Chapter 1 The Official's Actions

Zhao Guan’s actions might have seemed like gilding the lily, but considering he probably didn't know Hu Yin would personally come here and make such a statement, there wasn't much to say. However, this inevitably made it seem like he didn't trust Minister Hu and the other councilors in Dongjing, that collective of civilian decision-makers.

At least, not as much as he trusted Yue Fei.

It was no wonder Hu Mingzhong was briefly angered.

However, now was not the time to discuss this matter. Just as Wushu knew to keep his sarcastic remarks to himself and instead encourage his troops, on the Song side, Hu Yin immediately allowed Yue Fei and others to guide the officers in the tent to examine the official's decree, using it for inspiration.

Putting it simply, with the river blocked, an opportunity presented itself to the Jin army, and war was inevitable.

Compared to the battle just a month ago when they crossed the river, this battle would be no less intense, but the scale would be several times, even ten times, larger. Moreover, considering the Song army's fortifications were now complete and the Jin army had ample troops, a protracted and exhausting war of attrition was likely.

No one could afford to be careless.

"The biggest mistake of the Song army wasn't made by Yue Pengju, but by that self-righteous Zhao Song official!" After Wushu's anger subsided, Balisu formally took over the military council and spoke with conviction.

"Our army has the overall situation in hand for this Northern Expedition!" After the officers in the tent finished examining the 'decree,' Yue Fei sat upright in his command seat, looking around sternly.

"The official's biggest mistake was dividing his 300,000 Imperial Guards into two, and after dividing them, he still wanted to advance on both fronts!" Balisu explained confidently.

"The reason I say this isn't just because we've worked hard for ten years, gradually becoming stronger, and now have 300,000 Imperial Guards and can mobilize 500,000 laborers, but more importantly, the Jurchens are visibly declining day by day," Yue Fei said, slowing his tone slightly. "The Jin Dynasty's military strength has changed dramatically in these ten years. That is our real reliance in facing the enemy here."

"If that Zhao official had his Imperial Guards Right Army and navy carefully guarding the Yellow River, and then blocked the Imperial Guards Forward Army directly in Longde Prefecture (Shangdang Basin), and then combined Wu Jie's Imperial Guards Rear Army and Yelu Yu Du's Khitan mixed cavalry to fill the mountains of Hedong, leaving no gaps, I really wouldn't dare to engage them in a decisive battle with a large army in that terrain!" Balisu stood up abruptly. "But since he divided his forces and forced Yue Fei to attack Daming Prefecture, forcing the Imperial Guards Forward Army to take this Yuancheng, he has exposed an opportunity..."

"In this battle, although our forces are slightly weaker, we have ample fortifications and defenses," Yue Fei continued calmly. "It's easy to be brave behind high walls. We can rely on the fortifications to inflict heavy casualties on the enemy. The enemy seems powerful, but they are actually cumbersome. Once their first general attack fails, the second won't succeed either, and the third will completely demoralize them, leaving them in a dilemma..."

"Let them attack from several directions; we will only kill from this one direction!" Balisu finally drew his saber, revealing its gleaming blade. "This is the trend! In this battle, we have combined thirteen ten-thousand households, with Prince Wei personally supervising the army. We must swallow Yue Fei's sixty thousand men!"

"The official's decree is here; you have all seen it. Its meaning is self-evident, and Minister Hu is sitting here... There is no retreat in this battle!" Yue Fei finally stood up and issued a serious order. "But if you can strictly adhere to military discipline and obey orders, there is absolutely no reason for failure in this battle!"

With that, both commanders had finished their pep talks and assigned combat missions. Around the afternoon, the troop deployments were complete, and the battle quickly and massively erupted.

However, it could not be described as intense.

Because the first to attack was not the main force of the Jin army, but the conscripted soldiers (qianjun).

