Chapter 39: The War of True Decision (6)

Zhang Yu licked his lips and looked at the Shenji Camp that was as dumb as a fool a hundred steps away. These opponents seemed to not believe that Zhu Neng and the others could make it here.

Zhang Yu looked around him and found that there were less than a hundred riders. Although each knight was like a bloody man, his eyes were filled with the desire to kill.

Zhu Neng's war horse sweat and blood chased the cloud beast sniffed anxiously. The creature seemed to know the danger ahead, so it was particularly anxious.

He stretched his somewhat tired arm, suddenly stood up straight, shouting to the soldiers beside him: "Crash with me and send them to the King of Hell." The knights responded with a loud promise, and the hundred cavalry warriors swept towards the trembling soldiers of the Shenji Camp in their hands without hesitation...

Surrounded by many guards, Geng Bingwen rushed out of the Yan army's encirclement desperately, and hundreds of Yan army cavalry were chasing closely behind. A guard was quick-eyed and pointed to a square formation on the left side of the city gate and said, "Master, that's Hefei Guard, let's go there first.

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Geng Bingwen nodded in agreement and fled to the Hefei Guards' square formation. When the Hefei Guards generals saw the flag coming towards him, they also recognized Geng Bingwen among the guards, and quickly directed the troops to make way and let Geng Bingwen in.

Who knew that the Yan army chasing behind had rushed into the camp without waiting for the formation to close. Geng Bingwen did not stop and threw a sentence when he passed by the commander, "Battle the city gate!" and continued to escape through the formation...

The fewer and fewer soldiers around Li Jian were fighting. He had already replaced two war horses and had become bloody people all over his body. "I lost, I lost." Li Jian struggled with pain in his heart.

Although he knew that the combat effectiveness of the Southern Army could not be compared with that of the Yan Army, he could not have expected that a mere 40,000 Yan Army would actually defeat the Southern Army, which was twice as powerful as his own.

At this time, there were only more than 3,000 soldiers around Li Jian. The Jinwu guard was the only guard station on the first line of defense that had not collapsed. The other three guards had long since collapsed. At this time, it was only an hour before the first wave of cavalry in the Yan army launched an offensive.

As the only combat unit on the front line to join the twelve guards, the Jinwu defender showed his strength to be worthy of his name. The guard commander had been shot to death by arrows in the first round of battle, and the two commanders were killed and injured.

Li Jian barely maintained the front line, and his formation is now in danger. As infantry, they lack mobility and cannot retreat because the formation is dispersed and can only wait to be strangled by the cavalry.

Li Jian looked around and the Yan army did not continue to launch an offensive. It was just a group of archers and cavalrymen who had left the square formation for a hundred steps back and forth. They kept firing the mortal rain of arrows. Although the soldiers had shields to fight against each other, some people fell from time to time.

Unfortunately, the archers of Jinwu Right Guard had almost consumed them in the previous rounds of battles, and at this time they had no power to fight back.

Looking at both sides, the Dragon and Tiger Guard on the left and the Guangtian Guard on the right have fled. The only one of them is his own army in the huge battlefield. A team of Yan cavalry hundreds of steps away from the front are gathering and rearranged into wave-impact formations.

Li Jian took a deep breath and ordered his subordinates: "Beat the drum and move forward." The personal soldiers were stunned for a moment. Then they knew his intentions and gritted their teeth to pass the orders down. The Jinwu Right Guard advanced towards the opposite cavalry under the urging of the drum...

Standing on the simple general's platform, Zhu Di carefully observed the situation on the battlefield. The four square formations of 20,000 soldiers and horses were on the verge of collapse, and there was only a big flag of "Jinwu Right Guard" that was still flying hard.

The main force had bypassed the position of the Jinwu Right Guard and began to attack the positions of the two guards arranged at the city gate. Moreover, a team of cavalry had rushed into a square formation with Geng Bingwen's commanding flag.

