Chen Qing's voice became hoarse. He ordered the soldiers to clear the sandbag wall, directly set up 500 bed crossbows and fired them in turn down the hillside. He also dumped more than 300 barrels of kerosene regardless of the cost. The fire and the bed crossbows finally stopped him.
Jurchen cavalry attacked.
More than 1,500 cavalrymen died on the slope, and their horses were burnt to charcoal. Giant trees were thrown down, and the hillside was once again ignited with raging fire.
Seeing that he failed again, Han Chang felt extremely helpless. He punched the saddle hard and had to accept the reality. Wanyan Alupu was right, he really couldn't attack from the slope.
It was almost dawn at this time, but the fierce fighting on the east side of Jiwangpo still showed no sign of stopping. Wanyan Alupu invested 15,000 soldiers and hundreds of ladders, and batches of soldiers died in the battle.
Groups of soldiers attacked, trampling on the thick corpses. Ladders were placed on the charred corpses. It was impossible to tell whether they were Jin soldiers or Song soldiers.
The soldiers of the Song army above used gunpowder, kerosene, and rolling logs. After a night of fierce fighting, Jingwangpo became a slaughterhouse. More than 8,000 Jin soldiers were killed. The Jin soldiers broke through the defense three times, but were driven back by the tenacious Song army.
, but the Song army also paid a heavy price with nearly two thousand casualties.
The sky finally dawned, and the Jin soldiers who were attacking like a tide finally retreated temporarily. The broken ladder was still burning, green smoke was curling up, and the air was filled with a pungent burnt smell.
In the distance, the Jin soldiers were cutting down wood on a large scale to make simple ladders in the pine forest. This was the truth behind their temporary truce. More than 600 ladders built overnight had been exhausted, and even more than a hundred trebuchets were destroyed by the Song army.
The bed crossbows were all destroyed.
Thousands of Song soldiers lay scattered on the bloody ground. He was so exhausted that he fell down and fell asleep without even having time to eat breakfast.
Chen Qing quickly came to the southeast corner. A group of soldiers carried over a general who had been hit by an arrow. This general was Zhao Xiaoyi. He was hit by two arrows and was in critical condition. He was shouting under the cliff and was discovered by the patrolling soldiers.
Use the ladder to rescue him.
"The commander is here!"
The soldiers moved away one after another. Chen Qing stepped forward and saw a military doctor stopping Zhao Xiaoyi's bleeding. There was an eagle cage next to him, and in the cage squatted a trusting eagle.
"How is he?" Chen Qing asked hurriedly.
The military doctor smiled bitterly and said, "He is very lucky, so it is difficult for him to survive, but he still managed to hold on."
"Can it be saved?"
The military doctor sighed, "I can only say that I will try my best. Whether I can survive in the end depends on God's will!"
The military doctor stopped Zhao Xiaoyi's bleeding and ordered the people around him, "Lift him onto the soft frame, and be careful of the arrows on his back!"
Zhao Xiaoyi slowly opened his eyes, saw Chen Qing, quickly grabbed him, and whispered with difficulty: "Guard for three days, pay attention to the beacon fire, and release the eagle after you withdraw!"
"I understand, stop talking and save your life first."
Chen Qing waved his hand, and the soldiers hurried away carrying the racks.
As soon as Zhao Xiaoyi was carried away, Zheng Ping ran over and asked breathlessly: "Commander, how is Xiaoyi?"
"It is estimated that the ranger cavalry who encountered the Jurchens was hit by two arrows in the back. He was seriously injured. I don't know if he will survive. It depends on whether he can hold on."
Chen Qing has taken life and death lightly. Even for a close general like Zhao Xiaoyi, he downplays death.
"Ah! I have to go see him."
"Go for it!"
Zheng Ping rushed towards the wounded barracks. Chen Qing asked the soldiers to put away the eagle cage and quickly came to the warehouse camp.
What was on his mind was the news brought by Zhao Xiaoyi. Wu Jie would withdraw to Dasanguan within three days. Of course, it didn't start from today, it should start from yesterday and end tomorrow night. More importantly, it was the beacon notice.
Chen Qing was very worried. If Jin Bing continued to attack at all costs like last night, would his troops and supplies be able to last until tomorrow night?
In the warehouse camp, two civil servants, Zhou Kuan and Zhang Miao, were busy counting various supplies, and more than a dozen soldiers helped them carry them.
"Marquis Zhou Yu, the commander is here!"
Zhou Kuan turned around and saw the commander walking in quickly.
Everyone saluted quickly. Chen Qing nodded to everyone and asked directly: "How much kerosene, kerosene and jackdaw arrows are left?"
Zhou Kuan was in charge of weapons. He quickly said: "Commander Qi, there are still 870 barrels of kerosene, 350 barrels of gunpowder, and 12,000 jackdaw arrows."
