I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 98: Stand Firm Against Fang La, Never Retreat
Zhao Zicheng's heroic figure riding his horse back and forth on the defense line of the camp and shouting loudly to boost morale was soon remembered deeply by the 8,000 soldiers.

During the Song Dynasty, the status of military men was extremely low. These soldiers might never have seen civil officials or royal family members holding weapons and riding horses like them in their entire lives.

Zhao Zicheng's attitude of sharing hardships and fighting side by side with his soldiers naturally exerted an unprecedented inspiring effect.

"President Zhao is a student of the Imperial Academy and a descendant of Emperor Taizu. He can fight so hard. If we retreat, how can we face others?"

"We're not cowards! If those bastard officials hadn't treated us like human beings and hadn't gotten any rewards for killing the enemy, who wouldn't want to fight for their future?"

"Fight the rebels! Anyone who dares to take a step back today will be a coward! Bah! Everyone looks down on him!"

Eight thousand soldiers shouted and roared in unison, and soon the sound shook the heavens. Even the Fang La army soldiers, who were forming their battle array a mile away, were quite surprised and confused when they heard the commotion here.

If Fang La had not been good at using Manichaeism's methods and spreading hatred to win over the people's hearts, these rebel soldiers might have been shaken.

Even so, Fang La also realized that he could not let Zhao Zicheng continue to be rampant, so he personally came to the front of the battle as a saint and shouted to Zhao Zicheng -

Of course, Fang La had learned his lesson from the previous incident where Deng Yuanjue was killed by Zhao Zicheng. He also knew that Zhao Zicheng possessed considerable martial arts prowess, so he didn't make the same mistake again, moving too close. He stayed at least two hundred steps away, with his guards forming a shield formation and bringing along a large group of loudmouthed cursers.

"You little thief from the Zhao family! Your ancestor, Zhao Kuangyin, was the most shameless person in the world! The Chai family treated him so well, but before the old emperor's body was even cold, he bullied orphans and widows and started a rebellion. He really has no shame at all!
If such a disloyal and unrighteous person were placed in my Holy Church, he would have been purged and chopped into pieces long ago! You Zhao family members can rebel against others, but I can't rebel against you?

Soldiers on the opposite side, Zhao Gou's surname is Zhao, so of course he must fight to the death to survive. But you are not surnamed Zhao, so why are you working for such a shameless thief? It would be too worthless to throw your lives away! When I, Fang La, take the throne, I will lead you to conquer Liao and destroy Jin. Moreover, I will not be like the cowards of the Zhao family, guarding against generals like dogs. You still have many opportunities to make achievements!
If you persist in your wrongdoings and wait until the Zhao family regains control of the country, the tyrant emperor will definitely re-instate the Flower and Stone Gang, and then you will regret it! If Zhu Zhen dies, there will be other tyrant officials to plunder you! The tyrant emperor has tens of thousands of tyrant officials under his command, and there are no way to use them all!

It's true that Fang La was quite good at winning people's hearts. He was able to gather an army of over 100,000. Even if it was a hastily assembled and untrained mob, it was enough to prove his appeal.

Although none of Zhao Zicheng's soldiers paid any attention to him, he knew he couldn't tolerate his rampant behavior. So he quickly ordered Yang Zhi and Liu Guangshi, "Open the camp gates! Bring a team of shield bearers and cursers with you. We can't let Fang La's lies deceive the people."

Yang Zhi was not surprised by this and immediately went to prepare a batch of long shields.

Liu Guangshi was quite surprised. He hadn't even been there when Zhao Zicheng had been beheading and cursing his generals. He had only heard about Zhao Zicheng's previous deeds from others. Seeing Zhao Zicheng dare to open the camp gate, his admiration for him became even more concrete. He quickly organized dozens of loud-mouthed elite Western Army cavalrymen, took up their large shields, and followed Zhao Zicheng out of the camp.

Soon, the central gate of the Haining camp was wide open. Zhao Zicheng stood on his horse with his spear in hand and leaped out first, followed by Liu Guangshi's cavalry. His momentum was no less than that of Fang La, who was said to have an army of more than 100,000.

"You bastard Fang La! If you want to attack the camp, then go ahead and do it. How dare you keep talking nonsense here? You keep saying that my Emperor Taizu is rebelling against the Chai family. But during the chaotic Five Dynasties, if you let an eight-year-old child be the ruler, how many more years of war and suffering would the people of the world have to endure before reunification is restored? A crude person like you, I don't think you can understand the truth!"
Moreover, the Liao Dynasty's decline is now a rare opportunity for the Han people to reclaim Yanyun. You constantly claim that the Song Dynasty is wary of military officials and lacks ambition. Yet, you choose to rebel at this very moment, interrupting the Han people's chance to recover their homeland. Do you still have the nerve to live in this world as a Han Chinese?

