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In the first year of Wu Zhenxing, the thirteenth year after Ning Yi's assassination of the emperor, the southwest was in a chaotic mess during the opening month. Search: \(Complete Book God Station\) to read high-quality literature for free.

In just the first and middle ten days of the month, demarcated by Jianmen Pass, the southwest endured twenty days of constant fighting; the northeast, on the other hand, saw seventeen battles in seven days.

By the end of January and the beginning of February, the intelligence from the southwest had been compiled and sent to Lin'an. At this time, the capital was tense due to the loss of Fuzhou—of course, the most anxious were the forces of the Left Prime Minister, Tie Yan. After the death of his cousin and the loss of Fuzhou, his position in the court plummeted. Figures such as Wu Qimei, Gan Fenglin, and Li Shan, along with many high-ranking officials in the court and military, were praising and admiring Xi Yin's confrontation with Qin Shaoqian.

Qin Shaoqian led over 20,000 men and broke through more than ten lines of defense in seven days, before beginning to withdraw his forces. Xi Yin, however, remained calm and collected. Although he had organized seventeen armies to attack successively, only to be scattered, his own foundations remained untouched. In the eyes of the people, he exuded the true demeanor of a master.

"...The so-called Seventh Army of China, led by Qin Shaoqian, was stationed behind the Jurchen lines, primarily as a deterrent. With these 20,000 men in place, the Zong Han's army on the front lines had to consider how to retreat in the future, preventing them from launching a full-scale offensive and forcing them to keep some reserves. The Black Flag's Seventh Army, by remaining stationary, held countless possibilities. Once they moved, with only 20,000 men, it would be a step down, not the choice of a superior strategist."

"...Unfortunately, the Black Flag on the southwestern front, although commanded by the more renowned Ning Yi, does not live up to its reputation. They exhausted their strength with a victory at the end of the year and suffered a crushing defeat on the fourth day of the first month. Qin Shaoqian must be having a headache, forced to launch an attack. The 20,000 men under his command are truly elite soldiers, no less formidable than the Jurchen's invincible ten thousand. In Hubudagang, 20,000 Jurchens could defeat 700,000. Alas, Qin Shaoqian is not facing Yelü Yanxi of the past, but Xi Yin, who defeated the Yelü clan..."

"...Using an equal number of Han soldiers to set up more than ten lines of defense in the rear, welcoming the enemy time and time again. Qin Shaoqian couldn't create a momentum like 'rolling up a bead curtain,' and his own attack weakened after the initial surge. Even if he broke through seventeen lines of defense, Xi Yin could gather his Han soldiers and create seventeen or twenty-seven more defenses. What if they collapse with a single blow? By the time he reaches Xi Yin, he might not even have the strength to hold a knife..."

For a time, Lin'an was filled with discussions about this battle. From Wu Qimei to the scholars in the teahouses, almost everyone could offer some commentary on the engagement.

"...Xi Yin's strategy is truly seasoned, but Qin Shaoqian is also capable of taking and letting go, decisively breaking through seventeen lines of defense before retreating and continuing to exert pressure. His Seventh Army didn't show fear in the face of Xi Yin, this hungry wolf, and the army's combat power and threat became more tangible. Speaking of which, he is indeed a son of the Qin family, unassuming and yet a match for Xi Yin. In my opinion, Ning Yi's reputation in the China Army is just a façade; the true strength lies with the Qin faction..."

"...But this probing attack ultimately failed to determine a victor. Qin Shaoqian retreated gracefully, making a full withdrawal. However, from a strategic perspective, his hope of attacking the Jurchen rear to alleviate the pressure on the front lines was unsuccessful. Seventeen battles in seven days, although victorious in every engagement, couldn't have been without losses. Therefore, the true victor in this confrontation is Wanyan Xi Yin, who waited at ease. From this point on, the Black Flag Army in the southwestern theater can only rely entirely on the so-called Fifth Army stationed in the southwest. Alas, the Fifth Army commanded by Ning Yi is currently in full retreat..."

Sitting thousands of miles away and watching the tigers fight provides a sense of comfort akin to sitting in a warm room on a snowy day and watching people shiver on the road. Wu Qimei and others discussed the subtleties of this military strategy, intermingling it with sighs and lamentations, giving off a feeling of directing the world with the heaven and earth as a chessboard.

Of course, the reason for analyzing the engagement between Qin Shaoqian and Xi Yin in such detail is that the entire southwestern battle situation beyond Jianmen Pass is currently shrouded in a fog. However, the Jurchens breaking through Huangming County and pushing their forces towards Zizhou, forcing Ning Yi to retreat, is an undeniable trend.

Three thousand miles away, the people in Lin'an were still unaware of the quagmire the Jin army in the southwest had fallen into.

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

The Jurchen breakthrough in Huangming County, just after the Spring Festival, did indeed bring a huge loss to the China Army.

