800 spearmen, but they had suffered some casualties, and because they had been fighting all the time, they were already tired, so only 500 of them went into battle.

"Zhang Baiyu, you will lead the three hundred armored cavalry at the rear and join the battle. If there are no fighter planes, conserve your horsepower and do not advance rashly."

Zhang Baiyu also bowed in agreement.

The casualties of the armored cavalry mainly occurred when they were besieging Tu Danzhang. Although they captured many war horses and there were many Shandong heroes who could ride horses, the armored cavalry, as a technical branch of the army, still had to undergo a lot of training before it could be formed into an army.

Three hundred armored cavalrymen, this is the number of people who came out in full force from the armored cavalry camp of the front army.

"Li Huo'er, Wei Chang! You two will stay behind and watch over the main camp."

Deputy Commander Li Huoer bowed in agreement. Wei Chang was about to say something when Liu Huai glared at him again. He hurriedly lowered his head and said, "Yes, sir."

If the Armored Cavalry Battalion lost personnel due to casualties, then the crossbowmen led by Wei Chang were unable to fight because their equipment was heavily damaged.

When fighting against a city wall, bows and crossbows are the primary weapons. During the battles in the past few days, the crossbowmen have shot a large number of arrows. Although the arrows can be recovered, the lifespan of the crossbows has been greatly reduced. The bows of many crossbows have cracked and the bowstrings are not enough.

According to the tradition of the Song Dynasty, the crossbowmen often carried a Ma Zha knife on their backs. After shooting the crossbow arrows, they could draw the knife and fight, acting as a swordsman.

But the crossbowmen are technical soldiers after all, and Liu Huai is reluctant to send them into the battlefield to be minced.

The central army that came to support this time brought a large number of spare crossbows. As long as the baggage train can arrive safely, the crossbowmen can continue to fight on the battlefield.

The commanders of the front army each returned to their respective armies. After the Jin army crossed the first trench that had been filled with corpses and debris, drums and horns sounded loudly in the front army camp. The two camp gates were wide open, and long spears were like a forest. Five hundred armored soldiers lined up and slowly formed a horizontal formation in front of the Jin army.

"Fire!" an officer shouted. "Kill!"

"kill!"

"kill!"

Amidst the shouts and cries of killing, the spears of the first and second rows were lowered and pointed straight forward.

The signing army immediately showed signs of collapse.

But under the threat of the Wuxing Army's supervision team, nearly a thousand soldiers still rushed up crying, holding simple weapons and shouting slogans that no one could understand.

Liu Huai, who was behind the gun array, showed a trace of reluctance on his face, but still ordered: "Push!"

War is dangerous and no one can do anything.

"Push!" Luo Shenyan gave a loud order. The sound of war drums beside him suddenly changed, and the sound of horns sounded at the same time.

"Go!" Each captain raised a small flag and pointed forward, and the spear formation pushed forward like a wall.

The swarming army had neither armor nor heavy weapons, making them unable to deflect the spears. The front row tried to stop, but were pushed forward by those behind them, crashing directly into the spears.

After dozens of people were stabbed to death, the front army was in complete chaos and fled in all directions.

At this moment, several flags suddenly rose behind the Qian army. The Wuxing army hidden among them quickly gathered together, and using the fleeing Qian army as cover, they attacked the gun formation from both wings.

There was an exceptionally brave Wuxing Army soldier named Pu Liyan. He led a dozen men to bypass the gun formation and rushed directly to the still open gate of the front army camp, trying to capture it and make a great contribution.

It should be said that these dozen people succeeded, but only for a moment.

They entered the camp almost unhindered, but before they could rejoice, they discovered why there were no soldiers guarding the gate.

The three hundred armored cavalry led by Zhang Baiyu were ready for battle, and were looking at the incoming Jin army with a grim smile.

A moment later, the Jin army who was fleeing the fastest and almost reaching the camp gate was knocked out by the warhorse. Before the blood spurted out of his mouth, he was trampled by the following armored cavalry.

Zhang Baiyu quickly glanced at the battlefield situation, pulled the reins of his horse, and led the armored cavalry directly to the west side of the battlefield.

There, more than a hundred Jin soldiers had just circled back to the left wing of the spear formation. Before they could stabilize their formation, they were trampled by the armored cavalry led by Zhang Baiyu and fled in a panic between the spear formation and the Yishui River.

The Jin army that went around to the right wing also suffered a bad outcome. Eight hundred light soldiers ran out of the east gate in small steps, and three hundred of them, led by Pang Rugui, directly rushed towards the Jin army.

These four hundred Jin soldiers were like walking into a trap and were caught in a pincer attack.

At this point, more than a thousand Jin troops were completely defeated and retreated.

Just when Liu Huai was hesitating whether to quit while he was ahead, suddenly a man came galloping out of the camp on horseback.

Liu Huai looked carefully and found that it was Li Xiu, the deputy commander of the right army of the Loyal Army. He was holding a bag of things in his hand and there were two human heads hanging on his horse.

Liu Huai was not surprised and shouted loudly on his horse: "How about the gold thieves who are circling behind us?"

Li Xiu gasped and said, "Two thousand gold thieves were killed in one battle."

Liu Huai was delighted, but his expression remained calm: "How many of our troops are available to join the battle immediately?"

Li Xiu lamented that talking to smart people was easy, and immediately responded: "The central army has sent 2,000 infantry and 300 armored cavalry. The right army has sent 1,800 infantry and 200 armored cavalry. There are also more than 1,000 civilians in Hejiazhuang who can be used. Mr. He Sanye said that they can be used as light soldiers to participate in the battle.

The regular army had only armored cavalry participating in the battle, and their casualties were not heavy, though they were a little tired. The Tianping army had over 300 armored cavalry joining the battle after a long journey, and they were already exhausted; the light soldiers under Master He Sanye had also fought a fierce battle and could only serve as reserve troops.

After saying this, Li Xiu seemed a little nervous and swallowed his saliva and said, "There is a great advantage to today's battle. Duke Wei said he is somewhat tempted, but whether or not to fight is still decided by the commander."

It has to be said that Liu Huai was indeed deeply moved.

(End of this chapter)