Chapter 284: Refining His Soul and Losing His Courage

Wu Xian is a legendary figure among the generals of the Jin State, he is not famous for winning battles, on the contrary, the reason why he grew stronger and became one of the feudal nine princes of Xuanzong, the first emperor of the Jin State, relied on continuous defeat. Others will inevitably be defeated when they lose a battle, and their strength will decline, but on the contrary, every time they lose a battle, they can always gather more defeated troops, and it will not take long for the momentum to regain and their strength will increase.

Because he is a Han Chinese, he is not trusted by Wanyan Shouxu like Wanyan Heda and Yilahab, but Wanyan Shouxu has never treated him slowly. Wu Xian was deeply gracious, and he also felt that this son of heaven was a rare hero, so after replacing Ilahab as the vanguard of the Jin army, he did his best to take Xuzhou for the Jin State to repay the Lord's grace.

Of course, if you can occupy a small piece of land in the rich Xuzhou, it will be even better, and with the wisdom of the gold owner, of course, he will not refuse this small request.

But in the early hours of that day, Wu Xian woke up from a nightmare, although it was nine cold days, and he was only sleeping in the camp tent, but he felt hot and unbearable, and a stinky sweat appeared on his body, making him sticky and uncomfortable all over his body.

"Damn it......" he muttered, then his eyes widened.

He was able to survive several routs unscathed, and gathered a large number of remnants, in addition to his own set of skills, his sensitivity to danger was also an important reason. He rolled over and got up, the ominous feeling still firmly entrenched in his heart, called his soldiers to fetch a basin of cold water, he washed his face with cold water, drove away the remaining sleepiness, and then went out of the camp.

All he could see was a tent of shadows, and it made him feel a little at ease. This time under the city of Xuzhou, he gathered the remnants of the original Irabuha, as well as the reinforcements he brought himself, in terms of the number, there were 200,000 - he claimed to be 800,000 people, and the troops that the Jin State could still use, except for the monk Wanyan Chen, who did not know what was crazy, and refused to leave the western Hebei Road under the pretext of preventing the Mongols from treachery, almost all of them were here. Even the Chinese army led by Marshal Pingzhang Tianxia Wanyan Heda was only 50,000 people.

200,000 troops, the number of Song troops in Xuzhou City is 40,000...... They probably didn't dare to come out at night to attack the camp.

These days, Wuxian's attack on Xuzhou is also quite embarrassing, although he has a large number of soldiers, but the combat power is not strong, he is unwilling to attack the city easily, waiting for the rear siege equipment to arrive - Irabuha in front of Qinglong Fort The defeat made the original preparation of the siege equipment all fall into the hands of the Song army, and have to be transferred from the Chinese army, and whether it is artillery or siege vehicles, the speed of movement is not fast.

"Those Montaries, they have nothing but plunder in their heads!" He sighed, if the Mongols joined forces with him and 300,000 people were here, then he would not be afraid of any changes in the Song army in Xuzhou City. But the Mongols wanted to move the reinforcements of the Song people, saying that the reinforcements were all carts and baggage, and the leader of the troops was their great enemy Li Ye.

Wu Xian felt his cold hair stand up suddenly, and he realized where his foreboding came from: to sneak attack Li Ye's Menghu!

They have been gone for two days, no matter whether they win or lose, there should be a messenger at this time, but until now, the martial immortals have not heard from them.

"80,000 people, won't be wiped out by Li Ye with 10,000 people...... Menghu is full of cavalry, even if he has suffered defeat, it is not a problem to get out, there should always be news to ......"

His heart was pounding, if Li Ye's 10,000 people really defeated Menghu's 80,000 cavalry in the field, then the combat effectiveness he showed far exceeded the 200,000 cobbled rabble in his hands, if so, I am afraid that he would have to gather the rout again.

The rumbling sound in the distance didn't wake him up at first, he thought it was thunder, but he quickly reacted, counting where the winter thunder shook in the nine cold days!