If we count the casualties of the China Army's Second Division in defending Huangming for the past two months, the number exceeds four thousand. But in just one disastrous defeat and struggle on the third and fourth days of the first month, the number of casualties and missing reached over two thousand eight hundred.

This terrifying number of casualties mostly stemmed from the Second Division's unwilling struggle for Huangming County. The sudden loss of Huangming County not only meant losing a city wall, but also a large number of iron cannons and siege equipment that could not be evacuated in time. These were among the most important strategic resources at the moment. For a possible counterattack, the China Army had even increased the amount of explosives and other materials transported to Huangming County.

The idea of launching a counterattack in Huangming County or Yushui Creek had been brewing in the China Army's staff headquarters. The original plan was to launch an offensive around December 28th, but when Yushui Creek achieved results on the 19th and Huangming County's Bali-su withdrew his troops to defend, the idea of launching a counterattack in Huangming County was shelved for a time.

If a counterattack were to be launched, the Second Division would have to cooperate with other units. However, after the Fourth and Fifth Divisions won at Yushui Creek, their casualties were also significant, and they had to guard the wounded. Launching a reckless counterattack in Huangming County would be difficult.

On the third night of the first month, the Jurchens' raging attacks broke through the city walls, and fierce fighting broke out. The large section of the city wall controlled by the China Army fired hundreds of cannons simultaneously. The artillery teams poured all the accumulated gunpowder into the overwhelming attack, even resulting in several instances of cannon barrels overheating and exploding, affecting their own people. But even this couldn't contain the chaotic battlefield situation that had become rampant in the night.

Throughout the night, the China Army fought and retreated in the small county town. Engineering teams dragged some of the iron cannons and supplies towards the rear of the county. On the battlefield, various squads, led by cadre groups, charged countless times. The Jurchens, under Bali-su's strict orders, held onto the results of their gains on the city walls, but the waves of soldiers charging into the county town were almost overwhelmed by the China Army's attacks.

Corpses piled up like mountains, and blood flowed like rivers. Even some of the Khitan, Xi, and Liaodong units, which were the main force of the Jin army, were routed in the city.

But the advantage in numbers ultimately overwhelmed the China Army's commanders and fighters. Some China Army units were divided and surrounded on their own positions, fighting fiercely until late at night or even until dawn, but were eventually submerged in the bloodshed of the battlefield. On some positions that could no longer be broken through, soldiers detonated bomb shells and gunpowder, burning the iron cannons nearby.

By the morning of the second day, the fighting on the battlefield was still ongoing. The China Army, gathered on one end of Huangming County and building fortifications, was mostly composed of wounded soldiers. Unable to retreat with supplies under enemy attack, they persisted until around Si time (9-11 AM) when Han Jing's packhorse team arrived on the battlefield. Only then did they begin to evacuate the wounded and cannons, leaving along the mountain road in an orderly fashion.

Bali-su did not intend to end this victory. Having fought to this point, the China Army had lost its defensive advantage in Huangming County. He gathered his elite forces, repeatedly sending them into battle, attacking Han Jing non-stop. Han Jing deployed his forces, defending from the afternoon of the fourth day to the daylight of the fifth day, repelling the Jurchen attacks several times. Then, seeing that the Jurchens seemed to weaken their attack, he began to retreat.

As soon as his retreat began, the Jurchen troops once again pursued closely. The First Division fought and retreated along the mountain road. After opening a distance of about three miles from Huangming County, the mountain terrain gradually widened. The Jurchen troops were biting from behind, then intercepted by Qu Zhengyan's troops who rushed out of the mountain road. The First and Fourth Divisions thus coordinated, encircling the more than five hundred Xi elite who were chasing in the front. More than one hundred people were forced off the cliff by the fierce attacks from the front and rear, and more than three hundred surrendered. The rear troops finally retreated after failing to provide aid.

Bali-su's pursuit on the fifth day finally stopped slightly.

On the sixth day, with the cooperation of the scout team led by Yu Yu, Bali-su once again organized his troops to pursue forward, and the huge trouble then became apparent.

Extending from Jiange towards Zizhou, Huangming County and Yushui Creek were two key obstacles. After passing these two locations, the mountain terrain leading to Zizhou became slightly gentler, and there were more road choices. But this did not mean that it would be smooth sailing from here on out.

In fact, after passing several miles beyond Huangming County, although the mountain terrain looked slightly gentler, the Jurchens were now on unfamiliar roads.

Yu Yu's scout troops groped forward along the mountains, and soon encountered the problem of landmines - this was a minefield that no one had touched since the start of the war. While some experienced scouts began a new round of mine clearance, the China Army's scout troops were also constantly killing them.

