Zhao Guanjia's behavior might be superfluous, but considering that he might not know that Hu Yin would come here in person and make such a statement, it is difficult to say anything. However, in this way, it is inevitable that he does not trust the decision of the civil servant decision-making group of Hu Shangshu and several ministers in Tokyo.
At least compared to Yue Fei, he is not trustworthy enough.
Hu Mingzhong couldn't help but be angry for a while.
However, now is not the time to discuss this matter. Just as Wuzhu knew to put away his sarcastic remarks and use them to motivate his troops, on the Song army side, Hu Yin immediately allowed Yue Fei and others to guide the officers in the tent to check the official's will for the purpose of motivation.
No matter what, now that the river channel is blocked, the opportunity for the Jin army has emerged and war is bound to break out.
This battle will not be much less intense than the one that took place just last month, but the scale of the battle will be several times, or even ten times, larger. And considering that the Song army has complete fortifications and the Jin army has sufficient manpower, there will probably be a tug-of-war and a war of attrition.
No one can take it lightly.
"The biggest mistake of the Song army was not made by Yue Pengju, but by the self-righteous Zhao Song official!" After Wuzhu became angry, Balisu formally took over the military discussion at the table, and his words were very convincing.
"Our army has the overall situation in hand for this Northern Expedition!" After the officers in the tent finished checking the "orders", Yue Fei sat upright on the commander's seat and looked around with awe.
"The biggest mistake that official made was to divide his 300,000-strong imperial army into two. Moreover, after the division, he had to attack from both sides at the same time!" Balisu explained proudly.
"The reason I say this is not only because we have worked hard for ten years and gradually become stronger, with 300,000 imperial troops and 500,000 civilians, but more importantly, the Jurchens are getting worse day by day." Yue Fei slowed down his tone. "In the past ten years, the strength of the Jin army has changed dramatically. This is our real reliance in fighting the enemy here."
"If Emperor Zhao uses his Imperial Camp Right Army and Navy to guard the Yellow River, and then blocks the Imperial Camp Front Army directly to Longde Prefecture (Shangdang Basin), and then joins Wu Jie's Imperial Camp Rear Army and Yelu Yudu's Khitan mixed Hu out of Yanmen, filling the mountains and fields of Hedong with turbulent waters, leaving no gaps, I really dare not unite the army to fight a decisive battle with him in that kind of terrain!" Balisu stood up suddenly. "But since he has divided his troops, and forced Yue Fei to attack Daming Prefecture, and forced the Imperial Camp Front Army to capture Yuancheng, then he has exposed his opportunity for war in vain..."
"In this battle, although our forces are slightly weaker, we have sufficient fortifications and defense lines." Yue Fei continued to analyze calmly. "It is easy to show courage behind the high walls. We can completely rely on the fortifications to inflict heavy casualties on the enemy. The enemy army may seem powerful, but it is actually bloated. If the first general attack fails, the second will also fail. The third time, they will be completely frustrated and start to be in a dilemma..."
"Let him attack from any direction, we will only attack from this direction!" Balisu finally drew his sword, revealing the sharp edge. "This is the general trend! In this battle, we have united thirteen thousand households, and the King of Wei is personally supervising the army. We must swallow Yue Fei's sixty thousand men!"
"Here is the imperial decree. You have all read it. Its meaning is self-evident. Minister Hu is sitting here... There is no retreat in this battle!" Yue Fei finally stood up and gave a serious order. "But if you can strictly abide by military discipline and obey orders, there is no reason for failure in this battle!"
In this way, the commanders of both sides finished their encouragement and assigned combat tasks. Around the afternoon, the troops were properly dispatched and the battle broke out quickly and massively.
But it is definitely not intense.
Because the first to attack were not the main force of the Jin army, but the Qian army.
