Volume 2 Chapter 74: Lost Ground (Part 1)
Talai's astonishing crossing of the river to the north quickly cheered up Zhao Jiu, who was originally in a state of sadness, because even if he lacked military knowledge, he understood that the Jin army's right deputy marshal's decisive crossing to the north had completely reversed the situation in the entire Henan Province.
The problem here is not how many soldiers Wanyan Talan has, nor whether he still has the will to fight or whether he can fight. The problem lies precisely in his leaving Henan.
You should know that Talai was the nominal commander of the 120,000 main forces of the Eastern Army and the actual leader of the central group of the three major groups of the Jin army in Henan.
As long as he holds on in Henan, no matter how many soldiers he has, all the main forces of the Jin army in Henan will still be an organic union. No matter whether it is the Wushu Group separated by the Five Rivers area, or the so-called easternmost Huazhou Group and Nanjing Group, they will all have a common point of resonance.
But as soon as he left, not to mention that Nianhan of Damingfu was still controlling the eastern front, Wanyan Wushu's group was completely isolated!
Due to the powerful combat capability and mobility of the Jin army, the Song army did not dare to say that the opportunity had come at this time, but at least they had taken the initiative!
In fact, in the following three days, Han Shizhong sent envoys to write letters one after another addition to constantly telling Emperor Zhao in Tokyo City about his views, he also constantly revised his plans.
In fact, on the 20th day of the first lunar month, with the new news that Wulinda Taiyu, who was supposed to be besieging Fangcheng under Wanyan Wushu, led a brigade of thousands of cavalry to appear in the Wuhe defense zone under Yue Fei's charge, Yue Fei sent it to Zhengzhou and Kaifeng by express horse. Han Shizhong's plan was immediately adjusted to delay the enemy layer by layer, lure the enemy deep into the city, and then do his best to set up an ambush in the border area of Zhengzhou, Yingchang Prefecture, and Kaifeng City, and bite Wanyan Wushu hard.
This plan clearly contained a sentiment of personal revenge, because it was simply a replica of Wanyan Wushu's ambush at Zhujiaqu Town and his defeat of Han Shizhong, except that the prey and the hunter were completely reversed.
Well, of course Emperor Zhao immediately issued an imperial decree to express his agreement... The reason was very simple. First, the plan was indeed feasible. Secondly, Yue Fei had only delivered the message here. The event itself, that is, the news that Wulindatai wanted to appear in the Wuhe area, was actually a day and a half ago. Time was short, so it was good to have a plan to deal with the enemy!
Let’s not talk about the fact that Han Shizhong and Zhao Jiu were becoming more and more courageous, and just talk about the other side. After Wulin Datai wanted to appear in the Wuhe area, Wanyan Wushu actually chose to withdraw all his troops and headed towards the Wuhe area.
He has to come.
In other words, he had no choice but to believe it.
Now, at the beginning, although Wanyan Wushu was angry and shocked when he heard that Changsha was defeated and Han Shizhong escaped, he did not have too many doubts and hesitations... Because victory and defeat are common in the military, with Han Shizhong, the chief general of the Song Dynasty who "always has miracles around him", and so many troops of the Tokyo Liaison Office on the opposite side, it was reasonable to think that he would be defeated.
In fact, when the first wave of defeated soldiers and messengers arrived at the city of Nanyang, the fourth prince of the Jin Dynasty only discussed with Han Chang and Balisu for a moment, and then gritted his teeth and decided on a strategy to return troops to rescue and try to regain the land of Wuhe. If unsuccessful, he would bypass Ruzhou and return north from Xijing.
After all, at that time, Wuzhu was already caught in a difficult decision as to whether or not to send troops to Xiangyang. To put it bluntly, Talan's defeat made it unnecessary for him to make a choice.
However, when more defeated soldiers arrived there, Wanyan Wushu became suspicious and panicked, because he firmly did not believe what these people said, that the Zhao Song emperor personally appeared on the battlefield and actually instigated this war.
This is ridiculous!
