Lou Shi turned his head and saw this scene, he sighed slightly, he said nothing and didn't express anything extra. From his look, it seemed that he had anticipated the attack of this army, but he was a little impatient and didn't want to adjust the formation for the other side.
This is understandable, because at this time the central cavalry around Loushi was in a circular formation, just like a stable typhoon. Theoretically, there was no front or back, so there was really no need for adjustment to deal with the Song army on both sides at the same time.
However, a moment later, the Dangxiang cavalry came galloping over at an astonishing speed. When they were about to engage in a cavalry and archery battle with the Jin army, Wanyan Loushi, who had not moved or even looked in that direction but just pricked up his ears to listen, suddenly reined in his horse and sped up directly towards the direction of the light cavalry attacking from the side and rear!
After the commander-in-chief made his move, the flag bearer beside him did not hesitate to see it. As soon as the five-colored sun-holding flag moved, the entire Jin army cavalry formation gave up the Qinfeng Road infantry in front of them without hesitation and rushed back towards the attacking troops... The entire cavalry circle turned around and rushed out without any adjustment, and the typhoon immediately rolled up again on the battlefield.
The attacking Dangxiang cavalry could not stop their momentum and were caught off guard. The heads of the 3,000 cavalrymen, who were divided into two groups, collided directly with the entire Jin cavalry and then were mixed together.
What was originally thought to be a long-lasting battle of cavalry and archery instantly turned into a short hand-to-hand combat. The Dangxiang light cavalry, which had been tired after a whole day, was no match for the Jin army's heavy cavalry, which was like a storm. They were almost instantly crushed by the typhoon. Countless foreign cavalry, who were only temporarily hired by Li Yongqi, fled directly to the southeast and south.
However, the troops that had been drawn into the Jin army's formation had no way to escape.
Among them, Li Yongqi led dozens of family warriors, who were horrified and had no way to escape. In the chaos, this great Tangut hero glanced at the two flags in the northwest direction... One was the dragon flag in the distance, and the other was the five-color sun-holding flag that suddenly approached and was still approaching. He gritted his teeth and took the initiative to move towards the nearby five-color sun-holding flag.
He recognized Lou Shi!
But it was meaningless. When he saw Lou Shi himself, the dozens of cavalrymen beside him had all disappeared. He raised his arrow to shoot, but was hit by a volley of arrows from the Jin army, and was shot to the ground along with his horse.
In a short moment, more than 3,000 Dangxiang cavalry collapsed, and the main general Li Yongqi was covered in blood and was captured alive in front of Lou Shi. The two looked at each other, gasping for breath without saying a word.
"Lou Shi..." After taking a breath for a while, Li Yongqi calmed down, looked up and opened his mouth to curse.
Unexpectedly, Wanyan Loushi, who had been expressionless all the time, suddenly looked ferocious. He took out a short hammer from his waist and smashed it in Li Yongqi's face. Li Yongqi's head was broken and bleeding, his brains burst out, and he was silent.
At this time, Lou Shi was still furious, and he shouted at the corpse: "One or two, Han people or foreigners, you are worthy of this again and again?!"
After saying this, the man threw down the hammer, turned around and walked away.
Following Jiao Wentong's troops, Li Yongqi's troops were also defeated in one blow, and the main general was killed on the spot.
Moreover, after Lou Shi killed Li Yongqi, he ignored the defeated Dangxiang light cavalry and turned around to urge his troops to turn around. The cavalry came like a typhoon and pressed towards the Qinfeng Road formation again. This time, Pucha Huzhan had successfully penetrated into the belly of the Qinfeng Road formation.
Under the dragon banner, Zhao Jiu held up the helmet he had just put on, looking down at the battle situation below the mountain, but he did not move, and watched with almost no reaction as Lou Shi displayed his divine power and easily crushed Jiao Wentong and the foreign cavalry that should be led by Li Yongqi.
It's not that he doesn't want to react, nor is it that he is calm inside.
How could he not be moved when he invested all his manpower and material resources and spent a lot of effort to build up the elite imperial camp army, and the loyal ministers from the border areas who were willing to travel to Western Xia to return home to help in the war, just disappeared on the battlefield like waves.
But he was touched and didn't know how to react, or what kind of reaction he could make... Wu Jie was still at the foot of the mountain. Unless even the Grand Marshal Wu was defeated, it would not be the turn of him, the emperor, to command in person.
At this moment, from a rational point of view, what he, the emperor, should do most is to sit under the dragon banner like a puppet and give everyone reasons and courage to continue fighting.
This is what the Art of War says: Stand still like a mountain! But that’s all.
However, the Loushi Central Army, which had easily defeated the two routes of the Song army, headed towards the Qinfeng Road troops again, and at this time the Qinfeng Road troops were already in great danger.
Zhao Jiu was high up on the mountain and could see things more clearly than anyone else. Just as Li Yongqi was defeated by one blow, the two Jurchen Iron Pagodas had also succeeded at the same time... While they were inserting between Xihe Road and Qinfeng Road, they simply launched a successful surprise attack on Qinfeng Road's weak belly.
In fact, if Wu Jie had not successfully formed a battle array in the rear and used his own troops as the supervisory team, Qin Fenglu would have collapsed directly.
"Marshal! My general requests support for our flank!" After being defeated for the second time, Qiao Ze came to Wu Jie and asked for help.
"Why are you the one asking for help?" Wu Jie, who had managed to set up his formation with his back to the main camp, was already dry-mouthed, but he tried to remain calm.
