Chapter 66

Liu Lin sighed, abandoned his thoughts, and prepared to turn back.

But just then, in the so-called gap of the battlefield, Yue Fei, Liu Lin, and many soldiers all simultaneously noticed a small boat coming from the southwest... there was no help for it—this small boat was too conspicuous, and the shape of the person on it was too strange.

Now, Mount Liang Marsh never lacked small boats; even when the great army had just poured in, many fishermen could be seen fleeing in panic into the reed marshes, and after the fighting started, even more small boats came and went to observe, whether to watch the excitement or gather information... The Jin army had noticed this early on but paid it no mind.

In fact, when Liu Lin had just mentioned the Mount Liang water bandits in his words, it came from this. Because the officers in Wanyan Saili's central camp generally believed that the Song army had indeed contacted the Mount Liang water bandits, but only to secure an escape route, hoping those bandits would come to their aid—only the battle was fierce and the Jin army dominant, so they were afraid and dared not emerge.

But unlike the earlier small boats that observed the battle from several li away and then ducked into the reed marshes after a moment, this oddly shaped light skiff kept going without stopping, somehow rowing from deep in the marsh all the way to the front of so-called Suotou Beach, stopping barely over a hundred paces from the Jin army on shore, just barely outside bow range.

And by this time, many Jin soldiers near the left bank, instead of shooting arrows, couldn't help bursting into laughter... because only when it came close did everyone notice the absurdity of this small boat emerging from the left reed marsh and the person on it.

The so-called small boat was more like a wooden raft—a very broken, very tiny boat in the middle, with a piece of wood sharpened at both ends tied to each side of the gunwale, at first glance looking like a raft made of three logs... crude to the extreme.

As for the person, that was even more interesting.

In early spring, hot by day and cold by night, so the man wore a tattered big red cotton-padded jacket, yet bared his chest. That was bad enough, but worse still, he had stuck a huge red silk flower in his hair!

Song dynasty tradition: wearing flowers in the hair was quite ordinary—not to mention the top scholar parading through the streets on horseback with flowers, but even in ordinary cities, there were idle dandies who, priding themselves on fair faces, often wore flowers and tattoos to boast of their looks... to the point that in the martial world, there were often such titles as "One Flower of Great Ming Prefecture So-and-So," "One Flower of Jinan Prefecture So-and-So," ranking alongside "Nine-Dragon Tattoo" and "Eight-Phoenix Tattoo."

But back to the present, this fisherman, about thirty years old or more, with a dark face weathered by wind and sun that made him look over forty, a tuft of black hair on his chest, wearing a greasy big red tattered cotton jacket, personally rowing such a broken boat, and then sticking a big red flower in his hair—it was unavoidably ridiculous.

In fact, at first the Jin soldiers laughed, and when they saw this man rowing like flying, easily turning to the side of the small beach, even the Song soldiers who recognized him couldn't help snickering.

"Yue Commander!"

Liu Lin watched for a long while, originally intending to retreat, but upon seeing this scene, he couldn't help laughing and asking. "Is this your reinforcement?! Is this what you relied on to lure our five thousand Jin troops here today?!"

Yue Fei watched Zhang Rong row past two or three hundred paces away from him, then calmly looked up and shouted back: "Do you look down on him?!"

"I understand—Yue Commander wants to use this man to laugh our five thousand troops here today to death!" Liu Lin shook his head repeatedly, giving up on further communication, and directly prepared to ride away.

But just as he reined in his horse, he suddenly heard a howling-like sound from the lake, nearly startling him off his horse. After steadying himself, he realized it was the red-flower man singing a fisherman's song in public. The man's voice was unpleasant, and the tune hadn't risen at first, but after a trial note, he lifted his voice, and it faintly carried a bit of rivers-and-lakes flavor, and the vulgar lyrics became clear.

As the saying goes:

"Grandpa was born on Mount Liang, born with a nature to kill.

Killed faithless men in feuds, killed bird officials from the Eastern Capital!

A hero doesn't read poetry, only lives on Mount Liang.

Though born a rogue's body, killing bandits is not killing men!"

The song was clearly taken from an ordinary fisherman's tune, because every line had to add 'that' as a transition, and at the end of each stanza, there was always a drawn-out work chant to finish... not necessary unless a boatman was rowing with force.

Yue Fei stood his horse in the gradually clear water in front of the formation, struggling to follow the loud song through the battlefield noise as it circled far behind him, from left to right, from near to far, and from far to near, but he never moved.

On the other side, Liu Lin was only momentarily stunned; after recovering from that howling-like fright, he quickly turned back to report to Wanyan Saili.

