Water Margin begins as a captain in Yanggu County

Chapter 410 I am Wanyan Zongbi, I am the brother of the Emperor of Great Yan, I want to see him!
The army entered the city, and countless battles raged within...

Dading Prefecture was not a large city; even outside the Great Wall, it was not the largest city. In fact, Liaoyang Prefecture was larger than Dading Prefecture...

If we're talking about places suitable for farming, the area around Liaoyang Prefecture is actually more suitable than that around Dading Prefecture. Liaoyang Prefecture is even quite well-developed. So why are the Jurchens all gathered in Dading Prefecture at this time?

It was war that forced them to stay here. Once the Jurchens left Dading Prefecture, it would be tantamount to handing over a large area of ​​land outside the Great Wall to Su Wu...

The north gate opened, and Wanyan Zongbi rushed forward, pulling and urging his horse. He made preparations and crossed more than a dozen trenches before finally mounting his horse and charging northward...

The Yan army that had come to intercept Wanyan Zongbi also arrived. One side only wanted to rush out on horseback as quickly as possible, heading north. The other side came to intercept, charging horizontally and cutting Wanyan Zongbi's army in half...

Those in front were running, those in the middle were scattered and broken up, and those behind were blocked and had nowhere to go...

Needless to say, there were countless deaths and injuries; the situation was utterly chaotic...

Inside the city, chaos reigned. The command system was broken, and generals and soldiers were treated as soldiers. Most Jurchens did not retreat but instead faced the endless stream of Yan troops entering the city...

At this moment, even Wanyan Wuqimai had become a soldier, and all the civil and military officials in the court were soldiers. They had already encountered the Yan army on the main street and were fighting each other.

What's even more chaotic is that countless ordinary people dressed in such attire are running around everywhere...

The north gate was open, so I headed towards the north gate...

The number of men, women, young and old is unknown...

The battle was also raging in the north, and more and more Yan troops were arriving. However, the city walls had already completely surrounded them...

Did they really think Wanyan Zongbi could escape? With layers upon layers of encirclement, how could he possibly escape?
Facing them was another troop of armored infantry, arrayed in formation, their large axes and swords forming a formidable array...

Wanyan Zongbi showed no interest in fighting; his horse had already turned away and was not charging towards the infantry who were waiting in battle formation...

His only possible way to break through was not through a fierce charge, but through skillful maneuvering and dodging, hoping to find the slightest opening in the path of his galloping horse and escape to safety...

No one can predict how many people will die today; even Su Wu could hardly estimate it…

People from Liaoning, Hebei, eastern Hebei, and the Northwest—not one of them failed to fight bravely. Their morale was high, and they pressed on with unwavering determination…

In such a situation, no matter how skilled the Jurchens were in battle, facing an enemy many times their size, their skill would be useless. They would revert to their original nature, becoming nothing more than human beings with two hands, two feet, and one head...

Sparks flew everywhere, and the hammers clanged against the iron armor...

The entire southern city, and most of the northern city, was a scene of carnage, with mountains of corpses and seas of blood...

Su Wu had just ridden his horse into the city through the gate at this moment, and couldn't help but look around...

In terms of sheer ferocity, today's battle, along with the battle between Yue Fei and Wanyan Xiyin when Yue Fei single-handedly led his troops, can be considered the most brutal.

Every now and then, the distant booming of thunder could be heard. The grenadiers were still at the forefront, and together with countless comrades, they lit the grenades and threw them into the Jurchen crowd.

The air was thick with the smell of gunpowder, accompanied by the rising stench of blood, and the stench of feces and urine from the weakened muscles of the dead...

It smelled incredibly foul...

"Your Majesty, let me go and persuade them, I will go and persuade them to surrender..." Wanyan Xiyin said urgently as he rode beside him.

"It's still early. Who can you persuade to surrender? You might not even be able to find anyone..."

Su Wu's face remained expressionless, as if he were born cold-blooded and ruthless, but he truly answered the question.

"I can persuade him, I definitely can! It would be best if fewer elite soldiers died!" Wanyan Xiyin racked his brains, hoping to convince Su Wu.

