First, a slight tremor in the air.

On the edge of the dwarf woodland, the withered grass lay low on the plain, and particles of earth trembled slightly within the grass. Then the sound gradually grew louder, the faint clatter of hooves escalating into a swift roar. Suddenly, warhorses burst from the edge of the woods!

One rider, ten riders, a hundred... the galloping cavalry surged across the plain like a rushing torrent. The riders were tall and rugged, dressed in the wide robes of the north, wearing fox-tail hats, truly the Jin cavalry from the north. In the swift gallop, the riders expertly drew their bows and nocked their arrows.

The view swept along the ground to the front, where more than five hundred Wu Dynasty soldiers had formed a tight formation, a forest of long spears thrust out in front. General Tang Wei looked at the oncoming Jurchen elite cavalry, clenched his fist, raised it high, and shouted, "Don't panic! Maintain formation! Stay close! Archers, prepare!"

"Release!"

An arrow's distance away.

The rain of arrows flew into the sky, crisscrossing in the air before falling in different directions.

The cavalry of several hundred turned in their gallop, drawing a huge arc in the roaring sound. Arrows rained down, some hitting shields, some embedding in the earth, and a small number finding blood.

Tang Wei pushed aside the shield-bearing guard beside him, his eyes wide as he watched the Jurchen cavalry. The roaring torrent carved an arc in front, heading towards the flank.

"Archers, prepare! Pass my order! The formation turns to the west – don't panic! As long as we don't break formation, they can't do anything to us!"

The formation of spearmen and shield-bearers turned, facing the Jurchen cavalry once more.

"Push!"

The spear forest advanced slowly. In front, the Jurchen cavalry charged again, forming an arc in the view.

Almost at the same moment as the Jurchen cavalry fired their arrows, Tang Wei waved his hand sharply.

"Release!"

The arrows crossed again, falling sparsely, and Jurchen riders fell from their horses.

"There's nothing to fear, aim carefully, and push!"

The infantry formation advanced slowly with the forest of spears, archers drew their bows again, the Jurchen cavalry pulled back, then circled back for a third attack. After this volley, the Jurchen cavalry split in the middle, forming two groups, galloping across each other for a moment, flanking from different directions. The infantry formation also began to change, expanding while tightening in the middle. Another volley of shots was exchanged on both sides. After the more than four hundred Jurchen cavalry merged, they circled briefly, finally unwillingly retreating into the distance.

And in front, lay the bodies of several Jurchen soldiers, wounded warhorses, which they did not have time to recover.

Tang Wei clenched his fist, staring in that direction, his palms slightly sweaty and trembling. He was still confirming that the Jurchens had really left. In the previous exchanges, the losses on both sides were not heavy, and the responses and formation changes seemed simple, but he knew in his heart that any slight difference would cause his five hundred men to collapse instantly, to be harvested by the Jurchens on the plains like sheep.

"Sir, we won." Someone said happily beside him, "The Jin dogs were driven away by us!"

"Uh..." Tang Wei was stunned, wanting to subconsciously retort, but then he nodded, "Find someone to collect the spoils of war, bandage the wounded."

He walked towards the soldiers in front: "Did you see that, the Jin dogs were driven away by us! They are nothing to be afraid of, as long as we follow the manuals, these Jin dogs dare not clash with us head-on! We train so much on weekdays, what is there to fear?"

Then someone shouted loudly: "Sir, we are not afraid!"

"That's right, they are just some uncivilized Jurchen barbarians, for every one that comes, we'll chop off two of them!"

Some people laughed, and Tang Wei laughed too: "Good! That's how it should be, I'll put in a good word for you after we go back!"

Cheers erupted in the army.

Afterwards, scouts went to investigate the whereabouts of the Jurchen cavalry, and a group of soldiers dragged away the bodies of the Jurchens and horses that had fallen on the plains.

Within a hundred miles around Bianliang City, large-scale armies had gathered from all directions, with a concentration of troops in the core area reaching as high as 170,000, mainly gathered in Lankao and Qixian, confronting the Jin army. The total strength of Bianliang City was between 70,000 and 90,000. On the other hand, tens of thousands of soldiers were scattered around the periphery of Kaifeng Prefecture, responsible for defending the local areas, evacuating people, and putting pressure on the Jurchen looting teams, squeezing the Jurchens' living space.

Teams of five hundred, teams of one thousand, teams of two thousand, scattered in various places in this area. Every day, conflicts broke out everywhere as the Jurchen looting teams encountered them and engaged in battle. Reports of battles showed the intensity of the friction before the great war...

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

"...On average, there are at least twenty conflicts involving more than two hundred people every day. Eighty percent of our reports are victories. I think the Jurchens are about to surrender."

Yellow leaves fell, and a small convoy drove forward along the forest road. Ning Yi was riding on horseback, frowning and speaking in a low voice. Beside him was Su Wending of the Su family, the callow youth of the past, now with a look of calm on his face.

"With the great war imminent, I think the military also wants to boost morale."

