Before noon, the rain started to fall heavily again.
As the predetermined strategic status was achieved, the main force of the Song army of 40,000 people in front of the high ground-stone bridge did not hesitate any longer, and immediately crossed the river in a large number under the supervision of Li Yanxian, the commander-in-chief of the imperial camp's central army, according to the division of more than ten command departments.
At the same time, the Jin army on the high ground did not hesitate. According to the predetermined plan, four Wanhu gathered on the high ground under the command of Wanyan Bendu, the commander-in-chief of the Longde Prefecture of the Jin Dynasty. Then, they pressed down towards the Taiping River in front of them in a huge military formation that covered the entire high ground, in order to achieve the predetermined tactical goal of "killing as many Song troops crossing the river as possible."
However, just when the huge troops of both sides were about to start their movement, Wang De, the left deputy commander of the imperial army, who had crossed the river earlier, seized the opportunity and successfully killed the veteran Jin general Ali in battle. This directly led to the Ali tribe, which was originally only one withdrawal order away from returning to the highlands, falling into command chaos. In addition, another Wanhu Pushan Beilu was very upset after losing his son, and he went against the tactical arrangements and the actual situation and forced a counterattack, which also caused his troops to appear strong on the outside but waver on the inside.
Therefore, as the Song army crossed the river in full force, an encirclement trend was gradually formed. The Ali and Pushan Beilu tribes were immediately defeated, and the Jin army's riverside line collapsed directly.
Of course, this did not prevent Wanyan Bendu on the high ground from following the original military strategy and marching down to fight against the oncoming Song army's heavy infantry group... It's just that their primary task changed from "killing as many Song troops crossing the river as possible" to "receiving and gathering the defeated soldiers as much as possible" and "maintaining the front line and protecting the high ground."
However, just a quarter of an hour later, all the senior officers on the battlefield realized that the so-called tactical mission was a joke.
So was the Jin army, and so was the Song army.
It should be noted that with the collapse of the Jin army's battle line along the river, between the two heavy military groups, more than 10,000 Song army's Dangxiang light cavalry who tried to stop and annihilate the enemy immediately mixed with the same number of Jin army's defeated soldiers, forming a long strip of complex melee. This long strip went westward and directly connected to the western battlefield where the battle had been going on for a morning and was gradually becoming intertwined.
In this situation, when the two heavily armed groups of Li Yanxian and Wanyan Bendu collided fiercely in front of the high ground, instead of the imagined devastation and life-and-death battle, all the order and organization on the battlefield became invalid instantly.
The frontline troops of both sides were immediately drawn into the chaos zone in the middle, and the organization of the frontline troops was also broken up to a certain extent, and the command systems of both sides were semi-paralyzed. However, the military formations of both sides were so large that they created a kind of inertia both physically and in the command system, causing the follow-up troops of both sides to continuously press into the chaos zone in the middle, which then continued to expand.
Not only that, once this melee reached a certain scale, it quickly spread westward, constantly pulling in the Western Front battlefield, which had been maintaining order.
To be fair, this situation had been anticipated.
Before the war, senior officers on both sides had already realized that no one had fought this kind of war before, no one had ever deployed so many combat troops in a single day to a local battlefield of dozens of miles in radius, and no one had this combat experience... Command failure and fighting alone were things that both sides had publicly emphasized before the war.
However, no one expected this scene to come so soon, and no one expected this chaos to be so huge and out of control.
Li Yanxian and Wanyan Bendu, the front-line commanders, were almost at a loss together. Then they quickly realized that the outcome of this battle would be out of their control to a considerable extent, and would be decided by the commanding officers and Meng'an, or even further, by the commanders, battalion commanders, captains, as well as Mouke and Puliyan.
The two sides really have to use a fragmented, uncommanded, but most likely most effective way to determine the outcome of the main battlefield. After all, in this case, only the side that wins more small-scale battles will form an irreversible front-line suppression and achieve the predetermined tactical goal.