Zhu Di knew that as long as he broke through the square formation on both sides of the city gate, other enemy troops would collapse without fighting.

There was a scout report just now. Zhang Yu led the Yanshan Zuowei Zhongying to attack the Hutuo River Ferry. This is the key to the problem. Only by cutting off the ferry can the decisive victory in this battle be achieved.

Zhu Di ordered Qiu Fu around him to lead his headquarters across the battlefield to support Zhang Yu, and Zhang Yu could not be misunderstood in his heart.

As soon as the order was issued, Zhu Neng led a army to the front of the stage and threw a head in front of Zhu Di. He saluted and reported immediately: "Your Highness, I am fortunate to defeat Guangtianwei, and kill Ning Zhong, the right deputy general of the Southern Army, and come to pay the order."

Zhu Di nodded with satisfaction: "Shi Hongzhen is a tiger general!" Then he ordered Zhu Neng to lead his troops to attack the southern army guarding the city gate and seize the Zhending city gate. Zhu Neng took the order and led his army to disappear into the smoke and dust.

Zhu Di stood up straight and scanned the entire battlefield. There were corpses of the Southern Army and soldiers running around with their heads in their arms. The guard flags on six sides had disappeared on three sides. In the east direction of the ferry, the flags of the Southern Army gradually scattered.

Zhu Di took a breath of vigor. The victory and loss of this true battle was decided. He ordered: "Move the troops forward, and I will take Li Jian personally."...

The sun finally hid lazily under the horizon. Geng Bingwen leaned between the two walls and looked at the battlefield in front of him. Fortunately, he ran fast and was able to escape from the battlefield. But more soldiers from the Southern Army did not have such luck.

Thousands of corpses fell between Zhending City and the Hutuo River.

Just now, when the last guard flag disappeared among the overlapping chaos, four of the six guards and horses that the Southern Army had put into the battlefield were either annihilated or defeated, and only two guards were able to retreat into the city in an organized manner; the banks of the Hutuo River were even more devastated, and only three of the eight guards crossing the river maintained the establishment and stood outside the east gate, and the other troops were gone.

His left and right deputy generals and several guard commanders were left on the battlefield.

Geng Bingwen seemed to have spent this day in a nightmare. Since he started his army with Zhu Yuanzhang, Geng Bingwen had never tried such a big defeat. At this time, he just wanted to jump off the city and end this humiliating day.

Geng Bingwen's armor was scattered, his eyes were covered with blood. A gust of cold wind blew, and the veteran shook his body twice and fell backwards. Geng Rui stepped forward and held his shaking father, and tears flowed out of his eyes: "Father!"

This call woke Geng Bingwen up from his nightmare and asked, "How many soldiers and horses are there in the city?"

Geng Rui said: "There are eight guards with 60,000 troops intact, and there are nearly 20,000 other scattered soldiers."

The veteran sighed: "I have let down Taizu and the emperor's trust."

Geng Rui said: "Father, victory or defeat is a common cause for military affairs, so don't be discouraged by it."

The sky completely dimmed, and the lights of the Yan army camp were gradually lit up a few miles away. Geng Bingwen was silent for a long time and said, "Renovate the troops and horses, stick to the truth, and send an envoy back to the capital to report the defeat. Please support from the court."

The Yan army's central tent was brightly lit, and Zhu Di arranged a banquet to celebrate the victory.

Originally, Zhending had not yet been eliminated and it was not time to celebrate the merits, but since the uprising of more than a month, the situation has been quite dangerous. Thanks to the generals of his subordinates who fought south and north, they withstood the encirclement and suppression from all directions.

Zhu Di thought that everyone had reached their limits in terms of physical fitness and spirit. If they were not allowed to relax for a while, the Iron Man could not withstand it. Now, in a battle, he defeated the main force of the imperial siege army.

The noose that had been around his neck for many days was finally untied, and it was time to drink with his subordinates.

