Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 840 Defeat like a mountain

Without the order of Yang Jiye or Li Guangshun, all the cavalrymen of the Xiangfu Kingdom frantically chased and killed those rout soldiers who did not resist at all from behind. Tens of thousands of war horses galloped around, and the rear of the Liao army became more and more chaotic. The battlefield was full of dust, people and horses running in panic, and the wounded soldiers left on the ground wailed loudly, but no one paid attention to them.

The Liao soldiers who had caught the horses began to run into the valley scatteredly. More people could not find the horses. In panic, some ran deep into the valley, and some climbed up the mountains on both sides.Some even rushed towards Taniguchi in a state of insanity, and were naturally easily killed by the oncoming army of Xiangfu Kingdom.

The speed of the defeat in front of him has far exceeded Xiao Dage's expectation, and there are routs and chaotic horses running around everywhere. Among them, some brave Liao army cavalry choose Hexiangfu cavalry to continue to charge and kill. Stimulated by the chaotic scene, Xiao Dage, who was guarded by hundreds of personal soldiers, felt that the horses under him were also moving their hooves anxiously, and he had to hold on to the reins tightly.

A hundred paces away from Xiao Dage, there was a cavalry soldier from the Xiangfu Kingdom rushing past. Several rout soldiers who fled empty-handed couldn't get out of the way, and were stabbed by the swords of the Xiangfu Kingdom army in a blink of an eye, and were knocked over by the horses before they fell to the ground. After the three rows of horseshoes stepped over, faint smoke and dust rose from the ground, and several rout soldiers stood there without moving.

A cavalry force of 500 Liao troops gathered hastily under the desperate gathering of a general. Xiao Dage could see that their formation was also very chaotic, with spears and sabers intermingled between each formation, which was far from being as orderly as it was at the beginning. , After basically lined up, they wanted to rush out a way out. Unexpectedly, a group of Xiangfu cavalry rushed from the north, killing nearly half of the cavalry of the Liao army that had just gathered together, and broke them into routs.

It was impossible to reorganize the infantry and cavalry. In the midst of the chaos, Xiao Dage's face was ashen, he gritted his teeth, and loudly ordered the drummer to play gold, so that the soldiers could escape on their own. Then he finally chose to have more than 500 loyal soldiers around him Under the protection, he took advantage of the chaos and rushed up to the north mountain, and took the opportunity to change clothes with the guards.

However, Fatty, the envoy of the Privy Council of the Liao Kingdom, has long since disappeared.

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Yang Jiye smoked his horse's stock, entered Shiping Valley under the guard of his own soldiers, and crossed the Baizhanglong gully that was blown out by explosives. The first thing he saw was more than 2 Liao army mounts gathered. Most of these horses were too tired. , was already unable to run, and was injured by the Liao army at the root of the horse, and could not live for a few days. Yang Jiye thought that half of them had been recuperated, and it would be good to recover to be able to go to the battlefield.

Next to the war horses were more than 2 captives, all their weapons and armor had been disarmed, kneeling on the cold and hard ground, most of them looked numb or bleak and desperate.

Not far away, four medical and health teams temporarily used ten cowhide tents to set up a field hospital. The busy field hospital was in full swing, and the wounded were constantly being carried in for treatment.

The two flag bearers behind Yang Jiye were very strong, and they firmly grasped the flagpole. On his head, Yang Jiye's flag of the general with a length of one foot and six feet fluttered high.

Yang Jiye rode into the battlefield full of corpses.Zhe Yuxun rushed back from the depths of the valley, surrounded by his own soldiers, and after paying a military salute to Yang Jiye, he said, "General, I have received definite news that Xiao Dage, the King of the South Court of Liao Kingdom, and Fatty, the envoy of the Privy Council, have already arrived." Take part of the guards and escape from the mountains on both sides, one from the south and the other from the north."

Yang Jiye smiled and said: "They can't escape, Bai Canghai, Huang Dongqiu, Tang Xingwu, and thousands of spies from the Ministry of Security, plus the vast number of rebels, have all set up a net. Besides, it's freezing cold, and it's even colder in the mountains." , if we send a large army up the mountain to hunt them down, it will take several days to go back and forth, and I am afraid that there will be countless frostbite injuries. Since there are already arrangements on the other side of the mountain, there is no need to keep chasing them. , don’t worry about the rest, just withdraw them all. If Xiao Dage and Shi Fat can escape from us by chance, then hand over the two big fish to them!”

Zhe Yuxun was a little unwilling, as there was less than a month before New Year's Day, which would be the day when Xiangfu Kingdom was first ennobled. According to His Majesty's style of work, only the military achievements before and after the founding of the country will be considered, and no other factors will be mixed.Among the senior generals of Xiangfu Kingdom, he surrendered halfway, and apart from today's battle, he didn't make many outstanding contributions.He originally wanted to ask Yang Jiye to personally lead an army up the mountain to hunt him down and make another great contribution.As for the great victory in front of him, he certainly has merit, but everyone in the Xiangfu National Army knows that His Majesty laid down the general strategy, Yang Jiye implemented it in detail, and the three major armies of Heilang, Zhelan, and Xuanwu, the special brigade, and the Ministry of Security all fully cooperated in the implementation. There were too many people participating in today's big victory, so that although his combat achievements were great, they were not outstanding enough.But if he can capture Xiao Dage and Shi Fatty alive, it will be completely different, and he will definitely be able to catch up with other army commanders when they are knighted on New Year's Day.

