Volume 2 Chapter 69: Union of Flags
"What the hell is that?" At the Jin army's main camp northeast of Changshe City, Wanyan Talan turned his head and looked at the Song surrendered official behind him, with a look of absurdity on his face. "What Jin banner?"
"The Imperial Guards' banner..." The middle-aged surrenderer who had guessed that Hu Yin was personally leading the expedition was clearly a little flustered. "Anyone with a little common sense knows that wherever this banner is, it must be where the emperor is!"
"You mean the young emperor of Zhao Song is there?" Talai still had that incredulous expression. "But how could the emperor of Zhao Song be here? Did he fly here? Didn't you just say that this must be Hu Yin? Couldn't Hu Yin have borrowed this Jinwu flag?"
"Maybe so?" Seeing that Wanyan Talan could not ask further, the surrendered man became more and more flustered. "Given the character of that official, it is possible that he gave this flag to Hu Mingzhong before he left..."
"Have you ever seen the Emperor of Zhao Song?" Talai suddenly stared at the man. "Do you also recognize Hu Banxiang?"
"Yes..." The man became more and more panicked. "Most of the newly appointed officials in Jingxi were appointed through the palace examination last year, so not only me, but half of the officials here must have met the emperor and Hu Mingzhong..."
"I remember your name is Hong Ya, and you are from Jinan?" Talai suddenly interrupted.
The surrendered man was completely helpless after hearing this, and could only bite the bullet and reply, "That's right."
"Jinan is a good place, and Liu Yu is a very filial old man." Talan said, his face suddenly changed. "Let's go ahead and take a look to see if it is the official of Zhao Song, and then come back to report to me!"
The middle-aged surrendered man, who was Hong Ya from Jinan who had participated in the palace examination and was awarded an official title last year, was stunned when he heard this, but seeing that Talai's face had turned black, he really didn't dare not go.
As a result, he was completely helpless. He could only pull his horse down from the platform with a sad face under the gloating gaze of his colleagues, then get on his horse and head towards the most intense battle group on the battlefield, looking back every step... and when he looked back for the third time, he saw Talan drawing his knife, so he could only grit his teeth and ride forward with all his might.
There's nothing we can do about it, since he is from Jinan.
Last year, the Jin army returned in the east of Beijing. He was fleeing in Xuzhou and naturally thought that the area south of the Yellow River would return to the Song Dynasty. In addition, he had not held a proper official position until his middle age, and did not want to miss the opportunity. So he used his past status as a juren and a professor at a county school to easily go to Nanyang through Zhang Jun's connections. Then he was able to pass the palace examination and be appointed as an official, and became a proper county magistrate in the west of Beijing.
However, no one expected that although he was appointed as an official, in the whole east of Beijing, only Jinan clung to the Jin people tightly, and the Jin people only did not give up supporting Jinan. Then when autumn came, even most of the west of Beijing fell again.
At that time, the city was under siege, and his hometown was a hardcore traitor territory. After thinking for a while, Hong Ya simply gritted his teeth and surrendered to the Jin army. Later, when he heard that Liu Yu, the governor of the Jin army, was going to be the emperor, he had other ideas again. He took the initiative to flatter the right deputy marshal of the Jin army, Talan, implying that he was from Jinan and could be a minister or something. He also took the initiative to write a letter to ask his family in Xuzhou to transfer back to Jinan... Who would have thought that he didn't become a minister, and because his family's position was exposed, he had to go forward to be a spy to observe military situation.
However, the battlefield was in chaos at the moment. How could he, a scholar, who could ride a horse and wore a decent leather armor, pass safely among the thousands of soldiers?
Especially the position of the dragon banner...
Let me tell you, half a quarter of an hour ago, when the Jinwu flag crossed the pontoon bridge and arrived at Yue Fei's main camp in the southeast of Changsha City, Han Shizhong, who had been watching for a long time, no longer hesitated. He directly ordered the whole city to attack. The two commanders Jie Yuan and Wang Shan rushed out from the east and south gates together. Han Shizhong, the governor of the four counties of Huaixi, the governor of Wucheng Army, and the commander of the left army of the Imperial Camp, actually personally led a few hundred Beiwei soldiers with the commander Cheng Min to cross the gap in the collapsed city wall and took the lead in attacking.
After two or three months of confrontation, and even several street fights and raids, Wanyan Talan had a full understanding of the bravery of this man in Changsha City. Therefore, when he saw the opponent's flag flying out, he was almost terrified, fearing that the opponent would rush up to him and take his head off.
However, it is not known whether it was a joy or a sorrow, Han Shizhong led his troops to charge forward, but he did not pay any attention to Wanyan Talan who was located in the northeast of Changsha City. Instead, he led his troops directly towards the Jinwu flag.
