The gods began by supporting Guo Jing to become emperor

Chapter 241: Crushing War, Lv Wende Escapes
In the garrison, Lu Wende summoned the generals in Xiangyang City and announced the dispatch of troops.

Immediately, a general objected, "General, if we leave the city, we will surely fail!"

"Yes, the morale of the Zhou army is high. We can still hold on to the city and cannot leave."

……

Lu Wende looked helpless. He took out a package and threw it on the table. There was a "click" sound, and gold orders were scattered on the table. "The imperial court ordered me to obey. If you disobey, don't blame me for punishing you by military law."

Seeing the dozen or so golden orders on the table, the eyelids of the generals present twitched violently. So many!
Almost instantly, they thought of Prince Yue who was recalled to Lin'an by Emperor Gaozong with more than a dozen golden orders a hundred years ago.

"A general is not bound by orders from his king when on the battlefield. We..." Someone mustered up the courage to say this, but suddenly Lu Wende gave him a cold look, and he didn't dare to continue speaking.

Lu Wende knew that his family was still in Nanchang Prefecture. If he did not obey the imperial edict, they would be implicated. As for surrendering, he had thought about it, but if he surrendered without fighting, his reputation would be ruined and his family would be disgraced.

A few days later, a declaration of war was delivered to the Zhou army camp outside the city.

After receiving the declaration of war, Guo Jing showed a hint of joy in his eyes, "Sure enough, the Song army can't stand it anymore!"

Lu Guanying also looked excited, "Okay, since they don't want to vote, then let's fight!"

……

A few days later, the gates of Xiangyang slowly opened, and the Song army went out of the city one after another and deployed their battle formations. Together with the army in Fancheng, they went out of the city together. There were a total of 60,000 troops on both sides. In this battle, Lu Wende mobilized all his forces and left no room for maneuver.

The two sides lined up outside the city of Xiangyang, several miles apart.

Flags covered the sky, stretching for thousands of miles. War horses neighed, and a murderous aura rose into the sky. The sky was cloudless, and there was not even a bird flying in the sky.

"Woo..."

The horns of war echoed in the sky as both sides launched a charge. Lu Wende sat on the chariot with the large banner behind him fluttering in the wind. At the end of his sight, the dark shadows of the Zhou army on the opposite side spread out like a swarm of ants under the sunlight.

An overwhelming rain of arrows fell from the sky. The charging soldiers raised their shields, and the arrows hit the shields hard, making their arms numb. Some soldiers were hit by stray arrows and died on the spot. Some were even shot and wounded, falling to the ground wailing. Everyone had only one target in mind, and that was the enemy in front of them.

After a while, the vanguard armies of Zhou and Song officially engaged in battle. The fighting crowds collided like a raging tide, and then spread out. Sparse rain of arrows nailed into the soil, and crazy footsteps stepped over it. The front-line infantry of the Zhou army held long spears and swords and kept advancing forward.

The Song army, however, used box carts to form a battle array, connecting them into a series of formations in an attempt to stop the Zhou army.

However, the box cart formation is good for defense and is mostly used against cavalry. However, they forgot that the Zhou army's infantry was also the best in the world. The chariot formation in front soon encountered teams of heavy infantry wearing heavy armor. They advanced in layers and in an orderly pace. Soon they rushed to the front of the box carts, with shields nailed in front. The soldiers behind took out iron balls from the leather bags behind them, lit the fuse and threw them into the box carts.

This thing is called the Thunder Bomb. It was invented during the Northern Song Dynasty. It is a simplified version of the landmine, but it was not taken seriously by the Song army. It was later developed and promoted by the Zhou army.

"boom!"

Explosions sounded one after another. The soldiers in the box car were blown unconscious by the thunder bombs that fell from the sky. The porcelain pieces bursting out from the iron ball penetrated deeply into the soldiers' bodies. The densely packed soldiers inside were immediately in trouble and fell down in large numbers at once.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Zhou army outside rushed forward again, breaking through the Song army's box car team in one fell swoop and advancing dozens of feet.

Sitting high up in the chariot, Lv Wende stared at the battle line ahead and couldn't help muttering to himself, "Is this the Zhou army's firearm?"

When the vanguard was breached, he made a prompt decision, "Send the order, the central army will provide quick support, and the rear army will hold the line."

The messenger cavalry ran back and forth in the army formation and his voice became hoarse.

After a while, the central army rushed to support, and the boiling battlefield forced the cavalry squads from all directions to press back to their own formations.

Lu Wende kept giving orders for reserve troops to fill in the gaps in the formation. However, the Zhou army soldiers were all experienced in battle and were far from comparable to the Song army which had little experience in fighting.

There were loopholes in the long battle line every moment. No matter how hard he tried to save it, the soldiers lined up in the front kept shrinking towards him. It was not until the rear army came forward to support him that the line was barely stabilized.

