The prince is more stable

Chapter 430: Forbidden Chamber Joint War
When two armies fight, close combat is the most brutal.

The outcome of a war depends most crucially on the outcome of hand-to-hand combat between the two sides.

Behind the Liao army, under a black flag with a gray wolf totem painted on it, Yelu Chun looked at the Liao army breaking through the front line of the Song army in the distance, and a look of relief finally appeared on his expressionless face.

The formation was broken, which meant that the 10,000 Song troops were doomed to defeat.

Next, it depends on how many casualties it will take to completely wipe out these 10,000 Song troops.

A kind man is not good at commanding an army, and Yelu Chun did not care about the casualties on both sides.

He was concerned with something else.

After completely annihilating this Song army, it is necessary to immediately find the whereabouts of Yelu Yanxi and successfully rescue him. In this way, Yelu Chun's official title can still be retained.

In fact, both the Song and Liao armies were somewhat surprised by the launch of this attack. No one knew that the initiator of all this was Yelu Chun. His fundamental purpose was not victory or defeat, but the living person Yelu Yanxi.

Although the Liao army had already broken through the front line of the Song army and tore open the Song army's line, Yelu Chun only felt relieved for a brief moment.

As the head coach, he sees the entire chessboard.

From the perspective of the entire chessboard situation, the Liao army was actually at a disadvantage, and the small victory of breaking through the 10,000 Song troops would not change anything at all.

First of all, the Liao Dynasty's crown prince fell into the hands of the Song army, which was the biggest passive situation.

Secondly, the 10,000 Song troops in front of him were not Zhao Xiaoqian's main force. Once the main force of the Song army came to support, the 40,000 Liao troops under Yelu Chun would be wiped out.

Then the worst outcome of this war is that the crown prince becomes a prisoner of the Song army. The identity of this prisoner means that the Song State holds an extremely heavy bargaining chip. Then the 40,000 Liao troops are wiped out. When the news reaches Shangjing, what kind of punishment will Yelu Chun receive?
I can't even think about it.

It might be a bit of an exaggeration to say that Yelu Chun is extremely angry now, but he is indeed risking everything because he has no other way out.

A military defeat is acceptable, but Yelu Yanshi must not fall into the hands of the Song army, as that would be his disastrous end.

Seeing the Liao army break through the formation, Yelu Chun turned his head to look at the guards around him and gave a faint order.

"Pass the order, beat the drum faster. We must defeat this Song army in one fell swoop before Zhao Xiaoqian's main force arrives to support us!"

On the battlefield, the war drums rumbled and the rhythm became increasingly rapid.

The Liao army, which was engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Song army, seemed to have been injected with new energy, and their swords and knives became more and more swift and ruthless.

After the formation was broken, the armies of both sides no longer had any formation. They all fought in groups of three or five people, and tragic and shrill roars were heard everywhere in front of the formation.

Zhang Rong and Zhe Keshi also joined the hand-to-hand combat, brandishing their long swords and fighting mercilessly.

The battlefield was in chaos, and the Liao cavalry on the left and right flanks also approached and surrounded the Song army.

A mile behind the Song army, Shao Jing and Feng Sheng led 5,000 wing troops, who were ready to move.

The imperial guards in the front are fighting desperately, what choice will the wing troops make?

Shao Jing looked back and looked at the expressions of the soldiers.

His expressions didn't disappoint him; most people were actually timid. Well, the authentic flavor of the Xiang Army.

The Xiang army was, after all, a local army of the Song Dynasty. Their personnel were of varying quality, their equipment was incomplete, and even their pay and rations were not distributed on time. Some of them even struggled to make ends meet. They were not disloyal to the court, but they were certainly not very loyal either.

As the main generals, Shao Jing and Feng Sheng were also feeling very conflicted at this time.

