Volume 3 Chapter 75: Chaotic Battle

"Sir, please sit down for a moment." 
Wu Jie stopped Zhao Jiu, but he stood up panting heavily, his hands shaking. "Let's take another look at the situation, another look..." 
Zhao Jiu, who was sitting sideways next to him, nodded in agreement, but did not dare to stand up to look at the situation, because if he really stood up, his hands would tremble. 
Besides, it was not that Wu Jie, Zhao Jiu and the Song army had not thought about Longmen Ferry before, they could not ignore any direction around the battlefield. But the problem was that Longmen Ferry was too far away, more than 200 miles away. Even if they attacked 100 miles every day, they would not arrive until the third day, not to mention the complex terrain there. 
Therefore, after thinking about it, everyone felt that at that distance, the Jin army could have support, but it must be the kind that is obvious. It would take five or six days to carry enough supplies, cross from Longmen to Danzhou, to Fangzhou, and then go south along the river to gather at the Jin army camp, and finally deploy horses and carriages to join the battle. 
But now Wanyan Wushu has really come... and he appeared in the north of Liangshan the day before yesterday and here today. This speed makes Han Shizhong's timely reminder seem better than nothing. 
And it is said that the amount ranges from as little as ten thousand to as much as tens of thousands! 
"It is often recorded in history books that some armies are strong and powerful, but once they encounter a surprise attack, no matter how many enemies come, they will be defeated at the first sign of trouble. This is probably what it is like, right?" 
Although Zhao Jiu was frightened by the sudden appearance of Wanyan Wushu and dared not even stand, he still managed to keep his composure. After the suggestion of raising the flag was postponed, he took the initiative to talk and joke among the people present. "Wushu was still north of Liangshan the day before yesterday, but today he went around Yaoshan and came here. As the saying goes, a spent crossbow cannot penetrate a thin silk cloth. In my opinion, although Wushu has a large number of soldiers and horses, as long as the whole army responds safely, it may not be impossible to defeat him!" 
When everyone heard this, of course they quickly echoed Emperor Zhao's words... One said that it was already past mid-afternoon and Wuzhu had just arrived, which showed that they had been traveling all day and must be tired; another said that the terrain was complicated and the Jin army was coming quickly, so many of them must have fallen behind, and it was unknown how many of the tens of thousands of troops were left; others said that there were still the Qinfeng Road Army and the Central Army and two Beiwei Armies in the camp that had not moved, so even if Wuzhu came suddenly, the outcome would not be decided by one blow; even Wu Jie secretly regretted his loss of composure and actually let the Emperor do what he should have done. 
However, as everyone was talking, from Zhao Jiu to Wu Jie and then to everyone else, their eyes never moved, they were fixed on the Jin cavalry brigade that emerged from behind Yaoshan Mountain in the southwest, and from time to time they looked at Liu Xi's army from Xihe Road that had already formed their battle formation! 
After all, everyone knew that if Wanyan Wushu really brought 20,000 cavalrymen with the same combat power as the 10,000 cavalrymen led by Balisu and Yelu Mawu on the plateau, the Song army would be defeated without waiting for any reinforcements. The quality of Wanyan Wushu's reinforcements depended on whether Liu Xi could test them out. 
Back to the present, the Song army's center on the foothills was panicked because they knew the number of reinforcements might be extremely large. Liu Xi, who had set up his battle formation on the southern side of the right wing of the camp, was also panicked. At this time, he no longer regretted but felt upset that he had pulled out his precious archer to help his brother get the head! 
Because at this time, the five hundred divine arm archers who could not be withdrawn at all might be the key to the victory or defeat of the entire army! In fact, after Liu Xi arranged the battle array according to the way the Western Army defended against the cavalry, he looked at the only one hundred or so divine arm archers left in the core crossbow formation and had no idea how to resist the Jin cavalry that kept emerging from the foot of Yao Mountain. 
"What should we do?" After setting up the formation and gathering the officers around him, Liu Xi looked back at the central army on the foothills, turned his head and looked around and asked. "Although Guanzhong is big, the emperor is right behind us..." 
After he finished speaking, all the officers around him were speechless. 
Liu Xi was furious: "I have always taken care of you, but when the time comes, no one can help me?" 
The officers looked at each other in bewilderment. One of them boldly asked an unexpected question: "General, is the emperor really here on behalf of Yuwen Xianggong as the rumors say?" 
Since someone had taken the lead, the other officers followed up with questions: 
"There have been rumors in the military. Is it true?" 
"Isn't the emperor in Chang'an?" 
"The governor is afraid that we won't exert our strength, so he is deceiving us. How could the government do this?" 
Liu Xi was so anxious that he almost cried: "At this point, how can I still coax you? Apart from anything else, if it weren't for the government, how could I let Wu Da sit on the Marshal's throne so easily?!" 
The officers around looked at each other, and then looked at Li Yanqi, the commander of the army, and they still seemed to not believe it... Because some things, let alone being covered up, even if there are precedents and they are clearly displayed, there are probably still people who don't believe it. 
The troops of Xihe Road are not the central army of the imperial camp. 
Li Yanqi looked back at the foot of the mountain where the Jin army was still pouring out, and said directly with gritted teeth: "General, the emperor is in the center of the army. They don't know, so how can we not know? At this moment, there is only one thing to convince them, and that is that the two of us are not afraid of death and pretend to be fearless... And now, as you said, the emperor is in the camp behind us, what can we do? We can only die here!" 
"What do you want to do?" Liu Xi obviously heard something. 
