Northern Prefecture Rivers and Mountains

Chapter 411 Kill
"Hmm?" Before the two armies even clashed, the battle-hardened Daxi Jin had already noticed something unusual.

As the enemy cavalry charged, they managed to maintain their formation, which resembled an inverted crescent moon, with two layers, like a scythe slashing down.

The cavalrymen's inattentiveness and listlessness were clearly a sign of contempt; they didn't take the Sogdian cavalry seriously at all.

"Oh no! Pu Hui, hurry and save them!" Da Xi Jin shouted loudly to his younger brother, Da Xi Xi Pu Hui, who was leading the vanguard cavalry.

But it was too late; the two cavalry forces had already clashed.

A cold light flashed, blood and flesh splattered, and warhorses neighed in despair.

An Jie, who was at the forefront, was instantly pierced by a long spear, and his whole body was lifted up. He did not die immediately, but let out a shrill scream on the spearhead.

With that scream, the Jin general shouted, "Liu Yiwu of the Northern Army is here! You traitorous general, come and meet your death!"

In an instant, the Jin cavalry's momentum changed dramatically, like a sword drawn from its sheath, its sharpness fully revealed.

In less than an incense stick's time, a third of An Jie's cavalrymen were killed, and the rest turned tail and ran.

A sense of instinctive fear suddenly rose in Da Xi Jin's heart. The reason why the Xianbei cavalry was able to bully the Jin people in the north was because the Jin people had no horses and could only fight them on foot.

Now that the people of Jin had horses, equipped with iron armor and long spears, they were practically as fierce as tigers.

It should be noted that An Jie's 1,300 Sogdian cavalry were not a weak force. Among the forces that have survived in the north to this day, there are almost none that are weak. Yet now, in less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, they have been torn apart by the enemy's 700 cavalry...

"Attack! All cavalry, attack!"

Fortunately, they only had about 5,000 men, while our side had over 10,000 cavalry. By attacking from both the east and west, we had an absolute advantage.

However, at that moment, more than three thousand cavalrymen rushed out from the poplar grove, heading north from the east, and actually flanked their rear!
Gusts of wind swept through, and the poplar grove rustled.

A chill suddenly ran through Da Xijin's heart. He suddenly realized that it was all a scheme by the other side, deliberately using a weak force to lure them into being careless, and then gathering them up to annihilate them.

But as a fierce general, he also understood that if he charged forward at this moment, boosted morale, and fought to the death, there was still a chance to turn the tide.

"Kill! Kill all the Jin slaves!" Da Xijin raised his long spear and charged forward with the cavalry.

Having fought for most of his life, he had absolute confidence in his cavalry.

Before the two armies even made contact, the Wei army began firing their arrows.

However, the Jin army, relying on their iron armor, completely disregarded the arrows and instead accelerated forward. The two cavalry forces clashed, and the mounted archery could only be used once.

At this moment, Da Xi Jin discovered something terrifying: the Jin army's warhorses were at least 30% faster than his own.

The Wei army's warhorses would never be fed millet or beans, but at most they would eat some wild grass and salt.

They can't even afford salt to feed them.

Before the Wei army could even retract their bows after firing the first volley, the Jin army had already charged in, thrusting long spears at them, and the screams of the Wei soldiers filled the air.

Before there was time to be surprised, roars erupted from the battlefield: "Where is Daxi Jin? Liu Yiwu is here!"

The thunderous hooves thundered as a heavily armored cavalry force leaped out, charging toward Daxi Jin's banner with unparalleled momentum, making the entire battlefield seem to tremble.

The Wei soldiers who stood in their way were either knocked away or trampled to death.

"We've fallen into their trap!" Da Xi Jin's face was grave. There was still a chance to escape at this point, but as soon as his banner moved, the Wei army would collapse immediately.

As a veteran general, Wei Jun's Yuan Cong would not allow him to escape.

"Enemy general, cease your arrogance!" He immediately gripped his long spear, led his troops, and charged towards the iron cavalry.

Call——

Amidst the flying blood and gore, the two cavalry units passed each other. Daxi Jin's right arm was gone, leaving only a bloody mess. His men were in even worse shape, their horses carrying half of their bodies and dragging bloody entrails...

Before he could turn around, another group of Jin cavalry charged forward, and three long spears pierced Daxi Jin's body at the same time. With their combined force, they lifted him off his warhorse and threw him to the ground.

