Chen Qing didn't have time to get along with his bosses and subordinates. He had to leave as soon as he took office.
Li Jiang handed him a command arrow and said, "The Commander-in-Chief will lead his troops to retreat westward from Dasanguan tonight. Scouts must go ahead to detect any invincible troops ambushing them. You lead the two scouts to explore the Beijing-Zhao North Line. If any are found, send someone immediately.
Come back and report!"
"Follow the order!"
It was still dark before Chen Qing led 22 scout cavalry to leave the valley and run towards the southwest...
It was late autumn, the weather was gloomy, two consecutive days of heavy rain had made the air humid, and a layer of gray mist shrouded the desolate land.
The war was not over. Groups of Jurchen cavalry were looting and killing on the Guanzhong Plain, searching for the remnants of the defeated Song army.
It was as if Chen Qing was in a dream. Two days ago, he led an anti-drug squad deep into the border, but in the blink of an eye, he led a Song Dynasty squad deep into the war zone.
Nine hundred years of time and space seem to be connected by a rope of fate.
…………
At dawn the next day, Chen Qing led his team from the Weishui River in the south and ran up a small hill. In the distance was a winding river with endless wheat fields on both sides.
The golden wheat has long since matured. Even though the war is still going on, the burned-out farmers still run to the fields desperately to harvest wheat.
Continuous heavy rains have damaged the wheat. If it is not harvested, all the wheat will rot in the ground.
These wheat-grabbing farmers are like canaries in coal mines. The canary can prove whether there is poisonous gas underground, and these farmers can prove that there are no fierce Jurchen cavalry nearby.
But Chen Qinghe's men cannot stray too far from the main army. Although there are no enemy troops now, it does not mean that there will not be any in the future.
Chen Qing saw a forest in the distance.
"Let's go rest in the woods!"
Chen Qing led the cavalry towards the woods to the west.
Just when they were still hundreds of steps away from the woods, Chen Qing suddenly shouted, "Stop!"
Everyone reined in their horses one after another, "Everyone, what's going on?"
"There are horse hoof prints on the ground!"
Only then did everyone notice that there were messy and fresh horse hoof prints on the ground, coming from the northwest, making a circle and extending into the woods.
"Ah! There is an enemy situation."
Everyone became nervous, and Chen Qing shouted: "Don't be chaotic, prepare to fight with crossbows!"
Everyone immediately picked up their bows and arrows, and the team dispersed.
‘Woo——’
The horn sounded, and a group of Jurchen cavalry rushed out from the woods. There were about twenty people, all of them bare-chested, with disheveled hair, and their faces painted black.
It wasn't that they didn't want to wear armor, it was just that they discovered the enemy army a little late, and they were afraid of alerting the Song army scouts and letting the Song army soldiers run away.
Just as the Song army's scouts wanted to catch them and ask for confessions, the Jurchen cavalry also wanted to catch them and ask them about the whereabouts of the main force.
Twenty Jurchen cavalry were lying in ambush in the woods, waiting for the Song army to take the bait. Unexpectedly, they were discovered by the Song army's cavalry.
Chen Qing secretly rejoiced that he had almost made an empiricist mistake, thinking that farmers were working in the fields and there was no enemy. Little did he know that it was daybreak and the enemy troops entered the woods to rest in the middle of the night, and the farmers in the wheat fields did not notice them at all.
"Fire the arrow!"
Chen Qing shouted, raised his crossbow, and fired a crossbow arrow.
More than twenty arrows flew from the air and shot at the Jurchen cavalry. However, the Jurchen cavalry suddenly disappeared from their horses. They hid under the horses' bellies. The more than twenty arrows only shot down two horses.
, the Jurchen cavalry was unscathed.
After the twenty arrows had been shot, the Jurchen cavalry appeared on horseback one after another. They stretched their bows and nocked arrows to shoot at the Song army. They were very skilled in cavalry shooting and the bows and arrows were extremely powerful. Two Song army scouts were shot by random arrows and were tragically injured.
He yelled and fell off his horse.
If you stand still like this, you will be a living target, and you will also suffer the powerful impact of the enemy's cavalry, and you must fight against it.
Retreating is even more impossible. The enemy's equestrian skills are better than theirs and their speed is faster than theirs. They will be chased and shot by the enemy behind them, and none of them will survive.
Chen Qing made a quick decision and shouted: "Follow me and kill!"
He waved his spear and led twenty of his men to charge forward.
The two cavalry squads collided head-on with each other. There was a loud "Boom!", the soil flew, the horses neighed, the soldiers screamed, and the farmers in the distance were so frightened that they ran for their lives.
The two sides fought fiercely together.