"Let's counterattack while the living woman is still unstable!" Li Yanqi reined in his horse and replied. He thought the person coming was a living woman. "There are only a hundred or so Divine Arm Bows left. With so many Jin cavalry in front of them, they are not enough to support the position. And I see that those Jin cavalry are obviously a little tired. Some of them even fell off their horses when they were in formation... Fortunately, we have a lot of cavalry in Xihe Road..." 
Li Yanqi hadn't finished speaking yet, but Liu Xi was already stunned: "A cavalry against a cavalry?" 
"good!" 
"Those are Jin cavalry!" Liu Xi found it hard to accept. "My family fortune will be wiped out!" 
Li Yanqi shook his head repeatedly: "The governor still has to take care of his family's assets? If you don't fight hard in this battle, I'm afraid your family will be confiscated and your clan will be exterminated!" 
Liu Xi was suddenly speechless. 
"General, I'm not saying we should charge head-on." Li Yanqi knew that the other party was a military leader at heart, so he couldn't persuade him forcefully, but he gritted his teeth again. "I'm saying that we should separate the cavalry and infantry. I'll lead the cavalry to charge, and the general will lead the infantry to set up an ambush in the middle of the formation... When I'm defeated, I'll try to lure the Jin army into it, and we'll use the terrain to flanke the infantry... In any case, in the current situation, is there still a way to retreat?" 
Liu Xi was speechless for a long time before he reluctantly nodded under the gaze of many subordinates. 
After receiving the promise, Li Yanqi immediately took the spear from his horse, looked around and ordered: "All the military forts in each state, and all the cavalry in Xihe Road, follow me!" 
Only then did the surrounding middle-level officers completely believe that the emperor was behind them, and they also went back to send their troops. Liu Xi watched Li Yanqi and other cavalry generals send troops together, and then ordered the remaining officers to break up the formation and set up an ambush, and suddenly he felt powerless. 
After all, as the eldest son of Liu Zhongwu, Liu Xi's political level, vision and knowledge are much better than others. How could he not know the thoughts of Li Yanqi and others? How could he not know the current situation? 
In fact, Liu Xi knew better than anyone that compared to himself, secondary military leaders like Li Yanqi still had the option of surrendering. It was just that because the emperor was right behind them this time, their families wanted to continue in front of the elders of Guanzhong, so they could not bear the name of betraying the emperor, so they were forced to fight hard... and as a general, he would not surrender even if the emperor had not come at the beginning, so he had to fight desperately. 
However, even though I know what is going on and what is right and wrong, when it comes to the moment, I feel timid and confused, and I dare not and am unwilling to do it, but it is still real. 
If we are lucky in this battle, the family will have to rely on the second brother. 
Meanwhile, the Jin army was still at the foot of the mountain, following Wanyan Wushu's sun and moon flags and a large Korean flag, gathering in formation. They saw from afar that the opposing army formation was split and the Song cavalry took the initiative to attack. Wanyan Wushu, who had worked hard to come to the battlefield and should have reaped all the rewards, instead changed color. 
"I regret not listening to General Han." Wushu, who had thrown off his mask early because of the hard journey and the hot weather, turned his head and said, "I should have charged forward with all my troops at the beginning... Now, I am showing my weakness by gathering my troops here!" 
"At this point, there is no other way. I will break through the enemy lines! Please ask the Fourth Prince to gather the troops and cover my rear!" Han Chang, whose face was red from sweating and whose beard was unfurled, simply did not wear a helmet, but threw down an empty water bag and made a decision without hesitation. "We must hold on to this breath and not let it go. Once we let it go, we will not be able to get up!" 
"Okay!" Wanyan Wushu responded immediately. 
Han Chang did not hesitate and led several thousand cavalrymen under his own flag to meet them head-on. 
Zhao Jiu, Wu Jie and others at the foot of the mountain had no idea what was happening. They only saw Liu Xi finish forming the battle array, and then a large number of Jin troops poured out from the foot of the mountain. They thought it would be an overwhelming force, but unexpectedly, the Jin army stopped to gather the troops first, and then the Song army took the initiative to send out cavalry to stop them. 
At this point, they, like the attacking cavalry, felt that this was like hitting a rock with an egg. Even Li Yanqi, who came up with the idea, was just thinking of "luring the enemy deep into our territory." 
However, no matter how guilty the top brass of the Song army felt, no matter how decisive the commander of the Jin army was, or how incompetent the commander of the Song army was, after the two armies' cavalry, each with several thousand men, fought hard and charged at each other, the cavalry engaged in a chaotic battle on the gentle slope at the foot of the mountain, but there was no clear winner for a while! 
In any case, anything can deceive people, but the battle line cannot deceive people. The central army can see clearly from everywhere from a high position. The Jin army was temporarily blocked by the Song cavalry and had difficulty advancing. Everyone was surprised and many people almost fell down. 
Among them, Wu Jie was the first to react, but he quickly looked up at the sky, first at the clouds and then at the dim sun. He calculated the time and guessed the weather in his mind, and regained a lot of confidence. 
After all, if they could hold out against the offensive until dark or rain, and the Jin army withdrew, it would be a victory of sorts for the Song army, which was on the defensive. 
From a certain perspective, as long as the left and right wings are entangled, they can be defeated. The key lies in the front battlefield... He is already considering whether to send troops to attack the plateau in order to win. 
Of course, thinking of the Loushi headquarters obscured by smoke and dust on the plateau, Wu Da forced himself to let go of this idea. 
