Chapter 476
Big Win
The fire from the north wind burned for a day and a night before finally stopping.
The Yu soldiers hidden in the prefect's mansion's underground cellar still numbered eight hundred.
However, this was due to the death of the King of Jiangling; otherwise, the Qi soldiers would have definitely stormed into the cellar because of him.
Of course, if he had just followed them in, Ji Yuan wouldn't have withdrawn most of his troops.
His target was this fake King of Qin.
As the fire gradually died down, with only a few small flames still flickering among the ruins, Ji Yuan dispatched a shield-bearing force of about a thousand men into the city to carry out the final siege.
The intention is to completely eliminate these escaped individuals.
The cellar can't be hidden, because the entrance is right there. Ji Yuan can also dig a tunnel nearby and collapse the cellar. Then, if he pours oil into it, it will be a total annihilation.
Therefore, Qin Kuo could only lead the remaining men, using the cellar as a command post, to wage guerrilla warfare against the remaining Qi soldiers.
Such a small-scale battle was naturally not something Ji Yuan would take seriously.
His strategic objective had been achieved. He only needed to deal with Wei Wusheng's army head-on on this side, and then let Mi Heng on the other side crush the army on the east side, completely destroying the enemy's flank. At that time, he could concentrate his superior forces to eliminate this not-so-strong 'main force'.
The two armies faced each other, and their battle formations were also deployed.
Both sides imply that the other side should attack.
Just then, Ji Yuan rode his horse to the front, looked at the opposing army, and appeared quite relaxed and smug.
"Your Majesty, what if Wei Wusheng appears at this moment?" Chen Xing, riding beside him, whispered, "What should we do?"
Because they have already declared that Wei Wusheng is an imposter.
“With me here, the army will not be thrown into chaos,” Ji Yuan said. “Besides, Wei Wusheng is already dead. What appears now can only be a fake.”
Ji Yuan's confidence stems from his powerful PUA (Pick-Up Artist) skills.
As long as he is there, the Qi army will always have an axis.
Moreover, the dozen or so people who killed Wei Wusheng have already shared the reward and titles equally, and have even been promoted.
Would the emperor really go to such lengths for a fake Wei Wusheng?
“Wei Wusheng is a man of deep affection.” Ji Yuan raised his finger and pointed to the opposing army formation, saying to Chen Xing, “After Shuofeng was destroyed, there are still many of his brothers who rebelled back then inside. He certainly doesn’t want to delay, so let’s wait for him to come out.”
"And he will definitely come out."
Chen Xing was also very certain.
This is a good opportunity to seize the right to speak.
Ji Yuan needs to prove that the person opposite him is a fake King Qin.
Wei Wusheng, on the other hand, wanted to expose Ji Yuan's deception in killing the real King of Qin.
Just then, the rhythmic sound of drums suddenly rang out.
A large banner was raised in front of the battle, with the character 'Luo' boldly embroidered on it.
Luo Ting rode ahead.
Ji Yuan's brows furrowed slightly as he saw an unarmed cavalryman ride into the middle, indicating that he wanted to deliver a message to Ji Yuan.
"Let him come over," Ji Yuan said.
And so, the cavalryman arrived before Ji Yuan, clenched his fists, and said, "My King of Qin has sent me to deliver a message."
After the opening greeting, the cavalryman said expressionlessly, "Your Majesty's divine might is unstoppable. I, your humble servant, have no choice but to avoid Your Majesty's sharp edge and go hunting in the east with General Mi Heng."
After he finished speaking, Ji Yuan and Chen Xing were both stunned.
Then the cavalryman turned his horse around and rode back.
When Wei Wusheng was supposed to appear, he did not.
Hunting in the east...
“Impossible,” Chen Xing said with absolute certainty. “They were here the day before yesterday. How could they possibly be on the east side today? That would be a detour of hundreds of miles. Even the fastest light cavalry couldn’t do that. Even if the light cavalry were to be deployed, could we possibly not detect such a large troop movement at all?”
The most important aspect of this tactic of flanking maneuvers is speed.
But Ji Yuan was faster than them.
No matter how you look at it, it's impossible for Wei Wusheng to suddenly send an army to meet with Mi Heng...
But Ji Yuan guessed it immediately.
This guy traveled a hundred miles alone.
.........
"Sixth Prince..."
"Isn't this the Sixth Prince?"
"Then who was that prince who was hanging up just now...?"
As the defeated army was about to cross the bridge, they encountered Wei Wusheng, who was standing on the bridge. Some of the soldiers who had been with the Sixth Prince day and night could not possibly mistake him for someone else.
Therefore, the speed of the rout slowed down.
Gradually, they will be piled up together.
"Get out of the way! Why are you blocking the bridge!"
But the fleeing soldiers behind them only knew how to escape, so they broke the formation and continued to cause congestion.
Whoosh!
With a thud, an arrow pierced his head.
He collapsed to the ground on the spot.
"I am Wei Wusheng, a deserter on the battlefield, to be executed on the spot!"
