The Second Master of the Red Chamber

Chapter 913 Retreat
Just a few days after Jia Lian led his army to withdraw from Tamuzhai, Luo Jue Anchang and tens of thousands of Jurchen cavalry also approached the area.

Seeing the deserted camp, a leader who had a grudge against Xinmurshan immediately jumped out and accused him of lying about military intelligence.

Others, seeing the new Moorsan in dire straits, took advantage of his misfortune.

Xin Muershan ignored them completely, silently riding his horse to the side to look at the mountain of corpses.

As always, the Han army did not properly dispose of the Jurchen corpses, nor did they commit any acts of humiliation; they simply piled them up casually in a corner.

However, it was this very casualness that caused New Moore's heart to break.

The other surviving Jurchen cavalrymen of the Suk tribe rushed over one by one, embracing the corpses of their brothers with whom they had once drunk wine and eaten meat, and wept bitterly in grief.

Seeing this, those who had been mocking and complaining about the new Murshan gradually fell silent.

Luo Jue Anchang remained silent for a long time until the scouts he had sent out to investigate the Han army's movements returned and told him that they could not find any trace of the Han army. Only then did he ask the others what to do next.

Everyone knew that the Han army must have fled immediately after defeating Xin Muershan, giving them no chance to take revenge.

It should be noted that, in his anger, Luo Jue Anchang ordered the entire tribe's warriors to go into battle.

Therefore, apart from those who were truly impossible to gather, he had gathered almost 70% of the young and able-bodied men of the entire Wanyan tribe.

The number exceeds seven thousand.

The remaining tribes were those that had been attached to the Wanyan clan, as well as those that had been slaughtered and plundered along the way by Jia Lian and Feng Ziying's armies.

The total number of Jurchen cavalry had exceeded ten thousand, which was a terrifying number.

Just as Luo Jue Anchang was wondering where to chase after this damned Han army, a leader suddenly said, "Grand Prince, since these Han troops have already attacked the Suke and Wanyan tribes, is it possible that their next target is the Jiji and Mulunmu tribes?"
Furthermore, the Jiji and Mulunmu tribes have actually been attacked, but we haven't received any news about it yet.

This reminder caused the faces of the leaders, including Luo Jue Anchang, to darken.

It's not that I think his guess is far-fetched, but rather that I'm making a judgment based on his guess.

Then the strategic objective of these Han troops is obvious: do they want to completely annihilate the Jianzhou Jurchen people?
The fact that these Han soldiers have such a large appetite suggests that they are quite confident in their own strength.

From any perspective, this is clearly not good news for them.

These Jurchen leaders were beginning to regret following Luo Jue Anchang in launching the war against the Han army.

Previously, they would advance westward and southward, fighting on the territory of the Great Wei. With the advantage of cavalry, they could come and go freely and take full advantage of the situation.

Now that these Han troops have actually invaded their heartland and are so inhumanely massacring their people, how can they not feel fear?
How many people did the Jianzhou Jurchens have in total? If the Han army continued to kill them like this, they might really be close to extinction.

Therefore, we must not let the Han army succeed.

They must find this Han army as soon as possible and eliminate them.

After a brief rest, the Jurchen cavalry marched south, heading towards the Jiji and Mulunmu tribes.

As the Jurchens had guessed, Jia Lian had indeed arrived at the Jiji tribe and successfully joined forces with Cheng Xian.

Indeed, Cheng Xian's Chang'an army successfully completed its objective as planned, capturing the stronghold of the Jiji tribe's leader.

However, his losses were extremely heavy, with more than half of his troops lost.

However, Cheng Xian seemed quite satisfied with his performance.

After all, once the city was breached, he had already avenged his fallen soldiers with the heads of over a thousand Jurchens.

Given that he had less than a thousand troops left, Cheng Xian did not dare to be arrogant and stay in the Jiji tribe's stronghold waiting for other Jurchens to attack. Instead, he waited in the mountainous area more than a hundred miles south of the Jiji tribe's stronghold, as agreed beforehand.

This way, if a large number of Jurchens attack, he can retreat along the same route, or if all else fails, he can escape into the mountains and forests to save his life.

After setting up camp, he also sent scouts every day to keep an eye on the movements of the Jiji tribe's stronghold.

Therefore, when Jia Lian's army approached Ji Ji's territory, he received the news and took the initiative to go forward to pay his respects and report back.

Seeing him excitedly recount how he launched a night raid, how he directly defeated the defenses of hundreds of Jurchen soldiers, and how he killed more than a thousand Jurchen Tartars after breaking through the camp, Jia Lian praised him without reservation, saying, "You've worked hard."

"Serving the General is no hardship for me."

Cheng Xian smiled, then suddenly asked in a low voice, "I wonder if the General's trip went smoothly?"

