Chapter 1 The Han Prince of the Great Song Dynasty

Since the Han Prince of the Great Song Dynasty had spoken, Wanyan Balisu, the Jurchen commander-in-chief of the Hedong region, who had brought the Five-Color Sun-Bearing Banner, couldn't possibly retreat just like that. If he really did, the morale of the army would be completely shattered.

Therefore, from the evening of the sixth day of the tenth month to the afternoon of the eighth day of the tenth month, in a short span of two days and nights, the Jin and Song armies engaged in continuous and intense battles in the narrow area north of Tieling Pass and south of the Hui River.

Among them, there were as many as fourteen frontal battles with more than a thousand soldiers from both sides that could be fully measured.

Apart from the demonstrative small-scale cavalry clashes on the evening of the sixth day, from the second day onwards, the commanders of the two armies almost unanimously chose similar strategies: dispatching troops in a scattered yet organized manner for targeted attacks. When the Jurchens took the initiative, they generally used a *meng'an* (unit of a thousand households) as a unit, advancing with at least five or six hundred cavalry. By the afternoon of that day, with the auxiliary soldiers gradually arriving behind them, they began to form organized teams of a thousand, with a mix of cavalry and infantry – a traditional tactic of the Jin army. When the Song army took the initiative, they generally selected a *tongzhi* (military commissioner) to lead a varying number of his subordinates into battle, ranging from one or two thousand to four or five thousand.

Regardless of which side initiated the attack, the other side would send out a force of comparable strength to respond, or basically respond with combat power according to a cavalry-to-infantry ratio of one to two or one to three.

As for the selection criteria, the two sides were still tacitly in agreement. Balisu dispatched troops in order according to the marching *wanhu* (ten thousand households) sequence, whoever's turn it was, was it. On the pass, the three commissioners sat motionless. Wang Shixiong, who had beheaded a Jin army *puli yan* (deputy mouke, commander of fifty cavalry) on the first day, held a lot drawing tube. When someone was needed to go into battle, Grand Marshal Han would randomly draw a lot and hand it over to Deputy Commander Jie Yuan without even looking at it. Whoever was drawn would unconditionally lead his troops into battle.

In addition, neither side forgot to fortify their own positions. Before and after Tieling Pass, the army's encampments became increasingly solid. Balisu also moved the entire army camp to the north bank of the Hui River and had Wanyan Zhehe, who had suffered a slight injury, lead the returning troops to garrison Quwo City behind them.

That's how strange the battle was.

If it was said to be a fierce battle, it was definitely a fierce battle. The frequency of the battles was there, and it was impossible to feign fighting once on the field. The number of casualties was also there, so how could it not be fierce?

But if it was said to be tacit understanding, there was also some tacit understanding.

It was as if after the surprise attack phase at the start of the war, both sides found the chaos and uncontrollability somewhat unbearable, and both intentionally took the opportunity to adjust, stabilize the front lines, and facilitate the construction of solid camps and the fighting of dull battles, forming a stalemate in preparation for a decisive battle.

The subsequent development of the war situation seemed to indeed be heading in this direction.

Around dusk on the eighth day of the tenth month, Fan Yihong, the *tongzhi* of Li Qiong's troops, led his subordinates, who had been reorganized from the Eight Character Army, to arrive at Tieling Pass first.

That night, a messenger from Liang Xing's troops, the most combat-effective of the Taihang Righteous Army, rushed out of the Zhiguan Xing Pass and brought news of Liang Xing's troops' failure to block the Longde Prefecture army on the other side of the Zhiguan Xing Pass.

However, the Jin army of Longde Prefecture could not do anything more, because the Song army had long established a camp at the Xileng Pass at the exit of the Zhiguan Xing Pass. Reinforcements from the Eight Character Army, who were extremely familiar with the Taihang Mountains, from Fan Yihong onwards to Meng De's troops who arrived the next day, all directly moved into the built camps as soon as they arrived.

The Jin army could break through the Taihang Righteous Army, but it was unlikely to break through the Eight Character Army troops at the pass, who were once the Taihang Righteous Army but were now the main force of the Imperial Guard.

In fact, the great battle that broke out on the ninth day of the tenth month fully verified this point.

On this day, at least one *wanhu* of the main force of the Jin army poured out of the Zhiguan Xing Pass and directly attacked the Song army's camps at Xileng Pass. At the same time, Balisu also mobilized the large army at the Hui River, but instead took the Jiang County passage used by Wanyan Zhehe in the night attack that day, trying to open up Jiang County and connect with the Jin army reinforcements from Longde Prefecture.