Driven by the fully armed Jin heavy troops, no fewer than seventy or eighty thousand conscripted soldiers, wearing non-slip straw sandals, many clad only in worn-out winter clothes brought from home, a few possessing tattered leather armor and somewhat strange-looking raincoats, carrying simple spears, weak bows, and broadswords, crossed what was probably the most spectacular sheep-horse wall of this era—the Yellow River levee—on a battle line nearly seventeen or eighteen *li* wide. Then, stepping on what was the broadest moat of this era—the frozen Yellow River—they launched a massive charge towards the vast Song army positions that had been built for nearly a month.

Ten thousand men are boundless; seventy or eighty thousand men are basically a force that no one can ignore. Only the Song army here, with no fewer than 130,000 to 140,000 troops, could be unafraid and respond steadily.

These conscripted soldiers were simply the young and able-bodied people from the surrounding prefectures and counties. In the past ten years, they had successively avoided the Jurchens' large-scale massacres and sales into slavery, endured the subsequent years of incomprehensible tyranny, but ultimately could not avoid today's battle.

In the slightly chilly late winter afternoon, under the direct glare of the sun, which offered no warmth, these Hebei conscripts rolled from the west side of the Yellow River like a viscous black tide. The Song army on the opposite side did not hesitate. The Eight-Ox Crossbows on the levee, the trebuchets behind the levee, and the Divine Arms Bows on the earthen hills almost all fired at once, sending countless arrows and stone bullets smashing over the levee and from behind it.

Under the dense long-range strikes, the black tide quickly became sluggish and slippery. It was not until the black tide finally reached the other side of the levee that it quickly lost the momentum to continue rolling and then, as if subject to the natural effect of gravity, rolled back again—at the edge of the levee, the main force of the Song army waited in strict formation behind the fences. These conscripts simply did not have the courage to engage in melee combat, and even those few who reached the front, even if they expressed their intention to surrender, begging the Song army to allow them to pass through for refuge, only received spears and short knives in response.

In this state of isolated danger, the Song army could not afford to take a huge military risk to offer them any leniency.

In fact, even the Jin army never expected these poorly equipped conscripts to break into or enter the Song army positions. They were simply using these conscripts to waste the Song army's arrows and projectiles and then exhaust and shake the Song army.

Therefore, seeing the black tide rolling back on a large scale, the Jin commanders had no extra thoughts at all. They simply ordered the supervising teams to move forward immediately, forcing the conscripts to roll back again.

Of course, they would definitely roll back.

In this way, for most of the afternoon, nearly 100,000 conscripts were like some kind of dish being constantly flipped in a hot wok, repeating this process over and over again, and their strength, agility, courage, thoughts, lives, and hopes gradually disappeared in these repeated rolls.

But such complex and precious things had a surprisingly simple color—fresh blood seeped into the ice layer, spreading out in the ice cracks, a patch of bright red, while the upper part of the ice layer, due to the constant back-and-forth movement of these conscripts, formed a thin layer of melting mud, which was quickly frozen again. The two colors overlapped, forming a strange and unified red-black color.

It was almost like the light yellow residue left behind by fish and meat in a frying pan.

Winter nights came quickly. After about four or five such large-scale attacks, the sun was already very low. The Song army finally couldn't bear it and began to consciously reduce the intensity of their attacks. The conscripts, realizing something, also began to stay in the river in a chaotic but unified manner with all their might... Sure enough, as long as they didn't attack the Song army positions, the Song army would no longer launch attacks against them, and the Jin army, after realizing the firmness of the Song army positions and the strict discipline of this Song army, quickly lost the heart to continue wasting effort on cutting people down to supervise the battle.

At dusk, the Jin army finally sounded the gongs to withdraw.

This battle was a prelude, a beginning, its purpose being to consume the Song army's morale and projectile reserves, and to test the Song army's discipline and execution ability... In addition, it should have had the tactical purpose of probing for weaknesses and finding weaknesses in the Song army's line, but due to the Song army's strict defense and the vast cumbersomeness of the conscripts, it was unsuccessful.

