Volume 2 Chapter 59 Yaksha
Wang De was from Shuyangzhai, Tongyuan Army (now in Gansu), a typical member of the Western Army.
Before the Jingkang Incident, he served under Yao Gu, a member of the Yao clan, a general of the Western Army. When the Jin army invaded for the first time, the Eastern Army, led by the second crown prince Wuliebu, swept across Hebei and entered Weizhou via Xiangzhou, while the Western Army, led by Nianhan, locked up Taiyuan while continuing to move south, but met with Wuliebu at Weizhou on the bank of the Yellow River via Longdefu (now Shangdang) to discuss crossing the river together.
The main forces of the Jin army gathered in the areas of Longde Prefecture, Xiangzhou, and Weizhou. Basically, most of the main forces of the Jin army were gathered. The elite field troops such as Meng'an and Mouke alone were probably nearly 100,000.
Yao Gu was stationed in Zezhou (now Gaoping and Jincheng) southwest of Longde Prefecture (now Shangdang and Changzhi) and west of Weizhou. Faced with the main force of the Jin army, he sent Wang De, the most capable officer in the army, to investigate.
Wang De successfully killed a Jin army general and returned calmly.
Yao Gu was overjoyed and asked him if he could go again.
So when Wang De received the order for the second time, he only led 16 riders and then crossed the front line where the main force of the Jin army gathered, and went straight into the capital of Longde Prefecture (later Changzhi), captured alive Yao Taishi, the Khitan Haner defender appointed by the Jin army, and then brought him back.
Later, the first siege of Jingkang ended, the Jin army retreated, and Wang De sent Master Yao to Dongjing City. Yuansheng, also known as Emperor Qinzong of Song, asked him how he was captured?
Master Yao was helpless and could only say that when he was captured, he only saw a murderous yaksha.
From then on, Wang De was nicknamed Wang Yasha and became famous in both countries.
Such a person is certainly not as good as Han Shizhong and Yue Fei, but he is only inferior to Han and Yue. If he is given a suitable opportunity, he may become famous in the two countries again.
In fact, although Han Shizhong looked down on Wang De and said that he was not a talented general... but think about it carefully, Han Shizhong, who had issued the "First in the World" declaration, should essentially look down on everyone. He only said that Wang De was not a talented general, which meant that he acknowledged that Wang De was a rare military talent.
In a sense, this is a kind of certification.
On the eighteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, Wang De led twenty knights and two hundred long-axe-bearing soldiers and was the first to leave the city and head east. Before they reached Zhang Yu's camp, they aroused Zhang Yu's vigilance. The latter did not dare to be negligent. On the one hand, he ordered each camp to be on guard, and on the other hand, he hurriedly sent a letter to Wanyan Wushu in the north. Finally, he and his deputy general Li Dayin sent all two thousand armored soldiers out of the camp for defense... They did not recognize Wang De, and Wang De did not raise a flag. He just felt that the other side's soldiers were well-armored and did not seem like ordinary people.
But after watching for a while, they found that the two hundred soldiers were just patrolling in front of the camp. They had no reinforcements, no flags to identify themselves, and no posture or preparation for attack. After a while, under the leadership of the burly general, the two hundred and twenty-one people simply sat on the ground in front of the formation... Such a situation, of course, aroused suspicion.
"What does this mean?" Zhang Yu looked at it for a long time but couldn't understand it at a distance of three hundred steps, so he turned to look at Li Dayin.
However, how could Li Dayin, a carpenter and a so-called professional, know what this meant? He looked at it for a long time and just shook his head without saying anything.
"Do you know what this means?" Zhang Yu turned around and asked the personal guards who followed him. "Whoever tells me something useful will get two wives as a reward!"
Of course it would be good to have two women, but they also have to be alive to be placed in the tent. Who knows what is useful? Will they be chopped off if they say something is useless?
The soldiers looked at each other, but no one spoke.
The snow had not melted completely, and the wind had been howling in the past few days. The ice, snow and dirt on the ground were frozen hard. The horse under Zhang Yu seemed quite impatient, and its hooves kept hitting the ground, making a hard sound, which also showed Zhang Yu's own impatience.
Sure enough, after a moment, Zhang Yu casually pointed to someone behind him and said, "You say!"
"I... I don't know!" The man looked up blankly. The cold weather made his nose run.
Zhang Yu was furious. He smiled at first, then his face turned cold and he raised his hand directly: "Chop it off!"