"The problem is, these things are not very meaningful." Ning Yi said, "And you are too naive. A great war is imminent... but many people actually lack confidence. The military upper echelons, Tong Guan, Gao Qiu, and others, don't have this confidence, and neither does Chancellor Li... Of course, maybe we can't say Chancellor Li doesn't, but he's under too much pressure this time. There are more than 80,000 troops in the capital, but they won't send out a single soldier, and if the nearly 200,000 troops outside go to war with Wanyan Zongwang, no one is confident of winning. What everyone is really waiting for is negotiations."

"Of course, we can't worry too much about these things." Ning Yi didn't continue talking about the big picture, and sighed, "I've been racking my brains recently about how to deal with the cavalry. The Jin's Guai Zi Ma (拐子马, "turning horses" - a type of cavalry formation), there's really no way to deal with them except with another cavalry force."

Su Wending thought for a while: "Doesn't the military say that if the infantry formation is maintained well, it can still defeat them?"

"That's just saying it sounds good." Ning Yi shook his head, "After all, the number of Jurchens here is less than ours, and since the war hasn't started yet, they don't want to clash head-on, so they are probing with circular formations. If you can handle it, they leave. If you can't handle it, they take advantage of the weakness, but you can't catch up with them no matter how hard you try. So the current reports of victory are false and meaningless."

"The Jurchens are afraid of clashing head-on, is there any way to force them to clash head-on..." Su Wending said.

"Let's not talk about how to force them. Even if we really clash head-on, it's suicide. If the cavalry really charges the formation, there will be some casualties in the front row, but after the infantry formation is broken through, the formation will naturally be disrupted. With the current combat power of the Wu Dynasty army, what follows is harvesting. At that time, the real reports will mostly be crushing defeats. Right now, it's just that the Jurchens don't want to pay even this little price."

As they were talking, someone suddenly rode up quickly from the front. It was a skilled scout recruited by the Bamboo Lodge, who was scouting the road ahead. He whispered a few words, causing Ning Yi's expression to change slightly...

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

Outside the forest was a smooth hillside. Below the hillside, a tragic chase and slaughter were nearing their end. The fleeing soldiers were caught up by the galloping cavalry behind them, who beheaded them with their long knives. A large number of tragic casualties spread along the road in front and behind.

This was a Wu Dynasty army that had been scattered. Some of the defeated soldiers were chased into a small village ahead, but most of the villagers had already evacuated. Some of the cavalry rushed in and, before long, set the village on fire.

Some of the cavalry scavenged the corpses on the road for any valuables, but they moved quickly. Even the small amount of hard rations that the army carried was quickly discarded by them. It seemed that these cavalry had something else to do. After gathering, they galloped back in the direction they had come from. In the afternoon sun, a Jurchen cavalryman cheered as he threw a human head into the sky.

The cavalry team rode away. After a while, the figures of Ning Yi and a few guards, including Qi Xinhai, appeared at the edge of the forest. He knew that he had encountered the twenty percent that was not a victory report.

The few of them came down from the grassy slope, checking for any survivors. When they finally found a dying wounded soldier in the roadside grass, and heard what he said, Ning Yi was slightly stunned, and looked in the direction where the Jurchen cavalry had disappeared.

But at this time, he had no way to do anything...

The Jurchen cavalry galloped back a few miles, where a migration team of a thousand people was surrounded by a portion of them. At this time, the Jurchens were forcing them to hand over their packages, valuables, rice, and other things, which was nearing its end. The things handed over by the crowd were piled into a small mountain in front of the formation...

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

Tian Ashan felt his hands and feet were ice-cold, and his whole body was trembling. He felt that he might be about to die.

His wife was holding his hand beside him, crying softly. She was crying but didn't dare make a sound to alarm the Jurchens, so she was also trembling.

When the Jurchens drove them to hand over their valuables and rice, they went over and threw their packages and the gold and silver they had on them onto that small mountain. Then they heard the Jurchens next to them say something. He was stunned, and then the other party repeated it, and he clearly heard the other party say in Chinese: "Take off your clothes!"

"Wh-what..."

"Take off your clothes. Who knows if you're hiding things on your body. And you, everyone, take off your clothes!"

Some of the Jurchens suddenly understood and said: "That's right! That's right!"

Then there was a burst of laughter.

Tian Ashan was stunned, just shaking his head subconsciously. The next moment, the Jurchen became impatient, pulled his wife to the side, and tore open her clothes with a tearing sound: "Take off your clothes!"

With a cry of "Ah—", the woman screamed frantically. Tian Ashan subconsciously waved his hand over: "What are you doing, don't..." Not far away, a Jurchen general with a gloomy face had already walked over, slashing with his knife and kicking Tian Ashan away heavily.

Tian Ashan saw his hands fly out, blood spurting out, and the Jurchen general's knife pierced through his wife's back.

"What are you doing! Don't delay." The general shouted in Jurchen, "Kill—"

"Yes!"

More than four hundred Jurchen knights drew their knives at the same time and slashed into the crowd.

