Chapter 39: Sudden Attack (Part 2)

  Yue Yunping held his long spear, gazing out at the dense black army of Jin soldiers in front of him. He felt the hot blood in his chest suddenly boiling up. The martial valor that had previously been unrelated to him seemed to have instantly filled his entire body...

  "Kill!" With a loud roar, he stabbed fiercely, and a Jin soldier who had just raised his wolf-toothed club to resist was pierced through the heart by him.

  Immediately afterwards, he counterattacked again, and a Jin army soldier who wanted to sneak up on him from the side had his throat pierced by a long spear in an instant, and he fell off his horse with a miserable cry.

  Yue Yun was also stunned at this time. Although he had killed people before in the Battle of Xuzhou, it was absolutely not as brave as it is now.

  He felt that the bravery and bloodiness that originally belonged to Yue Yun in his body seemed to be suddenly activated on this battlefield.

  He felt the long spear in his hand seemed to have merged with himself, and he thought it would stab wherever he wanted.

  Yue Yun's mastery of the Yue family's gun technique became more and more proficient in the midst of slaughter, becoming more and more instinctive.

  Now he is almost one shot one kill, no misses at all. Every time his long gun strikes, it brings a golden army corpse.

  Wanyan Zongmin also picked up his own weapon and began to command the resistance. His eyes scanned around, only to see that they had already become entangled in a melee fight.

  However, what surprised him was that the attacking enemies were all wearing Jin army uniforms, and since it was already late at night, the Jin soldiers couldn't tell who were their own men and who were the enemy.

  The 20,000-strong Golden Army was composed of two forces: half were Wanyan Zongmin's own personal troops, and the other half were Wanyan Liang's troops. They did not know each other, and could only instinctively slash at unfamiliar people. As a result, more died from mutual slaughter than from being killed by the enemy.

  Although the Jin army was twice as large as the invading enemy and was also an elite force, they began to panic without precedent, being on guard against each other and distrustful of one another. Soldiers could not find their commanders, and commanders could not find their soldiers, causing the military orders issued by Wanyan Zongmin to be unable to be effectively transmitted or executed! They had completely fallen into a passive state.

  In this bloody battlefield, a handsome young man with an iron spear gun is very eye-catching. Under his leadership, a group of cavalrymen who are obviously Han people follow him in the Jin army, trampling back and forth! They killed so many Jin soldiers that they cried out for their fathers and mothers, and were at a loss! Although he looks delicate and more like a weak scholar, he is incredibly brave on the battlefield, invincible, and every time he shoots, a Jin soldier falls.

  "Everyone gather around me, pay attention to that white-robed young general, he must be the main general of the Song army, kill him first!" Wanyan Zongmin observed for a moment before discovering the problem and shouted loudly.

  His loud roar finally gave the Jin army soldiers who were at a loss for direction a backbone, and their panic began to subside gradually.

  "Prince Wang is here! Everyone come quickly to protect Prince Wang!"

  The Jin troops flocked to Wanyan Zongmin one after another and gradually gathered together.

  Only this way also made Yue Yun and others suddenly discover the target they wanted to kill this time.

  Yue Yun raised his long spear and shouted loudly: "Brothers, charge! Kill the one wearing a yellow cloak in the Jin army! He is the ninth prince of the Jin thief, Wanyan Zongmin!"

  Hundreds of Song soldiers responded loudly, except for the more than 200 archers and cavalry led by Guan Ling in the outer circle to shoot at the feet of the formation. The rest of the people all drew out their close combat blades, with those holding long guns in front and those holding horse knives behind, shouting and charging towards the Jin army that had just gathered beside Wanyan Zongmin!

  The two sides collided fiercely in front of Wanyan Zongmin more than 50 paces away, and a burst of human shouts and horse neighs erupted.

  The cavalry of both the Song and Jin armies were crying out in dismay as they fell from their horses. At this time, the inferiority of the Jin army's weapons compared to the precision of the Song army became apparent. Most of the Jurchen people used wolf-tooth clubs, which were very powerful when charging straight ahead and could knock a Song soldier's head off with one blow. However, after missing the initial charge, they were slow and clumsy in turning around to deal with enemies on their sides or behind them.

  The Northern Army was the most elite unit in the Yue Family Army, with experience of head-on confrontations against the Jin army's "Iron Floating Diagram" and "Crooked Son Horse" units. Everyone used long spears or cavalry sabers, which were extremely advantageous in this kind of melee battle, especially when dealing with the Jin army's wolf-tooth-club-wielding cavalry.

  Moreover, the cavalry led by Yue Yun was carefully selected from the Beiwei army and had even stronger impact force.

  Niu Tong charged forward, his large axe spinning in a circle, making a loud whooshing sound. His axe weighed 72 catties, and anyone it touched would die instantly.

  The Jurchen cavalry around him were immediately chopped to pieces as soon as they approached, and wherever he passed, no one was not defeated, and those who resisted fell off their horses.

  However, Wanyan Zongmin was indeed an experienced old general. He had already discovered that although the Song army that ambushed him wore Jin army uniforms, the leaders of the several generals had white towels tied around their arms, which were estimated to be their identification marks.

  Wanyan Zongmin immediately shouted in Jurchen: "The enemy has a white scarf wrapped around their arm! Everyone, be careful to kill those with white scarves on their arms! Pay attention to the appearance of the people around you. We Jurchens have a braid on our heads, but the Han people don't! If you see someone without a braid, kill them!"

  After the Jin army soldiers heard this, the situation of misinjury and mutual slaughter was greatly reduced, which made Yue Yun and others feel embarrassed.

  Yue Yun and Niu Tong had already rushed to within thirty paces of Wanyan Zongmin. However, due to the Jin army's absolute numerical superiority and their continuous gathering, the Song army's advance slowed down at this time.

