Wanyanbi's troops marched for three consecutive days from Guide Mansion to Xuzhou, covering a distance of nearly 210 miles. Half of the way, the road runs closely along the bank of the Yellow River. There are gravels and swamps along the way. Being able to march in such a hurry shows Wanyan Bi's ability in running an army.
This kind of army is worthy of being the elite soldiers assigned to the east by the Kaifeng imperial court, and Wanyanbi himself is worthy of being a veteran general who has been on the battlefield for a long time.
As a veteran general, how could Wanyan Bi not read the Art of War?
As the art of war goes, if you fight for an advantage fifty miles away, you will defeat the general. How could Wanyanbi not know this?
The reason why he urged his troops to advance quickly was because he heard that the Taishan bandits divided their troops into two groups to attack. Both groups had the upper hand, but they were unable to capture the fortified city for a while. If our side moves slowly, it will be equivalent to allowing the Taishan bandits to capture Xuzhou or Shanzhou and then join forces together. By that time, it will be very troublesome for the bandits to attack another city or to besiege the city for reinforcements. However, it is only when both sides are fighting that it is suitable for our elite troops to make a surprise attack.
His idea was right, but unfortunately, his understanding of the enemy was completely wrong.
As soon as he saw the flag with the character "Luo", Wanyan Bi knew without further explanation that this trip was caused by Taishan bandits.
The commander leading the troops on the opposite side was clearly Luo Chongwei, the general of the Ding Navy in Shandong and the governor of Nan Qingzhou!
That old guy Liu Erzu and Guo Ning are standing together!
Jurchen generals like him have natural contempt for the Red Coat Army or the Taishan bandits and bandits. But Ding Haijun is different! Ding Haijun is a truly powerful enemy that has fought hard and fierce battles, and in the past two years, their fighting style has gradually been revealed... They will do nothing if they don't attack, and one attack will be fatal!
This is by no means an ordinary border conflict. This is Dinghai Navy specially using tricks to lure, and then setting up heavy troops to intercept here! They have been planning for a long time and are planning a big move!
Wanyanbi was frightened and immediately made up his mind.
He gave the order in a deep voice: "The infantry in the rear group will change into the front group, form a formation and retreat slowly."
When the military flag was waved and the drum horn sounded sharply, he whispered to the left and right: "Follow me closely!"
Most of the infantry around Wanyanbi were gradually recruited after arriving at Nanjing Road and then rigorously trained; the backbone of the cavalry was the warriors he recruited when Marshal Zuo Jianjun took office in Liaodong.
At that time, Tu Shanyi made a proposal to the emperor, requesting to recruit 20,000 elite soldiers in Liaodong to form an army. If the capital was in emergency, he could return to the war to save himself. The general Tu Shanyi liked was Wanyan Bi. However, the emperor was afraid of Tu Shanyi's political potential, so he refused and demoted Wanyan Bi to the position of defense envoy of Yunnei Prefecture with an imperial edict.
Although he was demoted, most of the first batch of warriors recruited by Wanyanbi continued to follow him in the name of his personal followers. This group of people are all veterans who have survived hundreds of battles. They have fought in Monan and Henan in the past few years. Many of them have scars on their bodies and faces. In terms of combat experience and skills, they are by no means inferior to any strong soldiers in the world.
After hearing Wanyan Bi's instructions, these elite cavalry immediately understood what he meant and responded in unison.
At this time, from behind the sand embankment hillocks on the left and right sides of the road, military flags were waving, and nearly ten thousand Taishan bandits shook off the mud, sand and dust on their bodies, like countless pottery figurines rushing out of the yellow dust. Another arrow flew down from the sky like a locust.
The Jin soldiers who were marching in a hurry were hit by arrows one after another. After several attempts to form a formation, they had already collided with the enemy's front line. The next moment, the two sides directly entered the most intense fighting state.
On the front line parallel to the road, the soldiers at the front of both sides burst out with blood at the same time, so that two long lines of blood mist rose in the air. Under the blood mist, the dead and injured fell to the ground like withered grass. There were screams and roars, as well as the unique popping sound of spears penetrating the body.
The Taishan thieves succeeded one after another, and in a short period of time they showed their bravery to the extreme. However, the training level and combat coordination proficiency of Wanyanbi's men were obviously higher, and their leader Wanyanbi was indeed a famous brave general. . The first group of Taishan bandits who intercepted horizontally were repelled almost instantly.
Wanyanbi led Jingqi to charge along the road.
He waved the iron chain with his left hand, sweeping back and forth, and slashed with the heavy sword with his right hand. Wherever he went, the waves were split, and there was no enemy. Every time he bumped into a group of enemy troops, he gathered the infantry entangled by the enemy troops and continued to charge backwards. In the blink of an eye, the iron chains and swords were covered with blood and minced meat, and the light armor all over his body was soaked with blood.
After two collisions, he rested his horse for a moment, and the red-coated sergeants on the left and right sides of the road came closer.
He clamped the horse hard with both legs, turned his left arm, circled the chain around his forearm and beat it down. The weight of the iron chain added to the force of the swing of the arm was like a hammer, hitting the enemy soldier who tried to rush in and stab him until his face exploded, and his eyes and teeth flew out together.
Hundreds of cavalrymen followed and continued their charge.
This group of people was so brave that they naturally attracted the attention of the enemy. The arrows flying suddenly became denser, causing heavy casualties to the cavalrymen. One arrow fell from a height and penetrated Wanyanbi's left shoulder.
