Chapter 133: Two Layers

Although the Fourth Prince, Jin Wushu, was not personally skilled in military geometry, he did not stop his subordinates' clamor. Instead, he furrowed his brow and waited for the noise to subside on its own. Seeing that their commander had barely been normal for a few days but was now making that expression again, Wanyan Balisu and the others did not overstep their bounds and quickly returned to their seats to observe the battle.

After a short pause, drums gradually rose below the city walls, while horns atop the walls sounded continuously. As countless troops surged forth from the Jin army's front lines, hundreds of scaling ladders appeared densely within view, and the battle erupted at once.

Now, because few people have ever witnessed what it means to have thousands upon thousands of troops, very few can understand the momentum of tens of thousands charging together... In truth, an ordinary person might tremble and weaken at the sight of several hundred warhorses galloping together, let alone a true army of thousands carrying equipment and shouting as they charge.

However, facing the Jin's first large-scale formal assault on the city, the Song soldiers atop the walls remained utterly silent... On one hand, many had grown accustomed to such scenes over the years—after all, even His Majesty Zhao Jiu, watching from afar on the watchtower of the rear barbican, remained unmoved. On the other hand, the Minister of War, Chen Gui, acting as the city's defender, had issued a military order: no one on the front line of the wall was to speak without authorization from their unit.

Thus, for a time, after the horns fell silent, only the rhythmic drumming of the Jin army remained. Then, tens of thousands of Jin troops, led by their respective officers, shouted and roared from the rear, their momentum shaking the heavens.

Charging at the forefront were laborers carrying baskets. Their task was to continue hauling earth to fill the ditches... Unexpectedly, this time they rushed all the way to the front without a single arrow or crossbow bolt being fired. Overjoyed, they dumped debris and frozen earth into the dry, frozen moat before hastily turning back.

Due to the line of sight, Zhao Jiu, from the watchtower deep inside the city, could not see the scene directly ahead. He could only lean sideways to observe from an angle. Whether it was good or bad, thanks to the clear weather, His Majesty could even make out the joyful faces of the laborers dressed as Song commoners after successfully dumping their earth, which naturally made him frown incessantly.

"Your Majesty."

Just then, a man beside him suddenly spoke. "There's no helping such matters. When I was in the Jin camp back then, I was just like them—forced to carry earth and fill ditches."

Everyone turned to look, and it was none other than Yan Xiaozhong, the Vice Prefect of Kaifeng. They all sighed but had nothing to say.

However, upon hearing this, Zhao Jiu, who was reclining in his chair, asked an additional question: "Did you get enough to eat in the Jin camp?"

"On ordinary days, it's hard to say whether we ate our fill or not." Yan Xiaozhong, short and thin as a dwarf, was also momentarily taken aback, then shook his head repeatedly. "But there was always something to eat. Discipline in the Jin army was fairly strict, and rations were rarely embezzled... Yet in battles like this, you might not get to eat at all."

"What do you mean?" Zhao Jiu was momentarily puzzled. "Is it because swords and arrows have no eyes?"

"No." Yan Xiaozhong replied sternly, his face rigid. "In such situations, dying is an unavoidable outcome. But even if you survive and return to camp, you'll likely go hungry... If I recall correctly, the Jin would break sticks to mark the earth. These laborers would receive one stick, about a finger's length, for each basket of earth they carried. They'd tuck it into their hair or behind their ears. After dumping the earth, they'd return the empty basket and the stick. The Jin overseers would then shave the bark off the stick with a dagger, making it a bare stick. Only with this bare stick could a laborer get a bowl of rice in the evening. Those without a stick would simply go hungry."

Under the sunlight, Zhao Jiu narrowed his eyes slightly. "A stick-man, eh? I thought it was like the 'one-coin man' from the Northern Qi of old."

"Even being a stick-man isn't easy." Yan Xiaozhong, ignoring the increasingly dark expressions of the ministers and grand councilors around him, continued explaining to His Majesty. "I know this well from my time in the Jin army... Those who got to eat in the evening were the ruffians and thugs among the laborers. Their bare sticks were mostly stolen from others after the battle. And the Jin were no paragons of justice—they just shaved sticks and handed out rations, caring nothing for the rest. So these laborers filling the ditches think they've survived after dumping a basket of earth, but in truth, the Jin will drive them back for more. Even if they survive day after day by luck, exhausted by evening, their bare sticks will be snatched away by gangs of stick-men, leaving them to starve through the night. Weak the next day, they die even faster."