The evils you promote, such as fire worship and vegetable consumption, all originate from Persia. In our Chinese land, Confucianism and Taoism have a long and rich history, yet you are using foreign evils to deceive people. You are such a scoundrel, you are not worthy of being called a Han Chinese!
Jiangnan is in turmoil because of you, a scoundrel! If you truly want to save the world, you should fight me, Zhao, today and not cause trouble to the people of Jiangdong in vain!

Zhao Zicheng's final paragraph is a bit forced with classical Chinese, but he's not worried that uneducated readers won't understand. He deliberately adapted the original words from "Records of the Grand Historian: The Biography of Xiang Yu" with a slight twist. Xiang Yu's jokes are generally well-known to military commanders, so they're sure to understand, and they're also very down-to-earth.

This passage was originally said by Xiang Yu when he challenged Liu Bang to a duel during the confrontation in Xingyang. Zhao Zicheng changed "the whole world is in turmoil" to "the south of the Yangtze River is in turmoil", and also changed Xiang Yu's "don't make the people and fathers and sons of the world suffer in vain" to "the elders of Jiangdong".

Fang La on the opposite side was already a little overwhelmed by his series of rebuttals.

It is true that Fang La was good at misleading people, but after all, he had little education and was not good at debate.

He also didn't expect that Zhao Zicheng would actually accuse him of "sabotaging the Northern Expedition and destroying national justice", and even brought up the Persian nature of Manichaeism, and further simply and crudely argued that Fang La did not care about the interests of the Han people. Fang La didn't know how to refute for a while.

Finally, after being scolded by Zhao Zicheng, Fang La challenged him to a duel, and his momentum was completely suppressed.

He was quite proud of his martial arts skills, and he had also dabbled in many of the secret martial arts of Manichaeism.

Moreover, last year, Shi Sheng and other members of the sect in Suzhou secretly stole the flower and stone consignment and the Wanshou Daozang Xindi (Experiences in the Wanshou Daozang) that was also on board the ship. Although the Daozang was eventually recovered by Zhao Zicheng, Shi Sheng's followers copied some of the contents before they were captured, and they later fell into the hands of Fang La.

Fang La had read a small portion of the "Wanshou Daozang Xinde" fragments, but they were so short that only a tenth of them remained. Even so, after studying them, Fang La felt that the martial arts contained therein were profound and far-reaching, benefiting him immensely. In just over a year, Fang La's martial arts skills had improved by several hundred percent.

But at this moment, when he thought about how just half a month ago, his general and protector Deng Yuanjue was killed by Zhao Zicheng in the Huzhou battlefield among thousands of soldiers, and Fang La did not get to see Zhao Zicheng's bravery in person, and seeing Zhao Zicheng was so confident in challenging him, he couldn't help but think:
"The 'Wanshou Daozang Xindi' was taken back by Zhao Zicheng. He was able to easily kill Deng Yuanjue. Could it be that his martial arts skills improved so rapidly because he got the complete copy? What I got is just a fragment of the fragment. If I really fight him in front of the battle, I might get into trouble..."

Thinking of this, Fang La was completely scared. In a hurry, he naturally remembered that Liu Bang had also refused Xiang Yu's challenge, so he refuted:

"Zhao Zicheng, little thief! Stop being so arrogant! I'd rather fight with wits than with strength!"

After hearing this, Zhao Zicheng burst into laughter: "You are worthy of competing with me? Liu Bang dared to say this to Xiang Yu, what gives you the right to say that? Listen up, soldiers on the opposite side, Fang La, that idiot, fell into my trap in Suzhou and fell into my trap again in Huzhou. Shi Bao and Deng Yuanjue, who claimed to have several times more troops than me, were killed by me without a single piece of armor left!
Do you still have wisdom? If I were like you, I wouldn't dare to compete with you in martial arts or strategy, and I would have lost my face as a human being long ago!"

Fang La was furious, his face flushed red. He was also intimidated by Zhao Zicheng's martial arts prowess. In a fit of rage, he chose the wrong option: "Soldiers, why waste time talking to him? There's no need to talk about chivalry with the Zhao family. Let's fight shoulder to shoulder! We have more people!"

