[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-shao-song":3,"chapter-shao-song-shao-song-chapter-130":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Shao Song",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1558296,2024,"Chapter 130: Five Rivers","shao-song-chapter-130",130,"\u003Cp>\"What is the military situation inside and outside the city?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Another day passed. After breaching Changge City, Jin Wushu led the main force of several tens of thousands of Jin troops southward, arriving at the walls of Changshe City in the afternoon. Before he could even order the city completely surrounded, he immediately summoned Wanyan Balisu, who had been sent ahead, and questioned him carefully by the Yishui River outside the city.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Han Shizhong was seen fleeing into the city, but he should be wounded,\" Balisu replied. After their confrontation the day before, he seemed much more subdued and gave a very detailed report. \"Four to five thousand men entered the city with him. There were already four to five thousand troops he had left inside to receive him, totaling... about ten thousand... As for the rest who scattered in the battle the day before, according to scout reports, his general Wang Sheng led three to four thousand men east into Yanling and is gathering stragglers there with Zhang Yong, the defending general sent by the Tokyo Rear Area Command.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing that Han Shizhong was trapped inside the city, many of the surrounding officers and staff officers showed delight. Only Wanyan Wushu himself, who had dismounted and sat on a fur-wrapped camp stool, frowned slightly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I just came over. Though I haven't scouted thoroughly, I can see this city has been heavily reinforced and repaired... The soil color of the moat looks freshly dug, doesn't it?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Correct.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wanyan Balisu paid no attention to Wushu's expression and continued his report without looking back. \"We captured a few minor officers from Han Shizhong's force on the road and forced a few local petty officials to surrender in the surrounding villages. According to them, it's not just this Changshe City. Between the Ying, Wei, Yi, Shang, and Ru Rivers, near these five waterways, there are five or seven large cities—probably Yancheng, Xiangcheng, Linying, Xiping, and Wuyang. All of them have been additionally reinforced and repaired over the past few months, and large amounts of weapons, equipment, and grain have been stocked inside...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What about troops and laborers?\" Wanyan Wushu's brow furrowed even tighter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Naturally, those were prepared long ago.\" Balisu shook his head with a wry smile, clearly puzzled why Wushu would ask such a shallow question. \"The Zhao Song sovereign in Nanyang has been settled there for months. He's obviously not the type to sit and wait for death. Since he chose to set up defenses here, how could he only repair cities and deliver grain without preparing troops? I've already asked clearly... Each of these large cities has a general at the level of Controller-in-Chief stationed with troops. Moreover, laborers were conscripted from the northern refugees earlier to repair the cities on site, and after completion, they stayed with the army in the city. For example, at Xiangcheng, there's Lü Qing from the Sishui Pass; at Xiping, there's a Controller-in-Chief from a local gentry family named Zhai Chong, who seems related to the big and small Zhai of the Western Capital—I call him Old Zhai; at Yancheng, there's Xu Shian, a rear army general from Han Shizhong's own force; and right here in Changshe, there was originally Wang Shan, a defending general and Controller-in-Chief sent by Zong Ze.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wanyan Wushu's expression grew even uglier, but Balisu still didn't mind... because ever since joining forces with this Fourth Prince in Henan, he had never seen him show a good face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a long pause, seeing that Wanyan Wushu remained silent, Balisu couldn't help but bow and continue: \"Fourth Prince, by custom, I should have sent someone into the city to urge surrender right away. But for a general of Han Shizhong's caliber, I dare not decide on the reward terms lightly...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wanyan Wushu finally forced a smile, but it was uglier than no smile at all. \"If Han Shizhong surrenders, with the merit of his four Huainan prefectures and these cities, I'd make him Emperor of Henan without hesitation. But given the rumors about his belt, if I'm hoping he'll surrender, I might as well hope the Zhao Song sovereign in Nanyang comes to surrender in person...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The surrounding Jin troops burst into laughter, and even Balisu laughed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But Fourth Prince, should we still send someone to urge surrender?\" After the laughter, Balisu composed himself. \"After all, it's the custom of this campaign, and you've never broken it...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Of course, I can't break it.\" Wushu turned back and pointed at a Han Chinese scholar-official whose smile hadn't faded—it was the newly surrendered man who had flattered him from the sidelines during the fierce battle that night. \"You go. Tell that reckless Han Wu that if he opens the city gates and surrenders before sunset today, I'll stake my own future to promise him the territory of Jingxi and the prospect of being Emperor of Zheng. But if he doesn't surrender, once the city falls, I will surely massacre it!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The man was stunned, then terrified. The people around him were also stunned at first, but then each sneered coldly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As dusk fell, a full hour had passed since Wang Shan, the Controller-in-Chief of the Tokyo Rear Area Command defending the city, personally threw the head of the surrender envoy into the outer edge of the moat. In the somewhat crowded and noisy Jin army camp, Wanyan Wushu was discussing military affairs with Wanyan Balisu, as well as Wanhu commanders like Han Chang and Da Gai.