After realizing this, a complex emotion arose in Li Yanxian and Wanyan Bendu at the same time... It was an emotion mixed with relief and liberation, as well as some regret and uneasiness, and even a vague sense of panic and fear.
The only difference is that the internal proportions of these emotions are slightly different between the two people.
The rain became increasingly heavy and the noise on the battlefield increased dramatically, which in turn made the command system and scout feedback further ineffective.
"marshal."
Amid the noise of the battlefield, Wanyan Wushu, his face covered in water, finally climbed down from the watchtower, and then he seemed to want to say something but stopped himself when he looked at Balishu, who was sitting cross-legged in the mud below the watchtower.
It was obvious that Wuzhu had learned about the battle situation at the front from the generals at the front line. He wanted to do something, but he knew very well that he could do nothing.
By the same token, Bali looked up at the other person but did not respond... Some things don't need to be said in public.
However, this does not mean that the Jin marshal had nothing to do. He looked up at the sky and observed the rain for a while. Then he took out a dagger from his waist and started digging the mud on the ground where the rain was still falling.
Wushu understood almost instantly and couldn't help but take two steps forward to see: "How is it?"
"Two inches of mud, three inches of wetness, and then there's dry soil underneath." Bali quickly put away his dagger, turned his head and answered calmly. "And if the rain is the same as it was this morning, then by the evening, I'm afraid there will be four or five inches of wetness. There's a lot of water on the grass, so it may be deeper, but as long as it doesn't become a quagmire, it won't collapse easily... However, based on the current situation, there should have been a lot of water and mud."
"Will that delay our cavalry's attack?" Wuzhu asked a little impatiently.
Balisu shook his head, which made Wuzhu relax for a while, but soon, the series of unhurried words from the Great Jin Marshal made His Royal Highness the King of Wei fall into a kind of powerless irritation again:
"King Wei, this is not about the rain at all. Let alone the current situation, even if it is heavier rain, muddier ground, and faster river water, many soldiers in the army have experienced it before. It's nothing more than a slower horse speed, more slipping and more injuries... Haven't we ever sent troops to the white mountains and black waters, and in the ice and snow in winter? But the problem today is that there are too many soldiers, and the battlefield is out of control. No one knows what the result will be if so many situations are superimposed. I am afraid that when the last 25,000 cavalry rush out, they will only have time for a military order, and then they will fight on their own, and they will not be able to charge a second round at all."
Wuzhu sighed deeply, then suddenly turned around and led a horse out from under the wooden shed in the camp. Seeing this, Tai Shi Nu and other personal guards did not dare to be negligent and followed suit.
"What's the point of the King of Wei going to the frontline now?" Balisu stood up immediately after seeing this, but just sat back in the wooden shed without rain with a normal expression. "Even if it's to inspire people, it's not the right time to go now... It won't be too late to go after Ma Wu and Wulun send troops."
"I'm not trying to show off my power, nor am I trying to seize command from Bendu. I just can't sit still and want to go to the high ground to see the battle situation with my own eyes!" Wuzhu blurted out as he jumped on his horse.
"Then don't bring the flag." Balisu was also helpless.
"I know." Wuzhu replied without hesitation.
"Don't come back here after you go there. Go to the Living Women's Village on the left." Balisu continued calmly.
Wuzhu was finally stunned, but nodded heavily - he knew what Balisu meant. Wanyan Huonu had a grudge against many Song generals on the battlefield for killing their fathers, and she had always had a grudge against this marshal. In other words, Huonu might disobey orders and go into battle ahead of schedule, which would most likely have a devastating consequence for the war.
After nodding, Wuzhu rode out of the camp and headed for the high ground without saying a word. Only a moment later, he had arrived at the high ground directly from the safe and unobstructed rear of the high ground.
However, in the rain, Wuzhu did not alarm the commanders. He just stopped his horse on a high slope somewhere on the high ground, surrounded by his personal guards. Then he looked around and observed for a while on the slope that had been trampled into mud.
