Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 47: Pawns Crossing the River and Chariots (Part )
Li Huo'er didn't care, but how could Dong Cheng allow just three Jin army armored cavalrymen to show off their power in front of the formation?

Seeing that the Song army was just hiding behind their shields and unable to fight back, the Jin army became more and more presumptuous, running back and forth in front of the Song army and shooting arrows, getting closer and closer to the spear formation.

Just as the golden cavalry was getting closer, Dong Cheng seized the opportunity and shouted, "Three steps forward!"

The dozen or so Song army spearmen and shieldmen in the lead immediately took three steps forward, then placed their large shields and spears on the ground again, and bent their bodies to prepare for the attack.

The Jin cavalry never expected that the Song army, which had been hiding, would dare to take the initiative to attack. Without time to turn around, they reined in their horses and slowed down, stopping when they were three or four steps away from the tip of the spear.

Dong Cheng has been waiting for this opportunity!

"rise!"

"put!"

The seven crossbowmen who had hidden their bodies behind the large shields immediately stood up and shot out crossbow arrows in an instant.

Of the seven crossbow arrows, only one missed the target, and the rest hit the leading Jin soldier right on target. One crossbow arrow even pierced his face.

The two sides were too close. No matter whether the Shenbi crossbow could penetrate armor at 200 steps, if it couldn't shoot accurately at such a close distance, then it would really be a disaster.

The leading Jin cavalry fell off their horses without a sound.

The remaining two Jin soldiers were extremely frightened. They turned their horses back and shot arrows in counterattack, but in their panic they didn't know where the arrows went.

"Upper String!"

"put!"

In just a moment's delay, the remaining two Jin soldiers had already turned and fled, not even caring about their comrades' bodies. Therefore, only one arrow from the second round hit the Jin cavalry's back; the rest all missed.

"Wang Shiwu, go and drag back the Jin thief's corpse and warhorse!" Although he only killed one Jin thief's armored cavalry, Dong Cheng knew that morale must be boosted and not let down, so he immediately shouted loudly as if he had won a great victory.

The rest of the Song army either breathed a sigh of relief or were truly delighted and cheered.

A Song soldier named Wang Shiwu hurried out, stripped the armor from the corpse of the Jin soldier, cut off the head of the other party with braided hair, and hung it on the treetop by the roadside. He left the naked and headless body of the other party directly in the middle of the road, and then hurriedly led the horse back to the formation.

The two fleeing Jin cavalrymen ran for a mile and only slowed down their horses after they found that no one was chasing them.

After one of the Jin army cavalrymen stopped, he felt all the strength drain away from his body. With a sharp pain in his back, he fell directly onto his horse, unable to speak.

Another Jin soldier grabbed the reins of the two men's horses and continued to move forward for a few miles before finally stopping.

He leaned over in the morning light to take a closer look at the wound on the other person's back. Before he could see it clearly, he heard the sound of horse hooves on the northern official road becoming clearer and clearer.

But in a moment, fifty armored cavalrymen stopped before their eyes. While several cavalrymen were on guard on both sides, Wu Ye drove his horse forward to take a closer look.

The only remaining scout quickly dismounted and knelt on the ground.

A moment later, Wu Ye removed the wounded soldier's helmet and turned his face around. Seeing that he was already spitting red and white foam from his mouth, he knew that the crossbow arrow had damaged the Jin soldier's lungs, and even the gods could not save him. He couldn't help but frown. Wu Ye put the wounded soldier down, his expression unchanged, and asked in a deep voice, "Tell me!"

The Jin army scout kneeling on the ground did not dare to raise his head and reported the military situation quickly.

After the other party finished telling him everything he had seen and known about the military situation, Wu Ye frowned and spoke, but he did not talk about the Song army or the floating bridge.

"Ali, so you abandoned Huligai and ran away? Did you know that Huligai was your sergeant?"

The Jin soldier named Ali was a little terrified. "Let me tell you, General, the Song army is using the Divine Arm Crossbow. I saw with my own eyes that Huligai was hit in the face by an arrow. He is definitely dead. If not, I will save Huligai no matter what and will never leave first."

Wu Ye pretended not to hear and continued, "So, you broke the law knowingly?"

Ali felt something was wrong and was about to retort when the other Jin soldiers stripped off his helmet and pinned him to the ground.

"Logically, you're a scout, and bringing back military intelligence is a great achievement. But since you've begun direct combat with the Song dogs, you should obey military law!"

Wu Ye said loudly, took off the long sword from the victory hook, took off the sword cover, raised it up, and with one stroke, cut off Ali's head.

"The military law of beheading the entire team! I'll tell you again!" Ali's head was still rolling on the ground, but Wu Ye had already raised his bloody sword and shouted at the armored cavalry around him with a ferocious face: "Sergeant, kill the whole team! Squad leader, kill sergeant! Puliyan, kill squad leader! Mouke, kill Puliyan! Meng'an, kill Mouke! Wanhu, kill Meng'an!"

Wu Ye's eyes swept across the Jin army's face. "Grand Marshal Gao has been kind to us for twenty years, isn't it just so we can hold on at this very moment?! If the Song dogs take over Haizhou, what will become of our family's land, wealth, children, and future prosperity? What good will it be if we escape like Ali? Will we just become stray dogs without a home?"

Since the Jingkang Incident, the Jurchens have always been the superior people in Hebei. If they kill a Jurchen, they only have to pay money to get away with it, not to mention the professional warriors who are given special care.

Their family has countless fields and wealth, and they usually just spend their time strengthening their muscles and training their martial arts.

It would be better to kill them than to let them give up this kind of life!
Seeing his men's morale rising, Wu Ye raised his voice again, "I won't retreat today, and neither will you! Drive Song Gou into the Shu River! Go!"

Fifty armored cavalrymen raised a cloud of dust and charged towards the beach with great momentum. However, when they reached a high ground and looked down from above, Wu Ye's heart suddenly sank.

In just two quarters of an hour, the Song army had used boats and wooden boxes to build a stable fulcrum in the river, and connected it with hemp ropes and iron chains.

Although the pontoon bridge had no planks yet and its bottom seemed unstable, Song soldiers kept jumping into the river and tying hastily made wooden boxes to the ropes. However, the Shu River was only three hundred steps wide at this point. If they delayed a little longer, perhaps the pontoon bridge would be built.

The Song army also did not relax the construction of its beachhead. Two layers of barricades had been set up in an area of dozens of steps in radius, and civilians were digging trenches on the periphery. Among them, there were no less than fifty soldiers sitting cross-legged with weapons in hand.

But fortunately, there were still no soldiers among them.

Wu Ye pulled a rider over and said, "Go and tell the general that the Song army is so determined. Our army must either fight hard on the beach or return to defend Dayi Mountain. Don't hesitate."

The Song army seemed to have discovered the Jin army. A burst of drums sounded, and the civilians who were digging trenches on the periphery quickly retreated into the formation. The Song army soldiers quickly picked up their weapons and prepared to form a formation to meet the enemy.

"They are indeed the elite soldiers of the Song Dynasty! What a pity that such elite soldiers have no armor." Wu Ye let out a long breath, then stuck his long sword into the ground, took off the two swords from the saddle, and dismounted.

"Bring your iron shields and short weapons, your strong bows and heavy arrows, and charge in on foot!"

(End of this chapter)