It was dark and dreary, and it was still more than an hour before dawn broke, and a pigeon fluttered its wings and landed on the wooden platform of the dovehouse.

Before the pigeon could stop, a pair of agile and steady hands were held in the palm of its hand, and the nimble fingers immediately untied the reed tube attached to the pigeon's 'leg'. The reed pipe was taken to a secret room lit with an oil lamp, and the silk silk hidden in the reed pipe soaked in oil was unfolded, and the person who read it was slightly surprised, because the silk was not ciphered, but the text stamped with the military seal, and in an instant, it was passed in the hands of three people, and then it was stuffed back into the reed pipe, hidden in a man's bun. Immediately afterwards, the two men mounted fast horses and rushed out of the hut in a whirlwind in the light rain. The fast horse galloped north along the muddy official road, until it met the chaotic hoof prints of the cavalry passing by, and then disappeared into the dense mountain forest. Although walking on the mountain road is more time-consuming and laborious than the official road, it avoids revealing your whereabouts. About an hour later, looking down from the top of the mountain, both of them couldn't help but gasp.

"Is it Liaobing?" Zhang Fang said in a low voice, and subconsciously held the horse chew with both hands.

"Except for the Liao, how can there be so many cavalry?" Wu Xi frowned, and asked rhetorically, "The people who are surrounded inside are General Zhao's subordinates?" His tone was somewhat complicated. Zhang Fang and Wu Xi were both Song people, and although they were the finesses of the Military Intelligence Department, they were ordered to prevent Zhao Xingde from leading his troops to the north, but they did not want to see him defeated and killed.

"Except for General Zhao," Zhang Fang muttered, "which of the men and horses in this place are worthy of Yelu Dashi to return to personally supervise the formation, and 'want' to deal with it quickly." He recognized the periphery of the cavalry from the clairvoyant mirror, a group of cavalry with helmets and armor clustered around a huge Jiuxuan flag, although the rain drenched the flag tightly on the flagpole, but still vaguely recognized the huge sun and moon patterns, if it were not for Yelu Dashi himself, other Khitan generals would never dare to erect this flag. Zhao Xingde's department was surrounded, it was the open plain suitable for the cavalry to gallop, the Song army gathered a group of hedgehogs under the impact of the Liao cavalry, the rain was getting heavier and heavier, the artillery and guns that the Song army was good at were completely unusable, in the clairvoyant mirror, the Liao army was in full swing, and a group of cavalry brandished scimitars and spears, shouting loudly towards the Song army.

"This damn rain," Wu Xi slammed his fist on the ground and roared indignantly, "Thief God." ”

In the Song army formation surrounded by the cavalry of the Liao army, Zhao Xingde had already 'handed over' his mount to the tooth soldiers, and he himself stood on a slightly higher mound of earth, coldly watching the cavalry attacking from all directions. "Firearms, ammunition and 'medicine' are covered with tarpaulin, and all battalions are not allowed to open fire!" Military orders were swiftly handed down. Trying to fire in the rain will not only fail to succeed, but may also soak and 'wave' the 'medicine' bag. The heavy rain made firearms unusable, and it also greatly reduced the power of the Liao army's cavalry 'shooting'. To deal with the tactics of the Liao cavalry's rapid attack in the wilderness, the battalions of the Northern Expeditionary Army have already practiced many times. The Hammer Hand stood behind the antlers with the spear-mounted musket, and the antler wall was rapidly becoming denser and thicker at a speed that was recognizable to the naked eye.

"Up, move fast!" The battalion commanders, centurions, and escorts all shouted, "'Insert' the antlers!" ”

"'Stick' the antlers!" "'Stick' the antlers!" The Captain of Ten led a group of soldiers to run along the gap in the formation to the periphery.