But just when Wu Jie stopped focusing on the battle situation on the right wing and concentrated on thinking about the overall situation of the entire army, the fighting over there began to fluctuate again. When the large flag with the word "Han" led thousands of Jin cavalry to fight back but failed to repel the Song cavalry, the sun and moon flag in the rear, which might represent Wuzhu, also moved! 
The commander of an army of tens of thousands, regardless of everything and without waiting for reinforcements, directly led thousands of cavalry into the battlefield. 
After this move, the Xihe Road cavalry could no longer hold on and began to be forced to retreat. However, what was interesting was that this retreat was not a rout, let alone a collapse, but rather a sustained engagement, as if they were slowly being pushed forward by the enemy cavalry. 
Not only that, the cavalry retreated all the way to the front of the formation. Liu Xi's formation-breaking strategy may have failed to achieve the effect of ambush due to the lack of the Shenbi bow, but after the infantry joined the battle, the advancement speed of the opposing Jin cavalry dropped again to a level. 
In a sense, it's almost a stalemate. 
There is no doubt that Zhao Jiu was right. The Jin army was indeed at the end of its strength! No matter how powerful an army is, it will pay a price in the face of weather and terrain! 
In the central army, people were almost celebrating. 
But Wu Jie and Zhao Jiu, although they had temporarily calmed down, did not say a word and just looked away. The only difference was that Wu Jie was trying to search for the relevant troops near Dongpoyuan and sent out scouts to the back of the plateau, while Zhao Jiu was looking far to the south, at the foot of the mountain behind Wuzhu. 
Sure enough, the situation on the battlefield changed rapidly. Just when the Song army was surprised and delighted by the situation on the right wing, smoke and dust rose again at the foot of the mountain where Wuzhu had appeared before. 
Apparently, thousands more troops were arriving there. 
"Deputy Commander, Marshal!" Wang Yuan's face tightened when he saw this, but he suggested to Zhao Jiu and Wu Jie at the same time. "Although Wanyan Wushu's reinforcements are at the end of their strength and lack combat power, they have tens of thousands of people. If they continue to provide intermittent support, the right wing may collapse suddenly at any time... Whether it is to support the right wing or send the central army to win the battle, it is only now!" 
Wu Jie shook his head slowly, and Zhao Jiu also concentrated and remained silent. 
Wang Yuan had no choice but to give up and watch the battle unfold. 
Moreover, once it became apparent that Jin Wushu's army was exhausted and weak in combat effectiveness, Wu Jie had already begun to consider the matter, but he never took action. There was only one reason for this, which was that he did not know where Lou Shi's headquarters would launch the attack from. 
The opponent was a cavalry and had the right to make active choices, but Wu Jie did not and could only respond passively. 
Of course, we shouldn't wait too long, because the scouts have reported that Lou Shi has left Jinsu Mountain and is heading towards us. 
As for Zhao Jiu, he did not respond to this matter for another reason. 
As the sun set further to the west, some clouds tended to thicken, making the sunlight gradually dim. In this case, the areas around the front of the camp, where the vegetation was deliberately cut down by the Song army and the loess was exposed, became the main basis for judging the size of the army and its movement trend. The flags that occasionally appeared in the dust and the positions before departure became the main basis for judging the army's camp. 
There was a bloody battle going on on the Dongpo Plateau in front of them. The left wing of the Song army was the right wing of the Jin army. In short, there was also a bloody battle in the mud in the north... By the same token, the right wing of the Song army, the left wing of the Jin army, and Wanyan Wushu and Han Chang at the foot of the mountain in the south also had to fight a bloody battle with Liu Xi, Li Yanqi and others on the opposite Xihe Road. 
The bone-deep fatigue caused this army, which was supposed to sweep the battlefield, to fall into a war of attrition that was difficult for them to accept. But Wuzhu and Han Chang knew without the reminder of Mou Yan who was accompanying the army, that in such a large-scale battlefield, everyone had to abandon any local gains and losses and hold on at all costs to create conditions for the real winner. 
Of course, even though they understood the situation, Wuzhu and Han Chang were still heartbroken... They thought they would be the winner, but unexpectedly, a three-day raid made them lose the chance to be the winner. 
There’s no way, the road is too difficult to walk on and the weather is too hot! 
Of the 20,000-strong army, six or seven thousand had fallen behind in the previous two days' forced march, and today behind Yaoshan, the army was disconnected again - another great general, Chizhan Hexi, Chizhanhui's cousin, led ten thousand households after Chizhanhui's death, and he led five or six thousand people and disappeared without a trace, and no one knows where he is now! 
In fact, the purpose of sending out the Saker Falcon to find the way was not to determine the battlefield's position, but to try to find the whereabouts of the other unit. However, they really didn't find it, but because they had to lead the six or seven thousand troops who had barely arrived to fight first when they arrived at one side of the battlefield. As for Wushu's stopping there to "reorganize the troops", it was first because he was tired, and second because he really wanted to wait for Chizhan to attack. 
"General Han, General Chizhan should be coming from behind. I think he should have brought three to four thousand people!" Seeing Han Chang, who was charging in front, being called, Wanyan Wushu, whose face was already covered in dust, was overjoyed. He immediately reined in his horse and called out to Han Chang in the chaos. "You take your troops back to meet them, I will hold on for a while!" 
"What does the Fourth Prince have to say?" Han Chang wiped his face, but the sweat could not be hidden behind the yellow dust. 
"You go back and rest, let Chizhan join the attack, then I'll go back and you come... We are cavalry, don't fight so chaotically, we should charge if we can, and we can also send people and horses to rest!" Wuzhu gave the order on the spot. 
