The rebels lacked equipment and attack capabilities and were at a loss for what to do.
But soon, as a commander under the command of Song army monk Lu Heshang arrived with hundreds of regular troops and launched an attack, the rebel leader immediately realized the existence of the opposite side in the north of the pass. He then made a show of attacking from the north and the south, while at the same time selecting mountain people from the rebel army to wear double leather armor, climb over the ravines and sneak into Guanzhong, and actually succeeded.
The Jin army at Tieling Pass had only one or two hundred defenders, and they were easily defeated and slaughtered by the influx of Song troops.
Soon after, more or less subordinates from Lu Heshang's, Zhai Cong's, and Zhao Cheng's troops arrived one after another. Several nearby rebel forces under Ma Kuo, with a minimum of five or six hundred and a maximum of one or two thousand, also appeared from the east.
In the morning, the number of Song troops around Tieling Pass reached over 10,000 at its peak.
At this time, there was no sign of the Jin army.
They were overjoyed, and perhaps because they were greedy for merit, underestimated the enemy, were homesick, or there was a real military order to seize the terrain, or simply because they all came in a hurry and there was no one in charge who could control and deploy these troops with poor discipline. In any case, no one in the army could hold back, and except for Monk Lu who left behind a few hundred people, all the rest of the troops poured out of Tieling Pass and headed towards the Linfen Basin in the north.
They rushed to seize villages and towns, and some troops even engaged in looting and rape, and there were sporadic clashes between local and foreign rebel forces.
The result of doing this was that in the afternoon, when the main vanguard of the Jin army appeared on the flat ground of the Linfen Basin, the Song army was unable to organize itself at all. They could only watch as thousands of Jin cavalry, under the supervision of Tuhesu's flag, calmly crossed the Huishui River from a place twenty miles away from Tieling Pass, that is, in the direction of Quwo northeast of the pass, and launched a mopping-up operation against the nearly 10,000 scattered Song troops.
Moreover, the number of Jin troops is increasing.
Faced with the organized main force of the Jurchen cavalry, and their own disorganization and recklessness, the Song army was completely defeated on the plain between the north of Tieling Pass and the Huishui River, which was more than ten miles wide, and only a few miles wide at the narrowest point. Even Zhao Ben himself lost contact.
Moreover, after a Jin army commander discovered that most of the Song troops on the opposite side were just poorly equipped mountain militias, he took advantage of the situation and swept the defeated troops and actually pushed all the way into Tieling Pass.
Faced with the friendly forces that were oppressed by the Jin army and fell into a desperate abyss in panic, the officers of Lu Heshang's army at the pass had no ability to deal with the situation at all. They lost the pass in a daze and scattered to the south of the pass along with their own troops and these defeated friendly forces.
However, things were not over yet. In the chaos, just as the Jin army had just pressed into Tieling Guanzhong, and more Jin and Song troops were still in chaos on the south side of the pass, the real main force of the Song army arrived, and Li Yanxian himself came to the pass in person.
Seeing the dense flags and neat armor surrounding the "mainstay" banner surging from south to north like a wave, the Jin army Meng'an, who had just entered the pass and had not had a sip of tea, was immediately a little panicked. At the same time, the Taihang righteous army also played their own unique advantages... Although they collapsed quickly, they were able to quickly gather after fleeing into the mountains. In addition, at this time, they saw the main force of their side arriving and the general's banner also arrived from a distance on the mountains, and they were even more confident. They all went to the northern plains to support their own defeated troops, obstruct the large group of Jin troops, and try to attack the small group of Jin troops.
The Jin army came again to drive them away upon seeing this, but they were unable to pursue them up the hill and could only watch helplessly as these light-footed rebels regrouped and poured out again.
For a time, Guanbei was in a stalemate.
At this time, Meng'an of the Tuhesu tribe who had broken into Tieling Pass was completely exhausted. He was afraid of being surrounded by the main force of the Song army in the city, and was also afraid of being ambushed at night. He didn't even understand the internal structure of the pass... So, he made up his mind and chose to withdraw actively. He handed over the pass without even raising the flag.
Many Jin soldiers had no idea that some of their troops had captured Tieling Pass... They captured it in a confused manner and gave it up in a confused manner.
The sky gradually darkened, and the light stopped all the fighting. The Jin army retreated to the northeast direction behind them towards the area of the Ruishui Ferry. Li Yanxian also ordered the entire army to set up camp on both sides of the pass.
Let’s not talk about how Li Yanxian cleaned up the mess and then tried to figure out what happened during the day and the current situation, which he might never understand in his lifetime.
On the other side, Meng'an, a soldier from the Jin army, retreated and returned to an already empty market on the bank of the Huishui River, only 20 miles away. Not long after, when it was getting dark, he had just robbed a house and was about to find two eggs to make noodles when he was suddenly called over by his own captain.
I secretly thought that something was wrong in my heart at that moment.
When he and Tuhesu's personal guards arrived at a bonfire outside the market, he saw that in addition to Tuhesu, there were several familiar middle-aged generals sitting there cross-legged. He felt a chill at the back of his head. He hurriedly took off the helmet he had put on before going out and threw it on the ground, then bent down and bowed.
"Get up."
Tu Hesu, who was sitting cross-legged, frowned slightly. "How did you learn to be like the Song people?"
"There's nothing wrong with learning from the Song people, but we're afraid that we won't learn the good and will learn the bad." The man behind the campfire, that is, the one in the middle, Balisu, heard this and said quietly across the campfire. "I remember your name is Su Wu? Are you also an old soldier?"
"Yes." Meng'an felt bad after hearing this, and stood up straight with his hands crossed. "Do the commander-in-chief and several commanders want to hear about today's battle?"
Crossing one's hands meant obeying orders and making a gesture of apology. This was a unified posture among both Song and Jin dynasties.
"I didn't ask you to come here to ask those questions." Tu Hesu said as he stretched out his leg, which was tingling from the fire. He hammered the old wound on his foot through his boot. "Just now, the commander-in-chief and I have summoned many Meng'an and Mouke, including those who entered the pass with you... We know the situation today. It was just a chaotic battle. Everyone is tired and confused... But you just saw Li Yanxian's army coming and you cowered. You didn't even fight and abandoned the pass, right?"
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