February 20 of the fourth year of Song Qiandao (1168). The Great Song Dynasty finally began a full-scale Northern Expedition. This was also the second northern expedition after the first year of Song Longxing (1163).

After more than three months of intensified construction, the city wall of Suzhou was completely repaired, which was very different from when Yang Yan left last year. Not only did the walls be thickened and heightened, but sixty riverbed crossbows were placed on the towers, which could reach a range of more than 600 paces and penetrate any iron armor within 500 paces. The only drawback is that it is large and difficult to move. But it was right to defend the city. There are also a hundred trebuchets, all of which can throw 200-pound boulders at a distance of 200 paces. It is also equipped with a large number of firearms, which can be described as impregnable.

In the past three months, a large amount of grain, grass, materials, and ordnance have been collected in the city. Suzhou became an important logistics base for the Northern Expedition.

The privy envoy Zhang Jun personally sat in Suzhou, the chief staff officer of the Governor's Mansion was Han Yanzhi, and the rest of the staff included Wang Yan, Liu Hui, Zhang Xiaoxiang, Fan Chengda and others. Among them, there is another special person, that is, Yue Fei's third son, Yue Lin, the doctor of the scattered dynasty.

Yue Fei has a total of five sons and one daughter, the eldest son Yue Yun joined the army when he was a child and has made countless great achievements. Later, Yue Fei was killed together. The second son, Yue Lei, died when the Yue family was exiled. The third son Yue Lin, the fourth son Yue Zhen, and the fifth son Yue Ting were all officials in the court at this time, but they all abandoned martial arts to learn literature.

Yue Lin has always been the person with the highest official position in the Yue family since Yue Fei summoned Xue. Although there has been no great accomplishment in the past few years, he has been exempted from official duties, serious, cautious, and has not made any mistakes. This time, he also served as a staff member of the Governor's Office, and the symbolic significance was far greater than the actual role. Many of the generals of the Northern Expedition were from the Yuejia army lineage, and the most typical one was Bi Zaiyu. Li Bao, who had served under Yue Fei's subordinates, was the envoy of the Jing Navy and the commander of the navy, and rushed to Suzhou to see Yue Lin.

Li Bao took Yue Lin's hand and burst into tears: "I didn't expect that I could see the marshal's son again in my lifetime, the marshal knows underground, and we will work hard to kill the enemy and recover the Central Plains in order to fulfill the marshal's last wish."

At this time, the soldiers and horses of the Great Song Dynasty were assembled. The generals of the Northern Expedition were divided into three routes, Shao Hongyuan of the Left Route Army was the standing general, Zhang Zigai was the deputy general, and there were more than 70,000 people. Troops were sent from Xiangyang Mansion to attack Wanluo.

Li Xianzhong, the chief general of the Middle Route Army, and Cheng Min, the deputy general, had 100,000 soldiers and horses. Li Bao, the main general of the right army, Wei Sheng, the deputy general, 30,000 soldiers and horses, and 30,000 sailors. The two route armies first joined forces to attack Xuzhou.

Xuzhou connects Huainan, Huaibei and Shandong roads, and has always been a battleground for soldiers. Capturing Xuzhou can not only ensure the safety of the side of Suzhou, but also advance into Shandong in the east and the Central Plains in the west, which is indeed a must-take place for the Song army.

At the same time, Yu Yunwen, the Xuanfu envoy of Sichuan, also divided his troops into two routes: one way, Wu Lan's son, the Jinzhou Imperial Garrison, controlled Wu Ting as a general, and the other way, the Xingyuan Imperial Garrison controlled Yao Zhong as a general. Attack the Great Scattered Pass.

Coupled with the men and horses of the Song army stationed in Suzhou, the Northern Expedition, the Great Song Dynasty sent a total of more than 300,000 troops, and it was also the largest Northern Expedition after the Southern Crossing of the Great Song Dynasty.

February 27.

Li Xianzhong led an army of 80,000 and marched into Xuzhou. And the Jin State also sent Marshal Zuo Shi Lie Zhining to lead an army of 50,000 to rescue Xuzhou, and stop the defenders of Xuzhou, the number of Jin troops was not less than 70,000, and at the same time, Su Shi Lie Zhining also brought 5,000 Tiefu maps. In general, Song and Jin had roughly the same number of troops in Xuzhou. This was also the second time that Li Xianzhong and Su Shi Lie Zhining fought after being imprisoned for a month.

The vanguard of Song and Jin met in the town of Jugu, fifty miles from Xuzhou.

A scout Pegasus came to Yang Yanma: "Report to the command, ten miles ahead, I found the Jin army, the number of about 5,000, all of them are cavalry, and they are advancing in the direction of our army." ”

Yang Yan nodded. His selection of the vanguard army was the vanguard of the attack on Xuzhou with Li Xianzhong's army. Looking up, there was dust flying ahead, and the sound of horses' hooves could be faintly heard.

Yang Yan turned around and said, "Brothers, we have been practicing hard for three months, just to let the Jin people know how powerful our Da Song man is today. As he spoke, he pulled out the "Wind Forest Volcano" behind him, waved it in the air, and shouted: "Regain the lost territory, the Great Song Dynasty will win, rush!" ”

The whole army shouted in unison: "Regain the lost territory, the Great Song Dynasty will win, rush!" ”

Almost at the same time, the Jin army also discovered the Song army in front of him, which was about the same number as himself.

The commander of the Jin army, Meng'an Qijin, laughed, although the army he led was not Tiefutu, but Meng'an Qijin was confident that if the number was equal, the Jin army would not lose to the Song army in the field.