Before entering the camp, Cheng Xian noticed that the number of Jia Lian's main force did not seem to have changed much.

But judging from their appearance, they didn't seem to have returned empty-handed, so I couldn't help but be curious.

Jia Lian laughed and said, "I was lucky to succeed."

Cheng Xian was greatly surprised: "The General has also wiped out the Suk tribe?"

"Ah."

Cheng hesitated for a moment, almost blurting out words of doubt and disbelief.

Fortunately, he held back and asked again, "Where is Commander Feng? According to the plan, shouldn't he have met up with the General first?"

"I was worried about your and Jiang Ji's safety, so I divided my troops on the way south and sent him to support Jiang Ji."

Although Jia Lian had not yet received Jiang Ji's request for help, he was concerned that Cheng Xian and Jiang Ji had the fewest troops, which were mostly infantry.

Therefore, not long after leaving Tamuzhai, he ordered Feng Ziying to lead 1,500 cavalrymen to the Mulunmu tribe, while he himself led the main force to the Jiji tribe.

Jia Lian breathed a sigh of relief when he discovered that Cheng Xian had not only escaped unscathed but had also successfully taken over the Jiji tribe.

As for losing half the troops...

This is also normal.

First of all, the equipment of the Chang'an army was inferior to that of his main firearms battalion.

Secondly, they were equipped with very few muskets, and in terms of proficiency in using muskets, they were all new recruits.

Therefore, successfully completing the objective is already a great achievement, and the battle losses are within an acceptable range.

Upon hearing that Feng Ziying had gone to support Jiang Ji, Cheng Xian immediately asked, "Did Commander Feng also successfully complete his mission and wipe out the Wanyan tribe?"

Seeing Jia Lian nod, Cheng Xian immediately became skeptical.

It should be noted that it took him a tremendous amount of effort to barely manage to take down the Jiji tribe, which ranked third.

The Wanyan and Suke tribes, which are stronger and have more people, will definitely be even more difficult to deal with.

As for Jia Lian, he's fine, since he's the commander-in-chief, not only is he renowned, but he also has the largest number of troops under his command, so it's normal for him to succeed.

But what is Feng Ziying?
An ordinary descendant of a military family was fortunate enough to be entrusted with an important task by Jia Lian: to launch a surprise attack on the Wanyan tribe from afar.

Even if Wanyan's tribe was caught off guard and he managed to launch a sneak attack, he himself would surely suffer heavy losses.

How could they possibly have the resources to support Jiang Ji?
Most importantly, he can understand if things go smoothly all the way, but he not only cannot understand but also cannot accept that both paths go smoothly, which makes his success seem less valuable.

"May I ask, General, how many heads has Commander Feng taken, and how many have been lost?"

Jia Lian looked at the middle-aged general in his forties with a sour expression, smiled, and replied, "Commander Feng has made great contributions on this mission, beheading more than 1,500 Jurchen youths and more than 2,000 other Jurchen heads."

As for their own losses, they were around four hundred.

"Absolutely impossible!"

Cheng replied with absolute certainty.

He leaned closer to Jia Lian and said, "General, don't be fooled by him. This kid is definitely exaggerating his achievements!"
Leaving aside whether the Wanyan tribe leader had 1,500 able-bodied men in his stronghold, even if he did, how could he possibly have suffered only 400 casualties with the troops he commanded?
"This kid's supposed to be from a military family, and he always looks so respectable, I never expected him to be so dishonest." Jia Lian chuckled, "Oh, really? Then when he gets back, I'll have to give him a good interrogation."

There were definitely not 1,500 able-bodied men in the stronghold of the Wanyan tribe leader.

This includes Feng Ziying's achievements along the way, especially when he supported the ambush of Su Ke's main force.

Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to say that Feng Ziying's troops beheaded 1,500 people.

Seeing that Jia Lian believed him, Cheng Xian felt somewhat relieved.

He despised these acts of falsely reporting military achievements!
After all, he always reported honestly. He couldn't afford to be dishonest.

Jia Lian is currently stationed in the Jiji tribe's stronghold. He can find out how many bandit leaders are in the stronghold by having his men take a count.

"Alright, we can continue our idle chatter later."

You go back first and order the main army to turn back along the original route, serving as the vanguard.

After resting for two hours, my troops will immediately break camp and head south.

Cheng Xian was taken aback. He had just been planning to bring his troops over to rest and recuperate at Jiji’s headquarters.

He was worried about being surrounded with only a few hundred men before, but now that Jia Lian's main force has arrived, he naturally has no such worries.

Unexpectedly, Jia Lian was in such a hurry to leave.

"Why is the General in such a hurry? Aren't we waiting for Jiang Ji and Commander Feng?"

"We can't wait any longer. The Jurchens have suffered too great a loss this time, and they will surely pursue us relentlessly."

