February, the world is raining. Search: \(¨End¨of¨life¨Station¨) to read premium literature for free.
Upstream of the river, ice floes move. The snow in Jiangnan is beginning to melt.
In Jin, the mountain roads in the snow are still rugged and difficult to navigate, but the outside world has gradually awakened from the atmosphere of severe winter. Conspirators have been acting in the cold winter for a long time. As spring gradually approaches, the land where victory or defeat has not yet been determined will eventually return to the slaughterhouse of carnage.
Lou Shuwan is already able to calmly face all of this.
After inspecting the warehouse where the seedlings were stored, she boarded a carriage to the direction of Yu Yulin's main camp. It was still raining outside the car, and the "Eight-Armed Dragon King" Shi Jin, who was holding a copper rod, was sitting next to the driver of the carriage. This made Lou Shuwan not have to worry too much about being assassinated, and could concentrate on reading the intelligence that had been summarized in the car.
After the New Year, she gained a little weight, and perhaps became a bit more beautiful. The clothes she used to wear can finally be worn again. Of course, in front of outsiders, Lou Shuwan has become accustomed to acting with a stern face, which can increase her majesty more. Only occasionally when no one is around will she show a vulnerable side.
On this day, after picking up the intelligence and flipping through a few pages, her face showed a moment of absentmindedness.
The information summarized from various places varied in size. The intelligence that made her look absentminded for a moment was only a few lines, reporting the number of people who froze and starved to death in a small county town in the direction of Jinning in winter. The name of a local gentry who died due to illness was also recorded.
That name was Zeng Yuhuai.
Lou Shuwan held the intelligence, her thoughts seemed a little chaotic. She didn't know who had summarized this intelligence, or what the other party's purpose was. When did she instruct anyone to pay attention to this person? Why specifically add this name? Because he participated in the battle against the Jurchens, and later took out the food stored at home to relieve the refugees? So he died from his injuries, and the people below thought she would be interested in knowing such a person?
Why would this name appear here?
Her thoughts revolved around this point for a moment. She flipped the intelligence over a page, read a few lines, then flipped it back to confirm the content of these lines again.
Zeng Yuhuai.
Before the war, he was at General Yu's villa scolding her for not paying enough attention to her reputation, and then confessed his feelings to her in a serious manner. He participated in the battle against Liao Yiren and the Jurchens, and soon lost his legs on the battlefield. She once saw this middle-aged man unconscious on a stretcher among the retreating crowd. She was too busy and didn't pay any further attention.
…Time connected. After returning to his home in the rear, his legs were broken and his injuries were sometimes good and sometimes bad. He took out the food stored at home to relieve the refugees near Jinning this winter. On an unremarkable day in the first month, he finally died due to the deterioration of his injuries.
Lou Shuwan's eyes were cold and her lips were tightly pursed. She clenched her fist and hammered the wall of the carriage hard twice.
In front, the carriage driver and Shi Jin both turned their heads. Shi Jin said, "Lord Lou."
"...It's nothing."
Lou Shuwan flipped the intelligence in her hand over a page.
If it were in Hangzhou more than ten years ago, just such a story would have brought her to tears. But after experiencing so many things, intense emotions would be diluted—perhaps more like being suppressed by more heavy things like mountains. Before people could react, they would have to devote themselves to other things.
Flipping the intelligence over another page, there was news about the southwest war situation. This was the core of the entire world's fighting and conquest, and the life and death conflict of hundreds of thousands of people was erupting fiercely. Since mid-January, the entire southwest battlefield has been fiery and chaotic. In the summarized intelligence thousands of miles away, many details, the planning and exchanges between the two sides, are difficult to distinguish clearly.
Therefore, before the outcome of the matter was settled, Lou Shuwan was only watching these intelligence reports, feeling the heat of the conflict. That man in the southwest, that army, is making a fierce resistance that amazes everyone. Facing the Jurchen army that no one in Liao, Jin, the Central Plains, or Jiangnan could stop in the past two or three years, or even twenty or thirty years, only this Black Flag is indeed making a fierce counterattack—it can no longer be said to be resistance, it is indeed a head-on collision of equal strength.
She once admired and liked that man.
Although it can be said to be just a secret infatuation, a deformed emotion… She was infatuated with and admired the mystery, composure, and power that this man showed, but to be honest, no matter what standards she used to judge him, in those past days, she really did not regard Ning Yi as an existence that could directly compete with the entire Great Jin.
