Two days before the end of February, the weather had begun to warm, and the fields near Zhending were ablaze with wildflowers of every hue. Search: \(\"Complete\"\"Book\"\"God\"\"Station\"\)-Free to read premium literature.

The land was quiet, crows descending to peck at the corpses among the wildflowers. The spreading blood had begun to congeal. In Zhending Prefecture, a great battle had ended a day before. Iron hooves had swept across the land, radiating outwards for dozens of miles, and over a hundred thousand troops were in full retreat.

In the second month of the second year of the Wujian Shuo era, the Jurchens swore an oath to launch a third invasion of the Wu Dynasty, with the first wave launched by the Jurchen Central Route Army, led by Nianhan. On the 23rd of February, they encountered a Wu army of 150,000 men, led by the Wu general, Hou Xin, near Yanmen Pass.

Since the Jurchen army had breached Bianliang and retreated north the previous year, the number of troops nominally belonging to the Wu Dynasty in the area north of the Yellow River and south of Yanmen Pass had been swelling. On one hand, the number of those seeking survival by becoming bandits had skyrocketed, and on the other, the several armies stationed in the area had been expanding their forces in a makeshift manner to prepare for future battles and consolidate their own territories.

After Emperor Kang ascended the throne and changed the era name to Jianshuo, Zong Ze, who was in charge of northern defense, traveled back and forth tirelessly, incorporating several folk forces ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands north of the Yellow River into the Wu Dynasty's regular army system. At this time, these forces of bandits and armies formed the first line of defense against the Jurchens, united in their external resistance while divided internally.

Hou Xin, also known as Hou Wenjing, was originally the commander of the Wusheng Army. When the Jurchens invaded south this time, he did not choose to retreat, telling his subordinates, "When the nation is in peril, a true man must rise to the challenge." So he swore an oath and came. Seeing that the army's morale was high, Zong Han did not engage them immediately, and the two sides probed each other for two days. On the morning of February 26th, he launched an attack on Hou Xin's troops with iron cavalry.

The Wusheng Army had already been defeated by the Jurchens in the previous two southern invasions. This time, it had hastily expanded to 150,000 men, and its quality was uneven. Zong Han launched a night attack. Hou Xin had made some preparations, but after engaging the enemy, a mutiny broke out among the tens of thousands of soldiers. The Jurchen cavalry pierced through the Wusheng Army's defenses like a torrent. That night, the bodies of soldiers killed by the Jurchens piled up like mountains, and the blood flowed like rivers. On the 26th, Yin Shu Ke seized the opportunity to capture Zhending Prefecture.

On the morning of the 27th, scattered soldiers filled the roads and hills south of Zhending. These soldiers, of varying quality, fled south frantically. Some were originally bandits and outlaws who had been recruited and absorbed into the regular army, and were controlled by military law. This had aroused the first wave of bloodiness in fighting the Jurchens, but during the escape, these things finally disappeared.

In Yuanchang County, sixty miles away from Zhending, the first wave of fleeing soldiers was packed, and order had begun to break down. A group of several hundred people drove the people of the county town, informed them of the news of the Jurchens' arrival, and urged everyone to flee. In this drive, they also began to plunder the scarce wealth and grain in the county town, and there were instances of rape of women. County magistrate Liu Dongxiu tried to stop this chaos, but he was killed in the conflict that afternoon, and his body was displayed in the county government hall. The looting soldiers soon scattered like birds and beasts.

This phenomenon occurred in more than just Yuanchang County. Zhending, Taiyuan and other places had already suffered from the war in the previous wars, and in a sense, had almost been abandoned. The soldiers understood that the general trend in the vicinity was gone. Those with enthusiasm and concern rushed south to join other armies and militias, while more than half began to think for themselves, either fleeing into the mountains or scattering in the distance. During this period, there were many who looted nearby villagers and enjoyed themselves in a "live for today" fashion.

In times of peace, the bandits recruited became soldiers, and after the defeat, the soldiers turned into bandits again.

The defeat and escape of 100,000 people stirred the flight of more, and scouts and spies scattered in different directions at an even faster rate. The message of the Jurchens' aggressive invasion was pushed like a tide to the entire world in this way.

More troops gathered north of the Yellow River, but after witnessing the power of the Jurchen war god Wanyan Zonghan's use of troops again, everyone began to adopt a more cautious attitude, not daring to make rash advances.

