Volume 1 Chapter 10: The Sun Rises (Part 1)
The eagle flaps its wings and flies a thousand miles a day.
Except for Zhao Jiu, almost all the civil and military officials of the Song Dynasty believed that the Jin army, which had just returned a few months ago, would not invade the south again in the short term. They had various reasons, such as fatigue after a long time, insufficient logistics, the death of the Grand Marshal and the Second Prince, and internal power struggles... But in the final analysis, they were all using their own views to trick the other party.
Little did people know that since Jin Taizu Wanyan Aguda started his rebellion against Liao thirteen years ago, the Jurchens have repeatedly defeated the larger force with the smaller one. They swallowed up Liao and destroyed Song, and from a mere corner of Liaodong, they spread their military power to the Central Plains in thirteen years and shocked the world. The army of this fishing and hunting nation was probably at the peak of the cold weapon army of the old era.
A general of the Western Army described the Jurchens, saying that in previous battles between the Song Dynasty and the Western Xia, both sides would often fight for supremacy, and would collapse if one side lost the support. However, when fighting against the Jurchens, their side would still collapse after one defeat, while the other side would be able to disperse and reunite, go away and come back again, and often they could not defeat the other side after a whole day of fighting. Even the Jurchens themselves boasted that if the cavalry could not charge back and forth a dozen times in one battle, how could they be qualified to be called cavalry?
This kind of sharpness and organization is simply unimaginable for the Song Dynasty's imperial guards, who would disintegrate without any reward... Think of the classic example of a famous general of the Western Army whose subordinates dispersed in a hurry just because they didn't get any reward after a round of shooting with the Divine Arm Bow. This could probably only happen in the Song Dynasty army, right?
In addition, the Jurchens started out as a fishing and hunting tribe and had won battle after battle for thirteen years. Naturally, they plundered the spoils in the most brutal way, which can be described as fighting to support the war. This army kept learning military technology while also using the spoils to supply logistics and arm themselves. How could they worry about logistics?
As for the internal power struggle, this is an objective reality. The actual interests of the factional struggle within the Jin Dynasty are almost the same as those in the Song Dynasty. It can be seen at a glance.
However, the problem is that, firstly, Wanyan Wuqimai (Wanyan Sheng), the King of Jin and Aguda's brother, is quite prestigious and can still make decisions; secondly, with constant seizure and expansion, what internal contradictions are worth mentioning?
In other words, it is precisely because of the internal conflicts that it is necessary to send troops south to plunder the incompetent Song Dynasty, and to ease the conflicts with one victory after another, countless wealth and the atomic maidens in the Central Plains!
In fact, a few months ago, the second most important figure in the Jin Dynasty, the second prince Wanyan Wuliebu (Wanyan Zongwang), who actually presided over the destruction of the Song Dynasty, died of illness as soon as he returned to the north. After his death, the military and political power of the Jin Dynasty was quickly reorganized into the hands of three factions.
The first is naturally the leader of the Jin Dynasty, Wanyan Wuqimai (Wanyan Sheng), who was later called Jin Taizong. He was Aguda's younger brother. Around him were Aguda's other brothers and cousins, such as Wanyan Talan (Wanyan Chang).
Secondly, there was the great contributor to the Jin Dynasty, the Marshal Wanyan Nianhan (Wanyan Zonghan), who had been competing with the Second Prince Wanyan Wuliebu (Wanyan Zongmou) since the time of the Second Prince.
Moreover, this person was far away from Aguda's line, but he was a member of the majority of the Jin dynasty. All of them were Bogile (similar to the prime minister, with the flavor of clan politics in primitive society, and his power was far greater than that of the prime minister). He was the commander of Aguda's right army when the Liao dynasty was destroyed, and the commander of the western army when the Song dynasty was destroyed. His qualifications and achievements were the best in the entire Jin dynasty after Wanyan Wuliebu died of illness.
At this time, this man not only supervised the troops of Wanyan Loushi, the ever-victorious general of the Jin Dynasty, and was responsible for the Hedong war zone, but also actually controlled most of the newly occupied areas of Hebei after Wanyan Wuliebu's death. He was arguably the most powerful man in the country.
However, no matter what, neither Wanyan Wuqimai nor Wanyan Nianhan could deny or infringe upon the authority of Wanyan Aguda and his direct lineage. Therefore, after Wanyan Aguda's death, Wanyan Wuliebu became the commander-in-chief of the Jin Dynasty, and was above Nianhan. Now that Wuliebu was dead, after a short period of competition and communication, Aguda's three remaining eldest sons each gained something, and one of them took the lead and quickly inherited Aguda's direct lineage's prestige and part of the military power in the Eastern Route Army.