Their mission was to lure the enemy. Duke Zhao had said in person that as long as they could lure the enemy out of the camp and into the ambush circle of the Longwei Camp, the mission of the wing army would be accomplished, and they didn't need to worry about the rest.

Now, the Xiang army's mission of luring the enemy was not only completed, but it could be said that it was exceeded. They lured out all the Liao army's troops.

Shao Jing and Feng Sheng didn't understand whether this could be considered as luring the enemy. Judging from their posture, the Liao army's actions did not seem like they were lured out, but rather more like a proactive and crazy decisive battle.

The Dragon Guard Camp and the Liao Army have started a fierce battle. Should the Xiang Army go up to help or retreat?

Don't think that the Xiang army has any obligation to help. In fact, the conflict between the Imperial Guards and the Xiang army was very deep in those days.

Because of the court's favoritism, military pay, food, equipment, etc. were supplied to the Imperial Guards first, and the auxiliary troops could only get a little leftovers. As a result, most of the auxiliary troops actually held a grudge against the Imperial Guards. It was really difficult to ask them to help the Imperial Guards, and it was difficult to gain the morale of the army.

If the Xiang army turned around and left at this time, from the perspective of military law, Zhao Xiaoqian would not be able to punish them.

However, could the Xiang army really just get away?

Feng Sheng looked at Shao Jing with an anxious look on his face. "Old Shao, run or fight? Make a decision quickly. It won't be long before the Dragon Guards will be defeated!"

Shao Jing also paced back and forth anxiously, caught in a great struggle.

After all these years of being a beggar in front of the Imperial Guards, Shao Jing hated the Imperial Guards more than ordinary soldiers.

But in the current situation, if the Xiang army turned around and left, it might be legally correct and the Xiang army would not be held accountable, but...

"Duke Zhao has given us the opportunity to make meritorious deeds. Perhaps he will look up to our army after we return. But if we stand by and watch them die, will Duke Zhao still look up to us?"

Shao Jing smiled bitterly: "Perhaps in his eyes, the Xiang army is still the Xiang army that can't be helped. I'm afraid he can't count on us if anything happens in the future."

Feng Sheng also knew the pros and cons of this, and sighed when he heard it: "Then let's... go up and help?" Shao Jing turned his head to look at the expressions of the soldiers of the Xiang army.

From their expressions, it can be seen that the soldiers were watching the fight between the Dragon Guard Camp and the Liao Army opposite. Some of them showed a look of gloating, while others were purely timid. In short, the morale was not high.

Shao Jing was silent for a moment, then turned to face the soldiers and said loudly, "Is there anyone willing to go up and help the Dragon Guards? Raise your hands!"

The crowd was silent for a long time, and then about a thousand people raised their hands hesitantly.

Shao Jing sighed and said, "Those who raised their hands, immediately form a battle line and follow me to kill the enemy and help the Dragon Guard Battalion. Those who didn't raise their hands... retreat. I won't blame you, and military law won't hold you accountable."

The generals below waved their hands, and more than a thousand soldiers of the wing army who had raised their hands quickly stepped out of the line, disrupted the organization, temporarily formed a pincer formation, and approached the fierce battlefield step by step.

Shao Jing and Feng Sheng walked silently in front of the formation, holding their swords tightly and staring at the battlefield not far away.

It is more like helping the Xiang Army itself rather than helping the Longwei Camp.

What the two of them were thinking about at the moment was just to do their best to win some status and material supplies for their comrades in the army in front of Duke Zhao.

When they were still about a hundred steps away from the fierce battle, the Liao army had discovered this team of more than a thousand people, so they sent some soldiers to surround them.

Shao Jing gripped the knife tightly, his eyes wide open as he shouted, "Kill!"

He jumped up and blood spurted out.

More than a thousand people were caught in the storm, and their lives and deaths were left to fate.

The remaining nearly 4,000 soldiers of the Xiang Army who did not participate in the battle watched their comrades fall into the enemy camp and fight with the Liao army. The once familiar lives and faces disappeared from this world forever.