“Say a name…” Su Wu knew perfectly well that persuading them to surrender at this moment was unrealistic. Only after the Jurchens had been severely wounded and reduced to small, struggling groups of enemies would there be any chance of persuading them to surrender.

But Su Wu really wanted to know, at this very moment, which Jurchen woman Wanyan Xiyin considered worthy of being persuaded to surrender…

How could Wanyan Xiyin not want to? Names flashed through his mind, and suddenly he exclaimed, "Wolubu, yes, Wolubu can persuade them to surrender..."

"Who? Wanyan Zongwang?" Su Wu was extremely surprised.

"Yes, it's him! He can definitely persuade them to surrender!" Wanyan Xiyin thought of everyone, and only this one person could be persuaded to surrender.

"He can still persuade them to surrender?" Su Wu was skeptical.

"He definitely can. He's a very thoughtful person; he always thinks things through a lot, so he'll definitely be the first to surrender..."

Wanyan Xiyin knew that Su Wu understood the meaning of these words.

"It's a pity you can't find him..."

Su Wu's words were indeed a pleasant surprise; if Wanyan Zongwang were willing to surrender, it would be a welcome development for Su Wu...

Politically speaking, Wanyan Zongwang was far more significant than Wanyan Xiyin.

Why was Su Wu willing to accept this meaning?
What Su Wu valued was not anything else, but the prestige of the Wanyan Jurchens in those mountains and forests.

From the Greater Khingan Mountains to the Lesser Khingan Mountains to Changbai Mountain...

Wanyan's prestige was fully established during the process of destroying the Liao Dynasty.

In these mountains and forests, it's actually difficult to distinguish much in terms of race among the people.

But when it comes to ethnicity, at this moment, if one is willing to categorize, one can distinguish a thousand ethnicities...

Only by ruling these people can we truly rule the lands beyond the Great Wall, and even Siberia...

The Jurchens were able to rise up not because every Wanyan Jurchen was a human tank, capable of taking on a hundred at once...

Rather, it was the support of these mountain tribes...

It was during the Jurchens' rebellion against the Liao that they gained the support of most of the people in these mountains and forests.

In the future, Su Wu will still rule them, so that there will be a stable Northeast, and only then can he go further north to the more bitterly cold Siberia and the more vast deep forests...

Therefore, Su Wu needed the Wanyan Jurchens; they were a banner, a banner to rule the entire northeastern mountains and forests.

According to Su Wu's plan, Wanyan was never just the Wanyan of the Jin Dynasty; he was the Wanyan of the entire Changbai Mountains and Heilongjiang River region...

What Solon, what Tieli, what Shiwei, what Wuweiyujue, and even what Oroqen...

Those whose names you can recall, those whose names you can't, those with names, those without names...

Their tribes may be small in number, but they have lived in this forest generation after generation...

The Great Yan needs to communicate with them, engage in exchanges and trade with them, so that they may admire the benevolence of the Great Yan and gradually assimilate into the society, recognizing that they are subjects of the Great Yan...

Without Wanyan, this job would be incredibly difficult; with Wanyan, it's become so much easier.

To put it even more bluntly, without the Wanyan Jurchens who had already engaged in extensive communication with these tribes, you wouldn't even be able to find a translator for many of them...

These mountain tribes, sometimes, or most of the time, you can simply ignore them; they live deep in the forests and will never appear before you...

But the fear is... sometimes, there's another person with immense charisma who can gather a team, perhaps a few hundred, perhaps three to five thousand, perhaps seven or eight thousand, but not too many...

He's blocking this spot, robbing and stealing. If you hit him with all your might, he'll disappear into the woods; if you stop hitting him, he'll come out again...

How large and extensive are these forests? If you were to extend northwards and include them all, the area would be two to three million square kilometers…

This problem needs to be solved, and it's impossible to completely wipe out the human population in this vast, sparsely populated land—that's simply not feasible…

To achieve a stable Northeast, to truly develop this land, and to eventually reach even further into Siberia, and perhaps even Sakhalin Island, the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, the Chiba Islands, and Hokkaido in Japan…

This is all part of the same system...