Wei Wusheng exercised the authority of the supervisory team without any mercy.
Whether in ancient or modern times, deserters on the battlefield must be killed.
Some people might think that killing him would be a waste; it would be better to send him to the front lines to die as a human shield, thus atoneing for his crimes.
But deserters are more dangerous than floods and wild beasts.
One leads ten, ten leads a hundred, and a hundred leads a thousand.
Then, Wei Wusheng stood guard on the bridge alone, preventing the entire army from collapsing.
Now, everyone stopped, some were bewildered, some were discussing, and then they were all pleasantly surprised.
"It's the Sixth Prince!"
"Don't retreat, the Sixth Prince is back!"
"The death is a hoax; the Sixth Prince is still alive!"
Wei Wusheng finally breathed a sigh of relief.
When the plan was proposed, Ye Changqing immediately agreed.
But he quickly realized that it was wrong for a subordinate to do this, so he added that he must bring more attendants and guards.
In other words, even that clever man knew that only His Highness could save the situation.
Wei Wusheng came with seven cavalrymen. Since the army had already assembled and the battle had begun, he waited here alone.
As for the rest, they went where they were supposed to go...
"General, the Sixth Prince is here, and he's blocking the routed soldiers from behind!"
Several cavalrymen from Dayu, waving Wei Wusheng's banner, charged into the army formation and found Zhu Qing, who was using the remaining troops to command the army and salvage the defeat.
"Really?" Zhu Qing asked, her eyes wide.
“Yes, General!” the cavalryman replied. “His Highness has already taken up positions on the bridge and destroyed the rest of the bridges. He will surely be able to stop the rout.”
"It is my incompetence that I failed to control the deserters," Zhu Qing said with deep remorse.
The cavalryman looked at the corpses hanging in front of the Qi army and simply shook his head: "Since Ji Yuan has resorted to this tactic, what can we do?"
After all, they had just suffered a major defeat, so how could they possibly maintain their composure in the face of such a situation?
"On my command!" Zhu Qing brandished his sword and shouted, "The Sixth Prince is behind us! Everyone, follow me and charge!"
At this moment, Mi Heng still didn't understand what was happening. Standing on the watchtower, he only felt surprised: "Why is this Yu traitor suddenly so excited?"
Logically speaking, their initial remaining troops were few in number and shouldn't have been able to hold out for long. But suddenly, as if injected with adrenaline, they charged back towards our side.
However, Mi Heng didn't take it too seriously, and said disdainfully, "A death throes, nothing more than a cornered beast's struggle."
"General!" Just then, a lieutenant beside him pointed ahead and exclaimed in astonishment, "The fleeing army is actually heading this way!"
Mi Heng's eyes widened as she realized that the army that had been fleeing was indeed not retreating. At the same time, more and more people were turning back.
"How could routed soldiers possibly return to fight?" the lieutenant asked, puzzled. Because such a scenario was simply impossible.
If it collapses, it will be a complete disaster.
"Could it be that they had already set up military advisors and supervisors behind the scenes?" Mi Heng could only guess at this.
"If an army of tens of thousands is routed, how many people would it take to keep them in check?" the lieutenant asked rhetorically.
Indeed, for those warlords to dare block the bridge at such a time was simply futile and overestimating their own strength.
"General, it seems they've all returned! The entire army of those routed soldiers has come back!"
"..." Mi Heng gripped the railing tightly, veins bulging, a bad feeling creeping over her.
After all, he was using a fake King of Qin.
At this point, the personal guards who were still resisting at the front gradually gained morale as they saw more and more people behind them.
"Is it really the Sixth Prince who has returned?"
"Otherwise, how could we have revived this defeated army that had been swept away like a raging torrent?"
"Where is His Highness?"
They were all thinking about this question, and they were all missing the person they could not forget.
Just then, a tall, handsome general, clad in golden armor, rode a black horse, raised a gilded sword, and shouted, "Retrieve my brother's body, and I will reward him with ten thousand gold pieces and the title of Marquis of Ten Thousand Households!"
This sound greatly excited everyone.
After confirming that he was indeed Wei Wusheng, some members of the Yixin Society with scars on their palms burst into tears.
Then came the moment for the Great Yu to launch a counterattack.
Tens of thousands of soldiers were inspired to fight. These soldiers, who were originally in despair, were now transformed into a united and fierce force, charging towards the hanging corpses.
Because this corpse was extremely important, Mi Heng set up the 'center point' of the formation here.
Even with the most elite soldiers as guards, they still couldn't withstand this thunderous wrath.
Mi Heng could only watch helplessly as her formation was breached...
"Stop it! That's a fake Wei Wusheng! Wei Wusheng is long dead!"
He brandished his sword, commanding the army, but these soldiers weren't stupid at all. If a fake Wei Wusheng could stop the rout, then the people of Dayu were truly idiots.
The lie has backfired.
Unable to reverse the tide of the war, Mi Heng could only watch helplessly as Wei Wusheng's army charged towards him at full speed like a giant truck...