He got up abruptly and shouted: "Prepare the horses, give orders to go down, if our army is defeated, we will retreat to Yongzhou!" ”

The soldiers immediately got busy, Wu Xian squinted his eyes, and was not ashamed of the order he had just given, in this troubled world, the first thing is how to protect himself, not to be a hero.

After about ten minutes, the rumbling sound finally approached, but instead of entering his camp, it stopped outside. After another moment, a flag official came to report: "Yan Shi begs to see!" ”

Wuxian is no stranger to Yan Shi, the two have made friends in Hebei West Road, Yan Shi and Shi Tianze are his great enemies. But now he has retreated to Dengzhou, and it is the guy who stays on Hebei West Road to confront the two of them. Hearing Yan Shi's visit, Wu Xian's first thought was that Polu was finished, but after thinking about it, how could Polu be so easy to finish, the cowardly Xue and Tanma Red Army in his hands were extremely powerful, and even Yan Shi could escape back, and Polu should be fine.

Before he could see Yan Shi, Wu Xian decided that Menghu had failed to intercept Li Ye this time.

Even so, he was still surprised when he saw Yan Shi's embarrassed appearance. At this time, Yan Shi did not have the scenery when he was competing with him, and soon even his helmet was lost, and his face was depressed, as white as a dead man. There were abrasions on his forehead, and the armor on his body was completely devoid of its usual brightness, stained with dirt, withered grass, and something black that I didn't know if it was blood or something.

"Is there any hot soup, bring me a ......?"

Regardless of the hustle and bustle, he pleaded with the old enemy in front of him, he knew what he looked like now, so he didn't pretend to be anything. Wu Xian was stunned, and then hurriedly ordered the military cook to raise the fire and cook the soup, he introduced Yan Shi into the seat, and before opening his mouth to ask, he glanced at it for a quarter of an hour.

It's twelve o'clock in the middle of the night.

"I ran away for a day, and I don't know how many horses died of exhaustion." The breathing was settled, and Yan Shi spoke: "Marshal Wu, Master Polu has been defeated...... Defeat terrible! ”

In the battle in the early morning, Polu finally wanted to work hard, he was unwilling to let the military name and dignity of the Mongols be trampled under the feet of the Song people, so he launched a final decisive impact.

He believes that the Song people came out of the barbed wire fence and gave him a chance to win, because without the protection of the barbed wire, the Mongolian elite cavalry could desperately break into the Song army, as long as they entered the Song army, the advantage of the Song people's long-range weapons in the melee could not be brought into play.

His idea was right, but what he didn't expect was that there was another weapon in the Song army that was the deadliest for cavalry.

Twenty-eight rounds of fire, this is the name that Euro Bama gave to his own invention of the musket. After Ao Sayang invented the musket under the guidance of Zhao and Ju, the long-dormant Ou Bama began to think about how to overcome the problem that the musket could only be fired single and then had to be reloaded, and he finally invented this musket after a year of history. This musket was more important than the Wumu Zero-3, and it was markedly different in the magazine, with a magazine like a crossbow, with twenty-eight rounds per magazine, and after each magazine, a cloth was dipped in water - preferably urine to clean the chamber to wipe off the gunpowder residue and also to cool the barrel.

Although it was only twenty-eight rounds, twenty fires fired in turn, and with the Wumu 03 platoon gun, Polu's last struggle was also in vain.

Yan Shi didn't see this scene, when Polu launched a desperate attack, he had already seen the situation, and Polu's conversation with him that night made him understand that even in the eyes of a Mongolian magnate like Polu who supported sinicization and was quite enlightened, he was still not a Mongol, he was a northerner, or a Han Chinese, Menghu was afraid of him and drove him, he was like that cousin to change his name to "Congyuan", and it was impossible for Menghu to completely identify with him.

He had soldiers in his hands, so he could go out to fight with Polu, and if he didn't have soldiers, he would only be like Li Quan, who was thrown somewhere to be the head of the farmer, raising money for Menghu's farming, and he no longer had the power and scenery he has now.

Therefore, he must keep the soldiers and horses in his hands, and not lose them in this senseless attack, anyway, the order that Polu gave him was to divert the attention of the Song army, and he had already lost a lot for this, and he could be regarded as completing Polu's order.

