Gao Huaide was not a fool, but he understood that he did not have many choices.
If these thousands of people cannot be dispersed and they are allowed to dig for another three or four days, a deep ditch and high fortress will be built to surround Qicheng.
When the time comes, they, father and son, will be trapped and die in Qicheng.
Therefore, after the Khitans dispatched 600 cavalry, Gao Xingzhou, who was in Qi City, also personally led 300 cavalry out of the city and opened the north gate.
The 2,000 infantrymen of the Songzhou Returned Army, commanded by Gao Xingzhou, went out of the city with bows and spears to set up formations, and used crossbows to support the cavalry in battle.
The two armies of iron pigeons and iron falcons, with six hundred riders in the right leather room, were all wearing iron armor and holding long spears. Although they were waiting for work compared to Gao Huaide, they still did not rush to increase their horse speed.
Instead, one hundred of them were sent out without armor, and they used fast horses and long bows to rush behind Gao Huaide and harass and pull him repeatedly.
The intention was to further consume the horse power of Gao Huaide and the other 30 cavalry, and then attack suddenly when they could no longer bear it.
After seeing Qicheng Gao Xingzhou dispatching 300 cavalry, these 600 cavalry separated 400 cavalry to the left, preparing to tangle with Gao Xingzhou's cavalry.
This is the right choice. Take your time and wait for the work. You can capture Gao Huaide even if Gao Xingzhou is not left behind. As long as Gao Huaide is captured and killed, the Jin army in Qicheng will not have any generals who dare to go out to fight with the Khitans in the field.
However, this also gave Gao Huaide an opportunity. He took advantage of the fact that the Khitan heavy armored cavalry was not approaching, and rushed into the Khitan civilians with thirty cavalry, causing these civilians and the Youyun Han army to run around.
They were originally forced by the Khitans to dig trenches. When they saw someone coming to attack, they simply pretended to be real. No enemy was seen and they ran everywhere.
Yelu Wuqi frowned inconspicuously. Gao Xingzhou, a famous general of the Jin Dynasty, had a few brushes.
The two thousand returned German troops under him were fully armored and always went out to provoke the city, and then relied on the strong bows and crossbows on the city wall to fight the Khitan army in a war of attrition.
If they can't defeat them, they will retreat into the city. If the Khitan army dares to pursue them, they will form a formation behind the suspension bridge, lure the Khitan soldiers and horses, and continue to fight.
The suspension bridge is narrow, and no matter how many soldiers and horses you have, you can only pass a few hundred people at a time. The advantage in numbers is gone immediately, and the Jin army still has the strong bows and crossbows on the city wall to rely on.
Yelu Wuzhi led his army to fight Gao Xingzhou three times in total. Each time, the Jin army suffered hundreds of casualties, while the Khitan army suffered at least three to four hundred casualties, with thousands of wounded. Yelu Wuzhi was very depressed.
This was also the reason why trenches were dug around Qicheng. He was really unwilling to fight Gao Xingzhou with the crossbowmen carrying half of the city wall.
At this moment, Yelu Wuzhi, who was a little depressed, deeply suspected that Gao Xingzhou wanted to use this method to lure him to go to Qicheng to win the crossbow.
In the distance, amid the dots of snowflakes, Zhao Yanshou rode his horse and ran from the left side of the Khitan formation to the foot of the Chinese army's banner in Yelu House.
This man was anxious to be the second best to Shi Jingtang and dreamed of becoming Taizu of the Great Yan Dynasty. He was more concerned about the Southern Expedition than the Khitans.
He cupped his hands and said: "Ti Yin, please allocate three thousand cavalry. I am willing to lead my men to fight.
That Gao Xingzhou dared to let his son break into the midst of our people is really a sign of ignorance. As long as we can quickly cut him off from the Jin army, we will definitely be able to capture him, or we can force Gao Xingzhou to surrender."
Tiyin is an official position in the Liao Kingdom, equivalent to Zongzheng of the Central Plains royal family.
However, since the Liao Kingdom still had a strong family system, Tiyin's power was very great, much greater than Zongzheng of the Central Plains Dynasty.
