Nearly 100,000 people were defeated in a surprise attack. This was a very horrific thing. The chaos of the scene was beyond the imagination of many people.
In particular, the Southern Tang Army was camped by the river, which caused a large number of soldiers to subconsciously run towards the river.
At this time, most of the soldiers of the Southern Tang Dynasty had no idea how many people were coming from the Zhou army. They had no time to think about whether the Zhou army would capture prisoners or not.
They will only continue to infect each other with fear amidst the cries of their horrified colleagues around them, and then let this fear quickly build to a peak.
The soldiers quickly lost their minds and many jumped directly into the river. Most of the boats parked on the riverside capsized due to the constant influx of people.
Some were running wildly along the bank of the Yangtze River. Even if there was no Zhou army chasing behind them, they were extremely frightened and ran away desperately.
Of course, there were those who couldn't run. Many people were extremely nervous and frightened, and soon exhausted their physical strength and collapsed on the muddy ground everywhere.
There were also those who knelt on the ground with their eyes closed and resigned themselves to their fate, and there were also those who vomited profusely due to fear, to the point of convulsing and unable to walk.
Murong Nobunaga is still very experienced in this kind of situation. In fact, the entire Zhou cavalry is very experienced, because they have fought such rout battles many times. If you add one to win with less, it will be more familiar.
So without waiting for Murong Nobunaga's orders, tens of thousands of cavalrymen dispersed according to the tasks assigned before the battle.
They kept crossing the battlefield, and when they encountered someone who still had weapons in their hands or armor and stomach on their bodies, they immediately besieged them.
He didn't care about those who were running around, but he still kept intimidating them in order to make these defeated soldiers even more frightened, and he would exhaust his own physical strength.
Of course, Li Jinquan and Bian Hao protected Li Jingda to Shanbao, which as expected aroused the interest of all the Zhou cavalry.
In addition to the Zhou cavalry, a large number of defeated soldiers from the Southern Tang Dynasty who hoped to survive or follow the crowd also began to gather in this mountainous area.
Gradually, the defeated troops of the Southern Tang Dynasty numbered at least five to six thousand people here.
Cavalry squads were constantly being attracted, and they launched attacks one after another, like peeling onions, killing fewer and fewer Southern Tang soldiers on the periphery.
When the number of Southern Tang soldiers gathered here was less than 2,000, an officer finally discovered the situation. Gao Huaide received the report and hurried over with his fifty mounted guards.
Capturing the Puppet King of Yan of Southern Wu alive was the greatest achievement of this battle, and this hilltop was the most likely place to hide a big fish.
Li Jinquan's back was soaked with sweat and his whole body was sticky. He was almost fifty years old this year and squinted his eyes to identify the hills.
Li Jieshuai looked eagerly, hoping to see a few familiar figures.
It is a pity that the cavalry dispatched by Zhang Zhao this time are mainly composed of the Six Guards of the Pro-Army and the Seven Towns of the Forbidden Army from Hexi.
Not many of Li Jinquan's acquaintances came from the Shenwu Army and the Ya soldiers from various towns in Hebei.
Fortunately, God blessed him. Li Dajieshuai's old eyes were almost blind, and he finally saw a familiar figure.
Gao Huaide's father, Gao Xingzhou, served Li Siyuan, Emperor Mingzong of the Later Tang Dynasty, and together with the late emperor Li Congke, he was in charge of Li Siyuan's tooth soldiers as the left and right tooth generals.
At that time, Li Jinquan was Li Siyuan's personal guard, so Li Jinquan and Gao Xingzhou were very familiar with each other.
In addition, Gao Xingzhou was from Guizhou, that is, Huailai, Hebei Province. Huailai belonged to Zhangjiakou in later generations and was located north of Yanshan. The relatives, friends, old friends, and party members of the Gao family were also mainly heroes from the north of Yanshan.
Li Jinquan is a Tuyuhun people, and most of the Tuyuhun people in the Yinshan Dudu Prefecture are nomadic or settled in Guizhou, so Li Jinquan and Gao Xingzhou are actually fellow villagers.
With this relationship, the two families were extremely close. After Li Jinquan fled south to the Southern Tang Dynasty, his fourth son, brother and nephew were all protected by Gao Xingzhou.
So when Li Jinquan saw Gao Huaide, he immediately became excited. He turned around and looked at the guards around him, Bian Hao and others leading the Southern Tang Imperial Army.