The Jurchen Ranger Cavalry are all brave and good at fighting, highly skilled in martial arts, and extremely skilled in equestrian skills, but they hardly cooperate and they all fight independently.
Although these Song army scouts are improvised and their equestrian skills are not very good, they are all elites selected from the army. First of all, they are well-trained, pay attention to formation, and pay attention to coordination. In addition, their armor is strong and their equipment is better than the opponent's.
Naked as one.
For a moment, the two scout armies were fighting to a draw, with screams continuing and casualties on both sides getting heavier and heavier.
Shoot the man first, shoot the horse first, and capture the thief first, capture the king! Chen Qing swung his iron spear and killed the opponent's centurion.
Chen Qing had never practiced marksmanship. He used the epee technique in fencing, which focused on finding flaws and hitting the target with one blow.
The two horses met each other, and the opponent's mace hit Chen Qing hard, causing a strong wind.
Chen Qing dodged sideways and stabbed the opponent's lower abdomen with a spear at an extremely fast speed. Before the opponent could withdraw his mace to block, the direction of his spear suddenly changed and it actually stabbed the opponent's horse.
It was so unexpected that the war horse couldn't dodge, and 'poof!' was pierced through the head with a spear.
The war horse immediately fell to the ground and pinned one of the centurion's legs beneath him. Before the centurion could get up, Chen Qing pierced his vest from behind. The centurion screamed and died tragically on the spot.
The death of the leader greatly affected the morale of the Jurchen cavalry. This is a common characteristic of all nomadic soldiers. They have no hatred of losing their country and their family. They come to the Central Plains just to rob wealth and women.
Soldiers relied entirely on their desire to plunder to support their morale. They were strong in spirit, but lacking in resilience. Once their morale faded, they felt that the gain was not worth the loss and they did not want to fight anymore.
The Jurchen cavalry was no exception. The leader was killed and the soldiers found themselves at a disadvantage and began to think of retreating.
However, the morale of the Song army's scouts was greatly boosted. The more they fought, the more brave they became. They cooperated with each other tacitly, often forming a situation of three fighting one against the other. Within a moment, several more Jurchen cavalrymen were stabbed off their horses.
"retreat!"
A Jurchen chief shouted, and everyone turned their horses and fled.
Chen Qing had been watching him for a long time. He raised his crossbow and aimed at the opponent's horse. He shot an arrow and hit the horse's hind leg. The horse fell to the ground due to fatigue and threw the Jurchen ten feet away.
The remaining eight Jurchen cavalry had already fled far away. Chen Qing did not order the pursuit. They captured three prisoners of war, which was enough to understand the enemy's situation.
"Take them down and interrogate them separately!"
The Song Army scouts grabbed their hair and dragged the three of them down.
Chen Qing sat tiredly on a big rock, killing three thousand enemies and losing two thousand himself. In this battle, they killed nine Jurchen cavalry and captured three alive. However, they themselves also lost six brothers, which can only be regarded as miserable.
Win!
If he hadn't killed the opponent's centurion himself, or if the Jurchen cavalry hadn't underestimated the enemy and didn't wear armor, they would have definitely been defeated today.
Realizing the strength of the Jurchen cavalry, if the Eight-Character Army encountered the main force of the enemy's cavalry, the entire army would be destroyed, and Chen Qing became anxious.
………..
The result of the interrogation surprised Chen Qing. Wanyan Zongbi led the main force of 10,000 cavalry thirty miles to the east. They did find traces of the Eight-Character Army yesterday and were waiting for the Eight-Character Army to appear.
Time was extremely tight, so Chen Qing hastily buried the bodies of his comrades, killed three prisoners of war, and immediately led his men to rush north.
A quarter of an hour later, Chen Qing met the main force of the Eight-Character Army, which was marching southwest.
After hearing Chen Qing's report, Li Jiang was also surprised and immediately brought him to Wang Yan.
"Commander Chen, Chen Dutou has received information that Wanyan Zongbi is leading 10,000 cavalry thirty miles away to the east."
Wang Yan looked solemn. This information was very timely and the situation was serious. Once the enemy cavalry came to attack, their entire army would be destroyed.
He has realized that they may not be able to escape this disaster.
Chen Qing thought of a countermeasure on the way. He cupped his fists and said: "Qi Zhizhi, this place is only more than thirty miles away from the Weishui River. There happens to be a pontoon bridge over there. If we divide an army to block the enemy's army, we can buy time for the main force.
Retreat, maybe there is a chance!"
Lieutenant General Fu Xuan's eyes lit up and he whispered quickly: "Commander, this is indeed a good idea!"
Wang Yan sighed in his heart, this is just letting a small number of brothers die in exchange for the majority of soldiers living!
Although Wang Yan couldn't bear it, he still accepted this only feasible plan.