The soldiers ran behind the "antler wall", struggled to 'stick' the sharp antlers they carried with them into the ground, and retreated into the formation along the gap. From the scouts found that the Liao cavalry was large, the Song army formed a formation to wait for the enemy, and almost in a moment, the periphery of the Song army's large array was 'inserted' full of antlers, like a dense forest growing out of the flatland. This jungle of antlers appeared very suddenly, and in the heavy rain, the Liao cavalry rushed forward, and the horses either screamed and were pierced through the chest and abdomen by the antlers, or refused to advance anyway. The heavy rain obscured the view, the cavalry in front had to restrain their horses in front of the antlers, and the cavalry in the back were still desperately rushing forward, and the periphery of the Song army's large array was crowded with 'chaotic' cavalry, unable to advance or retreat.

At this moment, a group of heavily armored foot soldiers rushed out from behind the Song army's formation, and in the pouring rain, this group of Song soldiers with big shoulders and round waists made all heavy blades, and under the wave, it was difficult to resist the idle armor. The cavalry of the Liao army lost the advantage of galloping, and it was difficult to show the ability to ride 'shooting' in the heavy rain, and the heavy armor Song army fought desperately to the left and right, the front team suffered a big loss, did not dare to rush forward again, and retreated backwards one after another, some of the rear cavalry were comfortable, and some were still 'chaotic' and rushed forward, in the heavy rain and mud, many cavalry were knocked off the horse by their own horses, and then were trampled into the 'meat' mud. 、

"Kill!" Qian Shen roared loudly, struggling to split the heavy axe into the front 'chest' of a war horse. The cavalryman was obviously panicked, and at this time, he didn't even use a scimitar to cut Qian Shen's head, and the ten-captain Miao flattened the Mo knife and stabbed it at the waist and ribs of the Liao soldier like a spear, and the Liao soldier and the war horse fell almost at the same time.

"Good! Joyfully! Qian Shen roared again and lifted the axe from the still struggling horse.

He was soaking wet, unable to tell which was rain and which was blood, making him look like a demon who had come out of hell. In the sudden heavy rain, the thunder throwers had to go into battle shirtless, shoulder to shoulder, with heavy long-handled axes, maces, and knives, bringing up clumps of flesh and blood. The narrow battlefield in front of the antler city wall is more than ten paces, crowded with cavalry and heavily armored foot soldiers, crowded and 'mixed' and 'chaotic' men and horses, and the dense rain curtain makes people unable to see the battlefield a few steps away, only the sound of shouting and killing, screaming, neighing of war horses, swords and guns slashing each other, and the sound of rain and gold and iron 'crossing' is almost deafening. Everywhere the flesh and blood are flying, there are people dying anytime and anywhere, except for the robe and the enemy beside him, Qian Shen can't see or hear anyone else at all, cover the robe, kill the enemy, become his only remaining sobriety, even if he kills his arms sore, he has to grit his teeth and stand hard.

"Kill, kill!" When his throat was hoarse and his head was a little dizzy, he was suddenly pulled on the shoulders vigorously, "Kill!" Qian Shen glared angrily at the side, and Miao Ping, whose face was full of 'flowers', yelled at him: "Go, retreat, it's time for my camp to rest!" Miao Pingdi's strength was incomparable, and under his pull, Qian Shen staggered back. At this moment, another battalion of heavily armored sword and axe men rushed out with a shout. Although Qian Shen was panting and resting, his eyes were still fixed on the outside of the big array. Although it was only a few dozen steps, just now he stepped on the corpses of countless people and horses, blood and rain, flowing into streams on the flat ground, and the soil around the entire Song army's large array was painted with a layer of red.

Not far from the Song army's array, Yelu Dashi was stationed on the horse mound, he refused the umbrella cover held up by the guards, and under the heavy rain, he was drenched with the same drenching as the soldiers in the fierce battle. In the rain, his face was tinged with iron blue, and he watched the cavalry in vain surrounding the Song army's large array, but he couldn't break through the formation at all. The Khitan generals who were brave and brave, but they retreated one by one, and did not dare to go up to the mound to report to the emperor, so they could only collect the remnants of the cavalry outside the Song army's large array, reorganize their troops and horses and rush to the Song army's large array again. However, in the pouring rain, the Song army's large array was as hard to gnaw as an iron walnut, and the sharp spirit of the Liao army's cavalry attack was quickly exhausted, and the morale became more and more low.

