Wang De was from Shuyang Stockaded Village in Tongyuan Army (present-day Gansu), a typical Western Army soldier.

Before the Jingkang Incident, he served under Yao Gu of the Yao family, a renowned military clan in the Western Army. During the first major Jin invasion, the Eastern Route Army, led by the Second Prince Wanyan Wolibu, swept through Hebei and entered Weizhou via Xiangzhou. The Western Route Army, led by Nianhan, besieged Taiyuan while continuing south, eventually meeting Wolibu at Weizhou on the banks of the Yellow River via Longde Prefecture (present-day Shangdang) to discuss crossing the river.

The main force of the Jin army converged in the Longde Prefecture, Xiangzhou, and Weizhou area, amassing a substantial portion of their elite troops, with perhaps nearly 100,000 soldiers of Meng'an and Mouke ranks.

Yao Gu, stationed in Zezhou (present-day Gaoping and Jincheng), southwest of Longde Prefecture (present-day Shangdang Changzhi) and west of Weizhou, facing the Jin main force, dispatched Wang De, his most capable officer, for reconnaissance.

Wang De successfully killed a Jin general and returned unscathed.

Yao Gu was overjoyed and asked if he could go again.

So, Wang De accepted the order a second time, setting out with only sixteen riders. He traversed the Jin army's heavily guarded front lines, entered the prefecture seat of Longde Prefecture (later Changzhi), captured Yao Taishi, the Khitan-Han Chinese administrator appointed by the Jin, and brought him back.

Later, after the first siege of Jingkang ended and the Jin army retreated, Wang De sent Yao Taishi to Dongjing City. Emperor Yuan Sheng, also known as Emperor Qinzong of Song, asked him how he was captured.

Yao Taishi reluctantly said that he only saw a bloodthirsty Yaksha when he was captured.

From then on, Wang De was nicknamed "Yaksha Wang," known throughout both countries.

Such a man might not be on par with Han Shizhong and Yue Fei, but he was certainly just below them. Given the right opportunity, he might once again become famous throughout both countries.

In fact, although Han Shizhong looked down on Wang De, saying he wasn't a commander... upon closer inspection, Han Shizhong, who had declared 'the world first,' likely looked down on everyone. The fact that he only said Wang De wasn't a commander acknowledged Wang De as a rare general talent.

In a way, it was an endorsement.

On the eighteenth day of the twelfth month, Wang De led twenty knights and two hundred Changfu Beiwei Army soldiers out of the city towards the east. Before reaching Zhang Yu's camp, he alerted Zhang Yu, who dared not be negligent. He ordered each camp to be on guard while sending a message north to Wanyan Wuzhu. Finally, he and his deputy general, Li Dayin, led two thousand armored soldiers from their own troops to prepare for defense… They didn't recognize Wang De, and Wang De didn't display any banners, only realizing that the opposing troops were well-armored and not ordinary.

However, after watching for a long time, they discovered that the two hundred soldiers were only patrolling in front of the camp, with no reinforcements, no flags to reveal their identity, and no offensive posture or preparation. After some time, led by a burly general, the two hundred and twenty-one men simply sat down on the ground in front of the formation… Such a situation naturally aroused suspicion.

"What does this mean?" Zhang Yu, three hundred paces away, couldn't understand what he was seeing and turned to look at Li Dayin.

However, Li Dayin was just a carpenter. How could a professional know what this meant? He watched for a long time and simply shook his head silently.

"Do any of you know what this means?" Zhang Yu turned back to ask the armored guards behind him. "Whoever says something useful, I'll reward him with two women!"

Two women were certainly good, but you had to be alive to house them in your tent. Who knew what was useful? What if you got your head chopped off for saying something useless?

The guards looked at each other, and no one spoke.

The snow hadn't completely melted, and the cold wind had been howling for the past few days, freezing the ground into a hard mixture of ice, snow, and dirt. Zhang Yu's horse was visibly impatient, its hooves constantly striking the ground, creating a hard sound, which also indicated Zhang Yu's own impatience.

Sure enough, after a moment, Zhang Yu randomly pointed to someone behind him, "You! Speak!"

"I… I don't know!" The man looked up blankly, his nose running from the cold weather.

Zhang Yu was exasperated, first laughing, then his face turning cold. He raised his hand directly, "Chop him!"

Li Dayin instinctively wanted to persuade him, but he sighed inwardly and forced himself to shrink back. Everyone was silent, only able to watch the armored guard being stripped of his armor and beheaded as a sacrifice to the flag amidst his pleas for mercy.

