Killing eight single Meng soldiers who were not even wearing their trousers was just a small matter and had no impact on the outcome of the battle.
For Li Xia, it is very important.
He knew that this would alert more Mongolian troops and it would be very dangerous to be surrounded.
But this little incident gave him an idea... War and killing should belong to soldiers and generals. If soldiers and generals are defeated, it would be a shame to avoid it and let the enemy slaughter unarmed people.
He felt this shame and was willing to let the Mongolian army pursue him. Even if one or two nearby families could take this opportunity to escape into the mountains and forests, the risk would be worth it.
Li Xia knew that not only himself, but also the twenty or so scouts under his command could feel this...
But soon, the sound of the pursuing horse's hooves sounded behind him.
Yu Bing looked back and said in surprise: "The Mongolian army is catching up, too fast!"
He had been at the tea horse farm for many years and thought that his riding skills were already among the best in Qingfu County, but he never expected that he could ride a horse faster.
"Calm down, look how many people there are." Li Xia shouted.
"More than thirty people." Yu Bing said.
"Speed up and run!"
More than twenty riders galloped eastward.
Suddenly, Song He shouted: "Ahead! Ahead..."
Li Xia turned around and looked, also surprised.
Behind the small mountain col in the northeast direction, several Mongolian soldiers were already riding their horses to outflank them.
Soon, more than ten Mengqi appeared, slanting towards Li Xia and others to intercept them.
"Whoosh!"
An arrow landed not far away from them. This was a test firing by the Mongolian army.
With Li Xia's acting style, whenever there was a slight possibility of victory, he would not hesitate to attack and kill.
But at this moment, he knew that there was no hope of victory in a horse-riding battle between more than 20 cavalry and more than 50 cavalry.
"Go south!"
"Walk!"
…
Li Xia fought three battles with the Mongolian army in Yanfanggou, Hengzi Mountain and Yougao Village.
He felt that in terms of individual combat power, the Mongolian soldiers were stronger than the Song soldiers, but not by much.
There is not much difference in the physical strength of the men from Sichuan and Shu. If they are fighting in close combat, it is not difficult for the old soldiers from Sichuan and Shu to defeat the Meng soldiers.
Moreover, the Mongolian army often does not like to attack fortified areas for a long time, and will not hold on for a long time. On the contrary, the Sichuan people are more energetic.
This made Li Xia feel that although the Meng soldiers were strong, they were not as powerful as the legendary "invincible" Jurchens.
Until today, the terrain has only opened up a little bit, and it is not considered a plain, but only a slightly gentle hilly area... Only then did the Mongolian army show its advantage.
Attack separately and attack in a roundabout way.
As Yi Shiying said to Li Xia, "They gather like hills and mountains, disperse like wind and rain, are as fast as thunder and lightning, and are as agile as eagles and falcons." It is accompanied by light cavalry firing arrows and heavy cavalry attacking.
This is the true strength of the Mongolian army.
What Li Xia had seen before was Yanfanggou, Hengzi Mountain, Youping Village, and even Mahujiang... The Mongolian army was just on its way and was being attacked by surprise, as if they were fighting with their feet tied.
And in this kind of field battle, as soon as they faced each other, their riding and archery skills were revealed, and they had already secured victory.
The fifty or so cavalry who surrounded them seemed not to be from the same army as the eight Mongolian soldiers who were alone and without trousers. They got on their horses, held their bows, and ran on the flat ground. They looked as if they were facing a thousand people.
It can also bring down the opponent.
Not to mention that Li Xia only has about twenty people...
"Let's go! Go up that mountain!"
"Quick! Go up the mountain!"
Behind him, the Meng soldiers also quickly adjusted their direction and chased after Li Xia and others.
The sound of horses' hoofbeats was heard rapidly, accompanied by the sound of string strings being pulled.
"Whizzing……"
"咴lvlv!" A Song soldier who was at the end had fallen off his horse.
Li Xia led the people and quickly rushed up to the mountain in front of them.
"They're still chasing!"
"climb up!"
"The horse can't run anymore."
"Dismount and climb."
Li Xia got off his horse first, pulled the reins, and ran into the difficult-to-walk mountain forest next to him, climbing up. From time to time, he had to use force to pull the horse that refused to climb.
Song He also said nothing and led the people to dismount quickly.
Yu Bing hesitated for a moment and said: "County Lieutenant, if the Mongolian army still catches up..."
"puff!"
Two scouts under Yu Bing's command who were still looking around on their horses were hit by arrows and fell off their horses. The Mongolian army had already rushed nearby.
"Tiewa! Guangdou!" Yu Bing cried...
"Let's go!"
"Quickly dismount and crawl into the forest..."
"Sigh! I only killed three, but I have eight brothers dead!"
"The mountain is so high. If we pursue him again, all the drivers will be gone."
Zana yelled: "It's not like we can't climb up! Don't we climb up every day in Daqi Country!"
"We are here to collect food."
Zana looked up at the high mountain, still unwilling to accept it, and spat again, saying: "The Southern Barbarians are so tired of these poor places! I have dragged them into mud on the grassland!"
"I didn't see you saying this when we were taking the four counties of Dali. Let's go, let's go. Once you defeat Xuzhou, you will know the south."
