You have truly caused me great suffering!

Chapter 149 The Lingwu Army Strikes

Yanshan Prefecture, within the city of Yanjing.

Tan Zhen's face turned ashen.

He did not expect that the imperial court would accept Zhang Jue's surrender.

Tan Zhen was now extremely uneasy, fearing that the Jurchen army would attack. He immediately sent Zhao Liangsi to persuade the emperor to change his mind.

Don't those people in the imperial court know that Gubeikou is in the hands of the Jurchen Tartars?
He even suspected that if it weren't for the continuous torrential rains, the Jurchen Tartars would have already marched south.

How could those people in Bianliang know about the situation here? Did they really think that Yanshan Prefecture had become a new northern barrier that could easily stop the Tartars?
Outside Tan Zhen's ceremonial hall was the main camp of the victorious army. The heavy rain also fell on the vast camp, shrouding it in a misty rain.

Tan Zhen sent out scouts and light cavalry, who continued to move in and out of the camp in the rain, their numbers even greater than usual.

He was genuinely afraid that the Jurchens would attack directly, after all, those Tartars didn't seem like the type to tolerate such behavior.

However, due to the impact of the rain, the distance that could usually be covered by light cavalry scouts within a radius of twenty or thirty miles was shortened by at least half in the rain.

Inside the camp, the auxiliary soldiers were busy draining water, drying the straw that had been replaced in the horse mangers, and dredging and repairing the drainage ditches around the camp. Everyone looked busy.

Being busy can make people temporarily forget the tension, but everyone knows that after the rain stops, a fierce battle may ensue.

The surrender of Pingzhou to the Song Dynasty did not bring joy to the people of Yanshan Prefecture; instead, it filled them with fear.

I'm so afraid of losing that I've lost all my fighting spirit.

The soldiers in the camp were even more vigilant, as if they could be called out to fight at any moment, and the entire army was kept under even stricter discipline.

Sure enough, the Jurchens soon sent envoys, who immediately began to hurl insults at Tan Zhen's hall.

Tan Zhen, sitting at the head of the table, felt extremely uncomfortable, and his face grew increasingly grim.

He harbored many grievances against Commander Tong Xuan. "You fought so poorly against Liao, yet you went to Hejian Prefecture and received the title of Prince!"

I'm cleaning up this mess myself.

Whoever wants to be the commander can be!

Tan Zhen felt that it was hard to say whether he could save his life this time!
We can't even beat the Khitans, so why should we fight the Jurchen Tartars?

He even cursed Zhang Jue in his heart.

Why did you vote for Song for no reason?!

Who told you to vote for the Song Dynasty!

On the contrary, Guo Yaoshi of the Changsheng Army was very excited, as he and Zhang Jue were old acquaintances.

They had fought side by side more than once back then.

As for the rumors circulating in the army that the Jurchen Tartars would therefore march south, Guo Yaoshi scoffed at them.

By this point, can't we see the situation clearly? Whether Zhang Jue surrenders to the Song Dynasty or not, the Jurchens are going to move south!
They were simply waiting for the army that had been pursuing Yelü Yanxi to return.

If we don't seize this opportunity to retake Gubeikou and build fortifications along the Great Wall, when will we ever get another chance?

Several Jurchen Tartars were cursing Tan Zhen, the highest-ranking official in Yanshan Prefecture, in the Xuan Shuai Hall, but Tan Zhen remained silent.

Guo Yaoshi felt a mix of emotions. He had been to Bianliang and been received by Zhao Ji, but like everyone else, he had fallen for Zhao Ji's trick.

I think this emperor really does have the air of an emperor, he's quite extraordinary!
He was determined to be a loyal subject of the Song Dynasty, but now he was swayed by Tan Zhen's performance.

At this moment, footsteps were heard outside. The guards in sable hats standing in front of the tent lifted the curtain and saw Wang Bing stride in.

He was soaking wet, with rain dripping from his body, leaving water stains wherever he went.

The crowd glanced at him, then immediately returned to normal. Seeing how rude these Jurchen Tartars were, Wang Bing was furious and drew his sword.

Several Jurchen Tartars, showing no fear, also drew their swords.

