The broken half of his head was placed in a bamboo basket and sent to the negotiation table in front.
Gao Qingyi's roar stopped. It was said that after seeing Xie Bao's head, he was silent for a long time. Then, he said to Lin Qiu, "Don't you think you should be afraid after bullying people to this extent?"
Lin Qiu replied, "In the past ten years, you have done countless things like this. You should be afraid after seeing his ending."
The negotiation stopped for more than an hour.
The sky gradually darkened. The torches were lit up. All the troops in the position waited solemnly. In the night, the scouting teams went out in batches.
Not long after, Gao Qingyi returned to the negotiation table and asked the Huaxia army to return Wanyan Xie Bao's body. Lin Qiu still refused, "Mr. Ning only told me to negotiate with General Gao about exchanging captives. I don't have the authority to negotiate with people unrelated to this. Or does General Gao still want to waste his precious time on a corpse? "
"Then …" Gao Qingyi's eyes were cold, but he finally clenched his teeth and said, "When your people go back to report the news, please bring this request to Mr. Ning."
The entire negotiation started in such a tense atmosphere. After more than an hour, the messenger brought back Ning Yi's instructions on how to deal with Xie Bao's body. "If the exchange of captives goes smoothly, Xie Bao's body will be returned as a gift after the exchange to comfort General Nie Han's pain of losing his son."
Gao Qingyi expressed his gratitude.
…
The night was quiet.
In the seemingly peaceful negotiation atmosphere in front of the Lion's Ridge, there were more clashes and fights happening in the dark forest.
Before the hour of the sea, two medium-sized fights broke out in the mountains a few miles southwest of the Lion's Ridge. The scouting teams met in the forest and started the riskiest and most fatal fight in the night. The Jurchen general Yu Yu personally went to the frontline and led the fight.
At a quarter past the hour of the sea, the flame of "Dijiang" rose in the darkness far away. Even the people in the Lion's Ridge could vaguely see it. Five rockets were fired at the hill where Yu Yu and the others gathered. The flames lit up the forest. The scouting team led by Du Sha made a large-scale surprise attack on the Jurchen scouts.
The breakthrough and rescue in the direction of the Wooden Bridge were blocked again. During the negotiation process in the Lion's Ridge, they added the process of blaming each other and shifting the blame.
In the Jurchen camp, Wanyan Shema, Ba Lisu, and the others organized more rescue and breakthrough plans.
Close to midnight, in the Han army camp of Rulai Li in the mountains to the northeast, the light was dim and gloomy. There was only a bean-like light in the tent. Rulai Li had already received a message from the Huaxia army and was waiting for the Huaxia negotiator to arrive.
Fire and chaos suddenly erupted in the camp outside the tent. Someone shouted, "Catch the spy!" Amidst the bitingly cold wind and fire, the shouts of countless female Daoists were mixed in. He lifted the curtain of the great tent and went out. A deputy general ran over. "Wanyan Safa is here …"
"Over there …" Rulai Li frowned and looked at the chaotic area. The deputy general said, "A spy has infiltrated. Fortunately, he was discovered and caused chaos. The spy seems to have taken advantage of the chaos to escape."
"He escaped?"
"… He escaped."
"Seal the camp. I want to thoroughly investigate this matter!"
He looked over with a frown. The torches of Wanyan Safa's troops were already near. When the troops ran in front of him, he saw Wanyan Safa dismount from his warhorse. "General Li, the commander is about to launch a large-scale attack in the direction of the Lion's Ridge and the Wooden Bridge. The Black Flag Army is already afraid. Our spies have found out that the enemy will make a big move tonight. The commander has ordered me to come and help General Li attack."
The Han general bowed and knelt down. "Rulai Li obeys!"
He listened attentively. The sounds of fighting in the darkness turned into the sound of the wind and came over.
*****
Wooden Bridge. The wind whimpered past.
In the early hours of the morning, Fu Sanhun felt cold.
He didn't know what time it was, but he took a nap. When he woke up, the sky was full of stars and he felt the people beside him trembling. His hands were also trembling.
He hadn't felt cold for many years.
The coldest time in the world was the winter in the north. The snow howled and lasted for months. His family huddled together around the fire pit. There was often not enough food in the winter. When he was young, many people died of hunger and cold in such a winter.
