Not long after the 50,000-strong army set off, the battle report from Liu Qiong also arrived. Chen Qing ordered the soldiers to rest where they were and set up a marching tent.
In the big tent, Chen Qing read the battle report and found that more than 3,400 people were killed and 1,500 injured, which added up to 5,000 people.
"How is the situation of the wounded soldiers now?" Chen Qing asked.
The soldier who reported the news said: "Reporting to Your Highness, we are being treated in Ye County, and most of them are minor injuries!"
Chen Qing nodded silently. He also understood why most of the injuries were minor and serious injuries were difficult to evacuate from the battlefield, so there were more killed than wounded. This was the reason.
Chen Qing immediately wrote a reply and gave it to the messenger, and rewarded him with ten taels of silver. The messenger went to express his gratitude.
"Your Highness thinks Li Cheng will try his best to protect Ruzhou?"
The person who asked the question was Gaoding, the commander-in-chief of the capital, who was following Chen Qing on this expedition as a deputy general.
Chen Qing nodded, "By capturing Ruzhou, the northwest and southwest of the Central Plains will be connected. Henan Prefecture and Dengzhou will be able to coordinate operations, which will have a major impact on the situation in the entire Central Plains. How could Wanyan Wushu not see this?"
a little?
On the contrary, if Ruzhou cannot be taken, the enemy can attack Henan Prefecture in the north and Dengzhou in the south. Our army will be quite passive. We know this, and Li Cheng also knows it very well. If Ruzhou is defeated, it will definitely be a tough battle.
"
"Then how can we assist General Xiao Liu?"
Chen Qing said calmly: "I'll treat him the same way he did!"
After Liu Qiong reorganized his army, he headed north again. His strength was still 20,000, including 10,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry. This time he did not bring supplies. The whole army brought six days of dry food and headed north at high speed.
At noon the next day, when we were still thirty miles away from Longxing County, scouts from the front came to report that they found the enemy's main force of about 25,000 people twenty miles away, including about 5,000 cavalry.
Tang Qian said to Liu Qiong: "I'm afraid this is another meeting in Zhalu County! They are also heading south to Ye County."
Liu Qiong sneered: "It's very possible, but what I'm more concerned about is, do they really only have 25,000 people?"
Tang Qian thought for a while and said: "We can send scouts to investigate, but it is best for us to find the reinforcements sent by His Highness, tell them the situation, and let them deal with possible enemy ambush."
Liu Qiong nodded and immediately sent out two groups of scouts, one to detect possible ambush by the enemy and the other to look for their own reinforcements.
The army immediately stopped marching and waited for the enemy to arrive.
Li Cheng's army on the opposite side also discovered the Song army twenty miles away at almost the same time, which was really beyond Li Cheng's expectation.
Li Cheng's army rested in Longxing County for a few days and added 5,000 infantry. At the same time, Li Cheng also received an order from Wanyan Wushu, asking him to eradicate the Song army in Ye County and not give the Song army a chance to breathe and counterattack.
So when Li Cheng received the news about the Song Army, he was really shocked. He originally thought that the Song Army was still resting and reorganizing, but he didn't expect that it actually went north to counterattack again.
"Instruct the whole army to slow down, reorganize the team, and keep the formation moving forward!"
Li Cheng did not dare to underestimate the enemy, and also sent spies to search for traces of enemy ambush on both sides.
The two armies were getting closer and closer, with only three miles apart. The Jin soldiers also stopped moving forward. The area around their confrontation was full of wheat fields and plains, which was very suitable for fighting.
The weather was gloomy and the wind was strong, making the battle flags of both sides crackle. The two armies were about five miles apart in the horizontal direction, with forest of spears and murderous intent. Among the Jin soldiers were the Donghu cavalry, about 5,000 people, and Xiao Jilie was still there.
lead.
This Donghu cavalry no longer had the majesty they had before the last battle. Their strength was no match for the tenacity and sharpness of the Song army. In the last battle, nearly half of the 10,000 cavalry were killed. This time, the 5,000 cavalry were really strong.
Somewhat listless and extremely silent.
On both sides are two large infantry formations, each with 10,000 people.
At this time, the horn of the Song Army sounded, and the 20,000-strong army began to advance. The Song Army also formed a formation with one center and two wings, with 10,000 infantry in the center and 5,000 cavalry on each side.
"Woo——"
The horn of attack sounded, "Boom! Boom! Boom!" The war drums beat loudly, and the Song army surged in like a sea tide, and the two cavalrymen were like two sharp daggers.
Li Cheng shouted: "The crossbow army is preparing to shoot, and the spear army is holding down the position!"
Two crossbow armies of 3,000 men each were on the left and right, the soldiers lined up neatly, and 6,000 crossbow arrows were pointed coldly at the galloping Song army.
‘Woo——’ A clear horn sound suddenly came from the north.
Li Cheng was startled. He turned back and looked to the north. He was immediately frightened out of his wits. A massive cavalry force appeared in the distance a few miles away. It was so dark that it was ten miles wide. There were at least 30,000 cavalrymen.
The war flag on the pole is flying in the wind. It is the red-bottomed black dragon flag of the Western Army.
