This mountain across from the state city of Fangzhou is part of the northern Qiaoshan mountain range, called Little Qiaoshan.

As the name suggests, it is known that the mountain's name comes from two sources: first, the entirety of Qiaoshan Mountain, and second, the mountain directly faces the northern drawbridge of Fangzhou city. This terrain, combined with the roads and rivers in front of the mountain, and the state city of Fangzhou on the south bank of the river, naturally forms a delicate, solid, and integrated defense system.

This evening, a full day had passed since Wu Jie climbed the Qiaoshan military stronghold after weeping at the sight of the mountain. At this moment, the Pacification Commissioner of Jingyuan Road was sitting in the camp on the mountain, coldly watching the soldiers in the stronghold celebrating wildly.

Of course, there was reason to celebrate.

Not to mention last night, at noon today, a Jurchen Wanhu (ten-thousand household commander) of the Jin army personally supervised the attack with his troops, almost entirely composed of Jurchen and Bohai armored soldiers, which was intimidating to behold, immediately shaking the garrison here. In fact, these Jin soldiers were indeed strong. They first took shelter and rested in the distant Yuan (terrace) ravines to avoid the heat. After the hottest part of the afternoon had passed and they had rested and recuperated, they all dismounted, donned heavy armor, and held hard bows. While shooting at the Song soldiers on the mountain and on the city wall across the river, they disregarded the effective casualties caused by the trebuchets, crossbows, and God-armed Bows (Shen Bi Gong), and forcibly launched a ground assault on the mountain!

The Song army was clearly inflicting effective casualties, and the Jin army was clearly suffering significant losses, but they were still valiantly fighting their way to the foot of the mountain. When the Jin armored soldiers reached halfway up the mountain, the Song army at the front of the mountain stronghold began to collapse.

But, the Song army still won!

By sheer coincidence, before the God-armed Bow squad in front of the stronghold collapsed, a God-armed Bow archer, in a panic, raised the angle and shot an arrow that struck the sole of the enemy Wanhu's foot from a distance. This startled the Jin army, who rushed to save him. In addition, the Jin army had already suffered considerable casualties and did not dare leave the injured Wanhu on the mountainside, so they simply retreated en masse.

At this time, scouts clearly determined that the Jin army had retreated two Yuan away and stopped to rest in the Flower Gulch (Hua Gou) ten miles away... In other words, today's battle was indeed a victory, and a great victory! Because the Jin army left behind more than a hundred corpses, while the Song army suffered almost no casualties.

"Who shot that arrow?" The stronghold was still mostly in disarray, but as Wang Xi,奉命(Feng Ming) from the city across the river, led his troops to the military stronghold to help clean up the battlefield, dozens of officers gradually gathered in front of the commander. Wu Jie then raised his head and asked.

The generals looked at each other. Yao Ding, the commander in charge of the God-armed Bows, and Wu Jie's beloved general, stood out with his chest puffed out, and bowed in response, "Pacification Commissioner, the battlefield was extremely chaotic at the time, and it was really impossible to see who shot it. But given the distance, it could only have been shot by our God-armed Bow team, not by the trebuchets, and the city across the river might not have been able to reach..."

Wang Xi, who had come from the city, originally wanted to offer some flattery, but firstly, he had personally seen that the Jin army general's arrow wound was too far to the north, and secondly, as a fellow villager and confidant, he saw that Wu Jie's expression was a little off, but he forcibly suppressed the idea of taking credit... This was uncommon in the Western Army.

"Not bad." Wu Jie sat still, with a calm expression. "That's the logic. In that case, this great achievement will be shared among your entire God-armed Bow team... Everyone in this stronghold today who participated in the battle will receive a bolt of silk, and the God-armed Bow team will receive an extra bolt of silk. The silk is in the city. Do you trust me?"

As soon as these words came out, the generals couldn't help but smile, and the soldiers around who heard these words simply roared, and the sound of roaring grew louder and louder as it spread from mouth to mouth.

Needless to say, Wu Jie still had a lot of credibility in the army.

