The Second Master of the Red Chamber

Chapter 922 The Alliance of Blackhill Mountain (Part 1)

After driving away the Jurchen messenger, all the generals looked at Jia Lian.

"Does the General truly intend to accept the Jurchens' pleas for peace?"

"The Jurchens are the most cunning. I wonder if this peace offer is a trick of theirs."

People reacted differently to the Jurchens' offer of peace.

Zhang Leng was the one who explicitly opposed this and believed that the opportunity should be seized to wipe out the Jurchens in one fell swoop.

Firstly, he had been stationed in Liaodong for many years and had witnessed too much of the Jurchens' cruelty and evil deeds, so he had an extremely negative feeling towards them.

This is also why he was able to say that Jurchen women wasted food and suggested killing them all to feed the fish.

Secondly, as the commander-in-chief of Youliao, his main concern was the Jurchens, and he had fought against them many times over the years.

However, this time the Jurchens suddenly invaded the south and launched a surprise attack on Prince Shui Rong of Beijing, who was on a royal inspection tour.

Upon learning the news, he hurriedly led his troops to the rescue, but they were no match for him and had no choice but to be trapped in Liaocheng with Shui Rong.

Therefore, whether from the perspective of national interests or his own feelings, he really wanted to exterminate the Jurchens.

This is also why he highly approves of Jia Lian's plan to wipe out the entire regime and why he gladly led his troops to cooperate with Jia Lian's operation.

Of course, people like Zhang Leng who were extremely hostile to the Jurchens were a minority; most others were seriously calculating their gains and losses.

Finally, Jia Lian listened to everyone's opinions and made the decision: "Since the Jurchens are willing to talk, then I will have a good talk with them."

If they try to play tricks, we'll play along.

Zhang Leng and Jia Yu obeyed.

"Your humble servant is here."

"You two are hereby ordered to return to the main camp immediately and lead the army to continue eastward. Within three days, set up camp within fifty li northwest of Black Hill Mountain and await further instructions."

"As the General commands."

Jia Lian was not a person who liked war.

The battlefield was merely a stepping stone for his rapid advancement.

Why fight to the death when problems can be resolved through negotiation?
After all, the Jurchen people could not be completely wiped out.

Even if he could wipe out the Jianzhou Jurchens, there would still be the Haixi Jurchens and even the Wild Jurchens, who were further away.

In this vast land east and north of Liaodong, the Han people looked down on it, and no one would be willing to come to this freezing place to live.

Similarly, this vast mountainous region also became a natural barrier and habitat for the Jurchen people.

Since we can't kill them all, we might as well drive them further away, further shrink their living space, and restrict their living environment.

Well, it would be best to send them to Siberia to grow potatoes...

Let them run into the eastward-expanding Russians.

He was also curious whether the Russian bear, known as a fighting nation, was more powerful, or the wild boar, which is naturally adept at fighting, was more powerful.

……

To prevent the Jurchens from playing tricks, Jia Lian ordered his army to advance towards the Black Hill Mountain line.

However, judging from the information gathered by the scouts, the Jurchens did not seem to intend to play tricks.

No unusual activity by the Jianzhou Jurchens was detected along the Black Hill Mountain line.

However, this repeated and careful investigation made it clear that there were indeed problems within the Jurchens.

It seems that many tribal leaders have led their remaining troops away, and only a few thousand Jurchen cavalry are still stationed on the original defensive line, as if they are ready to turn on the Han army at any time.

The appointed day arrived quickly.

Jia Lian led nearly a thousand cavalrymen to Black Hill Mountain.

Black Hill is just a small hill, not covered with lush vegetation, but with a type of rock that is jet black, hence its name.

Because both sides had a basis of distrust, after agreeing on a meeting place, both sides sent people to scout the location repeatedly. They even built a simple thatched hut on the mountaintop as a place for the talks.

Jia Lian finally met the chief prince of the Jurchens—a sprightly old man in his sixties with a long beard.

Compared to Jia Lian, Luo Jue Anchang was clearly more surprised.

Although the reports had long stated that the Duke of Rongguo of the Great Wei, the General Who Pacifies Liaodong appointed by the Wei court, was a young man.

