I traveled with them to the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 315 Zhao Yu VS Wanyan Aguda

...

First, it must be made clear that the Jin army was neither the Liao army nor the Mongol army. The Jin army had cavalry, and its cavalry was in no way inferior to the Liao and Mongol cavalry. However, the Jin army was by no means a pure cavalry army, but a field army composed of multiple branches of service, consisting of light infantry, heavy infantry, light cavalry, and heavy cavalry.

In the early days, the Jin army was poor and lacked resources, so most of its troops were lightly armed and had little armor.

However, as the Jin army continued to defeat the Liao army, the Jin army no longer had many lightly armed troops. Most of the Jin army became heavily armed troops, especially its core Jurchen army, which was all covered in the best armor. Moreover, even its heavy infantry usually rode horses, but dismounted to fight when they arrived at the battlefield.

The Jin army's light cavalry mainly consisted of Liao cavalry who had surrendered from the Liao state, and were used for harassment on the periphery.

Heavy cavalry, or rather, the Jurchens, served as the main force in the final battle and the pursuit of the enemy.

In fact, the most difficult enemy for the Jin army to deal with was not their heavy cavalry, but their heavy infantry.

Ordinary armies were virtually helpless against the Jin army's heavy infantry.

The Jin army's heavy infantry wore at least two sets of armor, and their warhorses were also heavily armored. When the heavy infantry marched forward in formation, ordinary crossbows could not penetrate their defenses.

Where did the Jin army get their heavy infantry armor?
The answer is simple.

It was a gift from the Liao Dynasty.

The Jin army marched from north to south, defeating millions of Liao soldiers and capturing three of Liao's capitals.

In the Battle of Hubudagang alone, 700,000 Liao troops lost countless suits of armor, including a large number of heavy armor pieces.

Furthermore, because the Song army had upgraded to cotton armor that was both lightweight and highly defensive, they sold a large number of their obsolete iron and leather armor to the Liao and Jin dynasties, most of which ended up in the hands of the Jin.

Moreover, in recent years, the Jin army has also captured a large number of Han Chinese artisans, enabling them to manufacture armor in large quantities.

The Jin people valued artisans highly. Any artisan who was willing to surrender to the Jin Dynasty received incredibly generous treatment: women, money, livestock—they could have anything they wanted.

The Jin army gradually transformed from a primitive tribal-level indigenous army into a well-equipped, heavily armed field force.

The Han dynasty produced Khans, the barbarian dynasty began its reign in the Tang dynasty, and border troubles were at their peak during this period, which also affected the Song and Ming dynasties.

Since the Tang Dynasty began its foreign exchanges and recruited nomadic peoples into its army, the Central Plains dynasties no longer had technological barriers to foreign countries. It can be said that any advanced technology the Central Plains had was learned by the nomadic tribes. If they were to further develop and expand upon it, the Central Plains dynasties would suffer.

For example, bows and arrows.

The Jin army's bows and arrows were much better than those of the Central Plains, and even better than the Li Lin muskets of the Song army.

The core territory of the Jurchen people was located in the frigid northeastern region and had long been in a state of nomadic, hunting, and warfare. Therefore, the requirements for the range and penetrating power of bows and arrows were extremely high, prompting craftsmen to continuously optimize their designs.

The harsh living environment, coupled with long-term wars with Goryeo and Liao, made the Jin Dynasty more combat-oriented in improving weapon performance, and the bow and arrow, as the core long-range weapon, iterated at a faster pace.

Furthermore, the northeastern region controlled by the Jurchens was rich in high-quality timber (such as birch), ox horns, and animal sinews, which were key raw materials for making strong bows. These materials were tough and easy to obtain.

Moreover, in response to the cold and dry climate of the north, Jin Dynasty craftsmen paid more attention to details such as wood drying and low-temperature resistance of adhesives in the production of bows, making the bows and arrows more stable in harsh environments.

During its rise to power, the Jin dynasty absorbed bow-making techniques from northern ethnic groups such as the Liao and Bohai, while also drawing on some techniques from the Central Plains, thus forming a unique technological system.

Its bow design (such as the "horn bow") is more suitable for cavalry to use on horseback, and the draw range and power efficiency are more in line with the combat habits of nomadic peoples.

The key was its heavy bow, which was the kind of bow used by the Jin Dynasty's heavy infantry to shoot at close range within ten paces. The power of that bow and arrow was so great that it could penetrate both men and horses, comparable to a ballista, and it could definitely terrify or even break the enemy.

In contrast, the Central Plains region had long been a relatively stable agrarian society. Although bows and arrows had developed, the urgency of military needs, the focus on material acquisition (such as greater reliance on mulberry wood), and differences in combat methods (mainly infantry) led to a gap in some performance aspects compared to the bows and arrows of the Jin Dynasty.

Early hand cannons suffered from drawbacks such as low firing efficiency, poor reliability, limited range and accuracy, bulkiness, and strong logistical dependence.

Of course, muskets also have advantages such as strong armor-piercing ability and ease of use.

