August was ending, the tail end of autumn. The weather was gradually turning cooler, and the leaves of the deciduous trees were turning yellow in large patches. In the vast and hazy autumn wind, they changed the color of the landscape. Search: (Wan Ben Shen Zhan) to read high-quality literature for free.

The rivers and mountains of the Wu Dynasty were indeed changing color as well.

This was an era of emerging heroes and heroines. On both sides of the Yellow River, countless imperial troops and Wu Dynasty rebels participated in the fight against the Jurchen invasion, one after another. Zong Ze, the Red Turban Army, the Eight Character Army, the Five Horse Mountain Rebels, the Great Brightness Sect… individuals, forces, heroes, and knights, all made their struggles and sacrifices in this chaotic tide.

After the armies of Zong Fu and Zong Bi broke through Yingtian, this ancient city had been brutally slaughtered, resembling a ghost town. Not long after Zong Ze passed away, Bianliang was also breached again. The rebel armies north and south of the Yellow River lost their command and control, choosing to resist in their own ways. Although resisters constantly emerged throughout the Central Plains, the area ruled by the Jurchens continued to expand.

More civilians chose to flee south. On the main roads leading from north to south, every major city gradually became overcrowded. This kind of refugee tide was not the same as the occasional famine that broke out in winter; the number of people and the scale were indescribable. Unable to be absorbed by one or two cities, people continued south. The long-peaceful Jiangnan region finally clearly felt the shadow of war approaching and the shudder of a world in turmoil.

Yangzhou City was the temporary imperial residence of Emperor Zhou Yong of the Jian Shuo era. As the saying goes, "Descend to Yangzhou in the misty, flowery third month," and at this time, Yangzhou City was a leading prosperous place in the Jiangnan region, a gathering place for prominent families and wealthy merchants, with brothels and courtesan houses everywhere. The only regret was that Yangzhou was the Jiangnan of culture, not the Jiangnan of geography; it was actually located on the north bank of the Yangtze River.

When Zhou Yong left Yingtian, he originally wanted to cross the river back to Jiangning, but those around him strongly opposed it, saying that the emperor leaving Yingtian was one thing, but if he crossed the Yangtze River again, morale would inevitably be completely lost. Although Zhou Yong scoffed at this, he couldn't resist their objections in the end, and chose Yangzhou, located on the north bank of the Yangtze River, as his base.

Although this place was not the Jiangning he was already familiar with, Zhou Yong found it acceptable. In Jiangning, he had been a idle and mischievous prince. When he ascended the throne and went to Yingtian, the position of emperor bored him to death. Every day, he would play with new concubines in the harem, but he would be protested by the people in the city. He ordered the killing of Chen Dong and Ouyang Che, who had incited public opinion. After arriving in Yangzhou, no one dared to say much anymore, and he could enjoy the city's brothel prosperity to his heart's content every day.

By the end of August, Zhou Yong, who had been promoted to the throne, was seeking pleasure in the palace every day, and also had minor officials outside the palace offer him folk women, having a great time. He mostly left political affairs to Huang Qian Shan, Wang Bo Yan, Qin Hui, and others, who had contributed to his enthronement, calling it "governing by doing nothing." This day, Jun Wu ran to the palace to make a scene, anxiously wanting to return to Jiangning. He chased away all the women around Zhou Yong with red eyes. Zhou Yong was also quite helpless, dismissed those around him, and pulled his son aside to complain.

"You want to return to Jiangning, of course I know. Why wouldn't your father want to return to Jiangning? You are now the crown prince, and I am the emperor. After crossing the river back then, it's not easy to go back now. This way, you help your father think of an idea, how to persuade those ministers…"

"Father, you only want to go back to avoid the war!" Jun Wu said with red eyes, glaring at his father in the yellow robe in front of him. "I want to go back to continue my scientific research! Yingtian wasn't defended, my things are all in Jiangning! I'm about to develop that hot air balloon, and now that the world is in danger, I don't have time to wait! And Father, you... you only know how to drink and make merry every day. Do you know what it's like outside?"

"How could I not know? I want to personally lead an expedition. Jun Wu, what do you think?" Zhou Yong's eyes became serious. His chubby body, wearing a dragon robe, narrowed his eyes, and he actually seemed to have some majesty. But the next moment, that majesty collapsed. "But in reality, we can't win. Jun Wu, you say that I only know how to avoid the war. If I don't avoid the war and lead people out, I'll be captured immediately! What are those soldiers like, what are those ministers like, do you think I don't know? But compared to them, do I know how to fight? Do I know how to play those tricks with them?"

"..."

"Your father! When I was in Jiangning, I hit people on the head with a hammer. It was scary after it was smashed, and I don't want to smash it a second time. I don't understand the affairs of the court. I don't interfere so that one day, when things go wrong, I can pick up the hammer and smash their heads! Jun Wu, you've been smart since you were a child. If you can outsmart them, then do it. Your father will support you, and your imperial sister will also help you. You... you know what to do?"

Jun Wu didn't speak, his eyes red. Zhou Yong patted him on the shoulder and pulled him to sit by the lake on one side of the garden. The emperor was chubby, sitting down like a bear, with his hands drooping.

