Although due to the delay in waiting for the turbulent river to rush down, the Beiping army that was crossing the river appeared in a scattered situation, Xiao Kehan, the general of the Khitan Army who led the 15,000 elites to carry out the hidden mission, and was also a close confidant of the commander Xiao Haili, was already suspicious at this time. But when he came, Xiao Haili did not send him a new order, and Xiao Kehan did not dare to act rashly. Second, although the Beiping Army suspended the operation of crossing the river, the 2,000 cavalry who had already crossed the river showed no sign of continuing to advance for a while, and there was no danger of being exposed to the lurking men and horses on their side at present. Therefore, Xiao Kehan, who commanded the hidden troops, did not order his subordinates to make a move, but patiently waited for Xiao Haili's new orders, waiting to see what new tricks the Beiping army could play.

As a result, as the dust and smoke rose on the other side of the river, Xiao Kehan was not able to receive Xiao Haili's new order, nor did he notice that the Beiping army continued to cross the river, but waited for a strange "sizzling" sound and a sharp whistling sound to appear above the heads of him and his men. Before Xiao Kehan could make any judgment or reaction, nearly 200 shells and rockets exploded among him and his men.

Although his current knowledge could not connect the smoke and dust of the Beiping Army's assembly area with the roaring firearms attack, and although the sudden blow made his mind a little dazed, the sound of explosions like a storm and the screams of his soldiers made Xiao Kehan, who was in charge of commanding the hidden men, realize that his side had been exposed. If he didn't want to sit still here, he would have to choose between an immediate attack and a return to the city. But how to make this decision made Xiao Kehan a little dilemma. Although judging from the current situation, since it is obvious that there is a problem with Jihua of the "flooded Seventh Army" on their side, and the other party has discovered their ambush location and launched a fierce attack with firearms, the wisest choice at this time should be to gather men and horses to retreat to Zezhou Shenshan City and refuse to hold on to the city. But the problem is that the two thousand cavalry of the other side are now staring at this side of the river, and if they retreat hastily, they are likely to be pursued and killed by the other side from behind, so that the retreat will turn into a great rout. Once the opponent sees the retreat intention of his side, it is likely that the opponent has already arrived in front of him before he has gathered. Second, the other soldiers didn't know, but Xiao Kehan, as a close confidant, knew very well that his commander Xiao Haili was still hiding on a hill not far from the Beiping Army to observe the battle situation. If his side retreats regardless of it, then Prime Minister Xiao will fall behind enemy lines, and it is difficult to say whether he can come back safely. Once Prime Minister Xiao has any accident, the Liao army in Zezhou and even the entire Zhongjing Province will be leaderless. In that case, I am afraid that it will be even more disadvantageous than losing more than 10,000 horses and horses.

So, after thinking about it and weighing it in many ways, Xiao Kehan finally decided to divide the army into two ways. The main force was led by his own deputy, and returned to Shenshan City in Zezhou as soon as possible, and informed the soldiers and horses remaining in the city to make all preparations for the upcoming siege battle of the Beiping army. And he himself led a death squad of about 3,000 people composed of the elite leather room palace tent army to advance without retreating, and directly assaulted the defensive array of the Beiping army by the river. On the one hand, it buys time for friendly troops to retreat, and on the other hand, it also hopes to buy a chance for their own coach to get out of danger.

As the pro-army of the Khitan Emperor, the Pi Room Palace Tent Army does have its own advantages beyond the ordinary Khitan army. Although they were all attacked suddenly, the speed at which the Leather Chambers Palace Tent Army regained effective command and regrouped was much faster than that of other friendly forces, and there was no situation of unsolicited desertion from the battlefield that was common among friendly units.

The 3,000 Pi Room Palace Tent Army was quickly organized under the bombardment of artillery fire, and after Xiao Kehan, who led the army, explained to his deputy, he raised the mace in his hand and rushed to the defensive position of the Beiping Army by the river with these daring men shouting and shouting.

Seeing that the Khitan army suffered heavy losses under the heavy blows of its own artillery, it did not reach the point of complete collapse. Some of them had even organized themselves to rush towards their positions. Standing on top of the temporary watchtower, Zeng Zhilin, who was holding a telescope to observe the enemy's situation, couldn't help but nod secretly. On the one hand, it is indeed admirable that after two years of successive defeats, there are still such people who dare to fight and die among the Khitan generals - even if the other party is an enemy. On the other hand, it lamented that the terrain here was too open, and in the face of an unfavorable situation, the Khitan army could quickly retreat, which greatly reduced the shock effect of its own firepower, and could not form an encirclement and annihilate operation on a relatively narrow and closed terrain like in the past, so that the enemy army fell into despair, and soon lost its military spirit and fighting spirit, and completely collapsed.

