The moon is cold and clear, and the sky is filled with stars.
To the southwest, among the mountains on the Zizhou front line, a strange atmosphere was spreading among hundreds of thousands of people.
The military is also a society. When extraordinary results occur unexpectedly and the news spreads, people will choose to face it with various attitudes.
Surprise, anger, confusion, seeking confirmation, confusion, confusion... and finally acceptance and coping, thousands of people will have thousands of expressions.
After night falls, torches are still spreading in the mountains, and the atmosphere inside each camp is solemn. However, in different places, there are still horses galloping, information being exchanged, and even troops being mobilized.
Within the Jin Army, senior personnel have already entered into the meeting process. Some people have gone to Shiling in person, and some generals are still making various arrangements.
On the Xiukouji front line corresponding to Shiling, near midnight, a battle broke out on the northwest side of the foothills where martial law was still in place. The Jurchen troops who tried to make a detour for a surprise attack were blocked by Chinese army patrols, and then several groups of troops participated in the battle.
Right at the front of Xiukou, the Jurchen troops also organized a night attack under the leadership of Saba.
When he hurriedly arrived at the Xiukou military camp, what Ning Xi saw was the scene of a fierce battle in the dark: artillery, grenades, and flaming arrows were flying across the side of the mountain, and soldiers were running between the camp and the front line. He found the person responsible for
When Qu was talking about the war here, the other party was directing soldiers to go to the front line to support them. After giving the order, they only took care of him.
"Ning Xi. Why are you here?" Qu Zhengyan always frowned slightly and spoke calmly. The two of them saluted each other. Ning Xi looked at the fire on the front line and said, "Sa Ba still took the risk."
"Two groups of scouts came down from the north, and they seemed to have been intercepted. It is not difficult to predict the desperate measures of the Jurchens. The 30,000 people on Wangyuan Bridge were defeated inexplicably. As long as they did not intend to surrender, they would definitely take action now."
Maybe someone on our side could take advantage of our carelessness and break through the defense line in one fell swoop, and then we can regain the victory to some extent." Qu Zhengyan looked at the front, "But it's just a desperate move. The two teams from the north can't get around it. A frontal attack.
She looks beautiful, but she is actually exhausted."
Ning Xi nodded. He actually didn't have much contact with the front line. Looking at the fierce noise on the front line, he was probably adjusting his perception in his heart: It turns out that he is still weak.
Then he smiled sheepishly: "The battle of Wangyuan Bridge is over. My father asked me to come over here to listen to his uncle, Uncle Wu, and your opinions on the next battle... Of course, there is another thing, which is Ning Ji's matter. He
He should be leaning over here, I'll stop by to see him..."
Qu nodded righteously and looked quietly towards the foothills on the northwest side of the battlefield. Then he patted Ning Xi on the shoulder and led him to the small wooden shed that served as the command post: "Speaking of which, you are looking into the distance this afternoon.
bridge."
"Well, I followed the rear guard team and watched from a distance. Later, I participated in the custody of the prisoners. I only set off here after dark."
"Okay, then you can tell me more about the battle process and the rockets."
Naturally, there were other people who reported to Qu Zhengyan about the situation of the Battle of Wangyuan Bridge in the afternoon, but Ning Xi, who was at the scene and was Ning Yi's eldest son, could not know much about the situation conveyed by the messenger. Qu Zhengyan took Ning Xi there.
After pouring him a glass of water in the shed, Ning Xi recounted the entire situation of Wangyuan Bridge, and briefly introduced the basic properties of the "Dijiang River". Qu Zhengyuan thought about it for a moment and discussed it with Ning Xi.
According to the trend of the entire battlefield, by this time, the movement on the battlefield has actually gradually subsided.
Saba, who took risks but never took advantage, chose to retreat one after another. The Chinese army did not pursue them.
It was almost midnight. Shortly after Ning Xi finished the exchange with Qu Zhengyan, she saw Ning Ji, half-stained with blood, among the people returning to the camp from the battle. This young man, who was a head shorter than the others, was following a stretcher to the camp.
Running forward, there was a soldier on the stretcher who was seriously injured and bleeding from the abdomen. Ning Ji moved skillfully and quickly to try to stop the bleeding.
The camp for treating wounded soldiers was not far away, but in fact, after every battle, there were always not enough doctors accompanying the army. Ning Xi rolled up her sleeves and carried a basin of hot water and walked over to Ning Ji.
