Let’s not talk about Li Su’s relief for now, and just talk about the moment before.
At that time, the Jin army marched out from three sides with neat formation and great momentum. They were all heavy cavalry, including six armored cavalry commonly known as Iron Pagoda, the so-called Heza Meng'an. They had been recuperating for most of the day, so their morale was naturally high. They were ready to swallow up 100,000 people on the high ground and reverse the overall situation.
At the same time, the Song army was in a dominant position and had the advantage in military strength. More importantly, it had already achieved a great victory by suppressing the overall situation. How could it be easily shaken?
At this critical juncture, what caught people off guard was that on the south-east side of the high ground, the main cavalry forces of both sides were almost caught off guard and exposed to each other face to face... The heavy cavalry and light cavalry of the Song-Jin Imperial Camp Cavalry were all here, and the western part of the Jin army's Balisu tribe and the eastern part led by Wanyan Poshu were also here.
Immediately, under the influence of terrain, time and troop position, large groups of heavy cavalry from both the Song and Jin sides suddenly engaged in a large-scale head-on clash that was rarely seen in the world.
This is really rare in the world... When the Jin army attacked the Khitans more than a decade ago, they still had to deploy hard-armored infantry in the middle and stacked cavalry on the left and right to charge in short distances. What about the Song and Jin? What about such a large scale?
But it appeared, and it was fast, fierce, and bloody, with heavy casualties and countless casualties in an instant.
Some were knocked off their horses by spears, some were knocked off their saddles by cavalry hammers, a very small number of them lost control and fell off their horses due to head-on collisions, and the majority of them lost control and fell off their horses under the intense pressure of the battlefield because of the mud, corpses, horses, and obstacles... But no matter what the reason, as long as they lost control of their horses in this charge, they would basically lose their combat effectiveness if they did not die.
A large-scale cavalry reduction suddenly occurred.
Of course, to be honest, the winner of this charge was undoubtedly the Jin army... otherwise there wouldn't have been the scene where Bali quickly swept away the troops in front of him and climbed the hill to see the Song army's "throw" scene.
But back to the present, when the Jin Marshal Balisu saw the huge threat appear in his field of vision and made up his mind to give it a try, he immediately discovered a serious problem - he had clearly won the previous head-on cavalry duel, but he was unable to effectively gather his troops.
"What do you mean?"
Balisu's tone was calm and serious.
"Although the Song cavalry is weak, they are scattered but not broken. They are just biting us from the rear." A Meng'an who was obviously coming from the rear replied anxiously. "And there are also Tanguts. There are Tangut light cavalry everywhere. There are also some Mongols and Khitans. They are all helping the Song heavy cavalry to bite us."
Another Meng'an couldn't help but explain in a low voice: "Marshal... the charge just now was too fierce. Although we took advantage, our troops to the west and Wanyan Poshu's troops to the east were directly mixed with the Song cavalry, and they couldn't be separated at all."
Balisu suddenly realized what was happening, but instead of getting angry he laughed.
To be fair, if the large-scale charge just now took place in an open battlefield and only cavalry participated on both sides, then the outcome of the battle would probably have been decided at this time, that is, the Jin army would win and the Song army would lose, and then the Song army would collapse and the Jin army would launch a large-scale pursuit, resulting in a typical great victory.
Balisu had experienced too many great victories like this in his life.
But at this time...
Balisu knew what was going on without even looking closely - the entire battlefield was centered on the high ground, and was actually a huge area with the Taiping River and the Jin army camp as its approximate outer edges. This area was of course large, even too large, but as the battlefield for the decisive battle between the two great countries of Song and Jin, it still seemed very crowded, especially since they had successively invested hundreds of thousands of troops.
So on such a battlefield, with both armies fighting each other to the death, in the core of the battlefield, with a camp in front, a river in the back, a dragon banner on the high ground, and five-colored sun flags on the slopes...with friendly and enemy forces everywhere around, after triggering such a charge, what would it matter even if there was a slight difference in outcome?
Even if you want to chase, even if you want to escape, where can you chase, where can you escape?
A true pursuit may only begin when one of the parties' entire army collapses completely... The charge just now, although shocking, was not enough to determine the outcome.
"It doesn't matter. We'll catch up as many as we can." After laughing, Balisu looked back to the north. There, the iron dragon had clearly begun to enter the battlefield, which forced Balisu to change his strategy. "Then go find Erlubu and ask him to try to join me. If he can't, then he should keep pace with me... Tell him that although this part of the Song army is strong, it has an obvious weakness, that is, the formation is too weak, with only four rows. As long as he can maintain a thick formation, he can easily break through the Song army's long snake formation, forcing the other side to stop advancing and then form a formation to protect themselves. If both of us can meet behind the Song army formation, we still have a chance to win this battle."
“Yes!”
"Also, tell Yelu Mawu and Wanyan Wulun that I know they are having a hard time, but now is not the time to worry about things. Tell them to mobilize as many cavalry as possible to catch up. Whether they follow Erlubu or me, they must go all out... When Erlubu and I collide with the Song army, as long as we break through, no matter which side they are on, they must immediately send out all the cavalry and let Yelu Mawu lead them to follow, leaving only the infantry to Wulun to maintain the front line."
“Yes.”
After some instructions, the officers received the order and dispersed. Balisu no longer paid attention to the fact that some of the cavalry behind him were bitten by the imperial cavalry, and directly waved the flag to the north, heading towards the iron dragon of the Song army.
