Chapter 520: Momentum Like a Mountain Collapse — Too Painful to Look Back

Yelu Deguang was actually a ruler of some caliber, though Zhang Zhao considered him a disgrace to the Taizong name.

But that benchmark was set against figures like Emperor Wen of Han, Emperor Taizong of Tang, and the Yongle Emperor of Ming.

If one lowered the standard a little, Yelu Deguang was still capable — his civil governance was not bad, and his political wisdom and ability were quite good.

Militarily he was passable too. For an emperor, daring to lead campaigns in person and being willing to lavish rewards on his brave warriors made him a qualified mounted sovereign.

However, the man had one great weakness: at critical moments, he could never rein in his wildly galloping mind.

For example, at Baituanwei Village, he took it for granted that the Jin army, besieged for days, was exhausted and weak.

So he ordered the iron cavalry of the Pishi Army to dismount and fight as infantry. The result was that the Jin army counterattacked, and he could only flee on a camel.

Another example: upon entering the Eastern Capital, one moment he had resolved to treat the people of the Central Plains well and govern with benevolence to win the Han people's recognition.

The next moment he assumed the Han had all submitted and would not dare resist, so he let the Khitan loose to raid for forage — and the result was uprisings everywhere.

And now, Yelu Deguang had placed the Han troops on the right wing of the great formation.

Guang-ge figured that since the troops had been separated from their officers and left leaderless, with Khitan officers commanding them and the Shushan Army supervising from behind, there should be no major problem.

Ha! If Guang-ge had understood even a little, he would not have taken all the soldiers and officers under heaven for shameless scoundrels like Shi Jingtang and Du Chongwei.

Nor do all soldiers and officers place wealth and power above everything else.

In this world, there are always some people who value dignity and living comfortably above all else.

Yelu Deguang assumed everyone would submit to authority, never imagining how — after he entered the Eastern Capital, no! even before he entered the Eastern Capital — he had humiliated these Later Jin soldiers and officers.

That humiliation could not be wiped away by simply rewarding them with a few strings of cash.

Outside Yanshi, the two sides had been locked in bitter combat for more than two double-hours.

The heavy infantry of the Yongliang Army had broken through several large square formations of the Khitan army several times, pressing the Liao infantry — composed mainly of Balhae and Xi people — back toward Yanshi.

The Khitan formation, originally roughly level, now had its center caved in.

On the two wings, the cavalry continued their tangled fighting.

The Liao cavalry outnumbered the Yongliang Army nearly two to one, and with the high-speed mobility of warhorses, no clear victor had emerged for the moment — though the Liao losses far exceeded those of the Yongliang Army.

The scales of victory were tilting toward the Yongliang Army, but not yet enough to make the Liao army collapse.

This was the peak of the traditional all-cold-weapons era, and warfare here differed greatly from what came before and after.

Before this era, due to limitations in productivity — especially mining and smelting capacity — the value of a single suit of iron armor could practically soar to the heavens.

Although the Han dynasty army had a roughly sixty percent armor-wearing rate, iron armor accounted for at most thirty percent, and Han iron armor simply could not compare with the lamellar armor of the Tang dynasty onward.

This created a situation where, in the Han dynasty, with little iron armor but many crossbows, battles were decided very quickly.

Often the main force would collapse soon after suffering heavy damage from massed crossbow volleys.

After the Song and Ming dynasties, firearms developed further, and the means of defeating armor became more varied.

Ming and Qing armies in particular mostly opened with musket and cannon fire, after which the side with the advantage simply surged forward.

But in this era, armor had developed to the peak of classical China, and new armor-piercing equipment like muskets and cannons had not yet appeared. Everyone went into battle fully armored like iron cans.

Even with blunt weapons, it was very difficult to beat an armored soldier into complete loss of fighting capacity — let alone when these armored soldiers fought in formation.

Many times, you could break through several of the enemy's formations, yet very few of the enemy's armored soldiers had actually died.

For an armored soldier to die on the battlefield in this era, he either had his foot hooked by a hook-scythe spear, or a noose around his head, and was dragged into the enemy formation.

Then several men would pin him down so he could not rise, and stab him in the face with a long dagger, or pry open the armor plates and stab him to death.

Or he was stabbed by a sharp weapon and bled out from continuous fighting, dying of excessive blood loss; or his internal organs were injured by blunt weapons and he died of internal bleeding.

Those truly killed outright — one cannot say there were none, but they accounted for at most ten percent. All these ways of dying were undoubtedly cruel and slow.

This was why, at the Battle of Xiangji Temple outside Chang'an, the government army and the rebels fought continuously for four double-hours, from dawn until dark.

