Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 636: Luliang (Additional chapter for the leader who speaks frankly)
Clouds flow in the stream.

There are ancient pines hanging on the cliff, as if welcoming guests from afar.

Shao Hongyuan led three thousand soldiers and slowly passed through the dangerous mountain path.

This steep hunter's path is a narrow and winding trail for animals, and only hunters pass by occasionally.

Even a woodcutter would not come to such a high and far place.

Therefore, there are bamboos, weeds, thorns and vines here, and the soldiers in the front need to use knives to cut them down to widen the road.

This is Luliang Mountain.

There are two Luliang in the world, one in Shanxi and the other in Xuzhou.

The ancients said that "the Si River reaches Lu County, and the piled stones form a beam, so it is called Luliang."

Confucius's "Time flies by like an arrow, it never stops day or night" was a famous quote left behind when he witnessed the spectacular sight of "the water hanging thirty feet high and the foam flowing forty miles" at the bank of the Luliang Flood.

Shao Hongyuan certainly would not attack Xuzhou directly. What could he use to attack such a fortified city with his fleet coming from a long distance?
The correct thing to do is to first go to the Luliang Mountains to cut down large trees and make siege equipment.

However, he did not really intend to cut down large trees to make siege equipment, but was deliberately bluffing in order to arouse the vigilance and alertness of Xuzhou.

Therefore, they were very ostentatious. When the people in the surrounding villages and towns suddenly saw the Song army appear, they knew that a big battle was about to take place here, so they fled in panic, and Shao Hongyuan ignored them.

He cut down some large trees on the Luliang Mountains, seemingly making siege equipment, but in fact he was making defensive equipment to prepare for the attack from Xuzhou.

Now that he's here, he can't just turn back without fighting, right?
However, he did not expect that the Jin army from Xuzhou had not arrived yet, but the Jin army that escaped from Lingbi arrived first.

When Shao Hongyuan heard from the scouts that Jin troops were coming from the south one after another at the foot of the mountain, some in a brigade of 300 to 500 men, and some in a regiment of 1,800 men, all in disarray and in a miserable state, he knew that the Jin army must have suffered a defeat.

But...did all the more than 100,000 Jin troops on the Huaidong battlefield suffer a defeat, or was a certain army route dispersed?

Not sure, check again.

This time, he personally led an elite team along the dangerous paths in the mountains and interspersed the road that must be taken down the mountain, in order to personally investigate the matter.

……

After the Jin army was defeated, they began to flee north in panic.

Even the dumbest soldiers could still tell the difference between north and south and knew they should flee to the north.

Gradually, more and more people gathered under Yelu Yuanyi's banner, from hundreds, thousands to tens of thousands.

Many of these people were injured, but fortunately they were all minor injuries. However, this did not make Yelu Yuanyi feel relieved.

Because this does not mean that the Jin soldiers did not suffer heavy injuries, but that all those with serious injuries were thrown into the land of Song State and had no ability to escape here.

The Jin army that they finally fought at Lingbi had more than 118,000 people, but now there are only more than 10,000 people gathered around him. Is that a lot?
"General, since our army was defeated, all the soldiers know that they should head north. The ones who have gathered around us now are only a small number of remnants.

I believe that there are other people who have returned, and the loss... will not be that great."

Seeing Yelu Yuanyi's gloomy expression, his general Yesubu couldn't help but comfort him.

Yelu Yuanyi knew that it was not just the people who had gathered around him who had escaped, but the loss was not great...

If the losses were not too great, would an army of nearly 120,000 men collapse?

They were originally surrounding the enemy's elite troops who were fishing, but now they would be drowned in the water?
Yelu Yuanyi smiled bitterly and sighed, "We were defeated this time, and it was a tragic defeat, a great defeat, which seriously damaged our vitality.

I have failed your Majesty's trust. I don't know how to explain this to your Majesty when I return."

"This is all the result of the slanderous words of Liang Yan, the traitor. Now the great trouble in the north has not been resolved. We should pretend to be ignorant of the flirting between Song and Xinjin. It is wrong to go to war with Song at this time!"

Yesubu cursed bitterly.

He did not know the real purpose of the Jin Kingdom's military campaign against the Song Dynasty, which was known only to a very small number of senior generals.

However, their military supervisor, Eunuch Liang, did have an additional mission:

That is, after winning the Lianghuai Campaign, one of the conditions for forcing the Song State to sign a humiliating treaty was to give Liu Wanrong to Wanyan Liang.