This was a very serious military situation. Han Shizhong did not dare to neglect it. Although he himself still sat firmly on the pass, he sent Ma Kuo to garrison Jiang County and ordered Li Yanxian to immediately lead his troops out of the pass to launch a fierce attack in the direction of the Hui River, trying to bite Balisu's tail north of the pass and force him to return to reinforce.

The battle was thrilling but not dangerous. Separated by Jiang Mountain, which spanned dozens of miles, the Jin army could not organize an assault force to directly reach the city. Not to mention Jiang County, even the Song army's increasingly large camps, which supported and watched over each other, were difficult to break through. The Song army was not without preparation either. In this small area, dozens of veteran generals, who had used their troops for years, had come to their senses and made preparations early. While the battles north of the pass had been going on non-stop these past few days, they had also mobilized local laborers and aiding righteous armies south of the pass to urgently dig several simple ditches, supplemented by simple fences, forming several military connection lines similar to passages to connect Tieling Pass, Jiang County, and Xileng Pass. At the same time, they also had the incidental effect of ensuring logistics and hindering the Jin army's cavalry.

Under these circumstances, after a whole day of fierce fighting, both sides could only call off the battle.

But interestingly, the reinforcements from Longde Prefecture did not retreat directly, but instead established a fort on the spot. Balisu's army did not directly shrink back to the north side of the Hui River either, but instead sent *wanhu* Tu Hesuto set up a camp on the south bank of the upper reaches of the Hui River, near the Jiang County passage. The two sides echoed each other from afar, seemingly trying to hold the Song army between them, maintaining military pressure, and then waiting for reinforcements to arrive for a decisive battle.

But this pretense, on the contrary, made some people suspicious.

"Of course I know the situation is a bit wrong."

Early in the morning on the eleventh day of the tenth month, Han Shizhong noticed that the weather was getting colder as soon as he got out of bed. After hurriedly drinking a bowl of mutton soup and eating a hot baked wheat cake, he went directly to the pass, but saw that the two large banners on the pass were swaying slightly, and many Song soldiers were also somewhat timid. He frowned even more. Then, as soon as he sat down, Li Yanxian, who had been waiting there early, directly told him that the situation was a bit wrong.

But it was clear that the Han Prince also knew that something was wrong, but he obviously did not take it seriously. He did not even look at the other party, but directly answered while looking north from his seat, "But some things are beyond human power... We can only be on guard."

Li Yanxian was stunned for a moment, then realized that the other party had misunderstood him. Then, without changing his expression, he looked at the swaying banner above his head, "Does Prince Han think I'm talking about the weather turning cold and being unfavorable to the confrontation?"

"Don't pretend, Commissioner Li." Han Shizhong said seriously, "Others don't know, but don't you know? The military reports behind us are so clear... The river channel in Shanzhou is turbulent, and there are pillars in the middle of the river blocking it, making logistics difficult. At this time, the sudden drop in temperature, but the inability to freeze quickly, is it beneficial to the confrontation?"

Li Yanxian ignored the other party's sarcasm and continued to speak seriously, "Prince, this confrontation is strange."

"Of course I know it's strange." Han Shizhong still didn't look at the other party. "Longde Prefecture sent a *wanhu* first, but they can still send three *wanhu*. Taiyuan Prefecture sent three *wanhu* first, and it is estimated that they can send two more *wanhu*. Then there will be 90,000 main Jin troops, more than half of which are cavalry... But we are advancing too far, and there are still two large cities, Hedong and Anyi, that have not been taken in the Hezhong area. Not to mention that the troops cannot be concentrated, but the Taihang Righteous Army is swarming in, and the number is too large... If we are not careful, something big will happen."

Although Han Shizhong did not understand what Li Yanxian meant, there was no doubt that Li Yanxian knew what Han Shizhong meant.

In other words, the density of Song and Jin troops around Tieling Pass, or rather east of Tieling Pass, which is the key area at the junction of the Hezhong (Yuncheng) Basin, Linfen Basin, and Shangdang Basin, in the area of ​​six or seventy *li* (unit of distance) in radius, is already a bit terrifying.

The Jin army currently has three *wanhu* in the north and one *wanhu* in the southeast.

