Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

Next to the Haidongqing flag, the Jurchen flag with Wanyan's name on it fluttered in the wind.

Black smoke rose up. Wanyan Sheng watched the attack and defense on the city wall, listened to the information sent by the cavalry, and roughly estimated the manpower on the wall. This was something he learned from his brother Wanyan Aguda and several sieges, and he could usually get the estimate pretty close.

The number of people guarding this city wall should be between two thousand and three thousand. If the ratio in the army is taken into consideration, there should be at least fifteen hundred or eighteen hundred swordmen and shieldmen and spearmen. The number of archers should be between five hundred and six hundred depending on the thickness of the rain of arrows.

As for the investigation on the other walls, it was obvious that the enemy had made adjustments. Whenever anyone got close, they would rain arrows. Except for the sword and shield soldiers who were providing cover on the top of the city walls, the rest of the people did not even show their faces and were extremely cautious.

On the city wall, the silver-armored general was sliding down the wooden ladder quickly. Several soldiers who failed to dodge were washed down the ladder. Wanyan Sheng seemed to feel the difficulty of the siege ahead, and raised his hand to call the cavalry: "Pass the order, sound the horn to retreat!"

"Anban Bojilie, we have already captured the top of the city once. Should we let Wanyan Yinshu and the others try again?" A low voice of the general came from the rear.

"No need." Wanyan Sheng shook his head and tapped his palm with his whip. "Today we are just testing the waters. The defenders of this city are cautious and their soldiers are very strong. Until now, our army has not been able to attack them. Further attacks will be fruitless. Inform the army to set up camp ten miles ahead."

The general in the rear was startled and stepped forward: "Anban Bo is so fierce, why is this happening?"

Wanyan Sheng picked up his whip and pointed forward: "The location of Shuangzhou City connects East Liao and West Liao, and Yinzhou. If we can't get rid of it, it will eventually bring trouble to the other two routes."

Dangdangdang——

The sound of the gong echoed in the air.

"Set up camp ten miles ahead and press down on their city so that they have no time to worry about other things. We can wait for the armies on both sides to break through their city..." Wanyan Sheng paused and retracted his hand: "Of course, it would be best if we can capture this city. But right now, the defenders in this city are not just two or three thousand. The other three walls may have the same number of soldiers. There are nearly ten thousand people in a city. If all of them are like the ones on this wall, it will be disadvantageous for us to attack the city."

After years of fighting with the Liao army, Wanyan Sheng now encountered a tough problem, which made him feel an indescribable feeling in his heart. He only had 20,000 troops and felt that he could not conquer the Liao army.

"Go back and build siege equipment, and then attack again. Haha... they are much better than those useless ones of Liao. No wonder they were able to seize the southern territory."

Wanyan Sheng narrowed his eyes and looked at the retreating vanguard soldiers. He snorted coldly and then reined in his horse: "Go!"

……

"Return?"

Watching the Jin army retreat, Bian Xiang touched his chin in confusion. The soldiers of Lu Bu's army on the city wall were also puzzled. It was very rare for the enemy to retreat after only fighting for more than half an hour.

Qin Ming tidied up Fang Qiong's body with some sadness and called the soldiers to carry him away. The two had been partners for quite a while. He himself was a careless person and relied entirely on his deputy general for help. Now he was gone like this.

Lu Zhishen walked over. The section of the city on his side was also under heavy attack. The Jurchen general on the opposite side tried to attack the top of the city wall several times, but was forced back by him and Su Yi. It was easier than Qin Ming's situation. Seeing Qin Ming's grief and indignation, he was speechless. He just patted Pilihuo's shoulder without saying anything. He just shook his head, took out his rosary and chanted "Amitabha." Then he watched the soldiers carry the man away.

The sky was bright and clear. Bian Xiang, wearing a horn helmet, watched the retreating Jin army. After confirming that they were really retreating, he hurried to the provincial government office under the city and called Han Qinghe, Ma Ling and Xiao Haili to discuss the matter together. He sent out scouts to investigate outside and ordered express horses to report the battle situation to Lu Bu and Xi Sheng.

After ten o'clock in the afternoon, a scout came back to report that the Jin army had set up camp ten miles ahead.

Several people looked at each other.

……

Farther west, dust and smoke rolled up into the sky under the weight of countless iron hooves.