But that didn't matter. Starting the next morning, the Jin army would replace them with a new batch of conscripts and mix in some armored Han soldiers and even a small number of dismounted Jin iron cavalry to ensure the completion of this tactical purpose.

At that time, these conscripts would be unlikely to be able to catch their breath in the river as they could today. They would be forced to the last moment.

However, Yue Fei was by no means a passively defensive person who dared not fight back—that night, in the cold wind, a flare suddenly erupted in the Jin army camp west of the river, which had been slightly exhausted and silent, alarming the entire army.

Balisu and Wushu were shocked. They hurriedly got up and gave orders constantly, on the one hand ordering each part to divide the camp area, hold firm, and not to be chaotic, and on the other hand sending trusted subordinates to patrol east along the river overnight, ensuring that they prevented the Song army from taking the opportunity to launch a sudden attack.

After a night of commotion, gathering information in the early morning, Balisu and Wushu finally understood the reason.

It turned out that during yesterday's probing attack, the Song army had spotted an opportunity and unexpectedly sent a small group of elites disguised as conscripts, taking advantage of the chaos in the later stages of the battle to hide in the river, and then followed the chaotic conscript ranks to infiltrate the Jin army camp... Because of the heavy casualties among the conscripts and their depressed morale, no one had noticed.

In the end, it was naturally the classic arson attack at night.

Of course, the Jin army's response was still very rapid, and they handled it properly, so the fire did not spread, and there was no large-scale chaos in the camp. Perhaps because of this, the Song army's support troops, after contacting the Jin army for a short time and covering the retreat of many of their own raiding small units, also directly withdrew.

But even so, this night's commotion was still a standard and even brilliant counter-attack and harassment operation—not only did the Jin army not sleep all night, but a large number of conscripts who had witnessed the cruelty of the battlefield took the opportunity to escape.

Thanks to this, the scale of the battle on the second day was suddenly less than half of what it had been.

However, it had to be said that the fact that the Jin army still insisted on its original tactics and strategy on the second day after encountering such a surprise attack yesterday, and that the armored Han soldiers still appeared as scheduled, also showed that the Jin army's senior leaders' determination was unshakable.

On the third day, Jin heavy armor began to participate in the battle on a small scale, and the intensity of the battle further increased. The Song army's river levee positions were broken through for the first time, two Eight-Ox Crossbows were burned down, and hundreds of laborers were massacred before the gaps were blocked by the Song army's second-line troops.

It was also on the afternoon of this day that thousands of Jin heavy cavalry suddenly appeared on the east side of the Song army positions north of Daming City and Gucheng Town, which was the old position of the main force of the Song army. They patrolled the east side of the Song army positions for a full two hours, and also listened to the noise of the battlefield on the west side for two hours across the huge Song army camp, and then suddenly withdrew at dusk.

Needless to say, this was most likely Wang Bolong's troops, and the fact that Wang Bolong's troops had suddenly abandoned Xiazhen City to the north and appeared here could only mean one thing, which was that after two and a half days of continuous probing, pressure, and consumption of projectile weapons, the Jin army's first general attack was about to arrive as scheduled.

Early in the morning on the fourth day, not long after the sky had just lit up, before the Song army's scouts had returned from all directions, the last Song army hot air balloon, which had risen without hesitation, verified this news—Bei Yan, the commander of the so-called balloon camp, personally boarded the basket and then used ropes, hooks, and counterweights to continuously transmit one piece of paper after another with writing and simple drawings from a height of more than ten *zhang*.