But these angry words undoubtedly undermined the morale of Fang La's army. This quarrel in front of the battlefield had no positive effect at all, but instead made Fang La's soldiers think more clearly, realizing that their "holy prince" was inferior to the other side in both literary and physical combat.

The fanatical warriors who were originally full of fighting spirit and thought they were "saving the world" were immediately degraded into gang vendettas where the majority was the winner.

In contrast, Zhao Zicheng said that the morale of the government troops here was getting higher and higher.

Everyone witnessed Zhao Tongpan, with his spear in hand, maneuvering with great skill. In a literary duel, he lashed out at his opponent, leaving him furious. In a physical duel, he challenged Fang La, but Fang La retreated, refusing to respond and resorting to a group fight.

Military men tend to despise cowards, so Fang La's image in the eyes of the government army immediately changed from an arrogant devil to a coward who only sent his subordinates to die.

"President Zhao truly has the demeanor of Emperor Taizu!"

"More than that. If you ask me, we are the eight thousand Jiangdong cadets, and Zhao Tongpan is a peerless hero like the King of Chu! No matter how many of those rabble-rousers there are, there's nothing to be afraid of!"

As Fang La's army rushed up in a chaotic manner, Zhao Zicheng certainly would not be so reckless as to intercept them personally - if Fang La was willing to fight him in a one-on-one fight, Zhao Zicheng would have to consider how to deal with it so as not to lose face, but since Fang La was frightened and resorted to a group fight, Zhao Zicheng had no obligation to join in.

Zhao Zicheng turned his horse back to the camp calmly and unhurriedly, but it was a pity that Fang La's army rushed too fiercely, too suddenly and too chaotically, and for a moment it seemed that the gate of the Haining camp could not be closed in time.

After all, the two sides were only two or three hundred steps apart, and the defenders had to wait for Zhao Zicheng to enter the camp before they could close the gate.

"Tongpan, it may be too late to close the camp gate! The enemy troops are charging!"

Zhao Zicheng's mind raced, and he immediately swung his spear horizontally: "What are you afraid of! The archers are already in place. Let the spear team hold the camp gate, and shoot crossbows from both sides. Put more chevaux de frise in the back row, forming a half-moon shape inside the camp gate to form a second line of defense! Once the chevaux de frise are in place, allow the spear team to retreat!"
If Fang La's men dare to charge the camp gate, let them be killed in a barrage of crossfire!"

When Zhao Zicheng made such arrangements, he thought of the time when Zhao Yun rescued Huang Zhong and occupied Han River during the Battle of Hanzhong. When Cao's pursuing troops arrived, Zhao Yun deployed the defense in a hurry and did not close the camp gate. He only deployed hidden crossbows inside the camp gate and on the enemy tower.

At this moment, just like at that time, since our morale is high and Fang La's morale has been suppressed to a very low level, why not strike while the iron is hot and use this trick.

If this kind of deployment was used when the enemy's morale was high, it would be tantamount to suicide. However, given the current morale contrast, it was extremely appropriate.

The vanguard of Fang La's army quickly rushed forward in a chaotic swarm, many of them carrying rafts of logs, originally intended for building bridges, crossing the trench in front of the camp, and battering rams for ramming down doors and wooden fences.

The soldiers of Fang La's army had originally prepared themselves mentally for a tough battle, but they did not expect that Zhao Zicheng was too pretentious and retreated too slowly, and he did not even have time to close the camp gate after entering the camp, and the soldiers of Fang La's army immediately became chaotic.

Who would bother to build a raft across a ditch when there's a gate to go through? Who would bother to use battering rams to break down a fence?

In addition, the rebels had poor military discipline and were unable to enforce orders, so their actions on the battlefield were very random. At one time, many troops squeezed into the middle, trying to rush in through the camp gate.

"Release! Don't shoot straight ahead! Shoot in a cross pattern! The left team at the camp gate shoot to the right, and the right team at the camp gate shoot to the left!"

Zhao Zicheng personally issued this order, acting according to the situation. Yang Zhi and Lin Chong quickly followed suit, and instantly, the government troops' crossbow arrows rained down into a crossfire. In such a chaotic battle, the enemy was so close that there was no need to pursue the range advantage of firing straight ahead. Instead, crossfire could easily cover a cross section of the enemy's charging formation, greatly improving the hit rate.

Under normal circumstances, those few hails of arrows wouldn't have killed many people. But Fang La's army had already crowded to the camp gate, the numbers were too dense, and the rebels lacked heavy armor.

