Jinting Han people

In the early summer of the second year of Yongkang, in Ji County, at the vanguard camp of the Hebei rebel army.

It was probably before dawn, and the sky was still full of stars. Wisps of smoke rose from the rebel army's camp, barely noticeable against the bright purple-blue starry sky. But the aroma of the smoke was irresistible. The camp was busily preparing breakfast and lunch for nearly 100,000 people, and the fragrance of steamed noodles filled the air, quickly spreading beyond the camp with a slight breeze.

Zhao Jun's scouts caught the scent. After a brief discussion, they deduced the meaning behind the aroma: the cooking was being done an hour earlier than usual, and the wheat fragrance was far stronger than before, indicating a different kind of military mobilization. And in this place, at this time, there could only be one kind of mobilization.

The enemy is about to launch a major war.

Having reached the same conclusion, the scouts exchanged a brief conversation before galloping southwest at breakneck speed. Their hooves rustled through the three-inch-deep grass. Like moles in their burrows, they were unstoppable except for the darkness.

The reason for this was that the vanguard of the rebel army did not send out any scouts, and Zhao Xiang, who was in charge of the vanguard, was too arrogant, almost like leaving the gates wide open, allowing the scouts to conduct reconnaissance.

This allowed Zhao Wangjun's scouts to receive the news immediately, and they then rushed towards Ji County, where Sun Hui was located.

They ran at an extremely fast pace for nearly twenty miles, and in just a quarter of an hour, the group saw a winding river flowing from the northwest. The river was more than thirty feet wide, its surface shimmering, and the sound of the water was almost inaudible. They could only see countless reeds swaying in the wind, with birds and beasts resting on the riverbank.

This is the Qingshui River.

The scouts galloped past, their clattering hooves shattering the dreams of field mice and wild ducks, from which a flock of geese took flight, resembling a rising black cloud. But when the black cloud dissipated, a pontoon bridge appeared before the scouts' eyes.

This is a medium-sized pontoon bridge made of wooden stakes, ropes, and hundreds of small boats. It is about 14 feet wide and can accommodate three people walking side by side. Because it was funded and supervised by the Huang family, a local gentry family in Ji County, it is also called Huang Bridge.

Stepping onto the Yellow Bridge, the bridge swayed slightly, forcing the scouts to rein in their horses and cross slowly. Five miles to the south, a formidable city rose prominently on the horizon—that was Ji County.

At this moment, Sun Hui, the commander-in-chief of the Zhao army at the front, was still asleep when he was suddenly awakened by urgent knocking on the door. This infuriated him, and he got up and shouted, "Who dares to disturb my peaceful sleep again!"

But upon opening the door and seeing Vice General Xu Chao and Shi Yi standing there, he immediately fell silent. He awkwardly scratched his head and said, "It's still dark. What brings you two here?"

Xu Chao glanced at Sun Hui, went into the house, lit the oil lamp on the table, and said, "General Sun, I just received news that the enemy army is cooking and is expected to besiege the city after dawn."

"Huh! Is this for real?"

This news struck Sun Hui like a sledgehammer, instantly waking him up. It filled him with fear and made him tremble, but he couldn't show it, so he could only force a smile:
"Then we'll have to rely on you two a lot."

Neither of them responded. Xu Chao and Shi Yi certainly looked down on Sun Hui. But the thought of the upcoming battle weighed heavily on their minds, making them so depressed that they could barely utter a joke or care about their contempt for Sun Hui.

After Xu Chao turned on the light, Shi Yi unfolded a map depicting the defenses surrounding Ji County. As he examined it, he said to Xu Chao:

"They started cooking half an hour ago, and they should be eating by now. It's a 20-mile journey, which cavalry can cover in 15 minutes, but it would take infantry an hour to march. However, since there are many of them, they probably won't be able to walk that fast. Considering the time it takes to form ranks, I estimate they won't reach the north bank of the river until around 9:00 AM."

Xu Chao agreed with his point of view and asked, "Should we defend the city or go out into the field for a battle?"

Sun Hui said anxiously, "Oh dear, how can we go out of the city to fight in the open? We should be defending the city!"

But Shi Yi pretended not to hear him at all. He continued, “The morale of the army is not good. Defending the city will only lead to a complete loss of morale. Moreover, all of our soldiers are fully armored and half of them are on horseback. How can they exert their power in defending the city? They can only go out to fight in the field.”

At this point, he pointed to the Yellow Bridge on the map and hesitated, saying, "What I can't decide right now is what to do with the Yellow Bridge. Should we cross the river and attack them before they've established a firm foothold? Or should we wait for them to cross the river at the Yellow Bridge and then attack them while they're still crossing?"