And the Song army, at the moment, consists of Li Yanxian's initial 35,000 troops, Han Shizhong's 12,000 troops, plus 12,000 people from the four *tongzhi* who supported Li Qiong's troops, which is nearly 60,000 main troops. There are also various Taihang Righteous Army troops whose numbers cannot be fully counted, but are estimated to be no less than 30,000 to 40,000.

As for attrition, attrition is frankly high, but not too high.

The reason for saying that attrition is high is that in these short four or five days, starting from the day when the two sides met in the chaotic battle, there has been almost no day without fighting. This is undoubtedly a bit hasty and numb for the main forces of both sides, one of which has not fought a war for three years and the other for five years... Both sides seem to be using the lives of soldiers to warm up and restore their state.

But at the same time, it must be admitted that times have really changed.

Although they have not fought each other for several years, both sides were in a state of total war ten years ago, and military technology has basically reached the peak of the Middle Ages. Especially the armor of the main forces of both sides, that *zhajia* (lamellar armor), has reached a terrifying level. Unless morale collapses, basically only the close-fitting heavy arrows of the Jurchens, the heavy armored cavalry's spear thrusts, and the Song people's long-handled battle axes and divine crossbows can cause specific damage to each other... Therefore, it is true that these days the fighting has been fierce and frequent, but more than half of the casualties on both sides were still caused in the first two days.

All these seemingly alarming losses are even less worth mentioning when compared with the large number of troops on both sides.

However, this balance is only temporary.

As Han Shizhong said, the Jin army currently only has four *wanhu*, but counting the days, in a few days, when the Jin army has fully responded, all the main forces will be ready, and then arrive in the form of reinforcements, there will be five *wanhu* in the north and four *wanhu* in the southeast, with as many as 90,000 main forces gathered in the north and south of Jiang County.

At that time, a slight move may cause a chain reaction and form a decisive battle.

But at the same time, some mistakes have occurred in the Song army here.

This is not referring to Han Shizhong's complaint that there are still two large cities behind them that have not been captured - this matter does seriously involve the energy of the Song army's main force. For example, Han Shizhong needs to leave 20,000 people to lock down Hedong City, and Li Qiong, after crossing the river, only divided half of his troops to come over. He personally went to assist the original subordinates of Li Yanxian to attack Anyi City, which had few defenders.

However, these are simply things that were expected early on. The Song army had long been prepared to attack in Hedong, which is a strategic forecast... Han Shizhong said this, in essence, he still wanted to complain about Li Yanxian's rashness.

The real problem, or rather the unexpected problem, actually lies with Ma Kuo... Ma Kuo and his troops came too fast and too many.

This sounds outrageous. If it weren't for Ma Kuo's rapid reinforcements, who knows what big trouble would have happened that night. Even if Han Shizhong was behind him at the time, he would still unconditionally praise the timely arrival of Ma Kuo's army.

What's more, Ma Kuo's righteous army has undertaken a considerable amount of work these days, building passages, trenches, establishing camps, and acting as guides to cross the mountains for reconnaissance, all of which they have done.

But this does not delay the fact that Ma Kuo's rapid arrival with his righteous army did cause a serious problem... Don't forget that this Northern Expedition of the Song army was fundamentally a hasty and premature Northern Expedition. It was originally scheduled to come after the spring plowing next year, which means that even if the Song court had stored military supplies for the winter, it would need to temporarily change its plan and temporarily adjust and prepare winter materials.

And it just so happened that too many troops followed Ma Kuo down the mountain, and they directly and abruptly appeared on the front line. In addition, they usually had no basic equipment for the convenience of mountain operations, which caused even greater temporary logistical pressure.

What's more, as early as before the war, Liu Hongdao, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War and Director of Water Conservancy, pointed out that Shanzhou was the weakest point in the Yellow River waterway transportation, but Zhao Guan didn't listen to him.

Therefore, under the combined effect of several factors, the Song army's logistics temporarily encountered certain problems. Even Li Qiong's previous crossing of the river was significantly affected.

Now, it's getting a bit colder again.

That's why Han Shizhong, starting from the overall situation, is worried that if the current confrontation continues, the main forces of the Jin army may gather first, while the Song army will fall into logistical and troop difficulties in a short period of time, so that Balisu can seize the opportunity to quickly launch a decisive battle.

However, Li Yanxian really didn't want to talk about this, and he didn't think much of it.