"You!" Zhang Yu pointed to another person. "I remember you're a scholar?"

"Yes, Commander." The person who was asked was Zhou Bin, who had survived the previous either-or situation. He was shivering in the cold wind, carrying a flag. He shivered when he was pointed out and nodded quickly.

"Speak!" Zhang Yu said simply. "What do you think these government troops are trying to do?"

"They're trying to lure us!" Zhou Bin blurted out. It wasn't something he said to deceive the other person, but what he actually thought from the beginning.

In fact, Zhang Yu was stunned to hear this. He immediately pointed his horse whip at the man, serious, "Explain yourself!"

"Commander, please look!" Zhou Bin gritted his teeth and said. "The government troops' formation is neat and tidy. At a glance, it's clear there are only two hundred people! How could two hundred people dare to attack a camp of ten thousand? They're clearly trying to lure us over… Once we go over, they will inevitably be defeated and retreat. Our troops will be in disarray, and once the battle starts, we won't be able to control them and will inevitably follow them… If too many people follow, the city won't hesitate to use stone projectiles, launching those powerful stone cannons at us. If too few people go, I'm afraid there are already ambushers waiting behind the sheep-horse wall, who will swarm out and devour us in front of the city."

"That makes sense!" Li Dayin was the first to agree, gesticulating on his horse. "Brother, look… Our camp is fully eight hundred paces from Nanyang City. The government troops' cannon are powerful, able to shoot more than three hundred paces from the city. The effective range of the good crossbows on our寨walls is about two hundred paces, meaning the open ground between the two armies is only three hundred paces wide… If we really attack, tempted by the glory or the good armor of these troops, we'll be lured over."

Zhang Yu carefully looked at the two hundred Song soldiers sitting there and became completely vigilant. He nodded repeatedly, "Brother is right! Issue my military order: before the arrival of the Great Jin reinforcements, no one is allowed to go out to fight without authorization, or I will definitely chop him up to make meat filling for the New Year!"

The two thousand armored soldiers who had come out were more than happy to comply, so there was nothing to say.

The two sides remained in a stalemate for a while. After a long time, as the sun rose higher in the sky, the messenger sent to Wanyan Wuzhu finally returned.

"What did he say?" Zhang Yu asked expectantly. "Did you see the Fourth Prince himself?"

"Commander, the Fourth Prince said it himself." The messenger replied on horseback. "He said no matter what, let the Commander handle it himself!"

Zhang Yu was dumbfounded. He pondered for a long time, feeling both helpless and relieved. He nodded in agreement while also having the messenger return to tell the Fourth Prince that 'he had received the order.'

As soon as the messenger left, Zhang Yu thought for a moment and turned to his deputy general Li Dayin, "Dayin, the weather is cold, and the government troops are trying to lure us. The Jurchens don't want to fight, so let's not both stay here and suffer in the wind. There are about four hours until sunset. Use the crossbows on the 寨wall as a guarantee, and lead a thousand armored soldiers to guard here for two hours. I'll take people back to rest and replace you in the second half of the day!"

Li Dayin naturally had nothing to say.

And so, in the morning, in the clear, cold, and windy winter day, after deciding that the Song army was there to lure them out, Zhang Yu, who had come out of the camp to confront them, proactively divided his troops and withdrew.

Three hundred paces away, Wang De saw this scene and finally took action, getting up and stretching his limbs. Zhang Yu, reminded, looked back and was instinctively shocked. He ordered the troops to stop and watch again. After watching for a while, they discovered that the Song army had only stood up to stretch their limbs and had actually sat back down after a while.

Zhang Yu felt inexplicably puzzled and, after thinking about it, became even more convinced that they were trying to lure him out. He ignored them and continued to urge his somewhat disorganized troops back to the camp. This time, the Song army did not do anything else… until Zhang Yu himself entered the gate, and half of the troops behind him had left the original formation.

This was the moment Wang De was waiting for!

The Yaksha didn't say a word but suddenly mounted his horse. The twenty knights beside him also mounted, and the two hundred Changfu Beiwei Army soldiers also rose to their feet, picking up their Changfu axes.

Li Dayin, facing them, was shocked. He wanted to turn around and shout for Zhang Yu, but then he thought that the other side probably realized that they had seen through their scheme and had simply given up trying to lure them out… Besides, who would have the courage to charge two thousand men with two hundred? Behind the two thousand armored soldiers were the 寨wall and crossbowmen?

With that thought in mind, the artisan genius reined in his horse, trying to appear calm.

