It’s extremely cold in Hebei in December.

The howling north wind carried dry and cold snowflakes and slapped people's cheeks mercilessly, easily filling in another wound on the already cracked face.

Although this snowflake is not big, its damage is really big.

This season was not originally the season for fighting, but the Jin army, trapped on the bank of the Hutuo River, had no other choice.

Because the temperature has dropped sharply in the past few days, the Hutuo River has begun to freeze. Although tens of thousands of people cannot cross at the same time, it is still possible to cross thousands of elites in batches.

As long as a few thousand elites can cross the river and gain a foothold, the follow-up troops can cross calmly.

Moreover, in heavy snow, the Khitan army's horses could not move fast, which was the best time for the Jin army to give full play to the strength of its infantry.

Wang Qing, the governor of Xizhou, who had previously suggested to Du Chongwei to cross the river to clear the way for the army, was crossing the river one after another with Song Yanyun, the military envoy of Dengzhou Weisheng Army, leading 5,000 elite troops.

At this time, the sky was slightly bright, and both sides of the Hutuo River were quiet. Only the cold wind mixed with a small amount of snowflakes was blowing against our faces.

Although the hand holding the knife was almost frozen and the snot could not stop dripping from his nose, none of the two thousand pioneers who followed Wang Qing to attack did not flinch or speak.

These two thousand people were the most courageous in the entire Jin army camp, and they also hated the Khitans the most.

Either some of their relatives died at the hands of the Khitans, or they, out of their simple national sentiments and unwilling to see the barbarians being so domineering, vowed to drive the Khitans out of the Central Plains.

The Jin army was like ants, squatting on the ice and slowly slithering toward the opposite side. The vanguard of 500 people in advance crossed the bank of the Hutuo River smoothly.

Wang Qing was pleasantly surprised. It seemed that the Khitans were not on guard. As long as his two thousand men lined up on the west bank to cover them, the main force on the east bank could quickly cross the river.

Soon, most of his two thousand people crossed the river, and Song Yanyun's three thousand people behind him also crossed over a thousand people.

Just as Wang Qing was about to walk over and ask his soldiers to line up, he heard a loud and loud voice.

Wang Qing looked carefully and found that the sound did not sound like the footsteps of the soldiers around him.

Suddenly, the soldiers he had arranged to look out in front screamed in horror.

Wang Qing also quickly climbed up the ladder sill by the river and looked where the soldiers were pointing. He saw densely packed white dots in the distance, all of which were Khitan soldiers.

They did not display any flags, and were covered with white cloth. Like ghosts that suddenly appeared, they were already lurking less than 500 steps away from Wang Qing and others.

After being besieged for too long, the soldiers were unable to keep up with their nutrition, so they could not clearly see the Khitan soldiers wearing white robes.

Moreover, the Khitan soldiers and war horses all wore cotton shoes and were wrapped in cotton cloth, so they made little noise if they were careful.

Zhao Yanshou looked at the Jin army opposite him as if he were looking at the steps he was ascending to a great treasure.

He had no choice. After the last battle of Bai Tuanwei Village, his base Lulong Army suffered heavy casualties. If he could not become the emperor of the Central Plains, he would not even have the chance to become an ordinary Khitan.

"Kill! I have become the emperor of the Central Plains, and all of you are the founding heroes of the country!"

Amidst Zhao Yanshou's roar, the soldiers around him were all working hard.

These people had made a huge bet that Zhao Yanshou could become a son-emperor like Shi Jingtang. Now that all their belongings had been lost, there was no way out. Therefore, they were even more fanatical than the Khitans.

Zhao Yanshou's attack was so fast that Wang Qing didn't even have time to set up a formation. Fortunately, his soldiers were all quite elite. Although they were not in formation, there was still a dense rain of arrows, and they shot him at the first opportunity.

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The elite Lulong Army under Zhao Yanshou also began to draw their bows and shoot. People on both sides fell to the ground one after another. The scarlet blood was extremely conspicuous on the white snow.

However, it is often not easy to draw a bow and shoot an arrow in this kind of weather, so it soon develops into a stage of hand-to-hand combat.

Zhao Yanshou's Lulong Army numbered more than 4,000 people. They had been preventing the Jin army from sneaking across the Hutuo River for a long time, and they also had a numerical advantage.