Perhaps the relatively close distance to a certain extent eliminated the sense of mystery. Ning Yi's calculations and planning were so scalp-numbing and amazing that even now, when Lou Shuwan substitutes herself into the position of the opponent, she feels powerless. But in any case, these things are always traceable. Using conspiracies shows that his own strength is not strong, and there are always flaws, so he takes shortcuts. His act of killing the emperor in anger over Qin SiYuan's affairs was also considered by many to be a hasty and ill-considered act.
After all, his strength has many limitations. If he were really strong enough, he would not have been trapped in Hangzhou back then. If he were really strong enough, half of the Su family would not have been slaughtered by Liangshan. If he were really strong enough, he could have protected Qin SiYuan and not just watched Qin SiYuan die. It was precisely because of this series of insufficiencies that Ning Yi could only hastily transfer to the northwest after killing the emperor in anger, and ultimately endure three years of fighting and escape in Xiao Canghe.
In fact, after all, his strength ultimately has specific traces. But the Jurchens' strength is the strength that crushes the entire world. Therefore, in the past days, people always felt that the Chinese army was inferior to the Jurchens, but until this time, many people—at least on Lou Shuwan's side—have seen clearly that in this great battle in the southwest, the Black Flag Army is an opponent of the same level as the Jin Dynasty's Western Route Army, or even surpasses it, delivering an irresistible heavy blow to the opponent.
If such an attack were to fall on her own head, her side… perhaps she wouldn't be able to withstand it.
In the intelligence received from late January to early February, only a rough outline could be seen.
Originally, in everyone's estimates and calculations, the Chinese army, which was at a disadvantage in terms of troop strength, would adopt a defensive posture in this great battle, using the bonus of fortifications to make up for the lack of numbers. The blocking actions at Huangming County and Yushui Creek once confirmed this conjecture. If this strategy continued, after Huangming County was breached, the Chinese army would pin its hopes of victory on the city defenses of Zizhou. In the process of the Jurchens' advance, they would constantly harass and take advantage of them with a small number of elites, and a steady advance and retreat would be the best strategy.
However, large-scale field battles should not occur, because even if the Chinese army's attack would be slightly advantageous due to the advantage of the terrain, the outcome of field battles is sometimes not as easy to control as defensive battles. In several attacks, once the opponent seizes a flaw and bites down hard, it would probably be an unbearable loss for the Chinese army.
However, in the intelligence received, starting from mid-January, the Chinese army chose this active combat mode. There were still fifty miles from Huangming County and Yushui Creek to Zizhou. From the time the Jurchen army crossed the fifteen-mile line, the first wave of offensive raids had already appeared. After crossing twenty miles, the Chinese army at Yushui Creek took advantage of the thick fog to disappear and retreat, and began to intersperse and attack the troops of Ba Lisu on the road.
The further the Jurchen army extended forward, the greater the distance between each army. The troops in front tried to consolidate their position and become familiar with the nearby mountain roads, while the troops in the rear were still rushing to catch up. However, the Chinese army began to launch attacks on slightly isolated troops in the mountains.
At this time, the two road networks of Huangming County and Yushui Creek began to merge, and the forks in the surrounding mountains began to increase. In late January, the Chinese army launched an attack by taking advantage of the fog and forks in the mountains. In ten days, there were six successive battles with the Jurchens involving more than 8,000 participants. Three times, they successfully defeated the Jurchen army, annihilating more than 6,000 enemies. Once, they failed to retreat in time, and the two sides almost fought a large-scale positional war.
Even on January 27, three divisions of the Chinese army once showed the intention of wanting to encircle and raid the Yan Mountain Guard, but because Ba Lisu reacted quickly, nearly 20,000 Chinese troops, who had once exposed clear movements, embarrassedly chose to retreat—the news on the intelligence report was certainly understated, but it can be imagined that if Ba Lisu's actions were slightly delayed, for example, if he gave the Chinese army more than half a day, they would probably launch a local decisive battle against this army of sorrow commanded by Wan Yanxie Bao.
Lou Shuwan couldn't even figure out what the Chinese army was relying on to show such confidence.