The surrounding Jin cavalry also tried hard to gather behind the five-colored sun-holding flag... New Jin cavalry kept arriving, and new Jin cavalry on the periphery and in the rear kept coming to a standstill because of the attacks from the surrounding Song army... but they finally managed to maintain a core, large-scale, high-spirited, energetic elite cavalry regiment.
At the same time, the two Heza Meng'an were on the two wings in front, constantly suppressing and driving away the Song army formations that tried to block them, to prevent a large-scale blockade.
Overall, although it was difficult, Balisu still used his prestige and command ability to mobilize a top-level elite cavalry formation of the Jin army, and headed towards the Song army's armored formation that was like a wall and a forest at the fastest possible speed.
Of course, the other party did not stop for a moment and came towards us.
The drizzle continued. Standing on the commanding heights of the battlefield, Zhao Jiu was watching the scene expressionlessly.
After seeing the Jin cavalry's formation break out, the official's face changed for a while, but soon, before the Song army's armored heavy infantry went into battle, and even after the charge, he returned to his expressionless sitting posture, and there was no sound. Now, he just leaned back to the northwest in the rain, facing the southeast, and then tilted his head slightly to watch the two so-called "last throws" approaching each other... He even refused the telescope offered by Liu Yan.
There is no other reason. At this moment, nothing is needed.
Anyone who saw both armies, or just one of them, would realize that this was the final battle.
From this morning till now, the outcome of the entire battle after a hard fight for most of the day; or, from the end of last autumn to the beginning of winter, the gains and losses of this Northern Expedition of 300,000 troops after more than four months; even the final national destiny of the two countries after ten years of war since the Jingkang Incident, will be determined by the outcome of the battle in the next hour.
In fact, apart from the shouts and rumbles on the surrounding battlefields, it was unusually quiet under the dragon banner. In the drizzle, not only Zhao Jiu remained silent, but also Han Shizhong, Li Yanxian and most of the close ministers and officers were silent. Even those who were there for consultation were obviously a little panicked, but they did not dare to make a sound. They just watched it all shivering in the rain.
Only Wu Jie calmly observed the situation, and from time to time he would whisper to a general gathered behind him, asking him to lead his troops to fill in and march to a certain place, or to find the remaining Red Heart Cavalry and directly assign military orders, telling a certain unit how to act.
On the gentle slope on the east side of the high ground, Balisu, who had become clear-headed since he saw the iron dragon of the Song army, knew of course that the Zhao Song officials could see him, Han Shizhong could see him, Li Yanxian and Wu Jie could see him, and everyone under the dragon flag could see him... but he didn't care.
And what was somewhat unexpected was that when he led this army, whose exact number could not be counted due to the chaos, and slowly moved towards the "Iron Dragon" of the Song Army, he could not help compare the current situation with the charge at Loushi in front of Yaoshan Mountain that day.
At this moment, the cavalry formation behind him seemed to be almost the same as the formation beside Lou Shi that day in terms of strength and eliteness. Even the Heza Mengan who led the way had two of them.
The strength of the Song army in front of them seemed to be similar to that of the core troops at the foot of Yao Mountain that day, and there were also two large army formations in a stalemate on both sides.
But as he walked, Balisu always felt that there was something in front of him that seemed completely different from Yaoshan... At first he thought it was a formation problem, but there was nothing he could do about it. The battlefield was too crowded. Even if he wanted to set up a circular formation like Loushi's, the objective conditions did not allow it.
Moreover, although the high ground is high ground and the slope is a slope, this kind of high ground on the plain is still flatter and more open than the plateau like Yaoshan. There is no need for a circular formation and the conditions for charge are still good.
But if it’s not a formation problem, then what is it?
After thinking for a moment, Balisu, who was behind the mask, suddenly laughed to himself... What else could it be? It was nothing more than that the Song army was different now and the heavy infantry formation in front of them was too strong.
Even if they relied on the thickness of the cavalry formation to break through a section, it would not prevent the remaining Song army from forming a new formation or continuing to advance.
There is a natural gap in military strength.
With this thought, Balisu looked at the iron dragon of the Song army again, and his heart skipped a beat... because in just this short quarter of an hour's journey, the armor wall and axe forest of the Song army suddenly became thicker, like some living monster!
At first, Balisu thought he had made a mistake, but as he kept silent quickly checked on horseback, he was shocked to find that the Song army's formation had really become thicker... Now there were already five rows in many places, and even six rows in some places!
However, when Balisu saw that the iron dragon of the Song army inevitably became bent due to the marching process, he felt relieved... This should be the superposition caused by the bending of the formation. No wonder the Song army used such a weak array. They should have foreseen this scenario and wanted to ensure that the battle line was covered as wide as possible.
But soon, after Balisu saw that the Song army's armored wall and axe forest in front of him came into contact with a local battle group that was still fighting, he could no longer deceive himself.
Because he saw with his own eyes that the Song army in that battle group was absorbed and merged into the iron dragon.
"Hold on, hold on!"
In the rain a few miles away, Yang Yizhong was sweating profusely and talking non-stop. He was usually serious, but he probably said more words today than he did in the previous month. He also screamed every word, but he was unaware of it. "Forward, forward! Get out of the way! Get out of the way! Get behind and follow us!"
With the roars of Yang Yizhong and hundreds of officers lined up in this wall of armor and forest of axes, this army of 24,000 armored heavy infantry, which brought together the elite of the entire empire, finally demonstrated a visible dominance on the battlefield in front of everyone.
