Chapter 291: Before and After

War is the highest form of contradiction and the most violent means, and limited by the constraints of the era, victory or defeat in medieval warfare often hinged on the gain or loss of a key city, the life or death of a key figure... But no matter the time, a decisive battle has always been the most straightforward, most direct, and most irrefutable means of achieving victory.

However, unlike most battles that require maneuvering, deployment, and probing, this main-force clash in the hilly region between the Zishui and Longshui Rivers caught both sides somewhat off guard.

Yue Fei had deduced Li Cheng's main direction of attack from Zhang Jun's deployment, but he absolutely never imagined that Li Cheng would bring nearly the entire existing military strength of the puppet Qi. Otherwise, he would have strained every nerve to bring as many troops as possible, so why would he have left Hu Cheng sitting idle in the rear?

And the same went for Li Cheng. The development of the situation forced him to go all out, but for a warlord, who would willingly throw their entire foundation into the fray for no reason?

Neither side had a sure victory or a complete deployment; both could only fight to the death.

Li Cheng's cavalry on both flanks clamped down on the main infantry force, advancing in neat, orderly ranks. Yue Fei adapted to the terrain, reversing the cavalry and infantry positions, and used his most elite heavy infantry as a spearhead, forming an oblique formation to meet the enemy... This was the best both sides could achieve within the short distance of a dozen li.

"Military Governor!"

Barely half a ke into the battle, as the front lines raged fiercely, a single rider, drenched in blood, suddenly galloped in from afar. Because the command flag on his back was broken, he had to dismount before the commander's banner and present his waist token. Then Yue Fei's personal adjutant, Bi Jin, relayed the military report on his behalf. "A definite report from the front: Zhang Zi'an, the Fifth General of the Imperial Right Army's Beiwei Army, was struck by a stray arrow as soon as he went up. He has just died of his wounds!"

Yue Fei reined in his horse atop a small hill in the hilly terrain by the roadside, gazing at the dust and smoke in the distance. His expression did not change; he didn't even turn his head, but directly rebuked coldly: "In such fierce fighting, don't report the deaths of anyone below the rank of Commander!"

Bi Jin, as Yue Fei's personal adjutant, naturally knew his commander's temper. He simply bowed his head and adjusted his armor at Yue Fei's side... As for the fact that Zhang Zi'an was Zhang Jun's own nephew, he had never intended to relay that from the start.

However, on the battlefield, Yue Fei could ignore the death of Zhang Jun's nephew, but he could not ignore the battle situation of Tian Shizhong's vanguard. On the contrary, that unit's performance was the very foundation for deciding victory or defeat.

"Can you see it?" Li Cheng also raised his banner and reined in his horse on a small slope by the main road, observing the battle to the east. He suddenly spoke. "This battle's outcome depends on whether the Song army's protruding long-axe heavy infantry on the south side collapses first, or our central army falls into chaos first..."

Beside him, Guo Dadao hesitated, wanting to ask his lord if he was talking to him or muttering to himself. But the words changed as they reached his lips:

"What you say, my lord, is most true! That is precisely the reasoning!"

After a slight pause, Guo Dadao spoke again seriously: "The infantry in the center should be facing the Beiwei Army under Big-and-Small-Eyes, that is, the cavalry unit led by Zhang Xian. And the long-axe troops blocking the Jurchen cavalry on the south side should be the Beiwei Army unit led by Old Zhang's son-in-law."

"Correct." Li Cheng nodded repeatedly. "All are renowned generals and masters."

"So, should we go to support the south side and help the Jin troops crush Tian Shizhong, or support the center and stabilize the central army?" Guo Dadao pressed on.

Amidst the clamor of the battlefield, Li Cheng fell into a kind of silence... Not just a silence in personal speech, nor merely his own unilateral silence, but rather, this warlord who had risen through the ranks of the Hebei armies suddenly felt a silence that came from the flattening of a certain abruptness across the entire battlefield.