"The military commander Murong Wei was killed in the raid just now. Our troops were scattered just as they came forward to support us. Whoever Zhao Jinglue finds will be the one..." It would have been better if he hadn't asked. When he asked, Qiao Ze almost cried. "Lou Shi is back again. Marshal, please give us support as soon as possible!"
"I understand." Wu Jie continued to pretend to be calm. "Go back and tell Zhao Zhe that if the Jin army comes from your left this time, along the iron pagoda that attacked the central army, I will immediately send the entire central army to attack from your left...without hesitation! But I have to wait until Lou Shi decides on the direction of attack! Do you understand? Let him hold on!"
Qiao Ze felt relieved. Without saying anything, he jumped on his horse and led a few riders back to the front formation.
Lou Shi turned back to the front of the Qinfeng Road formation and changed his formation as expected, but gave up the frontal attack and directly followed Hezhamengan who had already succeeded to break into the Song army formation... However, he did not turn in from the northeast side where the Qinfeng Road army was gaped as Wu Jie imagined, but actually rushed in from the gap between Qinfeng Road and Xihe Road, following another Hezhamengan and Gu Wulibu's troops!
Rushed in regardless of everything!
Wu Jie was watching this scene on his warhorse. Instead of being frightened, he was ecstatic... Because he realized the problem almost instantly. Lou Shi thought that there were only two armies, Qinfeng and Xihe, in front of the camp, and they did not take his troops seriously, so he wanted to resolve the entire battle in one fell swoop!
However, the two Beiwei troops behind him, hiding behind the two large armies, are the real strong forces and the main force!
This is the opportunity!
"Lou Shi wants to end the battle in one fell swoop!" Qu Duan looked over there and laughed grimly. "He wants to rescue Wanyan Wushu! He also wants to defeat the troops of Qinfeng Road and Xihe Road in one fell swoop! What a big appetite! "
"Look!" A general beside Qu Duan, named Zhang Zhongyan, calmly pointed to the southeast of the plateau. There was smoke and dust rolling over there. At least two armies of several thousand people were rushing in. One was faster but in the back, and the other was slower but in the front. "This direction must be the troops of General Han. Lou Shi must have been forced into a desperate situation... Although Li Yongqi was defeated very quickly just now, it also wasted too much time and energy for Lou Shi. He was afraid that General Han's troops would rush in and trap him from front and back together with the army in front of the camp. He was also afraid that General Han's subordinates would directly go to the plateau to end the decisive battle on the plateau..."
"What a bullshit decisive battle on the plateau!" Qu Duan cursed. He had left Luoyang early to go to northern Shaanxi to gather troops, and he also didn't know about the existence of the two Beiwei armies. "What's the point of fighting on the plateau at this time? What if the outcome is unclear and Loushi defeats the useless people in Qinfeng Road and Xihe Road and drives the defeated soldiers into the big camp? Then everything will be useless! The government is above!"
"That……"
"You go!" Qu Duan pointed his finger and gave the order without hesitation. "Go and warn Han Wu, the emperor is here, Lou Shi is here! Don't go up to the plateau! Wait for him to come over, and then go to my flag for support!"
Zhang Zhongyan said nothing, lowered his head and left.
After Zhang Zhongyan left, his brother Zhang Zhongfu came forward again and asked: "General...what should we do? The foreign soldiers said they saw Li Yongqi die with their own eyes, but Li Shifu is still alive, crying over there, and he wants to take people to the battlefield just now to look for his father's body...Should we help him gather the defeated soldiers first?"
"What's the point of a child crying because his father died? And Li Yongqi is also a waste!" Qu Duan was extremely angry, but suddenly calmed down. "But Li Yongqi's death was not in vain. The fighting power of Loushi's subordinates is really strong, but we can't delay..."
Zhang Zhongfu stared at his old boss, puzzled for a moment: "And then?"
"Raise my flag and gather the remaining soldiers and horses, as many as you can... Follow me to take out the Lou Room!" Qu Duan answered calmly.
Zhang Zhongfu was stunned for a moment: "General, we came south to support in a hurry, so we can only gather cavalry. Apart from Li Yongqi's 4,000 foreign cavalry, the rest are just over a thousand cavalry gathered from two routes... Just now, more than 3,000 foreign cavalry were useless, and now we have less than a thousand cavalry. Can they be useful?"
"I'm not going to save Liu Xi, Zhao Zhe, and those useless people!" Qu Duan glanced at the sun that was mostly blocked by Yao Mountain, sighed, and took off the bow and arrows hanging on his horse. "But the emperor has spared my life, so I have to go... You must remember this, even if I die, you have to tell others, because I really don't want to be known as someone who risked his life to rescue those two useless people."
Zhang Zhongfu was still stunned, but Qu Da waved his hand slightly and led the few remaining troops he brought with him to the south towards the back of Lou Shi.
Zhang Zhongfu was silent for a moment, but finally followed with his rifle in hand.
However, when the Qu-shaped flag was raised, due to the chaos on the battlefield, most of the subordinates were unable to gather in time, and only a few hundred cavalrymen went directly to the side and rear of Loushi.
However, as the saying goes, the name of the man's shadow tree, after all, he was actually the number one general in Guanxi after Jing Kang. When he was dispatched at this time, even Lou Shi looked back in surprise, and then became furious. Then he suppressed his anger and continued to urge his army to follow Hezhameng'an of Jiagu Wulibu to expand the gap between the two armies!