Sun Hui then offered his opinion: "We should burn this bridge! That way, the enemy army won't be able to cross the river!"

Xu Chao still considered Sun Hui's feelings, and he explained, "The Qingshui River is not wide. It is thirty zhang wide at its widest point, and only seven or eight zhang wide at its narrowest point. In some places, it is even less than five chi deep. If we dismantle the Huangqiao Bridge, the enemy can still cross the river smoothly. It will only waste more time, but we do not know where they will cross the river. If we keep the Huangqiao Bridge, the enemy will definitely cross the river from there, and their actions can be predicted."

He then said to Shi Yi, "The risk of attacking across the river is too great. If we fail, we will be trapped in a dead end. I think it is better to attack them while they are crossing the river. When they cross the river at Huangqiao, we will launch an attack. The rest of the bandits will have difficulty coming to our aid quickly. We can then launch a fierce attack and crush the enemy's vanguard. We may be able to win!"

After considering it for a moment, Shi Yi agreed with Xu Chao's point of view and said, "Then let's do it this way. Let's get the troops in formation now. Today's hard battle is a matter of life and death, so we should reward the soldiers well."

He said directly to Sun Huidao, "Marshal, you should immediately order the city's kitchens to prepare food and slaughter five hundred cattle today! After this battle, everyone will have beef to eat! Also, prepare several thousand taels of gold and silver to reward those who dare to charge into battle! This will boost morale and will surely be of great use!"

Shi Yi's words were so certain, as if he were Sun Hui's superior. Sun Hui was quite dissatisfied, but when he thought of the upcoming battle, he lost all courage and repeatedly flattered Shi Yi, saying, "General, you are right, General, you are right. I will send someone to do it right away."

Thus, this was a brief military discussion among the Zhao King's army.

Two quarters of an hour later, the order was given to all units of King Zhao's army. The entire army marched out of the city and formed ranks outside. The formation took place on a flat area four miles from the riverbank. Most of them sat on the ground, eating freshly made flatbreads while inspecting their armor and arrows. Since the enemy had not yet arrived, they needed to avoid expending their energy as much as possible and use the time to conserve their strength.

After breakfast, it was already daylight. It was a fine day; the sky was clear, the air was fresh, and the sun peeked out from behind the clouds early in the morning. In the early summer morning, this kind of sunlight was most comfortable. For the soldiers in battle, the advantage was that it provided excellent visibility, allowing them to clearly see what was happening in the distance.

Before long, the vanguard of the rebel army came into their view.

First to arrive were the vanguard of the cavalry. Seeing the Zhao King's army standing still in formation in the distance, they quickly reached the riverbank to assess the situation. Pointing with their whips, they discovered that the Yellow Bridge was still standing, and they were all overjoyed, some even whistling. Then came the main force of the cavalry, riding horses of various colors, like streams converging, quickly forming a formidable torrent on the north bank. When they stopped on the opposite bank, it was as if a human wall had appeared out of nowhere, startling countless birds from the riverbank.

When the rest of the army arrived, the massive force completely occupied the riverbank, stretching as far as the eye could see. Red, white, and black flags adorned the landscape, accompanied by the majestic drumming and music of the troops. The music seemed distant, yet the army was already within reach.

Sun Hui, hiding under the commander's flag, kept glancing left and right, comparing the numbers of his own side and the enemy's, and was utterly astonished. He secretly asked Xu Chao, who was assessing the situation, "..."
"General Xu, how many enemy soldiers have come?"

Seeing the sheer number of people the other side had, Xu Chao couldn't help but feel a chill. He replied, "There are probably seventy or eighty thousand people."

Sun found it somewhat unbelievable, because the enemy's army seemed to stretch endlessly, as if it were ten or a hundred times larger than his own. However, this was actually an illusion created by the human eye. When the number of troops reaches tens of thousands, a difference of one or two times becomes an illusion that spreads across mountains and plains. How could one person easily discern such a difference?
But this was enough to make Sun Hui change his mind at the last minute. He asked, "General Xu, why don't we retreat and defend the city?"

Shi Yi, standing to the side, said unhappily, "General Sun, the enemy is already close at hand. If we retreat again, won't the soldiers think we're cowardly? Then they won't fight for us at all. Now, no matter what, we must fight."

After saying this, he issued orders to all the troops, instructing them to stand up, put on their armor, and wait for the enemy's next move.

Meanwhile, on the north bank of the Qingshui River, the vanguard of the rebel army was also holding an urgent small military meeting.

Zhao Xiang said, "Your Highness previously gave orders that we should act independently and launch a joint attack. Now that the Zhao rebel army is right in front of us, when should we act?"

The forwards accompanying him were Shi Chao, Wang Bin, Gao Yuan, Lü Zhi, Gongshi Fan, Cui Kuang, and others.