However, after receiving the news from the local "Dark Feather" branch that the Khitan army intended to build a dam to intercept the flow and give the Beiping army a "good show" of "flooding the Seventh Army", and used this open land by the river as the first battle place for the defense of Zezhou, Zeng Zhilin had already expected that there would be such a situation as now, which can only be repelled but not defeated, let alone encircled and annihilated. Therefore, I was not surprised by the various reactions of the Khitan army. While continuing to observe the battlefield situation with the telescope, he instructed the herald beside him: "Send a signal and order all units to act as originally planned, so as to kill and wound the Khitan army as much as possible before it retreats out of the range of firepower." As for the Khitan soldiers and horses that rushed over, since they have the determination to play with their lives, it would be good for them. ”

"Yes," the herald replied, and then turned and descended from the watchtower.

As the order was handed down, the frequency of artillery firing suddenly accelerated, and more and more shells fell on the Khitan army that was retreating and regrouping, and the rocket artillery completed the loading at the fastest speed, and fired another volley before the enemy escaped from the firing range, reaping the lives of the Khitan generals. Listening to the sound of the whistling overhead getting denser and denser, watching the pieces of his subordinates fall in the huge roar, Xiao Kehan, who led the death squad to carry out a decisive assault, couldn't help but feel anxious, and desperately beat his horse and galloped, in order to rush to the Beiping army as soon as possible, disrupt the opponent's firearm attack, and block the opponent's cavalry's possible pursuit of his retreating troops.

The distance of five miles does not take much time for a galloping war horse, but it is just a few drinks of tea and a few idle words. Seeing that the Khitan cavalry was getting closer and closer, the 2,000 cavalry of the Beiping Army, who were originally on guard duty in the front, immediately changed their formation, moved to both sides at the fastest speed, and gave way to the front of the Khitan cavalry assault, so that the infantry units that had already built a defensive formation behind them could give full play to their firepower without worrying about hurting their own people.

The maneuver of the cavalry units of the Beiping Army made Xiao Kehan, who led the army to carry out a daring assault, once again face a choice -- whether to continue to move forward and surprise the infantry and artillery corps of the Beiping Army on the other side of the river, or turn to attack the cavalry of the Beiping Army. If they continue to rush forward, on the one hand, the cavalry of the Beiping Army on both sides can either turn back and block their own retreat and make themselves a turtle in the urn, or they can throw themselves and go straight to the north to chase the retreating friendly troops and form a momentum of attacking them, which is likely to turn the retreat of the friendly forces into a rout. On the other hand, if you want to attack the artillery and infantry of the Beiping Army, you must pass through the four improvised bridges. And when crossing the bridge, it is also the most vulnerable time for your side, and the soldiers on the bridge are basically lambs to be slaughtered, and they have no ability to fight back; If you turn around and attack the cavalry of the Beiping Army on the flank, you will not be able to interfere with the attack of the Beiping Army's artillery and reduce the casualties of the retreating friendly troops. Second, in the process of turning, he will expose the largest side of the target to the firearms of the Beiping Army on the other side of the river, and become a live target for the opponent's attack.

Although it is a dilemma, Xiao Kehan is also a decisive man. After only a little thought, he decided to turn to attack the cavalry of the Beiping Army, which was avoiding the flanks—after all, no matter how large the target was, it would be easier than a frontal assault like thousands of troops crossing a single-plank bridge.

The Khitan army turned in front of its own position, and the first to react were the infantry of the Beiping Army, which was defending in the front. The riflemen of the 1st Regiment of the 3rd Composite Infantry Division of the "Flying Dragon Army", which had been waiting on the other side of the river, fired the first salvo under the commander's command, and the regiment's hundreds of light and heavy machine guns weaved a dense net of fire where the Khitan Army must pass after turning, sweeping the opponent down in pieces like cutting wheat. Immediately afterwards, the two cavalry clusters of the Beiping Army, which were located on both sides and had already maneuvered in place, also opened fire one after another, attacking the Khitan Army from the flank that had not yet turned. At about the same time, all the small and medium-caliber mortars of the Beiping Army also targeted Xiao Kehan and his 3,000 leather room palace tent troops, sending shells to their assault queues, blowing up the originally neat formation and making it difficult to maintain. For a time, the guns on the bank of the waterfall river were loud, the guns were fired, the shells exploded, the horses neighed, and the soldiers shouted and screamed.

