The scent of gunpowder lingered in the air, the taste of blood filled every breath; an unpleasant sensation one could never truly get used to. After the cry of "The bastards are retreating!" Mao Yishan finally took his shield and rushed towards the north side of the mountain. The sounds of battle continued on the mountainside, but soon, the sounds of the enemy's temporary retreat echoed as well.

"Search the corpses! Collect all their fire bombs for me!"

While making his way to the large rock at the highest point, Mao Yishan hoarsely barked out orders: "How many cannons are left?"

"Three small ones."

"Drag them to the north. If the enemy charges forward, focus the fire bombs on the opening guarded by Changshi! Don't let them form a formation!"

"Give as many fire bombs as possible to the south! Xiao Xue! Find good spots to throw the Jurchen's fire bombs from above, it'll maximize their power. Gather our grenades and see how many we have left!"

"Each company, each platoon, count the men around you—"

"First aid—wrap it up first—"

Amidst the shouts, he raised his binoculars and surveyed the mountain below. The Jurchen troops were all over the nearby ravines and foothills. A hot air balloon rose into the sky. Seeing it, Mao Yishan frowned.

"Damn it—"

Since the start of the battle, both sides had been using observation balloons. In the past, during positional warfare, both sides would keep a few up as a precaution. But now that the battlefield had become interwoven and chaotic, the hot air balloon was a clear marker of position. Whoever had a balloon up would inevitably attract scouts, and might soon be swarmed by a large force.

The fact that these Jurchens dared to put up a balloon meant either they were determined to get a clear picture of the situation and wipe out his force on the mountain, or they had other plans and no longer cared about the risks associated with the balloon.

Either way, it wasn't good news for his side.

Soon after, someone came to report that there were only three hundred and ninety-six soldiers still able to fight.

"...Also, the cliff on the east side is too steep to descend, we can't move that way."

"Forget about the east side, they've got a balloon up in the sky."

Mao Yishan looked at the sky. It was only just past noon. The idea of holding out until nightfall to facilitate a breakout seemed unlikely. The markings on the crude map also indicated that there were probably no reinforcements that could arrive quickly.

He recalled the meeting with the staff officer before setting out yesterday. The officer’s orders were: "Reach White Tiger Ford by the evening of February 23rd. If the opportunity arises, join with the friendly forces of the First Division, Second Brigade, to attack Balisu's flank.” After giving the order, the staff officer added, "The main forces of Balisu and Dalai are now pretty much entrenched in their planned positions. The staff believes they are likely to launch a large-scale penetration in the near future to push the front line forward. Once they pass the Leigang and Zongxi line, there will be more plains ahead, and the Jurchens will have an even greater advantage in massing their forces."

"So if you do encounter them, remember to be flexible. Retreat when the enemy advances, harass them when they tire. Don't bite off more than you can chew."

These words had been spoken only yesterday. The staff had predicted that it might be a few more days before it happened. But today, Mao Yishan's team ran into an unexpected large force while attempting to penetrate the enemy lines.

After killing Elili at Rainwater Creek, Mao Yishan's regiment hadn't received many replacements. They had received a few batches of new recruits, and had been fighting for two months, so the regiment's numbers had hovered around four hundred. The Jurchen force in front of him probably exceeded two thousand. After a brief skirmish with the scouts, Mao Yishan had ordered a retreat to the side, only to be blocked by another Jurchen force cutting in from the flank.

Judging from the enemy's reaction, this might have been a complete coincidence, but regardless, the four hundred or so men were surrounded on the mountain and fought for nearly an hour and a half. The enemy had launched several waves of attacks, but they had been pushed back.

Having surrounded this force of just over four hundred men, the Jin soldiers below were excited. They even raised a hot air balloon to prevent them from escaping. For Mao Yishan, this was a case of walking by the river too often and inevitably getting his shoes wet.

Due to the fall of Huangming County just after the New Year, Mao Yishan had been quickly recalled to the front line after the Spring Festival, thus escaping the planned propaganda campaign. His team had held out at Rainwater Creek until late January, then retreated under the cover of heavy fog. After that, they had embarked on a pleasant journey of harassing the enemy's weaker units.

This was a precise strike against the Jin's isolated forces supported by a network of elite scouts. In the first half of February, Mao Yishan had fought four battles: one ambush, two victories in a single charge where Mao Yishan even killed a Han Chinese general who was now in the minority in the Jurchen advancing army, and one difficult, but not impossible escape.

And this fifth battle, he was trapped.

"The enemy is coming up again—"

Someone shouted.

"Damn it, they ruined my new coat!"

Mao Yishan muttered under his breath. The beautiful, light, and warm military coat had been given to him by Ning Yi. Mao Yishan didn't go up during the enemy's first charge, but during the second, he grabbed his knife and shield and went. The coat got stained with blood, half of it turning scarlet. Only now did he feel a pang of heartache. He took off the coat, carefully placed it on the ground, and then headed forward with his weapon.