Wherever the iron dragon went, the chaotic battlefield was immediately as if it was 'swept'. The Jin army completely collapsed and turned around and left; while the Song army was all jubilant, some were chasing hard in front of the iron wall, and some were following in formation behind the iron wall... What's more, because of the withdrawal, heavy armored long axe soldiers were rarely seen in other parts of the battlefield, but there were countless scattered spears and heavy armored warriors. These imperial camp soldiers followed directly from the rear and joined the formation at the call of the army officers.
That's right, after the battlefield was swept, the Jin army was completely defeated, and the Song army joined in without hesitation and merged into this long army formation that was like a wall and a forest, becoming a part of the formation.
As the Song army swept and advanced, the Song troops along the way almost immediately filled up and thickened the iron dragon that originally seemed a little thin. In Balisu's eyes, the biggest weakness of this heavy infantry formation that was like a wall and a forest was disappearing rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye.
When the two sides were about three miles apart, they had already swept through half of the eastern battlefield. The Song army formation had gathered at least half of Li Qiong's troops and the commanding departments of the two imperial camps' rear armies. The formation was also twice as thick, and it was absorbing and reorganizing all the eastern front Song army forces at an increasingly faster speed.
At the same time , Balisu suddenly realized completely... he had been wrong from the beginning.
The reason why the Song army adopted this seemingly weak formation that left loopholes was because they never expected to use a mere four-row formation to sweep away everything and take on everything. This "last throw" was simply a means to transform the Song army's previous overall battlefield advantage into a winning advantage.
Including the previous marching route of the Zhao Song officials, starting from the stone bridge and gathering the people in front to rush to the high ground, they are essentially the same meaning - in the eyes of the Song army commander, the one who decides the outcome is always the entire Song army on the battlefield! They want to gather everyone's strength to crush the Jin army!
Only by combining the strength of all the Song troops could they crush the fourteen Jin army commanders and six Heza Meng'ans on the battlefield.
In sharp contrast to this was his speed. He actually placed all his hopes on the mighty charge of just over 20,000 cavalrymen!
This is a war that will destroy a nation. What on earth is he thinking?
Why didn't he help Yelu Mawu and Wanyan Wulun first? Why didn't he go to join Erlubu?
Why did we realize this only now?
The surrounding Jin cavalry had also vaguely realized something, but it was too late. With a Hezhamengan in the front defeating a small formation of Song infantry of only a few hundred people, a path leading directly to the armored wall and axe forest suddenly appeared in front of Balisu, who was still ashamed and angry.
This is an opportunity, but it may also be a point of no return.
Balisu moved forward slowly, his heart beginning to beat nervously again. He could not help but glance towards the high ground to the west. There, the two commanding heights were still in the hands of the Song army, especially the highest point further west. The dragon flag was still swaying slightly in the rain, which meant that Wanyan Poshu and Huo Nu had not reached them at all.
Of course, this is normal. It has only been a short time. It would be strange if they rushed up. Moreover, to break through the dragon flag is tantamount to breaking through more than 100,000 high ground and the Song army on the western front.
At this moment, even if Lou Shi came, he couldn't charge! Unless the entire Jin army cheered up and charged together.
Can we work together?
If we turn around at this time, won't the Eastern Front be destroyed even faster?
"All the troops, follow me, go forward to meet them, go forward to meet them!"
Under the five-colored sun-holding flag, Bali quickly withdrew his gaze from the dragon banner and looked back without any hesitation... or rather, at this point, he had no other choice but to defeat the enemy in front of him first and then think about other things. "The enemy is right in front of us!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Balisu jumped out on his horse, leading the five-colored sun-holding flag and speeding towards the north.
Once this flag representing the commander of the Jin army was activated and fired first, all the Jin cavalry on the eastern battlefield no longer had any extra thoughts.
At the same time, the surrounding Song army showed a completely different situation.
To the north, the Song army's long axe and heavy infantry formation quickly stopped and formed up, and the Song army formation following behind began to quickly gather towards the exposed gap to serve as a defensive reserve for the attack.
On the eastern front, Li Qiong's troops suddenly stopped integrating into the battle formation behind them and tried to maintain their formation. The battle with Yelu Mawu and Wanyan Wulun also became fierce, and both sides gritted their teeth for a while. And further east, Erlubu, who was almost next to the camp, did not hesitate, regardless of the heavy Song army formation on his side, and directly increased his speed to exert pressure, obviously to echo the speed of Bali.
Looking west, that is, in the vicinity east of the two commanding heights on the high ground, the exposed troops of Zhang Qi and Niu Gao of the Imperial Camp Central Army maintained a solemn silence, obviously preparing their forces. And behind these two armies, in the middle of the two commanding heights, the Imperial Camp Left Army Beiwei Army, which had rested for half an hour, also began to deploy on the high ground again, apparently preparing to come to support when necessary.
As for the south, some of the heavy cavalry and light cavalry that had previously attacked as part of the cavalry formation also suddenly accelerated, and followed almost non-stop under the orders of Liu Qi, Zhang Xian, and Li Shifu.
Speeding up and approaching, Hezhameng'an in front, urged by the five-colored sun-holding flags behind, suddenly started at full speed. One of them rushed forward and turned into a vanguard, while the other turned upwards and turned into a barrier, trying to resist the pincer attack from the high ground.
However, the Zhang Qi and Niu Gao troops, who were in a dominant position, were not moved at all. They all abandoned their positions, poured down from top to bottom, and charged towards the flank of the Jin cavalry in a large infantry formation.