On the Yellow River defense line, Zong Ze quickly gathered the limited forces at hand, and fortified defenses along Bianliang and the Yellow River. While writing letters to stabilize the morale of several militia forces north of the Yellow River, he also sent a memorial to Yingtian, hoping that the current emperor could resolutely resist, so as to boost the morale of the army.

And in Yingtian, more information and disputes filled the Golden Luan Hall. Emperor Zhou Yong was completely stunned. He had only been on the throne for half a year, and the invincible Jurchen army had already invaded south. This time, Wanyan Zonghan led the Central Route Army straight at him. The direction of Taiyuan had no danger to defend, and the Jurchen princes Wanyan Zongfu, Wanyan Zongbi and others led the Eastern Route Army towards Shandong, shouting the slogans of destroying the Wu Dynasty and capturing Zhou Yong alive. At this time, although the number of troops on the northern defense line reached its peak, it was large but ineffective. As to whether they could stop the Jurchens, no one in the court really knew.

During this period, the Left Chancellor Li Gang still advocated strict defense, resisting the Jurchens at the Yellow River line, and waiting for the king's army to crush the Jurchen army. And in Yingtian City, in order to resist the Jurchens, the hearts of the people were agitated. The Taixue students Chen Dong, Ouyang Che and others ran around every day, calling for resistance.

But with the failure of the first two resistance to the Jurchens, the voices of the pro-peace faction in the court had also risen. Unlike the situation when Tang Ke and others were reprimanded for being afraid of war, the voices of those who advocated fleeing south, led by Right Chancellor Huang Qian Shan and Privy Councilor Wang Boyan, had also gained a market. Many people believed that if the Jurchens were really powerful and difficult to control, perhaps they would have to go south first to buy time with space, and use the crisscrossing terrain of the southern waterways to contain the Jurchens' advantage in cavalry warfare.

After all, only a year had passed since Emperor Jingping was kidnapped to the north, and it was still the greatest shame of the entire Wu Dynasty. If the newly enthroned Emperor Jianshuo was also kidnapped, the Wu Dynasty would probably be over.

Logically speaking, in the next few years, this rapidly rising and even undefeated Jurchen army seemed invincible and uncontrollable - although there seemed to be one that used to be, it was a little too much to consider it for the current court officials. After all, the leader of that army had once looked down upon them in the Golden Luan Hall and said, "A bunch of trash."

If that person had only killed Tong Guan and Zhou Zhe, that would have been fine. However, such a sentence actually meant that in the other party's eyes, the other people were no different from the corrupt officials and traitors they spoke of. This was something that even Li Gang and others could not tolerate.

Now, the situation in the northwest where that person was located was completely unpredictable.

Little Cang River had also suddenly become tense.

The training of soldiers was carried out every day. A large number of materials that could be scrounged from the outside were constantly moving in and out of the mountains - including the dealings with Qingmu Village.

By the river beach, a training session had just ended. Luo Ye threw down the soldiers who were almost exhausted, quickly washed his face with river water, and walked quickly to the barracks. He took out a small notebook and charcoal pencil, and walked towards the cluster of houses on the hillside when he met two soldiers who were running in a hurry with serious expressions. Both of these people were members of the Zhuji (Bamboo Records) system's secret investigation department. Luo Ye knew them, grabbed one of them, and asked, "What's wrong?"

When the news of the Jurchen invasion came, the atmosphere in the entire Little Cang River Valley also began to be tense and murderous. These people in charge of intelligence would probably be asked many times every day, hoping to find out the specific news from the outside world in advance. The man was very familiar with Luo Ye, and was also a member of the Huayan Society. He looked around and was a little embarrassed: "It's not about outside affairs, this time it may be punished."

"What's going on?" Luo Ye frowned, "Did you commit a crime?"

"In the north, the matter of Shopkeeper Lu, you also know about it. Someone told his family, today Mingfang's mother went to Mr. Ning to cry, hoping for a definite news."

He spoke quickly, and when he talked about this matter, Luo Ye nodded, he also knew this news. Originally in the Wu Dynasty, the Right Chancellor's mansion had a secret investigation department, some of which had been integrated into Zhuji. After Ning Yi rebelled, Zhuji's intelligence system still used the name of secret investigation, and one of the three responsible persons was Shopkeeper Lu Yannan. Last year, Shopkeeper Lu was the first to open up the trade line in the north to the Jin Kingdom and redeemed some craftsmen who had been captured by the Jurchens. His son Lu Mingfang loved to talk and laugh, and had some friendship with Luo Ye. Now he was not yet twenty years old, and had always been doing things with Lu Yannan.