Then countless hooves trampled in.

"General!"

The Wei army cried out in various languages.

But the battlefield has no place for tears, and no matter how loud the cries were, it was to no avail. Without Da Xi Jin, the morale of the Wei army collapsed, and they fought individually. Many even rode away from the battlefield...

As the sun set behind the western mountains, the earth was already stained red with blood.

The stray warhorses grazed on the blood-stained withered grass, while several vultures, drawn by the scent of blood, circled overhead.

"Is this Daxi Jin's head?" Liu Daogui glanced at the bloody thing in Liu Yiwu's hand.

“My son has been watching him closely, there’s no mistake!” The bloodshot in Liu Yiwu’s eyes had not yet faded, and he was as if nothing had happened, despite having four or five arrows stuck in his chest.

The Liu family's fierce and warlike nature was completely inherited in him.

Liu Daogui laughed and said, "Alright, hurry up and throw him away. He's just a barbarian general. If it weren't for your third uncle and General Duan's protection, would you have been able to achieve anything?"

Liu Huaijing praised him highly, saying, "Young master, you lead from the front, brave and fearless. The Liu family of Pengcheng has a worthy successor."

Duan Hongdao said, "This humble general has been following behind and has not had a chance to fight. This battle was entirely due to you, my lord."

Liu Yiwu became increasingly smug, "In a one-on-one fight, even three barbarian generals wouldn't be a match for my son!"

His words were not arrogant. Just now on the battlefield, he killed the Wei army vanguard in a single encounter. Afterwards, he changed into armored horses and charged straight at the Wei army's banners, sweeping all before him and severing one of Daxi Jin's arms.

Although he had strong armor, sharp weapons, a fine horse, and seven fierce warriors by his side, he dared to charge at the forefront, which showed his extraordinary courage.

People with courage are often quite skilled in combat.

Liu Daogui laughed heartily, "My son is brave and valiant!"

Liu Yiwu was overjoyed, like a bear that had stolen honey.

After the soldiers cleaned up the battlefield, they killed more than 3,000 enemy soldiers, captured more than 2,700, and seized more than 4,000 warhorses. The main force of the Wei army on the eastern front had been defeated.

With over 1,300 of our troops killed, it was a resounding and decisive victory overall.

Throughout the entire campaign, they were dominating the Wei cavalry. "Next up is Gongsun Biao's turn. Issue the order: rest for one night, and continue the campaign tomorrow!" Liu Daogui glanced at the soldiers around him, his interest piqued.

"What should we do with these surrendered soldiers?" Liu Huaijing asked, pointing to the prisoners sitting in a circle to the east.

The vast majority were non-Han people, and their eyes still held an air of arrogance.

"All of them will be killed."

Liu Daogui said calmly.

The reason they surrendered was because they fell off their horses or were injured and could not escape, not because they voluntarily knelt down and begged for mercy.

This northward crossing was originally a surprise attack; there was no time to tame them, and keeping them would require detaching troops to guard them.

Compassion does not command troops.

Mercy is a joke in this era. None of those who rise to power in this world are merciful. Barbarians fear power but do not cherish virtue. The more you kill and the more ruthless you are, the more they submit.

The traditional Confucian ideals of benevolence and righteousness are outdated in this era, and Liu Daogui's benevolence is limited to his own clan.

When Shi Le was in Ku County, he did not spare the 200,000 Luoyang residents who fled east. Shi Hu did not capture a single city, and killed all men, women, and children, leaving only a few hundred households in Qingzhou.

Since then, Qingzhou has fallen into the hands of the barbarians and has yet to recover.

The Tuoba family showed no mercy, massacring 50,000 surrendered soldiers in the Battle of Canhebei...

The essence of an army is killing; to stop killing with killing. The premise of a king's army is to "first proclaim its power and virtue, then carry out conquests." Without sufficient military might, it is impossible to intimidate the enemy.

"I obey!" Liu Huaijing didn't waste any words and went to carry out the order.

The other generals also took it for granted and didn't pay any attention, while the soldiers were even more enthusiastic.

With cavalry blocking their path from both sides, Liu Huaijing and Liu Huaimo, carrying swords and shields, charged into the crowd.

