Since ancient times, based on the objective nature of human beings, in order to pursue a better life, people have set various rules for themselves.
From customs, laws, to various self-evident basic morals, people have set limits for themselves, delineating boundaries that should not be easily crossed. It can be said that it is these boundaries that protect the foundation of people's lives. It makes it so that people with weak individual strength will not be easily harmed, and can make use of the strength of each weak individual, accumulating sand into a tower, and finally creating a powerful and glorious country and civilization.
From this point on, the rules created by human beings will gradually lose their scope of application, and between large groups such as countries, the nature of the law of the jungle will more clearly show its fangs. It will remind us of the most fundamental truth of this world, and it will clearly tell us that the foundation of mutual respect between people is only based on two essential rules:
First, people can use each other.
Second, there is mutual deterrence between people.
When a certain rule between two models is out of balance to a certain extent, all man-made rules, all the seemingly natural truth, goodness, and beauty may break free at any time and disappear into nothingness. War is thus born.
That is the true manifestation of human society's unscrupulous behavior. No custom or morality can stop it, and anything that is permitted by the rules of physics may happen before our eyes. It widens the gap between people to the scale of kings and beasts, causes countless people to wander from place to place, and makes people realize that the world can be a place more terrible than hell.
But it also exhausts people's imagination in another direction. It forces people who want to survive to keep moving forward, it reminds people that all beauty is not given by God, but created and defended by people. It reminds people of the need to be self-reliant, and at some point, it will also push the world to get rid of the old and renew.
The first year of Wu Zhenxing, the 15th year of the Golden Sky Association, the years have rotated in the war for dozens of years.
There have been wars that determined the rise and fall of the world, and the trend of the tide of history. In the past few decades, these wars have determined that the Jin people have become the most dazzling characters on the world stage, and they have also pushed the wheel of history, crushing the future of countless people.
At the end of February, such a war was about to break out in a place called Yan Qiao on the frontline of Zizhou. At this time, the battle between the Jin Kingdom's Western Army and the Hua Xia Army in the southwest had been going on for four months. People realized that such a point would appear, and it would mark a temporary punctuation for everything.
It was just that when it appeared, the entire process of the battle was so astonishing.
It was true that on a macro level, the Battle of the Seventeenth Bridge and the entire war of the southwest had been a grand and hot-blooded spectacle. Everyone had done their utmost to seize that sliver of a chance at victory, but when the curtains were drawn, everyone realized that everything had been so simple and smooth, so simple that it was bizarre.
On the surface level of this war, there were no strange plots happening. At first glance, it looked as if two armies had walked straight to each other after a brief maneuver, with one side pouncing on the other side with all their might, fighting like this until the end of the battle. Many people weren't even able to react at all, and it was to the extent that they were dumbstruck and found it hard to breathe …
Of course, within the entire war, there are countless strands of cause and effect. If we want to see these clearly, we need to use the 23rd of February as the turning point to cast a macroscopic view of the entire battlefield.
With the 23rd of February as the node in the southwest, the Jin army participating in the southern expedition had actually been divided into five groups in the vast mountains more than 20 kilometers in front of Zizhou. One side was stabilizing the formation, while the other side was pouring down south.
At this time, the Jin army was on the frontline. Of the five main forces, there were about one hundred and fifty thousand people. The southernmost was led by Wanyan Xiebao and consisted of twenty thousand Yan Mountain Guards. Behind the Yan Mountain Guards was the ten thousand troops directly under Ci Bushi's command. Although they were slightly lagging behind, after two months, this army had gradually sent thousands of warhorses from the rear. They could at most make up for the lack of transportation on the bumpy mountain roads, but once they reached the flat terrain near Zi Zhou, they could once again unleash their greatest destructive power.
Accompanying the Yan Mountain Guards was Ba Lisu's army that had been moving steadily in the middle. The core of his army was more than 20,000 people, but he had the most scouts and effective forces in the front and back. This Jurchen general who broke through Huang Ming County seemed somewhat cruel and unscrupulous on the battlefield, and didn't care about human lives. However, his tactics were actually the most stable, and also the most troublesome for the Hua Xia army, who liked to fish in troubled waters.