Because just a few days ago, everyone, including Wuzhu's own military knowledge, told the Fourth Prince that Zhao Jiu used 10,000 Song soldiers as bait that day and successfully fooled everyone including the Jin army and the Song army, and then fled to the fortified city of Xiangyang blocked by the Han River... This has already made him very angry, okay?
But now, all the people who fled told him that Zhao Jiu did not go to Xiangyang, and that the Song official had tricked him, the fourth prince of the Jin Dynasty, twice... double!
So, can this kind of thing be believed?
Therefore, in the early morning of the tenth day of the first lunar month, because the situation was in a desperate situation, the battle of luring the enemy and blocking the enemy broke out in the south of Nanyang City. The Jin army won a great victory and Zhao Jiu escaped from Nanyang.
On the twelfth day of the first lunar month, Zhao Jiu went straight into Yanling, killed Du Chong and seized the military power.
On the 13th day of the first lunar month, the Battle of Yanling-Changshe broke out. In just one hour, the Jin army, which had underestimated the enemy, suffered a devastating blow.
On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Lantern Festival, Zhao Jiu arrived in Dongjing City and peacefully took over the Dongjing Resident Office from Zong Ze. That night, Zong Ze died. But on the afternoon of the same day, Wanyan Wushu also saw the defeated Talan army that Wulin Datai wanted to escort to Nanyang City on horseback.
In fact, so many things happened on that day that it is very likely that Talan escaped across the Yellow River on the same day.
On the 16th day of the first lunar month, Han Shizhong's pursuing troops encountered the unprepared Yelu Ma Wu tribe in Zhengzhou and won a great victory.
On the 18th day of the first lunar month, Wulindatai's troops, who had finally received the order, appeared in the Wuhe area and entered Wuyang that night, joining forces with the remnants of the Jin army who had abandoned Xiangcheng, Yancheng and Xiping and gathered here, thus completely confirming all the previous news.
However, considering that Wulindatai had been in Fangcheng, the center of Nanyang and Wuhe areas, only a hundred miles away from Wuyang, Wanyan Wushu probably hesitated for a day and a half before accepting this fact, and then made a decision and issued a military order.
What’s even more interesting is that just three days after Wulindatai appeared in the Wuhe area, Wanyan Wushu and his 30,000 main cavalry of the Jin army rushed to Wuyang in a menacing manner, intending to join forces with Wulindatai.
In other words, after all the previous news from Changsha was completely confirmed, Wanyan Wushu did not leave a single soldier in Nanyang, and his entire army headed straight for Wuhe at high speed... Then he plunged headfirst into the defense line that Yue Fei had urgently arranged.
That being said, there was a huge gap in military strength, and an even bigger gap in combat power. In addition, the Song army had a city to defend, so it was impossible for Yue Fei to cause any substantial damage to Wanyan Wushu... But war is not just about field battles and defending cities.
"What do you mean you can't cross the river?"
On the morning of the 22nd day of the first lunar month, on the bank of the Li River, Wuzhu, who had been sitting on his horse for a long time, finally received the news, but he could not help but stare coldly at Meng'an in front of him.
"Fourth Prince, we have investigated clearly that on the night when General Wulinda arrived in Wuyang, the bridges on the Li River were all demolished and burned by the Song army on the other side overnight. It's not just the one in front of us..." Meng'an, who had just returned from a hard ride, was also on the horse, and he looked embarrassed. "Moreover, the ice melted and the water rose, and several shallow fords were difficult to cross. It was barely possible to float horses across the river, but it was extremely difficult to cross the subsequent baggage."
Wuzhu opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
"When the army marches, they cut through mountains and build bridges across rivers." At this moment, Wanyan Balisu, who was standing by, suddenly responded coldly. "If there is no floating bridge, then find a place with stable water flow to build a floating bridge... Is this the Huai River or the Han River? Can't we do it?"
Meng An was shocked and immediately took the order and left, but he asked people to cut down temporary trees and prepare to build a floating bridge in front of the ruins of the old floating bridge.
