Volume 4 Chapter 42 Before and After
War is the highest form of expression of contradiction and the most violent means. Due to the limitations of the times, the outcome of wars in the Middle Ages often depended on the gain or loss of a key city, the life or death of a key figure... However, no matter when, a decisive battle will always be the most frank, direct and speechless means of winning.
However, unlike most battles that required scheduling, deployment, and testing, this main battle that took place in the hilly area between Zibo River and Longshui River was really unexpected for both sides.
Yue Fei determined Li Cheng's main attack direction from Zhang Jun's deployment, but he never expected that Li Cheng actually brought almost the entire existing military force of the Pseudo-Qi. Otherwise, he would have risked his life to bring as many troops as possible, and would not have let Hu Cheng sit in the rear.
The same was true for Li Cheng. The development of the situation forced him to give his all. But for a warlord, who would be willing to throw all his fortune into it for no reason?
Neither side is sure of victory or fully prepared, so both sides can only fight to the death.
Li Cheng's cavalry on both wings sandwiched the infantry brigade and charged forward in unison; Yue Fei adapted to local conditions and set up cavalry and infantry instead, with his most elite heavy infantry as the highlight, forming an oblique formation to meet the enemy... This was the best that both sides could do within a distance of just over a dozen miles.
"Jiedu!"
The battle lasted only half an hour. When the battle was in full swing, a blood-soaked rider suddenly galloped over from a distance. Because the flag on his back was broken, he could only dismount in front of the general's flag and present his badge. Then Yue Fei's personal officer Bi Jin relayed the military information on his behalf. "There is accurate military news from the front. Zhang Zi'an, the fifth general of the Beiwei Army of the Right Army of the Imperial Camp, was injured by a stray arrow when he came up and died just now!"
Yue Fei reined in his horse and stood on a small hill beside the road, looking at the smoke and dust in the distance. His expression did not change, and he did not even turn his head. He directly shouted coldly: "In such a fierce battle, if you die, don't report it to me, commander!"
As Yue Fei's personal instructor, Bi Jin naturally knew the commander's temper, but he bowed his head and raised his armor beside Yue Fei... As for the fact that Zhang Zian was Zhang Jun's nephew, he had no intention of reporting it from the beginning.
However, on the battlefield, Yue Fei could ignore the death of Zhang Jun's nephew, but he could not ignore the situation of the Tian army's central unit. On the contrary, the situation of that unit was the basis for determining victory or defeat.
"Have you figured it out?" Li Cheng also raised his flag and stood on a small slope beside the road, then looked east to observe the battle situation and suddenly spoke. "The outcome of this battle depends on whether the long-axe heavy infantry of the Song army that protruded from the south will be defeated first, or our central army will be in chaos first..."
Guo Dadao was about to speak but stopped. He really wanted to ask his master, was he talking to him or to himself? But when the words came to his lips, they changed into:
"My lord, what you said is very true, that's exactly the truth!"
After a short pause, Guo Dadao said seriously, "The infantry in the middle should be facing the Beiwei Army under Daxiaoyan, that is, the cavalry led by Zhang Xian; and the long axe soldiers in the south that stopped the Jurchen cavalry should be the Beiwei Army led by Zhang Laocai's son-in-law."
"Not bad." Li Cheng nodded repeatedly. "They are all famous teachers and generals."
"Should we go to support the south and help the Jin people defeat Tian Shizhong, or should we go to support the middle and stabilize the central army?" Guo Dadao continued to ask.
Amid the clamor of the battlefield, Li Cheng fell into a kind of silence for a moment... It was not just the silence of personal language, nor was it just his own unilateral silence, but rather, this warlord who had risen up from the ranks of the Hebei army suddenly felt a kind of silence as if the abruptness of the entire battlefield had been smoothed out.
If there is noise everywhere, then there is no noise; if there is blood everywhere, then there is no blood; if there is fighting and death everywhere, then fighting and death seem insignificant.