When there was noise everywhere, there was no noise; when there was the smell of blood everywhere, there was no smell of blood; when there was fighting and death everywhere, fighting and death seemed to become insignificant.

The key was the question Guo Dadao had raised, this simple question that was the crux of victory or defeat... Yue Fei had made his final oblique formation deployment. Indeed, Yue Fei was more patient, but then what?

Then came the feeling of both sides throwing the dice together... On this battlefield, with the main road in the center, slightly rugged terrain on both sides, and a river of moderate width blocking each side's retreat just over ten li ahead and behind, in such a crowded and narrow space, once the troops were committed, they were difficult to redeploy. What else could be done?

As the commanding general, the only thing one could do at this moment was to decide when and where to throw in the last bit of elite, commandable strength one had left!

"My lord! My lord?!"

Seeing Li Cheng silent, Guo Dadao couldn't help but remind him again.

"Wait a moment." Coming back to his senses, Li Cheng couldn't help but take several deep breaths before responding. "Wait a moment... These few hundred long-sabre cavalry and three thousand heavy infantry are our final trump card. This time, we must strike after the enemy has struck, and not let Yue Fei adapt on the fly again... You must understand, even if Big-and-Small-Eyes threw in his Beiwei Army from the start, he must still have a final reserve force!"

Guo Dadao nodded repeatedly, seemingly completely convinced.

"Military Governor."

Watching another wave of wounded being carried down, Tang Huai, who had been reining in his horse at Yue Fei's side, suddenly spoke after making a rough calculation in his mind.

"What is it?" Yue Fei still only stared intently at the flags moving back and forth on the front line.

"Counting from when Deputy Commander Wang (Wang Gui) also began to engage, up to now, the entire line has been fighting for just over a ke, and no fewer than three hundred seriously wounded have been carried down. I'm afraid the number of dead on the front line is also this many..." Tang Huai said in a deep voice. "Military Governor, ever since we started fighting the Jin, both sides' armor has been getting stronger and stronger. To have so many die in such a short time is truly rare."

"With this kind of terrain and style of engagement, what's so rare about this casualty rate?"

"Actually, I just feel it's somewhat not worth it..." Tang Huai paused, then spoke frankly. "Not to mention Tian Shizhong's Imperial Right Army's Beiwei Army, even our twenty thousand troops were carefully selected during the rest in Xuzhou. In the half-year southern campaign before, we suffered hardly any casualties. We were planning to keep them for crossing the river north to fight the Jin, but now we're wasting them in the wilderness against the bandits of the puppet Qi... I know this is a decisive field battle, I know casualties are unavoidable, but the deaths are coming too fast!"

This time, Yue Fei was silent for a long time. It was unclear whether he didn't want to speak, or if he, like Li Cheng across from him, felt a certain 'silence' unique to the battlefield.

"Advance! Press forward!"

But unlike Li Cheng, after only a moment of silence, Yue Fei directly gave the order. "Press forward into the center!"

Tang Huai said nothing, only turning his head to look at Bi Jin behind him. Just as Bi Jin was about to relay the order, he found the flag-bearer behind him had already pulled up the banner, and the surrounding soldiers had all started moving... Startled, he turned his head back and saw that after giving the order, their commander Yue Fei had personally taken the lead to press forward. The last four thousand central troops remaining around the commander's banner naturally followed suit, advancing straight ahead.

The moment the Yue banner moved, the entire battlefield shook.

On the central avenue, Li Cheng's infantry formation, already heavily mauled by Zhang Xian, showed signs of wavering. Tian Shizhong's vanguard, which had been isolated and pushed forward, suddenly felt relief, gaining a chance to catch their breath and be supported by the infantry behind them.

Seeing Yue Fei commit his troops so early, Li Cheng across the way was visibly stunned. Then, under the gaze of many officers including Guo Dadao, he fell into a moment of confusion... He found it hard to understand. He cherished his own foundation, didn't Big-and-Small-Eyes cherish his?

