Chapter 325: Colors

When the Zhao Song ruler crossed the Hengshan range and had not yet reached Youzhou, a battle suddenly erupted on the west bank of the Yellow River between the two most important cities of Western Xia—specifically, between Xingqing Prefecture and Lingzhou.

The two sides in the battle were, on one side, the thirty thousand main-force troops of the Song Army's Imperial Guard, composed of the Forward Army, Central Army, and Cavalry Army, supplemented by some newly surrendered Dangxiang barbarian cavalry.

The commander-in-chief was Yue Fei, Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Guard Forward Army, with major generals including Qu Duan, Wang De, Liu Qi, Li Master, Zhang Jing, Qiao Zhongfu, Fu Xuan, Fu Qing, Zhang Zhongyan, Zhang Zhongfu, Zhang Xian, and other veteran generals.

Junior generals of the level of Guo Jin and Yang Zaixing were not even qualified to appear on the stage.

The other side was the main force of the Western Xia army, a mixed force of Iron Vultures, Poxi Army, Central Guard Army, and Zhuosheng Army, totaling over forty thousand.

Among them, the commander-in-chief was the Western Xia Prince of Jin, Weiming Chage, with the Army Supervisor being Weiming Renli.

In addition, there was the Iron Vulture general Weiming Yie, a man whose name was exactly the reverse of the Western Xia general Weiming Eyie, who had been executed decades earlier—he was a young imperial clan general who had risen to prominence after Chage gained power; there was also Weiming Yunge, the former garrison commander of Hongzhou, who now temporarily led the remnants of the Central Guard Army; Weiming Yu, the Zhuosheng Army general who had led troops to capture several fortresses of Dingbian Army during the Jingkang era; and the veteran general Weiming Ji, the Poxi Army Supervisor, who had served as an envoy to the Great Song on several occasions.

And beneath these many imperial clansmen, there were inevitably the Wang clan's Wang Xingzhuo, the Lingjie clan's Lingjie Zheng, the Renduo clan's Renduo Shitai, and even Bali Longdeng, who had once urged Weiming Chage to return to Xingqing Prefecture... all of these men were hereditary chieftains of the great Dangxiang clans, and the backbone of the army.

As for Renli's elder brother, the Prince of Pu, Weiming Renzhong, he remained behind with the escaped Han chancellor Wang Shu to guard Lingzhou Prefecture city. Also remaining behind were many Han generals and Han officials, including the maternal grandfather of the current Western Xia Crown Prince and the biological father of Consort Cao, the old Duke Cao.

At a critical moment, the Dangxiang still could not trust the Han.

To be fair, this battle had come somewhat late, and it was also very unfair.

Calling it late was because a decisive battle between the main forces of two nations should have been used to determine victory or defeat. But at this point, the Western Xia capital had already fallen, three of its four core ruling regions were lost, and the only region still nominally under their control, the Houtao area, was likely about to be lost as well.

So this main-force confrontation was less about deciding victory or defeat and more about the Western Xia, driven to desperation by the strategic maneuvers of the surrounding great powers—alliances, schemes, surprise attacks, betrayals, and so on—being forced to use their last major stake in a gamble for survival.

Calling it unfair also stemmed from this.

Originally, the Western Xia should have been holding the strategic passes and waiting at ease for the weary enemy. Originally, the Song Army should have been unable to restrain themselves and taken the initiative to launch a risky attack. Everything should have been going smoothly... but the current reality was that the Song Army calmly divided their forces to guard the various cities on the opposite bank of the river. Only after the Western Xia were forced by circumstances to gather at Lingzhou city, preparing to risk a crossing from there, did the Song leisurely assemble their troops and stand ready in full battle array at a certain point on the west bank of the Yellow River.

The Yellow River was too wide. The Song Army's scattered cavalry patrolled the river surface ceaselessly. Although the Western Xia could obtain various intelligence from the opposite bank, it was always delayed and chaotic, utterly incapable of acquiring real-time military information.

Yet even so, even knowing that this battle would be difficult to fight, the Western Xia had no choice but to come, because the situation worsened day by day. Chage could not drag it out any longer... if he really dragged it out, the army would likely gradually disperse.

"The Song Army has made a great mistake!"

In the early morning, Weiming Chage reined in his horse by the ferry crossing on the banks of the Yellow River and spoke loudly and recklessly to the surrounding officers and soldiers, paying no heed to the frequent backward glances of the troops boarding the boats. "And three great mistakes at that... First, they should not have fought us Dangxiang in the open field—our Iron Vultures are unstoppable! Second, they should not have abandoned the river defense, allowing our army to cross freely—this shows the Song commander is a useless fool! Third, they should not have failed to capture Shunzhou by now, leaving Zhang Li a foothold for us on the opposite bank!"