It was also why, in the classical Chinese era, the standard for a brave warrior required ample fat reserves.

Because armored soldiers were simply too hard to kill; it often took continuous, prolonged fighting before victory or defeat was decided.

Soon it would be noon. Although it was already the ninth month, the weather had recently been unseasonably hot.

After fighting bitterly for a double-hour and a half with no victor, both sides chose to withdraw. The sound of gongs and zheng cymbals rang across the battlefield.

Yelu Deguang's expression was grim. The Khitan were truly unaccustomed to this kind of fighting, and any clear-eyed observer could see that if it continued, the entire army might well collapse.

The Yongliang Army's crossbows were deadly sharp. In this double-hour and a half of engagement, the Liao army had lost more than four thousand men, with at least ten thousand wounded — already at the very limit of limits.

They could not win! Yelu Deguang, who had still held hope before setting out, glanced at Yelu Wuzhi and said in a low voice, "Find a way to hold out until evening, then retreat north under cover of darkness tomorrow."

Yelu Wuzhi's head throbbed with pain at Yelu Deguang's refusal to give up until he saw the Yellow River.

In fact, he had long since arranged things with the Left and Right Pishi Armies and should have fled before dawn today, but Yelu Deguang had still wanted to gamble.

But now, after fighting bitterly for over a double-hour and suffering such heavy casualties, everyone was holding on by their last breath.

If they did not fight, morale would collapse and the troops would likely scatter. If they did fight, the whole army would likely collapse within a double-hour. How could they hold out until evening?

But this was no time for complaints. Yelu Wuzhi pretended to help Yelu Deguang to the rear to rest, and said with a grim expression:

"Your Majesty, the situation is urgent! We absolutely cannot hold until evening. I beg Your Majesty to return to the city now and make preparations. I will summon the Iron Hawk and Iron Falcon Armies to escort you, and we will retreat north immediately."

Yelu Deguang's face betrayed nothing, but his voice was already trembling.

"Can we only take the Iron Hawk and Iron Falcon Armies?"

Yelu Wuzhi turned his face slightly away, let out a long sigh in his heart, forcibly suppressed his rising displeasure, and said nothing — only nodded.

And he still thought that was too few! At this point, even those four thousand men of the Iron Falcon and Iron Hawk Armies might not all be brought back.

The Liao army's weakness was clear not only to Yelu Wuzhi, but also to Zhang Zhao, Fu Yanqing, and the others.

Zhang Zhao took advantage of the lull to summon Murong Xinzhang over.

However, he did not expect that Yelu Deguang might flee. Rather, he wanted to reduce casualties among his own brave warriors and defeat the Khitan more quickly.

Great King Zhang pointed at the Khitan right wing, where the surrendered Jin troops were gathered.

"Xinzhang, take the Left Yulin Army's main force, change into white robes, and the moment battle begins, charge straight at the Jin troops' position.

But do not attack. Instead, recruit them on the spot. You have long held prestige among the Jin troops; they will surely follow you."

As he spoke, Zhang Zhao summoned Zhe Deyuan over. "Take the Divine Machine Battalion and cover Xinchang. If the surrendered Jin troops don't know what's good for them, have the Divine Machine Battalion blast them."

The so-called Divine Machine Battalion was the Po Xi Army, now commanded by Zhe Deyuan — Zhang Zhao's final trump card.

After the two had received their orders and left, Zhang Zhao called Murong Yanzhao and Wang Shenqi over.

"You two, each take two thousand of your own men, all switched to pear-blossom spears. Watch for my signal flags, then cut off the Khitan army's retreat — don't let them fall back into the city."

Zhang Zhao intended to make the Khitans withdraw along a route he had prepared in advance — the Yinluo waterway — so that he could pursue downstream. But Great King Zhang had clearly underestimated the depths of Yelu Deguang's shamelessness.

Zhang Zhao hadn't realized it, but Fu Yanqing, Gao Xingzhou, An Shenqi, and the others had.

Why had they given up military power to become so-called "companions of the shared night guard" kept under watch at Yelu Deguang's side?

It was precisely so they could gather together openly and aboveboard!

Seeing how tactful they were, and that they had left their armies, Yelu Deguang was naturally too embarrassed to keep them under strict surveillance.

What Brother Guang hadn't counted on was that only An Shenqi among them was a bit old — Fu Yanqing, Gao Xingzhou, Yao Yuanfu, and the like were fierce generals in their own right!

Each man had brought only a dozen or two yabing guards, but those were the elite of tens of thousands of Jin troops. Gathered together, over a hundred such men were by no means a negligible force.