The cavalry was galloping wildly across the field. The bright sunlight was obstructed by the rising smoke and dust. The general on horseback raised his hand and shouted, "Stop, take a rest." The herald horn sounded briefly.

The roar of horse hooves was weakening, and the smoke and dust that filled the field of vision slowly fell. A large flag with the word "Du" written on it appeared. Du Fu, who was wearing military uniform, got off his horse and let the horse nibble on the tender green grass on the roadside. He stood with his hands on his waist for a while and called Feng Tai and Niu Gao over.

"The Jin soldiers had several conflicts with us in Liaozhou before, and I don't know what's going on during this period. I hope the war hasn't officially started yet. I heard that these Jin barbarians are very good at fighting. Don't let anything go wrong with Xi Sheng."

"General..." Feng Tai took off his helmet and wiped the sweat off his head. "I heard that the general has the most Jin troops. I wonder if he needs our support."

"Not now." Du Fu waved his hand, motioning the two to go to the side where the war horses were, took out the geomancy map and opened it: "The general has sent an order earlier to repel the Jin soldiers in Liaozhou first, and he has his own arrangements."

Niu Gao looked up at Du Fu and said, "No wonder the General Zhonglang and his men took over the defense of Shuangzhou and headed west. However, there are also Jin soldiers coming from the direction of Shuangzhou. We are leaving now..."

Snapped--

Feng Tai slapped Niu Gao on the shoulder, causing the black man to gasp for air. He heard Feng Tai's voice: "What are you worrying about? Shuangzhou now has soldiers and generals. You should be worried about our 1,500 people."

Niu Gao slapped him with his backhand, not even looking at his companion who was in pain and changed color: "I have reason to be worried. After all, I have been stationed in Shuangzhou for a period of time. I am not as heartless as you and I am not in a hurry for anything."

Du Fu watched the two men slapping each other without stopping them, but just chuckled: "Okay, now the most important thing is to contact Xi Sheng. Although we only have 1,500 cavalry, if we find the right opportunity, we can catch him off guard. Also, we need to send more scouts out to find out where the Jin army is, how many people there are, who the leading general is, and if possible, find the place where he is storing food."

He pointed at a river on the feng shui map and said, "Also, Wang De will come from here to support us. Don't be too embarrassed to pass on any information when the time comes."

Feng Tai rubbed his shoulders and muttered, "Shouldn't Xi Sheng and Yuan Lang be the ones telling us this..."

"So much talk, take a rest quickly and then continue on your journey."

Du Fu folded the geomancy map and hit Feng Tai on the head to make the ugly man shut up. After some time had passed, he mounted his horse and continued along the road with the cavalry. It was not easy to find the enemy in the vast plains of Liaodong. It would take a lot of time. However, for them, it was also a matter of racing against time. After all, the first conflict of the Jin army's southward march would be with Liaozhou.

They traveled a hundred miles, the sky darkened and then brightened again. When the golden sun pierced the sky in the east, a cavalry scout came running in front of them and reported, "Fourteen miles northwest, after passing this forest, we found an army fighting. The flag is from General Xi. The enemy has about 20,000 men and is besieging their fort. The general leading the troops is Wanyan."

Found it...

Du Fu clapped his hands hard with his whip and waved: "Let them continue to attack. We will go around and surprise the Jin army from the rear."

The next moment, the horses' hooves began to move, trying to maintain a uniform marching speed, running a long distance towards the north. After seven or eight miles, they suddenly turned southwest. At this time, the sky was hanging in the clouds and they came to the edge of a forest. Looking into the distance through the woods, they could vaguely see black spots moving.

……

In front of the fort, there were loud shouts and cries of killing. The Jin soldiers in earth-colored clothes bravely attacked the gate of the fort. The two sides collided and fought back and forth on this wide ground, and people were constantly bleeding on the spot.

The Jin army was good at field battles and mountain warfare, but they were not so good at fighting on this kind of battlefield. However, they were extremely brave in a real fight. The resilience of the black-clad army before him was beyond Wanyan Min's expectations. After several small-scale conflicts since coming to Liaozhou, he was impatient to lead his troops to attack, but found that he could not gain much advantage.

"Let Wanyan Olugu lead the team to charge again. We must take down this fortress in one battle!"

He issued a military order. (End of this chapter)