Seeing Meng'an leave to give orders, Balisu solemnly advised Wuzhu: "Fourth Prince, please forgive me for being blunt, but since the Song army has begun to deploy defenses here, it means that the Wuhe area has been completely controlled by the Song army. At this time, we must be more careful and wait for the baggage behind us, and we must not easily abandon the reserve and move forward."
Wuzhu nodded repeatedly, but it was unclear whether he was just being perfunctory or had really listened.
Han Chang, who was standing by, wanted to interrupt and ask whether they should be wary of the problem with Nanyang Wang De behind them, but seeing that Wuzhu's hand holding the whip was trembling slightly, he did not say anything - he was well aware of the Fourth Prince 's unwillingness, anger and sense of absurdity at this moment, and he was even more aware of the certain desire that the Fourth Prince was forcibly suppressing at this moment.
It is obvious that if there is anything Wanyan Wushu urgently wants to do at this moment, it is to rush over, find the Zhao Song official who is not on the south but on the north, and eat him alive!
In fact, if he had not known that the Zhao Song government was here, judging from the current situation, Wuzhu should have played it safe and gone directly north from Ruzhou in the west, first heading to Luoyang, the Western Capital, to find out the military situation and stabilize the situation.
The logging and bridge-building processes were very slow. This was not only because the Song army had made preparations and collected possible ferries in advance, but also because a river like the Li River, which was neither big nor small, did not require ships as a base for building a floating bridge. More importantly, at this time, Wanyan Wushu and other talents realized the adverse consequences of abandoning the craftsmen camp in order to lure the enemy in Nanyang, and now abandoning the civilians and concentrating the main cavalry to advance at a high speed.
In a word, the bridge can always be built, but when the necessary number of Han laborers and military craftsmen are lacking, it is inevitable that the construction will be clumsy and slow.
Not only that, but even more devastating things were yet to come. The Jin army finally managed to roughly float a bridge, and then sent a small group of elite troops to cross the river from a shallow beach in the distance, in an attempt to anchor on the other side... However, the small group of troops did not wait for the bridge, but instead waited for the fireboats floating down from upstream.
After the fireboats came the remaining troops of the small force that hastily fled back, led by Puli Yan, who was injured and knelt before them. They had just taken off their armor and were crossing the river on floating horses in the cold water, but they were ambushed on the other side of the river. About three or four hundred Song soldiers equipped with leather armor, bows and crossbows, and short weapons had been waiting in the increasingly lush reeds opposite the shallows.
After a short battle, the army of fifty people quickly lost more than half of them, and they could only jump into the river and swim across the river with their horses to escape in a panic.
The Jin army leaders on the south bank of the Li River looked at each other. No one went to deal with Puliyan who had escaped, and no one went to look at the river that was still emitting flames. They only went to look at the Fourth Prince.
"The only way is to send more people to cross the river on horseback and clean up the north bank of the river." Wanyan Wushu used his military common sense and military logical reasoning ability to say something nonsense.
"How many people should be sent across the river?" Wulinda Taiyu finally frowned and spoke. "Fourth Prince, the Song army has been prepared. If we send too few people, we will probably die again in such a shallow river. But if we send too many people, how many people are appropriate? And how much time will it take?"
"Then what do you think I should do? What can I do?" Wuzhu's face suddenly turned red, and veins on his hands holding the reins were bulging.
Wulindatai was shocked, but he could only look at Han Chang and Balisu.
"You three Meng'ans, go upstream and downstream to find shallows and cross the river together... Cross as many as you can and control the situation first." Helplessly, Bali turned around and gave the order.
After receiving the order, three cavalry battalions that were powerful enough to destroy a city and destroy an army in the past galloped forward together, causing the ground along the river to tremble slightly. It was indeed an extraordinary momentum. However, when they thought that such mighty cavalry were about to swim across the river at an asymmetric risk of their lives just to build a pontoon bridge, several high-ranking Jin army officers including Wuzhu found it a bit absurd.
