The magnificent spectacle of lightning and thunder shook the earth completely. The birds in the jungle far away on the other side of the lake also flew desperately within a radius of more than one mile around Xu Jun’s military camp as if they had encountered an earthquake. The naval guns on the artillery array and the surface of the water seemed to be spewing angry flames, and the sky was filled with smoke.
Shells flew into the fields, grass, and woods, bouncing on the ground and splashing muddy water in the paddy fields. In the square formation of people by the river, white smoke suddenly rose in sheets, as if a monster suddenly blew out a large puff of white steam.
The Jiaozhou army had obviously never seen such a battle, and the firepower came at them with earth-shaking momentum at the beginning. Gunpowder greatly increased the power of people, and when ordinary fighting only really began when they were face to face, Xu Jun had extended the threat of death to the enemy.
Armed elephants fell in the rice fields, and more ran around in panic. The bodies of enemy soldiers, with their armor and clothing in disarray, floated in the stream, and the muddy water and blood mixed together made it impossible to distinguish them. Before noon, the Jiaozhou army had completely retreated.
Cheers and shouts rose and fell on land and water.
Standing on his horse with a proud look on his face, the vanguard commander Feng Jiye faced the drifting smoke, looked back and sighed: The troops from the wild borderland are so vulnerable that they are finished before they even started fighting.
Zhang Jiankui said calmly: But our great formation cannot compete with the Daxu army. If we hide in the countryside or mountains, the situation may not be like this.
Feng Jiye was still not satisfied and said: The enemy troops are defeated, we should seize the opportunity to pursue them, and the best way is to gather men and horses as soon as possible to pursue them.
Zhang Jiankui immediately advised: No, we have just arrived and have never been to Jiaozhou before, so be careful of ambushes.
The military supervisor, civil servant Zheng Xianchun, also said: Since we have repelled the invading enemy, there is no need to take risks.
Unexpectedly, Feng Jiye was furious and looked at them with contempt: "Damn, civil officials are weak and cowardly, hesitating and shrinking from moving forward. General Zhang, I see that you are used to being beaten. You dare not do anything except defending the city. You are afraid of both wolves and tigers."
Zheng Xianchun frowned and said sternly: Cao Gong asked us to do something very clear, to hold the position so as to find out the enemy's situation; Cao Gong also repeatedly told General Feng to change his temper and not let him down, otherwise no one would dare to guarantee you. The vanguard was not in a hurry to compete with the Jiaozhou army.
After hearing this, Feng Jiye sneered and said nothing, but he did not dare to ignore Cao Bin's deployment in the south.
The high morale cheers from all around were still ringing in my ears, so the dullness and unhappiness here seemed very inappropriate.
After a while, Feng Jiye spoke again: "I am a rough warrior and my words are not pleasant to hear. Please don't be offended. But I have seen more about the use of troops than you. Even if we want to defend, we don't have to be stubborn and draw a line for ourselves; in this good situation, counterattack is also for defense."
He restrained his arrogance and anger, and looked at the burly bearded Zhang Jiankui earnestly. It's like you, General Zhang, are an honest man. No matter how strong you are, you just focus on parrying. Anyone can provoke you, and anyone can come up to you and punch or kick you without fear. Can you parry it? What's a better way? If anyone dares to touch you, just grab him and beat him to death, and chase him across half the city to fight. Then do you still have to be tired of parrying in the future
Zhang Jiankui's face turned pale and blue, but he had no words to refute.
Feng Jiye pointed at the scattered enemy soldiers fleeing in the distance and said, "The people under Ding's command are so arrogant. They don't even give us the face to talk. They just come straight at us with swords. If we don't teach them a lesson, how can we stay here in peace from now on?"
Even the civil officials did not expect that this man who called himself a rough warrior could be so eloquent. They stared at Feng Jiye in amazement. Feng Jiye's words were simply eloquent and full of fallacies. Let's take a look at how the government dealt with the Liao Kingdom. Did it talk to them with a calm face and a good temper? It would be a good beating first, and then talk.
Zheng Xianchun:
Feng Jiye thought for a while, and then calmly said: Zhang Jianjun, aren't you going to build a fort? Do you want to use stone for the foundation? I remember you also wanted to use bricks to cover the walls. I didn't need clay to open the kiln. I knocked on it these days, and there is no quarry nearby, and there is no good soil. If we just hide in this tiny place, we can't do anything. He added, when I catch up with the enemy soldiers and capture a group of prisoners, we will have manpower.
Zhang Jiankui seemed to be persuaded when he heard this. He had been responsible for the construction of two forts before, both of which were simple earthen walls built on the spot with earth and wood. This time, the ship had brought some new adhesive mortar, and he wanted to build it more decently.
Zhang Jiankui said: I am just a deputy general, and like Zheng Changshi, I am only worried about bad things.
Feng Jiye said: There is no perfect plan in war, how can we not take a risk? Don't worry, this matter is my suggestion. If you suffer a loss, you can go to Cao Gong to complain, and all the blame will be borne by one person.
He smiled sarcastically and said: Of course, you don’t deserve the majority of the credit.
