The mountains stretch, outlining intense undulations on the land in the southwest direction. Search: \(¨Complete¨Book¨Divine¨Station¨) to read high-quality literature for free.
Under the surging leaden clouds, white snow fell profusely on the earth. From Xiangfan towards Jiange, thousands of miles of land were either chaotic or deathly silent.
Originally solid cities had their gates knocked open in the past few months, and the damage caused by the rampage of hundreds of thousands of troops had not yet subsided. Among the scorched ruins, people in tattered clothes were still searching for their last hope; in villages ravaged by soldiers and bandits, elderly couples were gradually dying in their cold homes; refugees gathered outside the few cities in this land that had not yet been breached, and after the heavy snow fell, they began to freeze and starve to death in large numbers.
The land stretched towards Jiange, and hundreds of thousands of troops, densely packed like ants, were building a new ecological community on the gradually cooling land. In the mountains adjacent to the military camps, the trees had been completely felled, and every day, columns of smoke for heating rose from the vast military camps, like towering trees reaching the clouds. In some military camps, new war materials were being manufactured every day, and under the transportation of ox carts, they were heading towards the battlefield in Jiange. Some self-sufficient troops were still rampaging on the Han Chinese lands further away.
The autumn harvest fruits that the army had swept across thousands of miles in the past autumn were now mostly stored here. Corresponding to this, were millions of Han Chinese people who had completely lost their winter grain and past savings. This logistics camp, which supported the southwest war, had as many as hundreds of thousands of troops and a warning range of hundreds of miles.
In November, Wanyan Xiyin had arrived here to take charge. What he was waiting for and guarding against was a black flag team of 20,000 people led by Qin Shaoqian, coming from the direction of Tubo Dayang, crossing the mountains. This was the most elite revenge force of the Huaxia Army, which had been baptized by the blood of Xiaocang River, like a venomous snake, pointing its blade at the hundreds of thousands of Jin troops gathered outside Jiange.
If Xiyin had not prepared for the attack on the Black Flag for several years and thoroughly investigated the situation of this force, the rear defense of the Jurchen army would have been broken with one blow by this army. At that time, the Jurchen elite that had entered the southwest would probably have difficulty even getting out of Jiange, and the iron chains would have blocked the river, making it impossible to move up or down.
Therefore, in November, Xiyin arrived here, took over the command of these tens of thousands of Jurchen elites, and considered it as a heavy move against this army. Qin Shaoqian understood that their actions had been discovered, and more than 20,000 people stayed quietly in the mountains. Up to this point, they had not made any moves.
Some things, when said before they happen, are hard to believe, but Xiyin understood in his heart that if the southwest war was lost, these 20,000 people quietly watching the battle would cut the sharpest knife in the rear of the Jurchens.
Will the Jurchens fail? — No one on their side temporarily had this idea. But this group of Black Flag troops waiting for revenge was obviously considering this as a concrete future.
The war at the front had only just begun, and Ning Yi had placed this steel knife in the rear, ambushing, opportunism... or even waiting for the Jurchens to flee and exterminate the entire West Route Army. This boldness and arrogance made Xiyin feel displeased.
He calmly reorganized and trained these Han Chinese troops who had surrendered in the rear, selecting the available soldiers step by step, and at the same time organizing sufficient logistical materials to support the front line.
Starting from here again, passing Jiange, all the way to the extension. In the vast mountains, the sprawling team wove a long dragon, with military camps at the nodes of the dragon's body. Traces of human activity radiated from the military camps, and there were also patches of black baldness in the mountains and forests. Slaughter and flames created ugly patches of mange.
In December, there was occasional rain and snow under the leaden sky, and the roads were muddy and slippery. Although the Jurchens organized a large number of logistics personnel to maintain the roads, the transportation capacity forward gradually became more and more difficult to maintain. The advancing army, accompanied by ox carts, slipped in the mud and water. Sometimes people crowded together in the mountains, and at every node of transportation capacity, soldiers could be seen shivering in front of bonfires.
Forward from Jiange, figures of people, ox carts, and horse carts filled the muddy mountain road that stretched for fifty miles. Under the encouragement and mobilization of Jurchen Marshal Zong Han, the advancing Jurchen troops appeared strong, and the Han Chinese troops forced to move forward appeared numb, but the team was still extending. Some rugged places in the mountains were even forcibly opened up with new roads. People shouted in the mountains, and scout troops with strange clothes and different expressions came out of the forest from time to time, helping their companions, carrying the wounded, and after resting, they went into the mountains in waves.
In order to reduce the pressure on the road, the wounded on the front line were basically no longer transferred to the rear at this time, and the dead were uniformly burned near the battlefield. The wounded were also left on the front line for treatment.