Zhao Zicheng's archers were like those in a "Mount & Blade" city defense battle. All they had to do was fire arrows at the people at the siege ladders, and they could see the experience points rising up without even aiming.

Zhao Zicheng personally supervised Liu Guangshi and Lu Da, sitting at the gate of the camp and using spearmen to hold back the Fang La infantry who were rushing in.

Most of the government troops used standard long spears, and some were equipped with a small number of wolf-whips to increase the attack range, disrupt the attacking enemy's formation, and prevent the enemy from approaching in an orderly manner.

As soon as the front line of Fang La's army showed a slight disarray, the government army's spearmen immediately gathered together and stabbed to death any bandits who showed up.

"Go in! Don't block the camp gate! The camp gate is open, what are you waiting for!"

The generals of Fang La's army in the rear were also unable to see the situation in the front clearly. They only knew that their own soldiers were swarming in but could not advance quickly. They became very anxious and desperately urged the soldiers forward.

But the hundreds of spearmen blocking the gate, led by Lu Da and Liu Guangshi, were like a deep abyss and a towering mountain. No matter how turbulent the waves were, I would remain unmoved.

Even Zhao Zicheng himself, brandishing his precious sword, rode back and forth on the front lines to supervise and inspect the battle. Wherever Zhao Zicheng went, wherever his banner pointed, the soldiers shouted bravely, their momentum soaring, and they were as powerful as ten.

Rows of disorganized Fang La soldiers crashed like waves on rocks, and the corpses at the camp gate soon piled up into a mountain.

The bodies that had been abandoned and pushed to the sides even filled up the small section of the trench on either side of the camp gate, and also flattened the sharp stakes on the wooden fences and chevaux de frise antlers into a gentle slope.

Even more devastating was the fact that the casualties inflicted by the spearmen stabbing each other were not the most devastating. During the melee battle for the camp gate, the government army's archers on the camp walls continued to fire arrows and output firepower.

In just half an incense stick of time, each crossbowman had fired at least several pots of arrows. Initially, they could fire an arrow every five or six breaths. By the time they'd finished, their arms were sore and numb they couldn't even draw their bows. For those using the Shenbi bow and other crossbow-like weapons, the speed of pedaling and stringing the bow had also slowed considerably, gradually dropping to just over ten breaths per shot.

But this continuous rain of arrows almost made the crowded Fang La army fall into despair.

During this period, Zhao Zicheng also ordered the defenders to continue shouting indiscriminately to further undermine Fang La's morale: "Fang La, you bastard! You can't even defeat my 8,000 men. When Tong Taiwei's 150,000 main forces arrive in a few days, will you still be alive?
Don't work for Fang La, this Persian dog! Han people don't fight Han people! Hurry up and abandon the dark and join the light! "

The bloody battle, like a meat grinder, lasted less than half an hour. Finally, the string that maintained the morale of Fang La's army suddenly broke, leading to a total collapse.

"These government troops are crazy! They've charged so many times and they've fought to the death!"

"Why are they so different from the government troops we encountered before?"

"This battle cannot be fought!"

Fang La's soldiers began to retreat like a tide, and those who reacted slowly became abandoned pawns and were swallowed up by the government army's counterattack.

Zhao Zicheng would be lying if he said he wasn't nervous. He was on edge the entire time, shouting himself hoarse to motivate the troops. Seeing Fang La finally retreat, Zhao Zicheng quickly shouted from the heights, "Soldiers, follow me and strike back! Fang La has been defeated! General Liu, follow me!"

Yang Zhi was responsible for supervising the overall defense of the camp and commanding the archers, and he couldn't escape. Lu Da was also responsible for blocking the entrance of the camp with spears, responsible for the front line of hand-to-hand combat, and he was not good at horse fighting.

So in the end, Zhao Zicheng could only temporarily dispatch Liu Guangshi and Lin Chong to follow him in the attack.

Zhao Zicheng's timing was impeccable; he knew that once Fang La's army retreated, they would not be able to stop midway. Given the rebels' discipline, this wave would have to retreat back to Fang La's main camp before they could be stopped.

So he was very confident to be the first to rush out on his horse with his spear in hand. Liu Guangshi and Lin Chong protected him on the left and right. He led Liu Guangshi's 300 elite cavalrymen of the Western Army and directly pursued the more than 20,000 retreating enemy soldiers.

