On February 6, 200 warships of the Song Navy carried 6,000 soldiers and landed on the east bank of the Juzhang River. After leaving 1,000 soldiers and horses to guard the ships, Liu Zhong and Liu Cui led 5,000 soldiers and horses straight to Shili Town.
Before setting off, secret spies from the Military Intelligence Department had already discovered that the Yong Army's food team set out from Dangyang City in the early morning of the year and were expected to arrive at Wuzhai in Shili Town at the end of the Shen Dynasty.
It was agreed in advance that Liu Zhong would lead three thousand soldiers and horses to rob grain, seize the military stronghold and burn the granaries, while Liu Cui would lead two thousand soldiers and horses to block the road to prevent Yong's army from sending people to Dangyang and Jinan for emergency.
When Liu Zhong approached Wuzhai, he saw a long motorcade in front of the gate of Wuzhai. It seemed that the time was just right to catch up with the Yong Army grain team entering the dock.
The gate of Wuzhai is ten feet wide and can accommodate two bullock carts running side by side. At this moment, it is extremely lively with people shouting and braying. The Yong soldiers on the wall noticed the dust rising in the distance and blew their horns to warn.
Lu Gui heard the horn sound and ran up the wall. At this time, he could clearly see the Song troops approaching in groups in the distance.
"Push the grain carts to the left and right, clear the road, and mount the whole team of Qingqi." Lu Gui ordered as he walked under the dock wall.
The grain and grass inside and outside the village were quickly pushed to both sides, and no one paid attention to the grain bags on the cart that fell to the ground. A thousand Qingqi were always ready, and quickly put on their armor and prepared their saddles after hearing the order.
Liu Zhong rushed to the front and saw the grain team in front of the village gate moving to both sides to make way for a passage. I can't help but have doubts in my heart. Shouldn't the Yong army in the Wuzhai tightly close the gate of the stronghold and defend the Wuzhai?
There were still more than twenty steps away from the village gate. When he saw war horses rushing out from the village gate, Liu Zhong's expression changed. Hearing the thunderous sound of horse hooves, there were many Yong's cavalry.
"Spread out and use grain trucks to defend." Liu Zhong hoped that the number of Yongqi in Wuzhai would not exceed 200, so that with more enemies and fewer enemies, Qingqi could be suppressed.
Hopes were quickly dashed. Yongqi did not rush towards the Song troops who were dodging on both sides. Instead, he ran directly towards the place where the Song troops came from. Those Song troops dodged to both sides.
Hiding behind the grain truck, Liu Zhong watched the Yong Army Qingqi rolling away. Even if there were two or three cavalry running in parallel, there was a long team, and the number of Yong Army Qingqi was close to a thousand.
Liu Zhong's heart sank. It seemed that Yong's army had been prepared for a long time and was waiting for his own army to take the bait. He still didn't know how many Yong's troops were hidden in Wuzhai. This battle was more dangerous than bad.
"Sound the horn to notify General Liu (Liu Cui) to come quickly for reinforcements." Using infantry to deal with the light cavalry, Liu Zhong did not dare to expect victory even if they were outnumbered, not to mention that the Yong army in Wuzhai could attack at any time.
Yong Qi rushed out and did not kill his own army, but galloped westward. Liu Zhong suddenly realized that these Yong Qi were planning to seize the ship.
"Block the grain truck at the gate of the village, light it, and then withdraw it to the shore," Liu Zhong ordered urgently.
This time he went to Wuzhai to burn grain. Liu Zhong made full preparations in advance. Many Song soldiers carried gunpowder.
After hearing the general's order, Song Gong took off the gunpowder jar tied to his waist, smashed it, and sprinkled it on the grain cart. Before the Song army drove the grain cart to the gate of the village, the sound of horse hooves sounded again from the village. .
This time, the sound of hoofbeats was dull, the ground was like a drum, the grain and grass were trembling slightly, and the driving cattle mooed uneasily. They did not listen to the Song army's drive and ran around in panic.
Liu Zhong has been fighting on the battlefield for many years. He followed Liu Yu in his campaigns against Sun En, Huan Xuan, Lu Xun, and Liu Yi. He also conquered Guanggu and defeated Lu Xun. When he heard the heavy sound of horse hooves, he immediately turned pale. It was a heavy cavalry, Yong's army. There is actually a heavy cavalry hidden in Wuzhai.
Lu Gui was wearing armor all over his body, holding a long spear in his hand, and the war horse he was riding was also heavily armored. He rushed out of the Wuzhai at the head of the horse, followed by two hundred soldiers in armor and riding gear.