Historically, Yelu House has experienced the five dynasties of Liao Dynasty including Taizu, Taizong, Shizong, Mu Zong and Jingzong.
Among the royal family of the Liao Kingdom, which had always had a lot of nonsense, it had a high prestige, and he was also capable of both civil and military affairs. He was a famous official and brave general of his generation.
However, when it comes to understanding the power structure of the Later Jin Dynasty and the Central Plains, Zhao Yanshou goes far beyond Yeluwuqi.
The Gao family has been decorated with martial arts for generations. This kind of family usually selects one or two very qualified direct descendants to be trained as leaders of the next generation to ensure the continuation of the family's power and wealth.
It can be said that in Gao Xingzhou's heart at this time, his son Gao Huaide was far more important than Qi Cheng.
If Gao Huaide can be caught, even if Gao Xingzhou cannot be persuaded to surrender, he can still make Gao Xingzhou surrender.
When Yelu Wuzhi heard what Zhao Yanshou said, he immediately took a look from a higher place and immediately saw the problem.
It turns out that Gao Huaide fought too smoothly, and his imposing manner of driving thousands of enemy troops like a flock of sheep made it easy for others to get ahead of him.
Although these are civilians and not soldiers, it still makes people uncomfortable.
Behind this majestic appearance, Gao Huaide had already distanced himself from Gao Xingzhou, who was leaving the city to meet him. As long as he could quickly press forward with his army and cut off Gao Huaide's retreat, he would be left behind.
"I will give you a thousand cavalry from the Tielin Army and two thousand rangers from the Iron Falcon Army. Please ask King Yan to lead his warriors to fight. You must keep Gao Huaide."
Yelu Wuzhi quickly issued the order, but for the Khitan army at this time, the mobilization of the army would take some time.
Because the battle of Qicheng had already been a tug of war before, it was impossible for Yelu Wuzhi to pull all 60,000 troops to a few hundred meters away from Qicheng and let them wear armor at any time.
In that case, before the Jin army comes to fight, the Khitan army will tire itself to death.
Besides, not many fighting men in the army have a good temper. This kind of behavior will be considered by the soldiers below as a fool to embarrass them.
When it comes time to fight, they may not be able to do anything if they are resentful.
This is the difficulty and key point of leading troops to fight.
When should we use strict military law to enforce orders and prohibitions?
When will we need to brush our hair again to maintain military morale and unity?
This is what the coach needs to master.
If it is done well, the unity of the people will be unstoppable; if it is done poorly, there will be complaints.
From a distance, Gao Xingzhou saw the flags of the Khitan army flying around, and bugles blowing constantly. Zhao Yanshou's troops under the banner with the word "Yan" also began to put on armor. When he looked at Gao Huaide's position, his heart suddenly tightened.
At this moment, the 400 cavalrymen of the Iron Pigeon Army and the Iron Falcon Army, who came forward, had already reached the front of Gao Xingzhou.
He could only let the infantry of the German soldiers who had left the city venture forward to meet Gao Huaide, while he led his 300 cavalry to defeat the Khitan's 400 fine cavalry first.
In the Khitan military formation, it was already too late when Gao Huaide realized that something was not going well.
After all, he was a seventeen-year-old boy. This Gao Wumu in history was not as sophisticated as he was later, and he accidentally fell into a tight siege.
However, facing the galloping Khitan cavalry, Gao Huaide was not particularly panicked.
While he was beckoning the more than 20 horsemen around him to fly southward at full speed, he put down his copper-tyred iron-backed bow and replaced it with a horn-backed bow.
The Khitan Rangers who were flying towards me were not wearing armor, so although they were fast, their protection was poor, and a horn bow was enough to deal with them.
As Gao Huaide retreated, he adjusted his posture on the horse and kept shooting arrows backwards. The good archers around him also shot with him. The chasing Khitan rangers screamed and the pursuit slowed down.
But at this moment, the two hundred Khitan Iron Falcons who had been hanging behind Gao Huaide finally seized the opportunity.
They first charged forward with their light cavalry. Gao Huaide could only put down his bow and arrows and use his horse to fight with the Khitan cavalry that had already rushed in front of him.
