The last glimmer of light before dawn, flames swirled across the land.

Mountains, forests, rivers, fortresses…long lines of troops gathered in the darkness, the sounds of orders being shouted, footsteps, horses neighing…all sorts of noises boiled in the night, converging into one.

Mid-November of the tenth year of the Jianshuo era, northwest of Fancheng, hundreds of thousands of soldiers were converging in the same direction.

This was the battlefield where Wanyan Zonghan led the Jurchen Western Route Army against the Western Group Army, spearheaded by the Beiwei Army. The entire battle had already been raging for nearly three months.

The Western Route battlefield centered on the Xiangyang-Fancheng system, which straddled the north and south banks of the Han River, using the river as a defense. On the Jurchen side, Zonghan’s main force of 260,000 soldiers, along with nearly 400,000 Han troops that could be mobilized from the original puppet Qi warlords, launched an attack with a total force of 700,000 against a defensive formation of over 800,000, centered around 140,000 Beiwei soldiers and a dozen surrounding units.

The troop numbers may have been inflated, and the strength varied, but even if nearly half of the figures were fictional, there were still nearly a million soldiers, both before and after, crammed into a hundred-mile radius around Xiangfan, fighting fiercely for more than three months.

If measured by the combat power and achievements of the Jurchen army at the time of its founding, the core force of just 260,000 would have been a formidable force capable of sweeping across the entire country. However, times had changed. Firstly, after experiencing three southern invasions, the Wu Dynasty had gained some psychological preparation for the Jurchens’ terror. Secondly, thanks to the efforts of the pro-war faction and Crown Prince Junwu, over eight years, half of the enormous power generated by the South Wu’s economic expansion had been invested in war preparations, with the Yangzhou, Zhenjiang, and Xiangfan systems being the top priorities.

The defensive power, built up with the nation's resources, provided the Wu Dynasty with a certain breathing space at this time.

Within the years after reclaiming Xiangyang, Yue Fei had not held the idea of defending Xiangfan to the death. Relying on the Han River, more than twenty fortresses and water camps were built on both sides of the Han River, on the banks of Xiangfan, in the mountains, and at various strategic locations. During this Jurchen invasion, the Western Route defenders stationed heavy troops in each fortress, echoing each other. On the one hand, they took advantage of the fortifications to weaken the Jurchen attacks. On the other hand, Yue Fei used the Han River to transport elite troops, responding to various locations and even launching proactive attacks, targeting the weak points of the Jurchen army and the participating Han troops with low combat power.

In the course of three months, the Beiwei Army had won nine major victories, defeating the main force of the Copper Wolf Army led by Wanyan Saba once, repelling Bali Speed in a frontal engagement once, and retreating unscathed after engaging with Yin Shuke and Zonghan. This General Yue, who was only in his early thirties, was not only brave and decisive in his use of troops but also strict in military discipline and executed orders like a mountain. On the battlefield, anyone who retreated half a step was beheaded, anyone who wavered the formation was beheaded, anyone who routed was beheaded, anyone who disobeyed orders was beheaded, and anyone who was slow to obey orders was given eighty strokes of the cane and demoted to the vanguard...

In a major battle in August, the 60,000 soldiers under Wu General Li Huai, responsible for defending the flank, were routed in one blow due to command errors. After the battle, Yue Fei ordered Li Huai to be taken to the city gate and beheaded on the spot. In mid-September, Xiangcheng Fortress, northwest of Fancheng, was targeted by concentrated fire from the Jurchen army, and more than 4,000 people took the lead in routing. Yue Fei ordered the Beiwei Army to form a formation and press forward, mercilessly wielding their blades against the routing crowd, successively killing nearly 2,000 routing soldiers. This caused the remaining 2,000 soldiers to actually stop their steps. Many were scared out of their wits and would rather turn around to face the Jurchens than run towards the blades of the Beiwei Army.

In October, Peng Hai, the nephew of Minister of War Peng Guangyou, delayed military affairs due to drunkenness and debauchery. Yue Fei had several officers who were drunk that night arrested and taken to the execution platform. He drew the long sword that Junwu had obtained from Zhou Yong and beheaded all those who had delayed military affairs.

In the past, Yue Fei was valued by Junwu and managed Xiangfan. His military discipline was strict, even to the point of being inhumane. Other army personnel had only heard about it. Normally, Yue Fei did not appear serious in his interactions with other military generals. People only thought that his strict control of military rules was due to his territorial awareness in his own domain.

Who knew that when this great battle began, Junwu would hand over command of the Western Route armies to Yue Fei. This military discipline was actually being implemented on others in a solid and practical manner on the battlefield.

