[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-shao-song":3,"chapter-shao-song-shao-song-chapter-154":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},1558320,2024,"Chapter 154: Advance","shao-song-chapter-154",154,"\u003Cp>When he heard that Yue Fei had suddenly turned his troops and was heading his way, Talan was momentarily startled, then appeared completely unconcerned... This was not a pretense to steady his army's morale, but a genuine reaction from within.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The reason was simple: the Song-Jin war had lasted four or five years, and up to now, in all four major invasions, the Jin army had never lost a field battle involving ten thousand or more men!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Jurchens under ten thousand are invincible; above ten thousand, they cannot be fought!\" At this very moment, this was still an unbroken axiom!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And here, even after sending away ten thousand men, he, Wanyan Talan, still had fifteen *meng'an*! And with fifteen *meng'an*, under the *mouke* system, there were no fewer than ten thousand Jin troops, plus five or six thousand auxiliaries—how could he fear a mere twenty thousand Song troops?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Furthermore, although Yue Fei's move counted as a surprise attack, it only exploited a gap in timing. Calculating the time, if Yue Fei could not completely breach this position within one afternoon after arriving, then by evening, when Pucha Hubulu arrived, it would inevitably become a pincer attack... Yet, could the Song army really crush his fifteen *meng'an* in a single afternoon?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, Yue Fei, the actual commander of the Song army in this battle, understood this as well. He fully grasped Wanyan Talan's psychology, and what he sought was never any clever stratagem or subtle trick!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, the art of war has always been extremely straightforward. The more one indulges in self-righteous clever schemes, the more likely problems arise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For instance, in this battle, Li Kui came to feign surrender, not to push Wanyan Talan into making a specific choice. He was simply there to deliver information. The fundamental goal was to make Wanyan Talan reach a decision as quickly as possible. Even if Li Kui himself were exposed, it wouldn't matter, because Li Kui himself didn't know what Yue Fei was planning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So what was Yue Fei planning?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Very simple. Yue Fei's true so-called \"clever strategy\" was nothing more than splitting his forces left and right... I split my troops to attack your weak flanks; will you split yours to respond? You have cavalry, you're fast, you'll know early—so will you set up an ambush outside the city in advance? And as long as Wanyan Talan decided to split his forces, whether heading north to Changge or south to Linying, he would fall for the \"lure the tiger out of the mountains\" trick, giving the Song army the chance to concentrate their forces and attack Changshe city with superior numbers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, Yue Fei had already clearly explained to His Majesty the day before what he relied on to fight this battle:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The key was that the Jin southern campaign had already lasted several months, and Wanyan Talan and his troops had been outside Changshe city for so long that, besides being exhausted, they had gradually grown lax.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The key was that as spring warmed, the mobility of the Jin cavalry was greatly weakened by the rivers in the Jingxi region, which were entering the ice-melt flood season.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The key was that Wanyan Talan had come south many times, and his conservative posture in military affairs had gradually become known to many. Moreover, he had not experienced the several setbacks the Jin army had suffered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The key was that after His Majesty crossed the front lines to consolidate the troops here, the Song army's morale had skyrocketed in a short time, and the officers were willing to obey orders. This made bold, large-scale military maneuvers possible, and these maneuvers could only be made in these few days; any later, and changes would occur.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The key was that everyone in the Jin army assumed the Song army would never take the initiative to attack the main Jin force. But with the arrival of an emperor and the audacious decision of a temporary commander, the Song army came anyway—and came so resolutely, so fiercely!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These factors, combined with a simple, direct strategy of splitting forces and luring the enemy based on numerical superiority—that was the true art of war, the true high-level military knowledge, the true strategic masterstroke... On a battlefield with tens of thousands of men, aside from numbers, morale, equipment, and opportunity, there were no fancy tricks to speak of. Even Han Shizhong's ferocity could only prove its value in the most intense places! What else mattered?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>War, on a micro level, is absolutely absurd. But when all those absurd things come together, they seem to follow a certain logic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Back to the present. For the Song army, the situation was simple: fight with the most resolute attitude!