The key lies in the question raised by Guo Dadao. This simple question is exactly what determines victory or defeat... Yue Fei made the final oblique formation arrangement. It is true that Yue Fei was more patient, but what next?
Then there was the feeling that both sides rolled the dice together... On this battlefield right now, there is a main road in the middle, and the two sides are slightly rugged. There is a river of neither width nor narrow blocking each side's retreat every ten miles or so. In such a crowded and narrow battlefield, it would be difficult to dispatch the troops once they are thrown out. What else can be done?
As the commander, the only thing he can do at this moment is to decide when and where to deploy the last bit of elite force under his command again!
"My Lord! My Lord?!"
Seeing that Li Cheng remained silent, Guo Dadao couldn't help but remind him again.
"Wait a moment." Li Cheng came back to his senses and took a few deep breaths before responding. "Wait a moment... These hundreds of long sword cavalry and three thousand heavy infantry are our last trump card. This time we must strike back and not let Yue Fei take advantage of the situation... You must know that the big and small eyes will smash the Beiwei Army as soon as it comes up, and there must be a last force!"
Guo Dadao nodded repeatedly, as if he was convinced.
"Jiedu."
Seeing another wave of wounded being carried down, Tang Huai, who had been standing beside Yue Fei on his horse, made a brief estimate in his mind and suddenly spoke.
"What's the matter?" Yue Fei was still staring at the flags on the front line in a daze.
"Since the battle started at Vice Governor Wang's (Wang Gui), the battle has only lasted for a little over a quarter of an hour, and there have been no less than 300 seriously injured soldiers carried down. I'm afraid the number of casualties on the front lines is also the same..." Tang Huai said solemnly. "Jiedu, since the battle with the Jin people, the armor of both sides has become stronger and stronger. It is rare to see so many people die in such a short time."
"With this kind of terrain and fighting methods, is it uncommon to have such casualties?"
"In fact, I always feel that it's not worth it..." Tang Huai paused and said frankly. "Not to mention the Imperial Camp Right Army Beiwei Army led by Tian Shizhong, even our 20,000 soldiers were carefully selected during the rest period in Xuzhou. We have been on the southern expedition for more than half a year, and there were no casualties at all. We were also prepared to keep them for crossing the river to the north to fight against the Jin people. I didn't expect that we would have to waste time with the bandits of the pseudo-Qi in the wild at this time... I know this is a decisive battle in the wild, and I know that there will be casualties, but the death is too fast!"
This time, Yue Fei did not speak for a long time. It was unknown whether he did not want to speak or he felt the same "silence" unique to the battlefield as Li Cheng opposite him.
"Send out the troops! Push forward!"
But unlike Li Cheng, Yue Fei gave the order directly after a moment of silence. "Press forward to the middle!"
Tang Huai said nothing, but turned around to look at Bi Jin behind him. Just as Bi Jin was about to pass on the military order, he found that the flag bearer behind him had already pulled out the flag, and the surrounding soldiers had all started moving... He turned around in surprise, only to find that after his commander Yue Fei gave the order, he actually went forward in person. The last 4,000 central troops that stayed around the commander's flag naturally started moving as well and headed straight ahead.
As soon as the flag with the character "Yue" on it moved, the entire battlefield shook.
On the central avenue, the infantry formation of Li Cheng's troops, which had already suffered heavy casualties from Zhang Xian, was showing signs of wavering, and the central unit of Tian's army, which had advanced alone, suddenly relaxed and was able to gain a chance to catch its breath, and was thus supported and caught up by the infantry behind him.
Seeing Yue Fei sending out troops so early, Li Cheng on the opposite side was obviously stunned for a moment, and then he fell into a bit of confusion under the attention of many generals including Guo Dadao... He found it a little difficult to understand. He felt sorry for his family's wealth, so wouldn't Dadao feel sorry for it?
