Li Hui captured Nanchang County with almost no effort. His 70,000 troops were still twenty miles away from Nanchang County, and thousands of Nanchang County defenders abandoned the city and fled.
A mighty army of 70,000 troops approached the city. At this time, the city gate opened, and the magistrate led several civil servants out of the city to welcome the Song army.
"Xiaguan Nanchang County Magistrate Zhang Xin welcomes the return of the heavenly army!"
Li Hui asked strangely: "Where are your prefects and tongpan?"
"Reporting to the marshal, they had already fled before the rebels arrived, and other county officials also fled."
Li snorted back, "Then why don't you run away?"
Zhang Xin said, neither arrogant nor humble: "If you run away even if you hold a humble position, what will the people in the city do?"
Li Hui nodded, "Let's talk about it first in the city!"
The army entered Nanchang County in a mighty manner. The city was in order and not chaotic. Li Hui asked: "How many rebels are there in the city?"
"Reporting back to the marshal, there were tens of thousands of troops at first, but they retreated soon after, leaving only a few thousand troops behind, planting flags on the city walls, making a bluff."
Li Hui nodded secretly, and his Majesty guessed it correctly. The opponent's real target was Zhenjiang Mansion, and Jiangnan West Road was just a false attack.
"How much food is left in the city?"
"I don't know about their humble position, but they fled in a panic and did not bring any food with them, which is estimated to be about 100,000 dan."
Li Hui then said to Ju Shigu: "You lead 20,000 troops to guard Nan County. I will lead the army to continue the pursuit and completely recover the Jiangnan West Road."
Ju Shigu hesitated and said: "Commander, I always feel that the enemy's retreat like this is a fraud!"
Li Hui glared at him fiercely, "This is the emperor's decree. Do you want me to disobey it and become the second Yue Fei?"
The big label of disobedience was thrown down, and Ju Shigu did not dare to say a word.
Li Hui immediately ordered the army to rest for an hour, and then set out to pursue the enemy. At the same time, he ordered people to build a pontoon bridge.
An hour later, the pontoon bridge was completed, and Li Hui led an army of 50,000 people across the pontoon bridge and marched toward Jiangzhou in the north.
At two o'clock in the morning, everything was silent, and there was silence in Nanchang City. At this time, ambush soldiers hidden in various parts of Nanchang City were dispatched. They gathered from various places towards the City God's Temple in the north of the city, and soon gathered into a team of a thousand people, dozens of people.
A small trebuchet also appeared around the military camp.
A team of 1,000 people immediately launched an attack on the North City Gate. Although there were more than 300 Song soldiers guarding the North City, most of them were asleep. The Song soldiers were caught off guard and were wiped out in their sleep in a moment.
The city gate opened, and more than 30,000 Huaixi troops outside the city entered the city. At the same time, a fire suddenly broke out in the quiet military camp. The fire was raging and thick smoke filled the air. A small trebuchet threw barrels of kerosene into the military camp.
Inside.
The soldiers in the military camp cried for their fathers and mothers and rushed here and there. Countless soldiers fainted due to the thick smoke and never woke up.
Ju Shigu was so anxious that he led thousands of soldiers to break out. As soon as he ran to the gate of the military camp, there was a sound of bangs and arrows shot like a storm. Ju Shigu was caught off guard, and his men and horses were shot like hedgehogs.
A tragic death.
The remaining soldiers were so frightened that they knelt down and surrendered. The Huaixi Army accepted the surrender. Groups of soldiers raised their hands and fled from the military camp. The soldiers had no choice. They were either burned to death or surrendered. Even if they wanted to resist, they would be killed by their companions first.
.
In the end, the 20,000 troops failed to escape from Nanchang City and were completely destroyed. Nearly 7,000 people were burned to death or suffocated by the smoke. The remaining soldiers all surrendered.
At the same moment when Nanchang City was attacked, Li Hui led an army of 50,000 people to rest in a forest. This place is located on the west bank of the Gan River, about 20 miles away from the Gan River. There is no county seat within dozens of miles, and the closest county seat to them is
It's Nanchang County on the east bank of the Gan River, but it's also forty miles away.
The 50,000-strong army marched lightly, carrying only five days of dry food, which was just enough to fight to the Yangtze River and then return to Nanchang County. In the middle of the night, ten gunpowder arrows suddenly flew into the sky from the north. This was a large group of enemy troops attacking.
of alert.