Having said this, without waiting for the officers and soldiers to respond, Weiming Chage directly drew his saber and swung it forcefully in the air: "In this battle, I swear to behead Yue Fei and Qu Duan, retake Xingqing Prefecture, then go to Houtao to welcome back His Majesty and the Crown Prince, and re-establish the Great White High Nation!"

Hearing this, the surrounding officers and soldiers each drew their waist sabers, raised the gleaming blades, and roared their assent.

After saying this, Weiming Chage gritted his teeth, sheathed his blade, dismounted, and separated from his black-ox banner, each boarding a sheepskin raft to head toward the opposite bank.

With the commander-in-chief personally leading the crossing, the morale of the surrounding soldiers naturally soared... and the ferry crossing became smooth for a time.

However, once Chage boarded the sheepskin raft, the excited expression on his face visibly dimmed—for the simplest of reasons: this Western Xia commander-in-chief knew perfectly well that he had just been spouting nonsense!

This performance—let alone whether it could slightly change the minds of those scheming great chieftains—even he himself found it unbearable. In fact, ever since arriving at Lingzhou, he, Weiming Chage, had been the one whose confidence had declined the fastest within this remnant Western Xia group!

The reason for this was not that he was disloyal to Li Qianshun, nor that he was unwilling to fight to the death for the Great White High Nation. Rather, it was because this Western Xia Prince of Jin, who was ordinarily greedy for wealth and lust, and constantly at odds with Weiming Renzhong, was indeed the most militarily talented and experienced commander among the current Western Xia.

Historically, after taking command of the Western Xia army on his elder brother's orders, Weiming Chage had very early on noticed the corruption and decay of the Western Xia military. And after defeating Liu Fa and reaching the peak of his prestige, he still believed that the traditional Western Xia tactics—the Bubuzi fighting in the mountains and the Iron Vultures fighting on the plains—had fallen behind the times. He strongly advocated learning from his own defeated foe, the Western Army.

From the very beginning, he believed that the Iron Vultures encountering the Song Army's powerful bows and crossbows on the plains, and the Bubuzi encountering the Song Army's heavy armor and long axes in the mountains, were both suicidal. The occasional victories the Western Xia had achieved against the Song Army were all due to the Song Army's poor discipline and logistics, not because the Western Xia were particularly formidable.

Therefore, they must imitate the Song Army and establish a powerful bow unit, expanding their ranged attack capability.

Li Qianshun, who had exceptional trust in Chage, naturally followed this good advice. But unfortunately, Western Xia's national strength was limited. They could only maintain a few thousand Iron Vultures, a few thousand Bubuzi, and the Poxi Army numbered only two hundred. Under these circumstances, developing powerful crossbows was beyond their means. In the end, they could only have the entire army, both cavalry and infantry, carry bows. But such bows were useless against heavily armored troops.

However, upon arriving at Lingzhou, Weiming Chage had carefully inquired among the scattered refugees and long since learned that the army on the opposite bank had an astonishingly high rate of armor, with excellent military discipline and strict battle formations. This type of army was precisely what Chage feared most—or rather, Chage knew very well in his heart that the Western Xia's main force, which was neither here nor there, was afraid of this kind of army... This was not fear born of the current situation; he had feared this type of army over a decade ago.

Yet Weiming Renzhong and his brother kept urging him to advance, as if not advancing would make him, Weiming Chage, a traitor to the Great White High Nation!

Of course, not advancing was also impossible. If the entire Hengshan range fell, and then the only remaining stronghold on the opposite bank, Shunzhou, also fell, the army would simply collapse on its own, and he, Chage, would truly become a traitor to the Great White High Nation. But come to think of it, had he forgotten to perform divination before setting out?

Amidst these wild thoughts, as the sheepskin raft stopped in the shallow water, the turbid waves of the Yellow River, carried by the warm wind, gently lapped over the top of the raft. Chage, sitting cross-legged on the raft, felt a chill between his legs and immediately snapped back to his senses. He quickly put on his helmet, pulled down his faceguard, leaped up from the raft, drew his saber, and waded ashore.

Upon reaching the shore, before even leaving the riverbank area, this Western Xia Prince of Jin raised his eyes to look and instinctively felt a pang in his heart.

No other reason: as far as the eye could see, waist-high wheat had been trampled into utter chaos by the army. Some of it was the work of his own troops who had just landed, but many traces were clearly left by large bodies of troops that had passed through earlier. Most of the wheat that had been trampled earlier had already withered and yellowed, standing out like spots on a face in the verdant fields. But there was also a small portion of the flattened wheat that had stubbornly raised its head again.