Why do we have to fight a decisive battle so early? Don’t you think the battle is intense enough?
But soon, Li Cheng came to his senses. No matter if the man made a mistake out of softness or felt that a quick victory would result in fewer casualties, since the other party had moved, he could no longer waste his elite forces in the rear and had to not give in!
"Send out the troops!" Li Cheng drew his sword and looked back. "Follow me and attack! Let's kill this idiot right in front of us!"
Guo Dadao was the first to respond. He directly removed the brocade cover on his long-handled sword, shouted, and led the long-sword cavalry to clear the way. Li Cheng led the general flag forward, and then three thousand heavy infantry followed Li Cheng and went forward at the call of dozens of generals... It was as if the two armies collided head-on without any care before. The war lasted only two quarters of an hour, and the commanders of both sides raised their flags and advanced head-on to the front line.
This brought the intensity of the battlefield to a new level.
In an instant, almost everyone was rushing forward. The daily military pay, support, honor, and loyalty, as well as the pressure, leadership, and supervision of the general flag behind them, mixed with fear and anger, all came together. No one could explain why they were moving forward, but they could only move forward... and then wait until one of them gave up the courage to move forward first.
Yue Fei arrived at the front line first. After his several thousand fresh troops joined forces with Zhang Xian's cavalry, they took advantage of the dislocation space created by the advance of Tian's central division and dealt a heavy blow to the oncoming infantry of Li Cheng... It was almost visible to the naked eye that although both sides were rushing forward, with the arrival of Yue Fei's general flag at the front line, the cavalry, with the infantry as the base, divided into several teams and charged back and forth, pushing the battle line westward step by step.
For a time, one side gained while the other lost.
At this time, Li Cheng's troops were still struggling to advance.
Let me add one more thing here. The reason for such a time difference in arriving at the front line is not only because Yue Fei activated the general flag first, the key lies in the deployment of troops... The front army of the imperial camp has 23,000 people, advancing obliquely, with 8,000 infantry on each side. Among them, Wang Gui led Zhang Yong, Li Kui, Sang Zhong, Liu Zhong, Li Hong and other generals to form a group with a total of 8,000 people in the north, and the other 8,000 were led by Ma Gao and Yizhang Qing and his wife, who also led several generals and marched behind Tian Shizhong. In the middle was Zhang Xian leading 4,000 cavalry. Finally, Yue Fei and Tang Huai led 4,000 central troops to coordinate the rear.
In other words, after Yue Fei pressed forward, there were only 4,000 cavalrymen on the road in front of him, so he could move forward unimpeded.
At the same time , Li Cheng's army had nearly 40,000 people, with 5,000 cavalry on each side, assisted by some infantry following, and then some supervisory troops were separated to mix in the gaps. Even so, the infantry formation in the middle was still dense and deep, with a total of 20,000 people. However, the front was strong and the back was weak, with elite armored soldiers in the front and inferior leather armored soldiers in the back... At this time, Li Cheng led his troops forward, and he had to rely on Guo Dadao to open the way in front to barely advance.
The advancing speeds of the two sides are not at all in sync.
By the time Li Cheng's troops finally arrived at the front line, the infantry formation was already crumbling...the so-called breath of life was only left.
I can only say that fortunately I made it in time.
"We must counterattack!" Behind the army, Li Cheng directed some of the heavy infantry to stabilize the formation, while pointing at Guo Zhongwei and shouting, "Guo Dadao! All the remaining long sword cavalrymen are with you, go and charge, it's best to rush over and chop off the flag of Daxiaoyan! Remember, only chop off the flag, don't try to compete with Daxiaoyan, you are no match for him!"
Guo Zhongwei said nothing, did not raise the flag, and did not shout. He just held his sword upside down and moved forward. The two hundred long-sword cavalrymen behind him took off their sword sheaths. For a moment, the long swords were like a forest of arrows, moving forward along the center. The infantry of Li Ben's side saw the iconic long-sword cavalrymen holding their swords and marching forward in formation, and they parted to both sides like the wheat waves in the distant fields after encountering a living creature.
