Chapter 39 The third quarter, the battle of Haoshuichuan

On the front line where the Song and Xia armies were fighting, why did some strange boxes suddenly appear?If Li Yuanhao put these boxes here on purpose, what exactly is in the boxes?What are these boxes for? As soon as the box was opened, more than 10,000 pigeons flew up, like a celebration ceremony, including domestic pigeons and whistle pigeons.This thing was placed here by Yuan Hao in advance, and as soon as the pigeon flew up, it exposed the marching position of the Song Army.Yuan Hao saw a flock of pigeons flying around, knowing that the Song army had all entered the ambush circle.So the Xia army ambushed everywhere, surrounded the Song army, and killed them.

Ren Fu and others hurriedly lined up and started a fierce battle with Xia Jun.The vanguard Sang Yi took the lead and led the cavalry to attack the Xia army's formation to win time for the coach.After all, they were outnumbered, the Song army had only more than 10,000 people, and they had come from a long way. Xia Guo's 100,000 troops were waiting for work, and they failed to charge into the battle.When Xia Guo's iron kite army set off, they immediately disrupted the formation of the Song army.The generals of the Song army were still calm at this time, and the leading generals who had fought for so long at the frontier fortress deserved their names. When he was older, he obeyed the command of the oldest man and started a fierce battle with Xia Jun.During the fierce battle, the Song army wanted to climb the mountains and occupy the favorable terrain.Xia Jun shot hard with his bow and crossbow, and most of the soldiers of the Song Army who climbed the mountain fell off the cliff and died.Xia Jun erected a large flag more than two feet high on the top of the mountain. This is Yuan Hao's command flag. The soldiers of the Song Dynasty watched the command flag and acted, and the Song army could not escape with their wings.During the fierce battle, the vanguard Sang Yi was the first to die, and the coach Ren Fu was hit by more than a dozen arrows. Knowing that it was inevitable, he still held a four-edged iron mace and fought with the Xia army general.At the time of the crisis, the small school told Ren Fu that the marshal might as well take advantage of the military chaos and break out of the encirclement as soon as possible, because there is still a chance of survival.Ren Fu said: "I am a general, I am defeated, and I will serve the country with death!" ?As a general, since the army is defeated, serve the country with death!In the end, Ren Fu was hit by more than a dozen arrows and was injured all over his body.Xia Guo's soldiers stabbed him in the cheek with a gun, causing a penetrating wound, and the iron mace fell to the ground. Ren Fu drew his sword and killed himself in a heroic martyrdom.

The head coach of the Song Army was martyred, but the generals of the Song Army underneath were still leading fierce battles.Song general Wang Gui, in particular, heard that Ren Fu was besieged, and led four thousand Song troops from Yangmulongcheng to come for reinforcements.Once these 4,000 people entered the battle, they were basically meat buns beating dogs, and they never returned.Seeing that the general situation was over, Wang Gui faced the east, facing the direction of Bianliang and the court, straightened his armor, got off his horse and performed the three-kneeling and nine-kowtow ceremony of monarchs and ministers, bid farewell to the court, the emperor, and the hometown of his parents, and then got on his horse, "Return to the battle, kill Hundreds of people, whips and irons were bent, palms were cracked, and they fought freely" ("Song Shi Wang Gui Biography").Armed with an iron whip, he rushed into the enemy's formation and killed a hundred or eighty people. The iron whip was bent and his palms were cracked. He continued to fight, and finally died a heroic death for his country.

Of the 18,000 troops brought out by Ren Fu, as many as 10,300 died in battle, and most of the rest were captured. Only Zhu Guan led more than 1,000 people to break out.More than a dozen generals of the Song Dynasty were all killed in Haoshuichuan, or committed suicide.The historical records commented on the battle of Haoshuichuan: "In the defeat of Haoshui, all the generals will fight to the death. Hey, it is a mistake to seek profit and violate the rules; but if you follow the righteousness and do not yield, you are already a martyr!" ("" Song History Ren Fu Zhuan) Ren Fu's defeat was of course due to carelessness, which led to the defeat and humiliation of the country, but these generals would rather die than surrender on the battlefield, fearless in the face of danger, and would rather die than die. In the end, they all died for the country, reflecting the iron and blood pride of the Central Plains Dynasty at that time.Therefore, the historical records did not hesitate to praise them, and the imperial court did not pursue the defeat of the generals, but gave them posthumous titles and treated their families favorably.

This campaign failed, as Ren Fu's superior, Han Qi, firstly went to the table to impeach himself, the responsibility for the failure of this campaign rests with me, please remove me from my post.The imperial court reduced Han Qi to Zhizhou.Xia Song sent people to clean up the mess, cleaned up the battlefield, and found Ren Fu's body.In Ren Fu's armor, he found the order Han Qi gave him. Han Qi told him not to fight in waves, but to fight steadily.After getting the original copy of the order, Xia Song hurriedly reported it to the court. The failure of this battle was not to be recruited by Han, but the general did not obey the order.But the general has already died for the country, so don't pursue this matter any more. Han Qi later became an official conciliator of economic strategy.

Han Qi packed up the remnants and slowly retreated back to the border.When they came back, the family members of the soldiers who died in the battle held the clothes of the dead, scattered paper money, climbed their clothes and stopped their horses, stamped their feet and cried bitterly.Han Qi also stood still, covering his face and weeping.After Fan Zhongyan heard about it, he looked up to the sky and sighed.The price of this defeat was too great, and it caused another strong shock to Song Ting. The Xixia side was full of pride. When Zhang Yuan saw the corpses of Song soldiers all over the mountains and plains, his pride was beyond words. He wrote a poem on the wall of the temple: "Where did Xia Song ever rise? Talk about military strategy." ("Xixia Shushi" Volume 15) Xia Song couldn't stand up, and Han Qi was nothing unusual, and he was still defeated.