Ba Lisu's army was slightly to the north. The Dalai and Saba armies that came down from Yu Yu River were the largest group of troops. Due to the large number of troops — the entire group had more than 50,000 people — their pace seemed somewhat bloated. After the first month of January, Wanyan Zonghan, the commander-in-chief of the western expedition, who had once appeared at Yu Yu River, disappeared. Some of the Hua Xia staff officers guessed that he was traveling with his right-hand man, Wanyan Saba, in this army.
Of course, some of the staff officers thought that Zonghan might be sitting in the middle of the Ba Lisu formation. Later, this speculation was proven to be correct.
Further to the northwest, there were still about 30,000 troops of the Han army moving toward the border of the battlefield. Not long after the army passed through Yu Yu River and Huang Ming County, the Jin army finally completed the separation of the Han army from the Central Plains and Jiangnan. They were either routed on the battlefield, or sent to the unimportant border to concentrate on advancing.
Now, this army of about 30,000 troops was led by the Han general Li Rulai. The Jurchen didn't have high expectations for them. As long as they could attract the attention of the Hua Xia army to a certain extent, they could disperse the Hua Xia army's forces, and they didn't retreat to the main battlefield to cause trouble.
The war had been going on for four months, and the main force that the Jurchen army could send to the front line was about 120,000. Adding the injured soldiers in the rear, the total number of troops might increase by a lot, but it was already very difficult to push forward the troops in the rear.
On the other hand, the Hua Xia army started with the main force of more than 50,000 people in four divisions. Later, they added about 20,000 new soldiers. At the end of February, the First Division had about 8,000 people left. The Second Division had experienced the defeat at Huang Ming County and later replenished some injured soldiers. At the end of February, there were only about 4,000 people left. Qu Zhengyan of the Fourth Division still had 7,000 people, and the Fifth Division had more than 8,000 people. In addition, Commander He Zhicheng had 6,000 people in the Special Brigade and the Cadre Regiment. At the front lines of Palm Creek and Leigang, there were actually only these 34,000 people participating in the fight against the 150,000 strong army.
Watermelon was suppressing bandits in the rear, leading a special force. In fact, it wasn't much. At the beginning of February, Ning Yi finally pulled out the people that he had originally prepared. The 6,000 people in his hands included the Garrison Regiment, the Bandit Suppression Unit, some special forces who participated in the frontline battle, and a small number of technical soldiers.
The 34,000 people gathered at the frontline were actually not concentrated. Relying on the rugged mountain roads in front of Palm Creek and Leigang, which made it difficult for large armies to spread out, a large number of troops were sent out to fight separately.
On the morning of the 23rd of February, several troops of the Nu Zhenren had already launched a large-scale surprise attack. After the Hua Xia army reacted, the first thing they did was to assemble an army of about 15,000 people. First, they used three groups of 4,000, 5,000, and 6,000 people to fight against the weak forces under the command of Xie Bao, Ba Lisu, and Saba. The battle started in the mountains from noon.
The Hua Xia army's forces continued to be mobilized.
Ning Yi's departure from Zizhou and the Adept's choice of time "coincided". But with this move of his, the 23rd of February had a completely different meaning to the entire southwest war situation.
Everyone knew that the war situation had reached an extremely critical juncture. But not many people could understand the motive behind Ning Yi's decision.
For the Adept, the main force when she entered the Sword Garret was 200,000 soldiers, but now there were only 120,000 soldiers at the frontline. The usable Han army was almost completely exhausted, which was an extremely embarrassing scene in history. But war did not follow a simple exchange ratio. To use the strength of tens of thousands of people to wear down the Jin army like this, the Hua Xia army would have to bear even more pressure. As the number of troops gradually decreased, the Hua Xia army that was left with only 40,000 soldiers would collapse at some point.
