[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-shao-song":3,"chapter-shao-song-shao-song-chapter-75":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},1558241,2024,"Chapter 75: Watching the Battle (Part 2)","shao-song-chapter-75",75,"\u003Cp>\"These Song people think they're so clever!\" Jin Wushu took the wine, drained it in one gulp, then slammed the cup heavily onto the table. Ignoring the deadly battle less than a thousand paces away, he began gesticulating wildly. \"They think they've seen through my plan, think they've calculated everything perfectly, think they've seized a fleeting opportunity—but they're doomed to bring trouble upon themselves. This Huai River that's been giving me grief for nearly two months will be broken today!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yes, yes, yes! What the Fourth Prince says is absolutely right!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shi Wenbin's mouth was quick, but his heart was full of speechless frustration. You led over twenty thousand men for nearly two months and couldn't cross the Huai River a single step, couldn't even enter Xiacai City, only kept losing troops and generals. Now, as you're about to leave, you pull a trick that the Zhao Emperor sees through, drawing countless Song soldiers to counterattack. With maybe ten to twenty thousand men coming to crush your five or six thousand, and your cavalry all trapped in the camp unable to break out, why on earth do you dare claim the Huai River will be broken today?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Staff Officer Shi, you don't believe me, do you?\" Jin Wushu straightened his back, cast a sidelong glance, and couldn't help but let out a cold laugh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As these words fell, a wave of battle cries suddenly surged from all directions, clearly indicating that the central camp had begun to engage. Shi Wenbin was startled for a moment, then moved to rise and explain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"If you dare say you believe me, I'll break your dog legs first!\" Amid the shouts of battle, Jin Wushu didn't even look around, just kept staring at the man before him with a cold smile, but pointed at the empty wine cup.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shi Wenbin had no choice but to steel himself and continue pouring wine for the other, gritting his teeth as he spoke a sincere truth: \"Reporting to the Fourth Prince, I don't understand military affairs, so I am indeed puzzled!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It's not that you, Old Shi, don't understand military affairs.\" Jin Wushu raised his cup again with a derisive laugh, took a light sip of wine, then laughed loudly amid the earth-shaking cries and clashing of weapons. \"What is military affairs anyway? Reading a few military manuals, pulling some tricks—none of it compares to spending a few months on the battlefield, in the army camp... Let me ask you, look around now. Can you tell at a glance the banners and commands of our Jin and the Song? Can you estimate the troop numbers in your mind? Do you know where to deploy arrows, where to use spears, where to place large shields?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shi Wenbin looked around at this, and realized he could indeed see the battle situation clearly, with a genuine assessment forming in his mind... For instance, he saw that the defense facing west toward Xiacai City was the hardest-pressed, because there the Song soldiers were most numerous and the battle cries loudest. However, the gathered troops were so dense they seemed chaotic, as if Song generals wanted to show off before the young Zhao Emperor but couldn't help competing for credit. Another example: the northern attack was the slowest, but there were many fires and the sound of crossbows. From a distance, he could see people scattering something on the periphery and digging trenches, seemingly deliberately suppressing without seeking progress... Thinking carefully, it should be that the Song army knew they couldn't swallow the entire Jin force, so they left a path for the Jin to flee, but wanted to keep the Jin warhorses to prevent a counterattack!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In short, Shi Wenbin looked around, startled to realize how much he understood, and was momentarily horrified—could he himself be a budding famous general?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Old Shi, you're a scholar, you know a lot; you're older, you've seen a lot; and now you're in my central camp handling documents and participating in military councils. It's what they call... having a commanding perspective... plus you've shed that pedantic air, so naturally you can grasp ordinary military affairs at once.\" Jin Wushu pointed around, speaking with ease.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"All thanks to the Fourth Prince's cultivation!\" Shi Wenbin quickly bowed his head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It's all your own ability—what cultivation or not?\" Jin Wushu laughed even more freely. \"So, Old Shi, I only ask you, since you understand military affairs, why are you still puzzled by my words?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shi Wenbin was, of course, speechless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Because you're a Song man!\" Jin Wushu casually splashed half a cup of wine onto the other's face, then laughed unrestrainedly. \"Just like that new Song Emperor over there. Though he's done not badly these two months, making me feel somewhat like I've met my match, in the end he still couldn't suppress his greed and made such a huge mistake... Old Shi, you Song people simply don't understand how formidable we Jurchens are! Pour the wine!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shi Wenbin was stunned for a moment, quickly wiped the wine from his face, and carefully refilled the cup: \"Please enlighten me, Fourth Prince.