Behind Zhao Zicheng, Lu Da's thousand-plus spearmen also slowly followed, providing backup for his cavalry and covering their retreat. But two legs couldn't outrun four, and it was unlikely that Lu Da's troops would gain much in the pursuit.

Zhao Zicheng has been practicing martial arts for two years, but his spear skills are still not very good. He is not good at riding a horse to fight, so he can only pick on weak opponents. However, these are no longer important.

Wherever his banner pointed, it was like a bright light in the dark night, causing all the government cavalry to charge forward around him. The three hundred cavalrymen actually fought with the momentum of thousands of troops.

Liu Guangshi and Lin Chong both attacked and charged fiercely, their moves were vigorous but orderly, and they closely guarded Zhao Zicheng on both sides, ensuring that multiple enemies would not be able to attack Zhao Zicheng at the same time.

Zhao Zi said that he only had to fight the fleeing soldiers alone, so the pressure was suddenly reduced, and the charge was really exhilarating.

During the fierce battle, Lin Chong ran into Fang Qifo, the general of Fang La's army who was in charge of supervising the battle to seize the gate today. He was in high spirits and fought with his spear, suppressing Fang Qifo's weapon with all his might.

Fang Qifo wanted to escape as quickly as possible, but was entangled by Lin Chong and could not get away. He became more and more panicked, and his sword became increasingly unruly.

Liu Guangshi attacked from the side, finding an opening and firing a spear. Like a flash of cold light, it pierced Fang Qifo's waist and ribs. Fang Qifo screamed in agony, spurting blood and falling to his death. Originally, in history, this man was supposed to have fought fiercely against Wang Ziwu, the commander of Xiuzhou, during Fang La's attack on Xiuzhou, and was ultimately killed during his retreat. Fang Qifo was indeed trusted by Fang La, so he was often entrusted with the task of attacking the city.

In this life, the Battle of Xiuzhou will never happen again. Fang Qifo was killed by Lin Chong and Liu Guangshi by accident, which can be regarded as the inertia of history.

With Fang Qifo being killed in battle, Fang La's attacking force completely collapsed. Fang La himself fled back to the camp, still in shock, and quickly defended himself.

The fleeing troops were driven back by the government troops, trampling among themselves and countless casualties were lost. In the end, less than half of them managed to return to the camp and be gathered in. The rest were either killed or wounded in the fierce fighting or were cut down by the government troops and forced to surrender on the battlefield.

The 30,000-40,000-man attacking force suffered at least 20,000 casualties. The subsequent reserve troops had no chance to be deployed in battle, so there were no losses.

After all, Fang La's army was much larger than Zhao Zicheng's. Zhao Zicheng had only 8,000 men, while Fang La had 70,000 men. In addition, he had left a reserve force to guard the camp. It was impossible for Zhao Zicheng to annihilate Fang La in one battle.

However, it was already very good that we were able to destroy their vanguard, completely destroy Fang La's prestige, and make him dare not launch a frontal attack on Zhao Zicheng again.

More importantly, after this battle, Zhao Zicheng proved that he was not only capable of "taking advantage of Fang La's main force's unpreparedness and launching a surprise attack to eliminate Fang La's detachment".

He could also confront Fang La's main force head-on! But it was under the special premise of defensive counterattack, relying on strong camps and favorable terrain.

If he were asked to turn from defense to offense and storm the strong camp that Fang La's army was defending with all their might, Zhao Zicheng still would not be able to do it, and it could even be said that it would be tantamount to committing suicide.

After Fang La's crushing defeat, he was quickly forced to make adjustments.

As expected, he completely gave up any attempt to continue attacking Zhao Zicheng. Like a frightened bird, he wanted to avoid a head-on fight with Zhao Zicheng.

He simply ordered the troops that were not seriously damaged that day to speed up the construction and reinforce their own siege camp, trying to surround Zhao Zicheng and use their own numerical advantage to surround him without attacking.

At the same time, Fang La himself quickly retreated with a considerable part of his main force, preparing to take a final gamble, picking the soft persimmon of Hangzhou City and breaking into the city to grab a piece of it.

As long as he had robbed enough money and food to survive the winter and the spring famine next year, Fang La was ready to return to the mountains to fight.

He no longer has the ambition to conquer the world, he just wants to live a few more years with his brothers.

On Zhao Zicheng's side, after the great victory in Haining, he immediately reported the results of the battle and sent someone to deliver it to Tong Guan in Zhenjiang. He also hoped that the court's reinforcements would be accelerated so that they could launch a counterattack against Fang La as soon as possible.

(End of this chapter)