The space in front of the village was narrow, and there was a large group of rebels in a panic. The two sides were like an eagle catching chickens, but the good times did not last long... Those rebel soldiers were not blind. They saw that Wang Yasha was heading straight for Li Dayin, and the soldiers blocking the center army would often be chopped into meat paste by the long axe soldiers following Wang De. But they all woke up and took the initiative to stay away from their own general.

As a result, it became increasingly difficult for Li Dayin to escape... Before the Song army arrived, this talented carpenter was forced in front of Wang De. He first tried to block, but his weapon slipped out of his hand in an instant. Then he completely lost his courage and met the opponent's second axe with almost an indifferent attitude.

This is not his fault. He is just a talented carpenter who was spotted by Zhang Yu and was recognized as a sworn brother.

But war is war. Wang Yasha was charging alone at this moment. He seemed to be brave and invincible, but he knew the danger. How could he let go of this opportunity? So he chopped with his axe with all his strength.

As the axe came down, I don’t know if it was an illusion, but the already chaotic battlefield seemed to stop for a moment—Wang Yasha actually split Li Dayin in half from head to waist! Not only that, the axe continued to fall, and hit the horse’s back again, and actually chopped the warhorse to its knees. With just a whine, it fell to the side with the long axe and human viscera all over its body, and no longer breathed.

At the same time, the warhorse under Wang De's crotch was obviously exhausted and actually knelt down and wailed.

Wang Yasha tried hard to pull out the battle axe, but he couldn't drag it away for a while, so he simply threw the battle axe away, drew his sword, and got back on the warhorse of a personal guard behind him.

When he climbed onto his horse, he wanted to shout loudly, "The royal army has arrived," but when the rebel soldiers around him saw that scene, no one dared to confront him. They fled towards the gate as if their nest had been blown up.

Wang De laughed when he saw this, and then he swung his sword and rode his horse to kill, forcing his way to the gate... Seeing this, the rebel soldiers fled in greater panic, and in the stampede, they were about to crash into the gate.

Zhang Yu at the gate had been in a daze since he saw his brother being split in half, and was almost pushed into the gate by the chaotic army. Then a large group of Song troops, about 3,000 in number, led by Xin Yongzong (Xiao Xin), had arrived. They easily took down the wall of the village and rushed in, almost as if taking something out of a bag.

That’s not all. To the southeast of the camp, Zhang Jing’s troops, who had been well prepared, also led their troops across the glacier in time to attack the camp to the east.

At this point, the rebels were in chaos and were almost defeated without any clue of the situation. Many of them surrendered, and some even defected. Without waiting for the Song army to arrive at their corresponding camps, they shouted "The royal army has arrived" in response from afar.

Seeing that the eastern camp was beyond rescue and that the previous attack had made Zhang Yu completely discouraged, he returned to the central army tent and simply took hundreds of his trusted followers and some valuables and headed east. However, he did not dare to go to the northern camp to meet Wanyan Wushu.

Little did he know that Wanyan Wushu would not blame him at all. The Fourth Prince was simply in a tall watchtower in the northern central army camp, observing the eastern camp from afar while drinking tea with Balisu!

"This is too quick a defeat." Ba Lisu picked up the slightly cold teacup and drank it all, then picked up the tea leaves and chewed them. "I thought I could hold on, and even if I couldn't, I should have fought for a while. Zhang Yu is really incompetent!"

"It's not that Zhang Yu is incompetent." Wushu shook his head. "Firstly, the siege cost most of Zhang Yu's troops, and his army's combat power and morale are much worse than when he surrendered. Secondly, Wang Yasha is worthy of his reputation... Has the order not to lead the battle without authorization been passed down?"

"Of course." Balisu replied seriously, and then put down his teacup and sighed. "Now I'm afraid that the morale of the Song army will rise quickly, and it will be difficult to control it when the time comes..."

"Haven't you already agreed to my proposal?" Wuzhu frowned slightly. "No matter how their morale is, if we really want to fight, with our 30,000 cavalry, what can they do to resist?"

"I agree, I do think it's feasible." Balisu quickly changed his expression. "I'm just afraid that it will backfire... Don't let the Emperor of Song be escorted to Xiangyang. If Nanyang and Xiangyang are separated, we will be in trouble. It's better to surround them from all sides and wait for Marshal Talan to clear the north before coming to support them!"

"That's not what you said that day." Wuzhu sneered. "In fact, if the Emperor of Song wants to leave the city, where can he go? It's freezing cold, the Baihe River is frozen, and we have already placed 10,000 cavalrymen at the southern end of the West Camp. If there is any movement, we can make a big detour to the south and surround them... Or, let you replace Han Chang and take charge of this matter?"

Ba Lisu's heart was immediately moved.

In fact, as Wuzhu had said before and now, no matter what the Song army did, as long as the Jin army had 10,000 cavalry left, once they saw any unusual movement from the Song army, they would go directly south and make a large flank detour to the north of the Han River, and the Song army would have no chance of survival.

It was precisely based on his recognition of this tactic that Balisu made concessions step by step. First, he abandoned the strategy of allowing only entry but not exit; then he gave up the plan to encircle and annihilate Zhang Jing's troops (because Zhang Jing came from Xiangyang, and it was obvious that he was supporting the Emperor of Zhao Song in his southward march, rather than a purely loyal army); now, he simply gave up Zhang Yu's troops and the Artisans' Camp.

The plan was to gradually make the Song army underestimate the enemy, while constantly learning about the difficult situation in the north, so as to lure the Zhao Song Emperor in the city to leave the city and head south.

And this plan now seems to have an increasingly greater chance of success.

Of course, this calmness is directly related to the overall situation of the Song army's battle... If it weren't for the advantages of Wanyan Loushi and Wanyan Talan, and the final choice of uniting the army under this city, Balisu would not easily change his attitude.

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!