Under the urging of the heavily armed Jin army, no less than 70,000 or 80,000 soldiers, wearing non-slip straw sandals, many of them only wearing worn-out winter clothes brought from home, a few wearing tattered leather armor and straw raincoats that seemed a little strange at the time, carrying simple spears, soft bows, and broadswords, on a battle line nearly 17 or 18 miles wide, climbed over what was probably the most spectacular sheep and horse wall of this era - the Yellow River embankment, and then stepped on the widest moat of this era - the frozen Yellow River channel, and launched a massive charge towards the huge Song army position that had been operating for almost a month.
When there are more than 10,000 people, there is no limit. When there are 70,000 or 80,000 people, it is basically a force that no one can ignore. Only the Song army, which has no less than 130,000 or 140,000 people, can respond without fear and in a safe manner.
Moreover, these signed soldiers were simply the young and strong people from the surrounding states and counties. Over the past ten years, they had successively escaped the massive massacres and trafficking of the Jurchens and endured the incredible tyranny in the following years, but they ultimately could not escape today's war.
On a slightly chilly midwinter afternoon, under the direct sunlight without any warmth, the Hebei soldiers were like a sticky black wave, rolling from the west to the east of the Yellow River. The Song army on the opposite side did not hesitate, and the eight-ox crossbows on the river bank, the artillery carts behind the river bank, and the divine arm bows on the earthen hills fired almost simultaneously, sending countless arrows and stone bullets from the river bank and behind the river bank.
Under the intensive long-range attack, the black wave quickly became slow and slippery. After finally reaching the river bank on the other side, the black wave quickly lost its momentum to continue rolling, and then rolled back again as if it was naturally affected by gravity. At the edge of the river bank, the main force of the Song army was waiting behind the fence. These soldiers had no courage to fight hand-to-hand. As for the few who rushed to the front, even if they expressed their intention to surrender and begged the Song army to allow them to pass through for refuge, they only received long spears and short knives as a response.
In this isolated and dangerous situation, it was impossible for the Song army to take huge military risks and show leniency to them.
In fact, even the Jin army did not expect these poorly equipped soldiers to rush into or enter the Song army's positions. They originally wanted to use these soldiers to waste the Song army's arrows and bullets, and then tire and shake the Song army.
Therefore, seeing the black waves rolling back, the commander of the Jin army did not have any extra thoughts at all. He just ordered the supervision team to move forward immediately and force the other side to roll back again.
Of course, we have to roll back.
Just like this, for most of the afternoon, nearly 100,000 signed soldiers were like some dish in a hot wok being tossed around by a spatula, over and over again, and their strength, agility, courage, thinking, life, and hope were all gradually lost in these tumblings.
But such a complex and precious thing has a surprisingly simple color tone - blood seeped into the ice and spread in the cracks, turning it bright red, while a thin layer of melted mud and water formed on the upper part of the ice due to the constant movement of these soldiers, but was quickly frozen. The superposition of the two colors formed a strange and unified red and black color.
It's just like the yellowish oil residue left after the fish and meat are fried in oil.
It gets dark quickly in winter. After about four or five large-scale attacks, the sun was very low. The Song army could not bear it anymore, so they began to consciously reduce the intensity of the attack. The signed soldiers, realizing something, began to stay in the river with all their strength in a chaotic yet unified posture... Sure enough, as long as they did not attack the Song army's positions, the Song army would no longer attack them. After realizing the solidity of the Song army's positions and the strict discipline of this Song army, the Jin army quickly lost the desire to continue to spend energy on killing people and supervising the battle.
In the evening, the Jin army finally called off its troops.
This battle was a prelude and a beginning. Its purpose was to consume the morale and projection reserves of the Song army and to test the discipline and execution ability of the Song army... In addition, it should have had the tactical purpose of testing the strength and finding the weaknesses of the Song army's front line. However, due to the strict defense of the Song army and the huge and bloated army, it did not succeed.
But this doesn't matter. Starting from the next morning, the Jin army will replace a new batch of signed troops, mixed with some armored Han soldiers and even a small number of dismounted Jin cavalry to ensure the completion of this tactical goal.
By then, these signed troops will not be able to catch a breath in the river like they do today, and they will be threatened until the last moment.