This person is Wanyan Zongbing, also known as Aguda’s fourth son, Wanyan Wushu!
As for Wanyan Wushu, since he was in power as an important official of the Jin Dynasty and was naturally the direct leader of Aguda, he found that he was simply unable to compete with Nianhan in Hebei, and it was even more difficult for him to go to Youyan and Liaodong to find fault with his uncles and brothers. Therefore, according to the simple thinking of the primitive tribe, he almost instinctively gave up the internal strife and instead naturally proposed a military strategy of going south again to plunder the Song Dynasty.
Their original intention was to attack the northwest of Beijing (Shaanxi-Luo area) and the east of Beijing (Shandong area), which were of strategic significance to the Central Plains, and finally see if they could take advantage of the situation to attack the Central Plains, defeat the new Zhao Song officials, and plunder wealth, children, craftsmen, and military equipment.
If possible, he actually wanted to occupy the Central Plains in order to compete with Nianhan in Hebei!
Even if the plan to take over the Central Plains fails this time, after controlling the two wings, they can turn around and launch a large-scale security war against Hebei and Hedong, and completely digest these two fertile lands that are the foundation of the country.
Therefore, this wave of invasion is actually inevitable!
No matter what, since Jin Wushu had this idea, although the Jin King Wanyan Wuqimai and the Marshal Wanyan Nianhan had their own considerations and had some arguments, they finally quickly reached a mutual compromise... In other words, just a few months after returning to the north, the top leadership of the Jin Dynasty had already approved the strategy of a third main force marching south to invade the Song Dynasty.
According to the plan, Wanyan Nianhan was nominally the chief commander, but it was Wanyan Loushi, the ever-victorious general of the Jin Dynasty, who led the original western army that invaded the Song Dynasty and marched south again. A total of 100,000 Jurchen soldiers, Liao surrendered soldiers, and even Song surrendered soldiers crossed the river to the south to attack Luoyang and Shanzhou!
Wanyan Wuqimai's cousin, Wanyan Talan, who was also Jin Wushu's uncle, led an army of 50,000 and was named as the deputy commander of Nianhan. Aguda's fourth son, who was Jin Wushu himself, also led an army of 50,000 and was named as the vanguard of Nianhan. The two of them combined had a total of 100,000 troops. In fact, they re-formed the Eastern Army, which was intended to take the two routes of Jingdong, which was the Shandong area in later generations.
Back to the present, the Jin army mobilized 200,000 troops across the country and marched south, with cavalry running wildly. The first to attack were naturally the Nianhan tribe, which was originally in Hebei and Hedong areas. The first to bear the brunt were not Deputy Marshal Zong Zezong, who felt that Sishui Pass was under pressure, nor were they the defenders in Luoyang and Shanzhou, but a detachment of the Song State that had just won a great victory in Hebei.
The leader of this army was called Wang Yan, with the military rank of commander-in-chief. He had a force of 7,000 men and under him was a commander named Yue Fei, who was 24 years old and from Xiangzhou, Hebei. He was born with supernatural powers and was the bravest of the three armies.
The reason why Yue Fei came to this point was naturally related to Li Gang.
Yue Pengju was a military officer in Nanjing (Shangqiu) in the past. He heard that the three treacherous ministers Li Gang, Huang Qianshan and Wang Boyan were all holding their own opinions, some wanting to go to Nanyang, some wanting to go to Yangzhou, and that they were all abandoning the people of Hebei and fleeing south. As an exile from Hebei, he was naturally dissatisfied, so he wrote to the new emperor, asking him to get rid of the three treacherous ministers, mobilize all six armies to cross the river, set up a temporary residence in his hometown of Xiangzhou, fight against the Jin army, and recover Hebei.
However, Li Gang and the other two were in power, so how could they tolerate such nonsense? They simply dismissed this small military official and expelled him from the army.
But Yue Fei was determined to fight against the Jin army, so he was not discouraged. He took a few close brothers with him, crossed the river and went back to his hometown, ready to fight against the Jin army on his own.
