Chapter 36: The Great Victory (Part 1)

  Zhe Yan led the charge with 800 men at the forefront, with Alu Man on his left and Cao Guangyi on his right. Xiao Tienu guarded the rear, while Zong Xiong held the center. The 4,000-strong army thus thrust into the Liao army like a spinning top.

  At this time, the two branches of the Liao army on both sides had not yet entered the battlefield. The previous Liao army that trapped Zong Xiong's 2,000 people could not withstand the attack after Zhou Yan and Zong Xiong joined forces. This sharp spinning top slowly sank in, and in a short period of time, it cut the Liao army in half.

  Zhe Yan Chong gained the upper hand, but every step forward felt laborious. After splitting the Liao army in two, surprisingly they did not disperse. The two armies fought separately on both sides. Zhe Yan Chong was shocked: "This Liao army is incredibly strong, I've never had such a tough battle since the uprising!" In fact, this Liao army was still far inferior to the Jurchen people, but compared to the previous Liao army encountered by the Jin army, they were much stronger, giving Zhe Yan Chong this feeling.

  Seeing that Yanzi was about to arrive, they didn't have time to separately defeat the two halves of the Liao army. The southeast and southwest branches of the Liao army were about to join the battlefield! Di Yu said: "If these two troops have such combat power, we're afraid we'll be in trouble! Why not retreat first and wait for the main force of the State Master to return before saying anything."

  "We're in a desperate situation! We must advance and cannot retreat!"

  Di Yu said: "The main force of the State Master is not far from here, it's better to form a circular formation and use the spear array to delay time! When the Khitan people are exhausted, the State Master will come and we can take advantage of it."

  Zhēi Yàn rushed to the back and took a look at the troops, only to see that their side and the Liao army had already merged together. Not only was it too late to retreat, but even if they wanted to change formations, it might not be possible. He said to Dí Yú: "In the chaos of battle, I'm afraid we can't form a tight formation! Forcing such detailed commands will only reveal our weaknesses!" Looking east-southeast, he said: "That branch of troops has flags that are completely different from the other two! Do you think the Liao ruler might be among them?"

  Di Yu heard this and was shocked, saying: "It's possible!"

  "Alright! Then let's charge forward!"

  Di Yu said: "This army of horses is several times more than ours, and the atmosphere is solemn and severe, I'm afraid..."

  "Is there a better choice? Don't hesitate, charge!" Led the 800 cavalry to charge out, and did not pursue the Liao army that was split in two, but instead charged towards the southeast. His target was very clear, which was to attack the Khitan troops in the southeast.

  As expected, his charge caused a small commotion in the Liao army: it turned out that one of the units saw Zhao Yan's movement and tried to intercept him, but due to the sudden change, the command was lost, and the originally neat formation revealed its flaws! Alu Meng shouted wildly as he charged out, his wolf-toothed club smashing people's heads and horses' heads, causing the Liao soldiers to tremble with fear. The Liao general had no time to regroup his troops, and this elite force was scattered by Alu Meng's small unit.

  Zhe Yan rushed to say: "Look at the Liao army so tense in the southeast, I'm afraid the master of Liao is there!" He shouted to Aluwen: "Old five! Don't bother with these small shrimp! The great emperor of Liao is ahead! We go capture him alive!"

  "Good!" Aru Mang shouted, leading the charge forward. As a result, his troops actually charged ahead of Zhe Yan Chong! Zhe Yan Chong closely followed behind, and Zong Xiong and Xiao Tie Nu also didn't want to fall behind others. Only Cao Guang Yi remained calm and steady, deploying his men and horses, and one by one blocking the pursuing Liao army.

  The troops from the southwest couldn't make it to the battlefield in time, Han's and Muneyoshi's armies had already turned around, and the troops that had just been split by Yoshikazu reassembled and followed. These two armies didn't arrive in time to intercept the Jin army, but they surrounded Yoshikazu and Muneyoshi from three sides!

  Di Yu said in his heart: "If it's just a comparison of strength on this battlefield, we're in big trouble! I can only hope that the Lord and Zong Han arrive soon!"

  At this time, Aruwen had already rushed close to the Liao army. Suddenly an arrow flew in and hit him right on his left shoulder. Zhe Yan-chong and others were shocked, but they saw that Aruwen didn't even flinch, still yelling as he charged into the Liao formation! It turned out that this arrow had passed through Aruwen's soft armor and was blocked by his stone-like muscles, without hurting any tendons or bones.

  Aru Meng was rushing too fast and left a gap between his troops and those of Zhe Yan, which the Liao army took advantage of to cut off both units.

  Zhe Yan rushed forward, but although Aru was brave and fierce, how could a few hundred people withstand the tens of thousands of Liao troops? Moreover, this group of Liao soldiers were quite tenacious, and he couldn't break through for the time being. Suddenly, someone shouted: "I'll go get Fifth Brother out!" It was Xiao Tienu!

  Since the start of the war, he has been in a relatively light position, so his military strength is the most abundant among all departments. This old wolf is indeed a treasured sword of the Han army! As soon as it was unsheathed, its sharp blade shone brightly and forcefully tore open a gap in the Liao army's defenses. After linking up with Alu Bulan, Xiao Tienu changed to the vanguard, while Alu Bulan became the rearguard, and they broke out of the encirclement.

  Zhe Yan rushed to see that Alu had three arrows inserted in his body and shouted: "Old Five, retreat to the central army for a temporary rest!"

  "Arumand shouted: 'In the midst of a great battle, what are you resting for? What a joke! Moreover, I see the Khitan Emperor's chariot!' Without waiting for Zhe Yan to respond, he led his men around to the east side and charged in."

  Di Yu saw that the other two troops had already merged, and his 4,000 men were surrounded. He sighed and shouted: "Foolish!"

  "Let's go! Follow Alu!"

  This time, the two armies of Xiao were divided into left and right, with Zongyong on the right, and 4,000 people once again charged into the Liao army that was ten times larger than them. At this point in the battle, all tactics and strategies had become useless, and both sides were simply fighting for their lives. The Liao army had a large number of soldiers, but they were not as brave as the Han and Jurchen people who dared to fight to the death! The Jin army advanced with difficulty, but ultimately took step by step forward. Whether it was the Han or the Jurchen, they no longer knew how many enemies there were on the periphery, only knowing that those who stood shoulder-to-shoulder were comrades and those in front of their knives were enemies! In the midst of flying smoke and dust, they couldn't even tell which direction they were heading, but the roar of the Alu tribe was like a wild beast, and the Han soldiers knew that was the direction they had to advance!

  At this time, the terrain was limited, and the arrival of the other two Liao armies was only to add another layer of encirclement outside the siege circle, but for a while they were unable to inflict heavy casualties on the Jin army. And besides them, Aguda and Zonghan also arrived!

  Aguo was standing on a raised earth platform, pointing at the battlefield and asked his sons beside him: "How is it?"

  Changzi Zonggandao said: "Yan Chong and Zong Xiong are indeed brave, but unfortunately they are surrounded by heavy siege, and cannot be considered wise."

  "Impossible! The son-in-law knew we were coming and had reinforcements behind him, that's why he dared to do this. He is inside the core, we are on the outside, if we can coordinate our efforts, we can achieve great things!"

  Wanyan Wuzhuo, the sixth son, had just come of age and was attending beside him. He heard this and said: "The prince and his brother Zongying are exceptionally brave, but if they fight like this, I'm afraid it will be hard to hold out! Let's hurry up and go rescue them!"

  Aguo Da did not respond, as if he was thinking about something more important than this battle.