"So angry!"
Zana hated him endlessly and shouted in unfamiliar Chinese: "Go to hell!"
"Let's go."
A group of Mongolian soldiers walked back down the mountain. They caught up to the end and dismounted and climbed a while.
As I walked, there was the sound of arrows, and someone screamed. An arrow had hit his leg and he fell to the ground...
Yu Bian shot a Mongolian soldier with an arrow and cursed bitterly: "Go to hell."
This time, Li Xia led them down the mountain to counterattack the Mongolian army. Yu Bing didn't ask any more questions, just chased them down and fired arrows.
After chasing for a while, Li Xia ordered to stop.
Everyone watched for a while and saw that the Mongolian troops had already mounted their horses and were running north again.
Yu Bing looked around and saw that the corpses of his two scouts had been stripped of their leather armor and were dragged behind the horses by the Mongolian soldiers. They were covered in dust and smoke all the way.
His eyes turned red and he suddenly knelt on the ground.
"County Lieutenant, I'm not a good person, please punish me."
"I have returned to camp and will be dealt with according to military discipline."
"yes."
Song He looked at it for a while and said: "County Lieutenant, the Mongolian army has left."
"Don't worry. They may chase you back on horseback."
Li Xia squinted at the gentle landscape at the foot of the mountain, his eyes filled with contemplation.
Today's encounter with the horse scouts might not even be considered a small battle, but he had a glimpse of the Mongolian army's tactics and a complete understanding of them.
From the perspective of the world in the future, they will always think how this battle will be fought... But only by being in it, Li Xia understands why Yu Jie established a mountain city defense system.
"Controlling the cavalry based on the mountains and controlling the surface with points" sounds simple, but it reflects the understanding of the Mongolian army's tactics by a generation of generals and their grasp of the entire Sichuan and Sichuan terrain.
In an era when the Mongolian cavalry was invincible in the world, the wisdom and passion gathered by the soldiers and civilians of the Southern Song Dynasty in the three major battlefields of Jinghu, Lianghuai and Sichuan for more than 20 years can be seen in these "mountains, horses and arrows".
"After returning, Qingfu County's defense will need to be adjusted again..."
Zana returned to the camp and was whipped several times.
"Centurion, I really didn't do anything wrong. Who would have thought that we would encounter the Song Army in this place."
Centurion Xiri thought for a while and murmured: "Yes, where did the Song army come from? This area is either the Xuzhou army or the Changning army, but that's not right."
Zana said: "They are so courageous. If they run slower, we will kill them."
Xiri said "Yeah" and transferred some more servants to Zana's command.
"Listen up, I have been ordered to rob the south bank of the Jinsha River first, and then I will rob several surrounding counties and cities..."
At the same time, Li Xia traveled over the mountains and ridges overnight and rushed back to Qingfu County.
The county town is still peaceful and peaceful.
After the county government office, the gatekeeper yawned and saluted: "The county captain is back."
"Where's the county magistrate?"
"This... I have already fallen asleep."
…
"It can't be like this! The county magistrate is still here..."
With a "bang" sound, the door of the house was pushed open.
Jiang Chun woke up in shock, not realizing what had happened.
Mou Zhu already covered her chest and screamed.
"ah!"
In fact, she wears quite a lot and doesn't have much to look at.
Jiang Chunshang was still in a daze when he heard Li Xia say something.
"Mahujiang is defeated. The Mongolian army is about to attack and slaughter us all."
"What?"
When a candle came close to him, Jiang Chun stared at it and was startled.
In the candlelight, Li Xia's face was covered in blood, and his hands were also covered in blood.
"This, this, this... Feiyu, what did you say?"
"There's no information from Xuzhou yet?"
"Xu...Xuzhou..."
Jiang Chun was completely stunned. He blinked and his mind was completely blank for a moment.
"The county magistrate doesn't believe it?"
Li Xia asked again, lifted a round object from the waist behind him, and placed it in front of Jiang Chun.
Mou Zhu had already calmed down and was holding Jiang Chun's arm like a bird clinging to a human being. When he took a closer look, he kept screaming again.
"Ah! Ah! Ah!"
"What's wrong?!"
Fang Yankai was suddenly startled, Wu Wu hurriedly ran to the official residence next door, and saw brightly lit lights everywhere.
Li Xia was coming out of Jiang Chun's room with a stern expression.
Fang Yankai's eyes fell to Li Xia's waist, and he was shocked again.
It was clearly a Mongolian head.
"this?!"
"The owner's book." Li Xia held up the head and handed it over. "The battle at Mahujiang was a huge defeat. The Mongolian army has captured the ships and navy."
Fang Yankai was also shocked, and unconsciously stretched out his hand to take the head, and was stunned.
Li Xia added: "Magistrate Jiang has ordered me to take over Qingfu's defense with full authority. From now on, all government orders related to the war will be assigned by me."
"Chang... Changning Army..."
"I have sent people to ask for reinforcements, and asked the landlord to summon the archers and listen to my command."
Fang Yankai pouted.
Li Xia raised his hand and looked at Fang Yankai with the angry eyes of the dying soldier...