However, Wang Qing's two thousand men were more powerful.

In fact, if they wanted to form a formation to fight, Wang Qing's two thousand men had been summoned at short notice, so their cooperation would not be very tacit. However, it turned into a chaotic battle, which was more conducive to their performance.

The sound of fighting carried far away in the cold morning wind. Although the Shanxi and Liao armies were said to be facing each other by the Hutuo River, the camp was still some distance away from the Hutuo River.

Hearing the sound of fighting, the horns of the Jin army began to sound, and the soldiers began to gather. Huangfu Yu, while putting on his armor, cursed Du Chongwei.

For such an important matter as Wang Qing and Song Yanyun crossing the river to attack, Du Chongwei only prepared five thousand men and did not let others prepare.

The Khitan side was much faster. Yelu Deguang felt keenly that this Jin army's attack would be an important turning point.

He immediately sent the powerful general Yelu Shuogu to lead 10,000 elite troops first, and he himself led 30,000 troops to follow.

Facts have proved that Zhao Yanshou overestimated himself. His 4,000 men could not defeat Wang Qing's 2,000 men, let alone Song Yanyun's 3,000 men who were crossing the river.

Even though Zhao Yanshou personally went into battle with rifles in his hand, the soldiers of the Lulong Army risked their lives and charged the Jin Army three times in a row, but they still failed to repel the Jin Army, which was smaller in number than him, let alone drive the Jin Army down the river.

The blade of the sword was curled, the barrel of the gun was broken, and the blade was damaged. The Jin army lost the veteran general Wang Qing. Although the number was small, they gathered tightly together, like a spear, and stabbed Lu Longjun in the belly.

The only problem is that Song Yanyun's support seems to be coming a bit slowly. Only a few of the three thousand Wei Sheng Army soldiers have crossed the river embankment to fight, and most of them are still gathering.

However, Wang Qing and the two thousand vanguards in the bloody battle did not notice at all. They just relied on their bloody bravery to repel the Lulong Army soldiers one after another.

Zhao Yanshou, if not looking at his character, could be regarded as a momentary hero. He was handsome in appearance, good at reading history, could shoot a strong bow, was good at dancing, and was also proficient in the art of war.

He and Huangfu were from the same hometown, and they were both from Zhending. This place seemed to like to produce brave generals.

At that moment, seeing the incomparable bravery of Wang Qing's 2,000 men, Zhao Yanshou charged twice but was unable to repel them. He did not continue to be reckless. He retreated to a hill to observe and soon discovered the weakness of this army.

That is, when the battle first started, Wang Qing's troops did not gather into formation.

At this time, the bloody battle lasted for a long time. Since the soldiers were summoned at short notice, Wang Qing could not command them like an arm, so they did not form a large formation.

"Yan Zhao, bring five hundred of our army horses, put on the vests, select people who are proficient in equestrian skills, and lead the horses to trample the Jin people."

Zhao Yanshou loudly ordered his younger brother Zhao Yanzhao. Although there was snow on the ground at this time, which was not conducive to the charging of the war horses, the horses could still charge if no one was sitting on their backs and only the horses were allowed to charge.

Zhao Yanzhao took the order and soon brought five hundred armored tall war horses, and then arranged for fifty of the best equestrians to lead the charge of the horses.

At this moment, Wang Qing's troops had completely routed more than 2,000 people from Zhao Yanshou's right army.

Some soldiers saw that the dead Lulong Army soldiers had good swords and armor on them, so they couldn't help but pick them up. Some of them were so jealous that they were not finishing the last blow.

Not to mention maintaining the formation, many people did not have long spears in their hands.

At this moment, five hundred heavily armored war horses suddenly rushed towards them, and the Jin army on the battlefield was immediately scattered.

Wang Qing shouted loudly, but only more than a thousand people were gathered. They quickly retreated to a hill on the right to form a defensive formation.

Just at this time, Yelu Shuogu's 10,000 soldiers and horses arrived to support Zhao Yanshou. Zhao Yanshou was overjoyed and hurriedly attacked Wang Qing with Yelu Shuogu.

Wang Qing's troops, which had been fighting smoothly, were suddenly attacked by a counterattack. They were temporarily unprepared and were beaten in a panic.