"He won't surrender?"

"He won't surrender."

"As expected." Wanyan Saili sighed rarely. "But I truly admire this man's ability and wanted to recruit him as an aide."

"Me too..." Liu Lin thought to himself but didn't say it aloud.

"Since that's the case, let's say no more of this." Wanyan Saili pulled himself together, then pointed at the flower-wearing man who had rowed back from the other side of the river beach, still singing, and asked seriously:

"What's the story with this man?"

"Probably some bandit in the marsh who values loyalty a bit, sending out a leader to give that Yue fellow an explanation." Liu Lin dismissed it. "Our earlier guess was right—the Song army must have contacted the water bandits in the marsh, but what are those bandits? How dare they fight a great army? They must have chickened out at the critical moment, not even daring to send a rescue fleet."

Wanyan Saili nodded repeatedly, but as he watched the boat gradually turn back from the right, he felt something was off, though he couldn't say what—he stood there stunned, somewhat uneasy.

And at this moment, as they spoke, the boat, extremely nimble, had gradually drawn near, and the song could be heard again.

As the saying goes:

"Grandpa was born between heaven and earth, fears neither court nor officials.

Cast a net that covers the marsh, turtles and bastards all inside!"

The song was clear and loud, echoing endlessly over the water, but many Jin soldiers on the right side of the beach couldn't understand the local dialect, only finding this man's appearance ridiculous, and reacted the same as the Jin soldiers on the left who had first seen him—bursting into laughter.

Yet amid the song and laughter, Wanyan Saili said not a word, wasting the opportunity in vain. At the central camp, four Meng'an commanders all came to ask personally, but they only saw this experienced imperial clansman general standing dumbly on his horse, lost in thought.

"General!"

Liu Lin asked cautiously. "You should order the general assault!"

"Something's wrong!" Wanyan Saili confessed frankly. "That man is wrong!"

"That man is just a water rogue, deliberately clowning—there are always such characters in the martial world!" Liu Lin urged quickly. "If you get spooked, you'll fall right into his trap!"

"Young Master Liu is right." A Jurchen Meng'an couldn't help interjecting. "If you let a water clown like this waste the opportunity, won't the General become a laughingstock? It's almost dark—if we can't swallow this Song army, and water bandits really surround us, and we have to retreat in disgrace, won't everyone say we've been defeated?"

Wanyan Saili thought it over left and right, but couldn't figure out what was wrong, and began to suspect he was being paranoid, so he had to nod and give the order: to concentrate elite forces, hammer continuously, and break the Song army before sunset!

Upon hearing the order, the Jin army surged forward, many men and horses splashing countless droplets of water that glittered in the sunset along with their armor—a magnificent sight!

But seeing this, Wanyan Saili's unease surged again, though he still couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was... For a moment, he almost wanted to order the entire army to withdraw immediately, but in the end, reason overcame instinct.

The battle resumed; the Jin army pressed forward en masse, and both sides began fighting in water up to their calves. Every man who fell splashed countless droplets, quickly reddening the previous pool of blood again... And this time, Yue Pengju himself dismounted and led the several hundred Taba cavalry, who had rested half a day, forward on foot!

Thus, although the Song army's formation was clearly faltering, they still stubbornly held the Jin army at the bottleneck.

Watching this from afar, Wanyan Saili was irritable, and when he turned his head, he saw that strange little boat appear on his left-rear side, still singing.

In an instant, this Jin imperial clansman general's vigilance grew even stronger, and he was completely captivated by this man. Since he couldn't hear the singing over the fighting ahead, Wanyan Saili actually chose to abandon his command flag, gallop to the left-rear beach, and stand his horse in the shallows to listen to the song.

And this time, he heard the lyrics clearly again.

As the saying goes:

"Grandpa was born between heaven and earth, seeks neither wealth nor office.

Lives his life on Mount Liang, eats and drinks well like a god.

One day the Jin came to Jizhou, killed my brothers and ruined my fields.

Today they come again to the marsh, how can I let them live?"

Hearing this, not only Wanyan Saili but also Liu Lin became highly alert, but when they exchanged glances, they both saw a different kind of confusion in each other's eyes... Obviously, since they had come to fight in the marsh, they had both speculated that the Mount Liang water bandits might come to the Song army's aid, so they weren't too surprised by this man's stance or a possible water attack—but both of them also sensed something dangerously abnormal about this man and his boat, though they couldn't articulate it for the moment.

But they had no time to think further—as this man rowed his boat in a wide turn before the reed marsh and let out a long fisherman's work chant, "Ai-hou!" that landed heavily! From the reed marshes on both sides of Suotou Beach, like thunder, came a deafening chorus of answering chants!