Han Chang thought what he heard made sense, and without hesitation, he ordered the knights behind him to raise the flag again, and then led about 3,000 people to withdraw from the front line and head south to support Chizhan's attack. 
However, as Han Chang continued to raise the flag and head south, the smoke and dust on the opposite side continued to move slowly along the foot of the mountain. When the two sides were about to collide, General Han felt more and more that something was wrong! 
After climbing over another small slope, when the two sides were about five or six hundred steps apart, Han Chang simply took a stand. He finally realized that something was wrong - the marching trajectory of this army was a little far from the foot of the mountain. It did not seem like they were coming from the Yaoshan Passage, but rather like they were coming all the way from the south. 
Not only that, the formation was maintained too tightly, as if they were not very tired, and the number of cavalry seemed too small. 
Therefore, General Han immediately ordered his own troops to stop for a while, hoping that the many Jin army knights who had fallen behind between the two troops would serve as scouts for him. 
However, General Han's doubts soon ceased, because when the enemy was still four or five hundred steps away from him, a group of forty or fifty fully armored cavalrymen took the initiative to rush out, speaking with a Liaodong accent from afar, calling on the lagging Jin troops between the two armies to gather under the big flag with the word "Han" in the front. 
Seeing this, Han Chang finally relaxed completely. 
But after a moment, the cavalry that had been giving orders in Liaodong accents all the way suddenly accelerated when they were only two or three hundred steps away from him, and charged directly towards the large Korean flag on the opposite ridge. At the same time, the "smoke and dust" that was slightly behind also suddenly accelerated and rushed forward! 
Han Chang was shocked and angry, and immediately ordered the entire army to meet them. However, before Han Chang's troops could rush forward, someone in the smoke and dust raised by dozens of riders on the opposite side shouted: 
"Han Chang!" 
When Han Chang heard the voice, he suddenly realized who it was, but before he could react, dozens of arrows were shot at him in the smoke and dust, heading straight for him. His horse neighed after being hit by an arrow and raised its front hoof high. Han Chang himself was like a hedgehog, as one of the arrows hit him directly in the face without a helmet! 
In full view of everyone, the leader of the army fell off his horse with an arrow stuck in the face. 
The entire army of Han Chang was in a panic. Even the troops who had been ordered to rush down the ridge ignored the enemy in front and simply reined in their horses, not even trying to chase the Liaodong cavalry that had already circled back. 
But the next moment, no one expected that Han Chang on the ground actually turned over, pushed down a soldier, and snatched the mount... Everyone was immediately excited, but soon, as they saw clearly, they found that General Han was hit by an arrow in the eye socket, and their hearts sank again. 
However, the next moment, Han Chang held the arrow in his eye socket with one hand, pointed at the Red Heart Cavalry who had already turned back in front of him, and shouted: 
"Liu Yan! You are still so incompetent. Even your arrow shooting is so weak!" 
After saying that, he actually imitated Xiahou Dun's actions in the past, and pulled out the arrow from his eye socket in front of the enemy, pulling out his entire eyeball in public! And threw it heavily on the ground! That's not all, he leaned over on his horse nimbly, grabbed a handful of yellow soil from the ground, turned over and stuffed it into his eye socket, then covered his face with one hand, reined in his horse with the other, turned around and looked around, and shouted loudly: 
"Can't you hear the military order? Are you a mere resentful old soldier? Are you our opponent? Move forward immediately!" 
The commander was like a ghost, and his subordinates were all terrified. Then they rushed forward and launched a counterattack against the sudden Song army that had already launched a charge at the foot of the ridge. 
When the two sides fought, Han Chang's move of pulling out arrows to block the earth certainly shocked and inspired the whole army, but after his troops got over the initial excitement, they quickly fell into a disadvantage, because the equipment and quality of this army were far beyond imagination! There were divine arm bows everywhere, long-handled axes everywhere, and almost everyone was wearing armor! 
There is no doubt that this troop that came with Liu Yan, a former grudge against his former army, is the so-called "trump card" that Emperor Zhao had hidden before, the elite force that was formed by gathering the elite troops from various units into a whole. 
Of course, what was more important was that the Jin army that came with Han Chang was already exhausted to the extreme at this time, while the opposite side had obviously heard the news and was in perfect condition. 
Therefore, after the two armies fought for a while, their momentum was lost and the Jin army fell into a disadvantage. They only managed to hold on for a while because of the advantage of their cavalry and the fear of Han Chang behind them. 
But at this time, other troops arrived, and the Chizhan joint attack finally came! 
The vegetation in the valley was dense, and the loess was hard to blow, but it was much clearer than the smoke and dust before. Han Chang stood on the ridge of the hill, and with one eye he saw the flag of the Chizhan Hexi appear, and then thousands of people rushed here to support, and he was also a little relieved. 
But soon, as Chizhan Hexi rode to see Han Chang, he reported another piece of military information that did not surprise Han Chang but still made him angry. 
"What do you mean you didn't come here by yourself?" Han Chang covered his eyes and asked coldly. 
Chizhan Hexi was obviously a Jurchen commander, but seeing the other party like this, he couldn't help but feel afraid, and could only reluctantly say: "General Han, the reason why I was cut off in the back was because at noon, four or five thousand Song soldiers attacked me from behind at the edge of Yaoshan! They entangled for the whole afternoon! Judging from the flags and the appearance of the soldiers, they should be Li Yongqi's foreign soldiers, and Qu Duan has come in person!" 