"Since I was a child, your father has been an idle prince. What the teachers at school taught, what the family expected, was just a prince who knew how to eat, drink, and have fun. Suddenly one day, they said I was going to be the emperor. Can I do it well? I... I don't want to interfere in anything. Let them do it, let Jun Wu do it, otherwise what else can I do?"

He spread his hands. "I know what the world is like. The Jurchens are so powerful that no one can stop them. If we can't stop them, the Wu Dynasty will be over. Jun Wu, if they attack like this, your father... is also very scared. If you want your father to go to the front, your father also doesn't understand how to lead troops. If there's a battle between the two armies, these ministers will all run away, and I won't even know when to run. I thought, anyway, we can't stop them, I can only run backward. If they chase after us, your father will run south. My Wu Dynasty is weak now, but after all, it has two hundred years of foundation. Maybe someday, a hero will really come out... there should be one, right?"

Jun Wu lowered his head. "It's already overcrowded outside. I distribute disaster relief every day, and I feel uncomfortable when I see them. The Jurchens have already occupied the Yellow River line. If we don't defeat them, sooner or later, they will attack."

"Hmm." Zhou Yong nodded.

"I'm anxious. Now I know what Qin Grandpa and the others were feeling when they were in Bianliang..."

"Hmm..." Zhou Yong nodded again. "Your master even killed Zhou Zhe for this matter..."

"He..."

"Alas, your father is just thinking, I may not be a good emperor either. Will there be someone like that one day who will kill your father too?" Zhou Yong patted his son's shoulder again. "Jun Wu, if you see someone like that, you should first win him over and give him important positions. You've been smart since you were a child, and so is your sister. I originally thought, what's the use of you being smart? In the future, you'll also be an idle prince. I originally wanted to make you dumber, but later I thought about it and let you two siblings go. Over the years, your father hasn't managed you, but in the future, you may be able to be a good emperor. That's what I thought when I ascended the throne."

The father and son hadn't communicated much all along. Now, hearing Zhou Yong say these heartfelt words, Jun Wu couldn't get angry. After a moment, Zhou Yong asked, "How is Han Wei's illness?"

Jun Wu shook his head. "It's still not getting better." His first wife's name was Li Han Wei, the daughter of a prominent family in Jiangning. She was beautiful and well-read. After the two got married, they could be considered respectful to each other. But as Jun Wu went to the capital all the way and hurriedly returned to Yangzhou, this journey made the woman fall ill, and she hasn't gotten better yet. A large part of Jun Wu's worries came from this.

"Women are like clothes, you don't need to be too sad."

The emperor waved his hand, saying a comforting sentence, but it was extremely bastard-like.

With these few conversations, Jun Wu couldn't say anything to his father. He left the palace all the way. When he returned to the mansion, a group of monks and witch doctors were chanting and burning incense in the mansion, performing a chaotic dance. Thinking of his wife, who was as thin as a skeleton, Jun Wu became even more upset. He ordered the carriage to go out again. Passing through the still prosperous and exquisite streets of Yangzhou, the autumn wind rustled, and the passersby hurried by. When he went to the city wall like this, he could start to see refugees.

Climbing the city tower, the outside of the city was densely packed with refugees. The setting sun shone down, and the city and mountains all looked magnificent, but Jun Wu felt even more uncomfortable in his heart.

In these days, he had seen more and more things. If he was still full of spirit when his father took the throne, many of his thoughts had now been broken. Just as his father said, he knew what those ministers and troops were like. However, even if he came, he might not do better than these people.

After all, he was just a young man who had just seen this world. If he was a little silly, he might be able to give blind commands full of spirit. It was precisely because he understood somewhat that he knew how complicated the intertwined relationships were when he really took over the affairs. He could support Yue Fei and other generals to train troops, but if he took it a step further, he would touch the entire huge system. Doing one thing might ruin three or four things. Even if he was the crown prince, he wouldn't dare to mess around.

A few years ago, Qin Grandpa and his teacher and the others in Bianliang might have encountered such a thing. This seemingly peaceful city was actually crumbling. The sky was about to fall and the earth was about to collapse. This land was like his wife lying on the bed, as thin as a skeleton, wanting to reverse the decline but unable to do so, watching the arrival of misfortune. He stood on this city wall and suddenly shed tears.

Not long after, the Jurchens broke through Xuzhou, the last line of defense leading to Yangzhou, and crushed towards Yangzhou.

And at this time, they didn't know. In the northwest, the battle between the Huaxia Army and the Jurchen Western Route Army was still going on fiercely.

Fan Hongji rode a horse, running on the rugged mountain road. Although he was covered in dust, the official uniform of the envoy on his body was not too messy.

After the Huaxia Army and the Jurchens started the war, this was his last time representing the Jin Kingdom on a mission to Xiaocang River.

Although the war had already started, the humility of the strong was not shameful. Of course, on the other hand, it also meant that the Huaxia Army's actions had indeed shown surprising strength.