"Pay attention to the situation. If we get a chance, we'll break through to the south. I think the bastards on the south side are weaker."

Mao Yishan said this as the battalion commander approached. The commander nodded and smiled: "Regiment commander, if we're going to break out, can, can I wear your coat? It's too eye-catching on you. I'll help you wear it and attract... the Jurchens' attention."

"If you wear it, will I ever get it back?"

"Don't, don't say that, Regiment commander, it's not... generous..."

"Get lost."

The shouts of battle were already spreading.

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

The sun in the sky gradually shifted to the west, not as noticeable as the thick smoke drifting over the mountain range.

The rocks were gradually stained red with blood, and the gunpowder of explosions bloomed in patches. As the afternoon turned to evening, the Chinese army on the hilltop made two attempts to break out, but failed. They had endured over a dozen charges.

Gritting his teeth, Mao Yishan crawled through the black smoke. A tearing pain was coming from his right arm and the right side of his face—in fact, that wasn't entirely accurate. He had several wounds all over his body, and they were all bleeding. His ears were ringing, and he couldn't hear anything. When his hand moved to his face, he found that half of his ear was a bloody mess.

"Ah—"

He cried out like a beast, the sound seeming to come from the nearby hilltops. There were other sounds in the smoke. On the grassy slope not far away, a Chinese soldier with half of his body blackened by a gunpowder explosion was lying there. One of his legs was broken, and blood was flowing out. Half of his body and face had various abrasions. Mao Yishan saw his hand waving, and then heard the faint sound of screaming.

The enemy had just launched another charge, and Mao Yishan had led his team to push them back with a fierce counterattack, but the Jurchens' fire bombs had still caused some damage. The enemy had just retreated, and the people around were searching. Mao Yishan rushed towards the wounded soldier, trying to pick him up. The wounded soldier's face was twisted to the extreme.

Mao Yishan's head was still ringing, and the shouting sounded distant, tragic, and chaotic. He knew it was the scream of his companion. The soldier reached out and grabbed his clothes. Mao Yishan saw that his bloodshot eyes were bulging out, his mouth was red, and the flesh on his face that had been hit by shrapnel was turned outwards, also red.

"Give me a quick death—"

Mao Yishan tried to drag the man up, but after listening twice, he understood what the other party was saying. These words briefly drained his strength. He rolled to the ground, looked up, and looked into the mountains through the smoke. After a moment, he punched himself in the head and then leaned closer to the wounded soldier.

"Anything you want to say!?"

"Ah—" the wounded soldier shouted.

"Anything you want to say—"

"Regiment commander, give me a quick death—"

"Okay—"

Mao Yishan shouted. He looked at the wounded soldier, who, despite the pain, clenched his teeth and looked back at him, trembling all over. After that second of eye contact, Mao Yishan drew his knife and brought it down.

He then stood up from the smoke and walked back. Someone followed him, and then the medical staff came up to check his injuries and treat his ear. Mao Yishan sat down on the big rock on the mountain, trying to make arrangements while his body trembled in pain.

"We've repelled them twelve times—" the battalion commander ran over to speak. Mao Yishan looked at him while shaking. The battalion commander was stunned for a moment, and then shouted again. Mao Yishan nodded.

"Reinforcements may not be coming!"

"Hold out until night! May-may-maybe there's a way!"

"Those bastards probably recognized us!"

"What?"

"They know I killed Elili—"

"...Oh." The battalion commander thought for a moment, "Then regiment commander, tonight, I'll wear your coat..."

"Don't even think about it—"

"Cheapskate—"

Both of them were shouting.

The enemy's thirteenth charge arrived.

The fierce battle continued. The losses on the hilltop were actually already more than half, and most of the survivors were wounded. Mao Yishan knew in his heart that reinforcements probably wouldn't be coming. This time, they must have encountered a large-scale Jurchen breakthrough. The main forces of several divisions would concentrate their initial counterattacks on a few key positions. The Jin dogs wanted to take territory, and this was the price they would make them pay.

His side, the scouts couldn't get through, and the reinforcements that happened to be nearby probably couldn't make it in time. According to yesterday's orders, they should all have gone towards White Tiger Ford. He had simply been caught—if not for bad luck, he should have been able to run away on his own and then rejoin the regiment.

In every battle, there were bound to be one or two unlucky guys like that.

He remembered the scene when he went back to reunite with his wife and children during the New Year. The others in the army didn't get such good treatment, they didn't even have the chance to say goodbye to their families—but that was good too. Perhaps because of that trip, he now felt... quite reluctant to leave.

