Chapter 155: The Military Sect
The sun was setting in the west, and the orange-red sunlight shone behind the general, slightly obscuring his terrifying face and figure.

The Yecheng army attacked Jingxing Pass several times in the morning, and there were about 12,000 infantrymen who went into battle in the afternoon. They were commanded by eight colonels, and the colonels were under the command of Sima Yi, the King of Changshan.

Facing Li Hao holding a cross spear, the infantry under the command of these captains were able to hold their ground and did not collapse on the spot.

"General Li, the court cannot bear to slaughter these hundreds of thousands of civilians. If you are willing to surrender to the court, the King of Changshan will recommend you to be the governor of Leping County, and give you the title of General of Ningbei, and grant you the title of temporary authority."

In response to the general's questions, the Yecheng army sent people to offer quite tempting conditions.

If you want to be an official, you must first rebel and then seek amnesty.

Obviously, this kind of surrender before the battle was just a way to delay time. Li Hao did not give the Yecheng army a chance to retreat in turn. He leaned forward and rode his horse towards the largest flag.

The big flag is the flag that indicates the identity of the commander-in-chief. Soldiers judge whether the commander-in-chief is still there based on whether there is a flag in the army. Once the flag falls, it is time to throw away their weapons and flee for their lives.

There were two large flags in the Yecheng army formation, with the titles of King of Chengdu and King of Changshan on them. General Li had never seen their portraits and did not recognize these two Sima princes, so he could only rush over and kill the people under the flags one by one.

There were a large number of chevaux de frise and spiked logs placed in front of the infantry formation. He had to dodge the arrows shot by the Jin army, and control his horse to bypass the chevaux de frise and jump over the logs. He was very busy.

The enemy general was coming with such a strong momentum and his reputation was so great that the officers and soldiers of the Jin army under his banner immediately became panicked.

Sima Yi, King of Changshan, however, remained calm and issued orders one after another. The command flag and the crimson banner under the big flag were raised one after another by the flag bearers. Except for the soldiers of the four schools near the big flag, the soldiers of the four schools at the back slowly withdrew towards the camp.

"General Le Kai is willing to lead the country's soldiers into battle to stop the enemy general!"

A burly general rode up to the King of Changshan on horseback, dismounted, clasped his fists and asked for a fight.

"Cai~ You can lead 200 soldiers to kill the thief general Li Hao."

Sima Yi was overjoyed, and he pointed out the two most capable commanders under his command and the halberd cavalry under their command, and asked them to fight against the attacking bandit general together with Le Kai.

Le Kai was born into an ordinary aristocratic family. His father Le Guang was a leader of literary debate who was recognized by the literary world. Le Guang also married a daughter of Sima Ying, the King of Chengdu. The Le family had a close relationship with the brothers Sima Ying and Sima Yi.

King Changshan did not expect Le Kai to kill the notorious thief general Li Hao. He only hoped that he would lead his troops to stop him for a while so that the infantry of Yecheng Army could withdraw to the vicinity of the camp.

After two hundred heavily-armored cavalrymen went out to meet the enemy, the sense of pressure from the enemy's charge was finally reduced a lot. Taking advantage of this good opportunity, Sima Yi once again ordered the soldiers from the remaining four schools to withdraw one after another.

The 1,500 men near the big flag retreated last. In order to make the soldiers in Yecheng obey orders at ease, King Changshan Sima Yi stayed under his banner.

Le Kai's other two brothers, Le Zhao and Le Bin, led their subordinates to protect the King of Changshan. There were five brothers in the Le family, all of them were loyal and righteous. Three of them were in the Changshan army, and the other two were in the Luoyang Central Army as cavalry supervisors.

Sima Yi didn't want Le Zhao and his men to die at Jingxing Pass today, so he gave the order:
"Le Zhao and Le Bin led two hundred people to retreat to the camp gate to meet the soldiers returning to the camp."

The Le brothers were of humble origins and had no private army of their own; the troops under their command were all Sima Yi's state troops.

