Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

"There's a fire on the boat!"

The moment the fire lit up, the Jin army soldiers on the sentry tower of the military camp on the north bank shouted hysterically, then they woke up and blew the horn loudly.

Wanyan Zongmou ran out of the tent with his upper body naked. Seeing the river surface burning with several balls of fire, he was horrified and shouted, "Gather, gather! Save the pontoon bridge!"

The military camp was in an uproar. Countless Jin soldiers were awakened from their sleep and put on their armor in a hurry. In the chaos, Wanyan Zongmou and Wanyan Jiemu simply put on their upper body armor and ran out of the camp.

On the field behind him, Mi Xian picked up a mountain-splitting axe and smiled at the panicked Jin army.

……

Whoosh whoosh—

Beside the river bank, countless flaming arrows were flying in the sky. Shan Shiqi, Zhao Li and Dong Xian led their troops to charge forward bravely. On the stranded troop transport ship at the rear, the navy soldiers simply picked up harpoons and bows and arrows, wearing leather water jackets, holding disassembled wooden boards and roaring as they charged forward behind the infantry, occasionally shooting arrows together with the archers beside them.

In order to seize the landing site, Lu Bu mobilized a large number of powerful crossbows to equip the infantry, most of which were imitations of the Shenbi bow. However, due to limited technology, the crossbows they made did not have as long a range as the Shenbi bow, but were much better than ordinary strong bows.

At this time, the more than a thousand Jin soldiers lined up in the front were in disarray and incomplete, and were attacked in the middle of the night. Even though they fought bravely, they did not have the iron discipline to form a formation quickly. Flames kept jumping in the field of vision, greedily devouring everything around them. The temperature licked by the flames made people uncomfortable. The sudden disaster made the soldiers react a little slowly. The soldiers in the front row were half a beat slow in raising their shields, and screams suddenly rang out.

The survivors retreated hastily. The general named Digunai shouted loudly, "Keep calm! Keep shooting forward! Be careful to avoid the arrows!" Then he grabbed the soldier holding a shield beside him and shouted, "Go to the back to see what's going on. Tell Wanyan Talan. If you don't come up, you'll be the one collecting my corpse!"

"Avoid—"

The shouts of some moukes suddenly rang out in the noisy battlefield. Arrows rained down with a crackle. Someone screamed and fell to the ground, covering the part hit by the arrow and rolling on the ground. Digunai raised the shield diagonally over his head, feeling the force on it, turned around and saw that the soldier was still standing beside him. He kicked the man and made him stagger backwards, cursing: "What are you doing standing there? Go away!"

Then he waved the spear in his hand and shouted loudly: "Charge forward and kill——"

The sound of footsteps rang out in the camp, and the Jin army, which numbered less than a thousand men, rushed forward bravely.

The dense crowd of soldiers in front were running and splitting to the left and right. Then, Dong Xian jumped out of the cabin at the back, waving his spear and galloping through the passage where the crowd flashed to the front: "Jurchen people, your uncle Dong Xian is here!"

The soldiers following behind shouted loudly, holding swords and shields and forming a small array with the spearmen behind them. Zhao Li rushed forward on horseback, and Shan Shiqi fell behind, running wildly behind with his iron rod in hand and his legs, gritting his teeth and looking at the two men: "Can you still bring the war horses on board? Damn it, no one told me!"

As both sides were running wildly, the small-scale formations suddenly began to gather and merge. The sound of footsteps at this moment roared like thunder, exploding in the Jurchen camp.

"kill!"

The sound of shouting tore through the night sky.

……

West, towards Yanjin.

The figure in black military uniform put on heavy armor with the help of his comrades, and the army of more than 5,000 people marched silently towards the place where the fire was lit.

...In front of the central tent.

With the help of his eldest illegitimate son, Wanyan Aguda put on armor. Footsteps sounded beside him, and shouts and exclamations spread to half of the camp. The flames were running around in the rear camp of the Jin army as if they had no natural enemies. The wooden sticks supporting the tent broke in the burning. In his field of vision, there was a raging fire in the direction of Wanyan Loushi.

