Volume 1: Zhu Xian Town Crisis Chapter 25: First Encounter

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  As soon as Han Shizhong gave the order, Chu State City began its final preparations for the siege.

  Chu State is located on the front line of resistance against Jin, and the people in the city have long been accustomed to war. After the mobilization order was issued, the people in the city did not panic, but instead began to prepare for war in an orderly manner. For them, the epidemic isolation measures implemented by Yue Yun were even more disturbing.

  A bundle of sharp arrows was taken out from the armory, a basket of stones and a log were transported to the top of the city wall. All the soldiers who could move were divided into two groups. One group went up to the city wall to defend, while the other group rested inside the city wall, ready to reinforce immediately when the situation on the city head was not good.

  Chu State was the base of Han Shizhong's painstaking operation for nearly ten years, and most of the people in the city were related to the soldiers of the Han family army, with close ties. After mobilization, many young civilians were also assigned weapons and went on patrol at the top of the city wall. Although they were not good at fighting, they could still transport arrows and supplies, carry wounded soldiers, and keep watch at night. By dawn, Chu State had entered a state of full alert, waiting for the Jin army to attack the city.

  The next morning, the Jin army on the opposite bank of the Huai River had set out in full force and was advancing towards the riverbank. However, they did not encounter the expected Song army intercepting them.

  The Xishi Lie Zhi Ning faction sent out several scouting troops, cautiously crossing the Huai River, and after reconnaissance on the opposite bank, they confirmed that the Song army had retreated back to Chuzhou, without leaving a single soldier or guard outside the city.

  " Ninth Uncle, it has now been confirmed that the Song army is all inside Chu State City and appears to be determined to defend Chu State to the death!" Xi Shi Lie Zhi Ning hurried back to the main camp to report to Wanyan Zong Min after understanding the situation.

  "Hmm, as expected!" Wanyan Zongmin stroked his long mustache and said: "Now that Han Shizhong has withdrawn all his troops into the city, it means he doesn't have enough soldiers and can only shrink and defend. Otherwise, he should have left one or two branches of troops in the nearby Wei City, which would be mutually supportive with Chu State and more beneficial for defense."

  "Then Ninth Uncle, shall we launch an attack now?" Wanyan Liang asked cautiously.

  "Of course! Liang'er, you lead a team of 10,000 men to launch an attack from the west of the city first. I want to see how much combat power Chu State still has!"

  "I obey the order of the Ninth Uncle!" Wanyan Liang bowed and then turned around to leave the tent, beginning to deploy the attack.

  In the Jin army camp, messengers on horseback immediately rushed to various camps to inform them of the battle plan. At the same time, Xieli Zhining also ordered his soldiers to build a simple pontoon bridge over the Huai River, so that Wanyan Liang's 10,000-strong army could cross the river and launch an attack.

  Wanyan Zongmin's decision to launch an attack from the west of the city was also made after careful consideration.

  Chu State City is north of the Huai River, so it's naturally impossible to launch an attack from here. The east side of the city is low-lying, with walls over 20 zhang higher than the ground, and only extremely long cloud ladders can climb up from there.

  Not far to the south of the city, there was a large forest. Although the scouts sent by Xieli Zhining claimed that there were no Song troops in the forest, Wanyan Zongmin still had some concerns that the Song army might be hiding deep within the forest. Moreover, moving the troops to the south of the city would require a detour of over ten miles, which would be time-consuming and laborious.

  In comparison, the terrain to the west is relatively flat and there are no forests or hills around for the enemy to ambush, and it is also closer to the pontoon bridge built by the Jin army on the Huai River. Therefore, both Wanyan Liang and Xieli Zhining still agree with Wanyan Zongmin's choice of attack direction.

  At the hour of Chen, the war drums in the Jin army camp were beating, and a large number of troops passed through the pontoon bridge to reach the opposite bank. The Wan Ren team led by Wanyan Liang had 3,000 cavalry and 7,000 infantry, most of whom were Jurchen, Khitan, Shiwei, Bohai and other northern ethnic groups. The infantry was mainly composed of the original pseudo-Qi army.

  In the seventh year of Shaoxing, the Jin Dynasty abolished the pseudo-Qi regime and demoted the original pseudo-Qi Emperor Liu Yu to King of Shu, later renamed Cao Wang, basically equivalent to being placed under house arrest. Although Liu Yu was deposed, many of his military generals and civil officials were retained. Kong Yanjiu and Li Cheng were two relatively "outstanding" military generals among them. This time, when Wuzhuo went south, he appointed Li Cheng and Kong Yanjiu as the deputies of Wan Yanliang, while the original pseudo-Qi army was still commanded by the two men.

  Kong Yanjiu and Li Cheng were both grateful, preparing to be the loyal eagles of the Jin State. This time, Wanyan Liang had Li Cheng stay in Xuzhou, while he himself went with Kong Yanjiu to attack Chuzhou.

  "General Kong! Now lead your subordinates to start the attack and probe into the details of the Song army!" Wanyan Liang ordered to Kong Yanxun.

  "I will understand later!" Kong Yanzhou was already a middle-aged martial general in his 40s, with a sturdy build and robust physique, looking like a standard iron-boned tough guy. However, his temperament was far from that of a tough guy.

  Having received the order, he immediately bowed and paid his respects, then turned around and returned to his own army, beginning to command the attack.

