Eleven years into the Jianshuo era, December 19th.

The vagaries of time can create dramatic scenes amidst the sprawling mountains of the Northwest.

The battle near Rainwater Creek began tentatively at dawn on this day.

Approaching noon, Elhili committed a large force to the battlefield, launching a strong frontal assault to cover his intention of leading his personal guard to attack Eagle Beak Rock.

Past noon, Chen Tian cut off the rear road from Rainwater Creek to Yellow Head Rock. Signal arrows carried the message back to Rainwater Creek, where Qu Zhengyan ordered elite troops to emerge from various forks in the road, launching a counterattack on the entire Rainwater Creek position.

Eagle Beak Rock was blown apart, and the battle between Elhili and Mao Yishan intensified to a fever pitch.

After noon, the Jurchen front-line general Yu Yu led a highly mobile scout force to counterattack the mountain road cut off by Chen Tian, coordinated with Dalai's troops stationed behind Yellow Head Rock.

Yu Yu was lean and wiry, starting as a scout, traversing mountains and ridges with ease, with iron arms and steel fingers capable of breaking rocks. Dalai was of medium height but powerfully built, having killed countless enemies on the battlefield, appearing like a massive wild boar. The two seasoned Jurchen generals looked at the rugged mountain road, their hearts already sinking.

The scouts sent to relay the message to Wanyan Zonghan, the commander stationed at Shili Gathering, were still rushing along the muddy, slippery road, nearly thirty miles away.

At this moment of drizzling winter rain, Shili Gathering was still bustling with activity. The originally small transit market was occupied by layers of military camps. Even in the rain, the transfer of various supplies and the allocation of troops continued. Squadrons waiting to depart were congested in front of the camps. Impatient generals and soldiers shouted incessantly in the clear sky, and roared even louder in the rain. After the roaring came grumbling and cursing. If not for the suppression by Han Qixian and others, brawls would sometimes break out.

This situation had been ongoing for more than two months.

Zonghan found this phenomenon both comforting and troubling. What bothered him was not only the stalemate on the front lines, the terrible road conditions along the way, but also the increasing pressure from the rear. On the 19th, when the front-line battle began, he received a letter from Emperor Wuqimai of the Jin Dynasty.

Wuqimai had been paralyzed by a stroke for over a year. This Southern Expedition of the Jurchens was originally a guiding action chosen with the last shred of rationality by the eastern and western courts, with a group of old ministers still in place. However, Zongfu and Zongwang aimed to gain merit, while Zonghan and Xiyin hoped to use this campaign to eliminate the last major threat to the Jin Dynasty—the Huaxia Army forces in the Southwest.

Wuqimai's collapse made the situation already critical. He had dragged on for more than a year with half of his body paralyzed, only occasionally lucid. In October, when preparations for war were underway, Zonghan wrote a letter to the homeland. During a brief moment of lucidity, Wuqimai in the palace had someone write a reply, reminiscing about their lifetime of military service, hoping that Zonghan and Xiyin could pacify the situation within half a year, as the situation within the Jin Dynasty required their return to guard it.

Over the years, Wuqimai's character had been both firm and gentle, with an extremely strong will. His proposal of a six-month deadline might have been because he realized that even if he forced his life, he would only have that much time left.

The reminiscences of the past in the letter were poignant. Even Wanyan Zonghan, with his half-white hair, couldn't help but feel a sense of melancholy. There was indeed a division between the Jurchen East and West Courts, and the younger generation's power struggles did exist. Since October, Zongfu and Zongbi in the Eastern Theater had already arranged for troops to escort over ten thousand slaves back north, and in November, another ten thousand were driven to set off.

At that time, winter snow had already fallen in the Jiangnan region. How many of these Han slaves, treated like livestock and driven north, would successfully reach the Jin Dynasty was unknown.