Why force a decisive battle so early? Wasn't the fighting fierce enough already?

But soon, Li Cheng came to his senses. Whether Big-and-Small-Eyes had made a mistake out of momentary softness, or thought a quick victory would result in fewer casualties, since the enemy had moved, he could not afford to waste his own elite forces in the rear. He had to give no ground!

"Advance!" Li Cheng drew his saber and looked back at those behind him. "Press forward with me! Let's kill this Big-and-Small-Eyes on the spot!"

Guo Dadao was the first to respond. He removed the brocade cover from his long-handled saber, gave a shout, and led the long-sabre cavalry to clear the way. Li Cheng himself led the commander's banner forward. Then, three thousand heavy infantry, urged on by dozens of officers, followed closely behind Li Cheng, advancing to meet the enemy... Just like the two armies had recklessly collided head-on before, barely two ke into the battle, both commanders had pulled up their banners and were advancing side-by-side towards the front line.

This pushed the intensity of the battlefield to a new level.

In an instant, almost everyone surged forward. Daily pay, favors, honor, loyalty, combined with the coercion, leadership, and supervision of the commander's banner behind them, mixed with fear and anger—all converged into one. No one could say exactly why they were advancing, but they could only advance... until one side was the first to lose this forward momentum.

Yue Fei reached the front line first. His several thousand fresh troops joined forces with Zhang Xian's cavalry. Using the gap created by Tian Shizhong's vanguard, they dealt a heavy blow to the oncoming infantry of Li Cheng's force... It was almost visible to the naked eye. Although both sides were surging forward, with Yue Fei's banner reaching the front, using infantry as the base and cavalry divided into multiple squads for thrusting charges, the battle line was gradually pushed westward.

For a time, one side gained while the other lost.

At this moment, Li Cheng's force was still struggling to advance.

One more point to mention here: the reason for this time difference in reaching the front line was not only because Yue Fei had moved his banner first, but also due to the troop deployment... The Imperial Forward Army had twenty-three thousand men. In the oblique formation, there were eight thousand infantry on each flank. On the north side, Wang Gui led Zhang Yong, Li Kui, Sang Zhong, Liu Zhong, Li Hong, and other generals, totaling eight thousand men. On the south side, another eight thousand, led by Ma Gao and his wife Yi Zhangqing, followed behind Tian Shizhong's vanguard. In the center were four thousand cavalry under Zhang Xian. Finally, Yue Fei and Tang Huai commanded four thousand central troops in the rear for deployment.

In other words, after Yue Fei pressed forward to the front, there were only four thousand cavalry on the main road ahead of him, allowing for unimpeded movement.

At the same time, Li Cheng's force of nearly forty thousand had five thousand cavalry on each flank, supported by some infantry. They also interspersed some supervisory troops in the gaps. Even so, the central infantry formation was dense and deep, fully twenty thousand strong. However, it was strong in the front and weak in the rear, with elite armored troops in front and poorly equipped leather-armored soldiers in the back... When Li Cheng now led his troops forward, he completely relied on Guo Dadao to painfully clear the way ahead, just to barely advance.

The advance speeds of the two sides were simply not on the same level.

By the time Li Cheng's force laboriously reached what could be called the front line, the infantry formation there was already on the verge of collapse... That so-called momentum was barely a breath away.

One could only say, fortunately, they still made it in time.

"We must counterattack!" Behind the formation, Li Cheng, while directing some heavy infantry to form ranks and stabilize the formation, pointed at Guo Zhongwei and shouted sternly. "Guo Dadao! Take all the remaining long-sabre cavalry. Charge! If possible, cut down Big-and-Small-Eyes' banner! Remember, only attack the banner. Don't try to fight Big-and-Small-Eyes himself. You are no match for him!"

