Chapter 76: Before the Battle (Part 1)

"Fourth Prince, I, Ali Bu, do not come back to report on my own commander's orders. Instead, I must first ask the Fourth Prince three questions!"

As the envoy sent by Jin Wushu hurried back, a mouke (centurion) and deputy general under Puluhun also arrived at the base of the command platform. This man rode a large horse, wore iron armor, carried a great bow, and had a leather faceguard covering his face, leaving only his eyes exposed. This outfit formed a stark contrast with Jin Wushu's disheveled, just-risen appearance. Upon arriving, he did not dismount but cupped his hands from afar and hailed in a muffled voice. "I wonder if the Fourth Prince is willing to listen?"

"Speak, and I'll hear it!" Wanyan Wushu stood up on the command platform, raised his chin slightly in a gesture, but his anger was clearly not yet abated.

"First question: Is it victory that the Fourth Prince wants?" the deputy general asked solemnly.

To this, Wanyan Wushu only gave a cold snort.

"Second question: Since you want victory, should we attack out?" the deputy general pressed on. "Since we must attack out, is cavalry better or infantry better? And in the current situation, we've been hastily blocked inside the camp, losing the initiative. How can cavalry attack out?"

At this, Wushu suddenly turned from anger to laughter.

"Third question: My commander says that next, he wants the soldiers to eat some dry rations, and then sit back and watch the Song army fill in the eastern moat for us, push down the inner low wall, and the last layer of large palisades. I wonder if the Fourth Prince will still want to send someone to ask then?" This Ali Bu, seeing that Jin Wushu understood and smiled, simply threw out the third question, then without waiting for a reply, hurriedly rode back.

Jin Wushu's face lit up with joy. He turned back and raised his chin at Shi Wenbin, questioning: "How about that? Aren't our Jurchen lads just as I said? Tell me the truth, among you Han, not just now but since ancient times, has there ever been a hero like Puluhun?"

Shi Wenbin had also been quite shaken, but upon hearing this, he clearly hesitated to speak.

"So there are some after all?" Jin Wushu was not angry, but sat back down and continued his meal.

"There are indeed, but he was a Sinicized Khitan general, the kind you could call a Han without issue," Shi Wenbin forced a smile. "But that was also a story from the Tang Dynasty. As soon as General Ali Bu spoke just now, I thought of it..."

"Never mind Khitan or Tang, just tell it."

"The current situation is quite similar to when the famous Tang general Li Guangbi was besieged by rebel forces during the An-Shi Rebellion..." Shi Wenbin spoke slowly. "Also outnumbered, also surrounded on all sides in the camp, also with the commander sitting on the command platform, while a general under him in charge of one side sat back and let the enemy attack without exerting force. Li Guangbi asked this man, and he also said to let the enemy fill in the moat and push down the palisades, so he could lead the troops out to attack!"

"Did it succeed?" Jin Wushu was slightly curious.

"It succeeded!" Shi Wenbin dared not delay and answered immediately. "But it was very risky. Because once that was done, the outcome of the battle hinged on whether that general could break out in one go, staking everything on a single thread. So in that battle, even Li Guangbi hesitated repeatedly and sent people to ask many times. But in the end, Li Guangbi trusted that general, and it succeeded..."

"Well then, if you Han could do it, we Jurchen can definitely do it!" Jin Wushu declared proudly. "And I am absolutely not as petty as that Li fellow... You just watch, today I will not send anyone to ask Puluhun again!"

"The Fourth Prince's boldness is extraordinary," Shi Wenbin said cautiously. "But Fourth Prince, since General Puluhun intends to open the gates and engage the enemy, there might be a melee that spills into the camp. Would you like to put on your armor and find your mount before finishing your meal, just in case?"

"Put on what armor? Guard against what 'just in case'? Even if there really is a mishap, how could the eastern camp not hold? Could the Song army actually fight their way here? Come, come, pour me some wine!" Jin Wushu dismissed it with contempt.

Shi Wenbin had no choice but to nod repeatedly and continue serving him wine.

As for Jin Wushu's arrogance, how much was genuine, long-cultivated pride and how much was a deliberate posture to calm his men, neither Shi Wenbin nor even this Fourth Prince of the Great Jin himself could say clearly.

But regardless, an obvious fact was that the battle had erupted suddenly. The vast majority of the Jin army had been roused directly from their beds, unable even to eat before hastily engaging, and they were under attack from all sides. At such a time, as the commander-in-chief, Jin Wushu could not possibly command with calm precision, directing his troops like his own arms and fingers... In reality, at this moment, he could only rely on his subordinate officers and let the core camps fight independently.

Of course, it was also true that the Jin army, long victorious, had high morale and firmly believed that if they held on, victory would be theirs, and they were not shaken by this.

And turning to the entire battlefield, facing a temporarily deadlocked situation, even the two highest Song commanders—Zhang Jun and Han Shizhong, who had received direct orders from His Majesty at the previous imperial council, with the understanding that behind the formations all would follow Commander Zhang's flag signals and before the formations all would follow Commander Han's deployment—seemed to have little effect.

