Chapter 37: Snow Crossing (Part 2)

On this New Year's Eve, deep in the night, no one knew whether it was the first or second year of Jianyan, or the fifth or sixth year of Tianhui. In any case, as snowflakes fell, more than one person was drinking heavily.

"There's nothing to do in the army. I want to cross the river and take a look!"

In the central command tent of the Jin army, the Jin commander-in-chief, commonly known as the Fourth Prince Jin Wushu, Wanyan Zongbi, suddenly hurled his golden wine bowl onto the hard ground, his legs propped up on the table.

The once lively military tent instantly fell silent. The officers and staff inside exchanged glances, frowning.

As for crossing the river, Jin Wushu was clearly risking his life, because the section of the Huai River within Shouzhou's borders was currently controlled by the Song army... Thanks to the hasty scorched-earth policy beforehand, a large number of boats had been concentrated on the south bank, and the ferry crossings on the north bank had been generally burned. The Jin army had very few boats at hand and could not organize a large-scale crossing. Moreover, after the failed reconnaissance that day, the Song army had even grown bold enough to patrol the river with ferries in recent days.

If they encountered a few Song army boats on the river in the dead of night, no matter how strong the Fourth Prince's horsemanship or martial arts, he would only sink down to feed the ducks.

In comparison, someone else's righteous river crossing, treated like a life-and-death farewell, had its only risk coming from the instability of Xiacai City... Because purely in terms of crossing the river and entering the city, there was no risk. Xiacai City had an inner ferry on the Linhuai River. Although the ferry had been burned, the water route could still go straight inside the city walls, making it impossible to run into the Jin.

But clearly, the Jin's thinking was completely different from the Song's.

"Is the Fourth Prince not planning to attack the city?" After a pause, a rugged-looking Jurchen Meng'an (that is, a thousand-man commander) was the first to ask.

"Puluhun has the right idea." Jin Wushu looked up, wiping his beard as he spoke. "You've all seen the reconnaissance these past few days. This Xiacai City is a first-rate strategic stronghold. Our southward campaign this time wasn't meant for this kind of battle; we only came to capture the new Song emperor... Avoid it if we can!"

"Fourth Prince, yesterday someone fled from the city to the west, and we caught him. He spoke of the fearful and unstable mood inside the city." Another person spoke up. This was a fair-skinned, short man named Ali, also a genuine Jin general, a ten-thousand-man commander under the so-called Meng'an (thousand-man commander) and Mouke (hundred-man commander) system. "Why can't we just settle down to besiege the city, attack it, and force this Zhang Jun to surrender? If Xiacai surrenders, won't that Zhao Song emperor just abandon the north bank and run?"

"You also said that if Xiacai surrenders, the Zhao Song emperor will run. Then wouldn't our efforts be in vain?" Seeing that it was Ali who spoke, Wushu sat up, speaking seriously with the smell of alcohol. "And if we attack the city first, Xiacai City has the inner ferry on the Linhuai River. Although it's said to have been burned, communication with Huainan is still open. The Song emperor is stationed right there at the northern foothills of Bagong Mountain, with that golden imperial banner flying high. It can be seen from inside the city... With the Song emperor there, the city's morale might actually hold up!"

"No matter what the Fourth Prince says!" Ali also hurled his wine bowl to the ground. "I'll say it straight: I'd rather send conscripted troops to attack the city first, and if that fails, set up catapults to batter it, than have my life forfeited because the commander-in-chief got drunk and drowned in the Huai River!"

At these words, the Han troops in the tent were all terrified, but Jin Wushu threw his head back and laughed, causing the other Jin officers to laugh as well. Only Ali stood there fuming, and another ten-thousand-man commander, Elubu, also looked displeased... It turned out that the Jin army had strict discipline, and there was a famous military regulation: if a superior officer died in battle, his direct subordinate officers, regardless of the reason, must be beheaded as a warning!

Therefore, whenever an officer personally charged at the front, his unit would follow and fight to the death without wavering.

And this, naturally, was the real reason for Ali's fury. He wasn't afraid of Jin Wushu going to the battlefield. What was going to the battlefield? In the era of Aguda, which Jin noble hadn't been forged through seas of blood and mountains of corpses? Even Ali's name had an origin... It was derived from the three characters "Ali Xi," and "Ali Xi" was the name for the lowliest auxiliary soldier during the Jurchen tribal era when they conducted small-scale raids.

In other words, this Ali had climbed up step by step from being a mere, lowliest Ali Xi. His record was far more impressive than Jin Wushu's feat of personally killing eight men on the battlefield in his teens.

In fact, many Jin generals who were not from the Wanyan clan, and even some Wanyan generals, had names with strong military connotations. One could tell their general background and origin just by hearing the name.