Unexpectedly, when Yue Pengju just reached the river and prepared to cross the river, he met Zhang Suo, the recruiting envoy of Hebei West Road promoted by Li Gang, who was recruiting soldiers. Yue Fei was able to meet Zhang Suo in person through the recommendation of an old friend, Zhao Jiuling, who worked as an official under the recruiting envoy. Zhang Suo, a direct descendant of Li Gang, was very impressed with Yue Pengju. Within a few days, he promoted this commoner all the way... In just over a month, he was first "served in front of the tent", then "borrowed as a commoner to repair the military", and then promoted to commander, and finally, promoted to commander!
Poor Han Shizhong next door joined the army at the age of 18, beheaded the son-in-law of the emperor, captured Fang La, fought against the Liao Kingdom, and defended Hebei. It took him a full 20 years before he managed to become a commander by catching up with Zhao Laojiu. In comparison, although Yue Pengju's official position is a bit empty, his official career was really like a cheat.
In short, when the envoy gathered 7,000 soldiers and horses here, Yue Fei became one of the main generals of this army as the commander, and then crossed the river to the north with the commander-in-chief Wang Yan! They immediately won a victory in Xinxiang, Hebei, and successfully recovered this important town!
But at this time, the treacherous prime minister Li Gang was dismissed, and Zhang Suo's envoy to the western route of Hebei was also dismissed. When the 7,000-man army was in a panic and hurried to find Zong Ze to establish administrative relations, suddenly, in early winter, the Jin army from the north surged up, and there were no less than fifty Jin cavalry generals with independent flags around. It was when Nianhan's tribe wanted to attack Shanluo in the south, but heard that Xinxiang had fallen, so they ordered the main force to take advantage of the situation to surround it.
Faced with such a predicament, the army was naturally doomed to be defeated. Led by Wang Yan, the entire army broke out in a panic, fighting and retreating, towards Taihang Mountains.
Among the eleven generals under Wang Yan, only Yue Fei's troops were the most capable and daring in fighting. Yue Fei himself was also recognized in the army as a brave man who could not match ten thousand men, so he was arranged to be the rear guard, resulting in heavy losses.
When they arrived at the foot of Taihang Mountain, Yue Fei captured a general alive with a beheading tactic from the Jin army, and secondly, the cavalry was not good at marching into mountainous areas, so they just went with the flow and gave up the pursuit... But the fighting situation eased a little, and Yue Fei thought that Wang Yan had watched him die without helping him when he was covering his retreat, which led to the deaths of his men. He even felt resentful and had some other ideas, so he simply built a camp by himself and did not go to meet up with Wang Yan.
At this time, the situation was already critical. Wang Yan had only eleven generals under his command. Two of them died, two escaped, three surrendered, and of the remaining four, one, Yue Fei, was unwilling to obey orders. How could this be tolerated?
Therefore, Wang Yan, the commander-in-chief, repeatedly ordered Yue Fei to bring his troops over, otherwise he would be subject to military court. After several failures, Wang Yan simply issued an ultimatum, saying that if Yue Fei did not move his camp to the main force, he would publicly write to the deputy marshal of the Eastern Capital, so that all the heroes in Hebei would know that there was a Yue Fei in Xiangzhou who was a deserter who did not obey orders!
However, the one who responded to Wang Yan was still not the remaining troops of Yue Fei's headquarters, but Yue Fei himself, the commander, who came on horseback to pay a visit to the mountain.
"Are you really here alone?"
In the camp built in the Shimen Valley in Xinxiang, in the big tent in the middle, the commander-in-chief Wang Yan, who looked a little tired recently, looked up in surprise.
Wang Yan, the prince, will be 40 after the Chinese New Year, 16 years older than Yue Fei. When he was young, he took part in the imperial examination and was personally named by the Taoist Emperor Taishang as a waiter for his outstanding martial arts talent. Then he transferred to the Western Army and served under Zhong Shidao. He participated in many battles with the Western Xia and made many contributions. Later, the Jin invaded the south and Hedong fell. As a Shangdang man, he had no choice but to join the army in Bianliang. When Bianliang fell, he saw Zhang Suo organizing the crossing river troops, so he joined the army again. As soon as he joined the army, he was appointed as the commander-in-chief and became the commander of the army.
Such a person, whether in terms of identity, status, fame, current official position, or importance in the mind of Zong Ze, the governor of Tokyo, is undoubtedly far superior to Yue Fei, who is almost like a minor general under his command.
However, Yue Fei did not submit to him!
