Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

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Chapter 3430 Jinzhou City

Upon receiving the order, Wang Bolong immediately led his troops out of the city.

Wanyan Shengdu, the eldest son of Wanyan Talan, commanded three thousand Jurchen cavalry.

Wang Bolong led 4,000 Han cavalrymen and followed Wanyan Shengdu to directly attack the Ming cavalry outside the city.

Yang Yun and Li Shifu's cavalry numbered only three thousand, and they were exhausted from their long journey.

"withdraw!"

The moment the gates of Jinzhou opened, Yang Yun ordered a retreat.

Their mission was not to annihilate the enemy, but to watch the Jin army's retreat route and prevent them from leaving Jinzhou City unscathed.

The Ming cavalry marched south along the Ling River, frantically blowing horns along the way.

The Ming light cavalry patrolling south of the city used binoculars to get a clear view of the situation and immediately ran back to the Ming army camp west of Jinzhou to report the news.

Soon, Li Jinyi ordered Yan Ping to lead two thousand cavalry to harass and provide support.

Wanyan Talan immediately dispatched 1,000 Jurchen cavalry, 1,000 Han cavalry, and 1,500 Khitan cavalry to break out from the south gate and intercept them.

The two Ming cavalry forces fought and retreated, but Li Jinyi ordered his army to move forward and sent 20,000 infantrymen to approach the western city wall of Jinzhou.

Deng Chun had already arrived by boat and landed forty miles southeast of Jinzhou City.

They deployed wagons near the mouth of the Linghe River to await reinforcements, and sent light cavalry north to gather intelligence.

The light cavalry quickly encountered Yang Yun and Li Shifu, who sounded their horns to guide them to retreat south.

Wang Bolong seemed willing to die with the Jin Dynasty and had no intention of betraying the Jin and surrendering to the Ming Dynasty. He led his Han cavalry in a frenzied pursuit of the Ming cavalry.

Perhaps it's because he holds a very high official position.

A month ago, this fellow was promoted to Commander-in-Chief of the Guangning Cavalry, and concurrently held the honorary titles of Military Governor of two towns. He was also granted 10,000 mu of land and a large number of serfs.

This man was a loyal Han general under Wanyan Zongfu, specifically used to counterbalance Wanyan Talan!

"Raise the flag, and tell them to come back from the east!"

Based on the specific terrain, Deng Chun arranged a simplified version of the plum blossom formation.

Two thousand people stood with their backs to the Ling River, forming a large hollow car formation.

The other thousand people formed two smaller hollow vehicle formations, located to the northeast and southeast of the larger hollow vehicle formation, respectively.

Yang Yun and Li Shifu led their exhausted cavalry through the hollow formations of varying sizes.

Wang Bolong ordered his Han cavalry to split into two groups: one group followed directly into the enemy lines, while the other group advanced eastward, firing arrows around the small hollow formation.

The flintlock musketeers were with Zhu Ming and were not brought over.

But they brought more than twenty tiger-squatting cannons.

"Boom boom boom!"

Among them, the eight tiger-crouching cannons were positioned well and used volley fire to crossfire at the charging Han cavalry.

Then came the bows and arrows, and the crossbows, which also fired at the Han cavalry in a crisscross pattern.

Three or four hundred Liaodong Han cavalrymen who charged into the area between the large and small hollow formations fell in a daze.

They also fired arrows at the Ming army, but the arrows were blocked by the foldable shields raised high on the chariots.

There were also fierce Liaodong Han cavalrymen who, in their panic, charged directly into the enemy lines, only to find themselves facing rows of four-meter-long infantry spears.

It would be fine if there were only spears, but the problem is that the spearmen are located at the rear of the chariot.

Wang Bolong was terrified and led his cavalry to break through to the east.

But if he wanted to escape in this way, he would have to face a three-way attack from one large hollow formation and two small hollow formations.

With both arrows and crossbows firing simultaneously, Wang Bolong himself was hit by two arrows.