Zonghan and Xiyin, of course, understood that these actions by Zongfu and Zongbi were intended to take advantage of the Western Route Army being bogged down in the Southwest to bring war spoils back home first, appease various parties, and distribute rewards based on merit.

Zonghan felt disdain for these actions of the two juniors. Xiyin proposed some countermeasures, but Zonghan simply allowed him to do as he pleased, not wanting to interfere: once the Southwest is defeated, everything else will fall into place. If the Southwest campaign goes badly, we will have nothing to say upon our return. I only wish to focus on the Southwest war. All other minor matters can be decided by Gushen.

He wrote this to Xiyin, and was unwilling to participate in Xiyin's suggestion that he write letters to appease and win over various elders in the homeland. Receiving Wuqimai's letter from his sickbed, Zonghan naturally felt a surge of pride in his heart. He and Aguda had fought all their lives to establish the Jin Dynasty. Now, even in his twilight years, he did not take the thoughts of the younger generation to heart.

He walked out of his tent to inspect the camp. As evening approached, the rain gradually stopped. News of the changing situation on the front lines only now crossed the thirty-mile distance and reached Shili Gathering.

At this time, in Rainwater Creek, more than forty miles away, blood gathered in the pools, and corpses covered the hills.

After two months of fierce fighting in Rainwater Creek, this was the first time the Huaxia Army had launched a full-scale counterattack. The Fourth Division led by Qu Zhengyan and the main force of the Fifth Division led by Yu Zhongdao, totaling over fourteen thousand men, participated in this operation.

When the elite Huaxia Army led by Qu Zhengyan charged out of the various mountain paths, the Han army forces in various parts of the battlefield were first crushed by this sudden counterattack. Some of the Jin soldiers, composed of Jurchens, Bohai people, and Liaodong people, persisted for a while with their ferocity in the chaotic fighting, but as casualties increased to more than ten percent, these armies mostly showed signs of decline, and then either collapsed completely or chose to retreat.

For the current operation, Qu Zhengyan had secretly observed Elhili's offensive patterns and recorded the recurring problems of the various armies in Rainwater Creek during repeated rotations for two months, preparing for a long time. But the first step of the operation was, after all, to prepare the hard power of a hammer hitting an anvil.

On this afternoon, the forces engaged in direct combat were formally weighed on the scales of fairness.

The initial engagement was also the most tragic.

To cover Elhili's assault on Eagle Beak Rock, several positions on the battlefield were subjected to large-scale attacks this day. The Jurchens formed their formations in the mud. In the second position near Eagle Beak Rock, where the attack was most intense, the defending Huaxia Army was even breached the lines at one point and nearly failed to recapture the position.

But as Qu Zhengyan's troops fearlessly charged out, the Han soldiers who had surrendered and participated in the attack might have been slightly timid, but the main force of the Jin army, already feeling annoyed by two months of thwarted attacks, only felt exhilarated by the arrival of an opportunity.

The troops brought out by a brave general like Elhili would also not be afraid of a head-on battle. In the eyes of the middle-level generals in the army, as long as the opponent's attack was defeated head-on, everything else could be settled.

The rain was accompanied by chilling mud. The terrain of Rainwater Creek was complex. In the initial attack by Qu Zhengyan's troops, the Jin soldiers gladly met them. On the vast battlefield of several square miles, eight or nine small and medium-sized engagements formed. The two sides, whether steady or hurried, attacking or defending, formed shield wall frontlines composed of ten or dozens of people, colliding and crashing together in an instant.

The clash of metal echoed through the mountain rain in a chilling, muffled sound. The sounds of fighting roared through the surrounding mountains. On the lines of engagement, the fighting swallowed advancing lives like a meat grinder. Before the soldiers who charged forward had fallen, their comrades behind them had already followed. The spittle of the people roaring was stained with blood. Both the Huaxia Army and the Jurchen soldiers charged without yielding.

Such a weighing had little in the way of frills. In the twenty years of this world, the Jurchens had almost always been victorious in every such head-on clash.