Even hundreds of riders might not be able to get close to Lou Shi. It would be tantamount to committing suicide. It would be better for him to focus on the front now.
However, the first result achieved by Loushi was not to completely tear apart the two armies, but to rescue Wanyan Wushu who was almost at the end of his rope! Of course, this rescue was not quite accurate. Loushi only opened up the connection with the Wushu regiment that was originally surrounded, and the fourth prince was unwilling to leave his headquarters at all.
"Why are you doing this, Fourth Prince?" Han Chang had a bandage tied around his eyes, but he couldn't help covering his eyes to relieve the pain. "The siege has been lifted. As the Fourth Prince, why don't you go to Lou Shi's side and provide backup for him and command the troops for him when necessary? Why waste time among these exhausted soldiers?"
"I brought my subordinates here, and they ended up like this. How can I abandon them and leave?" Although Wanyan Wushu was not blind, his eyes were red, obviously caused by staying up late and being tired.
Han Chang wanted to persuade him again, but unexpectedly Wushu suddenly asked back:
"How did you get that army?"
Even though Han Chang was blind in one eye, how could he not know what Wuzhu meant? He immediately sneered on his horse, "How could they do it? This army is so elite and well-equipped, but they are only good at small-scale chaotic battles and cannot organize a large battle to fight Loushi. Their leader Liu Yan is the deputy commander-in-chief of the Zhao Song emperor's imperial guard. It is easy to guess that the Zhao Song emperor must have gathered the elite troops from all the divisions together... This is a reckless move by someone who does not know how to fight. It was just a coincidence that we were exhausted and could not organize a large battle, so we suffered a great loss!"
"Of course I know this." Wuzhu shook his head, looking at the dragon banner on the foothills weakly. "I don't know how the Zhao Song emperor could get so many military leaders to contribute their elite troops? When he was in Huaishang, he had to kill Liu Guangshi to stabilize the troops; when he was in Nanyang, he had to sneak across the Baihe River and go to Yanling to seize the military power before he could fight to the death; today, he can sit there firmly and dispatch elite troops from all directions to serve him..."
"It must have been dispatched by the central army of the imperial camp..." Han Chang looked at the banners of Lou Shi advancing and said calmly. "Those are his direct troops!"
Wushu nodded and said no more. He stared at Loushi's flag like Han Chang. They could see clearly that Wanyan Loushi, who had succeeded many times, succeeded again just now. The Jin army commander personally led the battle and completely defeated the cavalry that Xihe Road had organized with great effort, but he squeezed out a huge gap.
It can be imagined that next, once Lou Shi takes advantage of the situation and presses in, the armies from Xihe Road and Qinfeng Road will be completely divided!
In that case, the army of Xihe Road would be squeezed at the foot of the mountain, and perhaps they could fight back, but the Qinfeng Road, which had been gutted, would most likely collapse toward the northeast and the main camp... At this time, although the soldiers on the plateau were still fighting, and although just behind Wuzhu, the strange "trump card" led by Liu Yan was still struggling to bypass Wuzhu's troops and try to directly attack Lou Shi's side, although Liu Qi had the upper hand at the northernmost end of the battlefield, he could not prevent the Song army's central route from collapsing, and the central gate was wide open!
In fact, not to mention Wanyan Wushu and Han Chang, even Qu Duan was so anxious that he rushed to the front himself, trying to press forward as much as possible, but his troops were too small and they could not effectively push into the main formation of the Jin army.
But soon, the next moment, as Lou Shi pushed Jiagu Wulibu in front of him and completely separated the two armies as imagined, something happened that neither the Jin army commanders nor Qu Duan had imagined - Wu Jie's commander-in-chief flag moved forward, and an army of thousands of heavily armored and long axes that appeared from nowhere launched a counterattack towards the Jin army's Iron Pagoda that appeared in front of them!
The Heza Meng'an troops under Jiagu Wulibu had fought with all their might. Apart from being exhausted at this point in the battle, they had lost the room for maneuver because they had rushed to the front. They thought that there were disordered, defeated and weak soldiers in front of them, but unexpectedly they encountered their natural enemy, and this natural enemy actually managed to break into the formation, forcing the Iron Pagodas to engage in hand-to-hand combat with them!
Three thousand heavy-armored soldiers with long axes who had rested for a whole day came forward, hacking at the cavalry from above and the horses' legs from below. However, Heza Meng'an, who was less than a thousand and badly wounded, was caught off guard and was actually completely at a disadvantage!
Not only that, at the same time, in the northeast direction of the battlefield, just before the Qinfeng Road army was about to collapse completely, a group of heavy armored cavalry with no less than 3,000 people, belonging to the Song Army, suddenly broke out from the outside of Qinfeng Road, preventing the Qinfeng Road army from completely collapsing, and also completely captured another group of Hezhameng'an.
The two groups, one in front and one on the side, exerted force at the same time, clamping the battlefield like an iron clamp.
In the chaos, Wanyan Wushu was completely stunned and could not speak for a long time. Han Chang suddenly sneered, "I was wrong... Fourth Prince, let me tell you, if we lose today, it is not unfair for us to lose... Such troops must be the personal troops of generals at the level of Han Shizhong, Yue Fei, and Zhang Jun. They can only support 3,000 with 40,000 or 50,000 troops, but they were willingly sent to the hands of the Zhao Song officials... You say, if the King's Hezhamengan and the First Prince's Hezhamengan were sent together today, with 6,000 Hezhamengans, wouldn't we have won on the plateau a long time ago?"