  He slaughtered his way through, only to find the scene before him truly shocking. Field battles were not as prolonged and cruel as siege warfare, but both were intense confrontations between elite forces, with each blow landing in a bloody mess, every strike drawing blood.

  Although they are now very close to Wanyan Zongmin, it is really difficult to advance. The number of Jin army cavalry is much more than that of the Song army, and there are also archers on the wings to support them. Although Guan Jing led the archers to fight against them in the outer circle, the soldiers of the Beiwei army were far inferior to the Jurchen soldiers in terms of horseback riding and shooting skills.

  However, within the inner circle, their own side was at a disadvantage. Even with Niu Tong fighting alongside him, they were still slightly outnumbered and outmatched. Although his brothers were all desperately charging and killing, the Jin army cavalry was gathering around Wanyan Zongmin in increasing numbers, almost forming a large cluster. Those who fell off their horses due to injury at the front would immediately be replaced by those behind them, surging forward in waves. These Jurchen cavalrymen seemed to have also staked their lives on this battle; if Wanyan Zongmin were killed, they could forget about having any future prospects even if they weren't executed upon returning.

  Yue Yun saw the current situation clearly and knew that the battle had reached its most critical moment. Now it was a matter of which side could hold on longer, and who would be more ruthless than the other!

  He knew in his heart that he had no way to retreat now, and if he lost this time, Chu State would likely fall. Then the Jin army would sweep south to Huai State, Yang State, and Cai Shi, attacking the rear of the Southern Song army in Huainan, causing the situation in Jianghuai to collapse. The only chance of victory was to kill Wanyan Zongmin, so that the Jin army lost its commander and had to withdraw.

  At this thought, Yue Yun suddenly raised his arm and shouted loudly: "A narrow road meets the brave! Brothers! Think of the heinous crimes committed by the Jin thief against our great Song Dynasty! We will not rest until we kill the king of the Jin thief!"

  "Kill!"

  Yue Yun only felt his blood boiling, and he swung his whip to strike the war horse under him. The horse galloped forward with all its might. The iron spear in his hand was like a swimming dragon, left and right, one by one, the Jin army soldiers fell off their horses under his spear.

  Niu Tong let out a loud roar, fiercely wiping the fresh blood from his face, and shouted: "Brothers! The Jin bandits have bullied us Han people for so many years, today is the day to settle the score with them! Let's use the Jin bandits' blood to sacrifice our dead Han civilians! Eldest young master! Remember to collect my body for me!"

  At this time, the big axe in his hand had already been chopped and rolled. So he simply used force to throw the big axe forward, and six or seven Jin army soldiers in front of him were knocked to the ground instantly.

  He suddenly snatched a wolf-toothed club from a nearby Jin soldier, swung it heavily towards the front, and two Jin soldiers cried out in agony, instantly knocking their heads and necks to pieces.

  "Hum! You gold thieves have killed countless Han civilians with wolf-tooth clubs, today you'll also taste the flavor of wolf-tooth clubs!" Niu Tong wielded the wolf-tooth club, spurred his horse's belly, and charged fiercely towards Wanyan Zongmin who was only over twenty zhang away from him!

  Yue Yun's heart was also boiling with hot blood!

  How could this raid have failed? How could it fail?

  With such brave generals under his command, how could he allow the Battle of Chu State to be lost and the tragedy of Fengbo Pavilion to recur a year later!

  How can we make the generals and soldiers of the Yue Family Army die or be demoted from now on!

  How can we allow the Hans of Zhongyuan to fall under the iron hooves of foreign tribes once again, and let the tragedy of Yaoshan reappear a hundred years later?

  Perhaps even heaven itself could no longer bear such a tragedy and so sent me here, becoming the reason for Yue Yun's existence.

  In front of Jin Jun's formation, Wanyan Zongmin widened his eyes and stared at the Song army soldiers who, despite their heavy casualties, were still charging towards him without hesitation! He was stunned.

  He had previously fought with Aguda Emperor Taizong against the Liao army, captured Emperor Yelü Yanxi of Liao, and followed Xue Huan and Wuzhu to conquer Bianjing, capturing Emperors Huizong and Qinzong of Song. Wherever he went, no one was able to resist him.

  This time to the front line to comfort the troops, he also relied on the young emperor of Jin Dynasty, Wanyan Zongbi's favor and trust, and finally got a fat post.

  In Bianjing, he heard Wuzhu say that the Yue family army was brave and powerful, but he didn't think much of it, thinking that Wuzhu had exaggerated the facts to make excuses for his own defeat.

  It can be seen now that Wuzong absolutely did not exaggerate the facts, and the Song army in front of him is absolutely comparable to the elite soldiers of the Jurchen people when they first rose up.

  It is worth noting that in those years, the Jurchen iron cavalry was invincible, and even the Emperor Tianzuo of the Liao Dynasty, the first powerful nation, lamented, "The Jurchens are not satisfied with ten thousand, and ten thousand cannot be defeated."

  But now, these female warriors under his command seem to be no match for the Song army in front of them.

  Yue Yun then used his spear to take down two Jin soldiers, and together with Niu Tong, they killed their way to within 20-30 feet of Wanyan Zongmin. The bodyguards beside Wanyan Zongmin saw that the situation was not good and hastily said to him: "Your Highness, quickly retreat! The Song army is too powerful, let's first withdraw back to our camp."

  Wanyan Zongmin had been unwilling to retreat previously, fearing a collapse in morale, but seeing that if he didn't retreat now, he would really be buried here.

  Hearing the words of his loyal guards, Wanyan Zongmin did not insist on staying behind. His face turned iron-gray as he nodded slightly and then turned his horse's head, retreating to the rear with several loyal guards escorting him from either side.