Under the hasty march and the pressure of manpower, except for a cavalry of more than 200 Beiwei Army who were on Guo Dadao's marching route, the rest could not easily step forward to stop them. The leader of this Beiwei Army cavalry was none other than Li Zhang, the Putian Diao, who was from Hu Cheng's command and had followed Yue Fei for a long time.
Li Zhang was originally a hero from Yizhou, and was known for his bravery in the army. How could he retreat at all? Seeing this, he was both angry and happy, and went straight to meet the enemy head-on.
The two cavalry units collided, swords and spears were wielded, blood and flesh flew everywhere, and Li Zhang was in high spirits of killing, and he led seven or eight of his fellow cavalrymen to kill several long-sword cavalrymen in a row, and directly fell into the enemy's formation. For a moment, his momentum was not weaker than that of Li Cheng's famous long-sword cavalry.
But at this moment, Guo Zhongwei saw Li Zhang, and still did not say a word. He just lowered his head and dragged his sword forward in the army formation. However, under the cover of the other long-sword cavalry, he suddenly accelerated silently, suddenly rushed to the side of the opponent, and then swung his sword with all his strength.
With just one swing, he cut Li Zhang in half from the left side of his neck to the right side of his armpit, beheading him off his horse.
It was not until this time that the long sword cavalry shouted together, gathered together with Guo Dadao as the core, easily dispersed the Dangmian Beiwei army that had lost its command, and then continued to move towards Yue Fei's flag.
Of course, the long-sword cavalry were too conspicuous. After crossing the cavalry melee area, they were directly seen by Yue Fei and Tang Huai.
"With such a large force, they advance and then slow down, slow down and then advance. Although they have some losses, they keep moving forward. There must be a general who is in charge!" Tang Huai saw the result after just a moment. "I will go to meet him!"
"Wait for him to come!" Yue Fei, who was sitting on his horse and under the banner, looked at him coldly and raised his hand to stop him. "We can just keep pushing the soldiers and the cavalry forward."
Tang Huai knew what his brother meant, so he immediately nodded in understanding. He then led his personal guards to the commander's flag, and then called Bi Jin and gave him a signal.
After a while, I don't know if it was the deliberate indulgence of the Song army, but after this long-sword cavalry entered the Song army's infantry formation, the resistance they encountered was not so serious. The soldiers along the way were just blocking and consuming their energy layer by layer.
However, when Guo Dadao rushed to a distance from the commander's flag, he saw Yue Fei and dozens of cavalrymen in obvious armor within his field of vision in front of the commander's flag. He turned around and saw that there were only a dozen cavalrymen left behind him. He knew what was going on... The Song army was deliberately indulging themselves, peeling off the layers, and then luring him to take the big and small eyes when the number of soldiers and horses became fewer and fewer.
Otherwise, why was there such a strict arrangement under the commander's flag, but the general was standing in front?
This is a trap.
However, knowing this, the skilled and daring Guo Dadao was angry that he was underestimated, but he didn't care and urged the last ten or so riders to move forward, throwing away the commander's flag and heading straight for Yue Fei... You must know, there are so many weapons in the world, why did Guo Zhongwei use a long-handled broadsword on horseback? Isn't it because the broadsword is sharpened before the battle, and then with a strong swing, no matter how powerful your martial arts are, how well-armored you are, or how famous you are, you can kill with just one blow?
Since Guo Dadao was heading straight for Yue Fei, Yue Fei's personal guards were no fools and naturally swarmed to meet him. Dozens of them were almost ready to surround the last dozen or so long-sword knights. However, Guo Zhongwei had rich battlefield experience and had anticipated this. He suddenly accelerated and rushed forward before the enemy could surround him.