  For Kong Yanjiu, being loyal to the Song Dynasty or the Jin Dynasty is the same. In comparison, although the Jin Dynasty was ruled by a different ethnic group, it was still better for him than the Song Dynasty.

  He had previously betrayed both the Great Song and the pseudo-Qi several times, but after surrendering to Jin, Wuzong treated these Han generals who defected with no prejudice, still holding them in high esteem. Kong Yanjiu was grateful and never again entertained thoughts of betraying Jin.

  He also saw that Wuzong was getting older, and the future court of the Jin dynasty would be dominated by young people like Wanyan Liang and Xieli Zhining. Xieli Zhining was Wuzong's son-in-law, while Wanyan Liang was the son of the current Chancellor Wanyan Zonggan and the grandson of the founding emperor Aguda. If he could achieve great merit in front of these two young imperial clansmen, it would be very beneficial for his future career.

  Kong Yanzhou and his deputy discussed it briefly, and determined that the two sections of the city wall that they thought were relatively weak in defense would be the main direction of attack. Then, he personally led the army to start attacking the city.

  "Everyone, charge! The first brave warrior to climb the city wall, I will immediately promote him to be his commander-in-chief and reward him with 100 taels of silver!" Kong Yanjiu shouted loudly. Thus began the offensive campaign.

  As Mr. Yu had expected, the first wave of attack by the Jin army was a probing attack. It can be seen from the fact that they only sent several thousand people and only attacked the city wall in the west of the city!

  Han Shizhong stood on the city tower in the west of the city, looking at the Jin army rushing to the city below, and said coldly: "Give me arrows! Rolling stones and wooden drums are ready, send these golden thieves back to the West!"

  In the twinkling of an eye, arrows rained down from the top of the city wall of Chu State, and the Jin army soldiers, with one hand holding a shield and the other holding a curved knife or wolf-tooth club, advanced towards the foot of the city wall amidst the rain of arrows. Although people fell down with arrows constantly, they were numerous after all, and soon reached the foot of the city wall, then set up ladders and started climbing up.

  "Everybody use stones to smash those Jin bandits! Archers, aim at the Jin soldiers climbing up the cloud ladder! Save the rolling logs and wooden mallets for later... Hookmen, use your hooks to pull down that cloud ladder!" Han Shizhong shouted loudly.

  His troops had a total strength of just over 1,000 men, and there were nearly 2,000 civilians under the city wall. However, they were only ordinary people, although they were given weapons, they had not undergone military training, Han Shizhong temporarily let them be responsible for transporting arrows and stones, carrying the wounded, but did not let them participate in the battle.

  "It's on you!" A Song army soldier picked up a stone and threw it with great force at a Jin army soldier who was about to climb over the city wall. A miserable cry was heard, and that Jin army soldier immediately fell off the cloud ladder. He heavily crashed onto the ground below the city wall, and the Jin soldiers standing under the cloud ladder could all hear the sound of his broken ribs.

  But the Song soldier had not even had time to catch his breath before he fell to the ground, a cold iron arrow having pierced his throat and taken with it his young, vibrant life.

  ……

  "Kill!" A Song army captain roared, his long sword flashing with a cold light, like silver, stabbing fiercely into the chest of a Jin soldier who had just climbed up the city wall. The Jin soldier's body shook violently, his chopping knife clattering to the ground, his hands weakly grasping at the sword that had pierced his chest, letting out a mournful wail...

  "Hmph..." The Song army captain hadn't even had time to retract his long sword when a long spear with a faintly blackened tip, like a venomous snake, suddenly stabbed forward and pierced his throat. A gush of bright red blood erupted from the wound in an instant, dyeing all his clothes crimson. This Song army captain felt his vision go dark, and his body suddenly became incredibly heavy.

  He barely lifted his head and looked at the person who killed him. It was a hundred soldiers of the Jin army. The hundred soldiers saw that the hundred soldiers were smiling and violently pulling out the long gun, then attacking another Song army archer who was shooting arrows...

  After the Song army captain fell, a sixteen-year-old boy who had just carried stones up saw all this and was completely stunned. He cried out "Brother, brother", with red eyes, like a mad tiger, rushing forward fiercely. Although he was shot by an arrow in the middle and stabbed by a knife, he finally rushed to the side of the Jin army's hundred-man captain. Then, with all his might, he hugged him tightly, no matter how many knives the captain stabbed him with, he didn't let go. With all his strength, he wrapped his arms around the captain and rolled down the city wall together...

  Fierce battles also took place on several other sections of the city wall in the west. Kong Yanzhou had not expected that the resistance will of the Chu State army and civilians would be so strong, and they could still maintain such a strong fighting force even during the outbreak of the plague.

  Although they were not many in number, and later on, many of the civilians who joined the battle had just been given weapons. Yet it was these weak Song soldiers and temporary armed civilians who burst out with a fighting force that was in no way inferior to these professional soldiers.

  Jin army climbed up the city wall several times and was about to gain a foothold, but was repeatedly driven off by the desperate Song soldiers.

  After attacking for a whole morning, Kong Yanjiu found that the west gate could not be broken through, so he sought another way. In the afternoon, he changed the direction of attack and launched an attack from the south gate. However, he was still defeated by Geng Zhuo, who guarded the south gate.

  At the same time, Wanyan Liang also led his Jurchen troops from the east gate to launch an attack, but was also firmly blocked by Hu Yan and could not break through.

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