Chapter 1323: Beating the Jurchen and Shiwei Is Still No Problem

Although the northeast was in chaos, with rebel armies and righteous forces springing up everywhere, the greatest threat to Tongzhou was still the Jurchen, who had been the first to rise and had rapidly grown in strength.

Initially, the Wanyan tribe gathered over three thousand tribesmen, raised the banner of rebellion, crossed south over the Lali River, and launched a surprise attack on Huntong City in Ningjiang Prefecture, which lay between the Lali River and the Huntong River.

Because the garrison commanders and troops of Liaozhou City were unprepared and unable to defend in time, the city fell to the Wanyan Jurchen under the sudden assault. Thereafter, the Wanyan tribe began to raise the banner of the Great Han high, recruiting soldiers and buying horses, and the natural result was that people flocked to their cause, and their military strength more than doubled, reaching over seven thousand men.

Such appeal was, of course, not due to the Great Han's great prestige among these tribes or the influence it could exert. In fact, apart from some secret political exchanges, the Great Han side provided little actual support to these wild Jurchen, only carrying out political bribery and division through the frequently active spies of the Wude Office.

This time, the fundamental reason the various Jurchen tribes responded en masse to the Wanyan tribe's uprising was that Liao had squeezed them too harshly before, especially during the clashes with the Great Han, when the war-mongering conscription drives had not spared these subordinate tribes.

And among the Shiwei and Jurchen tribes living in the Huntong River and Lali River basins, there was not a single one that was not required to provide soldiers, horses, and grain, with weapons to be supplied at their own expense. Even the Wanyan tribe, under heavy pressure, had sent out five hundred men, though they had played a trick—the cannon fodder they sent were all tribesmen of relatively low quality.

And what was the result? In clashes of the scale and intensity of the Han-Liao War, they truly all became cannon fodder, with few surviving; being captured by the Han army was already a stroke of luck.

After Jinzhou fell, Yelu Xiezhen continued to dig for war potential from within, and the Jurchen and Shiwei, as unstable elements in the rear, were naturally the ones to be overextended.

But this time, the Wanyan tribe refused. First, they were unwilling to shed blood for the Khitan anymore, to fight against the Han—their tribesmen died and were wounded, and there was no benefit in it. Even savages would not be willing.

Moreover, at that time the Wanyan tribe was facing overtures from the agents of the Wude Office, and so they were even less inclined to respond to Liao's conscription, especially given Liao's unfavorable military situation.

Of course, they did not dare to directly refuse the Liao authorities either—the Khitan were still a considerable deterrent in this land—but they could delay and make excuses. And on the Liao army's side, under the strong pressure of the Han army, they also did not dare to press too hard, for fear of driving these wild Jurchen into rebellion.

In this stalemate, things dragged on until the Battle of the Liao River broke out. When the results arrived, the Wanyan tribe, which had long been itching for action, could no longer hold back, and so they led their troops south.

As for the Wanyan tribe's prior demands regarding the Huanglongfu region, after Emperor Liu's approval, a positive reply was given. Not only did they agree to give Huanglongfu to them, but they also issued an edict of enfeoffment, appointing the Wanyan tribal chief Wanyan Bohai as Commandant of Songmo.

This was not yet territory of the Great Han, and for the sake of the overall situation in the northeast, some interests could be ceded. Moreover, by throwing out this bone, the ones fighting over it in the future might not necessarily be the Wanyan tribe.

After all, within Huanglongfu's borders, the main population was the Huanglongfu Jurchen, and it would not be easy for the Wanyan tribe to complete their annexation. In addition, to the northwest there was also the Dalu-gu tribe of the Shiwei.

After occupying Ningjiang Prefecture, that fellow Wanyan Bohai, in his capacity as Commandant of Songmo, recruited other Jurchen tribes dissatisfied with Khitan rule, while also making contact with the Dalu-gu Shiwei to the northwest, and quickly reaching a consensus—joining forces to march south and attack Huanglongfu.

The result needed no elaboration. Due to the conscription burdens of the Han-Liao War, the defenses of the various cities within Huanglongfu's borders were in an extremely depleted state. Even though the Wanyan tribe had tried its best to arrange defenses and begged Yelu Xiezhen for aid while organizing the alliance north of the river, when over ten thousand allied tribal troops marched south, they still could not hold.

