"Captain Zhou, the general ordered you to defeat the rebels in this place as soon as possible and help him pursue the Jiangdong rebels."

The herald cavalry sent by Xue Ao quickly found Zhao Yu and conveyed the above words to Zhao Yu.

Hearing this, Zhao Yu was a little surprised.

5,000 cavalry, in a frontal raid, crushed the 40,000 Yuzhang Yi Division, and actually had the strength to pursue the fleeing rebels, the combat ability of these Taiyuan cavalry greatly exceeded his expectations.

However, such a cavalry was blocked by the Jiangdong Yishi?

He couldn't help but ask, "Did the Jiangdong rebels intercept General Xue?" ”

"Uh......" The herald cavalry hesitated for a moment, and finally said truthfully: "The Jiangdong rebels have come up with a way to break the charge of our cavalry, they have gathered the crossbowmen of the whole army, divided them into two teams, supported each other, slowly retreated, and there were 10,000 foot soldiers on the side......"

Looking at the herald cavalry with both hands and telling the story of the confrontation between the Taiyuan cavalry and the Jiangdong Yishi in the distance, Zhao Yu was secretly surprised, surprised by the speed of the Jiangdong Yishi's reaction.

Even he felt that the Jiangdong Yishi used two crossbowmen to cover each other and retreat in a stepped manner, which was indeed a clever plan to deal with the cavalry charging into battle, but I don't know if this trick was proposed by his brother Zhao Yin.

It's not that he thinks highly of his brother Zhao Yin, it's just that on the side of Jiangdong Yishi, Zhao Yu really doesn't know much, except for knowing that the general of the army is called Wu Yi, he only knows one Zhao Yin.

After thinking for a while, Zhao Yu nodded and said, "Okay, Zhou knows." Zhou's side will deal with the rebels as soon as possible, but ...... Please tell General Xue and ask him to give me a little more time. ”

"Yes."

The herald didn't say anything more, and after hugging his fist towards Zhao Yu, he turned his horse's head and went back to his life.

Glancing at the back of the cavalryman riding away, Zhao Yu couldn't help but feel a little envious in his heart.

To say that the most brilliant thing in today's battle is none other than Xue Ao and the 5,000 Taiyuan cavalry under his command.

I remember that the day before, Zhao Yu was still discussing with Wang Qing and others, discussing whether it was a wise decision to follow Xue Ao to pursue the rebels - of course, this 'wise or not' depends on the casualties of his Yingchuan army, not the victory or defeat of the entire Jin army.

However, what Zhao Yu never expected was that this battle would be fought so easily.

In the final analysis, it is nothing more than Xue Ao and the 5,000 Taiyuan cavalry led by him who successfully disrupted the 40,000 Yuzhang Yi Division, making the entire 40,000 army lose its combat ability, and making the balance of victory and defeat fall to the Jin army at once.

This made Zhao Yu also can't help but have the idea of forming a cavalry, after all, the role of a cavalry is too great.

But ideas are just ideas after all, and it can be difficult to make them happen.

First, it costs a lot of money to train a cavalry, and secondly, high-quality war horses have always been controlled by all dynasties, even if Zhao Yu is now the captain of Yingchuan, it may not be an easy task for him to get a batch of high-quality war horses to form cavalry.

"If you have a good relationship with Xue Ao, maybe it's still possible...... On the Taiyuan side, there should be a pasture for grazing war horses."

Zhao Yu thought secretly in his heart.

As he reverie from stubble to stubble, time gradually passed.

After waiting for an hour, Xue Ao in the distance was already a little impatient.

You must know that the Jiangdong righteous division he was keeping an eye on had used their slow speed to withdraw five or six miles south in this hour, and it was more than ten miles away from the main battlefield where the Yingchuan army and the Liangcheng army were located.

As for the nearly 20,000 Yuzhang Yishi who were defeated by his Taiyuan cavalry, including the remaining 10,000 Jiangxia Yishi of Chen Miao, they didn't know where they fled at this time.

Seeing that the opportunity to completely annihilate the rebels was gradually missed, Xue Ao was extremely anxious.

He asked with a bit of anger, "Hasn't Zhou Hu's side solved the rebels after the break?" ”

An informed herald cavalry announced: "Zhou Duwei's army is still entangled with the broken Zhou Gong army......

"Tsk!"

