Even so, Guo Ning made a gesture or nodded, and the cavalrymen who were galloping suddenly slowed down.
When the two armies pulled away slightly, the Dinghai navy cavalry gathered into a team of dozens or hundreds of people, raising their spears high, like a shrub growing out of the ground.
The Song army that was entangled with it finally got a chance to breathe and retreated like a tide. Most of the Song army officers and soldiers gathered behind Zhao Fang.
Adhering to their long-standing habit, they were very particular about command and overall coordination. Even though they could not control the city gate at this moment, with the blazing fire in the city behind them, and amid the shouts of senior envoys and officials, they formed their formation again. In an instant, the queue seemed tight again.
The soldiers in the array looked at the corpses of their companions scattered inside and outside the city gate. They were obviously unwilling to give up, and many of them were furious and eager to try.
At this time, they heard the cavalrymen of Ding Haijun yelling, saying that Zhao Fang and the Jurchens had conspired to trap the general of Ding Haijun, which triggered a counterattack by Ding Haijun.
The soldiers were all surprised, and many officers retorted repeatedly. However, thinking about the strange situation of suddenly rushing to Kaifeng just now, and thinking about the cooperation of the defenders after they entered the city, they felt that this was probably true.
In this case, the next battle will probably become more and more difficult to fight. This battle is not to fight the lost dog, but to gnaw hard bones... No, no, it is to challenge the fierce tiger down the mountain!
The soldiers originally thought that their allies had turned against each other and everyone was angry, but now they heard that they had been unkind and provoked a powerful enemy. In addition to being filled with anger, they felt confused and frustrated.
Many soldiers began to whisper secretly: Is this different from what they said before sending troops? Are the big shots at the top trying to put the lives of us big soldiers at risk?
Everyone has gotten along well in the past two years, why should Grandpa Zhao be like this? Could it be that the old man had already thought about it, but he just hid it from us?
This is inappropriate! Zhao Fang immediately felt the change in the atmosphere among his soldiers, but how could he send someone to refute the rumors for a while?
Under Guo Ning's gaze, Zhao Fang stretched out his hand and tried to close the big man's exploding eyes. However, the entire face of the big man was mashed by the ax handle, and the skin and flesh on his face rolled and sunk, and even his eyelids were torn and deformed. Zhao Fang tried several times, but to no avail. Instead, his palms were covered in blood.
After a while, the deceased's blood flowed along the cracks in the stone slabs, and even the hem of his robe was stained. However, Zhao Fang seemed to be unaware and allowed the bright red blood to slowly flow up.
Ni Yi, who was watching from a horse, snorted twice: "You're a hypocritical dog officer!" Earlier intelligence said that Zhao Fang loved his soldiers as much as his sons, and he had the demeanor of a famous general in ancient times.
Seeing that his words were filled with anger but suppressed, and his expression was extremely compassionate, it didn't seem to be fake.
The Dinghai navy cavalry rushed into the city and charged fiercely, but the Song army's reaction was a bit slow and they did not cooperate with the Jin army defending the city. It can be seen that Zhao Fang's words were full of resentment, but it was not without reason.
But Guo Ning had no sympathy for Zhao Fang at all, nor for the Song soldiers who suffered heavy casualties. Guo Ning always felt that apart from having a weird dream, he was still an ordinary warrior with limited knowledge.
He had met many officials from the Kingdom of Jin, but he had never had any serious dealings with senior officials from the Song Dynasty... Jia She definitely didn't look like a serious official.
So when he found out that Song people and Jurchens were standing together, he immediately became furious. He felt that this might mean that the Song Dynasty people had seen through their own plan throughout the whole process, and were about to cause a huge strategic passiveness for themselves, and they had to use thunderous means to break the situation.
But at this moment, when Guo Ning led his army into Kaifeng and saw the soldiers of Ding Haijun fighting with the Song army, but the Song army seemed not at all prepared to defeat the powerful enemy, he understood.
There was no long-term strategy for the Song people. They took one step at a time and thought about speculation all the time. As a result, they were taken advantage of by some people in Kaifeng City, that's all.
In this world, officials are always the same. My whole mind is to make great achievements, and then use the lives of my subordinates to fill the ravines.
Along the boundary trench, it was clear that the Black Tatars were becoming more and more difficult to defeat, and there were fewer and fewer grassland tribes on the side of Dajin. The Jurchen nobles still forced thousands of households to send troops to suppress the Tatars, and went deep into the grasslands to exterminate the Tatars again and again.
In fact, how can we destroy the people of the Tatar tribe? Those who died were all frontier soldiers! However, a group of soldiers on the frontier died without any damage to the Jurchen nobles' stomachs. The occasional victory was a stepping stone for the big shots.
Therefore, the big shots enjoyed it and carried out military adventures again and again, not caring that countless soldiers died meaninglessly in Mobei. In order to maintain the stability of the boundary trench, dozens of Hebei military states were drained of blood until they finally collapsed.