"Woo! Woo!"
The horns were blown continuously, and the Song Army's cavalry from the north suddenly started to attack the back of the Jin soldiers' formation. The Jin soldiers were suddenly in chaos.
Li Cheng raised his sword and shouted, "No chaos, hold down the position, no one is allowed to retreat without permission!"
"Jiedushi, the Donghu cavalry has retreated!"
The morale of the five thousand Donghu cavalry collapsed first. They no longer ignored Li Cheng's orders and rushed out of the formation and ran eastward to escape for their lives.
Li Changcheng sighed, this is like an avalanche. As long as one army collapses first, other armies will soon collapse.
Li Cheng had no choice but to issue an order: "Send an order for the entire army to retreat eastward as quickly as possible!"
Before his order could be passed on, the avalanche of morale caused by the Donghu Army's escape caused the morale of the 20,000-strong army to collapse in an instant. The 10,000-strong army in the east retreated first, followed by the 10,000-strong army in the west rushing to run.
.
The orderly retreat that Li Cheng expected did not happen. The entire army was in disarray. Everyone stood in their own formation and ran away desperately, wishing that others would run slower, not to mention throwing away their helmets and armor. All heavy objects that hindered their escape were thrown away.
Leather armor, helmets, spears, swords, crossbows, shields, kettles, dry food, military blankets, etc., except for the copper coins and silver in his arms, all other items were thrown away cleanly.
Li Cheng was also protected by hundreds of soldiers. He fought hard and fled eastward. He quickly overtook the soldiers, but could not catch up with the Donghu cavalry. Their riding skills were fully demonstrated in their escape, and they had long since disappeared without a trace.
Twenty thousand enemy soldiers ran desperately, but they could not outrun the Song cavalry. Tang Qian's 10,000 cavalry encircled from the south, and Gao Ding led 30,000 cavalry from the north. A 20-mile-wide encirclement was soon formed.
Quickly shrinking, the Song Army cavalry shouted: "If the Han people don't kill the Han people, those who surrender will avoid death!"
The desperate soldiers knelt down and surrendered. It was useless for them to resist. They had lost all their weapons and armor. What could they do to resist? Even if they were unwilling, they could only surrender temporarily.
Population is now the most important thing, especially the young and strong labor force, which plays a vital role in restoring social productivity. The Song army no longer pursues and kills deserters, but mainly recruits and surrenders.
But for the Jurchen, Khitan and other foreign armies, the Western Army was ruthless and ruthless. They wanted to kill them all and eliminate the opponent's war resources as much as possible. Population is the largest war resource.
………
Li Cheng fled in one breath to Kongqiao Town, fifty miles away, which was also the only way to the west. Li Cheng and his soldiers were waiting in the town to pick up the fleeing soldiers, but when night fell, only more than a thousand soldiers escaped.
Come, the other soldiers can't wait any longer.
Li Cheng was frightened and immediately led more than a thousand defeated troops to flee back to Xiangcheng County overnight.
At dawn, Li Cheng fled back to Xiangcheng County. There were two thousand defenders in Xiangcheng County, led by the commander Li Shunwu. Hearing that the Jiedushi had escaped, Li Shunwu quickly ordered the city gate to be opened. The city gate slowly opened, and the suspension bridge
Put down and anxious, Li Cheng led more than a thousand troops into the city like a gust of wind.
"What's going on in the county?"
Li Cheng gasped and asked, "Has Xiao Jilie's army returned?"
Li Shunwu hurriedly said: "Report to the Jiedu Envoy that their cavalry came back last night, but did not enter the city. They directly bypassed the city and fled towards Kaifeng Mansion. It was probably not long after nightfall last night."
"These bastards! Cowards! Deserters! They hurt me so much this time, and they still have the nerve to complain to the Fourth Prince?"
Li Cheng cursed a few times and said: "Brothers are all hungry, hurry up and prepare meals!"
Li Shunwu agreed and quickly arranged for his men to cook. At this moment, a soldier on the top of the city shouted: "A cavalry is coming from a distance!"
Li Cheng was shocked and went to the city to check. He saw a long black line more than ten miles away heading towards the county seat. They should be cavalry. Judging from the size, there were at least 20,000 to 30,000 people.
Li Cheng shouted: "Sound the alarm quickly and call the entire army to retreat from Dongcheng immediately."
The bell rang rapidly, and the two thousand soldiers in the city and the more than a thousand soldiers he brought back gathered one after another. Li Shunwu stepped forward and asked: "Jiedushi, what should we do with the grain and grass supplies we brought? Do we want to burn them?"
Lose?"
Li Cheng thought for a while and shook his head and said: "It is not allowed to burn it. Order the clerk to seal the warehouse and put a seal on it!"
A quarter of an hour later, Li Cheng left Xiangcheng County from the east gate with more than 3,000 soldiers and dozens of civil servants, and quickly retreated to Yingchang Mansion.
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[Today is the Hungry Ghost Festival. The rule in Suzhou is to sacrifice the fourteenth. It happens to be the first Hungry Ghost Festival after the death of Lao Gao's father. It is very important. Lao Gao wants to sacrifice his father, so I only wrote two chapters. Please