The stretcher was put down in the shed, and Ning Xi also put down the hot water and reached out to help. Ning Ji raised his head and glanced at half of his face, which was covered in blood, and there were also scratches on his forehead. Seeing his brother's arrival, he lowered his head and continued to deal with it.
The wounded man was injured. The two brothers cooperated silently.
Seeing this scene, Qu Zhengyan turned around and left.
In fact, Ning Ji followed Mao Yishan's team further north yesterday and made contact with this side for the first time. When the news was sent to Wangyuan Bridge, Qu Zhengyan also issued an order to let
This group of people who left the team quickly gathered in the direction of Xiukou. Mao Yishan, Ning Ji and others should have rushed towards Xiukou quickly. When the Jurchens were first discovered in the northwest mountains, they happened to be nearby.
He quickly joined the battle.
When Ning Xi came over, Qu Zhengyan was actually not completely sure whether Ning Ji could come back safely.
After following the military medical team for nearly two years, Xiao Ningji, who has also received the guidance of a good teacher, is no longer inferior to other military doctors in healing injuries. Ning Xi has also received specialized guidance in this aspect, and is also helping.
It can help to a certain extent. However, the wounded person in front of him was seriously injured. After treating him for a while, the other person's eyes finally gradually dimmed.
In the past few years, Ning Xi has followed Ning Yi, Chen Tuozi and others to learn strategizing in a larger direction. Such cruel practical operations are rare. He originally thought that the brothers would be able to save each other by working together and cutting off gold.
When he saw the wounded man slowly dying, a huge sense of frustration rose in his heart. But Xiao Ningji, who was kneeling beside him, just remained silent for a moment. After testing the deceased's breath and heartbeat, he touched his eyes and then stood up.
stand up.
"Brother, let's go there to help."
Ning Xi reacted and followed.
As partners, the two brothers later rescued a seriously injured person and bandaged a slightly injured person. There were military doctors walking around under the barracks to provide care, but the tension had subsided. The two of them went to the side to wash themselves.
Hands and face, slowly walked towards the side of the military camp.
The night sky is filled with stars.
Ning Xi looked at her brother who was more than four years younger than her, as if she was getting to know him all over again. Ning Ji turned around and looked around: "Brother, where is Sister Chu Yi, why didn't you come with me?"
"She is leading the female soldiers to help at the Wangyuan Bridge. Dad asked me to come over and talk to her uncle and the others about what will happen next, and see you by the way." Ning Xi said, then she remembered something and took out a
A small package came, "By the way, the rice cakes you asked me to bring you on the first day of the new year are all cold... I'm hungry too, let's eat half of them each."
"How could you eat half of what Sister Chuyi gave me?"
"I've led you all the way, no credit but hard work. Now, do you want the bigger half or the smaller half?"
"I'm a martial arts practitioner. I'm growing taller. I want to be bigger."
"Don't you know the reason why Kong Rong gave up the pear?"
"I know. If it were you, brother, would you like the bigger one or the smaller one?"
"Of course I said it should be small."
"So I want a big one, hahahaha..."
"Ha ha ha ha……"
When the brothers said this, they both laughed. This kind of saying is one of the classic jokes of the Ning family, and the original source may come from Ning Yi. The two of them each held half of the rice cake and sat down in the open space next to the military camp.
"Brother, I heard that dad took action at Wangyuan Bridge?"
"Well, dad dug out all the belongings. Six thousand people killed 30,000 people in Xiebao. Our casualties are not big. The Jurchens are going to have a headache."
"It's so powerful, how did you fight?"
Ning Ji marched all night, and later participated in the battle. He only heard a few bits and pieces about the news about Wangyuan Bridge, and Ning Xi recounted it to him in detail:
"...I heard that in the evening, my father had sent people to the Jurchen military camp to talk to Zong Han. The thirty thousand elites were exhausted in one battle, and the Jurchens actually have nothing left to fight."
While they were talking, both brothers had finished eating the rice cakes. At this time, Ning Ji raised his head and looked to the north where he was fighting just now, frowning slightly: "It seems that the golden dogs are not planning to surrender."
"It will take some time to digest the message from Wangyuan Bridge. The Jurchens may take risks at first, but as long as we don't give them any loopholes, after they wake up, they can only choose between advancing or retreating. The Jurchens will kill from the white mountains and black waters.
Coming out, the thirty years have always taken advantage of the fact that the brave will win when we meet on a narrow road. It is not that there is no danger of advancing, but in general, the greatest possibility is to choose to retreat... When the time comes, we will bite all the way.