Truly like thunder!

Several thousand or tens of thousands of people shouted in unison, the sound reverberating repeatedly over the vast water surface, instantly startling both the Jin Jun and Song Jun who were in the midst of battle, throwing them into disarray!

Wanyan Sali and Liu Lin, however, were in the best position to witness a magnificent sight firsthand—under the setting sun, thousands of small boats surged out from the reed marshes, each carrying no more than three to five men, yet they charged toward the beachhead with an irresistible momentum, like cavalry emerging from a forest, just like ten thousand horses galloping into battle.

Wanyan Sali gasped sharply and quickly turned to look. Sure enough, on the other side of the beachhead, that is, deep within Mount Shuipo on the right, small boats were pouring out of the reed marshes no fewer than those here, and what's more, there were countless large ships pressing forward from the rear, rolling in like a tide!

All told, the ambushing naval forces on both sides numbered no less than tens of thousands!

"Retreat!" Without time to think further, Wanyan Sali, who had galloped back to the center beneath the general's banner, made the most reasonable decision. "We absolutely cannot fight a night battle with these water bandits here!"

This time, as the general's banner was waved vigorously, not a single one of the several Meng'an commanders or the central army officers raised any objection, because the scene just now—thousands upon thousands of people responding in unison to the fishermen's work song—was too stirring! The visual impact of the current scene was also truly terrifying!

The Jin Jun hastily withdrew to reorganize their forces, while the Song Jun, under Yue Fei's command, abandoned the pursuit and instead chose to fall back and rest.

Shortly after, as the agile small boats approached from the front, the Jin Jun finished mounting their horses in formation. Under the setting sun, several thousand iron cavalry immediately turned their rear into the vanguard and galloped swiftly back along the path they had come.

But what happened next overturned the common sense of Wanyan Sali and even all the several thousand Jin Jun soldiers!

Led by that man draped in a red jacket with a flower pinned in his hair, several hundred oddly shaped small boats, like cavalry on water, launched a flank attack on the retreating cavalry at the bottom of that gourd-shaped area!

When cavalry collides, mass, speed, and sacrifice determine victory or defeat in an instant!

And without a doubt, the victor had to be those oddly shaped boats, because the riders on them could jump into the water... After the pilots of countless crude boats suddenly leaped into the deep water, the boats still maintained a certain speed forward, following the shallow water with two sharp wooden spikes, crashing into the Jin Jun warhorses and riders at that narrow pass. Men and horses fell, boats shattered, flesh and blood blurred, moans and cries endless, like a sea of blood and hell.

"Why did water suddenly appear there?" After seeing this, Wanyan Sali, his heart tightening and scalp tingling, was terrified. He immediately drew his blade and looked around ferociously, demanding an answer. "I wanted to ask just now—why could that boat suddenly move from the left to the right, and then from the right back to the left? The bottom of the gourd behind was clearly a dry beach! Horses could run in! Right?!"

Most of the Jin officers beside him were already dazed. Only Liu Lin came to his senses, stammering as if wanting to speak, but opening his mouth several times without a sound.

"What exactly do you want to say?" Wanyan Sali's face changed drastically, and he pressed the blade directly against the other's neck.

"The tide... the tide, the tide is coming!" Poor Liu Lin, a dignified seven-foot man, actually broke down in tears. "I didn't expect this lake to be so big that it could have high and low tides like the sea!"

Wanyan Sali was a clever man. Upon hearing this, his hand holding the blade faltered, and it fell to the ground. Clearly, someone not unfamiliar with the rising tide of the sea had thought of an extremely terrifying possibility!

"No wonder it's called Shrinking Head Beach!"

On the distant small beach, Fu Xuan, utterly exhausted, spat a mouthful of bloody saliva fiercely onto the already damp sand and gravel beneath his feet, then cursed angrily. "Damn it! This lousy beach—when the tide fully rises by midnight, doesn't that mean the whole place will be submerged by the water? Why else call it Shrinking Head Beach? Wouldn't Gourd Beach sound better?!"

Yue Fei, standing on his horse, glanced back at the other man but did not answer, because at that moment, seeing that the raft-boats had successfully blocked the Jin Jun's retreat route, those water bandits from Mount Shuipo, led by someone unknown, began to sing that local fisherman's song again.

Grandpa was born between heaven and earth...

The singing was rough, the lyrics wild, yet it was the most orderly and most stirring song Yue Fei had ever heard in his life!

PS: Today is Major Cold. Good night, sleep well!