Chapter 1: The Awakening of Shin Wang...

  Dile's Wuzhang walked up to Dile with a smile on his face, patted him on the shoulder and said: "Dile, brother, I'd like to be the first to congratulate you on your promotion. When you go to Qiansui's tent, don't forget about us brothers, remember to come visit me when you have time, I still have a few bottles of good wine that I haven't had the heart to drink yet, we'll have a chance to drink them together, how about it!"

  Di Lei smiled and then straightened his face, saying: "Thank you for your kindness, brother. However, I recall that military law prohibits drinking in the camp unless ordered by a superior officer, otherwise one will be flogged thirty times. You wouldn't have forgotten, would you?" He said with a slight smile, continuing: "After we defeat the Jin army and recover our homeland, we'll drink together until we're drunk." Having said that, he turned his head towards General Zhao Chen.

  Looking at Dile's back, the captain smiled slightly and scolded several soldiers who were covering their mouths and laughing: "You rascals, don't you hurry to help treat the wounded soldiers? Do you want to be flogged?" The few people immediately dispersed in a flurry.

  Inside the big account, King Xīn of Zhāo looked at the reported casualties and sighed, saying: "I really didn't expect that this gold army's combat strength would be so strong. No wonder they dared to sneak into the camp with 3,000 horses. After being ambushed, they could still kill more than 400 of my generals. This anti-gold grand plan seems not as easy as I imagined."

  Zhao Xiaodao advised: "Qianyuan, there's no need to worry so much. These three thousand Jurchen soldiers are also their elite troops."

  "I hope so." Zhao Jun put down the newspaper in his hand, raised his head and ordered: "Pass on to the whole army, hurry up and rest, leave this valley before dawn. If my guess is correct, the main force of the Jin army will arrive here at dawn tomorrow."

  "Yes, Your Highness." Zhao Xiaodao replied with a fist. At this time, Zhao Chen saw Di Lei standing at the door and smiled: "Di Lei, come here. You are so young and your kung fu is already so impressive, I wonder who your master is?"

  "Your age seems to be younger than mine, and judging from your killing speed, your martial arts skills are probably far superior to mine." Di Lei thought to himself as he walked forward and replied: "As for Qian Sui's words, I don't have a master, this fist and footwork are all self-taught. Compared to Qian Sui's skills, it's still far behind."

  Zhao Zhuo chuckled and said, "Don't belittle yourself. The Golden Army's general has impressive skills, even I, the king, would find it difficult to take him down bare-handed. But you managed to break his ribs with just one move - that's a rare skill indeed."

  "Ah, I'm just lucky to have won, my skills are at best rustic and unsophisticated, defeating Jin Gou was purely due to luck." Di Lei hastily replied, his face flushing with embarrassment from the praise of Xing Wang.

  "Hmm, being so humble is rare. Alright, from now on you're my chief guard. If there's anything you don't understand, ask Commander Zhao Xiaodao. You can go rest for a while first. Oh, by the way, do you have any weapons?"

  "As for the Thousand Year Old's words, I don't have any. I'm good at wielding a hammer, but ordinary iron hammers are too light and lack power when swung around. Generally, I also use my fists to kill Golden Dogs."

  Di Lei finished speaking, and Zhao Chen immediately said to Zhao Xiao Dao: "Give him a pair of the heaviest steel hammers. Alright, you can go rest now."

  "Your Highness Qian also needs to rest early!" Di Lei replied with a bow. Then he followed Zhao Xiaodao out of the camp. Watching their silhouettes, Zhao Chen's heart was filled with thoughts.

  Yue Fei, Zhang Xian, Liang Xing, Zhao Yun, Di Lei and other famous generals have all arrived at his side. With his own perseverance in resisting the Jin Dynasty, more and more generals will come to surrender to him. With their help, he will surely drive out the Jin army and recover the rivers and mountains for the Song Dynasty, and then establish a powerful Great Song Dynasty!

  Most of the tents were burned down when the Jin army raided, and the remaining ones were already crowded with people. In Xinfeng's righteous army, there was a military discipline where everyone was equal except for orders. At this time, Xinfeng's guards were also squeezed into a tent, and Dilei had to find a windproof tent and lie down with a group of guards in their clothes.

  Just after the fourth watch, Zhao Jun led the soldiers to set off and rush to the assembly point agreed with other generals. Because they captured a part of the Jin army's horses, all the warriors changed their mounts to war horses, and Di Lei also got a good horse. Everyone rode their horses at full speed, leaving here quickly and rushing to their destination.

  On the eleventh day at dusk, more than 100,000 Jin troops approached Lingshou City from the east. However, Wanyan Zongwang was in a bad mood and very angry. Until now, Wanyan Zonghan (also known as Xiangke) still defended Jizhou and did not send out his army.