These Shiwei and Jurchen might have crude weapons and equipment, but they made up for it with ferocity and fearlessness of death. Years of harsh survival in a difficult environment had made combat and killing their instinct.

In fact, compared to Tongzhou, Huanglongfu—located in the heart of the Songliao Plain and also the geographic center of the entire northeast—was more suitable as Liao's political and military center after the painful loss of Liaodong.

But it first suffered a nearly fatal crisis. Facing the Jurchen-Shiwei allied forces led by the Wanyan tribe, the prefectural cities under Huanglongfu's jurisdiction simply could not resist. Huaide and Jingyuan fell one after another, were looted clean, and then the allies rapidly moved south, besieging Huanglongfu City and also taking Weizhou to the south.

It was only because the remaining Liao garrison decisively concentrated its forces and held fast in Huanglongfu City that Huanglongfu did not completely fall. At that time, Yelu Xiezhen had not yet recovered from the impact of the great defeat at the Liao River. He was busy reorganizing and comforting the troops in Tongzhou, and had no choice but to once again employ Yelu Xiuge, who had lost Jinzhou, giving him six thousand infantry and cavalry to march north and relieve Huanglongfu—this was also the largest and strongest force he had sent to suppress the rebellion.

Huanglongfu had to be saved. It had been one of the rear bases Yelu Xiezhen relied upon. Geographically, it was only about three hundred li from Tongzhou. If it fell entirely, his plans to resist in Tongzhou would be completely ruined and become a laughingstock.

At the same time, Huanglongfu could be considered one of the "wealthy" regions of Liaodong in the northeast. In the early years of peace between Han and Liao, the furs, livestock, medicinal herbs, and gold produced there were extremely popular with merchants from both the north and south of the Great Han.

And although Yelu Xiuge had failed in his battles against the Han army, lost Jinzhou, and caused a series of serious consequences such as the deterioration of the Liaodong war situation...

But it would be unfair to place all the blame on him alone. Yelu Xiezhen was well aware of his military talents, and so he suppressed the voices calling for punishment and did not severely discipline him.

When it came time to send troops north to relieve Huanglongfu, he again overruled all objections, directly backing Yelu Xiuge and entrusting him with an important mission. Before Yelu Xiuge led his troops north, Yelu Xiezhen had taken his hand and said solemnly: "You and I are both sinners of the Great Liao now, standing at the edge of an abyss. Apart from fighting with all our might, there is no other way back. I await your report of victory!"

Now, more than a month after marching north, the report of victory had indeed come!

Even Yelu Xiezhen, who had already become somewhat "calm as still water," could not help but feel his emotions stir at this moment. The past few months seemed to have been nothing but failure; victory seemed to be drifting further and further away from them. It had been too long since they had received good news.

And this piece of good news was like an injection of a cardiac stimulant, adding a bit of vitality to Yelu Xiezhen's nearly numb heart. Holding this victory report, he read it carefully several times, and finally let out a long sigh: "Xunning is brave and resourceful, a true hero—he has not failed the trust placed in him. One day he will surely be a pillar of the state!"

The failure at Jinzhou had been a tortuous affair. Reviewing Yelu Xiuge's performance, there were also points worthy of praise. The result could be described as a defeat not due to his fault, a situation beyond his power to reverse.

But when it came to fighting the Jurchen and Shiwei, Yelu Xiuge seemed to display his "God of War" demeanor. In his early years, he had accompanied the army on campaigns to suppress the Wugu and Shiwei rebellions, so he had experience—this time there were just Jurchen added to the mix.

After marching north, in the process of engaging the rebel forces, Yelu Xiuge continued to display his outstanding abilities in on-the-spot command, judgment, and decision-making. With inferior numbers, he fought hard against the allied forces and recovered Weizhou City.

Moreover, he struck at the allied forces' greatest weakness—their lack of unity and their hidden agendas. During battles, he avoided engaging the major tribes like Wanyan, Dalu-gu, and Huanglongfu, and instead targeted the small tribes and minor groups.

As time passed, the defenders of Huanglong City grew more confident and more tenacious, while the tribal alliance organized by the Wanyan tribe began to show signs of turmoil. The small tribes discovered that after every battle, they suffered the most casualties, while the major tribes suffered almost none. Besides Yelu Xiuge's targeted strikes and covert sowing of discord, the major Wanyan tribes were also deliberately preserving their strength. As to what their purpose was, the small tribal chieftains gradually began to catch on.

