While Zhang Shixun was preparing his troops, he was also closely monitoring the movements of the Jin army.
Yin Shuke sent Ha Tielong to support Ma'erdang. After not receiving any military intelligence reports for two consecutive days, he knew that something must have happened.
He sent out several groups of scouts, but none of them came back.
Now, the situation is serious.
That’s more than a thousand elite Jin soldiers.
Not even one person came back alive to report the news.
Yin Shu was in a dilemma.
His main task was to besiege Taiyuan, and his military strength was already tight. If he sent more troops to support Ma'erdang, it would be really stretched.
However, if troops were not sent to support Ma'erdang, it would be equivalent to giving up Baijing. The Song army could pass through Baijing at any time and send troops to support the defenders of Taiyuan.
Yin Shuke was only 7 years younger than Aguda and was one of the first generation of Jurchens to establish their own kingdom.
Although he was a warrior, he learned a lot of skills from Aguda and was good at using strategies.
If it were any other Jin army general, after suffering such a great loss, he would definitely send more troops to attack Magedang. If one thousand people were not enough, he would have sent three thousand or five thousand.
But after weighing the pros and cons, Yin Shu actually swallowed the bitter pill and endured it temporarily.
Only 500 troops were sent to block the main traffic arteries.
As long as the Song army passes through Baijing to reinforce Taiyuan, he will know it at the first time.
However, what happened next really surprised Yin Shuke.
All the signed troops who followed Ha Tielong to reinforce Magedang were captured by the National Protection Army. After being educated, they were released on the spot.
Not all of these soldiers returned, and about a hundred of them stayed to join the National Protection Army.
Yin Keshu looked at the soldiers who had returned with a changing expression on his face.
He wished he could kill all these losers.
However, reason told him that these soldiers should not be killed.
Among the 50,000 to 60,000 troops besieging Taiyuan, more than half were signed troops. If these people were killed, it would definitely cause other signed troops to have concerns and even resentment.
Once the morale of the signing army wavers, something unexpected might happen.
As the commander, he doesn't want this to happen.
After weighing the pros and cons, Yin Shuke only beheaded a few leaders of the signed army and hung their heads high at the camp gate as a warning to others.
"Zhang Tianshi? Isn't he in Tokyo? When did he run off to Shanxi and become the leader of the National Protection Army?"
Yin Shuke had a gloomy face and stared at the soldier kneeling on the ground.
The soldier said, "Marshal, after we were captured, that Zhang Tianshi came to us personally and said that Han people don't kill Han people. Then he gave us a big meal and let us go."
"I didn't ask you that." Yin Shuke waved his hand in disgust. "Tell me in detail what happened on your journey."
The soldier knelt on the ground and narrated what had happened in detail.
When Yin Shuke heard about how Ha Tielong was captured alive by Zhang Tianshi, he was surprised and said, "Ha Tielong was captured alive by Zhang Tianshi just like that?"
"Meng'an was very brave. He fought Zhang Tianshi for dozens of rounds, but was captured after exhausting his strength."
No one knows Ha Tielong better than Yin Shuke. That guy is very strong and brave in battle. It is difficult for ordinary generals to withstand a few of his moves, let alone capture him alive.
Yin Shu weighed it over and decided that even if he faced him, defeating him would be no problem, but capturing him alive would be difficult, and he had no confidence at all.
From this we can see that Zhang Tianshi's martial arts power is extremely amazing.
He had heard of Zhang Tianshi long before attacking the Song Dynasty, but he didn't quite believe in him or his deeds, or was half-believing and half-doubting.
Some time ago, Wuli had not come to the military newspaper to remind people to be careful about Zhang Tianshi and to be cautious when they meet him.
Yin Shuke saw it at the time, but didn't take it seriously at all.
No matter how powerful the Song people were, how powerful could they be?
"That drought thunder was too powerful. After it exploded, there were only a few of the hundreds of Great Jin cavalry left. Even among those who managed to survive, few were still on horseback. The frightened horses kicked their butts and ran around, crushing our troops to pieces and trampling more than a dozen people to death..."
The soldier knelt on the ground, crying and snotting as he told the story, not daring to raise his head.
Yin Shuke said: "Tell me about the drought thunder in detail."
"After Zhang Tianshi captured Meng'an alive, the Jin cavalry shouted and charged at him. Seeing the situation was bad, Zhang Tianshi ran back to Ma'erdang and closed the village gate. Then, dozens of black things flew out of the village and landed directly among our cavalry. Immediately afterwards, a deafening thunderclap rang out..."
Yin Shuke listened carefully and asked questions while listening, but he couldn't get the point after asking for a long time.
In Wuliebu's military intelligence report, he mentioned the sky thunder, emphasizing that this thing was very powerful, with amazing destructive power, and could destroy a large area with one explosion.
But the notice did not mention the "black and sticky" thing.
"What do those black things look like?"
"The eyes are rolling and black." The soldier gestured with his hands.
"Okay! You don't need to say anything more. Go down."
Yin Shuke called over several soldiers and repeatedly asked them about the specific details of the Sky-shaking Bomb.
The descriptions of these signed soldiers were similar. The only thing that could be confirmed was that these thunder bombs were thrown by catapults.
This was confirmed because after the surrender of the Qian army, the National Protection Army asked some of them to help carry the corpses of war horses, and they saw more than a dozen catapults in the village.
Yin Shuke summarized the information he obtained and reported it to Marshal Wanyan Zonghan.
Whether it is "Sky Thunder" or "Sky-shaking Thunder", it is a huge threat to the Jin Cavalry.
Hundreds of Jin cavalrymen and dozens of thunder bombs flew over and disappeared in the blink of an eye. It was too horrifying.
There is also this so-called "National Protection Army", which I have never heard of before.
There is no such name in the Song army's designations.
There are signs that the emergence of the National Protection Army was most likely the work of Zhang Tianshi.
Yin Keshu walked out of the military tent with his hands behind his back, looking at the gray Taiyuan city wall in the distance, and thought to himself: Let Zhang Shixun be arrogant for a while, and wait until I capture Taiyuan City, then I will turn around and deal with him.
Under the crushing of the powerful Jin army, no matter whether he is a heavenly master or an immortal, he will all turn into a pile of rubble.
Yin Keshu kept his troops in place, but Zhang Shixun was not idle.
While establishing and expanding the local government at the foot of Taihang Mountains, he trained the soldiers of the National Protection Army day and night.
At the same time, he also took the initiative to attack, constantly sending small troops to sneak attack Yin Keshu's baggage train and ambush the Jin army that went out to thresh straw.
"Remember, you are going out to launch a surprise attack. If you can gain an advantage, take it. If you can't, forget it. Don't confront the Jin army head-on. If you can win, fight. If you can't, run away."
Zhang Shixun patiently instilled guerrilla warfare ideas into the attacking soldiers.
The National Protection Army is not strong enough now, and the soldiers lack combat experience. They need to learn war through war.
This tactic suits the soldiers very well.
Most of them are bandits from Taihang Mountains, and their business is unprofitable.
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