Wanyanbi couldn't hold on to the heavy iron chain, so he simply let go and let it fall to the ground. Then he placed the machete in his right hand across the saddle, broke the trembling arrow shaft on his left shoulder with his backhand, and pulled off a piece of his robe to wrap around the wound.
Just as he was dealing with the wound, the third team of red-coated soldiers had already rushed into the battlefield and joined the second team, whose momentum had not diminished. The gray-yellow figures covered in dust suddenly gathered together, like the rising tide of the Yellow River.
These are bandits who have been in the mountains for a long time. They are not the same as Yang An'er's red coat army... Before Yang An'er raised his army, these Taishan bandits had been rebelling for decades! Almost every one of these people has a blood feud with Da Jin, so they rush to kill, really not afraid of death!
With so many enemy troops swarming towards him, the impact power of the cavalry was almost exhausted. The cavalry surrounding Wanyanbi were instantly shaved off a layer.
A red-coated sergeant took aim at Wanyanbi's figure and threw his saber.
Wanyan Bi's subordinate leader was eager to protect his master and stepped sideways from his horse to block him. He had a full armor and stomach, but his luck was bad. Because his body was tilted, a gap opened between the two armor leaves on his chest. The saber penetrated through this gap and penetrated more than half a foot deep.
The leader of the clan screamed and fell from his horse, his heavy armor making a loud clang.
The soldiers in red coats were all overjoyed when they heard the sound. This guy was wearing sophisticated heavy armor and he looked like an official!
The dog officials who are about to kill these Jurchens!
Three or four red-coated soldiers nearby rushed towards him, stabbing and slashing with their short soldiers. The leader of Xicong was on the ground with one arm. Before he could stand up, his back, neck, chest and face were stabbed one after another. As blood spattered, his arms lost strength and he fell to the ground again.
A red-coated soldier stepped on the leader's forehead and pulled out his sword. Just as he cheered, another knight from the Golden Army rushed towards him, swung his sword and struck back from bottom to top.
He used all his strength this time, but after several days of forced marching and fighting for a while, his physical strength was at its lowest. So only the tip of the blade split open the red-coated soldier's chin, then moved to the upper jaw, and then cut the bridge of his nose and face into two halves, all the way to his forehead. The red-coated sergeant threw away his sword and covered his face and retreated, blood gushing out from between his fingers.
With the cavalry's full cover, Wanyanbi rushed to the rear of the road for more than two miles in one breath, shaking off the flank attack of the Red Austrian army. But there were only thirty or fifty followers left around him. Looking further away, behind the countless hills left by the Yellow River's flooding, groups of enemy troops continued to appear.
The disparity between the numbers is too great, not to mention that our own army is tired from marching?
In two more moments, no, a moment or half a moment, the whole army will collapse!
"Let's go!"
Wanyan Bi had no intention of dying in battle at all. He shouted an order, turned his horse and left. The cavalry just started to speed up, but the arrows missed and they caught up with them, shooting down several more cavalrymen.
A few miles away from the battlefield, where the Luo flag was flying, was the center of the army. Liu Erzu coughed lightly: "Wanyan Bi is running away, should we send someone to chase him?"
Monk Luo shook his head and laughed twice: "No need, let's eat the elite enemy troops in front of us first... We have to eat one bite at a time, and we have to fight step by step!"
In the eyes of everyone, Monk Luo ranks first among the admirals of the Ding Navy, and is also an important figure second only to Guo Ning himself. Now he is the commander-in-chief of the Ding Navy's various departments in Shandong. The reason why he can hold such power is, on the one hand, because he has a close relationship with Guo Ning, and on the other hand, it is also because the fat monk is as wise as a fool and never makes mistakes when doing things.
Just like the use of troops in Xuzhou and Shanzhou in the past few days.
Xuzhou was able to capture the city in just half an hour because of a lurking secret. However, the troops besieging the city kept making noises around the city. They also lit pine torches at night and arranged for hundreds of people to hold weapons and run along the city wall to fight. It still looks like it's continuing.
In Shanzhou, only more than a thousand people under Liu Yue were actually used. After they captured several garrisons one after another, they did not continue to attack the city at all. Instead, they specifically deployed troops and generals to the remaining garrisons in Shanzhou, pretending to be swept by tens of thousands of troops.
Xuzhou pretended to fight after winning, while Shanzhou was bluffing from the beginning. Between the change of reality and reality, the main force of the army headed west in a leisurely manner, and then faced Wanyanbi's troops who were rushing towards them.
For three and a half days, thousands of elite troops from Guide Prefecture came to their homes to die, and the gates to Kaifeng were opened one after another. Even with the advantage of military strength, the generals of the Red Coat Army had to admire Monk Luo's use of troops to win so easily. Only then did they know that Ding Haijun's current situation was really not a fluke.
Shi Qing came up to join in the fun, praised Monk Luo a few words, and made a few jokes, which made everyone laugh.
While laughing, he looked around and asked: "Where is Peng Yibin? He keeps saying that he wants to be a pioneer. Why don't you see him killing the enemy and performing meritorious service in front of Duke Zhou today?"
His question was very interesting. He was obviously asking Peng Yibin, but actually he was asking where Guo Ning was.
Monk Luo touched the short, hard stubble on his head, which made a rustling sound.
He said: "Peng Yibin is jumping to be a pioneer, so he must do it beautifully... He should be in Guide Mansion at this moment, and it is unknown whether he is leading the horse for Duke Zhou."