Twenty cavalrymen finally managed to repel nearly a hundred cavalrymen, and a hundred heavily armored cavalrymen wearing iron armor arrived.
With one attack, they dispersed Gao Huaide and others.
However, in just a few breaths, there were only three cavalry left around Gao Huaide, and the Khitan cavalry seemed to have spotted him, as at least sixty or seventy cavalry were chasing him.
At this time, the infantry of the Returned Army who came to relieve Gao Huaide also encountered trouble.
Zhao Yanshou quickly approached with three thousand Lulong troops, not to defeat the Guide army, but to prevent them from responding to Gao Huaide.
The infantrymen on both sides shouted loudly, fired at each other with bows and crossbows, and then formed formations with guns and sticks to fight.
But after only a tea break, a thousand Khitan Tielin Army cavalry arrived. These thousand cavalry, all wearing iron armor in the front row, fiercely attacked the left wing of the German army.
After being repeatedly charged and killed by the cavalry, the returned German troops no longer dared to move forward and could only hurriedly form a formation to fight. Not to mention supporting Gao Huaide, even they themselves were in trouble.
In the distance, Gao Xing's eyes were about to burst, but he was also entangled by four hundred of the most elite Khitan armored cavalrymen, unable to escape at all.
Gao Xingzhou was about to raise a black square flag and summon a thousand reserve troops in Qi City to come out of the city to respond.
At this moment, war drums were beating in the distance, and there was a commotion on the left side of Zhao Yanshou, the Liao army.
Zhao Yanshou, who thought he was about to catch Gao Huaide, was shocked. He rode up to a high place to look, and suddenly felt a sudden shock in his heart.
Because Jing Yanguang never dared to send troops to cross the river for rescue, Zhao Yanshou sent half as many sentries near the floating bridge as originally.
And not only did he take it lightly, but so did the sentinels sent out.
This is December, and those who have the patience to brave the wind, snow and cold that can freeze their hands off to go outside for inspection will mostly just take a look at the Yellow River and then find a place to hang out.
So when Hu Guang led more than a hundred riders to these Khitan sentry spies, they were either hiding from the fire or sleeping, and there was no one to report them.
Hu Guang and Fu Yanqing's eldest son Fu Zhaoxin rushed to the front.
Different from other cavalry tactics, Liangzhou cavalry has the best war horse resources at this time.
Some of these hybrids of Chinese-blooded horses and fold-eared horses can achieve a perfect balance between weight-bearing and explosive speed.
Therefore, the Liangzhou heavy cavalry wearing armor can sometimes charge faster than the light cavalry.
In order to obtain more than 300 of the finest Hexi mixed-bred folded horses, Shi Jingtang originally spent real money to buy them from Zhang Zhao.
This is inevitable. I, King Zhang, have given you all the cavalry. Of course you have to pay for the equipment.
Moreover, Zhang Zhao knew that Shi Jingtang had to buy it because the seat under the emperor's buttocks was not stable at that time. Without the tiger thorns to restrain these 700 people, Shi Jingtang might not be able to sleep.
At that time, Yang Guangyuan had the ability to rush into Daning Palace at any time and chop Shi Jingtang with a knife.
Therefore, it is fortunate that Shi Jingtang is dead, otherwise he would have been angry to death again knowing that Zhang Zhao had prostituted him for nothing.
On the battlefield, from the time Hu Guang and Fu Zhaoxin appeared in Zhao Yanshou's eyes to the time they rushed to the left formation of Zhao Yanshou's army, there was less than a cup of tea.
Zhao Yanshou had no time to make arrangements, and the Liangzhou horse arrived in front of him.
After seeing the arrival of the Liangzhou cavalry, the infantry of the Lulong Army were panicked, but they quickly formed a formation and threw waves of arrows. The soldiers in the front row also picked up their spears.
However, Huguang and others were fully armored, and with three rounds of arrows, only a few unlucky ones were shot off their horses, and the two sides quickly approached.
At this time, unexpectedly, Hu Guang and others did not rush forward, but took out the horn crossbow from the side of the horse.
They slowed down their horses slightly, cocked their bows quickly, and then collectively aimed at a spear formation of the Lulong Army, firing intensively.