Relying on the minefield in the forest, the exchange ratio of scout troops was further increased. After only a slight contact, Yu Yu was forced to choose a conservative combat attitude, and he could only gather a large number of scouts, gradually groping forward along the main road.

There were no landmines on the main road. Bali-su gathered several troops and advanced in coordination with the scout team. But even this lineup could not stop the Fourth Division's Qu Zhengyan from launching a frantic counterattack. The China Army's special operations teams, like ghosts, traveled through the forest, occasionally firing crossbow arrows or black guns at the Jurchen scout troops or the Jurchen main force on the road.

These special operations forces were extremely arrogant at this time. Often, when Jurchen scouts found landmines by the roadside and tried to clear or detonate them, they would quickly approach and attack. Sometimes they would be discovered by the goshawk, sometimes they would be counterattacked, but it didn't matter. When counterattacked, they would flee into the depths of the mountains and forests, and more uncleared landmines were buried on the escape route. Once a small Jurchen force broke away from the team, the China Army's operations teams would quickly pounce on them and devour them.

From the sixth day of the first month, the Jurchens' advance from Huangming County was never quiet. The enemy advances, we retreat; the enemy is tired, we harass; the enemy retreats, we pursue. Having finally taken complete initiative in terms of terrain, Qu Zhengyan brought the essence of this tactic to the Jurchens.

Yu Yu was suffering unspeakably. At the beginning of this southwestern battle, there had also been scout skirmishes in the forest, even scenes of clearing mines or treading on mines to advance. At that time, they had used a huge numerical advantage to push the line forward. At this time, the numerical advantage of the scouts in front of Huangming was no longer obvious. The opponent was well prepared and waiting, and the price to be paid for each step forward made him feel like his heart was being cut.

But the army's advance could not stop at this time.

The Battle of Huangming County, from the overall situation, the Jurchens had already gained a certain advantage. This advantage was that the China Army's forces had been stretched to the extreme, but the Jurchens still had considerable forces that could be投入战斗. From a strategic point of view, launching multiple attacks to break the China Army's line was the most profitable thing to do. The China Army occupied the terrain and had a combat advantage, but it didn't matter. Even if a few people were exchanged for one, at some point, they would completely collapse.

While pushing forward from Huangming County, operations at Yushui Creek had also resumed. Zong Han hoped to use such a two-pronged approach to exhaust every remaining bit of the China Army's strength on the battlefield.

In order to threaten the rear of the Yushui Creek line, Bali-su needed to have his soldiers control about fifteen miles of the road in front of Huangming County. On these fifteen miles of road, the China Army's advantage of holding on to defense was no longer high. After all, the mountains had become relatively easier to travel, and places that could not be opened could be bypassed - at most, just stepping on a wave of mines - but enduring the China Army's attacks on the road of advance was an ordeal that had to be endured.

Of course, even knowing this truth, as a Jurchen, being ravaged by the enemy on the battlefield was truly Yu Yu's most suffocating battle in his life.

The constant skirmishes around the main road were just an appetizer. Sometimes the goshawk would find hundreds of scouts gathering in the rugged mountains, which made the Jurchens extremely nervous. On the ninth day of the first month, Qu Zhengyan led his troops to intersperse the advancing Jurchen main force, and after discovering that the other party had prepared for defense, he fired a few arrows at random and ran away.

On the eleventh day of the first month, Khitan Xiao Ke led more than three thousand elite troops under his command and attempted to launch a counterattack after discovering traces of Qu Zhengyan's attack. Seeing that things were not right, Qu Zhengyan turned around and ran, and the old scout team belonging to the Yanshan Guard chased desperately from behind.

On the road from Huangming County to Zizhou, killing and slaughter, ambushes and counterattacks, had been staged in these mountains and forests every day since then, on scales both large and small, but

In any case, the Jurchens were constantly expanding their control over the surrounding areas through repeated losses.

In the direction of Yushui Creek, the wounded in the wounded camp had been gradually transferred to the rear, but Ning Ji, who was helping in the camp, refused to follow the retreat. As an outstanding member of the medical team, he prepared to leave when the main force retreated from the front. Hongti was unable to persuade him for a while.

The letter reporting this matter was sent to Zizhou, and when Ning Xi relayed it to Ning Yi, Ning Yi was looking at the large map in front of him and pondering. He said in a low voice, "Let him be."

"Father..."

"Alright, I'll find an excuse to withdraw everyone from Yushui Creek."

"...Ah?" Ning Xi was stunned by these words.

He looked carefully at his father's face. At this moment, Ning Yi's eyes were staring at the map but not at him. His eyes and words were equally cold.

This was the first time Ning Xi couldn't tell whether his father's words were a joke or real.

In Ning Yi's hand was a simple piece of intelligence from the front, recording two pieces of news.

First: Almost died...

Second: Bao Shan entered the arena.

Ning Yi placed the mark on the map.

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