Volume 1: Zhu Xian Town Crisis Chapter 28: Wanyan Liang's Conspiracy

  The city of Chu is now a bloody battlefield. The city walls are filled with the corpses of Song and Jin soldiers who have lost their minds in the frenzy of killing. The streets inside and outside the city are littered with bodies that will never rise again, lying in pools of blood.

  It was not long ago that these corpses were still living men. Although on this battlefield where tens of thousands of people lost their lives, these men were just insignificant small soldiers. But in their homes, they were absolutely the pillars, the fathers, sons and husbands that their families cherished and prayed for.

  But now he was just a blood-soaked corpse hanging on the city wall.

  Yesterday, when Wanyan Liang and Kong Yanju were probing the city, Xieli Zhining was also busy. He commanded another 40,000 Jurchen soldiers to cut down trees in a nearby forest and manufacture siege engines. Although it was impossible to build complex or large-scale siege engines within one day, dozens of catapults were still built.

  That row upon row of cold-glinting sharp arrows. Seemed to pour down on the city wall like rain. And in the rear, dozens of catapults were smashing huge stones weighing over 100 kg towards the top of Chu State City. Every time a boulder fell, it raised a thick cloud of smoke and dust on the city wall, battering the city wall into a thousand holes.

  The Song army on the city wall also stubbornly counterattacked the Jin army below. Row after row of black iron arrows, after the "humming" bowstring sound, fell like a heavy rain on the heads of the Jin army below the city.

  At the same time, catapults were also moved onto the city walls and fired at the crowded Jin army.

  This crossbow is actually a large repeating crossbow, but it must be operated by two people to fire. The crossbow arrows used are very similar to javelins, but under the powerful propulsion, their power can be much greater than that of javelins. One bolt from a crossbow can penetrate three or four tightly packed Jin soldiers at once, with a shocking killing power.

  Looking at the soldiers of the two armies still fighting desperately on the city wall of Chuzhou, Wanyan Liang's brow furrowed even deeper. This was already the fourth time they had climbed up the city wall today, but they were still driven down by the Song army. Although the number of Song army soldiers was not large, it seemed that the Jin army just lacked that final bit of strength.

  "Traitor! General Kong, order the Han army to retreat. Now I'll lead the Jurchen army to attack the city myself! I don't believe these weak and feeble southerners are braver than us Jurchens!" Wanyan Liang saw that the Han army and the Khitan and Xi armies from the north were unable to breach the city walls, and finally couldn't hold back, deciding to lead the Jurchen army into battle himself.

  His decision made the Song army on the city wall suddenly tight. After all, the main general of the Jin army personally took to the battlefield, which would greatly boost the morale of the Jin army, and he also led the Jurchen troops with the strongest combat effectiveness in the Jin army, and the attack power increased several times.

  Cheng Xi was defended by Han Shizhong, who, as the commander of an army, did not intend to hide in the rear and avoid battle. As soon as the Jin army began its attack, he took up his great sword and ascended the city wall.

  Now he was covered in blood all over his body, but most of it was Jin's. The people of Chuzhou shouted and launched a fierce battle with the Jin army soldiers who were attacking the city head-on. On the not-so-wide city wall, thousands of people from both sides were entangled together, the dazzling cold light emitted by the knives and guns almost stimulated people's eyes to the point where they couldn't open them.

  As Wanyan Liang personally led the charge, the Jin army launched another attack. The Jurchen tribesmen were at the forefront of the battle, their combat effectiveness and bravery far surpassing that of the Han army and northern tribes before. The city wall on the west side of Chuzhou was immediately in a precarious situation.

  "Kill! Drive these golden dogs away!" Han Shizhong's eyes were wide open, and with a loud shout, he stabbed his knife into the chest of a Jin soldier.

  But just at this moment, he felt a gust of wind behind his head. He hastily lowered his head and dodged. A long knife had swept over the top of his head.

  Han Shizhong turned his head to look, and saw that it was a young Jurchen general wearing yellow armor, with a small braid tied behind his head and a yellow ribbon on his helmet. This person was very young, looking less than twenty years old, with a sturdy build and dark skin.