However, as soon as Li Dayin had that thought, Wang De, having already mounted his horse, charged straight forward with his twenty riders.

At the same time, a personal guard among the twenty knights opened a banner that had been hidden for a long time. The winter wind fluttered, and the banner flew in the wind, bearing the eight characters: 'Imperial Camp Central Army Deputy Commander Wang.'

Perhaps he hadn't realized it yet, but Li Dayin was simply stunned in place. Only when the other side charged to within a hundred and eighty paces did he wake up… Moreover, he had defended Dongjing during the Jingkang Incident and later served under the Tokyo Garrison Command. Having attacked Nanyang City for so long, how could he not know what that banner meant? And how could he not know who Wang De was? What his abilities were?

In that instant, he felt every hair on his body stand on end, but he couldn't care about anything else and immediately turned his horse around, preparing to retreat into the formation to regroup.

However, at this time, Zhang Yu's two thousand armored soldiers were divided into two, half of them having left the original formation, the front having already entered the gate with Zhang Yu, and the rear still in the formation. They were already somewhat disorganized… And now, seeing the Song army charging toward them, led by the world-famous Yaksha Wang, with the two main generals, one already gone and one attempting to turn around and flee, everyone in the army, those who should have entered the camp naturally accelerated their pushing and shoving, and those who shouldn't have left instinctively wanted to follow their comrades into the camp to hide.

The two thousand armored soldiers, arrayed with their backs to the camp, were instantly thrown into disarray by the charge of the twenty riders.

That wasn't all. As the few scattered crossbows on the opposite 寨wall fired without hitting their targets, Wang De, riding his horse into the rebel army's formation, swung his Changfu axe and continuously chopped down several people. After easily scattering a cluster of armored soldiers in front of him, as Zhang Yu hastily turned around and Li Dayin continuously shouted orders to resist, he raised his bloody axe and shouted loudly:

"The main force of the Imperial Army has arrived! You rebel troops are doomed to die today!"

His voice was like winter thunder, shaking the rebel army. As his words faded, within moments, the two hundred heavily armored Changfu soldiers rushed into the rebel army's formation after a walking charge, indiscriminately hacking! Furthermore, as Wang De formally advanced, the sound of drums and battle cries rose from behind the sheep-horse wall below Nanyang City. Thousands of armored soldiers pushed down the partially closed sections of the sheep-horse wall, placed flying ladders on the outer moat, and swarmed out, heading straight for the rebel army's eastern camp!

The two thousand armored soldiers with their broken formation, seeing this scene and hearing this sound, were mostly panicked.

Seeing this situation, Zhang Yu remained relatively calm. He killed deserters at the gate, forcing this group of armored soldiers, already in a state of chaos, to push forward and hold the line. He also instructed the crossbowmen on the 寨wall to prepare to attack the approaching main force of the Song army… Not forgetting to send messengers from the side gate of the camp to the Jin army's main camp for reinforcements!

However, at the same time, Li Dayin, who should have been commanding calmly in front, had long since lost his composure! Because Yaksha Wang had clearly locked onto him, leading twenty riders in pursuit.

The area in front of the camp was narrow, and there was a large number of panicked rebel troops. It was like a cat chasing a mouse, but it didn't last long… Those rebel armored soldiers weren't blind. Seeing that Yaksha Wang was clearly heading for Li Dayin and that the armored soldiers blocking the central army were often chopped into mincemeat by the Changfu soldiers following Wang De, they all realized what was happening and actively moved away from their own general.

As a result, Li Dayin found it increasingly difficult to escape… And before the main force of the Song army arrived, the artisan genius was forced in front of Wang De. He first tried to block him, but his weapon instantly fell from his hand. Then, he completely lost courage and met the other party's second swing of the axe with almost indifference.

It wasn't his fault. He was just an artisan genius who had been noticed by Zhang Yu and adopted as a sworn brother, which led to this situation.

But war is war. Yaksha Wang, charging into the enemy formation alone, seemed brave and invincible, but he knew the danger and how could he let go of this opportunity? So, he swung the axe with almost all his strength.

And as the axe fell, perhaps it was an illusion, but the battlefield, already in chaos, seemed to freeze for a moment—Yaksha Wang had actually split Li Dayin in half from head to waist! Not only that, the axe continued to fall, striking the horse's back and forcing the warhorse to kneel on both knees. With a whimper, it fell to the side with the axe and the full of human entrails, lifeless.

At the same time, Wang De's horse was also obviously unable to support itself and also knelt down, whimpering.