However, the first battle came from the north. Before the Song infantry on the flank arrived, the Jin cavalry had all accelerated, and then the waves hit the shore, blowing up thousands of piles of snow.
Heza Meng'an, who was in the lead, with ten Moukes and about seven or eight hundred Iron Buddhas, had no choice of conventional cavalry tactics. They could only rush into the "wall" of the Song army with a determination to die, following a sudden burst of shouts and screams.
They easily broke through the first row of axes, and the long-axe and heavily-armored warriors in front of them were almost wiped out and trampled under the horses' hooves. A commander was also killed in the battle. A considerable number of them continued to break through the second row of spears. At this time, the casualties of the Jin army's Iron Pagoda were very obvious. The long spears that were inserted obliquely into the wet mud had a strong hindering effect on the war horses. A small number of them broke through the third row of axes, and even fewer crossed the fourth row and even the fifth row, but only a handful of people crossed the sixth row... At this time, the Song army had already set up ten rows of spears in this place.
Since the charge failed, the Iron Pagoda naturally tried to pull its troops out, but the Song army on both sides had already divided into two columns and, led by two commanders, they came from both sides. With the retaliatory shouts of the Song army, the long spears easily restrained the Iron Pagoda, which had lost its speed. With the long axes raised high, they chopped people on horseback and chopped legs on foot... The Iron Pagoda, which seemed invincible at all times, used the initial sprint to cause huge casualties, but once they lost their mobility, they immediately became the target of slaughter by long axes, long spears and heavy infantry.
The combination of long axes and heavy infantry with long spears is the natural enemy of the heavily armored cavalry.
Seeing this scene from afar, Balisu, who was still advancing at high speed, trembled slightly in his heart, but he had no intention of slowing down. Instead, he exhausted all his strength, shouted and killed, and led most of the main force behind him to rush towards the Song army that was slaughtering the Iron Pagoda, and once again caused huge casualties.
However, due to the stagnation of the Iron Pagoda in front of them, they did not break through the iron wall of the Song army at all. Moreover, with the waving of flags on the battle line, more long axes and spears, led by Yang Yi Zhong and Zhang Zigai, folded over from the wider wings again, trying to wrap up more Jin cavalry including Balisu.
The war horses of the Balisu tribe were ordinary armored cavalry rather than armored cavalry. The long spears could more easily control the horses, and the axes could more easily chop off the horses' legs.
Once they are double-teamed, it will be a complete massacre.
Of course, the Jin army could not sit idly by and watch this happen. The Jin cavalry units in the rear tried hard to move forward and try to rescue them. The Iron Pagoda who was responsible for blocking the highland pincer attack troops also turned his horse's head and seemed to be loyal to Balisu. However, this directly led to even more terrible things... Zhang Qi and Niu Gao, who had lost their control, urged their troops to rush down regardless of everything, and almost followed Hezhameng'an to hold up the flank of the Jin cavalry formation. At the same time, all the cavalry of the Imperial Camp, both heavy and light, swarmed in from the rear, and cooperated with Li Qiong's troops on the other side. The troops on all sides actually locked the entire Jin cavalry formation tightly.
At the same time, more heavy infantry with long axes and heavy infantry with long spears folded over from both sides again.
Balisu and his elite cavalry were completely trapped in the dense steel forest of the Song army.
At this time, no one on the eastern battlefield cared about Elubu and Yelu Mawu anymore. Even Yelu Mawu and Elubu were trying to get in touch with Balisu, but Li Qiong was not very happy about it.
There were no miracles or accidents. The Song army was the first to get the moon because it was close to the water. Countless Song troops rushed up from all directions under the command of Wang Yan, Yang Yi Zhong, Zhang Zigai, Li Qiong, Liu Qi, Zhang Xian, Li Shifu, and even Yelu Yudu, layer upon layer, clamping down on the Balisu army like wrapping dumplings.
This kind of encirclement, of course, cannot be a complete encirclement, but it is enough to make the Balisu troops lose the possibility of large-scale maneuvers as an organized unit.
Sure enough, after about two quarters of an hour, the Balisubu lost a lot of space and speed to move, just like a prey that lost its life after falling into a spider web.
In fact, this is indeed the case... The charge just now has proved that the cavalry, having lost their mobility, are prey to the Song army's armored walls and axe forests. The only two options waiting for them are being slaughtered or completely collapsing and escaping.
"The person under that flag is the Grand Marshal of the Jin Kingdom?!"
A team of Song cavalry came from behind, but they did not block the retreat honestly. Instead, they galloped past the slope and inserted into the Jin cavalry formation from the rear of Niu Gao's flank. The leading general was tall and strong, holding a huge iron spear, pointing at the five-color sun-holding flag that was still moving in the rain. His tone was full of excitement, but it was unknown who he was asking.
"What do you care about the marshal or not?" Niu Gao, who was sweating profusely, was not far away. He was almost furious when he heard this. "What's the use of being a marshal in this state? What's useful is the flag. If you cut down the flag, this cavalry will be defeated, and it will be the first achievement of the 200,000-man army today!"
The cavalry general who looked like a rammed earth was Yang Zaixing. Upon hearing this, he became more excited. He immediately waved the big iron spear in his hand and led his troops forward bravely… His iron spear was long and heavy. Wherever it swept, it had the advantages of a long-handled weapon and it was like a blunt weapon smashing across. Although the Jin cavalry were all heavily armored, no one could withstand it. What's more, the iron cavalry could sometimes defeat the Jin cavalry, and even the sharp parts on it could cut the flesh of the horses from time to time… Only a hundred people followed behind him, and they really cut a bloody path through the dense Jin cavalry like cutting through the waves, and went straight to the five-colored sun-holding flag a thousand steps away.