However, Yue Fei was definitely not a person who would passively defend himself and not dare to fight back - that night, in the cold wind, a fire suddenly broke out in the slightly exhausted and silent Hexi Jin army camp, alarming the entire army.
Balisu and Wuzhu were horrified. They stood up hastily and gave orders. On the one hand, they asked each unit to divide up the camp and hold on. On the other hand, they sent their trusted troops eastward overnight to patrol along the river to prevent the Song army from taking the opportunity to launch a surprise attack.
After a night of commotion, in the early morning, after collecting information, Balisu and Wushu finally understood the reason.
It turned out that during yesterday's exploratory attack, the Song army saw an opportunity and actually sent a small group of elite troops disguised as Qian troops. In the later stage of the battle, they took advantage of the chaos to hide in the river, and then followed the chaotic Qian troops into the Jin army camp... Because the Qian troops suffered heavy casualties and their morale was low, no one noticed.
Finally, of course, there is the classic act of arson at night.
Of course, the Jin army's response was still very quick and they handled the situation properly, so the fire did not spread and there was no large-scale chaos in the camp. Perhaps because of this, the Song army's support troops withdrew directly after covering the retreat of many of their own small raiding troops shortly after coming into contact with the Jin army.
But even so, this night's turmoil was still a standard and even brilliant counter-attack and harassment operation - not only did the Jin army stay awake all night, but a large number of the Qian army, who had witnessed the cruelty of the battlefield, even fled in the chaos.
Thanks to this, the scale of the battle on the second day was reduced by more than half.
But then again, despite the surprise attack yesterday, they still adhered to the original tactics and strategy on the second day, and the armored Han army also showed up as promised, which also shows that the determination of the Jin army's top brass is unshakable.
On the third day, the Jin army's heavy armor began to participate in the battle on a small scale, and the intensity of the battle further increased. The river embankment position that the Song army relied on was breached for the first time, two eight-ox crossbows were burned, and hundreds of civilians were slaughtered. Then the gap was blocked by the Song army's second-line troops.
On the afternoon of that day, more than a thousand Jin heavy cavalry suddenly appeared on the east side of the Song army's position, north of Daming City and Gucheng Town, which was the old position of the main force of the Song army. They patrolled the east side of the Song army's position for two hours, and after listening to the noise from the western battlefield for two hours through the huge Song army camp, they suddenly withdrew in the evening.
It goes without saying that these are most likely Wang Bolun's troops. The fact that Wang Bolun's troops suddenly abandoned Xiajin City in the north and appeared here can only mean one thing, that is, after two and a half days of continuous probing, pressure and consumption of projectiles, the first general attack of the Jin army is about to arrive as scheduled.
On the morning of the fourth day, shortly after daybreak, the Song army scouts had not yet turned back from all directions, and the last hot air balloon of the Song army rose without hesitation and verified the news - the commander of the so-called balloon battalion, Bei Yan, personally climbed onto the basket, and then used ropes, hooks, and counterweights to pass down one paper after another with text and simple drawings from a height of more than ten feet.
The intelligence couldn't be clearer:
After having their meal, the main force of the Jin army gathered and joined together along the river;
Smoke and dust were billowing. In the southern part of the Jin army camp, there were a considerable number of Jin cavalry, probably at least tens of thousands, moving southward.
In the north, towards Guantao, the main force of the Jin army also regrouped;
In Yuan City, a large number of cavalrymen also began to gather around the already empty Cuiyun Tower, seemingly unsure of the direction of their attack;
Finally, there was dense smoke and dust in the northeast of the position. The noise was certainly not comparable to that of the main camp of the Jin army to the west of the position, but it was obvious at a glance that the smoke and dust caused by the marching of a large number of troops suddenly appeared.
It goes without saying that on this day, the Jin army would not only launch a general attack, but also attack from all sides in an attempt to maximize its military advantage.
"General..."
In Yuancheng, on the north gate tower, Gao Qingyi and two guards hurriedly climbed up the city wall and gave him earnest advice. "This place is dangerous. If you want to see the battle, why not go to the east wall..."