Zhao Jiu remained silent, leaning sideways with his hands clasped, watching the battle. After this explanation, the watchtower, which had seen some discussion, fell into complete silence.

"Enemy scaling ladders are one hundred paces from the 'Yellow' salient!" Suddenly, a clear count rang out from the previously quiet city wall, immediately drawing everyone's attention.

Clearly, this was the real reason the ditch-filling laborers had survived today. Behind them were countless 'sturdy laborers' carrying scaling ladders... These were likely carefully selected by Zhang Yu, the commander of the Jin's laborer camp, known as 'One Swarm.' They were technically auxiliary troops, not stick-men. At the very least, many of them carried wooden planks as makeshift shields to protect their flanks. Moreover, many had knives at their waists—something unimaginable for a stick-man who couldn't even find an inch of iron.

If not for this, why would the Jin use sticks as tokens?

Back to the present. As soon as the first call rang out from the wall, a continuous series of similar counts followed, like beans crackling in a pan:

"Enemy scaling ladders are one hundred paces from the 'Hong' salient!"

"Enemy scaling ladders are one hundred paces from the 'Lie' salient!"

"Enemy scaling ladders are one hundred paces from the 'Yu' salient!"

With these counts from the commanders on the salients (protruding platforms on the wall), the crossbowmen on the corresponding sections of the wall immediately drew their strings and prepared, entering a state of combat readiness.

Then, as large numbers of Jin siege equipment entered the wall's range, the crossbows on the wall, directed by flags on the salients, fired in orderly volleys at specific positions designated by the commanders... Most of the 'Zhang Yu troops' carrying scaling ladders had only a wooden plank for protection, with only a few leaders wearing leather armor. Thus, after just one dense volley from each salient, many scaling ladders were dropped to the ground, and the newly formed sturdy laborers quickly scattered.

Seeing this, the supervising personal guards of Zhang Yu's unit and the direct *meng'an* (battalion) of Wanyan Balisu, who commanded the northern camp, rode forward, using their swords and horses to force these men back into action. They also ordered the main troops of Zhang Yu's unit, who carried shields, formed ranks, and had a certain rate of armor, to stop hesitating and follow immediately... Because some scaling ladders, relying on sheer numbers, had already reached the frozen moat and were preparing to cross it.

According to the defensive design of most cities, behind the moat—or the frozen ditch—there should only be a waist-high sheep-and-horse wall (a low wall outside the main wall but inside the moat, named for housing livestock during peacetime, standard for medieval East Asian cities). Once this low wall was crossed, the attackers would enter the final flat area, about thirty to fifty paces wide, in front of the main wall, where they could attempt to use scaling ladders to assault.

Correspondingly, as the enemy's main armored forces moved out, the salients on the wall immediately took notice. Under the command of the unit leaders on each salient, the crossbows on the wall began to concentrate their volleys on these better-equipped troops.

*Kedi* bows, *Shenbi* bows, and even small bed crossbows no longer spared their arrows. Zhang Yu's main forces quickly suffered heavy casualties.

Not only that, but Wanyan Balisu's personal guard *meng'an*, having pressed too close in their supervision, rode within range and were suddenly hit by a dense volley from the Song army, with dozens killed on the spot.

Seeing this, many on the watchtower finally breathed a sigh of relief, and even Lu Yihao looked somewhat mollified. However, not far north of the city, Jin Wushu and dozens of Jin generals watched coldly, unmoved.

In truth, all the Jin's attention was still on those scaling ladders—how many had successfully reached the frozen moat, how many could cross the sheep-and-horse wall? Some had even begun calculating how many ladders would need to be committed at once to ensure the entire sheep-and-horse wall fell, was flattened, and then the goose carts could be driven forward to ram the gates.

