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

Chapter 252 Regrets the Mistakes Made by the World

"...How can we allow the golden thief to escape?!"

Listening to the singing coming from Yishui, Meng Tian was stunned.

He then realized that he was stuck in a fixed mindset... No, it should be said that everyone in the Wuxing Army was stuck in a fixed mindset.

Because apart from the navy that had just been established in Shandong, the Jin Dynasty had almost no organized navy.

No one had considered what would happen if the attack came from the water.

Moreover, in the past few days, Liu Huai has also deepened the prejudice of Wuxing Army. No matter how fierce the defense battle of the camp was, he never let the navy show up.

This set up a trap in thinking, causing the Wuxing Army to ignore the Zhongyi Army's navy and only treat them as auxiliary troops to transport food and fodder.

Of course, if a few days had passed, once the troops stationed in Yishui County had gathered their boats and sent them over, Meng Tian, the guardian of the state, would have definitely sent troops to test the quality of the Loyalty Army's water fort. By then, the navy would have been unable to hide. But time was too short, and nothing could have happened in time.

Meng Tian, the governor of the state, calmed himself down and dispatched his troops to the front line to stabilize the Third Meng'an's formation. He then asked the marching officers in front of him, "Where's Wanyan Hongji? I only saw his banner gone, but where is he?"

The marching officer was terrified, but he dared not refuse to answer: "Reporting to the commander-in-chief, he has... has been killed in the battle."

Meng Tian's body shook violently, and the first thought in his mind was, is this the nth marcher Meng'an to die at the hands of the Loyal Army?

Tu Shanzhang, Wendun Hunyu, Pushandong, and now Wanyan Hongji, nearly half of the generals and officers of the Wuxing Army have died in battle.

No... Meng Tian, the guardian of the country, suddenly thought that Zhang Yu had to be added to the list. In this case, in the blink of an eye, five out of ten marching soldiers of the Wuxing Army had been killed?
Meng Tian, the state guardian, looked at the marching officer kneeling on the ground in front of him. He knew why the other party was in this posture. Because according to the military law of beheading the troops, Meng Tian, the state guardian, should kill him now to uphold the military law.

In the past, Meng Tian would never hesitate to defend the country, because military law is related to combat effectiveness. If military law cannot be enforced, how can we ensure that the entire army obeys orders?
But at this critical moment of losing so many soldiers and generals, Meng Tian, the guardian of the country, really didn't dare to kill these grassroots officers anymore: "Get up, fight with all your heart. If you win this battle, I will guarantee you as the commander-in-chief that you will be rewarded with no faults!"

The marching officer looked up in surprise, then was overjoyed the next moment, kowtowed repeatedly and said, "Thank you, General, for your grace!"

After saying this, as if he was afraid that Meng Tian would go back on his word, the marching Mouke fled back to the front line at the speed of light.

At this time, Atu'er said with some concern: "Should we find a way to deal with these water troops now?"

Meng Tian was a little hesitant in defending the country, but he figured it out the next moment. There was no point in hesitating about this matter because the Wuxing Army had no more troops.

At this time, except for the 9th and 10th Meng'an who were still rushing from Yishui County, all the troops of the Wuxing Army had been deployed to the front battlefield and there were no reserves.

Thinking of this, Meng Tian's face turned extremely ugly. Although Atu'er also knew it, he still said with a stiff upper lip: "We still have some small boats in the camp. How about making some fireboats and sending them down the river to see if we can stop them?"

Meng Tian, the governor of the state, thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Take my personal guards and wait by the riverbank. If these bandits dare to disembark and attack our retreat, you will lead the troops to attack them! Although I'm not familiar with naval warfare, I do know that large ships need docks to dock. Right now, there's only riverbanks all around, so large ships can't dock. They can only use small boats for transportation. How many people can they have at once?"

Before he finished speaking, a commotion was heard from the thousand-man unit under Zhuo Tuoan on the right wing of the Wuxing Army, near Yishui.

Meng Tian, the guardian of the country, hurriedly turned around, but saw only three watercraft lying across the river, facing the east bank side by side. A buzzing sound was heard from the bow, followed by three spear-like crossbow arrows and dozens of unclear small crossbow arrows.