After the Yellow River froze, the eastern city wall that was initially bombarded became the safest area in Yuancheng.
"No need." Gao Jingshan, who was wearing full armor and leaning his hands on a crooked wooden fence, stared at the main camp of the Song army in the north of the city without turning his head. The brick and stone battlements here had long been smashed by the Song army's artillery. "The Song army doesn't have the energy to take care of the city today..."
"That's true." Gao Qingyi was stunned for a moment, then nodded and walked forward. However, after just one look, he couldn't help but sigh, and then became absent-minded like Gao Jingshan.
It turns out that from this point, the core part of the entire Song army camp is clearly visible:
It is not just the two obvious thick defense lines in the north and south, nor is it just the natural defense lines formed by the two east-west Yellow River channels and the levees, nor is it just the crossbow positions on the six earthen hills and the artillery positions above and behind the levees, nor is it just the docks and reservoirs built when digging the earthen hills. The most intuitive point is actually the scale of the camp and the density of the fortifications.
Dense fences, earthen ramparts that were not tall but large enough to form an obstacle, and neatly arranged trenches were everywhere. The camps and construction sites were clearly separated from each other. Because of their density, most of the roads in the Song army camps felt like corridors.
Just one look at fortifications of this level would make one envious of the troops stationed outside.
"What does Qualcomm want from me?"
After watching for a while, Gao Jingshan, with a tired face, finally came to his senses, but his brows were frowned.
"Pu Suyue has assembled all the troops. May I ask the commander-in-chief for the next instructions?" Gao Qingyi also quickly suppressed a sense of uneasiness and answered.
"Don't pay attention to him, I'll give it to you later." Gao Jingshan's expression remained unchanged, and he just pointed to the hot air balloon hanging high in the middle of the Song army camp. "Telling him now will only reveal the direction of the attack."
Gao Qingyi looked back at the two guards who followed him. One of them understood and immediately went back to tell Pu Suyue. After they left, Gao Qingyi stared at the many things in front of the city for a while, and couldn't help shaking his head:
"This battle is getting harder and harder to understand. Two armies of hundreds of thousands of people are meeting, but instead of deploying troops for a field battle, there are countless artillery vehicles, giant crossbows, large Kongming lanterns that can seat people, and such dense fortifications... Twenty years ago, when we were young, how could we have imagined this?"
"There are still clues." Gao Jingshan shook his head. "Except for the hot air balloon, the other things you mentioned have their roots 20 years ago..."
Gao Qingyi was at a loss for a moment.
"It's still armor." Gao Jingshan didn't mean to keep the secret, but stared at the Song army that began to deploy in an orderly manner under the city, and explained calmly. "I have had this idea for a long time... Armor, when it is thick and dense to a certain extent, makes ordinary soft bows, swords and spears less effective... Do you remember that twenty years ago, when we were in Liaodong to guard against bandits, the most useful things were actually long spears and large shields, and the sword and shield soldiers had to prepare a small bag on their waists with seven or eight stones in it?"
"Yes, that happened." Gao Qingyi recalled the past, and it seemed like a lifetime ago. "That was a good thing for sword and shield soldiers without bows and arrows to defend against harassment from the enemy from a distance."
"That's right." Gao Jingshan stood up and pointed at the heavy armor on his body calmly. "What about now? After such thick armor came out, all the elite who can really decide the outcome of the battle will wear such armor. If you still carry those seven or eight stones against such armor, wouldn't it be a joke? Even the soft bow and broadsword are mostly things prepared by the people, not the vital parts of the army. How could the Song and Jin families pay any attention to soft bows and thin arrows?"
"Now we have powerful crossbows, heavy arrows, war hammers, thick maces, axes, spears..." Gao Qingyi nodded.