"It seems to me the Khitan ruler went back into Yanshi once, and when he came out again, his stature seemed a little shorter. Could he be planning to slip away with his elite troops before the battle?"

The old are shrewd and the seasoned are sharp. An Shenqi, who had himself disguised himself to flee on several occasions, had keenly sensed something was wrong.

Gao Xingzhou slowly walked to the side of his warhorse and, shielded by the horse, carefully studied Yelu Deguang beneath the yellow silk canopy. But the distance was too great, and he couldn't be certain.

"What the Grand Commandant says is highly likely. The Khitans are on the verge of collapse. If another force comes out of the city shortly and circles around to the right, that will basically confirm it."

Fu Yanqing nodded. Gao Xingzhou's analysis was correct.

The north gate of Yanshi led straight to Mount Mang, where the mountain roads were narrow and difficult. If he was going to flee, he could only leave through the south gate and then run.

And if Yelu Deguang was going to flee, he would surely need to bring some troops as an escort.

Yao Yuanfu directly dragged An Shuqian over. This old fellow had shamelessly flattered Yelu Deguang back in the Eastern Capital, but at this moment he was useful too, because the man could speak Khitan.

"Grand Guardian An, your life was saved by Prince Yong back in the day. Today is the day you repay that debt. Go over there and pay your respects to the Khitan ruler beneath the yellow silk canopy."

Yao Yuanfu said Zhang Zhao had saved An Shuqian's life because, back when Zhang Zhao first entered Guanzhong to suppress the rebellion, An Shuqian was the Military Governor of the Bin-Ning Jingnan Army.

At the time, he had been held hostage by He Chuan, Zhang Xiaoguo, and the others, and it was Zhang Zhao who smashed the rebels and saved his life.

But An Shuqian had been badly wounded and had spent the whole time recuperating in Chang'an, so he'd had little contact with Zhang Zhao.

"I... I shall go at once." An Shuqian gritted his teeth. A man like him could serve Yelu Deguang or Zhang Zhao equally well — all the more so given their past connection.

Besides, his family was all in the Eastern Capital. If he didn't switch sides now, once Zhang Zhao took the Eastern Capital, would he be spared?

"Gather your yabing guards! If the Khitan ruler really is going to flee, we'll latch onto him. Capturing Yelu Deguang and presenting him to Prince Yong would be a great deed — perhaps it could wash away our crime of relying on the Khitans."

Xue Huairang, who had barely spoken the whole time, said with some emotion. If only they hadn't thrown in with the damn Khitans in the first place.

Before long, An Shuqian came swaying over. The man was fat and large, with the look of a kindly old fellow, and he could speak Khitan, so the Khitan soldiers had the lowest guard against him.

With his back to the Khitans, An Shuqian reached out in front of him and shook his hand as if unconsciously. The surrendered generals all felt a chill in their hearts.

After An Shuqian hurried over, he deliberately raised his voice and called out to the group: "His Majesty is busy with military affairs. He instructs us to form raiding cavalry and look for an opportunity to strike the enemy."

So he really was going to flee! He wouldn't even grant An Shuqian an audience — had him turned back from a distance. Wasn't that a case of protesting too much?

The rumbling war drums sounded again. How long to rest? When to rest? Those were things controlled by the side with the advantage.

The Yongliang Army's cloth-faced iron armor had reached over thirty percent coverage. It was easy to wear and breathed well, and rest times had been shortened considerably.

The surrendered Jin troops were once again forced to the front lines by the Khitans, and this time it was different from the last.

Last time they hadn't been pushed to the very front, so most of the time they'd just been going through the motions — loosing arrows before fully drawing their bows, shouting and clamoring in the front ranks but never advancing.

But this time, driven by the Khitans behind them, they went forward.

And across from them, the Yongliang Army's Taba crossbowmen came on in linked formations, green armor and white leggings, steps in perfect unison, with the force to push over mountains and fill seas.

Han Tong led the dozen or so soldiers under his command, walking forward in silence.

Han Tong had originally been a member of the imperial guard of Kaifeng Prefecture in the Eastern Capital. After Yelu Deguang entered the Central Plains, Han Tong had been forced to follow his superior and become a surrendered soldier.

But the Khitans never treated them as human. Han Tong had several times thought of going over to Liu Zhiyuan, the Prince of Beiping Commandery in Hedong, because he was from Taiyuan and a fellow townsman of Liu Zhiyuan.

But unlike in history, because the Khitans faced the threat from Zhang Zhao and lacked troops, they kept the surrendered Jin troops under very strict watch, and quickly made up their rewards and provisions.

