On the eleventh day of the third month, Wanyan Zongbi led his army to attack Suzhou. Suzhou's Mou Cailiang led ten thousand men to resist for a day and a night. Suzhou fell and the city was massacred. Three days later, Suzhou was set ablaze and half of the city was burned to the ground.
On the fifteenth day of the third month, Yin Shuke led his army to attack Liaozhou. Liaozhou's defending general Huang Kaiqi led a group of warriors to attack in the middle of the night. However, the attack was seen through by Yin Shuke and the army was routed. Huang Kaiqi led his personal guards to attack Yin Shuke. He was hit by a dozen sabers and died.
On the twenty-sixth day of the third month, Zong Fu and Zong Bi's army captured Hejian Prefecture. Shenzhou, Jingzhou, Cangzhou and other places surrendered.
From the fifteenth to the twenty-seventh day, Luozhou, Jizhou, Wo Zhou and Ci Zhou successively surrendered.
On the thirtieth day of the third month, Cangzhou's old general Liu Dingwen led more than ten thousand volunteers to attack Hejian. After fighting with Zong Bi's vanguard for half a day, the army was routed and Liu Dingwen was killed by a stray arrow. The volunteers were captured more than three thousand people. They were suppressed outside Hejian and killed. Their heads were used to build a temple and the corpses were spread everywhere. It was said that the stench did not disappear for a hundred days.
On the first day of the fourth month, Wang Yan and Zong Han's troops fought at Qinzhou. They were defeated and retreated.
On the sixth day, Zong Han attacked Ping Yang but failed. He turned to the east. On the tenth day, Xi Yin led her army to attack Ping Yang again.
On the eighth day, Zong Fu captured Zizhou and his troops forced their way to Jinan.
On the tenth day of the fourth month, the central army's general Lang Liduo attacked Xiangzhou but failed for five days. Then Zong Han's army arrived. On the twenty-first day, Xiangzhou fell. Due to the fierce resistance of the people in the city, the Jurchens massacred all the people in the city.
On the twenty-fifth day, the magistrate of Jinan, Liu Yu, used a rope to leave the city and surrendered to Zong Fu. After that, the Jurchens lured the city gates open. After the army entered the city, all the generals, officials and their families who were determined to resist were massacred within a month.
On the twenty-seventh day, the great Confucian puppet Hong Xi, who went to the Eastern Army's camp to persuade Zong Fu and Zong Bi, cursed loudly in front of the two Jurchens' tent. He was then killed by Zong Bi and his body was thrown out of the camp. The news of this great Confucian rebuking Zong Bi spread like wildfire among the scholars.
On the 29th of the fourth month, the Great Radiant Sect gathered 170,000 people and attempted to surround and annihilate Yinshu's vanguard army at the southern outskirts of Junzhou. The 170,000 people were routed, and tens of thousands of them were chased by the Jurchen cavalry to the banks of the Yellow River. At that time, the crowd hugged each other, and a small number of them were massacred, while the majority were trampled and pushed into the river. Countless people drowned.
At the beginning of May, the Eastern Army led by Zong Fu and Zong Bi forced the surrender of Tokyo and other places.
On the fifteenth day of the fifth month, Zong Fu's army crossed the Yellow River.
In the middle of the fifth month, General Ma Kuo led nearly two hundred thousand men from the Five Horse Mountain to attack Zong Fu and the others. They fought with him for nearly a month.
On the 23rd day of the fifth month, Zhou Yong went south to hunt Yangzhou.
In the sixth month, Ma Kuo captured the small town of Qingping, which had fallen into the hands of Zong Han and his men. This was a strategic location for the armies of the Middle and Eastern Routes.
In early June, Zong Han's attack on Qingping failed. On the tenth day of the sixth month, Zong Fu's army attacked Qingping again. Qingping fell, and the 200,000 soldiers retreated. Along the way, tens of thousands of them were killed. Ma Kuo led the remaining survivors and retreated to the south.
On the twenty-second day of the sixth month, Zong Han's Middle Army fought the Bianliang garrison again, but failed.