The officials of the Jin Dynasty were like this, and the officials of the Song Dynasty also had the same virtue. It's just that the people of the Song Dynasty have better brains than the Jurchens. If they win a battle, they can write thousands of articles, and they can turn a one-point victory into a great feat of wisdom and prowess, and derive 100% benefits in the political arena; If you lose, it's just bad luck. Maybe some literati will write a poem, sighing about the bones by the river and the people in the dream, in order to spread it to future generations.
In the current situation, the thoughts of many people from top to bottom in the Southern Dynasties are nested in layers, and it seems difficult to understand.
In fact, Guo Ning can see through it at a glance from the perspective of a low-level warrior. Most of Shi Miyuan and his subordinates were moved by the huge benefits offered by the Zhongdu court, and began to allow their own gang members to profit at sea. However, Shi Miyuan wanted to do something with the strength of the Southern Dynasty. After the demise of the Kaifeng court, to gain direct benefits.
So he deliberately avoided Huainan, which was constantly being penetrated by Zhongdu, and instead gave an order for Zhao Fang to take the 20,000 troops and horses he had painstakingly trained in the Jinghu area to go north.
This is certainly because Zhao Fang has trained his troops well and his soldiers are very good at fighting; it also shows that in the eyes of the prime minister, the 20,000 soldiers are just chips that can be used for trial and error.
When Li Ting entered the city and was attacked by fire, Zhao Fang could have used all his strength to put out the fire to win Guo Ning's trust, without having to be hostile to Ding Haijun.
The most he could do was take a little risk and explain clearly in person that although he had the idea of seizing Kaifeng, he had no intention of killing his allies.
However, the Kaifeng court was at the end of its rope and wanted to make a last ditch effort, so the benefits offered by Hou Zhi were extremely tempting.
Did the Song Dynasty monopolize Kaifeng? The Song Dynasty used the Kaifeng court as its puppet and then reached out to half of the Kingdom of Jin?
If this thing comes to pass, no, even if it doesn't come to pass, this process will bring huge benefits, which will make Prime Minister Shi stand firmer in Lin'an, and make Zhao Fang leap over the dragon's gate!
Zhao Fang is a capable commander, but he is not a saint. He was attracted by this, so he half-pushed and half-distributed troops on the spot, intending to capture the outer city of Kaifeng and forcibly block the Dinghai navy from outside.
This plan is indeed very tempting, but the combat objectives of the entire army suddenly change, and all the original combat plans are overturned. Is it so easy to treat the enemy as friendly forces and the friendly forces as enemies on the spot?
An experienced general like Zhao Fang must know how difficult it is, but he still did it. Because after weighing it, he felt that even if the big thing failed, he could still shift the responsibility to certain people in the Kaifeng court. Anyway, those people would die sooner or later.
Moreover, because he has 20,000 soldiers under his command, he has the conditions and qualifications to risk the lives of the soldiers for that beautiful goal!
Now, because the Dinghai navy cavalry is coming with lightning speed, Zhao Fang's plan has completely failed. His compassion and resentment at this moment were real, but could the deaths and injuries of those soldiers really be attributed to Guo Ning?
On the surface, he loves his soldiers like sons, but in fact, he uses them like clay and treats them like grass. Who is responsible for this?
Guo Ning was about to curse a few more times and cut off a few heavy-weight Song officers on the spot to vent his anger. Suddenly the wind direction changed, bringing with it a scorching temperature.
In front of Nanxunmen Street, the fire became more intense, causing the air to heat up significantly. Even though they were far away from the battlefield, everyone was taking deep breaths subconsciously, but they still felt like they were out of breath.
Zhao Fang raised his head and said in a deep voice: "Duke Zhou, when you came with your troops and horses, our rear team was in chaos. That's because our generals were busy collecting the water bags and water bags carried by the soldiers! There are also powerful All my men have gone to Cai River to fetch water! Even if you don’t come, I won’t watch your soldiers die in the sea of fire!”
"Oh?" Guo Ning was a little surprised by this. He thought about what he saw when he led his troops to fight all the way, and found that this was true.
When several Song troops were overwhelmed by cavalry, they actually had water bags in their hands. Interesting, interesting. The people of the Song Dynasty were indeed as rumored, their fighting skills were average, but they were very honest in doing things.
He made up his mind and took two steps forward with his horse: "Nanxun Gate is mine, and Kaifeng is mine too. Your troops have entered the city rashly and there have been many casualties, so don't hold on. The remaining irrelevant people should go out of the city and wait." Let me give the order! Xianggong Zhao and Xuanggong stay, as well as the envoys and officials, to help me put out the fire!" This order was given confidently, as if Zhao Fang was his subordinate.
Behind Zhao Fang, Xuan Zhen's face turned green and red. He wanted to ask Guo Ning loudly, how dare he be so arrogant?
Could it be that he was determined to win the fight with the Jurchens outside the city? How dare you command the Song Dynasty’s commanders and troops?
Do you think the men of the Song Dynasty are bloodless? But none of these rhetorical questions came out of my mouth. Zhao Fang narrowed his eyes and sighed.
The two families are not life-or-death enemies, and they have already caused such a huge loss. What else can they do besides accepting defeat?
He stood up and patted the dust on his sleeves: "Okay."