Li Dayin, who was standing by, wanted to persuade them instinctively, but he sighed in his heart and tried to shrink back. Everyone was silent and could only watch the soldier being stripped of his armor and clothes in public while he begged for mercy, and then the sacrificial flag was chopped down with a knife.
"You!" Zhang Yufu pointed at another person. "I remember you were a scholar?"
"Yes, Dujian." The person who was asked this time happened to be Zhou Bin, who had survived the previous two-choice mode. At this moment, he was carrying a flag and shivering in the cold wind. When he was called, he shuddered and nodded quickly.
"Tell me!" Zhang Yu said bluntly. "What do you think this group of government troops is going to do?"
"It's to lure the enemy!" Zhou Bin almost blurted out. He didn't say this to fool the other party, but he really thought so from the beginning.
In fact, Zhang Yu was also startled when he heard this, but he immediately pointed his whip at the man and said sternly: "Speak clearly!"
"Captain, please look!" Zhou Bin gritted his teeth and said. "The government troops are neatly lined up. It's clear at a glance that there are only more than 200 people! How can 200 people dare to attack a camp of more than 10,000 people? They are clearly trying to lure us over... After we get over, they will surely be defeated and retreat, and we will be in chaos. Once we start fighting, we will be unable to control ourselves and will definitely follow us... And if there are many people following us, the people on the city will not be stingy with their stone bullets and will fire those powerful stone cannons at us; if there are few people, I'm afraid there will be ambushes waiting behind the sheep and horse wall, and they will rush over and eat us up in front of the city."
"That makes sense!" Li Dayin was the first to agree, but he immediately started to gesture and explain. "Brother, look... our camp is a full 800 steps away from Nanyang City. The government army's artillery is powerful. It can fire from the city and reach more than 300 steps out of the city. The good crossbows on our camp wall are effective at a distance of about 200 steps. The white space between the two armies is only 300 steps wide... If we really fight over there, I'm afraid we will be lured over there because we are greedy for merit or the good armor on these soldiers."
Zhang Yu looked carefully at the more than 200 Song soldiers sitting there, and he became alert in his heart. He nodded repeatedly: "Brother, you are right! Pass on my military order. Before the reinforcements from the Great Jin arrive, no one is allowed to go to battle without authorization, otherwise I will chop him up and make meat stuffing for the New Year!"
The two thousand soldiers who followed were hoping for the same, so naturally they had no objection.
In this way, the two sides fought for a while. After a long time, when the sun was high in the sky, the messenger sent to Wanyan Wushu finally returned.
"What did you say?" Zhang Yu was expectant. "Did you see the Fourth Prince in person?"
"General, the Fourth Prince said it himself." The messenger said on horseback. "He said that no matter what, let the General decide for himself!"
Zhang Yu was stunned there. After thinking for a long time, he felt helpless but also relaxed. He nodded in agreement, but at the same time asked the messenger to go back again to tell the Fourth Prince that "he had received the order."
As soon as the messenger left, Zhang Yu thought for a moment, then turned to his deputy general Li Dayin and said, "Dayin, the weather is cold, the government troops are trying to lure the enemy, and the Jurchens don't want to fight. So we brothers shouldn't all stay here to suffer the wind. There are still four hours before sunset. You can use the crossbows on the wall as a token and lead a thousand soldiers to guard here for two hours. I will take the people back to rest and come to replace you in the afternoon!"
Li Dayin naturally had nothing to say.
So, in the morning, the winter day was clear, cold and windy. After judging that this Song army was coming to lure the enemy, Zhang Yu, who was standing outside the camp to confront them, took the initiative to divide his troops and retreat.
Three hundred steps away, Wang De saw this scene and finally took action, but he stood up and stretched his hands and feet. Zhang Yu, who was far away, was reminded and looked back to see this scene. He was instinctively startled, and then he called the troops to stop and stop to watch again. But after watching for a while, he found that the Song army just stood up and stretched their hands and feet, and after a while, they actually sat back down.
Zhang Yu felt puzzled, and after thinking about it, he became more convinced that the other party was trying to lure him, so he ignored it and continued to urge the already somewhat chaotic troops to return to the camp. This time, the Song army did not do anything weird... until Zhang Yu himself entered the gate, and half of the troops behind him had already left the original formation.
This is the moment Wang De has been waiting for!
The Yaksha stood up and mounted his horse without saying a word. The twenty knights beside him also mounted their horses. The two hundred axe-carrying soldiers also stood up and picked up their axes.