"Burn the grain and grass", Liu Zhong's roar sounded a little out of tune, and Song Bing's soldiers all changed their colors when they saw the heavy cavalry.
Someone was shaking the fire, and the grain cart immediately burst into flames. The cattle pulling the cart ran around in panic, and some cattle pulled the "train" and rushed towards the heavy horse regardless of east, west, northwest.
Lu Gui saw a strong bull pulling a burning load of grain and grass rushing towards his horse. He put his feet in stirrups, stood up on the horse's back, clenched the long spear with both hands, roared, and the spear thrust directly from the cow's head. enter.
The strong bull charged into the formation, its front hooves gave way and it fell forward, its long legs going deeper and deeper. Lu Gui roared and used both hands hard, Chang Shan picked the cow carcass away and smashed the grain cart aside. The burning grain cart was smashed into flames. Song Jun was stunned by Lu Gui's magical power and opened his mouth in confusion.
At a loss.
Lu Gui would not wait for the Song army to block the road with burning grain carts. He would use his horse to stab and chop all the way, and his armor and riding equipment would knock away the grain and grass blocked by the Song army. The Yong army's heavy cavalry swept across the area, driving the Song army to flee in all directions.
The horns sounded, and Liu Zhong tried to organize the soldiers into a formation to slightly block the heavy cavalry of the Yong Army. After all, the number of the Yong Army's heavy cavalry was only 200. He used a small number of people to delay the fight and cover the escape of the majority.
After landing, Liu Cui separated from Liu Zhong. He divided the 2,000 men he led into two parts. He led 1,000 men to guard the north of Wuzhai, and asked his general Yan Mai to take the remaining 1,000 soldiers to Wuzhai. South of the village, blocking the south passage of Wuzhai.
As soon as they arrived three miles north of Wuzhai, soldiers and horses blocked the road, and they heard the sound of horns, followed by the faint sound of horse hooves. Liu Cui secretly thought that something was wrong. According to spies from the Military Intelligence Department, there were not a large number of light cavalry stationed in Yongjunwu Village. Listening to the sound of hoofbeats, there were at least five or six hundred cavalry.
It seems that the Yong army had already taken precautions against the plan to rob grain and burn the warehouses. This time they came by boat, and the warships they chose were only seven or eight feet long. They did not ride on war horses. If they used infantry against the Yong army's light cavalry, they would suffer a big loss. Liu Cui anxiously sent the order, "Go quickly for reinforcements."
Liu Cui led his army to rush to the vicinity of Wuzhai. He saw the Yong army's heavy cavalry charging rampant. Three thousand soldiers were defeated. Everywhere he looked, there were defeated Song troops.
"Blow the trumpet and set up flags, set up shields, archers press the formation, and call the soldiers to assemble." Liu Cui felt like his scalp was exploding, but he knew that he must not panic at this time, otherwise not many of the soldiers who came this time would be able to come back alive. .
The low sound of the horn summoned the soldiers to gather together. Liu Zhong heard the sound of the horn and breathed a sigh of relief. Liu Cui came with reinforcements. As long as they formed a formation, they should be able to reverse the decline.
The Song army fled towards the sound of the horn like a tide. Liu Cui stood behind the shield wall and ordered his guards to shout loudly, "Enter the formation from both sides and do not rush into the shield wall."
The broken troops bypassed both sides of the shield wall, and a school captain led them to join the formation. The shield wall continued to expand, the spears became closer and closer, and the archers gathered more and more.
Liu Zhong rushed to the front of the formation under the protection of his personal guards. Liu Cui saw Liu Zhong in the formation and ordered a gap in the shield wall to let Liu Zhong enter the formation to meet him.
Liu Zhong was a little frightened. After seeing Liu Cui, he opened his mouth and said: "The Yong army first sent Qingqi to the river bank, probably to rob the ship. It is not suitable to stay here for a long time. We must rush to the bank immediately."
Liu Cui was frightened and said: "We have to entangle the Yong army's heavy cavalry before we can divide our troops and go to the shore for rescue."
Liu Zhong laughed miserably and said, "I'm afraid everyone will not be able to escape the trap this time. Yu led a thousand soldiers to fight to the death against Yong's army. Dao Chong, you took the rest of the soldiers to the shore. After boarding the ship, don't worry about Yu. Just take the ship with you." The ship returns to Gangneung."