Yaksha Wang tried to pull out his axe, but he couldn't drag it for a moment. He simply abandoned the axe, drew his waist knife, and remounted a horse from a personal guard behind him.

As he mounted the horse, he wanted to shout loudly and continue to shout 'The main force of the Imperial Army has arrived!' But at this time, the surrounding rebel armored soldiers saw that scene and no one dared to face him. They scattered like a broken honeycomb, swarming toward the gate.

Seeing this, Wang De laughed loudly and charged forward with his knife, forcing his way to the gate… Seeing this situation, the rebel armored soldiers fled even more frantically. Amidst the trampling, the momentum of pouring into the gate had already formed.

Zhang Yu at the gate had been confused ever since seeing his own brother being split in half. He was almost pushed into the gate by the chaotic army. At this time, the main force of the Song army, about three thousand strong, led by Xin Yongzong (Little Xin), had arrived and easily captured the 寨wall with the ease of picking something out of a bag, and poured inward.

What's more, Zhang Jing's troops, who had been prepared in the southeast of the camp, took the opportunity to cross the frozen river and attacked the eastern camp from both sides.

At this point, the rebel army was in complete chaos and was defeated almost in a daze. Many surrendered at the sight of the wind, and some even actively defected, shouting 'The main force of the Imperial Army has arrived!' to echo from afar before the Song army even arrived at the corresponding camp.

Seeing that there was no hope of saving the eastern camp and that the previous split had completely demoralized Zhang Yu, he returned to the central military tent, taking several hundred trusted followers and some valuables and heading due east, never daring to go to the northern camp to see Wanyan Wuzhu.

Little did he know, Wanyan Wuzhu would not blame him at all. The Fourth Prince was actually in a tall watchtower in the northern main camp, watching the eastern camp from afar while drinking tea with Balisu!

"This is defeated too quickly." Balisu picked up the slightly cold teacup and drank it all in one gulp, then picked up the tea leaves and chewed them in his mouth. "I thought they could hold on. Even if they couldn't hold on, they should have fought fiercely. Zhang Yu is really incompetent!"

"It's not that Zhang Yu is incompetent." Wuzhu shook his head repeatedly. "First, Zhang Yu's troops suffered most of the losses in the previous siege. Their combat power and morale are much lower than when they surrendered. Second, Yaksha Wang is indeed worthy of his reputation… The military order not to attack without authorization has already been issued, right?"

"Naturally." Balisu replied seriously, then put down his teacup and sighed slightly. "Now, I'm afraid the Song army's morale will rise rapidly, making it difficult to control later…"

"Haven't you already agreed with me on this discussion?" Wuzhu frowned slightly. "No matter what their morale is, if we really engage in battle, what can they use to resist our thirty thousand cavalry?"

"I did agree, and I do think it's feasible." Balisu quickly changed his expression. "I'm just afraid of backfiring… Don't let the Song emperor really be escorted to Xiangyang. If Nanyang and Xiangyang are divided, we'll be in real trouble. It's better to surround them on all sides and wait quietly for Marshal Talan to clear the north before coming to reinforce us!"

"You didn't say that the other day." Wuzhu said with a sneer. "Actually, as long as the Song emperor leaves the city, where can he go? The weather is cold and the Bai River is frozen. We also placed ten thousand cavalry at the southern end of the western camp long ago. As long as there is any movement, we can directly make a large detour to the south and surround them all… Or, let you replace Han Chang and be in charge of this matter?"

Balisu was immediately tempted.

In fact, as Wuzhu said before and now, no matter what the Song army did, as long as the Jin army retained ten thousand cavalry, once they saw any movement from the Song army, they would immediately go south and make a flanking detour north of the Han River, and the Song army would be doomed.

It was based on the recognition of this tactic that Balisu gradually made concessions, first abandoning the strategy of only allowing entry and not exit; then abandoning the plan to encircle and annihilate Zhang Jing's troops (because Zhang Jing came from Xiangyang, it was obvious that he was there to meet the Zhao Song emperor to go south, rather than purely as a reinforcement); and now, he simply abandoned Zhang Yu's troops and the artisan camp.

The intention was to gradually make the Song army take the situation in front of them lightly, while constantly learning about the difficult situation in the north, thereby tempting the Zhao Song emperor in the city to leave the city and go south.

And this plan, it now seemed, had an increasingly likely chance of success.

Of course, the current ease was directly related to the overall situation of the Song army's battle… If it weren't for the advantages of Wanyan Loushi and Wanyan Talan, and the ultimate choice of uniting the army under this city, Balisu would not have easily changed his attitude.