"Does Prince Han mean that if the Jin army gathers a large force first, and our side cannot fully arrive, Balisu will gather tens of thousands of iron cavalry, imitate Xiang Yu's battle of breaking the cauldrons and sinking the boats, forcibly break through the passages, divide and encircle the various armies, and decide the outcome in one battle?" Li Yanxian thought for a while and said these words for Han Shizhong.

"We really have to guard against it."

Han Shizhong thought for a while and simply admitted it.

"I don't think it will come to that." Li Yanxian said seriously.

"Are you saying that I'm worrying unnecessarily?" Han Liangchen, who had studied in Chang'an for a few years, naturally spoke unusually, still not looking at Li Yanxian. "Or do you want to say that Balisu doesn't have Xiang Yu's courage? You must know that Xiang Yu was fighting ten with one, and Balisu here is likely to be fighting more with less."

"I'm not saying that Balisu can't fight more with less, but Prince Han is indeed worrying unnecessarily... Moreover, in my opinion, Prince Han is not only narrow-minded, but also cannot see Mount Tai because a leaf is blocking his eyes." Seeing that the other party was still arrogant, Li Yanxian finally became a little angry.

It was still early, and there were not many people on the pass at the moment.

But under the slightly swaying large banner, the two of them seemed to have no need for those generals to come over and create an atmosphere... After a long pause, the commander of Hedong finally turned his head to look at the commander of the Imperial Guard's Central Army by his side:

"You are Mount Tai?"

"I am not Mount Tai, I am saying that Balisu will definitely not fight a decisive battle here! Even if someone who can make decisions in the Jin Kingdom has already contacted him behind him." Li Yanxian tried hard not to pay attention to the other party's ridicule, and his words were quite decisive. "Moreover, Prince Han must have a military loophole like the one I had that day, either carelessness or underestimation of the enemy, anyway, it was ignored!"

Han Shizhong looked at the other party blankly, and only after confirming the other party's seriousness did he ask from his seat, "Why do you say that Balisu will not fight a decisive battle here?"

"The reason is very simple." Li Yanxian sighed. "Prince Han... Here at Tieling Pass, we certainly have some logistical troubles because of General Manager Ma's sudden arrival and the obstruction of the river channel in Shanzhou, but Balisu's logistics also need to be sent from Taiyuan, right? That's five hundred *li* (unit of distance)... Even if they are all wide roads, how will they be easier than us?"

Han Shizhong was silent for a moment, but still shook his head, "How do we know about their logistics? The war is hasty, no one knows anyone, maybe they have a large warehouse in Linfen!"

Although he said so, Han Shizhong had already wavered slightly, because he knew that even if the Jin army in the north might not have to worry about logistics, what about the southeast?

Even if the Jin army had a large warehouse in Mengzhou at the end of the Zhiguan Xing Pass, even so, there are 180 *li* (unit of distance) of narrow roads in the Zhiguan Xing Pass. Now that the Jin army in the direction of Longde Prefecture is blocked in the Zhiguan Xing Pass, how can they arrange the logistics for 40,000 people?

Of course, it's not like there's no way. As long as the Jin army decides to attack, the Jin army from Longde Prefecture can temporarily come over from Mengzhou with all their men.

But doing so is undoubtedly a desperate gamble, otherwise it would be courting death.

However, just when Han Shizhong thought that the other party was going to talk about Zhiguan Xing Pass and Longde Prefecture, unexpectedly, Li Yanxian actually nodded directly, "What Prince said is true, everyone started the war in a hurry, how do we know the Jurchen's logistical situation? We should be lenient when assessing the enemy."

Han Shizhong was surprised for a moment.

But immediately, Li Yanxian's next sentence made Han Shizhong silent, "So, why would the Jin army think that they would gain an advantage by confronting us here? We only realized these past two days that the river channel in Shanzhou is restricting logistics, how do they know that we are having logistical difficulties?"

The wind was whistling, Han Shizhong was silent for a long time, and Li Yanxian was also waiting calmly.

Just when the two sides were in a stalemate, hearing several generals walking up while talking and laughing, Han Liangchen could not bear it any longer. He turned his head directly to Wang Shixiong, "Block the stairs and have them wait below."

Wang Shixiong did not dare to neglect and left in a hurry.

When the bottom of the pass was quiet again, and there was only the sound of the wind on the pass, Han Shizhong slowly opened his mouth, "What Tai Shan said makes sense."

Li Yanxian was extremely speechless... This guy is even more petty than himself!

But now is not the time to worry about this.