Gao Yuan said, "I see that the enemy soldiers on the other side are sitting idly on the ground, with little fighting spirit. They can probably be defeated in one strike. We should not delay and advance on them immediately."

Gongshi Fan hesitated and said, "Our army has marched twenty li in a hurry and is quite tired. Should we let our army rest for a while before continuing our march?"

Wang Bin disagreed, saying, "If our army hesitates, the rebels will look down on us and think we lack courage. At that point, it will be much more difficult to defeat them!"

Without a head coach to keep things under control, the generals immediately showed signs of arguing.

Fortunately, Shi Chao coughed a few times at this moment, and everyone quieted down—Shi Chao's family background was too high, and the generals subconsciously still maintained a sense of awe.

Shi Chao said, "When to attack is not the point. The problem is that there is only one bridge to cross the river. Your Highness wants us to attack from multiple directions at once. What should we do?"

This is indeed a very practical problem. Zhao Xiang said, "Then let's cross the bridge one way and have the others swim across the river!"

This displeased everyone. Who would cross the bridge and who would swim? It seemed that the group that was going to cross the bridge had already assembled and started their march, while the others hadn't even crossed the river yet. Whose credit would be awarded for the victory? Was there even a need to think about it?
Zhao Xiang knew that arguing like this would never end, so he said, "How about this, I will lead the army across the bridge first, and after everyone has crossed, I will give the order for a general attack, how about that?"

Knowing that everyone had doubts, he added, "His Highness is leading the central army behind us. If you continue arguing, do you want His Highness to laugh at us?"

This was true, and everyone thought that arguing any further wouldn't solve anything, so they had no choice but to make do. After reluctantly nodding in agreement, they divided the army into six routes according to the pre-arranged plan, with Zhao Xiang leading the way across Huangqiao, while Shi Chao and Gao Yuan were positioned on the left and right respectively.

Before crossing the river, as was customary, the general would give a mobilization speech to the soldiers. Zhao Xiang then spurred his horse forward and loudly proclaimed:
"My lord, Emperor Yongkang, has inherited the throne for over ten years. He is the legitimate son of Emperor Wu and has never committed any wrongdoing! Yet, he was unable to withstand the conspiracy of the traitor Zhao and was deposed and imprisoned in Jinyong City north of the capital! The traitor Zhao, Sima Lun, has no merit whatsoever and is utterly incompetent. He heavily relied on Sun Xiu, which instigated countless peasant uprisings in Guanzhong! Now he dares to usurp the throne. Does he think there is no justice in the world? No righteous men in the nine provinces?"

"Our mighty army, leading a million iron cavalry and golden spears, marches forth in righteous righteousness, outnumbering us by more than tenfold. With such forces, how can we not be victorious? Those who kill the traitors and achieve merit will be richly rewarded by the King of Chengdu! He will surely treat them with great generosity!"

After Zhao Xiang finished speaking, his soldiers immediately shouted "Kill the traitors!" The shouts spread around, and the rest of the rebel army cheered along with them, like waves rising and falling, endlessly.

After they calmed down, Zhao Wangjun on the other side of the river gave a brief pep talk.

Xu Chao addressed his soldiers: "If we win today, everyone will have a hearty meal of beef for dinner! Anyone who can break through enemy lines and capture the flag will be rewarded with a hundred gold pieces!"

The soldiers of King Zhao's army responded with shouts of victory: "Victory is certain! Victory is certain!"

Compared to the previous thunderous roar on the north bank, this shout seemed rather weak, which drew laughter from the rebel army on the opposite side.

But in any case, the river crossing officially began.

Zhao Xiang's army consisted primarily of cavalry. They crossed the Huangqiao Bridge at breakneck speed and quickly formed ranks on the grass. As the only army to cross the river via the pontoon bridge, by the time their ranks were mostly on flat ground, the soldiers of the other five armies remained largely on the north bank.

Just then, a long and resounding bugle call rang out from the Zhao King's army in front of the city, echoing across the open fields beneath the clouds.

Zhao Xiang was startled. He looked in the direction of the sound and saw that the Zhao King's army not far ahead was beginning to move. Their ranks began to shift and change, with cavalry charging in front and infantry following closely behind. The sounds of footsteps, hooves, and the rattling of armor gradually blended into a chaotic symphony.

The enemy has launched an attack? Zhao Xiang was not afraid but delighted: In this way, he did not break the agreement and launched an attack on his own, and there is a great chance that he will make the greatest contribution!
Meanwhile, Xu Chao, riding ahead, couldn't help but sneer at his followers, "A bunch of pig intestine eaters, daring to go to the battlefield!" (End of Chapter)