However, this observation did not make the ruling prince of the Great Jin feel relieved or relaxed, because although the entire battlefield was still in chaos at this time, there were already some clues to the trend of the war - there was no doubt that the Song army was continuing to advance.
Of course, this was also expected.
You know, Wuzhu was surprised by the collapse of Ali, and was mentally prepared for the collapse of Pushan Beilu. However, this surprise and understanding were microscopic and targeted psychological activities... Ali died first? Wasn't Pushan Beilu always steady? In fact, from a macro perspective, before the battle began, Wuzhu had reached a consensus with many veterans and military staff. That is, today's battle will definitely result in heavy losses. The Song army, which has superior manpower and morale, will definitely have a considerable advantage in the battle. His side will definitely lose famous generals and entire divisions.
There is even a sense that the entire army will be defeated here and everything will be lost.
However, it was precisely because he felt that no matter how bad the situation was, it was all within expectations when he thought about it carefully that Wushu felt a little frustrated and uneasy.
Because he asked himself whether he had really tried his best in this battle.
From the moment he learned that his brother had died of a sudden illness on the front line in Hebei, he acted decisively, entrusted the rear to his elder brother Wanyan Woben, and went to the front line himself, worked hard to rally the army's morale, integrate the troops, plunder logistics, mobilize the signed troops, and firmly supported and encouraged Balishu to launch relevant strategies and tactics.
However, Yue Fei's actions in front of Damingfu greatly frustrated his army, making him realize that the army's combat effectiveness is not as good as before. Wang Bolong's annihilation made him feel heartbroken and realized from the bottom of his heart the most serious consequences of the Song army's northern expedition. The scene of the fall of Taiyuan City and Yuan City at the same time directly made the main force of the Jin army lose the last bit of strategic initiative.
Looking back, what was most difficult for Wuzhu to accept was that although both sides were obviously acting hastily, throughout the whole process, the Song army, which only had a ten-day head start, had always held all the advantages and had everything of the Jin army in its hands... From the dispatch of the troops to the current decisive battle, the Song army did not give him the slightest chance to breathe.
All actions are constrained by time, geography and logistics.
This suffocating sense of aggression is too hard to adapt to, and the way the Zhao Song official manipulates the world without making a sound is too horrifying.
Wuzhu looked towards the northeast direction of Huolu City. Intelligence told him that Emperor Zhao's dragon flag was there. Although it was far away and blocked by the rain, making it impossible to see clearly, the fourth prince of the Jin Dynasty could still feel that there was a crouching tiger there, with great momentum and ready to devour people.
As I said, he tried his best, and so far, God did not favor anyone obviously. This was a very fair battle, and the final outcome of the battle has not yet been decided.
But it was excruciating.
On the other side of the Taiping River, Zhao Jiu had unknowingly drunk half a pot of wine, so that his face was slightly smoked... After the battle on the front slope of the high ground fell into a full-scale melee, he began to unconsciously increase the frequency of drinking by himself.
It was obvious that the Song army had the upper hand... The Jin army had lost the riverfront and two organized Wanhu troops, so they could only rely on the advantage of the high ground to fight back. The Song army had 100,000 troops to deal with six Wanhu troops, especially since it was not yet noon. The morale, military spirit, and physical strength of both sides were still able to hold on. There was no reason not to suppress the Jin army.
However, Zhao Jiu still felt uneasy and frightened.
Because his shallow military experience told him that as this melee continued, under the influence of rain, mud and armor, the physical strength of both sides would be rapidly lost. Once a certain point was passed, large-scale casualties would quickly appear, and the speed of appearance would be getting faster and faster. What's more terrible is that although there is no accurate intelligence at present, Zhao Jiu can still be sure that, just like his side, the Jin army must have a large number of fresh troops that have not been put into battle. At that time, every time both sides put in new forces, there will be large-scale, wave-by-wave casualties, and this kind of casualties will be severe and indistinguishable.
