Chapter 1: The Awakening of Shin Wang...

  Faced with the ferocity of the wild beasts and Zhao Kuang's invincible sweep, the Jin army generals were already frightened and stopped advancing. At this moment, the righteous army behind had already killed their way up, and the two armies immediately engaged in a fierce battle. The Jin army was also caught in a pincer movement from both sides.

  Seeing the two armies clashing together, Zhao Kuang made up his mind and urged his horse to rush towards the main general of the Jin army, Wanyan Zhen. Capturing the leader first is a key principle in battle. The Jin soldiers' commanders were sending troops to kill Zhao Kuang, but they still couldn't withstand him. Of course, it was the Jin soldiers who were desperate, and in front of Zhao Kuang, the Jin generals were very timid. At this point, those Jin generals didn't dare to come forward, and in front of and behind Zhao Kuang, there were rows of fallen Jin soldiers' corpses.

  "Block my way and die!" In the chaos, Zhao Yun's words were not too clear, but his spear danced up and down, striking forward and backward, demonstrating his invincibility. Of course, Zhao Yun himself was not made of iron, facing countless weapons, he still held up his shield, although it had been deformed by withstanding countless impacts from enemy blades, but that didn't matter much, the Jin soldiers who dared to surround and kill Zhao Yun like before were few now.

  The surroundings were all battles between the two armies, and Zhao Ke's personal troops were all moving towards Zhao Ke, pinning down a large number of Jin soldiers near Zhao Ke. So the Jin soldiers around Zhao Ke were not that many after all. The Jin soldiers who surrounded and killed Zhao Ke may have felt like a lot, but when it came to actual combat, it was a different story.

  Now, the corpses at Zhao Yun's feet have exceeded two hundred. This is not to say that they are all dead, but many of them are seriously injured. After all, no matter how powerful Zhao Yun is, it is impossible for every move to hit the enemy's vital points.

  Zhaoren actually killed less than a hundred Jin soldiers, but the majority of the Jin people were seriously injured, and in the context of low medical standards in ancient times, being injured was no different from dying.

  Zhao Kuangfei chased after Wanyan Zhen, who was now truly regretful. He had not expected that all his calculations would not only be ineffective but also result in the loss of 60,000 men. He had not thought that Zhao Kuangfei would be so formidable - weren't the Zhao royal family of the Song Dynasty supposed to be weak? How could there be such a fierce warrior? In this chaotic pursuit and escape, the Jin army followed Wanyan Zhen's example and began to flee in disarray.

  Many of the Jin army's generals also fled, and more than 20 Jin army officers above the rank of baihu (company commander) were killed. Three of them were killed by fierce beasts, while the rest were killed by the charging righteous armies.

  "You're really something..." Zhao Xiaodao, the commander of the Vanguard and the Imperial Guard of the King of Chu, said to Meng Shu, the new friend and general of the King of Chu.

  "Not... your commander is the one who's formidable..." The Beast God said with a complex expression, looking at the battlefield where people were dying everywhere: "I couldn't kill so many people... If it were me... I would have died already..."

  "That's because you don't have a weapon. After this battle is over, our commander will give you the best one." Zhao Xiaodao said.

  The two wings of the righteous army also flew over, closely following the righteous army, and countless flying horses galloped wildly. The Jin army immediately retreated, and under the lead of Wanyan Zhen, all the Jin soldiers fled. The righteous army then covered up from behind and killed, with Zhao Kun and Meng Shou chasing and killing the most enemies.

  Wanyan Zhen led the remaining troops to retreat back to Zhending Prefecture, immediately reorganizing and preparing for battle to defend against Zhao Kuangyi's army attacking Zhending Prefecture. In fact, Zhending itself had less than 40,000 people, now Wanyan Zhen was defeated, bringing back less than 10,000 people, so Zhending is currently short of troops, temporarily without the support of the Jin army. Zhending Prefecture is in great danger.

  There was another main general of the Jin army stationed in Zhending, and he was a Han Chinese. That was Guo Yao Shi, who surrendered to the Jin people and persuaded Wanyan Zongwang to go south to attack Dongjing Bianliang. Zhending is a famous city, a city of loyalty and patriotism, and also a heroic city filled with tragic songs.

  Zong Wang led the army to besiege Zhending. At that time, Chen Quan led 5,000 soldiers and civilians to defend the city wall, bravely resisting the enemy. After several days of bitter fighting, Chen Quan decided to lead the military and civilians to break through the siege from the south gate of Zhending overnight, causing the city to fall temporarily. However, his wife and eight children were all killed by the Jin army.