Mi Heng's army was thus defeated.
More than five thousand were killed on the battlefield.
More than three thousand were captured.
The rest fled to various places, becoming true scattered soldiers.
Mi Heng herself was also hit by several arrows and died in battle.
Wei Yixing was released.
Leading his army, Wei Wusheng walked up to him, slowly knelt down, and prostrated himself before him.
The Yu army also knelt down as a group to pay their highest respects to the King of Jiangling.
The body was then wrapped in horsehide and sent to Sheng'an.
"Your Highness, Mi Heng's corpse..." Zhu Qing said hesitantly.
"Send it to the front lines, hang it up, and show it to Ji Yuan."
Clenching his fists, Wei Wusheng firmly adhered to the principle of "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth!"
…………
"Your Majesty, we have been defeated!"
While Ji Yuan's army was engaged in a small-scale battle with Luo Ting and Ye Changqing's army, Chen Xing brought him this despairing news.
Ji Yuan, who was always domineering and seemed to never feel fear, felt a wave of dizziness.
He rested his forehead on his hand and closed his eyes.
I kept thinking, desperately trying to figure out how to break this situation.
"Where is Mi Heng?" Ji Yuan slowly raised his head and asked.
"We captured some defeated soldiers, but most of them said they didn't know anything, and the rest said that Mi Heng was already dead," Chen Xing said anxiously. "According to this, the army on the east side will launch a pincer attack within two days."
Ji Yuan originally had a significant advantage in troop strength.
They were able to cross the river, used to attack the city, and used to arrest Zhu Qing. Now, the number of troops left capable of fighting should be roughly equal to that of the opposing side.
They're all around 20,000.
But the key issue is that Song Shi'an on the other side is about to close the net.
"Your Majesty, it's time to retreat!"
Chen Xing knelt down on the ground, trying to wake up the emperor who still wanted to operate.
Your Majesty, you've exhausted all your options, but if the odds of winning are zero, then they're truly zero.
Who would have thought that Wei Wusheng would appear out of nowhere in another place?
What if he dies on the road while running alone like this?
This guy has no idea what fear is.
Yes, didn't Ji Yuan already know this person's character from the previous Battle of Shuofeng?
A madman, a madman with a brain.
Ji Yuan looked at Chen Xing, slowly raised his head, closed his eyes again, and after a long while, he managed to utter the word with difficulty: "Withdraw."
.........
Across the ferry, three fortified camps, arranged in a triangular formation, housed half of Ji Yuan's troops. Together with those inside the city, they comprised Ji Yuan's last 30,000 elite soldiers.
However, because they had to guard the ferry crossing and welcome their emperor back, they were completely confined to this place.
With such ease, Song Shi'an destroyed all the surrounding hidden villages, joined forces with Xiao Qun, and gathered all the troops, totaling 100,000, to surround the area.
Ji Yuan's army, totaling 30,000, crossed the Chishui River in succession, with Ji Yuan personally covering the rear.
That's right, he had no choice but to willingly jump into Song Shi'an's encirclement.
There was no other way; he had nowhere else to cross the river.
After he crossed the river, Wei Wusheng rallied the remaining troops, cleaned up the battlefield, and reassembled an army of 30,000. After the enemy crossed the river, Wei Wusheng also crossed the river at the cost of only 1,000 casualties.
Thus, the three-sided encirclement of Ji Yuan was completely successful.
During the Song Dynasty, Anfang had 130,000 troops and 300,000 laborers.
Ji Yuanfang led 50,000 troops and 20,000 laborers.
The area of the encirclement is approximately forty square kilometers (the size of a city like Sheng'an).
However, since this is an open ferry crossing without any steep mountains, it would be quite difficult to completely surround it.
Even if Song Shi'an concentrates his superior forces, Ji Yuan can still escape.
But this is like having your hand stuck in a machine and choosing to forcibly pull it out, even at the cost of tearing off half of your arm's flesh—it's very painful.
"His Majesty Ji Yuan will take the initiative to attack after a few days of rest."
Song Shi'an, inside the tent, made a rather confident judgment.
“His elite troops are still there, and their numbers are not small. If they attack our weak points, they can indeed escape,” Xin Yue said beside him. “However, even if they leave, the army will suffer heavy losses, and all the fields in Beishuo County have been burned. Moreover, we still have Wei Le blocking the way back to Qi. He can only return to his country in a hurry if he abandons Wuwei.”
If we calculate it this way, Ji Yuan suffered a complete and utter defeat in this battle.
One battle wiped out at least twenty years of Qi's resources.
On the other hand, the losses suffered by the Dayu side were less than half of those suffered by the other side.
Furthermore, he also captured many of the Qi people he had moved there.
The military strength of the two sides has changed from one to two, or at least one to four.
After this battle, the State of Qi was only slightly stronger than the State of Yan.
"That's definitely a big win."
However, Song Shi'an was not satisfied and said rather greedily, "But if we've already made His Highness take such risks, then this battle is clearly not won enough." (End of Chapter)