At the end of June, Zong Fu forced Ying Tian into a corner …
8th of July …
13th of July …
*****
The wind at the end of summer brought all kinds of smells, and the stench was indescribable. The weather was too hot, and the dead would soon emit the stench of decay. Other than the stench of rotting corpses, there was also the body odor of people who hadn't bathed for a long time, and the smell of defecation …
Lin Zongwu sat on the stone platform and preached. Below him sat countless worshippers in tattered clothes. Their eyes were pitiful but fanatical. They were men and women, and they were all pitiful people.
Occasionally, the people cheered.
After Lin Zongwu finished his preaching, he turned around and left. He returned to the house at the back, and his gaze wavered slightly. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, his gaze returned to normal.
Occasionally, he would think of what happened on the battlefield in Jun Province. The people charged toward the Jurchen army, fanatical and fearless. However, not long after, the army collapsed. The Jurchen attacked from every direction, and the corpses piled up like mountains and blood flowed like rivers. These worshippers also began to turn around and run. They were like headless flies, and he couldn't command them anymore.
He didn't care about the dead. In his life, the number of people Lin Zongwu had killed with his own hands had piled up like a mountain. What he cared more about was that failure, and the only thing that made him feel better was that it wasn't just his failure.
The whole world was losing. Whether it was the army of the imperial court, the volunteer army, or the mountain bandits that charged toward the Jurchen, everyone was losing and dying in this entire summer. The path that the Jurchen killed left piles of corpses. There were hundreds of thousands or even millions of them. People died, homes were destroyed, the elderly and children starved to death, and houses were burned to ashes. Those who hadn't been defeated had mostly announced their surrender to the Jurchen. Those cowards.
The world was collapsing, and those worshippers were the most obvious embodiment. In the past, most of the people in this crowd wore decent clothes, and there were also many rich and influential families. Now, fewer and fewer people dared to wear such clothes. The Jurchen's rampage had led to an increase in refugees. It was said that famine and disease had already appeared north of the Yellow River. Even though he was still in the unoccupied area on the south bank of the Yellow River, the people were already increasingly terrified and distressed. In Jun Province, he lost hundreds of thousands of people. After returning, many people quickly gathered again.
Cult Master Lin, who had always been steady and magnanimous, didn't know whether this was good or bad. Ambitious and ruthless people all yearned for chaotic times, because chaotic times could accumulate popularity. However, looking at the worshippers, Lin Zongwu felt that it might not be a good thing.
The enemy was really … too strong.
He thought for a moment in this silence, and then he exhaled. 'That's good too.
I will find a way to save the world! '
After a while, someone walked in this direction. Lin Zongwu closed his eyes. The person outside the door reported in a low voice that Yingtian City had fallen.
Hearing this news, he opened his eyes. After a while, the person outside the door heard the Cult Master sigh like a prophecy.
"Demons are dancing, the world … is going to die …"
The world was falling, and the ancient capital responded to the heavens. Flames and blood filled the city. The massacre and plunder that had happened in Bianliang City once again appeared in this ancient city that had temporarily become the capital. The leaves on the trees crackled as they burned. Plaques fell one by one. People screamed in fear, screamed, and begged for mercy. Women kept running, men were stabbed to death on spears, and children were thrown to the ground …
There was resistance. From the north to the south, along the way, big and small resistance kept appearing, and then they were continuously destroyed in the collision. The heroes among the people formed a team that specialized in hunting down lone Jin soldiers. Those who had lost their families or were in danger of losing their families hated the Jin so much that they wanted to eat their flesh and skin them alive. However, this was the fiercest clash between the two countries.
After Yingtian, the two armies moved south again. Countless Jiangnan troops that had surged up were defeated.
Yangzhou, this graceful ancient city, was also filled with panic and helplessness. The court moved here with Zhou Yong, but the Zhenren's footsteps did not stop. At this time, Zhou Yong had already lowered his stance and sent a few letters to the Jurchen army begging for mercy. He could already tell that this time, the Jurchen was determined to capture him and bring him to the north. Perhaps he was starting to regret his decision to become the emperor, but it was to no avail.
In the past, the imperial court of the Wu Dynasty had gathered all the elites of the world, including those high-spirited and high-spirited lords who gave orders to the empire and those who were active outside of the imperial court. This time, no one could turn the tide.
"I've prepared some people, a few teams …" Looking at the palace in the distance, Jun Wu, who was standing on the palace wall, said to his sister beside him, "If the Zhenren attacks here, they can protect us."
"Go where?"
Zhou Pei's eyes were empty. She asked casually. Jun Wu was stunned. "How about the northwest?"
