Chapter 302

Yonghui City, 15 miles to the east.

A Jurchen team of more than a thousand people was marching fast; this team, besides most of the cavalry, also had hundreds of infantry escorting grain and grass materials.

These materials along with the carts were varied, including common army cattle and sheep, as well as domestic pigs, ducks, chickens, and geese, and carts filled with various miscellaneous grains.

It's just that the quantity of these materials was small, and it was already stretched to support the consumption of a thousand-person team.

There were even a few prison carts containing more than a dozen young women, their clothes tattered and broken, revealing a lot of skin, and bruises could be seen everywhere on their faces.

If it weren't for the warming weather now, these women in the prison carts would have been frozen to death long ago.

These materials and women, no matter how you look at them, don't look like things that a regular army would carry; it looks like they were looted from everywhere.

Surrounded by a group of fierce and loyal Jurchen personal guards, Dong Shan of the Jurchen Left Guard and Li Manzhu of the Jurchen Guard walked at the forefront of the team.

Dong Shan was sturdy and strong, just in his early thirties, the peak age, but the defeat and flight of these few months also made him physically and mentally exhausted, with a face full of wind and frost.

The battle of Yafu Pass and the huge power of the Great Zhou firearms left an indelible shadow on the Jurchens.

Therefore, whenever this strange Great Zhou army pursued until it was head-to-tail with the Jurchen team.

But these last hopes were soon shattered.

Those lives that flew into flesh and blood in the firelight, the terrifying death method completely different from sword slashing and spear stabbing, had become a nightmare in the minds of these Jurchen brave soldiers.

And Dong Shan, who was in his prime, would still be in his prime age of combat fifteen years later.

Li Manzhu was already over fifty, the oldest among the three guard leaders; after these few months of running and killing, he seemed to have aged suddenly, and even his hair had turned white a lot.

As long as the Jurchen Three Guards still possessed this last blood courage, it would only take ten years for the Jurchen tribes to recover their vitality, and at most fifteen years, they would be able to dominate Liaodong again.

And the remnant troops of the three guards re-exceeded 2,000, and half of them were old soldiers who had survived the bloody battle; these were the last elites of the Jurchens and also the fiercest elites.

No matter if it was Dong Shan or Li Manzhu, after such a big defeat, their ambitions still did not sink; this newly added 1,000 new brave soldiers gave the Jurchen Three Guards' remnant army more hope.

……

They led the army to flee all the way, passing through the Jurchen villages along the way, not only fiercely looting grain and food but also scraping bones and marrow to gather the remaining young and strong soldiers of the Jurchen tribes.

But he didn't wait for a chance to breathe; the Great Zhou army divided into three routes to pursue and strangle, forcing them into a desperate situation step by step.

Because these Jurchens all knew deeply that the power of firearms was not something their fast horses and curved swords could easily contend with.

At that time, the old Li Manzhu might not be able to wait, but he still had descendants who could inherit his glory.

It actually allowed them to gather more than 1,000 soldiers, supplementing precious fresh blood for the Jurchen Three Guards' remnant army after the big defeat.

And when the two armies fought, the result of the declining morale could be imagined; the Jurchen team could only use fast horses to flee to get rid of the powerful lethality of the Great Zhou firearm soldiers.

Because they didn't expect that among the Great Zhou troops pursuing them, such a sharp and difficult opponent would appear.

This route of pursuit army possessed unusual insight, seemed to be able to accurately lock their movements at any time, and pursued them relentlessly.

The most troublesome and fearful thing for Dong Shan and Li Manzhu was that this route of pursuit army was composed of Great Zhou's elite firearm soldiers.

As soon as the two sides fought, amidst the roaring firearm sounds and the explosion of porcelain mines, the Jurchen soldiers would soon collapse at the first touch.

Since the big defeat at Yafu Pass, most of the Jurchen elites were lost, and Fan Ercha, the leader of the Right Guard, was beheaded on the spot; Dong Shan and Li Manzhu only brought more than 1,000 cavalry to flee.

Along the way, the Great Zhou firearm soldiers and the Jurchen remnant army constantly chased and fought; occasionally, the Jurchen team would encounter the other two routes of Zhou soldiers.

The 1,000 new brave soldiers forcibly conscripted by the Jurchens along the way were consumed in such multiple fierce battles, almost all lost under the firearms and swords of the Zhou army.

……

This almost made Dong Shan and Li Manzhu grieve to the point of beating their chests and stamping their feet; originally they planned to carry the Jurchen's last blood courage, retreat to Yonghui City, defend the city, and plan for the future.

But no one expected that they would be so severely damaged by the Great Zhou firearm soldiers while fleeing all the way; relying on the remaining thousand old soldiers, they were already unable to defend Yonghui City for a long time.

Finally, Li Manzhu was old and cunning; taking advantage of the Jurchen team attracting the attention of the Great Zhou right route army, he quietly sent elite scouts and envoys to steal across the Yalujiang and ask for help from the Great Lord of Goryeo.

Since the Great Lord of Goryeo succeeded to the throne, the national power had become increasingly strong, and the ambition of expanding eastward across the Yalujiang had been growing.

Originally, the Great Zhou established the Jurchen Three Guards in Liaodong, indirectly blocking Goryeo's eastward expansion.

Goryeo closed Qingyuan Market and cut off the Jurchens' channel for obtaining materials, which was a strategy of killing three scholars with two peaches, and also the internal driving cause of the Jurchens' southward invasion.

Now that Great Zhou and the Jurchens are fighting to the death, the Great Lord is happy to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight.

But if Great Zhou slaughters the Jurchens, then Great Zhou will definitely change its past policy of appeasement toward Liaodong and send flowing officials and large armies to garrison.