At this moment, in the midst of this shock, Wanyan Talan took the initiative to inquire about the origin of the Jinwu banner - the right deputy marshal of the Jin army especially wanted to know why Han Shizhong felt that his head was not as important as the flag?
This led to the conversation just now and the battlefield journey with General Hong.
Back to the present, Hong Ya, the former magistrate of Xinzheng, Zhengzhou, Jingxi Road of the Great Song Dynasty, and currently a military officer under the right deputy marshal of the current military marshal's office, led seven or eight Han army followers and walked a few hundred steps when they were submerged in the vortex of the chaotic battle. He finally avoided a battle group, but when he looked back, he found that only half of the seven or eight followers were left.
The reason why I said half is that the man was shot by an arrow and fell directly on the horse, unable to move. He was just dragged by the smart warhorse to continue following General Hong.
Seeing this situation, Hong Ya was trembling with fear. He had no courage to advance to the core area of the battlefield in the southeast direction. That place was huge (Bai on top and Da on the bottom) and there were Yue Fei and Han Shizhong, as well as the Jinwu flag. Was he looking for death if he went there?
But I don’t dare to go back!
Not only that, as the Song army kept crossing the river to join the battle, the battlefield became larger and larger. Even the most important place seemed particularly fierce and crazy. Hong Ya looked around and saw arrows flying around and swords flashing. Perhaps because the tactical space was suppressed, the Jin cavalry could no longer launch an attack. The Song and Jin armies were completely trapped in a hand-to-hand fight... The entire battlefield was in chaos. Even if he wanted to go back, the risk would be high!
At the critical moment, General Hong, who had escaped from danger, served as an official, served in the army, and even learned a few simple Tungusic words to curry favor with Wanyan Talai (but Talai didn't like it, so he didn't study further), became a little clever. He began to try to escape from the battlefield by cutting sideways, that is, he gritted his teeth and avoided the main battlefield, going straight to the east, or even to the northeast direction of the river.
When he encountered Jin troops pulling out of the battle group, he shouted in Tungusic: "Don't shoot arrows, I am a soldier under the right deputy marshal!"
When he encountered the Song army rushing towards him, he shouted in the Central Plains Mandarin: "Don't harm me, I am the magistrate of Xinzheng County of the Great Song Dynasty!"
It may be that both sides were in a bloody battle and no one cared about a scholar. Of course, it may also be that everyone values bilingual talents these days, so this guy was allowed to escape all the way to the river. Once he arrived at the river, he naturally wanted to take the opportunity to cross the river and get away from this place of life and death. However , when he found a floating bridge, he was shocked on the spot, because there were Song soldiers in front of him who were actively demolishing the bridge!
"Who ordered the bridge to be demolished?!" Hong Ya mustered up his courage and tried to ask by the river. "I am an official who was awarded the imperial examination, the magistrate of Xinzheng County of the Song Dynasty, and I came from Tokyo with the army... Who ordered the bridge to be demolished?"
The task of demolishing the bridge must be done by the general's trusted subordinates. Therefore, when Hong Ya asked by the river, an officer on the bridge immediately responded: "It was the emperor's order! All places must do their best to cross the river. It must be crossed within half an hour, and then we will cut off the floating bridge and fight a decisive battle with the Jin people! I am Fan Yihong, a military officer under the command of General Wang. I am here on the order of my general. After demolishing this place, I will go upstream to continue demolishing the bridge... You, the county magistrate, are a civil servant and it is not easy for you to participate in the war, but you are not allowed to go back to Hedong! Listen to me, find a shield on the battlefield, dismount over there and wait for me! Come with me to demolish the bridge, so that you can get away with it!"
Hong Ya was stunned... but he was not stunned by the bridge demolition, but by the fact that the Zhao Song government actually came!
With this thought in mind, the man put aside all hope and tried to ask again: "General Fan, I just wanted to ask, the Jinwu flag crossing the river, is it really the government crossing the river?"
"It was the Emperor who crossed the river himself!" Fan Yihong said from a distance. "What a pity that the Emperor went to that bastard Yue Fei's camp! He didn't come to our Eight Character Army's camp!"
Hong Ya suddenly felt that the world was in chaos... Even though he recognized the flag, he instinctively believed that it was a token given to Hu Yin by Emperor Zhao, because his common sense and experience told him that the people of the old Zhao family could not be so decisive! But everything in front of him, from Han Shizhong's sudden reckless attack to the excitement of the Song army on the entire battlefield, all told him that what the other party said was true!