Him, swallow him."
Ning Ji has been in the battlefield for a while, and although he has achieved quite a lot, he is not old enough after all, and it is difficult for him to speak on the general strategic level.
Ning Xi smiled: "Speaking of which, one thing may be certain. If you had not been recalled to Xiukou, you would probably have discovered by tomorrow that the Han troops under Li Rulai were already retreating rapidly. Regardless of whether they entered
It's time to retreat. To the Jurchens, this Han army is completely worthless. If we blast it with rockets, they will probably completely switch sides and rush towards the Jurchens."
Ning Ji blinked, and his moves suddenly came to light: "At this time, the whole army retreats. If we only need a few charges from behind, he won't be able to hold it anymore, right?"
"That's what I said, but the most important thing next is to concentrate on catching the Jurchens' desperate move and ending their delusions. Once they start to evacuate, the time to cut the flesh will come. Also, dad is planning to go to Nianhan
Show off, don't let the Jurchens catch you at this time." After Ning Xi said this, she added: "So, I'm here to keep an eye on you."
Under the starlight, Ning Ji's eyes were melancholy and his face fell flat.
At this time, it was already the early morning of the first day of March this year. While the two brothers were talking at night next to the military camp, on the other side of the mountain, the Jurchens had never chosen to surrender after a sudden and tragic defeat. By the Wangyuan Bridge,
Thousands of Chinese troops were guarding the newly defeated 20,000 prisoners. More than ten miles away in the mountains, Yu Yu had already led a team and set off towards this side through the stars and nights.
Waiting in front of them was another round of blockade by the Chinese army led by Han Jing and others.
In the dark woods on the front line of Shiling, there were also sporadic but strange scout conflicts, which broke out continuously during the night. The Jurchens were anxiously trying every means of breakthrough. Correspondingly, the Chinese army was fighting in Shiling.
A small team secretly advanced from the east side.
There was a wind at night, whining through the mountains.
Accompanied by elite scouts, the technician team set up armor on the edge of the foothills, and someone had already calculated the direction.
"...The test horizon...is 43 degrees to the west, the launch angle is 35 degrees, and the intended distance is 350 feet...two rounds..."
The hot air balloon was floating on the peak of Shiling. Standing on the hot air balloon in the darkness were already Pang Liu'an and several other high-ranking officers of the Chinese Army. Each of them had a telescope, and some were rubbing their hands, quietly waiting for weapons.
A moment of display.
In the Jin people's military camp, the lights were bright. At a certain moment, rockets dragged their bright tails and rose from the mountains on the east side of the military camp.
The explosion overturned the tents in the camp and ignited a fire. The Jin camp became lively, but it did not cause large-scale chaos or bombing of the camp. This was a symbol that the other side was well prepared. Soon after, several more rockets were fired
The bullets roared and fell towards the Jin people's military camp. Although it could not have the final effect of mutiny, the momentum it caused was astonishing.
The Jurchens' scout team reacted, and the two sides briefly fought in the mountains. After an hour, two more rockets flew into the Jin people's Shiling camp from another direction.
Under the shroud of stars and moon, in a seemingly peaceful night, there are still countless conflicts and malice about to break out.
As long as there is a chance, neither side will give the other any breathing room.
Zong Han, Gao Qingyi, Han Qixian, Ba Lisu, Wanyan Sheyema, Dalai and others gathered in the camp behind Shiling. People were calculating the variables and possibilities for the next battle, and Dalai advocated a desperate rush.
In Chengdu Plain, Ba Lisu and others tried to calmly analyze the functions and flaws of the Chinese army's new weapons.
Zong Han didn't speak too much. He sat on the chair at the back. It seemed that in half a day, this Jurchen veteran who had lived a lifetime had aged ten years. He was like an old but still dangerous lion, recalling in the darkness.
Looking at the countless hardships and obstacles he has experienced in this life, he seeks strength from past difficulties. Wisdom and determination alternately emerge in his eyes.
Decades ago, when the Jurchens had only a few thousand supporters, everyone was afraid of the huge Liao Kingdom. Only he and Wanyan Aguda persisted in their determination to fight against the Liao. They caught hold of the rising tide of history.
He found the key to the rise and fall of the ethnic group, thus determining the prosperity of the Jurchens for decades. At this moment, he knew that the same time had come again.