Wuzhu said nothing, but moved his eyes away from the long axes that were soon no longer sharp, and then stared at the dragon banner that seemed to have merged with the mountainside.
On Bagua Mountain, on Xiacai City, in Nanyang City... he has failed to shake the dragon flag time and time again. Will it be the same today?
But things shouldn't be like this. Time and time again, Wanyan Wushu told himself in his heart that he should be the one running after the dragon banner!
Why has it not been shaken even once?
At the same time, Lou Shi was also looking at the dragon banner, but he did not look at it for too long. He silently looked at the two surprise troops that suddenly appeared in front of the formation... and soon turned his gaze to the large Wu flag behind the Qinfeng Road troops in front of him.
He knew he still had a chance.
"Where is Han Shizhong?" Lou Shi asked the officer beside him without even turning his head.
"We have reached the back of the plateau!"
"Where's Qu Duan?"
"There are so many casualties that it is difficult to move forward, but there is a well-equipped army with a Liu flag approaching him at a very fast speed."
"Tell Jiagu Wulibu not to move and hold on for a while."
“Yes!”
"Let Pucha Huzhan look at my flag. Once I move it, he will immediately break out of Qinfenglu's belly and launch a counterattack against the Song cavalry on the periphery!"
“Yes!”
"Let the Fourth Prince and Han Chang move again, and stop the troops from Xihe Road for me at all costs!"
“Yes!”
"Uncle Po!" Lou Shi suddenly looked at his trusted and beloved general.
"I am here." Wanyan Poshu, whose body and face were covered with blood and yellow mud, bowed.
"How many soldiers and horses are left in the central army to charge?"
"four thousand!"
"Divide the troops into two and give you two thousand. Go behind me. Do you know what to do?" Lou Shi asked calmly without changing his expression.
"Help the governor stop Qu Duan and the troops with the Liu character flag..."
"No!" Lou Shi responded calmly. "It doesn't matter if they catch up with us. Don't be distracted."
"It is to stop Han Shizhong!" Wanyan Poshu corrected immediately.
"That's right!" Lou Shi replied frankly. "At this point, both sides have exhausted their strength, their arrows have run out, their blades are drawn, and Han Shizhong's troops are charging at us, but they are also fresh troops! What you have to do is to stay behind me and hold back his elite cavalry!"
"clear!"
"You don't understand!" Lou Shi lowered his head slightly, then rolled up his eyes and said in a deep voice. "You try to block the way for me from behind, and I will lead two thousand cavalry to make a final charge... If it works, then it works. If it doesn't, then don't worry about my life or death, and lead your troops to turn north directly, join forces with Pucha Huzhan, and charge out together, bypass that plateau slope, and support Bali's quick withdrawal!"
“…”
"Do you understand?"
"……clear!"
Having said this, Lou Shi said no more. After a while, Wuzhu, Han Chang, Jiagu Wulibu and others obviously received the military order and started to fight. At this time, Wanyan Poshu turned around without hesitation and led two thousand cavalrymen to move slightly behind him.
The gap widened, and although Qu Duan and Liu Yan didn't know the reason, they were both overjoyed and hurriedly advanced towards Lou Shi's flag. But at this moment, Lou Shi's flag moved again.
The two thousand cavalrymen did not do any fancy moves, and their arrows were almost used up, but they each held a spear, and as Lou Shi turned around and drew out his spear, they formed several sharp arrow formations in front of the Qinfeng Road troops, and then followed the flag of their commander Lou Shi and charged forward at the Qinfeng Road troops that were already scattered beyond recognition!
The Jin army's most extreme tactic of forcing people to attack has begun again!
In the Battle of Huanglongfu, Wanyan Aguda, who had just founded his kingdom, attacked Huanglongfu and took advantage of the situation to surround and attack the reinforcements. The Liao army came to rescue with heavy troops. Lou Shi came from afar to help. When he arrived, his horse was in good condition. Aguda gave him 300 war horses, and Lou Shi changed horses and charged. In one day, he and Yin Shuke attacked one wing of the Liao army nine times. In the end, they actually broke through the Liao army that was several times larger than theirs.
From then on, Jin Taizu Wanyan Aguda recognized Lou Shi's talent as a general and made him the first Meng'an of the Jin army and the Wanhu of Huanglongfu! Later, he became the actual commander of the Western Route Army!
So, who can deny the military talent of such a man?
As a comrade, who could veto his military proposals and orders? As an enemy, who could not treat it as a formidable foe and fight desperately?
And when he personally leads the crowd to charge, who will be able to resist?
After all, this man had achieved everything through those miraculous yet mundane cavalry charges.
Qinfeng Road had more than 10,000 people. After receiving the reinforcements from Qiao Ze and Fu Qing, the number might be even greater, but it was impossible to calculate at this time. Such a large army was roughly divided into two parts by Pucha Huzhan's Hezhameng'an, forming the front and back parts. When Wanyan Loushi led his troops to charge, the front army, whose morale had already been shaky, immediately collapsed. At the same time, Pucha Huzhan, who had been in the belly of the Qinfeng Road formation and maintained the division of the formation, suddenly made an unexpected move - he suddenly abandoned the Qinfeng Road troops and rushed out to fight Zhang Xian's Beiwei Army head-on!
This trick worked wonders!
