Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

That was the Ulinda tribe, one of the elite forces under Wanyan Zongfu!

Pusan, Heshilie, Pucha, and Wulinda were the four major Jurchen tribes of the Jin Dynasty, besides the Wanyan tribe.

The Wulinda tribe lived in a tributary of the Mudanjiang River and were closely related to the Hesuguan tribe in Liaodong.

The Wanyan tribe spent a great deal of effort conquering Ulinda, and the two noble tribes have been intermarrying for years.

Marriage alliances are marriage alliances.

Even birds in the same forest will fly away separately when disaster strikes.

Seeing that the Jin dynasty was doomed, the general of this army, Wulindatai, decided to lead his troops to flee the battlefield and return to his hometown, a tributary of the Mudanjiang River, to rebuild his life.

That place is far away, remote, and poor. Surely the Ming emperor wouldn't send troops to kill us there?

Even if they come to kill us, we should surrender if we can.

If the Ming emperor does not accept surrender, then he should go hunting in the mountains, rather than be buried here with the Jin dynasty.

Ulindatai wanted to lead his troops away, but he quickly reminded the general of the Pusan ​​tribe.

They live on the south bank of the Yalu River, in the mountainous region of Hamgyong Province, North Korea.

Baozhou and Pyongyang are full of Ming troops, who will eventually march on their hometowns. They might as well just surrender now.

These Bu San cavalry did not flee, but were led by their general to circle around the Ming army's main formation.

Moreover, they waved their command flags, dispersed, discarded their weapons and horses, and ran empty-handed on foot towards the Ming army.

Zhao Yuan saw it clearly through his binoculars and laughed loudly, "Send out the order: do not fire the cannons or guns. Welcome these surrendered soldiers into the battle."

Upon learning that the Pusan ​​tribe had surrendered successfully, the other tribes either rushed over to surrender or fled like the Wulinda tribe.

Of the nearly 30,000 Jurchen soldiers under Wanyan Zongfu and Jin Wuzhu, almost half were gradually dispersed.

Those who haven't fled are either die-hard Jin loyalists or too far away to have received the news.

"All troops, attack!" Zhao Yuan immediately seized the opportunity.

Yang Zaixing led the cavalry of various ethnic groups, while Hua Rong led the infantry on horseback, each charging out from the chariot formation.

Apart from the Pusan ​​tribe, which was the first to surrender, other Jurchen soldiers who attempted to surrender were also attacked by the Ming army.

They killed anyone who stood in their way and headed straight for Wanyan Zongfu's banner.

The Jurchen soldiers, who had originally intended to surrender, were terrified and fled in all directions upon seeing this.

"Come on!"

Jin Wuzhu shouted and, no longer caring about his brother, led his troops in a hasty retreat.

The Jurchen soldiers and laborers who had no horses were so frightened by the sight of the entire Ming army that they knelt down and surrendered one after another.

Most of them were brought by Jin Wuzhu from the south bank of the Yalu and Tumen Rivers. They didn't want to fight in the first place, but were forcibly conscripted into the army.

Many had already fled along the way, and the remaining ones were extremely timid, not even daring to desert under cover of night.

Following the original historical trajectory, their descendants would be assimilated by North Korea, and eventually they would all become Korean.

If you can become Korean, you can certainly become Han!

The Jurchen soldiers who possessed warhorses fled east or south.

Because the Hun River is to the north, and the Ming army is to the west.

Yang Zaixing led his cavalry of various ethnic groups, and Hua Rong led his mounted infantry, relentlessly pursuing Wanyan Zongfu's banner.

Some Jurchen soldiers discovered that as long as they didn't block the way, they were fine.

Those located further north all retreated to the banks of the Hun River and knelt down to surrender, for they truly had nowhere to escape.

Meanwhile, the Jurchen soldiers located further south fled in disarray, attempting to escape back to their respective tribal territories and then send envoys to the Ming emperor to express their submission.

The Ming infantry at the front left the chariot formation one after another to capture the surrendered enemies.

Zhao Yuan ignored the battlefield before him and said, "Order Generals Zhe Yanzhi and Zhang Xian to immediately march eastward."