Inside the hall of the Song Dynasty's Pacification Commissioner, they huddled together, as if they were about to fight.

Tan Zhen quickly said, "Zhengchen! Put your sword away! Don't ruin the harmony between our two families!"

Wang Bing's face was gloomy. He held the knife tightly and didn't move. His temples bulged from clenching his teeth.

"Wang Zhengchen!" Tan Zhen screamed.

Wang Bing then sheathed his sword, lifted the curtain, and went outside.

His expression grew even more somber.

Just then, the sounds of footsteps and horses' hooves suddenly came from outside the hall, and a large group of people was rushing towards them.

Wang Bing was taken aback. A scout spotted him and reported to him with a joyful expression, "Lord Wang, we've won!"

Wang Bing stood up abruptly, throwing the soup bowl in his hand far away: "Who won?"

Several scouts, soaked to the bone, wounded and exhausted, rushed over.

"A great victory at Pingzhou! Zhang Jue has won! Zhang Jue has defeated Wanyan Zhamu!"

Wang Bing's eyes widened in disbelief as he said, "Say that again!"

"Zhang Jue won. After defeating the Pingzhou army, Wanyan Zhamu pursued the victory, defeating Zhang Jue's general Wang Xiaogu at Xin'an and Zhang Jue's army at Loufengkou. However, at Tu'er Mountain, they were ambushed by the Pingzhou army and suffered a crushing defeat. The Pingzhou army then recaptured Runzhou!"

Jamu was the eleventh son of Emperor Shizu Helibo and the half-brother of Emperor Taizu Wanyan Aguda. He was known for his cruelty.

He made great contributions in the Jin-Liao War, but unexpectedly he was defeated by Zhang Jue, a mere scholar.

And they lost so badly.

This shattered the myth that the Jurchens could not be defeated.

Wang Bing was so excited that he lifted the curtain again and rushed into the Xuan Shuai Hall!
He started yelling and hurling insults at the Jurchen envoy, while Tan Zhen slumped in his chair, looking utterly hopeless.

The Jurchen envoy left in a rage.

Tan Zhen looked at Wang Bing and said, "Your Majesty, the Jurchens are about to march south, and we will both die without a burial place."

"Commander Tan, why belittle yourself like this! Zhang Jue, a mere scholar, led 50,000 remnants of the Liao army and still managed to defeat the Jamu!"

Tan Zhen forced himself to stay awake and asked, "Is this true?"

"How could it not be true!"

News of Zhang Jue's great victory spread quickly, and the people of Bianliang were overjoyed.

Emperor Huizong and Emperor Wang Fu were smug, thinking they were prophetic, and sure enough, they expanded the territory of the Song Dynasty by another thousand miles!
Once Liaodong and Pinglu are recovered, the achievement will be too great. Zhao Ji felt that he should go to Mount Tai to perform the Fengshan ceremony.

He had just revealed this news to Cai Jing when Cai Jing immediately submitted a memorial to resign and return to his hometown, leaving Zhao Ji utterly humiliated.

Fortunately, he has indeed become much more obedient recently, and he also knows that the country's finances cannot be separated from Cai Jing.

So the matter was dropped.

The Song Dynasty issued an imperial edict to establish the Taining Army in Pingzhou, appointing Zhang Jue as the military governor of Taining Army. Zhang Dungu and others were also granted the title of Huiyou Pavilion Attendant, and tens of thousands of taels of silver and tens of thousands of bolts of silk were given as rewards to the army.

At this time, Tan Zhen secretly wrote a memorial to the emperor, stating that all the officials and military officers of Yanshan Prefecture were eagerly anticipating the return of Grand Commandant Tong.

Only Commander Tong was able to lead everyone to hold off the Jurchen Tartars.

At this time, Tong Guan, who had achieved great success and was enjoying a life of luxury in Hebei, was unaware that his staunch subordinate was preparing to drag him back and roast him over a fire.
-
News of Zhang Jue's great victory reached Xiping Prefecture.

After reading the military report, Chen Shao slapped his thigh and stood up.

"Good! Good!" Chen Shao took the military report and came to Wei Li. "Mr. Wenxi, should we have the Xiazhou troops move towards the vicinity of Heishan?"

