"Young General, with the divine spear in hand, we can completely take down these few thousand Jin soldiers! Why retreat?"
The man asked, a little puzzled.
Yue Yun explained, "Although we can defeat them, we can't guarantee that none will escape. Retreating to Laoniu Ridge and coordinating with the rear will allow us to annihilate them all!"
"Before the formal engagement, we must avoid letting the Jin people discover our advantage."
"Withdraw!"
As soon as the words fell, he turned his horse and retreated towards the rear.
The cavalry beside him quickly followed and relayed the military orders through their walkie-talkies.
Laoniu Ridge, though called a ridge, was actually a dense forest.
Upon receiving the military order from the front, the two thousand Beiwai Army soldiers waiting for the main force here swiftly made combat preparations.
Men silent, horses bridling their bit, they lay in ambush within the forest.
As soon as they were ready, they saw a group of cavalry approaching rapidly from the distance.
It was Yue Yun and his men retreating.
"Silence! In at most the time it takes an incense stick to burn, the Jin soldiers will be pursuing us. Everyone, stay alert! Not a single one must be allowed to escape!"
After Yue Yun entered the forest,
He gently pressed his hand on his warhorse's neck. The warhorse, trained by years of combat, obediently lay down on its side.
Pushe Lian led five thousand elite cavalry along the way. Not to mention enemy forces, he hadn't even seen a single stray hair.
Just then, a scout returned from ahead.
"Report!"
"Reporting to the General, scout corpses have been discovered ahead!"
"All troops, accelerate!"
Pushe Lian's spirit jolted; finally, there were some clues.
Not long after, they arrived at the place the scout had mentioned. Several Jin scouts lay sprawled on the ground, lifeless.
Pushe Lian did not dismount to investigate. Instead, he scanned the surrounding ground, trying to find any traces left by the Song army.
Ahead, a messy set of horse hoof prints caught his attention. After a close inspection, he truly saw some patterns.
Mounting his horse, he pointed his whip to the southwest: "Continue marching!"
However, he did not know that those hoof prints were deliberately left by Yue Yun.
In the dense forest of Laoniu Ridge, Yue Yun seemed to sense something. He crouched down, his ear pressed to the ground, listening intently. After a moment, he spoke to the others in a low voice.
"Attention, the Jin cavalry is heading this way!"
When the Jin cavalry appeared outside the forest, he instantly shouted, "Mount up, attack!"
"Hee-lee-lee~~"
The warhorses, which had been suppressed for too long, rose from the ground, carrying the Beiwai Army charging out of the dense forest.
Pushe Lian had already heightened his alert when he saw the forest. Upon discovering Song soldiers charging out from within, he immediately made what he thought was the most correct judgment.
"Charge!"
"Kill all these Song soldiers!"
The five thousand cavalry immediately drew their weapons, spurred on their mounts, and charged towards the Beiwai Army.
But Yue Yun did not fall for his tactic. With the assistance of the divine spear, only a fool would engage in a head-on charge.
"Divide and surround them!"
With his loud shout, the Beiwai Army behind him quickly split into three teams. Two teams of five hundred cavalry each moved to flank the Jin army, while the remaining thousand blocked the front of Laoniu Ridge, preventing the Jin soldiers from escaping into the forest.
As they entered the AK's range, gunshots erupted instantly.
Genghis Khan would not be born for another twenty years, but the encirclement and shooting tactics that the Mongol cavalry prided themselves on appeared ahead of time within the Beiwai Army.
The Beiwai Army maintained a distance of two hundred meters from the Jin army. The two teams circled the Jin army, firing as they went.
The distance of two hundred meters rendered the Jin army's arrows useless; they could only passively endure the onslaught.
The dense gunfire left Pushe Lian stunned. What kind of weapons were the Song soldiers using!
Suddenly, a bullet pierced his thigh. The intense pain jolted him back to reality, and he immediately shouted, "Retreat, retreat—!"
"Puff, puff, puff~"
As soon as he spoke, he was hit by three consecutive bullets in the face. The kinetic energy of the bullets sent him falling from his horse. In the instant his consciousness faded, he realized that his five thousand cavalry were now few and far between!
"Kill all the Jin soldiers! Don't give them a chance to report back!!"
Yue Yun's roar echoed through the Beiwai Army.
From the appearance of the Jin soldiers at Laoniu Ridge to the end of the entire battle, it took less than the time it takes an incense stick to burn!
The entire five thousand Jin cavalry were annihilated!
"Young General, exhilarating! So exhilarating!"
"Hahahaha, indeed. I've fought dozens of battles, big and small, and I've never felt this exhilarated!"
"That's right. Even if it were five thousand pigs, it would take half a day. How long did it take us?"
"Young General, in my opinion, why wait for the main force? Let's just charge directly and attack the city. With the divine spear in hand, no matter how many Jin soldiers there are in Yingzhou, they'll just be appetizers~"
Seeing these fellows becoming increasingly boastful, even suggesting they take on Yingzhou with just two thousand men, Yue Yun quickly waved to stop them.
"Enough!"
"Hurry up and gather the warhorses. You can forget about attacking Yingzhou. We must wait until we rendezvous with the main army."
After speaking, he dispatched another troop of cavalry to report the battle to Yue Fei.
Killing the enemy was fast, but cleaning up the aftermath nearly made them vomit from exhaustion.
Most of the Jin warhorses were startled by the gunfire and ran around uncontrollably. If not for the thousand cavalry blocking them in the forest, these warhorses would have nearly disappeared.
It was only when Yue Fei led the main army to arrive that they had barely managed to round up the ownerless warhorses.
"Reporting to the Marshal, this battle resulted in five thousand enemy soldiers killed and over three thousand warhorses captured!"
There were no father and son relationships in the army; even Yue Yun addressed Yue Fei as Marshal.
Meanwhile, in Yingzhou city, Wujiba Nan waited and waited, anxious as an ant on a hot pan.
"Didn't they say the Song army would arrive within half a day? How long has Pushe Lian been out of the city, and there's still no news back?"
"Someone, send out a fast horse!"
"No matter if they are dead or alive, you must scout out the situation of the Song army for me!"
"Yes!"
As someone went to relay the order, Wujiba Nan thought for a moment and walked back to his desk. He took out paper and a pen, quickly wrote a letter, and handed it to a nearby personal guard.
"Send this by fast horse to Nanjing to His Highness the Prince of Yue!"
"Yes!"
The Nanjing they spoke of was actually Bianliang, the capital forced to be abandoned by the Great Song!
Just as he finished giving his instructions, a scout rushed in.
"Report~~~~"
"Reporting to the General, the Song army has reached the city walls!"
Wujiba Nan's heart sank instantly. The scouts he had just dispatched probably hadn't even left the city gate yet.
"Beat the drums! Gather the generals!"
After uttering these four words, he quickly rushed to the city wall.