Moreover, Liu Zhiyuan had not openly raised his banner against the Khitans, so Han Tong had not left the Eastern Capital.

"Open your eyes! The Yong Army's Taba crossbowmen are the finest under heaven, and we're going up in rotten leather armor. This isn't going into battle — it's going to our deaths!"

Han Tong had a leopard's head and ringed eyes, the very image of a fierce Zhang Fei, which had earned him the nickname "Han the Goggle-Eyed." On top of being forthright and generous, he had read a few books and could write and do sums, so both his superiors and subordinates trusted him.

Han Tong glanced at his superior, Li Yun, the Chief Commander of the Lulong Army. This man was a brave warrior recruited by Zhao Yanshou after he entered the Central Plains.

But although he followed Zhao Yanshou, he had always despised the Khitans. And now that Zhao Yanshou had been stripped of his military authority by Yelu Deguang, Li Yun was even more dissatisfied.

Han Tong knew this, of course. Li Yun often vented his grievances about the Khitans with him, so Han Tong took a deep breath and said to Li Yun:

"Today, to serve as the tiger's lackey is death, and to drag our feet is death too. We are men of honor — how can we bow to barbarian slaves? Why not die for our country?"

Li Yun was overjoyed. "I knew you, Han the Goggle-Eyed, were a loyal and gallant hero. The Prince of Wei's eldest son is now in the Yong Army and greatly trusted. We should follow his example."

With that, Li Yun shot a look at the personal guard beside him, and the guard immediately began to dawdle deliberately, dragging his feet.

The officer of the Liao army's Shushan Army who was guarding them immediately ran up, drew his knife, and bellowed fiercely.

"You thieving Han dog, how dare you delay? Move up at once, or you'll taste my blade!"

Hearing this, Han Tong suddenly yanked a bone mace from his waist, and before the Liao officer could react, brought it down on the officer's head.

The Khitan officer hadn't expected Han Tong to dare strike at a moment like this, and was knocked flat to the ground. Beside him, Li Yun drew his long saber and cut down the several soldiers the officer had brought with him.

Han Tong stood atop the Khitan corpse and raised his arm, shouting, "All you officers and men, follow me and kill the northern barbarians, welcome Prince Yong — we're rebelling!"

The moment his words fell, the former Jin army officers whom Li Yun had already contacted also raised their arms and shouted with their personal followers.

In an instant, the entire battlefield was filled with roars of "Rebellion! Rebellion!"

The fury buried in their hearts was ignited at once!

These surrendered Jin troops had never believed they'd been defeated by the Khitans — they had been sold out by Du Chongwei and Li Shouzhen. Their resentment and contempt for the Khitans had reached its peak.

They were the most elite yabing guards of the Jin army. Instantly, the front ranks became the rear ranks, and they hacked down the Khitan military overseers around them, then clustered together in a bristling mass.

Li Jun even sent yabing guards running toward the Yong army's side, holding white clothes in their hands.

The Xiangwen of the Shushan Army was in fact also on guard against these surrendered Jin troops, so they were not thrown into too much panic.

These surrendered Jin troops were all infantry. The Shushan Army's armored cavalry was arrayed behind them, and immediately prepared to charge straight through and slaughter them.

Just at that moment, the sound of hoofbeats came from afar. Everyone fixed their eyes and saw a cavalry force of over a thousand men, all draped in white robes, charging straight out from the Yong army's great formation.

The man at the front wore white helmet, white armor, and a white robe. The white horse beneath him had four pitch-black hooves — it was none other than Murong Xinzhang's signature steed, Snow-Through-Dust.

This Murong Xinzhang had spent over a year in the Eastern Capital, and the names "Little Mengchang" and "Murong of the White Robe" had spread throughout the entire state of Jin.

At Shi Jingtang's funeral, it was again he who stepped forward in righteous aid, and all the heroes of the realm held him in reverence.

Now that Murong Xinzhang had suddenly appeared, all the surrendered Jin troops immediately felt as though they had found their backbone, and countless men roared out in frenzy.

"Murong of the White Robe has come! Murong of the White Robe has come!"

"Kill the northern caitiffs, and return to King Yong!"

"Kill every northern caitiff, and avenge our wrongs!"

The surrendered Jin troops, who had been huddled together preparing to defend to the death, immediately surged with soaring morale and followed Murong Xinzhang in a charge against the Shushan Army.

That white helmet and white armor were so conspicuous, it was as if they marked the direction of the attack.

Almost at the same moment, the south gate of Yanshi suddenly opened, and a cavalry force of several thousand men suddenly rode around the city, moving so quietly that many people did not even notice.