Eunuch Liang had previously visited the Kingdom of Song on behalf of the Emperor of the Great Jin to celebrate the birthday of the then Empress Dowager Wei.

He had seen Liu Yanran, who was in a higher position than Wanrong at that time, and was immediately struck by her beauty. After returning to China, he praised the woman's beauty to Wanyan Liang.

Wanyan Liang listened and remembered it.

This man has a morbid obsession with collecting beautiful women.

Not to mention the wives of his ministers, even his own relatives, regardless of distance or seniority, had to be taken into the palace as long as they were beautiful.

The daughter of Song Wang Wanyan Zongwang, Shigu, the daughter of Liang Wang Zongbi, Puci, Xi Nien, and the daughter of Wanyan Zongjun, Shiguer, and the daughter of Grand Tutor Wanyan Zongben, Shaliguzhen...

When Eunuch Liang returned from the State of Song, he was drinking with his niece Chacha in his arms.

Eunuch Liang praised the beauty of Concubine Liu of Song State and said that Chacha was far inferior to her. This awakened Wanyan Liang's ambition to "marry all the most beautiful women in the world".

He also knew that although Zhao Gou was a coward, it was impossible for him to ask for his wife directly.

It was not until he decided to fight the Song Dynasty and cooperate with the "Blood Pagoda" in the plan to change the sky within the Song Dynasty that he remembered this matter.

If the Song Dynasty had changed, it would not be difficult for him to marry the concubine of the previous emperor of the Song Dynasty.

Yesubu had no idea that there were other meanings behind this battle, so he naturally found it absurd.

Because in his opinion, the time was not ripe to launch a war against the State of Song.

Yelu Yuanyi smiled grimly and did not explain anything to him.

Suddenly, the sound of horse hooves was heard behind.

Yelu Yuanyi stopped his horse and looked back, and saw a group of Jin soldiers, some on horseback and some on foot, rushing towards them.

Yelu Yuanyi's face suddenly changed. Could it be that the Song army had caught up with them?
If the Song army still had an organized mobile force, then the Jin soldiers at this time would be simply unmatched even if they had more people.

Yesubu suddenly exclaimed, "It's Eunuch Liang, the eunuch is still alive!"

Yelu Yuanyi took a closer look and saw that, sure enough, the man riding a tall horse, waving the whip like rain and fleeing in a heroic manner was none other than the emperor's favorite eunuch Liang Yan.

Yelu Yuanyi said anxiously: "Quick, order the soldiers to set up a battle array on the spot and welcome Eunuch Liang over."

Yesubu's eyes became fierce, and he said fiercely: "General, why don't you let him die?"

Yelu Yuanyi said in a deep voice: "There must be Song soldiers chasing us from behind, set up the battle formation!"

Yesubu gave the order reluctantly, but these Jin soldiers were not only tired, injured and hungry, but also like frightened birds.

They didn't know how many pursuers were coming, so how could they have the will to fight?

Yesubu shouted very loudly, but their reaction was very slow. At this moment, a huge rock suddenly came down from the nearby Luliang Mountain, smashing the wooden bridge connected to the road ahead into pieces.

Immediately afterwards, an ambush appeared on the mountain and arrows rained down.

Yelu Yuanyi was so shocked that his eyes widened. Who was so skilled in commanding troops that there was an ambush here?
……

Ji Xiang led more than 500 cavalrymen and charged out with the momentum of 5,000 cavalrymen.

It’s so cool! It’s so cool!

Ji Xiang was in Japan and had just experienced the Battle of Hōgen.

In such a grand battle, the Qing Dynasty dispatched three armies, which were powerful and mighty, with a total of more than 600 warriors. In the end, Emperor Sutoku was defeated and fled.

A battle like last night's, involving so many troops, was something Ji Xiang had only heard of in myths.

Last night, when Yang Yuan raised the Ya flag and burned it with his own hands, announcing that they would fight to the death, Ji Xiang was eating and drinking with Hana and Xiao Nai in the rear camp.

They were withdrawn along with the team's rotation of defense.

Therefore, when the whole army pressed forward, they fell behind.

It seems that if they want to rush to the front and contact the enemy, it will take a lot of effort.

The warlike Ji Xiang then volunteered to lead a group of troops. She advanced along the slope, setting fire along the way to illuminate the battlefield, while going around to the rear wing of the enemy army.

The commander of the rear army knew that "he" was the military supervisor sent by Yang Jianjun. Besides, it was about to get dark, and they really needed a group of people to set fire and provide lighting. So he agreed to her plan and allocated 300 people to her.