After he joined the army, he rarely had such a day.
Fu Sanhun joined the army in the late years of Ping Liao. At that time, he was already in his early twenties. He didn't make it to the first round of great military achievements. But because of his identity as a Jurchen Zhenren, he dared to fight and fight. After joining the army, he became the backbone of the army. He fought many battles, killed many people, and gained many benefits.
In the 11th year of the Tianhui, he entered the Yan Mountain Guards as an elite and was promoted to Mou Ke (Centurion). There were few Jurchen Zhenrens in the Jin Kingdom. Generally, as long as the Jurchen soldiers were clear-headed, they would be promoted quickly. But Fu Sanhun's Mou Ke was different from other armies. Most of his subordinates were elite soldiers with Jurchen as the backbone. This was an elite force that had always existed in order to maintain the reputation of the Jurchen people as "invincible". In an ordinary army of the Jin Kingdom, they could even become a chiliarch. In the face of the Han army, they were equivalent to a general who led thousands of soldiers.
At that time, although the Yan Mountain Guards had suffered a great setback due to Lou Shi's death, the quality of its soldiers was extremely high. Zong Han, Xi Yin, and the others had planned ahead for the southwest war. Xie Bao personally led this army and built it as a strong army second only to the Mountain Guards. It showed great importance. Fu Sanhun, who was the backbone of the army, naturally received a lot of preferential treatment.
Glory, splendor, wealth, fiefdoms, beautiful women, and money. For the current Jurchen Zhenren, these kinds of luxuries were nothing difficult. At this moment, Fu Sanhun, who was in his thirties, was not lost in it. In fact, just like many first-generation entrepreneurs who had gone through hardships to become successful, their success came from real trials. They had experienced fighting and life and death situations. What really fascinated them was the sense of power they felt after more than ten years of gradually becoming a superior person from a situation where they didn't even have clothes to wear.
After killing countless people, money and beautiful women naturally came. After fighting one battle after another, other people's compliments and respect naturally appeared. Fu Sanhun loved the feeling of fighting and loved the reputation of being invincible. This would bring them all happiness and solve all problems.
After joining the Yan Mountain Guards who had the 'stain' of losing battles, the army had been preparing for the expedition against the Black Flag Guards. The upper echelons also shouted that they would avenge Lou Shi. Fu Sanhun did not feel much about this. Occasional defeats did not mean anything. Marshal Lou Shi died in an ambush by the Black Flag Guards. This did not mean that there was a problem with the army. At that time, under the command of Xie Bao, the Yan Mountain Guards had quelled a few small rebellions. They had also fought against a cunning enemy on the grasslands. The enemy had fled at the sight of them. They were invincible in all the battles. The Jurchen Zhenren were still invincible.
The veterans in the Yan Mountain Guards who had experienced the northwest war would occasionally talk about the enemies they had encountered in that war. In rare cases, some soldiers would think that the Black Flag Guards were powerful. Fu Sanhun scoffed at such a saying. So what if the enemy was powerful? Even if it was an evenly matched opponent, they could just defeat them head-on! Was the rise of the Great Jin only because the enemy was too weak?
After suffering a defeat, they would fight another battle. If there was a debt of blood, they would collect it from the enemy. The Jurchen Zhenren had grasped her own fate amidst the flashes of swords. All these years, Fu Sanhun had always felt this kind of power.
With the beginning of the fourth expedition to the south, for Fu Sanhun, it was more like the beginning of a large scale sightseeing tour. The Western Army had traveled all the way south and stopped at Jindi and Xiangyang. During the war, they had encountered a few opponents. However, for an elite army like the Yan Mountain Guards, the final result was the same whether the enemy was tenacious or weak. Fu Sanhun enjoyed the feeling of victory after victory. During this time, he had killed some people, snatched some rare toys, and used some women. However, those were just side activities in battle.
Even though the advance after the Sword Garret was slow and the Hua Xia army resisted fiercely and tenaciously, Fu Sanhun, who had followed the Yan Mountain Guards, still maintained a vigorous fighting spirit and determination to fight.
All of this, until the Bi Bridge.
