Because this time he was facing an unprecedentedly strong enemy, considering that the Fifth Army of the Forbidden Army had experienced the baptism of a great war, Zhao Mengjin was very cautious about its use. Therefore, when setting up the defense line, the Imperial Protector was deployed in the front line, and it was placed in the last line of defense in the rear, so that even if the enemy broke through the defensive line of the Imperial Protector, it would become the end of the strong crossbow after many times of attrition, and the combat effectiveness was greatly reduced.

In addition, the situation of the war is changing rapidly, and the Imperial Protectors are the elite of the army, and they have participated in all the major wars in the restoration of the country since their formation, and the officers not only have actual combat experience, but also generally have experience in martial arts training, and they must quickly and accurately grasp the changes in the battlefield situation, and be able to quickly make judgments and take corresponding measures. In this regard, the Fifth Army is much worse, after all, there is still a big difference between those who have seen blood and those who have gone into battle for the first time. They were originally from a low background, and they had not participated in major battles, so no one would be at ease if they put these 'recruits' at the forefront.

Therefore, in the early stage of the campaign, the Imperial Front Protector also lived up to the name of elite, with their tenacious style, superb skills and tactics and flexible command, they fought vigorously in the face of a strong enemy, advancing when they should advance, retreating when they should retreat, and eliminated the enemy's attacks every time, and successfully held the defense line. However, as the battle progressed, the Imperial Front Protector had to take on the task of closing the enemy's retreat and completing the encirclement, so the main force began to move to the two flanks, and the Fifth Army had to take over their positions and face the enemy's attack.

Zhao Mengjin arranged this way also considering that the imperial guards were well-trained, there would be no confusion in the transfer, and they could quickly enter the combat state. However, they were worried that the Fifth Army would be chaotic in changing its formation because it had experienced a major war and had been mobilized on a large scale, and that it would be taken advantage of by the enemy. In addition, after several days of heavy fighting, the enemy army suffered heavy casualties after repeated defeats, and its combat effectiveness and morale inevitably declined. The Fifth Army is fully organized, its morale is high, and its combat effectiveness remains intact, so there should be no problem in beating a reservoir dog.

This is a relatively safe plan, but people are not as good as heaven. Yuxi Timur used the tactics of Wanyan begging to dismount and fight against the Song army under the unfavorable situation of a long battle, and the pressure was all on the body of the Fifth Army. This made Zhao Mengjin very sweaty, the main force of the imperial front guard army was all arranged on the two flanks of the battlefield, and there were only two divisions of the state army as a reserve.

Due to the short return of the dynasty, all kinds of waste are waiting to be rebuilt, and in order to stabilize the people's hearts, the imperial court has reduced and exempted a lot of taxes, which has led to a tight fiscal revenue. After recovering Jiangnan, the army was greatly expanded, and a large number of officials were added, so that the financial income of the imperial court was barely enough to open salaries. Fortunately, the little emperor made money in a good way, and used the sea trade to get back a lot of 'foreign money', so that the imperial court still had a place to 'borrow money', otherwise he would have to go bankrupt.

In addition to increasing salaries, the biggest cost of military expansion is weapons and equipment. In order to keep the production of firearms secret, the emperor's craftsmen have always been under the supervision and control of the army, and according to the agreement with His Majesty, after the weapons are produced, they will be purchased at the expense of the imperial court and then equipped with troops. However, the imperial court relied on what it could, and delayed it as long as it could, passing the financial pressure to the inner treasury, resulting in the little emperor becoming the largest creditor of the imperial court.

Therefore, in addition to the limitation of production scale and resources, the production of weapons is also short of money, so that the production of weapons has always been in a state of short supply. Therefore, the weapons produced are mainly equipped with the imperial guards and the forbidden army, and the state army as an auxiliary force can only be equipped with the old weapons replaced by the forbidden army and the captured weapons, which are basically mainly cold weapons, and there is only one battalion of the state army equipped with firearms in a division, and the combat effectiveness and the forbidden army are naturally not the same.

Zhao Mengjin was worried that if the Fifth Army could not withstand the pressure and was defeated, it would likely lead to the collapse of the entire defensive line and allow the enemy army to break into the hinterland south of the Yangtze River. The best solution at the moment is to reinforce the front guards, but then there will be a gap in the encirclement. If the enemy army is just trying to attract their own feints, but they want to take the opportunity to break through, they will not be able to complete the plan of gathering and destroying the enemy army, so Zhao Mengjin does not dare to use the imperial guards to reinforce them.

However, Zhao Mengjin's worries were quickly put to the back of his mind, and he found that the Fifth Army, which had always been regarded as a second-rate army, was indeed fighting well under the command of Ran Anguo, and quickly stabilized its position after the initial panic, not only holding the defensive line in the melee without artillery support, but also fighting with the enemy in hand-to-hand combat, and frequently defeated the Meng Yuan army, which was more adept at close combat, and expelled them from their positions.

As the head of the first army, Ran Anguo also impressed Zhao Mengjin, a seemingly rude person but with a delicate heart, not only leading the troops well, but also fighting bravely, and even personally went into battle to fight with the enemy at the most dangerous moment, smashing the enemy's offensive again and again. When the enemy infiltrated the rear of the defense line and tried to seize the artillery position, he personally cut off the head of the enemy general Wan Yanqi, which greatly boosted the morale of the army.

