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

Chapter 367: Reported Capture of Tuyuhun

Hezhameng'an's fighting power is indeed too amazing.

Liu Huai, who was hiding in the ruins with his warhorse and several personal guards, sighed inwardly.

Apart from anything else, the fact that these elite cavalry could fight infantry combat to perfection was beyond Liu Huai's expectations.

Especially the move of charging in unison with long spears, which was a unique skill of the Ming army infantry at the founding of the Ming Dynasty. I didn't expect that Hezha Meng'an could also do it.

The Ming army used this tactic not only to confront the Mongolian cavalry head-on, but also to create a record of encircling cavalry with infantry.

This type of tactic has also appeared in the West and is the forte of the Swiss infantry. Before the rise of the Spanish phalanx, the Swiss infantry relied on this tactic to defeat all opponents in Europe.

For example, in the Battle of Seminara, less than 3,000 Swiss infantrymen directly broke through the defense line of the 11,000-man Spanish army and forced the King of Naples to cut off his beard and abandon his robe.

The key to a spearman's charge in unison is not the charge, but the marching in unison. Even with the Jingnan Army, which had trained its formations for such a long time, it could only move forward slowly when forming a phalanx to attack.

Moreover, after marching for a maximum of three hundred steps, the horizontal formation would become uneven and the formation would have to be stopped again.

The morale of the Ming army and the Swiss infantry was high, and their organization was so high that they could keep their formations intact during the marching charge and break through the enemy's infantry formation head-on.

Liu Huai knew all this, but he still had to thank the efforts he had made in his previous life to shoot that epic masterpiece. In order to enable the actors to perform the temperament of ancient generals, the crew specially invited history professors and military experts to directly teach the actors military terminology and troop deployment.

Therefore, Liu Huai knew how military theory should develop.

However, it was precisely because he knew some military theories that Liu Huai was surprised by the level of organization displayed by Hezhameng'an.

This level of organization simply could not have appeared in the Song and Jin dynasties.

At the very least, it was not until Qi Jiguang's military reform, using the Mandarin Duck Formation to train troops and delegating the organizational method to teams of ten, that it was possible to demonstrate such powerful combat power.

However, every dynasty and generation will always have some elite soldiers, and history will also produce spirals as it moves forward, so Liu Huai quickly put his wild thoughts behind him, hid himself, and watched the development of the war carefully.

After realizing the strength of the Jin army, Liu Huai knew that the Dongting Lake navy would definitely not be able to defeat it, because the naval soldiers were originally created to fight boarding battles and did not have the ability to win a decisive battle on land with the elite Jin army.

After hastily formulating a plan to lure the enemy deep into their territory, Liu Huai hid himself with his personal guards, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

But even so, Heza Meng'an's elite troops exceeded Liu Huai's imagination. They advanced with an overwhelming force and were not afraid even when facing the ambushed Song army. Even their tactical moves did not change.

Fortunately, the Song army's ambush still created an opportunity for Liu Huai to charge, and the flag of the Jin army's main general was already in sight.

"rush!"

Liu Huai and five personal guards put on helmets, mounted their war horses, and rushed out of an inconspicuous house.

"There's a thief!"

The two Hezhameng'ans who were guarding the rear reacted at the same time, turned their horses around, and directly blocked the long street to block the way.

It should be said that Heza Meng'an was indeed extremely brave and his martial arts skills were indeed amazing. With only two cavalrymen facing six knights who were rushing towards him, they were not afraid at all and thrust out with their spears.

The spear in Liu Huai's hand also stabbed quickly, and the two spears crossed each other. After all, the iron spike spear in Liu Huai's hand was longer and faster, and it pierced into the chest and abdomen of the Jin army first.

Even though the Red Velvet Army was all wearing heavy armor, they were still unable to defend against the iron spike spear, a special armor-piercing weapon. However, although this Jin soldier's arms were weak, he was still as brave as ever. He spread his hands and threw down the spear, then gathered his arms and hugged the iron spike spear that was pierced into his waist and abdomen, while his legs clamped tightly against the horse's belly. His eyes were bloodshot, and he let blood spurt from his mouth just to restrict Liu Huai's movements.

Liu Huai's tried-and-tested picking and smashing technique failed for the first time.

The warhorse was moving too fast, and at the moment when the force was not applied correctly, Liu Huai had to let go of the iron spike spear in order to protect his arm from injury, and passed by the Jin army.

At this time, Liu Huai had nothing in his hands, and Wanyan Qige under the Meng'an banner was already right in front of him!

"Hey!" Liu Huai shouted, and continued to drive his horse forward regardless of anything. He stretched out his hand and grabbed Wanyan Qige's belt.

At this time, Wanyan Qige had just turned his horse's head, and before he could react, he felt a tightening around his waist, and then he soared into the air like riding on a cloud.

Feeling dizzy, Wanyan Qige reflexively reached for the melon hammer at his waist, but he felt a surge of force in his chest and abdomen, and then it was as if he was smashed to the ground. He felt a sharp pain in his back and neck, and he almost fainted from lack of breath.

