Chapter five hundred and forty seventh decisive battle
Time passed little by little, and every quarter of an hour was a huge torment for Li Cheng. Nearly two hours had passed, but the Song army had not arrived yet. At this time, Guan Shigu stepped forward and said: "The latest news we just got
, Chen Qing is still ten miles away and has not set off. I guess he is waiting for us to run out of food. Now that the morale of our brothers has been exhausted, we are tired and hungry, we all feel that waiting like this is not an option. It is better to cross the Weihe River and go north!"
"No!"
Yao Bing immediately objected: "It is no small matter for a hundred thousand troops to cross the river. They will definitely be attacked by him halfway across the river. At this time, we must not act rashly and expose our fighter planes to the opponent."
Li Cheng nodded. He also thought that crossing the river was not a good idea. He pondered for a while and said: "It is better to let the army eat first. If dinner is not here yet, we will continue marching. We still have food for one day and cannot be delayed any longer.
."
"What if the Song army attacks us at night?" Guan Shigu asked worriedly.
Li Cheng has figured it out and they actually have no choice now.
"If he comes, we will fight him. If he doesn't come, we will leave. In short, we cannot let him lead us by the nose. We must take the initiative."
Yao Bing nodded, "There is no other way..."
"Actually, there is another way."
Guan Shigu pondered for a while and said: "Leave 30,000 people behind to hold off the enemy troops, while the remaining 70,000 main force quickly evacuates eastward."
Li Cheng sighed softly. This method is actually good, but it is a step too late. It would be great if it were done at noon. It is almost dark now. How long can 30,000 people support it? The opponent has 30,000 cavalry! It is very possible.
They will be defeated by each other.
But Guan Shigu's suggestion is reasonable, sacrificing the few to fulfill the majority.
Just when Li Cheng was in a dilemma, a cavalry suddenly came to report, "Inform the commander-in-chief, the Song army has already arrived and is only five miles away from us!"
Li Cheng was shocked and hurriedly ordered: "Send the whole army to prepare for battle!"
"Woo——" the trumpet of the puppet Qi army sounded.
At this time, the earth shook slightly, and the galloping of 30,000 cavalry could be felt several miles away. In the distance, the loess covered the sky and sun, rolling towards us like a high wall.
This momentum made the soldiers of the puppet Qi army become nervous, their legs trembled, and the hand holding the spear trembled slightly.
But soon, the Song Army's cavalry slowed down, getting slower and slower, and finally stopped one mile away from the puppet Qi Army's formation.
At this time, the sun had already set and twilight was dim. The Song soldiers rested for two hours, ate and drank, and prepared for the night battle with the puppet Qi army.
This is also the characteristic of Chen Qing's army. It is good at night fighting. All soldiers have undergone strict training in night fighting. Forty thousand troops lined up in the wilderness, with the cavalry looking murderous and pointing their spears at each other.
However, the Song army remained silent and did not take the initiative to attack the puppet Qi army. The two sides faced off. Time passed quickly, and the last bright color on the horizon was about to disappear.
Li Chengyi gritted his teeth and ordered: "The archers retreat, the First Army, the Second Army, and the Third Army are ready to attack!"
"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The war drums sounded like thunder.
The puppet Qi army's 10,000 crossbowmen retreated, and the 30,000 spear army rushed forward.
Just when the 30,000-strong army was about to attack, a panicked shout suddenly came from behind the puppet Qi army, and 10,000 cavalry led by Yang Zaixing came from behind.
The puppet Qi army panicked, and there was a chaos in the ranks. Li Cheng shouted anxiously: "Order General Guan to lead the left wing to attack, and hold it back for me!"
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The war drums of the Song Army were beating, and this was the moment Chen Qing was waiting for. He raised Fang Tian's painted halberd high and shouted: "Destroy the enemy in this battle, kill!"
"Kill!"
Thirty thousand cavalry suddenly launched and rushed towards the center of the puppet Qi army.
Li Cheng shouted: "Archers, prepare!"
At this time, the puppet Qi army was attacked from both sides by the Song army. The morale of the army was in chaos. A general shouted: "Let me report to the capital, the archers have retreated just now. I'm afraid it's too late to re-arrange their formation!"
Li Cheng's head was as big as a bucket, so he had to order: "The spear army comes up with me to fight!"
He personally led an army of 30,000 spearmen to fight. Chen Qing ordered in a deep voice: "Avoid its sharp edge and attack its two wings!"
'Woo! Woo! Woo!' The horn sounded continuously, and the 30,000 cavalry suddenly separated to both sides and attacked directly on both sides of the 30,000 army, while the 10,000 Song infantrymen came up to fight with short spears and shields, and fiercely fought the enemy.
The troops collided together.
The puppet Qi army was tired, hungry, and had low morale. They also encountered night battles that they were not accustomed to. They could not withstand the attack of the Song army's cavalry. The 30,000-strong army was cut into pieces, and some puppet Qi troops began to abandon their formation and flee.