However, the shock level is different between rumors and seeing it with one's own eyes.

Looking at Jia Lian, a handsome young man with a clean-shaven face who bore a striking resemblance to the most despised young man in the tribe, Luo Jue'anchang could not reconcile this young general with the Wei Kingdom's Great General Pingliao, who had repeatedly caused losses to the brave warriors of various tribes and had even crippled the nearly 20,000 tribal warriors he had gathered in a single battle.

Is this calm-faced young man, whose slight smile is even as pleasant as a gentle breeze, really the demon who devised a brilliant plan to raid the strongholds of the four major tribes and inhumanely ordered the massacre of those strongholds?
Forcibly suppressing these thoughts, Luo Jue'anchang, who had arrived earlier, stood up and gave Jia Lian a warrior's salute, saying in Chinese:

"Welcome, General, for your arrival as promised. I, Luo Jue Anchang, am deeply honored."

Jia Lian was a little surprised; he hadn't expected the old man to speak Mandarin.

Although he spoke very haltingly.

It seems he guessed right. This old man has indeed harbored ill intentions for a long time. Otherwise, why would he learn my Han language?

But this is good, as it saves both sides from having to have someone translate every single sentence.

Adhering to diplomatic etiquette, the two exchanged a few polite words, entered the pavilion, and sat facing each other.

Then Jia Lian said directly, "Let's not talk about anything else for now. Since it was the Grand Prince who invited me here to discuss military matters, the Grand Prince should already know my requirements."

I reiterate that my demand remains unchanged and cannot be changed.

Jia Lian certainly wouldn't be too polite to Luo Jue and Anchang.

If he's right, most of the old man's sons, grandsons, and even some of his old lovers have probably died at the hands of Feng Ziying and Liu Xianglian.

If possible, the other party would definitely not mind tearing his tendons out and skinning him alive.

Faced with Jia Lian's tough stance, Luo Jue'anchang couldn't help but show a troubled expression, and hesitantly asked, "May I ask, General, what exactly does this unconditional surrender mean?"

Jia Lian said calmly, "It means that you must give up all your interests, unconditionally obey our orders and commands, and refrain from any further resistance."

Upon hearing Jia Lian's words, the generals and guards standing behind Luo Jue and An Chang became indignant, glaring at Jia Lian with murderous eyes.

Luo Jue Anchang also looked grim and said, "Aren't these conditions too harsh? You must know that our army is not without the ability to fight!"
At worst, we can unite with the Tatars or even the Koreans.

Your Han army is not the only dominant force in Liaodong.

In response to Luo Jue Anchang's words, Jia Lian scoffed: "First of all, the Tatars you mentioned were already driven to the northern deserts during the reign of our founding emperor, where they lived a life of displacement and barely surviving."

After years of recuperation, they have recovered to some extent and even dared to extend their reach to the southern desert once again.

But that's just because our Great Wei is so vast and rich that we look down on those harsh and cold lands beyond the Great Wall.

If they dare to cross the line, our Great Wei will make them pay a heavy price.

Three years ago, the Tatars invaded the borders of our Great Wei. Our dynasty took swift action, dispatching troops in five routes, totaling 100,000 men, to sever their long-standing influence in the southern desert and drive them back to the northern desert, where they dared not advance any further south.

Otherwise, why do you think that since you conspired with the Tatars to invade Liaodong, the Tatars ultimately remained inactive?

Is it just so I can see you make a fool of yourselves?

No, it's not that they won't send troops, it's that they dare not send troops.

In diplomacy, you have to portray yourself as incredibly powerful so that any troublemakers will think twice before they try to cause trouble.

Although Luo Jue Anchang was fully aware of this, it did not prevent him from thinking about it seriously.

Could it be that the Tatars are truly strong on the outside but weak on the inside, and that they are afraid of the Wei army, which is why they broke their promise and refused to send troops?

"As for tiny North Korea, needless to say."

"If you wish, I can send someone to summon the King of Joseon right now and ask him if he dares to oppose my Great Wei."

Jia Lian's words were, of course, half boasting and half serious.

