Chapter 287: Ups and Downs
Once Li Cheng's army was shaken, it was out of control. After mid-afternoon, it turned into a complete failure and collapse.
Just as everyone before had forgotten everything and charged forward bravely, at this moment, once the outcome was decided, the front troops of the opposing imperial camp were certainly overwhelmed with joy and continued to attack, but Li Cheng's troops had a blank mind and only wanted to survive.
But, if you want to survive, you can't just run away.
In fact, as soon as the rout began, the defeated troops of Li Cheng's army encountered a huge problem. That was that there were too many troops and it was too crowded in the middle, while the equipment was too heavy... So soon, a huge "bump" was formed in the center of the battlefield. In that area, obstruction and trampling became the biggest source of casualties, and in a very short time, it caused casualties that were no less than those caused by the previous battle!
Then the collapse becomes completely irreparable.
Yue Fei was at the frontline, and had a clear view of the battle situation. He instinctively wanted to have his troops bypass the middle and stretch out from both sides in order to surround and force the enemy to surrender. But unfortunately, at this point, not to mention that his subordinates were already bloodthirsty, it was difficult to effectively convey military orders in such a crowded battlefield, not to mention that the cavalry was tied up in the middle. Helplessly, Yue Fei could only set up his general flag and watch the battle develop freely, preparing to find troops to command and make subsequent decisions after the "big lump" in the middle of the battle was untied.
But soon, Yue Fei noticed another thing, that is, Li Cheng's flag was obviously trapped in the knot, because he saw with his own eyes that the flag, which had retreated several times and tried to gain a foothold several times, stood up again after being submerged by the sea of people for a while. Not only that, but a thousand cavalrymen, including some of the iconic long sword cavalrymen, gathered under the flag and tried to resist stubbornly.
The pace of Li Cheng's escape slowed down again, and the attention of countless Song cavalrymen in front of them was attracted, and fierce fighting broke out again.
Of course, under the general trend, this struggle was meaningless. Just a moment later, before the Song army could rush forward, Li Cheng's attempt failed again. Even the cavalry of a thousand people began to disintegrate and surrender. Only about a hundred or eighty long-sword cavalry continued to resist stubbornly, and were surrounded by the cavalry under Zhang Xian.
"My master asked me, Xu Dadao, to tell Daxiaoyan something!"
Just as Zhang Xian was about to launch an attack, a blood-soaked general holding a long-handled broadsword leaped out on his horse, holding the sword in one hand and pointing at Yue Fei's flag in the south of the battlefield with the other hand. "If Daxiaoyan is willing to come and face him in person, he is willing to surrender in person..."
The news did not reach Yue Fei, and Zhang Xian, who had absolute power to make decisions on the battlefield, asked Guo Jin to step forward and confront him: "Xu Dadao, my General Zhang also said that there is no need for the governor to come in person. The country has its own laws. A traitor like Li Cheng who has a reputation and controls a county can only surrender unconditionally. No conditions are allowed... But my General Zhang has a kind heart. He can't bear to see soldiers like you die in vain, so I will give you half an incense stick of time to make a decision. If you surrender, you surrender. If you don't, you can only die!"
The general, Xu Wen, whose sword weighed fifty kilograms, did not say a word. Upon hearing this, he directly joined the long sword army formation under General Li and did not make any further movement.
And Zhang Xian was not one to suffer a loss. While waiting, he quickly had his men intercept team after team of crossbowmen from the rear... Today's war broke out too quickly, and the battlefield was narrow, so hand-to-hand combat ensued. In addition, the area of hand-to-hand combat was too thick, which made the crossbowmen and archers basically lose their tactical function from the beginning, and the few bows and arrows were basically only used by individual soldiers.
But this time it was different.
It can be imagined that if Li Cheng did not surrender within the deadline, this last group of long-sword cavalry would be quickly killed by large-scale bow and crossbow fire.
Seeing this, not only the last long-sword cavalry of Li Cheng's army was somewhat shaken, but many of Zhang Xian's knights who were originally eager to try suddenly felt a little bored. For example, Yang Zaixing, who had heard of the reputation of Xu Dadao and Li Cheng, cursed and wanted to lead his troops to bypass this place and continue the pursuit.
However, it can only be said that this long-sword cavalry was indeed the core of Li Cheng's army. Although they were shaken after seeing the large-scale gathering of bows and crossbows by the Song army, few of them turned around and fled. Instead, they remained silent, as if they were waiting for their lord to make the final decision.
"No more waiting!" Seeing that the number of archers around was gradually saturated, Zhang Xian no longer hesitated, and regardless of how long an incense stick of time was, he directly signaled to Li Kui who followed and joined the command. "Kill them!"
Li Kui, who had some grudges with Li Cheng but had some friendship with Xu Dadao, obviously hesitated for a moment, but immediately followed the military orders on the battlefield, waving the flag and ordering all the archers to collectively and densely shoot at all the enemy troops under this general's flag.
After the military order was given, nearly a thousand archers gathered and shot arrows together. The more than a hundred long-sword knights who were surrounded tried to launch a final counterattack. However, as everyone expected, after a round of shooting, they fell down with their horses before they could speed up. There were heavy casualties almost instantly. Only a dozen people survived, but they had almost no fighting power.
There was only one general who had lost his warhorse, but he was still wearing heavy armor and a mask, wielding a fifty-jin sword in his hand, like a mad tiger, and fighting back with all his might. Who else could it be but Xu Dadao from Mizhou?
Zhang Xian was bored and just ordered his men to quickly draw their bows and kill the man. However, unexpectedly, a horseman suddenly came galloping over and attacked Xu Dadao from the side and rear. It was Yang Zaixing, who was about to ride away, but was overjoyed to see the prey and turned back.
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
