Li Yanxian and others took turns to look, and they all looked very bad.
There was no other reason. Zhang Zhongfu's defeat three days ago was indeed a great defeat, and it was a great defeat for which there was no reason at all.
According to the military report, the Jin army knew that Longdefu could not be defended, and they gave up the place strategically. However, this place has always been the core area where the five Wanhu of the Jin Kingdom's Eastern Route Army were stationed, and many of the families and property of the Jin Kingdom's senior officers were there.
Therefore, as soon as Daming Prefecture was bombed, Wuzhu immediately responded to the request of the generals of Longde Prefecture and sent out eighty Moukes, totaling eight thousand cavalry, to quickly enter Longde Prefecture, to take away the families and property of the people, and to burn as much remaining property and military supplies as possible.
However, the Jin army moved quickly, and the imperial cavalry originally in the southwest of Longde Prefecture also moved quickly, which delayed them a little at Taihang Xing along the way. By the time the vanguard Zhang Zhongfu led 5,000 cavalry into the heart of the Shangdang Basin where Longde Prefecture was located, the Jin army's evacuation operation had only been completed halfway. When they saw the large group of Song troops at this time, they were even more horrified and simply gave up the evacuation of the surrounding small towns and hastily prepared to evacuate from Fukou Xing.
Seeing this, Zhang Zhongfu did not try to take those big cities, but chose to actively follow and pursue.
The first half of the pursuit went extremely smoothly. The Jin army had no will to fight, and they were divided into small groups at the beginning, so they could only flee in a panic when facing the Song army's iron cavalry brigade... For a time, Zhang Zhongfu's troops suffered heavy casualties and captured a lot of spoils.
However, as Zhang Zhongfu's troops pursued all the way across the Zhuozhang River and arrived at Shexian and Licheng areas between the Qingzhang River and the Zhuozhang River, the various Jin troops naturally gathered together due to the terrain. Seeing the Song cavalry chasing them relentlessly, the Jin cavalry, which had less than 5,000 horses, finally could no longer bear it.
In order to protect their families and property, after discovering that there were only about 4,000 main cavalry of the Song Army left in the rear to maintain the pursuit, the 5,000 Jin cavalry were divided into two. One thousand continued to escort the families and bags to meet up north, while the other 4,000 quickly gathered, turned around and met the Song Army, engaging in a cavalry battle with the same number of Song cavalry on the edge of the Shangdang Basin.
There was no drama or complexity in the battle. Two groups of heavy cavalry with almost the same number of troops met each other, with similar equipment, and theoretically they were completely equal. However, the battle lasted from morning to afternoon, and in the end, the Song cavalry gradually lost their strength and were completely overwhelmed by the Jin army. Zhang Zhongfu fled in embarrassment.
If the Jin army had not been unwilling to fight and did not pursue, the Song cavalry would probably have suffered massive casualties on the banks of the thawed Zhang River.
To be fair, there was nothing unexpected about this battle... There have been a lot of cases of greed and recklessness recently, and this is not the only one.
Moreover, the Imperial Cavalry was considered from the beginning to be less experienced in combat than the Jin Army's Iron Cavalry.
In addition, the Jin army had the reason to fight in order to protect their families, so they were in a state of mourning, so if they were defeated, they were defeated.
However, it is very bad for such a thing to happen at this critical juncture... because it will remind everyone that the main force of the Jin army is still there, and the core cavalry combat power is still there.
What's more, in a field battle, once the combat power of the Jin army's cavalry is gathered to form a heavy force group, its combat effectiveness advantage will be even more obvious.
This battle is likely to further shake Emperor Zhao's determination to launch a decisive battle immediately, and may also greatly boost the morale of the main force of the Jin army which is retreating rapidly to the north at this time.
In fact, considering that Emperor Zhao passed the news to the four generals who were holding a small meeting as soon as he learned of it, it was probably a silent reminder.
That's why Han Shizhong was so furious.
"Zhang Zhongfu deserves to be killed!"
Wang Yan, who was holding a piece of horse meat rotten meat, became more and more angry. Finally, he threw the rotten meat onto the table in a rage, and the meat filling immediately fell apart.
The other three people also looked embarrassed, but after looking at each other, they remained calm.
"How can you treat the food given by the emperor like this?" Han Shizhong responded coldly.
Li Yanxian also frowned and looked at Wang Yan.
"President Wang, even if it is not a gift from the emperor, you and I were unable to sleep or eat well in the Taihang Mountains in the past. Now we are sitting here peacefully, how can we waste meat?" Ma Kuo rarely gave a serious advice, and he took the initiative to put down the fire in his hand and carefully gathered the scattered meat fillings.
Wang Yan was embarrassed for a moment and could only turn sideways and lower his head in silence. After a while, he picked up the steamed bun on the table and swallowed it in two bites.
But things don't seem to be over yet.
As the four of them ate a basket of more than a dozen steamed buns, the atmosphere eased a little. Just as they were about to drink some hot water and talk, they heard bells ringing again. This time, the sound came from the direction of the city... The four of them looked up and were even more puzzled when they saw that it was not the Red Heart Riders.
However, those who could be bell-bearing knights were at least smart people with good eyesight. When they saw the four governors and their subordinates sitting in the thatched huts beside the road, they turned around and made their reports.
"Prince, governors!"
The knight dismounted without panicking. "Nothing serious, but Salihe hanged himself with his belt in the room at some point... He left a Khitan suicide note, which said that the rise of the Jin Dynasty over 20 years ago was a destiny of heaven, and that Jin Taizu Aguda was also divine. As a member of the royal family, he was greatly favored by Jin Taizu Emperor and raised under his tent. Now that the army has been defeated and the city has been broken, although he has the intention to live in disgrace, he thinks that he cannot be the first person to surrender to the Jin Dynasty, as he would be unworthy of Taizu's kindness... There are some dirty words that I won't say... My commander Zhang only asked me to go to the central army tent to find Yutang Xueshi, a subordinate of the official family, to make a report."
After saying this, the knight bowed slightly and left calmly.
Except for Han Shizhong, everyone was stunned. They felt more and more helpless but could only remain silent.
No one spoke of it on the spot. That evening, it was the Lantern Festival, the moon was bright and the stars were clear. The generals thought that there would be an imperial banquet with the participation of senior officers, but there were no senior officers... Later, there were rumors that the Lantern Festival was almost the same as the anniversary of Zong Zhongwu's death, and it was normal for the emperor to feel sad at this time, given the current situation.
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