In the fourth month of the first year of Wu Zhenxing, it was the early summer of the thirteenth year since Ning Yi killed the emperor and raised the flag of Hua Xia. Many common sense in the world was being violently overturned.
The Jin Kingdom's fourth expedition to the south, which lasted for nearly two years, was coming to an end. During this period, the war in the southwest, which seemed to be marginalized but was actually the focus of countless people in the world, was also coming to an end. The Wu Dynasty had fallen and collapsed under the attack of the Jin Kingdom's Eastern Army. The tragedy of almost the entire world kneeling before the Jin was heartbreaking, but it was not unexpected to many.
During the entire war between the Jin and Wu, the Wu Dynasty had acted foolishly and had resisted tragically. But whether before or after the war, people clearly knew that in this war, the Wu Dynasty was the real underdog. The defeat of the underdog was regrettable and heartbreaking, but most people in the world had at least imagined such a scene once or twice.
People were unwilling to pay attention to the Black Flag in the southwest for a long time. The people of the Wu Dynasty had a more or less biased impression of it. Even the many forces that had long-term trade and mutual benefits with the southwest could hardly give a high evaluation to the mere hundreds of thousands of people who had once huddled in the mountains in the southwest. And this "high" upper limit was at most equal to the Wu Dynasty.
Even in the Jin Kingdom, most people did not seriously consider the threat of the so-called "Black Flag". Although the war in the northwest had once caused the Jin Kingdom to lose two generals, the war ended with the Jin Kingdom's victory and the massacre in the northwest. The only people who truly saw the threat of the Black Flag were Zong Han, Xi Yin, and other high-ranking officials of the Jin Kingdom, and their thoughts were also stuck on "it's not too late". In the fourth expedition to the south, the Eastern Army focused on attacking the Wu Dynasty, while the Western Army focused on the southwest. With the attention of Zong Han and Xi Yin, people were no longer worried about the hidden danger of the Black Flag.
Zong Fu and Zong Bi might return in defeat in the expedition to the South Wu Dynasty, but the Western Army's target — the group of fierce Wu Dynasty bandits hiding in the mountains — was basically impossible to avoid.
Everyone was watching the mighty clash between Jinwu and Jinwu, watching the process of NMAU's destruction. As for the West Army's advance, most of them had a relatively comfortable attitude. If the course of the war in the Wu dynasty could be said to be a marvelous gamble, then the development of the war in the southwest could only be a gamble of time for a very long period of time: when would Zong Han break through Zizhou, when would he break through Chengdu, when would he defeat the so-called Fifth Army of China, when would he return to the court in triumph … At the beginning of the year, perhaps this kind of gamble could be adjusted, but the general direction would still be the same.
Until that inner demon in the southwest, like a master juggler, flipped over his trump cards one by one.
No one expected that the Black Flag Army that was content with a corner, that only had a few hundred thousand members for a long time, would hide such tremendous power. In the second half of last year, when the West Road Army entered the Sword Garret, Xin Mo's trump cards were still being played one by one. The West Road Army led by Zong Han only thought that they were facing a small pond that was constantly moving deeper and deeper.
But this year, especially from February onwards, the cards in Xin Mo's hand began to become more intense, each one more intense than the last. The small pond began to shake, accumulating underground fire. Zong Han and the others, who were already deep inside, actually felt as if lava was surging towards them. The people who were prepared to resist the small pond were faced with the eruption of a volcano.
From February's Iron Bridge to March's pursuit and escape, all common sense shattered before their eyes. People had originally thought that the Black Flag Army was just an unruly rebel within the Wu dynasty — like Fang La and Tian Hu, or at most a more powerful and extreme version of Fang La and Tian Hu — but unexpectedly, what the Black Flag Army displayed at this moment had already surpassed the rise of the Jurchens, a terrifying power that was "undefeatable by ten thousand men".
The most frightening thing was that this power had yet to be bottomed out. If the firearms that appeared in the southwest in February and March could be said to be a temporary breakthrough based on obscene techniques, then in April, in the decisive battle in Hanzhong, where Zong Han had pinned his last hopes on, people saw a shocking scene that even surpassed the power of obscene techniques.
April 19th. In the records and summaries of later generations, this was the moment when the modern military system and belief in the army truly revealed their terrifying power. As the Seventh Corps led by Qin Shaoqian charged forward, the Jurchens, who had once held the belief of "mourning soldiers" and whose individual qualities were still at the peak of this era, were caught off guard and almost ruthlessly smashed to the ground. This was the performance of the 20,000 Huaxia soldiers against the 90,000 Jin soldiers.
