Summer Village.

When the wind and snow lessened, the people in the valley received messages from the front, followed by figures stretching from the wind and snow.

Infantry under Yue Fei brought over a thousand people rescued from the Mutuogang camp into the valley. Since the message had been sent in advance, bonfires had already been lit in the valley and hot porridge was cooked. Blankets and lodgings were prepared for those who had trekked. Because the valley was not very large, after passing through the barriers formed by chevaux-de-frise and trenches, what appeared before the eyes of these people who had been bullied was the circle upon circle, row upon row of soldiers above the valley floor. Knowing they were back, everyone came out, and in the wind and snow, over ten thousand figures stretched out before their eyes…

Afterward, these figures also raised the knives and spears in their hands, making sounds of cheers and roars, shaking the sky.

Some of the rescued burst into tears on the spot.

After the defeat on the morning of September 25th, Ning Yi gathered these routed soldiers, racking his brains to boost morale. In the past two months, the first batch of people who followed him played an excellent exemplary role. After that, a lot of propaganda was done, forming a relatively fanatical and consistent atmosphere in the camp. A lot of training was also conducted, but even so, it was not something that could be changed in a day. Even after some ideological work, Ning Yi did not dare to pull these more than ten thousand people out to fight a tough battle.

However, the propaganda content in the valley before was originally about the suffering of these people's families after the country was destroyed and their homes were ruined, about the tragedy of Bianliang, about the history of the Five Hu and the "two-legged sheep." After really listening to it, there was sorrow and despair, but to inspire generosity and tragedy, it was just empty talk on paper. However, when the news came that Ning Yi and others led the army to raid Mutuogang, burned food and grass, and even rescued more than a thousand people, everyone's minds were truly uplifted.

If all the previous statements were just warm-ups and foreshadowing, only when this news arrived did all the efforts truly form a circle. In the past two days, Wen Ren'er spared no effort to publicize these things: the Jurchens are not invincible, we even rescued our compatriots, those people suffered so much torment… and so on. When these people's figures finally appeared before everyone's eyes, all the propaganda was put into practice.

The roars that rang out in the valley at this time were truly cheers and roars from everyone's heart. However, they also discovered that the cavalry did not follow.

Wen Ren'er asked Yue Fei and others the reason. In the valley, the warm atmosphere of welcoming these poor people continued. The reason why the cavalry had not followed also spread.

On the way back to Summer Village, the cavalry was guarding the side because the infantry and the rescued people were not moving fast. And because Zhang Linghui and Liu Shunren's ten thousand people might block their way, not far from Summer Village, Qin Shaoqian, Ning Yi and others led the cavalry to block the way of Zhang and Liu's troops.

At this time, the wind and snow stretched, and through the mountains of Summer Village, the signs of war could not be seen. However, using two thousand cavalry to stop tens of thousands of troops may be able to retreat, but if a fight breaks out, the losses will still be significant. After learning of this news, some people came forward to volunteer. These people included Liu Huizu and Qiu Ju, who were originally generals in the Wu Dynasty army, as well as newcomers who were later promoted after Ning Yi and Qin Shaoqian integrated them. Several generals were obviously elected by the crowd and had a high reputation. As they came over, the remaining soldiers and generals also swarmed forward, their blood surging and their knives shining.

"We are hiding in the rear, we shouldn't let these brothers shed blood in the front—"

"Ten thousand people dare to challenge us, we will kill them and devour them alive—"

"Brothers, we've been holding back for so long, training for so long, it's time to give up this life! Let's see who is still a coward—"

"Give up this life, there is no retreat!"

At this time, the valley was like a pot that had exploded. In the echoes of the crowd, the fighting spirit was awe-inspiring. Wen Ren'er was concerned about the battle ahead and wanted to send people to respond, but then suppressed everyone's emotions.

"With a great battle ahead, military orders are like mountains, not child's play! Since General Qin sent someone back, ordering us not to act rashly, he must have a plan. You all cheer up, the disgruntled army is outside, are you afraid there will be no battles to fight! The most taboo thing when facing the enemy is anxiety! Although the disgruntled army is not as good as the main force of the Jurchens, it is also a strong army in the world—sharpen your knives and wait quietly—"

After two months of integration in the valley, in addition to Qin Shaoqian, the central command was also responsible for the Zhuji and Xiangfu systems under Ning Yi. As soon as Wen Ren'er gave the order, although the generals were unwilling, they did not dare to disobey. They had to suppress their emotions and order their soldiers to prepare for battle and wait quietly.