On the other side, Han Shizhong immediately asked again, "If that's the case, Balisu is indeed a bit strange... Perhaps, as you said, there is a loophole somewhere that he has seen through."

"There can only be one loophole." Li Yanxian blurted out, "For the Jin Kingdom, the advantage for us is always in the cavalry... To the left of Tieling Pass is Camel Ridge, and to the right is Jiang Mountain, spanning more than two hundred *li* (unit of distance), naturally dividing... He previously bypassed from Jiang Mountain, making me unable to defend against it for a while. Now, he must be doing a diversion in the front, shielding those behind him, and waiting for the reinforcements behind him to arrive, gathering an army of ten thousand cavalry to repeat the trick from the west!"

"Does Tai Shan think I'm you?" Hearing this, Han Shizhong became disdainful again, "Before I came, I left 20,000 troops under Wang Sheng's command to lock down Hedong City, and 8,000 troops were divided to capture various places. After the various places are captured, Li Qiong will take over Anyi City. They will naturally go to block those gaps in the west early... Those passages, as long as there is some defense, even if it is only a slight diversion, it will not allow the Jin people to break through with a single poke, even if it is useless."

This time it was Li Yanxian who was a little uneasy, "That's true, but the Jin people also only have this one plan... From a general point of view, since Balisu doesn't know that our logistics are a bit bad, he doesn't have the guts to deploy an army of 100,000 in these mountains for a decisive battle... Since he doesn't dare to launch a hasty decisive battle, but is still stationed here with four *wanhu* to confront us, why?"

"Who knows?" Han Shizhong sneered. "Maybe he's like you, because he suffered losses and lost generals before, he's worried about being reprimanded by the Jurchen King behind him, so he's thinking wildly, worried that we can break through the mountains and cut off Zhiguan Xing Pass... He doesn't dare to retreat easily."

Li Yanxian wanted to bite his fingernails again, but he still restrained himself this time, "Prince Han, my crime has already been reported and confessed, and how the official will deal with it will be in these two days..."

"With the enemy in front, your Li family army of tens of thousands of troops is stationed there, how can the official possibly deal with you on the spot?" Han Shizhong kept sneering. "Really let Chancellor Lu come and behead you?"

Li Yanxian suppressed his anger and勉力相relatively, "Prince, who is guarding the main road between Camel Ridge and Jishan in the west?"

"Xu Shi'an, the most reliable of the Imperial Guard's Left Army, is leading his troops to station in Wanquan County." Han Shizhong answered proudly.

"North of San Yi Mountain (later Gushan), east of Fan Jia Yu..."

"Chen Jue is leading his subordinates to set up camp there, forming horns with Xu Shi'an."

"There is a small road suitable for marching in the west..."

"The *tongzhi* of the Imperial Guard's Left Army, Dong Min, has most of his subordinates under Hedong City, but he himself is leading a thousand troops to block the Hubi Fort at the mouth of that road." Han Shizhong was still妥当. "I went to that place when I was young, it's a dangerous place, and there's an old fort, a thousand people is more than enough!"

Li Yanxian's face became a little uneasy, but he still did not give up, "What about the mouth of the Fen River into the Yellow River?"

"Are you talking about Longmen (north bank of the Fen River)?" Han Shizhong frowned and asked.

"I'm talking about Ronghe (south bank of the Fen River, directly north of Hedong City)." Li Yanxian said solemnly. "Has Prince Han specially arranged for troops and commanding generals in Ronghe?"

Han Shizhong shook his head, but still理直气壮, "There must be some stationed troops, but I did not specially arrange any generals or leave any organized large troops."

"Why?" Li Yanxian was stunned. "Hedong City has not been captured yet. If the Jin army gathers ten thousand cavalry and goes down the Fen River to that place, and joins forces with Wendun Sizhong from the inside, what will you do?"

Han Shizhong's strength was obviously slightly reduced, but he still shook his head in response, "Commissioner Li is thinking too much. I am not careless, nor am I ignorant. I agreed with Wu Da before I came... Although he said that he would wait for the Dangxiang auxiliary soldiers and did not have the decree to fully advance, he would also send a troop across Longmen as agreed to block the Fen River for me... You are worrying too much."

Li Yanxian nodded, then solemnly asked, "So, Prince is letting Commander Wu send a troop across Longmen to block the north bank of the Fen River? Not personally sending your own troops to block the south bank of the Fen River?"