In fact, not only Wu Jie, but also Qu Duan before him, and Wu Jie's younger brother Wu Lin usually spoke in a way that could be trusted by these soldiers... It can only be said that there was a definite reason why this army, mainly from Jingyuan Road, was able to come out to take charge of the situation after Lou Shi swept through Guanxi, and after the defeat at Yan'an, it once annexed the troops of the other two routes, vaguely dominating Guanxi.

In the past few years, Guanxi was extremely difficult, and this army on Jingyuan Road, first of all, had strict military discipline, and secondly, it had clear internal rewards and punishments, which led to the fact that the main generals of this army could gain both the hearts of the soldiers and the hearts of the people.

For example, after Lou Shi's first great sweep of Guanxi, Qu Duan recruited defeated soldiers and refugees on Jingyuan Road, claiming that people's hearts were stable and no one picked up lost articles; and in another timeline, the Wu brothers guarded Dasanguan Pass, and the grain supply from Shu could not keep up, but the people of Guanxi in the occupied areas continued to supply grain to Dasanguan Pass, all of which could almost be called ironclad evidence.

However, the reason for this was not that the Shaanxi and Northern Shaanxi military officers like Qu Da, Wu Da, and Wu Er had such high ideological awareness, but the key was actually the three words 'local troops'.

In the Western Army system, everyone in the army, from top to bottom, knew where everyone lived, who was poor and who was rich, who was literate and who was martial, who was wise and who was brave, whose father or brother died for whom, and whose family died for whom. In the past, when the imperial court had supplies, the country was peaceful, and the number of Western armies was large, the officials could naturally eat some empty salaries and play some tricks, but now that the country was broken and the family was destroyed, the population of Guanxi was declining, and the number of Western armies was even more sharply reduced, and that little bit of stuff and people could not help but become much stricter.

Of course, this was not entirely a good thing. At the very least, this close relationship between the army and the locality easily fostered the authority of some military leaders, and then formed a semi-independent local force.

Even Qu Duan, although he had no rebellious intentions, was so arrogant before, wasn't it because he felt that he had the support of the elders of Guanxi, and that his army only listened to his words?

It can only be said that fortunately, that fellow couldn't even handle internal relations well, and the Wu brothers were about to rebel against him. Otherwise, it would really have been a natural step to becoming a local warlord.

With the rewards settled, the cheers of the surrounding soldiers gradually subsided. Wu Jie looked at Yao Ding again, and then sighed, "Old sayings in Shaanxi, the Yang, Yao, and Zhong families were considered the old generation of military families before Liu Fa and Liu Yanqing rose to prominence... Among them, the Yang family left Guanxi early in the old days, but later the old Chief Manager Yang recognized his clan, and his grandson Yang Yizhong is now a favorite in front of the Emperor, so it can be considered a continuation; the most prominent Zhong family need not be mentioned, during the Jingkang Incident, the old Pacification Commissioner Zhong and the young Pacification Commissioner Zhong both died for their country, which can be considered a heroic act; as for the Zhe family, the entire clan surrendered, and only Zhe Yanzhi is in Sichuan, but he is a civil official, and it can basically be considered extinct... As for your Shaanxi Yao family..."

Speaking to this point, Wu Jie, whose words began to become intermittent, shook his head again and again.

Yao Ding was also quite embarrassed... During the Jingkang Incident, the Yao family was not actually extinct. Yao Gu died in battle, but Yao Gu's son, Yao Pingzhong, who was a commander in Tokyo during the Jingkang Incident, galloped away after a failed attack and fled all the way to Sichuan, disappearing without a trace, and his fate has been unknown ever since.

In fact, as early as Nanyang, many people had recommended this person to Zhao Guan Jia (Emperor Zhao), after all, this person was an old Song army commander, but Zhao Jiu simply didn't bother with it. Later, when he was pressed, he started talking nonsense to the people around him, talking about Sun Yuanliang, Araki Do-fun, saying that he had seen too much of this kind of thing, that this person's courage had been lost, and that it was impossible for him to be useful again... Although I don't know what the specific allusions of Sun Yuanliang and Araki Do-fun are, the meaning is clear and unambiguous, and the imperial court has treated this person as dead.