Han Chang took a look at the Tangut cavalrymen who had emerged from behind the Jin army. He endured the severe pain and let out a long breath, but he shouted at them: "Then why don't you send some soldiers to stop them in the passage? Instead, you just let them go in full force?!" 
"How could I know this place would be so chaotic? I thought that when I came here, I could have the Fourth Prince and you as reinforcements to eat them together!" Chizhan Hexi also felt wronged. "But I didn't expect that when I came out, I was the reinforcement." 
Han Chang had a terrible headache, but he tried his best to cover the dirt on his eye sockets and gave an order: "Don't help me, go and fight Qu Duan and Li Yongqi quickly, and have someone tell the Fourth Prince behind us... We have been tricked by Lou Shi today, so let's just accept our fate!" 
As the sun moved further west, the ambush arranged by Zhao Jiu in the south worked wonders. He asked Liu Yan to bring the hidden troop of Jing Yao, but unexpectedly, it happened to catch Wanyan Wushu's troops from the rear. Not only that, but what he didn't know at this time was that Qu Duan and Li Yongqi, together with the Fangzhou cavalry, had come to help and had vaguely blocked Wanyan Wushu's troops on three sides. 
If this continues, the Jin army of more than 10,000 generals will be completely surrounded under Yao Mountain. 
Of course, Zhao Jiu didn't know about Qu Duan's arrival at this time. He, like everyone else, felt confused about the situation. The only thing that was certain was that the battle line showed that the situation on the right wing was chaotic and the probability of the Jin army breaking through from there had been greatly reduced. 
"Let's launch a general attack!" Wang Yuan had already lost count of how many times he had suggested this to Wu Jie. 
In fact, there were already many generals who followed Wang Yuan's advice at this time. Even Qiao Ze and Fu Qing, who had returned from the previous exploratory attack but were defeated, were already asking for a fight. 
After all, the sun had already set a lot in the west, and the battle line on the Dongpo Plateau had swung back and forth no less than four times. Now the opportunity for battle did seem to have been revealed, and even Loushi's troops had been confirmed to have marched to a place not far to the east of the plateau, and it seemed that they were about to climb the plateau and launch the final assault... At this moment, it seemed just the right time to send the remaining troops to attack the Dongpo Plateau. 
"Wait a little longer!" Wu Jie bit his lip and once again tried his best to resist this suggestion. "Wait until one hour before sunset. If Loushi still doesn't take the initiative to attack, we will smash it onto the plateau!" 
The generals looked at Emperor Zhao again, but Zhao Jiu closed his eyes before they looked at him. He could understand Wu Jie's pressure at the moment. Waiting was the most rational way to deal with Lou Shi, but the Jin army was resistant to hard fighting, and no one knew when the plateau would suddenly collapse! Moreover, if they waited for Lou Shi to suddenly rise before providing support, would Dongpo Plateau collapse directly and everything would be over? 
There is no right or wrong in this kind of thing, only choices. 
"You have brought the Fourth Prince's 20,000 troops to bear on their lives. If he is dead, even if you win, your daughter and Mou Yan will be cut into pieces." On the Dongpo Plateau, under the banner of Wanyan Balisu, the owner of the banner, Balisu, was standing side by side with Lou Shi, but he was mocking him coldly. 
Behind the two men, at the foot of the eastern slope, seven thousand cavalrymen were standing in neat and awe-inspiring formation two or three miles away. 
Hearing this, Lou Shi withdrew his gaze from the chaotic battlefield to the south, which was at the foot of Yao Mountain. He then burst out laughing, "This is really unfair to me. I sent the Fourth Prince here because I really wanted him to achieve extraordinary feats. But I really underestimated the terrain and weather. I didn't expect the road to be so difficult. Only a little over 10,000 of the 20,000 troops have arrived, and they are so exhausted..." 
"Then you're still laughing?" Balisu also sneered. "Why don't you quickly get your people and the two Hezhameng'ans to come up here and end this battle early! Just now the scouts reported that there was smoke and dust in our southeast. I think Han Shizhong is coming, right? Han Shizhong or the Fourth Prince, who can you wait for?" 
Lou Shi nodded with a smile, but then shook his head. 
"What do you mean?" Balisu suddenly frowned and looked at him coldly. 
"The plateau is too crowded..." Lou Shi smiled calmly, then turned his horse and headed downhill. "I won't attack from here." 
"Then where did you come from?" Balisu turned his head and stared at the other person's back, continuing to ask with a cold face. 
"Go around the slope, line up on the side of this plateau, and then from this plateau and the gap in the south battlefield, follow the Fourth Prince and his men to rush to the Song army's central camp, and crush anyone who comes to stop us!" Lou Shi turned around and smiled. "Your reminder is good. If the Fourth Prince is gone, I can't take responsibility." 
Ba Lisu's expression became increasingly grim. "So, even the bloody battle on the plateau, with 60,000 men from both sides fighting hard and losing countless lives, was all just to facilitate your final assault?" 
"If we can win on the plateau, it will be a big victory in person. Why do you need me to come here for the last chance?" Lou Shi still smiled. "Ba Lisu, I gave you 10,000 cavalry and 10,000 infantry. You are useless. Who can you blame? If I say this to your brother, it's also because you are incompetent." 
Balisu's lips turned blue and he was speechless. 
"By the way, if I die, you are the deputy governor, and you will take care of the overall situation on your own." Lou Shi added casually as he walked down the gentle slope for the last time. 
"I don't need your teaching on this!" Balisu scolded angrily. 