Therefore, we must act swiftly and return to the other side of the Gulf as soon as possible.

According to Jia Lian's deduction, he not only slaughtered several large tribes led by the Jurchens, but also defeated the main force of the Suk tribe. These actions must have driven the entire Jurchens into a frenzy.

Under such circumstances, it would be unwise to continue staying in Jianzhou.

Even if we wanted to launch an ambush, the risk would be too great.

Take the ambush at Tamuzhai as an example. If the main force of Suke's tribe had not been eager for revenge, even if he and Feng Ziying had won, it would have been difficult to achieve such a result.

However, this ambush can only be carried out once.

If he continues to stay in Tamuzhai, he is likely to be surrounded by large numbers of Jurchen cavalry from both the front and the rear.

At that point, he really would have no choice but to go into the mountains and live like a wild man.

This is also why he knew when to quit while he was ahead and immediately abandoned Tamuzhai.

And it is the same today.

Now that the Jiji tribe has been defeated, there is no need to stay here any longer.

He had a premonition that a large number of Jurchen cavalry were chasing him, and he had to get back to the bay where he landed as soon as possible.

There, he left more than two thousand soldiers to build fortifications day and night.

His thinking was simple: it would be better if the Jurchens didn't pursue them.

As long as they dare to pursue, he wouldn't mind following Tamuta's example and launching another fierce defensive battle on the other side of the bay, using fortifications and artillery.

If possible, the cannons on the hundreds of giant ships on the sea could even be used.

Like Tamuzhai, the initiative to fight or not to fight rested entirely with him.

Tamuzhai is situated between two mountains, allowing him to withdraw his troops from the rear at any time.

Landing in the bay was another story altogether; with a hundred warships, he could easily evacuate with his troops and spoils at any time.

Once the Jurchens retreat, or if he simply changes his landing point, he can still march back onto Jurchen territory...

Therefore, as long as he retreats to the other side of the bay, he will be invincible.

……

In the valley west of Mulunmu Village, Jiang Ji's situation was truly miserable.

Those damned Jurchens really wanted to trap him here and kill him.

Fortunately, he had plundered a lot of cattle and sheep along the way, dried them and used them as military rations. In addition, the total number of soldiers was already less than a thousand, so they could barely last for ten more days.

Although the army was not short of food for the time being, they could only wait to die without water.

Over the course of several days, the two armies had engaged in seven or eight small-scale battles involving water collection, ambushes, and counter-ambushes.

Overall, the Han army definitely suffered a loss.

After all, they needed to fetch water, while the Jurchens only needed to focus on obstructing and ambushing them.

Fortunately, the Jurchens' military strength was not superior, and might even be inferior, which led to the stalemate.

However, Jiang Ji also knew that if things continued like this, even if he wasn't trapped to death, the enemy would wear down his troops.

In the end, all that awaits him is defeat and destruction.

Just as Jiang Ji made up his mind to wait three more days, and if reinforcements still hadn't arrived, he would take advantage of the troops' remaining strength to rush out of the valley and fight the Jurchens to the death, he suddenly heard a report from his subordinates: "General, the Jurchens have retreated!"

"Really?"

"It's true, the men saw it clearly, they really did leave, and they seemed to be in a hurry."

How could this be? Could it be a trap to lure our troops out of the way?
Jiang Ji was suspicious for a moment, but he immediately sent out a large number of scouts to find out the truth.

Soon after, a scout reported: "General, a large number of our cavalry have appeared outside Mulunmu Fortress and appear to be attacking the fortress."

The Jurchen cavalry that besieged us are on their way to our rescue.

Jiang Ji was stunned for a moment, then overjoyed: "It's the General! The General has come to save me!"

Jiang Ji was instantly energized and his whole body became radiant.

He immediately mounted one of the two remaining warhorses in the entire army, which he had seized from his subordinates, and commanded, "The whole army, follow me into battle! Cooperate with the General to capture Mulunmu Fortress and slaughter all these Jurchens!"

"Roar! Roar!"

Hundreds of soldiers roared in fury, all clad in armor and armed with weapons, and followed Jiang Ji out of the valley that had trapped them for several days.

However, when they finally reached the outside of Mulunmu Fortress, they found that the battle had already ended.

It turned out that the Jurchens had dispatched almost all of their elite troops in order to starve Jiang Ji, leaving the Mulunmu Fortress more vulnerable than ever before.

By the time they learned of the attack on the fortress and led their troops back to its aid, the fortress had already fallen.

After a brief exchange, realizing they were outmatched, the remaining Jurchen cavalrymen fled.

A general in white robes and golden armor rode out slowly from the city gate. Looking at the disheveled middle-aged general, he smiled and said:

"Vice General Jiang, it's been a long time."

Jiang Ji was stunned and remained silent.

(End of this chapter)