……

The fierce and boiling time lasted only a moment, and the sound gradually disappeared. The Jurchens packed up their spoils, looked at the afternoon sun, and went back in the direction of Moutuo Ridge. Not long after, they encountered a Wu Dynasty thousand-man team on their way back. The two sides confronted each other for a moment, and the Jurchens threw down some heavy objects and a few large carts, taking only valuable and easily portable valuables and rice, and ran off to the side.

Not long after, Ning Yi saw this victory report among many intelligence reports. It said that the Jurchens had cruelly slaughtered a civilian team of more than a thousand people, and after looting property, they encountered a flank unit of the Wu Jie Camp. After a fierce battle between the two sides, the Jurchens fled in panic, and this unit recovered a large amount of property.

Such victories and defeats were being staged fiercely every day.

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

Taiyuan, the autumn wind came rustling.

When Qin Shaohe walked out of the city tower, he coughed a few times subconsciously and wrapped his clothes tighter.

The city wall was full of soldiers on guard, inside and out, with countless traces of battles, residual bloodstains, traces of fire, and traces of being hit by stone bullets. Outside the city, the Jurchen tents stretched out, and through the thick wooden wall, one could see the figures of soldiers walking around. More than a month of defense had ended several days ago, and it seemed that the Jurchens were planning to besiege for the long term, no longer attacking strongly. At this time, walking on the city wall, among the soldiers, Qin Shaohe suddenly had a feeling that the world had become quiet.

The repeated attacks and defenses over the past month were unimaginably stressful. The city wall was breached several times and forcibly seized back several times. Several times Qin Shaohe thought that Taiyuan was about to fall. Wanyan Zonghan outside the city had already threatened to kill everyone in the city after Taiyuan was breached, but in the end, this city wall was still firmly guarded here.

Although Qin Shaohe had not really wielded a knife to fight since his initial personal involvement, he had still been injured several times on the city wall. At this time, his body had lost a lot of weight, and he exuded a smell of medicine, giving a feeling that he would fall with a gust of wind. But only his eyes had become more calm and firm than in the past, which was what had been accumulated by "death" after seeing so many people fall beside him.

He looked quietly at the direction where the Jurchen camp was located, and at this moment, he actually understood why that feeling of the world being quiet came about.

Taiyuan had become an isolated city.

In the second half of the siege war, the war was not commanded by Zonghan, but by his general Yin Shuke. Zonghan led some other troops and wiped out all the cities near Taiyuan in half a month, turning the current Taiyuan into an isolated city.

But like a nail, it pinned the Jurchen's Western Route Army here, making it impossible for them to go south with peace of mind.

Someone came over, it was Li Pin, who also had a smell of medicine on his body and a thin figure. Not long ago, Qin Shaohe had ridiculed him, saying that scholars were weak, and Li Pin had fallen ill from exhaustion. But even though he was sick, he was still accurately responsible for his work. And Cheng Zhouhai, who was also not in good health, was responsible for instigating many people to go to the city wall.

"Lord Qin, the grain has been centrally counted." Li Pin said, "There is basically enough grain in the warehouse for the people in the city to eat for three months. If we start saving from now, we can last for half a year."

"That's enough." Qin Shaohe smiled, "When the news outside was cut off, I knew that hundreds of thousands of people were gathering in Bianliang. As long as the siege of Bianliang can be lifted, the siege of Taiyuan will naturally be lifted. The Jurchens are advancing rapidly and their offensive is so strong, they must win quickly. As I see it, they can't last through this winter. Cough cough... you and I, we have to stay in Taiyuan and wear down Nianhan."

"This subordinate is fortunate." Li Pin cupped his hands and smiled.

"You don't know until you fight." Qin Shaohe carried his hands on his back, looked at the sky, and breathed a long sigh of relief, "If it weren't for defending the city this time, Qin would not have known that I was so good at fighting, that I could actually... defend this city..."

His voice became lighter, and later, what he thought of was the many people he had seen die on this city wall. Among these people were soldiers and civilians. The battles in the past month were too fierce. His body was often stained with blood, and he often stepped over corpses while running, and even fell into pools of blood. At the time, he didn't have time to look at these dead people, but now he remembered them.

In the end, it was they who defended this city...

The autumn wind attacked fiercely, and winter was coming. When the heavy snow sealed the mountains, even the Jurchens who came out of the ice and snow would find it difficult to launch a siege war in such weather. At that time, the situation in Taiyuan City might be greatly eased. Qin Shaohe relaxed slightly in his heart. He knew that as long as he pinned down the Jurchen's Western Route Army, it would greatly alleviate the war situation in the capital. Everyone in the city, whether it was Qin Shaohe, Li Pin, Cheng Zhouhai, or the many generals and officials, could understand this in their hearts.

They were going to do something great.

And because of the closed news, Qin Shaohe did not know that at this time, under the leadership of Zhe Keqiu and Liu Guangshi, the strongest part of the Wu Dynasty's Western Army had already engaged in a battle with Wanyan Zonghan at Tianmen Pass. He also did not know that at the same time, in the confrontation outside the capital, the court was discussing the conditions proposed by Wanyan Zongwang for ceding Taiyuan and other places for peace talks.

He would also not know that this brief peace and ease was about to become the beginning of a long hell...

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