Chapter 316: Zhao Yu vs. Wanyan Aguda

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First, it must be clear: the Jin army is not the Liao army, nor is it the Mongol army. The Jin army has cavalry, and its cavalry is no less formidable than the Liao iron cavalry or the Mongol iron cavalry, yet the Jin army is by no means a purely cavalry force—it is a combined-arms field army composed of light infantry, heavy infantry, light cavalry, and heavy cavalry.

In its early days, the Jin army, due to poverty and scarce resources, consisted mostly of light troops with little armor.

But as the Jin army continually defeated the Liao army, it no longer had many light troops; most of the Jin army had become heavy infantry, especially its core Jurchen forces, all clad in the finest armor, and even its heavy infantry rode horses for mobility, dismounting only upon reaching the battlefield.

The Jin army’s light cavalry primarily consisted of former Liao cavalry who had surrendered, used for outer harassment.

The heavy cavalry remained Jurchens, serving as the main force for final battles and pursuit.

In reality, the most formidable element of the Jin army was not its heavy cavalry, but its heavy infantry.

Ordinary armies faced with Jin heavy infantry were virtually helpless.

Jin heavy infantry wore at least two layers of armor, and their horses were also armored; when forming ranks and advancing, ordinary bows and crossbows could not penetrate their defenses.

Where did these Jin heavy infantry’s armors come from?

The answer is simple.

They were given by the Liao.

The Jin army marched from north to south, defeated millions of Liao troops, and captured three of the Liao’s capital cities.

In the Battle of Hupudagang alone, seventy thousand Liao troops abandoned countless armors, including vast quantities of heavy armor.

Moreover, since the Song army had upgraded to lightweight yet highly protective cotton armor, it sold off large quantities of obsolete iron and leather armor to the Liao and Jin, most of which ended up in Jin hands.

In recent years, the Jin army has also captured large numbers of Han craftsmen and can now mass-produce armor themselves.

——The Jurchens place great value on craftsmen; any craftsman willing to surrender to Jin receives extraordinary treatment—women, gold, livestock, whatever they desire.

Thus, the Jin army gradually transformed from a primitive tribal force into a well-equipped heavy field army.

Han rulers became khans; barbarian fortune began in Tang, border threats peaked here, and both Song and Ming suffered accordingly.

Since the Tang dynasty opened foreign exchanges and recruited nomadic tribes into its army, the Central Plains lost all technological barriers—whenever the Central Plains developed some advanced technology, the barbarians learned it; if they further refined it, the Central Plains would suffer.

Take bows, for example.

The Jin army’s bows were significantly superior to those of the Central Plains, even outperforming the Song army’s Li Lin muskets.

The core Jurchen territory lies in the frigid northeast, and they have long been in a state of nomadism, hunting, and war, demanding extreme range and penetration from their bows, driving craftsmen to continuously optimize designs.

Harsh living conditions, coupled with prolonged wars against Goryeo and the Liao, gave Jin a stronger combat-driven focus on weapon improvement; as the core ranged weapon, bows evolved faster.

Moreover, the northeast under Jurchen control abounds in high-quality timber (such as birch), horn, and sinew—key materials for crafting powerful bows, readily available and exceptionally durable.

Furthermore, adapting to the cold, dry northern climate, Jin craftsmen emphasized wood drying and low-temperature-resistant adhesives in bow construction, ensuring stable performance under harsh conditions.

During its rise, Jin absorbed bow-making techniques from the Liao, Bohai, and other northern peoples, while also borrowing from Central Plains craftsmanship, forming a unique technical system.

Its bow designs (such as the “horn bow”) were better suited for cavalry use on horseback, with draw length and force efficiency aligned to nomadic combat habits.

Most crucially, its heavy bows—the ones used by Jin heavy infantry, typically fired at point-blank range within ten paces—had such power they could pierce both man and horse, rivaling siege crossbows, enough to strike terror into enemies and even cause them to break.

In contrast, the Central Plains long remained a relatively stable agrarian society; though bows developed, military urgency, material priorities (such as reliance on mulberry wood), and combat methods (infantry-dominated) created performance gaps compared to Jin bows.

Early muskets had drawbacks: low rate of fire, poor reliability, limited range and accuracy, bulkiness, and heavy logistical dependence.

Of course, muskets also had advantages: strong armor-piercing capability and ease of use.

Moreover, the Song army had the Divine Arm Crossbow, whose range and penetration utterly outclassed Jin bows, with low operational thresholds and relatively stable accuracy—though it suffered from low rate of fire, poor portability, and high maintenance costs.

In short, excluding artillery, Song and Jin weapons each had strengths; when the two armies clashed, victory ultimately depended on command and troop quality.

And this was precisely what the Jin army prided itself on.

The Jin army Zhao Yu and his ministers saw—especially its elite—moved swiftly as the wind, calmly as the forest, attacked like fire, stood immovable as a mountain, remained unseen as shadow, and struck like thunder.

Looking at these Jurchens, they truly resembled what the historical Six-Aspect Official Li Ye described: men like tigers, horses like dragons, climbing mountains like apes, entering water like otters, their momentum like Mount Tai, the Central Plains like stacked eggs.

No wonder Wanyan Aguda and the Jin generals chose to fight two enemies at once, confronting both Song and Liao simultaneously.

Indeed, at this moment, Jin had a wise ruler, brave generals, strong troops, sturdy horses, and had swept across the entire northeast, standing at the peak of its power.

Crucially, the Jurchens, especially the Wanyan clan, were once mere thousands of ill-equipped villagers, now they commanded an army of nearly 400,000 men, approaching the zenith of cold-weapon warfare.

Such strength made them unmatched in Northeast Asia at the time—and terrifying even by global standards.