Chapter 342 Battle of Kaifeng (6)(1/2)
In the inner city of Kaifeng, Emperor Wanyan Shouxu of the Jin Kingdom originally planned to pass the throne to his subordinates and then break out of the siege himself.
The sudden changes outside the city gave the Jurchens in the city another glimmer of hope.
If the reinforcements have already arrived near Kaifeng, there will be no rush to pass the position, and there is no need to break out.
After all, breaking out of an siege is a very dangerous act, especially if the outer city falls. If you break out, you will most likely fall into the hands of the Mongolian army.
Previously, he felt that the inner city could not be defended and that staying there would be a dead end, so Wanyan Shouxu agreed to take the risk in the hope of being able to break out of the city.
Now that reinforcements are coming, it will be safer to stay in the city and wait for reinforcements to relieve the siege.
The Jurchens in the city were all excited when they saw the fire outside, and hope was rekindled in their hearts.
They had completely forgotten that when the outer city fell, Marshal Wanyan Heda's desperate roar of the Jin Kingdom was automatically filtered out. The city was besieged for half a year, and Zhao Tai said several times that he would come to rescue, but no one was seen.
Everyone in the city saw a fire in the Mongolian camp outside the city, and they concluded that this time it was different.
After being trapped for so long, reinforcements arrived outside the city for the first time.
"Your Majesty!" Wanyan Chenglin looked excited, "This must be someone loyal to the king!"
Wanyan Shouxu's face turned red, and two tears of emotion fell from his sunken eyes, "Guorui will live up to me in the end!"
Now that all the outer areas of Kaifeng have been captured, the Jin Kingdom is left with only Zhao Tai and Wuxian who have moved to Shandong.
Therefore, the reinforcements outside the city can only be these two groups.
Outside the city, Zhao Tai's subordinate general Wanyan Chengde took advantage of the Mongols' unpreparedness and burned an empty Mongolian camp.
When he saw the Mongolian cavalry coming in the city, he immediately drew his horse and left, but he did not go far, but galloped around the city.
At this time, Wanyan Chengde was running, avoiding the pursuit of the Mongolian army, and observing the city.
"Brother, the outer city is controlled by the Mongolian army, we can't enter!" Wanyan Chenghu said anxiously.
Kaifeng was besieged for half a year, and the Jin army inside must have been exhausted and reached its limit.
Wanyan Chengde wanted to enter the city with his 3,000 troops. With their new force, the morale of the defenders would be greatly boosted.
However, after running for a while, he didn't find the passage into the city.
Wanyan Chengde said in a deep voice: "Continue to circle the city!"
At this time, the Mongolian cavalry pursued them. The three thousand Qi troops turned around and fired arrows to kill the pursuing Mongolian cavalry. They continued to run, unwilling to leave.
Subotai rode on his war horse and came to the camp that was full of messes, his face was ashen.
Subotai did not expect that Zhao Tai's cavalry would bypass the Mongolian army and appear outside Kaifeng City.
After all, Mongolia is good at cavalry, and the east of Henan Province is flat. Anyone who dares to compete with Mongolian cavalry here can be said to be simply seeking death.
Therefore, after Subotai returned to Kaifeng, he did not strengthen defenses, but prepared to attack the city.
Unexpectedly, Zhao Tai was so brave that he sent cavalry to sneak attack his camp.
Although the Qi army's sneak attack did not cause much damage to the Mongolian army, the impact was bad and would boost the morale of the defenders in the city and create trouble for them in the siege.
Originally, after Subotai returned to Kaifeng, he urged Cui Li to attack the city. The inner city was already crumbling and could be captured tomorrow. However, Zhao Tai's actions caused another change.
Subotai couldn't help but grit his teeth and shouted with a black face: "Order the cavalry to surround this enemy cavalry for me, cut off their heads, and throw them into the inner city!"
Subotai was angry inside, because Zhao Tai was just as capable of pinching him as he could cause trouble for him every time.