Xue Ao sighed and instructed Dong Dian and Zhong Liao: "You two are staring at the Jiangdong rebels, I'll go back and see the situation." ”

"Yes." Dong Dian and Zhong Liao will respond with fists.

Seeing this, Xue Ao returned to the main battlefield with dozens of horses.

At this time, on the main battlefield, the 6,000 Liangcheng army had basically swept away the last resistance of Yuzhang Yishi, and tens of thousands of Yuzhang Yishi soldiers were forced to surrender in despair, put down their weapons, and knelt on the ground with their hands raised.

About two or three miles further north, the Yingchuan army and the Zhou Gong army were still fighting.

Xue Ao watched from a distance for a while.

According to what he saw, the Zhou Gong army, which originally had more than 10,000 people, was now about half of the number left, but this half of the number was huddled together, still resisting the offensive of the Yingchuan army, and what made Xue Ao feel anxious was that it was clear that the Yingchuan army surrounded the Zhou Gong army on all sides, but it was still blocked back repeatedly because of casualties, so that the two armies showed a stalemate of confrontation.

"General, I've found Captain Zhou."

Just when Xue Ao was secretly watching the battle situation in the distance, perhaps a cavalry beside him saw Zhao Yu's position and pointed to the distance and said.

So, Xue Ao came to Zhao Yu in person.

At this time, Zhao Yu also noticed these dozens of cavalrymen, and also saw Xue Ao himself, so when Xue Ao rode over, he took the initiative to step forward and salute: "General Xue." ”

"Hmm."

Xue Ao nodded, and then asked with a slight frown: "Zhou Hu, how much time do you need here?" ”

"This ......"

Zhao Yu glanced at the battlefield in the distance, and said with some hesitation: "It may take another hour...... Or two hours. ”

“……”

Xue Ao's face was a little unbearable.

One hour is okay, two hours? If the Yingchuan army is dragged here for another two hours, even if it can finally catch up with the 40,000 Jiangdong righteous divisions, I am afraid it will be dusk, how can it be defeated in one fell swoop?

Probably noticing Xue Ao's complexion, Zhao Yu hurriedly explained: "General, please don't be angry, Zhou Gong's rebel army is extraordinary, they didn't think about escaping at all, their purpose is very clear, that is, to drag our Yingchuan army to death, so that our army can't support the general...... For this reason, his whole army was desperate, causing heavy casualties among the officers and men of our army. ”

Hearing Zhao Yu's explanation, Xue Ao's face turned slightly pale.

He also understood that against an enemy army that had given up his life, Zhou Hu in front of him and the Yingchuan army under his command had done a very good job, at least according to what he saw, the casualty ratio of the two armies was obviously superior to the Yingchuan army, which showed that the Yingchuan army was indeed a strong army, at least in terms of local troops, the strength was quite outstanding.

"Have you tried to break the fighting spirit of this rebel army by persuasion?" Xue Ao asked with a frown.

Zhao Yu nodded and said, "The generals under my command have tried, but the effect is not good, maybe these rebel soldiers have not yet realized that they have been defeated......

Xue Ao frowned again when he heard this, and then spoke: "Can it be solved in half an hour?" ”

"This ...... It's a little hard, I'm afraid. ”

Zhao Yu glanced at Xue Ao, and preemptively explained when the latter frowned: "General, lowly duty is not pure stinginess and sacrifice, but if the soldiers under my command suffer heavy casualties because of this, even if these broken rebels are eliminated within half an hour, how can there be spare strength to help the general pursue the rebels?" ”

"......" Xue Ao turned his head to look at the battlefield in the distance, his expression slightly loosened.

He couldn't deny it, after all, what Zhao Yu said did make sense.

Not to mention that Xue Ao and Zhao Yu were chatting, and that on the battlefield, Wang Qing at this time had already adopted the strategy of 'encircling but not attacking'.

There is no other reason, but because the casualties of his Yingchuan army are too large, and the casualty number has exceeded 3,000.

Although the losses of the Zhou Gong army on the opposite side were greater, Wang Qing still couldn't accept it.

Under these circumstances, Cao Wu proposed the idea of 'persuasion' to Wang Qing, and he said to Wang Qing: "The Zhou Gong army is isolated and helpless, if I and Qin Yu, Jia Shu and others come forward to persuade them, we may be able to persuade the rebel soldiers on the opposite side to surrender." ”

This mention was naturally agreed by Wang Qing.