But no matter what the chief and deputy commanders thought, a quarter of an hour later, Lou Shi and the last 7,000 cavalrymen were completely mobilized. 
The Song army was extremely nervous, and the scouts kept reporting. Until another quarter of an hour later, there was no need to report at all - because Wanyan Loushi and his five-colored sun-holding flags, as well as 7,000 cavalrymen, had circled around from the south of Dongpoyuan and lined up calmly within the field of vision of the Song army's center. 
At this time, Qu Duan and Li Yongqi had joined forces with Liu Yan and suppressed Chizhan Hexi and Han Chang to the point where they were back to back with Wuzhu. Han Shizhong's 3,000 cavalry and 4,000 infantry were already within Balisu's field of vision when he looked back to the southeast. 
Of course, Wu Jie did not dare to delay. He was waiting for this moment. The Qinfeng troops had been sent directly out of the camp to meet the enemy and form a battle array. The two Beiwei troops in the central army also finally stood up and prepared for battle. 
"Officials!" 
Wu Jie took a deep breath, turned over and knelt on the ground, then saluted. "Now that things have come to this, I will follow the two Beiwei armies to the battlefield. Please raise the dragon flag and follow us!" 
Zhao Jiu nodded, stood up without saying a word and sat in the seat that had previously belonged to Wu Jie. A slightly worn dragon flag was raised under the personal supervision of Yang Yi Zhong and hung high in the central camp of the Song army. 
The next moment, Wu Jie turned around without hesitation and led the two Beiwei troops together with Zhang Xian and Tian Shizhong to march towards the front camp below. 
At the same time, Lou Shi, who was in the formation, looked up at the sky, looked at the two Heza Meng'ans on the left and right wings, and then looked at his trusted general Wanyan Poshu who was leading two thousand people not far from him. Then, without even looking at the smoke and dust in the southeast behind him, he just glanced at the dragon flag that had just risen, and then casually raised his hand and swung it down heavily amid the thunderous shouts of the entire Song army. 
The seven thousand were probably the most powerful cavalry of the Jin Kingdom at the moment. After gathering their strength for most of the day, they finally set off. 
At this time, it had not rained and it was still a long time before dark. It seemed that God did not favor any side.
A quarter of an hour after the dragon flag was raised, the entire army led by Wang Yan, the central army of the imperial camp, collapsed, and the life and death of the commander Jiao Wentong was unknown.
This army was rotated from the Dongpo Plateau by the Song Army. As the fierce fighting on the plateau lasted longer and longer, both sides began to get tired. In addition, the front line had already stabilized. Therefore, long before the Loushi formation, when there was a large-scale chaos on the south side of the battlefield, the war on the plateau had already been tacitly understood.
Correspondingly, Wang Yan had already given up supervising the battle and instead tried to let the front-line troops withdraw to the plateau in turns to rest.
Jiao Wentong's troops had withdrawn before the dragon flag was raised. Originally, because Balisu on the plateau suddenly intensified his offensive again, he was ready to go back to the plateau to replace Li Qiong's troops who suffered the most casualties. But when the Jin army lined up on the south side of the plateau and the dragon flag was raised from the center, the Song army was greatly encouraged. After communicating with Wang Yan, Jiao Wentong chose to stay where he was and turned his army to target Loushi's five-color sun-holding flag... His original intention was to take advantage of Loushi's battle with the Qinfeng Road troops with heavy forces to press forward from the flank to achieve a miracle.
But Wanyan Loushi would never give him this opportunity. What was the use of the cavalry's mobility advantage on the local battlefield?
Therefore, Jiao Wentong's troops were immediately crushed by the strongest cavalry of the Jin Army, which was also probably the most powerful heavy armored cavalry in the entire East Asia at that time.
Of the two Heza Meng'an armies that had been carefully selected since the time of Aguda, only one participated in the attack on Jiao Wentong's army. Pucha Huzhan led a full force of 1,000 cavalrymen that had been neatly armed and equipped for a long time at the foot of Jinsulu Mountain. Both the men and the horses were armored, like a thousand iron pagodas. They stuck to the bottom of the plateau and forcibly "shoveled" the Song army, which numbered in the thousands, off the plateau!
Apart from a very small number of divine arm bows and long axe heavy infantry, the Song army did not have, and could not have, any weapons that could cause the slightest damage to this unit.
However, like other troops, Jiao Wentong handed over most of his few Shenbi bows and longaxe heavy infantry to the government in advance. Even if there were a few left, they did not have any effect at this time and did not cause any casualties. Because at the same time that Pucha Huzhan launched the attack, Loushi's favorite general Wanyan Poshu also used Loushi and the five-color sun-holding flag as the axis and led a large group of cavalry to launch a textbook-like Jurchen cavalry raid on the Song army.
First there was intensive circular shooting. Thousands of Jurchen cavalry, under the cover of the two iron pagodas on the left and right, advanced in a circular manner around Loushi... The intensive Jurchen heavy arrows caused huge casualties to the Song army. Jiao Wentong's troops were on the verge of collapse. According to this trend, the Jin army would not have needed to engage in close combat.
But it was obvious that Lou Shi's attack was extremely swift and fierce. He and his flag advanced like the wind, and the Jurchen cavalry with him as the axis soon rushed directly into the Song army. The Jurchen cavalry did not panic at all. They replaced their bows with spears, and swept through the Song army layer by layer in a way of scraping fish scales, rolling up countless flesh and blood each time.