The intelligence was clear:

The main force of the Jin army camp was gathering and merging on a large scale along the river after eating;

There was rolling smoke and dust, and a considerable number of Jin cavalry in the southern section of the Jin army camp, probably at least ten thousand, were moving south;

In the direction of Guantao to the north, the main force of the Jin army was also regrouping;

In Yuancheng, a large number of cavalry also began to gather around the already very empty Cuiyun Tower, seemingly uncertain of the direction of the attack;

Finally, in the northeast of the position, the smoke and dust were dense. Of course, the activity could not be compared with the Jin army's main camp west of the position, but at a glance, it was obvious that the smoke and dust were caused by a large force marching.

Needless to say, on this day, the Jin army would not only launch a general attack, but also attack from all sides in order to maximize its numerical advantage.

"Commander..."

On the north gate tower of Yuancheng, Gao Qingyi hurriedly climbed onto the city wall with two guards, and then earnestly advised, "This place is dangerous. If you want to look out over the battlefield, you might as well go to the east city wall..."

After the Yellow River froze, the east city wall, which had initially been bombarded, had become the safest area of Yuancheng.

"No need." Gao Jingshan, fully armored, with both hands propped on a crooked wooden fence, stared at the main body of the Song army camp north of the city without turning his head. The brick battlements here had long been smashed by the Song army's trebuchets. "The Song army doesn't have the energy to take care of the city today..."

"That's true." Gao Qingyi was stunned for a moment, then nodded and followed, but after only one look, he couldn't help but sigh, and then began to stare blankly like Gao Jingshan.

It turned out that from here, the most core part of the entire Song army camp was completely presented:

Not only were there two obvious heavy defense lines in the north and south, nor were there just two natural defense lines created by the Yellow River channel and the levee in the east and west, nor were there just the bow and crossbow positions on the six earthen hills and the trebuchet positions above and behind the levee, and not even the docks and reservoirs built along the way when the earthen hills were dug. The most intuitive point was actually the scale of the camp and the density of the fortifications.

Dense fences, earthen barriers that were not high but were enough to form an obstacle, and orderly trenches were everywhere. The camps were clearly separated from each other, and the construction sites were separated from the positions. Even because of the density, most of the roads in the Song army camp had a tunnel-like feel.

Just one look at this degree of fortification was enough to make the outer armies grind their teeth.

"What can I do for you, Secretary Gao?"

After watching for a while, Gao Jingshan, whose face was full of fatigue, finally came to his senses, but frowned tightly.

"Pu Su Yue has completed his assembly. Please ask the commander for his next instructions," Gao Qingyi quickly replied, suppressing some kind of unease.

"Ignore him. I'll give it to him when the time comes," Gao Jingshan's expression did not change. He just pointed to the hot air balloon hanging in the safest area in the middle of the Song army camp. "Telling him now will only reveal the direction of the attack."

Gao Qingyi looked back at the two guards who had followed him. One of them understood and immediately turned back to inform Pu Su Yue. After the man left, Gao Qingyi stared at the many things in front of the city for a while and couldn't help but shake his head:

"This battle is getting harder and harder to understand. Tens of thousands of soldiers from the two armies meet, but it's not about deploying troops in the wilderness, but countless trebuchets and giant crossbows, large Kongming lanterns that people can sit in, and such dense fortifications... When we were young twenty years ago, where could we have imagined this?"

"There are still traces to follow," Gao Jingshan shook his head upon hearing this. "Besides the hot air balloon, which is an oddity, the rest all had their roots twenty years ago..."

Gao Qingyi was momentarily at a loss.

"It's still armor." Gao Jingshan didn't mean to keep him in suspense. While staring at the Song army, which was starting to deploy in an orderly manner below the city, he explained calmly, "I've had this idea for a long time... When armor is thick and dense to a certain degree, ordinary soft bows and swords are no longer effective... Do you remember, twenty years ago, when we were defending against bandits in Liaodong, the most useful things were actually long spears and large shields, and then the swordsmen and shieldmen had to prepare a small bag on their waists, filled with seven or eight stones?"

"That's right," Gao Qingyi recalled the past, which seemed like a lifetime ago. "That was a good thing for swordsmen and shieldmen without bows and arrows to defend against the enemy's harassment from a distance."