Su Wu was determined to bring all the people in this land under a unified sense of belonging...

If all the Wanyan Jurchens were to die, without their leader, the area would fall into disarray once more...

That's two to three million square kilometers of land, plus vast straits, huge islands, and expansive inland seas...

It is also Vladivostok, which was seized by the Russians, that people of later generations still remember fondly…

War always serves politics, and at this moment, this is Su Wu's politics!

So when Wanyan Xiyin mentioned the name Wanyan Zongwang, Su Wu paused slightly, looked up, and asked, "Where do you think Wanyan Zongwang is?"

These words startled Wanyan Xiyin. He subconsciously turned his head, and behind him was the city gate tower of the south city. He was almost certain that just now, not long ago, Wanyan Zongwang must have been on this city gate tower... And now?
"Dead?" Su Wu asked again.

Wanyan Xiyin, seated on horseback, immediately turned around, looking around to see if Wanyan Zongwang had died nearby...

He even rode his horse to search left and right...

Su Wu, somewhat impatient, snapped, "If we can't find it, we'll talk about it later!"

There's no rush. If we don't have Wanyan Zongwang, there's still Wanyan Xiyin, the Grand Scholar of the Wanyan Jurchen.

That's enough...

Wanyan Xiyin rode back and hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, Wulubu is not dead! He is not dead!"

"Follow me..." Su Wu spurred his horse and rode off again, saying, "Follow me. If he really survives the chaos of battle, I can find him faster than you!"

Wanyan Xiyin nodded earnestly: "Your Majesty, please proceed!"

He agreed with the principle that Su Wu had mentioned.

On the northern side of the city, it was as if a floodgate had been breached; the elderly, women, children, and all kinds of slaves of the Jurchen people were fleeing out of the city in that direction…

Wanyan Zongbi's room for maneuver was getting smaller and smaller, but he was still trying his best, trying to find an opening to break out...

Further north, another force was anxiously waiting – Yue Fei, who had blocked the Jurchens' only route north.

Initially, Su Wu was worried that the Jurchens would retreat north as a whole, so he sent Yue Fei to block the guns, intending to delay their retreat no matter what.

Now, it's no longer needed...

The Jurchen people did not retreat north as a whole, and very few Jurchen people would actually escape today...

In other words, Wanyan Zongbi's actions were destined to be futile; even if he escaped today, he could not escape tomorrow...

The wind howled, chilling people to the bone. Wanyan Zongbi ran through the fallen leaves, his brow beaded with sweat, in a frantic rush...

The horse was still galloping. Looking around, there were infantrymen lined up to the north. How could there be no infantrymen on this escape route from the north city?

Heading east, one cavalry force is approaching; heading west, another cavalry force is approaching…

Like a cat-and-mouse game, Wanyan Zongbi ran around everywhere, using feints and sudden turns, trying to escape...

But the more they tried to break free, the smaller the space became...

The number of people following him was dwindling, and arrows were raining down from afar...

Wanyan Zongbi had been studying Chinese for a long time, and when he recently met Su Wu, he spoke to Su Wu in Chinese quite a bit...

Today, he was supposed to speak Mandarin, but several times the words were on the tip of his tongue, yet he still couldn't say them...

As a result, fewer and fewer people followed him...

He recalled again and again the words his elder brother had whispered in his ear atop the city wall as his final words of advice…

His elder brother told him that if he ever had nowhere else to turn, he must go see Su Wu…

At this moment, he was filled with hesitation...

My brother also said that as long as you don't really want to kill Su Wu, Su Wu will definitely not kill you!
Wanyan Zongbi remembered that at this moment, these were the thoughts that filled his mind...

My brother also said that if this Jurchen is gone, you don't need to come see me after you die...

To the north, the infantry were advancing, their target not entirely, or perhaps not entirely, of Wanyan Zongbi, but rather to block the escape routes within the northern city...

As the cavalry from the east approached, they turned exactly as Wanyan Zongbi turned, like maggots clinging to a bone...

