"The Song people are so self-righteous!" Wanyan Wuzhu took the wine, drank it down in one gulp, and then slammed the cup heavily on the table. Disregarding the fierce battle less than a thousand paces away at the front line, he began gesturing wildly as if lecturing Heaven and Earth. "They think they've seen through my strategy, that they've planned everything perfectly, that they've seized a sliver of an opportunity, but they're destined to suffer. This cursed Huai River that has plagued me for nearly two months will be breached today!"

"Yes, yes, yes! What the Fourth Prince says is absolutely right!"

Shi Wenbin was quick with his words, but in his heart, he was quite speechless. *You* led more than 20,000 men and haven't crossed the Huai River even half a step in almost two months. You haven't even entered the city of Xiacai, only constantly losing troops. Now, on the verge of leaving, you're trying to pull a fast one, only to have it seen through by the Zhao Emperor, leading to countless Song soldiers swarming in to counterattack. Watching no fewer than 10,000 or 20,000 attacking your 5,000 or 6,000 soldiers, with your cavalry all stuck in the camp unable to escape, why do you dare say that you'll breach the Huai River today?

"Counselor Shi doesn't believe me, does he?" Wanyan Wuzhu straightened his back, glanced sideways, and couldn't help but sneer.

Along with these words, a wave-like roar of battle cries suddenly surged from all sides, indicating that the core central camp had begun to engage. Shi Wenbin was taken aback for a moment, just about to get up and explain.

"If you dare say you believe me, I'll break your dog legs first!" Amidst the battle cries, Wanyan Wuzhu didn't even look around, just continued to stare at the person in front of him with a cold smile, and then pointed at the empty wine cup.

Shi Wenbin had no choice but to brace himself and continue to pour wine for the other, and grit his teeth and say a sincere truth: "Reporting to the Fourth Prince, I don't understand military matters, I am indeed puzzled!"

"It's not that you, Old Shi, don't understand military matters." Wanyan Wuzhu raised his cup again and chuckled, taking a small sip of wine before loudly laughing amidst the earth-shattering shouts and clashing of metal. "What is military strategy anyway? Reading a few military books and showing off a few tricks is not as good as spending a few months on the battlefield, in the military camp... I ask you, if you look around now, can you immediately distinguish our Jin and Song banners and commands? Can you mentally estimate the troop strength? Do you know where to use bows and arrows, where to use spears, and where to use large shields?"

Hearing this, Shi Wenbin looked around, only to find that he really did have a clear understanding of the situation and a sincere assessment... For example, he saw that the defense facing west towards Xiacai City was the most strained because there were the most Song soldiers there, and the shouts were the loudest. However, due to the excessive gathering of soldiers, it seemed chaotic, indicating that the Song generals wanted to show off in front of that young Zhao Emperor, which inevitably led to infighting for credit. As another example, the attack on the north was the slowest, but there were many fires and the sound of powerful crossbows. Looking from afar, there were also people scattering things and digging trenches on the periphery, seemingly deliberately suppressing progress and not seeking advancement... Thinking carefully, it should be that the Song army knew it would be difficult to swallow the entire Jin army, so they reserved a passage for the Jin people to escape, but they also wanted to keep the Jin horses to prevent the Jin from counterattacking!

In short, Shi Wenbin looked around and was shocked to realize that he understood so much, and he was momentarily horrified. Could it be that he was also a potential famous general?

"Old Shi, you are a scholar, you understand a lot; you are also old, you have seen a lot; now you are also processing documents and participating in military discussions in my central military tent, the so-called... having a bird's-eye view... plus getting rid of that stuffy scholar air from before, you can naturally understand ordinary military affairs at once." Wanyan Wuzhu pointed around, speaking eloquently.

"It's all thanks to the Fourth Prince's cultivation!" Shi Wenbin quickly bowed.

"It's all your own ability, what cultivation or not?" Wanyan Wuzhu laughed even more freely. "So Old Shi, I only ask you, since you understand military matters, why are you still questioning my words?"

Shi Wenbin was naturally speechless.

"Because you are a Song person!" Wanyan Wuzhu casually splashed half a cup of wine on the other's face, and then laughed wildly. "It's the same as the new Emperor of Song on the other side. Although he's done a good job these past two months, giving me a feeling of meeting a worthy opponent, in the end, he still couldn't restrain his greed and made such a huge mistake... Old Shi, you Song people simply don't understand the strength of us Jurchens! Pour the wine!"