By that time, Great Zhou's power in Liaodong will go deeper, and Liaodong will truly be included in Great Zhou's territory.

Everything west of the Yalujiang will become Great Zhou's sphere of influence, and Goryeo's eastward expansion attempt will be permanently shattered.

So taking in the last elites of the Jurchen Three Guards has long-term strategic significance for the Great Lord.

As long as this unstable force in the Liaodong land is preserved, with the Jurchen tribe's strong obsession with the Liaodong homeland, they will definitely kill back to Liaodong one day when they recover their vitality!

By that time, the balanced pattern of Liaodong will be broken again, and Goryeo's eastward expansion will have an opportunity again.

The Great Lord received Li Manzhu's request for help and responded as quickly as possible, showing his courage to take chestnuts from the fire in the Liaodong war.

In order not to attract the attention of the Zhou army, the Great Lord only sent a small number of Goryeo troops to respond on the east bank of the Yalujiang.

In order not to leave a handle, the ships mobilized were not standard military ships, but civilian ships of different sizes.

Originally, all this could have been done without anyone knowing, but it was still detected by Jia Cong in advance.

If it weren't for the foggy weather, which temporarily made him lose the whereabouts of the Jurchen team, making him decide to accelerate the march to intercept in front of the Jurchen team.

If it weren't for approaching the Yalujiang, making him have some unspeakable vigilance, and staying up all night to check the map to deduce the war situation, and climbing Qingyuan Mountain overnight to check the situation.

Perhaps Li Manzhu and the Great Lord would have succeeded.

By that time, the last elites of the Jurchens would be flowing in the outside world, and perhaps in a few years, Liaodong would reignite the flames of war because of this.

Those border soldiers who died in battle, the border common people who were slaughtered, their lives would become meaningless....

……

Qingyuan Market, the sunset is like blood.

The layout of Qingyuan Market is very simple, a wide road paved with mountain stones, with many shop houses on both sides of the road, but now they have all been abandoned.

As long as you pass through the central road of the market, you can reach the west bank of the Yalujiang in a quick charge of five hundred steps.

The market that was once noisy here has now become such a ghostly place full of death.

And behind the houses on both sides of the road is a large dense forest extending from the foothills of Qingyuan Mountain, overgrown with miscellaneous trees.

Under the shadow of the sunset, dense black shadows can be vaguely seen in the woods on both sides, but as long as the sunset is gone, nothing will be seen clearly.

The multiple scout teams sent by Jia Cong to explore the movements of the Jurchen team received definite reports in less than half a day.

More than a thousand Jurchen Three Guards' remnant army bypassed the middle route army led by mobile corps commander Deng Hui near Yonghui City.

They did not enter Yonghui City, but bypassed the east of the city and came straight to Qingyuan Market, everything as Jia Cong expected.

Early this morning, when he checked the situation at Qingyuan Mountain, if he hadn't led the army to Qingyuan Market immediately, but had some hesitation.

Even if he had detected the opportunity in advance, he would not have been able to arrive at Qingyuan Market half a day early to set up an ambush and intercept.

……

Waiting until the sunset completely sank to the other side of the Yalujiang and the earth sank into darkness, the sound of thunderous hoofbeats came from under Qingyuan Mountain.

More than a dozen Jurchen pioneer scouts held torches and rushed into Qingyuan Market, galloping back and forth on the wide road.

They held the torches high, illuminating the abandoned shop houses on both sides, and the long swords in their hands flashed with cold light in the firelight.

After a slight exploration, they confirmed that there was no danger and returned quickly, guiding the Jurchen team into Qingyuan Market.

These thousand Jurchen elites were all old soldiers who had survived a hundred battles, fleeing for a long distance, worn out by countless battles, and many of them were injured.

Because the grain and grass were gradually consumed along the way, most of the cattle and sheep meat had been exhausted; when approaching Yonghui City, the Jurchens had already begun to reduce the supply of military rations.

Each person could only eat one meal of thin porridge and wild vegetables every day, and it was not a full supply, plus they were constantly fleeing for a long distance, consuming a lot of physical strength.

The original brave old soldiers also lost most of their fighting spirit and sharpness.

Fortunately, when approaching Qingyuan Market, Li Manzhu and Dong Shan passed down the military order that the whole army would cross the Yalujiang and retreat to Goryeo, and the Goryeo people were already responding on the opposite bank.

This news re-stimulated the morale of the Jurchen soldiers who had become a tired army.

As long as they retreat into Goryeo territory, they can escape the endless pursuit of the Great Zhou army, and they can save their lives.

Once they enter Goryeo territory, they can eat their fill, live in houses with tiles, and even have warm and watery Goryeo women....

Even the pioneer scouts who entered Qingyuan Market first, after completing the routine exploration, couldn't wait to guide the whole army into Qingyuan Market.

Every Jurchen had been fleeing and fighting for months, and those incredibly powerful firearms of the Zhou army had taken the lives of how many companions.

Everyone's physical strength and spirit had reached the edge of collapse, and even people with firm will like Li Manzhu and Dong Shan were approaching their limit of endurance.

Every Jurchen wished they could grow wings, cross the Yalujiang, and stay away from this land that had given them huge setbacks and blood.

Li Manzhu and Dong Shan, surrounded by personal guards, rode at the front of the team, and by the time they had walked half the way, the end of the team had just entered Qingyuan Market.

Just when everyone was happy, they seemed to be able to see the green river waves of the Yalujiang immediately.

Suddenly, countless gray-white shadows appeared in the dark night sky, falling into the densely marching Jurchen army, and earth-shattering explosions occurred in an instant.

(End of chapter)