Thus, to avoid being swallowed up by the major tribes led by the Wanyan, the small tribes also became conservative. In their battles against the Liao army, they went through the motions without putting in real effort. This greatly reduced the cohesion of the tribal alliance, allowing Yelu Xiuge, with his inferior forces, to contend with them with ease, and he gradually found confidence in victory from the shadow of defeat.

By the end of the eighth month, with Huanglong City difficult to take ahead, Yelu Xiuge's threat behind, and the Great Han to the south having stopped advancing north for some time, the changing situation accelerated the intensification of internal contradictions within the alliance. Over disputes about spoils and territory, the Dalu-gu tribe clashed with the Wanyan tribe, while the Huanglongfu Jurchen, who regarded Huanglongfu as their own tribe's territory, were happy to see the two major tribes fight, hoping to profit as the fisherman who catches the fish in troubled waters.

Fortunately, the Wanyan tribal chief Wanyan Bohai was a shrewd man. Amid the delicate situation, he sensed the danger and gradually understood Yelu Xiuge's sinister intentions.

In the midst of crisis, he took the initiative to ease relations with the Dalu-gu tribe, using the condition of dividing Huanglongfu equally, and the two sides joined forces again and restored their relationship. They also decided to first deal with the troublesome army of Yelu Xiuge.

In response, Yelu Xiuge, who had long been prepared, chose to meet them head-on. The two sides engaged in a decisive battle twenty li southeast of Huanglong City. In this battle, the Wanyan and Dalu-gu finally shouldered the responsibility that major tribes should bear, sending out their elite troops in full force to attack the Liao army.

As for Yelu Xiuge, this time he again chose a clear target: the major Jurchen tribe, the Huanglongfu tribe. The Huanglongfu Jurchen were also one of the subordinate tribes enfeoffed by the Liao court. Although their combat ability was slightly inferior to other tribes, their strength was not weak.

The key problem was that the conditions secretly agreed upon between the Wanyan and Dalu-gu made the Huanglongfu Jurchen very dissatisfied. Compared to them, the two major tribes were outsiders—one side was even Shiwei. Why should they get to divide up the Huanglongfu tribe's territory and exclude them?

This dissatisfaction, even resentment, was dangerous when manifested on the battlefield. They were already fighting without putting in real effort, and with Yelu Xiuge's desperate fierce assault, the Huanglongfu tribe soon collapsed and quickly withdrew from the battle.

For the Wanyan and Dalu-gu tribes, who were jointly attacking the Liao army's center in full force, this was tantamount to a stab in the back. On the battlefield, Yelu Xiuge decisively directed his troops to ignore the Huanglongfu Jurchen and instead strike the two tribes from the flank.

The tide of battle was thus completely reversed. As the small tribes began to collapse and flee, the Wanyan and Dalu-gu tribes ultimately fell into defeat and had no choice but to retreat.

Then, during the retreat, they were fiercely pursued by the Liao army and suffered heavy casualties. As the primary target of the pursuit, the Wanyan tribe was especially badly mauled. In the end, only a pitiful thousand or so Wanyan tribesmen managed to cross the Second Huntong River by swimming. The troops they had recruited to the south, the tribes they had absorbed, and the spoils they had seized were almost all lost. Only the small city of Ningjiang Prefecture remained as a small consolation.

As for the other tribes, large and small, even if they were not the primary targets, their losses were still considerable. Among the three major tribes, the Dalu-gu Shiwei fled back to their home base. Though their misery could not compare to the Wanyan tribe's, it was not much better. After this experience, it would be difficult for the two sides to trust each other again, and perhaps they would return to their former state of confrontation.

As for the Huanglongfu Jurchen, who had fled the battlefield and caused the Liao army's setback, their fate would not be much better. The Wanyan and Dalu-gu had their own home bases, but their home base was Huanglongfu itself.

Now that the Liao army had fought its way back, after lifting the crisis at Huanglongfu, who else would be the first target of attack but them?

The Battle of Huanglongfu, whether in terms of scale or outcome, was utterly insignificant compared to the Han-Liao War—there was no comparison at all. But for the Liao army, which had been defeated to the very ground, it was no less than a ray of warm light seen in a bleak winter.

At least they were not so useless that they could not even defeat the Jurchen and Shiwei. Recovering the cities of Huanglongfu also added a bit of strength and confidence to resist the Han army...