A moment later, seeing a scaling ladder easily use the riverbank and the sheep-and-horse wall for cover, climb up from the moat bottom, and then be tossed over the low wall by Zhang Yu's troops—while no Song troops emerged to fight within the sheep-and-horse wall—the Jin generals almost all turned to look at the Fourth Prince, Jin Wushu. It was simple: the area between the moat and the sheep-and-horse wall, and the main wall, was traditionally the best ground for defending with one's back to the city, thanks to crossfire from above. Sending troops out of the city to fight was standard defensive practice, even the most effective method.

To be fair, even during the Jingkang Incident back then, troops had repeatedly sallied forth from behind the sheep-and-horse wall in Dongjing. Yet here in Nanyang, with ample troops and supplies, no one had been sent out to fight!

Since when did anyone defend a city without sallying forth?

The Fourth Prince, Jin Wushu, was clearly startled, seemingly unable to understand this either. But almost immediately, he gestured with his chin toward Wanyan Balisu, who sat first on his left.

Receiving the signal, Wanyan Balisu wasted no time. He waved his hand, ordering two of his *meng'an* that had been waiting on standby to join the battle immediately. The two Jurchen *meng'an* arrayed before the high platform received the order without hesitation, dismounted at once, and launched an infantry assault toward the arrow-riddled Nanyang city wall, preparing to participate in the scaling.

"There's something wrong with this Song sheep-and-horse wall."

As the two *meng'an* troops departed, and with several more scaling ladders being set up over the sheep-and-horse wall, while the Song troops on the wall maintained an overly composed order, the *wanhu* (commander of ten thousand) Han Chang was the first to voice his suspicion.

"Indeed, something is off."

The older Chizhan Hui also stroked his beard and rendered his verdict. "It's not just the sheep-and-horse wall... Something was wrong from the start. The city prepared so early; they must have trebuchets. But from the first day until now, not a single stone has been fired."

"Right." Han Chang narrowed his eyes and continued. "Even if they wanted to save stones or avoid revealing their trebuchet positions too early for counter-battery fire, why haven't they used the trebuchets on the wall salients? First, the trebuchets don't move; then they sit back and watch us fill the moat and cross the sheep-and-horse wall. They must have some other reliance."

"Why couldn't it be that the Song civil officials inside the city have gotten confused again?" Wanyan Balisu said with a half-smile. "I heard that back in Dongjing, someone on the wall fired a trebuchet that hit the Second Prince's camp, only to be executed on the spot by his own side... If there's something wrong with the Song army, is it really still 'wrong'?"

"That was because the previous Zhao Song emperor was as timid as a mouse, bent only on appeasement." Jin Wushu finally spoke, directly dismissing Balisu's speculation. "This Zhao Song emperor in Nanyang is not that kind of fool!"

Wanyan Balisu neither refuted nor agreed. He simply shut his mouth at once... He had figured it out: he could never win favor with this Fourth Prince. And since the man was both a Fourth Prince and the Left Army Supervisor of the Supreme Marshal's Office, he might as well resort to nonviolent cooperation.

With Balisu silent, the others also lost interest, simply waiting quietly for the battle situation ahead to change.

But the problem lay precisely here. As the Jin army continuously committed troops based on so-called progress, the battle situation ahead showed no change at all...

The laborers, desperate to survive until evening for a meal, continued to risk their lives running forward—either carrying baskets of earth and corpses to fill the ditches or holding up wooden planks to carry scaling ladders. At most, because Zhang Yu's main forces and the two Jurchen *meng'an* had joined the fight, their casualties were somewhat reduced, but otherwise, everything remained the same.

Zhang Yu's troops, driven by rewards and fear of the supervising squads, mustered the courage to charge toward the moat. They swarmed along the positions where the laborers had successfully set up ladders, only to be cut down in droves before even reaching the sheep-and-horse wall, suffering countless deaths.

As for the two Jurchen *meng'an*, both clad in iron armor, they fought with fierce valor. Upon reaching the frozen moat, they even actively shot upward at the wall, ordering the Han troops within their *meng'an* to form ranks and return fire from below. Thus, despite continuous casualties from the rain of arrows, they still managed to cross the dry, frozen moat and scale the low sheep-and-horse wall.

Yet, regardless of differences in combat effectiveness or battlefield status, the result was the same: those who managed to cross that narrow sheep-and-horse wall all vanished without a trace...