Liu Daogui observed from behind. The soldiers were killing and laughing at the same time, seemingly venting their anger. The soldiers who did not participate were filled with regret.

In less than an hour, the ground was covered in blood.

After doing all this, the soldiers piled the corpses into mounds while cutting up the horse meat.

Some people even slept on the corpses without any qualms.

As soon as it was light, the soldiers fed their warhorses millet and salt, and immediately set off north.

News of Da Xijin's complete annihilation spread quickly, and no army dared to stop him along the way. Some cities even surrendered voluntarily. Liu Daogui had no interest in this and headed straight for Julu County.

Just as they stepped into Julu Army, a scout came to report, "General, Gongsun Biao has heard that our army has defeated Daxi Jin, and he has led his troops to flee towards Lukou!"

"This fellow is quite shrewd!" Liu Daogui couldn't help but laugh.

Having been around for so many years, Gongsun Biao was quite the old fox. Seeing that the situation was not good, he turned tail and ran.

Liu Huaijing said, "Now that Gongsun Biao has retreated, we should rush to Fangtou's aid. Song Gong is being besieged by Changsun Song, Shusun Jian, and Changsun Fei!"

"Don't worry, brother will be fine. Cao Ji's fleet is ready to meet them at any time. Send the order to speed up the march and not let Gongsun Biao retreat to Lukou!"

With control of the water supply, Liu Yu always had a way out.

He has neither asked for help nor retreated so far, which indicates that the situation on that side is good.

Gongsun Biao was a powerful clan in Youzhou and the foundation of Wei's rule over Youzhou. Destroying him would inevitably shake Youzhou.

The army rushed north.

Gongsun Biao's two legs could never outrun four.

After capturing Daxi Jin's more than 5,000 warhorses, each soldier had three warhorses to ride.

After two days, we finally caught this guy in Xiabo.

Twenty thousand men lined up along the Hutuo River, their long spears like a forest, swords drawn and crossbows ready, with two thousand cavalrymen positioned behind them.

Gongsun Biao sent two hundred armored soldiers to shout at the front of the battle: "Pei Gong intends to drive out the barbarians and conquer the Central Plains. Why is he so relentlessly pressuring me while leaving the armies of Changsun Song, Shusun Jian, Changsun Fei, and An Tong unmoved? I am a Jin citizen."

Liu Daogui was both amused and exasperated. Only now did he realize that he was a Jin person. A few years ago, when he followed Changsun Fei south to plunder the two provinces of Yan and Yu, he had never seen him have such awareness.

"Enough with the nonsense, prepare to die!" Liu Huaijing shouted at the front of the battle.

The sheer force of over seven thousand cavalrymen frightened twenty thousand men into immobility; this was the military might brought about by the complete annihilation of Daxi Jin's forces.

The Northern Army is famous throughout the land for its ability to defeat tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of troops with just a few thousand. Gongsun Biao has been around for so many years, and he knows better than anyone who the tough guys are.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have turned around and run away.

"Kill, kill, kill——"

The soldiers raised their long spears, their eyes gradually turning bloodshot.

It seemed that after slaughtering those prisoners, their murderous aura had become even stronger; just standing there motionless was enough to inspire fear.

All the world's strongest armies are forged through battle.

On the other hand, the Wei army opposite them showed fear as soon as they saw the "Jin" banner and the "Liu" banner behind Liu Daogui. Their formation moved slowly and their eyes darted around.

Anyone from Jin will surely cherish the Jin dynasty in their heart.

"General, please hear me out. My allegiance to the Tuoba clan was due to circumstances, not my true intention. I eagerly await the arrival of the royal army as you and the Prime Minister embark on your northern expedition. If you spare my life, we can meet again in the future..."

Gongsun Biao was truly driven to desperation, to the point that he even uttered such words.

Liu Daogui's heart stirred. He had originally intended to fight a bloody battle and destroy Gongsun Biao, but he did not expect that this man would be so cowardly that he did not even have the courage to fight. No, it was not that he was afraid to fight, but that the morale of this army, which was mainly composed of Jin people, had been shattered and that they had no strength to fight at all.

Gongsun Biao was a smart man. If he didn't fight, he could still put on a show of force to intimidate others. But if a real battle broke out, he might immediately switch sides.

"No need for later, just abandon darkness and embrace the light now, and I will not mistreat you."

(End of this chapter)