Not only did they work together with Jiagu Wulibu and Wanyan Wushu to push back the Song troops on both sides, but more importantly, a huge and fatal gap was immediately created in the belly of the Qinfenglu army formation.
Sometimes, pulling out a knife is more deadly than stabbing it in! And stabbing it in again while pulling out a knife is even more deadly!
Lou Shi personally led two thousand central troops and made a strong advance. The front of the Qinfeng Road army collapsed first, and then the rear army was caught off guard and was also hit. The entire army almost collapsed on the spot!
Just now, the two armies of Beiwei came out together and the situation was reversed, but in the blink of an eye, the situation changed completely with Lou Shi's vigorous attack.
Zhao Zhe, the commander of the Qinfeng Road Army, was stunned and stood at a loss in the rear army, not knowing how to respond.
Qiao Ze, who temporarily replaced the military commander Murong Wei, tried to save the situation, but was discovered by the tiger-like Lou Shi, who rode up to the enemy and pierced him with a spear, killing him! The few soldiers that Qiao Ze had just gathered were crushed on the spot by the Jin cavalry!
Then, Lou Shi turned around and rushed towards Zhao Zhe's flag. Zhao Zhe's limbs felt cold and he was so frightened that his mind went blank and he actually turned around and walked away.
The entire Qinfenglu army collapsed!
Even the troops on Xihe Road nearby were completely out of control!
Qu Duan and Liu Yan, who had just set out to chase after them, had not expected such a change and could only try their best to catch up. Wu Jie, who had seen the Qinfeng Road army collapse, was also horrified... Qinfeng Road and Xihe Road had held out for so long because they had a large number of troops. Now, if these two large troops were to lose control and become the vanguard of the Jin army, how could they handle it? How could they handle the camp with only civilians and auxiliary soldiers left behind? How could Emperor Zhao handle it with only more than a thousand imperial guards by his side?
Lou Shi continued to charge forward personally, and the two thousand Jin cavalrymen did not stop for a moment, trying to drive away the defeated Qinfeng Road army .
Seeing this, Wanyan Wushu in the south was breathing rapidly. In an instant he understood why Lou Shi was the number one Meng'an of the Jin Dynasty chosen by his father Wanyan Aguda and the commander of the Huanglong Prefecture. Han Chang had only one eye, but he was also stunned and almost lost his mind. A so-called famous general was like this. Balisu was separated from the Song army and did not know the situation, but he heard the roar of the mountains and the sea in the distance but could not tell what it was. He stood silently and looked at Yaoshan without moving.
At the foot of Yaoshan Mountain, Zhao Jiu looked at the approaching Han Shizhong's troops, looked at the scattered Dangxiang cavalry on the plateau, and then looked at the sudden collapse of the situation at the foot of the mountain. His Adam's apple moved, but he was ultimately speechless... He knew that he had to do something.
Wu Jie was also silent for a while, but he did two things:
First, he sent messengers to ask the officials behind him to abandon the dragon flag and flee into the mountains behind the military camp to avoid the enemy.
Second, he took the initiative to lead his flag forward… As a military governor and commander-in-chief, it was impossible for him to lose control and run away like Zhao Zhe did.
On the contrary, Wu Jie led the general's flag forward and ran into Zhao Zhe head-on. Without hesitation, he stepped forward and stabbed the man to death on his horse!
As soon as Zhao Zhe died, the situation was partially stabilized, and Tian Shizhong also immediately understood from the movement of the flags and led the long-axe heavy infantry that he could control to gather towards Wu Jie.
Zhao Jiu on the mountain relaxed a little.
But the next moment, Lou Shi had already led his troops from the already defeated Qinfeng Road troops and rushed to Wu Jie.
Wu Jie laughed, jumped out on his horse, and pointed his spear at him: "Lou Shi, you owe your grandfather a duel! Remember?"
Lou Shi rushed directly to Wu Jie without saying a word. After exhausting all their troops and operations, the two commanders on both sides were forced to continue the war that concerned the fate of the two countries in this way as if by some strange coincidence.
However, the fact that both sides have yellow faces and are commanders does not mean that their personal horsemanship is average... In fact, as soon as the two men fought, Wu Jie was secretly shocked, and after fighting for several rounds, the arms of this brave and resourceful Wu Da were already numb.
After twenty rounds, Wu Da knew that if he continued to fight, he would surely die - this Jurchen general, or veteran, was so powerful!
At this time, the combined forces of Qu Duan and Liu Yan had not yet broken through the cavalry behind Lou Shi, and the long axe soldiers in Tian's division had not been able to quickly pass through the chaotic soldiers and rush to the front. Instead, Lou Shi's troops had already surged forward in large numbers, about to surround him and his flag.
Therefore, Wu Jie knew very well that if he died here in public, the whole situation would collapse and he would have no chance of survival. However, if he escaped, there would still be a possibility for him to protect the emperor or organize troops to counterattack.
So, in full view of everyone, Wu Jie rode away almost biting his lip.
There was almost a loud bang on the battlefield in front of the Song army camp, which was already in chaos. The Qinfeng troops, which had been barely able to stop, completely collapsed, and then the Xihe troops were also completely out of control.
The situation seemed hopeless.
However, just the next moment, Wu Jie turned back, and the entire battlefield was suddenly out of control... Although the battlefield at the foot of the mountain in front of the camp was still a mess, the organized Song troops around were almost all heading towards the main camp, and the several Jin troops at the foot of the mountain were also defeated.