  A few days later, Chen Jun reorganized his forces and took advantage of the Jin army's southward advance and the scarcity of troops in the city to launch a joint attack with the anti-Jin military and civilians inside the city, retaking the city of Zhending. This created the miracle of twice occupying the city of Zhending during the Jingkang campaign against the Jin.

  Chen Yuanshuo, as a famous general of the Northern Song Dynasty at the end of its reign, after bravely resisting the Jin army, broke through the siege again and led his troops southward. In 1127, he was appointed as the commander-in-chief of all armies, equivalent to the commander of a large military region, garrisoning in Daming Prefecture. In the second year of Jingkang (i.e., this year), under the command of Emperor Gaozong Zhao Gou and the main force of the Jin army marching southward, he led his troops to march south to Anhui.

  Zhao Kuang was now leading his troops to victory, having marched south from Jingxing and arrived at the foot of Zhending City. Meanwhile, the Jin army retreated in disarray, with people everywhere welcoming the arrival of the Prince of Song and the righteous armies.

  Guo Yao Shi was a strategic person. Wanyan Zhen, although a Jurchen woman, was the commander-in-chief. However, due to Wanyan Zongwang's instructions, she still had to listen to Guo Yao Shi.

  Guo the medicine master knew that after Wanyan Zongwang, Wanyan Zonghan (Zhahan), Wanyan Lou Shi and Wanyan Zongbi (Wuzhu) led the main force of the Jin army to march south, the Xining Army had become an invincible force in the north. He had to wait until the Battle of Dongjing Bianliang was over or the Jin army achieved victories from other places and marched north before he could deal with the Xining Army.

  At the same time, Guo Yao Shi also knew that Xing Wang Zhao Chen was blocked in the west and turned to attack the east. On the one hand, it was to occupy all the towns near Taihang Mountain, taking Taihang Mountain and its surrounding areas as the base for development and growth, and resisting the Jin army. On the other hand, it was also because Shouyang City had 50,000 Jurchen soldiers under Wanyan Kuoduan.

  Kuo Yao-shih immediately gathered a large number of surrendered Jin soldiers from the original Song army, consisting of Han Chinese traitors, and formed an army of up to 40,000 people. Later, Wan-yen Chen also gathered Jin soldiers from various places near Chen-ting, and assembled two million Han people, Khitan people, Jurchen people, Xi people, Bohai people, Mongolians and other northern ethnic minorities to form the Jin army's Fan people army.

  Facing the Xue army led by Zhao Song, Guo Ziyi did not defend the city. Once those Han soldiers defended a city, their morale would plummet and they would directly lose the city. In the midst of battle between the two armies, when the melee started and both sides were killing each other, surrendering was out of the question, and the opposing righteous army might not even accept it.

  Even if King Wang's army surrenders and is not killed, the Han people's army surrenders and does not die. It will not affect the city defense. Even Guo Yao Shi cannot guarantee their loyalty.

  Kuo the medicine master directly laid out the array to welcome the enemy, he used 40,000 Han people's army to lay out a huge square array. Behind the Han people's army array were the five thousand golden soldiers of the Du Zhan team. Once any Han soldier ran away, they would be beheaded without exception.

  What made Guo Yao Shi puzzled was that Zhao Kuang did not directly attack the city, but instead only stayed outside the city of Zhending during the day, about four or five miles away in a relatively dangerous terrain, setting up camp and building barracks.

  Guo Yao Shi knew that Zhao Chen was cunning and would not dare to take the initiative to attack. King Xian of Zhao had always been secretive in his military actions, and taking the initiative to attack would definitely end in failure. Therefore, after learning that Zhao Chen had set up camp, Guo Yao Shi immediately led his troops back to the city.

  When Commander Guo led the 40,000-strong Han army back into the city in a majestic manner, it was already past noon. At this moment, he suddenly heard scouts reporting that Zhao Chen personally led more than 10,000 infantrymen to attack them from this direction.

  Upon hearing the news, Guo Yishi hastily assembled all the Han troops who had entered the city to go out and meet the enemy. The Han troops went out of the city again without having eaten their meals. However, after forming up in battle array, Guo Yishi and his 40,000-strong army waited for half a day before receiving news that Xue Wang Zhao Xin led his troops back.

  Guo the medicine master was furious when he first received this news. But then he thought again and felt that something was not right. When he led the Han army into the city, Zhao Chen dared to bring only over 10,000 men to attack the city. When he led the Han army out of the city, Zhao Chen immediately retreated. Was there a connection between these two events? Could it be true, just as he suspected, that there was a traitor loyal to King Zhao Chen within the Han army?