Reason told Zhao Jiu that the Song army had the upper hand in the war, and even if both sides had to fight to the death in the end, he had a greater chance of winning.
However, this does not mean that Zhao Jiu did not feel torment and fear, especially since he needed to sit here, almost as an outsider, observing and waiting for the progress of the battle with a blurred vision.
Lu Yihao and Liu Yan had been silent for a long time.
Time passed little by little, and noon came. Seeing that the Song army formation in front of the high ground, with the help of more and more reinforcements from the western front, through bloody melee and the driving out of large areas of defeated troops, finally occupied one-third of the entire high ground, Wuzhu did not force them to stay, but turned around and went to Huonu's camp according to Balisu's request.
Soon after he left, Wanyan Bendu began to implement the established preparatory strategy, which was to order the troops to shrink and integrate their formations, while at the same time gathering the troops on the western front to retreat in order to continue to control the high ground and protect the camp behind them.
But this action inevitably put the Tuhesu unit, which was located at the corner of the battle line, in a dangerous situation.
"General Huyan!"
At the same corner of the battle line, a disheveled Khitan knight came from the south and finally found Huyan Tong, but he did not dismount, but spoke anxiously. "I am the messenger of General Yelu, I have been here several times before..."
"Just get straight to the point!" Huyan Tong, who was shirtless and bandaging a wound on his arm under a flag, shouted coldly without even raising his head.
"Yes!" The Khitan messenger did not dare to neglect. "The battle line of Jiagu Wulibu is out of touch with the battle line of Tuhesu, and it is obvious that they are going to retreat. Most of General Chen Jue's troops have been involved. General Dong Min is obviously afraid that Heshelie Taiyu, the Wanhu, will also retreat, and has tried to advance and encircle them with Prince Tuoli. My general asked me to ask him whether he should go in with the others or stay to help you finish off the Tuhesu troops first? Also, should we inform General Xu Shian and ask him to come to our aid and quickly capture Tuhesu?"
"How many soldiers are there on the southern wing of Tuhesu?"
"Three to four thousand..." The Khitan messenger tried to answer. "It's just an approximation. Most of the infantry are equipped with spears, and most of the cavalry are equipped with war hammers. The formation is very stable."
"Let your general go and work hard with the other troops, and leave me 3,000 light cavalry to guard Tuhesu's southern wing. I will personally deal with Tuhesu's northern wing, and then sweep the southern wing with these 3,000 cavalry..." At this point, Hu Yantong paused for a moment, then gritted his teeth. "I, Hu Yantong, will personally deal with Tuhesu's matter. The prince has promised me that. Why call Old Xu? I didn't even call Deputy Commander Jie who was right behind Tuhesu."
The messenger knew that the other party was angry because of what happened a few days ago. Now he heard Han Shizhong's words of instruction, so he did not say much. He just responded and rode away to report to Yelu Yudu.
As soon as the enemy left, Huyan Tong, who had bandaged his wounds, could not wait and asked his personal guards to help him put on armor. A moment later, he put on his armor again and went into battle personally, leading his troops to launch another round of offensive against the northern wing where Tuhesu was.
Seeing Huyan Tong's flag coming again, the exhausted Jurchen veteran under the flag of Tuhesu just sighed slightly, and then did not rush to command the troops forward. Instead, he looked around on horseback to observe the situation.
But what is there to observe right now?
You know, although the vision was restricted and the battlefield was chaotic, the trend of the Jin army's large-scale contraction was still very clear. It was natural that the headquarters located at the angle was about to be surrounded on three sides. There was Jie Yuan behind him, Huyan Tong in front, the Khitan cavalry in front of him, and Xu Shi'an, who had been asked by Han Shizhong to keep his troops in place, farther away.
To be honest, at this time, Tuhesu wanted to retreat. After all, it was meaningless to continue to hold on at this time. Instead, it would be more beneficial to the overall situation to bring the troops back.
