Han Chang, standing by the river, offered his counsel, finally swaying Wanyan Wushu to change his decision. Once the Jin army resolved to abandon their supplies and march with all haste towards Xijing, they became an unstoppable force.

Of course, this situation also meant that the Jin army had completely abandoned any intention of fighting the Song army. Moreover, abandoning supplies for a purely rapid march meant that the mortality rate of horses and the non-combat attrition rate of soldiers would greatly increase.

Seeing this, Yue Fei dared not be negligent. He sent part of his troops across the river to seize the abandoned supplies of the Jin army, while rapidly pursuing along the river. He didn't forget to report the situation to Zhao Jiu and Han Shizhong in haste. Upon learning of Wang De's movements, he even contacted Wang De and agreed to pursue on either side of the river.

But it was all too late. The Jin army, enduring the pressure of significant attrition, marched with all their might. By the time they reached Dengfeng, they met up with Yelu Mawa's receiving force and successfully entered the Luoyang Basin.

With this, Han Shizhong's ambush plan completely failed.

It wasn't that Han Shizhong hadn't tried his best, nor that Yue Fei hadn't diligently executed Han Shizhong's strategy.

In fact, both of them did nothing wrong. Han Shizhong didn't forget about the Xijing pass. He was already contacting Li Yanxian to try to completely drive out Yelu Mawa and lock down the pass in the Xijing area, but he was a step too late after all.

Yue Fei's execution was even more impeccable. He even resisted the temptation to annihilate those four Meng'an units on the banks of the Ru River.

Where was the problem then?

It's simple. The Song army underestimated the significance of the Battle of Yanling-Changshe... They underestimated both the Jin army's shock at this battle and the invigorating effect this battle had on their own side.

Or rather, Zhao Jiu, Han Shizhong, and Yue Fei themselves were a bit special, a bit detached from the masses. When the three were preparing this ambush, they didn't put themselves in the other's shoes and figure out what it meant for the Jin and Song armies that the Song emperor personally appeared on the battlefield and won, and that fifteen Meng'an units were annihilated in an organized manner.

This was the first time the Jin army had been completely annihilated when they had more than ten thousand troops!

The first time something happens, it always makes people panic... The Jin army was scared themselves. Ta-lan personally experienced this battle, panicked and struggled, and simply left and never returned. Although Wushu and the others weren't afraid to that extent, the fear and anxiety in their hearts actually existed, and this fear made them increasingly vigilant when faced with Yue Fei's textbook-like delay and enticement, instead of falling for the trap.

After all, the Song army wasn't like this before.

And the direct cause that led Jin army commander Wushu to completely change his strategy, which was the active pursuit from Nanyang, was even more unexpected by Zhao Jiu, Han Shizhong, Yue Fei, and others. They really didn't expect Wang De and Huyan Tong to chase after them.

Of course, thinking about it now, it seemed that it wouldn't make sense if Wang De and Huyan Tong didn't chase after them... Although they didn't know the specific reaction in Nanyang, seeing the Jin army suddenly disappear completely, and then hearing that Zhao emperor had done something a bit scary but seemingly not fake in Yanling-Changshe, how could Chancellor Lü in Nanyang have no reaction?

Even, the imperial conquest was originally Lü Yihao's suggestion.

Of course, Han Chang's excellent judgment and the vigilance of Ba Lisu and others were also important reasons. It must be admitted that during the rise of the Jin Dynasty, a large number of outstanding military talents also rose to prominence. Their combat power wasn't without foundation... In a word, they could be panicked by this battle and the current predicament for a while, but it wasn't realistic to expect their combat power and judgment to collapse rapidly.

But regardless, after the Jin army's main force suffered nearly a thousand non-combat casualties and lost an even greater number of warhorses, Wanyan Wushu successfully retreated to Xijing and joined forces with Yelu Mawa.

However, even so, the war couldn't end there, because almost at the same time Wushu arrived in Luoyang, Li Yanxian's troops, Han Shizhong's troops who had been sent to Tokyo to protect Zhao emperor by Wang Yan's troops, Yue Fei's troops, and even Wang De's troops and Lü Qin's troops, successively gathered around Sishuiguan to the east of Luoyang, Dengfeng to the south, and Mianchi to the west, which was the periphery of the traditional Luoyang Basin.

The combined forces totaled at least seventy or eighty thousand, constantly communicating with each other. Under the leadership of Han Shizhong, who had the triple reinforcement of imperial edict, golden tablet, and jade belt, they basically surrounded Luoyang from three sides, and were constantly shrinking the encirclement, obviously eyeing the Jin army's main cavalry force, which numbered more than forty thousand.

It wasn't that Han Shizhong had eaten leopard gall, nor that he had lost his mind due to eagerness for revenge, but that these generals, and even Zhao emperor far away in Tokyo, knew that Wanyan Wushu, who had abandoned his supplies and arrived in Luoyang, would inevitably learn of Ta-lan's retreat north, and since Ta-lan had left, no matter how furious this fourth prince was, holding so many cavalry but lacking supplies, he had only one choice: to quickly gather boats, then quickly cross the Yellow River, because he could no longer gain a foothold in Henan!

The moment the Jin army crossed the river and divided their forces to cover the retreat, would be the best time for the Song army to encircle and tear off a piece of flesh!