"This damn wind and rain," scolded one of the palace tent generals through gritted teeth, "if he could draw his bow and 'shoot' arrows, Song Zhu would have been defeated a long time ago." As soon as the words fell, Yelu Dashi glanced at him, his eyes were extremely cold. The general felt as if he had been scraped by a knife, and immediately stopped.

Brother Yelu scolded the fool and looked up at the sky, and the rain seemed to be pouring down. The summer rains are violent and rapid. Once the rain stopped, what advantage could be gained by using the firearms of the Song army to 'shoot' on horseback. Although the cavalry of the Liao army was numerous, the battlefield outside the Song army's large array could not place more than 100,000 cavalry at all, and the Liao army that directly attacked the large array was even smaller than the number of people defending the Song army. The land of the Song Kingdom was thick and sticky, and it would be muddy after heavy rain, and the foot soldiers who defended in place did not necessarily care, and the cavalry galloped with great difficulty. And Cao Di led more than 100,000 troops, and it was only a day or two away from Zhao Xingde's headquarters. There are tens of thousands of Xia Kingdom's 'elite' horsemen under Wu Jie's command, Yue Fei and Han Shizhong are better at scheming and deceitful, if they suddenly appear on the battlefield, the Liao army will suffer a big loss.

The battle lasted for an hour, and under the hard fighting, the Liao cavalry still could not break through the Song army's large array, and in addition to the retreating men and horses, there were more and more warriors who were killed and wounded. An expected surprise attack turned into a trap that consumed the lives of the Khitan warriors. The rain grew from small to heavy, and from large to small, and the dark clouds in the sky gradually dispersed, and the sun 'shot' through the clouds, and the heavens and the earth seemed to suddenly become much brighter. In the muddy outside the Song army's large array, the corpses of the Liao soldiers and horses were also particularly eye-catching. Persisting in the rain and constantly attacking the Song army's large array, almost completely exhausted their morale and horsepower, those 'fine' exhausted, still desperately rushing to the Song army's antlers, are the best warriors in the Khitan tribe. Many more warriors fell forever on this bloody mud.

"Don't fight in a row, don't hit the battle. The fault of this battle lies with me. A deep pain flashed in Yelu Dashi's eyes, and he sighed, "Order, retreat!" Brother Yelu Tiege also nodded. A group of generals surrounded Yelu Dashi down the hill, the horn of Hu Ji blew, and a group of Liao soldiers began to turn their horses and slowly retreated north. The Song army stood behind the antlers bush and cautiously did not pursue immediately. Although the Liao army was exhausted, it was six 'legs' after all, and the cavalry retreated extremely quickly. It didn't take long for only the corpses of the Song army and the men and horses to be left on the battlefield.

In the dense forest in the distance, the two military intelligence officers were dumbfounded, and they had no time to dodge the puffs of rain that flowed down the leaves.

"This is the ......," Zhang Fang whispered as if whispering, "Is this the army of the Song Kingdom?" ”

"This is General Zhao's army." Wu Xi wiped his face, "The courage of the general." The army is like the power of a general. He unconsciously lifted his hair in a bun and said with a wry smile, "Since there is such an army with such momentum like a rainbow, it can fight to the death when it is attacked by cavalry." General Zhao could not have been stopped by a military order. Zhang Fang nodded, the rain ran down his cheeks, and an inexplicable sense of loss rose in his heart.

Author: I added a chapter on the journey, which is a small reparation,

Dawn of the Empire:

Chapter 100 Turning the Heavens of the Night-12: