Chapter 742: Sneak Attack on Xiangzhou (Part 2)
Since the Tang cavalry destroyed the temporary granary of the Jin soldiers on the south bank of the Yellow River, the Jin soldiers canceled the transit and directly requisitioned tens of thousands of civilians to deliver grain from Daming Prefecture to the capital. The route of delivering grain was basically along the Yongji Canal, from Daming Prefecture to Xiangzhou, and then headed south into Weizhou to Liyang County to cross the Yellow River. The other side was the famous Baima Ferry.
The entire grain transport route was about 500 miles long, and 80,000 civilians rushed tens of thousands of grain trucks to deliver grain on the official roads, and about 10,000 cavalry were responsible for escorting them. Although there were many cavalrymen, because the distance was too long, there were only twenty people per mile, and the number of people was really small. The most important thing was that the Jin soldiers could not be distributed so evenly. Due to the uneven distribution, there would inevitably be a long distance without soldiers guarding them.
Yue Fei was interested in this opportunity, but he also knew that his strength was limited. Even if he destroyed a little grain team, it would not help the overall situation. However, if he could make appointments with thousands of people to carry out major events, it would definitely affect the battle on the front line of the Jin soldiers.
It’s a pity that no one was willing to raise the banner with him. When he was depressed, he turned around. Wang Gui led 3,000 cavalry to Xiangzhou, which allowed Yue Fei to see the opportunity again.
In a forest about 200 steps away from Yongji Canal, Yue Fei and Niu Gao led more than 1,300 people to focus on looking at the endless grain convoy in the woods, "Fifth Brother, are you sure there are no Jin soldiers in this section?" Niu Gao asked in a low voice.
Yue Fei smiled and said, "Of course there will be Jin soldiers, but there will not be many Jin soldiers, at most more than one hundred people, most of them will be in a team of hundreds. I have discovered their rules long ago."
Niu Gao looked north again and asked, "How far is this place from Anyang County?"
"About fifty miles."
"Will it be a little too far from Anyang County?" Niu Gao was still a little worried.
"There is no way. This is the closest place to Anyang County. But you don't have to worry. The Jin soldiers' cavalry are very fast. They fly to ask for help. The Anyang defenders can arrive in at most an hour."
As soon as Yue Fei finished speaking, a soldier pointed to the distance and shouted: "The enemy cavalry is here!"
Yue Fei also saw it, his face showed a hint of surprise. There were actually three hundred cavalrymen, which was really beyond his expectations. The situation of three hundred cavalrymen was not without, but it was difficult to encounter. Unexpectedly, they were actually touched today.
Niu Gao was very excited. He thought that one hundred cavalry was too few. Unexpectedly, three hundred cavalry came, which really made him overjoyed.
"Prepare the crossbow!" Niu Gao shouted in a low voice.
One thousand cavalry raised the divine arm crossbow, with more than two hundred steps within the range of the divine arm crossbow, but Yue Fei's men used ordinary bows and arrows, and the maximum range of killing was only 100 steps, so they could only wait for the opportunity.
The cavalry were getting closer and closer, running across from them like lightning. At this time, Niu Gao shouted, "Shoot!"
A thousand crossbow arrows suddenly fired, and the dense crossbow arrows shot towards the enemy cavalry like a wave of locusts. Three hundred Jin cavalry were caught off guard. The dense crossbow arrows shot into the crowd. Suddenly, a group of people were overturned, and screamed in pain. Yue Fei shouted, "Kill!"
He led 300 soldiers to take the lead in the fight, and then the cavalry led by Niu Gao also quickly came out and swept towards the enemy. The Jin soldiers were in chaos. While running, Yue Fei's subordinates also shot a round of arrows and shot over more than a dozen cavalrymen who were preparing to break out.
The Jin soldiers had suffered more than a hundred casualties and were in chaos. The leader of the thousand-man shouted: "The enemy ambush the grain team, go to Anyang County to ask for help!"
Several cavalry turned their horses and rushed towards Anyang County. The remaining two hundred cavalrymen fought and left, and were killed by the Song army more than fifty people. When the commander saw that they were about to be surrounded by the Song army, he shouted, "Break through with me!"