When the thirty thousand soldiers killed their way out of the mountains, he knew that the person in front of them was Mister Ning from the southwest. There were many opinions about this person. Even in the Great Jin army, they would often admit that this person was a difficult opponent. He killed the Han Emperor and was a madman who fought against the people of the world.
This person faced the thirty thousand soldiers with thousands of soldiers. The people in the army could only think that he had all kinds of schemes, such as ambushes, mines, and the so-called cutting off all means of retreat. Of course, there was not much time for them to think, and they could not come up with a concrete result. Up until now, the total number of Hua Xia soldiers was only fifty to sixty thousand. Even if there were ambushes or ambushes, the thirty thousand Yan Mountain Guards were enough to fight.
No one had thought that there would be a battle like this.
In less than two hours, thousands of Black Flag Army soldiers fiercely smashed the thirty thousand Yan Mountain Guards, whose fighting spirit and determination were at their peak.
Thousands of people died on the battlefield, and more than twenty thousand were captured. At this moment, on the mudflat near the Bi Bridge, there were pitch-black figures huddled together as far as the eye could see. Many small boats with lights on were cruising on the riverbed. As his arms trembled, Fu Sanhun's mind was filled with the scenes of the Yan Mountain Guards raising Black Flag and the war in the northwest over the past few years.
Black Flag was very strong …
They fought with no regard for their lives …
Ning Yi was very good at fighting and killing in desperate situations …
Who could have imagined that after a few years, Black Flag's strength would be this strong?
After the defeat on the afternoon of the day before yesterday, all the captives had not eaten anything. Even for the old soldiers, an hour of fighting in a big battle could deplete a person's energy. In the hours after the defeat, the captives were separated in the chaos. Firstly, they could not accept the fact that they had lost the battle. Secondly, they were shocked by what happened on the battlefield. In their minds, they even thought that they had encountered witchcraft. On the first day of the New Year, hunger gradually returned, and so did reason.
What had happened …
What would happen to the world …
What would happen to Big Gold …
Some began to think: Black Flag had witchcraft. When would the Goddess of Grains and the shamans come? Would the marshal have a way to deal with them …
Or even … how to fight back?
The Hua Xia army had confiscated all the weapons. The captives were separated in the open space beside the river. On the first day of the New Year, Fu Sanhun stared at the river not far away. The Yan Mountain Guards were all northerners. Not many of them knew how to swim. However, the river was not wide. If they could take the risk and go into the water, maybe they could escape to the other side? Or maybe they could go with the river and escape the pursuers?
Even on the other side of the river, it was still the territory of the Hua Xia army. The horses traveled along the plains, so the fugitives did not have much of a chance. But not much of a chance was better than no chance at all.
On the night of the defeat, everyone was frightened. Most of them did not sleep. On the first day of the New Year, Fu Sanhun's mind was full of thoughts. He was hungry and nervous. He thought of the treasures that they had robbed and plundered along the way. When the Jin army won the battles, he did not think that these things were precious. But now that he thought of them, he thought that he might not be able to bring them back.
Also, he did not know if he could see his women and children again.
These thoughts gradually turned into the last bit of courage he had. He wanted to do something. He did this until late at night. He could not help but take a nap. When he woke up, it was already early in the morning. He looked at the riverbed and felt his arms trembling. The trembling came from hunger, cold, and fear.
He was about to act when suddenly, a sharp sound rang in the night!
On the second day of the New Year, while the killing at the Shiling and Xiukou lines became more intense, chaos began near the Yan Bridge.
This was an unexpected change. It became an unsalvageable tragedy in the following time.
…
It was a quarter to two in the morning. The Jurchen scouts hiding in the mountains a few miles north of the Yan Bridge saw the rising light in the night. In the direction of the Yan Bridge, the fire of the explosion was particularly bright in the night.
The scouts ran forward and confirmed the chaos on the other side of the river with binoculars. A massacre was taking place in their field of vision. On the other side of the Yan Bridge, the rioting captives tried to attack the Hua Xia army's position or tried to escape into the river. The Hua Xia army first met them with a spear formation. Then, they organized a long spear and shield formation to block the Jurchen captives from the bloody line of slaughter.
Corpses floated on the river and piled up on the shore.