The wind and snow were heavy. Everyone received the order, but the boiling blood could not be suppressed for a while. The soldiers responsible for the inner circle settled the rescued prisoners, and the soldiers in the outer circle were already sharpening their knives, waiting for the arrival of the Ever-Victorious Army. The atmosphere in the entire valley was solemn. The prisoners who had just been taken to the rear saw the surrounding soldiers wielding their knives and wearing armor, surging forward like waterways.

They knew that a great battle was imminent. However, on this land, thousands of people were already prepared.

Such a team can defeat the Ever-Victorious Army, right… many people thought so.

Before long, on the side of the mountain, they saw cavalry shadows breaking through the wind and snow and sweeping along the white mountain road, one horse, two horses, gradually to hundreds and thousands of horses. It was precisely the elite cavalry team led by Qin Shaoqian, Ning Yi and others, gathering into a torrent and galloping back…

****************

Fu Lu's figure ran through the mountains, like a flash of lightning that melted into the wind and snow. He was following far behind the cavalry team. Even though the two officers accompanying him also had some martial arts skills, they had already been left behind by him.

Just now, in the snowy mountains, the confrontation between two thousand cavalry and tens of thousands of troops was solemn and about to break out. But in the end, they did not go in the direction of the duel.

More than two thousand people blocked the Ever-Victorious Army for the purpose of covering the infantry in the rear. They chose to show up on the snowy ridge, and in a moment, they exerted great pressure on the tens of thousands of Ever-Victorious Army. When the sound of the scabbards and saddles beating came again and again, each time it was like accumulating the power of a charge. The flags of the large army below fluttered, but they did not dare to act rashly. Their position was originally at the most suitable angle for the cavalry to charge, and once more than two thousand people let their horses charge, the consequences would be disastrous.

Among the generals of the Ever-Victorious Army, Guo Yaoshi was the strongest, but Zhang Linghui and Liu Shunren's troops also had four thousand cavalry. However, as light cavalry, it had lost the opportunity to detour and outflank, and it was naturally impossible to charge up the snow slope against the slope. The other party was using the method of "striking with one effort, weakening with the second, and exhausting with the third" to consume the morale of the Ever-Victorious Army. Many times, refraining from firing was more uncomfortable than a charge that occupied an advantage. Fu Lu was lying on the snow, watching the confrontation between the two sides. The wind, snow, and solemnity made the world dark.

This was a true confrontation between strong armies. Every beat of the horse team was as neat as one person, but because it concentrated the power of more than two thousand people, the beat was so heavy that it seemed to be knocking on everyone's heartbeat. Every time the beat came, the other party seemed to be shouting and charging over, consuming the opponent's mental strength. But in the end, they still lined up in the wind and snow. Fu Lu traveled around the Jianghu with Zhou Tong, and knew that many mountain bandits and horse bandits would also use beatings to force the besieged to surrender when they surrounded their prey, but it was absolutely impossible to achieve such uniformity.

When the Ever-Victorious Army was a little unbearable, the cavalry on the snowy ridge almost simultaneously reined in their horses and turned around, disappearing from the sight of the large army at the foot of the mountain in a uniform pace.

This short period of confrontation made the two generals beside Fu Lu feel dry-mouthed and hot all over. Before they could react, Fu Lu had already rushed towards the direction where the horse team disappeared.

Passing through the mountains in front, before long, Fu Lu saw the valley between the snowy ridges. The previous cavalry was detouring into it from the side. On both sides of the view, wooden walls more than ten feet high stretched along the mountains. Although the height of such a city defense was insufficient compared to many small cities and towns, seeing the flames stretching in the valley and the knives and spears like a forest, it was very obvious that they were attracting the Ever-Victorious Army to defend here to the death.

After the defeat, Summer Village was fighting under the name of Qin Shaoqian, the second son of the Right Prime Minister. It had only gathered more than ten thousand people. Before this, there had been some contact with the surrounding forces, and they had a concept of each other, but they had never come to explore. But at this time, looking at it, the momentum revealed here was almost two completely different concepts from the appearance of the Wusheng Army camp.