In the chaos, this man suddenly came to realize that the task assigned by Wanyan Talan seemed to have been completed. In addition, the possibility of escaping from the battlefield from here was blocked, so he reined in his horse and went west in a daze... So that on the floating bridge over there, General Fan shouted a few times but failed to stop him. He could only look at the magistrate who heard that the emperor was crossing the river in person, and decided to ride alone to repay the emperor's kindness. Then, with tears in his eyes, he continued to cross the river and demolish the bridge.
On the other side, Hong Ya walked into the chaos and instinctively reported his identity several times. Then he came to his senses. Since it was the emperor leading the army in person, the Song army would surely win a great victory. He should have stayed by the side of the stupid Fan Yihong, who was obviously a fool... Why did he come back?
However, since they had already entered the battlefield, it was not easy to turn back, because General Fan would become suspicious no matter how stupid he was if they went back. So they could only bite the bullet and continue to rely on bilingualism to cross the battlefield.
You know what, I don’t know if it was luck or no one really cared about him, but Hong Ya actually managed to walk back across half of the battlefield!
"Marshal!" Hong Ya, who had sorted out his thoughts, dismounted from his horse and leaned forward to confront him. "I have found out that it is indeed the Zhao Song emperor who is leading the army in person!"
As soon as these words were spoken, Wanyan Talai and the Jin army officers and surrendered advisers behind him became agitated.
After the commotion, Wanyan Talan himself smiled bitterly: "Thank you for your hard work, General Hong... In fact, I can tell from the battle situation since you left for the past quarter of an hour that if it weren't for the Zhao Song official's personal presence, how could the Song army be so brave? Da (white on top, big on bottom) has asked me for help twice, asking me to hand over the last two Meng'an together! I'm hesitating!"
"No!" Hong Ya raised his head and gritted his teeth. "Marshal! Let me know, I just found out that the Emperor of Zhao Song has personally issued an order that the entire army must cross the river as soon as possible, and then all units must take the initiative to dismantle all the floating bridges on the east river! If the floating bridges are destroyed, even if Pucha Wanhu returns, I'm afraid it will be difficult for him to cross the river to rescue... I hope the Marshal can make a decision soon!"
Besides, Talai was in a high position, so he had seen the Song army's partial demolition of the bridge, but he couldn't confirm the source of the incident. But when he heard Hong Ya's report, he felt cold all over...
You must know that this is the same thing as whether the Zhao Song officials came or not!
The arrival of the Zhao Song government only means that this war will be difficult!
And his son-in-law Wanyan Talan and the ten fierce and fresh soldiers carefully selected by his son-in-law for this attack are the fundamental confidence for the right deputy marshal of the Jin army to hold on here under tremendous pressure!
The right deputy marshal of the Jin army stood here on horseback for nearly an hour, watching more and more Song troops join the battle with a continuous and raging offensive. At this moment, the most difficult situation he had expected was reached, that is, the Song army had formed an astonishing numerical advantage of five times that of his own side on the battlefield!
During this process, as the commander-in-chief of an army, one needs to have strong faith to hold on. The belief that has always supported Talan is that he firmly believes that his son-in-law will come at any time to force the Song army to end the war.
Therefore, when someone told him in clear words that even if the ten Meng'ans came back, they would not be able to join the battle, the old man, whose heart had been frightened enough today, naturally became completely terrified.
However, perhaps because the Jin army generals had not used that word for many years, Wanyan Talai was so frightened that he did not realize the hint of the surrenderer in front of him for a moment.
But it was only for a moment.
A moment later, as Wanyan Talai watched from afar in a strange state as Han Shizhong's military flag crossed the entire battlefield with an unstoppable momentum and successfully merged with the dragon banner and the Yue military flag, he suddenly realized what this surrender meant.
Or perhaps, this surrendered man reminded Talai and made him realize the hidden intention in his heart - before that, Han Shizhong suddenly rushed out from the city, rushed straight for the dragon flag, and also went straight to the back of Da (white on top and big on bottom). At that time, Talai did not take the initiative to send out the last two Meng'an that he had originally used to guard against Han Shizhong, which meant that he had already had some unspeakable thoughts in his heart.
But this idea was too absurd... Besides, it was not impossible to escape at this time. The Song army was in the east and were preparing to dismantle all the pontoon bridges on the Qingqi River in the east. However, there were also pontoon bridges on the Zhuoqi River in the west of Changsha City. The only thing was that the east was not the Jin army's supply route, nor was it a direction to defend against the Song army's attack, so there were only one or two regular pontoon bridges there!
In other words, it was fine for him to escape at this time, but once he escaped, he would be abandoning the group! More than a dozen Meng An would be left here!
And how long has it been since the Jin army's commander abandoned his troops and fled in a battle of this magnitude? It's not a desperate situation!