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The Fourth Prince is right. The moat is newly expanded, the walls are newly reinforced and heightened. As long as Han Shizhong doesn't die inside the city, don't expect the defenders to lose their morale. So, in the end, there's only one path...\" Saying this, Han Chang, who sat cross-legged with a stern face, rubbed his eye socket, paused slightly, and then spoke the words. \"Set up trebuchets and smash the city!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Set up trebuchets and smash the city, then.\" Da Gai—the younger brother of the former Bohai Battalion Commander Da Tabye, who had turned misfortune into fortune after his brother's death and been promoted to Wanhu—was the most junior in rank among those present. But the Da family represented the Bohai people who had intermarried with the Jurchen Wanyan clan early on, so his status was not low. \"We have strong troops, many men, and there's no shortage of Southerners to fill the ditches in the villages behind Zhengzhou and Kaifeng. Drive them over, set up trebuchets on three sides, and smash this Changshe City to pieces!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That's the only way to break the city,\" Han Chang continued, still rubbing his eye socket. \"But I'll say this first: someone like reckless Han Wu can never be judged by common sense. What if we smash the walls? Shouldn't we prepare for street fighting? And if we take the city through street fighting, can we really keep him here? Do we have to do this again at the next city? This battle needs to be planned like the Taiyuan campaign...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"How can this city compare to Taiyuan?\" Balisu, who had been reluctant to interrupt while huddled among the Fourth Prince's confidants, couldn't help but give a dry laugh and instinctively retort upon hearing Han Chang's words. \"The terrain of Taiyuan, the counter-trebuchet tactics inside Taiyuan, the fierce fighting beneath Taiyuan—these are experiences from decades of military service that I'll never forget. The success of the Jingkang campaign back then all depended on the Taiyuan battle...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I'm not saying General Balisu's merits are insignificant, nor am I talking about just this one Changshe City. I'm talking about these five rivers and six cities, or five rivers and seven cities...\" Han Chang lowered his hand and replied calmly. \"These cities are the second checkpoint the Song sovereign has prepared for us, after the Tokyo Rear Area Command, the Jingdong Pacification Commissioner, and Li Yanxian of Shanzhou. I'm not saying that Zhao sovereign in Nanyang expects these few cities to stop us. But look—our army seems to be advancing swiftly with overwhelming momentum. Yet after we break through these cities one by one and reach the walls of Nanyang, how many days will have passed? How many losses will we have suffered? How much strength will we have left? And if Nanyang has become a fortress by then, are we going to waste time under its walls until next summer, waiting for plague to break out in the army? This should be exactly what that Zhao sovereign in Nanyang is planning, shouldn't it?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Balisu fell silent, and those around him were lost in thought... Not only because Han Chang was a veteran general of the army, nor just because what he said made sense, but because everyone knew Han Chang was Wanyan Wushu's trusted general. Whose opinion these words represented was beyond doubt. And why this Fourth Prince had sent away his two veteran generals, Ali and E'rubu, to act with a few confidants and a resistant Wanhu from the Western Route Army—the intent needed no explanation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Send a Meng'an to ride at full speed to Puzhou and tell Da Lan.\" Wanyan Wushu, seated at the head, suddenly looked at Balisu. \"Tell him I don't care how he handles it—whether he breaks through Huazhou and comes from the north, or smashes those troops of the so-called Tokyo Rear Area Command from the south—as long as he sends reinforcements here within ten days...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Balisu asked helplessly, \"Are we really giving up on Tokyo?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Didn't you say Zong Ze is about to die?\" Wushu replied coldly. \"Don't even mention Zong Ze dying. If Zong Ze can't get up to command, won't the Tokyo Rear Area Command cripple itself? Won't Tokyo City still be an empty, useless city? What's the point of taking it? Do I have to spell it out? The reason the Tokyo Rear Area Command serves as the Zhao Song's front shield isn't because of Tokyo City—it's because of Zong Ze alone!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Balisu had no choice but to lower his head in thought, then asked again, \"How many reinforcements does the Fourth Prince want?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I don't care. You just tell Da Lan that I want to take you, Han Chang, Da Gai, and at least four Wanhu of my own troops to raid Nanyang. And while I'm leading those four Wanhu to attack Nanyang, he, Da Lan, must watch Tokyo for me, watch Han Shizhong, and watch these five rivers and seven cities!\" Wushu replied calmly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Balisu was silent for a long time. He wanted to argue but had nothing to say... because this was exactly the operational thinking behind the two most fruitful southern campaigns of the Jin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Back then, while besieging Taiyuan, the Jin army had recklessly pressed south to Bianliang, succeeding on the first attempt and destroying the Song on the second. Even if Wanyan Nianhan were here now, he couldn't say Wanyan Wushu's strategy was flawed.\u003C\u002Fp>",1819,"2026-06-06T07:45:46.639Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","a5f7130e7ce8fba3c5b2702d202e4db5217b5bc5d2ec7cb3fbe1878194b4c0a4","shao-song-chapter-131","shao-song-chapter-129",489,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fshao-song-cover.jpg"]