Most of the Xuzhou army was concentrated in the center of the river and did not dare to go near the river because there were still Mongolian cavalry on the bank.
Shi Junbi was unwilling to let the ships enter the range where the Mongolian army's arrows could shoot. In case of a defeat and repeated battles, the gains would outweigh the losses. This is similar to the principle of "encircling three towers and one".
He knew very well that it was possible for the more than 3,000 Xuzhou troops to defeat the Mongolian navy by luck, but it was basically impossible to leave the Mongolian cavalry behind.
But Shi Jun had his own considerations, and Li Xia also had his own considerations, and continued to rush towards the main ship of Wulianghetai despite the rain of arrows.
"Fire the arrow!"
Another round of arrows struck, and the look of anger in Ashu's eyes grew stronger.
He watched Wu Lianghetai rush downstream with more than ten ships, and then he wanted to lead his troops to pursue him again, but Xuzhou's ships had already pressed forward.
Ashu looked back and saw the battlefield of the Yangtze River to the north, the setting sun like blood to the west, and the gradually rising cliffs to the east.
It's not easy for cavalry to climb up that cliff.
A closer look revealed that there were only four large ships and more than ten small boats chasing Uliang Hetai, which was far less than the number of ships that Uliang Hetai took away.
"act recklessly."
Ah Shu snorted coldly and decisively ran south with the remaining soldiers.
"Let's go, I, Abu, can escape!"
"Let's go. As long as Marshal Du can reach the shore, it is impossible for the Song navy to catch up with the Mongolian cavalry."
Li Xia climbed up from the deck, pulled out the arrow hanging from his leather armor and threw it aside.
He stared at the river ahead and saw boats still escaping along the river. From time to time, boats hit the rocks with loud noises...
This place is known as "The First Bend of the Nanxi Yangtze River". The Yangtze River runs eastward and suddenly turns north here. The cliffs on both sides of the river gradually become taller and the river flows rapidly.
Shi Jun chose this battlefield because he expected that once the Mongolian army fled, it would be difficult to control the ships and more likely to cause chaos.
Li Xia dared to pursue because he expected that the terrain in this section would make it difficult for the Mongolian cavalry on the shore to support him.
For the time being, he has separated the Wulianghetai from the Mongolian cavalry...
There are cliffs along the Yangtze River.
After more than ten miles to the north, we finally found some tidal flats, sandwiched between the river and the cliff.
There is a suitable parking place here called "Shau Keibei".
At nightfall, Wu Liang Hetai disembarked from the boat on the shore, and one by one the Mongolian soldiers disembarked the war horses.
He ordered all the men and horses, leaving only about 800 horses.
He squinted his eyes and looked towards the river, only to see that the Song Navy navy had chased them down the river again.
"Marshal Du, they only have four big ships, and they don't seem to have many people."
The person who spoke was the captain named "Hai Rigu". He spat again and cursed endlessly.
"Uh, Xiuwu, if I had known we would have just met up with Ah Shu with just a few people."
"It's okay, just get on the horse." Wu Lianghetai said: "Burn all those boats first."
"County Lieutenant, look! There's a fire ahead!"
Seeing that the harbor in front of him was already in flames, Li Xia had no choice but to order the ship to dock early.
He ordered all the people on the shore and chased forward for a while.
The boats on the river were still burning with fire, illuminating the river bank like daylight.
There were still horse hoof prints on the ground, and the men and horses of Wulianghetai had continued to flee north.
"We can't catch up." Fang Yankai shook his head and said: "The Mongolian army is on horseback. It is impossible for the infantry to catch up."
He pointed to the horse hoof prints on the ground and said: "It seems that there are at least nearly a thousand people in Wulianghetai. Even if they catch up with us, they are no match for us... The magistrate is right to order not to pursue. Taking risks will be in vain."
"No, he's alone."
Li Xia took out the map from his pocket and looked at it by the light of the fire.
"Li Feiyu, did you hear what I said?! You are too determined to have your own way. Now you should return to the army immediately and apologize to Zhizhou."
"Shh."
"What else are you going to do? Let me tell you, the Mongolian army's fighting method is like this. It is as fast as lightning, can gather and disperse freely, and can travel thousands of miles in a blink of an eye. You can kill the general and capture the flag without your imagination!"
Li Xia said: "I said, he is in deep trouble alone."
Fang Yankai shook his head and said, "Don't you understand? The Mongolian army's thousands of cavalry are divided and can be divided and combined freely. We can't catch up."
Li Xia asked: "How long can I eat dry food?"
"Two days." Fang Yankai said angrily.
"Where is this place?"
"have no idea!"
Li Xia looked at the terrain and asked loudly: "Who is familiar with the nearby terrain?"
"County Lieutenant, my dear mother is from Anning County." A river patrolman hurriedly came forward.