Astonishing fighting will, outstanding battlefield cooperation, and superb organization were reflected in the field battle. The contrast in combat strength was almost like a steel knife cutting through tofu. On the afternoon of April 19th, the vanguard led by Pu Cha seemed to have encountered a giant wheel. In the unexpected large-scale decapitation tactic, they were irresistibly routed.
Before the battle, in this era, they were also a tenacious army like steel. But the steel was crushed. Wanyan Saba, who had rushed over, seemed to be able to hear the crisp sound of the steel being crushed.
That night, the fierce battle continued.
For many years to come, the performance of the Jin in the Battle of Hanzhong would often be evaluated in two different directions.
One was that the Jurchens were already on the decline, especially after the defeat in the southwest. The morale of the army had already collapsed, so the combat strength displayed by the Huaxia Seventh Corps had to be discounted. In Qin Shaoqian's words, it was probably like eating a cold meal left over from the Fifth Corps.
The other was that, in contrast to the peak combat strength displayed by the Huaxia army based on the modern military system, the Jin soldiers, under the leadership of Zong Han and the others, also displayed the peak strength of a feudal army. This was the proud remnant of the Jurchens' thirty years of dominance in the world. After the defeat in the southwest, the arduous journey back north, and the setback in the Battle of Hanzhong finally aroused the will of the mourning soldiers. When they were fleeing in the southwest, the awareness of the mourning soldiers was probably only present in the minds of Ba Lisu and a few other high-ranking nobles. It was only after they arrived in Hanzhong that the middle and lower classes gradually began to feel the fear that they might not be able to return.
This sense of mourning soldiers stimulated their combat strength to a certain extent. And among the higher-ups of the army, the performance of several high-ranking generals was also unusually eye-catching. It was as if they were burning themselves to emit light. One of them was Wanyan Saba. After failing to rescue Pu Cha, he chose to consolidate his position and defend himself. The next day, he led his cavalry in a desperate raid, causing a lot of trouble for the Huaxia army.
And the most powerful reaction was perhaps Wanyan Zong Han's response that night. Not long after receiving the news from Saba's personal guard, this veteran Jurchens general, who had fought for more than forty years, silently mobilized the army and made preparations to defend against the night attack and even set up an ambush. At this time, it was Gao Qingyi who was confronting the Second Division of the Huaxia Seventh Corps more than thirty miles away. The battle was so fierce that it even set the mountains ablaze, but it was later proven to be a feint by the Huaxia army.
Qin Shaoqian led the main force of the Second Division and traveled dozens of miles along the mountain road. They launched an attack on Zong Han's camp in the early morning of the 20th of April, when the people were the most tired and sleepy. Zong Han's response that night was as accurate as a beast's. He himself stayed up all night and ordered the soldiers in the camp to prepare for battle. The Huaxia army's attack fell into a trap. This was the most beautiful scene in the Battle of Hanzhong for the Jin soldiers.
But the quality of the Huaxia army was also amazing. The company in charge of the attack at the front was the first to notice that something was wrong and began to split up to scout. This caused the Jin ambush to fail to surround the Huaxia army. In the first quarter of an hour after the battle began, the Huaxia army's vanguard was at a disadvantage due to the artillery and fire. But soon after, they launched a tenacious resistance and broke through the siege.
In the battle that followed, both sides displayed amazing fighting spirit. Zong Han and Han Qixian went to the front line to supervise the battle. When they found the enemy's leader, some of the Huaxia army's companies and squads that were half-surrounded even launched a surprise attack on the enemy's core. They paid a certain amount of sacrifice but did not get any results. As the Huaxia army retreated, the Jin soldiers chased after them in high spirits. Not long after, they were met with the Huaxia army's counterattack. Thousands of Jin soldiers were defeated in the night.
Compared to the Huaxia army's losses after the ambush, the Jin soldiers suffered more casualties in the subsequent battle. Zong Han had already understood the terrifying fighting strength of the Huaxia army and built up layers of defense.
That night's battle seemed to confirm what Ning Yi had said earlier. Although the Huaxia army had amazing combat qualities, and the General Staff had gathered everyone's wisdom, they were still inferior to the generals of the Jin Kingdom who had been fighting for decades and survived countless trials and tribulations. This was the reason why Pang Liu 'an lost Huangming County. Qin Shaoqian's failed sneak attack was also because of this.