January was coming to an end, and February was approaching. Limited by the speed of information transmission, the Jin and Song armies in other places might still be in a state of extremes... But as the viewpoint put forward in "On War," the main battle determined everything on the military level. With the battle personally launched and won by the Zhao Song emperor more than ten days ago, and the subsequent expansion of the results of that battle by the Song army in these days, by this point, at least both sides of the fighting around Luoyang knew that the Song army had defended this battle, and the Jin army had been defeated.

Moreover, this battle was about to end soon.

Therefore, Wanyan Wushu took the most decisive approach in addition to his fury. He unhesitatingly chose Yelu Mawa to cover the retreat, and then promptly crossed the river with the entire army.

There was nothing to say. The Song army was waiting for this rearguard force. At the same time as the Jin army's main force began crossing the river using boats, tens of thousands of Song soldiers began to advance towards Luoyang from three sides... There were no tricks, nor any desperate resistance. When the Song army calculated the timing and finally concentrated their forces to rush towards the ferry north of Beiman Mountain, the Jin army only had less than ten thousand soldiers led by Yelu Mawa left to cover the retreat on the Henan shore.

The two sides fought, re-enacting the scene of the previous battle of Zhengzhou. Yelu Mawa won first and then lost, suffering nearly three thousand casualties before the entire army collapsed and fled.

But the continued re-enactment of the story that followed made Han Shizhong extremely unhappy - Yelu Mawa fled west, and with the help of his horses, he successfully met up with the boats receiving him on the opposite bank at Changquan Ferry in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, and then successfully escaped.

And the reason for Yelu Mawa's successful breakout was actually very simple: Li Yanxian failed to meet the deadline.

Even, this regional commander who was highly valued by Zhao emperor and whose actual position was probably on par with Han Shizhong and Zhang Jun, not only failed to meet the deadline, but simply withdrew his troops directly.

Of course, Li Yanxian wasn't engaged in the traditional stench of the Western Army, but there was a reason for it—the part of Shanzhou north of the Yellow River was under a strong attack from the Jin army's Western Route Army, and the banner of Wanyan Lou Shi's son, Wanyan Huo Nu, also appeared in the Hedong area during this attack.

Li Yanxian had to immediately organize the reception of his troops north of the Yellow River to prevent them from being completely annihilated.

After all, with the appearance of the Western Route Army and the northward retreat of the main force of the Eastern Route Army, the Jin army's main force around Zhongtiao Mountain had reached an astonishing number at this time.

After receiving the news, Han Shizhong didn't dare to talk nonsense anymore. On the contrary, understanding the seriousness of the matter, and even more understanding that Zhao emperor was watching behind him, Han Liangchen sent troops to assist Li Yanxian's troops in their retreat on one hand, and took overall command of the entire Song army on the other, immediately deploying along the Yellow River.

In early February, for a time, from Tongguan to Huazhou, the main forces of the Song and Jin armies gathered on both sides of the Yellow River. The total number of soldiers confronting each other across the river reached an astonishing 300,000.

This time, Zhao emperor was a little flustered.

Of course, Han Shizhong immediately submitted a memorial at the same time as deploying the defense line.

He believed that the weather had turned warmer, and the Jin army, who hated the warm climate of the south, had no desire to go south again, nor could they re-procure enough food and supplies for 200,000 troops to go south in the short term. This time, the linkage of the Eastern and Western Route armies was obviously that of the Commander-in-Chief Wanyan Zonghan coordinating the two armies as Commander-in-Chief after learning that Ta-lan had been defeated and fled back to Hebei, in order to receive the Henan troops' retreat.

And now that Wanyan Wushu's main force had retreated and the Hedong land previously recovered by Li Yanxian of Shanzhou had been retaken, as long as the Jin troops in the direction of Nanjing and Huazhou safely retreated, this terrifying confrontation would immediately disappear.

At that time, this fourth major invasion of the Jin army, which lasted for half a year and stretched for thousands of miles from Jianyan 2 to Jianyan 3, would officially end.

A few days later, the Jin army in Nanjing withdrew, and Huazhou was relieved. Han Shizhong's words were officially fulfilled.

Subsequently, the main force of the Jin army in Hebei withdrew completely, and the war ended.

On February 15th, as Zhang Jun, who had recovered Nanjing, personally led his troops to Tokyo to 'escort' the emperor, Zhao emperor issued new decrees.

The first was to have each army and division distribute the military grain that could be used as seeds, as well as some eliminated military livestock, to the local government, which would then be distributed by the government to the scholars and commoners who had returned home to avoid the war, seizing the last opportunity for spring plowing.

The second was to settle the old, weak, sick, and disabled soldiers of each army on the spot to serve as military settlements.

The third was to have the officials of Nanyang and Xiangyang who had advanced to the land of the Five Rivers, along with the various chancellors, change their route to He Yin in Zhengzhou. The wealth, grain, and silk escorted from Xiangyang would also be diverted to He Yin. After each army was properly settled and ensured to be safe, they would also gather in He Yin as much as possible... He, the emperor, wanted to reward the six armies and confer merits and awards here.

ps: If you scroll further, you can see Little Jiu saying good night to everyone on my behalf