  As for the battle situation along the Hedong Road, Wanyan Zongwang felt that he could join forces with Wanyan Zonghan (also known as Xiangke) again to attack the enemy. They would surely defeat the army of the King of Wei once more, which would bring even greater benefits to the Jin state in its campaign to unify the south.

  But their own military strength was not enough, the Jin army on the eastern route had been replenished after the great war and now had 140,000 men, but at least 80,000 of them were Han people without much combat effectiveness. Although they outnumbered the total number of the Loyalist Army, in comparison to the elite Loyalist Army, the actual combat effectiveness of both armies was not much different, and there was hardly any advantage.

  Moreover, the 3,000 Jurchen elite troops' raid on the Imperial Guard's camp turned into an ambush. In the Mountain Valley Ambush Battle, nearly all of the 3,000 pure-blooded Jurchen Jin soldiers were lost.

  If this battle starts, the righteous army will be deeply surrounded and can only defend itself. If they hold back a part of the righteous army, and Wanyan Zonghan (Zhānhàn) leads his troops to advance, he will give the King's Righteous Army a fatal blow, and the King's Righteous Army will inevitably suffer a crushing defeat and collapse.

  Such a foolproof plan was shelved when it came to implementation. Unlike the original conquest of Liao, Wanyan Zonghan (also known as Nianhan) disregarded his own plan. Not only did he not provide reinforcements and support, but also warned himself not to make any rash moves during the crucial battle with the Xining Army, lest they suffer defeat and the campaign to annihilate the Xining Righteous Army end in failure.

  He was also the commander-in-chief, responsible for continuously threatening the Eastern Song Dynasty's frontline situation, even without Wanyan Zonghan's support. In this battle, he could still fight, but without powerful central reinforcements, although he seemed to have an army of 140,000, in fact only 60,000 were combat-effective soldiers.

  It is said that the Jin Dynasty now concentrates its national strength, with about one million strong soldiers. However, most of them are weak in combat and can only defend cities, but not attack, they are Han people's army. Most of them still need to be stationed in various places of the vast Jin Dynasty to guard the capital and key areas.

  In summary, in addition to the Jin army that annihilated various righteous armies on the roads of Shandong, Jingzhao and Binjian, the largest force of the Jin army has been mobilized to attack the anti-Jin forces in various places.

  So, relying solely on their own strength to defeat the King of Jin Zhao Chen is very difficult. They do not have enough military power, and this battle will be very hard to fight. Therefore, they must make a choice: either go south to attack Wo State, cutting off the retreat route of the King of Jin's righteous army; or attack Zhen Ding Ling Shou, Wei Zhou Jing Xian line, and join forces with the Western Expedition to annihilate the King of Jin's righteous army and completely destroy it.

  Wanyan Zongwang considered it repeatedly and chose to attack the line of True State, Lingshou, Weizhou, and Jixing. Going south to Wo State was not a good choice after all, as there were 100,000 troops from Ji State led by Wanyan Zonghan (also known as Xiangzhen) stationed there, ready to attack at any time. If Wanyan Zonghan persisted in his obstinacy and still did not send troops even if the army of General Shi was defeated and retreated south, that would be a major mistake on his part, and he would have no one to blame but himself.

  Moreover, the main reason is that Wanyan Zongwang also knew about the gap between Wanyan Zonghan (also known as Xiangke) and the imperial clan of their own ethnic group. He wanted to preserve his strength. However, he also knew about Wanyan Zonghan's great talent and broad vision, Wanyan Zonghan was a fierce commander-in-chief who excelled at leading troops, a true military genius. On the battlefield, even he himself might not be able to match up against him.

  So, under the siege of his own and Western Route Army, when King Xinyi's defeated army retreated southward. Wanyan Zonghan (Zhānghàn) would suddenly appear in Wo Prefecture at that time and be dealt a fatal blow by King Xinyi's army. Wanyan Zongwang believed that Zonghan (Zhānghàn) would absolutely not make such a low-level mistake.

  On the twelfth day, the Jurchen general Wan Yan Zong Wang and Wan Yan Lou Shi of the Eastern Route Army decided to advance and force the Righteous Army into Lingzhou. On this day, due to geographical reasons, the Jin army's attack was not fierce, while the Righteous Army retreated step by step, gradually pulling the main force of the Jin army into a vast basin.

  The basin is less than ten miles away from Lingshou City. The Jin army launched a surprise attack, and the righteous army on the opposite side must not have time to support it. If everything goes smoothly, the Jin army can surround the main force of the righteous army in the basin and inflict heavy casualties. Even if the righteous army breaks through, they will likely suffer significant losses, and we can easily capture Lingshou City. Then, with our army attacking from both sides, we can completely annihilate the Xining Wang's righteous army.