This formation, in a more rustic way, is called the wheel tactics; in a more scientific way, it is called circular volley plus close-range side charge; and in a more vulgar way, it can be called something like the whirlwind cavalry formation... It is a conventional tactic of small units of the Jin army, and they often launch similar advancing attacks in the form of Mouke.
But there is no doubt that when this extremely clichéd tactic was performed together by the strongest cavalry general of the era, in cooperation with the strongest cavalry unit of the era, and with the addition of 7,000 cavalrymen, a force that could not be underestimated on any battlefield in the world... it could simply be called a typhoon formation.
In the Guanxi area, it had not rained for many days, but suddenly, a cavalry typhoon consisting of golden weapons and iron horses appeared out of nowhere.
Jiao Wentong's troops were the first victims of this cavalry typhoon. The entire army fled in all directions, and the life and death of the commander was unknown... The Song army on all sides was instantly annihilated by the momentum of the dragon banner! The Qinfeng Road army in front of them was horrified for a moment, and the troops on the plateau were even more terrified. Even Wu Jie, who was still leaving the camp, and Zhao Jiu in the central army camp in the distance were also horrified.
It's not that no one thought there would be sacrifices. In fact, the Song army, from top to bottom, saw the battle array of Loushi and the two Jurchen cavalry units that were almost armored cavalry, and they all realized that they would suffer large-scale casualties. But why was it so fast? Why was it so quick and easy?
And the most important thing is, where is the Song army's counterattack?
The Jin army did suffer casualties, there were visible casualties, but the vast majority of them were caused by the natural consumption of large-scale heavily armored cavalry by the terrain... On the plateau and the high ground in the camp, everyone could see clearly that on the undulating terrain below the plateau, many Jin soldiers often stumbled and fell off their horses, and then died silently, becoming the inevitable consumables of war.
However, these casualties were mathematically probabilistic after the number of Jin cavalry reached this level, not man-made casualties. No one saw which counterattack of the Song army caused effective damage to the Jin army, because Jiao Wentong's troops almost collapsed directly with the advancement of Wanyan Loushi... This made the Song army present feel genuinely panicked.
And after the fear comes a kind of admiration from the heart...just admiration!
I'm amazed that cavalry can be used like this?!
I was amazed that heavy armor and heavy bow cavalry were so strong? !
However, this admiration soon disappeared, and was replaced by various choices made deep and shallow in people's hearts.
The first person to react was of course Wang Yan, who was closest to Lou Shi. He witnessed everything from the closest distance to the battle and the best perspective, and felt the power of the typhoon most intuitively.
And don't forget, the ones who collapsed in the battle were his core subordinates.
Therefore, when the Jin army rolled over the plateau, the commander of the Eight Character Army had a blank mind. However, due to the distance problem, Prince Cai was forced by the situation and made a quick and rigid decision:
He was a military commander, and the emperor was in the camp several miles away. The Eight Character Army under his command were soldiers from Hebei who had a deep hatred for the Jin army. Therefore, surrendering or escaping was not an option. Life or death no longer mattered at this time. The key point was that since he was a subject, he had to do his duty and not let the overall situation collapse from his side. Even if he had to do so, he had to die first to repay the emperor's grace.
"Pass the order!" Wang Yan was no longer afraid when he thought of this. He turned around and gave the order. "Let Wang De take charge of the battle on the plateau. He must not retreat a single step... Let's turn around and form a battle line to prevent the fleeing soldiers from reaching the plateau... Move the flags and follow me to the front!"
The three orders were quickly conveyed, and then, in full view of everyone, Wang Yan took the initiative to move the flag to the westernmost end of Dongpoyuan, facing the Jin army and countless defeated soldiers on the plateau.
This was a move that greatly boosted the morale of the troops and was also a very timely move.
In response, Lou Shi just glanced at Wang Yan's flag, then waved his arm and pointed to the dragon flag in his northwest direction... To be fair, just a moment ago, the Jin army commander did have the idea of letting his troops take advantage of the situation and rush to the plateau, which would be a way to end the battle.
But it was only for a moment. As Wang Yan turned to raise the flag in time, the Jin army commander immediately gave up the idea that had only emerged for a moment.
The reason for this is not only tactical considerations, but also considerations of terrain, time, and reinforcements. The key is that this battle is Wanyan Loushi's last battle, and he wants to win! When this goal is matched with the dragon banner raised by the opposite side, he should not think about other things.
"Hold on!"
As the Jin army started up again and headed straight for him, Zhao Zhe, the governor of Qinfeng Road, who had just recovered from the sudden outbreak of the battle, suppressed his anxiety and rushed into his own formation from the hill, shouting in the formation. "The emperor is watching us from behind! The rewards for sending troops have been issued! There is no reason for us not to work for the emperor!"
"Follow the instructions of General Wu, the spears are in front, and the front is directly stuck on the ground!"
"Arrange the bowmen, crossbowmen, and archers according to their range!"
"The cavalry is on the wings..."
Zhao Zhe ran left and right in the formation, shouting non-stop, and the morale of the Qinfeng Road troops was quickly boosted... This is not to say that the Qinfeng Road troops were well-trained, but that most of them were infantry after all, and they had already left the camp and formed a battle line when the Jin army wiped out Jiao Wentong's troops. Most of the soldiers only vaguely knew that they had been defeated in front, and could not see the specific scene several miles away at all.
And don't forget that they are numerous, and on their flanks are the troops from Xihe Road who have turned the tide to gain the upper hand - the huge numbers and huge military formation gave the ordinary soldiers great confidence.