"That's right," Gao Jingshan stood up and pointed to the heavy armor on his body. "What about now? After such thick armor came out, all the elites who can really determine the outcome are armored like this. Against this kind of armor, wouldn't it be a joke if those seven or eight stones were still carried? Even soft bows and broadswords are mostly things prepared by the people themselves, not the key weapons in the army. Where would the Song and Jin armies put any effort into soft bows and thin arrows?"

"Now it's all strong crossbows, heavy arrows, war hammers, thick maces, large axes, and long spears..." Gao Qingyi nodded.

"Yes, in other words, everything has become heavy troops... Heavy infantry, heavy cavalry... We are the Iron Pagodas (Tie Futu), and the opposite side is the Bu Ren Jia (Infantry in Armor). A main warrior has to carry dozens of kilograms of equipment to fight," Gao Jingshan continued with emotion. "And to deal with these heavily armed troops, in addition to using heavy weapons against heavy weapons, an easier way is to rely on cities, fortresses, and fortifications, taking advantage of their inconvenience, their inability to sustain combat, and their unfavorable logistics. And after the role of cities and fortifications becomes apparent, trebuchets must be built and the city must be locked down. Then, to suppress the outer trebuchets, the best way inside the city fortifications is to build trebuchets and use trebuchets against trebuchets... So trebuchets are becoming more and more common, more and more numerous, and more and more simple, and cities and fortresses are becoming thicker and thicker, and denser and denser... and that's how it is now."

Gao Qingyi thought for a moment and couldn't think of any words to refute, so he could only nod heavily.

"I'm actually worried about two things now." At this point, Gao Jingshan finally got to the point. "One is that if the Fourth Prince and the others fail in their general attack, the Song army will inevitably turn around and attack the city with all their strength in order to ensure their safety... According to conventional reasoning, although our city is thick and strong, the lowest part of the city wall is three *zhang* high, making it difficult to defend against trebuchet bombardment. In addition, there is only one city wall. Once a section of the city wall is jointly breached, the city may be directly broken."

Gao Qingyi looked at the city wall under his feet and then looked back at the inside of Daming City behind him, shaking his head: "The city is too big to be a good thing!"

"The other thing," Gao Jingshan pointed to the hot air balloon again. "I'm worried that the Song army has such abrupt and new methods."

Gao Qingyi still shook his head, but not to express his agreement: "Commander, you're thinking too much. The current situation is that if the Fourth Prince and the others can't break through the fortresses, we'll be attacked by the Song army using conventional methods. At this time, even if the Song army has any surprising methods, it's just icing on the cake for them. We are people in a jar, why think so much?"

Gao Jingshan was clearly stunned for a moment, and then nodded heavily.

Then, the two chatted for a while, roughly about digging trenches inside the city to prevent the Song army from using tunnels; storing some gunpowder and oil behind some obvious flaws, and using gunpowder and oil as a combustion aid to block the gaps when necessary; of course, they also denied 'suggestions' such as repairing the city walls by pouring water to freeze them to provide defense because many parts of the city walls had already shown internal cracks, and pouring water to freeze them could be counterproductive and damage the stability of the city walls.

But after only talking about a few things, Gao Jingshan and Gao Qingyi stopped discussing the city's defenses together because under the morning sun, in the dry late winter season, Wang Bolong's troops, who had not participated in the war, first appeared on the eastern part of the battlefield and began to line up across the river, which caused the Song army to become nervous and also made the two Gaos on the city head frown.

"Wang Bolong came too early," Gao Jingshan said coldly. "He wants to make a contribution too much!"

"Old bastard!" Gao Qingyi was even more blunt.

The Song army, surrounding Yuancheng, built a super-large fortress of seventy or eighty *li* in circumference on the ground between the two rivers, which must have had countless tiny flaws, and some of these flaws had been probed by the Jin army in the previous three days of battle... However, in large-scale group operations, in addition to finding those flaws and targeting them with specific troops, the most important thing is to consider some broad tactical choices.