In other words, according to the current situation, the Song army on the eastern front should have tried their best to block the Jin army on three sides, waiting for more and more long-axe heavy infantry to gather, eat up this Jin army, and then reorganize and sweep across the entire eastern front.
But now that Niu Gao had seen such a brave general, how could he waste the opportunity?
He was startled for a moment, then immediately wielded his iron mace, ordering his men to follow Yang Zaixing's troops and quickly advance towards the commander's flag:
"Follow him! Follow the fellow with the big iron spear!"
On the commanding heights of the battlefield, Zhao Jiu certainly didn't know that Yang Zaixing and Niu Gao had joined together and were about to show their might. Even if he knew, it wouldn't matter, because he had already seen the charge of Ba Lisu and the fall. From a distance, the charge just now was not that thrilling at all, it was just like a fish hitting a net... The net didn't break, but the fish had lost its strength.
Therefore, the official just kept his normal expression.
The surrounding generals, officers, close ministers, and consultants wanted to shout for victory, but despite Emperor Zhao's attitude, no one dared to get excited... Of course, many people had already felt relieved, and the atmosphere under the dragon banner had eased a little.
Only a moment later, the official withdrew his gaze from the east and turned to the south, and the atmosphere became tense again.
The reason was very simple. Following Emperor Zhao's gaze, on a considerable part of the southern slope, the Song army was in a tough battle, and a general at the Jiedushi level was deeply involved in it.
The reason for this situation was the previous charge.
At that time, the Jin army's armored cavalry attacked from three sides, and the imperial cavalry on the southeast side of the high ground rushed down head-on. In addition, the Jin army's main force itself had a certain interval between its troops, so after the charge, the Jin army's cavalry was obviously divided into two large groups.
One group was in the middle and western part of the south side of the high ground. Judging from their flags, they were Wanyan Huonu and Wanyan Poshu, as well as a considerable number of Hezhameng'an. Their target was obviously this commanding height, and it was Zhao Guanjia who was watching the battle and the dragon banner behind him. They were the ones who caused the Song army to fight hard on the southern front. The other group was on the east side of the high ground. It was Balisu and Elubu who were trapped in the Song army. Balisu's target was obvious at this time. He obviously wanted to penetrate the last elite long-axe heavy infantry of the Song army and control this "last throw" to buy time for Wanyan Huonu and Wanyan Poshu.
So, the question now is whether the iron dragon of the Song army on the east front will first sweep the battlefield on the east front, and then turn to the south to suppress the whole situation, or whether the Jin army's "last throw" can reach this commanding height before the Song army can provide effective support, and complete some kind of magical reversal.
Even if there were no Jiaqiang Fulin sweeping over from the east, Wanyan Huonu and Wanyan Poshu would not be able to get up!
Wu Jie glanced at the southern battle line, sneered in his heart, then took a step forward and whispered to Zhao Jiu:
"Sir, the situation on the eastern front is settled, we just need to wait for a while, do you need some support on the southern front?"
Zhao Jiu turned around and looked at the other party without saying anything, but the meaning was very clear... For things like this, an order could be given. Would he reject the support for Qu Da?
Wu Jie understood and immediately looked at Han Shizhong. Han Shizhong, who was standing solemnly with his hand on his waist, was stunned for a moment and finally understood why Wu Jie asked the emperor first. But at this time, he was too lazy to care about these trivial matters. He just turned around and pointed at Wang Shixiong who was standing solemnly at the side and rear. When the latter noticed, he pointed to his own Beiwei army who was waiting for orders on the high slope, and finally, pointed to the area of ​​cavalry fighting in the southeast.
Wang Shixiong did not dare to delay. He bowed slightly and immediately turned around and led a few bronze-faced knights to Cheng Min to pass on the order, preparing to use this Beiwei army, which had just rested, to support Qu Duan.
In the drizzle, Qu Da, who had a short respite, did not know that the eastern front had already achieved great success, nor did he know that Wu Da and Han Shizhong had just sent him strong reinforcements in advance because of Zhao Guanjia's glance. In fact, he shook his head, shook off the rain, and then looked around, but he only saw the rain blurring, the troops on both sides were mixed together, like tides, rising and falling on the slope, and he could not see the general situation at all.
He himself and the soldiers beside him were only a small part of this tide.
As mentioned before, the charge of the Imperial Cavalry undoubtedly achieved a huge success from a strategic point of view. They divided the Jin cavalry into two, making it difficult to gather them together. It was precisely because of this that the Jin army's trump card was caught in the embarrassing situation of fighting on two fronts, resulting in being unable to do anything on either side... From this perspective, Qu Duan and the Imperial Cavalry made great contributions.
But for this, the Imperial Camp Cavalry had to pay a huge price in casualties and still fell into a difficult situation of you in me, I in you... Then, they quickly moved north, and the Imperial Camp Cavalry in the melee was divided into two, one part followed Zhang Xian, Liu Qi, and Li Shifu's five-colored sun flags and the other part turned west and bit those Hezhameng'ans.
Qu Duan himself was among them.
"The governor."
Although he was wearing a visor, the surrounding imperial cavalry soldiers knew where Qu Duan was because of the flag and the new iron elephant he rode. And the personal officer Xiahou Yuan, who was leading dozens of cavalrymen coming from behind, would definitely not make a mistake.