"Your name is Mayu'er?"
Ma Youer was overjoyed and said: "The county captain recognizes the villain?! The villain's mother is from Anning County. The Changning Army and the Anning County seat are both in Changning Town in the south. The villain is familiar with this area!"
"Where are we?"
"Shau Kei Bei."
Li Xia said: "Point it to me on the map."
"Here." Ma Youer scratched his head and pointed.
"Look at the owner's book...the Yangtze River forms a "ji" here. This section of the river will flow north, then turn east, south, and then east again, heading towards Jiang'an County."
"so what?"
Li Xia said: "The word 'ji' refers to high mountains and cliffs. Wushi Hetai can only be bypassed along the Yangtze River. But we can go directly to the south."
He traced his finger across the map and said, "Let's go directly over the mountains from here and rush to the front of Wulianghetai to ambush him."
"Are you crazy?!"
Fang Yankai turned around, pointed at the cliff to the southeast, and shouted: "Look clearly, look how high this mountain is!"
"High is high. There are only ten miles between these two places on the map." Li Xia muttered to himself and asked, "Ma You'er, how long does it take to go over the mountain?"
"If you walk at night, you can climb over this mountain before dawn."
Xiong Shan squinted at the mountains at the foot of the night mountain and said, "I'm afraid it will be difficult, but it might be possible before noon."
Fang Yankai shook his head, pointed on the map, and said: "The Mongolian cavalry ran eighty miles along the river and can leave tonight."
"No." Li Xia said, "Don't forget, they are not familiar with the terrain."
Ma Youer said: "What the county captain said is that the land along the river is not all flat. This mountainous area crosses it. If the Mongolian army wants to find a way, it will have to do so."
Fang Yankai said: "We don't have enough time. We are few people. After crossing the mountain, we still need to set up ambush and rest. How can we make it in time?"
Li Xia said: "The Mongolian army also needs to rest and recuperate. It may not be possible to overturn in front of them."
"Li Feiyu! You've got carried away..."
"turn."
Li Xia said no more and walked directly in front of everyone.
Ma You'er said loudly: "County Lieutenant, I will lead the way. I will be familiar with it."
Only Liu Jinsuo muttered in a voice that no one could hear: "I climbed the mountain again all night long, a night owl..."
Ah Shu knew that Shi Jun would not be able to send troops to catch up, so he only ran south for more than 20 miles before garrisoning and resting.
He summoned four other captains to discuss the matter overnight.
"Don't worry about me, Abu." He spoke first to reassure the soldiers.
"We know that when a Mongolian man mounts a horse, the Song people cannot catch up even with four legs!"
Ah Shu seemed careless, but he was very assertive and said directly: "Well, let's attack the Changning Army camp tomorrow and defeat the Song Army. Wait for me there, Abu."
"Okay, Marshal Du will be here, right?"
"Grab some baggage and come back. Abu will understand. We will meet up and then we will retreat south to Dali together."
"Where to go? Changning Valley? Five Feet Road?"
"Changning Valley."
Speaking of this, Ah Shu thought that if he could create a five-foot road and destroy the Junlian and Qingfu areas south of Xuzhou, he would be able to contain the Changning army, and he would not have to worry about being cut off now...
"Then we have to pass through the Yixi tribe. They are a group of old barbarians. I thought the Song people were easier to fight."
Ah Shu smiled and said: "It's okay. If you lose this year and come back next year, sooner or later you can defeat the Song Dynasty."
"We all understand the truth. It's just like hunting. You shoot an arrow at the prey every time. But the water battle makes people angry. If half of the people weren't on the boat, how could there be such heavy casualties?"
"That's right." Ah Shu also spat and said, "It makes me angry when I mention water or boats! Abu shouldn't have a water fight..."
"You shouldn't have a water fight."
That same night, Wu Lianghetai was sitting on horseback, looking at the river in the distance, talking to himself like this.
He regrets it very much.
He obviously didn't know how to fight on the water, but he insisted on taking command from the boat to fight to the death. He made the same mistake as Zhang Shi.
But he was not worried that the Song army would catch up.
The Xuzhou army only had a small number of people, and the prisoners were frightened and they were busy gathering the prisoners before it was too late.
Therefore Wuliang Hetai is very calm.
He really didn't take this defeat too seriously. In his life, he fought eastward to the Tumen River Basin; westward to Poland and Germany; then he went south again, fighting all the way to Dali. The world is so big without him.
Where horses' hooves cannot reach.
The field of battle is so vast, and he has won many battles and lost many battles, but as long as he is on horseback, no one can stop him.
Wu Liang rested all night, killed some injured horses and roasted them to eat, so that his meng soldiers could recover from the defeat.
Throughout the night, Meng and his men slept sitting on their horses. Compared to the boats, the horses made them feel more at ease.