For example, the Song army first built the northern defense line, then the southern defense line, so the southern defense line was bound to be inferior to the northern defense line. The eastern and western defense lines were built even later and could only be built hastily relying on the river and the levee, which led to the fact that the defense lines on both sides were difficult to compare with the northern and southern sides.

Then, because of the objective existence of Yuancheng, the southern section of the seventeen or eighteen *li* defense line on the west side appeared to be even weaker—there was no way around it. For the Song army in the southern section, Yuancheng behind them occupied half of this ground between the rivers, naturally lacking the necessary defensive depth, and troops and supplies had to be transferred from the core area in the north.

In addition, the main force of the Jin army came from the west and gathered in Hexi, which further led to the fact that the Song army was bound to concentrate more energy and equipment on the west side. Then, conversely, this section on the east side of the Song army's camp area would be the weakest area as a whole.

Therefore, the Jin army would almost certainly regard these two sections as the main attack direction.

Among these, let's not mention the southern section of the west side. Just talking about the east side, if the Jin army wanted to concentrate troops and attack, it would be impossible to send troops here in advance to set up camp for a surprise attack at any time, because the Song army's strength was not weak, and they could also coordinate in the center, making it easy to launch an attack. No matter how many troops you send, as long as you dare to set up camp overnight, you will give the Song army a chance to defeat you separately.

Therefore, when the general attack came, the Jin army could only temporarily dispatch a separate force to the east line... This separate force would start from the west camp, taking a certain amount of time to cross the two ice rivers, bypass the Song army's camp and Daming City, which was still under the control of the Song army, and join Wang Bolong's troops, who were originally in the northeast, to gather.

Then, when the battle was at its most critical, they would concentrate elite heavy armor and carry out a unified pincer attack.

Considering the distance and the fact that the soldiers needed to rest in a safe area before attacking, the eastern battle should start in the afternoon, or perhaps in the late afternoon.

It was not even impossible that there would be a night battle.

Right now, the main battle line on the west side hadn't even started fighting, but Wang Bolong had brought his troops over impatiently, which was equivalent to pinching his nose to remind the Song army not to forget to defend the weakest east line?

In addition, this person was always arrogant, relying on the fact that he was a direct descendant and did not listen to Gao Jingshan's orders. There was also the implicit tradition of antagonism between the Han people and the Bohai people in Liaodong in the early days of Aguda's uprising, so it was no wonder that Gao Qingyi would directly curse, 'Bastard!'

However, this was not the time to argue about these things because soon, on the west line, the Jin army launched a tidal wave of attacks after making some preparations.

This time, the Jin army only forced the conscripted soldiers to launch two attacks.

After two attacks, just past half of the morning, the conscripted soldiers withdrew... This time, they really were just there to consume crossbow bolts and trebuchet stones... Then, the so-called supplementary soldiers within the ten-thousand households, mainly Han soldiers, but now not only the Han army's established infantry, began to attack on a large scale.

Of course, these infantrymen could not be as well-equipped, skilled in combat, or well-treated as those Meng'an Moukes, but as established combat troops, they were also the basic product of the Jin Dynasty's large-scale Sinicization rule in Hebei, Yanyun, and they still received the equipment and treatment they deserved.

The armor coverage rate of the soldiers reached more than 60%, and they were universally equipped with strong crossbows and battle axes according to their formations... This was a configuration aimed at the Song army's armored troops... Of course, the more important thing was still the long spears and swordsmen and shieldmen that were indispensable on the medieval battlefield.

The Jin army invested a total of 30,000 to 40,000 of these troops in one go.