The Adept naturally understood part of the Hua Xia army's purpose of taking the initiative to stir up trouble through the mountain roads. In a defensive battle, one had to wear down the attackers until they gave up, but in a mobile battle in the wilderness, one could choose to attack the enemy's leader. For example, in the most complicated mountainous terrain, they could launch a surprise attack on Zong Han, Ba Lisu, Saba, and Xie Bao … As long as they could defeat one of the main forces, they could achieve results that couldn't be easily achieved in a defensive battle, and even cause the enemy to retreat in advance.
In order to deal with this possibility, Zong Han had even chosen the most cautious stance and was unwilling to let the Hua Xia army know where he was. At the same time, his eldest son, Wanyan Xibao, also did not appear on the frontline.
The real bait was Wanyan Xibao. Zong Han's son was known to the outside world for being reckless, but in fact he was meticulous. The Yan Mountain Guards he led were the strongest of the entire Jin army, second only to the Tu Shan Guards. Even though Lou Shi had died many years ago, this unit had been trained with the purpose of avenging the humiliation and was the core force of the Adept's attack on the southwest.
If the Hua Xia army wanted to carry out a decapitation, Xie Bao would be the best target, but to do so, they would have to pay with their lives.
The Adept's advance over the past month was extremely difficult and they suffered great losses, but overall there were no fatal mistakes. In theory, once they crossed Leigang and Palm Creek, the Hua Xia army would have to turn back to Zizhou and fight an unwilling battle to defend the city. At that time, a large number of troops with low fighting strength, such as the Han army, could be ordered by the Adept to march straight in and trample on the rear of the Hua Xia army on the Chengdu plain.
This would make the Hua Xia army very uncomfortable, but they had to make this choice. Of course, Zong Han and the others had also predicted another possibility after crossing Leigang and Palm Creek. That was, Ning Yi would realize that defending Zizhou was just a sitting duck, so he would make a heroic decision to give up the Chengdu plain and return to Liangshan to continue being the king of the mountain. This could also be considered a way for the war of the southwest to come to an end.
No one expected that Ning Yi would come out.
To make a heroic decision to this extent? Once they crossed the line, they would launch an all-out battle with 40,000 soldiers?
Zong Han also knew the story of burning the cauldrons and sinking the boats. But in the current situation, such a choice seemed very irrational — even laughable.
Because of this confusion, the night between the 23rd and 24th of the Adept's army was extremely turbulent. The high-ranking generals pretended to make arrangements for the frontline while discussing with the core command group on Ba Li Su's side.
Dalai, Saba, and the others naturally believed that this was a trap. Wanyan Xibao began to push forward madly according to his' settings', assuming the posture of seizing the first opportunity. Behind him, more than 10,000 troops were also rapidly squeezing in. At one point, Gao Qingyi advised, "Ning Yi is staking everything on one throw, so his plan must be extremely unusual. Why don't we order King Bao Shan to quickly stop and send another army to probe?"
Wanyan Xibao also adopted the same cautious attitude, but Zong Han did not immediately make a decision. Ba Li Su, on the other hand, continued to do his steady work — ordering the army in the middle to move forward calmly. Even if something happened, they would not be completely separated from Xibao's army.
"… If Ning Yi's 6,000 soldiers kill their way out, even if their fighting strength is astonishing, what will he do next? What is his goal? Is he going to attack all the troops that have stepped out of Leigang and Palm Creek? How many can he defeat? "
For half the night, Zong Han and the others were constantly making deductions on the map, but they were unable to come to a conclusion. Before the sky was completely bright, Xibao's messenger also arrived, bringing a letter and statement from Xibao himself.
"… Our side will attack with one hundred and fifty thousand men. I will take twenty thousand men and leave Thunder Hill and Palm Creek first. No matter how strong the Hua Xia army is, they will only be able to meet us with forty thousand men. If that's the case, even if I set up the formation, the other armies will have already left. The battle in the southwest has already been decided … If the Hua Xia army cannot meet us with forty thousand men, and Ning Yi only has six thousand men, I have nothing to fear. In the worst case, he can defeat my twenty thousand men with six thousand.
