[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-shao-song":3,"chapter-shao-song-shao-song-chapter-67":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},1558233,2024,"Chapter 67: The Watery Marsh (Continued)","shao-song-chapter-67",67,"\u003Cp>\"Not the tide?\" Yue Fei, having boarded the large vessel, met Zhang Rong, who had changed into a leather cuirass, only to receive an unexpected statement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What tide could there be in the lake?\" Zhang Rong, whose head was now bare of flowers, stood with his hands on his hips, utterly unconcerned. \"This scenery here only appears in spring and autumn; it's clearly related to the water level. Maybe an underground river pours in on schedule... But why does Battalion Commander Yue ask about this? As long as the water can rise, you might as well treat it as the tide!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"True enough.\" Yue Fei gave a slight smile and immediately nodded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And under the firelight, Zhang Rong, seeing Yue Fei actually smile, also stood with his hands on his hips and grinned even more brightly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That said, regardless of the principle, Liu Lin's explanation and Wanyan Sali's conjecture were not wrong in terms of the outcome.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With their retreat blocked, a heavy force ahead, and crucially, the water rising and rising higher, the Jin Army, formidable in land combat, had essentially lost all resistance before a single broken-down little boat... Yet from dusk until night, the heroes of Mount Shuipo Liang, who had completely surrounded the Jin Army, never launched a general assault. Instead, they lit torches, sang fishing songs, and waited restlessly for the moment of the highest water level!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Correspondingly, the Jin Army had long since lost its self-control and reason. From nightfall onward, men kept shedding their armor, trying to flee on horseback through the water, only to be shot dead by random arrows, rammed by small boats... or more directly, dragged into the deep water by the Liangshanpo fishermen and drowned alive!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for the Jin soldiers huddled on the flat sandy beach, they could only grow hungrier, colder, and more terrified with time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Throughout the entire process, no officer stepped forward to organize a breakout or a surrender... Surrender was impossible, and they knew in their hearts that these native Jizhou fishermen would never let them off; as for a breakout, to be honest, any Jin soldier understood that from the moment the lake water rose, they had essentially lost any chance of survival. This had nothing to do with combat power or will; it was the purest force of heaven and earth!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Besides, before dark, they had tried to break out on foot, but it was useless. That narrow pass had long been turned into a death trap by shattered wood, armor fragments, and corpses. Even if one barely made it through under volleys from three sides, they would still face thousands of Liangshan bandits behind the pass, like walking into a slaughter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some even crawled back in disgrace, reporting that the Liangshan bandits had dug ditches behind the pass and built embankments with water plants, wooden frames, and mud to cut off the retreat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Back to the present, distant fires flickered, merging into a sea of flames, and beneath that sea of flames was simply a true ocean. At the very center of this ocean, the courage of the Jin Army commander, Wanyan Sali, had long since been exhausted along with the failure of every fancy breakout attempt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the most terrifying thing was the unceasing fishing songs. These rising and falling, orderly chants seemed to possess some kind of magic, nearly shattering everything within Wanyan Sali... Earlier, he had already thought of the Han Chinese allusion to 'the songs of Chu on all sides.' Now, as the night deepened, he was simply completely out of control.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I am still young.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wanyan Sali suddenly shed tears. Though the sand and gravel beneath his feet were still dry, his hands and feet had already curled up in fear, and he spoke, not knowing to whom. \"I am of the imperial clan. I have read many books... I thought many times, if I could just endure until I was forty or fifty, when the old Boglie system became unsuitable and the Great Jin needed to replace the chancellor with a prime minister, it would inevitably be my turn to hold great power... How is it that I must die today in this watery marsh?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu Lin, who had already wept earlier, remained silent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Have some dignity!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wanyan Sali was about to continue his lament, but unexpectedly Liu Lin could no longer hold back. \"General, have some dignity! Since things have come to this, and a breakout is impossible, there are only three paths. Showing any more ugliness will only make you a laughingstock!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What... three paths?\" Wanyan Sali suddenly grew even more fearful.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Either secretly shed your armor now, flee on horseback through the water, and leave life and death to fate and fortune!\" Liu Lin gritted his teeth. \"Or sit and wait for death, awaiting the attack of the water bandits and Song Army, begging for your life; or... simply end it yourself!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wanyan Sali opened his mouth to answer, but no sound came out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Worthless!\" Liu Lin cursed in a low voice, then was the first to rise, unfasten his armor, and head toward the waters in the southwest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Several warriors of various tribes from the central army looked at each other, but many followed suit, rising to remove their armor and flee on horseback through the water... Wanyan Sali watched from afar, a look of hope on his face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, only a moment later, as a commotion arose from the southwest, cheers from the Liangshan bandits were heard there, along with faint screams, which immediately silenced the Jin Army officers and men huddled on the beach.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But this silence did not last long. Perhaps realizing that a big fish was trying to break out, the Song Army and Liangshan bandits soon launched a general assault!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Large and small boats began to close in, large vessels holding the rear, small boats pressing forward, and they started throwing torches and shooting arrows!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A few scattered Jurchen knights tried to counterattack; their powerful bows were not without effect, but in the darkness, the sea of flames floating on the water seemed endless, relentlessly drawing closer!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Finally, after who knows how long, Wanyan Sali began to hear the sounds of hand-to-hand combat, the clash of blades... and then he finally sighed. This young Jin imperial clansman mustered his courage, drew his sword, and on the still-dry sandy beach, easily slit his own throat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The dream of being chancellor or prime minister ended here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Also ending here was the Jin Army's faint hope of escape. With the commander dead, the Jin Army had no chance to turn things around. They fought until dawn, finally meeting their end in total annihilation, bringing this battle to a close.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the twenty-eighth of the first month, only five days after the plan was set in Dingtao City of Guangji Army, the five thousand Jin troops in Jizhou were declared wiped out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the thirtieth of the first month, Jizhou City fell!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the same day, Yang Weizhong sent Wanyan Sali's head around to all quarters, ordering all prefectures and armies in the Jingdong West Circuit to hold their cities and defend strictly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the fourth of the second month, Jin Wushu, who was busy setting up catapults to bombard a city, received two heavy blows in one day—the result of his hard work setting up catapults was that his artillery positions, not yet operational, were smashed to pieces in a single morning by hidden catapults inside the city firing back; immediately after came the news of Wanyan Sali's death and the severing of his rear supply line.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Correspondingly, Zhao Jiu also witnessed two pieces of good news on the same day. During the day, he watched a splendid artillery duel, and by evening, he received Yang Weizhong's victory report!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To be fair, if not for the key words 'Liangshanpo' and 'Yue Fei,' Zhao Jiu would have almost thought that old Grand Marshal Yang was fooling him... just like Grandsire Zong's million-strong army.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Let's discuss it!\" Zhao Jiu sat upright and spoke to his ever-growing entourage of civil and military officials.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And as he spoke, for some reason, the Zhao Emperor, now accepting reality, felt a twinge of jealousy toward that General Yue, whom he had never met... How was he, the leader, supposed to act when a subordinate several layers down performed so well?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>PS: Good night\u003C\u002Fp>",1399,"2026-06-06T07:45:46.639Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","13a20b8da1107d19e1716d2c03b489a57f1dc450643aefdb3bd4ca0a7bca7738","shao-song-chapter-68","shao-song-chapter-66",489,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fshao-song-cover.jpg"]