Before this, Fu Lu was not unaware of the appearance of the Wu Dynasty army. On the contrary, Zhou Tong had wanted to lead troops to fight for the country all his life. They knew everything about the Wu Dynasty army. Therefore, Chen Yanshu won him over to help boost morale. Although the role he could play was not great, Chen Yanshu had been shrinking back, and the 30,000 troops in the garrison were all untrustworthy. He could understand it all. Even if he wanted to blame him, he couldn't say anything. On the contrary, if the army was not like this, it would really be beyond his expectations.

However, the army in front of him, from the previous confrontation to the current situation, the fighting spirit and murderous aura revealed were subverting all these ideas.

In the Wusheng Army for more than a month, he had also vaguely known that Ning Yi, Ning Liheng, was living in Summer Village with Qin Shaoqian. It was just that the capital was in danger and the country was in trouble. He did not have time to entrust Zhou Tong's affairs to him. At this time, he couldn't help but think of the previous dealings with this "heart demon." He wanted to entrust Zhou Tong's news to him because Ning Yi was ruthless towards those green forest people. But at this time, the matter of destroying tens of thousands of Liangshan people and confronting the world's gentry in disaster relief truly appeared in his heart. This man, who seemed to be just a green forest demon and a wealthy merchant, did not know what he and General Qin had done here to turn the entire camp into what it was now.

What exactly do they want to do…

Fu Lu looked into the distance. At the end of the wind and snow was the embankment of the Yellow River. Unlike all the routed army forces entrenched near Bianliang at this time, only this camp seemed to be waiting for the arrival of the Ever-Victorious Army and the Jurchens, and had not even prepared enough retreat routes. More than ten thousand people, once the camp was broken, they did not even have a direction to choose for defeat.

Burn the boats and sink the pots, an army burning with grief is sure to win…

When this thought flashed through his mind, the sound of killing like thunderous roars rang out in the valley…

*****************

Looking at the direction of the wind and snow, Ning Yi, Qin Shaoqian and others rode their horses onto a high platform that had been set up.

At this time, the news that two thousand cavalry had forced more than ten thousand Ever-Victorious Army to not dare to step forward with their momentum alone had already spread in the camp. No matter how strong the combat power was, defense was always more advantageous than offense. Outside the valley, as long as they could avoid fighting, Ning Yi and others would never start a war rashly.

"Brothers! We are back!" The voice spread with the wind and snow. On the high platform was the most persevering, fierce, and most skilled at forbearance and planning young man in this camp. Everyone knew that without him, they would never have achieved the current results. Therefore, as the voice sounded, some people waved their hands and shouted in response. But then, the valley became quiet. The words of the scholar named Ning Yi also seemed calm, even indifferent: "We have brought back your relatives, and we have also brought back your enemies. Next, there will be no chance to rest."

"Outside the mountain, eleven thousand disgruntled soldiers are rushing over. I don't want to evaluate how powerful they are. I just want to tell you that they will become more and more. Guo Yaoshi has 25,000 men under his command, Mutuogang has 10,000 men, and there are 57,000 men outside Bianliang City. I don't know how many people will come to attack us here. There is only one chance for victory, hold on…" he said, "Hold on."

"Survive this winter, and when spring comes, victory will come. You don't have to think about retreat, you don't have to think about what it will be like after defeat. Two months ago, you suffered a humiliating defeat here. Such a thing will not happen again. This winter, every inch of land under your feet will be stained red with blood, either yours, or the enemy's, the disgruntled army's, the Jurchens'. I don't need to tell you how difficult it is, because this is the most difficult thing you can think of in the world, but I can tell you that when the blood flows like a river here, I will be with you; all the generals here… and all the messy generals, will be with you; your brothers will be with you; one million people in Bianliang will be with you; the fate of this world will be with you. If we lose, we will all perish together. If we win, you will have done the most difficult thing in the world."

When he talked about the messy generals, he waved his hand towards the middle-level generals beside him, but no one laughed.