Li Huai led 60,000 soldiers and was also a major general in the Wu Dynasty army. In terms of rank, he was equal to Yue Fei, and his qualifications were even older. Yue Fei, who usually treated him with extreme humility and respect, actually had him arrested and beheaded with a single stroke because of his command errors.

There were also strict executions of military law among the various armies on the battlefield. However, on the day when Xiangcheng Fortress showed signs of defeat, the Beiwei Army wielded their blades without hesitation against troops who were not under their command, which was originally taboo. Who knew that when 4,000 people routed, the Beiwei Army solidly killed half of them. If the 2,000 people in the rear had not stopped, everyone could see that Yue Fei could even have killed them all on the spot. Such decisiveness was truly terrifying.

Peng Guangyou was the Minister of War, and had countless connections in the army. Usually, Yue Fei also had a good relationship with him. After Peng Hai’s incident, Liu Guangshi, a veteran general with the most seniority and prestige who was also participating in the war in Xiangfan, also found Yue Fei to intercede for Peng Hai. Yue Fei took out the Son of Heaven's sword and presented it to Liu Guangshi with both hands: “If you want to save Peng, please kill me with this sword.” He choked Liu Guangshi’s stomach full of words in his throat, and he eventually left in a huff.

Not to mention the tens of thousands of troops transferred from other places, even within the Beiwei Army itself, many soldiers had suffered from the strict military discipline during this period. After all, even when training soldiers, it was not necessarily better to have more people under your command. Over the years, feeling the pressure from the north, the Beiwei Army had expanded to 140,000 soldiers, and it was hard to say whether more than half of them were elite.

Over the course of three months, Xiangyang was like a huge Shura field. The number of deaths on both sides had already exceeded 100,000, and casualties were still constantly rising. However, many people could already see that without such strict military discipline and the activity of the Beiwei Army, the Han River defense line in Xiangfan would probably have already been breached.

Since the start of the war, the Jurchen army's attacking power had been astonishing.

As an old minister who followed Aguda in his uprising and the top general in the Jurchen army for a long time, when Wanyan Zonghan adopted an all-out attitude, the Wu Dynasty army on the Xiangfan line faced immense pressure.

Just like Lu Qiaoshan had felt in the southwest, with the emergence and large-scale application of new weapons such as artillery, the situation on the battlefield had undergone many new changes. Infantry formations, which could only be constrained by square formations in the past, were prone to huge losses in the face of a large number of deployed artillery. If they just stood there and took a beating, the infantry formation would probably collapse directly before long.

Although in the early stages of the appearance of artillery, some people believed that cavalry was restrained, due to the positional limitations of artillery, slow transfer, and other factors, high-speed mobile attacks and flexible tactics were once again put on the agenda. Whether it was cavalry or infantry, "young master soldiers" with insufficient morale or training and unqualified quality, could only play a role behind the city walls. Once on the battlefield, they had already lost their meaning.

If they returned to the first Tokyo defense war more than ten years ago, the million-strong army of loyalists near Bianliang would have been vulnerable to the 100,000+ Beiwei Army.

In three months, the Beiwei Army had won nine large-scale victories, but near Xiangfan, Zonghan, Xiyin, and others constantly removed various camps outside the city with fierce attacks. By November, most of the camps had been abandoned or captured. On the night of November 13, near a fortress called Funiu City on the Han River, Shi Yunpeng, the main general of the Wu Dynasty’s Wuhui Battalion, encountered the Jin army during the transfer of 40,000 soldiers. The two sides made contact at night, and both had stopped their transfer steps. The two sides had constant friction on a small scale, but each had sent out troops for help. Behind Shi Yunpeng, Liu Guangshi's 60,000 main force was stationed in Funiu City, and more than 100,000 troops could be mobilized to arrive from further away.

On the morning of November 14, when the first ray of dawn broke over the eastern horizon, nearly 400,000 troops from the Jin and Wu sides had arrived near Funiu City. Yue Fei led 40,000 elite Beiwei soldiers, and the Jurchen elite main forces of Xiyin, Yin Shuke, and others, successively entered the battlefield.

The great battle broke out on this morning, and since then, nearly 200,000 people came from all over the place, opening the prelude to the largest battle since the start of the war in Xiangfan. The entire battle lasted for more than ten days on the banks of the Han River. Yue Fei commanded the army to constantly deploy formations and construct defense lines, gradually transferring the battlefield to the vicinity of Funiu City Fortress, relying on geographical advantages and troop strength to engage in confrontation and offensive and defensive battles with the Jurchen army. On November 17, Zonghan led his 30,000 "Tushan Guards" to join the battlefield, and the Beiwei Army engaged in battle with them while covering the retreat of other troops.