But this time, the Jurchen formation was retreating.

The power displayed in the first moment of such a clash was fierce and surging, but the subsequent changes were particularly rapid and obvious in the eyes of many. The front lines shifted slightly backward. Some of the most experienced, murderous middle-level generals of the Jurchens launched an attack with their guards. Their charge boosted morale, but soon after, these generals and their veteran soldiers were also swallowed by the meat grinder frontline.

During the time from the engagement to the collapse of one side, people felt either fearful or excited. Many thoughts didn't even have time to form in their minds. The Jurchen generals personally threw themselves in according to the predetermined program—because in previous head-on battles, this choice was the best. By the time they were swallowed, the battle line had changed from trembling to an avalanche, and the changes did not leave much of a mark in people's minds. Afterwards, the survivors could only turn and flee with the running soldiers.

The battlefield was like this. Individual abilities often cannot influence the development of the battle. People are swept along, and those with a positive mindset do what they should do, while the passive can only follow their companions step by step. In this brief moment of head-on confrontation this afternoon, both sides suffered heavy losses. The Jurchen side's position was torn open head-on soon after.

The rout, the fighting, and the battle then surged like a tide towards the nearby mountains and valleys.

The terrain of Rainwater Creek was not open after all. The main force of the Jurchens was forcefully pushed back in this fierce offensive, and the Han army troops collapsed even more thoroughly. Although their numbers were not that many on the entire battlefield, many mountain paths were narrow, and a large number of routed soldiers formed a situation like an overturned curtain in the congestion. Their rout blocked the passage of some of the Jin army's main force, and they were decisively cut down by the Jin soldiers. In some places, the Jin soldiers formed shield walls, not only defending against possible attacks by the Huaxia Army, but also preventing these Han army troops from escaping.

This intense battlefield, like a furnace, became a nightmare for the weak in the blink of an eye.

Some of the routed Han soldiers were killed by the Huaxia Army and the Jin soldiers pressing from both sides. Some, after their retreat was cut off, chose to kneel down in the relatively open areas. At this time, the Fifth Division soldiers who had been guarding the positions also participated in the full-scale offensive. Qu Zhengyan led the staff to quickly gather the Han army troops who had surrendered in the rain.

"...The rear road from Rainwater Creek to Yellow Head Rock has been cut off. Dalai's army will not be able to gain a foothold in Rainwater Creek for ten days and a half months. The Jurchen—including you—the front-line force of 50,000 men has been divided and defeated by me! Tonight, as soon as the rain stops, I will knock open the Jurchen camp! Some will be stubborn, and some will resist desperately! We will bury them in Rainwater Creek at all costs!"

"You! As Han people! Raise your knives against your own compatriots! The Huaxia Army will not tolerate such a great crime. In the Southwest, you only deserve to be thrown into the mountains to mine! Some of you will be publicly tried and sliced into pieces! What? Regretting kneeling here? Regretting dropping your knives so quickly? Our Huaxia Army is not afraid of you having knives! Even the most ferocious Jurchen troops, today, we will defeat them head-on! If you don't surrender, we will defeat you head-on! But if you put down your knives, on today's battlefield, I will give you a chance!"

"Only this one chance!" Qu Zhengyan roared in the rain. "Some of you can pick up your knives and return to the Jurchen camp! Redeem your past sins with the heads of the Jurchens! We will also give knives to some of the rest of you. On the surrounding mountains, right now, those who are still running, those who are still resisting desperately, I want you to take them down! If you are a man, earn a life for yourself!"

The staff, doing more detailed work, moved through the surrendered soldiers, picking out the leading officers, registering information, and giving instructions. Some soldiers were reissued knives and guns.