For the Jurchen scouts who had experienced many years of battles, they had seen such a scene countless times. But this was the first time it happened to the Jurchen.
The Hua Xia army dared to kill the Jurchen captives!
After killing King Bao Shan in front of everyone, they dared to kill the Yan Mountain guards who had surrendered!
Humiliation and anger exploded in the scout's mind. After confirming the scene in front of him, he ran back in the direction of the Lion's Ridge. Not long after, the Jurchen higher-ups who had not rested in the long night all learned of this cruel and inhumane news.
Wanyan Shishi, who had failed in his attack on Wangyuanqiao, also galloped into the camp wearing armor that was half covered in blood. His eyes were bloodshot and his teeth were about to crack. "They've gone too far! Ning has gone too far! I'll kill his entire family and execute his nine generations! Otherwise, I'll be ashamed to face the Jurchen forefathers … "
Cursing and shouting were the main sounds in the Jurchen camp. Even the usually calm and composed Han Qixian smashed his teacup on the table. Someone shouted, "In this situation, we can only fight to the death with the Huaxia army! There's no need to retreat! "
Some people volunteered to be the vanguard. If they couldn't defeat the Hua Xia army, they would die on the battlefield. Wanyan Zonghan, who had just experienced the pain of losing his son, clenched his fists. Amidst the discussions and shouts of the crowd, he slammed his fist on the table. "What's the use? What nonsense are you all shouting? Ning Yi's actions are to force us to fight a decisive battle with him! You all don't know what's important. You're not worthy of being called generals!!! "
Amidst Zonghan's rage, the crowd's indignation finally subsided. In fact, all the generals of the Jin army who could follow Zonghan to this point were heroes with outstanding strategic foresight. But at this point, they could only say words to boost morale, and the decision to retreat could only be made by Zonghan himself.
It was indeed indignant and unbearable for them to be massacred after a defeat, but in the past, how could they have only killed hundreds of thousands of people? The northwest was turned into a barren land, and the Central Plains was emptied. These were all things they had done. Now, Ning Yi was still as cruel as ever. On the one hand, it was obvious that he was venting his anger after the victory. On the other hand, it was obvious that he wanted to infuriate the Jurchen army so that they would stay here and fight a major battle.
Behind the rage of the crowd was such speculation and calculation. But in the Shiling command center of the Hua Xia army, it was a different scene.
Ning Yi, who had slept for less than two hours, was woken up by someone who reported the incident at Yanqiao. With a gloomy expression, Ning Yi also slammed the table and shouted, "What have they done!" Then he walked out with the report in his hand.
It was expected that the Jurchen would react violently this night. The frontline had also arranged various countermeasures, so it was not surprising that a conflict broke out. But the negligence at Yanqiao was indeed unexpected.
In fact, this was also a problem caused by the insufficient number of Hua Xia soldiers. After the battle at Yanqiao, all the soldiers who could be transferred to the frontline had already been transferred there. More soldiers had even begun to prepare for further attacks. By the night of the first day of the New Year, there were only about three thousand Hua Xia soldiers left guarding the captives near Yanqiao.
The three thousand Hua Xia soldiers, who were fully armed, did not feel any fear when they faced over twenty thousand Yan Mountain Guards who had disarmed themselves. However, under the high-intensity battle rhythm, it was actually very difficult to guard the captives carefully in a short period of time. On the first day of the New Year, it was very difficult to immediately transfer ten times the number of captives, not to mention that there were still many wounded soldiers that needed to be taken care of.
After a whole day of hunger on the first day of the New Year, although the Jurchen captives' stomachs were empty, their minds, which had been muddled by the beating they received the day before, finally began to come alive.
In the early morning of the second day of the New Year, some of the Jurchen soldiers chose to take a risk out of desperation. They escaped from the simple captive camp and tried to escape through the river. This escape was immediately discovered, and the patrolling soldiers stabbed the escapees into the river with their spears. Meanwhile, in the camp, a hidden Jurchen commander shouted loudly, trying to take advantage of the darkness of the night to take advantage of the Huaxia army's lack of manpower and incite a large-scale escape.
This was the first time in many years that the Yan Mountain Guards had been defeated. Although it was a bitter defeat, after one day, they still regained some courage.