At first, the Jin generals didn't pay much attention to this phenomenon. Even if the Song lacked the courage to send troops out for a back-to-the-city fight, they would certainly use the salients and the wall's advantage to rain arrows at close range on the sheep-and-horse wall. Under crossfire and the Song's vaunted crossbows, this zone was always the deadliest, a place of nine deaths and one survival.

But as time dragged on, not a single scaling ladder had been successfully erected against the main wall after crossing the sheep-and-horse wall. This was simply absurd.

"Abatis or traps?" Wanyan Balisu mused. "It can't be that they've scattered caltrops everywhere like the Liao did back at Yuguan (Shanhaiguan), can it?"

"Even scattering caltrops didn't stop us from taking Yuguan in fifteen days back then." The veteran Chizhan Hui grew more and more frustrated as he watched, and actually stood up. "And the reason Yuguan fell so quickly back then was that the founding emperor personally braved arrows and stones to scout out the Liao's weaknesses, enabling a single decisive victory... I'll go see what tricks the Song are hiding!"

"Old general, please sit."

Jin Wushu spoke immediately, then turned his gaze to Wanyan Balisu.

Balisu dared not delay. He quickly rose and personally stopped Chizhan Hui... What nonsense was this? It was true that Jurchen generals prided themselves on braving arrows and stones, but *he* was the commander of the northern camp. Today's battle was his responsibility. How could he let someone else do it?

If he really let Chizhan Hui go, when the army returned, he would surely be laughed at back in Yanjing.

Therefore, as soon as he blocked Chizhan Hui, Wanyan Bolisu shouted a name from the platform: "Where is Gou Ying?!"

A battalion commander who was only in his twenties quickly stepped forward and prostrated himself in a bow. His youth formed a stark contrast with the surrounding generals, instantly drawing everyone's attention.

"Take your cavalry and go around behind the sheep-and-horse wall to find out what's going on. Don't come back until you do!" Bolisu ordered sternly, then drew his blade and threw it down before the man.

The general, upon hearing this, merely kowtowed once on the ground, picked up the knife, and turned to leave at great speed.

Watching this young general lead his men off their horses and set out, Han Chang seemed to realize something and asked Bolisu, "Is this the Commander-in-Chief's nephew? The one with the childhood name Talan, sharing the same name as the Deputy Marshal?"

"That's right." Bolisu sat back down, but did not hesitate to answer proudly. "He is indeed my nephew!"

"I remember when you were attacking Liao, your elder brother already gave him armor and weapons. Back then, we used to joke about the Deputy Marshal, saying that with a big Talan and a little Talan, we might not be able to tell them apart in the future." Chizhan Hui, also sitting back down, laughed. "Sure enough, in the blink of an eye, he's already become a battalion commander... and the Deputy Marshal has become the Deputy Marshal."

"Names are meaningless. Let's see his skill." Bolisu continued to speak proudly, and even Wanyan Wushu nodded slightly.

Now, Bolisu's nephew was naturally the son of Wanyan Yinshu, the Taiyuan Defender. For someone of such noble birth to personally lead a few hundred cavalry, dismount, and venture into the most dangerous area beneath the enemy city to scout the military situation was something unimaginable on the Song side, but among the Jin, it was taken for granted.

One could only say that this was the Jurchen way.

No matter whether they had begun to degenerate or to what extent, at this very moment, they were still the most powerful cold-weapon army in East Asia, and even the entire world.

This was not an exaggeration; it was a fact.

In the early twelfth century AD, the Holy Roman Empire was a name only, Byzantium was in decline, West Asia and North Africa were a scattered mess, the Crusades were in full blaze, the Ghaznavid dynasty in Central Asia and India was crumbling, and Saladin, who would later achieve some success, had not yet been born. At this time, East Asian civilization still led the world… So, with the Liao state destroyed and Yelu Dashi fleeing west, it was natural that the Great Song dominated the world in politics, culture, and economy, while the de facto military hegemon of East Asia, the Great Jin, was truly unmatched under heaven.

