The great battle came out of the blue.
The battle that broke out on the night of the 24th of September in the 13th year of the Jinghan Era was a huge and incomprehensible mess for Ning Yi. Of course, this was also because the things he was in charge of had not penetrated deep into the upper echelons of the Wu dynasty army. Even with the intelligence from the Office of Secret Investigations and Qin Shaoqian's leaks, Ning Yi's knowledge of the overall situation of the war was still very rough. He only knew that on that night, Yao Pingzhong would lead his 30,000 Yao family soldiers to attack the camp, and then the 200,000 troops around Bianliang would surround them and complete a major battle.
An army of more than two hundred thousand. The entire ecosystem was vast and humongous. In the midst of it, Ning Yi could only recognize many things through numbers. If he looked at the scene in front of him, the tens of thousands of Wu Rui soldiers who had begun to break camp at nightfall were like a mighty river. In the darkness of the night, it was hard to see the end of the line. Ning Yi was in charge of more than 20 large carriages at the rear of the army, carrying more than a hundred usable elm cannons. As for where these cannons would be placed and who they would be used to snipe, it would still depend on the development of the battle.
In reality, the effect of more than a hundred elm cannons in such a large battle involving hundreds of thousands of people was negligible. What Ning Yi valued more was the true power of these cannons in actual combat.
The development of a weapon would always go through trials and tribulations. It had been two years since he had made the elm cannons and he had used them once or twice, but those were just small tests. To truly perfect them, he still had to go through such trials — this was his original intention.
The towns around Bianliang where the Wu Rui and Wuwei armies were stationed were all twenty to thirty li away from Mou Tuogang. The army began to break camp and advance at nightfall. Because there were many plains around Bianliang, which was also their territory, the army's speed of advance was not slow. If everything went smoothly, they would be able to completely sweep through Mou Tuogang between midnight and dawn. Even if Yao Pingzhong's Western Army failed, the entire army would be able to link up.
Even though the Jurchen's Eastern Army had marched straight to Bianliang, at this time, everyone still had confidence and fantasies about this battle. On one hand, it was because they had no choice but to be confident. On the other hand, they felt that no matter how bad the Wu dynasty's soldiers were, they would not fall to a level where they were completely unable to fight. Even if the sneak attack failed, there was still a chance of victory if the two hundred thousand soldiers fought them head-on.
After all, the enemy had fought their way to the city of Bianliang, so they had no choice but to cut off all means of retreat and hope for victory.
However, if one had an omniscient perspective, they would be able to see it. While the two hundred thousand soldiers were still on their way, the first round of slaughter had already begun near Camel Mound. Under the dark sky, more than ten thousand Jurchen cavalrymen charged back and forth around Yao Pingzhong's thirty thousand soldiers, immediately crushing the Yao Army's formation. Flames and blood blossomed on the plains as the Jurchen cavalrymen plowed through the crowd, wildly tearing apart the organized troops.
At the same time, the remaining forty thousand Jurchen cavalrymen of Motougang split into nine groups and spread out in a radial formation toward the northeast and southeast. In this direction, the two hundred thousand soldiers of the Wu dynasty were oblivious to their arrival.
On the front line of the war, Yao Pingzhong chose to flee at the first opportunity. However, the direction he chose was not Bianliang, but west of Bianliang, and from then on he withdrew from the stage of history. According to unofficial history, after his defeat, he ran more than seven hundred li in one night and finally went to Mount Hua to become a Taoist priest. After attaining the Dao, he left the mountain after living for more than eighty years, his face still glowing with health and vigor. There were no official records of this.
After the thirty thousand soldiers of the Yao Army were completely defeated, they were massacred by the Jurchen infantrymen who came after them. And the ten thousand elite Jurchen cavalrymen who defeated him, under the leadership of General Shu Liesu, turned east to chase after reinforcements.
The wind and clouds in the sky became ominous …
*****
As tens of thousands of people moved forward, Zhu Biao rode next to the cart and said in a low voice, "I still feel that … there's something wrong."
The light from the torches was sparse and extended into the distance bit by bit. The formation of tens of thousands of people actually appeared mysterious and quiet in this kind of marching atmosphere. When the buzzing of whispers spread out, this silence was even deeper.
"Don't jinx it." Ning Yi raised his head from his horse. "Even if there's a problem, what can you do?"