The reason why the numbers deviated so much was that the Song army in the hot air balloon could not count and estimate properly. These combat soldiers, with far more military literacy than the conscripted soldiers, directly rushed to the front of the Song army's positions and caused the two sides to fall into close combat... After the previous battles, these supplementary soldiers were very clear that the smooth but pitted, wide but bundled ice surface of the river was the main strike area for the Song army's projection forces, and unlike the conscripted soldiers, they would not receive any special treatment here. They would only encounter the most violent strikes, so they had to enter the melee as soon as possible.

However, while the Song army had deployed a large number of crossbows and trebuchets along the levee, they had also built fences on the inner slopes of the levee, and in front of the crossbows, they had sharpened the slope and deployed enough front-line troops.

The supplementary soldiers in the Jin army's camp swarmed up, but encountered stubborn resistance at the top line of the levee, and had to withstand a large number of casualties from the Song army's strong crossbows in an upward attack posture.

Moreover, soon, the Song army's Eight-Ox Crossbow vehicles quickly ended this attack by using the simplest and most direct method—that is, by using wood to pad up the rear feet to lower the firing angle.

The Song army was doing this on purpose. In the previous three days, they would rather watch two precious Eight-Ox Crossbows being burned down than use this simple, incredible, and incredibly effective tactic.

If the arrowheads of the Jurchen's heavy arrows were like daggers, then the bolts of the Eight-Ox Crossbows were like large javelins. Three arrows were fired in succession, easily skewering several people along the slope of the levee like blood gourds at close range, and then nailing the corpses firmly to the frozen soil or even the thick ice below the levee.

What armor, what shields, what exquisite martial arts skills, and what fearless courage were all like paper.

Frankly speaking, the actual damage caused by a mere dozens of Eight-Ox Crossbows after lowering their firing angle was undoubtedly a drop in the bucket for the Jin army's huge combat group, but its morale damage was too great. It was even more excessive than the damage caused by those shot from the river before it had thawed, because it was too close!

After just two or three rounds of firing, the Jin army's supplementary soldiers' offensive was disintegrated, and the defeated soldiers fled back to the river like a tide. They would rather hold up their shields below to endure those crossbow bolts than see their comrades skewered at close range, and then be afraid, imagining themselves becoming that ghostly look.

Even if the experienced warriors and commanders among them knew that the casualty rate was higher in the current state of being passively beaten, because the crossbow bolts were dense and continuous, and there might be trebuchet covering strikes.

But they just didn't dare to charge.

However, the Jin army commanders were not stupid or stubborn. Before the trebuchets started firing, they quickly adjusted their strategy, which was to recall the troops and divide them into teams and groups according to their formations, avoiding the direct sweep range of those Eight-Ox Crossbows, and then attacking and fighting in smaller areas in waves.

The adjustment took effect immediately. It was impossible for the Song army to deploy Eight-Ox Crossbows to block a dozen *li* of the battle line in one month. The Jin army's supplementary soldiers, who had avoided the direct strike range of those dozens of Eight-Ox Crossbows, still needed to attack upwards, but at least they would not experience a complete collapse in morale.

Moreover, the Jin army did not let these supplementary soldiers die in vain. Almost immediately, after determining that this method was feasible, some Jurchen heavy armor also officially joined the assault team.

This immediately raised the Jin army's combat capability to a higher level. As on the previous day, the Song army began to show casualties, and the battle line began to loosen in a few places.

After about two more large waves of attacks, before noon, large groups of Jurchen heavy armor began to appear, and as expected, they collectively appeared in the southern part of the battle line.

Almost in an instant, the Song army, who were holding firm on the south side of the Yongji Canal, felt great pressure.

"Marshal, Commander Bei sent a military report, saying that the southern section of the west line, area A-2, was once lost, but it was quickly recovered." Bi Jin, the adjutant of Yue Fei, who had hurriedly returned from Hedong before the freezing a few days ago, was sweating profusely and came to Yue Fei's side on the earthen hill to kneel and report.

"Understood," Yue Fei sat in a chair on the earthen hill, his words extremely simple.