But... thinking of this, Tuhesu looked directly at Huyan Tong who had rushed to the front about a hundred steps away from him ... With this man being so persistent, how could he and the others escape?
You have to know that the battle lasted for half a day. As the first two troops to engage in the battle, the troops on both sides were already very tired. Without strength, what was the use of armor? In this case, if he suddenly chose to retreat, the cavalry could still survive with its mobility, but if the infantry lost its footing, they would be drowned in the tide of the Song army. And if he abandoned the troops to cover the rear and only led the cavalry to escape, he might be able to take advantage of the chaos to survive, but let's not talk about how likely it was to survive, what about his own troops?
He had fought in so many battles, and had always led the troops in the past few decades. Even if he had been injured, he would have been restrained. How could he possibly abandon his troops and run away?
With this thought, Tuhesu suddenly looked to his south, then called a trusted guard and whispered , "Tell that noisy guy to take advantage of Huyan Tong's attack and let him lead his troops to retreat first. Take as many people as he can, and I will cover his retreat!"
The guard seemed a little confused, but still turned and left under Tu Hesu's gaze.
Tuhesu then turned around and concentrated his attention to mobilizing his troops to meet Huyan Tong's attack... And this time, the battle situation further verified Tuhesu's guess. The troops of both sides were becoming increasingly exhausted, but because they had already gone crazy with killing, their morale was very high, which resulted in faster and faster casualties and more brutal battles.
But Huyan Tong remained tenacious and refused to let go. It was obvious that he was still brooding over the previous incident.
On the other side, taking advantage of this opportunity, Tuhesu's trusted guards successfully arrived at the position commanded by Haner Meng'an on the south side... Because of Huyan Tong's main attack direction, the fighting here has been maintained at a low intensity and the troops are much more organized.
"Is that what Wan Hu said?"
Meng'an, the man who always liked to flatter, was stunned when he heard this, and then frowned.
"good."
The personal guard seemed a little impatient. He responded with a sound and then rode away in a hurry, ignoring the other party completely.
As soon as the man left, the low-ranking officers around gathered together, waiting for Meng'an's decision.
The man thought for a moment and laughed bitterly: "At this time, leaving first or staying behind is just leaving it to fate. It is better to stay and hold on and see the situation."
Everyone looked at each other, but looking at the situation all around them, they had no choice but to pretend nothing had happened and continued to fight with the Khitan light cavalry in front of them.
Just like that, the personal guard returned to Tuhesu's side again and informed his own commander of the result of the message delivery. However, until Huyan Tong was defeated again, the Southern Wing troops did not move... They neither took the opportunity to retreat and escape, nor did they sense the situation and take the initiative to come to the rescue.
"I underestimated this noisy guy." Tu Hesu's leg, which had been shot through, had long since stopped itching and was gradually becoming numb and painful. Seeing this, he was helpless for a moment and simply shook his head and smiled bitterly. "I overestimated him, too."
"Wan Hu?"
The Jurchen confidants around him obviously didn't quite understand.
"He must have thought that I was there to cover his retreat, but in fact I wanted to use his larger force to attract the attention of the Song army, and then take advantage of the situation to lead his cavalry to escape." Tu Hesu responded calmly. "So don't move."
"This man is really judging a general by his own meanness!" a close confidant said indignantly. "Hu Yantong clearly only has Wan Hu in his eyes. He had a good chance of escaping this time, but he actually doubted himself and gave up on his own way."
"Don't laugh at him like that, because I do have some of that in mind." Tuhesu laughed. "After all, if we keep fighting like this, maybe his army can hold on, but we will be bitten to death by Huyan Tong first... So we are hoping that he will move first to see if there is any chance... Of course, if he escapes, we will still be bitten by Huyan Tong, and we won't have any complaints... Haven't you seen that in today's battle, whether it's the Jurchens or the Han people, they are all equal in the eyes of God."
The Jurchen warriors around had different expressions, but most of them were gloomy.