At this time, the battles in various mountain roads had not stopped. Some Jurchen soldiers were forced into dead ends in the mountains and resisted desperately. On this side, Qu Zhengyan's voice was echoing, "...We are not afraid of your pretense! We are not afraid of you fighting us again! As soon as the rain stops today, our cannons will make the Rainwater Creek position cease to exist! Then we will settle today's accounts with you! There is no other way to go! Pick up your knives and be an upright Han person! Be an upright man! Otherwise, die here—"

At the third quarter of Weishi (around 2:45 PM), the first group of Han soldiers was turned around in the small woods near Rainwater Creek, joining the ranks of counterattacking the Jurchens. Because the Jurchen army chose to attack at the first moment of the frontal engagement, many of the combat troops had not yet set foot on the road back to camp by this time.

—Due to the terrain of Rainwater Creek, the Jurchen camp here was not set up in front of the city like Huangming County. Because it could launch attacks in several directions at the same time, the Jurchen camp was set up on the hillside more than three miles away, and the rear guarded the road leading to Yellow Head Rock.

In this mountainous lowland where the straight-line distance was less than four miles but the actual terrain was complex and changeable, the Huaxia Army troops, who had already calculated the combat steps, selected several key points. For example, the First Regiment of the Second Brigade of the Fourth Division, which bore the heaviest burden, led by Regiment Commander Shen Changye, directly penetrated a crucial valley on the Jurchen retreat route after easily opening two lines of weak troops.

The valley, which had existed quietly in this mountain, had no name yet. Shen Changye's thousand-man regiment set up a defensive line in the rain. When he killed his way in, the Jurchen soldiers on the battlefield had not carefully considered the idea of retreating. But later that afternoon, Shen Changye's troops encountered as many as eleven repeated, tidal-like attacks in this canyon.

Corpses were piled up into small mountains in the canyon, and thick blood dyed the water flowing under their feet red. After this day, the canyon was named "Victory Canyon."

The First Regiment of the Second Brigade under Qu Zhengyan also became the unit with the most casualties in the entire battlefield, with nearly 50% of the soldiers sleeping forever in this blood-red canyon.

As Shenshi (3 PM to 5 PM) drew to a close, the rain had gradually stopped, and the sounds of desperate resistance in the mountains gradually faded. At this time, the news of Elhili's death had spread throughout Rainwater Creek. The passage from the camp to Yellow Head Rock had been destroyed, meaning that Dalai's reinforcements would be difficult to arrive. The two main passages back to the army camp had been repeatedly contested by the Huaxia Army and the Jurchens. Some people escaped back to the camp via small roads, and many troops were forced into dead ends. Some strong Jurchen troops formed defensive formations and held their ground, while a large number of surviving troops chose to surrender.

Including the main force of the Jin soldiers and the Han army troops, the number of Jin soldiers who died or were injured in this battle approached 8,000. In addition, about 15,000 people were captured on the spot, disarmed, and escorted to the rear.

The Huaxia Army also suffered considerable damage, but as the rain gradually stopped, Qu Zhengyan had people drag the last usable cannons into the mountains. Some of them would be used to deal with the stubborn Jurchen elites, and some would be dragged towards the Jurchen camp.

Pack horses used for carrying heavy loads dragged dry firewood through the bloody battlefield. After arriving at the periphery of the Jurchen camp, Qu Zhengyan directed the soldiers to light bonfires one by one on the upwind side. After the bonfires were set, wet wood was added, and streams of black smoke crawled up the hillside towards the Jurchen camp.

This Jurchen camp had not been attacked in the two months after it was set up. Many of its structures were still intact: the wooden walls, the sheds piled with artillery. But Qu Zhengyan was not afraid. During the most intense battle at Rainwater Creek, some "defeated soldiers" had already retreated "back" towards the camp. As the black smoke swirled, teams of horses carrying explosive packs had also arrived one after another.

As long as Dalai's reinforcements could not arrive, the emotion of fear would fester in the front-line camp tonight. Tonight, or tomorrow at the latest, he would knock open this wooden wall and chop off the snake's head that the Jurchens had extended towards Rainwater Creek, fiercely and thoroughly!