Wu Jie touched his helmet to measure his temperature, attacked with his sword, and defeated the Jin army. He pursued them for several miles, burned the stronghold and returned.
After the first battle, the momentum of the two sides was reversed, and they fled to the second camp in Huagou. Wanyan Salihe, who relied on the support of the Han'er Army's crossbowmen to stop the collapse, was feeling hot all over and his heart dropped.
Cool down.
Because by now, he was very sure that he would not be able to capture Fangzhou City within the deadline, that is, before tomorrow.
It's not because of this pre-battle defeat.
To be fair, being defeated is nothing, and being chased like a rabbit is nothing. Victory and defeat are commonplace for military strategists. It is a wise saying on the battlefield... If you really want to say that being chased is like a rabbit, Wu Jie couldn't help it several times before.
Is it the same?
After three battles and three defeats, who was the one who collapsed all the way here?
If you lose, just learn from Wu Jie and be brave enough to fight back next time.
Therefore, the problem is not in the future, but in the present: when the defenders with favorable geographical location dare to counterattack, dare to fight hand-to-hand, and can win, it means that the defender's morale and military morale have been enriched to a certain extent.
At this time, it would be ridiculous to try to capture the city by intimidation and non-expenditure means.
As for the state of Fangzhou City, if it were purely consumed, how many lives would have to be filled in? How long would it take?
However, Sa Lihe couldn't just go back alone... It wouldn't hurt to be ridiculed by Tu Hesu and others when he went back. The key was that he still had a military order to destroy the city in three days!
Going back like this made Lou Shi angry, and he was actually beheaded to enforce military law. Who could save him?
Of course, I don’t even dare to cover up today’s failure.
So, in the evening, Salihe finally had the courage to send a message to the Hekou camp, explaining the battle situation and asking for the next step of "instructions"... The original words were to ask the commander-in-chief, General Loushi, to come and give him "tactics"
guide'.
And when night fell that day, instructions came from the Lou room.
"The three-day deadline has not come yet, and there is no new order. Do you still want to obey the previous order?" Sa Lihe was dumbfounded. "Does that mean you want me to continue attacking mountains and cities?"
"Is that what you mean?" Wanyan Mouyan did not look at Sa Lihe, but his eyes wandered. He was attracted by the chaos of wounded and deserters of the Jin army around him. He was obviously on a mission to observe the military situation. "Father.
Shuai only has these words."
Sa Lihe was completely speechless.
Mouyan didn't wait long. When he saw this, he bowed his hand slightly, went to the camp to ask a few familiar officers, and then went directly back to the Hekou camp overnight.
Not mentioning it that night, Sa Lihe prepared his troops and horses early the next morning and continued to turn around and head west, preparing to execute military orders. He did not dare to test Lou Shi's patience.
However, when this cold-faced gentleman came to Fangzhou City again, he first saw the burned remains of his own military stronghold, and his heart was full of helplessness. But after passing the burned military stronghold, he walked to yesterday
Within the scope of the main battlefield, there was actually a sense of fear... It turned out that the Song army naturally did not forget to clean the battlefield when they evacuated, so the armor, clothing, and weapons on the Jin army's corpses were almost stripped bare. Not only that, almost every
The head of a corpse was also chopped off and used for military merit, so that headless naked corpses were scattered everywhere.
There was no way, this kind of situation was expected on the battlefield, but the Song army knew that it had insufficient field combat capabilities and was afraid of being counterattacked, so it didn't have time to burn or bury the corpses intensively, so it looked so messy and barbaric. Instead,
The Jin Army was even worse. Because the Jin Army, as the invader, often carried out large-scale and systematic massacres of cities and towns after the war in order to intimidate and plunder, and then often burned designated fortresses and cities.
They were almost completely exhausted, and there were even large-scale slave hunts.
Therefore, Sa Lihe knew full well that he was not qualified to say that the Song Army's behavior was barbaric.
However, back to the present, the Jin army collected their own corpses along the way and gathered them together for incineration. However, as the troops were marching, looking at this situation, their mentality could not help but change greatly. After all, they were the ones who usually did this kind of thing to scare others.
, I encountered this incident in reverse today, only to find that I was no different from the enemies who were frightened before... I was just as frightened, just as hateful, just as numb, and just as at a loss.
This was just an ordinary sergeant's thought. For the officer or Salihe, the psychological suffering did not end there... Before Salihe even marched to the city, he already found himself in a dilemma.
This Jin army man knew clearly that the Song army position could not be captured in a short period of time, but because of the serious military order issued by Lou Shi behind him, he had to personally push his son into this death passage again! And these people
, these living people are likely to become those kind of headless naked corpses again!
