Wei Sheng rode his horse at breakneck speed, and at each outpost he arrived at, he did his best to persuade the captain of the outpost.
At this moment, the Khitan army split into several routes and launched a desperate attack on the Song army.
The so-called division of troops into several groups is actually a smokescreen.
Xiao Duolu had a total of 10,000 men, and he divided the attack into three routes.
Two of the routes each had only one thousand men, while the main force numbered eight thousand.
The reason for doing this was to make it impossible for the Song army to estimate exactly how many troops he had.
At midnight, the Liao army made its move.
At first, a dark mass moved at a steady pace across the vast land.
They continued until they broke through the Song army's sentry post.
The first wave of killings has begun.
The scattered Song army was unable to form an effective fighting force, and almost all Song outposts that were attacked by the Liao army were overwhelmed.
Hundreds of Song soldiers were hacked to pieces by the Liao army's swords.
The Song army, caught off guard, fought desperately to escape from the piles of corpses and began sending news of the enemy's attack back home.
Xiao Duolu's tactics were very effective. When the two smaller groups suddenly charged into the Song army's outposts, the Song army thought that the enemy's main force had arrived.
The message sent back was that the Liao army had arrived in three columns.
As for the exact number of people, it is impossible to estimate.
Some say it's 50,000, others say 80,000, and still others say it's 200,000.
For a moment, the Song army was thrown into disarray by the sudden turn of events.
When Cui Jin received this news, he immediately sent someone to deliver it back to Niu Gao.
He hurriedly began to organize the army himself.
Two thousand cavalrymen were stationed at his central outpost.
But in this vast darkness, organizing these two thousand cavalry to intercept the Khitan was like finding a needle in a haystack.
Meanwhile, Xiao Duolu's eight thousand cavalrymen were rapidly approaching Niu Gao's main force, almost at the same speed as the scouts.
This creates an information gap.
Niu Gao had received information about the enemy's movements long ago, but he was unaware that the enemy was coming so swiftly.
Moreover, by the time the second wave of intelligence was sent back, things were in complete chaos.
Niu Gao had no way of knowing the enemy's movements, so he had no choice but to order his entire army to be on high alert.
Then, just as the Song army was forming ranks, the Khitan army charged up right behind their scouts.
The Song army could almost hear the ground in front of them shaking and trembling.
Many soldiers hurriedly accelerated their assembly, but how could an army of 30,000 be organized so quickly?
Furthermore, this Khitan army charged with an all-or-nothing determination, making their fighting strength unprecedented.
But the Khitan cavalry, like a collapsing torrent, crashed through the Song army's defenses and stormed into their camp.
An unprecedented large-scale massacre began.
In the firelight, rows of Khitan cavalry charged into the ranks of soldiers who had not yet formed their battle formation.
The Song army was not weak in discipline or combat effectiveness, but rather its formation was disorganized, like a pile of loose sand, and it collapsed at the first sign of trouble.
In an instant, countless young people were knocked away by the Khitans and pinned down behind them.
Rolling on the ground, the powerful impact shattered bones and damaged internal organs.
Some were even struck directly on their helmets by the Khitan army's iron maces, causing their skulls to crack.
The worst were those who fell to the ground and were trampled into a bloody pulp by countless horse hooves.
Countless sharp steel knives drank blood in the firelight.
Countless families shattered!
The child has lost his father!
The soldiers, trained at great expense by the imperial court, the guardians of the empire, the elite of the Song Dynasty, died tragically under the enemy's blades at this moment!
Desperate cries echoed across the plains.
With the camp engulfed in flames, the Song army's resistance was utterly futile.
Half an hour later, the Song army camp was ablaze, and the Song soldiers behind it were either scattered or killed.
The Liao army was in high spirits and unstoppable.
Countless Khitans wielded steel knives, maces, and battle axes.
An hour later, many people's knives were bent over from the chopping, their maces were deformed from the hammering, and their battle axes had large chips.
It was still covered in thick blood and bone fragments.
Niu Gao's face was flushed red, and his body was covered in blood. Surrounded by a group of soldiers, he managed to break through the encirclement several times.
Fresh blood kept flowing down his heavy armor; it was the blood of his comrades!
At this moment, his anger was like a raging river.
Niu Gao roared, "Men, follow me and charge! Kill these Liao traitors!"
"General Niu! Please retreat quickly! Brothers, hold off the Liao bandits!"
"No! They are all my good sons! I brought them out here and promised to bring them back!" Niu Gao's eyes were bloodshot as he gripped his spear tightly.
"I have failed Commander Yue, I have failed His Majesty, I have failed the Great Song! Today, death is my only option!" Niu Gao roared in anguish. "All troops, listen to my command! Charge forward with me, no matter how many there are!"
At this moment, all the remaining Song soldiers were covered in blood, their clothes stained with blood, and their eyes were bloodshot.
Tears streamed down the faces of the crowd: "Long live the Emperor! Long live the Song Dynasty! We are willing to die for our country! We dare not hope to be enshrined in the Shrine of Martyrs, but only wish to be buried here with them!"
Niu Gao led his last few hundred men and charged towards the Liao army, but they were quickly overwhelmed by the Liao army's charge.
The fire illuminated the dark night in a fiery red glow.
The clouds in the sky had dispersed at some point.
A magnificent meteor shower suddenly appeared in the deep blue sky.
They streaked across the night sky one by one, illuminating the firmament, but quickly burned out and disappeared into the empty heavens.
Niu Gao was the deputy commander of the First Army Corps in the Northwest War Zone of the Song Dynasty, a general, and one of the most capable generals under Yue Fei.
During the campaign against Xia, he and Yang Zaixing led the Shenwu Army to fight against the Dangxiang Iron Falcons, routing the Dangxiang forces.
When fighting against Wanyan Zongbi, he led his iron cavalry to cut off the Iron Pagoda from the side.
He had a long list of military achievements, having fought the toughest battles and defeated the most powerful enemies under Yue Fei's command.
He led the Third Army Corps with the determination to break through Suyab and sweep across the Western Regions.
In the final battle, all the soldiers around him were killed.
Niu Gao roared to the sky and committed suicide amidst the pile of Song soldiers' corpses.
Soon, it was dawn.
As the morning sun shone down, a thick layer of blood mist covered the grassland.
As the wind blew, the blood mist drifted along with it.
Xiao Duolu was not riding a warhorse, and was covered in blood as he regrouped his army.
After the Liao army had assembled, Xiao Duolu ordered the casting of the Jingguan (a mound of skulls).
A group of Liao soldiers began to cut off heads, and by morning, the Jingguan (a mound of heads) formed by the Song soldiers' tens of thousands of heads resembled a mountain.
The grassland was completely stained red with blood, and it felt sticky underfoot.
"Have you found the body of the Song army commander?"
"Reporting to the commander, we've found it!"
"Cut off his head and display it to the public!"
"yes!"
"Report! Commander, the Song army's provisions have all been collected!"
"Very good! Each person takes one portion of rations, eat them, and then leave after a few more days. We'll retreat in half an hour!"
Xiao Duolu is not very smart.
The news of the Song army's defeat must have already reached Yue Fei. If the Song army were to attack directly, he would certainly be unable to withstand it.
Now that we've replenished everything, we'll leave quickly.
The best strategy is to launch a surprise attack on the Song army.
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