Soon, however, it was trampled back to the ground by the chaotic men and horses of his own army.

This was the bank of the Yellow River. Wheat was harvested once a year, sown in spring and reaped in autumn. The consequences of trampling summer wheat like this were clear to anyone.

"Tell them to be careful, try not to trample the crops," Chage blurted out an order. But then, probably feeling it didn't match his usual image, he quickly added, "There's my family's land here!"

The attendants who had just gathered around exchanged bewildered glances, but no one went to relay the order... Everyone knew that the Prince of Jin, relying on His Majesty's favor, liked to seize people's houses and grab their land. So everyone believed Chage's words. But the problem was, in this chaotic landing situation, how could they possibly avoid the crops?

"Forget it! Tell the lads that this is all my family's land, let them walk freely!" Chage came to his senses and waved his hand in helpless heartache.

And as he waved his hand, he sighed inwardly... Over time, he no longer knew whether he truly wanted to seize houses and land, or if he was playing the game of self-defamation in tacit understanding with his elder brother.

This pointless disturbance passed, and Chage's black-ox banner fluttered gently in the summer wind. The Western Xia troops on both banks cheered in unison.

The situation seemed excellent.

But the cheers were precisely the signal. At that moment, about three li away, behind the earthen embankment of a narrow ditch that a single person could cross, the waiting Song Army skirmishers hesitated no longer. At the whistle and flag-waving of the leading Song officer, they immediately vaulted onto their horses, then galloped into the wheat fields and riverbanks ahead, proceeding to harass, shoot, split, and drive away the troops that had just landed.

Clearly, probably because the field of vision was too open, the Song Army could not position their main force too close. So they did not launch a large-scale attack while the enemy was crossing, but instead chose this method to deal with the Western Xia landing... After all, no matter what, the Song Army could not miss this window of opportunity for the most efficient killing and morale-shattering.

Perhaps this attack was expected, for Chage did not panic. He mounted a horse that was dripping wet, belonging to no one knew whom, actively urged his banner forward, and simultaneously sent orders in all directions, demanding that the surrounding soldiers converge and rally to him.

At the same time, Western Xia officers and chieftains at various levels on other riverbanks began to do the same.

The effect was significant. The skirmishers the Song Army had sent out were typical light cavalry—a spear and a bow—capable only of hunting down scattered individuals who had crossed the river, and they dared not touch the Western Xia troops that had huddled together and established a beachhead position.

Yet at the same time, it had to be admitted that these skirmishers still effectively delayed and affected the Western Xia's river crossing. And soon, to Chage's slight surprise, these skirmishers seemed to have triggered a commotion far beyond their killing capacity... It was indeed a commotion; Chage couldn't think of a more accurate word at the moment... As far as his eyes could see from horseback, in many places, his own troops, who could have gathered under their officers' banners, instead chose to shout angrily and give chase—nine times out of ten to their own disadvantage—upon seeing these mounted skirmishers. And in some places, the shouting and chasing were the same, but surprisingly, there was no fighting. After exchanging a few shouts with the attacking skirmishers, those soldiers actually followed specific skirmishers and plunged headlong into the wheat fields, never to return.

"What is going on?!"

Weiming Chage roared forcefully beneath his black-ox banner.

He had no choice but to do so. Although in terms of results, this phenomenon was insignificant compared to the casualties and delays caused by the Song mounted skirmishers. But the problem was that the surprise attack by the Song scattered cavalry was entirely expected, while this current phenomenon was beyond Chage's understanding... As a commander-in-chief and a battlefield commander about to fight a major battle, he absolutely could not allow such a thing to happen.

Following Chage's stern questioning, several officers and personal guards split into small groups and fanned out in all directions. On the one hand, they went to rescue and rally the troops; on the other, they tried to intercept and inquire.

And soon, an attendant hurried back, bringing Chage an answer that was unexpected yet reasonable: "Your Highness! More than half of the attacking troops are local Dangxiang... Those people said themselves that according to the Song Army's rules this time, whether you bring back one head or one live person, you get the treatment of a regular soldier with an annual salary of fifty strings of cash! Even just charging to the riverbank and turning back earns a reward of three pecks of grain!"

Chage was dumbfounded. His body swayed on the wet warhorse before he managed to steady himself.

And a moment later, realizing he was utterly helpless, he hurriedly turned his head, but only urged the troops to cross the river quickly, to advance quickly, and to assemble in the open wheat fields.

But things were not that simple.