"Yes, in other words, they all became heavy troops... heavy infantry, heavy cavalry... We are the Iron Pagoda, and the other side is the infantry armor. A main soldier has to carry dozens of kilograms of equipment to fight." Gao Jingshan continued to sigh. "And to deal with these heavily armed troops, in addition to using heavy to overcome heavy, a simpler way is to rely on cities, camps, and fortifications to take advantage of their inconvenience, their inability to fight for a long time, and their poor logistics. And when the role of cities and fortifications is revealed, we have to fire cannons, we have to lock the city, and then we want to suppress the outer artillery vehicles. The best way inside the city fortifications is to fire cannons, and use cannons to counter cannons... So artillery vehicles are becoming more and more common, more and more numerous, and simpler, and cities and camps are all getting thicker and denser... It has become what it is now."
Gao Qingyi thought about it for a moment, but couldn't think of any rebuttal, so he could only nod heavily.
"I'm actually worried about two things now." At this point, Gao Jingshan finally turned to the main business. "One is that the Fourth Prince's general attack is not going well. In order to be safe, the Song army will definitely attack the city with all their strength... According to common sense, our city is thick and solid, but the lowest part of the city wall is three feet high, which makes it difficult to defend against artillery bombardment. In addition, there is only one layer of city wall. Once a section of the city wall is blasted open, the city may be directly breached."
Gao Qingyi looked at the city wall at his feet, then turned back to look at the interior of Daming City behind him, and shook his head: "It's not a good thing for a city to be too big!"
"Another one." Gao Jingshan pointed at the hot air balloon again. "I am worried that the Song army has such a sudden and new method."
Gao Qingyi continued to shake his head, but he didn't mean to express his agreement: "The commander-in-chief is overthinking. The current situation is that if the Fourth Prince and his men cannot break through the camp, we will be attacked by the Song army even if we use conventional means. At this time, even if the Song army has some unexpected methods, it is just their own trick. As a trapped person, why should we think so much?"
Gao Jingshan was obviously stunned for a moment, then he nodded heavily.
Then, the two chatted for a while, and the general idea was to dig trenches around the city to prevent the Song army from fighting in tunnels; store some gunpowder and oil behind some obvious flaws, and use gunpowder and oil as combustion aids to block the gaps when necessary; of course, they also rejected the "suggestion" of repairing the city wall by pouring water and freezing it as a precaution, because many parts of the city wall had internal cracks, and pouring water and freezing it would probably be counterproductive and destroy the stability of the city wall.
But they just talked about a few things, and Gao Jingshan and Gao Qingyi stopped discussing the city defense together, because under the morning sunshine, in the dry midwinter season, Wang Bolun's troops, which had not participated in the battle before, were the first to appear in the eastern part of the battlefield and began to line up across the river. This caused tension among the Song army, and also caused the two Gaos on the top of the city to frown together.
"Wang Bolong came too early." Gao Jingshan said coldly. "He wants to make a contribution too much!"
"Old bastard!" Gao Qingyi was even more blunt.
The Song army surrounded Yuancheng and built a huge camp with a circumference of 70 to 80 miles on the land using the rivers on both sides. There must be countless tiny flaws in it, and these flaws had been more or less discovered by the Jin army in the previous three days of fighting... However, in large-scale combat, in addition to finding those flaws and deploying troops in a targeted manner, the most important thing is to consider some broad tactical options.
For example, the Song army built the northern defense line first, and then the southern defense line, so the southern defense line must be inferior to the northern defense line. The eastern and western defense lines were built later, and they could only be hastily built relying on rivers and levees, which made it difficult for the two defense lines to be compared with the northern and southern defense lines.
Then, due to the objective existence of Yuancheng, the southern section of the 17-18-li defense line on the west side appeared to be weaker - there was no way around it. For the Song army in the southern section, Yuancheng occupied half of the sandwiched area behind them, and they naturally lacked the necessary defensive depth. Moreover, troops and supplies had to be mobilized from the core area in the north.
In addition, the main force of the Jin army came from the west and gathered in Hexi, which further led to the Song army's inevitable concentration of energy and equipment on the west side. Conversely, the section on the east side of the Song army's camp area would be the weakest area as a whole.
Therefore, the Jin army will almost certainly take these two sections as the main attack direction.