Fortunately, Wang Qing was not afraid in the face of danger, and led dozens of tooth soldiers to rescue the dangers, and finally stabilized the position.

Fortunately, Song Yanyun's troops, who had been procrastinating in formation, finally arrived. Most of these three thousand people were Song Yanyun's Dengzhou Wusheng Army's tooth soldiers.

Three years ago, An Congjin rebelled in Xiangzhou on the east coast of Shannan. Although he was suppressed, Xiangzhou has been coveted by Jingnan ever since.

Therefore, the Later Jin Dynasty prepared thousands of tooth soldiers in Dengzhou, which came in handy at this time.

The tooth soldiers of the Wei Sheng Army stepped on the white snow of Kacha Kacha and came steadily in formation. Zhao Yanshou and Yelu Shuogu, who were attacking Wang Qing, did not dare to be careless, so they could only divide their troops into two groups and resist them respectively.

The two sides then started a bloody battle on the bank of the Hutuo River, which was not very wide.

At this point in the battle, neither side can take advantage of the other. The next thing to compete is the coach's next move.

However, the Jin soldiers and most of the generals had no idea that Du Chongwei had arranged this attack.

Only after they were awakened by the shouts of death from Wang Qing and Song Yanyun's troops did they realize that their comrades had already crossed the river.

In the rush, he didn't even eat the morning meal, and Du Chongwei deliberately delayed, so the organization's speed was much slower.

On the other hand, on the Khitan side, Yelu Deguang mobilized almost immediately after Yelu Shuogu led 10,000 reinforcements.

In only two quarters of an hour, 30,000 troops were gathered from more than a dozen camps.

At this time, the Khitan and the Khitan Kingdom were still in the ascendant stage, and the soldiers and generals could endure hardships. Thirty thousand people gnawed on biltong, grabbed handfuls of snow when they were thirsty, and hurriedly rushed to the Hutuo River.

Wang Qing and Song Yanyun fought hard on the west bank of the river for an hour, but they never saw Du Chongwei sending troops to help.

Song Yanyun also tried several times to help Wang Qing's thousands of people to evacuate from the trapped mountains. However, there were too many Khitan soldiers and Song Yanyun's troops could not rush through.

After another half an hour, the Khitan soldiers and horses suddenly cheered loudly. Song Yanyun looked from a high place and saw the sound of hooves thundering to the west, the flags covering the sky and the sun, and the Khitan emperor's yellow umbrella suddenly appeared in the distance.

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The Khitan people's morale soared, but the soldiers of Wu Shengjun looked at each other in panic. Countless people looked back, but there was still no movement behind them.

Yelu Shuogu and Zhao Yanshou also took advantage of the surge in their own morale to watch Wang Qing's troops with a small number of troops, and attacked Song Yanyun with more than 8,000 men.

Wu Sheng's soldiers were unable to resist and were beaten back again and again. Moreover, the Khitan people were still making detours to both sides, intending to block Song Yanyun's retreat.

The whole army of Wu Shengjun was in an uproar, and Wuhou Ma Yuan, the infantry commander of Wu Shengjun, ran to Song Yanyun and shouted.

"Reinforcements have not arrived yet, but the emperor of the Northern Empire has arrived. Why should we, the people from the south of the mountain, sacrifice our lives here for the sake of the people in Hebei?"

Song Yanyun glanced at Wang Qing who was surrounded on the mountain, then at the Khitan Emperor Huang Luo Gai Umbrella who was getting closer and closer, and gritted his teeth.

"Retreat! Even if you don't send troops to help, you can't blame me for waiting."

At this time, Du Chongwei had led the Jin army to the Hutuo River. He deliberately refused to mobilize and allowed tens of thousands of soldiers to huddle together by the Hutuo River.

The soldiers were so noisy that An Shenqi and Huangfu Yu wanted to go over to see Du Chongwei, but they couldn't.

After a while, more than 2,000 soldiers and horses under Song Yanyun retreated to the river, followed by the pursuing Khitan soldiers and horses.

When Huangfu was in great danger, he asked two tall tooth soldiers to lift him up and shout from the riverside.

"Don't let Song Yanyun's troops cross the river. Let them set up their formations on the spot. A certain Yicheng army general is willing to cross the river first!"
To be continued...