When Guo Jing saw this scene, he immediately ordered the cavalry to charge.

So, in the Zhou army camp, the cavalry with their swords sharpened quickly rushed out of the camp, pierced through the flank of the Song army like chariots, fought back and forth continuously, and directly crashed into the Song army, tearing them apart.

"kill!"

A Zhou soldier roared, pinned a Song soldier to the ground, and stabbed him in the heart with a knife. The next second, he was knocked to the ground by the Song army behind him, and a spear pierced his body from the side. The Zhou soldier still roared, allowing the spear to be nailed into his body, and chopped off the long handle with his knife, and pounced on the nearest enemy. The blood flowed from the blade to the handle, and he could hardly hold on.

The view rose to the sky. The offensive from the plains north of Fancheng to the south was extremely fierce. From the foothills to the plains, and then extending to the low-lying areas, fighting figures could be seen everywhere. Compared with the steady and cautious Zhou army infantry on the front line, the real pressure on Lu Wende came from the Beiwei cavalry that roamed the north.

This was the first time he felt the fierce offensive of the Zhou cavalry. In comparison, the Jin army they had encountered before was nothing. In the daylight, large groups of cavalry split into small teams, wandering around the two wings. They first harassed with bows and arrows, and after the frontal battlefield started, they used a small number of cavalry as arrows to directly infiltrate and split a square formation, crushing them one by one in a moment.

The battlefield stretched for miles, and the sounds of weapons and shouts shook the sky. The cavalry led by Lu Guanying was divided into three groups, coordinating and interspersing with each other. If they saw the reorganized Song army on the way, they would push forward directly, and the surging torrent would defeat them in large numbers.

The boiling fighting and collision had spread to the center of the Song army. The cavalry rushed in one after another and penetrated the crowd. The officers here commanded their own troops to organize the spear formation to meet them. The spears stabbed the armored Zhou cavalry and scraped out white marks. Sparks kept flashing in the metal sound, and then boom, boom, boom!

The sound of high-speed war horses crashing into people's bodies, blood and flesh splattering, shields shattering, some Song soldiers flew backwards and hit their comrades behind them, some were knocked directly to the ground, and the iron hooves that rushed into the crowd rolled wildly, rolling up miserable screams, plowing out long blood carpets, and the advancing front was full of blood and flesh flying everywhere, and people and horses were falling to the ground.

After the cavalry charged, the infantry quickly followed, dividing and surrounding the Song army, and destroying it bit by bit.

"Lost!"

Seeing this scene, Lu Wende closed his eyes in despair, knowing that the outcome was already decided. He had already mobilized all his troops, but the enemy's central army camp had not moved at all, without even any supporting troops. With just over 10,000 vanguards, they were able to withstand his tens of thousands of infantrymen. The gap between the two sides was too big.

After calming down, he ordered the central army to slowly retreat and distance themselves from the front line to avoid being attacked by cavalry. However, the cavalry wandering around were already closely watching every move here, and did not take this opportunity to charge directly at the commander. The moment they saw the commander's flag move, they shouted loudly: "The Song army is defeated!"

When the Song army infantrymen around heard this, regardless of whether it was true or not, they all shouted in agreement. The Song soldiers fighting on the front line did not believe it at first. However, when some people actually saw the commander's flag slowly retreating and distancing itself from them, they were dumbfounded.

The clever man had slowly retreated, protecting his comrades in front of him, and then ran away.

On the battlefield, once escape occurs, it will have a huge impact on the morale of the army. At this time, the central army was still retreating and could not suppress the enemy. As a result, large numbers of Song troops began to collapse.

"Those who kneel down and surrender will not be killed!"

Seeing this, the cavalry who were wandering around the flanks of the battlefield looking for opportunities to fight immediately split into several teams and kept shouting. The Zhou army also echoed in unison, and the sound was like a tsunami, shaking the hearts and minds.

As the first soldier dropped his weapon and knelt in surrender, the Song army was defeated one after another, and large numbers of people surrendered directly.

Soon it was time for the sun to set. The battlefield outside Xiangyang city had changed hands. The Song army soldiers were defeated like a tide and fled in all directions. The Zhou army cavalry were chasing them like they were cutting wheat. Before they could escape back to Xiangyang, the rear army troops surrounding Lü Wende were also defeated.

At this time, the Zhou army was already blood-thirsty and rushed straight towards his central army. When Lu Wende saw the pursuers all over the mountains and plains, he couldn't help but shudder. He actually dropped his commander's flag and fled with hundreds of cavalrymen beside him.

Without the commander-in-chief, the Song army was defeated. By evening, the war was over. Blood and corpses were everywhere, arrows, swords and spears were scattered on the ground, and the air was filled with the smell of blood.