It's no wonder that Sa Lihe is sentimental. He has followed A Guda since he was a child, then Nianhan, and then Lou Shi. He has always only had to obey orders and charge with his horse, and then he can enjoy the glory of the winner. He has never had to consider the consequences of defeat.
I never expected to encounter something like this. He has always trampled on other people's lives.
Therefore, when facing the battle, at that moment, Wanyan Salihe hesitated.
Reason and the military education he received since childhood told him that just to maintain the fearless attitude of the Dajin army and maintain the morale of this expedition, the life of a few sons is not worth mentioning, not to mention that he still has the power from
The pressure from military law and the coach. But yesterday's defeat and the severe casualties suffered in just two days still made the youngest member of the Western Route Army fearful.
This kind of fear is not a personal fear of death, but a commander's sudden loss... It may be better tomorrow, but today he is at a loss.
"Wanhu..." Someone cautiously stepped forward to remind.
"Before the weather heats up, attack first." When Wanyan Salihe saw his subordinates taking the initiative to inquire, he suddenly got excited, and then forcibly resumed his cold-faced gentleman's posture, and made the most rational and decisive action.
A move consistent with his status. "Three conspiracies..."
"Three attempts to defeat each other are bound to be useless," the subordinate reminded him sternly.
"Then... five!" Sa Lihe took a deep breath, but then ordered loudly as if he had made up his mind. "Five Muke, let those who did not participate in the previous two days draw lots! Bring the rest with you.
All the big shields! Let the Han soldiers come up too, follow with their only divine arm bows, and go to the foot of the mountain to shoot with the Song people as cover!"
"The shield is not enough..." the subordinate reminded carefully again.
"If you don't have a shield, bring a plank!" Sa Lihe immediately became solemn. "If the plank is not enough, wear double armor!"
The military orders were clear and resolute, even showing a bit of wisdom and momentum. As the saying goes, generals will be courageous, and the entire Jin army actually became somewhat generous at the same time.
Then, there were less than five hundred soldiers of the Jin army who either held shields and carried wood to carry short soldiers, or wore double iron armor and held hard bows. One or two hundred of the so-called Han'er soldiers from Zhejia's surrender also followed with crossbows.
Under the urging of extremely strict military discipline, they rushed to the "road of death" and then moved forward at a speed that was obviously much slower than the previous two days... But unexpectedly, this time, the Song army did not
It launched an attack from afar, but greeted this unprecedented saturation attack with a strange silence.
But there is no doubt that everyone knows that the Song Army's crossbow arrows will arrive sooner or later, which puts the Jin Army into a state of serious cowering, the speed is getting slower and slower, and the atmosphere that was once exciting has also become depressed.
no.
Sa Lihe's mood became more and more unbearable with this extreme depression, but he always kept his expression tight and made no urging words or actions.
However, what is supposed to come will always come.
A quarter of an hour later, the Jin army swarmed to the front of the mountain and began to climb the mountain. Although the Song army's military camp on the mountain was crowded with people, they still had no targets. This made these well-trained Jin troops explode quickly under the encouragement of their commanders.
Four to five hundred soldiers and the crossbowmen of the Han'er Army climbed up the mountain top at all costs, trying to seize the military camp... And this situation actually continued until Pu Liyan, who was wearing double-layered iron armor, raised his bow and fired.
It stopped after an arrow shot a Song soldier behind the crossbow machine above his head.
It was only at this time that a team of more than a hundred divine-arm archers from the Song Army appeared diagonally above the Jin Army in a more orderly and calm formation than the previous two days.
The Jin army who was pretending to attack also reacted almost immediately. After climbing forward for a step or two, almost all the shield-bearing sergeants began to hurriedly raise their shields, and those without shields also took advantage of the opportunity to hide under the shields... And sure enough, just now,
As soon as the shield was set up, the Song army above them naturally launched a volley of divine arm bows. Hundreds of crossbow arrows were fired directly at the top of the Jin army's head with the help of the divine arm bow's own strength and gravity.
The distance is too close!
Except for a very small number of metal shields, most wooden shields and wooden boards were penetrated immediately. A few unlucky ones encountered the crossbow bolts directly through the gaps in the shields. They were killed or injured, and were basically nailed to the ground.
The wailing sound instantly drowned out the excited shouts of the Jin Army commanders.
However, even if the voices of the commanders were muffled, the excellent tactical qualities of the Jin army still prompted these people to stand up quickly the moment the salvo ended, preparing to take advantage of the gap between the Song army and the crossbows to get as close as possible.
In order to break the stronghold... this was the closest they got to the Song Army's Divine Arm Archers.
However, at the moment they lifted their shields, another round of crossbow bolts came unexpectedly. This time, the Jin army was caught off guard and suffered an unprecedented drastic reduction in numbers. The sound of wailing in front of the formation shocked everyone instantly.
.