  The 40,000 Han troops were all composed of Song people, with a small number of Han people from outside the pass who came from Liao country. However, in any case, they are all Han people. King Xīn Zhāo Jìng had won every battle and was invincible, so it's likely that many people in this army already knew about this matter. These Han troops probably all admired Great Song and wanted to surrender to King Xīn Zhāo Jìng. The more Guō Yào Shī thought about it, the more he felt his idea was correct.

  The Han army cannot enter the city. Once they enter the city to defend it, the Han army suddenly betrays and attacks into the city, and the Golden Army in Zhending City is finished.

  Guo the medicine master directly arranged 40,000 Han people outside the city to form an array, never allowing them to enter the city. The 5,000 Jin army that was supposed to enforce the law was reduced to 1,000 people and changed shifts every few hours.

  Such treatment made the Han soldiers who surrendered to the Jin army feel increasingly unbalanced. Why can't they rest? Can't enter the city?

  The sun gradually set in the west, casting a faint golden glow. The summer sun sets late, so the Han army had been standing for a whole day and their time was very long, they were already very tired.

  At this time, seeing that King Xing's army was motionless, Guo Yishi thought he had the upper hand and ordered his 40,000 Han troops to set up camp outside the city.

  The Han army, upon hearing that they were not allowed to enter the city, had been stationed for a day and still had to set up camp on the spot. Moreover, the high-ranking generals of the Han army had not received a reasonable explanation. From top to bottom, the Han army began to curse Guo Yishi and the Golden Army in their hearts. Their discontent was buried deep within, like gunpowder waiting for a qualitative change to explode.

  Just as the 40,000 Han troops were laboriously building their camp outside the city of Zhending Prefecture, countless torches emerged from the Xining Garrison and advanced towards the city. Soon, Guo Shi received the news and immediately ordered the Han troops who had not yet completed their camp to stop construction and form a large array to prepare for battle.

  Two star groups flew in from a distance, the larger one developing against the Jin army formation head-on. The other, smaller but faster group formed a goose formation, aiming at the Liao army's flank and launched a fatal blow.

  Jin Jun's Han army of 40,000 men formed an array in front of the city of Zhending. The 40,000 Han soldiers were all infantry, and they formed a square formation with the two wings being 5,000 Jin cavalrymen forming a circular array.

  Behind the army formation, there were a thousand golden armored soldiers supervising three thousand Han and Khitan artillerymen who were arrayed in formation, waiting sternly. In front of the artillery formation, one hundred small catapults similar to stone-throwing vehicles were lined up in a row. Behind each catapult was a burning fire bucket, with over ten branding irons inserted into each bucket. In the artillery formation, hundreds of wooden cabinets were stacked. Now these cabinets were all open, revealing that they were filled with large black spheres.

  Whether it was the Han army or the barbarian soldiers, all the Jin army generals were very curious. They had seen catapults and stone bullets before, and they had also seen armies using catapults in field battles. But this army was strange, it was a purely Jurchen-led Jin army that escorted them all the way.

  Even on the battlefield, the Jurchen-led Jin army kept a tight siege around the artillery corps composed of Han and Khitan soldiers, not allowing anyone to approach, giving the artillery corps an air of mystery.

  At this time, Wang Jin and Xiao Deli led 10,000 cavalrymen to charge into the Jurchen artillery formation. Their cavalry was immediately blocked by the Jurchen elite troops.

  The war horses thundered, the killing sounds like thunder, the ground shook violently, the righteous army's charging knights were getting closer and closer to the Jin army's battle formation, only over a hundred steps left.

  The commander of the artillery troops pointed his gaze at Guo Yashi. Guo Yashi nodded slightly, "Fire." "Fire..." With a single order from the commander, the soldiers of the artillery troops suddenly became busy.

  Some golden soldiers took out a round ball from the wooden cabinet and put it on the sling pouch. Some golden soldiers picked up the fire-tipped cone and forced the cone into the ball. Some golden soldiers pulled the rope. The ball was thrown out, spinning and flying in the air, drawing a beautiful arc, and flew straight into the army array of the rebel cavalry.

  "Boom. Boom, boom……" In an instant, a deafening explosion sounded, and a huge flame with flying dust shot up into the sky. The earth shook and mountains cracked. Following the flashing firelight, thick smoke rolled in.

  The galloping cavalry of the righteous army were immediately hit, or exploded with their horses, or fell down injured, and a large number of them fell in an instant. The war horses in front were frightened and became more frantic, carrying the equally panicked soldiers of the righteous army to continue rushing forward. The war horses of the righteous army behind stopped abruptly, stood up straight, raised their hooves and let out a painful whinny, but soon they were knocked down by their companions who rushed from behind, and for a time, people and horses were overturned, with heavy casualties...