"So, including victory, including all the messy things, are things for us to think about. You are very lucky, because now you only have one thing to think about, that is, next, no matter how many people come from outside, Zhang Linghui, Liu Shunren, Guo Yaoshi, Wanyan Zongwang, disgruntled army, Jurchens, whether it is a thousand people, ten thousand people, or even a hundred thousand people, you bury them all here, with your hands, feet, weapons, teeth, until there is no more room to bury people here, until you walk in blood, and bones and internal organs are submerged to your ankles—"

On the wooden platform, Ning Yi's voice, which had become high-pitched, swept out with the wind and snow. At this moment, he paused, and then completed the speech quietly and simply.

He said: "Kill."

The surroundings were silent for a moment, and then the people nearby said: "Kill!"

The voices of the people in the rear also rang out: "Kill—"

After another moment of silence, the voices of nearly 20,000 people, like thunderous roars: "Kill————————————" shook the entire sky, and the earth was shaking.

Under the ice surface of the Yellow River, there were surging undercurrents. Soon after, the large army of the Ever-Victorious Army appeared outside the valley.

***************

Zhang Linghui and Liu Shunren looked at the situation of this camp on the snow slope.

On the front of the camp, there was indeed a clear road, but in front of it, piles of snow, chevaux-de-frise, and trenches formed a difficult area to launch a charge. This area extended to the interior of the camp.

However, the walls of the camp were not high. It was not easy to build a defense line of more than ten feet in a hurry to protect everything. Even if some places had sharpened wooden thorns and tied up gun forests, the blocking effect that could be achieved was probably still not as good as the city walls of a small city.

"Why did they choose this place to garrison?"

"…Because the Yellow River is behind?"

Liu Shunren soon thought of this.

When Zongwang went to attack Bianliang, the task given to the disgruntled army was to find the force that wanted to break the Yellow River. Guo Yaoshi chose the Western Army because defeating the Western Army would bring the greatest credit. However, the Wu Dynasty army carried out all kinds of scorched-earth policies. Many cities near Bianliang were abandoned. After the army was defeated, any fortified city could be chosen to garrison. However, this army in front of them chose a valley with no retreat. An answer was ready to come out.

Previously, the Jurchens might have collected information about the surroundings of Bianliang. However, after a period of time, after confirming that the Wu Dynasty army had been scattered and their morale had collapsed even more severely, everyone no longer paid too much attention to them. At this time, after paying attention, they realized that this place in front of them was indeed very consistent with the description of breaking the Yellow River.

On the other hand, Guo Yaoshi originally wanted to fight Zongwang's army to the death on the Chaobai River. The betrayal of Zhang Linghui and Liu Shunren forced him to surrender to Zongwang. Even if he had accepted his fate, it was absolutely impossible to say that there was no gap between him and these two brothers. Working under the Jurchens, with mutual vigilance, it would be a great achievement to be able to remove this hidden danger for Zongwang.

"However, it is said that there are nearly 20,000 troops stationed here, and what we saw just now shows that their combat power is not bad. Our troops are only more than 10,000. If they resist desperately, I am afraid it will hurt our vitality…" After discussing, Zhang Linghui was still a little worried.

The two thousand cavalry who blocked their way just now had an amazing momentum, especially the coordination of everyone beating together, which was definitely not something that ordinary troops could do. You must know that on the battlefield, blood surges. Even if ordinary troops have been trained, it is inevitable that some people will be unable to keep up with the rhythm of their companions because of excitement during wartime. Zhang Linghui and others had been fighting on the battlefield for half their lives. Although they were frightened just now, they were also waiting for the other party's momentum to be slightly disturbed, and they would launch an attack.

However, until the end, the other party did not reveal any flaws. At that time, Zhang Linghui and others could not help but take action. The other party suddenly retreated. This confrontation was equivalent to the other party winning. In the next half day, the troops under their command would probably have psychological shadows when fighting people. Therefore, they did not pursue closely, but slowly brought the troops over.

If all the other party's troops had such qualities, they could eat them all in a head-on battle, let alone that they also occupied the defensive advantage.

"However… the Wu Dynasty army was defeated and scattered before. If they had such combat power at the beginning, they would never have been defeated like this. If it were you and me, even if we had elite soldiers in our hands, would we dare to hold back our strength if we wanted to attack Mutuogang with insufficient troops?" Liu Shunren analyzed, "Therefore, I conclude that there are only about 4,000 good soldiers in this valley, and the rest are all composed of routed soldiers. I am afraid they don't even dare to pull them out. Otherwise, why would they use 4,000 to face 10,000 and take such a dangerous attack?"