He was now worried that the Jurchens who were only half alive in the city would gain hope when they saw someone coming to save them, and would defend the city as if they were victorious. Then his city would be difficult to attack again.
The situation in Guanzhong and Luoyang is unclear now. The Mongolian army cannot afford to spend money in Kaifeng. Even if it is not easy to attack, he must attack by force.
In order to eliminate the impact, the best way is to kill all the cavalry arriving at the city and show their corpses to the defenders in the city, completely breaking their hearts.
Subotai gave an order, and several Mongolian cavalry units were dispatched together, like big winding snakes, outflanking the Qi cavalry who were unwilling to leave from all directions.
"Brother! The Mongolian cavalry are surrounding us!" Wanyan Chenghu shouted urgently.
Wanyan Chengde turned his head and saw that the cavalry had galloped to a section of the city wall that was relatively close to the inner city. So he clamped the horse's belly and roared: "Follow me!"
At that moment, he slapped the horse's butt with the barrel of his gun, and the horse immediately picked up speed, and three thousand cavalry galloped towards the city.
Wanyan Chengde then shouted loudly: "Your Majesty! His Royal Highness, King Zhong, has led a large army and joined forces with the Song Army to come to the rescue. They will arrive at Kaifeng City soon!"
Wanyan Chenghu reacted and shouted angrily while running, "Your Majesty, reinforcements will arrive soon, we must defend the city!"
Thousands of cavalrymen behind them shouted loudly over and over again, "Your Majesty, the loyal king is coming!"
Most of these three thousand cavalry are Jurchens, and they are more loyal to the Kingdom of Jin than to Zhao Tai.
They shouted from the bottom of their hearts, hoping that the defenders in the city could hold on until reinforcements arrived.
Of course, they didn't know that Zhao Tai, who sent them to rescue, had no intention of actually saving Kaifeng.
At this time, the shouts of three thousand cavalry outside the city immediately attracted the attention of the Jurchens in the city.
When they heard the sound, they couldn't help but talk about it. Wanyan Chenglin shouted: "Everyone be quiet!"
The Jurchens in the imperial city kept silent. Wanyan and Chenglin listened carefully and gradually heard the voices outside clearly.
"Your Majesty, King Zhong has joined forces with the Song Army to come to the rescue. We are really saved!" Wanyan Chenglin was so excited that he burst into tears.
Although the Jin army in the city had been hoping that Zhao Tai would come to rescue them, they actually knew very well that Zhao Tai could not save them at all, and would only die if he came.
However, when Zhao Tai united with the Song Army to rescue him, the situation was different.
Nowadays, only the Southern Song Dynasty has the strength in the world. It can't fight with Mongolia. Zhao Tai invites the Song army to come together to save them, and the chance of success is very high.
After hearing the shouts outside, the Jurchens in the city forgot about hunger, hugged each other excitedly, and cheered to vent their joy.
Wanyan Shouxu had tears in his eyes, "Dajin is saved!"
At this time, Subotai, who was commanding the cavalry to pursue the Qi army, couldn't help but became furious, "Damn it, don't let them shout anymore! Kill them for me, commander!"
After speaking, they whipped their horses and several Mongolian cavalry accelerated, intending to encircle the Qi army.
"Brother, the Mongolian army is surrounding us!" Wanyan Chenghu reminded again.
This time Wanyan Chengde did not dare to stay any longer, so he immediately pulled the reins of his horse and said, "Retreat! Rush out!"
The three thousand cavalry then made a detour, intending to fight out from the gap between the two groups of Mongolian cavalry before the Mongolian cavalry encircled them.
At this time, a group of Mongolian cavalry discovered their intention, pulled the reins of their horses, and rushed directly towards them.
"Charge!" Wanyan Chengde roared when he saw this.
The three thousand Qi troops who had just prepared to evacuate had just turned around when they encountered thousands of Mongolian cavalry.