"Shout! Shout quickly! Just call Gao Dalang, your uncle is here, come to the rescue quickly."
So, on the battlefield where the wind was blowing, shouts with Hedong accent mixed with Jianghuai accent rang out. Suddenly, Gao Dalang! Gao Dalang's shouts could be heard everywhere.
As soon as Gao Huaide heard the word "uncle", his balls immediately ached. He instantly knew who was being surrounded on the hill, and he couldn't ignore it.
Because this is the rule at this time, even if everyone is his own master and someone shows his carriage, you must save him.
If you don't save it, your reputation will be ruined immediately. No one will think you are still a hero, and no one will follow you.
Well, the warriors of the Five Dynasties actually had their own set of rules. Although they were shameless, cruel, and shameless, they were very loyal and united to outsiders, but internally they were very particular about loyalty and unity.
For example, in Silver Spear, they overthrew the commander and the emperor, but the soldiers at the bottom and the grassroots officers were extremely united, and they were so united that the ruler chose to kill them all collectively to eliminate hidden dangers.
But Gao Xingzhou was also in a dilemma! This was no problem in the past, but who knows whether Emperor Shaoming, who was strict in managing the army, would admit this?
Moreover, the Gao family is not the Yuan Cong of Emperor Shaoming. They have just established themselves. Although their younger sister E Niang is destined to be sent to the palace, the saint seems to like her, but after all, it has not been implemented yet.
However, seeing the comrades and subordinates around him turning to look at him, Gao Huaide knew that he must not show any hesitation at this time.
Just as he was about to answer, Yao Yuanfu captured and killed the commander of the Jiankang Army of the Southern Tang Dynasty. He stabbed his head with a spear in a show of force and passed by the left side of the hill before Li Jinquan's eyes.
uh-huh!
This is literally delivered to your door.
Li Jinquan jumped three feet high and shouted to Yao Yuanfu on the hill, "Yaochuzi, Yaoyeye, save me, save me!"
Yao Yuanfu's face turned green. After all, the Gao family had a daughter (sister) as a gift, and they never betrayed Zhang Zhao.
But Yao Yuanfu, his sister, and niece were all very strong, and they had a dark history of taking Zhang Shengren's money and not doing anything. When he heard Li Jinquan shouting, he immediately trembled.
Fortunately, he immediately saw Gao Huaide and said, "Gao Dalang, we still need to be saved. Besides, Li Jinquan is the most cunning person. Maybe the puppet king of Southern Wu is with him."
Okay! There was no way to hide from either side. Gao Huaide had no choice but to step forward and send people to look for Murong Nobunaga while arranging people to prepare for the attack.
However, it was said to be an attack, but it separated the Zhou army's cavalry from the panic-stricken Southern Tang army.
When Li Jinquan saw that there was something going on, he ran down the hill with a puff of smoke. He raised his hands in the air, stripped himself down to his underwear, and said to Gao Huaide and Yao Yuanfu in front of the battle.
"The person you are looking for is on the mountain and has made great achievements. Don't forget a certain family."
Gao Huaide and Yao Yuanfu were refreshed. It seemed that Li Jingda was really here. That would be great!
Seeing the two of them looking happy, Li Jinquan asked in a trembling voice, "Is fourth brother okay?"
The fourth brother was Li Jinquan's fourth son who stayed in the Central Plains. Although he was the fourth son, he was actually his eldest son. He was an official in Tokyo at the time, so he stayed in the Central Plains.
Gao Huaide nodded, "Fortunately, I have been working as a personal guard beside a certain father."
Li Jinquan's eyes became moist at this moment. He nodded slowly and wanted to say something, but in the end he didn't say anything.
Murong Nobunaga happened to be nearby, so he rushed over immediately.
As soon as he arrived, Li Jinquan recognized him.
In this world, the only one who dares to wear white helmets and white armor on the battlefield is Murong Nobunaga.
This was intentional by Hao Daer. Zuo Yu Lin Wei basically wore red cloth-covered iron armor, but he deliberately wanted white helmets and white armor.
Before Murong Nobunaga could speak, Li Jinquan suddenly knelt down and was still shouting. Gao Xingzhou and Yao Yuanfu couldn't understand, but Murong Nobunaga did.
This Li Jinquan was reporting to him in Tuyuhun dialect, saying that Li Jingda, King of Yan of the Southern Tang Dynasty, and Bian Hao, the envoy of Zuobu, were both present on Shanbao.