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Within about half an hour of Yue Fei's turn, as the pre-arranged smoke signals along the route ignited one after another, Zhao Jiu did not hesitate. Raising his golden-tailed banner, he led his first imperial expedition in person... Wang Yan's 20,000-man \"Eight Character Army\" advanced first as the vanguard. The remaining seven *Vice Prefect* of the Tokyo Rear Guard followed closely as the central army. Wang Sheng and Niu Gao's units brought up the rear as the rearguard. His Majesty himself, donning armor and carrying a bow, rode on horseback, with Li Qiong's unit as his guard. Yanling was left virtually empty, and with a \"burning the boats\" attitude, he threw everything he had at Changshe city.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This news, due to the fact that Ma Gao and Yue Fei's movements had drawn away a large number of scouts, and because the number of troops sallying forth was somewhat astonishing, might be slightly delayed in reaching Changshe city.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, upon learning of Yue Fei's turn, Wanyan Talan's first reaction was to lose his temper and kill people.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not because of the military situation, but because he had previously ordered his subordinates to keep an eye on Li Kui, yet Li Kui had vanished into thin air in just one morning. That seemingly crude Song commander had used that bag of pearls to bribe several leaders in the laborer camp, quickly gained a degree of freedom, and then, with ample time, trimmed his beard, discarded his armor, put on the dirty clothes of a laborer, and slipped into the chaotically managed laborer camp.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Talan learned that Yue Fei was coming to attack with a mere 20,000 men, he was completely unconcerned and was preparing to have Da? take six or seven *meng'an* across the Qingyi River to meet the attack, while also thinking of using Li Kui as a sacrifice to the battle standards. However, Da? and the entire army were fully armed and ready, but they couldn't find the man for a while. So they had to bring in the few laborer camp leaders who had accepted the bribes and use them instead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the executions, the area around the central army tent was in chaos. Da? was about to put aside these troublesome matters and this troublesome old man and sally forth, when a scout cautiously reported that the Yanling direction had also moved out, heading this way. Although the exact number couldn't be determined immediately, the banners were orderly and the troops numerous—it seemed the main force from Yanling had come out in full!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Yanling army totaled over 80,000. Even if Ma Gao's feint to the north and Yue Fei's march to the south each took a comparable number, the remaining troops would still be at least 40,000. In other words, the Song army heading this way had effectively reached over 60,000! If you added the tiger in Xiashe city behind them that had been silent all along, the 15 *meng'an* of the Jin army here might face a fierce assault from nearly 70,000 troops—almost five times their number.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only then did Talan become completely serious. He immediately ordered messengers to rush to Changge to pursue his son-in-law, and ordered Da? to abandon the attack and defend within the river loop. Of course, such an order was better than nothing, because by the time the scouts caught up, Pucha Hubulu would surely have already noticed the unusual activity in Yanling and would turn back to rescue them. As for abandoning the attack, wasn't that obvious? Was 20,000 the same as 60,000?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, since the decision to attack was cancelled, the Jin army had no time left to make any additional preparations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, long-distance sustained marching to maintain combat effectiveness was completely different from a desperate, all-out forced march. In conventional long-distance marching, everything was based on the army's supply wagons. Even in Napoleon's era, his cavalry units still marched at a speed of forty to fifty *li* per day. That's why Xiahou Yuan's \"three hundred *li* in three days, six hundred *li* in six days\" was so astonishing, and why Sima Yi's rapid assault on Meng Da, at a speed of sixty to seventy *li* per day, was called a military miracle. But when you abandon supplies and enter a purely combat mode, it's a completely different story. In such a situation, cavalry could cover seventy to eighty *li* in an hour, and infantry could cross the Yangtze River twice in a day and night, covering a hundred *li* (Zang Ba had done something similar).\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Back to the present. By distance, when Yue Fei suddenly turned back, he was about twenty-five or twenty-six *li* from here. When Zhao Jiu set out from the camp outside Yanling city, he was about thirty-six or thirty-seven *li* from here. For the Song army, which had abandoned everything, it would only take half an hour to a little over an hour to engage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In that time, after deducting the time for the Jin scouts to ride back, and after deducting the time Wanyan Talan spent looking for people and killing them, how many quarters of an hour were left?