After the Battle of Shunchang, the Jin general and marshal of the capital Yan Zongbi (known to the Han people as Jin Wushu) led the defeated army back to Tokyo (the former capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, Fenjing, now Kaifeng) for temporary rest.
In the Southern Song Dynasty, Hubei and Jingxi Xuanfu sent Yue Fei to lead a large army from Ezhou (present-day Wuchang) to prepare to take advantage of the victory and directly attack the Central Plains. Yue Fei ordered Wang Gui, Niu Gao, Dong Xian, Yang Zaixing, and others to lead their armies to attack and attack the prefectures and counties of Henan, and then sent Liang Xing, Dong Rong, and other generals to smuggle them across the Yellow River, secretly contacting the anti-Jin rebels in Hebei and Hedong (present-day southwestern Shanxi), and joining forces to seize the prefectures and counties of Xihe, harassing and containing the rear of the Jin army.
The vanguard of the Northern Expedition of the Song Army won consecutive battles and won victories by relying on their victories. According to Shi Zai, on June 20, the tenth leap year of Shaoxing, the Yue family army adopted the strategy of dividing up and attacking together, successively recapturing the important towns of Yingchang, Chenzhou, Zhengzhou, and Luoyang, cutting off the connection between the east and the west of the Jin army, and forming a threat to the main force of the Jin army in Tunza in Tokyo (present-day Kaifeng).
In order to reverse the unfavorable situation, Marshal Jin used the Song army to divide the troops to capture the prefectures and counties. Zhang Jun and Wang Dejun of the Song Huainan East Road had already retreated from Bozhou (bozhou, Anhui) to Luzhou (present-day Hefei), and the Yue family army had taken the opportunity to penetrate alone, personally leading the general Zhaowu, Han Chang, the dragon and tiger king Tu hesu, and the Gaitian king Saisli and other troops with a total of fifteen thousand horses, and made a long-distance attack on Yue Fei's Xuanfusi garrison of Chencheng (城, in present-day Luohe, Henan), in an attempt to destroy the central command structure of the Yue family's army in one fell swoop and break Yue Fei's plan to counterattack the Central Plains in one fell swoop.
Statue of Yue Wumu
On the eighth day of July of that year, the Jin army marched to about twenty miles north of Gaocheng and lined up here. At that time, Yue Fei had already heavily deployed troops to defend the city of Yingchangfu, and the generals also led part of the road to fight against the Jin army, and the number of troops left behind to defend the city was very small. After Yue Fei learned of the situation of the Jin army, he knew that the attacking Jin army was an elite unit that Yan Zongbi did not use easily in peacetime, so in view of the combat characteristics of the Jin army, he ordered his eldest son Yue Yun to lead the back ridge army (the back ridge is the Western Xia language, Xiao Yong, Plagiarism, and pro-army), you Yima army and the Jin army cavalry to fight.
The most courageous and fierce general in the Yue family's army, Yang Zaixing, wanted to capture the Jin chieftain Yan Zongbi, single-handedly charged the front, picked up vertical stabs, killed nearly a hundred Jin troops, and was also wounded in many places, blood stained his robes, still gritting his teeth and fighting desperately, straight forward and not retreating.
At the time of the fierce battle between the two armies, Yue Fei personally led 40 warriors into the enemy position, rampaged, the arrows were not false, and many of the arrows in the Jin army were killed. When the Yue family army saw the commander personally charging the front, the morale was doubled, and everyone was brave, scrambling to be the first, and killing the enemy in blood. Seeing that it was difficult to win, Yan Zongbi put into the battle group the most warlike "special forces" in the Jin Army--the "Iron Floating Massacre" wearing iron helmets, wearing heavy armor, and using iron cables in tandem, and the elite cavalry known as "kidnapped horses". The "Iron Floating Massacre" was lined up in a row and advanced from the front; the "kidnapped horses" were circling from both wings, posing a great threat to the Yue family army in the midst of the battle.
Yue Fei had already had a countermeasure. He was flexible and adaptable, and when the heavily armored troops of the Jin Army entered the front, he ordered the infantry to rush into the enemy position armed with a maza knife (a simple knife with a wooden handle), a lifting knife, and a long-handled sharp axe, and specially cut off the legs of the horse. At the same time, the Back Ridge Army and the You Yi Horse Army were ordered to specially attack the "kidnapped horse" army of the Jin Army, and with a flexible and mobile method of operation, they suddenly moved forward and backward, left and right, and advanced when favorable, and retreated when unfavorable, so that the bulky "abducted horses" reacted passively and were overwhelmed.