"… In a battle between two armies, opportunities are fleeting. Since Ning Yi is so proud of his fighting strength, it is time for me to face him head-on. The only thing to worry about is that Ning Yi will use 6,000 soldiers to lure the enemy and gather the troops in front. Then, I will use the strategy of encirclement to completely swallow the army in my hands. It is better to break one finger than to injure ten fingers, but this is not difficult to deal with … "
The biggest possibility for Ning Yi to come out so arrogantly was that he saw that Leigang and Palm Creek could no longer be defended. He wanted to concentrate his superior forces to swallow a part of his army before all the 150,000 soldiers came out. But this was not a bad thing. In a battle, one should not be afraid of the other party's intentions, but rather be afraid that the other party did not have them. Because of this, Bao Shan said, "If Ning Yi wants to eat, then I'll just stuff him to death."
As for the rear, as long as the troops of Ba Li Su, Saba, Dalai, and the others firmly suppressed the Hua Xia army in the mountains, making it difficult for him to withdraw many people, the Hua Xia army's attempt to take chestnuts from the fire would not be very likely to be realized. If they could still withdraw their troops, it would be very unimaginable in itself.
From another point of view, if Ning Yi came with 6,000 soldiers and said that he wanted to eat the 20,000 to 30,000 main forces in Xie Bao's hands, and Xie Bao's response was not "let him eat, please eat them all", then the Jurchen Zhenren actually did not need to contend for hegemony in the world anymore.
Even if Xie Bao, who led one of the strongest armies of the Jurchen Zhenren, had four to five times the strength of Ning Yi, he was prepared to be defeated. At most, he would "gather his troops and fight again". In fact, the Jurchen people had unknowingly changed the name of the opposite army from "Black Flag Army" to "Hua Xia Army". This was also the respect that the Hua Xia army had shown the Jurchen Zhenren in the past four months.
On the 24th, Zong Han made a decision and approved Xie Bao's plan. At the same time, Ba Li Su's army steadily pressed forward, while the armies of Dalai and Saba maintained a conservative attitude in the north. This was a deliberate response to the Hua Xia army's speculation that Zong Han and Saba were together.
It was worth mentioning that after obtaining his father's approval, although Xie Bao ordered the rear army to continue to speed up, he only maintained a fast posture on the frontlines. He ordered his troops to try their best to fight against the main force of the Hua Xia army, extending the time it took for all the troops to cross Palm Creek by one day.
He still felt that 20,000 people was not enough, so he wanted to gather 30,000 troops and then rush towards Ning Yi. This action was also to test Ning Yi's real purpose. If the other party was really trying to fight him with 6,000 people, then he should wait for him.
In the early morning of the 26th, Xie Bao's first army crossed Palm Creek. He originally thought that they would be attacked head-on, but the attack didn't come. Ning Yi's army was still gathering a few miles away. He looked like he wanted to attack the main force of the Jurchen army, so he moved to the side and put on a deterrent posture.
— Deterrence my ass!
At this time, in Ba Li Su's middle army, Zong Han's flag had been raised, and he was directly suppressing the main force of the Hua Xia army on the frontlines. The fighting in the mountains had escalated further, and the offensive and defensive battle had become a positional battle. The Hua Xia army blocked the mountain pass with their cannons and kept taking advantage, but the Jurchen people were also sure that the main force of the Hua Xia army was about to die, so they couldn't leave. In fact, everyone was waiting for the next change in the situation of the battle. The reaction of Ning Yi's side was so strange that it made people dumbfounded.
On the 28th, Xie Bao's force of nearly 30,000 people had gradually gathered, and he even brought along 3,000 cavalrymen. Ning Yi moved forward unhurriedly, and Xie Bao moved forward as well. He had always thought that the other party would play tricks at some point, but they never did. The interaction between the two groups of people looked like two children shouting at each other.
"If you have the guts, cut!"
"I'll cut!"
"Go ahead!"
"I'll cut!"
"If you don't cut, you're a grandson …"
He had to cut, or else he would become Sima Yi.
On the afternoon of the 28th, the flames of war raged in the mountains ahead. Near the Pine Bridge, Wanyan Xie Bao chopped down with his sword.
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