Among them, not to mention the southern section of the west side, let's just talk about the east side. The Jin army wants to devote its forces to concentrated attack, but it is impossible for them to send troops here in advance to set up camp so that they can attack at any time, because the Song army is also strong, and it is dispatched in the center, which is convenient for attack. No matter how many or few troops you send, as long as they dare to set up a fort overnight, it will give the Song army a chance to attack them separately.
Therefore, when facing the general attack, the Jin army could only temporarily dispatch a special force to the eastern front... This special force set out from the western camp and needed to spend some time crossing two glaciers, bypassing the Song army's camp and the Daming city that was still controlled by the Song army. One force arrived behind the Song army and then joined forces with Wang Bolun's troops in the northeast.
Then, when the battle was at its most intense, they would concentrate their elite heavy armored troops and launch a unified attack.
Taking into account the distance and the need for the soldiers to rest in a safe area before attacking, the battle in the east should start in the afternoon or later in the afternoon.
Even the possibility of a night battle cannot be ruled out.
And now, the main battle on the west has not started yet, but Wang Bolun brought his troops here impatiently. Isn't this equivalent to pinching the nose to remind the Song army not to forget to defend the weakest eastern front?
In addition, this person has always been arrogant, relying on the fact that he is a direct descendant and refusing to listen to Gao Jingshan's orders. In addition, there is a hidden tradition of opposition between the Han people in Liaodong and the Bohai people in the early days of Aguda's uprising. It is no wonder that Gao Qingyi would directly call him "son of a bastard"!
However, this is not the time to worry about these things, because soon on the western front, the Jin army launched a tidal offensive after a brief preparation.
This time, the Jin army only forced the Qian army to launch two attacks.
After the two times, just after half of the morning, the Qian army withdrew... This time, they really came just to consume crossbow arrows and artillery stones... Then, the so-called reinforcements within the Wanhu, mainly the Haner army, but now it is not only the Han army's organized infantry, began to attack in a large-scale.
Of course, these infantrymen could not be as well-equipped, skilled in combat, and well-treated as the Meng'an and Mouke, but as an organized combat unit, they were also the basic product of the Jin Kingdom's large-scale Han rule in the Lianghe and Yanyun areas in recent years. They still received the equipment and treatment they deserved.
The armor rate of soldiers reached more than 60%, and they were generally equipped with crossbows and battle axes according to the organization... This was the configuration for the armored troops of the Song army... Of course, the more important ones were the spears and swordsmen who were absolutely indispensable on the medieval battlefield.
The Jin army deployed 30,000 to 40,000 troops of this type at one time.
The reason why the numbers are so deviated is that the Song army on the hot air balloon had no time to count and estimate, and these soldiers rushed directly to the front of the Song army's position with military qualities far superior to those of the Qian army, which led to the two sides engaging in close combat... After the previous battles, these reinforcements knew very well that the smooth but bumpy, wide and concentrated river ice surface was the main strike area for the Song army to project its force. Unlike the Qian army, if they stayed here, they would never be tolerated, but would only suffer the most severe blow, so they had to enter the melee as soon as possible.
However, in addition to deploying a large number of crossbow carts and artillery carts along the levee, the Song army also built fences on the inner slope of the levee, steepened the slope directly in front of the crossbow carts, and deployed sufficient front-line troops.
The reinforcements in the Jin army camp rushed forward, but encountered stubborn resistance at the top line of the dike, and had to endure heavy casualties from the Song army's powerful crossbows while attacking from above.
Soon, the Song army's eight-ox crossbow carts quickly ended the assault using the simplest and most direct method - using wood to prop up their hind legs to lower the shooting range.
The Song army did it on purpose. In the previous three days, they would rather watch the two precious Eight-Ox Crossbows being burned than use this tactic which was incredibly simple and had incredibly effective results.
If the arrowheads of the Jurchens' heavy arrows were like daggers, then the crossbow arrows of the Eight Ox Crossbow were like large-sized javelins. Three arrows were fired in succession, easily stringing together several people along the slope of the levee at the closest distance like blood gourds, and then nailing their bodies to the frozen soil or even the thick ice below the levee.