However, after Zhao Zhe gave encouraging orders, he suddenly fell into panic when he talked about the cavalry on the two wings, because he had clearly realized that according to the powerful capabilities just demonstrated by the Jin cavalry, his flanks, especially the left wing, were almost undefended!
There were still soldiers from Xihe Road on the right wing! But the soldiers from Lizhou Road, who were supposed to be on the left wing, were in a quagmire far away!
"Also place more spears on the left wing, on the north and east sides..." Thinking of this, Zhao Zhe hurriedly gave the order, trying to remedy the situation.
But halfway through his words, the ground rumbled again. Seven thousand cavalrymen, or to be more precise, more than six thousand Jurchen cavalrymen, were already protecting Wanyan Loushi's five-colored flag of the sun and were heading towards the Qinfeng Road troops!
As Zhao Zhe looked at the smoke and dust that was coming towards him, and the majestic figures of the cavalry that could not be concealed in the smoke and dust, his mouth almost instantly became dry and he could no longer speak.
A distance of just two or three miles was just a matter of moments for the cavalry, but it must be said that Qin Fenglu's performance gave the Song army some confidence... The Jin cavalry rushed to the front of the formation, facing the established infantry positions, but they did not have the amazing momentum of crushing them as before.
This made many people breathe a sigh of relief - the 7,000 Jin cavalry led by Lou Shi were indeed extremely powerful, but it was obvious that the destruction of Jiao Wentong's troops just now caught them off guard. They had fought hard for an entire afternoon, and the formation disadvantage caused by the numerical disadvantage had too many causal relationships.
Although Qin Fenglu's troops were generally recognized as the weakest, their numbers and the thickness of their military formations forced the Jin army to adopt appropriate response strategies... This time they did not directly sweep into the formation, and the flag of Loushi in the middle stopped in time. His direct troops, facing the dense spear formation, simply maintained the Jurchens' usual circular cavalry and archery in the front.
It can be imagined that it would be impossible for the Loushi Central Army to advance recklessly before defeating the gun array in front of Qinfeng Road.
At the same time, the Song army finally began to launch effective counterattacks, and long-range projections arranged according to the range began to produce effective casualties. The Loushi Central Army was of course also heavily armed cavalry archers, but they were not armored cavalry. They were not luxurious enough to put armor on all 7,000 people. In this kind of battle, once the Jin cavalry lost their horses, they basically lost their combat effectiveness.
However, things were not that simple. While Lou Shi was carrying out long-range attacks in the front, two Heza Meng'an on the left and right wings and nearly two thousand Iron Pagodas had simultaneously outflanked both sides of Qinfeng Road... The two armies faced each other in the southeast and northwest. Pucha Huzhan's Heza Meng'an bypassed from the northeast, while Jiagu Wulibu's Heza Meng'an rushed headlong into the junction of Xihe Road and Qinfeng Road.
It can be seen that these two thousand Iron Pagodas will soon penetrate into the belly of Qinfeng Road, which lacks cavalry protection on its flanks, and crush this army to pieces.
“The time has come!”
At the foot of the mountain at the southernmost end of the battlefield, the place where Han Chang had thrown his eyeballs had already been occupied by the Song army. At this time, a general of the Song army who was standing there saw the two Hezhameng'ans attacking, and instead of being anxious, he turned his head and spoke quickly to a middle-aged officer in his forties or fifties beside him. "General Li, the key to Loushi's formation is that the two Hezhameng'ans on the two wings complement the Loushi central army. Now that the Hezhameng'ans on the two wings are protruding, the central army will be exposed... We will rush straight to his general flag from the side and rear of Loushi. Even if we can't take his head, as long as we disrupt his rear formation, this battle will also be our first achievement!"
"What Qu Jinglue said is correct!" The so-called General Li, that is, the foreign general Li Yongqi, also saw it clearly and nodded immediately. "No wonder General Qu didn't let me go to rescue Yuanxia before, and didn't let me pester Wanyan Wushu... I will take advantage of the two Hezhameng'an just sent out and can't be withdrawn to attack him!"
After saying that, Li Yongqi pointed to a young general in his twenties behind him and said, "Da Lang! Let's be two men, father and son, and work together! Let the emperor know our loyalty and bravery!"
The young general waved his spear and excitedly said yes, it was Li Yongqi's eldest son Li Shifu.
However, just as Li Yongqi was about to rein in his son and ride down the hill, he couldn't help but turn back and ask, "Qu Jinglue, is the emperor really under that dragon flag?"
"If not, why did I come here with all my effort?" Qu Jinglie, also known as Qu Duanle without Tiexiang, laughed coldly when he heard this. "Are you here to rescue Wu Da who took my position?! You go ahead, I'll back you up!"
Li Yongqi himself was a native of Yanfu Road and a great Tangut nobleman. How could he not know Qu Duan's character? Hearing this, he laughed out loud, and then whistled and dismounted his horse with his son Li Shifu. The approximately 3,000 Tangut cavalry that had just gathered behind the father and son also split into two and followed the Li father and son to gallop towards the side and rear of Loushi!
It is obvious that this father and son want to accomplish great feats under the eyes of Emperor Zhao.
It must be said that these 3,000 cavalrymen were completely different from the two Heza Meng'an. The Heza Meng'an were armored cavalrymen, the so-called super-heavy cavalrymen like the Iron Pagoda, moving slowly, but once they charged, they were unstoppable; however, these 3,000 foreign cavalrymen had no vests, and not many soldiers were wearing armor. They started at top speed, and their speed was even more astonishing when they galloped out. The smoke and dust were like clouds, which immediately attracted the attention of all those who were interested in the battlefield.