"That's good." After sighing, Wu Jie said to Yao Ding seriously. "Since your department has achieved such a great achievement, you must be specially rewarded. I am now the Pacification Commissioner, so I will additionally promote you to Military Commissioner."

Yao Ding was first stunned, and then ecstatic.

The surrounding officers all paled, and then became momentarily黯然(An Ran, dispirited)... Obviously, this promotion was excessive, especially Wang Xi, who had come from the city to investigate, originally thought that this commissioner was in his pocket, and was particularly unconvinced.

But who let people be children of the Yao family? And have such lucky merits today?

In addition, Wu Jie's performance yesterday and his attitude today were a bit strange, which made Wang Xi, who was obviously unconvinced in his heart, not dare to say much for a while.

"I will, in the name of the Pacification Commissioner, formally send a letter to the imperial court and to your family, so that they all know that the Yao family of Sanyuan, Shaanxi, has still made contributions to the country, and your son will have an hereditary title in the future." Wu Jie sat in place, continuing to speak slowly, and then suddenly asked, "But you did collapse today, didn't you? I saw with my own eyes that you led several people all the way to the rear of where I was sitting... I didn't see it wrong, did I?"

Yao Ding's smile did not diminish, and then he was shocked.

"The rules must be followed." Wu Jie continued to sit still, just nodding slightly. "The rules that were just said yesterday cannot be broken!"

As Wu Jie nodded, dozens of armored soldiers suddenly rushed out and seized Yao Ding and several God-armed Bow archers in front of their own commander, apparently having been staring at specific targets for a long time... The sudden change directly silenced the military stronghold that had just been clamoring for rewards, and many people did not know what had happened, but were also frightened for a while.

In a trance, only the cicadas chirping faintly in the distant mountains emerged, matching the heat wave in the air, continuing to agitate incessantly.

"Pacification Commissioner!"

Yao Ding had already been so shocked that his mind was blank, and he just let those Wu Jie's personal guards tie him up. After a while, it was Wang Xi, who had just been jealous, who hardened his scalp and stepped forward to intercede, with a chill in his heart. "No matter what, we won today! Why do this?"

"Won my ass!" Wu Jie threw the saber in his arms heavily on the ground, but he was finally furious. "If it wasn't for that coincidental arrow, everyone on the mountain today would already be dead! You Wang Xi would probably only be able to cry, and then escape from the south of the city!"

Wu Jie completely broke out, and with yesterday's agreement, everyone was horrified.

"Take a look for yourselves, is this terrain good or not?!" Wu Jie, empty-handed, stood up, grabbed Yao Ding, whose hands were already tied behind his back, and dragged him forward more than a dozen steps before stopping, but then turned around and pointed at the battlefield in front of the mountain and the military stronghold behind him, unable to contain his anger. "This terrain, this military reserve... I've been preparing since that big defeat after the New Year... Just stand here and shoot arrows, as long as we grit our teeth and don't retreat, how could the Jin army possibly come up without killing five or six thousand people? Even this time the Jin army retreated, wasn't it also because they couldn't withstand the casualties? Why retreat? I just don't understand. From Taiyuan to here, from the old Pacification Commissioner Zhong to me, Wu Da, time after time, why do you keep retreating? Aren't you human? Aren't the Jin army human? If you didn't know the consequences of retreating in Taiyuan, don't you know today? Don't you know that retreating is a dead end?!"

Wu Jie asked loudly, the front line of the military stronghold was silent, and none of the surrounding officers, including Wang Xi, dared to respond.

As for Yao Ding, he opened his mouth several times to try to explain, but he didn't know how to explain... That's right, that's the logic! After fighting the Jin people for so long, it was no longer the situation of the Jingkang Incident. Now everyone understands that standing here and constantly shooting arrows is the best way to deal with it. The closer the Jin people are, the more effective the killings will be. Turning around and running away will only allow the Jin people to摸上来(Mo Shang Lai, sneak up) and take the entire military stronghold, and then the probability of dying will be even greater!

However, logic is logic, when the armored Jin army touched halfway up the mountain despite the casualties, when the Jin army's heavy arrows began to take effect, they still couldn't help but feel frightened in their hearts, and then they still couldn't help but turn around and flee... Just like time and time again before.