Armor, shield, superb martial arts and fearless courage are all like paper.
Frankly speaking, the actual damage caused by the reduced shooting range of just a few dozen Eight-Ox Crossbows is undoubtedly a drop in the bucket for the huge battle group of the Jin army, but its morale-damaging effect is too great, even more excessive than the damage caused by shooting from the river before it thawed, because it is too close!
After only two or three rounds of shooting, the offensive of the Jin army reinforcements was broken, and the defeated soldiers fled back to the river like a tide. They would rather hold their shields and take the crossbow arrows below than see their comrades strung together at the closest distance, and then live in fear, imagining themselves becoming like that.
Even though the experienced soldiers and commanders knew very well that the casualties would be even greater in this passive state of being attacked, because the crossbow arrows were dense and continuous, and there would likely be covering strikes from artillery vehicles.
But anyway, I just don’t dare to rush.
However, the Jin army commanders were not stupid or stubborn. Before the artillery started bombarding, they quickly adjusted their strategy. They recalled the troops and organized them into units and groups to avoid the direct sweeping range of the Eight-Ox Crossbows. They attacked and fought in smaller areas in waves.
The adjustment was effective immediately. It would have been impossible for the Song army to deploy the Eight Ox Crossbows to block a battle line of more than ten miles in a month. Although the Jin army's reinforcements who avoided the direct attack range of these dozens of Eight Ox Crossbows still needed to attack from above, at least there would be no major collapse such as an instant collapse of morale.
Moreover, the Jin army did not let these reinforcements die in vain. Almost immediately, after confirming that this method was feasible, some Jurchen heavy armored soldiers officially joined the assault team.
This immediately raised the combat capability of the Jin army to a higher level. Like yesterday, the Song army began to suffer casualties, and the front line began to loosen in some places.
After about two more major offensives, before noon, large groups of Jurchen heavy armored troops began to appear, and without any surprise, they all appeared in the southern part of the front line.
Almost in an instant, the Song army defending the south side of the Yongji Canal felt tremendous pressure.
"Marshal, Commander Bei has passed on military intelligence, saying that the second zone of Zone A in the southern section of the western front was once lost, but was quickly recovered." On the earthen hill to the north of Yuancheng, Bi Jin, a personal instructor of Yue Fei, who had hurriedly returned from Hedong a few days before the freezing weather, came to Yue Fei's side and knelt down to report, sweating profusely.
"Got it." Yue Fei sat upright in a chair on the hill, his words were extremely simple.
Upon hearing this, Bi Jin hurried back and went to the rope under the balloon to continue waiting for news... He had gone back and forth thirty or forty times this morning, so it was no wonder that he was sweating profusely.
"Marshal, do you want to provide support in advance?" Although Senator Huang Zong did not send any messages, he was also sweating.
"Didn't you, Huang, decide the military strategy yourself?" Yue Fei finally showed some expression, but he narrowed his eyes and asked. "You said before that the Jin army would not attack from both north and south, and the right army of the imperial camp must not be dispatched. The east side behind us would not attack from both sides, and the two Beiwei armies must not be mobilized. Why did you change it in the middle of the battle?"
At this time, Zhang Rong went to the southernmost line to take charge, Hu Yin went to the northern line to supervise the battle, and Huang Zong looked around and saw that only Tian Shizhong, a senior official from the outer town, was sitting there, holding a copy of Emperor Zhao's "absurd edict" and reading it non-stop. He took a few deep breaths and smiled bitterly:
"How can you know it will be so difficult until you face the battle?"
Yue Fei nodded, thinking: "So, Councillor Huang didn't change his mind, but he was so nervous that he couldn't hold back even though he knew he should wait?"
"Yes." Huang Zong admitted bluntly. "I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, Marshal."
Yue Fei shook his head, as if he didn't agree, but also as if he didn't care. But at this moment, the entire western front of more than ten miles was filled with shouts and screams, like waves, and with the continuous transmission of military intelligence, no one cared.