  Han Shizhong knew that this must be a high-ranking general in the Jin army, looking at the yellow ribbon on his helmet, indicating that he was a prince of the Jin country, and it was likely that he was Wanyan Liang or Xishi Lie Zining. If he killed this person, the crisis in the west might be resolved. He immediately shouted loudly, swung his sword and slashed fiercely at the Jin general.

  The Jin army general was also straightforward, swinging his long knife with both hands and engaging in a fierce battle.

  All of a sudden, there was a loud "clang" as the two knives clashed, and both men felt their wrists go numb.

  The Jin general was none other than Wanyan Liang, who sized up Han Shizhong and was secretly shocked. He coldly said: "You Song general still has some courage! Unfortunately, you are now at the end of your strength, the Southern Emperor is incompetent, and the world will eventually be unified by my Great Jin! You might as well surrender now, my Great Jin will not treat you unfairly!"

  Han Shizhong burst out laughing and said: "You, a little brat from the Jin State, dare to be so arrogant! Let me, your grandfather Han, teach you a lesson!"

  As soon as he finished speaking, Han Shizhong swung his big knife and chopped towards Wanyan Liang fiercely. Only then did Wanyan Liang realize that he had actually encountered Han Shizhong. He was overjoyed in his heart, thinking to himself that if he could kill Han Shizhong, wouldn't the city of Chuzhou be easily obtainable?

  When the two clashed again, they both used their signature moves...

  The same scene also occurred in Chengnan and Chengdong, where both the Song and Jin armies committed all their available forces and engaged in a fierce battle to the death.

  The Chu State Song army defending the city had a force of 5,000 regular troops and 2,000 temporary civilians, but at first they did not join the battle, only transporting the wounded and arrows. However, later seeing the critical situation on the city wall, they put down their work and took up arms to join the battle. But after all, they were not professional soldiers, and their combat power was much weaker than that of the Jin army. Therefore, the situation became more and more critical.

  Just at this critical moment, the city wall suddenly erupted in a loud shout, and Xu Shu and Yu Yunwen led hundreds of soldiers who had just recovered from illness to support them.

  The soldiers' faces were somewhat pale, but their footsteps were light and swift as they ran. However, a fierce and ruthless glint appeared in their eyes. They raised the weapons in their hands and charged up to the city wall, throwing themselves into the intense battle.

  They shot stones and feathered arrows down at the city, some of them pushing down the siege ladders with all their might, fighting hard against the enemy attacking the city tower, without regard for their own serious illness.

  The defenders on the city wall saw the arrival of reinforcements and immediately boosted their morale, shouting loudly: "Reinforcements have arrived! Everyone, let's make a bit more effort and drive these golden dogs away!"

  The Chu State soldiers and civilians waved their weapons up and down, killing dozens of Jin soldiers instantly. In an instant, the momentum of the Jin army climbing the city wall was suppressed.

  Xu Shuwei and Yu Yunwen, although they were both civil officials, could not directly participate in battles. However, they could strategize behind the scenes, deploy troops, discover where there were weaknesses, and when the situation was tense, immediately command this batch of elite soldiers to plug up the gaps.

  Under their leadership, the Song army on the city walls fought more and more bravely, almost everyone took ten as one, sacrificing their lives to fight a bloody battle with the enemy.

  Under the unity of the military and civilians in Chu State, the originally precarious defense situation of Chu State was miraculously stabilized.

  The enemy under the city wall was gradually unable to cope with the cloud ladder being pushed down one by one, while the enemy on the city head was constantly decreasing under the attack of the Song army.

  When Wanyan Liang learned that the Song general he had fought was Han Shizhong, the commander of Chuzhou, he became determined to kill him, thinking that this would shake the morale of the soldiers and civilians in Chuzhou, causing the city to fall without a fight. However, Han's swordsmanship proved to be quite formidable, and although Wanyan Liang was also considered brave among the Jurchen generals, he could not gain the upper hand against Han, and the two men fought to a draw.

