The first year of Wu Zhenxing, the thirteenth year after Ning Yi killed the king. In the first month, the southwest was in a mess.
In the first two months, with the Sword Gate Pass as the dividing line, the southwest spent twenty days of non-stop fighting, while the northeast fought seventeen battles in seven days.
At the end of January and the beginning of February, the southwest information was sent to Lin 'an. At this time, the situation in the capital was tense because of the loss of Fuzhou. Of course, the most nervous were the forces of Left Prime Minister Tie Yan. After the death of his cousin and the loss of Fuzhou, his status in the court plummeted. People like Wu Qimei, Gan Fenglin, Li Shan, and many other high-ranking officials in the court and the military were amazed by the battle between Xi Yin and Qin Shaoqian.
Qin Shaoqian led more than 20,000 people to break more than ten lines of defense in seven days and began to retreat. Xi Yin was calm and composed in front. Although he organized seventeen troops to attack and was defeated, his own foundation was unharmed. In the eyes of the people, he was a real master.
"… Qin Shaoqian led the so-called Seventh Army to the back of the Jurchen, originally to serve as a deterrent. With these 20,000 people, the Zong Han army at the frontline must consider how to turn back in the future, so that they can't attack with all their strength, and have to leave some way out. The Seventh Army of the Black Flag is not moving, but there is a possibility of change. Once they move, with only 20,000 people, they are inferior and not the best choice. "
"… Unfortunately, the Black Flag of the southwest frontline, although commanded by the more famous Ning Yi, can't live up to his reputation. At the end of the year, after a victory, they exhausted their strength and suffered a great defeat on the fourth day of the first month. This Qin Shaoqian must be having a headache as well. He has no choice but to attack. He has twenty thousand men under him, a true elite force. They are not inferior to the Jurchen army of ten thousand. Guarding the fort, the Jurchen army of twenty thousand can break through seven hundred thousand. What a pity, the one in front of Qin Shaoqian is not Yelu Yanxi, but Xi Yin who defeated the Yelu Family … "
"… With the same number of Han troops, he set up more than ten lines of defense at the back, and met them again and again. Qin Shaoqian could not unleash the momentum of rolling up the curtain of beads, on the contrary, his own vigor was exhausted. He had broken through seventeen lines of defense in one go, if Xi Yin were to gather the Han army in her hands, she might be able to form another seventeen or twenty-seven lines of defense. So what if he was defeated in one blow? I'm afraid he won't even have the strength to hold a knife when he reaches Xi Yin … "
For a period of time, Lin 'an was full of discussions about this battle. From Wu Qimei to the scholars in the teahouse, almost everyone could say something about this battle.
"… Xi Yin is really experienced in using troops, but Qin Shaoqian is really flexible, he simply broke through the seventeen lines of defense, pulled out the camp and went back, continuing to deter the enemy. His Seventh Army did not show any signs of cowardice in front of Xi Yin, the hungry wolf. Instead, the combat power and threat of this army had been greatly reduced. Speaking of which, he is indeed the son of the Qin family, he did not reveal his strength and even managed to be evenly matched with Xi Yin in arm wrestling. From what I see, in the Hua Xia army, Ning Yi's signboard is only signboard, the real strength is still the Qin family … "
"… It's just that in this test, the outcome was not decided. Qin Shaoqian left confidently and could be considered to have retreated unscathed. But in terms of strategy, he hoped to attack the Jurchen's rear to relieve the danger at the frontline, but his intention still came to nothing. Seventeen battles in seven days, although he won every battle, how could he come out unscathed? Therefore in this battle, the real winner was Wanyan Xi Yin who was at ease waiting for the exhausted. At this point, the Black Flag Army in the southwest war, can only rely on the so-called Fifth Army in the southwest. What a pity, the Fifth Army commanded by Ning Yi, is now retreating step by step … "
Separated by a distance of thousands of miles, sitting on top of the mountain to watch the tigers fight really gave people the comfortable feeling of sitting in a warm room on a snowy day and watching people shiver on the road. Wu Qimei and the others talked about the subtlety of the art of war, mixed with sighs and sighs, more or less had the feeling of pointing out the country and using the world as a chessboard.
Of course, the reason why the battle between Qin Shaoqian and Xi Yin was so detailed was because the entire southwest war after the Sword Gate was still in a fog. However, after the Jurchen broke through Huangming County, the troops began to press forward towards Zizhou, and Ning Yi's line of defense retreated. This was an unquestionable general trend.
