When the lieutenant generals heard this, they felt nervous and quickly saluted and went down to prepare.
But in just a moment, the Lingnan army had assembled an elite team of more than 500 people. Among them, not only were the soldiers brave men, but there were also many officers with the titles of sergeant, squad leader, and centurion. They were the elite among the elite.
In particular, the commander Wang Kai, who was the leader of the army, was originally a general who was as brave as Tian Baozhu. Because he was good at commanding troops and was not very old, he was promoted to commander when he was just over 30 years old. He was only one step away from being a general. He was a brave and resourceful character.
This team followed Zheng Yu's direct military order and set out from their own square formation to attack the enemy's central army. However, Wang Kai, the leader of the army, saw that the enemy's central army was extremely well defended and it was difficult to find a flaw. Even if they were determined to attack, it would be very difficult and it would easily turn into a life-and-death war of attrition.
So he observed carefully and saw that there were some gaps between the enemy's center army and right wing, which seemed to be an opportunity to exploit. So he did not hesitate and rushed forward with a dagger in hand.
Wang Kai's eyes were indeed sharp. This was the junction between Zhao Chengxiao in the center and Zhang Qi on the right wing. Zhao Chengxiao's attention was completely attracted by the frontal offensive of the Lingnan Army, and he was doing his best to block the enemy's central breakthrough. Zhang Qi was the weakest among the three generals. It was difficult for him to cope with the left-wing attack under the all-out offensive of the Lingnan Army, and he had no spare energy to take care of the junction with the friendly forces.
Therefore, Wang Kai's extremely accurate attack had an excellent effect. In just a cup of tea, he had broken through the junction of the two armies, like a seed sprouting in the soil, and had been fighting his way to the center of the formation, and was about to threaten Qiu Yizi's central army command position.
Lin Shuhan was a scholar after all. When he was as calm as a rock, he could still talk and laugh. But now that the enemy was almost at his doorstep, he couldn't help but panic. He quickly suggested to Qiu Yizhi: "Sir, why don't you quickly order Zhao Chengxiao and Zhang Qi to divide their troops and drive them away? Otherwise, if you are injured, the army will be leaderless!"
Qiu Yizi grew up among the dead, and was much calmer than Lin Shuhan. "The enemy's frontal attack is very urgent now, and the two armies can only barely cope with it. If we divide our forces further, it will inevitably be bad. So, first, I will send 500 of my personal soldiers to lead the army, and go to meet these elite soldiers from Lingnan Road!"
Yuchi Jiming had been eager to try for a long time. After hearing Qiu Yizi's words, he could not wait for Qiu Yizi's formal order, so he called up five hundred elite soldiers and charged towards the direction of the enemy's attack.
Qiu Yizi was afraid that something might happen to Yuchi Jiming, so he pointed at his 17 personal soldiers - among whom "Iron Head Jiao" was seriously injured and still recuperating in Shanyin County - and told them to go with Yuchi Jiming.
These personal soldiers were all born as bandits. Today they only saw others fighting but they had no chance to take action, so they were very anxious. Upon hearing the order, they immediately dismounted, picked up their swords, and ran forward closely following Yuchi Jiming.
Qiu Yizi was very pleased to see them so murderous. Suddenly, he thought of something and shouted, "Hey! Black-necked Toad, what are you doing? Come back here!"
The Black-necked Toad was stunned, turned his head and scratched his scalp, looking confused: "Sir, everyone else went to kill people and get the reward, why didn't I get a share?"
"Nonsense!" Qiu Yizi scolded, "If you run away, who will pass the message to me? Don't worry, stay by my side, do the job of passing the message, and live until I win. This credit will definitely be yours!"
After hearing this, "Black-necked Toad" had no choice but to run back in disappointment. He stood beside Qiu Yi and watched the other brothers go to kill the enemy with envy.
By the time Yuchi Jiming and his men arrived in front of the enemy's elite troops, hundreds of their own soldiers had been killed or wounded. A gap of ten feet square had appeared at the junction of the central army and the right wing, which were the focus of the attack. Zhao Chengxiao and Zhang Qi had no time to reinforce them. It seemed that the enemy would break through the government army's defense line completely from here if they made another effort.
Although Yuchi Jiming was a martial arts expert, he was not familiar with military affairs. He felt that his opponent's charge was too arrogant. Suddenly, he produced a dagger from somewhere, held it upside down in his hand, and rushed towards the enemy.
This squad of the Lingnan Army was in the middle of a killing spree when they saw a short, slightly weak young man rushing towards them. They thought he was coming to die and did not pay any attention to him. They casually raised their swords and stabbed at "him".
However, he did not expect that this foolish young man was extremely skilled in martial arts. He used some unknown skill to easily dodge two sharp knives. With a flash of the dagger in his hand, he left a narrow but deep wound on the throat of the two Lingnan Army soldiers, so deep that the bone could be seen.
When the soldiers behind Yuchi Jiming saw that the "female coach" had succeeded in her attack, their morale became even higher, and they howled and charged towards the enemy with their swords.
Wang Kai, the leader of the Lingnan Army, originally thought that the soldiers he led were all the best fighters in the Lingnan Army, and killing the weak Jiangnan Dao Jiedu Army would be as easy as cutting melons and vegetables. However, he did not expect to encounter such a strong enemy on the battlefield. He hurriedly put away his underestimation of the enemy and ordered his soldiers to fight the enemy carefully.
This is a life-and-death battle.
The Lingnan Army sent out all its elite troops, and Qiu Yizi's army was not much behind. The two armies fought for a cup of tea, and each side left behind more than ten corpses, but neither side was defeated.