Because at the moment when Wu Jie was defeated, the dragon banner pressed down directly from the foot of the mountain.
The battle had already approached a place not far from the main camp. It was clear from above and below, and from below and above... Not only was the dragon flag pressing down, but an extremely elite infantry and armored troop was almost ahead of the dragon flag and was pushing down with all their might.
This was a tactic similar to the one Wu Jie had used before, which was to use his prestige and flags to gather the troops as much as possible, stop the disintegration of the troops, and resist Lou Shi's advance. But there was no doubt that some people used it more effectively.
In fact, this was a very successful tactic. When the dragon banner pressed down following Wu Jie's retreat, most of the rational people on the battlefield had already realized that the Jin army could not win the battle at the foot of Yao Mountain, and the Song army could not lose again.
Han Chang is such a rational person.
Wanyan Wushu beside him had completely lost his rationality. The fourth prince of the Jin Dynasty felt dizzy, but he kept staring at the dragon banner. An indescribable sense of shame and frustration, mixed with panic and doubt, made his mind chaotic.
For a moment, the Fourth Prince had only one thought - the mountain was moving!
He felt like he was being crushed by a mountain!
They were really coming. As the dragon flag flew out of the camp, Liu Qi, who was completely clueless about the battle situation here, abandoned his prey in the mud and desperately came out of the swamp with all the soldiers he could. When Wang Yan's troops on the plateau saw this scene, they also went straight down. But when they saw that Han Shizhong's 3,000 cavalrymen with bronze masks crossed the plateau first, they chose to turn around and rush towards Balisu. The troops on Xihe Road relied on the foot of the mountain and tried to resist again under the messy organization of Liu Xi. The defeated Song army on the periphery of the entire battlefield were gathering here. Even Li Shifu gave up looking for his father's body and came here with the remaining thousand or so Dangxiang light cavalry around him.
Soon, the defeated troops of Qinfeng Road and Xihe Road also noticed the dragon flag rushing down from the mountain. Although the two armies were still disorganized as a whole, facing the dragon flag, they gave up the idea of ​​turning around and attacking the camp... It was very strange, but very realistic. These tens of thousands of troops fell into a strange state of chaos on the spot, not daring to go to the front and back, and being blocked on the left and right sides.
In any case, the Jin army's biggest killer, which was to drive the defeated soldiers to attack the camp, failed on the spot.
However, Lou Shi, who was very aware that his strategy had failed, looked at the approaching dragon flag in silence, but suddenly chuckled... He knew that he only had two choices now. One was to turn north directly and meet up with Wanyan Poshu and Pucha Huzhan, then go around the plateau to meet up with Balisu and evacuate together, and then die in the coming autumn rain... So, he would not choose this, because if he wanted to choose this, he would not have fought this battle in the first place.
Then there is only another way, to meet the enemy again, but no matter whether he succeeds or not, he will be killed under the dragon banner by the Song army pressing in from all directions.
This is a dead end!
However, a dead end is not a defeat. He may lose the battle militarily, but from the perspective of the Great Jin Kingdom and his Loushi, he may not be unable to win!
Hearing the sound of bowstrings behind him, he knew that it was because the battlefield was in chaos, and Qu Duan and Liu Yan were able to get closer. Lou Shi suddenly turned around and charged at the nearest group of Song soldiers with his gun! His subordinates were stunned for a moment, and quickly followed their own commander.
Both the Song and Jin sides were fighting like crazy on the battlefield not far from the camp gate, but Lou Shi was invincible like an arrow shot from a bow. He wielded a spear and led a cavalryman who ran rampant among the chaotic army. When he saw the Song army trying to gather together, he led the dwindling troops behind him to attack directly.
As he rampaged around wantonly, he seemed to have returned to Huanglongfu for a battle, having a great time and dying with no regrets.
Wu Jie certainly knew what he was doing and tried to stop him, but the chaotic battlefield not only made Wanyan Loushi lose the ability to drive away the defeated troops, but also made the Song army lose the ability to gather together to stop the enemy.
A quarter of an hour later, the dragon flag left the camp. In front of the dragon flag was Yang Yizhong, who was the first to break out. Under the dragon flag was Emperor Zhao, who was fully armed. Even Wang Yuan and Lin Jingmo were also wearing armor and following. After receiving the message from Wu Jie to evacuate, this emperor made up his mind and went straight here... This is understandable, and at this point, it is undoubtedly a successful decision.
But the problem is that Wanyan Loushi did not withdraw, but is still here.
And Lou Shi was waiting for this opportunity. He saw from afar a knight in the center under the dragon flag, accompanied by veteran generals and civil officials. He immediately gave up suppressing the Song army, turned around and led all his remaining strength to rush towards the dragon flag!
The Song troops behind him counterattacked together. Liu Yan's troops, Qu Duan, Wu Jie, Tian Shizhong, including Zhang Xian on the periphery, and some of the remnants of Xihe Road and Qinfeng Road who had awakened, all marched under the dragon flag, but it was obvious that Wanyan Loushi was one step faster.
When Yang Yi Zhong first came out of the camp, he was caught off guard by the attack and allowed some Jurchen cavalry to rush to the dragon flag within a hundred steps. Then he commanded the densely packed imperial squad to fight hard to catch up.
Zhao Jiu knew what was going on from the beginning—he was attacked by a decapitation! This was something he had anticipated before he came down.