Wei Li hurriedly said, "No rush, no rush!"

Chen Shaodao said, "With my army, we can march out of Weizhou and down to Yingzhou, connecting with Yanshan Prefecture, backing up Hedong, and allying with Yelü Yanxi to the west, launching a full-scale attack on the Jurchens. Wouldn't that be enough?"

"How many Jurchens are there in total? If the Liao people rise up in rebellion, can they withstand it on such a long front?"

This battle line looks quite daunting at first glance, stretching from east to west, from the ocean to the desert!

Wei Li simply asked, "General, will the Song Dynasty declare war on the Jin Dynasty?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Shao's enthusiasm vanished as if doused with cold water.

Could those bastards in the Song court be sitting back and watching the tigers fight while I'm heading north?
After all, in their eyes, they were not much different in terms of threat level from the Jurchen Tartars.
If they charge forward and it becomes a one-on-one battle between the Dingnan Army and the Jurchen Tartars, then it would be a premature decisive battle.

Furthermore, the Song Dynasty might even bring trouble upon itself later.
They absolutely can do it.

Chen Shao immediately dismissed his impulse.

However, he did not give up completely. He would send troops as soon as the two sides actually started fighting!

Anyway, judging from Yelü Yanxi's appearance, he can still cause trouble for a while. He is even organizing his troops to launch a counterattack on Yunnei.

“Since its establishment, the Lingwu Army has already spent a lot of money and supplies,” Wei Li said with a frown.

Chen Shao thought to himself, judging from the intelligence that has been sent back, the Uyghurs of the Western Continent are now very weak.

This is a good opportunity to train the troops, so that when the Lingwu Army goes into battle against the Jurchen Tartars, they won't still be a bunch of greenhorns who have never fought a war. They are still a loose city-state alliance, with the Gaochang Khan as the nominal overlord, but in reality, they are divided among the city lords of Kucha, Beiting, and other cities.

The number of troops was pitifully small, with only 20,000 standing troops, and even with maximum mobilization, there were only 40,000.

When Xiao came to report to me last time, she mentioned that her caravan had dealt a heavy blow to the camel soldiers in a dispute with the Gaochang Uyghurs over water resources.

"Alright! Let's deal with the Western Uyghurs first and take over this territory."

When picking persimmons, you have to choose the soft ones first.

August of the fifth year of Xuanhe.

Chen Shao sent two hundred young monks from Buddhist academies to spread the Dharma to the Uyghurs in Xizhou.

After these monks arrived, they caused trouble and created chaos everywhere.

He was particularly adept at instigating conflicts between Buddhists and Manichaeans and Nestorians.

Within the western state, because most people were Buddhists, many were incited by them to attack Manichaeans and Manichaean tribes.

At this time, the Lingwu Army set off from outside Xiping Prefecture, except for the 10,000 men left behind by the Lingwu Army Deputy Commander, Mozang Pangge, to protect Xiping Prefecture.

The rest of the troops, led by Commander-in-Chief Wu Lin, headed to Yumen Pass in Hexi.

Dingnan's intentions were obvious, and everyone in the Western Regions was on high alert. The Khan of Gaochang strictly ordered all tribes to be patient and not to attack these monks.

Unfortunately, these monks didn't just chant scriptures; they studied a wide variety of things, including how to sow discord in enemy countries.

At the end of August, seeing that Xizhou was not giving them a chance, the monks secretly set fire to the Fanyin Temple in Gaochang City.

They claimed that Manichaeans set the fire, inciting the people of Gaochang to riot, and they besieged the royal palace.

The Khan's personal guards, having reached their limit of tolerance, began to expel the monks.

In the chaos, two monks were killed and several others were injured.

The monks were overjoyed. They carried the bodies of their two dead companions, stuffed relics into their stomachs, and then cremated the remains outside the city.

Countless Uyghur people gathered to watch.

The monks took the opportunity to claim that the Khan protected Manichaeans and Nestorians, suppressed Buddhists, and tortured and killed monks.

Although it makes no sense, the people just love to believe it!

The moment the relic appeared, emotions were completely stirred up. The people of Gaochang had long lost their reason and were only concerned with venting all their dissatisfaction.