One side wanted to evacuate, the other wanted to block it. Both sides showed no signs of stopping and rushed straight towards the other side!
For a moment, horse hooves trampled the ground, stirring up billowing yellow dust, and two supporting cavalrymen quickly approached.
The Mongolian cavalry galloped with their bows and arrows drawn, and when they approached, there was a hail of arrows. Not to be outdone, the Qi cavalry also fired back with mounted fire. The cavalry of both armies were hit by arrows one after another, and the knights fell off their horses one after another.
At this time, both sides had no time to check the damage, and the two armies had already collided!
The Qi army stabbed with spears, swung with blunt weapons, the Mongolian army's scimitar flew up and down, two torrents of steel collided fiercely, people howled, horses neighed, and blood spurted out.
Wanyan Chengde and Wanyan Chenghu led three thousand cavalry, broke into the enemy's formation, cut down the Mongolian cavalry in front of them one after another, and then led their troops out through the formation.
At this time, the two of them did not look back to see the dead bodies and the mournful horses behind them. Instead, they evacuated from the battlefield with a puff of smoke and a pinch in the horse's belly.
In the distance, Subutai saw the Qi army breaking through the obstruction and evacuating from Kaifeng, so he reined in his horse and gradually stopped.
"Every time I think about it, Zhao Tai has such an elite cavalry!" Subotai looked at the retreating Qi army and was a little surprised.
The cavalry is not as good as the infantry. The training cycle is very long. It does not last three to five years and it is difficult to form combat effectiveness. Let alone compete with the Mongolian cavalry.
It has only been two years since Zhao Tai's rise, but his cavalry did not lose to the Mongolian army in the battle just now, no matter whether it was riding or shooting, or fighting on horseback, Subotai was a little shocked.
If Zhao Tai trains a new cavalry on his own, it will indeed be difficult to form combat strength in such a short period of time.
The reason why his cavalry is so strong is mainly because of the sources of this cavalry, many of which are cavalry from the Kingdom of Jin.
Some of them are from Kaizima, some are from Tiefu Tu, and some belong to the Zhongxiao Army, which was originally the elite cavalry of the Jin Kingdom.
Subotai watched the Qi army walk away and couldn't help but said in a deep voice: "Zhao Taizhen is our Mongolian confidant. Send an order to monitor this enemy cavalry. We must not let them get close to Kaifeng again and disturb the morale of our army!"
"Yes, Marshal!" The Mongolian general behind him immediately saluted.
Seeing this, Subotai nodded, then with a dark face, he drew his horse and returned to the city.
At this time, as soon as he came back, Cui Li, the general in charge of attacking the city, hurried over and said with a stern face: "Marshal, just now the enemy reinforcements came outside the city and shouted howl, which made the Jurchens in the city think that the reinforcements were coming, and they were defeated.
Our morale will surely recover, and I am afraid we will encounter fierce resistance when we attack the city tomorrow!"
The Mongolian cavalry drove away the Qi cavalry. Wanyan Chengde and others could not compete with the approaching Mongolian cavalry and had to withdraw.
Although they left, the impact of their coming to Kaifeng City has already been caused and will not disappear.
Subotai's mouth twitched, "I know this!"
When Cui Li didn't say anything, he could only say: "Marshal, should we suspend the attack on the city tomorrow? The Jurchens in the city are very excited now. If we attack tomorrow, we will definitely suffer heavy losses. I thought it would be better to suspend the attack and leave them alone for three days, and then they will
Due to hunger, morale will be low again and combat effectiveness will be lost!"
Subotai glanced at Cui Li, but shook his head, "The enemy reinforcements have already approached Kaifeng, and the situation in Luoyang, Guanzhong is unknown. What the Great Khan means is that we cannot continue to delay, we must capture Kaifeng as soon as possible, and then return to Guanzhong and assist Guanzhong."
Luoyang!"
To be continued...