In this regard, he, who had been on the battlefield several times, was not too panicked. After arriving at the battlefield in front of the camp gate and raising the dragon flag, Yang Yi Zhong organized resistance at the front, and Wang Yuan also calmly commanded part of the imperial squad until they gathered together under the dragon flag, forming an almost impenetrable defense circle.
But soon, the Jin cavalry told Wang Dutong that no defense was absolute, especially against cavalry - the Jin cavalry began to use the momentum of their horses to smash their entire bodies and the bodies of their horses into the still dazed and trance-like imperial squad!
A gap was instantly created in the defense circle, and Wanyan Loushi and his Five-Colored Sun Flag, which was already full of arrow holes, soon appeared in Zhao Jiu's field of vision.
Zhao Jiu didn't know how the enemy had managed to get here in front of such a densely packed army. This was no longer important. The problem was that the enemy was still unstoppable. No matter who stepped forward to stop them, it seemed that they were no match for him and his personal army. This famous Jin general, who had defeated countless Song troops before, was relying on his warhorse to maintain short-range thrusts... What was even more terrifying was that behind him there was a Jin cavalry unit whose number had reached, or had been reduced to, only a few hundred.
This is fatal.
Yang Yi Zhong rushed forward regardless of everything, but after only two or three rounds, the commander of the imperial guard was stabbed in the shoulder, fell off his horse, and was then dragged away in a panic by his subordinates.
At this moment, something even more terrifying happened. When they were about a hundred steps away, Wanyan Loushi did not continue the attack. The hundreds of subordinates behind him suddenly dispersed and most of them rushed in all directions... Then, this famous Jurchen general took a large Jurchen bow from the horse's butt behind him, put a heavy Jurchen arrow on it, and drew the bow and aimed the arrow at Zhao Jiu who was a hundred steps away.
Zhao Jiu's hair stood on end, but he did not dodge or evade the exclamations of several close ministers. Instead, he bent his bow and drew his arrow!
He held his breath, calculated the distance, raised the arrow slightly as he usually did when hunting, and then quickly aimed at the opponent... Zhao Guanjia, who was very familiar with bows and arrows, knew that his bow was faster to bend and easier to aim.
Lou Shi grinned at Zhao Jiu's bow and arrow and adjusted it calmly. However, Zhao Guanjia, who was recognized as a master in archery, was startled by the other party's smile and shot an arrow first.
The arrow flew out suddenly and went off target, but the bow and arrow in Lou Shi's hand was not affected at all.
For a moment, the official felt as if he had fallen into an icy cave.
But at this moment, an arrow shot out from a bow that Zhao Jiu was very familiar with and hit Lou Shi's arm from behind!
Lou Shi's horse shook, and the heavy arrow in his hand missed the target.
The crowd was excited.
But the next moment, Lou Shi broke the arrow on his left arm in public, just glanced at Qu Da behind him, threw away the bow and arrow, replaced it with a spear, and then rushed forward.
The few dozen remaining guards of his army used the same old tricks again, risking their lives and mounts to break open a path for their leader.
Not only that, the scene just now had already stunned many of the Banzhi formation, and Lou Shi actually took this opportunity to break into the deeper Banzhi formation, only a few dozen steps away from Zhao Jiu.
Emperor Zhao tried to bend the bow again, but his hands were shaking.
You must know that the battlefield is in chaos right now. The Jin cavalry and the Song infantry are fighting separately. Within a short distance, one person can defeat an entire country!
"Don't panic, show me which room is Lou's!"
Qu Duan bent his bow again and tried to shoot, but since Lou Shi had changed his gun and was galloping, he couldn't aim at all, and was panicked. But at this moment, a rider came from behind, with a bronze face and an iron helmet, holding a hard bow. Just by hearing the voice, Qu Duan knew who it was, and then he quickly dropped his bow and pointed at Lou Shi.
The man who came was none other than Han Shizhong, a brave general of the imperial family, who had abandoned his subordinates who were fighting fiercely in the rear and rode his horse directly to come to the rescue. Han Liangchen had noticed something was wrong here from afar, and came over with a bow in both hands. When he saw Qu Duan's instructions, he squeezed his legs together, and the warhorse under him neighed, stopped suddenly, and stood up half its body.
Han Shizhong simply turned around on his stopped horse and shot an arrow with all his might. An arrow was worth a thousand gold coins but could defeat ten thousand soldiers. The arrow hit Lou Shi right on the crotch and the horse's head!
The warhorse under Lou Shi's crotch collapsed before it could even neigh, and the entire Lou Shi was overturned with it! Han Shizhong is always Han Shizhong! For Zhao Jiu, you can always trust him!
The guards on both sides, the Jurchen cavalry behind them, and other Song troops fighting in the surroundings all rushed towards this place.
Zhao Jiu saw clearly that when Ban Zhi was fighting with Lou Shi's troops around him, Lou Shi had already tried to stand up, but unexpectedly a young general came riding up from behind Qu Duan and shot an arrow right under Lou Shi's armpit, causing him to fall down again.
Seeing this, the flag bearer who wanted to help Lou Shi threw down the five-colored sun flag and turned around to fight with the approaching general. At this moment, another Song army leader holding a long axe took advantage of the opportunity and walked up to Lou Shi, who could not get up easily, and raised the axe to chop him. Lou Shi reached for something at his waist, but found nothing. Then the axe fell down and hit Lou Shi's arm.
Wanyan Loushi lost one arm on the spot.
There was a burst of wild shouting all around, and it was hard to tell whether it was cheering or shouting in surprise.