But the former Jin military governors who had been watching all along saw it. At once, with An Shuqian leading, over a hundred Jin troops suddenly roared.

"The Emperor is dead! The Emperor has been killed!"

Amid the shouting, Fu Yanqing, the finest archer among them, spurred his horse to the front and shot out directly, suddenly drawing his bow from over a hundred paces away and loosing three arrows in rapid succession.

The false Yelu Deguang beneath the yellow silk canopy was caught completely off guard and was actually knocked over.

The tense Liao army immediately erupted in uproar. Many men turned back to look — beneath the yellow silk canopy, there truly was no one there.

At this point An Shenqi, Gao Xingzhou, Gao Huaide, Yao Yuanfu, Xue Huairang, Pan Huan, and even Song Yanjun, who had earlier bent the knee, all moved out.

They did not go to intercept the Khitans leaving the city, but charged fiercely toward the place where the yellow silk canopy stood.

These men were all renowned warriors famous throughout the realm, and the yabing guards and yabing officers under their command were all experts forged over decades in the Central Plains, like venomous insects bred in a jar.

Though they numbered only a hundred and fifty riders, with such a lavish assembly, a single strike was swift as thunder and directly scattered the Khitans around the yellow silk canopy.

Gao Huaide leaped from his horse in a flying pounce, swung his great axe, and chopped down Yelu Deguang's yellow silk canopy.

Yao Yuanfu also loosed arrows like a string of beads, wounding three of the six white horses of Yelu Deguang's imperial carriage. The terrified horses dragged the six-horse carriage wildly about.

Only then did the Khitans truly panic. Those who did not know the truth really believed the Emperor had been killed, and countless men wailed and wept.

The Khitan words "The Emperor is dead! The Emperor is dead!" rang out across the fields.

The battlefield fell into utter chaos. The sixty thousand Khitan soldiers who had barely been holding formation collapsed at once.

Some wailed and threw themselves at Fu Yanqing, Gao Xingzhou, and the others, wanting to kill them for revenge, while others scattered across the battlefield.

An army of sixty thousand crumbled like a collapsing mountain, with fleeing figures everywhere.

"To hell with this! Yelu Deguang is about to run!" Zhang Zhao leaped to his feet.

"Send word to Yan Jin — he has full command. Li Cunhui, Fan Shun, Huang Yingda, Chen Tingxiao, Yang Jiye, you all come with me to chase the Khitan Emperor."

Fu Yanqing and the others, having chopped down the yellow silk canopy, naturally would not wait in place to be attacked by the enraged Khitans. They still wanted to capture the Khitan Emperor alive.

So these men mounted again and gave chase at full speed, crashing headlong into the rear of the Khitan force leaving the city.

The Khitans were all busy fleeing and had no heart for battle, their minds even more terrified.

Fu Yanqing, Gao Xingzhou, and the others fought with ever greater courage, and soon plunged deep into the Khitan ranks, charging left and right, constantly searching the chaotic army for any sign of Yelu Deguang.

Murong Xinzhang also saw the force leaving the city. Paying no more heed to the Shushan Army that had already been surrounded, he too gave fierce chase.

It must be said, these Khitans could truly run. The Iron Falcon and Iron Sparrowhawk armies guarding Yelu Deguang had barely donned any armor at all, and simply fled at full speed with two horses per man — far faster than the armored Fu Yanqing and Murong Xinzhang could move.

Cold sweat poured from Yelu Wuzhi's forehead. How had they been discovered the moment they left the city?

If this went on, how could they ever reach the Eastern Capital? He looked around anxiously and shouted, "Is there no loyal and brave subject here at this moment?"

Yelu Shila, the army supervisor of the Iron Falcon Army, gritted his teeth and said to Yelu Wuzhi, "I will hold the rear. Great Xiangwen, escort His Majesty north."

With that, he led several hundred cavalry under his command back to intercept the pursuit.

Downstream on the Yinluo River, at Xiaoyi Bridge. The ones guarding this bridge with three thousand men were none other than Zhao Yanshou and Yelu Chage. Zhao Kuangzan was leading several thousand cavalry there, fighting a father-son duel with Zhao Yanshou.

Zhao Kuangzan had bitterly urged Zhao Yanshou several times, but how could Zhao Yanshou still have a road back? Even if he surrendered, could Zhang Zhao tolerate him? He had instigated the great war between Jin and Liao — could the others tolerate him?

So the two sides remained locked in stalemate, until Zhao Kuangzan's scouts discovered several thousand cavalry charging toward them at full speed.

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