"Let Wuzhu and Nianhan break out quickly in the front. The rear camp is commanded by Oriyan. Let him evacuate quickly. The rear camp can't be saved." Wanyan Aguda remained calm. He mounted his warhorse nimbly. Thick smoke swirled over the military camp. He raised his whip and pointed to the east: "Send a message to Erliduo in the west camp. Break out to the east."

Wanyan Bendu beside him shouted and ran away quickly with a few guards. He held the jewel-studded scimitar in his hand and kept giving orders to the messenger. The central army had not yet been burned by the flames. There were panicked Jurchen soldiers who saw him running towards them. Their frightened faces regained calm as he approached, and they walked silently to the team to guard.

"Olubu will certainly find a way to pick us up on the other side. Now we just need to rush out, form a battle formation to protect ourselves and wait for dawn. Otherwise, the gods will not be able to protect us."

The figures of messengers ran as the orders were issued. The crackling sound of burning could be heard in the distance, and it seemed to be spreading to the center. He rode on his horse and was escorted forward by the guards. The horses in the camp were stored in the east, and the fire had not reached there yet, so they could just ride on horseback.

The night wind rolled up thick smoke, blowing violently over the running crowd. A cry of surprise was heard from the rear. Wanyan Aguda, who was riding on a war horse, turned his head, his pupils suddenly shrank. Under the night sky illuminated by fire, arrows with flames fell from the sky above the western camp. In the pitch-black environment, a bright light suddenly broke out, and flames rose up, reflecting the fire from the rear camp, burning the entire sky red.

Wanyan Zonggan, who was standing beside him, felt his scalp tingling when he saw this scene. He quickly came over and grabbed the bridle of the warhorse: "Father Khan, hurry up!"

He turned around and ran towards the east, and even though Aguda on his horse shouted "Calm down! Erlido hasn't come yet!" he ignored him and just kept running eastward.

Jin Guodu Bojile on his horse looked back and saw that flaming arrows were rising into the sky again and covering the ground. The already panic-stricken military camp became even noisier and panic spread throughout the camp.

……

In the direction of the south gate, Wanyan Zonghan and Wanyan Zongbing gathered their troops and were rushing out of the camp gate following Aguda's order. Because they had to guard against cavalry sneaking into the camp, their troops were dressed the most neatly. They did not have time to take all the horses with them, and they barely gathered more than 500 horses and hurriedly evacuated. A fire started in the west, and flaming arrows kept falling from the sky, as if they were afraid that the fire would be extinguished. In just a short while, more than ten waves were shot down, and the fire spread rapidly along the northeast wind, and thick smoke rose and dissipated.

Amid the sound of footsteps, the fire did not reach anywhere else in the area illuminated. A shout of "Shoot!" was heard, followed by a burst of bows and crossbows. Screams followed, and the soldiers on the periphery fell to the ground one after another.

"Enemy attack——"

Wanyan Zonghan and Wanyan Zongbing hurriedly called out, and the Jin soldiers quickly began to form a formation and turn around. Rumbling footsteps came from the direction where the arrows came from, and the cold light of metal could be vaguely seen in the darkness. A neatly arranged group of heavily armored soldiers appeared in the darkness and slowly came into view. Spears and axes were everywhere, and there was a clanging sound of metal colliding. Two generals rode on war horses, both holding Zhangba Snake Spears, slightly raised and pointing forward.

"Throw—"

A javelin was thrown from the hand of the person in the front row, slid in an arc, and pierced through the chest of the running soldier. The remaining force caused the soldier to fall to the side.

In the rear, the three generals Jing Chao, Shan Tinggui and Cao Mingji slowly walked forward. Countless figures were approaching from behind, and it was unclear how many shadows there were for a moment, and the earth was slightly restless.

Wanyan Zonghan and Wanyan Zongbing frowned. They had never seen such heavily armored southern troops before. The thick armor looked very difficult to deal with. However, they had no choice but to raise their guns and axes and shout, "Warriors of the Great Jin, Du Bojilie is waiting for us in the east. Let's go over there and show these southerners how brave and fearless the Jurchen warriors are!"

"kill--"

Hundreds of soldiers shouted, following the words of the two commanders, raised their weapons, and stepped on the damp ground. Hundreds of people in front charged at the heavy armored infantry. (End of this chapter)