Qu Duan did not respond, but looked around, and sure enough, soon two or three more teams of cavalry gathered together like Xiahou Yuan, and the troops behind them briefly gathered to four or five hundred people.
"Is it only possible to gather these people?" Qu Duan couldn't help but let out a long sigh. "Where is the Red Heart Team just now? Did they go with Zhang Zhongfu?"
"There shouldn't be any, but they were cut off in the middle by the Iron Pagoda (Hezhameng'an)." Xiahou Yuan pointed at a group of 300 or 400 armored Jin soldiers not far away and blurted out. "On the other side!"
"Then charge back and bring the people back." Qu Da didn't want to think too much, nor did he have time to think too much, because just like the Song cavalry that were hastily gathering at this moment, the opponent Hezhameng'an also quickly noticed the flags and situation here, and immediately began to gather and adjust.
Of course, everyone was speechless. On a battlefield like this, no one dared to stop, nor could they stop. The only correct approach was to constantly join up with friendly forces and disperse the enemy... Even if they wanted to protect Qu Duan to a safe area, they had to transfer him in this way.
So, after just a short respite, the four or five hundred heavy cavalry of the Song army belonging to the Imperial Camp Cavalry hastily launched another round of confrontation with the three or four hundred Iron Pagodas.
Besides, the Iron Pagoda, with its armored men and horses, is of course extremely powerful. It can even be said that it has the advantage in this kind of short-distance, low-speed charge and hand-to-hand combat. However, Qu Duan's personal guards are also carefully selected, and they have a slight advantage in terms of military strength. Moreover, there should be a Red Heart Team of two to three hundred people behind the opponent who can reunite. So this charge should not be a big problem... In fact, this is indeed the case. Qu Duan used Xiahou Yuan as the vanguard, and after a short charge, he successfully attracted the attention of the previous Red Heart Cavalry, and then reunited with them. After leaving behind more than a dozen corpses, the Iron Pagoda on the opposite side had no choice but to choose to retreat temporarily.
This is the mode of battle... Because of the drop in morale caused by casualties and reduction in personnel, both sides have to fight each other with this small-scale, low-speed charge, and often slow down before the battle to engage in a short, scratchy hand-to-hand combat... In the end, the side with higher morale rather than fewer casualties occupies the position and wins the so-called victory.
But the losers will quickly regroup and fight back.
This kind of battle seems to be endless, but it cannot be endless, because in every similar battle, both sides will suffer various losses.
For example, this time, in addition to the loss of seven or eight soldiers, the Song army also suffered a lame leg of the mount under Qu Duan's crotch... An Iron Pagoda of the Jin army slipped and fell off his horse. With his last struggle, he tried to hit Qu Duan's leg, but hit the auxiliary chariot by mistake. The cavalry hammer hit the left hind leg of the new iron elephant through the silk cover. For a moment, the wound was rotten with blood and flesh, and the white bones were faintly visible.
Then, the Iron Buddha was trampled hard on the belly by Xiahou Yuan, but the horse given by Emperor Zhao also curled up its left hind leg and could no longer run.
In such a battlefield, this was undoubtedly a very dangerous thing, so even the divine horse bestowed by the emperor had to be abandoned. Qu Duan dismounted without hesitation and prepared to change mounts.
However, on the battlefield that had just experienced a short hand-to-hand combat, there were no intact ownerless mounts at all. Either the war horses were damaged or the related equipment was damaged... In desperation, after a brief comparison with several subordinates, Qu Duan could only try to replace the original saddle with a standard war horse of the Song army with the stirrup pulled out. But before he could act, a warning was given, and a group of four or five hundred Jin army iron pagodas suddenly appeared on the eastern flank of Qu Duan.
This number of Iron Pagodas is already very dangerous for Qu Duan and the troops around him, especially since there is a high possibility that there is a Jin army Meng'an who can make the decision among them.
At this moment, a cavalry officer who was helping Qu Duan change the saddle did not hesitate to mount the warhorse with the stirrup pulled out. Qu Da certainly did not pretend and immediately jumped onto the opponent's horse.
Then, there was another hasty charge with the Jin cavalry.
This time, the ones who suffered the most were the Song army which did not have time to speed up. In order to protect the flag, Qu Duan had to abandon some of his subordinates and flee to a depression on one side to regroup.
Just after stopping, before the other knights had time to gather, a warhorse with an empty back caught Qu Duan's attention... One of the stirrups of this horse was completely pulled apart, and it just because of the habit of following the lead horse, it chased all the way to the depression.
In the rain, Qu Duan lost his mind for a moment, but he still took advantage of the opportunity when the surrounding soldiers gathered to ask, "Does anyone know who just changed my horse?"
"It's Zhao Bufan." Xiahou Yuan, whose left arm was obviously injured, blurted out.
In the chaotic depression, Qu Duan was stunned for a moment.
However, the battlefield was destined not to be a place for people to think. At this moment, there was a faint and urgent sound of drums and horns near the dragon flag on the high ground. Then, a large group of Song army armored cavalry bypassed the chevaux de frise from the rear and appeared on the high ground slope to the north. The iconic bronze face and the commanding terrain caused the Jin army cavalry below to be shocked.
Then, Qu Duan saw with his own eyes that a flag of the Jin army that was attacking the large formation of Jie Yuan's troops on the left side of the Imperial Camp on the western slope directly withdrew from the battle, turned to the side, and began to blow the horn and wave the flag. It was obvious that it wanted its troops to gather towards the flag and then deal with Han Shizhong's Beiwei Army.