"Commissioner Li is really thinking too much." Han Shizhong finally became a little uneasy. "If you see the Jin army coming from the south bank, can the troops sent by Wu Da still not move on the north bank?"

Li Yanxian pointed to him again, "May I ask Prince Han, are that Wu Da, and his subordinates, all humans?"

Han Shizhong's face suddenly changed.

After a while, he wanted to turn around and call Wang Shixiong, but the words came to his lips, but he personally stood up and hurriedly went down while扶着腰间玉带.

"Prince..." Li Yanxian only sat端坐 on the chair from beginning to end. "Leave the big flag, and leave that Wang Shixiong too, let him sit with me."

Han Shizhong nodded and went down without saying a word.

That day, the Prince of Yan'an hurriedly mobilized 3,000 of his own Beiwei Army and 3,000 Cui Pian Army, and concentrated the war horses in Li Yanxian's army. A total of 6,000 people were all cavalry. After a little preparation, they went west along Camel Ridge from the south of the pass.

They arrived in Wanquan in the evening.

They arrived at Hubi Fort at noon the next day.

Everything was fine.

Another day passed, which was the twelfth day of October. When the Han Prince bypassed the mountains on the south side of the Fen River, passed by Hedong City to the north without paying attention, and arrived at the Ronghe area on the south bank of the Fen River, he found that there was nothing wrong here, and there were still 500 subordinates left by Chen Jue here... This made Han Shizhong greatly relieved and almost ready to go back and scold Li Yanxian.

However, to be on the safe side, he still sent out scouts and asked people to go north and scout along the river to the left and right.

Then, that night, he learned a somewhat strange piece of news - sometime yesterday, a Song army crossed the river from the north bank of the Fen River and hurriedly set up a fort on the road on the south bank.

To be honest, Han Shizhong was a little confused.

First of all, if it was purely out of a defensive mentality to divide the troops over, why did this army only come to set up a fort now?

Secondly, if the Jurchens really came here as Li Yanxian judged, they should arrive in these few days. This would explain why this Song army crossed the river and came to set up a fort at this time... But why didn't this army send someone to Ronghe to notify the garrison after crossing the river, so that Wang Sheng, Chen Jue and the others could be prepared?

But no matter what, to be lenient when assessing the enemy, now that things have come to this, Han Shizhong could not possibly ignore this matter. Although he was extremely puzzled, he still hurriedly mobilized the Beiwei and Cui Pian armies overnight, and hurriedly marched north to support them without even having time to eat breakfast. He arrived at this Song army camp in the morning.

And at this time, Han Da, the commander, only knew two more pieces of news when he saw the leader of this Song army in person.

First of all, the Jin army was really coming, and they were about to arrive.

Secondly, this Song army with only 2,000 people, whose leader was called Zhang Heng, was not a subordinate of Wu Jie... but the Taihang Righteous Army, specifically Ma Kuo, who had been separated from Guji Mountain (Lvliang Mountain) many years ago, specifically to connect with Wu Jie. Even when the Imperial Guard's Left Army had not crossed the river, they had been in contact with this person because of changes in the defense zone.

"Zhang Heng, right? I've seen your name in the documents." The weather was clear and cold. Han Shizhong put his hands in his sleeves and sat in the extremely simple camp. After looking around, he solemnly and at a loss asked this Commander Zhang in front of him who could not even explain his affiliation, "You came here yesterday, and you only set up fences, and you didn't even have time to set up tents?"

"The king is wise." Zhang Heng was almost fifty years old this year. He was obviously a little flustered and畏缩 in front of Han Shizhong, and he may not have even been able to react to the news of the other party's sudden arrival.

"The Jin army is coming soon?"

"The king is wise."

"How many people?"

"The two wanhu originally in Shizhou and Xianzhou gathered together, all of them are cavalry, but the two wanhu didn't dare to come all, about 10,000 are slightly more."

"Who is leading the head?"

"The crying prince, Salihu..."

"Not surprised." Han Shizhong nodded and suddenly asked again. "How do you know the Jin army is coming?"

"My family has many acquaintances in Taiyuan."

"I remember, there is this saying, the official mentioned it... By the way, did Wu Da send someone to Longmen?"

"Let the king know, Commander Wu Jie sent Commander Guo Zhen across Longmen, and I joined Commander Guo there." Zhang Heng喏喏 was relatively, obviously a little畏缩. "I told him the news from Taiyuan as soon as I saw him the day before yesterday, Salihu is leading 10,000 cavalry to go south of the Fen River to save Hedong... After he heard it, he told me to guard Longmen, and he directly crossed the river and went back."