The Changshan State had a total of 5,000 soldiers. When the bandits attacked Changshan County, Sima Yi saw that the King of Chengdu did not send troops to help, so he gradually retreated to Zhongshan State in the east and preserved most of the soldiers.

The imperial court launched a large-scale suppression campaign this time. King Changshan felt there was hope, so he joined forces with King Zhongshan Sima Ji and the troops of the two countries to help suppress the rebellion. The counties of Changshan County were conquered one after another, except Jingxing City, which could not be captured after a long siege. Later, Sima Yi was invited by King Chengdu to lead the Yecheng army. Most of his soldiers stayed outside Jingxing City to continue the siege, and only 700 elite soldiers followed him as personal guards.

The two brothers Le Zhao took the order and left. At this time, the rebel general Li Hao was already engaged in a melee with Sima Yi's halberd cavalry.

Different from the roundabout shooting tactics of archers and Xiongnu and Xianbei cavalry, halberd cavalry inherited the Han infantry's courage in close combat. Once engaged in battle, they would get close to the enemy and fight fiercely on horseback with halberds in hand.

The enemy general also held a halberd. When this group of halberd cavalry charged, they naturally held the halberd flat with both hands and leaned their upper bodies forward to offset the reaction force from the halberd stabbing the enemy.

The weapon held by the leading Le Kai was different from those of the halberd cavalry. It was a double-edged spear with iron blades installed at the head and tail. The spear blade was specially lengthened, which allowed it to not only slide and stab during a charge, but also to be swung left and right on horseback, giving it a considerable advantage in the melee among the cavalry.

This also led to a point where the halberd cavalrymen who followed Lekai into battle kept a distance of seven or eight steps from him to prevent the back edge of the double-edged spear from accidentally injuring their own people.

"Well done!"

Li Hao shouted angrily, holding his halberd and riding his horse forward. At the moment when the two sides got close to each other, he blocked the spear with the blade of the halberd and pushed the tip of the halberd near the man's left hand.

Le Kai was suddenly horrified. He let go of the spear with his left hand and pushed the spear handle with his right hand with all his strength. He didn't care whether the spear hit the enemy general or not, and rolled to the right.

It doesn't matter if he falls off his horse. If the halberd hits him hard, half of his body will be cut off by the blade.

Li Hao slightly moved away from the spear blade, and then grabbed the obviously customized double-edged spear with his left hand, and continued to face the large group of halberd cavalry in front of him with his right halberd and left spear.

The sound of horse hooves rang out like thunder. After engaging in battle with General Li, the charge of the halberd cavalry was halted. The left and right wings took advantage of the situation to encircle Li Hao.

Dozens of halberds were piercing at him from all directions. The newly acquired double-edged spear was obviously more suitable for the current situation, so Li Hao threw away the cross halberd and only used the double-edged spear to stab forward, backward, left and right.

In order to prevent the rider from being pushed off the horse by the recoil force after the halberd hits the enemy, the charge speed of the halberd cavalry is controlled at a medium speed. In case of a head-on collision, most of them rely on the front hand to support the spear shaft and the back hand to push the halberd to extend and stab.

During a melee, the halberd can be used in many ways, such as pecking, hooking, and chopping, whichever is convenient.

But what made the Changshan State Halberd Cavalry despair was that no matter how hard they tried to kill, the besieged enemy general remained standing, and the double-edged spears in his hands made him even more powerful.

In a flash, the spear shafts were like shuttles on a loom, piercing back and forth through the heavy armor of the halberd cavalry, bringing out black blood and flesh.

The double-edged spear pierced with such force that it seemed as if the heavy armor of the surrounding halberd cavalry was made of tofu.

Maybe it was just a moment, or maybe it was a long time, anyway, after the casualties of the halberd cavalry who followed Lekai into battle reached 30% to 40%, the outer cavalry were finally frightened by the killing and rode away from the battlefield one after another.

