Chapter 317

…

Courtesy first, force afterward—this seems to be the military convention.

After Zhao Yu and Wanyan Aguda’s talks broke down, the Jin army launched a fierce offensive.

Amid heart-rending shouts, the Jin army split into two wings:

The eastern wing was commanded by Wanyan Xieye, the foremost of the Jin state’s “Twenty-One Meritorious Ministers of Yansheng,” known as the “First General of Jin,” with subordinates including Wanyan Zongjun, Wanyan Zonggan, Wanyan Zongwang, Wanyan Zongfu, and Jin Wuzhu, all renowned royal generals.

The western wing was commanded by Wanyan Wulu, who had led the He Lan Dian campaign, ordered to suppress the Bohai uprising led by Gao Yongchang in Liaodong, and who had shattered sixty thousand Liao troops at Yitun before capturing Shenzhou as Dabe Jibie, with subordinates including his nephew Wanyan Zonghan, his brother Wanyan Zhabodi, Jin’s fiercest general Wanyan Loushi, and renowned generals Wanyan Yinshu’er and Wanyan Xiyin.

The Liao army faced the eastern Jin wing; the Song army faced the western Jin wing.

The three armies first probed each other with successive waves of cavalry assaults.

After more than thirty engagements, Wanyan Aguda realized that the Song cavalry—including the Jing Sui Army—though formidable, were no stronger than the Liao cavalry, and the Song troops fought with extreme caution, or rather, methodical steadiness; several times the Jin army feigned retreat to lure the Song cavalry into pursuit, but the Song always withdrew decisively, denying the Jin any chance to pin them down.

As for the Song infantry? Two legs could never outrun four; they could only watch from afar as the cavalry clashed—so long as the cavalry stayed beyond their shooting range, the infantry had no way to counter them.

On the Liao side, Yelu Chun and others knew this was their final chance; if they failed to fight fiercely now, the Liao state would be utterly finished, so Liao soldiers braved Jin arrows and stones to fight nearly a hundred bloody battles, suffering heavy casualties on both sides—clearly, Xiao Gan, Yelu Dashi, and other Liao commanders were truly fighting to the death.

Days passed one after another.

The Jin army’s food supplies were exhausted.

Now look at the Song-Liao allied forces.

Because the battlefield was near Yan-Yun, the Song had recently built roads there and had ample civilian laborers, so the Song-Liao alliance not only had ample grain but also luxuries like canned food, with zero pressure on supplies or logistics.

Seeing this, young Jin generals like Wanyan Zonghan and Wanyan Zongwang could no longer hold back; they urgently requested a decisive battle, unwilling to continue these probing attacks, for they simply could not afford to wait.

Wanyan Aguda hesitated to fight decisively because it meant massive casualties—losses the small-population Jin state could not bear—and because he always felt something was amiss.

Yet the young Jin generals like Wanyan Zonghan and Wanyan Zongwang were right: if they did not fight now, their food and supplies would collapse them.

Thus, after consulting Wanyan Xieye and Wanyan Wulu, Wanyan Aguda reorganized the two wings, secretly transferring generals like Wanyan Loushi and Wanyan Yinshu’er to the eastern wing, preparing to make the eastern front the main thrust—first crush the Liao army, then encircle the Song army with both Jin wings to secure victory.

—Wanyan Aguda still distrusted Zhao Yu, so he chose the Liao army, which they had greater confidence in defeating, as the breakthrough point.

At dawn the next day, as the horizon first glowed with a faint fish-belly white, the camps of Song, Liao, and Jin erupted in clamor. War drums thundered, horns blared long and loud, as if the earth itself trembled, heralding the imminent battle that would decide the fate of the three states.

Liu Fa observed the changes in the Jin camp and said to Zhao Yu: “Your Majesty, the day of decisive battle has come.”

Zhao Yu thought, ‘Finally, I can defeat the Jin army? Wanyan Aguda, you’ve wasted enough of my time.’

Before battle, as overall commander, Wanyan Zonghan raised his curved sword and shouted: “Capture the Song Emperor, and reward: ten thousand cattle, ten thousand horses, ten thousand sheep—and grant the title of Marquis of Ten Thousand Households! My sons, charge with me!”

Upon finishing, Wanyan Zonghan gave a signal to his younger brother Wanyan Zhabodi, commander of the armored heavy cavalry.