In fact, the Great Jin, having absorbed a vast amount of advanced culture and knowledge from Liao and Song, and having seized the wealthy lands of Hebei, Youyan, and Liaodong, was likely the world's second cultural and economic power at this time. And the Great Song, which had nearly expired a year and a half ago, was still the world's second military power—undeniably so.

What else could it be?

At this moment, on this planet, no one could mock the Jurchens for their economic and cultural backwardness except the Song, and no one could mock the Song for their military incompetence except the Jurchens.

Yelu Dashi?

Was it the Great Liao that fell, or the Great Song?

Now, Wanyan Gou Ying's entry into the battle immediately drew the attention of the Song army on the walls of Nanyang, because this unit was clearly a temporary detachment, and they came directly on horseback—completely different from the two battalion commanders that had been placed before the enemy general's command platform, equipped with short weapons, shields, and ample bows and arrows.

Soon, the unit's intention was also detected. They charged into the Song army's firing range in skirmish formation, dismounted before the moat, which was already mostly filled in, then scattered across the moat and climbed the sheep-and-horse wall… Clearly, they wanted to understand what was behind that wall.

Of course, there was nothing special—just a simple ditch! Inside and outside the sheep-and-horse wall of Nanyang, there was a ditch on each side! Double-layered. This was the core of Chen Gui's city defense philosophy: if you could add one more layer, never settle for one less. And he hadn't expected it to be some secret weapon.

In truth, this inner ditch behind the sheep-and-horse wall was clearly dug in haste. It was far shallower and narrower than the outer one, and the ice at its bottom was far less impressive. It was just enough to cause the attacking Jin army enormous trouble!

The outer ditch was a proper moat.

A moat—you fill it in. Tens of thousands of men had been filling it for three or four days, and with the thick ice finally forming today, the Jin had managed to cross it, only to fall into another ditch covered in ice spikes!

What was to be done?

In fact, as soon as Wanyan Gou Ying flipped over and slid down into the ditch, he was pondering this simple question, and he quickly arrived at the most direct answer—climb back.

Just climb back over that somewhat thick sheep-and-horse wall. As long as a dozen or so enemy-killing bows or divine-arm bows weren't aimed at him, the double-layered iron armor he wore would be enough to handle it.

However, after enduring a rain of arrows and climbing out of the inner ditch, which was already littered with corpses, and reaching the narrow base of the wall, Wanyan Gou Ying was shocked to discover that the wall had grown taller?!

This sheep-and-horse wall, which he had easily leaped over from the outside, now, when he stood on several corpses from the inside, was far beyond his reach to find any leverage?

Was it haunted?

"What a marvelous effect!"

Gradually different from his angry, irritable mood that morning, seeing several hundred elite Jin armored soldiers fall into this trap like moths to a flame—though he didn't know there was a big fish among them—Lu Yihao, Lord Lu, who had been stifled all morning, was in a rare good mood. Even the way he stood up to peer out and stroke his beard was much smoother. "Was this method of making the inner side lower and the outer side higher also conceived by Minister Chen?"

"No." Yan Xiaozhong, who had simply stood on his chair, blurted out. "Inner ditches are something Minister Chen has always favored, but the difference in height between the inside and outside of the sheep-and-horse wall was not his idea."

"Whoever it was, they deserve a reward!" Lord Lu, the Privy Councilor, waved his hand grandly, being exceptionally generous. "Though it's a petty trick, not worth mentioning, it still shows a bit of cunning. Since this is a victory in the first battle, it merits a generous reward."

The dark, thin Yan Xiaozhong looked at the standing Lu Yihao from his chair, then at the person beside him, and directly cupped his hands from the chair and stated plainly: "Let Lord Lu know, this humble official participated in the city defense construction and knows the details well. It is the person beside you who came up with this bit of cunning."

The crowd stared in astonishment, instinctively looking at Lu Yihao. Lu Yihao himself also instinctively looked at the person beside him. But when everyone looked together, they saw that to Lu Yihao's left was another Lord Lu, who was also craning his neck and had been silent for days. They all shook their heads, then looked to the right of Lord Lu, the Privy Councilor… And there, unmistakably, was the Zhao Emperor, still with his hands folded, silent and seemingly oblivious.

PS: Here comes the morning chapter of turning over a new leaf.