So with Wang Qing's approval, Cao Wu, Qin Yu, Jia Shu and others of the Yingchuan army began to spare no effort to persuade the Zhou Gong army to surrender.

"Brothers of Jiangxia Yishi on the other side, you have been abandoned, it is better to surrender quickly, and don't resist again."

"Look around, but your allies?"

"You have been abandoned, surrender quickly."

"As long as you surrender, you can avoid a single death."

In the face of the persuasion of Cao Wu, Qin Yu, Jia Shu and others, the soldiers of Zhou Gongjun did not believe it at first, but gradually, they also woke up, after all, as the other side said, there were no more of their friendly troops nearby.

Only then did they realize that their side had lost.

"I surrender, I surrender."

Finally, one after another, rebel soldiers began to surrender to the Yingchuan army, which provoked the reprimands and angry scolding of nearby rebel generals.

However, as long as someone takes the lead, the follow-up will be out of control.

Gradually, more and more Zhou Gong soldiers chose to surrender.

Feeling the wavering of the army's heart, Zhou Gong was helpless.

Although he knew that they were isolated and even had desperate beliefs, he could not convince his soldiers to die with the Jin army on the other side—but if there was hope for life, who would want to die?

What's more, Cao Wu, Qin Yu, Jia Shu and others in the opposite Jin army were all from Changsha volunteers, and these people used their personal experience as examples, which became more and more convincing.

The only thing he could do was to launch a final assault on the Yingchuan army on the opposite side.

He raised his arms in front of the battle and shouted: "Yes, we are isolated, but we are not abandoned by the righteous master, our sacrifice is to buy time for more other righteous soldiers, I don't force everyone to make sacrifices, but if anyone still believes in the justice of my righteous teacher, and firmly believes that our sacrifice is for the sake of righteousness, please follow Zhou...... Offensive! ”

"Follow the General!"

Xu Lian, a general under Zhou Gong, took the lead in responding to Zhou Gong.

But unfortunately, due to the noise of the battlefield, or the rapid decline in morale, more soldiers did not respond to Zhou Gong's call.

Disappointed, Zhou Gong led the last group of people willing to follow him, and launched a final surprise attack on the banner where Wang Qing was.

Don't seek to break through, just want to be able to kill the enemy's general, even if it is to sacrifice his life for it.

"Kill!"

Leading more than 1,000 soldiers who were finally willing to follow him, Zhou Gong personally killed Wang Qing.

Seeing this, the corners of Wang Qing's mouth raised a little smile, and he praised: "Backbone!" …… For the sake of this backbone, Lao Tzu will play with you. ”

With that, he slapped his horse with two swords in his hand and faced Zhou Gong head-on.

I have to say that Zhou Gong is enough to lead the troops in battle, but his martial arts are much inferior, so that Wang Qinggang knew that this enemy general was not his opponent as soon as he fought.

Relieved in his heart, Wang Qing smiled and persuaded Zhou Gong: "Now that the army has been defeated, how about surrendering to us?" ”

"......" Zhou Gong didn't reply, but just went all out to attack, with a posture of wanting to die with Wang Qing.

I saw that the two of them were clinking, and immediately, Wang Qing took advantage of a flaw and slashed Zhou Gong's back with a knife, directly cutting Zhou Gong off the horse.

Seeing this scene, the pupils in Cao Wu's eyes shrank.

It's no wonder, after all, Changsha Yishi once had a great relationship with Chen Miao's Jiangxia Yishi, Cao Wu naturally knew Zhou Gong, and the two sides still had a friendship.

However, at this moment, he saw Wang Qing instructing the soldiers behind him: "What are you still doing in a daze?" He's still alive! …… Take! ”

Of course, he would not kill Zhou Gong.

As one of the core decision-making layers of Black Tiger Village, Wang Qing also attaches great importance to talents, so naturally he will not easily kill generals like Zhou Gong, but wants to try to make the other party submit to him Black Tiger Village after catching the other party.

Of course, how to persuade the other party is the business of their big leader, but so far, no one who has been favored by their big leader has been able to get rid of it.

"Still alive?"

Not only Cao Wu, but the soldiers behind Wang Qing were all stunned.

Sure enough, despite being slashed in the back by Wang Qing, Zhou Gong still struggled to stand up, but unfortunately, at this moment, a group of black tigers rushed up, and immediately subdued Zhou Gong and tied it tightly with ropes.