This moment came so suddenly that even the outstanding people gathered around him, such as Gao Qingyi, Han Qixian and others, might not be able to realize this at the first time. But Zong Han is the person who has been responsible for the rise and fall of the ethnic group all year round, as if in the dark.
, that trembling, goosebumps-inducing feeling has already arrived. What is truly terrifying is not even the capture of his son Xie Bao. The defeat of those 30,000 people will fundamentally determine the future fate of the entire Jin Kingdom.
omen.
Zong Han couldn't even fully understand this omen. In the darkness, he saw the rockets that flew into the military camp and then exploded. It is true that it may have such weaknesses, but on a large battlefield, even if it has such weaknesses
, the distance between the Jurchens and the Chinese army may have become an insurmountable chasm.
Even this distance may continue to widen.
Xiyin once told him about the possibility of studying the study of things in the Southwest. Zong Han did not fully understand that even Gu Shen himself might not have expected this scene that might happen on the battlefield in the Southwest. In his mind
A flashback to the original intention of the Southern Expedition: The next generation of the Jurchens has begun to indulge in leisure and entertainment. Maybe one day they will even become like the Wu Dynasty. He, Xiyin and others maintain the final glory of the Jurchens, hoping that in the afterglow
Solve the serious problem in the southwest before it is destroyed.
Is it too late? How much hope is there to move forward?
If you step back, the Kingdom of Jin may lose its chance forever...
"... All firearms must first be afraid of rainy days. Therefore, if you want to deal with this kind of firearms from the opponent, the first thing you need is still a day of continuous rain... It is now spring, and it is rainy in the southwest. If you can seize this opportunity
, it is not impossible to win... In addition, Ning Yi only took out such items at this time, which may prove that he does not have many firearms. We cannot conquer the southwest this time. If we fight again in the future, these firearms may be overwhelming.
Already..."
"...I don't know if the other party deliberately lured us in..."
"...If so, they didn't guard the rain at the beginning, Huang Ming, wouldn't we have come in too? If his firearms are endless, how difficult would it be to decide a battle when he arrives at Zizhou City? Hundreds of thousands of people, how can he
How much can you bear with him?"
"...This statement makes sense."
Everyone was still discussing. In fact, they could only discuss according to the current situation. They had to face the reality and withdraw the troops. After all, they did not dare to take the lead in saying it. Zong Han held the chair and stood up.
"Since the war started last year, it has been four months now. Our army has been moving forward, hoping to conquer the southwest. But if we cannot defeat it, the way to exit Jianmen Pass all the way is to start from the beginning.
It’s something I’ve never done before.”
When Zong Han said this, his eyes slowly swept over everyone. The tent was so quiet that it was almost suffocating. He only heard him say slowly: "Do it...as soon as possible, do the retreat method."
Bar."
Gao Qingyi, Ba Lisu and others looked down, as deep as an ancient well, but did not speak. Dalai clenched his fists, his body was trembling, and Sheyema lowered his head. After a while, Sheyema came out and stood in the tent.
Kneel down in the middle.
"My son, I would like to be the queen of the army."
The pale breath is coming here. This is a smell that all the Jin Army generals have never tasted. Countless thoughts and mixed flavors are surging in their hearts. Naturally, any detailed decision cannot be made at this night, and Zong Han does not.
In answer to Shiyama's request, he patted his son on the shoulder while looking at the front of the tent.
"At dawn, let someone report back to the Chinese army. I want to talk to Ning Yi."
For the first time in decades, the air around the Jurchens' military camp has become slightly cooler. Looking from the back to the front, in this dark night of conflict, the signal of the changing times has caught many people off guard. Some people
We have clearly felt the huge gap and transformation, and more people may have to slowly chew it all over dozens of days, months or even longer.
At dawn, the army led by Yu Yu's attempt to rescue Wangyuan Bridge was blocked and found that they had returned in vain. The Chinese army's front line was still defended like gold, with no gaps to be found. The Jurchens responded to Zong Han's meeting with Ning Yi: "
Let’s talk.” At almost the same moment, other news reached the camps of both sides throughout the day.
In the early morning sunshine, Ning Yi carefully read the urgent news. When he put down the information, he took a long, long sigh. In this news, there were both good news and bad news.
Over the years, the nature of good news and bad news are actually very similar. Good news is bound to be accompanied by bad news, but bad news may not necessarily bring good news. War can only make people passionate in war. In reality, perhaps there is only a difference between hurting people and hurting people more.