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And that was exactly how it was.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as Wanyan Talan learned that the main Song force had left Yanling, Yue Fei had already led his troops to the lower reaches of the Qingyi River, about ten *li* from Changshe city, and was only about five or six *li* from the Jin front line. But instead of hurrying, he calmly ordered the troops to make a final rest. After waiting another quarter of an hour, he had some of the most elite troops put on the limited lamellar armor that His Majesty had ordered to be gathered, and only then gave the order for the final advance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Another two quarters of an hour later—a quarter of an hour—Yue Fei's unit formally engaged the Jin army on the east bank of the Qingyi River!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Jin army's core position was on the large sandbar between the Qingyi and Zhuo Rivers, right outside Changshe city. At this moment, because ten *meng'an* had been sent away, and because Talan had made a snap decision to abandon the plan of crossing the river and fighting a decisive battle on the east bank, the east bank position was extremely weak, basically consisting of only a few scattered surrendered Han Chinese troops and one *meng'an* of Jin troops. Naturally, after that single *meng'an* voluntarily withdrew, this position fell into Song hands almost instantly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was expected and of little consequence, but at this moment, another inevitable choice lay before Talan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Tear down the pontoon bridges on the Qingyi River to the east?\" Talan, who had rarely donned armor and mounted his horse to leave his tent, looked at the dense Song troops across the river and hesitated for a moment at the suggestion from Da? beside him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Correct,\" the young Da? advised cautiously. \"The key to this battle is to buy time, waiting for Wanhu Pucha to return. For the sake of grain transport and cavalry movement, there are pontoon bridges everywhere on the river. If we tear them down now, can't we delay the Song army as much as possible?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That makes sense! But it's not good!\" Talan thought for a moment and shook his head slightly. \"If we tear down the bridges, it will be inconvenient for Hubulu to launch a pincer attack after he returns. If we can't crush the main Song force before dark and end up in night combat... it's not that we can't fight at night, but what if Han Shizhong takes the opportunity to escape?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This reasoning also seemed sound, and Da? had nothing more to say. In truth, there was no way around it. In a hasty battle, everything was both right and wrong. No one would know which decision was correct until after the battle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That's it. Don't worry about those bridges. Use them to lure the Song troops over. When this Song force is halfway across, about ten thousand men, you immediately advance with eight *meng'an* and strike them head-on. As long as you break them in one blow, you can rout all twenty thousand of these troops before the main Song army arrives.\" Talan finally looked at the rapidly advancing banner of Yue across the river and gave a definitive plan. \"I will hold Han Shizhong with the remaining seven *meng'an*.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Upon hearing this, the young Bohai royal Da? felt reassured rather than objecting. He said nothing more, immediately spurred his horse, and rode off to carry out his orders.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Talan looked up at the sun, which was clearly already tilting westward, and gradually regained his usual composure. At this moment, in the mind of this Jin Right Vice-Marshal, there was an equation:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In a battle of ten thousand or more, one *meng'an* was enough to defeat three thousand Song troops!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Therefore, eight *meng'an* were enough to defeat twenty thousand Song troops. Therefore, twenty-five *meng'an* combined were enough to defeat all the Song troops on the battlefield. Therefore, the only thing to avoid in this battle was letting his fifteen *meng'an* be surrounded and attacked by seventy or eighty thousand Song troops all at once.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same time that Talan, who had not taken the field in armor for a long time, was encouraging himself, Zhao Jiu, His Majesty, had already reached the boundary ditch between Kaifeng Prefecture and Yingchang Prefecture, about twenty *li* from the Jin Right Vice-Marshal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Here, Zhao Jiu ordered the entire army to rest briefly as planned. To guard against a surprise attack, most soldiers also began donning leather armor and thinner iron armor before setting off again. Of course, except for Liu Yan's two hundred cavalry, there was not a single piece of the best lamellar armor left.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just then, Wang Yan of the vanguard suddenly rode up, heading straight for the imperial banner to find His Majesty, who was drinking water. Without dismounting, he immediately proposed a plan that went beyond the original one:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Your Majesty, this place is only twenty *li* from the front line. The forward elements of my vanguard can already see smoke ahead. Combined with the messenger Yue Fei sent during his final rest, it's confirmed that battle has been joined. Therefore, I request Your Majesty's decree to allow my Eight Character Army to stop resting and immediately run forward! And to concentrate the army's cavalry to advance first and provide support!