Time returned to the evening of August 25. The Huaxia Black Flag Army and the Jurchen elite cavalry personally led by Wanyan Loushi launched a confrontation. Under the frontal impact of tens of thousands of Jurchen cavalry, the same number of Black Flag infantry were submerged. However, they had not been pushed down frontally. A large number of military formations still maintained their formations in the intense confrontation. Part of the defensive formation was pushed open, but after a moment, the Black Flag Army soldiers began to move closer to their comrades beside them in shouts and battles, and reorganized a solid defensive formation with battalions and companies as the establishment.

When the artillery fire began to sound one after another, the defensive formation even began to advance, actively cutting and squeezing the Jurchen cavalry's forward route. And the Jurchens - or rather, Wanyan Loushi - showed their keenness on the battlefield at this time. Three cavalry detachments almost stuck to the Black Flag Army's military columns, using them as a background, and rushed straight to the Black Flag central formation with cannons. Under the command of Qin Shaoqian, the central formation formed a formation and made a tenacious resistance. The weak points were once chiseled open by the Jurchen cavalry, but they were finally patched up.

The Jurchen cavalry, who failed to succeed in one blow, began to quickly charge and chisel, leave the battlefield, and under the command of Wanyan Loushi, the east side of the battlefield once appeared extremely fierce fighting, like the collision of two huge stone mills. However, before the artillery pushed forward to this point, Wanyan Loushi had also twisted the Jurchen cavalry charging the formation into one strand as much as possible. While maintaining the great deterrent force of the arrows, he left the battlefield and then sprinkled arrows around the battlefield, forcing back Han Jing, and rushed towards the north of Yanzhou City.

This was just a round of fighting. The fierceness and intensity of the confrontation were so astonishing that it was staggering. In a short period of time, the Black Flag Army showed the peak level of formation cooperation ability, while the Jurchen side showed Wanyan Loushi's high sensitivity to the battlefield and his ability to drive the cavalry. When they were about to fall into the quagmire, they quickly gathered the large force, suppressed the Black Flag Army on one side, and ordered the entire army to withdraw from the sticky area in the charge. The Black Flag Army's artillery formation did not even cause large-scale casualties when dealing with these seemingly loose but actually consistent target cavalry - at least, the casualties were much less than the deaths in the confrontation.

What really affected the Jurchen cavalry was first of all the frontal conflict, and secondly the strong crossbows that were massively equipped in the army with the support of the assembly line. When the Black Flag Army began to hold the formation and launched close-range shooting with crossbows against the cavalry, the results were definitely painful for Wanyan Loushi.

And after this short and intense collision, the Jurchen cavalry, who had originally posed to destroy the Black Flag Army in one battle, did not have the slightest intention of fighting and went straight to Yanzhou City. At this time, on the northwest side of Yanzhou City, the military formations composed of infantry and baggage soldiers who had been arranged by Wanyan Loushi and had already withdrawn had begun to attack the city in the chaos.

Soon after, the army led by Hong Ti also arrived, and 5,000 people were invested in the battlefield to intercept the Jurchen infantry's retreat. After Wanyan Loushi's cavalry arrived, they fought with Hong Ti's army to cover the infantry's escape. The cavalry led by Han Jing pursued them, and soon, the Huaxia Army also chased over and joined forces with Hong Ti's army.

The Jurchen elite cavalry who had joined forces with the infantry could not withdraw quickly, and the Huaxia Army's pursuit was not slow. This night, the pursuit and tearing that lasted for most of the night began. On the rugged road of more than thirty miles, both sides continued to pursue and escape in the form of forced march. The Jurchen cavalry team continued to disperse, harassing the Huaxia Army with speed. And the Huaxia Army's formation efficiency was staggering. The cavalry protruded, trying to pull the Jurchen cavalry or infantry into the quagmire of a melee in any form.

In such a dark night, accidents happened to both sides in marching and fighting. Wanyan Loushi's use of troops was unconstrained, and he would occasionally tear the Black Flag Army's team from a distance with several cavalry teams, causing casualties to this side bit by bit. However, the Black Flag Army's aggressiveness and the coordination of infantry and cavalry would also cause the Jurchen side to be in a situation of left and right. Several small-scale killings left the Jurchens with dozens of corpses.

After chasing like this for most of the night, both sides were exhausted and rested after building fortifications at a place two or three miles apart in Huangguoling, northwest of Yanzhou. The next morning, before they had slept well, they saw the Black Flag Army pushing the artillery formation to the front again. When the Jurchens formed a formation, the Black Flag Army had pushed over again. Wanyan Loushi commanded the army to detour, and then fought with the other side with a large-scale cavalry again.

In the next two days, they continued to advance and retreat, with constant friction and conflicts. One had amazing discipline and cooperation ability, and the other had keen control over the battlefield and the ability to use troops that had reached the realm of transformation. The two troops collided madly on this land, like a heavy hammer and an anvil, both fiercely wanting to swallow the other in one bite.

Facing almost the number one army in the world and the number one general in the world, the Huaxia Army's response was so fierce. This was something that no one had expected.

Recalling his previous experiences in Xiaocang River, Fan Hongji had never thought of this, after all, that was Wanyan Loushi.

When he was about to reach Xiaocang River, it began to drizzle in the sky...

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