3,000 people say that it is not much, but it can be said that it is not too little. Under the blow of the Beiping Army's three-sided firepower, although the losses were heavy, two-thirds of the knights still rushed to within a range of more than 100 paces from the cavalry clusters on both sides of the Beiping Army. In the face of the surging Khitan cavalry, if it was the "ranger" battalion led by Muter, I am afraid that an order would have been issued at this time, put away the guns and draw the swords, and engage in a bloody white-knives battle with the enemy. However, the commander of the two cavalry clusters was not Muttle, and the 2,000 cavalry under their command were not "rangers" who had experienced a hundred battles and were not inferior to the Khitan Pimur Palace Tent Army in terms of equestrianism or white-knuckle combat skills -- although the cavalry regiments belonging to the infantry divisions also had the opportunity to participate in the "Grass Valley" operation, there was a considerable gap in terms of number and results compared with the "Rangers" battalion, the "Wolf's Tooth" battalion, and the independent cavalry regiment. Therefore, their way to deal with it was not to wave their swords to meet them, but to follow the tactics that they had been trained for a long time, to line up in a crescent formation, and all the cavalry dismounted to fight, relying on the war horses lying on the ground, and using the advantages of their own weapons to turn the cold weapon confrontation between the cavalry expected by the Khitan army into a contest between the cavalry holding cold weapons and the infantry holding hot weapons. In this way, the cavalry of the Beiping Army, which was originally inferior to the Khitan Army in equestrian skills, hand-to-hand combat, hand-to-hand combat, etc., was able to make full use of its strengths and avoid weaknesses, and gave full play to its own advantages and strengths.

In the face of the fire net woven by thousands of light and heavy firearms on the front, and at the same time withstanding the fire from the flanks, no matter how determined Xiao Kehan is, no matter how brave and how brave the leather room palace tent army is, how many predecessors and successors, there are still very few Khitan soldiers who can really cross the line of death and rush into the cavalry cluster battle formation of the Beiping Army, and cause effective casualties to the opponent. Therefore, although this futile assault continued, it was only a matter of time before Xiao Kehan and his 3,000 leather chamber palace tent army were completely annihilated.

Of course, although Xiao Kehan and the 3,000 leather room palace tent army's decisive assault suffered heavy losses and was bound to end in failure, it was not completely useless. Although they could not really break into the cavalry cluster of the Beiping Army and could not cause enough losses to the enemy, they at least attracted the attention of all the cavalry units of the Beiping Army, so that the other side did not have the opportunity to attack and pursue the main force of the Khitan ambush force that was retreating towards Shenshan City in Zezhou, so that the latter could return to Shenshan City relatively easily and smoothly after leaving the range of artillery fire of the Beiping Army.

However, compared with the Khitan army that successfully escaped the range of artillery fire and successfully withdrew to Shenshan City, Xiao Haili's luck was not so good. Although this guy had roughly guessed the reason why the other party made such a crazy move when he had a clear chance to retreat at the beginning of Xiao Kehan's decisive assault; Although when Xiao Kehan led his troops to start turning, Xiao Haili had already climbed down the hill with several personal soldiers and came to the place where he hid his horses and got on the horse; Although several pro-soldiers wanted to fight with the Beiping army who surrounded them in order to protect the commander. However, in the face of nearly 100 soldiers of the reconnaissance company of the Left Route Army of the Northern Expedition of the Beiping Army, who had been monitoring him for a long time and had a huge disparity in numbers, and had an absolute superiority in weapons, Xiao Haili had no other choice but to order his own soldiers to lay down their weapons and tie their hands to capture him -- Zeng Zhilin, who had obtained Xiao Haili's "flooded Seventh Army" Jihua from the local "Dark Feather" in advance, had already sent the reconnaissance company of his headquarters to the left of the opponent's ambush site to secretly reconnoiter before the Khitan army left the city, and after discovering that Xiao Haili was so bold to observe from the front, and lay an ambush around it so that it can be captured in one fell swoop after the battle. As for the scouts who had just crossed the river to reconnoitre, they were just an ordinary cavalry company that had been randomly transferred from the divisional cavalry regiment and had been instructed in advance.