Before this Jurchen invasion, the north suddenly began to purge the southern Han traitors. After a few days of silence, members of Zhuji who had escaped back from the north brought back the news. The intelligence team led by Lu Yannan was the first to bear the brunt, and was ambushed in Yunzhong. It was feared that Shopkeeper Lu had been killed, and the rest were also in grave danger. This time, the actions of the Jurchen senior officials were extremely sharp. In order to cooperate with the army's southward movement, they set off a terrible bloody storm in the area of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun. Any Han Chinese who was slightly suspected was slaughtered.

Although Zhuji and his people had plans in advance to face this kind of thing, they also suffered heavy losses in this atmosphere of slaughter that did not treat the Han Chinese as human beings. Then the news of the Jurchen army's large-scale southward invasion came over.

Luo Ye thought for a while: "Aunt Huo is actually a sensible person, she shouldn't cause too much trouble for Mr. Ning."

"It's not for this..." The man sighed, and saw another companion waving to urge him from afar. He shook his hand, "Hey, you'll know in a while. Don't spread this matter, don't even mention it to anyone."

He strode away, and Luo Ye reacted: "I know."

In the courtyard on the hillside, Su Tan'er accompanied the crying woman from the Lu family, comforting her gently - in fact, for any woman, with the possibility of her husband and son having died, comfort was probably powerless.

And in another room for discussion, the middle and high-level officials of the Zhuji intelligence department had gathered. Ning Yi looked at them coldly: "...You think there are no problems with the people in the valley. You think your friends are loyal and reliable. You yourselves think that some things are big things and some things are small things, so you can take small things lightly. Do you know that you are doing intelligence!"

"You may not be able to see your importance now, even if I have repeatedly told you! You are the most important part of the war! Knowing the enemy's plans first! Knowing the enemy's plans first! What is the concept! What enemies are you facing!"

"The Jurchens, they have already begun to invade south, no one can stop them! We can't either! Little Cang River Qingmu Village has less than 50,000 people together, not even enough to fill their teeth. You think the people around you are reliable, maybe someone who is greedy for life and afraid of death will turn to them! Your trust is meaningless, your assumptions are meaningless, discipline is meaningful! You have one less negligence, one more achievement, your companions, may live hundreds or thousands more, since you think they are trustworthy and reliable, you should have the strictest discipline to be responsible for them."

"Aunt Huo is a reasonable woman, but no matter whether she is reasonable or not, Shopkeeper Lu may still not come back. If you were more powerful, you might have noticed their actions before the Jurchens acted. Do you have room for improvement? I think we can start with our own weaknesses first. This time, anyone who has discussed undisclosed news with people around him will be punished! Do you think there is a problem?"

After he finished speaking, a burst of "no" sounded in the room.

Ning Yi knocked on the table a few times: "The Jurchens are coming, it's hard to say whether we will be affected, but it is very possible, no amount of preparation may be enough. Defeating Xixia is not a good thing, we have entered other people's sight too early, this is actually the worst situation, you..."

Before he finished speaking, someone reported outside the door, it was Xiao Hei who was responsible for sending messages to him. He walked over and said a few words, Ning Yi paused, and then looked at the people in the room:

The worst situation has come.

On this day, few of the people in the room heard the content of that sentence, and even if they did, they didn't spread it. However, most people in the valley still learned what happened that night. The envoy sent by the Jurchen army had arrived in the valley and delivered the final ultimatum to Little Cang River.

Hearing this news, some in the valley were indignant, some were excited, and some were apprehensive. Without going through the organization above, Luo Ye and others spontaneously gathered the soldiers, held meetings to boost morale, and strengthened their fighting spirit. But of course, the real decision still had to be made by Ning Yi.

No one knew what Ning Yi talked about with the envoy that night. The next day, after finishing training, Luo Ye and others went to class according to the scheduled arrangement, gathered together, and discussed the situation of this Jurchen army's southward invasion.

At this time, the information about the Jurchen army's movements was already clear in the valley. The Central Route Army Zong Han, the Eastern Route Army Zong Fu, and Zong Bi, were all rushing directly to Yingtian, so there was no need to consider them. And the real threat to the northwest was the Jurchen's Western Route Army. In this army, the Jurchens only constituted ten thousand people, but the leader must not be underestimated, it was Wanyan Lou Shi, one of the most outstanding generals in the Jurchen army.

