Fenghou

Chapter 5
Chen Qing didn't have time to mingle with his boss and subordinates, he was about to leave as soon as he took office.

Li Jiang handed him a command arrow, "The commander is going to lead the army westward to retreat to Dasan Pass tonight, and the scouts must go ahead to check if there are any enemy ambushes. You lead the second scout team to scout the Jingzhao North Line. If you find anything, send someone immediately." Come back and report!"

"Follow the order!"

Before it was dark, Chen Qing led twenty-two scout cavalry to leave the valley and head southwest...
It was late autumn, the weather was gloomy, the heavy rain for two consecutive days made the air wet, and a layer of gray mist shrouded the desolate land.

The war didn't end yet. Jurchen cavalrymen plundered and slaughtered the Guanzhong Plain, searching for the remnants of the defeated Song army.

Chen Qing was like a dream. Two days ago, he led an anti-narcotics squad into the border, but in the blink of an eye, he led a Song Dynasty squad into the war zone.

Nine hundred years of time and space seem to be run together by a rope of fate.

…………

Just after dawn the next day, Chen Qing led the team to detour from the Wei River in the south and ran up a small mound. In the distance was a meandering canal, and on both sides of the canal were endless wheat fields.

The golden wheat has already matured. Although the war is still going on, the desperate farmers ran to the fields to harvest the wheat.

The continuous heavy rains caused the wheat to suffer, and if it was not harvested, the wheat would all rot in the ground.

These wheat-grabbing farmers are like canaries in the coal mine. The canary can prove whether there is poisonous gas underground, and these farmers can prove that there are no fierce Jurchen cavalry nearby.

But Chen Qinghe's men couldn't be too far away from the main force. Although there is no enemy army now, it doesn't mean there won't be any in the future.

Chen Qing saw a forest in the distance.

"Let's go to rest in the woods!"

Chen Qing led the cavalry to the woods to the west.

Just when they were hundreds of steps away from the woods, Chen Qing suddenly shouted, "Stop!"

Everyone reined in their horses one after another, "Boss, what's going on?"

"There are horseshoe prints on the ground!"

It was only then that everyone noticed that there were messy and fresh horseshoe prints on the ground, coming from the northwest direction, going around in a circle, and extending into the woods.

"Ah! There is hostility."

Everyone became nervous, Chen Qing yelled: "Don't mess up, prepare to fight with bows and crossbows!"

Everyone immediately picked up their bows and arrows, and the team dispersed.

'Woo—'

The horn sounded, and a group of Jurchen cavalry rushed out from the woods. There were about twenty people, all of them were bare-chested, with disheveled hair, and their faces were painted black.

It's not that they don't want to wear armor, it's just that they found the enemy army a little late, and they were afraid of alarming the Song army's scouts and let these Song army soldiers run away.

Just as the scouts of the Song Army wanted to catch them to ask for confessions, the Jurchen cavalry also wanted to catch the opponent and ask the whereabouts of the main force.

Twenty Jurchen cavalry ambushed in the woods, waiting for the Song army to take the bait, but they were discovered by the Song army cavalry.

Chen Qing secretly rejoiced that he almost made the mistake of empiricism, thinking that farmers working in the fields would have no enemy situation, but he didn't know that it was just dawn and the enemy troops went into the woods to rest in the middle of the night, and the farmers in the wheat fields did not find them at all.

"Fire arrows!"

Chen Qing shouted, raised his army crossbow, and shot a crossbow arrow.

More than twenty arrows flew from the air and shot at the Jurchen cavalry, but the Jurchen cavalry suddenly disappeared from their horses. They hid under the horse's belly, and the twenty arrows only shot down two horses However, the Jurchen cavalry remained unscathed.

After the twenty arrows had been shot, the Jurchen cavalry appeared on horseback one after another, and shot at the Song army with their bows and arrows. They were very skilled in riding and shooting, and the power of the bow and arrow was extremely great. Two scouts of the Song army were shot by random arrows. With a cry, he fell off his horse.

Standing still like this is a live target, and you will also be hit by the powerful impact of the enemy cavalry, so you must fight it.

Retreat is even more impossible, the enemy's horsemanship is more skilled than them, and the speed is faster than them, they will be chased and shot by the enemy, and the last one will not survive.

Chen Qing made a decisive decision and shouted: "Follow me and kill!"

With a wave of his long spear, he led twenty men to rush forward.

The two cavalry squads collided head-on, 'Boom! ' There was a loud noise, the soil splashed, the horses neighed, the soldiers screamed, and the peasants in the distance ran away in fright.

The two sides fought fiercely together.

The Jurchen sentry cavalry were all brave and good at fighting, with high martial arts skills and excellent equestrian skills, but they hardly cooperated and fought independently.