  Here, they can now give Wanyan Yisheng a heavy blow. "Are we temporarily camping or attacking at night?" asked Wanyan Lou Shi to Wanyan Zongwang. But Wanyan Zongwang did not speak. Wanyan Lou Shi knew he was in a bad mood and didn't ask further.

  Wanyan Zonghan (also known as Wanyan Zhahan) was extremely cautious during the Battle of De'an, ignoring the imperial edict to actively attack and stopping his advance after capturing Ji Prefecture.

  Wanyan Zongbi (Wuzhu) in Wanyan Zonghan's (Zhixia) camp was eager to make a name for himself and repeatedly asked to go into battle, but was rejected each time. This time, Wanyan Zongwang led the attack on Lingshou, joining forces with the Western Route Army to encircle and annihilate the Xiangyang army of Prince of Qi, which was actually a gamble. If they won the gamble, when Wanyan Zonghan arrived at Hezhou, the three routes of the Jin army would be able to thoroughly defeat and destroy the Xiangyang army on the battlefield.

  Annihilate the Xining Wang's righteous army, killing or capturing Xining Wang Zhao Chen. Such a victory directly led to the disappearance of the last strongest anti-Jin force in the Southern Song Dynasty.

  To the south, Emperor Gaozong of Song was weak and incompetent, they would take the initiative to negotiate a peace treaty, and the conditions of the peace treaty would greatly satisfy the demands of the Jin Dynasty. Afterwards, the Jin army could use the peace treaty to confuse Zhao Gou, suddenly launch a surprise attack on the south, seize the Jiangshan of the Great Song, and unify the world.

  Wanyan Zongwang and Wanyan Zonghan (Zhahan) will both achieve great merit from this. However, currently the high-ranking officials of Huanglong Prefecture are extremely dissatisfied with Wanyan Zongwang's consistent favoritism towards Wanyan Zonghan (Zhahan). This is because they not only disobeyed the Emperor's order to actively attack and capture the enemy but also challenged the authority of the Balhae people. When several Balhae officials from Huanglong Prefecture directly refused Wanyan Zongwang's request to send more troops to support the Eastern Route Army, it was rejected.

  The Eastern Route Army was attacking Hebei Road, and also had to maintain the siege of the two Shandong Routes' Righteous Armies and resist the Southern Song Army, so troops were extremely tight. This time, Huanglong Prefecture refused to allocate reinforcements for the Eastern Route Army, it was a warning from the Borjigin clan to Wanyan Zongwang for his military bias towards Wanyan Zonghan (Genghis Khan).

  In the camp of the righteous army opposite the Golden Army, a dozen or so commanders and generals were all concentrated here. "Is King Xinfeng asking us to retreat?" A group of generals looked at General Gao Yunfei, who was temporarily commanding the army according to King Xinfeng Zhao's orders, and Fu Xuan asked impatiently first.

  Gao Yunfei smiled and nodded, immediately deploying a retreat strategy. "General Xinwang repeatedly requested to abandon the heavy baggage and quickly withdraw. The speed must be fast, and we must arrive in Lingshou before dawn." Gao Yunfei pointed to the map, drawing a circle on the map of Zhending Prefecture.

  "More than 100,000 Jin troops from the Eastern Route Army who broke into Zhending Prefecture are all here. If they march north to attack Lingshou tomorrow, we must block them in the direction of Lingshou to ensure the safety of hundreds of thousands of civilians withdrawing to the Taihang Mountains."

  "So, Ling Shou still has a tough battle ahead?" asked Jiao Wentai from the side.

  "As expected, we can at least hold out for a day." Gao Yunfei pointed outside the tent and said: "If the Golden Army on the eastern route takes advantage of the situation and launches a desperate attack on the city. The troops and horses we have here, plus the 3,000 defenders in Ling Shou, are simply unable to withstand it. So our maximum is also just one day's time."

  "We keep retreating, until when?" At this time, a tall and powerful beast on the side spoke up. He was a fierce warrior, originally able to fight bears and tigers without iron weapons. Now with iron armor and holding a massive wolf-toothed club, he swept across the battlefield with even greater ferocity. Fighting and charging were his strong suits, but now retreating repeatedly made him somewhat impatient.

  "Alright!" Gao Yunfei waved his hand and said: "General Xin Wang has a plan, everyone act immediately. General Meng Shou, you lead the 5,000-strong Tongzi Jindragon Army to rush to General Xin Wang's place with one person on two horses, General-in-Chief Xin Wang needs you now. General Yan Chengfang, you still lead the 10,000-strong Tongzi Vanguard Army to beat drums and gongs, set off firecrackers, attack the Jin army's supplies and provisions, and hold back the Jin army's footsteps. General Jiao Wentong, you lead the cavalry to stay in front of Pendi Mountain, light more torches, confuse the Jin army."