Even after turning his attention back to the battle itself, Chage still encountered difficulties... The crossing speed was too slow, and the Song Army's mounted skirmishers were increasing in number. It seemed that for every batch of Western Xia troops that crossed the river, a corresponding proportion of mounted skirmishers joined the harassment at the beachhead.

The actual numerical ratio between the two sides remained in a comfortable range of two-to-one to three-to-one.

Quantitative change leads to qualitative change; as the numbers on both sides rose sharply, the brutality of these surprise attacks also deepened.

Gradually, as wave after wave of Song army scattered cavalry continuously harassed and hunted along the beachhead, even willing to pay casualties that harassment tactics shouldn't incur to keep delaying the Western Xia army's assembly, Chage keenly realized that the Song army had sent these troops not merely for harassment—there must be a larger tactical objective.

Yet he had no countermeasure.

But the answer soon came. Just when the Western Xia forces had crossed a little over twenty thousand men, suddenly, as flags in the distance waved and rolled, and then dozens of horns sounded together, the light cavalry skirmishers, now numbering nearly ten thousand, abandoned the Tangut men on the beachhead and withdrew, splitting to the north and south.

However, a small number of newly joined Tangut tribal cavalry, lacking discipline, failed to withdraw in time and became prey for the Western Xia.

Chage did not dwell on these gains or losses, nor did he pay attention to the two groups of light cavalry that had withdrawn. He only continuously ordered his troops to organize their horses and camels and quickly assemble around their commanders… At this moment, assembling the army was the only thing to do.

But not long after, a personal guard behind him suddenly called out to Chage: "Prince, it looks like a red flag is waving on top of Lingzhou city wall?!"

Chage immediately turned back and indeed saw, on the watchtower that had been temporarily raised on the Lingzhou city wall not far from the Yellow River, a red flag waving incessantly… This puzzled both Chage and that guard, because a red flag meant a large army was approaching, yet here on the riverbank, the large groups of Song Jun scattered cavalry had just dispersed… But at the same time, Chage also noticed that the troops still dragging on the opposite bank were crossing the river much more slowly, which seemed to confirm the red flag's correctness.

With this thought, Chage turned back, stood firmly on his horse beneath the black yak-tail standard, and stared silently to the west, waiting calmly.

A moment later, everything was explained—on the green wheat waves ahead, beneath the black body of the Helan Mountains, a red line went from faintly visible to a clear and distinct presence, growing wider and more dynamic, until it became an obvious red wave.

On the beachhead position, the Western Xia's movements grew quieter, their actions more cautious, the atmosphere more tense, but their actions also became more hurried and panicked… After all, everyone knew what that red wave was.

And the Western Xia officers instantly realized why the Song Jun had not strictly guarded the river crossing earlier, and why they had sent so many light cavalry to suppress and harass. The Song Jun were not so arrogant as to give up striking at the half-crossed enemy; rather, they realized the terrain here was open. If they formed up by the river, the Western Xia could easily spy on them from the high ground on the opposite bank, and then why would the Western Xia charge into their formation?

To strike at the half-crossed enemy, they had to do it like this—first hide far away, use skirmishers to harass and pin down, and only when the Western Xia army was truly halfway across and unable to turn back, then seize the moment to close in.

Almost every Song soldier had a horse. From the moment they appeared until they surged to within less than a li of the Western Xia formation, it took only the time to squeeze a pot of camel's milk. But after reaching their predetermined combat positions, the Song Jun did not immediately launch an assault. Instead, they calmly established their formation and sent an envoy.

"Our Commander Qu has gifts for the Prince of Jin of Western Xia: one is the head of Xue Yuanli, the defender of Xingqing Prefecture; the other is the head of Weiming Zhangli, the defender of Shunzhou… Commander Qu says that the reason Shunzhou was not taken sooner was only to wait for the Prince to cross the river. Now that the Prince has crossed, the useless Zhangli naturally deserves to die." The envoy stopped just outside bowshot range of the Western Xia formation. After the two attendants behind him threw the two objects onto the ground before the formation, he left only a few words, then turned his horse and rode back.

The Western Xia formation stirred momentarily.

And the commotion grew… The personal guard could no longer hold back and called out to Chage again: "Prince, look back at Lingzhou city."

Chage, who had remained unmoved before, turned back and remained calm—even though he saw with his own eyes that the many tribes left on the opposite bank had, at some unknown time, voluntarily stopped their advance. And beneath the banner of Weiming Yunge, who had not yet crossed the river, there seemed to be some unusual activity. This was the main reason for the army's commotion.

"What were you trying to say just now?" Chage watched for a long while, then came to his senses and suddenly laughed, speaking to the guard beside him.