Furthermore, the Song army possessed the Divine Arm Bow, whose range and penetrating power far surpassed the Golden Bow. It was also easy to operate and had relatively stable accuracy, but its firing efficiency was low, its portability was poor, and its maintenance costs were high.

In short, disregarding artillery, the weapons of the Song and Jin armies each had their own strengths. In a battle between the two armies, the final competition came down to the quality of the commanders and the troops themselves.

This is precisely what the Jin army is most proud of.

The Jin army that Zhao Yu and his ministers saw, especially its elite troops, was as swift as the wind, as slow as the forest, as fierce as fire, as immovable as a mountain, as unpredictable as the shadows, and as powerful as thunder.

Looking at these Jurchens, they truly resembled what Li Ye, the Six Gentlemen-in-Waiting in history, described: "Their men are like tigers, their horses like dragons, they climb mountains like monkeys, and enter the water like otters; their power is as imposing as Mount Tai, and China is as fragile as a pile of eggs."

This explains why Wanyan Aguda and the Jin generals chose to fight two against one, simultaneously engaging in a decisive battle with both the Song and Liao dynasties.

Indeed, the Jin Dynasty is currently at its peak, with a wise ruler, brave generals, strong soldiers, and powerful horses. It has also swept through the entire Northeast.

The key point is that the Jurchens, especially the Wanyan tribe, were originally just a group of a few thousand people who were like frogs in a well, with incomplete weapons and armor. But now they have a large army of about 400,000 people who have almost reached the pinnacle of cold weapons.

Such strength was unmatched not only in Northeast Asia at the time, but also on a global scale. If the Jin army had followed the historical example of the Mongols and launched a westward expansion, the Jurchens might have been the ones to sweep across Eurasia.

……

On the eve of the bloody battle, although the two sides were on the verge of war and the atmosphere was so tense it was suffocating, the commanders-in-chief of both sides, Zhao Yu and Wanyan Aguda, were both pretending to be relaxed.

One day, Zhao Yu and Wanyan Aguda met by chance on the battlefield.

Despite the great distance between them, and the fact that the Luan River separated them, both sides knew who the other was.

Wanyan Aguda was the first to send a messenger to the Song army's front lines to deliver a message: "The Khitan are dead and cannot be supported. If the Song emperor can pull back from the brink and let our Great Jin replace the Khitan, continue to govern the north and south of the Song, share peace, and restore tranquility to the world, then the people of both countries can be spared the calamity of war. This is a blessing for thousands of generations to come."

It's clear that Wanyan Aguda had some sincerity, but he probably didn't really want to fight this battle, which he estimated he wasn't confident of winning. He hoped to persuade Zhao Yu to abandon the Liao Kingdom, allowing him to smoothly destroy it, eliminate future troubles, and completely annex its territory.

However, considering the previous visit of the Jin envoys to demand tribute, and the historical fact that Wanyan Aguda had been trying to extort more and more tribute from the Northern Song Dynasty, it shows that Wanyan Aguda still had the greedy genes of the Jurchens in his bones.

But this is normal.

Firstly, the historical Zhao Song Dynasty performed so poorly, it was a complete pushover, and who wouldn't want to take advantage of it?
Secondly, nomadic peoples, including hunting and fishing peoples, often struggle to feed themselves. To avoid starvation and, more importantly, to improve their lives, they must raid agricultural societies. Otherwise, a harsh winter or a sudden natural disaster could plunge their entire tribe into dire straits.

Moreover, as Wang Xifeng said, great things come with great difficulties.

If it were just the 10,000 or 20,000 people of the Wanyan tribe, with Wanyan Aguda's abilities, he could easily feed them all.

But now, the Jin Dynasty has annexed the vast territory of the Liao Dynasty, and there are millions of mouths waiting for Wanyan Aguda to feed.

In the past, the Liao Dynasty relied on the taxes and grain from the Yan-Yun region, which had the most advanced agricultural technology, the best natural conditions, had been a traditional agricultural area since the Tang Dynasty, had stable and high grain yields, and whose total grain output exceeded half of the Liao Dynasty's total. This allowed the Liao court to barely balance the supply of grasslands and agriculture.

Now that the Yan-Yun region has been recovered by Zhao Yu, the agricultural areas under the Jin dynasty's control are either underutilized or technologically backward, making them completely unusable. How could the meager grain produced in Liaodong, Liaoxi, Shangjing Road, and the former Jurchen territories possibly feed so many mouths? The millet and wheat from Liaodong, the miscellaneous grains from Liaoxi, plus the scattered agricultural output from Shangjing Road, are barely enough to supply the Jurchen core tribes and their needs. The Khitan remnants under Jin's rule, the former Bohai tribes, and the nomadic groups on the vast grasslands cannot possibly survive on air.
When the harsh winter arrives, the cattle and sheep on the grasslands will lose weight, and the prey in the mountains and forests will disappear. The hungry people will become a hidden danger—at best, they will become thieves and bandits; at worst, they will rise up in rebellion, and the newly established foundation of the Jin Dynasty's rule may collapse at any time.

If Wanyan Aguda did not want the territory of the Liao Kingdom he had just swallowed to become a boiling pot of oil, he had to find a way to fill the food gap.