"Come on, Daikin warriors, give Song Dog a little color. Come on. ”

"Chong, give Song Gou a little color."

The dust almost obscured the sun. The dense sound of horses' hooves shook the earth. Within a radius of ten miles, Xiao Su's murderous aura was shrouded. From the misty dust, I gradually saw the enemy on the other side. If you look down at the earth from the sky, you are accustomed to seeing two large triangular arrows approaching.

It seems that both the Song and Jin sides are planning to attack each other, so this battle will be no tricks at all, depending on which of the soldiers on both sides is stronger and which of the generals is braver.

The distance between the two armies is getting closer and closer, three hundred paces, two hundred paces, one hundred and fifty steps. The Ether entered the range of the bow and arrow.

Due to the technical superiority, the range of the Song army's bow and crossbow was somewhat larger than that of the Jin army, and thousands of friendly arrows were the first to shoot from one end of the Song army to one end of the Jin army. Subsequently, the Jin army also began to shoot back at the Song army. At this time, no one can stop, but desperately rush forward. The soldier fell from his horse with a wail, and the horse with the arrow fell neighing. The men and horses that fell in the front row tripped over the cavalry that came up behind them, and the cavalry in the back row continued to advance on the fallen men and horses in the front row.

Since the Song army had a thousand strings of horse emperor crossbows that could be fired continuously, the rain of arrows shot from the direction of the Song army was much denser than that of the Jin army. As the two sides got closer, more people and horses fell. The dense and rapid sound of horses' hooves could not drown out the wails and neighings of men and horses. Although the armies of the two sides had not yet come into contact, the bloody scriptures began to spread on the battlefield.

At this time, the knights in the front row of the Jin army put down the bow and arrow in their hands and threw away the shield blocking the arrows. The spear pointed horizontally forward, and the saber pavilion was held high in the air, showing a snowy light under the light of Yang Wu.

The fire battalion cavalry in the front row of the Song army with the horse emperor crossbow had slowed down the speed of their horses, allowing the heavily armored mountain cavalry to rush up from their side to meet the Jin army. The light cavalry of the Wind Battalion and the Forest Battalion also quickly spread out from both flanks. The whole process of changing formations was fast and not chaotic, showing the results of hard training over the past three months.

When Meng'an Qijin looked up, the Song army in front of him was already wearing armor and stomach.

"What, does the Song army also have the same emphasis on armored cavalry as Tiefutu?" Before Meng'an had time to think about it, the two sides began to make contact.

"Kill".

The "Wind Forest Volcano" roared and slashed at the golden soldiers who rushed to the front. The Jin soldier didn't even snort before he was cut off his horse by Yang Yan.

The two golden soldiers in the back, one holding a spear and the other holding a saber, came at Yang Yan again. Yang Yan waved the "Wind Forest Volcano" and "Brush" two knives, one to cut off the spear, and the other to cut the saber. Before the two golden soldiers came to their senses, they were slashed by Yang Yan with two knives in a row.

This is the first time that Yang Yan has used the "Wind Forest Volcano" on the official battlefield, and sure enough, as Wan Xiansheng said, using this long knife to perform the "Blood Battle Knife Technique" is indeed very powerful. Yang Yan was able to kill, and the "Wind Forest Volcano" turned into a knife curtain, and each knife brought out a strong true qi. With each Wo Strike, a blood light flies out. The golden soldiers kept falling from both sides of him, and the formations of the golden army parted like waves of water.

The horses are neighing, and the warriors are roaring. Swords and guns clashed, shattered armor flew in the air, and stumps and severed arms fell to the ground. More warriors lay in blood and could not stand up again. Horses without knights roamed the battlefield like ghosts, while the living trampled on the corpses on the ground and fought to the death.

The men and horses of the Song army and the Jin army penetrated each other's formations and opened up the distance. The first round of encounters is over.

When Meng'an turned back to the horse's head, the two sides had opened a distance of seventy or eighty paces and relined up, preparing for the next round of attacks. And the battlefield of the cultural shrines on both sides was already full of corpses.

Meng'an Qijin found that the number of Jin army killed was far greater than that of the Song army. In the first round of confrontation, he finally saw that there were indeed armored cavalry in the Song army. "We're hedging with light cavalry and armored cavalry." Meng'an's seven-pound psychology began to waver: "Can you beat it?" ”

But Kun Shi couldn't allow Meng An to think too much, because the Song army rushed over again. Meng'an Qijin gritted his teeth and shouted: "Dajin warriors, let's rush!" ”

The Song army and the Jin army were once again intertwined. In the Song army, it was not only Yang Yan's personal bravery, but the entire Song army showed strong combat effectiveness. Cao Xun on the left, Gao Zhen on the right, Liu Fuwu, Zhang Shiyan, Zhang Rong and every Song soldier on the middle with Yang Yan are all brave, and everyone takes the lead.

After the two armies penetrated each other's formations again, Meng An Qijin looked at everything in front of him with an unconfident gaze. The Jin army suffered losses of at least more than a thousand people, while the Song army on the opposite side looked as if there were no big losses. Legend has it that the weak and incompetent Song army had such a strong fighting force. Because he was the leader of the Song general, no one in the two rounds of charging Jin could block his sword, and the Jin soldiers who passed by him were all cut off their horses without exception. Meng'an Qijin saw with his own eyes that two Jin soldiers were even armed with weapons and war horses that were cut in two by the Song general. Meng'an Qijin has never seen such a strong general. The reality in front of us is constantly subverting the concept of Meng'an seven catties.