Yue Fei, who had already turned his head and squinted to look at the approaching person, was not afraid at all. He simply turned around and rode his horse to meet him.
As soon as the two generals and their horses met, Guo Dadao began to panic... because just now he had used the momentum of his horse to chop down with his sword, but was easily deflected by the opponent's steel spear, which showed that the two men's horsemanship was not evenly matched. When he was at a disadvantage, he remembered his commander's instructions and was about to turn to the direction of the commander's flag, but unexpectedly Yue Fei turned very quickly behind him and soon followed him on horseback, and stabbed him in the back with another spear. Guo Zhongwei was embarrassed and could only turn around and block with his side hand, but this action inevitably deformed the action and the force was not applied properly, and then he just felt numb at the base of his palm, and the opponent's steel spear directly pressed the long sword in his hand.
Since Guo Dadao had lost his sword, he became more and more frightened, so he reined in his horse again and prepared to turn around and flee.
Unexpectedly, just by reining in his horse, the speed slowed down a little, and Yue Fei took advantage of his horse to bully him. Then, this dignified commander of the front army of the imperial camp threw away his spear, took a sharp machete from the other side of the horse, and then held the knife with both hands, and chopped hard at the back of the opponent's neck on the horse. He actually chopped all the way from Guo Dadao's neck to the opponent's crotch, and did not stop, and then cut the saddle and injured the horse's back before stopping.
Guo Dadao was also chopped into two pieces, with his internal organs scattered all over the ground.
Yue Fei's half body was covered in blood. He stopped his horse without saying a word, then got down to the ground to pick up his spear, calmly mounted his horse again, and when he returned to the front of the general's flag, he continued to command and mobilize the troops.
Not far away, the cavalrymen with long swords who were still resisting and the infantrymen of Li Cheng's army who were close by saw this scene, and they were all terrified as if they had seen a ghost. This time, Guo Dadao's surprise attack was inevitably dissipated directly.
Li Cheng was far away, and although he didn't know that his sword had been split in half vertically and his intestines might not be reconnected, he saw Guo Zhongwei trapped in the Song army's formation and never returned, and the morale of the Song army in front seemed to be boosted for a while, he naturally guessed that Guo's sword had failed.
However, Li Cheng was not incompetent. After one general died, he sent a messenger without hesitation, and ordered Xu Dadao, who was in charge of the army at the junction of the north and the central part, and his two hundred long-sword knights, plus one thousand Jinan cavalry, to continue to maintain the suppression of the central line.
Xu Dadao was also a loyal man. He had long seen the difficulties faced by the central army due to Yue Fei's early arrival and the bloated formation of his own army. So after receiving the order, he did not hesitate at all and also rode to the rescue, but tried to use the organized cavalry to separate the cavalry and infantry units of the imperial camp on the main road.
This was a very correct decision. In fact, Yue Fei could not and dared not send such a cavalry into the central battlefield.
"I have two thousand soldiers and you, you must block our way no matter what!" Yue Fei turned to face Tang Huai and spoke concisely.
Tang Huai understood and led his troops away. Yue Fei, with half his body covered in blood, thought for a moment and then ordered the flag to be raised again... Not as he did before, but just like the first time, he directly raised the flag and strode forward to press forward.
By this time, the battle had been going on for about half an hour, and both sides' front lines had suffered heavy casualties and were somewhat shaky. If they continued to move forward at this time, the casualty rate would undoubtedly increase significantly. However, after hesitating for a moment, Yue Fei took the initiative to step forward.
What made Li Cheng on the opposite side feel a little panic was that even though Yue Fei had stepped forward again, the entire Song army formation still showed no signs of wavering... You must know that the casualties of both sides were naturally higher on Li Cheng's side, but the troop ratio of two to one was there, and in terms of casualty ratio, the two sides were almost the same.
However, under such circumstances, Li Cheng's army had already begun to slow down, become confused, and lose formation, but the army in front of the imperial camp still maintained its morale and aggressive attitude.