The Tushan Guards were the most elite guards that Zonghan had managed for many years. More than 30,000 people were mostly among the bravest Jurchen soldiers, some even over forty years old. Although their strength had declined, their battlefield awareness and courage had reached their peak. Yue Fei led the Beiwei Army to fight them for half a day, and eventually retreated after a narrow defeat.

After that, the Wu Dynasty army defended Funiu City Fortress in coordination with the navy. The Jurchen army's siege equipment had also been pressed over here. By the end of November, both sides had accumulated huge casualties. This fortress was removed by the Jurchens, and the Wu Dynasty army retreated to Xiangfan, but still controlled the dominance of the Han River.

During the fierce and tenacious stalemate in Xiangyang, several major events broke out in the world at the same time at the end of November.

In the southwest, in Zhang Village, the central location of the Huaxia Army, when Ning Yi met the furtively arriving Wu Dynasty envoy and heard the other party finish speaking about that fanciful plan, Ning Yi himself fell into a daze.

This secretly arrived Wu Dynasty envoy was named Cao Ji. He had a dignified appearance, but his eyebrows and eyes appeared nimble and smooth. He was here on behalf of Emperor Zhou Yong of the Wu Dynasty to release goodwill. According to Zhou Yong’s ideas, they had also dealt with each other before, and even met – that was in Jiangning – since Ning Yi was the teacher of Junwu and Zhou Pei, then they were family. Now that the Jurchens were powerful and the Wu Dynasty was in danger, and the Huaxia Army had said in the previous proclamation that in times of danger, they must unite against external enemies and not engage in fratricide, Zhou Yong hoped that the Huaxia Army could send troops to resist the Jin dogs together and fulfill their promises.

Of course, as for the details of how to send troops, Zhou Yong himself did not actually have many rules. He only said that if the Huaxia Army was willing, the Wu Dynasty would definitely fully cooperate. As for how to cooperate, Zhou Yong believed that the ideal state was that Ning Yi could find someone to mediate during this difficult time. Anyway, do more publicity, he was there, as long as there was a step to step down, he could take advantage of the situation to come down... Bla bla bla, that was the general idea.

Ning Yi repeatedly asked several times and finally confirmed that there was no participation from Junwu or Zhou Pei or others at all. Considering the fierce battle that was currently underway, Ning Yi discussed with the General Staff and several others, and then wrote a letter to Zhou Yong. In the letter, he sincerely informed him of the difficulty of this matter and emphasized that if Zhou Yong could really have this idea, he would hand the whole thing over to Zhou Pei or Junwu, and everyone should carefully and openly discuss the matter.

In December of the tenth year of the Jianshuo era, this matter was like a wonderful joke. Ning Yi couldn’t help but laugh every time he thought about it, and he also felt full of strange irony and a sense of illusion, like a pungent and interesting fable. Of course, neither he nor anyone else involved in this matter still hadn’t thought of the nightmarish consequences that this matter might subsequently cause.

In December of this year, there was little snow in Jiangnan, but the world was particularly cold.

In the imperial palace of Lin'an City, Zhou Yong, the emperor who was gradually losing weight, with whitening temples and a decadent appearance, received a reply from the southwest. This was a handwritten letter from Ning Yi, and the wording was not formulaic. The words were kind and polite, which made Zhou Yong's heart begin to warm up.

At this moment, the desk in Zhou Yong's imperial study was already piled with war reports from all over the place. He even had people hang up large maps on the wall, marking the battle situations in a way that he could understand. For so many years as emperor, Zhou Yong had never been so diligent, but for the past six months, he had been looking at these things every day. These things made him feel cold, and they were not as warm as the letter from the southwest.

What made him feel the coldest was not actually these war reports, but some things that even his closest children did not know about.

In a box in the corner of the imperial study, there were records about the Humiliation of Jingping, about his cousin Zhou Ji, who had been captured and taken to the north, and about all the tragic events caused by the Jurchens over the years. After becoming the monarch of the Wu Dynasty, some people thought he was incompetent and ignorant. His abilities were certainly limited, but how could he be so ignorant?

In the beginning of his reign, he only thought that the Jurchens were powerful, and soon after, he began to think about the situation he would face. He fled to Yangzhou, thinking that he was far enough away, and lived a life of drunken stupor in the palace. However, the Jurchens soon came to kill him. He fled to the sea, and even left his children behind because of the fear in his heart. When the Jurchens retreated and he returned to the shore and came to Lin'an, he seemed昏庸, but in fact, he could still see what he wanted to know and see about the outside world.