At this tense moment, someone suddenly whispered in Yuchi Jiming's ear: "Female coach, the leader on the opposite side is very powerful. You are very capable. Kill him and make sure the opposite side has no central commander. Then we can defeat them in one fell swoop!"
Yuchi Jiming looked up and saw Wang Kai commanding the troops in the battle formation, as if he was the backbone of the Lingnan army that had penetrated deep into the enemy camp. So she agreed and said, "There are many enemy troops, you guys help me to cover them so that I can go in and kill them."
Everyone agreed secretly, and when Yuchi Jiming gave a look, they all stepped forward and pounced on their opponents.
The Lingnan Army had never expected that the government army would suddenly launch such an offensive for no apparent reason. They were a little stunned and could only barely resist the opponent's attack, but their main general's position had been exposed.
Yuchi Jiming saw this fleeting opportunity, leaped up, stepped on the shoulders of two Lingnan soldiers in the front row, flew in front of Wang Kai, raised the dagger given by Wen Lingjiao, and slashed at his neck.
Wang Kai was horrified and instinctively raised his sword to block. However, Yuchi Jiming changed his moves very quickly and changed the direction of his weapon in the blink of an eye, dodging the opponent's blade in an instant and slashing at Wang Kai's shoulder.
There was a flash of red light, and Wang Kai's left arm had been chopped off at the root. Hot blood spurted out from the bowl-sized wound, staining a Lingnan soldier next to him red.
Wang Kai didn't know what had happened. He looked at the blood gushing out in surprise. He looked down and saw a familiar yet unfamiliar arm lying on the ground. Finally, his eyes went black and he fainted.
Yuchi Jiming succeeded in one strike, but he did not dare to stay in the enemy's army for long, and turned around and wanted to jump back into his own crowd. The Lingnan soldiers around her saw that their commander was killed, and countless weapons were aimed at Yuchi Jiming.
Yuchi Jiming was startled, and suddenly remembered the method of avoiding hidden weapons that he had practiced before. His eyes quickly searched for gaps in the crowd, and his feet moved quickly. Unexpectedly, his left foot tripped on the dead Wang Kai's broken arm in a panic, and he stumbled and almost fell. Fortunately, Yuchi Jiming had high martial arts skills and quick reactions, so he quickly jumped up and stood firmly on the ground again.
But when Yuchi Jiming looked around, he found that he had been surrounded by countless soldiers from Lingnan Road. He was about to be cut into pieces by countless swords and knives, as his two fists were no match for four hands!
At this critical moment, Qiu Yi's sixteen personal soldiers suddenly shouted in unison, "Female coach, be careful!" Then they thrust their Japanese swords into the enemy's army. They didn't care how the opponent tried to stop them, and when they broke through the siege and killed Yuchi Jiming, everyone was already wounded.
Seeing their companions so brave, the rest of the government troops were greatly encouraged and, although they did not dare to charge into the crowd alone, they mustered up their courage and rushed into the enemy camp to hack and kill.
The Lingnan Army lost its leader and in the blink of an eye, it became a group of scattered sand. Although everyone's courage and morale were not slackened, they only knew how to fight alone and gradually fell behind. After another cup of tea, the more than 500 elite soldiers were separated and surrounded by the elite soldiers sent by Qiu Yizhi, and more than half of them were killed or injured.
Seeing that they were doomed to fail, the group made up their minds and gathered together, regardless of how urgent the enemy's pursuit was, and focused on attacking their own camp. In their eagerness to survive, this elite team of Lingnan troops burst out with extremely strong fighting power, and after paying the price of thirty or forty people, they finally fought back to their camp, but everyone was injured and exhausted.
Zheng Yu, who was in command of the battle, saw that the elite soldiers he had sent out had retreated without gaining anything. He was about to scold them, but he saw that they had really tried their best. He had to suppress his anger. However, he could not think of any new way to fight. He had to ask Sun Hao beside him: "Old General, it seems that our army is having trouble attacking the enemy. Do you have any good strategies?"
Sun Hao frowned: "It seems that the government troops are not vulnerable... But looking at the situation today, the casualties of the enemy and our army are not much different. After all, the total number of enemy troops is less than ours. With such a result, our army has actually won..."
Zheng Yu didn't agree with what he said. He originally wanted to completely defeat the enemy with his superior military strength, but he didn't expect that after a fierce battle for most of the day, he would end up in such a rotten and anxious situation. But he really didn't have any good ideas now, so he nodded and said, "Old General, this is a good idea. I don't know how to deal with it?"
Sun Hao replied, "Don't be discouraged, Second Prince. We can use the strategy of tiring out the enemy troops, split our army into two, and delay the enemy troops from returning to the camp to rest, while we take turns to rest. This will slowly reduce the enemy's combat effectiveness. In just three or two days, the enemy will surely not be able to withstand it, and will be defeated without even having to fight back."
"Cowardly!" Zheng Yu immediately said these two words in his mind when he heard it, but he couldn't think of a better way than this, so he had to agree and let Sun Hao arrange the soldiers to take turns to rest according to the strategy he proposed. He then went back to the central army camp to rest dejectedly.
Qiu Yizi was certainly not stupid. Seeing from afar that the enemy had quietly withdrawn half of its troops, he ordered the three commanders Zhao Chengxiao, Wu Changxi and Zhang Qi to lead three teams of soldiers respectively, one team to guard the original location, one team to rest on the spot, and the other team to return to the camp to rest.
Sun Hao also saw this trend. Seeing that the enemy only left two-thirds of its troops on the battlefield—half of them relaxed their vigilance—he secretly organized a light force to attack Zhao Chengxiao's troops who were on guard. His attack this time was just a test, and he did not let Zheng Yu know.