"..."

"..."

Let's say that this Prince of Yan'an spent a long time digesting this news. Before that, he only had one sentence buzzing in his ears - are that Wu Da, and his subordinates, all humans?

After a while, Han Shizhong adjusted his mood, but did not ask the other party why he did not follow that Commander Guo back to northern Shaanxi, and why he brought 2,000 righteous soldiers across the river. Instead, he shook his head and smiled:

"You are a hero!"

Zhang Heng hesitated to speak.

"What do you want to say?" Han Shizhong saw it at a glance and asked again. "Say what you want to say."

"King, if I follow you this time, can I be considered a proper Imperial Guard commander?" Zhang Heng bowed and asked seriously.

"Forget it." Han Liangchen glanced at the other party for a moment, not knowing what he was thinking, but finally nodded heavily. "I will personally recommend you!"

Zhang Heng was overjoyed.

And just when this Shaanxi person and this Shanxi person were having a投机, Cheng Min from Hebei hurriedly came from the front of the camp and reported in Hebei dialect that made people戏, "Prince! Salihu is coming soon."

Without Cheng Min's report, Han Shizhong, who had already felt the ground shaking, nodded slightly, and then continued to ask Zhang Heng seriously, but for some reason, his accent also became like proper official language: "Commander Zhang, you don't have a tent here, but you should have something to eat, right?"

"Yes... There is mutton soup in the pot, and there are ready-made baked wheat cakes." Zhang Heng quickly introduced with excitement. "It's just that the baked wheat cakes were taken from Taiyuan half a month ago, and they are a bit hard... and I only have 2,000 people, and there are not enough pots."

"It doesn't matter." Han Shizhong took a deep breath of the early winter air and said solemnly to this 50-year-old Shanxi man. "I will order you three things!"

"Certainly!" Zhang Heng hurriedly叉手 and stood solemnly.

"My Beiwei and Cui Pian armies came early in the morning and haven't eaten yet. Quickly let them drink soup and eat cakes, and get some for me too, but remember, first let the Cui Pian army eat, then let the Beiwei army eat..." Han Shizhong ordered like this in Cheng Min's astonishment.

"Certainly!" Zhang Heng was still叉手 and said seriously.

"Then, you have to lead your people to make preparations quickly. If the Jurchens attack, you have to help me block them for a moment or two, don't delay us from eating our fill before going into battle."

"Certainly!" Zhang Heng's voice seemed to be trembling, but it was unclear whether it was fear or excitement.

"Finally, as soon as Salihu arrives, find a bold person,盛一碗羊汤, take two hot baked wheat cakes, and send them to Salihu for me, saying that the Prince of Yan'an, Han Shizhong, invites him to drink soup... That's all!"

Zhang Heng nodded hurriedly and left quickly.

In this way, about two quarters of an hour later, in front of the Song army camp, the Jin army *wanhu* Wanyan Salihu stared blankly at the mutton soup and hard baked wheat cakes on the ground in front of him, which were still steaming, supported by a tray. He only reacted after a long time, but directly lifted the hammer from his waist and smashed it hard at the bowl of mutton soup.

With just one smash, the ceramic bowl shattered, and the mutton soup splashed everywhere.

Then, this *wanhu* lifted the hammer in his hand, which was still带着油花 and白气, turned his head to look at the many *meng'an* (unit of a thousand households) and *mouke* (unit of one hundred households) behind him, and said with indignation:

"The military situation is constantly coming from the commander, saying that Han Shizhong was still sitting 端坐 on Tieling Pass yesterday, and the big flag could be seen even from ten *li* (unit of distance) away. As a result, he came here today and made soup waiting for us? More than a hundred *li* (unit of distance), we are all cavalry, 快人快马, and just go straight along the river. He has to detour in the middle... Is he flying here?! Does he think I, Salihu, am a fool, and can't see that this is the empty city stratagem in the Song Dynasty storybook?!"

Speaking of this, Salihu threw the hammer in his hand on the ground in front of him, and with a wave of his hand, "Send troops! Quickly capture this fort! We will eat in Hedong City at night!"

The Jin army generals,轰然,称喏, a time of gold and iron horses,耀武扬威.

At this time, behind the dense fence, under the mist, under the expectant gaze of the Beiwei Army, the Cui Pian Army and the Han