"After taking over Shenzhou (Shenyang), they continued to occupy Guide (Fushun) and Zhaosancheng."

"If we fight our way through, we can send a detachment to capture Gulidian (Mudanjiang City), and then we won't need to advance any further."

"It may have already snowed by then, so be sure to wear warm clothing when you go with the troops."

"Then send orders to Deng Chun, Li Jinyi and other generals, instructing them to take part of the troops northward to occupy Tongchang (northwest of Fuxin City) after capturing Jinzhou, and to guard the city to prevent Wanyan Zonghan from returning to reinforce it."

"The remaining units will occupy Guangning (Beizhen City) and Wangping. If no enemy is found, they will move north to take Yizhou."

After issuing the military order, Zhao Yuan rode forward on horseback, with his personal guards quickly following.

The area was filled with surrendered soldiers and prisoners of war, especially along the banks of the Hun River.

Zhao Yuan asked a very short prisoner, "How old are you this year?"

The prisoner couldn't understand Chinese and knelt on the ground, trembling.

The accompanying interpreter quickly replied, "His Majesty is asking how old you are."

Chapter 3442 Population Reduction Policy

The prisoner replied, "Thirteen years old."

Zhao Yuan curled his lip and rode his horse along the river to patrol, where child soldiers could be seen at any time.

He originally planned to reduce the population of the Jurchen people, but it seems that Wanyan Zongfu had already done so in advance.

Zhao Yuan then ordered, "Identify the Wanyan tribe members among the prisoners and kill them all without leaving a single one alive."

"For the remaining departments, five thousand will be drawn proportionally, only those under the age of sixteen."

"One thousand of them were taken to Pyongyang, Boju and other places to live among the Han Chinese soldiers and civilians there."

"Five hundred of them were taken to Iwami Castle, Tsushima Island, and Sado Island to serve as tenant farmers for the soldiers there. Once they learned to speak Chinese, they were considered Han Chinese."

"The rest were sent to western Hunan, southern Sichuan, and the Hehuang region to live among the exiles there."

The Bohai people in Liaodong were too numerous, so Zhao Yuan would migrate some of them to Youyan.

Moreover, these Bohai people who migrated there were unable to enjoy the preferential tax treatment of three years of tax exemption and two years of tax reduction.

Who told them to aid and abet evil, helping the Jin Dynasty fight wars in previous years?

The Khitans and Xis who could not speak Chinese were also sent to Youyan to farm.

Those who could speak Mandarin were given land and resettled in Liaodong.

In any case, in the arable areas of Liaodong, the population that can speak Chinese must account for more than 60% – regardless of ethnicity!

……

The two brothers, Wanyan Zongfu and Jin Wuzhu, had already led their troops to flee more than ten miles away.

The number of Jurchen soldiers following them dwindled, not all of them were killed by the Ming pursuers, but rather escaped with the leaders of their respective tribes.

Several waves of cavalry were sent to cover the rear, but they scattered before even engaging in battle.

These Jurchen soldiers were of very low quality; a large portion of them had never fought a battle.

What can a thirteen or fourteen-year-old do on the battlefield?

Now, having suffered another crushing defeat and fled, the child soldiers are terrified out of their wits.

Wanyan Zongfu originally intended for Jin Wuzhu to cover their retreat, but Jin Wuzhu escaped even faster than he had.

"A true man should die rather than suffer such humiliation."

Wanyan Zongfu reined in his horse and stopped ordering the horns to be sounded and the troops to gather.

He's been retreating these past few days, eager for a head-on confrontation.

Anyway, there's no military rations to go back to, and there's no guarantee of escape, so I might as well make one last charge before I die.

Fortunately, the pursuers were all cavalry, and without the protection of the Ming Dynasty's chariot formation, a counterattack now would allow them to regain some dignity.

“Woooooooo~~~”

After blowing the horn for a while, they gathered about two thousand soldiers.

There were also more than two hundred Zha Meng'an among them, but more than half of them had lost their armor.

Their heavy armor was all carried by spare horses; they hadn't had time to care about it during their hasty escape.

Most of the remaining core elite troops of the Jin Kingdom's Eastern Route Army are here at this moment.