The Jurchen army was the strongest army in the world at this time. With more than 10,000 people guarding Mutuogang, no matter how powerful or arrogant a person was, as long as they still had spare strength in their hands, they would probably not use 4,000 people to attack. In such calculations, the composition of the army in the valley was ready to come out.

With 16,000 weak soldiers mixed with 4,000 elite soldiers, it was certainly possible to be brought up by the 4,000 elite soldiers, but if the others were too weak, it was really hard to say whether these 20,000 people were stronger or weaker than just 4,000 people. Zhang Linghui and Liu Shunren were both people who understood the situation of the Wu Dynasty. On this night, the army camped, calculating the possibility of victory or defeat in their hearts. On the morning of the next day, the army launched an attack on the Summer Village valley.

The wind and snow were still falling, and the night sky was still black. The Summer Village defenders, who had been waiting all night, had discovered the movements of the disgruntled army. People were breathing out white air. Some people wiped their faces with snow, grinning with white teeth. The soldiers drew their bows, set up their shields, and some moved their arms, making short cries of "ah" in the darkness.

After two months, the life-and-death of war once again rushed over like a tide.

There was no possibility of retreat…

Ning Yi walked in the crowd: "Order to prepare for artillery fire."

"No." Qin Shaoqian, Yue Fei and others immediately raised objections. Qin Shaoqian looked at the young general next to him, with some appreciation in his eyes. Yue Fei cupped his hands and retreated to the back.

"Why?"

"Let's see blood first." Qin Shaoqian said, "Let both sides see blood."

…Only by seeing blood can one instantly understand the cruelty of war.

Ning Yi nodded. After all, he didn't know enough about war.

The first round of arrows rose in the darkness, crossed the sky on both sides, and then fell. Some fell on the ground, and some hit the shields… Someone fell.

In the dimness, the smell of blood spread. Ning Yi looked back and saw that the entire valley was sparsely lit. Everyone seemed to be condensed into one. In such dimness, the screams became particularly abrupt and piercing. The people responsible for rescue rushed over and dragged them down. Ning Yi heard someone shout: "It's okay! It's okay! Don't move me! I just have a small wound on my leg, I can still kill people!"

On the snowy field outside the camp walls, the sound of footsteps was rustling, becoming intense. Even without looking at a higher place, Ning Yi could know that the disgruntled soldiers holding shields were rushing over. The shouts came from afar at first, and gradually, like a rushing tide, converging into a fierce roar!

After two rounds of arrows, the roar rushed to the camp walls. The wooden camp walls, which were only ten feet high, actually did not play a big blocking role on this desperate battlefield. At this moment of close combat, the shouts inside the wall suddenly rang out: "Kill ah—" tearing the night, ! Huge rocks crashed into the tide! Ladders were placed on the camp walls, and grappling hooks flew up. These soldiers from outside Yanmen Pass, in the northern lands, topped their shields, shouting and surging forward. Inside the camp walls, the soldiers who had undergone a lot of monotonous training these days stabbed with spears, knives, and shot up and down in the same fierce posture. In the blink of an eye, on the contact line, a wave of blood burst open…

In the winter of the 13th year of Jinghan, on the first day of the twelfth month, in the early morning, on the crumbling Bianliang City, the day's battle had not yet begun. Nearly thirty miles away from here, the Summer Village Valley, another decisive battle, with the attack of Zhang Linghui and Liu Shunren as the fuse, had quietly begun. At this time, not many people realized the importance of this battlefield. Many eyes were staring at the fierce and dangerous Bianliang city defense. Even if they occasionally turned their eyes over, they only thought that Summer Village had finally attracted the attention of the disgruntled army and launched a retaliatory attack.

As for the fighting, bravery, and foolishness here, in the eyes of everyone, there were those who sneered, those who regretted, and those who respected. Regardless of what kind of mood they had, it was an indisputable fact that the remaining teams near Bianliang could no longer relieve the siege of the capital under such circumstances. As for whether Summer Village could play too big a role in this battle, at least in the beginning, no one had such expectations. Especially when Guo Yaoshi cast his eyes on this side and invested all 36,000 disgruntled troops into this battlefield, people only hoped that they could hold on for a few days before collapsing and surrendering.

In any case, on the first day of December, in the Ministry of War of the capital, Qin Si