Chapter 319: Good Son

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This crucial battle was won; crucially, Zhao Yu eliminated at least half of the Jin army's elite troops in this battle, most of whom were Jurchens.

According to the "Compendium of Negotiations Among Three Dynasties in the North," there were about one hundred thousand households of raw Jurchens during the Liao era, and by the late Liao, the tamed Jurchens increased to over ten thousand households, totaling no more than two hundred thousand households combined.

If each household averaged three to five people, the total population would be approximately six to seven hundred thousand.

Additionally, the "Liao-linked Jurchens," represented by the tamed Jurchens of the former Bohai Kingdom, numbered over one hundred thousand households just in Bohai alone.

Taken together, the total Jurchen population is estimated at around seven to eight hundred thousand.

Furthermore, some argue that the Jurchens in the Heilongjiang region numbered about eight to nine hundred thousand at the end of the Liao and beginning of the Jin.

Regardless of which estimate is correct, among these less-than-one-million Jurchens, there were the elderly, the weak, women, and children; the actual number of Jurchens fit for military service may have been only two or three hundred thousand.

In a single battle, Zhao Yu destroyed nearly one hundred thousand Jurchen able-bodied men.

For the Jin state, which had only just been founded, this was an unbearable blow—a catastrophe capable of shaking its foundations and bringing its nascent regime to the brink of collapse.

Moreover, the Jin still faced the remnants of the Liao as an adversary, along with challenges from numerous tribes on the steppe.

To put it bluntly, even if the Great Song ceased further attacks on the Jin, the Jin would struggle immensely to maintain its dominance over the steppe.

The Kerait, a powerful steppe tribe occupying the Orkhon and Tula river basins, composed of multiple tribal alliances, with extensive territory and formidable military strength.

The Naiman, active around the Altai Mountains, "large in state and population," with developed economy and military, closely linked to neighboring tribes, one of the core powers of the western steppe.

The Tatar, nomadic across the Hulun Buir steppe and the Kherlen River basin, a coalition of multiple tribes, extremely powerful, one of the principal forces of the eastern steppe.

The Merkit, distributed along the Orkhon and Selenga river basins, nomadic by nature, their tribes fierce and warlike, frequently clashing with neighboring tribes such as the Kerait and Mongols, possessing considerable strength.

The Wanggu, located north of the Yin Mountains; though smaller in scale than the previous tribes, their geographic position was critical—a vital link between the steppe and the Central Plains, tasked by the Liao dynasty with guarding the frontier walls, holding special strategic importance.

Also, the Qiyin tribe, not yet unified at this time and containing multiple sub-tribes, the precursor to the Mongols.

These tribes each occupied different regions, engaging in both conflict and alliance with one another, collectively forming the political landscape of the steppe.

Will these tribes allow the Jin, severely weakened by the Great Song, to become the dominant power of the steppe?

Judging by the current situation, even if the Jin suffers no further annihilation of its fighting forces, it will take twenty years to recover its national strength.

And with these twenty years, the Great Song's industrial revolution will be fully completed.

By then—or even before then—the Great Song could sweep across the steppe and permanently resolve the threat posed by nomadic peoples to the Central Plains dynasties.

In fact, Zhao Yu could now attempt to destroy the Jin, but transportation remains inconvenient, so the cost of conquering the Jin would be enormous, the gains minimal, and crucially, the cost of governance would be immense.

But if he waits a few years, until the Great Song's trains and automobiles are fully developed, these problems will vanish entirely.

Thus, having fought this far, Zhao Yu can now cease hostilities.

Yet, on the other hand, since the Great Song has already won this battle, if it does not extract some benefit, won't Zhao Yu simply be losing?

That is not what Zhao Yu wants, even if he does not lack the Jin's meager wealth.

So, after giving the Song army one day to rest, Zhao Yu appointed Liu Fa as Commander-in-Chief, Accompanying Tong Guan as Imperial Supervisor, Song Jiang as Deputy Commander-in-Chief, Zong Ze as Deputy Imperial Supervisor, and ordered the Beifu Army, Hu Ben Army, Western Army, and Divine Mechanism Central Army to launch a northern expedition to pursue Accompanying Tong Guan and his five thousand light cavalry, aiming to force the Jin to seek peace, pay war reparations, and compensate the Great Song for its losses.