The Song army soldier kept swinging his axe, turned around and knocked a Jin soldier away, then turned around again and swung his axe again, directly chopping off Lou Shi's head.
Having obtained Lou Shi's life, the captain threw down his axe, picked up Lou Shi's head, held it high, and shouted a name to Zhao Jiu that made the official dazed and distracted: "Zhang Yongzhen! Official! Today I..."
Before he could finish his words, in the deafening battlefield, a Jin cavalryman had already approached. He was the flag bearer who had just abandoned the flag. He ignored the pursuers behind him, jumped off his horse, crawled over, picked up the long axe on the ground, and chopped it down with all his might from the back of the neck of the Song army soldier who was only concerned with saying something to Zhao Jiu!
After one blow of the axe, Lou Shi's head fell down. Zhao Jiu did not look at it again. Instead, the head of the Song army captain was separated from the helmet in the air, revealing a face with only one ear and a happy expression.
But Zhao Jiu couldn't remember who this person with obvious features was.
The flag bearer of Lou Shi was quickly killed by Ban Zhi, and the head of Lou Shi was snatched by the young general who was chasing him, and then lifted high with a long spear. However, the cavalry of the central army of the Jin army in front of the camp did not disintegrate, but instantly became murderous. Thousands of Jurchen cavalry fought hard regardless of life and death, and some even tried to attack the dragon flag again to take back the head.
But soon, as another cavalry unit fighting with Han Shizhong's reinforcements in the east took the initiative to move northward to join forces with Heza Meng'an to break through Zhang Xian's Beiwei Army and leave the battlefield, the other Heza Meng'an also fled eastward in panic, attracting Han Shizhong's attention and blockade... In short, the Jin army in front of the camp finally gradually fell into retreat and a certain degree of disintegration.
This battle was won after all.
"Officials!"
Scholar Kobayashi, who was wearing soft armor, suddenly spoke.
"What?"
Zhao Jiu, who was trying to find something ahead, responded blankly.
"This is just a rout. The fighting is fierce, but the Jurchens have many horses. If they escape, we won't be able to catch up!" Scholar Xiao Lin reminded tremblingly. "And Wanyan Huo Nu must be supporting us in the north!"
"I know." Zhao Jiu said blankly. "I know everything."
"But there is one unit that can be used to surround and kill them!" Scholar Xiao Lin continued to remind him tremblingly. "Tell General Han not to chase after the fleeing cavalry, and ignore the troops on the plateau. Let him and Zhang Xian's cavalry go east, surround Wulong Mountain, Beiluo River, and Liangshan, and leave Wanyan Wushu, Han Chang, and that Chizhan behind! There are more than 10,000 cavalry!"
Zhao Jiu reacted suddenly and immediately looked at Wang Yuan.
Wang Yuan came to his senses and immediately passed the order on his behalf!
An hour later, in the evening, the sun set, but the rain still did not fall... Most of the Jin army had already fled, Wanyan Wushu, Han Chang and their subordinates scattered eastward, but the Song cavalry had followed military orders early and continued to block the gaps between Wulong Mountain, Beiluo River and Liangshan to the east, preventing them from going north.
After Han Shizhong pursued and attacked Chizhan and confirmed that Wuzhu's Jin army was completely defeated, he handed over his own Beiwei army to Cheng Min to pursue and intercept, and chose to turn around and meet Emperor Zhao directly. The commanders, officers and cavalry of other armies also followed suit, and all the generals gathered under the dragon flag in front of the camp gate where corpses and wounded were scattered all over the ground.
At this time, Zhao Jiu still reined in his horse and stood under the dragon banner, motionless for a long time with no expression on his face.
Wu Jie, Qu Duan, Liu Xi, Liu Qi, Wang De, and Wang Yan all gathered together. Below these people, there were countless military officers and close ministers, but no one dared to step forward to confront them.
"Your Majesty!" Han Shizhong was a man of courage, and he was also the leader of the military commanders, so after a moment, he stepped forward carefully to ask. "The Jin army was defeated, and we have sent cavalry from various units to try to cut off Wuzhu's troops from fleeing north. The battlefield is also being cleaned up. Do you have any other military orders?"
Zhao Jiu came back to his senses, looked at the corpses scattered around him, listened to the wailing in the camp behind him, and stared at the generals in front of him in silence for a long time, but suddenly spoke in the afterglow of the setting sun: "Yes!"
All the generals including Han Shizhong were in an uproar and came out one after another to bow.
"Shoot it down for me!" Zhao Jiu's expression remained unchanged, and he did not look up, but just pointed to the sky.
Everyone looked in the direction of the situation and saw that the clouds in the sky were gradually becoming thicker, and a Saker Falcon, which might have lost its owner, was circling over the battlefield.
The next moment, Han Shizhong, Wu Jie, countless generals, and even the accompanying soldiers were startled for a moment, and then almost everyone bent their bows at the same time and shot arrows at the Saker Falcon.
The arrows were dense, and several of them were obviously shot by skilled archers. They pierced the Saker Falcon like a hedgehog and directly pulled it down from the air. The rest of the arrows fell to the ground like rain and thunder in a moment.
And just as these arrows fell to the ground, with the last ray of afterglow, thick clouds and muffled thunder rumbled overhead, and then bean-sized raindrops finally fell to the ground.
Zhao Jiu didn't even look at the Saker Falcon during the entire process, and now he reined in his horse and headed back into the camp.