How could Yang Jiye not know what Zhe Yuxun was thinking, but he didn't bother to pay attention, and continued to ask: "What's going on in the depths of the valley?"

Zhe Yuxun said: "In the depths of the valley there are still thousands of Liao soldiers fleeing, and four battalions of infantry will be left to cooperate with Li Guangshun to continue the pursuit."In addition, it is estimated that there were nearly [-] Liao troops who escaped from the three mountains.At present, the number of enemies killed and the number of our army's battle losses are still being counted. "

Yang Jiye nodded and looked around. There were many dead and wounded on the battlefield, scattered weapons and armor were scattered all over the place, and there were many unowned horses running away on the west side. Most of them were the scattered horses of the Liao soldiers. Both sides rode leftovers after the battle.Some soldiers from Xiangfu Kingdom are surrounding and arresting them.The most valuable capture on the battlefield is the war horse, so of course we can't let it go.

"The cavalry lost a lot this time, and only half of the ten thousand cavalry remained."

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In the depths of Shibeng Valley, the infantry of the four battalions followed the unique battle group mode of Xiangfu Kingdom. They took squads as a group, armed with long spears and fast crossbows, and climbed up the mountain. Follow the hillside to clear the past.On the one hand, it is possible to earn some decapitation, and at the same time, to ensure that some clever Liao soldiers did not climb over the mountain, but hid in the mountain. After the army retreated, they escaped by chance and became fish that slipped through the net.

It was freezing cold, and there were thousands of wounded, so it was inconvenient to stay in the field for a long time. Yang Jiye ordered to speed up the cleaning of the battlefield.The Liao soldiers fired every shot regardless of the casualties, and the medical soldiers of various departments were busy on the battlefield, looking for the wounded in Xiangfu who might still be alive.

At this time, the sun was in the west, and Yang Jiye continued to patrol the battlefield with his personal guards. Just now, there were layers of corpses in the place where the infantry spears fought. Yang Jiye remembered the fierceness at that time. The Liao soldiers had spent more than half of their physical strength in these days, and it was difficult to hold on to their strength. The losses on their own side would double, and the Liao soldiers would not be defeated so quickly.

This is the first time that the infantry of Xiangfu Kingdom have engaged in large-scale actual combat since they were trained to shoot long distances with fast crossbows and close combat with long spears, and the effect was even better than expected.But Yang Jiye witnessed the whole process, and also found several deficiencies, or areas that still need to be improved. For example, if the length of the spear can be slightly lengthened without affecting the soldiers' handling of the gun, during the battle, the weapons of the other side can be snatched. Stab the opponent before the enemy's weapon gets close.

Some infantrymen carefully lifted up the corpses of soldiers from the Xiangfu Kingdom and placed them in a row by the mouth of the valley. Yang Jiye made a rough count. On the infantry side alone, there were already more than 2000 corpses and more than 1000 wounded soldiers, not including The loss of the cavalry, the corpses of the cavalry were scattered widely, and they had not been concentrated here for a while.Yang Jiye roughly estimated that the party had lost no less than [-] in this battle.

Liao soldiers left more corpses on the battlefield, and most of the wounded soldiers in the battle were killed at this time. The corpses continued along the spear battlefield to the depths of Shibeng Valley. Except for the infantry battle, the corpses in other places were relatively more Scattered, Yang Jiye estimates that about 2 Liao soldiers have died in battle. Excluding more than 1 captives, there are still more than [-] people who fled over the mountains and hid in the mountains. These people must be exhausted at this time. Without food, Yang Jiye reckoned that even if he left it alone, there would not be many people who could escape back to Wuzhou alive in this cold field, suffering from hunger and cold.

There were occasional shouts of killing and screams from the mountains on both sides. The battle to clear up and suppress was still going on, and Yang Jiye's order was to retreat after passing the top of the mountain.

Before night fell, the suppression was basically completed, and a bunch of Liao soldiers were pushed out from the deep valley and the mountains on both sides. It seemed that there were more than 2000 more prisoners, and the soldiers who came back had more heads hanging from their waists.

The armor and weapons on the battlefield were collected and placed in the open space. Military judges were equipped from top to bottom in the army, and Yang Jiye was here in person, so there was no need to transport the beheaded head back for verification. Yang Jiye began to organize manpower on the spot Merit registration.

It was too late to withdraw tonight, so the army went directly to rest for the night in the house left by the Tibetan Gena tribe in the depths of Shibeng Valley.Taniguchi will naturally be guarded, and bonfires are lit everywhere in the four fields, which complement the stars in the night sky, which can be regarded as preventing the remaining soldiers from fleeing.

In the evening, the final results and losses of this battle have been released. It has been confirmed that 83 Liao soldiers were killed, including 77 generals above the commander.There were 390 Liao soldiers captured, including 64 generals above the commander.A total of 57 pairs of Liao army standard armor, 420 pairs of fine mountain armor, 290 pairs of iron armor, 410 pairs of chain mail, and 3 pairs of cotton armor were seized. Tens of thousands; 32 and [-] war horses were seized, all with saddles.

However, Xiangfu Kingdom lost 270 cavalry and killed 230, and seriously injured 330. Most of them may not be able to be rescued, and they cannot return to the camp.

(End of this chapter)