The remaining soldiers of the Xiang army looked at each other, with a look of shame on their faces.

After a long while, a captain suddenly shouted, "Fuck them! My brothers are fighting for their lives. If I give in today, how can I face them?"

Another ordinary soldier also gritted his teeth and shouted: "We can ignore the lives of the imperial guards, but we cannot ignore the lives of our comrades in the wing army!"

"Correct!"

"Yes, we should go too!"

"We are not helping the Imperial Guards, we are helping our fellow soldiers in the Xiang Army!"

"Whoever admits they're a coward, retreat! I'm not running away anymore. I'm going to die right here!"

"Who's the highest commander now? Come over and command the formation. Let's fight!"

"Fight!"

…………

About five miles away from the battlefield, the 20,000 main forces of the Dragon Guard Camp were desperately trying to get there.

Zhao Xiaoqian rode his horse in the middle of the team, looking increasingly anxious.

"I'm really... impressed by Yelu Chun. This guy must have taken the wrong medicine. Why doesn't he play by the rules?" Zhao Xiaoqian cursed on horseback.

Yelu Chun's posture of leading the entire army to a decisive battle was indeed beyond Zhao Xiaoqian's expectations.

How could a commander-in-chief of an army decide a decisive battle so rashly without even thinking?

Whether from the perspective of military strategy or battlefield experience, Yelu Chun should not have made this decision, and it is normal that Zhao Xiaoqian did not expect it in advance.

Zhong Jianzhong, who was riding a horse next to him, had a frown on his face, his expression showing deep confusion.

"Ordinarily, Yelu Chun shouldn't have done this. It's so bizarre... Lord, I believe something must have happened to Shao Jing's or Zhe Keshi's troops up ahead. The Liao army's full-scale outburst doesn't look like a decisive battle, but rather a desperate, reckless act of anger and recklessness."

Zhao Xiaoqian said coldly, "Did Zhe Keshi urinate on the Yelu family's ancestral grave?"

Zhong Jianzhong smiled bitterly and said, "Even if we urinated on the Yelu family's ancestral grave, Yelu Chun wouldn't be so uncalm. It must be that our soldiers did something that greatly affected Yelu Chun's interests, otherwise Yelu Chun wouldn't be so impulsive."

Zhao Xiaoqian sighed, "Shao Jing and Zhe Keshi only sent scouts to report military intelligence, but they didn't mention what they had actually done. Regardless of the outcome of this battle, these two guys will not be able to escape a beating from the military stick."

A burst of rapid horse hoofbeats sounded as a scout galloped up to Zhao Xiaoqian and reported, "My Lord, five miles ahead, our troops led by Zhang Rong and Zhe Keshi are engaged in a fierce battle with the Liao army!"

"Fighting?" Zhao Xiaoqian frowned and said in a deep voice, "Has the Liao army broken through the formation?"

"Yes! The Liao army's 30,000 soldiers and horses charged simultaneously, and the Dragon Guard Battalion's 10,000 flintlock muskets were unable to resist. The two armies are now locked in a fierce hand-to-hand battle. Zhang Rong and Zhe Keshi's soldiers have suffered nearly half casualties. Just now, Shao Jing's wing troops also joined in the battle with the Liao army."

Zhao Xiaoqian and Zhong Jianzhong exchanged quick glances.

Zhao Xiaoqian shouted in a deep voice, "Order all the cavalrymen of the Dragon Guard Battalion to gallop forward to support their comrades. Those on foot should also speed up their pace. Quickly!"

The main force of the Dragon Guard Camp, which was already marching quickly, did not care whether the war horses were tired or not. They whipped the horses desperately and galloped towards the battlefield at full speed.

"Chen Shou, fire a flare! Tell Zhang Rong and Zhe Keshi to hold out a little longer, reinforcements are coming soon!"

(End of this chapter)