The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 260 Vomiting blood
While Jin Wuzhu was still searching the mountains and seas of Jiangnan, chasing Zhao Gou as he fled south...

Changyi County is shrouded in gloom and despair.

The Jin army, which had retreated from Jiaoshui County, were all covered in dust and grime.

This crushing defeat was their most devastating loss since they began their attack on the Song Dynasty.

The Iron Pagoda lost three hundred men, and none of them returned.

The thief lost a thousand.

The puppet troops suffered losses of more than four thousand.

As for the artisans and laborers, almost all of them were wiped out.

No, perhaps it can't be called annihilation. Many artisans and laborers actually "fled" towards the enemy's direction after the defeat. Of course they would be "annihilated." It would be strange if they weren't.

Inside the command tent of Talan, the Left Deputy Marshal of the Jin Dynasty, several high-ranking Jin generals all had dark and extremely unpleasant expressions on their faces.

Especially Tara himself, he's incredibly ugly.

"Their firearms are so outrageous?" Ta Lan said with a dark face, "Is there absolutely no way to counter them?"

“No!” said one of the retreating warriors. “General Guwei’s command was flawless, but he couldn’t find the slightest opportunity.”

Another muse said, "The Iron Pagoda's heavy armor was completely useless against the enemy's heavy firearms. At a distance of ten zhang, the Iron Pagoda fell down with a loud bang."

Talan: "Ten zhang! Ten zhang of armor? Are you all crazy?"

The musketeers: "We're not crazy! It's the other side that's crazy."

Talan: "Didn't you manage to snatch one of the Ironclad Cavalry's corpses and bring it back for me to see?"

The men said with mournful faces, "As the Iron Pagodas take one step forward, the barricades take one step forward as well. So the Iron Pagodas are all behind barricades. We can't rush over to retrieve their bodies. The barricades are blocking us too."

Lazy Tat: "..."

This is fucking outrageous!

Who invented the system where the barricades move forward one step for every step the iron cavalry takes forward? What an idiotic system!
Talan really wanted to curse, but after thinking it over, he realized that he was actually partly responsible for inventing this.

There's no point in reasoning with them then.

One of the strategists whispered, "Should we still attack the Jiaodong Peninsula?"

Talan rolled his eyes: "What's the point of attacking? What are we going to attack with? Even the Iron Pagoda can't break through, what army do we have to break through their chariot formation?"

Everyone: "..."

Talan: "Now that things have come to this, we can only wait. We can wait for the armies that have marched south to send back good news. As long as we capture Zhao Gou, the firearms of the Jiaodong Peninsula will be useless no matter how strong they are. Then we can have Zhao Gou write an imperial edict and issue a proclamation to settle the matter."

Mou Ke: "What if Zhao Gou doesn't write this imperial edict?"

Talan: "Then let's wait for Jin Wuzhu's army to return, and after my son-in-law Puchagubalu wipes out the other bandit armies in Shandong, we'll gather all their forces together and then attack the Jiaoshui Peninsula."

Everyone thought: This is a wise and prudent plan! No matter how good the enemy's firearms are, they don't have enough troops. As long as our Great Jin can gather 100,000 troops in one place, what use will their little bit of firearms be?
Talan: "Anyway, let's wait! Let's wait for good news from my nephew Jin Wuzhu."

Several months later, Talan finally received "good news": Jin Wuzhu's 100,000-strong army was blocked by Han Shizhong's 8000 Song soldiers at Huangtiandang. Han Shizhong's wife, Liang Hongyu, personally beat the drum to boost morale. The Song army, as if they had taken a blue pill, changed their usual weak performance and became sturdy. Jin Wuzhu's several attempts to break out failed, and he was almost trapped to death.

Jin Wuzhu was forced to humble himself and told Han Shizhong that he was willing to return all the people, livestock, and property he had plundered, and to offer a fine horse in exchange for passage across the river.

Han Shizhong refused sternly, saying, "I'm going to kill you."

Forced into a corner, Jin Wuzhu suddenly unleashed his inner strength, ordering the Jin army to use the old course of the Lao Guan River to dig a 30-mile-long channel connecting to the river mouth in a single day, finally escaping from Huangtiandang.

Thus, the Jin army's plan to march south and capture Zhao Gou completely failed! They were no longer able to wage a blitzkrieg.

The Fifth Song-Jin War officially came to an end.

When Talan saw this news, he almost spat out a mouthful of blood.
-
Thirty miles northeast of Jiaoshui County lies Tieling Village. At this moment, dust fills the air in Tieling Village as large groups of miners are excavating a brand-new mine pit.

Yue Wenxuan was followed by a large group of "civil officials" who were inspecting the scene.

Qi Chongli was also among them. Recently, the old man had been particularly enthusiastic about mining. When he first arrived, he wanted to use his skills as the Vice Minister of War to give the "bandit army" some strategic advice. However, he was taught a lesson by the new firearms and sadly realized that his limited knowledge of combat was of no use.

Let's focus on domestic affairs!

I was originally a civil official; handling domestic affairs is my forte.

The most important domestic task for the rebel army now is to manufacture more firearms.

To make firearms, one needs iron, so Qi Chongli became unusually obsessed with "iron ore".

He pointed to the newly opened mine pit with a smug look on his face: "Your Highness, please look, that is the iron mine that our Qi family has recently found. Our Qi family has many talented people. There is an old servant in my family who is good at finding mineral veins. Ever since he saw the firearms, I have had the old servant explore everywhere, and finally he found a huge iron mine here."

Yue Wenxuan nodded.

The excavation of the mine proceeded very smoothly. After the Qi family found the ore vein, Ming Dynasty craftsmen immediately led a large group of apprentices over. Using the explosive method, large chunks of iron ore were broken up and transported out by handcart amidst the booming sounds of gunpowder explosions.

The old servant of the Qi family exclaimed in admiration at the technique: "Amazing! I didn't know mining could be done like this. Although I know how to find minerals, I didn't know that you could also blast the ore into a crisp. It's truly amazing."

Qi Chongli stepped forward and reported, "Your Highness, this iron mine is entirely mined by people who have migrated from Mizhou. There are currently two thousand people from Mizhou mining here. I have registered them all, please take a look. As for their wages, please do not delay payment to them. They are only here because of my presence."

He handed over a thick booklet...

At this point, Qi Chongli couldn't help but praise the booklet again: "The paper here is made of bamboo, which is cheap and easy to use. A booklet like this would be very expensive in Mizhou, but it doesn't cost much here."

Yue Wenxuan smiled and nodded, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. He casually flipped through the booklet a couple of times. It contained information about miners, their names, and where they originally lived in Mizhou, which was essentially a "refugee census".

The fact that the old man was willing to organize this shows that he genuinely wanted to do something practical and contribute more to the fight against the Jin dynasty.

Yue Wenxuan smiled and said, "Minister Qi is really thoughtful. Iron ore, sulfur, and saltpeter are now the most important strategic materials for our army. I would like to ask you to put in more effort and have your old servant go to more places to look for mineral veins."

The old man grinned and said, "Of course! Even if His Highness doesn't give the order, I'm planning to do it anyway. Hehehe, make more firearms and kill those damned Jin thieves."

The young nephews and nieces of the Qi family standing nearby blushed slightly. Oh no, the patriarch was at it again. He was usually such a proper person, but when it came to the Jin invaders, he started swearing. He was disgracing the Qi family.

(End of this chapter)