Wu Lin set out with his troops from Yumen Pass that very day.

In Xiping Prefecture, Chen Shao waited anxiously for a long time, but the Song Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty still did not go to war.

Zhang Jue established himself in Pingzhou.

The Jurchens, on the other hand, awaited the arrival of the Eastern Route Army.

Wanyan Aguda imprisoned Wanyan Zhamu and demanded that Zongwang return to attack Zhang Jue.

Zongwang was unwilling to return, after all, Yelü Yanxi had been driven to a dead end. If he left at this time, wouldn't he be handing over the greatest credit to Zonghan?

And so the situation stabilized.

Zhang Jue's success inspired many powerful figures in Liaoning.

Seeing that the time was not right, Chen Shao did not send the Xiazhou troops to the Black Mountain front to support Yelü Yanxi.

At this moment, all eyes in the world were once again focused on Yelü Yanxi, waiting to see how long this man could hold out!
-
Yelü Yanxi indeed organized a counterattack.
Having too many people isn't necessarily a good thing. Especially when there's no strong leader, the Jurchens made this mistake.

Taking advantage of the fact that the Jurchen troops were too numerous during the torrential rain to make a retreat, they seized the opportunity.

Yelü Yanxi led his troops out of Jiashan and captured Yuyangling in one fell swoop, taking Tiande, Dongsheng, Ningbian, Yunnei and other prefectures.

Because the Jurchen army mobilized its entire force, they also drove all the people in the city into servants and laborers, leaving these places essentially empty.

The two Jurchen armies were still scheming against each other when Yelü Yanxi slapped them twice in the face.

Wanyan Aguda was so angry he almost vomited blood, and sent someone to reprimand Zongwang and Zonghan.

The unfortunate Yin Shuke, being the nominal commander of these cities, was punished the most severely, stripped of his Jurchen followers and given only a few Tatar auxiliary troops resembling beggars.

While Yelü Yanxi was advancing rapidly, a group of people hurriedly returned to the edge of Yunnei.

This group of men were all cowardly, dressed in dirty leather robes, short, stocky, and burly. They were already covered in the stench of mutton and fish, and after rolling around in the mud for days, they were even more filthy and wretched.

This army was the auxiliary force of the thirty Tatar tribes in southern Mongolia, led by Yin Shuke, a former Jurchen general who had been demoted.

Yin Shuke was truly unjustly struck by this disaster, but there was nothing he could do. Could such a grave sin be made to be borne by people like Zong Han and Zong Wang?
The auxiliary troops under his command were once nomadic tribes of the steppes controlled by the Khitan, and were the predecessors of the Mongols.

At this moment, Yin Shuke would never have imagined that a hundred years later, these tribes from the south and north of the Gobi Desert would gradually coalesce into a powerful steppe empire, which, after being Sinicized by the Jurchens, would rise again with a violent force, bringing a wave of destruction to the entire civilized world.

The Jin dynasty was the first to suffer, and their tragic fate was arguably the worst among all dynasties in Chinese history.

For the first time, the Han civilization truly perished, though briefly, the damage was immense.

These tribes in the southern desert were still scattered at this time. After being conquered by the Jurchens, they managed to gather more than 20 tribes and more than 5,000 knights during this southward march.

Even the Khitans of that time blocked the supply of iron to them, so these men were skilled horsemen, even to the admiration of the Jurchens. They were also more hardworking and fierce in battle.

However, their equipment was extremely poor, and they were simply no match for the Jurchens who had completely inherited the Liao dynasty's wealth.

Although the Liao people's fighting strength declined in the later period, their smelting technology and craftsmanship were surprisingly advanced!
Yinshu could only redeem himself by relying on the tribal auxiliary troops under his command, and he knew that this would be very difficult.

These men were barely qualified as scouts, but they were far from adequate for actual combat.

The reason is very simple: no matter how strong or capable you tribal soldiers are, you are still just human beings. The outdated bone arrows in your hands can't even break through the enemy's armor.

When enemy weapons and arrows fly in, you'll instantly have a bloody hole in your body. As long as the enemy has any basic skill, there's no way to fight them.