Guo Jing brought thousands of cavalrymen to the city of Xiangyang. Looking at the wide moat and tall city walls, he couldn't help but sigh, "This is Xiangyang." At this moment, he inexplicably felt as if he had let go of something in his heart.

"Enter the city!"

With an order, the army entered Xiangyang. Lu Wende brought all the troops in Xiangyang City. At that time, there were only thousands of wounded soldiers in the city. When they learned that the Zhou army was at the gate of the city, they simply opened the city gates and surrendered.

No matter how strong a city or natural barrier is, it still needs people to guard it. A big city like Xiangyang cannot be defended without tens of thousands of people, so there is no need for a desperate struggle.

Guo Jing rode his little red horse into the city gate. The houses near the city gate had become ruins, with traces of burning war everywhere. There were no pedestrians on the street, and the doors of the houses on the roadside were closed. Faintly, pairs of restless eyes could be seen through the cracks in the doors.

"Come here, the army will enter the city. Do not touch the people and their property in the city. The cavalry will patrol the city. If there are any crimes, they will be punished by military law!"

"As ordered!"

The army entered the city one after another, and the entire city was under martial law.

Three days later, Lu Guanying reported the results of the battle in the garrison, "Your Majesty, our army suffered more than 9,000 casualties in this battle, beheaded more than 20,000 Song soldiers, and captured nearly 30,000. The Song army's chief general, Lü Wende, fled with only a hundred cavalrymen, and we were unable to catch up."

“Select the elite soldiers of the Song army to serve as auxiliary troops to transport food and grass, and the rest will be given rations and allowed to return to their fields. In addition, the officials of Jingnan Road will be retained as appropriate, and all the chief officers will be dismissed and appointed as officials by our Great Zhou’s successful candidates.” Guo Jing stared at the map on the wall without even turning his head. It was obvious that he had planned it out long ago.

"The last general takes orders."

"With Xiangyang captured, the situation in Jingnan Road is hopeless. You can lead 20,000 troops down the Han River to attack Hutou Pass, Ezhou and other places. Zhang Rou will attack Kuizhou. If we calculate the time, there should be a result."

……

In the palace, Zhao Hong's furious voice resounded throughout the hall, accompanied by the sound of things falling and breaking on the ground, "Asshole! The 60,000 troops of Jingxiang were destroyed in one battle. Lü Wende, why didn't you die in Xiangyang?"

In the hall, Lu Wende knelt on the ground like a quail, "Since Xiangyang has fallen, I will die a thousand times. Please punish me, emperor!"

The young and energetic Zhao Hong didn't think twice and said, "Someone come!"

At this moment, Vice-Minister Zhen Dexiu stepped forward to advise, "Your Majesty, we are facing a powerful enemy, and it is time to use people. You should let him make up for his crime and make meritorious contributions." What he didn't say was that if more than a dozen golden orders had not been sent, Lu Wende would not have left the city to fight the enemy in the field, causing the complete collapse of the Jingxiang defense line.

The southern route of Jingnan could not be defended and was facing the main force of the army. More importantly, the news of the defeat in Xiangyang dealt a heavy blow to the morale of the Song army. Emperor Zhao finally showed his courage once, but was hit hard on the head and was completely stunned.

Zhao Hong sat on the dragon throne with a dejected look on his face and nodded silently.

Then, Lu Wende left the hall, only to find that his clothes were soaked with sweat. The blame for the defeat in Xiangyang was all put on him. Fortunately, the Song Dynasty had a tradition of treating scholars and officials well, and the court did not investigate further, but only dismissed him from his post, which was a blessing.

He turned around, took a deep look at the palace, then turned and left.

In the hall, just as Qiao Xingjian was about to say something, a eunuch walked in from outside, holding a secret letter in his hand and handed it to Zhao Hong. When he opened it, his arms were shaking and his face was full of sorrow, "How could it be so fast!"

"How come it's so fast?"

"Your Majesty, what happened?" Several important officials saw that his face was not right and asked hurriedly.

At this time, Zhao Hong seemed to have lost all his strength and handed the secret letter to Zhen Dexiu. After reading it, he frowned and his face looked very ugly. Kuizhou was also captured by Zhou army.

The two opposing armies were unstoppable and the Song Dynasty was defeated.

At this point, Zhao Hong didn't want to say anything more and his face was dejected. Seeing this, the ministers left one after another, leaving only two important regents, Zhen Dexiu and Qiao Xingjian.

"Sir, is it true that destiny no longer favors our Song Dynasty? Why is it that as soon as I ascended the throne, the Song Dynasty is in turmoil and the country is in danger?"

Zhen Dexiu stepped forward and said in a low voice, "Sir, our Song Dynasty still has millions of subjects and tens of thousands of soldiers. Why give up so easily? As long as we persist, there will definitely be a turning point."

What answered him was Zhao Hong's miserable expression.

(End of this chapter)