After all, the King of Joseon was appointed by the Emperor of Wei, and his status was higher than his.

Logically, he certainly had no right to summon the King of Joseon.

Of course, even if Emperor Ningkang summoned him, the King of Joseon could easily refuse to come.

After all, it was just a vassal state, not a vassal state.

However, after the new warships and naval cannons began to take shape, Jia Lian genuinely wanted to take over the Korean Peninsula.

No one understood better than him how important this peninsula was to China's future strategy. He thought that if the Korean king disobeyed, he could then justifiably send troops to destroy the current Korean state and turn the now independent Korea into a true vassal state.

Luo Jue Anchang did not refute Jia Lian.

Based on his understanding of Koreans, and after witnessing Jia Lian's fleet that resembled a mountain range at sea, he really didn't think the current King of Korea would dare to challenge Jia Lian.

Putting everything else aside, just look at those ships; they could easily carry tens of thousands of Han soldiers, right?

If you squeeze in, you could probably fit an army of 100,000.

If this were given to North Korea, wouldn't the King of North Korea be trembling with fear?
Luo Jue Anchang never doubted the strength of the Han army.

He hadn't expected the Tatars and Korea to save him, otherwise he wouldn't have taken the initiative to seek peace talks with his enemy, Jia Lian.

He was actually very regretful, never expecting to suffer such a great loss at the hands of the Han army.

He never expected that the price he would pay for his loss would be so high.

The Gulf War truly shattered the "unity" within the Jianzhou Jurchens.

I still remember when they first marched south to Liaodong of the Great Wei, the Jianzhou Jurchen army left nothing but desolation wherever they went.

All the Han people who saw them regarded them as demons.

He was also very generous, distributing all the spoils of the plunder to the tribal leaders according to their contributions, in order to win their hearts and minds.

How powerful he was back then?

All tribal chiefs, whether they submit or not, must address him respectfully as Grand Prince, or even Lord Grand Prince.

Even though the siege of Liaocheng had been ineffective for several months, the internal unity remained strong.

Because while they were trapping the Han army in the city, they were also constantly seizing territory and resources in Liaodong.

The turning point came the moment news of the attack on the Suk tribe's chieftain's stronghold arrived.

He realized there was a big problem from the moment Xin Muershan ignored his good advice and led his troops away on his own.

That means they are a group of people who can only share wealth and prosperity, but not hardship!

He wanted to avoid the worst-case scenario. Therefore, while withdrawing his troops from Liaocheng, he actively contacted other leaders and explained the advantages and disadvantages to them.

Through his efforts, he successfully mustered nearly 20,000 cavalry in the shortest possible time, and they were determined to eradicate Jia Lian's intractable disease.

He had a clear plan: as long as he could successfully eliminate Jia Lian...

In that case, not only would there be no problems within the alliance, but the fact that Jia Lian indiscriminately slaughtered their people would even unite the various tribes in hatred against the common enemy, making them closely united around this wise and mighty chief prince.

By then, even if some people disagree with him, their respective tribes will not agree under his powerful prestige.

In this way, he could naturally realize his dream of unifying the Jianzhou Jurchen and truly standing on equal footing with the Wei Kingdom.

Of course, the result was cruel.

He failed to eliminate Jia Lian.

They even made a mistake and almost suffered total annihilation.

The consequences were also quite terrible.

Apart from tribes like the Suk tribe, where all their warriors perished, the situation is far from optimistic for other tribes, large and small.

After the defeat, many people left without even saying goodbye.

Luo Jue Anchang can understand this very well.

For many chieftains, their personal guards were the foundation and source of their power to rule their tribes.

Now that their foundation has been destroyed, it's uncertain whether they can even maintain their leadership positions. How could they possibly have the mind to play around with the Han army here?
Besides, it's not like we're just playing around.

In light of this situation, Luo Jue Anchang made a decisive decision to immediately retreat his troops to prevent the Han army from pursuing him and encircling him.

Perhaps the only thing to be thankful for is that, because he was the strongest and had the most troops under his command, he was responsible for the frontal attack that put pressure on the Han army.