Ignoring Balisu and Wuzhu haggling there, outside the east gate of the Jin army's northern camp, thousands of Jin cavalry were arrayed to face them as a defense, while the Song army, after quickly capturing the eastern camp of the rebel Zhang Yu's troops, immediately organized, rounded up prisoners, and carefully guarded against the Jin army in the north.

Zhang Jing, Xin Yongzong, and Wang De had all fought against the Jin army and knew their strength.

However, among them, Wang De, who knew their strength, didn't know if he was particularly excited by the killings today, to the point that he was still not satisfied. He actually rode his horse out of the north gate of the eastern camp and, after observing the well-ordered Jin army cavalry for a moment, seemed to have a sudden rush of blood and actually rode his horse up alone, patrolling left and right in front of the Jin army.

After a while, he suddenly reined in his horse, pointed at a Jin soldier who seemed to be the most robust he saw, and scolded him in public: "Bird *ss! So burly, dare to engage in close combat with grandpa?"

The Jin army cavalry and the Song army, who were guarding the camp carefully, were all stunned.

Here, it is necessary to say a few more words… Jurchens, especially the well-accustomed Jurchens, as well as Bohai and Xi people, when they were in Liaodong, the various tribes were mixed together. Once there was multi-ethnic communication, they would generally communicate in Chinese, so most Jin army leaders, although they didn't know how to read, understood Chinese, and it was the relatively crude Shandong and Hebei dialects.

In recent years, some older people, those in higher positions, those who were more Sinicized, or those with better tempers, had gradually become more elegant, but most people still said "俺" (ǎn, I) and "鸟" (niǎo, bird, a vulgar term) all the time… For example, Wanyan Wuzhu, he could say "我" (wǒ, I) and basically didn't say "鸟," but in order to inherit his second brother's military power and have his subordinates recognize him, he had been saying "俺" half-forced and half-habitually.

In fact, if you let him write a proper document, the Fourth Prince could also write a decent one.

In short, returning to the present, whether it was "鸟厮" (niǎo sī, bird *ss) or "爷爷" (yéye, grandpa), the Jurchens, Xi people, Khitans, and Han Chinese from Liaodi, in any case, those cavalry, not many didn't understand, but they all looked at the Puli Yan (a commander of fifty).

At the same time, Wang De's provocation this time was not really a rush of blood. He was meticulous despite his roughness. He saw that the Jin army was arrayed neatly and that the eastern camp was still unstable, so he did it deliberately to delay, test, and deter.

But no matter what, Puli Yan could not tolerate being provoked in public like this. Moreover, Balisu had a military order not to assist the eastern camp without authorization and to be careful of defense. Now that the other party had taken the initiative to provoke him, how could he not dare to do it?

Therefore, under the gaze of everyone, he abandoned his spear and bow and arrows, and also held a white-bladed weapon and galloped out, obviously falling into the trap.

But whether it was a trap or meticulous in his roughness, everything was to be decided with real skills, so the two armies, up, down, left, and right, held their breaths and watched the battle, preparing to appreciate it.

However, when the two horses crossed, in just a flash, the Jurchen Puli Yan was beheaded by Wang De! As easily as chopping a melon!

Then, Wang De calmly dismounted, cut off his head, remounted his horse, and slowly withdrew into the camp, as if nothing had happened… The two armies, up and down, were all horrified and talked among themselves, knowing that this was Yaksha Wang showing his spirit in broad daylight.

And almost at the same time that Yaksha Wang was awe-inspiring to both armies, two messengers, one galloping into the Jin army's northern camp and one galloping to the bottom of Nanyang City, and both met the highest commanders of both sides in the first time.

"What is it?" Balisu, who had just eased his relationship with the Fourth Prince, asked curiously.

"Nothing." Wuzhu replied casually. "Yelü Ma Wu came to report that Wang Yan of the Eight Character Army led 20,000 soldiers across the river to Tokyo, making it difficult to attack there… But it doesn't affect the overall situation."

"Your Majesty?" On the city wall, amidst the cold wind and joy, Lü Yihào stroked his beard and stepped forward to ask. "What happened?"

"Nothing much." Zhao Jiu put away the paper in his hand and smiled slightly. "Wang Yan led 20,000 Eight Character Army soldiers across the river… Calculating the time, they should have arrived in Tokyo by now."

Lü Yihào stroked his beard and nodded silently, while the others were even more delighted.

ps: After looking at it, after completing this chapter, there are still 44k to complete the 150k update task this month. There is still a week left, and it seems that there is still hope. Everyone supervise.