The Iron Pagodas who were originally engaged in a melee with Qu Duantuan withdrew in large numbers and fled westwards... There was no doubt that it was Wanyan Poshu who gathered the troops.
However, after receiving the signal, the Iron Pagoda Brigade of four to five hundred cavalrymen quickly reorganized their forces and without hesitation launched another attack on the general's flag at the crooked end.
"Go for it!" Qu Duan certainly knew what to do at this moment, or rather, the only thing to do. "Follow me and go for it!"
The Song army knights, who had not yet recovered from the casualties, tried their best to rise from the depression with Qu Duan and rushed forward again. Both sides barely sped up, but when they were only a few dozen steps away from each other, they chose to slow down at the same time, and then another short, scraping hand-to-hand combat ensued.
But even this kind of battle was deadly and cruel... The two sides narrowly avoided each other, and the Jin army still won and the Song army was defeated. The former lost twelve or thirteen people from their horses, and the latter lost seventeen or eighteen people... The Song army then retreated to the east of the puddle to avoid it.
This time, without checking the soldiers, Qu Duan also noticed who was missing... Xiahou Yuan did not catch up.
Like Zhao Bufan before, this old brother who had followed him for more than ten years disappeared without a word.
At this moment, the organized Iron Pagoda also turned around and chose to go west... Obviously, they also noticed the military order from their superiors, but because Qu Duan's flag was too attractive, the cavalry general could not help but make one last attempt, and then failed and immediately went west.
But it was this tentative attack that suddenly took away Qu Duan's most trusted confidant and schoolmate.
"The governor."
Another guard nearby asked on behalf of Xiahou Yuan. "What should we do now?"
"Catch up... catch up!" Just like when he first heard the news from Zhao Bufan, Qu Duan was confused at first, but soon came to his senses, and then was filled with some kind of anger. "Go as far as you can! We can't let the Golden Dog do anything he wants! Just catch up!"
After saying this, Qu Duan rode out on his horse again, just like before. The knights around him were awed and followed him quickly.
The next moment, thousands of bronze-armored cavalrymen from the left army of the imperial camp, who had taken a short rest, poured down under the leadership of Cheng Min. Together with the imperial camp cavalry and some Khitan light cavalry that came from nowhere, they completely submerged Wanyan Poshu and his Iron Pagodas.
This submergence certainly does not mean annihilation. What follows is still the kind of brutal small-scale charges and fierce hand-to-hand combat, and people will still continue to disappear in the mud, but this time it is the turn of Wanyan Poshu and his Iron Pagoda to be slightly at a disadvantage.
Wuzhu stood on a watchtower in the Huonu Village, watching the battle ahead with a dry mouth.
Of course, he didn't know at this time that Balisu and the five-colored sun-holding flag had been tied up and unable to move. He didn't even know that the Song army's armored long-axe soldiers were advancing like a wall. He just heard that the Song army had a final elite reserve of more than 20,000 people.
However, even so, even if he only looked at the attacks of Wanyan Huo Nu and Wanyan Po Shu in front of him, he could not get excited.
Most of Po Shu's troops were entangled by the Song cavalry at the very beginning, and with only a few thousand cavalry led by Huo Nu and one or two more He Zhameng'ans, they could not even destroy the original Song army line, let alone force their way to the front and charge at the dragon flag.
Wuzhu knew exactly where the problem lay... Not to mention the tenacity of the Song army with the dragon banner behind them, nor the fierce attack and division of the Song cavalry... Those were the enemy's business, they could not change it, but here in the Jin army, there was no coordination between Wanyan Bendu and Wanyan Huonu.
Huo Nu and Po Shu led fresh troops to join the battlefield. Except for some troops being entangled by Song cavalry, all the troops were looking for weak points in the Song army's front to try to break through. They had no intention of assisting Wanyan Bendu in advancing the front as a whole... At the same time, Wanyan Bendu just focused on maintaining the front line, and had no intention of sending out cavalry to help Huo Nu find a breakthrough.
Theoretically, you cannot blame anyone. In fact, Wuzhu didn't want to blame anyone at this time... As early as the moment Wanyan Poshu led his troops to break out, and the moment Wanyan Huonu wished him a hundred and twenty years old, he had realized that it was nothing but a pipe dream to maintain the integrity and unity of the plan under the strong pressure of the Song army.
And Wuzhu has already made a decision.
"King Wei."
The 64-year-old Jiagu Wulibu held his helmet in one hand and shouted from the bottom of the watchtower, panting. "What do you want to call me for?"
"Wulibu." Wushu hurried downstairs and held the other's hand. "I know that your troops have been fighting since this morning and have been very tired, but Zhending's troops have not arrived yet. Now, apart from you, we really have no other cavalry available... When you go back, don't listen to Ben Du's command anymore, lead your troops to fully assist Huo Nu, and attack wherever he goes, okay?"
Wu Li Bu nodded on the spot: "Why not? I was originally a soldier under the command of General Loushi. For decades, I have always been used to cooperating with General Huo Nu."
Wuzhu also nodded... This matter itself was an important reason for him to make this choice.
"Then I'll go back." Seeing that the other party had nothing to say, Wu Li Bu did not delay any longer.
Wuzhu nodded repeatedly: "Old General, go now!"
However, Wuli Bu put on his helmet again and turned to leave, but suddenly turned back: "King of Wei... there is one more thing that I should not say, but the war has reached this level, and I just heard that the situation with the Eastern Marshal is not good... Please keep it in mind, King of Wei, and make preparations early."