Li Dayin was startled and wanted to turn around and call Zhang Yu, but then he thought that the enemy might have seen through his plan, so he simply gave up luring the enemy back to the camp... Let alone anything else, who would have the courage to charge two thousand with only two hundred? Behind the two thousand armored soldiers were the stockade wall and archers?
When he thought of this, the talented craftsman reined in his horse and tried to remain calm.
However, in the blink of an eye, just as Li Dayin changed his mind and did not say anything, Wang De had already mounted his horse and ignored everything and led twenty riders straight forward.
At the same time, one of the twenty riders directly opened a hanging flag that had been hidden for a long time. The winter wind was blowing, and the flag fluttered in the wind. It was the eight characters "Wang, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Camp Central Army".
Perhaps he didn't realize it for a moment, Li Dayin was simply stunned at this time, and only realized it when he saw the other party rushing to him about 180 steps away... Besides, he was originally the defender of Tokyo during the Jingkang period, and later served under the Tokyo garrison. This time he attacked Nanyang City for a long time, how could he not know that this flag refers to Wang De? And how could he not know who Wang De was? What ability did he have?
As a result, the man felt his whole body hair stand on end for a moment, but he didn't care about anything else. He just turned his horse back and prepared to escape into the formation to make further plans.
However, at this time Zhang Yu's two thousand soldiers were divided into two. Half of them left the original formation. The front had already followed Zhang Yu into the gate, and the back was still in the formation. It was already a bit chaotic... and now, seeing the Song army led by the world-famous Wang Yasha rushing over, one of the two main generals had already left, and the other actually tried to turn around and flee, then the entire army, those who should have entered the camp naturally accelerated and pushed forward, and those who should not leave also instinctively wanted to follow their comrades into the camp to hide.
Two thousand armored soldiers were lined up with their backs to the main camp, but after twenty cavalrymen charged in the face, they instantly became disorganized.
That was not all. As a few scattered crossbows on the opposite wall missed their targets, Wang De jumped into the rebel camp, swung his long axe and killed several people in succession. He easily killed a group of armored soldiers in front of him. Just as Zhang Yu hurriedly turned around and Li Dayin was shouting orders to resist in the camp, he held the bloody axe and shouted:
"The royal army has arrived! You rebels will die today!"
The sound was like winter thunder, shaking the rebels. After he finished speaking, only a moment later, two hundred heavily armored long-axe soldiers behind him charged on foot and rushed into the opposing rebels' formation, hacking away wantonly! Not only that, as Wang De officially marched forward, drums and shouts of killing rose from behind the sheep and horse wall under Nanyang City in the distance. No less than thousands of soldiers pushed down the sheep and horse wall that had already been half-covered, set up ladders on the outer trench, and swarmed out, heading straight for the rebel camp in the east!
The two thousand soldiers whose formation had been broken were thrown into panic when they saw this sight and heard this sound.
Seeing this, Zhang Yu remained calm. On the one hand, he killed the deserters at the gate and forced the soldiers who were already in chaos to fight forward. On the other hand, he instructed the archers on the wall to prepare to attack the upcoming Song army... He also sent a messenger through the side door of the camp to ask for help from the Jin army camp!
However, at the same time, Li Dayin, who was supposed to be in command at the front, had already lost his mind and was incompetent! Because Wang Yasha had obviously stared at him, and he was unable to catch up with him even with the twenty riders.
The space in front of the village was narrow, and there was a large group of rebels in a panic. The two sides were like an eagle catching chickens, but the good times did not last long... Those rebel soldiers were not blind. They saw that Wang Yasha was heading straight for Li Dayin, and the soldiers blocking the center army would often be chopped into meat paste by the long axe soldiers following Wang De. But they all woke up and took the initiative to stay away from their own general.
As a result, it became increasingly difficult for Li Dayin to escape... Before the Song army arrived, this talented carpenter was forced in front of Wang De. He first tried to block, but his weapon slipped out of his hand in an instant. Then he completely lost his courage and met the opponent's second axe with almost an indifferent attitude.
This is not his fault. He is just a talented carpenter who was spotted by Zhang Yu and was recognized as a sworn brother.
But war is war. Wang Yasha was charging alone at this moment. He seemed to be brave and invincible, but he knew the danger. How could he let go of this opportunity? So he chopped with his axe with all his strength.