As for the current number of more than 500 people, that was because Ji Xiang gathered the stragglers who were unable to rejoin the team due to the chaos in the subsequent fighting.

Eunuch Liang was accompanied by more than 2,000 people, including more than 400 knights. If they really stopped to fight, Ji Xiang would not be able to gain any advantage.

But Eunuch Liang was so frightened that he just ran for his life.

He refused to stop, and those soldiers were unwilling to stop and fight for him.

So everyone was competing to see who could run faster, and more than 2,000 people were beaten by more than 500 people.

"Go around from both sides, go around from both sides~"

The Jin army, who had hastily set up a defensive formation in front, shouted.

But on both sides of the road were harvested rice fields with clumps of rice straw still standing there, and the soil in the rice fields was soft and could easily trip horses.

Now Eunuch Liang only wanted to save his life, so he would never run to the fields.

The Jin army, which had deployed a defensive formation, saw Eunuch Liang and his men rushing over in a hurry, breaking their simple defensive formation into pieces.

Then, a handsome young general of the Song army with a high ponytail, holding his saber high, rushed in closely behind him.

Hanane and Kona were afraid that Ji Xiang would be in danger, so they rushed in, holding red-tasseled spears in their left and right hands.

……

Shao Hongyuan personally investigated and saw that the Jin soldiers were traveling in large numbers and looked dejected. Based on his experience, the Jin army must have suffered a great defeat.

He immediately arranged for his men to go back along the mountain path to the valley where he had hidden his troops, to gather their forces, and then to attack from the side of the mountain.

He himself led 3,000 elite soldiers with him, pried rocks above the bridge to block the road, and then shot arrows at them.

By the time the Jin soldiers who had not yet passed through were killed and the road was blocked, people in the distance had already started fighting with the Jin soldiers.

Obviously, the Song army was chasing them.

Shao Hongyuan, eager to make a contribution, could no longer hold back and immediately led his three thousand men down the mountain.

Compared with these exhausted Jin soldiers, Shao Hongyuan's troops are a fresh force.

In addition, their sudden arrival put too much psychological pressure on the Jin army.

The Jin army was demoralized and retreated step by step, with no will to fight.

At this time, the flag that Yelu Yuanyi used to gather the scattered soldiers became the main target of Shao Hongyuan's troops' attack.

Eunuch Liang fled into the army in a daze and saw Yelu Yuanyi at first sight.

Eunuch Liang was immediately overjoyed and screamed, "General Yelu, quickly protect this military supervisor, the Song army is chasing us!"

Yelu Yuanyi was shocked and asked, "How many troops did the Song army bring?"

He only saw war horses galloping on the road in the distance, with smoke and dust billowing like a smoke dragon. He had no idea how many horses and men there were.

"I don't know, but there must be at least five, seven, or eight thousand!"

When Yelu Yuanyi heard this, his eyes suddenly turned dark. It was over!

If five thousand elite cavalrymen chase us, won't all of my ten thousand remaining soldiers be killed here?

Before he could react, Shao Hongyuan led his troops to attack again.

When Yelu Yuanyi saw this, he had no choice but to muster up his remaining strength and ride his horse to fight Shao Hongyuan.

How could Eunuch Liang just sit here and wait for death? Most importantly, he didn't think they could still win.

Yesubu led his troops to resist Fujiwara Himeka, Yelu Yuanyi led his men to fight Shao Hongyuan, and Eunuch Liang...

Eunuch Liang screamed, "Quick, hurry and protect us across the river. As long as you can protect us well, we will report to the emperor and give you promotions. Quick, quick, quick!"

The bridge had been destroyed and could not be crossed, but it was still possible to crawl across.

Eunuch Liang got off the horse and staggered forward.

The bodyguards supported him, and they all stepped on the big rocks and the jagged wooden planks to cross the river.

The military supervisor escaped first, and he also said that he would be promoted as long as I protected him across the river?

Then who would stay and risk their life?

Immediately, more people chased after Eunuch Liang.

Once someone escaped, the Jin army, which had already lost all desire to fight, immediately lost the courage to make a last stand.

They scattered to the fields, fleeing for their lives, leaving Yelu Yuanyi alone.

Yelu Yuanyi was alone with his horse, and all he could see was the red tassels fluttering on the Fanyang felt hats of the Song army...

PS: I still owe the leader of the Open Skylight and Speak Frankly three chapters, and I still owe the leader of JJM two chapters...

(End of this chapter)