He led his army to break through the south, and Yue Fei and his subordinates happened to be in the south. When Yue Fei saw that the Jin general rushed towards him with a wolf teeth and a big stick in his hand, he sneered and waved his spear to meet him. Before the enemy general could react, he stabbed him quickly. The speed of the gun was too fast, and the commander of the Jin soldiers was also a little contempt because of Yue Fei's simple leather armor. It was too late to realize that something was wrong.
‘Puff!’ He pierced the chest with a shot. Qianfu Cheng screamed and died on the spot. Yue Fei flipped his wrist and pulled Qianfu off the horse. He stretched out his hand and grabbed the reins of the other party’s war horse. This was a very strong white horse, with long and strong limbs, tall and mighty, and there was no miscellaneous hair on his body, which made Yue Fei very fond.
At this time, the cavalry led by Niu Gao had already rushed over and surrounded more than 100 Jin soldiers. The Jin soldiers fought to the death, and the two sides fought fiercely.
At this time, thousands of civilians who transported the grain trucks were already scared and fled in all directions and left behind thousands of grain trucks. Although the grain teams were in constant flow, they were only for the five hundred miles long distance. In fact, the grain trucks were heading south in batches. There were about 1,400 grain trucks, basically all donkey trucks. Each car was pulled by two donkeys, and each car was loaded with seventy or eighty stones of grain.
The Jin soldiers who were fighting stubbornly were finally wiped out by the Song army with their superior forces. The Song army immediately unloaded the donkey, and all the grain trucks were concentrated and scattered with tinder oil. The grain trucks quickly ignited a raging fire.
The donkey is a spoil, so of course it will not be abandoned easily. Yue Fei asked his deputy general Xu Qing to lead his subordinates to drive nearly 3,000 donkeys away first, while he and Niu Gao led a thousand cavalry to detour towards Anyang County at lightning.
When the Anyang defenders learned that the grain truck was intercepted by the Song army, the leader of the thousand-man leader was shocked and broke out in a cold sweat. Marshal Du has always held him seriously accountable. The grain truck was robbed in Xiangzhou. Once Marshal Du was held accountable, he would have no action and would have life worries.
The commander was anxious and immediately led 500 Jin soldiers and 2,000 Han troops to leave Anyang County and fight to the southeast.
The Han army, the Song army that surrendered to the Jin soldiers, was the leader of Song Ge, who was an imperial guard commander. When the Jin soldiers headed south for the first time, he led two thousand soldiers to surrender to Wanyan Zongwang, and was named the Ya General, leading two thousand soldiers to assist the Jin soldiers in Xiangzhou.
The Song army that surrendered to the Jin Dynasty basically had no armor changed, but had a circle of sheepskin around the helmet, which turned the helmet into white. The Han army had a relatively low status, not only far inferior to the Jurchens, but also the Bohai people. They were even worse than the Khitans and Xi people. They were the lowest-ranking soldiers. Of course, they did not have any war horses and rode on horseback, but just ran all the way behind the Jin cavalry.
The commander of thousands of men was anxious and led the cavalry to run along the official road, gradually leading the Han army to fall further and further.
When passing through a peach forest, there was a sound of clappers on both sides of the peach forest, and then dense arrows shot from both sides like storms. Five hundred Jin soldiers suddenly turned over, and the leader of the thousand-man commander was shot through by dozens of arrows and killed on the spot.
"Kill!" Wang Gui roared and led two thousand cavalry out of the woods. The Jin soldiers fought in panic. Although they fought bravely, the number of Song soldiers was several times theirs. In less than a quarter of an hour, five hundred cavalry were killed by the Song army.
At this time, a side general pointed at the Han army running from a distance and said, "Those who should be the Song army who surrendered to the Jin army, they had no horses and fell behind!"
More than a dozen generals looked at Wang Gui at the same time. Wang Gui gritted his teeth and said slowly: "Surrendering to the alien race is not worth mercy. Kill me, and no one is left!"
Two thousand cavalry roared and urged their horses to kill the Han army behind them.
At the same time when Wang Gui led his troops to encircle and annihilate the Jin soldiers and Han troops, Yue Fei and Niu Gao led a thousand cavalry to Anyang and directly entered the county town where there were no defenders.
Chapter completed!