Once the fighting began, Zhang Jun basically only sent out supervisory and record-keeping teams and did nothing else, simply letting the frontline generals fight on their own. As for Han Shizhong himself, though he was the actual instigator of this battle and was himself on the front line, he just rode his horse with a banner, leading thirty to fifty cavalry in circles around the Jin camp, without issuing a single order... until he saw this strange sight on the eastern side, and finally sent a personal cavalry guard carrying a command flag, heading towards the city wall of Xiacaicheng.

"Commander Han requests an order from the city to send reinforcements to the eastern side, to follow his commands!" The rider galloped directly into the city, dismounted, and then, holding the command flag, quickly ascended the city wall. He knelt on one knee and shouted with all his might.

"Preposterous!" Zhang Jun, after a moment's thought, flew into a rage. If His Majesty were not right beside him, he would have spewed out all sorts of curses. "In terms of troop strength, isn't the eastern side being handled by your Commander Han's trusted general, Wang Heilong (Wang Sheng's nickname), leading three thousand armored soldiers? That's not weak at all. Moreover, all the army's armored troops have been deployed. The only two reserve elite units are your Commander Han's one thousand Beiwei Army and one thousand Cuipian Army, which are currently resting behind the dike... I ask you, he has his own troops but won't use them. How can he ask me, who has nothing, for troops to support his own men? Is Wang Heilong so useless? If he's so useless, how did he manage to be the first to tear down the Jin army's outer palisade?"

"My commander said!" This rider, clearly having been instructed, looked up and retorted amidst the somewhat bewildered civil and military officials, showing no fear. "In a surprise attack, victory or defeat hinges on the time it takes to eat a meal. If we cannot win quickly, dragging it out will only waste effort, exhaust the three armies, and invite a Jin counterattack! Since an opportunity has appeared on the eastern side, the other fronts only need to hold. We should concentrate our efforts on the east..."

"You've talked for half a day, but have you explained why he won't use the reserve troops in his own hands, but instead asks for troops from other fronts where the fighting is fierce?" Zhang Jun grew angrier, wishing he could immediately order this soldier beheaded.

"My commander didn't say that..." Having finished his speech, the rider looked at the furious Grand Commandant Zhang and the group of high civil and military officials with pale, shifting expressions, and his spirit suddenly deflated.

Zhang Jun, exasperated, was about to drive this man off the city wall.

Ah, here we must take the opportunity to add a word.

At this time, things were still largely proceeding according to the plan Han Shizhong had set. Under Zhao Jiu's personal supervision, the Song army had gathered as many battle-capable men from various units as possible, allocated precious armor and weapons, and managed to assemble over twelve thousand armored soldiers... These were the truly effective fighting force of the Imperial Camp troops, which theoretically numbered as many as forty thousand on the Shouzhou battlefield, and in reality, including laborers, might have reached sixty thousand.

And to be honest, when it came to finally scraping together this number, even His Majesty himself didn't know whether to feel pity or relief.

So, these fewer than thirteen thousand armored soldiers were roughly deployed as follows: Qiao Zhongfu, Zhang Jing, Liu Bao, Hu Yantong, and Yang Yizhong led four thousand armored soldiers on the western side of the Jin camp, i.e., launching a frontal attack from the direction of Xiacaicheng. Tian Shizhong's troops and some of Zhang Jun's troops not classified as elite circled to the north to block the enemy as a feint, but were actually to quickly dig moats to prevent the enemy from breaking out with cavalry when besieging on three sides, which would cause massive Song casualties. On the western side, towards the Huai River, where troops could not be deployed in great numbers, Wang De's troops and Fu Qing's several hundred personal guards, who had volunteered for the battle, combined for two thousand armored soldiers. On the eastern side, Han Shizhong's central army general Wang Sheng led three thousand armored soldiers in the siege...

The only reserve force was the two thousand elite troops under Han Shizhong's direct command: one was his Beiwei Army, and the other was his Cuipian Army. The former were cavalry, but only seven to eight hundred strong, having just arrived from the south bank of the Huai River. The latter numbered over a thousand and were the Song army's strongest crossbow troops.

Therefore, what Zhang Jun said was quite reasonable, and many of the civil and military officials on the city wall who knew the general military situation nodded in agreement, or rather understood the Grand Commandant's anger.

But just then, someone suddenly spoke from behind, startling Zhang Boying: "Your subject, Imperial Censor Zhang Jun, requests that Your Majesty issue a clear edict, approving General Han's words... I saw with my own eyes just now that General Han's banner had already circled the Jin camp once. He is at the front line and must know the situation better than those on the city wall! At a time like this, one must trust those one employs!"

PS: Also...

The second day of the new year, continuing to wish everyone a happy New Year! By the way, the book should be officially published next month on the first. Just giving you a heads-up.