Liu Cui heard that Liu Zhong was determined to die and that the war was urgent and could not be delayed, so he had no choice but to bow to Liu Zhong to the ground and said: "Brother Shi, take care of yourself, I will lead my brothers back to Jiangling. Brother Shi only needs to delay for two quarters of an hour." , but you can retreat to the south and join up with a thousand troops and horses. Yuhui will order people to fly to report to Song Gong, and let Song Gong lead his troops north to meet his brother Yingshi."
The battlefield was changing rapidly. More than a thousand infantry had to delay the two hundred heavy cavalry for two quarters of an hour. It was estimated that half of them were left. Liu Cui rushed to the river bank to fight 800 Qingqi. He was still unable to protect himself. He sent a fast boat to Jiangling to deliver the message. It would be at least more than an hour later. It was even more unpredictable whether Liu Yu would lead his army north to rescue Liu Zhong.
Liu Zhong knew that there was more danger than good, but he put life and death aside. He laughed and said, "You have received great kindness from Song Gong, and you always think about repaying it with death. Now is the time. The way is gone, don't worry about fool."
At this time, Lu Gui led his two hundred heavy cavalry to press towards the shield wall unhurriedly. The heavy sound of horse hoofs was like stepping on the hearts of the Song army, and everyone felt chills and trembling in their hearts.
Liu Cui could not delay, so he left more than 1,400 people including shield wall, spearmen, and archers behind, and withdrew 2,000 people from behind the formation and ran westward.
Only fifty steps away from the shield wall, Yong Jun's heavy cavalry spread out and began to gallop. Liu Zhong looked at the heavy cavalry approaching like dark clouds, and shouted at the top of his lungs: "Yong's cavalry can't count more than a hundred cavalry. If they resist the collision, they will die. Brothers, hold on."
The long shield stood on the ground, and the shield soldier hid behind the shield, pressing his shoulders and body against the shield. He felt increasingly violent vibrations, and the ground under his feet began to vibrate up and down, making his footing unstable.
A forest of spears lay across the shield wall, but the hand holding the spear couldn't help but tremble. Everyone knew that heavy cavalry was no better than light cavalry. The force of this collision was enough to knock the shield wall away, and the pikemen standing behind the shield wall had to take the lead. Facing heavy cavalry attacks.
Lu Gui suddenly drew the spear forward in his hand, sweeping away the spear blocking the horse. The heavily armored mount, weighing 1,500 kilograms, hit the shield wall with momentum, and immediately smashed the shield. The wall flew away, and the soldiers behind the shields couldn't help but flung back, hitting the spearmen.
The spear was in a mess, and Lu Gui's long spear thrust forward quickly, and blood flowed out along with the scream. The heavy cavalry of the Yong army crashed into the shield wall dullly. The seemingly solid shield wall was torn to pieces like pieces of paper. The heavy cavalry of the Yong army easily entered the Song army's formation.
Liu Zhong's eyes were red and he held a long-handled machete in his hand. He leaned over to dodge the incoming steel knife and swept the machete towards the horse's hooves. The blade struck the horse's hoof, which broke. The heavy horse fell forward, causing dust to fly.
The soldiers of the Song Army lowered their bodies and slashed at the horse's legs with their swords. The Yong Army blocked the incoming weapons, and the horses rushed towards the Song Army, breaking the bones and tendons of the Song Army and causing blood to flow out.
Soon, the heavy cavalry rushed through the Song army's formation. More than a hundred Song soldiers fell to the ground, leaving only a dozen heavy cavalry. Seeing the heavy cavalry of the Yong army regrouping and fighting back again, Liu Zhong could only shout loudly: "Fight to the death."
Lu Gui saw Liu Zhong, who was waving his sword and commanding the Song army to regroup into formation, and rode towards Liu Zhong. Liu Zhong repeated his old trick, leaning down and sweeping the horse's legs with his knife. Lu Gui reached down with the long sword in his hand, and the machete hit the front of the sword.
Lu Gui's strength was extraordinary, he swept the tail of the spear, raised the spear forward, and knocked the machete from Liu Zhong's hand away. The spear thrust forward with the help of the horse's momentum and stabbed Liu Zhong's chest.
The machete in Liu Zhong's hand was thrown away, his chest and abdomen were wide open, and the sharp point of the spear penetrated his chest. Lu Gui lifted Liu Zhong's body up high and shouted to the Song army: "Why don't you surrender quickly?"
The Song army was frightened by the heavy cavalry of the Yong army. When they saw that their general was dead, some ran away while others threw down their weapons and knelt down to surrender. In less than a quarter of an hour, the Song army that blocked the enemy was defeated.
Yan Mai arrived with a thousand Song troops. From a distance, he saw the Yong army's heavy cavalry showing off, and turned around and fled with his troops.