The "Iron Floating Massacre" and "Abducted Horses" of the Jin Army looked at one another and lost sight of collapse, while the Yue Family Army cooperated closely on foot and horseback, attacked and defended in a measured manner, and advanced and retreated freely; from the afternoon to dark, fierce battles were fought for dozens of rounds, and the most elite "special forces" of the Jin Army suffered heavy casualties, were almost paralyzed, and completely lost their combat effectiveness. After Yan Zongbi saw that his soul was scattered, he led the remnants of cangqi to flee.
After the Battle of Haocheng, the Jin army 'Tiefu Tu' and "Kidnapped Horse" suffered heavy losses and never recovered.
Yan Zongbi was a famous general of the Jin Dynasty, resourceful, experienced in hundreds of battles, and always maintained a psychological advantage over the Song army that was repeatedly defeated by himself. He was not willing to lose, and in order to reverse the crisis, after a short respite, he led his army to capture Linying (Linying County, Present-day Luohe City, Henan) between Chencheng and Yingchang, with the aim of cutting off the connection between Yue Fei's army and the general Wang Guijun, and then dividing the encirclement and breaking through each one.
Yue Fei saw through Zong Bi's attempt and anticipated that he would attack Yingchang, so he readjusted his deployment and sent Yue Yun to lead part of the Beifeng army to bypass the road to aid Yingchang; at the same time, He Ordered Yizi and Zhang Xian, the commander of the capital, to lead another part of the Beifeng army and You Yima army to Linying to find an opportunity to fight a decisive battle with the main force of the Jin army. On July 23, Yue Fei's general Yang Zaixing led 300 horsemen to scout the enemy near the Xiaoshang Bridge south of Linying, encountered thousands of Jin troops, and immediately launched a melee, Yang Zaixing led his troops to fight a bloody battle with the Jin army, struggling to kill more than 2,000 Jin soldiers, and then all died of outnumbered people.
After Yan Zongbi had already learned the strength of the Yue family's back ridge army and You Yi's army, in order to avoid a decisive battle with Zhang Xian, he gathered all the road troops together, except for some troops left to defend Linying, and led the main force to attack Yingchang in the north.
On the 14th, Zhang Xian's army stormed Linying, quickly defeated the defenders, and recaptured Linying City in one fell swoop. Almost at the same time, Yan Zongbi led the horses and the zhaowu general Han Chang and other troops, with more than 30,000 cavalry lined up in the west of Yingchang City, and another 100,000 infantry lined up south of Wuyang Bridge, more than ten miles in a row. The Golden Soldier shouted horses, knives and guns, and was arrogant.
The Song army stationed in Yingchang was about 30,000 people, led by Generals such as Wang Gui, Dong Xian, Yue Yun, and Hu Qing, and was the main force of the Yue family's army. Wang Gui entrusted the heavy task of defending the city to Dong Xian and Hu Qing, and led the Chinese army and You Yi's army himself, together with the back ridge army led by Yue Yun, to go out of the city to meet the Jin army. The Yue family army centered on Yue Yun's 8,000-back crest horse and launched a frontal attack on the Jin army infantry, and then attacked the two wings of the Jin army with infantry as the left and right wings.
The young general Yue Yun was a pioneer and went in and out of the Golden Array more than ten times, rushing back and forth to kill, hanging several colors on his body, and wrapping wounds and fighting to the death. From early morning to afternoon, dozens of rounds of bloody battles, both sides are desperately fighting bloody battles, and it is difficult to distinguish between victory and defeat for a while. The Song generals Dong Xian and Hu Qing, who were in charge of defending the imperial palace, saw that the situation outside the city was glued, and immediately led their troops out of the city to reinforce. Wang Gui and Yue Yunbu saw that the reinforcements had arrived, and their morale was greatly increased. The two armies joined forces to fight, and the already stalemate of the war was quickly reversed. In the fierce battle, the Yue family army killed Yan Zongbi's son-in-law, the general Xia Jinwu of the unified army, and the deputy commander-in-chief, Andi Han Suojin, and also killed 5 thousand households of the Jin army, 78 large and small chieftains, annihilated more than 5,000 Jin troops, captured more than 2,000 prisoners, captured more than 3,000 war horses, and countless military equipment. After Yan Zongbi lost two battles and two defeats, he lost miserably and led the rest of his troops back to Tokyo. Yue Fei led his army in hot pursuit to the town of Zhuxian, which was only 45 miles away from Tokyo. After Yan Zongbi once again gathered 100,000 Jin troops to resist. Yue Fei confronted the Jin army on the one hand, and on the other hand, he divided his troops to seize the Yellow River crossing in order to attack the Jin army from the flank. The Jin army again lost defeat and fled, withdrawing to the city of Tokyo, preparing to flee north. At this point, Yue Fei's counter-offensive and the Northern Expedition to retake the Central Plains achieved major victories. The situation in the Northern Expedition is very good, and taking advantage of the situation to directly pound the Yellow Dragon is just around the corner...
{Illustrations from the Web}