Seeing that Wanyan Zongfu was about to launch a desperate counterattack, Yang Zaixing and Hua Rong both raised their arms and began to slow down and regroup their respective teams.

Hua Rong had three thousand flintlock musketeers and two thousand melee infantrymen under his command.

Their horsemanship was not very good, so they dismounted and formed a battle formation.

Yang Zaixing ordered the cavalry of various ethnic groups to be positioned on both sides of the infantry formation, towards the front.

The Bohai cavalry, including those led by Gao Jingshan and Wang Zheng, were now under the command of Yang Zaixing.

The Jin cavalry used the same old method, with fifty men per unit.

Thirty cavalrymen on each side of the team stepped forward to shoot arrows to harass and lure the enemy.

The twenty cavalrymen in the middle were ready to charge at any time, and occasionally they would rush up to shoot arrows.

The cavalry of both sides circled and shot arrows at each other, and as they shot, they accelerated and charged.

It was the Jurchen cavalry who took the initiative to charge forward. They were outnumbered and at a disadvantage when shooting arrows, so they could only have a chance by charging ahead and engaging in close combat.

Liu E was the first to be defeated. Although he wanted to fight desperately to make a name for himself, if he couldn't win, he really couldn't win.

Liu E commanded several hundred Han cavalry, all of whom he had brought from Youzhou to Liaodong.

They were afraid of both the Ming soldiers and the Jurchen soldiers, and were utterly routed by a single Jurchen cavalry unit.

Those who followed Wanyan Zongfu in the counter-charge were not child soldiers, but mostly elite Jurchen troops.

At this moment, they finally demonstrated their true fighting power!

The collapse of Liu E's Youzhou Han cavalry immediately affected the Liaodong Bohai cavalry in the vicinity.

The Bohai cavalry under Wang Zheng's command fled in disarray when they were close to the Han cavalry of Youzhou, while those further away from Youzhou were still managing to hold them off.

The Jurchen cavalry general who had defeated Liu E turned and charged diagonally toward Wang Zheng's forces.

With just one charge, Wang Zheng's remaining troops also collapsed, resulting in Gao Jingshan's troops being attacked from both sides.

Although Dapan was killed in Hesuguan City, his cousin Dagu also led his remaining troops to join the battle.

The Bohai cavalry rushed to the rescue, attacking the Jurchen cavalry from the flank.

Three Jurchen cavalry units suffered a defeat and retreated while firing arrows, but two more Jurchen cavalry units took over the charge from their retreating allies.

The several hundred Da clan cavalrymen were routed by two groups of Jurchen elite cavalry, and their leader, Da Gu, was killed on the spot.

Gao Jingshan's troops were already on the verge of collapse, and the cavalry of the Li and Gao clans of Liaoyang were in the same predicament.

Seeing that more than half of the Jurchen cavalry had been deployed and that one of his own cavalry had completed its flanking maneuver, Yang Zaixing immediately seized the opportunity to charge at Wanyan Zongfu from both sides.

After Hua Rong's cavalry and infantry dismounted and formed ranks, no enemy cavalry charged at them—the Jurchen soldiers did not want to provoke firearms.

Chapter 3443 Fleeing in Disarray

Some of their own routed soldiers, in a panic, fled towards the infantry lines.

Moreover, more and more defeated soldiers rushed over, bypassing the formation and hiding behind it, trying to seek protection from the Ming infantry.

At this very moment, Gao Jingshan's cavalry from the Gao clan of Chengzhou, as well as the cavalry from the Li clan of Liaoyang and the Gao clan of Liaoyang, were successively overwhelmed by the Jurchen cavalry.

The Jurchen cavalry that charged this side numbered only six hundred.

The total number of cavalrymen from various tribes who were routed by them exceeded three thousand!

"Go around to both sides!" Hua Rong shouted.

Without Hua Rong needing to remind them, the routed allied troops spontaneously bypassed the enemy lines.

Although they were not as good at fighting as the Jurchen soldiers, their ability to survive was top-notch.

Before all the fleeing soldiers had cleared the way, Hua Rong personally raised the command flag: "First platoon, fire!"