"General!"

"General!"

The soldiers under Zhou Gong's command were shocked, led by Xu Lian, and immediately stepped forward to rescue, but were blocked by Cao Wu patting Mati.

"Cao Wu ......"

Looking at the not unfamiliar Jin general in front of him, Xu Lian's face changed slightly.

"Xu Lian."

Cao Wu sighed secretly and said in a deep voice: "Enough, let's stop here." …… I promise from my own experience that as long as you are willing to surrender, Zhou Duwei will open up and try to exonerate you and others, and don't be stubborn. ”

It's a pity that Xu Lian didn't listen to persuasion, and angrily reprimanded Cao Wu, and even patted the horse to meet him.

Remembering the old days, Cao Wu dragged Xu Lian for a while, and secretly asked his corporal to step forward and drag Xu Lian off the horse, and tied a strong knot with a rope.

Zhou Gong and Xu Lian were captured, which increased the morale of Zhou Gong's army, and thousands of soldiers surrendered one after another, and finally even Han Gu, Gao Ning and other generals were persuaded by Qin Yu, Jia Shu and others to put down their weapons and choose to surrender.

The Yingchuan army finally achieved a complete victory.

"Report! Wang Du Lieutenant captures the rebel general Zhou Gong! ”

"Report! Cao Shi's official captured the rebel general Xu Lian! ”

"Report ......"

When these news were reported by the Black Tiger Crowd to Zhao Yu and Xue Ao, Zhao Yu was quite excited.

After all, he caught Zhou Gong this time, and he was the favorite general under Chen Xuan, whose talent was on par with Xiang Xuan, if he could persuade the other party to defect to him, his Black Tiger Village would undoubtedly grow stronger and stronger.

What the? What if Zhou Gong can't be convinced?

does not exist, as long as it falls into the hands of Zhao Yu, Zhao Yu has a way to persuade slowly, you see that so far, it seems that Ma Gai, Xun Yi, Cao Wu, Qin Wei, as long as they are targeted by Zhao Yu, can one refuse?

The only problem is......

Zhao Yu turned his head and glanced at Xue Ao, and said quietly: "General Xue, that Zhou Gong is a talent, but it's a pity that he went astray, if he can be used by the country......"

Xue Ao understood Zhao Yu's mind as soon as he heard it, and sneered: "You want to persuade him to defect?" Are you sure? ”

Zhao Yu said quietly: "If General Xue allows it, he wants to give it a try, after all, the talent is not a leek in the field, killing one may not grow a second ......"

Xue Ao was amused by Zhao Yu's analogy, couldn't help laughing, and said casually: "Since it is a prisoner captured by your subordinates, then let it be at your disposal." But ......"

He frowned and glanced at the Yingchuan army in the distance, and said in a low voice: "I look at the Yingchuan army under your command, although the strength is good, but the number of rebels who have surrendered generals and pawns is quite a lot, you have to be careful, don't cause any trouble." ”

Zhao Yu hurriedly said: "Please rest assured General Xue, before using them, the lowly position has used a divisive strategy, so that they cannot return to the rebels, and can only be used by me, otherwise, how dare the lowly position use them?" ”

"Well, it's good that you know what to do."

Xue Ao nodded slightly, and then looked up at the sky.

The Yingchuan army finally solved the broken Zhou Gong army, which made him very happy, but unfortunately, the Yingchuan army was still delayed for a lot of time, seeing that there were only about two hours left before dusk, Xue Ao sighed helplessly: Today, after all, there is no chance to hit the fleeing rebels hard.

After all, although the Yingchuan army defeated the Zhou Gong army and forced the latter to surrender with all its troops, it still took a lot of time to absorb these rebels, otherwise it would be easy to cause trouble if these rebel soldiers fled.

Therefore, it is a pity to regret, Xue Ao can only wait for the next time to deal with those fleeing rebels.

He estimated that the next battle might be in the Fugou area, where he expected the rebels who had escaped.

"Give the order to clean up the battlefield."

"Yes!"

After ordering Zhao Yu to be dismissed, Xue Ao led the dozens of cavalry to leave.

His departure made Zhao Yu really relieved, after all, Xue Ao had always been by his side, which really brought him a lot of pressure.