  Hearing such a big movement, Wanyan Zhen, who was beside Guo Yishi, also changed color with fright. The war horse under him was also terrified, its front hooves raised high, neighing continuously, almost throwing Wanyan Zhen off the horse.

  At this time, Wanyan Zhen was extremely shocked. Although he had heard that the fire cannon was powerful, because of his low rank and not having encountered any battles with cannons, he did not know the true extent of its power. He was not only shocked but also wondered if there were such powerful weapons in the world. No wonder the Song people treasured them so much and kept them strictly confidential. Wanyan Zhen was amazed beyond words.

  This kind of weapon had been heard of long ago, called fire-arms, but during the hundred years of peace between Song and Liao, the people of Liao had never experienced its ferocity. On the contrary, the Western Xia people had already learned about it early on. Because the Song Dynasty practiced heavy civil governance and light military rule, even the war god Di Qing was ridiculed by a concubine of a civil official because of the tattoos on his face.

  The Song Dynasty adopted a strategy of "unloading the mill and killing the donkey" towards its military generals, so for those Song Dynasty military generals, raising bandits to defend themselves was a strategy. The generals did not fight desperately, plus many civilian officials who did not understand military affairs gave wrong orders, and the emperor controlled remotely without knowing the situation, all these reasons led to the failure of the Song army to thoroughly defeat the Western Xia people.

  The Western Xia people won several victories in the war against the Song Dynasty and captured many firearms from the Song army. The Liao-Xia brotherly relationship allowed the Liao people to obtain firearms from the Western Xia, which they studied for many years, and also stole manufacturing techniques from the Song people. The Liao people also produced firearms and formed a gunner army.

  However, the Liao army did not value firearms. They thought it had no great practical use in battle, so the artillery was neglected until now, until Yelü Chong became the commander-in-chief, this army received attention and became an important force in the defense of Nanjing City, Liao State.

  The Jin army had suffered several times from the fire of firearms and artillery during the battle with Yelü Chong's army. Therefore, after the destruction of Liao, the Jin army immediately captured and surrendered all the firearms, artillery, craftsmen and operators, and manufactured them.

  Generally, cannons were used for defending cities and field battles, this was the first time. In the Jin army, except for Pu Yu Nu, Wanyan Zongwang, Wanyan Zonghan (Zhan Han), Wanyan Lou Shi and Wanyan Zongbi (Wu Tuo) and a few high-ranking officials who had participated in battles against Liao using cannons, no one else knew the power of firearms.

  The Jin army officers and soldiers nearby stared with wide eyes, their faces pale with fear. They had never seen such a terrifying weapon before, if it were to hit themselves, would they still be alive?

  "Boom, boom..." The earth-shaking drumbeat pulled them out of their fear. This was their powerful weapon, and with this fearsome weapon, they would surely win this battle. The Golden Army's morale immediately surged, and the soldiers suddenly became excited, one by one letting out thunderous roars, their killing intent soaring into the sky.

  But in the distance, Zhao Xun heard the familiar sound of cannons and was secretly shocked. He secretly regretted putting off the development of steel smelting and gunpowder production. To attack an enemy's strong point, one must first sharpen one's tools; manufacturing gunpowder and smelting steel were indispensable to war.

  "Detestable Golden Men! Using our Han people's weapons to bully us Han people, just wait and see, next time I'll let you taste even more powerful firearms!" Zhao Xun thought to himself.

  Facing the chaos of the rebel cavalry, the army's bow and arrow men began to shoot. The strong bowmen in the array lit the rockets in their hands, raised their bows to the sky, and shot them out with all their might. The rockets whistled, carrying a thick smoke, flying straight into the already chaotic rebel army.

  Dense flames and long arrows killed many of the Righteous Army, amidst wails of agony. "Boom! Boom! Boom!" The second batch of round balls smashed into the Righteous Army's cavalry array, exploding intensely and violently, with flesh and blood flying everywhere. The shocking explosion sounded like a hundred spring thunders bursting forth at once, shaking heaven and earth.

  Cannonballs flew into the militia cavalry formation again, exploding with a dense blast, frightening the militia war horses, galloping wildly, and the cavalrymen were terrified, their souls flying away, the battlefield was in chaos.

  Wang Jin and Xiao Deli were also extremely surprised, but they were also seasoned veterans. Especially Wang Jin, who had followed King Xiang of Zhao to see firearms before, although he didn't know the power of firearms, he knew their limitations and that they couldn't kill many people despite their great destructive power.

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