This fellow led his remaining troops to safety in a perilous rush, only to be ambushed by Yang Yun and Li Shifu.

However, the exhausted Ming cavalry first fled to the rear of the hollow formation in the southeast corner.

By circling the enemy lines eastward and then heading north, they were poised to launch an attack on the Han cavalry of Liaodong.

"Withdraw! Withdraw!"

Upon seeing the miserable state of the Han cavalry in Liaodong, Wanyan Shengdu immediately sounded the horn and ordered a retreat.

But where can I get a refund?

"Father, go quickly! I'll cover your retreat!" Wang Kang led his troops to rein in their horses and turn to block the attack.

Wang Bolong had already been hit by four arrows, one of which was deep enough to reach the bone.

He fled in panic, clinging to his horse, completely disregarding his son who was covering his retreat.

"Well done!"

Li Shifu and Wang Kang passed each other on horseback, and Li Shifu raised his hand and thrust out, his spear like a dragon.

Before Wang Kang could react, he was stabbed in the face, the spearhead piercing his nose from the side.

He immediately felt dizzy and disoriented, his body swayed and he lost his grip on the reins, falling to the ground as his warhorse lurched.

Wang Bolong led his remaining troops in a hasty escape, while Wanyan Shengdu attempted to come to their aid.

"Boom boom boom!"

On the northeast side, a small hollow formation with three tiger-squatting cannons fired grapeshot, which landed precisely on the charging Jurchen cavalry.

The Jurchen cavalry were so frightened that they immediately turned and fled.

Unfortunately, the Ming cavalry's horses were too tired, and after a period of pursuit, the enemy cavalry gradually escaped into the distance.

Back in Jinzhou, Wanyan Shengdu took stock of his troops.

In that brief exchange just now, out of a total of seven thousand Jin Kingdom cavalrymen who went out, only about five thousand were able to return.

Moreover, nearly a thousand people were injured!

"What kind of formation is that?"

Wang Bolong was filled with fear and unease, and didn't even have time to grieve for his son's death.

This type of bastion formation has large hollow chariots positioned upright, while smaller hollow chariots are positioned diagonally, essentially forming a movable bastion.

In particular, when Wang Bolong turned to break through the encirclement, he was simultaneously attacked by three hollow formations from a distance, and his Han cavalry were hit by tiger-squatting cannons and crossbows, falling in droves.

Chapter 3431 It's Good That I Survived

When Wanyan Talan and Wanyan Xiyin arrived, they saw the cavalrymen fleeing back in disarray and immediately asked them what had happened.

After he finished speaking, Wanyan Talan fell silent.

Li Jinyi's army had already reached the city gates, and all the Jin cavalry had retreated back into the city.

Several squads of Ming light cavalry galloped around the city, shooting surrender notices into the city while shouting along the way: "Those who surrender will be spared death! Those who surrender will be spared death!"

North of the city, the city wall.

"Uncle, the Jurchen troops suffered a crushing defeat against the Han troops, with over two thousand killed or wounded in their single mission!" A Xi youth gloated.

Xiao Shunxian whispered a warning: "Don't show anything unusual."

"We have few soldiers and are under constant surveillance, so we need to find a good opportunity to start a rebellion."

The Xi youth said, "I have heard that Yelü Yudu has become a high-ranking official in the Ming Dynasty."

"If we defect, we'll surely be given important positions if we make meritorious contributions."

"It's good enough that we survived," Xiao Shunxian sighed.

The Xi rebellion caused too much trouble, leading to severe suppression of the Xi people in the Jin state, who were forever considered cannon fodder to be sent to their deaths.

It seems that the Jin dynasty was deliberately trying to erase the Xi ethnic group.

The unit before them was the last organized Xi army.

The rest are all dead!

.....

The following morning, another troop transport ship arrived, bringing Deng Chun's infantry to five thousand.