A volcano-shaped pile of corpses had formed around Li Hao, and the warhorse under his crotch had been pecked to death. After he cleared out the enemy soldiers around him, he jumped out of the volcano-shaped pile of corpses and chased after a warhorse not far away.

The ownerless warhorse was frightened by the fighting between humans, and fled with heavy steps into the bloody sky. It took Li Hao a long time to catch up with the warhorse.

"Don't worry, General. We are coming." Just as he was getting on his horse, more than 350 cavalrymen rushed over from the direction of Jingxing Pass, led by a leader named Li Xiang, with Li Ji and others beside him.

After the Jin army's attack was interrupted, Li's rebel army quickly sent troops to clear the battlefield under the pass, and then selected some cavalry who were still capable of fighting, and went out of the pass to support the general.

"Okay, follow me to hunt down the Yecheng Army."

At this time, the infantry of Yecheng had retreated more than a mile, and the first part of the Jin soldiers who evacuated had arrived at the camp gate.

After the two sides joined together, General Li divided the cavalry into three teams. Li Xiang and Li Ji each led about a hundred people to encircle the enemy from both sides, and the rest followed the general.

"Killing the soldiers is secondary. Just stop the Sima family from becoming kings under the banner of Daqi. Leave the rest to me."

"We will follow the general's orders!" the rebel cavalry shouted in unison.

The three cavalry teams were divided into left and right, and continued to chase and kill the retreating Yecheng army.

Near the large flag on which the chariot was fixed, Sima Yi sighed repeatedly.

He originally thought that Le Kai's two hundred halberd cavalrymen could hold off the enemy general until the infantry of Yecheng retreated to the camp, but he did not expect them to collapse so quickly.

The cost of supporting one heavily armored cavalryman is enough to support six infantrymen. The King of Changshan suddenly felt that the cavalryman he previously raised with hundreds of thousands of dollars every month did not seem to have paid for itself.

"My king, please retreat quickly. The enemy general is chasing us again." An official named Shangguan Si came up to the horse of King Changshan and advised him.

Anyone with a discerning eye could see that after the infantry entered the camp, they could still hold off the enemy with the help of crossbows, catapults, and rolling logs, but they had no chance of resisting the enemy general in the wild.

"Send a message to Hao Chang's troops, order them to line up to resist the rebel cavalry. Also order the two brothers Le Zhao to work together with the soldiers in the camp to guard the gate."

During the retreat, the troops formed a long snake formation, which was unable to stop the cavalry. Sima Yi selected a captain in the middle and ordered him to form a defensive formation.

Under the current circumstances, the Yecheng army should have provided cover in turns and evacuated one after another, but the infantry sent by the King of Chengdu were not that sophisticated, so he could only make this arrangement.

After the officials and personal followers of the King of Changshan urged him again, Sima Yi finally made up his mind, abandoned his flag and fled to the camp with his personal soldiers.

Although the flag did not fall, the infantrymen in Yecheng had already been keeping their eyes on the group of cavalrymen around King Changshan. Seeing that they were also retreating into the camp, they ignored the formation and rushed to the camp.

The scene suddenly became chaotic. The disorderly fleeing even blocked the rebel cavalry, leaving Li Xiang, Li Ji and others to focus on driving away the fleeing soldiers in front.

General Li's pursuit speed was much faster along the way. No matter how anxiously the defeated soldiers fled, they dared not stop the enemy from chasing them.

Although there was a Jin army captain who led hundreds of people to briefly set up a defensive formation with shields and halberds along the way, Li Hao was eager to kill Sima and led his men to bypass their formation.

Finally, half a mile away from the gate of the Yecheng military camp, the rebel cavalry caught up with the Jin troops.

Sima Yi, the King of Changshan, was a man who was clear about rewards and punishments and had a broad mind. Many of his subordinates and close followers were selfless and willing to sacrifice themselves for others. The officials, led by Shangguan Si, led more than 200 soldiers and turned back to block the enemy in order to create an opportunity for the King of Changshan to return to the camp.