His eyes welled up for a moment. He gritted his teeth and swallowed the pain in his ears and head, then headed forward with his knife.

The change occurred during the most intense moment of this round of fighting—

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

On February 23rd, one of the armies that blocked Mao Yishan's regiment's path on this unnamed hill in the southwest was an elite force composed of Han Chinese from Liaodong. The commander of the force was named Yin Han, and he had a total of over one thousand five hundred men under his command.

On the other side of the mountain were two Jin armies with close to three thousand men.

The resistance of the four hundred or so Chinese soldiers on the mountain was quite tenacious, which was not unexpected by the attackers on both sides. Firstly, the terrain of the mountain was relatively narrow, making it difficult to break through in a short period of time. Secondly, shortly after the battle broke out, people recognized the Chinese army's designation—the other Jurchens might not understand it, but after the Chinese army killed Elili, there had been some propaganda, and some of the Jin soldiers had recognized it.

This was a great achievement and must be taken.

Having made this plan, the besiegers initially chose to completely block off the routes around the hilltop, and then gradually increased the intensity of the offensive.

Over a dozen attacks were launched in succession. During the thirteenth attack, Yin Han revealed a flaw.

His flaw was not directed at the mountain.

……

On the other side of the mountain, Zheng Qiming and Ning Ji and the other twenty or so people had been squatting in the bushes for half an hour.

They had only started with over ten people. Since early this morning, they had encountered advancing Jurchen forces. Afterwards, this team, which was still carrying the wounded, fled around, playing hide-and-seek with Jurchen scouts. They joined a team of seven scouts along the way, until they discovered the fierce fighting on this mountain in the afternoon.

"What's going on with the Jurchens?"

"There must be a big move."

"Why are we running into them so often today..."

"We're too far ahead..."

"The Jurchens have a conspiracy..."

Along the way, everyone discussed the situation. After encountering the battlefield, they stopped. They counted the number of people around them, knowing that this was an extremely risky move. Some members were also concerned about Ning Ji's presence, but Ning Ji insisted on participating.

"When it comes to killing people, I won't drag you down, will I? There are so few of us, one more person means one more chance. Look at the mountain, saving people is the most important thing, right?"

The opportunity appeared at Shen Shi (4 PM) on this day. Yin Han exposed a slightly weaker back to this small team.

"Let's kill."

Everyone crawled out.

Even though it was a weak point in the military formation, the number of people around Yin Han was still more than the small team that Ning Ji was in, but this was the best opportunity.

At this moment, both Ning Ji under the mountain and Mao Yishan on the mountain were wholeheartedly fighting for the lives of dozens and hundreds of people in front of them. Not many people realized that what they were experiencing was the starting point of the biggest change in this southwest campaign.

In Zizhou, Ning Yi had already received news of a large-scale disturbance by the Jurchens at noon that day. The forward command immediately concentrated its forces to meet several of the enemy's lines of attack.

Ning Yi did not interfere with this information. He had vaguely noticed some things a few days earlier. Even earlier than that, he knew that there would inevitably be a moment when certain things would be fully set in motion. He had already prepared for some things on this day.

Inside Zizhou City, a small number of troops were gathering, and some items were being moved out of the armory.

The Leigang and Zongxi line was an invisible line in front of Zizhou City. After crossing this line, the forests would begin to decrease, and terrain suitable for large army maneuvers would begin to appear. The Jurchens would regain their advantage in troop strength.

After crossing this line, it would be even more difficult for them to return to Jianmen Pass...

Ning Yi walked towards the parade ground where the troops were gathering.

……

Zheng Qiming and Ning Ji charged towards the military formation where Yin Han was located.

The sound of a sniper rifle rang out, attempting to complete the decapitation strike at the same time.

A moment later, someone on the hilltop noticed the change in the military formation on the south side.

Someone ran towards Mao Yishan and shouted. Mao Yishan raised his binoculars and took a look.

The battalion commander rushed past him: "Quick! Break out—"

"First Company... Third Company, everyone! The south side—charge—"

On the other side of the mountain, the soldiers on the hot air balloon also discovered the change, and the Jurchen army frantically gathered.

"Second Company, Second Platoon! Follow me to cover the rear—"

"Charge—"

Mao Yishan didn't hesitate. The soldiers on the mountain charged down like tigers released from their cages. Mao Yishan ran out for a while, then turned around: "Hey—"

There were still soldiers charging down beside him. On the other side of the mountain, the Jurchens were frantically charging up. On the top of the mountain, the battalion commander stood there, waving to him. In his hand, he was holding the military coat that Mao Yishan had forgotten to put on.

The battalion commander looked at Mao Yishan and put on his comfortable and beautiful military coat. He had to admit, he looked quite dashing.

"I'll cover the rear."

For the rest of his life, the battalion commander never returned the military coat to him.