After Liu Huai pulled Wanyan Qige off the horse, he threw him heavily to the ground. Then he leaned over and grabbed his ankle. After using his armor to withstand several attacks, he turned around and dragged Wanyan Qige back.

Poor Wanyan Qige was a man of great martial arts and strategy, but he was beaten by the master without realizing it and was dragged back like a dead dog.

Even though most of the Hezhameng'an had already gone off to join the battle, there were still more than a dozen cavalrymen guarding the banner and their own general. After a brief moment of surprise, they all turned their horses and gave chase. If the general was captured under their noses, how could the remaining marching Moukes spare these soldiers who served as personal guards?

"That thief!"

The Jin army shouted loudly, and in an instant several heavy arrows shot towards Liu Huai's back.

Liu Huai lay prone on his horse, minimizing his size and presence, but even so, a heavy arrow still pierced his shoulder blade. The good news was that the arrowhead was caught in the armor, only scratching his skin without injuring any bones.

"Shen Longzi, go on!"

Liu Huai used his waist, abdomen and arms to throw Wanyan Qige, who had been dragged dizzy, onto the back of the horse next to him. He then drew his long sword from the horse and tightly tightened the reins.

The warhorse stood up, and Liu Huai pushed his legs hard on the stirrups and stood up as well. He turned the long sword at his waist, twisted his body and slashed backwards.

"open!"

A standard horse-turning and sword-dragging move was formed instantly.

The long sword's tip, leveraging its immense relative speed against the oncoming Jin troops, slashed with thunderous force. Even the most elite Jin soldiers couldn't react, and only had time to raise their arms before being struck in the chest by this powerful and devastating blow.

This Hezha Meng'an spat out blood from his mouth, and he had no idea how many ribs were broken on his chest. He fell backwards off his horse.

Hezha Meng'an, who was behind him, had no time to react. After his horse stepped on the fallen Jin soldier, his hoof twisted and he fell to the ground, and both he and his horse rolled on the ground like a gourd.

It didn't matter that he fell, as a space suddenly became vacant in front of a Flying Tiger Army cavalryman. Without time to think, the Flying Tiger Army soldier rode straight in, waving his long sword, aiming directly at the Jin Army flag bearer who was also chasing him.

The dozen or so Heza Meng'ans were instantly in a panic. On the relatively narrow street, some wanted to turn back to protect the flag, while others wanted to continue charging forward to recapture Wanyan Qige, and they began to lose their composure.

In just this moment, the Flying Tiger Army soldier had knocked the flag bearer who was fighting with one hand off his horse. After snatching the flag, he was very smart not to turn back to Liu Huai, but instead seized the opportunity, drove his horse into an alley, and escaped in a flash.

At this point, the dozen or so Hezhameng'ans were even more bewildered. Several of them simultaneously looked towards the still struggling Wanyan Qige, hoping to get precise orders. Instead, they heard Liu Huai draw his sword and stand on his horse, shouting, "All of you, hold still! If anyone dares to come again, I'll chop him off first!"

Wanyan Qige was lying across his horse. Although he was sore all over from the fall and had no strength to resist, he was still ferocious and immediately ordered his subordinate Heza Meng'an to attack.

"Don't worry..."

As soon as the three words came out, Shen Longzi pulled off Wanyan Qige's helmet and then punched him twice.

Wanyan Qige's subsequent words were directly retorted, and blood mixed with teeth and saliva flowed out of his mouth, making him speechless for a while.

The eyes of several Heza Meng'ans were blazing with fire, some drew their bows and arrows, and some were ready to take action. However, after seeing Shen Longzi pull out a heavy Jurchen arrow from his armor and grinning as he cut a bloody wound on Wanyan Qige's forehead, an experienced Jin soldier stopped the ensuing conflict.

"Wunannan dog, what do you want?"

Liu Huai raised his sword and pointed with a fierce smile, "Grandpa has more important things to do today. I'll spare your lives for now and you can withdraw your troops. How about that?"

As soon as the experienced Jin soldier hesitated, Liu Huai tilted his head towards Shen Longzi.

Shen Longzi understood and directly stabbed the heavy arrow into Wanyan Qige's thigh.

"Ah!!!" Even though Wanyan Qige was already in a semi-comatose state, he still cried out in pain.

The old Jin Jun gritted his teeth and said, "Okay!"

As he spoke, he took out a horn from his waist and started to blow it.

This is the signal to withdraw troops.

Heza Meng'an's army had strict discipline. Even though they had gained the upper hand in the battle, when they heard the retreat horn, the marching commanders still ordered their troops to withdraw from the battle, gather their subordinates, and allow the Song army to retreat to the ferry north of the city with the civilians.

Xiao Fang frowned and pulled someone beside him, "Go and find out why the general ordered a withdrawal. Could it be that something went wrong with the propaganda within the army?"

This is also a reasonable guess, because Hezhameng'an had the upper hand at this time and was about to wipe out the Song army, so there was no need to withdraw.

Then he learned the shocking news that the general had been captured alive.

Xiao Fang’s first thought was, why wasn’t Wanyan Qige killed on the spot by Song Gou?
(End of this chapter)