Chapter 239 Military Order
Besides, since both sides have sent out their troops, they have no choice but to fight.
The first Song army unit, led by Qiao Ze from Qinfeng Road, was ordered to attack Jinsu Mountain, but was spotted by the Jin army scouts shortly after leaving the camp. Immediately, Wanyan Shensi (real name Yelu Shensi, surnamed by Jin Taizu), the vanguard of the Jin army's Wanhu Mawu, was ordered to lead ten Khitan Moukes, a total of a thousand cavalrymen, to abandon their cloth bags, leave the main group, and attack Qiao Ze's troops.
On the local battlefield, cavalry came and went like the wind. Therefore, in the morning, when the dew had not yet dried, Qiao Ze had just led his troops ten miles out of the camp and was still five or six miles away from Jinsu Mountain when he ran into Wanyan Shensi head-on and started a battle.
The battle process is simple, fast and fierce.
Among them, although Wanyan Shensi's troops were all Khitan cavalry, the troops organized according to the Meng'an Mouke system still had the characteristics of the Jin army... and as Wu Jie summarized, the main force of the Jin army has always had the advantages of cavalry, heavy arrows, armor, and most importantly, the advantages of the soldiers' endurance and strong execution.
On the other hand, the Qinfeng Road troops led by Qiao Ze inevitably seemed to be short of horses and armor, and the quality of the soldiers themselves was also worrying.
Therefore, although Qiao Ze had tried very hard to deal with it, only two quarters of an hour later, as the Song army suffered nearly a hundred casualties from the heavy arrows of the Jin army, they still fell into a complete disadvantage in the battle. In this situation, in order to protect the entire army, Qiao Ze immediately chose to fight and retreat behind him, and Yelu Shensi obviously received some specific instructions, and chose to chase and kill without hesitation.
With the continuous and effective killing of the Jin cavalry, Qiao Ze's troops soon could not hold on and quickly fell into a state of fleeing. The troops also lost their ability to resist, and large-scale casualties began to occur... Fortunately, everyone's escape goal was the same, and the terrain here was complex. Even though the Song army was a little panicked when fleeing, a ditch appeared here and a muddy swamp there after the water evaporated, which brought great trouble to the heavily armored Jin cavalry, and kept Qiao Ze's troops in a state of collapse but not dispersion.
In this way, the not very effective pursuit and massacre continued for a while, and the Song army continued to leave many corpses. But as the remaining troops of Qiao Ze rushed up the high slope of the plateau six miles east of their own camp, the Jin army finally suffered a large-scale delay - Qiao Ze did not lose his mind. He specifically chose the steepest section of the gully to wait for the plateau to retreat. The steep gullies on the edge of the plateau were a big trouble for the Jin cavalry, who had to detour to both sides of the plateau to find a gentle slope.
However, that was the end of it. When the Jin cavalry finally made their way around the plateau, they discovered that the Song army's reinforcement force of no less than five or six thousand people, divided into two groups, had already left the camp to rescue them.
However, Wanyan Shensi looked at the two troops that were shining slightly in the sun, moving quickly and in neat formation, and he chose to withdraw without hesitation... His thousand cavalrymen had no chance of gaining any advantage against the main force of the Song army of such size and morale.
"What's the point of fighting this war?"
After bringing back Qiao Ze's troops, Xin Yongzong, the commander of the imperial camp, looked at the losses of Qiao Ze's troops and could not help but complain to Li Qiong, who was beside him and sent out to rescue them. "Two thousand isolated troops, didn't Wu let General Qiao go out to send them off in vain? Moreover, our camp is so high, many soldiers saw the defeat with their own eyes, didn't they lose morale in vain?"
Of course, Qiao Ze knew that Xiao Xin was trying to curry favor for the sake of his uncle Qiao Zhongfu, and as the person who received the order, he knew some inside information. However, he had just escaped from the tiger's mouth and was inevitably in a state of embarrassment. However, he was too lazy to say anything and just turned his head to see the situation of his subordinates.
"That's not the case."
At this time, Li Qiong, who had been stationed on the plateau and looking around, had a stern expression and shook his head. "General Wu's move does make sense. He is looking for, or guessing, a suitable battlefield for the decisive battle! If nothing unexpected happens, we will fight on this piece of Dongpo Plateau today! The terrain, size, height, field of vision, and distance are all suitable!"
Xin Yongzong looked at the plateau under his feet in astonishment, and suddenly woke up... Even if he had no talent, Li Qiong had said so much, how could a leader not understand? Moreover, Qiao Ze, the person involved, did not refute it at all.
Furthermore, the Jin army obviously wanted to take Jinsu Mountain to gain a visual advantage and a secondary base for launching a general attack on the Song army camp. However, Jinsu Mountain was only fourteen or fifteen miles away from the Song army camp. At such a long distance, they would definitely not be able to defeat the Jin cavalry. So, as everyone thought, the fight for Jinsu Mountain was a false proposition from the beginning. Facing the main force of the 30,000 Jin army, it was impossible for two thousand isolated troops to produce any substantial results.
However, this was not Wu Jie's purpose in asking Qiao Ze to attack.
The process of the two thousand troops' collapse has naturally highlighted the advantages of the Dongpo area:
First, Dongpo was five or six miles away from the Song army camp and ten miles away from Jinsu Mountain. This was the effective distance for the Song army, which was mainly composed of infantry, to support and attack from the camp, and it could also ensure that it would not be easily controlled by the Jin army.
Secondly, since Dongpo is a plateau slope, and the main slope is on the east side, it is destined that it is much easier for infantry to climb this battlefield than the opposing cavalry;
Third, the height of Dongpo was no higher than the foot of the mountain where the Song army camp was located, so the view was clear and convenient for command;
Finally, Dongpo is extremely large and long, hundreds of steps wide and more than ten miles long, making it convenient for the main force to deploy here. At the same time, the swamps formed by the evaporation of water mostly end here.
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