This horned crossbow is also a crossbow! When it came close to the shooting, ordinary infantrymen could not withstand it. In just a few breaths, the spearmen in this place fell to the ground.
A Lulong Army leader was about to direct other spearmen to fill in. Hu Guang and others were already running over, and the second wave of charging Fu Zhaoxin and others arrived.
They didn't play any tricks, but just got on with their horses in hand.
Just now, Hu Guang and the others were not here to rush into the formation, Fu Zhaoxin was.
This time, the dense spear formation of the Lulong Army just now suffered heavy casualties from the crossbow fire from the front. The infantry at the back had not had time to replenish it and could not stop it at all.
Immediately, Fu Zhaoxin and others followed the gap and rushed in directly.
Moreover, they charged very regularly, with each wave of a hundred riders, and the distance between them was arranged in advance.
When Fu Yanqing, Yao Yuanfu and others took the field in person, the pressure on Lu Longjun became even greater. They could not stop these talented generals at all.
Fu Yanqing and others did not expand the results to the left and right. They charged in only one direction, and that was the Khitan Central Army, where the Da Ti Yin Yelu House's great banner was located.
Now it was the Khitan's turn to be in trouble, because just now Yelv House had basically released all the armored cavalry that could be mobilized.
At this time, there were only more than a thousand Zhangwu Army infantry and several hundred personal guard cavalry near Yelu House.
Although the number of Fu Yanqing and others who rushed over were smaller, they were more elite.
Yelu Wuzhi was experienced in many battles. He could tell at a glance how effective the oncoming cavalry was. With his mind shaken, he could only raise his mental tissue to defend himself.
Zhao Yanshou, who was haunted by the ghosts of the dead, also abandoned Gao Huaide and led thousands of cavalry to pursue him back.
With this coming and going, the Khitan military formations were completely in chaos, and many military formations lost contact with the Chinese army commander.
"Marquis Fu Guan of Chenzhou is here!"
The turmoil deep in the heart of the forty-four-year-old Fu Yanqing was completely awakened. He roared angrily, and rushed to the front first with his body and soldiers.
In a panic, Yelu House organized three square spear arrays for defense.
Fu Yanqing roared and directly broke through the first spear array that had not yet been fully raised.
At the second pass, the Khitan army's military formation was much tighter, but at this moment Hu Guang and others were back.
The horned bow and crossbow shooting spearmen appeared again, and then the third wave of Yao Yuanfu and others charged again and quickly broke through the obstruction.
The third obstacle was the bodyguards around Yelu Wuzhi, including a vulture shooter.
He stood on a high place, and the arrows hit him like a meteor. The cavalry around Yao Yuanfu fell to the ground one after another, and their forward momentum was slowed down.
But soon, under the order of Hu Cile, more than 200 Liangzhou horses dismounted and formed an array. They also took out their strong bows and crossbows and shot towards the mountain. They could also approach in a neat queue while shooting.
Queues and the dismounting of heavy cavalry as heavy infantry have always been the biggest characteristics of Liangzhou horses.
Although the vulture shooter was an elite man, he shot four or five later Jin cavalry alone, but it could not prevent the soldiers on the third line of defense from being shot to pieces.
Seeing Fu Yanqing and others behind him preparing to charge again, Yelu Wuzhi sighed and had no choice but to run away.
He miscalculated! He let out all the armored cavalry around him, but unexpectedly a brave Jin army cavalry came and got right in through the gap.
It's useless to say anything now. If he is captured or the banner is captured, it will be a disaster. If he retreats now, he will only lose a few thousand troops.
On the battlefield, Fu Yanqing, Gao Xingzhou, including the somewhat embarrassed Gao Huaide and Zhao Yanshou, were all paying attention to Yelu Wuzhi's large banner.
I saw the big banner shaking for a moment, and then started to move back.
On the battlefield, the Khitan army was in an uproar!
The Jin army cheered like thunder, and thousands of returning German soldiers shouted, "The Emperor has arrived!" and moved forward desperately.
The Khitan army of more than 20,000 people retreated in panic, while Gao Huaide and others changed from being pursued to being pursuers.