These crossbow arrows swept through the dense formation, causing casualties of less than ten people, but greatly affected the morale of the Jin army, especially the spear-shaped crossbow arrows, which could not be stopped even by heavy armor. One crossbow arrow even pierced through two people and pierced the thigh of a third person, causing screams for a while.

"God damn it, Pushandamo!" Meng Tian, the guardian of the country, roared, "How much military equipment has he given to the loyal thieves? Why do these thieves even have crossbows?!"

The Chuangzi Crossbow, also known as the Eight Ox Crossbow, was a cutting-edge military technology of its time. Its bolts, roughly the size of a spear, had an extremely long range. Its most notable achievement came during the Song-Liao War, when a single shot struck down the Liao general Xiao Talin, causing Empress Xiao to burst into tears and forcing the Liao army's southern expedition to return without success.

Of course, unlike many later period costume films in which soldiers carried the Eight Ox Crossbow as a six-pound field gun, the Eight Ox Crossbow of this era was purely a city defense weapon. Because the Eight Ox Crossbow was too delicate and heavy, it was susceptible to moisture, bumps, and collisions, and its cost was extremely high. Although it was installed on a sidecar, it was not mainstream.

And the accuracy of this thing is hard to say. Although the effective range is several hundred steps, whether it can hit a target more than a hundred steps away depends entirely on luck.

But at this time, because the Jin army was arranged in a dense formation, the eight-ox crossbows on the waterwheel ship almost did not need to be aimed and could be fired directly.

This will certainly not cause huge casualties, but the situation of being beaten and unable to fight back will inevitably make the Jin army panic, their formation will be scattered, and their morale will be low!

Unfortunately, the Jin army had no way to deal with the water vessels.

Before Meng Tian, the guardian of the country, could think of a way to deal with the three water turbines, he discovered that the other ten water turbines did not even stop, and did not even look at the Jin army formation behind them, but went straight upstream.

"No!" Meng Tian, the guardian of the country, shouted: "The enemy navy is trying to harass our camp! Take Atu'er..."

When he was halfway through his speech, Meng Tian got stuck.

At this time, all the troops were fighting with all their might on the front line, with only the First Meng'an and four Mouke serving as the general reserve. Even the Fifth Meng'an was deployed across the board and joined the battlefield.

And what about the loyal army on the opposite side?

Not only was there a wave of troops strengthening the entire line, but there was still billowing smoke and dust behind, as if many more troops were coming.

Damn, how many people are there in the Loyal Army?
Meng Tian, the guardian of the country, had just finished cursing in his heart, but was immediately stunned.

Yes, how many people are there in the Loyal Army?
On the chaotic battlefield, Meng Tian, the guardian of the country, was sweating profusely and was completely panicked.

Things that had been obscured by arrogance and anxiety finally surfaced in my mind at this moment.

The Wuxing Army was too arrogant. Although the senior generals kept convincing themselves that this group of thieves were not ordinary and that the person who could defeat Pushandama could not be an ordinary person, when it came to actual action, everyone forgot all these things and just wanted to use the methods they had used to deal with the rebels before, rushing all the way forward and killing everyone.

Their intelligence work was almost non-existent. After the attacks and defenses over the past few days, they had roughly gauged the enemy's combat power, but they still didn't even know the number of loyal troops.

Meng Tian, the guardian of the country, suddenly felt a little absurd.

It wasn't that the war was absurd, nor was it that the Privy Council's order was absurd. Rather, it was that his style of action this time was absurd.

Logically speaking, he was a hero who had fought many great battles and fought his way up from the bottom to the top. How could he make such a low-level mistake?
But Meng Tian, who was trying to defend the country, committed the crime anyway.

He could attribute it to objective reasons such as urgent military orders and short time, but he could not deceive himself.

Because it was not just Meng Tian who was making mistakes, the entire Wuxing Army was also making mistakes.

When Tu Danzhang was greedy for merit and advancing recklessly, when Wen Dunhunyu was advancing alone into the deep, and even when Wanyan Hongji was leading his troops to attack just now, which one of them did not subconsciously underestimate the Loyal Army and think that the other side was just a bunch of losers?
Thinking of this, Meng Tian, the state's guardian, miraculously calmed down. He drove his horse to a high ground, scanned the entire battlefield, and calculated each other's capital.

At this moment, he really wanted to treat the Loyal Army as the most powerful enemy he had ever seen in his life.

But is it too late?

No one knows.

(End of this chapter)