And although this Song army scouts were improvised, and their equestrian skills were not good, they were all elites selected from the army after all. First of all, they were well-trained, paid attention to formation, and paid attention to coordination. In addition, their armor was strong and their equipment was better than that of the opponent. naked.

For a while, the two scouting armies were evenly fought, screams continued, and the casualties on both sides became heavier.

Shoot people first, shoot horses, catch thieves first, and capture kings first!Chen Qingbin waved his iron spear and charged towards the opposing centurion.

Chen Qing had never practiced marksmanship, he used the epee technique in fencing, and he paid attention to finding flaws and hitting with one blow.

The two horses greeted each other, and the opponent's mace hit Chen Qing fiercely, creating a gust of wind.

Chen Qing dodged sideways and pierced the opponent's lower abdomen with a spear at an extremely fast speed. Before the opponent could withdraw his mace to block, the direction of his spear suddenly changed, and it turned out to be stabbing at the opponent's horse.

It was too unexpected, the war horse couldn't dodge in time, 'poof! ' was pierced through the head with a spear.

The horse immediately fell to the ground and pressed the centurion's leg under him. Before the centurion could get up, Chen Qing shot through his vest from behind. The centurion screamed and died on the spot.

The death of the leader greatly affected the morale of the Jurchen cavalry, which is a common characteristic of all nomadic soldiers. They did not have the hatred of ruining the country, and they came to the Central Plains only to plunder wealth and women.

Soldiers rely entirely on the desire to plunder to support their morale. They are strong, but lack resilience. Once their morale fades, they feel that the gain is not worth the loss, and they do not want to fight anymore.

The Jurchen cavalry was no exception. The leader was killed, and the soldiers realized that they were at a disadvantage, so they began to think of retreating.

However, the morale of the Song army's scouts was greatly boosted. The more they fought, the more courageous they became, and they cooperated tacitly, often forming a situation of three battles and one. In just a moment, several Jurchen cavalrymen were stabbed and fell off their horses.

"retreat!"

A Jurchen priest shouted, and everyone turned their horses and fled.

Chen Qing had been staring at him a long time ago, raised his crossbow to aim at the opponent's horse, and shot an arrow, which hit the horse's hind leg, and the horse fell to the ground fatigued, throwing Jurchen Shichang a foot away.

The remaining eight Jurchen cavalry had fled far away, and Chen Qing did not give orders to pursue them. They captured three prisoners of war, enough to understand the enemy's situation.

"Take them down and interrogate them separately!"

Corps leader Zheng Ping led a few of his men to grab their hair and drag the three of them down.

Chen Qing sat on a boulder with some exhaustion, killed three thousand enemies, and lost two thousand himself. In this battle, they killed nine Jurchen cavalrymen and captured three alive, but they also lost six brothers themselves, which can only be considered miserable. Victory!

If they hadn't killed the opposing centurion themselves, or if the Jurchen cavalry hadn't underestimated the enemy and didn't wear armor, they would definitely be the ones who lost today.

Realizing the strength of the Jurchen cavalry, if the Bazi army meets the main force of the enemy cavalry, the entire army will definitely be wiped out, Chen Qing became anxious.

...........
The result of the interrogation surprised Chen Qing. The main force of Wanyan Zongbi's [-] cavalry was thirty miles to the east. They did find the trail of the Eight Character Army yesterday, and they were waiting for the Eight Character Army to appear.

Time was extremely short, Chen Qing hastily buried the bodies of his comrades-in-arms, killed three prisoners of war, and immediately led his men to rush north.

A quarter of an hour later, Chen Qing greeted the main force of the Eight Character Army who was marching southwest.

After hearing Chen Qing's report, Li Jiang was also taken aback, and immediately led him to Wang Yan.

"Report to Commander-in-Chief, Chen Dutou has received information that Wanyan Zongbi led ten thousand cavalry is thirty miles to the east."

Wang Yan looked solemn. This information was very timely and the situation was serious. Once the enemy cavalry came, they would be wiped out.

He had already realized that they might not be able to escape this calamity.

Chen Qing thought of a countermeasure on the way. He clasped his fists and said, "Qizhi is only [-] miles away from the Weishui River, and there happens to be a pontoon bridge over there. If we divide an army to block the enemy, we can buy time for the main force." Retreat, maybe there is still a chance!"

Lieutenant General Fu Xuan's eyes lit up, and he quickly whispered: "Commander, this is indeed a good idea!"

Wang Yan sighed in his heart, this is to let a small number of brothers die in exchange for the majority of soldiers to live!
Although Wang Yan couldn't bear it in his heart, he still accepted the only feasible solution.

"Bring the life and death sign!"

(End of this chapter)