Yan Shi understood that if he didn't get out in time, when Polu realized that the attack on the Song army was not only futile but also self-defeating, then he would have to stay behind and use his flesh and blood to block the terrible weapon that could wear armor for Menghu. So he made up his mind, and immediately turned and left, and this walk did not stop any longer.

He didn't dare to escape along the road built by the Song people, and even deliberately avoided the Song people's farm market towns, although he knew that the Song people in those farm market towns had already withdrawn, but just in case, he still desperately detoured, escaped for a daytime, and finally escaped to the outside of Xuzhou City in the middle of the night, and fled into the camp of Wuxian.

No matter how much he looked down on Wuxian and the routed army he had gathered before, but after all, there were hundreds of thousands of infantry here, if the Song people chased and killed, his own cavalry would always escape faster than Wuxian's infantry, as long as they could outrun them, the Song people would not be able to catch up.

Regarding the fiasco of Polu, he strictly exaggerated the power of the new weapons of the Song army, did not say about his own performance, only said that he was ordered to evacuate, separated from Polu, and now he still does not know Polu's life and death.

After listening to what Yan Shi said about the battle situation, the chef sent hot soup dishes, and Yan Shi escaped for a day, hungry and thirsty, naturally devouring them. Martial Immortal sat in his position and stared at his brows for a long time, his heart was desolate.

With 80,000 troops and night attack infantry, the other side did not have a complicated ambush or a difficult city defense, but it completely destroyed Menghu's fighting spirit in a head-to-head battle. From the horror in Yan Shi's eyes, it was not difficult for Wu Xian to see that this fiasco dealt a heavier blow to Yan Shi than he said. In this case, his siege of Xuzhou was just a joke, if there was still an army in Xuzhou as Yan Shi said, as long as he flicked his fingers, his 200,000 troops would collapse again.

In the past, there was always a place to close when the earth fell apart, but this time...... Is there still such an opportunity?

The Song people obviously had an absolute advantage, why didn't they defend Qinglong Fort, but only defeated Irabuha at Qinglong Fort, and then retreated to Xuzhou. Li Ye knew that Xuzhou was besieged, why didn't he come to help quickly, but he walked on the road unhurriedly with less than 10,000 people?

The purpose of the Song people is very clear, to take down all the 200,000 people in their hands and the 80,000 elites in Menghu under the city of Xuzhou. If this goal is achieved, the Song people will counterattack next, from Xuzhou to Bianliang, there is no decent army to stop them, not the 50,000 people of Wanyan Heda, and the 10,000 people who stayed in the hands of Wanyan Chen monk on the West Road of Hebei.

Is it against the walls of the Bianliang? In the face of the artillery of the Song people, all the city walls are a joke.

"What are General Yan's plans?" Seeing that Yan Shi finished eating, Wu Xian cleaned up his mood and asked with a forced smile.

Yan Shi glanced at the martial immortal, because he still fled with more than 10,000 people, this martial immortal did not dare to snub himself, and he didn't know how many people in Menghu would be able to come back after this battle. But from Wu Xian's words, it is not difficult to judge that he has the intention of soliciting.

It's just that if you want to rebel against the Yuan, why don't you go to the Great Song Dynasty and take refuge in the Jin Kingdom in the storm?

Even if you take refuge in the Jin Kingdom, you have to go to Yan Heda or go directly to Yan Shouxu, how can you be under a mediocre general like Wuxian?

Thinking of this, Yan said quietly: "Master Polu has an appointment with me, and then set the itinerary after meeting under the city of Xuzhou, now that our army has been defeated, Li Ye's reinforcements are less than 100 days away from Xuzhou, if you go fast, you can arrive in one day, and you can arrive in two days slower, whether it is to attack or retreat, it must be decided by Polu Taishi." ”

His words were slippery and did not spare his hand, and the implication was that if Wu Xian wanted to use his subordinates to attack the city, he would have to discuss with Polu, but at this time, where to find Polu?