Upon hearing this, Bi Jin hurriedly turned back, but went to the rope under the hot air balloon to continue waiting for news... He had already traveled back and forth thirty or forty times this morning, so it was no wonder that he was sweating profusely.

"Marshal, should we provide support in advance?" Huang Zong, the adjutant, although he did not travel back and forth to deliver messages, was also somewhat soaked in sweat.

"Isn't this the military strategy that Adjutant Huang personally decided on?" Yue Fei finally had some expression, but he narrowed his eyes to inquire. "Before, you said that if the Jin army did not attack from the north and south, the Imperial Guards Right Army must not be dispatched, and if they did not attack from the east behind, the two *Beiwei* armies must not be moved. Why are you changing it at the last minute?"

Zhang Rong had gone to the southernmost line to take charge, and Hu Yin had gone to the northern line to supervise the battle. Huang Zong looked around and saw that only Tian Shizhong, a general from another town, was sitting there, holding a 'ridiculous decree' from Zhao Guan and looking at it non-stop, so he took a few deep breaths and smiled bitterly:

"How would I know how difficult it would be to endure until the last minute?"

Yue Fei nodded, thoughtfully: "So, Adjutant Huang has not changed his mind, but is uneasy at the last minute, so that he knows that he should wait, but still can't help but be impatient?"

"Yes," Huang Zong simply admitted. "I made the Marshal laugh."

Yue Fei shook his head, seemingly disapproving, and seemingly not taking it to heart, but at this moment, the shouts of killing on the entire west side of the dozen *li* battle line were like a sea of waves, and the military situation was constantly being transmitted, but no one cared.

After waiting for a while, Bi Jin returned from under the hot air balloon again and hurriedly reported: "Marshal, a big problem occurred in the southern section. Area B-4 was obviously broken by the Jin army, and the flags in the area were all cut down by the Jin army!"

Everyone was alarmed and looked at Yue Fei, but Yue Fei was not flustered and calmly glanced behind him, and then glanced at Tian Shizhong, who was sitting silently beside him without saying a word, before slowly answering: "Don't panic, behind Area B-4 is Li Kui's troop. Although he is meticulous and cautious, he has always been decisive in major matters and should be able to hold on soon... If he fails, Tang Huai will coordinate in the middle."

Everyone was barely calmed down, and after a while, there were reports from the hot air balloon and the front line that the troops sent from the front line had driven the Jin army away, and the person leading the counterattack was Li Kui, the commanding officer known for his meticulousness in the army.

Everyone calmed down.

At this time, after turning back again, Yue Fei suddenly called out to a person next to him: "Commander Tian!"

Tian Shizhong was shocked and tore the 'Imperial Edict' in his hand directly.

Yue Fei did not stop for a moment, but looked at him seriously: "Commander Tian, the Jin army has revealed a huge flaw. We must not miss this opportunity. I think we can try it."

Tian Shizhong, who had been greatly frightened, thought for a moment, and then, like the surrounding officers and staff, he was stunned in place... First of all, in broad daylight, and just now the front line was breached, where did the flaw come from?

Secondly, how are you going to 'try it'? Why did you call me? Didn't you say that we would not move the Imperial Guards Right Army until the north and south sides launched a pincer attack?

"Look behind you," Yue Fei did not keep any secrets. "All morning, Wang Bolong's flag has been patrolling back and forth more than a dozen times... Every time I turned back to receive the notes sent by Bi Jin, the position of his flag was different."

Like the surrounding staff, Tian Shizhong got up in a daze, looked back, and then stared at the east line, which had been peaceful, and gradually realized:

"He is eager to fight and can't help but be impatient?"

"You go to attack and lure him to attack! If he doesn't come, then so be it. If he really dares to fight alone, we will seize the opportunity and eat him before the Jin army's various units are in place!" Yue Fei narrowed his eyes and ordered seriously. "Eat him whole!"

"How to pull it