As a result, in this most fierce battle, the Fifth Army not only held the defensive line, but also inflicted great casualties on the enemy. According to statistics after the war, in the battle of one day and one night, the Mengyuan army lost more than 30,000 troops, while its own side only paid the price of less than 1,000 killed and 2,000 wounded. However, on this day, more than 100,000 catties of gunpowder and 10,000 catties of lead bullet were consumed, and almost all the reserves of the entire army were consumed.

The Fifth Army also became famous in this battle, and no one dared to regard it as a second-rate army, and it also became one of the main forces of the Great Song Dynasty by virtue of this battle. Ran Anguo, an unknown general in the past, also impressed Zhao Mengjin, and personally wrote to the court to ask for merit for him. With such a fierce general under his command, he has naturally become his heart and soul baby, and he will tolerate three points for it, and turn a blind eye to some of his small actions, of course, the necessary warnings are also required......

"Why are you back again?" When Zhao Mengjin was snickering, suddenly the door opened, and Ran Anguo broke in again, and he asked angrily.

"The envoy, the last general received a report when he went out, and it can already be determined that the enemy is trying to break through, and at this moment it is already in chaos and out of order." Ran Anguo saluted.

"How did you deal with it?" Zhao Mengjin suddenly felt bad in his heart when he saw it, and asked anxiously.

"The last general will order all units to attack in an all-round way, intersperse and infiltrate in separate ways, cut off the contact between the enemy's various units, disrupt their command, and annihilate the enemy in chaos!" Ran Anguo replied.

"You...... Did you scatter all the troops? Zhao Mengjin's premonition was confirmed, but he didn't seem to give up, pointing at his face and saying with a pale face.

"Nope!" Ran Anguo shook his head when he saw that his face had changed slightly, and said timidly, "The last general left ...... the guard battalion directly under the general's headquarters."

"Bastard, you're going to die!" Zhao Mengjin laughed angrily, "It's dark and the night is dark, hundreds of thousands of troops are mixed together, what should I do if the flag is unknown, the communication is not smooth, what should I do if I am injured by mistake, what should I do if the enemy army crosses the river while the chaos is in chaos, and what should I do if I run away from the enemy chieftain......

"Don't be annoyed, the enemy army is already in chaos at the moment, is it a good opportunity?" Seeing that Zhi Shuai asked questions again and again, Ran Anguo was also a little hairy, but after a little thought, he replied, "The morale of the enemy army has been lost, and the commander has abandoned the army and fled, he has become a frightened bird, how dare he engage in battle." It is possible to divide and surround them, and defeat them individually, but if they are reorganized, it will be difficult to destroy the enemy! ”

"You immediately organize a force and lead the swift blockade of the bridge to prevent the enemy from taking advantage of the chaos to cross the river. And protect the baggage and prevent the rout from robbing the grain and grass! "Zhao Mengjin is a veteran of the battlefield after all, he knows that once the troops get out of control, anything will happen, and now it is dark and the sight is not good, and the panicked rout troops are fleeing in all directions, where they are free, they are drilling, and they can't take care of you at all. If there are these enemy soldiers who have been hungry for many days, they will definitely take advantage of the chaos to find food, and the baggage team in the rear, which is weaker in combat, is their best target. At the moment, he scattered all the troops without regard for him, and he was very helpless, so he could only strictly order him to take remedial measures.

"Yes...... Yes, this is the end! Ran Anguo also realized at this time that he was eager to win, this arrangement was really a little inconsiderate, and he originally wanted to say that he had no soldiers to send in his hands, but he thought that the disaster was caused by himself, and if he defended it again, he was already so angry that he would really cut off his head in anger, so he swallowed back the words that reached his throat.

"Governor Jiang has arrived!" Ran Anguo went out again, where could Zhao Mengjin put his mind down, and when he went out to watch, he could only hear gunshots and shouts of killing everywhere, and it had become a pot of porridge. And under the moonlight, it was not real, and the heralds sent could not contact the various departments, so it was difficult to judge their position, so they could only be in a hurry. And at this time, the soldiers reported that Jiang Xuan had arrived.

"Zhao Zhi, why is it like this, I encountered several chaotic soldiers along the way, but fortunately, there were not many of them, and they were repelled by the escorted soldiers. But I was almost injured by our soldiers, and they actually pointed guns at us and told me to dismount and surrender......" Jiang Xuan rode directly through the gate, and only turned over and dismounted until he was close, and asked with an unkind face.

"The governor is angry, and now it's all messed up, and I can't contact them. And the rout also broke into the vicinity of the command post, and several battles took place! Zhao Mengjin also replied with a bitter face.

"What kind of chaotic battle is this, it is difficult to distinguish between the enemy and me, and they are all mixed together!" Jiang Xuan listened to his complaints, his face softened slightly, but he still said one after another, "Before I came, Ni Liang sent someone to report that the defense line of the Runzhou Army guarding the northeast defense line was broken by the enemy, and about 2,000 people broke through the encirclement. He judged that it was the enemy chief Yuxi Timur who had broken through, and had already led the cavalry brigade of the Imperial Front Protector to pursue it, and suggested that we withdraw the siege, drive the enemy to the east, and annihilate the enemy in pursuit! ”

"And who is in command of the Imperial Protectors?" Zhao Mengjin's face darkened when he heard this, the northeast direction was assisted by the Runzhou army, but he did not deploy them in the front, but guarded the paths along the way to prevent the enemy from infiltrating and sneaking attack, but he didn't expect the enemy army to break through from there. And what is even more annoying is that Ni Liang also added to the chaos and became a shopkeeper......

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