But there was no time to think too much, just for a moment, as another round of crossbow arrows flew down, the wailing sound actually decreased a lot, because many people were shot to death directly.
But that's not all. The Jin army at the bottom saw what the Song army did above them. They were completely panicked. They gave up the attack out of fear. They tried to turn around and flee regardless of the strict military law. Unexpectedly, the Song army's fourth round of crossbow bolts had already arrived.
Moreover, this round of volleys was directly concentrated at the foot of the mountain, and combined with the timely shot of bed crossbows from the city on the other side of the river, it directly suppressed the Jin army trying to escape.
Next, what made all the hedgehogs gather on the mountainside, at the foot of the mountain, and even in the distance to watch the Jin army fall into a posture of complete fear was that the rain of divine arm bow arrows from the Song army did not stop for a moment, and it was as evenly distributed as rain.
It was dense and even rhythmic, pressing forward and backward, firmly controlling hundreds of Jin troops under the rain of arrows, and slaughtered them quickly and firmly.
This abnormal situation quickly alarmed Sa Lihe. The young Jin Jun Wanhu already felt something was wrong when he heard the sound of these arrows from a distance. However, regardless of the danger, he climbed up the hill to look at it from a distance.
After a moment, he fell down in shock, and then he was almost dragged down the hill by his guards... Moreover, he could see clearly from above just now. At the front of the military stronghold on the top of the mountain with an unobstructed view in the distance, the Song army actually adopted
A simple but practical turn-based shooting tactic that has been suppressed and not used before.
Hundreds of crossbowmen were divided into three teams. They fired a volley in the front and loaded the crossbows in the rear. After firing in the front, a team behind them immediately stepped forward, and another team had already re-loaded the crossbows with the help of specialized auxiliary soldiers at the rear...
The three teams alternated, and with the commander waving the flag, they took turns to step forward and fire volleys, either pointing at the Jin army in the rear trying to escape, or at the warriors in the front trying to advance. The arrows were dense, and hundreds of Jin soldiers who had entered the range trap were pinned down.
You can't move at the foot of the mountain, you can only passively wait for death!
This is not a very exciting or difficult tactic, but for Salihe, who almost grew up in the military, its effectiveness is clear to him just by looking at it.
However, the problem is that no matter how clear Sa Lihe is, he cannot change the fate of his soldiers being massacred by this execution-style attack!
Continuous fighting, continuous casualties, the failure of the night attack the day before yesterday, the counterattack by the Song army yesterday, the headless and naked corpses scattered by the road today, and being treated like this... Young Salihe could no longer hold on, but in the small
Qiu burst into tears behind his back, and Jinjun Wanhu, who had been forcing himself to be a cold-faced gentleman before, was reduced to a crying man in an instant.
But none of the Jin officers around him laughed, and some even cried along with him.
In this way, before noon, hundreds of Jin troops were finally effectively slaughtered by the Song army. The Jin army had suffered unprecedented casualties... In the past two days, including yesterday's collapse, only five or six hundred Jin troops died. More
It was just the wounded, but on this day, when the Song Army's final trump card was revealed, the Jin Army lost five to six hundred people at one time, but they completely lost their will to fight.
As of now, at least here on the front line, no one wants to capture this city, this mountain, this village.
After crying bitterly, Sa Li wiped away his tears and ordered the entire army to withdraw to a safe distance. He also set up crossbows, bows and arrows, but built a defensive position, and then sent a messenger to the Hekou camp for the third time.
This time, Wu Jie did not try to attack again. On the contrary, he began to let his soldiers throw the heads freshly cut off yesterday and just from the mountain to anger the Jin army, but no one in the Jin army fought.
Lou Shi also did not force Salihe to continue to use troops. Instead, he and deputy commander Wanyan Bali quickly led thousands of people to come here before evening.
Lou Shi asked about the situation of the battle, and looked at the terrain and battlefield conditions from a safe distance. However, he did not criticize Sa Li for drinking anything, and of course he did not comfort him. He just immediately sent a surrender general to persuade him to surrender.
It was promised that Wu Jie would be the military envoy of Jingyuan and Huanqing Roads, and his younger brother Wu Lin would be the military governor of Yankun Road.
The surrendered general left in a hurry and returned in a hurry. As expected, Wu Jinqing rejected the proposal.
"He said that if he wanted him to surrender, he would have to fight against him in a duel with Lou Shidu." The surrendered general's face turned pale, as if he was the head of the Jin army so densely packed on the road. The corpses gave him a severe psychological shock.
.
"It's not impossible..." Lou Shi smiled slightly and actually wanted to agree.
But immediately, as Ba Lisu looked at him in astonishment, Lou Shi, who regained his clarity, immediately shook his head.
After this exchange, everyone could see that this undefeated general of the Jin Kingdom was not as calm as he appeared. He was also shaken by Wu Jie's unprecedented killing methods and war determination.