After waiting for a while, Bi Jin returned from the hot air balloon and reported hastily: "Marshal, there is a big problem in the southern section. The fourth area of ​​the word "Y" has been broken by the Jin army. The flags in the area have all been cut down by the Jin army!"
Everyone was panicked and looked at Yue Fei at the same time. However, Yue Fei was not in a hurry. He glanced behind him, then glanced at Tian Shizhong who was silent beside him, and then slowly answered: "Don't panic. Behind the fourth district of Yi is Li Kui's army. Although he is meticulous and cautious, he is always decisive in major matters. He should be able to take over soon... If he fails, Tang Huai will also coordinate."
Everyone was barely able to calm down, and a moment later, there were reports from the hot air balloon and the front line that the front line had sent out troops to drive the Jin army back, and the one who led the counterattack was none other than Li Kui, the commander in chief who was famous for his meticulousness in the army.
Only then did everyone calm down.
At this moment, Yue Fei looked back again and suddenly called out to someone next to him: "General Tian!"
Master Tian was shocked and tore the "imperial edict" in his hand.
Yue Fei did not stop for a moment, but said seriously: "General Tian, ​​the Jin army has revealed a huge flaw. The opportunity cannot be missed. I think we can give it a try."
Tian Shizhong was shocked and thought for a moment, then just like the officers and staff around him, he stood there in a daze... First of all, it was broad daylight and the front line had just been breached, so where did the flaw come from?
Secondly, how are you going to "try it"? Why did you call me again? Didn't you say that you would not move the right army of the imperial camp until the attack from both the north and the south was launched?
"Look behind you." Yue Fei did not keep any secrets. "In the whole morning, Wang Bolong's flag has been moving back and forth more than a dozen times... Every time I turned back to receive the note from Bi Jin, the position of his flag was different every time."
Like the people around him, Tian Shizhong stood up in a daze, turned around, and then stared at the eastern front behind him, which had been peaceful all this time, and gradually realized:
"He's eager to fight and can't hold back anymore?"
"You go and attack, lure him to attack! If he doesn't come, then forget it. If he really dares to come alone, we will grab him before the Jin army arrives and eat him first!" Yue Fei narrowed his eyes and gave a serious order. "Eat him whole!"
"How to pull it out? How to eat it?" Although Tian Shizhong roughly understood what Yue Fei meant, he still found it a little unbelievable. "That's five or six thousand cavalrymen... Even if the battle is unfavorable, they can retreat, right?"
"You act as bait, and I will cover the enemy. The two Beiwei troops will attack from the side and from behind!" Yue Fei continued to narrate calmly. "That's how we will eat him! Quickly and ruthlessly!"
Tian Shizhong was silent for a moment, then stood up suddenly and hurried eastward.
As soon as the people left, Huang Zong immediately reminded: "Marshal, if you carry out this risky strategy, you must take care of Yuancheng. You must also put some measures in place in the southern section of the western line just in case."
"What's your plan?" Yue Fei asked seriously.
"Send a general to counterattack from the mouth of Yongji Canal, attack southward along the river, and destroy the morale of the Jin army." Huang Zong thought for a moment and said seriously.
"I want to use the two Beiwei armies on the eastern front behind me. We cannot split them up..."
"The river is so wide, we don't need a large army or cavalry." Huang Zong reminded him quickly. "Send a brave general with more than a thousand people."
"Who is capable of taking on this task?" Yue Fei asked immediately.
"Commander Wang Gang can take on this task." Huang Zong thought for a moment and mentioned a name. " He was originally from the Beiwei Army and has always been the most courageous fighter... Reinstate him as the commander in the battlefield, return some of his old subordinates, and let him make meritorious contributions while serving his sentence!"
Yue Fei only took a few breaths to think about it, and then he made a decision: "Yes!"
"Son of a bitch!"
About a quarter of an hour later, as the Song army suddenly deployed in large numbers, Gao Jingshan looked at the bare top of Yuancheng for a while, blurted out suddenly, and then gnashed his teeth. "I knew it was a bastard!!"