As the axe came down, I don’t know if it was an illusion, but the already chaotic battlefield seemed to stop for a moment—Wang Yasha actually split Li Dayin in half from head to waist! Not only that, the axe continued to fall, and hit the horse’s back again, and actually chopped the warhorse to its knees. With just a whine, it fell to the side with the long axe and human viscera all over its body, and no longer breathed.
At the same time, the warhorse under Wang De was obviously exhausted and actually knelt down and wailed as well.
Wang Yasha tried hard to pull out the battle axe, but he couldn't drag it away for a while, so he simply threw the battle axe away, drew his sword, and got back on the warhorse of a personal guard behind him.
When he climbed onto his horse, he wanted to shout loudly, "The royal army has arrived," but when the rebel soldiers around him saw that scene, no one dared to confront him. They fled towards the gate as if their nest had been blown up.
Wang De laughed when he saw this, and then he swung his sword and rode his horse to kill, forcing his way to the gate... Seeing this, the rebel soldiers fled in greater panic, and in the stampede, they were about to crash into the gate.
Zhang Yu at the gate had been in a daze since he saw his brother being split in half, and was almost pushed into the gate by the chaotic army. Then a large group of Song troops, about 3,000 in number, led by Xin Yongzong (Xiao Xin), had arrived. They easily took down the wall of the village and rushed in, almost as if taking something out of a bag.
That’s not all. To the southeast of the camp, Zhang Jing’s troops, who had been well prepared, also led their troops across the glacier in time to attack the camp to the east.
At this point, the rebels were in chaos and were almost defeated without any clue of the situation. Many of them surrendered, and some even defected. Without waiting for the Song army to arrive at their corresponding camps, they shouted "The royal army has arrived" in response from afar.
Seeing that the eastern camp was beyond rescue and that the previous attack had made Zhang Yu completely discouraged, he returned to the central army tent and simply took hundreds of his trusted followers and some valuables and headed east. However, he did not dare to go to the northern camp to meet Wanyan Wushu.
Little did he know that Wanyan Wushu would not blame him at all. The Fourth Prince was simply in a tall watchtower in the northern central army camp, observing the eastern camp from afar while drinking tea with Balisu!
"This is too quick a defeat." Ba Lisu picked up the slightly cold teacup and drank it all, then picked up the tea leaves and chewed them. "I thought I could hold on, and even if I couldn't, I should have fought for a while. Zhang Yu is really incompetent!"
"It's not that Zhang Yu is incompetent." Wushu shook his head. "Firstly, the siege cost most of Zhang Yu's troops, and his army's combat power and morale are much worse than when he surrendered. Secondly, Wang Yasha is worthy of his reputation... Has the order not to lead the battle without authorization been passed down?"
"Of course." Balisu replied seriously, and then put down his teacup and sighed. "Now I'm afraid that the morale of the Song army will rise quickly, and it will be difficult to control it when the time comes..."
"Haven't you already agreed to my proposal?" Wuzhu frowned slightly. "No matter how their morale is, if we really want to fight, with our 30,000 cavalry, what can they do to resist?"
"I agree, I do think it's feasible." Balisu quickly changed his expression. "I'm just afraid that it will backfire... Don't let the Emperor of Song be escorted to Xiangyang. If Nanyang and Xiangyang are separated, we will be in trouble. It's better to surround them from all sides and wait for Marshal Talan to clear the north before coming to support them!"
"That's not what you said that day." Wuzhu sneered. "In fact, if the Emperor of Song wants to leave the city, where can he go? It's freezing cold, the Baihe River is frozen, and we have already placed 10,000 cavalrymen at the southern end of the West Camp. If there is any movement, we can make a big detour to the south and surround them... Or, let you replace Han Chang and take charge of this matter?"
Ba Lisu's heart was immediately moved.
In fact, as Wuzhu had said before and now, no matter what the Song army did, as long as the Jin army had 10,000 cavalry left, once they saw any unusual movement from the Song army , they would go directly south and make a large flank detour to the north of the Han River, and the Song army would have no chance of survival.
It was precisely based on his recognition of this tactic that Balisu made concessions step by step. First, he abandoned the strategy of allowing only entry but not exit; then he gave up the plan to encircle and annihilate Zhang Jing's troops (because Zhang Jing came from Xiangyang, and it was obvious that he was supporting the Emperor of Zhao Song in his southward march, rather than a purely loyal army); now, he simply gave up Zhang Yu's troops and the Artisans' Camp.
The plan was to gradually make the Song army underestimate the enemy, while constantly learning about the difficult situation in the north, so as to lure the Zhao Song Emperor in the city to leave the city and head south.
