The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 411: Do it have tentacles?
Taikang County is under the jurisdiction of Kaifeng.

Reaching this point means entering Kaifeng's sphere of influence.

Taikang County naturally had a garrison from the pseudo-Qi state, but it was small, only a few hundred men, and none of them were regular soldiers; they were all archers, local soldiers, and militia.

These men had absolutely no will to fight. As soon as they saw the Northern Song army arrive, they opened the north gate and fled without firing a single arrow. This is probably why Li Heng's campaign was so successful; they simply didn't engage in a proper battle with him.

The Northern Song army easily took over Taikang County!

And at the same time...

The scouts and spies that Yue Wenxuan had sent out in advance also reported Li Hengjun's whereabouts.

Just as the Northern Song army entered Taikang County, the allied forces of Li Heng and Zhai Cong had arrived at Mutuogang (modern-day Maotuogang), twenty miles west of Kaifeng Prefecture, and set up camp, preparing to attack Kaifeng Prefecture.

The gates of Kaifeng opened, and the rebel general Li Cheng led an army of 20,000 to meet Li Heng.

At the same time, Jin Wuzhu led 5,000 Jin cavalrymen who suddenly attacked from the north.

Li Heng deployed several key generals: Zhai Cong, Peng Qi, Dong Xian, Li Dao, and Zhang Qi.

It is missing Niu Gao compared to the original history.

Even with Niu Gao present, Li Heng still suffered a crushing defeat in this battle; without Niu Gao, the defeat would have been even more devastating.

The details of the battle are omitted for brevity, but in short, Jin Wuzhu used his Iron Pagodas to break through Li Heng's army formation, and Li Cheng took the opportunity to lead his troops in a fierce attack. Li Heng's army was no match for them and had to retreat to the south.

After receiving all the battle reports, Yue Wenxuan immediately mobilized his troops and prepared for battle.
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Peng Qi felt he was doomed...

He was shot in the abdomen with an arrow that penetrated deep into his internal organs, causing him excruciating abdominal pain. He could no longer ride a fast horse and could only make the horse walk slowly.

A group of loyal brothers protected him, fighting and retreating.

However, his serious injuries prevented him from walking quickly, and he had become a burden to his brothers.

The shouts of battle from the north were deafening; they were the shouts of Li Chengjun's pursuing troops.

After the defeat at Mutuogang, several of Li Heng's generals scattered and withdrew.

Peng Qi chose the due south direction, as he only wanted to escape to the south bank of the Yangtze River in the shortest distance. In the chaos, he got separated from the other generals and became isolated. He tried to shake off the pursuers several times but failed and was instead wounded by a stray arrow.

As the shouts of battle grew closer, Peng Qi knew he was doomed.

His loyal subordinates had long since deserted, leaving him with only a few hundred old brothers, including three strongmen who had once arm-wrestled with Yue Wenxuan. They were now clad in heavy armor, fiercely protecting Peng Qi.

Peng Qi sighed deeply: "You're abandoning me, so just run for your lives."

The old comrades were unwilling to abandon their lord, and they gritted their teeth, saying, "Let's fight Li Cheng to the death!"

“Even if we defeat Li Cheng, the Jin cavalry will catch up and we will still be doomed.” Peng Qi said, “I am too badly injured to run. Even if you risk your lives to protect me and fight your way out, the wound has penetrated my internal organs and will be difficult to heal.”

Old buddies: "..."

Even so, the old brothers were still unwilling to abandon their brother and run away on their own.

At this moment, the shouts of battle were already close at hand. Everyone turned their heads and could see the fierce expressions on the faces of Li Chengjun's soldiers.

The three strongmen steeled themselves and turned around: "Come on, a few dozen brothers, stay behind with us and buy some time for our brother to escape."

After the shout, dozens of people actually turned around.

They all knew this was a certain death sentence, so their turning around was somewhat tragic. Peng Qi burst into tears, but the crying aggravated his abdominal wound, causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood: "Why should I run away? I'd rather die fighting alongside my old brothers."

At this moment...

The sound of horses' hooves suddenly rang out in the distance!
A tall and imposing man rode a magnificent black horse at breakneck speed, followed by twenty-eight riders.

Before the person even arrived, the voice came first: "A swordsman can only defeat one person, not something to be learned; learn to defeat ten thousand!"

Peng Qi looked in the direction of the sound and saw the big man on the black horse getting closer and closer. He felt that the man's figure looked somewhat familiar, but he was wearing heavy armor and a helmet, so he could not see his face. Therefore, Peng Qi did not dare to recognize him rashly.

But the three strongmen exclaimed almost simultaneously, "Ah? It's Nameless from the Northern Song Dynasty!"

Yue Wenxuan did not introduce himself at the time, but said, "I am a rough man from Jiangdong, and I have no face to introduce myself." He asked them to call him Wuming (Nameless), and the three strongmen only remembered him as Wuming.

In the blink of an eye, the black horse had already carried Xiang Yu to the side of the strongmen. Behind him, twenty-eight riders arrived silently, like a black whirlwind, and stood quietly beside him.

Xiang Yu shouted, "How many pursuers are behind you? Do you have 300,000?"

Strongman: "Never!"

Xiang Yu: "Then what is there to be afraid of?"

Peng Qi's men: "..."

Xiang Yu laughed loudly: "You all go ahead, leave this to me."

After saying that, he spurred his horse and charged toward Li Cheng's pursuers, with the twenty-eight riders behind him shouting and following closely behind.

Peng Qi couldn't just leave because of what he said; it would be too unmanly to leave now. He waved his hand and said, "Brothers, go up and help! Fight Li Cheng's men!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than Xiang Yu, along with his horse, charged into the pursuing enemy ranks.

The Overlord Spear, the king of spears!
The spear is thirteen feet and seven inches long and weighs eighty-one catties. It is mainly used for horizontal sweeping and secondarily for thrusting.

Xiang Yu swept out with his spear, and the enemy soldiers in front of him were swept away and flew up like paper dolls.

The twenty-eight riders behind him were not ordinary soldiers, but fierce warriors of Western Chu. During the Battle of Gaixia, these twenty-eight riders followed Xiang Yu across Gaixia, charging through 300,000 enemy troops several times. Facing trash enemies like Li Cheng, they didn't even flinch.

Their charge caught Li Chengjun completely off guard.

Where did this monster come from? Holy crap!
Li Cheng was happily chasing after them when he suddenly saw soldiers in the distance flying around in the air like pieces of paper being blown by the wind. He wondered what kind of monster had entered the crowd, whose every move could send people flying. What kind of terrifying power was this?

Without a second thought, Li Cheng immediately turned his horse around and charged in the opposite direction!
Don't panic when you encounter a powerful enemy. Just run in the opposite direction. You still have the Jin Dynasty's army behind you. As long as you can summon the Jin Dynasty, you don't need to be afraid of even the most formidable enemy.

Li Cheng charged in the opposite direction and soon encountered Jin Wuzhu.

He pointed south and said urgently, "General Zongbi, the Northern Song army has appeared ahead, and there is a monster in the army with immense strength."

Upon hearing this, Jin Wuzhu laughed: "Immense strength? Then you don't use firearms?"

Li Cheng nodded: "The other side didn't use firearms, they used spears."

Jin Wuzhu: "Isn't that a halberd? Does it have a pair of cricket antennae on top?"

Li Cheng: "It's not a halberd! It doesn't have cricket antennae."

Jin Wuzhu: "What's there to be afraid of? Let's go, let's deal with that guy."

(End of this chapter)