When the soldiers of the Second Division and the First Regiment of the "Flying Dragon Army" began to clean up the battlefield and dispose of the corpses all over the ground with the assistance of the "Security Army" of one regiment, Xiao Haili was also escorted to Zeng Zhilin. After learning the identity of the other party, Zeng Zhilin praised the officers and soldiers of the reconnaissance company on the one hand, and on the other hand, he did not embarrass Xiao Haili, and ordered someone to take him down to take care of him, and handed him over to his brothers after returning to Beiping City. Regarding some questions raised by Xiao Haili about this battle that he couldn't understand at all, Zeng Zhilin also patiently answered.

After knowing that Jihua, who thought he was flawless, the so-called "flooded Seventh Army", had already been known by the other party early in the morning, and that the 500 soldiers and horses he had arranged to build a dam upstream to intercept the water had been annihilated by all the 1,000 cavalry of the Beiping Army, Xiao Haili looked up to the sky and sighed, then stopped talking and left Zeng Zhilin to deal with it.

After instructing his subordinates to escort Xiao Haili to a four-wheeled carriage to be guarded, Zeng Zhilin ordered: "After cleaning up the battlefield, the whole army will immediately set off and set up camp in Sanli, south of Shenshan City, Zezhou. In addition, the cavalry commander upstream was ordered to dismantle the dam and release water according to Jihua after the army was opened. After the water level returns to normal, go to the castle of Mount Kinabalu to join the main force. ”

Although the Khitan army in the Battle of Waterfall River only lost 6,000 men and horses, including the 3,000 Pi Room Palace Tent Army who suffered casualties in the decisive assault, there were still nearly 40,000 troops in Shenshan City, including nearly 2,000 Pi Room Palace Tent Army; Although the 70,000 reinforcements of the imperial court were already on the road, they would soon be able to reach Zhongjing Road; Although the Beiping Army's Northern Expedition Left Route Army did not attack the city immediately after arriving at Shenshan City, it camped on the spot, rested and recovered. Seeing that the 3,000 most elite leather room palace tent army was wiped out in less than half an hour, seeing that the Beiping army was unscathed under Xiao Haili's clever plan of "flooding the Seventh Army" like divine help, and seeing that his own commander Xiao Haili became a prisoner of the Beiping army in a moment, the Khitan officials and soldiers in Shenshan City were still in panic and chaos - even the officers and soldiers of the leather room palace tent army were no exception. Coupled with the Beiping Army's previous treatment of the Khitans along the way, which can be called the extermination of the race, this panic and chaos spread rapidly in the city, and soon evolved into a wave of escape.

On the night of the day when Zeng Zhilin led the army to camp under the city, from the nobles of the family, officials and guards, down to the ordinary people, the Khitans in Shenshan City, and a small number of Han people who were loyal to the Khitan masters, they abandoned their homes and businesses, and took their wives and children, gold and silver out of the north gate of Shenshan City, and under the protection of the two thousand leather room palace tent troops, they fled in a hurry in the direction of Dading Mansion like a lost dog and a fish that slipped through the net.

As the Khitan officials and guards fled, the Khitan soldiers naturally had no fighting spirit. Some of the soldiers slipped out of the barracks, which was no longer guarded by generals, and some of the soldiers had the intention of taking advantage of the fire to loot and take the sheep with their hands, planning to loot in the castle of Mount Kinabalu and make a windfall before escaping.

Since the Khitans in the city had almost fled at this time, the target of this robbery naturally fell on the Han people. At the beginning, it was only some bold and reckless Khitan soldiers who plundered the people, and they did not attract the attention of others. But as time went by, more and more Khitan soldiers participated in the raid, and the movement became louder and louder, which finally aroused the anger of the people. Therefore, at the strong request of the Han people in the city, the Han officials and guards who were willing to surrender to the Beiping army immediately organized the Han soldiers and closed the city gates to suppress the Khitan soldiers who were plundering everywhere.

Given the disparity in numbers and morale between the two sides, the raids of the Khitan soldiers were quickly suppressed. Except for a few lucky people who escaped from the city by climbing over the wall, most of the Khitan soldiers who participated in the looting were either killed or captured, and at dawn, the city of Shenshan finally quieted down after a night of chaos.

In the early morning of the 24th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar of the eighth year of Xiande, the south gate of Shenshan City was opened, and all the Han officials and guards left in the city, as well as the elderly people in the city, knelt on both sides of the road to welcome Zeng Zhilin, the commander-in-chief of the left route army of the Northern Expedition of the Beiping Army, and his 15,000 soldiers into the city.