Moreover, Li Jinquan also called him Khan and paid homage to him using the etiquette of Tyuhun people meeting Khan.
Murong Nobunaga suddenly couldn't laugh or cry. People said that Li Jinquan was smart but stupid. It seemed to be true.
Although his Guazhou Murong family is indeed the descendant of Murong Fu, the last Yeba Qindou Khan of Tuyuhunwudi, the governor of Changle Prefecture, and the king of Qinghai County.
But when did he do this? He himself did not dare to mention it again, just because he was afraid that someone would say that he was Li Siyuan or Li Congke.
It was good for Li Jinquan. In front of so many people, he actually used Tuyuhun language and came to pay homage to him.
Murong Nobunaga, who had no choice but to look grim, asked Li Jinquan to order the remaining two thousand Southern Tang troops to put down their weapons, and then asked him to escort Li Jingda and Bian Hao down.
Not long after, the Southern Tang army, who had received Murong Nobunaga's promise not to kill them, all knelt on the ground, Bian Hao raised a white flag, and Li Jingda took off his outer robe, exposing the left half of his body, and came down to surrender to Murong Nobunaga.
In this battle, Murong Nobunaga took advantage of the opportunity of his Jinyi guards to destroy the enemy tower at the beacon fire, and led 7,000 cavalrymen, one man and two horses, to cover more than 100 miles in only four hours.
Of course, this speed is completely inadequate compared to the terror capability of the Long Live Army's fourteen-hour emergency march of 72.5 kilometers on its feet.
Even in the feudal army, it is not ranked in the top ten, and it is difficult to even be considered famous, but it is not bad.
You must know that these 7,000 cavalrymen were not traveling lightly, but were carrying armor and stomach.
Moreover, there was no need to rest when they arrived at the place. They only ate a piece of cake each, the war horse added a handful of black beans boiled in salt water, and immediately went into battle.
In a very short period of time, they penetrated directly into the Central Army camp of the Southern Tang Dynasty and ended the war.
In this battle, Murong Nobunaga captured alive the military envoys below Li Jingda, King of Yan of the Southern Tang Dynasty, and commanded the army. There were more than 20 military commanders and hundreds of intermediate generals at the level of Du Yuhou.
Tens of thousands of soldiers of the Southern Tang Army were killed, countless people drowned in the river, and more than 30,000 people were captured.
The Southern Tang Dynasty claimed that it was 150,000, but in fact it was close to 100,000. The imperial army, state and county soldiers, and rural soldiers were all lost. They were no longer able to launch any war, not even to defend the river.
Just when Murong Nobunaga was sending the captured Southern Tang Dynasty Li Jingda's Great Book, Yamen Banner, etc. to Chuzhou, Bai Congxin, who was located in Tianchang, also led 5,000 rear troops to Yangzhou.
At this time, not only Yangzhou, the eastern capital that had just been recovered by the Southern Tang Dynasty, fell again, but also a large number of Southern Tang officials who followed Li Jingda back to Jiangbei.
After Bai Congxin arrived, Murong Nobunaga quickly handed over the command of the army.
The older man still knows the difference clearly. He will not show off in front of an old Yuancong sect like Bai Congxin.
He also knew that he was closer to the Yuancong sect than Li Cunhui and others. That was because although he was not a member of the Yuancong sect, his mother, Cao Sanniang Yannai, was a member of the Yuancong sect.
Not only that, Murong Nobunaga also personally wrote to Zhang Zhao, explaining that Li Jinquan had paid homage to him using the Khan ceremony of the Tuyuhun people.
After Bai Congxin took over the command, he immediately arranged for Li Cunhui to march eastward to conquer Taizhou and take all the Yang Wu clan into his hands.
Then Gao Huaide was sent to lead 3,000 cavalry to open up the communication line from Yangzhou to Chuzhou along Hangou.
Because Zhang Zhao had already sent a letter, he planned to go to Yangzhou in person.
After doing this, Bai Congxin immediately began to select naval troops from the prisoners of the Southern Tang Dynasty, repair the captured warships, and also selected elites from the fishermen of Han, Chen and other families who had surrendered to form his own trusted naval forces.
This is not to scare the Southern Tang court on the other side of the river. This is really preparing for the next move. If Li Jing is unable to deal with it, Bai Congxin doesn't mind crossing the river now.