Feng Jiye ignored all the advice and ordered his troops to attack. Although the vanguard army also had a military government, according to the laws of the Daxu Privy Council, the military government only had great power before the army was mobilized, and it was impossible to coordinate the military personnel, weapons and military supplies without the coordination of the military government; once on the battlefield, the commander had the power to make decisions on the battle formation, and the decision-making power was still in the hands of the commander. The biggest role of the military government staff was to supervise and organize military orders.
Zheng Xianchun wanted to inform Cao Gong as soon as possible, but Cao Bin was far away in Guangzhou, and the name was unlucky, so he changed it. The land route was blocked, and the sea route was slow, so the risk of a single ship was extremely high. If something happened at sea, there would be no one to save him. He was very anxious.
Feng Jiye ordered the remaining people to rely on the warships of the Jiaolong Army to protect themselves, and led the main force of the vanguard army of nearly 3,000 people.
The main warships of the Jiaolong Army could not sail smoothly in the inland river, and the shallow water was impossible to pass. So Feng Jiye took all the sand ships and marched along the river, advancing both by land and water, and went up the Taiping River.
That night, Feng Jiye's troops set up camp at a place near the river. Two sentries of Xu's army were ambushed at night, one was killed and the other was injured. The reinforcements did not dare to pursue far at night, and they caught nothing. They sounded the alarm again, and they were exhausted after tossing for half a night.
The next morning, Feng Jiye heard from his scouts that there was a village and town five miles ahead. He immediately came up with a plan to retaliate against the enemy. He quickly found a commander and ordered in public: The town five miles to the north is where the bandits are hiding and ambushing. You take your men to capture them. As he spoke, he stretched out his palm and waved it downwards.
The imperial guards were used to restraining their soldiers, and they were immediately in an uproar after hearing this. One general immediately said: Since this is a market, most of them must be civilians. Wouldn't it be unlawful for us to kill them
Feng Jiye said seriously: We have to be reasonable. The rebels will not disguise themselves as civilians, but put words on their heads and dance with joy when they see Xu Jun. I am a rebel, I am a rebel, come and kill me!
Seeing his funny expression, the generals couldn't help laughing. Many people's attitudes changed. These warriors were not good people at all. They were very restrained after being under Guo Shao's command. It was nothing more than strict military law, sufficient rewards, and kindness and power.
Feng Jiye said to the generals earnestly: "These rebels are easy to kill but hard to identify. The best way is to raze the ground wherever they go. How can the enemy hide? Can they hide underground? We should be merciful. The ones who die are our brothers. In war, people will die. Would you rather let the enemy die or let your brothers die?"
All the generals agreed, and the commander just now said straightforwardly: I will do it right away.
Feng Jiye made all the arrangements and ordered the main forces on land and sea to move forward. He boarded the flagship ship in the river and walked into the cabin. He immediately looked around with interest. This ship was indeed more unique than the big tent. On the battlefield, it was a real pleasure to live here. The cabin was fully furnished, with paper, pens, and inkstones. There were calligraphy and paintings hanging on the walls of the ship, and there was even a zither table with a zither on it.
General Feng, please. The military clerk bowed and said, this ship originally belonged to the navy of the Southern Han Kingdom, the general should be a person who is good at literature and art, General Feng is a great hero, he condescended to do so.
Feng Jiye immediately said: "We have to be reasonable. I am not well-educated, but I respect Confucian generals who have strategies, like Cao Gong. Tsk tsk, you are a master of strategy, and you are very impressive. Come in and play a song for me, so that I can also cultivate my moral integrity."
When the clerk heard the respect in Feng Jiye's words, he was very happy and bowed, saying: I am afraid that I will be laughed at for my boldness.
The clerk went forward to adjust the instrument, but found that one of the strings was broken, so he busied himself repairing it.
It took two incense sticks of time to finish it. Feng Jiye sat on the chair with great interest and called the guards to make tea.
The clear and crisp sound of the piano finally became a melody, rippling from the water. Feng Jiye looked intoxicated, listening to the piano while watching the warships on the river. The black muzzles of the mother-and-child cannons on the deck and the ferocious metal dark-light soldiers wearing armor and holding sharp weapons, forming a rough and spectacular scenery on the river. The clear and elegant piano sound seemed out of place, but it was integrated with it. Feng Jiye was very happy with this contrast.
After a few songs, suddenly there was a flickering fire on the river bank, thick smoke billowed, and noisy screams seemed to be heard in the wind.
Feng Jiye stared at the window of the cabin for a long time, and saw clearly what his people had done. Suddenly he raised his head and laughed loudly, clapping his hands and saying: "It's great, it's great. I hate being bullied the most."
The clerk who was playing the piano was instantly terrified, the sound of the piano became slightly out of tune, and he was extremely afraid of Feng Jiye, so his face became even paler.
Fortunately, Feng Jiye could not hear any off-tune at all. It seemed that as long as it was the sound of the piano, it was fine. He was just pretending to be cultured. Why should he care about the quality of the song? He picked up the freshly brewed teacup on the table, pretended to take a breath, and looked up at the tragic scene in the blood and fire. He didn't know whether he was savoring the sound of the piano and the fragrance of the tea, or enjoying the pleasure of releasing his violent temperament.