The soldiers woke up from their dreams one after another and looked at the gunpowder arrows in the sky in surprise.
Li Hui shouted: "Everyone get up! Everyone get up!"
The roar of horse hooves sounded in the distance, and it turned out that the cavalry was coming. In just a moment, more than a thousand cavalry ran past the woods where they were resting. Countless gunpowder arrows shot into the woods, and the pine trees began to burn. The 50,000-strong army hurriedly retreated south.
As soon as part of the army retreated out of the woods, 10,000 cavalry suddenly came from the west, catching the Song army by surprise.
At the same time, tens of thousands of troops came from the north. The woods were on fire and the cavalry attacked. The Song army was unable to organize its troops. The army was in chaos. In the chaos, countless soldiers were heard shouting: "Li Hui has escaped! Li Hui has escaped!"
"
The morale of the army collapsed rapidly. No one was willing to resist anymore. The Song army was defeated. Tens of thousands of troops fled in the dark. The Huaixi army covered them from behind. The soldiers trampled on each other and countless people surrendered.
Li Hui led his army to escape for more than thirty miles in one breath. As daylight gradually dawned, he gathered up the defeated troops, only to find that there were less than 20,000 soldiers.
At this time, Li Hui discovered an even more terrifying thing. The pontoon bridge on the Gan River disappeared and they could not cross the Gan River. The water was filled with warships of the Huaixi Army.
It was only then that Li Hui finally realized that they had made a big mistake. Zhang Jun's main force was on Jiangnan West Road, and he was just tempting them step by step to cross the Gan River. Once they crossed the Gan River, they were completely finished.
A scout rushed from the south to report, "Reporting to Marshal, 30,000 Huaixi troops were discovered ten miles away to the south, and the road to the south has been cut off!"
A scout rushed to report, "Twenty thousand enemy troops were found five miles away to the west!"
At this time, the main force of the Huaixi Army also appeared in the north. One hundred thousand Huaixi Army surrounded Li Hui's remaining army from three directions, while to the east was the wide Gan River.
Li Hui was desperate and unable to resist. Almost all the soldiers were bare-handed and even threw away their armor in order to escape. People were panicked. Li Hui had no choice but to order the entire army to surrender.
At this point, of the 80,000 Song troops on Jiangnan West Road, except for the 10,000 who guarded Shangrao, the remaining 70,000 troops were completely destroyed.
At noon, countless newsboys poured out of the "Beijing News" newspaper office. They ran and shouted, "Extra number! Extra number! The entire Song army on Jiangnan West Road was destroyed, Ju Shigu died in battle, and Li Hui surrendered!"
As the newsboys ran and the "Beijing News" was published one after another, the news of the Song Army's defeat on Jiangnan West Road spread quickly throughout Lin'an City as if it had wings.
The headline on the front page of the newspaper was a line of big characters, 'The entire 80,000 Song army on Jiangnan West Road was destroyed, Jushi Gu died in battle, and Li Hui surrendered!' It was particularly shocking.
The detailed description below is that due to the Song army's greed for merit and their reckless advance, they were cut off by the Huaixi Army after crossing the Gan River. The morale of the army collapsed and the entire army was defeated miserably. Ju Shigu was attacked in Nanchang County, and 20,000 troops were burned to death or surrendered.
When the news spread, the whole city was in an uproar. Almost all teahouses and restaurants were talking about it. The crowd was furious. Tens of thousands of people gathered in front of Chaotian Gate on Yujie, shouting angrily.
First, there was a disastrous defeat in Haizhou, and the entire army of 100,000 was annihilated. Only half a year later, the Song army suffered another disastrous defeat, and the entire army of 80,000 was annihilated. The soldiers and people of Lin'an were extremely desperate and resentful. Why was the imperial court so stupid and incompetent?
Repeatedly defeated?
Tens of thousands of people had no demands, but gathered in front of Chaotian Gate to shout and vent their inner resentment.
In the imperial study room, a piece of "Beijing News" was spread out on the table. Emperor Zhao Gou sat in front of the table in despair, staring at the newspaper, his mind going blank.
At this time, the chamberlain whispered: "Your Majesty, several of your husbands are urgently seeking to see you!"
After a while, Zhao Gou finally came to his senses and nodded, "Invite them to visit!"