However, the Jin generals were good at tactics, while the Huaxia army was good at strategy. Ning Yi was an expert in strategy. Modern military discipline, coupled with cruel training, and the quality of the Seventh Division, which had already been built, was enough to make up for some of the flaws in their tactics. Even if one thousand soldiers surrounded five hundred, the five hundred only needed to defeat the one thousand.
After that night, Qin Shaoqian sent half of his troops to the north to cooperate with the First Division in attacking Wanyan Safa. Safa tried his best to stabilize the army and tried to use the advantage of the cannons to drag the situation into a defensive battle. At the same time, Gao Qingyi and Zong Han broke camp and headed north. Qin Shaoqian led the troops to attack from the middle. Zong Han mobilized a large number of middle and low-level generals and launched a fierce and prolonged attack against the Huaxia army.
Zong Han did not choose to retreat when the Huaxia army had shown their amazing fighting strength. Retreat now was the real road to death. Even though the Huaxia Seventh Army was very strong, it only added up to twenty thousand people. This old Female Zhenren knew that the only way out was to grit her teeth and fight.
He, Han Qixian, Gao Qingyi, and the others tried their best to maintain the organization of the army. They divided the large army into small groups and launched continuous and frequent attacks on the Huaxia army. At this time, they had lost more battles than they won, but as long as they did not engage in large-scale battles like protecting the Bu Da Gang, Zong Han had decided to exhaust the Huaxia army even if they had the advantage of numbers.
Within a radius of a hundred miles, the two armies intertwined chaotically. Both sides fought point by point and hill by hill. The Huaxia army was tenacious, but under the control of Zong Han, Gao Qingyi, and the others, the Female Zhenren's troops were dense and responded quickly. Every time they defeated a unit, the other side would mobilize two units. After defeating two units, there must be another two units waiting to fight in the rear. The Female Zhenren's fighting style had always been rough. For forty years, it was only a wave of encouragement and a wave of charges to eliminate most of the enemies in the world. But after forty years of control of the army, Wanyan Zong Han had no choice but to face another test. No one expected him to face this test in such a way.
The army of tens of thousands of people was almost divided by him into units of about a hundred people. Zong Han threw these troops everywhere like playing chess. Some troops were given rigid orders, while others were given relatively flexible orders. Every mengan and strategist in the army received relatively specific instructions from him. There was an inherent delay in the transmission of information on the battlefield, but Zong Han and the others relied on many years of battlefield experience and the reactions of other middle and high-level generals to predict the direction of the battlefield.
Part of the arrangements failed, but the general direction of the battle was almost predicted by the old man in advance. In several high-intensity combat areas, the Female Zhenren's reinforcements came continuously, causing the Huaxia army to feel tired for a time.
According to the records of several years later, in the days before the decisive battle of Hanzhong, a soldier of the Female Zhenren testified that Wanyan Zong Han had not slept for three days. His eyes were bloodshot, and his hair was completely white. This old man, who shouldered half of the Jin Kingdom's hope, had exhausted himself to the extreme.
After the Huaxia army's initial sneak attack failed, they switched to a more methodical and calmer mode of battle. Although the intensity of the battle was extremely high, and there were frequent attacks, battles, divisions, and transfers of troops, the General Staff did not panic. The 20,000 people maintained coordination and unity in the general direction, and every attack sought to defeat the enemy with the least cost. Since Wanyan Zonghan had already shown a cautious response and could not find a loophole to directly assassinate the king, the Huaxia army simply turned into countless small mouthfuls, and through one partial victory after another, they forcefully gnawed at the enemy until their spirit collapsed.
Near Hanzhong, more than a million "Han army" — or rather, just their leaders — held their breath and watched this crazy and fierce battle. But the news changed even faster than their cognitive ability to recognize reality. From the 19th to the 23rd of April, the people watching from the outside could not clearly see how the flames of war were burning to the west of Hanzhong. At most, they could only know that the veteran generals of the Jin Kingdom were doing their best to burn themselves, trying to incinerate the terrifying enemy in front of them, while the Huaxia army's attacks were like heavy hammers smashing down, trying to extinguish the fire of the Jin Kingdom. The battle between the two armies was beyond common sense …
At noon on the same day, a battalion of the Huaxia Seventh Army disguised themselves as a defeated Female Zhenren army, and forcibly took the south gate of Hanzhong. That afternoon, the focus of the battle between the two armies shifted to this place. The flames of war that were originally entangled to the west of Hanzhong suddenly spread, and suddenly, the whole of Hanzhong was turned into a sea of fire —
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