He knew how powerful the Jurchens were, and he could see clearly what the Jurchens would do to him from the things that came from the north every year. His cousin Zhou Ji was living a life worse than a pig or a dog in the north; the Humiliation of Jingping, the relatives, the princes and princesses were suffering. What kind of experiences – if he just listened to it as a story, perhaps he would grit his teeth and that would be it, but this was his future.

Even if he hid behind the thickest city walls, what was the point of watching millions of soldiers guard the city? They couldn't defeat the Jurchens.

When they really came to kill, when the day really came when they were defeated, he wouldn't be able to hide.

Zhou Yong had been a纨绔prince. He played games in the world and oppressed the people, but even he couldn't do such crazy things. Now, these things were going to fall on his head. Millions of soldiers? Thousands of civilians? It sounded like a lot, but if they really lost, he would be on the road to being captured and taken north in a matter of months.

He didn't know that his son had also been looking at Zhou Ji's news every year for the past few years, gritting his teeth and feeling extremely humiliated and angry. But over the years, Zhou Yong himself had also been in the dark corner, seeing those things every year, and he felt fear from the bottom of his heart.

The war reports on the table, the things written every day, he could understand, the comparison of the numbers, the southward retreat of the defense line every day... His daughter was alone, and she had made up her mind. His son was going all out and working hard in the front, wanting to make his father feel at ease. He could understand all these things.

Therefore, he sent an envoy and secretly contacted the southwest. Of course, things were quite difficult. He didn't actually know how to erase Ning Yi's crime of弑君, but the gentle attitude in the other party's heart made him feel that this was a good start. As long as the other party had the intention, he had killed the emperor, so how much more difficult could other things be?

Zhou Yong didn't dare to tell Zhou Pei about this. This winter, he probed his daughter twice, but Zhou Pei's words became more and more firm and decisive. Zhou Yong felt that his daughter was impossible to communicate with.

It seems that, as emperor, I can first release goodwill to the southwest. Zhou Yong thought this in his heart, and then felt even more reasonable. He was the emperor, and his word was law. As long as he made a start, the ministers would not be able to suppress it. The southwest, that Ning Yi was so clever, would naturally take advantage of the situation to take over the situation...

In this way, the seeds of disaster began to sprout in Zhou Yong's heart.

At the same time, Wanyan Zongfu's army forcibly crossed the Yangtze River, seized wharves near Jiangning, and launched large-scale battles with the Wu Dynasty's navy and army. Both sides suffered casualties. Junwu was writing New Year's tributes to the court in Zhenjiang, detailing the strength comparison between the two sides, their respective advantages and disadvantages. He also pointed out that Jin's Wanyan Wugumai had been bedridden for nearly a year, his health was getting worse. The Han River and Yangtze River defense lines had not yet been breached at this time, and several elite armies on our side had the combat power to exchange blows with the Jurchens. Next year, as long as we hold back the Jurchen army, even if the war is temporarily at a disadvantage, as long as we drag the Jurchens into the mud, our Wu Dynasty will surely win, and the Jurchens will eventually be defeated.

Such a tribute was certainly partly exaggerated, but the entire strategic thinking could not be said to be wrong. It was even a future picture that could be reached and realized that was placed in front of everyone. On December 16, before the tribute was sent to the south, urgent military information came from the east and was sent to Zhenjiang.

On the 14th, Wushu forcibly crossed the Yangtze River in Jiangyin.

Junwu stood up from the room. Not long after, he rushed out of the room.

"...Intercept him."

Only this one thought echoed in his mind. Of course, at this moment, he only subconsciously sensed that something was wrong, but he had not yet thought of how huge the chain reaction the whole thing would trigger.

Southeast of Jiangyin, light snow.

A large cavalry force bypassed the city and was heading south. Wushu was on the hillside, his eyes full of his usual ferocity and seriousness.

The most elite cavalry unit in the Eastern Route Army, more than 50,000 people, were all here with him.

A secret letter sent by Xiyin was tucked in his sleeve. The handwriting on the secret letter had almost become blurred. In the past, Xiyin didn't like him, and he didn't like Xiyin either. However, on many major matters, Wushu had to admit Xiyin's vision and wisdom. This time, Xiyin did not show too much hostility to the Eastern Route Army. He had previously communicated and planned the strategy with him. After the Yunzhong Massacre, Xiyin had also successively sent urgent reminders and suggestions.

Zongfu and Wushu adopted the suggestions.

The little Crown Prince of the Wu Dynasty wanted to drag the decisive battle to Zhenjiang, to Jiangnan, but the real place of decisive battle was not here.

In December, Wushu's cavalry avoided the decisive battle.

Directly towards Lin'an!