This statement was unclear, but Wuzhu was immediately startled, and then nodded hastily.
It turned out that although Jiagu Wulibu was only a 'reinforcement commander' based on his seniority, he was one of only four people in the entire camp who knew that Yue Fei, Zhang Rong, and Tian Shizhong were likely to appear in the lower reaches of the Hutuo River... The other three were Hong Ya, the assistant minister of the Ministry of War and the chief of the Privy Council who arrived with the reinforcements, Balisu, and finally Wuzhu himself.
And speaking of this now, it is obvious that he is referring to this matter.
"Call Hong Chengzhi over!" Wuzhu had a splitting headache, but he quickly ordered the Tai Shi Nu to bring the only person in the camp who could discuss this matter to him.
Tai Shi Nu left in a hurry, and Wuzhu wanted to climb the watchtower to watch the battle, but he was discouraged and dared not go up to look. However, even if he stood in the camp, he could see the dragon flag and the two army lines on the slope from afar... In the end, he simply stood there in the drizzle waiting, feeling confused and frightened.
More than ten miles apart, at the same time, Balisu was also a little confused... But his confusion was not due to psychological reasons. In fact, from the time he hastily went into battle today to the time he was hurriedly caught up in the current scene where the entire army was tied up, this Jurchen marshal had no psychological cognitive problems. He could even be said to be the one who had the clearest understanding of the situation among all the Jin army.
Not to mention it before, just talking about today's battle, he was just two moves behind.
One was a mistake in his understanding and arrangement of the battle. He misunderstood the true meaning of the last throw, and the last throw he arranged was obviously crushed by the Song army's last throw. The other was a tactical problem. A charge was inevitable. If left unchecked, the iron dragon would only become stronger and stronger until it could not be suppressed. However, after trying hard, he still could not break through... In a word, he did not create a miracle.
Back to the present, let's be straightforward. The reason why Balisu felt confused was because he was injured. Although he looked fine from the outside, in fact, in a close combat shortly after the battle began, his helmet was hit by the axe handle of a Song army axeman, and then a warm liquid oozed out from his forehead, and now it was dripping all over half of his face behind the mask.
The slow and continuous blood loss gradually made Balisu a little dazed and even shaky, but he didn't dare to say anything.
In a trance, another wave of Song army arrived at the core, and this time most of them were cavalry. The leading general was obviously too powerful. He wielded a large iron spear and was almost unstoppable. He easily killed to Balisu... The Jurchen guards around him were almost frightened to death.
However, surprisingly, the Song cavalry general ignored Balisu and went straight past the Jin army marshal to the rear. Several personal guards in the distance desperately rushed back to try to rescue their own marshal.
Balisu himself also tried to escape out of his survival instinct, but at this moment, the Jin marshal suddenly heard a cry behind him. He turned around and saw his flag-bearer fall off his horse, and the five-colored sun flag also fell into the mud.
As if possessed by some mysterious force, instead of taking the opportunity to escape, Balisu turned his horse's head towards the fallen flag, trying to pick up and protect it. However, as soon as he bent down, he felt a sharp pain from his back spine, and then fell directly to the ground, right on top of the flag.
Yang Zaixing cried out in his heart that it was bad luck, but he just felt that it was not a good idea to pick up the flag as a trophy. He did not even notice that the knight who came to rescue the flag had a gold medal tied around his waist... However, perhaps because he felt that there was a commander named Niu behind him who could testify for him that it was he who pulled down the flag, Yang Zaixing soon stopped caring about it again.
Next, just like when Lou Shi and Ali were killed in battle before, the Jin army did not collapse immediately. Instead, it fell into some kind of intense emotion, especially the Jin cavalry around the flags. They moved violently, and almost everyone came to rescue their own marshal who had fallen from his horse. Yang Zaixing became the target of public criticism.
But just as everything turned out to be the same in the end, when the Song army held out for the final madness, starting from the place where the commander's flag fell, the tens of thousands of households led by Balisu finally began to gradually disintegrate and collapse, and then completely dispersed from the gaps on all sides.
At this moment, on the eastern battlefield, the Jin army still had three thousand households, among which Elubu was even a fresh force that had not lost its main force. However, as the armored wall and axe forest were quickly reorganized, and then a more urgent marching speed was accelerated to sweep through, everyone knew that this increasingly exaggerated iron dragon was completely unstoppable.
As for the Jin Marshal Balisu, no one knows when and how he died... Even the Jin soldiers who witnessed Yang Zaixing knocking him to the ground didn't know whether their marshal died on the spot or was later trampled by horses' hooves, or was stabbed by the following Song soldiers when the Song army's line swept through this area.
The only thing that is certain is that Balisu's gold medal and the flag became the spoils of the Song army after the war, and Balisu should have indeed died in this battle, only living one year less than in another time and space.
What's more, he finally became a marshal, and was destined to be recorded in history and be written about by many people... In the position of marshal of the Jin Dynasty, his old boss Nianhan might not be as famous as him in the future.
"You bastard!"
Niu Gao's troops had already begun to be absorbed and integrated by the iron wall, and Niu Gao himself was ready to move to the back of the formation to supervise the advance, but seeing that the tall knight had fallen into a state of random killing, he couldn't help but shouting. "Why are you still staying here? If you want to make more achievements, you should go to the south of the dragon flag and kill those iron pagodas. If you succeed, you may be able to become a duke!"