A moment later, Zhao Yu came to the battlefield in the distance that had ended the fighting, and sent people to give orders to the Yingchuan army and the Liangcheng army to clean up the battlefield.

Similar to what he estimated, more than 100,000 righteous divisions, this time almost 30,000 people were lost, in addition to the 40,000 Jiangdong righteous divisions who could retreat with their whole bodies, only Chen Miao's 10,000 Jiangxia righteous divisions, and the defeated Yuzhang righteous divisions were about 20,000, a total of 70,000 people fled from this battlefield.

With a total of less than 25,000 Jin troops, they attacked more than 100,000 rebels, defeated nearly 50,000, and killed and surrendered about 30,000 rebels.

And the most brilliant in this battle is naturally Xue Ao's Taiyuan cavalry......

"Huh?"

Suddenly, Zhao Yu saw the corpse of a Taiyuan cavalryman lying on the ground.

I saw this corpse, with several arrows stuck in the chest and abdomen, but its fatal wound was known at a glance to be the crossbow arrow on the side of the throat.

Zhao Yu's heart moved slightly, and he immediately turned over and dismounted, carefully groping for the cavalryman's armor.

As he had guessed, the cavalryman was wearing a thicker silk coat under his armor.

According to Zhao Yu's understanding of the cavalry, this silk coat is mainly used to prevent arrows.

Under normal circumstances, even if the enemy's arrows penetrate the outer armor, they will be blocked by this silk garment, even if the arrow cluster can still penetrate part of the silk garment and pierce the skin, but usually it will not penetrate the entire silk garment, which is conducive to removing the arrow cluster.

Everyone knows that once the arrow cluster penetrates into the flesh and skin, the barbs on the arrow cluster will cause secondary damage when removed, cutting the flesh and even the organs of the lungs, thus dying.

In other words, for the cavalry, this silk coat played a life-saving role.

Merely...... Silk clothes?

"It's really rich, Taiyuan cavalry, I can't afford it at all......

Putting down the raised armor, Zhao Yu stood up with emotion, secretly envious of the wealth of the Taiyuan cavalry.

After all, silk is a precious thing, and the silk clothes worn by this cavalryman are worth enough to exchange for the leather armor of five soldiers, plus the cavalry's war horses and other equipment, as well as the cost of training cavalry, the cost of one cavalryman is at least equivalent to twenty foot soldiers.

This made Zhao Yu, who wanted to create a cavalry, feel cool in his heart: This cavalry is not something that ordinary people can afford.

Just when Zhao Yu sighed, the Taiyuan cavalry under Xue Ao returned to this battlefield one after another, taking away their sacrificed robes and even their equipment.

Even the dead horses were taken away.

"What are they doing with these dead horses?" Niu Heng asked puzzled.

"I guess I'm going to find a place to bury it." Zhao Yu explained.

Hearing this, Niu Heng's eyes widened, swallowed saliva and said, "Why are you buried?" You can also eat horse meat. ”

"Don't say that in front of the cavalry." Zhao Yu reminded helplessly.

Indeed, for cavalry, the war horse is a companion and a robe, and unless there are special circumstances, the cavalry will never eat the meat of themselves or their companions' war horses, nor will they hand it over to friendly soldiers for consumption.

On February 21, Xue Ao, the general of the Jin Che Cavalry, together with Zhou Hu, the commander of Yingchuan, led 12,000 Yingchuan troops, more than 6,000 Liangcheng troops, and 5,000 Taiyuan cavalry, and Xianping County defeated more than 100,000 righteous divisions, beheaded and captured 30,000 people.

Xianping County was thus recovered by the Jin army.

After the war, Chen Xuan led the remaining 70,000 righteous divisions, under the supervision of a number of Taiyuan cavalry, retreated to Fugou County, and then divided the troops into two routes, led by Xiang Xuan 10,000 Jiangxia righteous divisions as a partial division, and evacuated towards Yanling County in Yingchuan County, and assisted the garrison in the local Yanxuan, Zhong Fei and other generals to retreat to Chen County; Chen Miao, on the other hand, led the rest of the main force and retreated straight to Chenjun.

Knowing the movements of the righteous master, Xue Ao wanted to take Zhao Yu to continue the pursuit, but in the end, he was delayed for two days in Xianping County because of one thing.

There is no other reason, just because he has a father-in-law, Chen Zhong and Chen Taishi, who came.

The arrival of this person also made Zhao Yu feel pressure.