In early February, the Jurchen army exceeded the midline of 25 miles from Zizhou. At this time, the Jurchen troops were divided into three heads advancing forward. The 30,000 people coming down from the Yushui Creek side were presided over by Dalai and Sa Ba. In the middle and lower routes, Ba Lisu also rushed to the front with 30,000 troops. The revenge army led by Wan Yanxie Bao, mainly composed of the Yan Mountain Guard, came with nearly 20,000 core troops. More troops were still chasing non-stop in the rear.
The forward mountain road cut off the Jurchen army to a certain extent. Although the three heads echoed each other, they still chose to set up camp and stick to it, and advance step by step. They released troops and scouts with the camp as the core to become familiar with and master the terrain of the surrounding mountains. However, once a slightly larger force broke camp and advanced, it would be difficult to move. From here, the forces that first probed forward could hardly gain a foothold on the farther roads.
The intelligence from the southwest was sent to Jin in early February. However, by the seventh day of the lunar month, two Jurchen vanguards had been ambushed by the Chinese army in the process of advancing and had to retreat embarrassedly. When the intelligence was sent out, there was still a Jurchen front with more than 3,000 people cut off on the mountain road and blocked from retreating, and was being besieged and reinforced...
The situation was fiery but also in a stalemate. Lou Shuwan couldn't estimate its direction. Even if the Chinese army was brave and good at fighting, and slapped the Jurchens in the face in this way, how long could he last with his troops? What is Ning Yi considering? Would he be so simple? What about Zong Han in front of him?
"...Acting mysteriously...I don't know how much of it is true."
After holding the intelligence in silence for a long time, Lou Shuwan muttered to herself in a low voice.
Her mind could stay on this great battle in the southwest, but it was impossible to put too much energy into investigating the developments of the battle thousands of miles away. After thinking about it for a while, Lou Shuwan cheered up and read all the other reports one by one. In Jin, there were also things that belonged to her that needed to be dealt with.
Approaching dusk on this day, the advancing carriage arrived at Yu Yulin's camp. The atmosphere in the military camp was somewhat solemn. Lou Shuwan and others entered the camp and saw Yu Yulin, who had just finished listening to the report.
This general, who oversaw the military power of Jin and could be regarded as a veteran of many battles, was frowning slightly, and his eyes showed an ominous aura. Lou Shuwan stepped forward and said, "What happened in Qi County? Has Li Guotang been found? Has he rebelled again?"
"Qi County was slaughtered..."
"..."
Lou Shuwan's eyes widened for a moment, and then gradually narrowed: "Liao Yiren... is his whole family really tired of living? What about Li Guotang? He has more than 3,000 men under his command. Did he feed all the things I gave him to the dogs?"
"Li Guotang is dead. His head was also chopped off and hung in the county town. Also, they said that Liao Yiren didn't do it."
"His head was chopped off, maybe it was a golden cicada shedding its shell." Lou Shuwan frowned. Compared to other things, at this moment, she first focused on the possibility of betrayal. Of course, after a moment, she calmed down: "What exactly happened?"
"...Some people who were lucky enough to survive were found. They said that there was a group of merchants from other places who could get a batch of seedlings and contacted Li Guotang. Li Guotang let them into the county town, about dozens of people. After entering the city, they suddenly launched an attack, killing Li Guotang on the spot, repelling his bodyguards, and opening the city gate... I don't know how many people entered later, I only know that Qi County was slaughtered for three days, and no one who reported the news escaped." Yu Yulin paused slightly when he said this, "The survivors said that the people looked like northern barbarians... like nomads."
Lou Shuwan thought for a moment: "Dozens of people seizing the city... Ban Dingyuan?"
Yu Yulin said: "Liao Yiren doesn't have such a person under his command, and the reason why General Li opened the door, I think he was sure that the other party was not Liao Yiren's subordinates, and really wanted to do this business—he knows we lack seedlings."
"...Continue to investigate." Lou Shuwan said, "Even if the Jurchens really transferred reinforcements to him, there won't be too many, or he found helpers in the winter... We can afford to defeat him."
In her eyes, the ferocity gradually calmed down: "As long as Li Guotang didn't betray, we must avenge him."
It was still drizzling outside the tent, the sky was gloomy, and the wind was a bit cold. At almost the same moment, hundreds of miles away, Liao Yiren saw Li Guotang's head.
This was the beginning of the year in Jin.
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