… …
Several li ahead of the Wu Rui Battalion, scouts were moving forward in the darkness.
Nocturnal birds flew across the sky.
A cavalryman pulled the reins and listened. Another cavalryman looked up at the sky and then jumped off his horse. He was about to lie on the ground and put his ear to the ground when suddenly, there was a sound.
"Watch out!" A low and short shout came. For these scouts, even at the most critical moment, they couldn't shout loudly. But with this shout, the warhorses attacked. The Jurchen cavalrymen charged over and slashed with their steel sabers.
"Wahhh!" With a sharp and ruthless shout, the flashes of blades clashed together, causing sparks to explode in the darkness. The scout on the ground suddenly pulled out his saber and leaped out. Another Jurchen cavalryman brandished his saber and charged past his previous position. There were two scouts from the Wu Rui Battalion and three scouts from the Jurchen Battalion.
"Kill!"
"Go!"
Another low shout came from the darkness. The warhorses galloped quickly in a small area, forming a circle with each other. The Wu Rui Battalion scout who had been on his horse urged his horse to gallop. A Jurchen cavalryman was about to attack from the side when the Wu Rui Battalion scout on the ground rushed over and pounced. The Jurchen's steel saber slashed into his body, and he also pulled the Jurchen down to the ground.
"Go!"
The injured scout let out another low roar and crawled up from the ground to meet the charging Jurchen warhorses. The Jurchen cavalryman who had been pulled down by him rolled over and slashed at him again. The Jurchen warhorses knocked him away, and he rolled on the ground a few times before he staggered to his feet and fell to the ground again.
The scout's horse galloped, and the figure of the fallen man was quickly drowned in the darkness behind him.
The chase of one in front and three behind didn't take long before they met other scouts on the plains, and then it turned into a small-scale fight.
… …
In an army of tens of thousands of people, it wasn't hard to notice a sudden change in the atmosphere. Whether it was a commotion or a panic, as long as it happened, it would soon spread like a ripple. However, not many people knew what was going on.
This kind of change in atmosphere could be real or fake, especially at night. The slightest commotion could cause a chain reaction in an undisciplined army. During wartime, the military law team was extremely sensitive to this kind of thing. For this reason, even though everyone could feel the unharmonious atmosphere, they were still moving forward and watching quietly and nervously.
"What's going on?" Ning Yi jumped onto the roof of the carriage and looked into the distance. At the edge of the army, he could vaguely see a cavalry rushing to deliver orders. "Zhu Biao, go and ask."
"Okay." Zhu Biao pulled on the reins and urged his horse to go to the side. Not long after he left, the bugle sounded. Someone shouted, "Fall into formation." The front of the army quickly assembled.
"The Perfected Woman is here." Someone said this. However, things had developed to this point. Even if no one said it, everyone could roughly understand what had happened. The army on the side quickly organized themselves and gave orders in a complicated and resounding voice. The footsteps of tens of thousands of people spread like a tide in the night. Soon, someone rushed over.
"Young Master Ning." It was one of Qin Shaoqian's bodyguards, and he also knew Ning Yi. Ning Yi cupped his hands. "How is it?"
"The Perfected Woman is here. She came too fast. General Qin asked you to wait for an opportunity. If things don't work out, take these things and go back quickly. Don't let them all die here."
"What came too fast? How fast?" Ning Yi quickly turned to his subordinate beside him. "Is there a place nearby that can be used as a sniping point? Quickly find it …"
Before he could finish speaking, black shadows with sparks of fire spread over from the other side of the hill in the distance.
It was the cavalry of the Jurchens. In the darkness of the night, hundreds and thousands of cavalrymen charged over, bringing with them sparks of fire. But soon, the sparks spread out. They were the arrows wrapped in kerosene that the cavalrymen had ignited while they were galloping. In front of the Wu Rui Battalion's formation, hundreds of people shouted in unison, "Fall into formation!" This orderly sound shook the entire night sky. Tens of thousands of infantrymen huddled together on the plains, shields raised, spears like a forest, and archers drew their longbows. Then, the second row in the middle of the formation shouted in unison, "Fall into formation!" and then the third row.