Chen Qing was surprised, "How could it be consumed so quickly?"
Zhou Kuan sighed, "I can't help it. We used too much yesterday. We used 1,200 barrels of kerosene alone, hundreds of barrels of gunpowder, and 8,000 jackdaw arrows yesterday."
Chen Qing thought about it and it was inevitable. They had much fewer troops than the other side. They could only keep the camp intact by consuming a lot of various materials. The question now is, can the remaining materials guarantee their support until tomorrow night?
?
"Is there enough food and grass?" Chen Qing asked again.
Zhang Miao said from a distance: "Report to the commander, there is enough food for the soldiers to last for a month, but there may not be enough fodder."
"Not enough fodder?" Chen Qing was stunned for a moment.
"We have 30,000 dans of fodder. We only had 500 war horses before, which was completely enough. But this time we captured 2,000 war horses and burned thousands of dans of fodder in the past few days. Now the fodder is not as sufficient as food.
"
"How many days can you last?"
"About ten days at most!"
Chen Qing felt relieved, ten days was enough.
He also had to discuss with everyone how to use kerosene and gunpowder rationally, and be sure to save them and try to use them until tomorrow night.
...........
In Monk Yuan, the Song army retreated very quickly, starting with the withdrawal of grain, grass, supplies and other baggage. The key to Wu Jie's ability to ensure that the evacuation could be completed within three days was that they had transportation means, and thousands of mule carts happened to be at Monk Yuan.
In just one day and one night, 3,000 mule carts made four trips to transport all the grain and grass supplies back to Dashan Pass.
At dusk the next day, the army was preparing to retreat. Wu Jie stood on a high fortification and looked at the Jin Bing camp in the distance. The Jin Bing camp was ten miles away, and little bits of fire could be seen.
At this time, Liu Qi walked up to Wu Jie and said in a deep voice: "I just received news from the scouts that there is something strange happening in the Jinbing camp!"
Wu Jie nodded, as he expected.
"Does Wanyan Wushu know about our retreat?"
"How could he not know that after Wang Jianpo fell, only Chen Qing's army was left in Xigu? How many days could Chen Qing be able to hold on against an army of tens of thousands? Wanyan Wushu must have known that our army was preparing to retreat."
After a moment of silence, Liu Qi asked again: "Will the Jin soldiers pursue us tonight?"
"Since the opponent has moved, the possibility of pursuit is relatively high, but as long as we arrange it properly, if they fail to steal the chicken, they will lose a handful of rice!"
"Leave this blocking task to the humble position!"
"What are you going to do?" Wu Jie asked with a smile.
Liu Qi smiled slightly, "I'll humble myself and cook them the same dish!"
.........
That night, Monk Yuan's 12,000 Song troops began to retreat toward Dashan Pass.
As expected by Wu Jie, Wanyan Wushu personally led an army of 50,000 to pursue the Song army.
Of course, Wanyan Wushu had the latest situation. He knew that the Song army could no longer exist in the West Valley, and it was inevitable that Wanyan Alupu would fully capture the West Valley.
The Song army will have to abandon Monk Yuan and withdraw to Dashan Pass.
The key is timing. In fact, Wanyan Wushu was a bit conservative. If he ordered Han Chang to lead an army of 10,000 to closely monitor Chen Qing's army, and then ordered Wanyan Alupu to lead an army of 20,000 to Dashanguan,
If the retreat route of the Song army is cut off, Wu Jie will be defeated in this battle of Sanguan.
This is why Wu Jie looked extremely grim after receiving Chen Qing's express letter.
Wu Jie knew very well what the loss of Wang Jianpo meant?
That's why he was in such a hurry. He had to retreat to Dashan Pass in two nights and one day. Even three days was too slow.
It is a pity that Wanyan Wushu's tactics were too conservative. He made sure to clear out the Song army in the West Valley before dispersing the troops and missed this golden opportunity.
At this time, Wanyan Wushu led the army to occupy Monk Plains and continued to pursue the Song army southward.
In the dark night, five thousand forward cavalry chased them to the Thousand Blades Valley. This was the valley where Wan Yanmei Li's army was ambushed by Wang Yan, and it was also the only way to retreat to Dashan Pass.
Previously, tens of thousands of Jin soldiers were forced to retreat to Niu Shoufu from here, and in the end almost the entire army was annihilated.
The five thousand cavalrymen had just entered the valley less than a mile when they heard a loud roar, and the fire ignited, illuminating the surrounding area like daylight. Hundreds of crossbows in front were fired together, and jackdaw arrows were fired at the golden soldiers like a storm.
There was a great chaos among the Jin soldiers. Countless cavalrymen fell on their backs. The screams of the soldiers and the mournful cries of the war horses resounded throughout the valley.
The vanguard commander Wanyan Pu was shocked and ordered the cavalry to retreat.