Tall and imposing, Wanyan Zhabodi spurred his warhorse and led the charge.

Three thousand disciplined armored heavy cavalry followed closely behind him.

Then, under the command of Wanyan Wulu and Wanyan Zonghan, the western Jin army advanced in prearranged formation, crossing the Qingshui River in sections, and launched their assault on the Song army…

Wanyan Aguda intended to break through on the eastern front, but Wanyan Wulu, Wanyan Zonghan, and others preferred to break through on the western front.

This stemmed from the reorganization: the western wing had become dominated by the lineage of Guoxiang Wanyan Saigai, representing Jin’s aristocracy; the eastern wing was dominated by Wanyan Aguda’s lineage, representing the Jin imperial house.

At its founding, Jin operated as a confederation, more like a joint-stock company, with Wanyan Aguda merely the “chairman,” not a traditional emperor.

The Jin imperial house, led by Wanyan Aguda and Wanyan Wuqimai, sought to end this unbalanced alliance system and establish a true feudal monarchy.

This clearly conflicted with the interests of the Jin aristocracy led by Wanyan Saigai, who preferred to preserve the confederation and remain Jin’s “shareholders.”

The Jin aristocracy needed military achievements to intimidate the imperial house and deter reform.

Likewise, the imperial house sought greater glory to overpower the aristocracy, forcing them to submit to imperial reforms and become subjects, not partners.

This created competition between the two wings.

To seize glory, Wanyan Wulu and Wanyan Zonghan prepared to gamble everything, concentrating all force to crush the Song army using their favored tactic: a central breakthrough with powerful cavalry.

Wanyan Wulu and Wanyan Zonghan deployed three thousand fully armored cavalry as the spearhead, with sixty to seventy thousand heavily armored cavalry forming the flanks of a wedge formation.

—The flanks of the wedge formation stretched extremely long; Jin troops could move between the two arms of the “∧” to reinforce attacks or defenses, making it exceptionally potent.

If the western Jin army could pierce the Song center, they could continuously split the Song lines and win the decisive battle.

The Song’s Crane-Wing formation was ideal for “blunting the spearhead, breaking the wings”—defending the center while attacking the flanks.

If the Song infantry could hold against the western Jin assault, they could encircle and crush the western Jin forces, winning the decisive battle.

In essence, this was a battle of spear versus shield.

As combat began, Wanyan Zhabodi, clad entirely in cold-forged armor, calmly led his towering warhorses, also fully armored in cold-forged armor, across the Luan River.

This cold-forged armor, also called “hóuzi armor,” was dark blue-black, glossy and clear enough to reflect hair, bound with musk leather straps, thin yet resilient, far superior in defense to Song armor.

It was not made by the Liao, but by the Qingtang Qiang of Western Xia, presented to the Liao.

It was, without doubt, the most formidable armor of the age.

Worse still, the Song had previously been utterly unable to replicate it.

Only after the Song reclaimed Western Xia.

At the distance of three arrows, the armored heavy cavalry led by Wanyan Zhabodi mounted their horses.

At three arrows’ distance, they advanced slowly on horseback to pressure the enemy.

At one arrow’s distance, they charged full gallop to shatter the enemy lines!

This was common knowledge among northern steppe cavalry, and the Jin had adopted it.

Under the lead of three thousand armored cavalry, sixty to seventy thousand heavy cavalry mounted and charged toward the Song army.

Simultaneously, Jin’s heavy infantry also mounted their horses, swiftly advancing through the “∧” between the two flanks.

To Wanyan Wulu, Wanyan Zonghan, and others, victory would be theirs if they could bring their heavy infantry within ten paces of the Song lines.

Nearly one hundred thousand armored cavalry, heavy cavalry, and heavy infantry charging together created an earth-shaking spectacle—as if the ground itself trembled!

No war drums sounded, yet the thunder of ten thousand hooves was more terrifying than any drum—the rumbling roar felt like dozens of thousands of thunderbolts exploding at the end of the world!

From above, one would see a colossal, sky-blocking wedge driving into the Song center…

Zhao Jian, Zhao Yu’s twelfth son, stood at the very front of the Song center, serving as a shield-bearer; on his left hip hung a short mace, and on his back were ten Thunderclap Bombs.

As a Song imperial prince, Zhao Jian need not have started as a common soldier even if he chose the military path—he could have begun at a higher rank, like his brothers, attending military academies and rising from junior officer positions.