Notably, after resting, the Liao army also marched under Yelu Chun's command to seize the Liao's Zhongjing.

After the northern expeditionary Song army departed, the remaining Song troops continued to clear the battlefield.

Meanwhile, Zhao Yu, under the protection of his personal guard, the Divine Mechanism Forward Army, Divine Mechanism Left Army, and Divine Mechanism Right Army, returned to Yanjingcheng.

In triumph, Zhao Yu was warmly welcomed by the Liao civilians of Yan.

Since its rise, the Jin people had launched successive invasions, capturing cities, burning, killing, looting, committing every atrocity, subjecting the people of Liao lands to unbearable suffering, displacement, and grave calamity.

Now, Zhao Yu's army had shattered the Jin forces, bringing long-awaited peace and hope to this war-torn land—how could the Liao people of Yan not rejoice, and how could they not regard Zhao Yu as their savior?

Within Yanjingcheng, colorful banners fluttered, gongs and drums thundered. The people spontaneously filled the streets, lining the roads to welcome Zhao Yu's return.

Riding a towering warhorse, Zhao Yu gazed at the enthusiastic crowds, his heart filled with profound emotion. He understood that this victory was not merely a temporary military achievement, but a crucial step toward restoring the Great Song's prestige and winning the people's hearts.

At the same time, Zhao Yu also understood that the road ahead remained long: though the Jin had been severely wounded, it would not necessarily submit easily; the many tribes of the steppe still awaited resolution; and for the Great Song to truly establish itself firmly on this land, numerous challenges still lay ahead.

After returning to the imperial palace in Yanjing, Zhao Yu, without resting, immediately summoned his ministers and strategists to discuss plans for controlling the steppe.

Nomadic peoples were like an untamable wild horse, always a dire threat to the Central Plains dynasties.

There is no need to elaborate on the Song dynasty's situation.

The Jin destroyed the Northern Song; the Mongols destroyed the Southern Song. Both Northern and Southern Song fell to northern nomadic peoples.

By the Ming dynasty.

In the early Ming, Zhu Yuanzhang used ruthless force to purge the remnants of the Northern Yuan, forcing Emperor Shun of Yuan to flee to Mobei; yet the Mongols did not vanish, but split into the Tatars, Oirats, and Ulianghai tribes, each governing themselves and locked in ceaseless conflict.

After Zhu Di ascended the throne, he launched five personal campaigns against Mobei, attempting to bring the Mongols fully under control.

Though Ming military campaigns severely damaged Mongol power, they failed to eradicate the threat; Mongol tribes, like wild grass, burned by fire yet regrew with the spring wind.

The Ming's governance of the Mongols extended beyond the military sphere.

The Ming once attempted to cut off Mongol access to grain, iron, and other supplies by closing border horse markets, forcing submission—but economic blockade only spurred Mongol raids.

Later, the Ming tried to "use barbarians to control barbarians," dividing the Mongol tribes—for example, supporting the Oirats against the Tatars—but this strategy was like drinking poison to quench thirst.

Under Esen's leadership, the Oirats rapidly rose in power; the "Tumu Crisis" became a profound humiliation for the Ming, with Emperor Yingzong Zhu Qizhen captured and Beijingcheng on the brink of collapse, exposing the limitations of this military strategy.

Even later, when the Ming opened trade through the "Longqing Accord" in an attempt to ease tensions economically, the Mongol tribes never truly submitted, and border troubles persisted.

Moreover, the Ming's frontier defense system revealed serious flaws; frontier institutions established in early Ming, such as the Nuergan Commandery and Hami Guard, proved unsustainable due to their remoteness and logistical difficulties.

Coupled with the Ming's later decline in national strength and fiscal strain, frontier soldiers often went unpaid, and their combat effectiveness plummeted.

Even the Mongol leader Altan Khan reached the gates of Beijingcheng in the late Ming, forcing the Ming to compromise.

This military passivity prevented the Ming from ever fully resolving the Mongol problem.