  Yan Chengfang was a highly talented young general who was selected and promoted from the Golden Dragon Boy Scouts. He is now in command of 10,000 boys who were not selected for the Golden Dragon Boy Scouts, forming the Vanguard of the Boy Scouts. As an outstanding talent in the Golden Dragon Boy Scouts, Yan Chengfang is well-versed in both literature and martial arts. By employing tactics such as "Enemy Fatigue" and "Attacking their Provisions", he has been able to hold off the actions of hundreds of thousands of Jin soldiers. Moreover, in repeated battles against scattered Jin soldiers who have broken away from the main army, he has annihilated over a thousand Jin soldiers. He is indeed young, but his military achievements are remarkable.

  17,800 righteous troops and 10,000 vanguard troops retreated while fighting, a total of nearly 30,000 righteous troops rushed to Lingshou City by dawn. Wanyan Zongwang's eastern army suffered heavy casualties and delays due to the sabotage and ambushes by the 10,000 vanguard troops, but also arrived at Lingshou City.

  The Western Route Army, outside Jingyang Town, was suddenly surrounded by a large number of Righteous Army troops. The various armies of the Righteous Army gathered in Jingyang Town, including the Shen Mountain Army, Feng Lei Army, Kuang Bao Army, Hei Long Army Second Division, Hei Long Army Third Division, and Bei Wei Army. At this time, the Righteous Army had already grown to 40,000 troops, surrounding the Western Route Golden Army, which had been attacking and plundering Jingyang Town for days, and was now reduced to less than 60,000 men.

  At this time, Wanyan Kuoduan felt a bit uneasy. Yesterday, during the day, Shi Jingtang's army abandoned the city and escaped, but at night, they surrounded the city again. What did it mean? Could Shi Jingtang's 40,000-strong army really surround and annihilate his own 50,000-strong Golden Army? It was simply ridiculous.

  At this time, Guo Yao Shi gave Wanyan Aguda an idea. Due to the fact that messengers from both the Eastern Route Army and the Central Route Army had not arrived for days, they might have been intercepted by the Rebel Prince's army. Without the latest battle report information from the Eastern Route Army, based on previous news, they immediately made a wrong guess.

  Guo guessed that Xin Wang Yijun would intercept the messenger with all his might, and it was likely that Xin Wang had already led the main force to start heading south. The rebel army surrounded Haibei Prefecture at night, and the Liao army would definitely not dare to come out of the city, which could cover up their main force's rapid escape from the main road. What are they going to do in the south? It doesn't need to be guessed that they will go to clear the way for heading south. In other words, the strategy of the Eastern Route Golden Army actively marching north to attack True Prefecture and then continuing to march north to attack Lingshou before besieging Jingxing may be incorrect.

  Guo Yao Shi also speculated that Xin Wang Yi Jun might have reached some kind of tacit understanding with Wanyan Zonghan (also known as Nianhan), and whether there was any connection between the two sides. Why did Wanyan Zonghan not take action?

  Kuo's conjecture made Wanyan Zonghan's heart skip a beat. If the Song army was preparing to march south, concentrating its main force to attack the Western Route of the Jin army, they might be surrounded and killed by the massive militia in Jingyang Town. Jingyang Town had been devastated after several days of bloody battles. The city wall had been damaged by the Jin army's catapults and a small amount of firearms, with wooden boards temporarily covering it. Once surrounded by the militia, the Jin army inside Jingyang would become fish in a barrel.

  However, relying on the more than 50,000 Jin troops, the main force of the Righteous Army came to think that it was impossible to completely eliminate Wanyan Zongbi, and behind them was the main force of the Jin army's eastern route, which would arrive soon. After thinking about it, Wanyan Zongbi was still most worried about the safety of Taiyuan Prefecture, and immediately planned to break through the siege of the Righteous Army and return to Shouyang City.

  At this time, Guo Yao and Xiao Gan tried their best to stop him. The Xining Army fled all the way, abandoning their helmets and armor, and even abandoned food and livestock, which can be seen in their panic. For the righteous army, food and livestock are their lifeblood, and without them, even if they win the battle, the righteous army will have nothing to eat.

  So the two of them strongly dissuaded Yan Zilang from worrying about Taiyuan Prefecture, and instead focused on using Jingyang Town as a base to hold off the Xining Army, coordinating with the Eastern Route Army's battle strategy to encircle and annihilate the Xining Army.

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