Therefore, his losses were actually relatively small.

Perhaps for this reason, several leaders who used to obey him have now begun to have reservations about him.

They believe he did it on purpose.

Heaven have mercy! No matter how shameless Luo Jue Anchang is, he would never give away the lives of tens of thousands of Jurchen warriors to the Han army for nothing.

In short, there is no longer any trust among the tribes.

If the negotiations fail, he will only have two options.

They could either lead their own troops to continue fighting Jia Lian to the end, or preserve their strength, disregard the fate of other tribes, and lead their troops to flee.

Neither of these situations is optimistic.

The probability of winning by continuing to fight Jia Lian is too low.

If the fate of other tribes were ignored, the Jurchen people might truly be doomed.

Judging from the previous actions of these Han soldiers, they clearly have no intention of showing any mercy to their people.

Therefore, when faced with Jia Lian's clamor to have the King of Korea pay him a visit, Luo Jue'anchang did not refute him, but pretended to ponder for a long time before saying in a deep voice:

"Does the General really have no intention of giving us a way out, and insist on fighting to the death with our army?"
As far as I know, your Wei court is not stable right now either; your emperor seems to have just seized power from the old emperor.

I don't believe that the Tatars would really remain unmoved under these circumstances.

Once your court is beset by internal and external troubles, how much support can you get for your war in Liaodong?
Without the support of the imperial court behind you, you would not be able to gain much advantage from our army if you ventured deep into enemy territory alone.

Don't forget, our army is all cavalry. As long as I don't engage you in direct combat, your cannons and muskets will have no chance of hitting me; it's a pipe dream.

Jia Lian raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. He roughly understood that the old man's implication was that he was trying to play a guerrilla game with him.

That's true. In this land of white mountains and black waters, if the Jurchen cavalry ignore their own fortresses and camps and focus solely on raids, it will indeed be very difficult for them to capture the enemy's main force.

It's likely that, much like the Japanese invasion of China, after the initial victory, progress will become increasingly difficult.

Moreover, the old man was right about one thing: the imperial court is indeed currently unable to support him in waging a protracted war.

He now has ample supplies because he procured a large amount of grain from Tianjin and also plundered Jianzhou.

However, if the fighting continues, the already barren land of Jianzhou will not be able to supply his tens of thousands of troops, and he will indeed be in a dilemma.

Perhaps this is why emperors throughout history have never had a good solution for dealing with the Jurchens.

They're so poor, so poor that hitting them would be a loss for them.

Like Luo Jue Anchang, he knew his own shortcomings but could not tell the other party.

Jia Lian remained nonchalant, laughing, "Even if the fish dies, the net may not break."

Even if your cavalry really want to run away, I certainly can't catch you.

However, there is an old saying among us Han people: "You can run away from the monk, but you can't run away from the temple."

I refuse to believe that all of you Jurchens are cavalrymen and can escape our army's pursuit.

Just like when I conquered the strongholds of your four tribes, all I need to do is lead my army and fight my way through.

If once isn't enough, try twice. I don't believe there are many Jianzhou Jurchens, enough for my tens of thousands of troops to slaughter.

"Once you run out of people and women, you'll extinct on your own without me having to look for you."

Luo Jue'an narrowed his eyes; this was what made Jia Lian so terrifying.

He seemed to lack the demeanor of the Han Chinese leaders he had previously encountered, and was quick to threaten the extinction of his race.

But he wasn't just talking; his previous actions proved that he truly harbored the intention to destroy the Jurchen people!
At that moment, he really wanted to risk his life and order his guards to rush over and kill this man.

Ultimately, he couldn't.

He sighed inwardly and slowly said, "Then I wonder how the General intends to settle us?"

His words indicated that he had backed down and tacitly agreed to the condition of "unconditional surrender".

His generals and guards all looked incredulous. If Luo Jue Anchang hadn't repeatedly told them before they came, and if he hadn't been known as a wise man in the clan, they would have wanted to overturn the table.

A smile appeared on Jia Lian's face.

After nodding, he beckoned to Zhao Sheng behind him, ordering him to bring up the map that had been prepared in advance.

(End of this chapter)