Separated by three thousand miles, the people in Lin 'an still did not know what kind of quagmire the Golden Wolf Army in the southwest had fallen into.
*****
Just after the Spring Festival, the Jurchen's breakthrough in Huangming County had indeed brought a huge loss to the Hua Xia army.
If one counted the casualties of the Hua Xia army's Second Division in defending Huangming County over the past two months, the number exceeded more than four thousand. However, just a fiasco on the third and fourth day of the New Year caused the number of casualties and missing on the battlefield to reach more than two thousand eight hundred.
This terrifying number of casualties was mostly due to the Second Division's unwillingness to fight for Huangming County. For the Hua Xia army, the sudden loss of Huangming County not only meant the loss of a city wall, but also a large number of iron cannons and defense equipment that could not be withdrawn in time. This was one of the most important strategic resources at the moment. For a possible counterattack, the Hua Xia army even increased the number of explosives and other goods transported to Huangming County.
The idea of launching a counterattack in Huangming County or Yu Shui Xi had always been brewing in the Hua Xia army's General Staff Department. The original plan was to launch an attack around the 28th of December, but on the 19th, Yu Shui Xi had achieved some results. Huangming County quickly withdrew its troops to defend, so the idea of launching a counterattack in Huangming County was temporarily put on hold.
If they really planned to launch a counterattack, the Second Division would definitely have to cooperate with other troops. However, after the Fourth and Fifth Divisions won at Yu Shui Xi, they had suffered a great loss of men. They also had to watch over the wounded, so it would be difficult for Huangming County to launch a counterattack.
At night on the third day of the New Year, the Zhenren's furious attack broke through the top of the city wall, and a fierce battle broke out on the city wall. A large section of the city wall controlled by the Hua Xia army fired hundreds of cannons at the same time. The artillery team threw all the gunpowder they had stored into the overwhelming attack. There were even several cases where the cannons overheated and exploded, affecting their own people. However, this situation still could not stop the chaotic situation on the battlefield in the dark night.
For the whole night, the Hua Xia army fought and retreated in the small county. The engineering team dragged some of the iron cannons and supplies to the back of the county. On the battlefield, the small teams led by the cadre group charged countless times. Under Ba Li Su's strict orders, the Zhenren defended the top of the city wall. However, inside the county, waves of soldiers who rushed in were almost scared out of their wits by the Hua Xia army's attacks.
Corpses piled up like mountains and blood flowed like rivers. Even some of the Khitans, Xi people, and Liaodong people, who were the main force of the Jin army, were defeated inside the city.
However, the advantage in numbers eventually overwhelmed the courage of the Hua Xia army. Some of the Hua Xia troops were separated and surrounded in their own positions. They fought until late at night and even until dawn, but in the end, they were gradually drowned in the blood of the battlefield. In some positions that could no longer be broken through, the soldiers detonated bombs and gunpowder, and conveniently burned the iron cannons around them.
By the morning of the second day, the battle on the battlefield was still going on. Most of the Hua Xia army that had gathered in Huangming County to build a position were already wounded. Under the enemy's attack, they could not retreat with their supplies. They held on until around nine o 'clock, when Han Jing's pack horse team arrived at the battlefield. Only then did they begin to evacuate the wounded soldiers and the cannons, leaving in an orderly manner along the mountain road.
Ba Li Su did not intend to end the battle just like that. At this point, the Hua Xia army had lost the advantage of defending Huangming County. He gathered the elites under his command and repeatedly went into battle, attacking Han Jing without a moment's pause. Han Jing set up a battle formation and stood guard from the afternoon of the fourth until the day of the fifth. He repelled the Lady Zhenren's attacks several times. Only when he saw that the Lady Zhenren's attacks seemed to be weakening did he begin to retreat.
He had just begun to retreat when the Lady Zhenren's troops came chasing after him again. The troops of the First Division fought and retreated along the mountain road. When they were about three li away from Huangming County, the mountain terrain gradually widened. The Lady Zhenren's troops chased after them from the rear, but they were cut in half by Qu Zhengyan's troops who came out of the mountain path. The First Division and the Fourth Division cooperated and surrounded the five hundred Xi elites in front of them. More than a hundred of them were forced down a cliff by the fierce attack from the front and back, and more than three hundred of them disarmed and surrendered. The troops in the rear finally retreated after their rescue efforts were futile.
Ba Li Su's pursuit on the fifth day of the New Year finally came to a halt.
On the sixth day, with the cooperation of the scouts led by Yu Yu, Ba Li Su once again organized troops to give chase. Only then did a huge problem appear.