There were two camps of captives that had been separated, and about six thousand people were participating in this gradually expanding escape. Due to the river's terrain, there weren't many directions they could choose. A team of about five hundred flintlocks was responsible for meeting them. After three warnings were given at the entrance of each camp, the team of flintlocks started shooting without hesitation. After two rounds of shooting, the soldiers switched to sabers, shields, and spears and advanced forward in a formation.
As one of the most elite troops of the Jurchen, the Yan Mountain Guards were well-known in the world for their ferocity. Even if they didn't have any weapons, they were still deadly weapons and ruthless beasts to ordinary people with their bare hands. But in this aspect, the Hua Xia soldiers weren't the least bit inferior. Facing the long and thin shield wall, the soldiers of Yan Mountain Guards risked their lives, trying to use their fierceness that they had gathered with great difficulty to break open a path. Then, like a roaring tide, they pounced on the sturdy reef.
The assembled shield wall withstood the huge impact. The spears immediately stabbed out, piercing the Jurchen soldiers at the front into a pool of blood. Then, the shield wall flipped over and the saber light slashed, killing the first wave of Jurchen soldiers charging at them. Then, the shield wall flipped over and formed a shield wall again to receive the next wave of impact.
Dijiang's flames also shot out towards the camp near the river.
"Death to the fugitives — —" A cold shout resounded through the night sky. At this moment, the Hua Xia soldiers didn't show any mercy to these Jurchen captives who still dared to resist.
Nearly two thousand people died in this night of chaos. The will to resist of the twenty thousand Yan Mountain Guards was extinguished.
Ning Yi quietly listened to the process of suppressing the rebellion at the Yan Bridge in the command center. His expression was gloomy. "The person in charge of guarding the Yan Bridge is Chen Wei of the Second Division, right?"
Pang Liu 'an nodded. "Yes, his men just withdrew from the front. I originally wanted to let him rest and reorganize …"
"Remove him from the position of brigade commander and explain the problem immediately. Why did it become like this? Was it intentional or unintentional? I know that some of his family members and comrades died in the hands of the Jurchen. But if this goes on, he won't be able to lead anymore! "
The atmosphere in the command center suddenly became heavy. Ning Yi knocked on the table. "Do you think this is satisfying? More than twenty thousand people put down their weapons. What's so great about killing them all? But you are soldiers! The task given to you is to make these monkeys obedient, not to let people take revenge and kill them for fun! Everyone is tired these days. If it was an unintentional oversight, I will demote him. If it was intentional, then he doesn't deserve to be a soldier! Nonsense! "
Pang Liu 'an nodded. "Stop investigating this matter."
The whole thing was set. Lin Qiu, who was in charge of the negotiation, stood up and said, "The other side probably knows about this matter now. After dawn, they might use this as a pretext to make a fuss. How should we deal with it?"
Everyone looked at Ning Yi. Ning Yi waved his hand. "So what if they know? Pull out the rocket launchers and shoot a few at Zong Han's side. Blow up those bastards! Also, how many people died tonight? Bring their heads here tomorrow and give them to them. Tell Gao Qingyi that their people sneaked over and instigated the captives to escape. If this happens again, we don't need to talk anymore! Attack now! "
…
In the Jurchen camp, Gao Qingyi said, "After dawn, I will definitely question the Huaxia army about this!"
…
The technical team of the Huaxia army dragged the rocket launchers and moved forward to take revenge on the Jurchen for instigating the captives to escape.
…
At the end of the night, in the Shiling camp. Lin Qiu walked towards Gao Qingyi. Before he could speak, he scolded him. The furious scolding began.
*****
At the beginning of March, in the southwest, hidden in the peaceful atmosphere of the Shiling negotiation, a large-scale battle began in the forest. Hundreds of thousands of people fled and chased each other on the mountain path between Jiange and Zizhou. Black pillars of smoke and flames spread. The blood and corpses of countless people fertilized the already dense forest.
This was the beginning of the reversal of the entire situation in the world.
A few days later, this news that seemed to be a lie spread across the land of Jiangnan. Some people were shocked, some doubted, some were furious, some were confused, some were crying, some were happy, some had mixed feelings, and some didn't know what to do …
The world seemed to have changed in the dream …
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