In the training of the Wu Rui Battalion, when it came to the overall quality of the soldiers, the soldiers of the Wu dynasty were not good enough. However, under Qin Shaoqian's command, there were always thousands of usable elite soldiers. In addition to the more than one thousand people trained by Ning Yi in Dulonggang, these people's combat strength might not be able to go against the natural order. However, Qin Shaoqian divided them into three groups and used their orderly shouts to drive the morale of the entire formation. After all, it was difficult for ordinary people to understand the difference between the shouts of several thousand people and the shouts of tens of thousands of people if they didn't experience it.
The shouts of several thousand people in unison were enough to bring a symbol of "unity" to tens of thousands of people.
Arrows flew across the night sky like locusts.
Without much mental preparation, the Jurchen cavalry didn't have any intention of slowing down in the face of the rain of arrows after firing the fire arrows. Meanwhile, at the front of the Wu Rui Battalion, the infantrymen tightened their stance and squeezed into an impenetrable mass. To the side of the formation, the two thousand cavalry of the Wu Rui Battalion were also moving at lightning speed.
In the past, the Wu dynasty's army had a seventy to eighty percent chance of winning against the Jurchen cavalry. Faced with the impregnable defense, after the first round of arrows, the Jurchen cavalry would have to circle to the side and keep their distance. But on this night, nothing happened as expected. Standing on the roof of the carriage, Ning Yi also didn't completely expect this. Even if he had some understanding of war, he wasn't familiar with it. But perhaps Qin Shaoqian had already realized this, which was why he had sent his personal guard over to pass on the order.
The army of tens of thousands of people stretched forward. In the distance, the Jurchen cavalry charged past the so-called "one arrow's throw". These cavalrymen wearing leather jackets and long-tailed felt hats threw grappling hooks at each other as they galloped. They quickly hung these hooks on their saddles, and the few cavalrymen who had been hit by arrows had already been left behind.
The distance between the two sides was already so close that there was no chance for either side to fire arrows.
Everyone pulled out their steel sabers and roared. Their eyes were bloodshot. Thousands of elite female cavalrymen formed a formation of a few or a dozen riders, linking up with each other and charging at the front of the Wu Rui Camp.
At this moment, no one could retreat.
Among the Jurchen's tactics, they mainly attacked from the side, conserving their own strength and searching for the enemy's flaws. This was called the abductor horse. On the chessboard, the horse always moved with the abductor horse, and this was probably where it came from. And when they truly made up their mind to charge head-on, the warhorses would link up with each other and unleash the full force of several dozen riders. This was called the Chain Horse.
In this situation, even if there were cowards in the formation, or even cowardly horses, it was impossible for them to retreat.
In the formation, Qin Shaoqian's eyes widened, and he suddenly waved his hand. "Kill!"
At the front, the soldiers who had been squeezed into the front line were all in a horse stance, holding sabers and shields. Looking at the cavalry that was rapidly crushing over, they let out hysterical roars and screeching sounds.
"Kill!"
"Kill!"
"Kill!"
Three orderly shouts rang out from the front, middle, and rear of the formation, each louder than the last.
The distance of the battle was reduced to zero.
With a rumble, the cavalry charged into the dense formation of infantry. Like a crazy pile driver, they constantly rammed into the army of the Wu dynasty. Thousands of saber flashes danced on the front line. Blood exploded and splattered. Warhorses and men were all smashed into meat paste in this crazy front line. The cavalry on the warhorses brandished their sabers and charged into the dense crowd. In the blink of an eye, the entire battle had reached its most intense and tragic state.
Qin Shaoqian commanded his troops to quickly surge forward, and the cavalry also charged forward. He also wanted to leave some fresh troops behind, but at this moment, there was no meaning in holding anything back. Holding back any strength was nothing more than courting death.
As a high-ranking general of the Wu dynasty, he at least understood one thing. Normally, the chances of the army of the Wu dynasty facing the Female Zhenren were all meaningless jokes. Only when the Female Zhenren launched the Chain Horse and charged like this would they truly be tested and interrogated. That was, when the Female Zhenren truly disregarded the consequences and launched a frontal battle, who would be able to stop this savage army that had destroyed the entire Liao Empire?
If the Female Zhenren did not have ten thousand troops, they could not be defeated by ten thousand troops.
The cavalry and infantry all charged together. The three shouts that Qin Shaoqian had arranged earlier also had the effect of boosting morale. It was as if they had put on a tough outer shell for the Wu Ruiying Army, blocking in front of the Female Zhenren.
At least … they had blocked them for a period of time.
Not long after, the entire Wu Ruiying Army collapsed.
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