Coming back to the present, after thinking it all through, Talai neither scolded the surrendered man in front of him, nor agreed with this man, nor did he send his last two fresh soldiers, Meng'an, to serve as reinforcements for Da (Shang Bai and Xia Da). Instead, he used a strange silence to deal with this major battle in which the Song army had completely taken the initiative!
It is said that one day ago, if it was said that the Song army would take the initiative to attack, Talai would certainly not believe it;
Before this morning, Talai had absolutely not believed that the Song army would come to Changsha City to fight his main force.
Before noon, he still didn't believe that Yue Fei would lead 20,000 troops to cross the river and attack first.
Until half an hour ago, Talai still didn't believe that he would lose the battle.
A quarter of an hour ago, he still didn't believe that the Zhao Song officials had really come to the battlefield;
But by this time, after all his disbeliefs were shattered one by one by the reality used by the Song army, Talai was already a little confused... He no longer dared to think, nor did he dare to take any action to control the situation.
That’s right, that is to say, at this time, there was no Jin army veteran with sufficient experience by Wanyan Talai’s side, otherwise someone would have said it directly - with a series of decisive and fierce attacks by the Song army, old Talai had been stunned by the Song army!
"Officials!"
Just when Talai was stunned, at the same time, Han Shizhong entered Yue Fei's camp and went straight to the dragon banner. He didn't let out a long sigh until he saw Zhao Jiu in person, then took off his helmet with a bronze mask and cried to the ground. "I am on the city wall, I really can't believe that it is the emperor who came in person... I will die, and I have troubled the emperor to go to this dangerous place!"
"What kind of danger is this?" With a flushed face, Emperor Zhao hurried forward to help Han Shizhong up, and then glanced at Yue Fei, who was riding a horse and shouting orders a few dozen steps away, and said the truth from the bottom of his heart. "You are my backbone, and these tens of thousands of troops are my foundation. If you are all here, then this is the most stable place in the world... Let's not talk about other things. What do you think of this battle until now?"
"This battle has already been won since the emperor led the dragon flag across the river!" Han Shizhong wiped his face and stopped talking nonsense. He quickly stood up and held his helmet. "It's just that the generals lacked a unified command and the momentum of the final general attack!"
"Just give it to a good minister!" Zhao Jiu instructed immediately.
"I can't do this either. Although the Tokyo garrison and the Eight Character Army under the city will certainly recognize me, they are not under my command. Moreover, such a chaotic battle is beyond the ability of a general or a commander..." Han Shizhong pointed at the dragon banner above his head and said, "Only if you ask the emperor to move the dragon banner to the northwest to the platform of Wanyan Talan, I and this Yue Zhenfu will escort it together, and then everything can be settled!"
"Just do as your good minister says!" Zhao Jiu glanced at Yue Fei, who had reined in his horse and stopped to listen without saying a word, and suddenly realized that Yue Fei did not know him well enough, and was already very satisfied with the battle situation, so he did not dare to persuade him to do so. Or, in other words, Han Shizhong was the only one in the world who dared to persuade Emperor Zhao to use this trick.
If I have to give an inappropriate example, according to what is said in some high-end games, among the top generals in the world, only Han Shizhong has reached the highest level of bond with Emperor Zhao, and can work with him, the Emperor, to perform this move.
But no matter who started it, after fighting for an hour and half a quarter of an hour, anyone with a little common sense would know that the Jinwu banner representing the Emperor of Zhao Song began to move again on the battlefield, but it was slowly advancing to the northwest under the escort of a large flag with the word "Han" on the left and a large flag with the word "Yue" on the other... Everyone knew that it was Yue Fei and Han Shizhong, but poor Li Qiong and Liu Yan, two commanding-level officers who served as the Zhao emperor's internal army, were not qualified to raise their own flags next to the dragon banner at this time, so as not to usurp the throne, and could only follow from a distance on the flanks.
Seeing the dragon banner and Han Yue's two flags moving together, the Song army of nearly 70,000 people, who had been caught in a chaotic battle due to their hasty crossing of the river, began to spontaneously launch a full-scale assault in this direction. Their advantage of five times that of the enemy was fully demonstrated. The Song army brought with it billowing smoke and dust, surging like a tide, and their shouts of killing shook the sky!
Facts have proved that when one side in the chaos was the first to concentrate its strength, the other side would no longer have the power to resist. After the Song army launched a full-scale assault, the few most damaged Jin army men in front of them were completely defeated. Seeing this, the front-line commander of the Jin army, Da (Bai on top and Da on bottom), could only sigh and ride away.
At this time, Talai was still stunned where he was, just staring at the dragon banner rushing towards him and muttering to himself... It is said that until now, the right deputy marshal of the Jin army still held two Meng'an in his hands and had not participated in the battle!
