Chapter 161: Lost in the past and present (Part 2)
Before the spring rain arrived, the Jin army was stuck in the mud.
After crossing the Li River, Wanyan Wushu sent people to explore the surrounding area, and indeed found across the river that the city defenses of Yancheng, a node downstream, had been repaired and troops had been replenished. As the saying goes, a strong city means a strong army. Then he had no choice but to give up the idea of returning north from this key point, and angrily went straight north to cross the Ru River.
To be honest, the Ru River is much more famous and wider than the Li River. This time, just for the purpose of building a pontoon bridge, the Jin army had no less than seven or eight conflicts in Hejian with the suddenly appeared large flags of Niu, Tang, Li and other elite Song troops with a total of no less than five or six thousand people under the flags. The Song army used fireboats, swimming, and even a small-scale navy to harass the Jin army effectively... The pontoon bridge was never built.
Finally, the Jin army had no choice but to repeat the old trick. They forcibly separated a cavalry unit of 4,000 people from the shallow place where the tributary of the Ru River in the upper reaches forked. Taking advantage of the forked river and the numerous shallows in the upper reaches, they detoured for hundreds of miles before rushing to the other side of the river... When the opposing troops saw such a large-scale cavalry, they did not want to fight anymore. They burned their own riverside positions early and then retreated to the reserve camp further north, a full 20 miles away from the river, and set up camp properly.
The Jin army did not dare to pursue them easily, nor did they hastily build a bridge. Instead, they set up camp on the spot according to Balisu's instructions when they set out.
After all, the loss they suffered at the Li River last time made them realize that even if they succeeded in building the bridge now, they would not be able to expand the scale of river crossing. Instead, they would be vulnerable to attacks at night, and the pontoon bridge might not be able to be preserved at that time.
As expected, perhaps it was within the Jin army's expectations, but at nightfall the Song army launched another night attack.
Logically speaking, this time, the Jin army had been well prepared and even had a camp, so they should have been able to deal with it properly.
But in fact, the fatigue from the detour made them lose a considerable amount of combat effectiveness. Relatively speaking, the Song army took advantage of the cover of night and their familiarity with the geography and successfully made the battle sudden.
Of course, the more important thing is that according to the Jin army’s own statement later, the Song army had more than 10,000 troops in this night attack!
The Jin army had no choice but to rely on the hastily erected camp to fight hard, and the battle lasted from midnight to dawn... Poor Wanyan Wushu and others led tens of thousands of troops to listen to the noise from the other side, how could they sleep? In the end, almost all the Jin army on the south bank stood up, holding torches and facing each other across the wide Ru River, trying to understand the situation.
The flames on the south bank of the river shone brightly, turning the Ru River in the middle into a river of fire, but it was impossible to see the battle situation clearly.
At dawn, the Song army dispersed on their own initiative. At this time, someone from the opposite camp, which was already in a mess, swam across the river to report that Wanyan Wushu had lost more than a thousand of the 4,000 soldiers and horses, and more than half of the war horses had been lost.
The loss of more than a thousand soldiers was of course only a minor injury to Wanyan Wushu's troops, and it was also consistent with the speculation on the combat effectiveness of the Song army. So that day, the pontoon bridge was built again, and it took another two and a half days for the 40,000 Jin troops to cross the river.
But just after the entire army crossed the Ru River, a fierce dispute broke out among the top leaders of the Jin army that evening!
The cause of the incident was actually very simple. After crossing the Ru River, the Jin army found itself in a new, small strategic dilemma... You must know that at this time, the Ru River behind the Jin army and the Ying River in front of them were both major tributaries of the Huai River. They were both relatively large rivers. The previous battles also showed that such large rivers posed a great obstacle to the Jin cavalry. At this time, there was a strong Yancheng downstream of the Jin army, that is, in the southeast, and a strong Xiangcheng upstream, that is, in the northwest.
The garrison commander of Yancheng was Xu Shi'an, the most reliable general under Han Shizhong's command. The garrison commander of Xiangcheng was a little more powerful, being Lu Jing, the surviving infantry commander of the Three Yamen of the Song Army during the Jing Kang Campaign. He was a veteran who had persisted in fighting against the Jin Army on the Yellow River line for many years... But no matter what, these two cities were the main defense points that the Song Army had held on to at the beginning, and now the Jin Army's scouts had explored them many times. After the Battle of Yanling, the two cities were replenished and repaired in time, and the previous siege was a failure.
Then the question arises... In this situation where the cavalry are almost restricted on the left and right and blocked in the front and back, which is a death trap for them, should they continue to cross the Yingshui River to the north?
Although Balisu and others could still endure and persevere before, after the continuous loss of personnel in the past few days, these veterans of the battlefield have already vaguely sensed that something is wrong.
"The Song army is delaying us layer by layer and exhausting us..." Next to the campfire, Wulindatai grabbed a handful of ashes and sprinkled them in front of him. He pointed a finger at the ashes before he came to a conclusion.
"I know!" Wanyan Wushu glanced at the firewood ash in front of the other party. He knew that the other party was reminding him of the Jurchens' military consultation tradition. He seemed powerless and could only respond coldly.
"We are short of supplies." Balisu had obviously discussed this with Wulinda Taiyu, because he spoke almost immediately. "Fourth Prince, this time is different from when we came here. The towns between the Five Rivers have been combed by the army several times. The battle has been going on for three or four months. All the Song people who could escape have fled. There is no way to get supplies locally. Moreover, the Song army is obviously taking the initiative to fortify its defenses and clear the countryside..."
"I know that too!" Wanyan Wushu remained cold in response.
When the three of them reached this point, they were in a stalemate and almost instinctively looked at the last Wanhu Han Chang, but Han Chang just lowered his head and said nothing.
It is obvious that this Liao Han general was against continuing the advance, and shared the same view as Balisu and Wulindatai. But at the same time, another obvious thing is that as Wuzhu's trusted general, this man maintained respect for Wuzhu in his political stance.
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