From Jiange to Zizhou, Huangming County and Yu Yu Creek were two key obstructions. After passing through these two locations, the mountain terrain leading to Zizhou became slightly flatter, and there were more paths to choose from. But that didn't mean that it was a flat plain.
In reality, after a few li past Huangming County, although the mountain terrain seemed slightly flatter, the Lady Zhenren was unfamiliar with the road ahead.
Yu Yu's scouts groped their way forward along the mountain. Not long after, they encountered landmines — this was a minefield that no one had touched since the start of the war. Just as some of the experienced scouts began a new round of demining, the scouts of the Huaxia army also charged over without stopping.
Relying on the minefield in the forest, the exchange rate of the scouts was even greater. After just a little contact, Yu Yu had no choice but to choose a conservative approach. He could only gather a large number of scouts and gradually explore along the main road.
There were no landmines on the main road. Ba Li Su gathered several troops and cooperated with the scouts as they advanced. But this formation couldn't stop the crazy counterattack of the Fourth Division led by Qu Zhengyan. The special forces of the Huaxia army moved through the forest like ghosts, occasionally shooting arrows or guns at the Lady Zhenren scouts or the main force of the Lady Zhenren.
The movements of these special forces were extremely arrogant. Often, when the Lady Zhenren scouts found landmines on the side of the road and tried to remove them or detonate them, they would quickly approach and attack. Sometimes they would be discovered by Hai Dongqing, and sometimes they would be counterattacked, but it didn't matter. When they were counterattacked, they would escape deeper into the forest. More landmines that hadn't been removed were buried along the escape route. Once a small group of Lady Zhenren troops left the group, the Huaxia army's special forces would quickly pounce on them and eat them up.
Starting from the sixth day, the Lady Zhenren's advance from Huangming County had never been quiet for a moment. The enemy advanced and we retreated. The enemy was tired and we disturbed. The enemy retreated and we chased. Now that they finally had the upper hand in terms of terrain, Qu Zhengyan displayed the essence of this tactic to the extreme in front of the Lady Zhenren.
Yu Yu was miserable. At the beginning of the war in the southwest, there had been battles between scouts in the forest, and there had been scenes of demining and even walking through landmines. At that time, they had used a huge advantage in numbers to push the front line to the front. At this time, the number advantage of Huang Ming's scouts on the front line was no longer obvious. The enemy was fully prepared and waiting for them to exhaust themselves. The price they had to pay for every step forward made him feel as if his heart was being cut.
But the advance of the army could not be stopped.
In terms of the overall situation, the Lady Zhenren had already gained a certain advantage in the battle of Huangming County. This advantage lay in the fact that the Huaxia army's strength had been stretched to its limit, but the Lady Zhenren still had a considerable amount of manpower that could be thrown into the battle. In terms of overall strategy, the most profitable thing to do was to attack from multiple points and break the Huaxia army's line of soldiers. The Huaxia army had the advantage in terms of terrain and combat, but it didn't matter. Even if a few people were replaced, at some point, the Huaxia army would completely collapse.
While Huangming County was being pushed forward, the battle at Yu Yu Creek had also begun. Zong Han hoped to use this two-front battle to exhaust every last bit of the Huaxia army's remaining strength on the battlefield.
And in order to deter the retreat of the Yu Yu Creek front line, Ba Li Su needed the soldiers under his command to control the fifteen li road in front of Huangming County. On this fifteen li road, the Huaxia army's advantage in defense was no longer high. After all, the mountain ridges were relatively easy to traverse, and the places that couldn't be breached could be bypassed — at most, they would only have to pass through a wave of landmines — but they would have to endure the Huaxia army's attacks on the road ahead.
Of course, even though she knew this, as a Perfected Woman, being trampled on by the enemy on the battlefield was still the most frustrating battle of her life.
The continuous attacks on the periphery of the main road were just the appetizer. Sometimes, Hai Dongqing would find hundreds of scouts gathering in the rugged mountains, which made the Perfected Woman extremely nervous. On the ninth day of the first month, Qu Zhengyan led his troops to penetrate the advancing main force of the Jurchen army. When he found that the enemy had set up a defense, he casually released a few arrows and ran away.
On the eleventh day of the first month, the Khitan Xiao Ke led more than three thousand elite soldiers and tried to counterattack when they found traces of Qu Zhengyan's attack. Qu Zhengyan saw that something was wrong, so he turned around and ran away. Xiao Ke led his troops into the mountains. Although the landmines they encountered were not concentrated, Qu Zhengyan and his three hundred men launched a flesh-slicing counterattack against Xiao Ke's three thousand men.