And this plan now seems to have an increasingly greater chance of success.
Of course, this calmness is directly related to the overall situation of the Song army's battle... If it weren't for the advantages of Wanyan Loushi and Wanyan Talan, and the final choice of uniting the army under this city, Balisu would not easily change his attitude.
Without mentioning that Li Su was bargaining with Wuzhu there, outside the east gate of the Jin army's northern camp, thousands of Jin army cavalry were lined up to defend themselves. After the Song army quickly captured the camp of Zhang Yu's rebel army in the east, they immediately sorted and collected prisoners of war and carefully guarded against the Jin army in the north.
Whether it was Zhang Jing, Xin Yongzong, or Wang De, they had all fought against the Jin army and knew how powerful it was.
However, Wang De, who was very powerful, was not sure if he was in a killing mood today, so he was not satisfied. He rode out of the north gate of the eastern camp again, and then observed the large number of Jin cavalrymen lined up in neat rows between the camps for a moment. It seemed that the blood suddenly rushed to his head, and he actually reined in his horse and rode forward alone, patrolling left and right in front of the Jin army.
Suddenly, the man reined in his horse, pointed at a Jin soldier who was probably the most imposing one he had seen, and shouted in front of everyone: "You bastard! How dare you fight me hand to hand with such an imposing man?"
Both the Jin cavalry brigade and the Song army guarding the village were stunned.
I must say a few more words here... The Jurchens, especially the Shu|Jurchens, as well as the Bohai and Xi peoples, were mixed together in Liaodong. Once there was communication among multiple ethnic groups, they would generally communicate in Chinese. Therefore, although most of the Jin army leaders were illiterate, they mostly understood Chinese, and the relatively vulgar Shandong and Hebei dialects.
Later in the past few years, some older people, those in higher positions, those who are more influenced by Chinese culture, or those with better tempers have gradually become more polite, but most people still say "an" or "bird" all the time... For example, Wanyan Wushu could say "an" and basically never said "bird", but in order to inherit his second brother's military power and be recognized by his subordinates, he kept saying "an" half by force and half out of habit.
In fact, if you ask him to write a serious document, the Fourth Prince can write something similar.
In short, back to the present, whether it was a bird or a grandfather, the Jurchens, Xis, Khitans, and Liao people on the opposite side, anyway, there were few cavalrymen who did not understand, but they all looked at the person who was named, Puliyan (fifty-year-old).
At the same time, Wang De's provocation was not really out of anger. He was a rough but careful man. He saw that the Jin army was lined up in an orderly manner, while the big camp in the east was still unstable, so he did it deliberately to delay, test, and intimidate.
But no matter what, how could Puliyan tolerate being provoked in public? Moreover, Balisu had military orders not to help the eastern camp and to be on guard. Now that the other party took the initiative to provoke him, how could he not dare?
So, under the watchful eyes of everyone, this man threw away his spear and bow and arrows and rushed out with a sword in his hand, obviously falling into the trap.
But whether it was a trap or a subtle trick, the truth would be revealed under the sword, so both armies watched the battle with bated breath, ready to enjoy the show.
However, when the two men met, Wang De chopped the Jurchen Puliyan off his horse with a single blow! It was as easy as chopping a melon!
Then, Wang De calmly dismounted, cut off the man's head, climbed back on his horse, and slowly retreated into the camp as if nothing had happened... Both armies were shocked and whispered to each other, all knowing that this was Wang Yasha appearing in broad daylight.
Almost at the same time as Wang Yasha was intimidating the two armies, two messengers, one rode into the Jin army's northern camp, and the other rode to the city of Nanyang. Both of them met the supreme commanders of both sides for the first time.
"What's the matter?" Balisu, whose relationship with the Fourth Prince had just eased a little, asked curiously.
"Nothing." Wushu answered casually. "Yelü Mawu reported that Wang Yan of the Eight Character Army led 20,000 soldiers across the river to Dongjing. It's difficult to attack there... but it doesn't affect the overall situation."
"Official?" On the top of the city wall, amidst the cold wind and joy, Lu Yihao stepped forward and asked, twirling his beard. "What happened?"
"Nothing else." Zhao Jiu put away the note in his hand and smiled. "Wang Yan led 20,000 Eight Character Army across the river... Calculating the time, they should have reached Tokyo by now."
Lu Yihao twirled his beard and nodded without saying anything, while the others were more and more surprised.