Guo Zhongwei said nothing. He didn't raise a flag or shout, only held his saber reversed and advanced. The two hundred long-sabre cavalry behind him also removed their saber covers. For a moment, the long sabres stood like a forest of arrows, advancing straight down the center. Li Cheng's own infantry ahead, upon seeing the iconic long-sabre cavalry raise their sabres and form ranks to advance, parted to both sides like wheat stalks in a distant field encountering a living creature.

Under the hasty advance and troop congestion, aside from a unit of about two hundred Beiwei cavalry directly in Guo Dadao's path, no one else could easily block him. The leader of this Beiwei cavalry unit was none other than Li Zhang, nicknamed "Pouncing Eagle," who had come from Hu Cheng's command and followed Yue Fei for a long time.

Li Zhang was originally a hero from Yizhou, always known for his bravery in the army. How could he show any sign of retreat? Seeing this, he was both angry and delighted, and charged straight ahead.

The two cavalry forces collided. Sabres and spears clashed, flesh and blood flew. Li Zhang, fighting with wild abandon, led seven or eight of his companion cavalry to kill several of the enemy's long-sabre cavalry, plunging deep into their formation. For a moment, his momentum was no less than Li Cheng's famed long-sabre cavalry.

But it was at this moment that Guo Zhongwei spotted Li Zhang. Still without a sound, he continued to lower his head and drag his saber forward amidst the formation. Under the cover of the other long-sabre cavalry, he silently and suddenly accelerated, then pounced directly to Li Zhang's side, and swung his saber with all his might.

With just one swing, he directly cut Li Zhang in two from the left side of his neck to his right armpit, killing him beneath his horse.

Only then did the long-blade cavalry let out a single shout, gathering around Guo Dadao as their core, easily dispersing the Beiwei Army unit that had lost its commander, then continuing toward Yue Fei's command banner.

Of course, the long-blade cavalry was far too conspicuous. After crossing the cavalry melee zone, they were spotted directly by Yue Fei and Tang Huai.

"With troops like these—advancing then slowing, slowing then advancing—though they take losses, they keep pressing forward. There must be a great general hiding his banner and directing them!" Tang Huai saw through it after just a moment's observation. "I'll go meet him!"

"Let him come!" Yue Fei, seated on his horse beneath the great banner, watched coldly and raised a hand to stop him. "We'll keep pressing the armored infantry forward with the cavalry."

Tang Huai understood his elder brother's intent at once, nodded in comprehension, and promptly led his personal guard to reposition themselves under the command banner. Only then did he summon Bi Jin and give him a brief signal.

A moment later, whether by deliberate Song Army indulgence or not, after this long-blade cavalry unit entered the Song infantry formation, the resistance they encountered was not particularly severe. The troops along the way merely blocked and wore them down layer by layer.

However, when Guo Dadao charged to within sight of the command banner, he could clearly see Yue Fei in his conspicuous armor with several dozen riders in front of the banner. Turning back, he saw only a dozen or so riders left behind him. He then realized what was happening—the Song Army was deliberately indulging him, peeling him like bamboo layers, luring him with ever fewer troops to go after that "big-and-small-eye" himself.

Otherwise, why would the area beneath the command banner be so tightly arranged, yet the general himself stand out front?

This was a trap.

Yet knowing this, the bold and skilled Guo Dadao grew enraged at being underestimated. He ignored the danger and drove his last dozen riders forward, abandoning the command banner as his target and going straight for Yue Fei. After all, with so many weapons in the world, why did he, Guo Zhongwei, use a long-handled saber on horseback? Wasn't it because, with such a blade sharpened before battle, one mighty swing could cut down anyone—peerless martial skill, fine armor, famous general, high official—all with a single stroke?

Since Guo Dadao was charging straight for Yue Fei, Yue Fei's personal guards, no fools, swarmed to meet him. Several dozen men nearly encircled the last dozen long-blade riders. But Guo Zhongwei, with his rich battlefield experience, anticipated this and suddenly accelerated before they could close the ring, charging straight forward.