Relying on his familiarity with the terrain, he quickly led his main force to attack the enemy's flank, which was still confused. Although Xiao Ke's troops were ten times larger than Qu Zhengyan's, they soon fell into chaos in the unfamiliar mountains. Xiao Ke relied on his courage to charge at the front, but not long after, his head was almost blown off by a black gun in the forest. When he regained his senses, he quickly retreated, but more than two hundred of his three thousand men were killed or injured.
The next wave of attack came on the fourteenth day of the first month. Han General Liu Nianzhi led more than four thousand elite soldiers along the mountain road and was suddenly attacked on the road about seven miles away from Huangming County.
This time, it was Chen Tian, the chief of staff of the fourth division, who led more than three hundred men. After the first wave of attack, he did not choose to retreat, but launched a wave of attack from the side of the mountain road. Liu Nianzhi's soldiers rushed up from the front and were bombarded by hundreds of grenades from the Huaxia army in three batches. Six sniper rifles rang out in the forest at the same time. Han General Liu Nianzhi and his warhorse were shot down in a pool of blood. After killing Liu Nianzhi, Chen Tian led his soldiers to retreat at full speed.
On the third day of the first month, on the battlefield of Huangming County, when faced with the Huaxia army's call for surrender, there were two main groups of Han soldiers who rebelled and attacked. One of them was led by Liu Nianzhi. They were the Han army that had surrendered to the Jurchen people a long time ago. They had also participated in the battle at the Little Canghe River and were quite resistant to the Huaxia army. However, the Huaxia army's attack on Liu Nianzhi also showed that the Huaxia army had inherited Ning Yi's temperament of seeking revenge for the smallest grievance.
After Liu Nianzhi was killed, the other group led by Han General Sun Wang did not dare to leave Huangming County for several days.
More than five miles away from Huangming County, the vanguard sent by Ba Li Su set up camp with great difficulty. But every day, they were attacked and harassed by the fourth division. On the seventeenth day of the first month, before the camp was set up, Han Jing led the first division with the cannons that had been withdrawn from Huangming County and aggressively launched a frontal attack.
At this time, there were only about fifteen thousand Jin soldiers here. Han Jing and Qu Zhengyan had mobilized more than ten thousand people. After half a day of fighting, the camp was razed by the Huaxia army. More than ten thousand people retreated to the nearby mountains.
After the Jurchen generals chose to hide, it was not easy to kill them all. After destroying the camp and defecating, the Huaxia army did not choose to attack further.
The harassment on the road continued. The Jurchen Zhenrens were also doing their best to familiarize themselves with and control the territory on the road. On the twentieth day of the first month, the mountains were filled with fog. Sounds of fighting could be heard on the mountain road from Huangming County to Wanfugang. This time, Qu Zhengyan encountered an unexpected enemy. What awaited them was a mountain full of white flags.
Back then, the Nuzhen Yan Mountain Guards led by Wanyan Loushi merged with Ci Buxie's direct army was now led by the Great King of Baoshan, Wanyan Xibao. They had arrived at the battlefield ahead of time. In the fog, they were ready for the sudden attack.
Qu Zhengyan ordered his men to turn around and run. The old scouts of the Yan Mountain Guards chased after them without any regard for their lives.
On the road from Huang Ming County to Zi Zhou, killings, massacres, ambushes, and counterattacks took place every day in the mountains. The scale varied, but in any case, the Female Zhenrens continued to expand their control over the surrounding area despite the losses they suffered time and time again.
In the direction of Yu Yu Creek, the wounded in the camp were being moved to the rear. However, Ning Ji, who was helping in the camp, refused to retreat. As an outstanding member of the medical team, he was prepared to leave when the frontline main force retreated. Hong Ti could not persuade him immediately.
The letter reporting this matter was sent to Zizhou. When Ning Xi delivered it to Ning Yi, Ning Yi was looking at the large map in front of him in deep thought. He said in a low voice, "Let him be."
"Father …"
"Alright, I will find an excuse to withdraw the people from Yu Yu Creek."
"… Ah?" Ning Xi was stunned by these words.
He looked closely at his father's face. At this moment, Ning Yi was staring at the map and not at him. His gaze and words were both cold.
This was the first time Ning Xi could not tell if his father was joking or serious.
In Ning Yi's hands was a simple report from the front. There were two pieces of information recorded.
One: Almost died …
Two: Baoshan entered.
Ning Yi pressed the mark on the map.
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