"There is indeed a man, alone, waiting in front of the camp." The one who answered on behalf of the young officer at the gate was a military officer beside Wang Yan, named Fan Yihong. It turned out that he was a descendant of Fan Zhongyan, and he came to join the army after seeing the desolation of the country. Naturally, his family name made people look at him differently, so although he was just a commoner and very young, he directly became a confidential military officer beside Wang Yan.
"What does Xiao Fan mean?" Wang Yan naturally asked his think tank.
"Kill him!" Fan Yihong answered without any expression.
"Why?" Wang Yan sighed softly.
"Why?" Fan Yihong sneered. "The commander ordered him to move his troops here, but he came alone, as if he was going to disobey orders to the end with his savagery. We are alone outside, surrounded by the Jin army, and Yue Fei, as a subordinate, refused to obey orders and even regarded the troops as his own property. If we don't enforce the military law at this time, how can we win over the people's hearts?"
Wang Yan remained silent but signaled to the officer in front of the gate: "Take out the remaining jars of wine, and call General Li and several other commanders nearby. I want to host a banquet for General Yue... But he is not allowed to enter the camp until the banquet is finished."
The lieutenant took the order and left. Young Lieutenant Fan wanted to say something but could only stamp his feet.
After a while, everyone hastily prepared a banquet. Two or three jars of wine would have been fine, but yesterday, when General Fan went to investigate the surrounding terrain, he encountered a bear. It was early winter, and the bear was fat and strong. General Fan ordered the bear to be shot to death with a volley of arrows. Today, it was a good opportunity for Yue Fei.
After everyone was seated, drinks were poured, and bear paws and bear meat were stewed, a rider came to the front of the tent, calmly took off his armor and weapons, and then proudly entered the tent.
All the generals looked at him and saw that the man was seven feet tall and had an ordinary appearance, except that his face was a little broad and his skin was a little white. He didn't look like a farmer... However, everyone knew that this man looked ordinary, but in fact he had supernatural powers. He was the best in the army on horseback and on foot, with spear and bow and arrow. The fact that he was able to escape from the pursuing soldiers this time was because he killed a Jin general with his own hands in a desperate situation and captured another general alive.
However, from what the officers think, it is probably because of this talent that he becomes arrogant and disobeys orders from his superiors.
In fact, when this person came closer, he bowed deeply to Wang Yan who was sitting in the main seat, and then sat down. He looked disdainful the whole time, as if he was rolling his eyes at Wang Yan.
Wang Yan frowned immediately: "What's wrong with your eyes? Why is one bigger than the other?"
"To answer the commander's question," the broad-faced man, who was also the Yue Fei that someone had been dreaming of, just raised his hand slightly and told the truth. "I was on the rearguard last month and was hit by an arrow from the Jin army. Although my eye was not broken, my eyebrow bone was injured. Now I look down on people. Even after the injury heals, I am afraid that I will look at people with different eyes."
Wang Yan was silent for a while, then he twirled his beard and said, "Pengju, you have worked hard to cover the rear!"
"I am originally from Hebei," said Yue Fei, who was sitting on the top left hand, calmly. "Fighting the Jin and killing the enemy is what I want, and I don't feel it's hard."
Wang Yan became more speechless.
"Commander Yue!" At this moment, seeing his own general was speechless and his momentum was taken away by a chaotic soldier, the young officer Fan, who was sitting diagonally opposite could not bear it any longer. "I just want to ask you, why did you ignore the orders from General Wang to lead the troops to join the camp? Isn't General Wang your superior?"
"Of course, General Wang was my superior in the past, but whether he will be my superior in the future or not, I will have to ask him a few questions today to find out." Yue Fei was too lazy to hide anything.
"absurd……"
"You ask." Wang Yan was a generous person and simply answered.
"General." Yue Fei turned his head and stared at the other man with his big and small eyes. He pursed his lips for a moment, and then his face twitched slightly, and he spoke with difficulty. "I was behind to cover the retreat, and my men had almost died. Why didn't you come to meet me as promised?"
Wang Yan remained silent, and everyone in the room was speechless. Even the young general Fan just lowered his head and gnawed a piece of bear meat obediently... There was no other reason. In fact, everyone in the room knew the answer, and the answer was extremely simple, but no one could say it out loud.
What do you mean?