At this moment, a few hundred steps ahead, the horn was blown again by Huyan Tong's troops, which was obviously a sign of gathering and reorganizing, causing tension on this side to rise again.
"This really won't work... really won't work." Tuhesu muttered to himself, and looked around again. This time, he no longer looked at the overall battle situation around him, but roughly counted his own troops within his field of vision.
Tuhesu's army had 9,000 infantry and cavalry at the beginning, but because Pushan's march back to Lu went wrong, he had to stretch the battle line too long and too thin, so that Han Shizhong broke through one-fourth of it. Since then, his army has been in an awkward situation of fighting on two fronts, especially on the northern wing, which was constantly being cut off, and then Hu Yantong successfully bit off the middle in a previous assault, and then split into two, one in the south, with about 3,000 to 4,000 cavalry and infantry to maintain the position, and the other was around Tuhesu's own flag, with more than 1,000 cavalry and infantry.
The rest of the troops were certainly not annihilated. If that were the case, the army would have collapsed long ago. Instead, they were just like the Crooked Horse that Han Shizhong faced at the beginning. They were defeated, retreated, and dispersed. Then they disappeared in or moved away from the battlefield, which might have covered an area of ​​hundreds of square kilometers, and it was difficult to gather them again.
It's time to make a decision.
"We can't count on the southern wing. Right now, we still have four or five hundred cavalry and a thousand infantry." Tuhesu suddenly spoke again, his tone much more serious. "Let's move on our own!"
The officers and guards around were all in awe.
"The cavalry will follow me and the infantry will take advantage of the situation to move towards the south wing." Tu Hesu ordered calmly. "Once the infantry has successfully joined forces, we will also withdraw to the south wing and continue to hold out in order to preserve as much strength as possible."
After saying this, the commander rode forward without waiting for the people around him to figure it out. The guards around him did not have time to think about it and followed him. A few officers thought about it for a moment and had no objection. Therefore, hundreds of cavalrymen quickly gathered behind him and slowly marched towards Huyan Tong's flag.
The remaining infantrymen hesitated for a moment, then began to take advantage of the situation to leave their positions and slowly move south.
It can only be said that Tuhesu's strategy this time seemed to be correct. When he took drastic measures and personally led the remaining cavalry to meet them, Huyan Tong on the opposite side was not angry but happy. He immediately changed the military order and ordered the remaining troops, which were less than 2,000 people, to form a formation to prepare for the counterattack. He did not care about the hasty transfer of the thousand infantrymen.
However, as the cavalry gradually accelerated, Tuhesu suddenly turned around under the attention of the troops of both sides, and directly bypassed Huyan Tong's troops, leading these hundreds of cavalrymen to gallop along the river towards the west outside the battlefield.
This scene shocked everyone and caught everyone off guard.
A moment later, the hundreds of cavalrymen behind Tuhesu also split up instantly. Some hesitated and turned back, some lowered their heads and followed without stopping. Some of them were cavalrymen who plunged into the army of Huyan Tong. There were also two types of cavalrymen who did not have time to change their route and those who chose to charge and fight in anger... and the latter included Tuhesu's standard bearer.
The guard holding the Wanhu flag followed his own Wanhu's lead in a daze, then quickly realized what had happened. He turned around without saying a word and rushed into the Song army with the flag raised.
For a moment, there were only about a hundred cavalrymen left behind Tuhesu, and they were constantly dispersing towards Shiyi in the south.
However, this still could not stop Huyan Tong from getting furious. He was probably the most angry person on the battlefield about Tuhesu's escape from the battle. He immediately jumped on his horse and led only dozens of cavalrymen to pursue him.
While the main battlefield was in chaos, something even more bizarre happened - after running only a few hundred steps, Tuhesu, who had a high probability of escaping, suddenly turned left and detoured... This was nothing, because Shiyi was to the south after turning... However, after turning south, Tuhesu did not stop at all, but continued to turn until he turned completely around, and then collided head-on with Huyan Tong's pursuers.