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Sending the cavalry first is fine, but if the entire army runs forward, will they have the strength to fight when they reach the front?\" Zhao Jiu, who had hastily stood up, was momentarily taken aback.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"They don't need to fight immediately!\" Wang Yan still did not dismount, his expression serious. \"Yue Fei must be fighting for control of the pontoon bridges on the river right now. There aren't many places to engage, and it's extremely difficult for twenty thousand troops to cross the river completely. Even if my army runs their legs off, they can rest leisurely by the riverbank before crossing. Your Majesty, to be blunt, the key to winning this battle is to overwhelm the Jin army with absolute numerical superiority in one go—there is no other way. To achieve that, a continuous, unbroken offensive is the key!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I second the motion!\" Hu Yin, the highest-ranking civil official accompanying the army, suddenly cupped his hands in salute. \"With Pacification Commissioner Yue absent, military matters here should be decided by Military Commissioner Wang!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing this, Zhao Jiu did not hesitate: \"In that case, Liu Yan will lead the cavalry first. As for the vanguard, Commissioner Wang, you may act on your own authority; there is no need to report back!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Yan was overjoyed. He thanked His Majesty from his horse and immediately rode off. Liu Yan also immediately ordered his unit to don their lamellar armor, and moments later, they galloped away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After watching Liu Yan depart, Zhao Jiu wasted no time. He ordered the entire army to set off again, following the vanguard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just two quarters of an hour later, Song reinforcements began to arrive. The leading cavalry were only a few hundred, but the banner of the heavy cavalry unit at the front caused a slight stir among the Jin troops—the Red Heart Unit was familiar to many in the Jin army.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not only that, but the subsequent Song troops, though slightly disordered in formation, came in a continuous stream, surging forward rapidly. The characteristics of these soldiers quickly made the Jin troops recognize their opponent—the Eight Character Army was also familiar!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this moment, Wanyan Talan, who was observing the battle, had begun to grow confused. The reason was simple: in the previous two quarters of an hour, although the eight *meng'an* had not been at any disadvantage on the surface—or rather, they had indeed been pressing the Song troops—they had been unable to quickly break through and rout the ten thousand Song troops who had crossed the river during the \"half-crossing\" attack!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those ten thousand Song troops, after crossing the river, did not advance recklessly. Instead, under the command of that banner of Yue, they formed multiple solid formations of long spears and crossbows on the west bank of the Qingyi River, with their backs to the pontoon bridges, before the Jin cavalry could attack. They were as solid as a mountain range.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This exceeded his long-held understanding of the Song army, and he even began to regret not having dismantled the pontoon bridge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Marshal!\" a Bohai Battalion Commander galloped over, shouting from a distance. \"A large Song force is advancing. My Battalion Commander requests the Marshal's support!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wanyan Talan, who had observed the entire battle from the tamped-earth command platform and had a thorough grasp of the battlefield, instinctively wanted to agree, but just as he was about to speak, a sudden commotion stirred beside him, and a trusted attendant even tugged at him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Talan followed his trusted man's pointing finger, and then sweat began to bead on his forehead, because on the rubble of a collapsed and re-blocked section of Changshe city wall, Han Shizhong's banner had somehow, silently, already appeared there... That banner was like the eye of a lurking tiger staring at his back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After hesitating for a moment, Talan gritted his teeth and replied to the Bohai Battalion Commander: \"Tell the Battalion Commander, I'll give him two more Regiments, but tell him he's not allowed to worry about casualties. Have him lead the charge himself and drive a wedge into the Song army's main formation!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>PS: Thanks to the \"Your Majesty grants you suicide\" bigshot for the double tip!\u003C\u002Fp>",3240,"2026-06-06T07:45:46.639Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","d696d736ecdd80dee4dbf848eb999c86828f5e384ef695b050794e239750e3dc","shao-song-chapter-155","shao-song-chapter-153",489,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fshao-song-cover.jpg"]