When the weather was clear, hot air balloons would rise high in the sky. When it was rainy and windy, people were on guard against small-scale raids that might occur in the forest.
The Huaxia Army ambushed the Jin troops, and the Jin scouts sometimes raided the Huaxia Army.
The chaotic road stretched for fifty miles. On the battlefield a little to the south, the small city called Huangming County was littered with debris and corpses, and the artillery shells made the land full of pits and potholes. The disassembled catapults left traces on the ground, and the remains of various siege equipment, and even iron cannons, extended forward mixed with the corpses.
Several huge siege shield vehicles, enough to resist artillery fire, collapsed in various parts of the battlefield. The appearance of these shield vehicles was like a right-angled triangle as high as the city wall. The front was a thick, artillery-resistant surface, and the slope of the rear diagonal was enough for people to climb. The attacking soldiers pushed it to the edge of the city wall, and the attacking soldiers could climb the city in groups from the slope to expand the formation advantage. Now, these shield vehicles were also scattered on the battlefield.
In the past month or so, the Jurchens relied on various equipment to carry out several sieges, but they were not of much significance. Scattered soldiers climbing the city would be concentrated by the Huaxia soldiers, and rushing up in groups would only encounter hand grenades thrown by the other side.
Before the Huaxia soldiers on the city wall were all dead, it became a completely unrealistic attempt to conquer the city in one fell swoop after the siege. In recent days, the only things that could really cause damage to the defenders on the city wall seemed to be bows and arrows, fire mines, catapults, or iron cannons forcibly pushed to the front and fired at the city wall, but the Huaxia Army still had an absolute advantage in this regard.
For Balisu, who was in charge of the war here, there were even more devastating things happening in the front.
The attack on Huangming County began at the beginning of November. In this process, the hot air balloons on both sides observed the movements of the opposite camp every day. As soon as the attack began, the soldiers in the hot air balloon reported to Balisu the changes that had taken place in the other side's city. In that small city, a new city wall was being built dozens of feet behind.
The Huaxia Army organized a large number of engineering personnel and dismantled the buildings in the city at an astonishing speed - some preparations had actually been made long ago, but the buildings in the front were used as camouflage - they quickly set up iron and wood structure frames, built the foundation, and invested the earth and rocks originally dismantled from other houses, poured in gray "slurry"... In just half a month, Huangming County was defending against the Jurchens' repeated attacks in the front, and a new gray city wall several feet high was built in the rear.
In the process of building the new city wall, Ning Yi, the leader of the Huaxia Army, even appeared on the construction site several times and participated in the construction of some key places, gesticulating.
For Balisu, this was simply a terrible slap in the face.
But this also made this famous Jurchen general calm down and give up many illusions. He exchanged a large number of lives and materials for the lives and materials on the city wall. By mid-December, the first city wall of Huangming County had been riddled with holes and was crumbling. Balisu's troops who participated in the attack in turn suffered as many as tens of thousands of casualties, including more than 5,000 Jurchen direct descendants whom he regarded as the main force.
Waving and adding oil tactics on the city wall, and casualties would be higher if they went forward under the bombardment. But if the exchange ratio was drawn closer in the case of continuous, saturated, and repeated attacks with the advantage of manpower. In a month and a half, Balisu organized several rotating attacks that lasted as long as eight or nine days. He covered the battlefield with a large number of Han Chinese skirmishers to reduce the opponent's artillery efficiency as much as possible. He also made feints and strong attacks from time to time. In the early stage, a large number of Han Chinese prisoners were driven out, wave after wave, so that the Black Flag troops on the city wall could not relax their nerves at all.
The Black Flag troops on the city wall in the early stage of this war were obviously high-spirited, but later, the city wall gradually became silent and endured Balisu's fierce attacks wave after wave. Under the premise that the Jurchens paid a huge price, the number of casualties on the city wall was also constantly increasing. Balisu organized artillery formations and catapults to occasionally concentrate fire on the city wall, and then ordered the soldiers to seize the city, but each time they were retaken by the Huaxia soldiers.
The Yushui Creek battlefield to the north has relatively low terrain. At this time, the attacking position has long been turned into a muddy area. The Jurchens' attack often had to cross the blood-stained mud to engage in close combat with the Huaxia Army, but the nearby forest was relatively easy to pass through, so the defensive line was stretched and the rhythm of attack and defense was a bit strange.
The defense here is not based on a city wall without flaws, but on several high grounds that occupy key points, controlling the main road leading to the rear, with three lines of defense before and after. There are actually many trails near the creeks and forests, and the area near the position has not been completely sealed off, but if you ignore it and force a breakthrough, you will be trapped in a narrow mountain road and step on landmines, and then be attacked by the Huaxia Army's living forces from the front and back, and you will die faster.