Zhou Pei closed her eyes. She did not want to see his face when he was talking nonsense. Jun Wu smiled. "I'm joking."
"We go south, further south, and further south. They have hundreds of thousands of people. How long can they chase us? No matter what, we have to save ourselves to find a chance of survival. Master did the same in the northwest." He paused. "This time, the Wu dynasty … I'm afraid …"
Jun Wu didn't say anything else. Zhou Pei closed her eyes and let the evening wind blow through her hair. For the first time in a long time, she did not refute Jun Wu when he called her master. Before this, she had learned in detail what had happened to the noble ladies who had been captured in the north in the Shame of Jingping.
They had been raped and abused. In the north, they had been reduced to slaves and prostitutes, unable to free themselves for the rest of their lives. Next, if she encountered the fate of being captured, the only way out was probably to commit suicide.
If I don't speak first in spring, no worm will dare to make a sound.
This time, the Zhenren, who had killed all the way here, would crush the whole world!
In the northwest, where not many people paid attention, the situation was no better than that of the Central Plains, which had been reduced to hell.
In May, while the central and eastern armies of the Jurchens attracted the attention of the world, Wanyan Loushi led the main force of the Jin army across the Yellow River. Not long after, they defeated Fan Zhixu's 160,000 troops at Chaoyi, then Tonghua, and then tens of thousands of soldiers at Tongguan.
In June, they trapped the capital governor's office and attacked the reinforcements. At Changle Slope and other places, they defeated and annihilated the tens of thousands of soldiers who had come to the capital governor's office. They captured Fu Liang, then subdued Fengxiang and Longzhou. They had really pushed the pressure to the northwest.
In July, Yanzhou and other places were actively preparing for war. Not long ago, Zhong Lie had rejected the Jurchen emissary's advice to surrender. The Zhong family dominated the northwest. Now, although their ancestral graves had been dug up, for the upright Zhong Lie, surrendering was still not an option.
Since he had taken back Yanzhou and other places, he did not have much time to develop. Not long ago, he had written a letter to Little Canghe, hoping to join forces with the Huaxia army, which claimed not to surrender to foreign countries, to resist the enemy.
The Huaxia army was a regicide and rebel force. Although they had the same enemy, their positions were different. They had no experience in working together. Who knew if one side would suddenly turn against the other? Before understanding the situation clearly, it was better not to join forces.
The other side had their reasons for refusing, and Zhong Lie could not think of any. On the 23rd of July, in Yanzhou, he was waiting for news from the south.
Not long ago, he had sent 30,000 troops to support Fengxiang.
Perhaps the war that had already broken out in Fengxiang was the largest attack launched by the entire Wu dynasty's western forces against the Jurchens' western army of less than 10,000. This was the result of the discussion after they heard that Fengxiang, which had fallen into the hands of the Jurchens, was about to rebel. Among them, the Wuwei army would send 150,000 troops, the Jinning army 100,000, and the western army 30,000. A few other volunteer armies would also send their own troops to attack Fengxiang at the same time.
In the afternoon, the news came.
The moment he read the news, Zhong Lie felt dizzy in his seat. He put down the news. Although he knew it was unnecessary, he still asked with difficulty, "Is the news true?"
The travel-worn and wounded rider gave him the answer.
On the 21st of July, Wanyan Loushi surrounded Fengxiang and attacked reinforcements. He defeated the Jinning army 100,000 and returned to capture Fengxiang. On the 22nd of July, more than 10,000 Jurchens' main force split up. They defeated the 30,000 western army in Wugong in the morning. At noon, they defeated the 30,000 volunteer army nearby. At night, Wanyan Loushi personally led several thousand troops and defeated the 150,000 Wuwei army in Weinan.
— Wugong and Weinan were separated by nearly 200 li.
Zhong Lie walked out of the door.
At this time, all kinds of preparations for war in Yanzhou should still be in progress. However, in the City Lord's residence, he could not see the work outside. Outside the courtyard, the autumn air was crisp, but he only felt that it was difficult to breathe. The darkness was pressing down on him.
"This world … is it over …"
In the Little Cang River, sunlight shone into the house. Light dust danced in the air. After receiving the news, a group of military officers also fell silent.
"… Damn it." Someone sighed softly. "… What's the use of having so many people?"
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