After changing to a double-edged spear, General Li preferred to use the spear thrusting technique. After engaging the Jin army that turned back to block him, he quickly stabbed several cavalrymen and shouted, "The soldiers of the righteous army do not need to worry about this group of people, just chase and kill the king in front."

However, the soldiers of Changshan Kingdom who were able to turn around and resist the pursuit at this time were all determined to die. After engaging in battle with the rebel cavalry, they fought to the death. Dozens of cavalrymen even rushed forward one after another to surround the enemy general and actually blocked the pursuit of the rebel cavalry.

It took a lot of time to kill this group of cavalry, and the elite troops of the Jin army were guarding near the gate.

Just as Li Hao was about to chase after them and rush into the enemy camp to kill the enemy general, dozens of lightly armored cavalrymen with bows suddenly rushed out from the east, arrived near the Sima family's king's tomb, and suddenly shot arrows, killing many of the Jin cavalrymen who were fleeing towards the camp.

Then the leader of this group of light-armored cavalry rushed into the Jin army. After a dozen breaths, the leader actually rushed out with another person. After joining the light-armored cavalry, he headed towards the rebel cavalry.

"General Li, my surname is Wang and my name is Mi. I have specially captured Sima Yi, the King of Changshan, and presented him to you as a sacrifice!"

The lightly-armored cavalry stopped fifty steps in front of the rebel cavalry. The leader Wang Mi, carrying Sima Yi who was injured by an arrow, strode to the front of Li Hao who was riding forward on his horse. He first presented the man to the rebel army, and then began to introduce himself.

"My ancestors lived in Donglai, Qingzhou... My grandfather Wang Xin was born in Qingzhou Cavalry, and he followed Wuqiu Jian to pacify Goguryeo and followed Deng Ai to destroy Shu... I heard every day in Luoyang that the general had repeatedly defeated the Jin army and opened up a new world for hundreds of thousands of people. I admired him and went north half a month ago to join the righteous army but failed. Finally, I seized the opportunity today and captured Sima Yi and presented him to the general."

Wang Mi has strong and sturdy arms and a calm expression. Even after capturing an enemy general, he does not become arrogant. He is a shrewd man.

"Okay, so you are a descendant of a military family. Today, lead your men to fight the enemy with me. After the enemy soldiers are defeated, we will discuss the merits and rewards together with the officers of the righteous army."

This man shooting and killing the Jin soldiers was witnessed by many rebel cavalrymen and was also seen by tens of thousands of Yecheng infantrymen around him. So Li Hao accepted this group of lightly armored cavalrymen.

At this time, the personal followers of King Changshan came after them again, and the scattered infantrymen of Yecheng gathered more and more. Some infantrymen, led by military officers such as Bu Du and Bo Chang, formed a formation and moved towards the gate.

Li Hao ordered his men to kill Sima Yi, who was hit by three arrows, and then gathered Wang Mi's servants and fellow knights around him.

"Follow me into the enemy camp and make sure to disperse this Yecheng army."

After leading more than 200 cavalrymen to kill several Jin army infantry who were still able to maintain their formation, Li Hao and the rebel cavalry worked together to drive the defeated soldiers towards the camp gate.

Following the fleeing soldiers and charging into the enemy camp was a tactic that General Li often used when attacking cities, and it was also applicable here.

In the military camp of Yecheng, the news that the commander Sima Yi had been captured spread quickly. He Yan, the confidant of King Chengdu, had already left with his troops. The many captains were not subordinate to each other. Without the King of Changshan to assign tasks, the various units no longer had the mind to help each other and only wanted to preserve their strength. Therefore, the only officers of the Jin army fighting to the death near the camp gate were the two brothers Le Zhao and Le Bin and a captain Hao Chang who arrived later.

After being attacked by the fleeing soldiers, the three of them were able to command only a few hundred soldiers. Facing the enemy cavalry that rushed over like wolves and tigers, the hands of these soldiers holding halberds and swords began to tremble.

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(End of this chapter)