Back to the present, the problem was that Ali, who came from an Ali Xi background, could accept defeat and death on the battlefield, but he could not accept being innocently implicated because his superior got drunk.

To put it bluntly, if Jin Wushu fell into the Huai River tonight, others might be fine, but Ali would have to lose his life as a sacrifice. And if he was captured after falling into the water, it would be even more ridiculous, and the entire army might have to retreat... In fact, this was the fundamental reason why Yue Fei could escape unscathed after capturing the enemy's main general by the Taihang Mountains, and why Wang De could kill an entire boatload of people by the Huai River.

"General Ali, rest assured." After laughing, Jin Wushu offered a few words of comfort. "Today is New Year's Eve. The enemy is also feasting and lighting lanterns. How could they send patrol boats on the river at this time? Even if there are patrols, I'll bring a few Han people to deal with them... Besides, I'm not going ashore. I'm not drunk and causing trouble for no reason. I genuinely want to see the enemy camp's strength from the river, to see if the Song emperor is really there, what the morale on the opposite bank is like, and whether the Huai River can be forded on horseback, or if a pontoon bridge can be built."

Having said this, seeing that Ali Xi was about to speak again, Jin Wushu let out a cold laugh, stood up, and went straight out of the tent, clearly intending to cross the river in the night snow to observe the enemy camp... Ali Xi and Elubu across from him exchanged a glance, but were helpless, and could only drink and eat meat in silence.

Leaving the Jin army camp, Jin Wushu didn't call for anyone else. He directly led three or five personal guards, rode to the north bank of the Huai River, found the few small boats the Jin army had, and summoned a dozen or so Han soldiers from Hebei who knew how to row. He then boarded a small boat himself and crossed the river in the snow.

The small boat veered slightly westward. When it reached the middle of the river, illuminated by the lights on both banks, they vaguely saw the shadowy figure of another boat from the south bank at a distance of over a hundred paces. However, this boat was heading northwest, apparently towards Xiacai City, and paid no attention to the small boat deliberately conversing in Han speech. With no strength in the middle of the river, Jin Wushu couldn't be bothered with this messenger, and the two boats simply passed each other.

After that boat, Jin Wushu encountered no more Song army boats. He freely sailed his boat east and west, holding a wine flask, and carefully observed the military situation on both banks from the middle of the Huai River.

However, the more he observed, the more troubled Jin Wushu became... Not to mention the solidity and completeness of Xiacai City, which he had already fully understood in recent days. At the foot of Bagong Mountain, separated by the river to the southeast of Xiacai City, the terrain was also strategically dangerous, and the camp was solid!

Not only that, but looking closely now, Bagong Mountain was merely a part of an entire mountain range (Xiashi Mountain), or an independent extension. This mountain (Xiashi Mountain) cut off the north and south of the Huai River, with dangerous terrain. To its north stood Xiacai, and to its south supported Shouchun. The North and South Fei Rivers converged with the Huai River at its foot, making the terrain truly complex. As for Bagong Mountain, it was famous precisely because it lay at the strategic crossroads of this complex terrain. If one wanted to cross the river from here, the two main wide roads were both sheltered by the left and right flanks of Bagong Mountain, and the Song army had already built fortifications there early on!

Jin Wushu was the fourth son of Aguda, only about twenty-five or twenty-six this year. So on one hand, as a mid-to-low-level officer, he had participated in almost all the major wars of the Jin state's rise, possessing the characteristic ruggedness, savagery, brutality, and cunning of a Jurchen professional soldier. On the other hand, the Jin state had been established for thirteen years. As a prince of appropriate age, he had also been exposed to the most advanced culture of the era early on, received a considerable cultural education, and broadened his horizons through campaigns north and south...

Today, he came to the river in the snow. On one hand, as the commander-in-chief, he needed to find a way to break the current deadlock, fulfilling his duty as a military commander by personally scouting the enemy's strength, just like his father, who went to inspect the front line at Juyong Pass even when he was dying of illness. On the other hand, there was also a complex feeling deep in his heart. He looked down on the vulgarity of those old Jurchen generals, and also despised the pretentiousness of the Liao and Song defectors, so he wanted to escape for a while.

Snow fell heavily. Jin Wushu, a single leaf of a boat on the Huai River, looked at the mountains, the river, and the sky, sighing. At first, he was still earnestly observing the military deployments, but in the end, after half a flask of wine, he vaguely forgot his true purpose for coming, and instead stood in the middle of the river, somewhat dazed.

PS: A thousand thanks to the big shots "Renjian Yanyan Yu" and "Hundun Qiri" for becoming alliance leaders. I'll have Xiao Jiu kowtow to make up for it. This new book period has already reached 27 alliance leaders... Logically, I should be excited, but for some reason, I'm a bit apprehensive.

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