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, this Jurchen veteran who was once famous for his bravery seemed to have really returned to what he was like ten years ago. He took the lead, wielded his war hammer, and charged forward personally.
The two generals faced each other head-on. Huyan Tong was obviously caught off guard by the opponent's tactical surprise attack. Suddenly, a hammer was picked up by him and hit his already injured arm.
In severe pain, Huyan Tong fell off his horse, but Tuhesu, who succeeded in striking him, did not have a good result either. It was obvious that he had lost strength due to his injured foot. After the strike, he lost his balance on the horse and was pushed off the horse by a mace from Huyan Tong's personal guards who were coming towards him.
The two of them almost rolled into a muddy pit one after another.
It is called a depression, but in fact it is just a slightly concave place on the plain, with water only reaching the calf. Huyan Tong fell off his horse first and stood up first. It was obvious that he had lost a heavy weapon in the process of falling off his horse, so he chose to take out a dagger from his waist, and then ran towards Tuhesu in a panic with a weak arm.
On the other side, Tuhesu tried hard to stand up in the mud, but he couldn't stand up straight at all. He stood up many times and slipped many times.
His funny posture made Hu Yantong, who was walking up to him, burst into laughter.
But at this moment, the lame Wan Hu who was sitting in the mud suddenly pounced on the opponent and pinned him under him.
Hu Yantong struggled hard and tried to hurt the enemy with his dagger, but he could not find any gaps in the armor because he could not defeat the enemy with one arm. He could only let the dagger slash through the enemy's waist armor. On the contrary, he was pressed into the muddy water by the enemy and choked several times, and gradually lost his strength.
However, around the mud, knights from the Song and Jin armies had already rolled off their horses like crazy and tried to rescue. The first one to do so was a Song soldier.
Tu Hesu did not dare to delay , and angrily smashed the opponent's helmet into the mud several times, then took the initiative to abandon Hu Yantong, who was already somewhat exhausted, and crawled towards a Jin army knight on the other side. But before he took two steps, the only foot that could exert force suddenly hurt, and when he looked back, he found that Hu Yantong's dagger had pierced his calf.
That was not all. After a successful strike, Huyan Tong rushed forward with all his might, and hugged the opponent with one hand from behind. No matter how the opponent hit him, he refused to let go.
" Kill this guy... cough!" Seeing that the Song cavalry arrived first, Huyan Tong, who was lying on the enemy's back, shouted loudly, but he coughed repeatedly.
The Song army knights holding weapons did not dare to hesitate. They passed their own commander and hammered Tuhesu's shoulder with all their might.
Tu Hesu screamed on the spot.
At this time, the Jin cavalry also arrived, and without hesitation, they hammered the Song knight's back with all their might, and then they actually hit Hu Yantong's arm that was trying to wrap around Tu Hesu... But Hu Yantong was not moved at all. Before he could smash the arm open, another Song knight who had not arrived yet threw a hammer at him, knocking the Jin knight to the ground again.
Then, as if gone mad, the personal guards of the Song and Jin armies, who had been following their respective generals, dismounted one after another. Dozens of cavalrymen from each side, all wearing heavy armor and equipped with iron hammers, engaged in a battle directly in the mud.
Red, white, yellow and black were all mixed together in the rain.
The presence of the mask made it impossible for both sides in the melee to determine which person was their general, or which body was their general. Only the bronze mask of the left army of the Imperial Camp could slightly distinguish between friend and foe, ensuring that this bloody hand-to-hand combat would continue.
It really goes on and on.
Because after witnessing the fall of generals from both sides, the originally chaotic battlefield on the edge of the northwest corner of the global battlefield had already fallen into an all-out melee.
The Jurchen cavalry who had originally turned back turned around one after another. Even the northern wing infantry of the Tuhesu tribe, which had already begun to move south, was divided into two. Some lowered their heads and accelerated to join the main force on the southern wing, while others simply counterattacked the Song army.