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The Song Army cavalry took the opportunity to shout, "Qi Army has escaped! Qi Army has escaped!"
The morale of the puppet Qi army was shaken. I don’t know how many people fled in the darkness, which caused the soldiers to panic. One band led to ten, ten led to hundreds, hundreds led to thousands, thousands led to thousands... It was like an avalanche, and the fleeing people
There were more and more soldiers, and they were all frightened and scrambled for their lives. The 100,000-strong army collapsed.
In the wilderness, the soldiers of the puppet Qi army ran like crazy, taking off their heavy armor, throwing away their weapons, and everything that hindered their escape. They just wished they had two more legs.
But no matter how the soldiers fled, they could not outrun the Song cavalry. The Song cavalry chased them and shouted: "If the Han people don't kill the Han people, those who surrender will avoid death!"
In desperation, countless soldiers knelt down and raised their hands to surrender. Under the desperate protection of hundreds of soldiers, Li Cheng fought his way out and fled eastward. They all rode war horses and were very fast, gradually getting rid of his pursuers.
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Li Cheng ran for more than forty miles in one breath. More than a dozen horses vomited blood and fell to the ground. Everyone had to stop their horses to rest. They were exhausted and sat down in front of a pine forest.
Li Cheng suddenly looked up to the sky and cried loudly. An army of 100,000 people! How could he explain to the emperor if his entire army was destroyed like this?
He suddenly drew his sword and wanted to kill himself. The soldiers had been prepared for it. They rushed forward and snatched his sword. The commander of the soldiers, Zou Huang, knelt down and cried: "The failure of this battle is not because everyone is incompetent. The opponent is really strong.
Even the Xixia army was defeated at his hands several times. Even if Wan Yanchang came to take command, they would still be defeated."
Everyone tried to persuade him, but Li Changchang sighed, "Chen Qing has already matured, but he will become a serious trouble on the road to Shaanxi in the future. What can be done?"
At this time, another group of cavalry came from a distance, with more than a thousand people, guarding a group of scribes. The leader was his aide Yao Bing. Yao Bing did not participate in the battle. He and a dozen civil servants were guarded by a thousand cavalry.
, stood outside the formation, thus escaping.
Li Chengying stepped forward and asked, "Have you seen General Guan?"
Yao Bing shook his head, "You can't see anything in the dark night, and there's no news?"
Li Cheng had no choice but to say: "Sir, please rest first!"
Li Cheng gathered more than a thousand cavalry and ordered the soldiers to cut up the flesh of more than a dozen exhausted horses and make soup to satisfy their hunger.
Yao Bing stepped forward and said: "Thinking about it on the way to humble position, if I were Chen Qing, I would definitely send troops to seize Weishui City and cut off our retreat."
Li Cheng nodded, "This is indeed in line with Chen Qing's work. From the moment he sent people to sneak into the military camp to burn our food and grass, he was planning a decisive battle with us. Even their bravery in fighting at night shows that they have been specially trained. All of this is
It shows that he is far-sighted and I am indeed not as good as him. This battle was a huge defeat and I am convinced."
After a pause, he continued: "I also agree with Mr.'s judgment that the Weishui River is probably lost, and we really need to be prepared to retreat from Deshun Prefecture."
By noon, Li Cheng gathered another four to five thousand defeated troops. At the same time, he received the exact news that the Weishui military city had been occupied by the Song army. They immediately built a pontoon bridge and evacuated to the northeast. A hundred thousand troops entered Qinzhou, and finally
Only six thousand soldiers escaped.
.........
It was getting daylight, and groups of surrendered soldiers were escorted by Song Army cavalry to Chengji County. In this battle, the Puppet Qi Army suffered nearly 5,000 casualties, and thousands more escaped. In addition to other scattered casualties, the final number was 80,000 soldiers.
Became a prisoner of war of the Song Army.
A group of 500 prisoners of war was escorted to the gate of Chengji County. At this time, a soldier was left alone. The Song army was about to whip his whip. The soldier quickly clasped his fists and said: "General, calm down, I have important information to report."
!”
"What information?" The whip on Song Jundu's head stopped in the air.
The soldier pointed to the team and said: "The one in the third row with the yellow hat is our deputy commander!"
The Song army was overjoyed and quickly reported to Liu Cui who was standing next to him. Liu Cui was shocked and quickly led hundreds of cavalry to rush forward and stop the 500-man surrender team.
Liu Cui looked at it for a long time, then pointed at one of them and said, "You, come out!"
The man took off his yellow hat and sighed: "My dear nephew, your father has never been so rude to me. No matter how bad I am, I have taught you archery skills for three months. Isn't it even worthy of you to say please?"
This person is none other than Guan Shigu, the deputy general of the puppet Qi army.