, and he has also realized that there is really no hope of capturing this city in the short term.
But as the head coach, Lou Shi also knew how much impact this nail in this sensitive position would have on his strategy.
Therefore, at that moment, Lou Shi was really forced to want to kill Wu Jie in a single fight.
"What do you think?" After coming back to his senses and no longer paying attention to his brief gaffe, Lou Shi came to ask Ba Lisu seriously.
"Unless it rains and the Song Army's divine arm bow string fails, otherwise we will have to risk our lives to exchange for the Song Army's crossbow bolt reserves." Ba Lisu said frankly.
"It won't rain in the next few days." Lou Shi shook his head repeatedly, but immediately gave an order to Sali with tears on his face. "One last try..."
Sa Lihe almost despaired, but cried again on the spot.
"I'm not asking you to attack the mountain again, but to set it on fire." Lou Shi pointed to the mountains to the north. "Let's see if we can use the fire to force them down the mountain."
Sa Lihe felt relieved and immediately took the order and left.
As soon as this person left, Ba Lisu once again faced Lou Shi seriously: "I'm afraid it will be useless to burn the mountain... The village can be seen clearly from a distance, the surrounding trees have been cleared, and there is not much wind at the moment, so the fire cannot be swept away.
, it’s hard to even choke on a cigarette.”
"I know." Lou Shi tightened his grip on the reins of the war horse and didn't even look at Bali Su. "But is there a second way at this time?"
Ba Lisu was silent for a moment, and then continued: "Let's burn the mountain...but we should make a decision early! This city cannot be captured in a hurry, is it that Yaozhou and Huazhou can't leave?"
This time it was Lou Shi's turn to remain silent.
Just like that, the two people immediately stood at a safe distance of six or seven hundred steps from Fangzhou City and the mountain. They were speechless, and then watched the fire burning from the top of the mountain around Xiaoqiao Mountain, and then with the help of the high temperature in summer
It quickly gained momentum and then scorched half of the sky.
Once the fire started, it became unstoppable and rolled towards the surrounding mountains. It seemed like a natural disaster. But as Ba Lisu said, the wind was not strong today, and Wu Jie was well prepared. Although these fire heads were fierce, they never licked them.
That cottage with proper fire prevention measures.
Not only that, after Wu Jie saw the movement, he immediately responded. He asked the soldiers to carefully light a fire at the other end of the isolation zone where the trees were cut down, and formed a fire zone in the opposite direction to avoid it. This action also quickly started.
As a result, the fire easily carried over the nearest mountain top, and then burned directly into the deep mountains and forests to the north.
Lou Shi watched from a distance for a while, and saw the fire pass with his own eyes. He finally let out a sigh in his heart, and then without hesitation, he turned the horse's head and walked eastward. However, he suddenly reined in his horse and turned back: "Yelü's horse is rushing to attack Baishui.
Now that we have succeeded, let Sa Lihu lead 5,000 soldiers plus the wounded from this battle to hold the camp at the mouth of the river while we move forward!"
Ba Lisu calculated the strength of his troops in his mind, his face darkened for a moment, but he said nothing. He just glanced at the unmoving mountain stronghold and then turned around to follow.
"Are you saying that the reason why these generals of the Western Army are afraid of me and dare not speak their true feelings is because I often touch the sword during military discussions?"
In the city of Chang'an, Zhao Jiu, who had no idea about Wu Jie's bravery after realizing his shame, and his success in protecting Fangzhou and winning a great victory, bent his bow and arrow, and frowned at Yang Yizhong beside him.
And as soon as he said that, even though he didn't look at the target at all, the arrow in his hand flew directly out and hit the bullseye in front of him.
Yang Yizhong looked at the arrow that flew out, he was rarely stunned, but he quickly came back to his senses and said sternly: "Good instructor, I know that this is indeed what I heard..."
"But why is this so?" Even so, Zhao Jiu still found it difficult to understand. He bent his bow and arrow again while continuing to frown. "I don't remember that I often touched the knife at that time... I spent the whole day today
He didn’t even wear a sword at all.”
"I take the liberty of saying that it is probably because the bows and arrows commonly used by officials in the past few days are not at my side and I have never practiced archery. In addition, I am anxious when I first came to Guanzhong, so I often touch the saber unconsciously, right?" Yang Yizhong said carefully to him.
"Today, the officials have started practicing archery again, so they no longer carry swords."
Zhao Jiu instinctively recognized this reason, then nodded and put down the bow and arrow in his hand.
The next moment, just when Yang Yizhong was about to say something more, the official suddenly raised his bow and raised his hand, and shot a crow looking left and right on the eaves to the ground with an arrow.
I have to admit that this official is really good at shooting.