It's very simple. Yue Fei's army was just one of the eleven armies under Wang Yan. From the very beginning, Wang Yan was ready to abandon Yue Fei's army. He was prepared to let Yue Fei's army be completely annihilated or surrounded. From the very beginning, Wang Yan's central army was not prepared to provide support. Later, when Yue Fei requested reinforcements, although Wang Yan agreed verbally, he still had no real intention of rescuing anyone... But no one expected that Yue Fei was so good at fighting that he was able to bring the troops out alive.
Wang Yan cannot be blamed for this matter. When surrounded on all sides, as the commander-in-chief, he had to make choices among the troops and cut off the rear to survive, which has always been a common decision on the battlefield.
But since the other person came back alive and questioned him face to face, the prince, as a wealthy man, could only admit that he was in the wrong and had nothing to say.
"That's all." Yue Fei let out a long breath, then shook his head. "After all, it's a military arrangement. I have another question, which is the reason why I didn't want to move the camp before and why I came here alone today..."
"Go ahead!" Wang Yan became more concise.
"I heard that the captain has built a camp and a wall in the mountains, and has let three commanders occupy the top of the mountain. He is actually planning to recuperate in the mountains and live there for a long time. I heard that he is also going to contact some heroes from the two rivers in the mountains to join in the fight against the Jin army?" Yue Fei's eye, which was injured by the arrow, was opened wide, and the skin under his eye socket twitched constantly. He said calmly, but his emotions were extremely intense.
"Is it not possible?" Wang Yan also became serious.
"How can we fight against the Jin army in the mountains?!" Yue Fei was furious and directly pushed the bear paw in front of him to the ground. "The people of Hebei are wailing on the plains. As the only royal army in Hebei, do we have to hide in the mountains and become the king of thieves?!"
"Do you actually doubt my determination to fight against the Jin?!" Wang Yan was equally furious, slamming the table and glaring at him.
"How can I not be suspicious in this situation?" Yue Fei stood up, pointed his finger, and then crossed his arms to point at the generals in the room. "And am I, Yue Fei, suspicious of only you, General Wang?! Wherever the Jin army went on the plains, the people of Hebei were slaughtered like chickens and dogs, men died and women became slaves, didn't you see it?! You can be the king of thieves today to avoid the war, but can you surrender to the Jin army and become their dogs tomorrow for wealth and honor?!"
Yue Fei was so angry that he spoke without thinking. Wang Yan was also furious, and the young general Fan kept glaring at him... However, the prince wanted to attack several times, but when he saw Yue Fei's eyes, he stopped his murderous intent several times.
After Yue Fei finished scolding, there was some tension in the tent. After Wang Yan loosened his grip on the knife again, he sighed and raised his glass to him: "Commander Yue, I know what you mean, but you misunderstood my intention. Let's drink!"
Yue Fei was filled with grief and indignation, and did not answer, but finally sat back in his seat, raised his cup and drank it all, while eating the remaining bear meat on the table.
"Pengju." The prince felt more and more uncomfortable when he saw this, but he could only suppress all kinds of emotions. "I know you blame me for cutting off the rear; I also know that Xiangzhou is just ahead, and your old mother, wife, children and fellow villagers are all there; I also know that after today's defeat, I don't know when I can return home, but I am the commander of an army, and I also have my difficulties... Well, I won't bother with you anymore! How about this, I will write a biography of today's incident to the governor of Dongjing Zong, and let him decide right and wrong. Then I will give you the documents to guard the pass together, and allow you to lead the troops alone, and go wherever you think you can lead the troops to fight!"
Upon hearing this, Yue Fei stopped eating meat, wiped his mouth and stood up: "General, give me the document now!"
Wang Yan originally wanted to say more, but seeing this, he had to give up. After a while, the young general Fan wrote the document very quickly. Then Wang Yan used the seal of the Lianghe Settlement Envoy that Zong Ze had sent him before, and personally handed the document to the most capable general under his command.
The two were probably the most determined generals in resisting the Jin army in this era, and they parted ways.
Yue Fei took the document and left the tent without even looking back.
Wang Yan saw the other party striding to the door of the tent, and finally couldn't help but call out to him: "Commander Yue!"
"General, do you have anything else to say?" Yue Fei turned his head, and his big and small eyes seemed to be looking down on the person behind him.
"Your loyalty to the country has never changed!" Wang Yan said loudly while sitting in the tent.
"What can you prove it, Commander?" Yue Fei remained calm.
"The sun and the sky are clear, and they can prove my heart!" Wang Yan pointed to his chest and said solemnly. "You can go now!"
Yue Fei was silent for a while, but he turned around and rode away alone.