The Song army was no less defeated, and the entire army fell into a frenzy. Those who had enemies beside them immediately fought with them, and those who had no enemies beside them swarmed towards the place where the two generals fell from their horses.
The two armies quickly fell into the most brutal hand-to-hand life-and-death battle. Both sides were simply blood-thirsty... because they had already been blood-thirsty in a morning-long battle, and the madness at this time was definitely even more than that.
A little over a quarter of an hour later, with the hasty arrival of the Khitan cavalry and Jie Yuan's troops, the battle was quickly decided and the madness came to an abrupt end.
For a moment, there were groans and cries everywhere.
The bodies of Huyan Tong and Tuhesu were also found and quickly washed away by the rain, but the two of them were struggling together and suffered so many blows from hammers that it was difficult to tell who was friend and foe, and it was difficult to separate them for a while.
No one had thought that this local battlefield would end in this way.
So fast, so bloody.
Jie Yuan stood silently in front of Huyan Tong's body, not saying a word for a while.
The Khitan general Yelu Nuge rode over, not daring to interrupt, and turned to the southern wing of the Tuhesu tribe, which was still in a standoff. As soon as he passed by, a Jin army Meng'an who had thrown away his weapon came over with a silver medal in his hand.
Obviously, after witnessing the scene just now, this Haner army Meng'an lost his last courage to resist. In addition, his troops were actually isolated from the main battle line, so he chose to surrender.
This unit also became the first organized Jin army to voluntarily surrender in this battle.
“Don’t kill me!”
When Yelu Nuge drove this man to Jie Yuan's side, this man, Meng'an, knelt down beside the bodies of Huyan Tong and Tuhesu, and said to Jie Yuan without stopping, "I have a confidential military report!"
"The Jin army has 16 Wanhu. Erluguan is Aguda's biological son, so he leads his Wanhu to garrison Zhending City!"
"The four Wanhu on the western front are Heshelie Taiyu, Jiagu Wulibu, Wanyan Tuhesu, and Pushan Beilu!"
"On the high ground, there are Wanyan Benduling Shaohe, Wulinda Taiyu, and Pucha Huzhan, a total of four Wanhu!"
"Ali advanced alone to form the first line of defense for Shiqiao! If he wanted to retreat, he should have retreated to the east of the high ground to prevent Wanyan Wulun and Yelu Mawu, the two Wanhu, from being exposed on the flank of the high ground."
"There is also Marshal Balisu, who is still in the main camp. Huo Nu and Erlubu are also in the back. There are also two Hezhamengans from the Taiyuan Prefecture's Marching Division, and a man named Wanyan Poshu who brought four Hezhamengans from Yanjing!"
The man trembled as he spoke, but did not dare to look at the two corpses beside him.
"Are you done?" Jie Yuan asked coldly.
"That's all... No, there's one more... There's a Bohai Wanhu named Pu Suyue, whose army doesn't even have half a Wanhu, and he stayed between the floating bridge and the main camp on the Hutuo River to provide support when necessary..." Han'er Meng'an's voice was still trembling. "That's all the military information, if the commander-in-chief asks, I will tell you everything I know."
Jie Yuan turned to the guards beside him and said, "Spread what this man said in batches to all directions, and make sure that the emperor, the ministers, the princes, and the governors all know it."
The guards checked the intelligence and then turned and left.
Jie Yuan turned around and went behind the surrendered general without saying a word, which made the surrendered general panic. He tried to get up directly, but was held down by the Song army soldiers on both sides.
Under Yelu Nuoge's watchful eyes, Jie Yuan did touch the war hammer at his waist for a while, but for some reason, as a heavy rain was blown up by the wind and splashed onto his face, the deputy commander of the left army of the imperial camp finally said coldly: "Quickly disarm and let the auxiliary troops on the other side take over... The whole army should be prepared, call Xu Shi'an, and follow me to besiege Hesheli Taiyu!"
At this point, Jie Yuan hesitated, but then slowed down his tone and said, "Don't forget to report Hu Yan's achievements to the government."