"Prince… I just wanted to say about Lingzhou…"

"Earlier," Chage reminded him. "Earlier, when you were reporting that those Tangut tribes were recruiting for the Song people, you clearly didn't finish what you were saying."

"I… I, I wanted to say that one of the headmen sent to investigate actually left with those skirmishers." The guard stammered.

Chage nodded: "You mean to say that I, Chage, am deceiving myself."

The guard looked at him blankly.

And Chage continued with a sigh: "I am deceiving myself. Who isn't deceiving themselves? But the key is, from the moment I learned the news, I didn't make any mistakes, did I?"

The guard quickly nodded: "The Prince is wise and decisive, how could you be wrong?"

"There is still one mistake," Chage said with emotion. "If I hadn't listened to those bastards' words that day and had forcibly kept the army in Hengshan, perhaps I could have accomplished something…"

That guard, as well as the other guards and officers under the black yak-tail standard, all remained silent.

"But that's not right either," Chage continued, sighing to the already flustered guard. "That would only have wasted a few more days, with the same bad outcome… And coming here this time, I can at least tell the world, tell the future historians, that I, Chage, was utterly loyal to His Majesty."

At this, the guard, no matter how embarrassed or flustered, could only hurriedly nod in agreement.

Chage did not press him further. He took a deep breath, looked from the Yellow River behind him, where the opposite bank was already in some commotion, to the river crossing where the disturbance was growing, then to the Yellow River behind him, then swept his gaze over his own formation, then looked ahead, finally passing over the Song Jun formation that was clearly making final preparations, drifting over the Helan Mountains, and fixing on the clear, cloudless sky.

Let us speak.

The Yellow River was yellow, a yellow so majestically roaring that it made everyone feel ashamed of their own insignificance;

The Western Xia revered white, which is how the Great White High Kingdom got its name, so the entire Western Xia formation, including the Iron Vultures on the left wing in their dazzling armor, was white—only the unarmored were like snow, and the armored like ice;

The wheat seedlings were green, a green so tender that one couldn't bear to touch them;

The Song Jun revered red, their red uniforms forming a line, like a wave of fire, eager to surge forward;

The Helan Mountains had no snowy peaks, but from afar they appeared pitch-black, like several black warhorses galloping toward the sky, flaunting their coats in the sunlight;

And finally the sky, the sky was an unprecedented azure blue, clean and pure, an azure that could contain everything.

Chage swore that in his entire life he had never seen such beautiful colors layered before and behind him… From this perspective, his life was worth it!

"Order Weiming Yie to lead the Iron Vultures around the Song flank from the south and charge hard at the Song army from the upwind side! The Song army doesn't lack horses now—tell him not to be greedy for penetration, just turn to the flank and charge!"

"Yes!"

"Order Weiming Ji to quickly organize the Poxi Army's camel cannons. Without the camel cannons, our infantry won't hold!"

"Yes!"

"Order Weiming Yu to immediately supervise the rear army and follow me, advancing with our backs to the river!" Chage drew his gleaming waist saber once more. "In this battle, I will be the vanguard!"

With that, the Western Xia army, defending with their backs to the river, did not wait for the Poxi Army's camel cannons to be fully prepared, nor for the Iron Vultures to complete their flanking maneuver. Instead, as the commander-in-chief Weiming Chage's black yak-tail standard suddenly moved westward, the entire army's flags and drums rose together, and with a single shout from all quarters, they surged forward, gathering their last remaining courage to take the initiative and attack the Song army.

This scene made Yue Pengju, under the four-character standard opposite, pause for a moment. But only for a moment—then he coldly removed his gun from its sheath and waved it casually forward. With that wave, the Song army, which now included up to forty thousand surrendered tribesmen, cavalry and infantry complete, armor gleaming, surged like a shining wave of fire, pressing down on the entire Western Xia army of just over twenty thousand men.

Ice and fire held each other for about half an hour. After half an hour, the ice and snow suddenly melted, then turned into red water that flowed into the Yellow River and quickly disappeared.

There were no surprises or miracles. In this battle, the Song Jun, striking the enemy at the half-crossed point, annihilated the more than twenty thousand core Western Xia troops who had crossed the river, right on the banks of the Yellow River.

PS: The 139th Meng appears, thanks to classmate Sao Rui, also an old book friend. The 140th Meng makes me a bit embarrassed—this is a big shot who switched from another genre to web novels, the work is "Red Heart Patrols the Sky"… Yesterday I answered a related question on Zhihu… I didn't expect the big shot to remember it so much… It makes me feel quite ashamed and embarrassed.