This person had many military exploits in the Jurchen army. It was he who captured the Emperor Tianzuo of Liao and Yelü Dashi. During the two Jurchen invasions of the Wu Dynasty, he had countless victories in Taiyuan, Guanshan and other places. He was best at using Jurchen soldiers as the core, supplemented by surrendered soldiers and puppet soldiers, to expand his own tactics. He often had more and more soldiers and generals under his command, and he was extremely skilled in political and military strategy and tactics. Even among the Jurchens who produced so many stars at this time, he was probably the strongest at the tactical level.

As Ning Yi said, while defeating Xixia, Little Cang River had also fallen into the eyes of the Jurchens in advance. If the arrival of the Jurchen envoy meant the intentions of the Jin Kingdom's senior officials towards this side, the army of Little Cang River would most likely have to face this invincible Jurchen general. Although the Black Flag Army had the record of breaking the Xixia army of 100,000 with 7,000 people, the enemies they had defeated successively on the other side probably numbered in the millions, and there were countless battles with a disparity in strength of more than one to ten.

A group of people were discussing in the room, and gradually the sound of talking came from outside the door. The voice included Ning Yi, and also a few slightly strange Han words. Everyone stopped discussing, and Ning Yi and the figure wearing Jin Kingdom official uniform appeared at the door.

With a "swish" sound, everyone looked at the door and stood up together. The Jin Kingdom envoy was obviously stunned for a moment, Ning Yi looked around at the people inside: "This is the envoy from the Jin Kingdom, Fan Hongji, Ambassador Fan. Mr. Fan, these are the children of my army." He spread his hands, "Let's go."

Fan Hongji looked around and smiled: "As expected of heroes and heroes, no wonder they can achieve such a record, oh, by the way, Fan Mou remembered one thing."

"Oh?"

"When leaving Yunzhong, Lord Gushen and Abbot Shi asked Fan Mou to bring two things and show them to Mr. Ning. Now that there are so many people, you might as well take a look together."

As Fan Hongji said, the two guards who followed behind had come over, took out two large boxes that had been hanging by their sides, and walked into the room. Chen Fan came over with a smile, Ning Yi also spread his hands and smiled: "Is it a gift? Let's go to the side to take a look."

"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter."

The two were tall, presumably also warriors in the Jurchen army, and were immediately held down by Chen Fan. In the simple resistance, with a "pa" sound, one of the boxes was squeezed open, and Fan Hongji opened the box with the trend, and some lime shook out. Fan Hongji copied the things inside into his hands, Ning Yi's eyes slightly condensed, his smile remained unchanged, but many people inside had already seen it.

It was a head.

There was a moment of silence inside and outside the room. In the faintness, it seemed that someone's fist was clenched slightly. Ning Yi's voice sounded: "What do you mean by bringing this kind of thing over?" His words had become plain, and he no longer blocked the other party. The envoy named Fan Hongji smiled, took the pickled head, walked into the door, and placed the head on the table. The other guard also took the wooden box in, put it down, and opened the box.

In the room, everyone looked at this side calmly, Fan Hongji's eyes met theirs, and he smiled and swept over.

"It's nothing, not long ago, some people made trouble in Yunzhong Prefecture, these are two of them. They wanted to buy Han slaves in Yunzhong and send them back to the Central Plains. Our Jin Kingdom does not allow this kind of thing, but these two are warriors. After they were caught, no matter how they were tortured, they refused to say their origins, and finally committed suicide. Lord Gushen admired their courage and decisiveness very much, and said, this may be your people, I would like Fan Mou to bring them to you to recognize them, if it is true, it is better to let them be buried in peace."

Fan Hongji smiled, his eyes were calm, Ning Yi's eyes were also calm, with a smile, and the eyes of a group of people in the room were also calm and calm, and some people's mouths slightly pulled out an arc of laughter. This was an extremely strange silence, and murderous intent seemed to be brewing and spreading. However, Fan Hongji was not afraid of anyone, he was the envoy of the strongest army in the world, he did not have to fear anyone, and he did not have to fear anything.

On the table, Lu Yannan's eyes opened, quietly staring at the front, empty and deathly silent.

Just as the Jurchen army pounced on the entire world, in this corner of the northwest, time, for a moment, froze.

A small interlude…

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