When Zhang Yu saw Zhu Di picking up the wine glass and having something to say, he quickly knocked the wine bottle with a knife with a meat-cutting ground and said, "Everyone is quiet, listen to your highness's advice!" Zhang Yu was the leader of the generals under Zhu Di's tent, and everyone stopped immediately.

Zhu Di stood up and walked off the table. He looked around the generals and said, "Today, our Jingnan Army won the great Zhending victory, killing 30,000 heads of the Southern Army and seizing 20,000 war horses. This is the most glorious victory of our army since the Jingnan incident.

I would like to wish you the garrison and all the soldiers of the battalion. In the past month, you will follow me to fight in the east and west, defeat the southern army, and make great contributions to the Jingnan Dynasty. I would like to thank you for your heroic battle. Come and drink this cup with you.

"As he said that, he drank it again, and the generals were excited and quickly replied: "I wish your highness a success in peace." Then drink it together."

He raised his glass and said, "This first glass of wine is dedicated to the brothers who sacrificed their lives for the sake of the crisis." He said, "After saying that, he took a sip, then sprinkled the wine on the ground. The generals' mood became much more solemn, and the festive atmosphere just now was much more restrained.

He also learned from Zhu Di to sprinkle wine on the ground.

The follower next to him raised his glass again for Zhu Di: "This second glass of wine is toasted to all the soldiers here and the families of all the soldiers in the camp. If they were not supported by them in the rear, they would not have won such a victory." As he said that, he drank it all with everyone.

Zhu Di raised his wine glass for the third time and said:

After three glasses of wine, Zhu Di sat down after returning to the case, and ordered: "Bring the person up."

After a while, the sound of armor colliding outside the camp gate, and the two generals were tied up and brought into the tent. Everyone saw it. It turned out that they were Li Jian, the deputy general of the Southern Army who was captured alive today, and Gu Cheng. The two were wearing armor and slumped.

The hair was scattered and he could get in. Yan Jiang burst into laughter.

Zhu Di slapped the table and said angrily: "A month ago, they were ministers in the same palace, but now they have been accidentally captured. What's so funny about you?" The generals then laughed.

Zhu Di stood up and walked up to the two of them, pulled out the guard's sword, and loosened Li Jian, but Li Jian was indifferent. Zhu Di looked at Li Jian and sneered: "It seems that the prince consort is still dissatisfied with me?"

Li Jian said: "The defeated general only wants to die quickly." Zhu Di smiled in his heart. It is not easy to seek death. Now that he has loosened his ties for you, why don't he seek death? It can be seen that this son-in-law has no ambition to die.

Zhu Di didn't care and said, "The so-called Jingnan is a family matter, and it has implicated the prince-consort to go to the battlefield. I wonder if the seventh sister is good? What are my two nephews?"

Speaking of the two, they also have a relationship with each other. When Zhu Di mentioned his wife, Li Jian's attitude softened a little and replied: "The princess and the child are both good."

Zhu Di nodded and said, "I haven't seen them for a year since I left, and I missed them very much. But now I am enemies of the court and cannot see them. The prince-in-law also has to feel wronged. Please go back to Peking to stay for a while."

Li Jian said: "Your Highness, what you are doing now is not a rebellion but a rebellion. Please stop your troops and apologize to the emperor."

Zhu Di's face turned cold: "With a treacherous minister like Huang Qi in the court, how can I be at peace in the Ming Dynasty? No need to say anything about the prince-consort, go to Peiping quickly." As he said that, the guards on both sides took him down.

Zhu Di let Gu Cheng go again. Gu Cheng was the personal soldiers around Zhu Yuanzhang, and he made contributions in dozens of battles. After loosening the ties, Gu Cheng greeted Zhu Di and called him Your Highness.

Zhu Di also comforted him, but Gu Cheng had no intention of dying. Seeing Zhu Di's advice, he turned his back and surrendered to the King of Yan. Zhu Di ordered him to return to Peking together to assist the prince in guarding the prince.
Chapter completed!