That's why Wanyan Aguda, while advising Zhao Yu on "dividing the country into north and south," simultaneously sent envoys to demand annual tribute. This tribute might have been merely an expenditure from the Song Dynasty's treasury, but for the Jin Dynasty, it was a life-saving sum of grain. Exchanging tribute for grain from the Song, or directly trading silver and silk for cloth, salt, and iron at the border markets, was the only way to prevent the people within the Jin territory from going hungry in winter. The more exorbitant his demands, the more alarming the deficit within his territory became—the millions of mouths under his control faced the daily pressure of needing to feed.

This can never be explained simply by the word "greed." Just like how wolves on the grasslands always keep an eye on the herders' flocks of sheep, it's not because wolves are inherently vicious, but because when the mountains are blocked by snow in winter, they will starve to death if they don't hunt.

The Jin Dynasty was like a snake that had just swallowed an elephant; the digestion process required a constant stream of energy, and the Song Dynasty, its wealthy neighbor, naturally became its target.

From Zhao Yu's perspective, he may have felt that paying tribute was a humiliating form of extortion.

But in Wanyan Aguda's eyes, this was a necessity for maintaining his rule. Agricultural peoples could make a living by the produce of the land, while nomadic and hunting peoples depended on the weather. If the weather turned bad, they had no choice but to turn their attention to agricultural peoples.

This difference in survival modes is ingrained in our very being; there's no point in arguing about it, only strength speaks for itself.

Now, with swords drawn on both sides of the Luan River, Wanyan Aguda's feigned ease masks the urgency fueled by the voices of millions. His advice to Zhao Yu to "pull back from the brink" is less about avoiding war and more about securing the "lifeline" to maintain Jin rule without firing a shot. After all, even if he won a real fight, the Jin dynasty could suffer heavy losses; it would be easier to subdue the enemy without a fight, saving both time and effort while still obtaining the benefits he desired.

Wanyan Aguda's calculations were in full swing.

Unfortunately, Zhao Yu was not Zhao Ji, Zhao Huan, or Zhao Gou, and he certainly wouldn't be intimidated by Wanyan Aguda.

Crucially, Zhao Yu knew that Wanyan Aguda was a decent man—farsighted, trustworthy, and able to control his greed. But not all Jurchens were like Wanyan Aguda. Once he died, the ambitious, greed-blinded generals and nobles within the Jin state would run rampant like wild horses. At that point, the threat posed by the Jin to the Song Dynasty would be immeasurable, and perhaps even a repeat of the Jingkang Incident would occur.

Knowing all this, Zhao Yu would definitely take advantage of the fact that the Jin Kingdom was unaware of his trump cards and strike hard. Ideally, he would destroy the Jin Kingdom outright, but if not, he would at least severely damage it so that the Jin people would never dare to plot against the Song Dynasty again.

Therefore, this battle was not a question of whether Wanyan Aguda wanted to fight or not; it was a question of whether Zhao Yu would definitely fight.

Therefore, Zhao Yu also sent someone to reply: "I have decided to protect the Great Liao. Either the Great Jin and the Great Liao negotiate peace and return the area south of Zhongjing to the Great Liao, and the three of us live in peace and share a peaceful life, or we decide the outcome on the battlefield. If the Great Song and the Great Liao are defeated by the Great Jin, the Great Song will no longer interfere in the matter of the Great Jin destroying the Great Liao. If the Great Song and the Great Liao are fortunate enough to defeat the Great Jin, the Great Jin must not only return Zhongjing to the Great Liao, but also return the other lost territories to the Great Liao. In addition, the Great Jin must pay the Great Song ten million ingots of gold, ten million ingots of silver, and ten million bolts of silk."

When Wanyan Aguda saw the conditions proposed by Zhao Yu, he was so angry that he laughed! He never expected that there was such an insatiably greedy person as Zhao Yu in the world.

Wanyan Aguda put down his telescope, stroking this treasure that allowed him to anticipate the enemy's moves, and asked, "Have you found out what the Song emperor is relying on?"

Wanyan Zongjun, the eldest son of Wanyan Aguda, reported: "It has been found that the Song emperor has hidden 50,000 cavalry in Tiangu Mountain behind his territory."

Fifty thousand light cavalry is definitely a force capable of turning the tide of battle, especially at crucial moments in a conflict between two armies.

To be honest, before this, Wanyan Aguda had never been at ease with Zhao Yu. He always felt that Zhao Yu was not Yelü Yanxi, and would not fight a war he was not confident of winning, especially a war that gambled the fate of the nation.

This is also why Wanyan Aguda, who had been preparing for a long time, had not yet started a war with Zhao Yu.

Now, after careful investigation by the Jin scouts, Zhao Yu's hidden trump card has finally been discovered. He smiled and said to his men, "Coincidentally, I have seven thousand Iron Forest soldiers, which can fight against his fifty thousand cavalry."

Having said that, Wanyan Aguda made up his mind: "Tomorrow I will have a decisive battle with that scoundrel Zhao Yu..."

……

(End of this chapter)