Wu Xian was groaning, and suddenly heard a loud voice outside, and after a while, he heard the flag officer rushing in: "Marshal, Grand Master Polu...... Master Polu wants to see the marshal. ”

Wu Xian glanced at Yan Shi, and a flash of surprise in Yan Shi's eyes fell into his eyes, he smiled coldly and stood up.

"That being the case, General Yan, why don't you go with me to greet Master Polu?"

Polu and Yan Shi were not so desperate to escape, and Li Ye had no intention of pursuing them at all. His strength was less than 10,000 people, and the teaching standard that posed a mortal threat to the Menghu cavalry was only more than 3,000 people.

Although musket artillery is extremely sharp, they also have a fatal weakness, and that is ammunition. Without sufficient ammunition, muskets and artillery are no match for spear shields. Therefore, when Zhao and Ju told Li Ye how to use the musket, he repeatedly emphasized that he would not fight a battle with insufficient supplies. That night Menghu struck, and the whole battle lasted only half an hour, and the musket guide used up 68,000 rounds of ammunition, almost half of the ammunition that the soldiers carried. This speed of consumption made Li Ye can't help but wipe his sweat, because he knows very well that these bullets are piled up with money. According to the cost, each bullet cost fifty yuan, and in this half-hour battle, nearly 4,000 yuan were gone.

However, when the battlefield was counted after dawn, Li Ye felt that the four thousand guan were really worth it. There were 4,000 corpses left behind by Menghu on the battlefield, more than 3,000 wounded, and 10 of the 80,000 Menghu were left behind.

The seized horses were 1,200, and no one counted the wounded and dead horses, in fact, no one paid attention to those startled horses that ran far away, and it was these 1,200 horses that were sold to make a lot of money.

"Menghu is injured, the old rules deal with it." Li Ye smiled cruelly when he gave this order, which made Shi Da Spoon shrink his neck, and he just wanted to hide back, but was caught by Li Ye: "Shi Da Colander, this matter will be handed over to you, Si Yi, you are responsible for collecting the captured horses." ”

"Why do I take care of all this dirty work every time?" Shi Dasco muttered with some dissatisfaction.

As Li Ye's old subordinates, Shi Dasco and Song Siyi both knew what the old rules were, and Li Ye never kept Menghu prisoners of war.

"It's clean this time." Song Siyi said lightly.

Shi Dasco didn't know what he meant at first, but when he dealt with the injured Menghu, he realized that in such a cold and freezing weather, most of the injured people were lying on the ground at night, and most of them had frozen to death. The few who were still alive were also blue, and they seemed to be just a breath more than the dead. They suffered double pain, and putting them to death was a gift to some extent, so Song Siyi would say "very clean".

Polu lost more than 10,000 people in the first battle of Zhengquji, in fact, only more than 10,000 people escaped from the Han army attached to the strict account, and only 50,000 of the 80,000 troops he brought returned to Xuzhou City. On the issue of whether to continue to attack the city, Polu once again had a dispute with Wuxian, Wuxian thought that since the battle of Zhengquji had been lost, it would be meaningless to attack Xuzhou again, and it was better to withdraw the army and choose the opportunity to fight again, but Polu still had a glimmer of hope, and asked Wuxian to give up Xuzhou to attack Li Ye, thinking that if Li Ye could be defeated, the battle of Xuzhou would still have room for change.

After the dispute, Wu Xian asked: "Taishi Polu fought with Li Ye, I don't know how many generals of the Song people were killed and injured by Taishi himself in the battle of Zhengqu. If I kill and injure two percent of the Song people's generals, I will fight for the vitality of Dajin and kill Li Ye as well! ”

This was said so that Lu was speechless, and the two sides broke up unhappily, and the next day, Xuzhou was besieged.

Note 1: The Twenty-Eight Fire Beads were actually invented by Dai Zi in the Qing Dynasty, and he dedicated them to Xuan Ye, who was called the Great Emperor by some literary historians, but unfortunately, he was completely unaware of what his invention meant to these Tatars who claimed to be the masters of the Chinese, so he himself was exiled to Shenyang by the Manchu Emperor known as the Ming Emperor, and only returned to Beijing thirty years later, and died of poverty and illness soon after.