On the banks of the Yellow River, ten thousand people were chased by five hundred Jin cavalry like ducks into jumping into the river, and then even Wanyan Lou Shi softened his heart and ordered people to rescue them!

On the banks of the Huai River, more than ten thousand people were also chased by several hundred Jin cavalry into jumping into the river, which made Zhao Jiu kill Liu Guangshi at all costs!

These soldiers were all formally organized Song army imperial guards. Not to mention whether the weapons were bad or not, even if the weapons and equipment were bad and even if these soldiers and officers were stupid, didn't they understand that if ten thousand people really fought, how could they not be able to stop five hundred cavalry?

Han Shizhong once led two hundred cavalry to defeat several times the number of Jin cavalry! The living example is there.

However, the logic is understood, but when the thought of贪生(Tan Sheng, fearing death) arises in battle, they don't care about anything... To stop this thought of fearing death, someone must stand up and tell them that there is a price to pay for doing so.

Seeing that everyone was silent, Wu Jie turned around, picked up the saber he had thrown on the ground before, and came to Yao Ding's side without saying a word. Before the other party could react, as two personal guards stepped forward to hold him down, a personal guard pulled off his helmet, and this Pacification Commissioner personally took action, and with one knife, he inserted the blade from the back of the other party's neck, and then came out from the front with blood.

Immediately, the surrounding personal guards, ignoring the soldiers' pleas for mercy, also took action, neatly killing all ten or so God-armed Bow archers who had fled past the position where Wu Jie was sitting today.

After this group of people was killed, Wu Jie turned around, leaning on the blood-stained saber that was still shining in the setting sun, and continued to say coldly to the generals and soldiers of the military stronghold who had long been噤若寒蝉(Jin Ruo Han Chan, as silent as cicadas in winter):

"You are all soldiers from Shaanxi, everyone is familiar... During the battle today, I had my guard squad盯住(Ding Zhu, keep an eye on) you. In addition to these ten or so God-armed Bow archers, there were also seventy or eighty people who fled past my seat, and there was also a commander among them. Will you stand up yourself, or will I pick them out clearly, one by one, by department?"

The sun set in the west, and no one spoke.

Seeing this, Wu Jie did not pretend, and directly waved his hand, and the hundred or so personal soldiers swarmed out, dragged out the deserters in batches according to the organization sequence, and then, without any discount, directly killed them in front of the military stronghold one by one.

As for the last commander, Ma Xizhong, who was dragged out, he was not allowed to plead for mercy for even a moment, and Wu Jie personally swung his knife to behead him.

In the hastily won battle in the afternoon, not many Song soldiers died in battle. On the contrary, the Jin army left more than a hundred corpses behind. But Wu Jie killed more than a hundred people after dealing with the deserters, almost reaching nearly one-tenth of the more than one thousand people in the military stronghold!

It can only be said that fortunately, this army was considered Wu Jie's own local troops, and this person had always been both kind and威重(Wei Zhong, stern), with clear rewards and punishments. Otherwise, if it had been someone else, there would have been a mutiny long ago... In fact, even so, Wu Jinqing had made preparations. In addition to his own personal guards, he had also asked Wang Xi to bring hundreds of old De Shun army locals from the city to the stronghold early on, and had also set the reward in advance before killing people.

Back to the present, after killing Ma Xizhong, Wu Jie looked around the stronghold, but suddenly opened his mouth to name someone: "Wang Xi!"

Wang Xi was shocked when he heard this, and his legs went weak. He knelt down immediately, and then explained hastily, "Pacification Commissioner, I have been guarding the city in the city today... It is absolutely impossible to retreat from in front of you to behind you!"

"I'm not going to kill you." Wu Jie threw the knife in front of him again, and then said coldly. "The Jin people are new here and don't know the geography. After sunset, you will lead five hundred people to 花沟(Hua Gou, Flower Gulch) for a night raid! Launch a sudden attack, and then set it on fire! In this battle, no one in the army can escape!"

Wang Xi was赦(She, pardoned), and immediately stepped forward to pick up his general's saber.