  As the fresh troops of the Song army arrived on the city wall, the situation for the Jin army was becoming increasingly unfavorable. Wanyan Zongmin saw this clearly from below the city and also saw Wanyan Liang climb up onto the city wall; fearing he would suffer a defeat, he immediately ordered the retreat to be sounded and withdrew his troops.

  At this time, the sky was already dusk, and Wanyan Liang heard the sound of the golden drum, as if he had been greatly forgiven. He hastily ordered the Golden Army to withdraw. Since they retreated in an orderly manner and their military strength was strong, Han Shizhong did not dare to open the city gate to pursue them, and could only let them leave.

  In the dead of night, the river wind blew and the flags of the Jin army's large camp on the north bank of the Huai River flapped loudly.

  Inside the Golden Army's commander tent, however, it was brightly lit.

  "It seems that we have underestimated the determination of the Chu State Song Army to resist. Although more than half of their military strength is unable to fight, they have mobilized all the civilians in the city who are not infected with the disease to defend the city walls, greatly increasing our difficulty in attacking the city. As a result, although our army has already exhausted its efforts, it still falls short of success." After a day's battle, Wanyan Liang had a new appreciation for the Song Army and no longer thought that the Han army led by Kong Yanjiu was weak yesterday.

  "King of Nine, shall we continue our fierce attack?" Kong Yanzhou asked with some trepidation.

  In the past two days, his Han army was the most heavily damaged due to its vanguard position in the charge. Several of its commanders were killed in action, and even more officers at the level of commander-in-chief and captain were killed.

  Wanyan Zongmin hesitated for a moment before saying, "If we simply launch a strong attack, although our army's strength will surely take down Chu State, our army will also be unable to continue advancing southward and realize the plan of encircling the Song army's rear in Huainan. Therefore, we must think of another way."

  He turned around and asked Kong Yanjiu, "General Kong, I remember you saying yesterday that there was a Song general named Geng Zhong in the city of Chuzhou who is your fellow townsman?"

  Kong Yangzhou hastily bowed and said, "Replying to the Ninth King, yes! I had a rather deep relationship with Geng Zhao before surrendering to the Great Jin, but after that, since we belonged to two opposing countries, there was little contact between us!"

  "What do you think of this person's temperament? Is there any hope of persuading him to surrender to our great Jin?" asked Wanyan Zongmin.

  "It's probably difficult, when I defected to the Great Qi back then, I invited him to come with me, at that time he was just a personal soldier under Han Shizhong, but he refused to go with me, saying he would rather die for the Song Dynasty. Now that he has become the Defense Envoy of Chu State, it's probably even harder to persuade him!" Kong Yanjiu said with a difficult expression.

  Wanyan Bright had an idea and said: "Ninth Uncle, I have a plan that can cause discord within Chu State, but it requires General Kong's cooperation!"

  "Oh? What clever plan does Liang'er have?" Wanyan Zongmin asked with some surprise.

  "I once heard Zhi Ning say that among Han Shizhong's generals, Hu Fen and Geng Zhong have never gotten along. This is the opportunity we can take advantage of! Liang has a plan, requiring General Kong to write a letter of surrender..." Wanyan Liang began to speak in a low voice about his strategy.

  Kong Yanjiu was overjoyed and said, "The plan to sow discord is excellent! Even if Geng Zhong can't be brought down, Han Shizhong will definitely harbor suspicions against him. As long as there's internal conflict in Chu State, we'll have a great opportunity!"

  Wanyan Zongmin and Xishi Lijing also nodded frequently, this plan even if it doesn't succeed, will absolutely not cause any loss to the Jin army. And once it succeeds, Chu State's morale will definitely plummet, even if there is no internal strife.

  "Good! Then let's proceed with Liang's plan! General Kong, you'll have to put in more effort for this matter!" Wanyan Zongmin said loudly.

  All the generals hurriedly bowed their heads and accepted the order, and began to take action separately.

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