Therefore, after the various units of the Song army were forced to climb the plateau slope by the reinforcements of the Jin army, they retreated again and again and were almost unable to gain a foothold.
In sharp contrast, some Jin cavalrymen were still able to fight because of the terrain, bows and arrows and the loss of their horses. There was no retreat or reorganization. Instead, they basically formed a formation and charged in groups of three or five with spears, engaging the Song army's large formation and providing cover for the heavy arrows of the cavalry behind them.
"Jin Sai!"
Li Qiong reined in his horse and stood in the center of his own formation. He saw the Jin cavalry once again forcing his own group to retreat, and then galloped to attack Xin Yongzong's group on the side. Xin Yongzong's group was even more unbearable. They showed signs of wavering before they even started fighting. His eyes were bloodshot, but he suddenly gritted his teeth and called his deputy general. "You take charge of the situation here for me!"
"When will the general leave?" Deputy General Jin Sai came galloping from the front. He had been hit by an arrow on his helmet before. Although there was no vital injury, his hair crown was shot to pieces. After the arrow was broken, his hair fell directly from the helmet. In addition, the yellow soil here was flying in his face, making him look extremely embarrassed.
"How long can you hold on?" In the noisy environment around them, the Jin army saw that Xin Yongzong's troops seemed unstable, and they all shouted in an attempt to scare them. Li Qiong had no choice but to ask loudly.
"I can only guarantee a quarter of an hour!" Jin Sai also tried his best to speak.
"That's enough!" Li Qiong shouted. Before he finished speaking, he spurred his horse to the side and rear where there was a flag. It was the flag of Wang Yan of the Eight Character Army.
The thirty of his personal guards also quickly reined in their horses and followed.
But even on the flanks and rear, there was fierce fighting between the Jin cavalry. By the time Li Qiong arrived at Wang Yan's camp and peeled off his visor, he had lost more than ten of the thirty cavalrymen who were accompanying him. Li Qiong himself was also pierced by an arrow in the shoulder, but the double layer of heavy armor plus the silk lining blocked the arrow and did not cause any effective injury.
"Li Qiong!"
As the only military governor on the plateau and the one who was in charge of the rear, Wang Yan naturally had the duty of supervising the army. Therefore, when he saw Li Qiong abandon the battle, he was naturally angry instead of happy. "Why are you here?"
"General Wang!"
Li Qiong ran up to him and spoke earnestly. "The battle is already very urgent. If we allow the Jin cavalry to repeatedly penetrate along the battle line and combine forces to squeeze us a few more times, we will have to retreat to the plateau! The deputy commander... the emperor is behind the battle formation. If we lose this plateau, the Jin cavalry will line up on the plateau and attack us in one fell swoop. I am a commander, so I will die, but the general is the only one holding the seal on the plateau. Even if I die, it will be recorded in the history books, and I will be laughed at by the world for losing this plateau in this battle!"
"Then what do you say we should do?" Wang Yan was furious. "Don't I know that the emperor is behind us? But you six divisions are in front, and you have been retreating one after another. I am at the back and there is nothing I can do!"
"To stop the Jin cavalry from interpenetrating, two things are necessary. First, there must be elite troops who take the initiative to charge forward and stop the two large cavalry from continuing to interpenetrate left and right. Second, there must be a general who can stabilize the situation from behind like a mainstay and prevent the troops from retreating!" Li Qiong responded with all his strength. "Wang Taiwei is a minister of state and the only governor on the plateau. Please take care of yourself at this time!"
After saying this, without waiting for Wang Yan to speak, Li Qiong sped away again and turned to somewhere ahead.
On this side, Wang Yan was shocked and angry, but when he turned around and saw the camp behind him in the distance, he could only clench his fists on his horse and shout out an order: "Let Meng De and Jiao Wentong move closer to me and parallel to my flag. Let Liu Ze retreat to the bottom of the plateau to provide support. Tell him to let him be the supervisor of the battle. Count me, Wang Yan, in. Today, no matter whether it is Song or Jin, whoever goes down to the plateau will die! Pass this order to the previous few divisions!"
Many of the guards around dispersed upon hearing the news, but Wang Yan simply held the flag himself and slowly urged the army forward.
Just when Wang Yan was about to burn his boats, Li Qiong had already arrived at Wang De's camp on the other side. He saw Wang De's majestic figure from afar, as well as his two sons, Wang Qi and Wang Shun, who had similar figures. The three of them, father and sons, were personally leading more than a hundred long-axe soldiers to stand at the front of the camp. Seeing this, Li Qiong was overjoyed and quickly caught up.
"General!" Li Qiong was much more straightforward when facing Wang De. "I know you are a good man. The country is in danger now. Great things need a good man like the general to do it... I want to join forces with the general to cut off the rampage of the Jin cavalry. I wonder if the general dares?!"
Wang De turned around and listened to Li Qiong's shout, but did not answer, but just laughed. Before the laughter stopped, he suddenly urged his horse forward, and jumped out like a dragon, and knocked a Jin army Mouke who had secretly stopped to draw an arrow while he was laughing to the ground with an axe. His two sons immediately rushed forward to protect the two wings, and then his personal guards followed with axes. His troops did not dare to be negligent at all, and regardless of being attacked from three sides, they also followed under the command of their deputy general.
Li Qiong knew there was no need to say anything more when he saw the situation, so he quickly rushed back to his camp.
Unexpectedly, before he reached the front of the battle, he saw with his own eyes that Xin Yongzong's army had retreated, and the Jin cavalry were driving a small number of defeated soldiers towards the side of his own army. At this time, Jin Sai was already at a loss, but he was relieved only when he saw his commander returning, and he went straight to the front of the battle to stop the defeated soldiers.
When Li Qiong returned to the battle formation, he saw Jin Sai stopping the fleeing soldiers, and immediately issued an order to rush forward from the side and front to join Wang De's troops. However, when he looked up again, he saw Jin Sai being shot in the helmet by a close-range arrow from the Jin army, and this time, Jin Sai was not as lucky as the last time, but fell off his horse and was motionless.
Li Qiong reined in his horse and turned around in the formation. Without any extra words or expression, he just pulled down the iron cover and continued to urge the army to advance to the side and front.
After a moment, the troops of Balisu and General Yuan Yinshu drove Pei Mantu and Xin Yongzong's troops back. After passing through the yellow dust, they found that the troops of Li Qiong, who had just been forced past them, were moving their formation in a strange way. They were overjoyed and personally led hundreds of cavalrymen to rush forward. After firing several arrows, they took the initiative to change to lances.
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