Yue Fei, who had long since turned his head and narrowed his eyes to watch the approaching man, showed no fear. He simply turned his horse and rode to meet him.

As the two generals' horses crossed, Guo Dadao's heart sank—because his fierce downward swing, powered by his horse's momentum, was easily deflected by the other's steel spear. It was clear that their mounted skills were not on the same level. After falling behind with his first move, he remembered his commander's instructions and made to turn toward the command banner. But unexpectedly, Yue Fei behind him turned extremely quickly, soon caught up, and thrust his spear at Guo Zhongwei's back. In his panic, Guo Zhongwei could only twist and raise his hand to parry, but this awkward motion left him off-balance and unable to apply force properly. With a numb sensation in his tiger's mouth, his long saber was knocked from his hand by the steel spear.

With his saber gone, Guo Dadao grew even more terrified. He reined in his horse again, preparing to turn and flee.

But that very reining slowed his horse slightly, allowing Yue Fei, with his superior mount, to close in. Then, the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Guard Forward Army simply let go of his spear, reached to the other side of his horse, and took up a sharp puda knife. Gripping it with both hands, he swung it fiercely at the back of the other's neck from his horse. The blade cut from Guo Dadao's neck all the way down, splitting through to his crotch without stopping, then cutting through the saddle and wounding the horse's back before finally halting.

Guo Dadao was split into two halves, his internal organs spilling all over the ground.

Yue Fei, half his body drenched in blood, silently halted his horse, dismounted to pick up his spear, then calmly remounted. Returning to the front of the command banner, he continued directing the formation's advance without pause.

Not far away, the still-resisting long-blade cavalry and the nearby infantry of Li Cheng's force, upon witnessing this scene, were as if they had seen a ghost, their courage failing. Guo Dadao's raid thus dissipated directly.

Li Cheng, farther away, though he didn't know that his "Big Saber" had been split vertically in two, his guts likely beyond reconnection, could see that Guo Zhongwei had entered the Song formation and never returned, and that the Song Army's morale seemed to surge again. He naturally guessed that Guo Dadao had failed.

However, Li Cheng was no incompetent. With one general dead, he unhesitatingly sent messengers and ordered Xu Dadao, who was supervising troops at the junction of the northern and central sectors, along with his two hundred long-blade riders and an additional thousand Ji'nan cavalry, to be summoned to maintain pressure on the center.

Xu Dadao was also a man of loyalty. Having already seen the central army's predicament caused by Yue Fei's arrival and the congestion of their own formation, he did not hesitate upon receiving the order. He quickly spurred his horse to the rescue, attempting to use his organized cavalry to split the Imperial Guard Forward Army's cavalry and infantry units on the main road.

This was a very correct decision. In fact, Yue Fei simply could not and would not dare to let such a cavalry force into his central battlefield.

"Take two thousand troops and block them no matter what!" Yue Fei turned to Tang Huai, speaking concisely.

Tang Huai understood and led his troops away. Yue Fei, half his body covered in blood, after a moment's thought, ordered the banner moved again—not the step-by-step advance as before, but like the first time, pulling up the banner and pressing forward in great strides.

By now, the battle had been going on for about three-quarters of an hour. Both sides had suffered heavy casualties and were beginning to waver. Advancing further at this point would undoubtedly cause casualty rates to skyrocket, but after a moment's hesitation, Yue Fei chose to press forward.

What made Li Cheng on the opposite side feel a hint of panic was that, with Yue Fei advancing again, the entire Song Army formation showed no signs of wavering. Though Li Cheng's forces had suffered more casualties, with a two-to-one numerical advantage, the casualty ratios were nearly equal.

Yet under such circumstances, Li Cheng's troops had already begun to slow, fall into chaos, and lose formation, while the Imperial Guard Forward Army maintained its morale and aggressive posture.