Shi Wenbin was stunned for a moment, quickly wiped the wine off his face, and then carefully poured wine for the other: "Please instruct me, Fourth Prince."

"Do you really want to hear, or do you just see me drinking alone and want to flatter me?"

"Student... I really want to hear." Shi Wenbin carefully held the cup and handed it over, saying earnestly. "First, I really want to know, why is the Great Jin always able to win repeatedly? Second, my family is all in Yishui, and there's no way back this time, so I hope the Fourth Prince can achieve a turnaround victory today, but I really don't understand why the current situation can turn around?"

Wanyan Wuzhu stared at the other for a moment, then raised his head and drank it all down, before finally speaking: "Old Shi, please sit."

"Yes!"

"Actually, the reason why we can turn around today, you almost said it for me just now." Wanyan Wuzhu put down the wine cup, still smiling freely. "You said Great Jin always wins repeatedly?"

"That's right!"

"Actually, it's the other way around. Our Great Jin wins repeatedly in order to fight repeatedly, so we can win repeatedly!" Wanyan Wuzhu said proudly.

"Student doesn't understand." In astonishment, Shi Wenbin actually used the title that Wanyan Wuzhu hated the most.

"Of course you don't understand." Wanyan Wuzhu said condescendingly. "In the beginning, when my father came out of the mountain ravines of Liaodong, he was indeed a natural genius, a figure like a generation of Genghis Khan, with the so-called hearts of those far and near returning, and unity inside and out, but when he rebelled against the Liao, it was only with 2,500 soldiers... You must know that General Ali, who held the rank of ten-thousand-house commander, was the lowest soldier among those 2,500, a conscript named Ali Xi... However, at the Battle of Chuhedian, 3,000 defeated 7,000, and at the Huanglong Mansion, 20,000 defeated 100,000. In seven years, with small victories over large, like a wolf devouring a tiger, he seized all of the Liao lands; then, the four years of defeating the Song and swallowing the lands of both rivers, you naturally know about! Shi Wenbin!"

"Student is here!"

"I ask you, if you were a Jurchen, having experienced so much, would you think that you would be defeated by a mere two times the number of troops in a fair fight?" Wanyan Wuzhu asked proudly. "Even if our cavalry is trapped in the camp, caught off guard and forced to defend the camp on foot?"

Shi Wenbin was about to answer, but Wanyan Wuzhu suddenly slammed the table and answered himself:

"Absolutely not! Because you Song people lose repeatedly in order to fight repeatedly, so after one charge, if you can't gain the advantage, you will be panicked and fearful, and then your formation will collapse, so that you will fight each other to protect your lives; but we Jin people, after one charge, even if we can't win, although the casualties are heavy, we will still obey orders, with one mind and one heart, even ten people can form a team, and strive to fight again! So, every battle, even if you can gain the advantage many times, once you lose the advantage, you will collapse completely, but although we lose the advantage many times, as long as we grit our teeth and fight desperately, we can always succeed in the end!"

Shi Wenbin was stunned and speechless.

"Counselor Shi!" Wanyan Wuzhu felt refreshed all over after saying those words. "Jurchens are also people! Song people are also people! For example, you and I are just commoners! But the reason why I can regard your life and death as a plaything here is because we Jurchens, after forming an army, have won for more than ten years, and have already gained the Mandate of Heaven, which cannot be suppressed! But you Song people have been defeated for several years, and even the emperor has been sent to the north as a slave, so naturally the Mandate of Heaven is declining... That day, I thought on the Huai River, how can such a great land be handed over to you southerners? Just watch, I, Wanyan Wuzhu, am destined to destroy this Great Song!"

Shi Wenbin still lowered his head and said nothing.

As time passed, in the sound of the waves of the Huai River in the morning, the increasingly closer battle cries not only did not approach further, but gradually weakened. Obviously, after the first wave of a massive siege, the Song army was quickly blocked by the outermost layer of the fence around the core camp... This seemed to confirm Wanyan Wuzhu's words, the Song army cannot last long and is not good at attacking fortified positions in bitter battles.

However, just a moment later, with a burst of cheers coming at an inopportune time, Shi Wenbin instinctively turned to look to the east. Even Wanyan Wuzhu couldn't help but frown and turn around, and then became furious again: "Someone, go ask Puluhun for me, I gave him my own personal soldiers, what is he doing? How did he let the Song people pull down the outer fence so quickly?!"

ps: Happy New Year on the first day of the Lunar New Year, I wish everyone a Happy New Year, be sure to pay attention to safety. Wash your hands frequently and go out less.