Escorted by cavalry, they used mules to pull their chariots along the Ling River to the southeast of Jinzhou City.

The situation here is a bit complicated. Jinzhou City is surrounded by rivers on its east, west, and south sides, and there are mountains on the opposite banks of the rivers to the east and south.

The Ling River flows southeast, passing between two mountains, both of which are fortified by Jin soldiers.

Wanyan Talan lived up to his reputation as a veteran general. During his three years of management in Jinzhou, he had built a three-dimensional defense system that integrated cities, fortresses, rivers, and mountains.

Li Jinyi's army was on the southwest side, planning to cooperate with Deng Chun to first capture the mountain fortress south of Jinzhou City.

Although Li Jinyi had more soldiers, Deng Chun held a higher official position and had more seniority, so he personally went to Deng Chun to discuss the matter.

"South of Jinzhou City are three mountain strongholds, and earthen walls are built between the mountain passes,"

Li Jinyi explained the situation, saying that...

"Each mountain stronghold has a small garrison, but there are two wooden bridges south of the city."

"Once our army attacks the mountain stronghold, the Jin soldiers inside the city can quickly cross the bridge to reinforce and rescue it."

"We can also cross the river from the east and west sides and send cavalry to attack our flanks."

Li Jinyi has been here for several days and has even drawn a simple map of the enemy's defenses.

Deng Chun pointed to the map and said, "Attack the three mountain strongholds at the same time. Our two units will deploy wagon formations along the river to prevent the enemy cavalry from attacking from the flanks."

"Oh, by the way, His Majesty also sent me with a very important gift."

"What great gift?" Li Jinyi asked.

Deng Chun laughed and said, "A bunch of heads."

Even with ample artillery, the Ming navy also had a few small trebuchets mounted on its ships, specifically for throwing smoke bombs at enemy vessels.

Soon, several small trebuchets were removed from the ship.

The cavalry escorted the naval gunners to the west gate of Jinzhou and began to hurl "gifts" into the city.

It's all heads!

There was the head of Gao Biao, who was strangled to death by Yang Zaixing, as well as the heads of various tribal leaders killed by Wanyan Zongfu.

The heads were coated with lime to prevent them from rotting, and each head was also packed in a bag.

The bag was inscribed with many characters in calligraphy, including the name and job title of the person who owned the head.

"put!"

One by one, heads were placed in cloth bags and hurled into Jinzhou City by volleyballs.

The Jurchen soldiers were mostly illiterate in Chinese characters, and the soldiers of various ethnic groups were also illiterate in Chinese characters.

Curious, they opened the bag and saw the heads inside. Although they couldn't identify who they were, they had a vague guess that their allies had suffered a major defeat!

"This...this is Li Jing, Li Jing of the Liaoyang Li family!" an officer exclaimed, pointing at the severed head.

In the early years of the Jin Dynasty, there was indeed a Bohai general named Li Jing, who was now clearly recognized.

A literate Khitan general picked up the cloth bag and read aloud: "Gao Biao, son of the Gao family of Chenzhou, Deputy Privy Councilor of Guangning Prefecture, Commander-in-Chief of the Hesuguan Circuit, and Military Governor of Fuzhou..."

"Ta-ta-ta-ta!"

A sound of horses' hooves approached, and Wanyan Shengdu personally led the Jurchen elite cavalry, galloping along the way and shouting: "Hand over the cloth bags quickly, no one is allowed to keep any for themselves."

"These heads are all imposters; it's a scare tactic by the Southern bandits!"

Of course, no one dared to keep anything for themselves; they obediently handed over the bags and the heads.

However, news of Wanyan Zongfu's crushing defeat and the deaths of the generals at Hesuguan spread rapidly among the city's defenders.

Wanyan Talan pointed to the pile of heads he had collected: "Eriduo has completely lost his mind, recklessly luring and killing generals from various tribes, and he doesn't even know how to clean up the mess!"

Wanyan Xiyin said, "The situation was urgent at the time."