Thus, before the afternoon was even half over, Yue Fei himself and his banner appeared in the melee zone. By this time, thanks to the central cavalry's tactics against infantry and the commander's personal presence, the central melee line had nearly drawn even with Tian Shizhong's central force.

This was already very dangerous for the Song Army, so Li Cheng hesitated for the second time.

If he pulled back slightly at this point, he might be able to draw the Song Army's weak central force into a three-sided encirclement—the optimal outcome sought by having two cavalry wings press in, and the ultimate tactical goal that had been ruined by the Song Army's oblique formation earlier. But retreating now also risked Yue Fei pressing the advantage and causing a complete collapse.

Conversely, he could choose to lead his troops forward without letting up, meeting Yue Fei head-on at the very front line in a king-versus-king confrontation.

But doing so would likely mean facing direct mortal danger. He had never seen Han Shizhong, the so-called number one under heaven, but he knew full well that if he faced that "big-and-small-eye" up ahead, it would truly be a fifty-fifty gamble with his life.

Or perhaps worse?

After all, he, General Li Cheng, was not skilled at mounted combat with his twin sabers, and he had lost those sabers anyway.

For a warrior, losing one's blade is a terrifying thing.

And so it was now.

In his hesitation, no great saber was there to pose the soul-searing question for him. With no one to challenge him, he simply kept hesitating—unaware that staying put while hesitating was the third option besides advancing or retreating, and the worst one of all.

For while he hesitated, Yue Fei made his next move.

Specifically, Yue Fei, already at the extreme forward position, moved his command banner forward again to apply pressure. But interestingly, this time he did not head directly west. Instead, he drove his remaining two thousand infantry to the left-front—that is, toward the south side of the battlefield, to directly support and pressure the right-front of Tian Shizhong's central force.

"Disaster!"

Watching the great "Yue" banner move southwest, Li Cheng saw through the other's intent in an instant, and in that same moment, he realized the most foolish arrangement in his pre-battle deployment.

"Forward! Forward! I want to fight that big-and-small-eye to the death face-to-face!"

Having realized this, Li Cheng dared not hesitate any longer. He immediately ordered his command banner forward.

But the moment the banner was pulled up, the Song Army suddenly roared with battle cries, launching an all-out assault westward with all their strength. At the same time, to Li Cheng's utter despair, the huge flaw he had just realized manifested on the spot. On the southernmost front line, the Meng'an unit that Elubu had sent to reinforce, after encountering stubborn resistance from Tian Shizhong's long-axe heavy infantry and suffering heavy casualties, finally chose to retreat under the pincer attack personally launched by Yue Fei.

Poor Li Cheng—before the battle, he had worried that the Hebei brothers wouldn't fight hard, and that the local magnates of Jingdong might have second thoughts. In the end, none of his old brothers betrayed him. Instead, it was the strongest force, the Jin Army reinforcements, that betrayed him.

Of course, "betrayal" wasn't quite right—unexpected, yet reasonable. No matter how strong the Jin Army's fighting power or how skilled they were at bitter struggle, why should they risk their lives for Li Cheng? Could a marching Meng'an commander be expected to have the strategic awareness of unifying Hebei and Jingdong?

Li Cheng should never have assigned this unit a tactical mission in the first place.

Back to the present. This organized unit with a tactical mission suddenly retreating tore a huge gap on the southern flank. This gap, with Yue Fei's timely order for a general offensive, was instantly filled by the battered but advancing Tian Shizhong's central force.

For a moment, the entire Qi puppet army formation showed signs of being shaken and collapsing.

At this critical moment, Li Cheng's newly raised banner could not advance. Instead, it was pushed backward by the wavering troops in front, forced back several dozen paces.

Unable to regain a foothold, it fell back again, then again, and again.

Finally, the army collapsed like a mountain falling.