Because of this situation, the surrounding mountains are like a huge maze. The Huaxia Army often has to seize the opportunity to take the initiative to attack and create results, and the Jurchens can choose more and more tactics. In more than a month, the two sides went back and forth, and the Jurchens suffered a few losses, and they also forcibly pulled out a position on the front line of the Huaxia Army.
Yu Zhongdao of the Fifth Division of the Fifth Army of the Huaxia Army was responsible for guarding this position. In a battle in early December, the two sides engaged in close combat in the muddy and cold mud, and both suffered a lot of casualties. Qu Zhengyan, the division commander of the Fourth Division, led a team of less than 500 people, crossing mountains and ridges to carry out a counter-attack, directly attacking the outer periphery of the Jurchen camp on the Yushui Creek side. At that time, the Jurchen general Elili, who was commanding the Yushui Creek battle, was about to lead people to raid, and was intercepted by Qu Zhengyan, who seized the gap, and almost killed him on the spot.
The movement of the incident in the rear spread to the front, and the Jurchens on the front line were in chaos and suffered heavy casualties. Seeing that he could not kill Elili, Qu Zhengyan immediately ordered the soldiers to break through in the direction of the Yushui Creek position.
His breakthrough was unusually resolute, and he let someone hold up a big head and shouted: "Elili is dead! Annihilate them with a pincer attack!" As many as thousands of Jurchens who had withdrawn from the front line wanted to rescue the main general, but at first glance, they really thought they were under a pincer attack. After hesitating slightly, Qu Zhengyan broke out from the center of the team.
The smell of blood filled the winter air, and the killing and confrontation continued to spread in the mountains every day.
Going southwest from Yushui Creek and Huangming County, you can see stretcher teams and reinforcements running by on the mountain roads from time to time. Pack horses carrying supplies, pulling artillery shells, gunpowder, grain, and other supplies, were also being sent to the battlefield every day. In the wounded soldier camp built in the mountain col, screams and shouts were heard from time to time. The heat and black smoke from boiling water in the shed hovered over the camp, looking like strange fog.
Ning Ji ran out of the tent, poured the blood in the wooden basin into the ditch next to the camp, and without any rest, he turned back to the shed to pour boiling water into the wooden basin and ran back. The wounded soldier camp behind the battlefield was not safe in theory. The Jurchens were not pushovers. In fact, it was not impossible for the front-line battlefield to suddenly collapse on any day, and even the possibility was quite high. But Little Ning Ji insisted on coming here.
In a sense, this was also the bottom line he could accept.
Not far from the wounded soldier camp, there were also sprawling prisoner-of-war camps. In November, the prisoner-of-war camps housed mostly the civilians who survived on the battlefield. In December, Han Chinese troops who broke into Yushui Creek were gradually surrounded and surrendered and sent here.
These people were not trustworthy. The Han Chinese troops who were selected by Zong Han to participate in this war were either outstanding in combat power or considered relatively "reliable" by the Jurchens. They were not the kind of troops who were driven into the mountains in turn during the Xiaocang River battle, and they could not be absorbed in a short time.
These people could not stay in the vicinity for a few days. The biggest reason for not being able to transfer them quickly was also because of road problems. The Huaxia Army staff responsible for guarding them would conduct a quick review of them, and propaganda work was also launched at the first time. Hou Wu, who had left the main army to participate in the rear public security work, was one of the persons in charge here, so Hou Yuanyong, who was participating in the battlefield intelligence management work, was able to come and see his father a few times.
The winding road extended all the way to Zizhou and to the Chengdu Plain in the southwest. In winter, the cloud layer in the Chengdu Plain was extremely low. Looking around, the sky looked like a depressing leaden cover. Workshops were operating at full capacity in cities, and large and small blast furnaces were swallowing light and flames under the hazy sky. People driving ox carts, pushing wheelbarrows, and even carrying burdens were also continuously gathering various materials towards Zizhou and Jiange. This was a similar situation to the material transportation outside Jiange.
This was also the scene of two giant beasts fighting under the winter sky...
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December 19th, the Little New Year had not yet arrived, and it was drizzling continuously.
For more than a month, every rainfall would bring the most tragic killing, because the Jurchens believed that the rainfall would take away the gap in firearms, and now was the time when they could take advantage of it the most.
At the intersection near Yushui Creek, on the not-so-wide road towards Yingzui Rock, Mao Yishan breathed hot air into his hands, clenched his fists, and in his field of vision, dark figures were advancing towards this side.
A decisive battle was about to break out at this moment...
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