These tribes would have to wait several decades for them to rise to power, as the ambitious Wanyan Liang moved the Jin capital to Yanjing, rapidly deepening their Sinicization.

After being Sinicized, their power to control the nomadic tribes beyond the Great Wall weakened.

After Wanyan Liang's death, the Khitans launched an unprecedented military uprising in the border regions. Emperor Shizong of Jin, Wanyan Xi, once again borrowed a large number of troops from the grassland tribes to help quell the Khitans.

At that time, the influx of iron tools, coupled with the emergence of many strong individuals, enabled these tribes to eventually rise to power.

At this time, the auxiliary troops of the tribes on the grasslands can only obey orders and tremble with fear under the military might of the Jurchen Tartars.

They were treated like servants, summoned and dismissed by the Jurchen generals, utterly devoid of dignity.

The Jurchens were humiliated to the core by the Khitans, which is why they rose up in rebellion. However, after gaining power, they did not learn from the Khitans' mistakes at all, and instead became even more outrageous than the Khitans.

They did not treat those who were not of their own kind as human beings, and these tribal auxiliary soldiers were no exception.

During their journey south to participate in the encirclement and suppression of Yelü Yanxi, they not only had to undertake the heavy responsibility of scouts and reconnaissance, but also frequently went far out to gather fodder and provisions for the Jurchen army. After searching mountains and valleys, risking many lives to open them up, the little food and livestock they painstakingly obtained were mostly taken by the Jurchens before they could even be used.

After being demoted this time, Yin Shuke still seems to have more troops under his command than when he commanded the Jurchen main force.

However, his status plummeted! After Zonghan demoted him, he basically ignored him and seemed to have given up on this trusted general.

At this time, the Jurchen were still a tribal system where the strong preyed on the weak. Yinshuke had lost the support of his own people and had become a weaker party.

To regain respect, he had to perform a great feat, so he led his men to defeat Yelü Yanxi's army!
Only by seizing this credit could he reclaim his troops. For a Jurchen like Yinshuke, whose lineage was not high, military merit was the only chance to turn his life around.

Although the Liao people had suffered repeated defeats in the past, those were all fought by Jurchens. Yin Shuke now had less than a hundred Jurchen soldiers left.

His actions of leading these men, running wildly through the mud to hunt down Yelü Yanxi, were seen as a joke by the other Jurchen nobles.

In Jurchen society, no one would think that he suffered an undeserved disaster; if you were weak, you deserved to die.

Yinshu really did lead this group of hardworking future Mongols to the very front.

He was surrounded by about four or five hundred riders, a mixed group from several tribes.

Because the Jurchen headquarters did not distribute food and fodder to them, Yinshu could only lead them out in the rain and mud for three or four days to gather grass and grain. The amount of food they captured was pitiful, at most a hundred or so shi of various grains.

Behind the loosely organized caravan, there were a dozen or so emaciated sheep and horses being herded. The number of lives lost on this trip was about twenty or thirty, none of them from battle.

As the knights lazily rode back, not far away, people were tearing at and fighting over two women's clothes of poor quality and workmanship. In the end, they simply rolled around in the mud and beat each other, and no one paid any attention to them.

Silver Technician was right at the front of the line, covered in mud and water, his dirty leather robe open, and his body reeking of blood in addition to the mud.

That ugly face with a huge scar was constantly contorted, making even the most uncouth Mongol knights afraid to approach.

Despite being demoted to this position, Yin Shuke never uttered a single complaint. Instead, he personally led these ragtag troops, handling everything from scouting and reconnaissance to raiding for supplies.

During this grain harvest, it was only when he himself searched the mountains that he discovered a very hidden, strategically located small village.

Then, Yin Shuke personally led the team through the mud at night, climbing the stockade wall with a knife in his mouth, and finally scattering the night patrolmen and opening the stockade gate to obtain these spoils.

Although he had only been leading this mixed Hu (non-Han) army for a short time, these Hu people greatly admired Yinshuke and obeyed his every command.

This fierce general of the Jurchen Tartars was about to lead these ridiculous troops to face the last resistance force of the Liao Dynasty assembled by Yelü Yanxi.

(End of this chapter)