However, this time, it finally worked... After experiencing asymmetric casualties and a long period of suffering, the pontoon bridge was finally erected in the evening.
Once a floating bridge is built, as long as this bridge is preserved, countless floating bridges can be easily built tomorrow.
In this regard, Wulindatai, perhaps because he was scolded by Wuzhu for no reason and was angry, crossed the river alone and served as the vanguard with the three Meng'ans.
However, that night, the Song army suddenly launched a surprise attack.
For a moment, gongs and drums sounded and torches were waving. It was unknown how many Song troops were attacking. Not to mention that the Jin troops who had swam across the river during the day were exhausted and had to fight in panic under the sudden attack. Even most of the Jin troops on the south bank of the river stood up in panic to respond.
What was even more frustrating was that as the Jin army on the south bank of the river urgently sent support personnel after stabilizing the situation, the originally safe pontoon bridge was exposed at night, and was taken advantage of by the Song army... A team of well-equipped Song soldiers rushed along the river bank, threw in firewood and torches soaked in oil, and the poor pontoon bridge was set on fire again.
That’s all fine.
However, what really made Wuzhu collapse was that after a night of fighting, when the Song army retreated at dawn, the Jin army counted the number of people, but found that not many people had died last night. It was obvious that the gongs, drums, and torches were just tactics to confuse the enemy and tire out the troops. Only the Song army that rushed to the pontoon bridge and burned the bridge had some tricks.
But after successfully burning the bridge, the Song army only left a vulgar remark "You are Grandpa Niu from Ruzhou".
Who knows who Grandpa Niu from Ruzhou is?
But no matter what, the Jin army was here, and since casualties were not a big concern and there were people on both sides, the Jin army finally built a new pontoon bridge, and this time it was safe and sound. By noon, several pontoon bridges were connected, and most of the Jin army began to cross the river. By evening, 17,000 to 18,000 Jin troops had crossed the river.
However, when the Jin army leaders carefully calculated on the river bank, they found a huge problem.
You know, the 35,000 cavalry of the Jin army, after joining forces with the remnants of the Talai tribe, have recovered to the 40,000 strength they had at the beginning of the march.
Such a large-scale army has already crossed the Li River, but the rear has not yet left Wuyang City. What is more terrifying is that the baggage they brought from Nanyang is still slowly heading towards Wuyang. In this case, in order to guard against the Song army, to be on the safe side, according to Balisu's suggestion, the entire army should wait at the Li River and wait until the entire army has crossed before marching to the next river.
Of course, there is no problem with Balisu's plan, because after Talan's defeat, for the Jin army, the Wuhe area in front is in chaos, or to put it simply, the worst case scenario should be that it is all occupied by the Song army. In this case, if the Song army controls every river with this intensity, then only by crossing a river can we know the situation behind this river... Otherwise, who can guarantee that the Song army will not send its main force to attack at night or block the attack next time? You must know that at this time, the Song army, from the Tokyo Resident Division to the remnants of Han Shizhong, plus the original defenders of several cities, should be able to gather a 100,000-strong army!
However, if we do it this cautiously, a huge problem will arise... If it is just the Li River, it will probably take three or four days to cross it. If we want to cross all five rivers, how many days will it take?
Won’t there be a fight in between?
Do you dare to abandon those troublesome cities?
But in this case, will the baggage be sufficient? Can they still be as invincible as they were when they came here, and let the Song city of Kaesong supply them with food and grass? Where is the supply line?
And if the baggage can't be supplied... What if 40,000 cavalrymen are really stuck here? In fact, these things were the purpose of the Song army setting up the Wuhe City Defense System in this place at the beginning, but no one could have imagined that the Jin army didn't feel its power when it came to the south, but was heartbroken when it went north.
"Talan has let me down!" Wanyan Wushu, with bloodshot eyes, was filled with resentment beside the campfire. "I don't hate him for losing, I just hate him for not being able to contact me quickly. If I had known where he was, I wouldn't have been so lost."