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Do you really want to hear, or are you just flattering me because you see me drinking alone?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Your student... I truly want to hear.\" Shi Wenbin carefully offered the cup, speaking earnestly. \"First, I really want to know why the Great Jin always wins battle after battle. Second, my family is all in Yishui, and I have no way back now. I desperately hope the Fourth Prince will turn the tide today, but I truly don't understand how the current situation can be reversed.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jin Wushu stared at him for a moment, then tilted his head back and drained the cup, before speaking: \"Old Shi, have a seat.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yes!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Actually, the reason we can turn the tide today—you almost said it for me just now.\" Wanyan Wushu set down the cup, still laughing freely. \"You said the Great Jin always wins battle after battle?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That's right!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Actually, it's the opposite. Our Great Jin fights battle after battle after winning, and that's why we can win battle after battle!\" Jin Wushu declared proudly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Your student doesn't understand.\" In his shock, Shi Wenbin actually used the title Jin Wushu hated most.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Of course you don't understand.\" Jin Wushu said with a contemptuous look. \"At the start, when my imperial father came out of the mountain nests of Liaodong, he was indeed a heaven-sent genius, a figure like a son of heaven, with people far and near submitting to him, unity inside and out. But when he first rebelled against Liao, he had only two thousand five hundred troops... You should know, General Wanhu Ali was then the lowest-ranking soldier among those two thousand five hundred, what they commonly called an Alixi auxiliary soldier... Yet at Chuhedian, three thousand broke seven thousand; at Huanglongfu, twenty thousand broke a hundred thousand. In seven years, using the small to overcome the large, like a wolf devouring a tiger, they took all of Liao territory. Then, in four years they broke Song, swallowing all the land of the Two Rivers—you naturally know all this! Shi Wenbin!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Your student is here!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Let me ask you, if you were a Jurchen who had experienced all this, would you think you could be defeated by a mere double your numbers in a fair fight?\" Jin Wushu pressed on proudly. \"Even if our cavalry is blocked in the camp and forced to fight on foot to defend it?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shi Wenbin was about to answer, but unexpectedly Wanyan Wushu suddenly slapped the table and answered himself:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Absolutely not! Because you Song people lose battle after battle, so when you charge and fail to gain momentum, you panic and fear, then your formation collapses, and to save your lives, you each fight for yourselves. But we Jin people, when we charge and fail to win, even with heavy casualties, we still obey orders, united as one. Even ten men can form a squad and strive to fight again! So every battle, you may gain the upper hand many times, but once you lose it, you collapse completely. While we may lose the upper hand many times, as long as we grit our teeth and fight to the death, we always succeed in the end!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shi Wenbin was stunned into silence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Staff Officer Shi!\" After saying all this, Wanyan Wushu felt completely at ease. \"Jurchens are also human! Song people are also human! You and I, for example, are nothing but ordinary men! But the reason I can treat your life and death as a plaything here is that we Jurchens, once formed into an army, have won continuously for over a decade, already obtained the Mandate of Heaven, unstoppable! While you Song people have lost for years, even sending your emperor north to be a slave, so naturally your heavenly mandate has weakened... That day on the Huai River, I thought, how can such a magnificent land be left to you sour, pedantic southerners? Just watch, this Great Song, I, Wanyan Wushu, am determined to destroy it!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shi Wenbin still kept his head down, silent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As time passed, amid the morning waves of the Huai River, the battle cries that had been drawing closer not only failed to approach further but gradually weakened. Clearly, after the first wave of a mighty encirclement, the Song army was soon stopped by the outermost layer of palisades around the central camp... This seemed to confirm Jin Wushu's words—the Song army couldn't sustain, wasn't good at hard-fought, protracted battles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, just a moment later, as an untimely cheer rang out, Shi Wenbin instinctively turned sideways to look east. Even Wanyan Wushu couldn't help frowning and turning around, then flew into a rage again: \"Someone! Go ask Pulu Hun for me—I gave him my own personal guard, what the hell is he doing? How did he let the Song people pull down the outer palisade so quickly?!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>PS: On the first day of the new year, I wish everyone a happy New Year. Please, be sure to stay safe. Wash your hands often, go out less.\u003C\u002Fp>",1693,"2026-06-06T07:45:46.639Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","264ef4ce0839130df2b4b5984e89b1b9f6f24a0e772a9b52f49845cb6584c5b3","shao-song-chapter-76","shao-song-chapter-74",489,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fshao-song-cover.jpg"]