The cavalry from the west were also coming. No matter how Wanyan Zongbi changed direction, they changed even more, heading ahead to intercept him in the direction he might be going...

How much room for maneuver is there left?

"I am Wanyan Zongbi, the brother of the Emperor of Great Yan, and I want to see him!"

Wanyan Zongbi finally shouted it out, shouting from afar at the cavalry blocking his way to the west.

He shouted again and again, "I am Wanyan Zongbi, I am the brother of the Emperor of Great Yan, I want to see him!"

He spoke Mandarin better and better; he was meant to be able to speak fluent Mandarin.

Inside the city, the fierce battle continues...

When the Jurchens still numbered 20,000 to 30,000, their ability to resist was extremely strong. Even when facing an enemy several times their size, they were still able to inflict considerable casualties on the Yan army...

When the Jurchen population dwindled to less than 20,000, their ability to resist decreased sharply...

When the Jurchen people numbered only a few thousand, their ability to resist had dwindled to a point where they were almost unable to withstand the onslaught...

The logic is simple: with 20,000 to 30,000 troops, that's a massive human force; exchanging one life for another isn't difficult...

As the troops continued to rotate, their numbers didn't decrease; instead, they increased. The Jurchen's defensive lines and their assembled formations began to slowly break down...

Slowly, they were divided into parts of the city, each under siege. At this moment, facing enemy forces from all sides, the idea of ​​trading one's life for another was simply a pipe dream...

Once the casualties increase and the area becomes truly surrounded in small, isolated zones, it will become a one-sided crushing defeat...

Those who are surrounded can only struggle to hold on, relying on houses, courtyards, or streets...

On the contrary, the attackers are no longer in a hurry. They won't foolishly charge in with their weapons. They'll wait, take a break, and like turtles in a jar, they're not in a rush...

Bring up the crossbows again, even the crossbow beds, and the tiger-squatting cannons; even light the fire first...

If the Jurchens break out, they will be met with a forest of spears and a rain of arrows; if they do not break out, they will simply wait for death to come...

These sieges were almost all located in the northern part of the city.

Su Wu also arrived at the North City. At this moment, he said to Wanyan Xiyin, "Now it's almost time. Go and find whoever you can!"

Wanyan Xiyin pleaded, "Your Majesty, please order a siege without further fighting... If we can find Wulubu, the entire army might surrender at this moment..."

Su Wu shook his head: "I would not give such an order. What the soldiers seek is the reward for military merit, and what they seek is revenge!"

"Your Majesty, with so many Jurchen warriors, they will surely achieve countless merits for Your Majesty on the battlefield in the future!" Wanyan Xiyin pleaded.

Su Wu remarked, "At this moment, the Jurchens are still living too much..."

These words were so resolute and cold that they made the hairs on Wanyan Xiyin's body stand on end...

but……

Wanyan Xiyin finally gave up completely and spurred his horse to gallop away. He knew that time was of the essence and Xu Zhen needed to find out where Wanyan Zongwang was trapped first...

Behind Wanyan Xiyin, there was also a troop of several dozen riders following him, also watching him...

Su Wu also gave the order: "Don't let him hinder the soldiers' advance! Don't let him dawdle! Hmm... where Wanyan Zongwang and Wanyan Zongbi are, we can let him say a few more words..."

Fan Yun went in person...

Unbeknownst to Su Wu, Wanyan Zongbi had already been bound outside the northern city... and was being brought to him. Wanyan Zongbi still had about two hundred riders with him, all of whom knelt down and were bound under Wanyan Zongbi's orders.

what else?
Su Wu turned his head to look, and saw the extremely conspicuous imperial city in the city, the former palace of the Liao emperor...

The palace behind Su Wu was already guarded by many soldiers.

Countless houses within the city remain, their gates tightly shut, and countless people tremble in fear inside...

To the north, in the area leading to the city gate, countless people were stuck inside and outside the gate.

At a crossroads, Su Wu dismounted, looked around, then mounted his horse again. He wanted to leave the city and return to his post at the general's platform.

Sit down comfortably...

For some reason, he suddenly had this thought and made this decision, and turned his horse around and left...

(End of this chapter)