Just like that, before the middle of the afternoon, Yue Fei himself and his banner appeared in the melee area. At this time, thanks to the tactics of the central cavalry against the infantry and the commander's personal support, the central part of the melee battle line was almost level with the central part of the Tian Division.
This was actually very dangerous for the Song army, so Li Cheng hesitated for the second time.
If he retreated slightly at this time, he would most likely be able to pull the weak central army of the Song army into a three-sided encirclement. This was the best situation for the two cavalry forces to hold the formation, and it was also the ultimate tactical pursuit that was previously defeated by the Song army's oblique formation... However, if he retreated at this time, he would also be in danger of being crushed by Yue Fei and the entire situation collapsing.
On the contrary, he could also choose to lead his troops forward without losing a breath, and fight against Yue Fei directly on the front line.
But if that's the case, he would most likely face the most direct danger to his life... The world is so big, and he has never seen Han Shizhong, who is known as the best, but he knows the big and small eyes in front of him very well. Once the two sides meet, it will be a 50-50 gamble on their lives.
Or worse?
After all, General Li Cheng's double swords were not good at horse fighting, and now they were lost.
For a warrior, losing a sword is a terrible thing.
That's the case right now.
While hesitating, there was no sword to torture his soul, and since no one was questioning him, he just continued to hesitate... Little did he know that staying still after hesitation was the third option besides advancing or retreating, but it was also the worst option.
Because just as he was hesitating, Yue Fei made another move.
Specifically, Yue Fei, who had already reached the extreme position of the front line, moved his flag forward again to exert pressure - but what was interesting was that this time Yue Fei did not go directly west, but instead urged the only two thousand remaining infantrymen to go to the left front, that is, to provide the most direct support and pressure to the right front side of the central part of Tian Shi on the south side of the battlefield.
"broken!"
Li Cheng watched the big flag with the word "Yue" on it heading southwest, and almost instantly saw through the intentions of the man opposite him. He also instantly realized the stupidest arrangement in his pre-war deployment.
"Forward! Forward! I want to fight Big and Small Eyes to the death!"
After waking up, Li Cheng no longer dared to hesitate, but immediately raised his flag and moved forward.
However, as soon as the general's flag was raised, almost at the same time, the Song army suddenly roared and shouted, and almost launched a general attack to the west with all its strength. At the same time, what made Li Cheng completely helpless was that the huge flaw he had just thought of also broke out on the spot... At the forefront on the south side of the battlefield, Meng'an, who came to support Elubu, encountered the stubborn resistance of the long axe and heavy armored soldiers of the Tian division, suffered heavy casualties, and finally chose to retreat under the pincer attack initiated by Yue Fei himself.
Poor Li Cheng was worried before the war that his brothers in Hebei would not work hard enough, and he was also worried that the local tycoons in Jingdong would have ulterior motives. As a result, none of his old brothers betrayed him, but it was the most powerful reinforcements of the Jin army who betrayed him.
Of course, it is not right to say that he betrayed Li Cheng. It was unexpected, but reasonable... No matter how strong the Jin army was, why would they work for Li Cheng? Could it be that a marching general also had to have the strategic awareness of integrating Hebei and Jingdong?
Li Cheng shouldn't have let this unit take on tactical tasks from the beginning.
Back to the present, such an organized force with tactical tasks suddenly retreated, which created a huge gap on the south side of the exhibition. However, with Yue Fei's timely order for a general attack, this gap was instantly occupied by the central part of the Tian Division, which suffered heavy casualties.
For a moment, the entire army of the puppet state seemed to be shaken by the impact.
At this moment, the big flag that Li Cheng had just raised was not only unable to move forward, but was pushed in the opposite direction by the slightly shaken army in front, and was forced to move dozens of steps backward.
But he lost his footing again, fell back again, and then lost his footing for the third time, fell back for the third time.
Finally, the defeat was disastrous.
