In the last moments before dawn, flames swirled across the earth.

Mountains, forests, rivers, walled cities...... A long queue gathered in the darkness of the night, the sound of heralds, the sound of footsteps, the neighing of horses...... All sorts of sounds boiled the night and gathered together.

In the middle of November of the tenth year of Wu Jianshuo, in the northwest of Fancheng, hundreds of thousands of troops were converging in the same direction.

This is the battlefield between the Jurchen Western Route Army led by Wanyan Zonghan and the Western Group Army led by the Beiwei Army, and the whole battle has lasted for nearly three months.

The battlefield on the west road is based on the Xiangyang and Fancheng systems on the north and south sides of the Han River as the core, and the Han River is defended. On the Jurchen side, the main force of Zong Han's southern expeditionary army of 260,000 people, with the Han army that the original puppet Qi warlords could mobilize, nearly 400,000, with a total strength of up to 700,000, attacked with 140,000 Beiwei army as the core, and more than a dozen surrounding troops formed a defensive formation of more than 800,000.

The number of troops may be watery, and the strength is also uneven, but even if nearly half of the imaginary number is cut, there is an army of nearly one million before and after, which is stuffed within a radius of 100 miles near the two cities of Xiangfan, and has been fighting solidly for more than three months.

If measured by the combat power and achievements of the Jurchens when they founded the country, only the core team of 260,000 people is already a terrifying force that can sweep away the entire world. But at this time, firstly, it has experienced three southern invasions, and the Wu Dynasty has a certain psychological preparation for the terrible Jurchen, and secondly, with the efforts of the main battle faction and the prince Junwu, in eight years, half of the huge power generated by the economic expansion of Nanwu has been put into combat preparations, and Yangzhou, Zhenjiang system, and Xiangfan system are the top priority.

The defensive force built up with the material resources of the whole country won a certain respite for the Wu Dynasty at this time.

Within a few years of recapturing Xiangyang, Yue Fei did not hold the idea of sticking to the two cities of Xiangfan. Relying on the Han River, more than 20 walled cities and water villages have been built on the shore, between the mountains, and in the key places on both sides of the Xiangfan City. On the one hand, the Jurchen attack was weakened by the advantage of the city defense, and on the other hand, Yue Fei used the Han water to transport elite soldiers, echoing everywhere and even taking the initiative to attack. Attack the weak points of the Jurchen army and the Han army that did not have high combat power.

In more than three months, the Beiwei army has fought nine big victories, once defeated the main force of the bronze wolf army led by Yan Saba, once repelled the pull away from the speed, and then fought with Yinshuke and Zong Han all retreated, the general Yue, who was only in his early thirties, not only used the army bravely and decisively, but also the military law was strict, and the order was like a mountain, on the battlefield, where there was a half-step back, beheaded, where there was a shake in the military formation, beheaded, retreated, beheaded, disobeyed the order, beheaded, slow to obey the order, the official staff eighty, relegated to the vanguard......

A big battle in August, the 60,000 troops under the command of Li Huai, who was responsible for defending the flank, were defeated by a blow due to command errors, after the war, Yue Fei asked Li Huai to be taken to the city head and killed on the spot, in mid-September, the Xiangcheng Walled City in the northwest of Fancheng was set on fire by the Jurchen army, more than 4,000 people took the lead in the rout, Yue Fei ordered the Beiwei army to form a formation to press, and waved the knife mercilessly in the face of the fleeing crowd, and successively killed nearly 2,000 fleeing soldiers, so that the remaining more than 2,000 soldiers actually stopped alive, many people were frightened, and would rather turn their heads to meet the Jurchens, I didn't dare to run to the blade of the back army again.

In October, Peng Hai, the nephew of Peng Guangyou, the secretary of the Ministry of War, delayed the military plane due to drunkenness, and Yue Fei arrested several officers who had been drunk that night on the execution table, pulled out the long sword that Jun Wu had obtained from Zhou Yong, and killed the delayed military plane and several others.

In the past, Yue Fei was heavily armed and operated Xiangfan, and his military law was strict, even to the point of being unkind, and the rest of the army only heard about it. In many ordinary matters, Yue Fei does not seem serious when he interacts with other martial artists, he is strict with the rules in the army, and everyone only thinks that it is his territorial consciousness of his one-third of an acre.

Who knew that when the war began, Junwu handed over the armies on the West Road to Yue Fei to lead and deploy, and this military method actually fell on the heads of others on the battlefield.

Li Huai led 60,000 troops, and was also a general in the Wu Dynasty army, speaking of the same level as Yue Fei, and his qualifications were even older, Yue Fei, who had a very low attitude towards him and was respectful, actually grabbed him and beheaded him with a knife because of his command error.

On the battlefield, the various armies implement military laws, and there are also strict, but the defeat of the Tianxiang Walled City has been presented, and in the face of the army that is not his subordinate, the Beiwei army does not hesitate to wave the sword, which is originally a taboo. Who knew that 4,000 people fled, and half of the Beiwei army was killed solidly, and if the 2,000 people in the rear had not stopped, everyone could see that this Yue Fei could even kill them cleanly on the spot, such a decision would really make people's scalps tingle.

Peng Guangyou is still in the military department, and there are countless relationships in the army, and Yue Fei also has a good relationship with him in peacetime. After Peng Hai's accident, he also participated in the war in Xiangfan, and Liu Guangshi, the veteran general with the most seniority and prestige, also found Yue Fei and interceded for Peng Hai, Yue Fei took out the sword of the Son of Heaven and presented it to Liu Guangshi with both hands: "If you want to save Peng, please kill me with this sword." Blocked Liu Guangshi's full stomach in his throat, and finally left with his sleeves up.

Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of troops mobilized from the rest of the country, during this period of time, even within the Beiwei Army, there are many soldiers who have suffered from strict military law, after all, even if they train, it is not the more people under their hands, the better, over the years, feeling the pressure from the north, the Beiwei Army has expanded to 140,000 people, and it is difficult to say whether there are more than half of the elite.

In the past three months, Xiangyang has been like a huge Shura field, and the number of casualties on both sides has exceeded 100,000, and the casualties of each other are still rising. However, many people can already see that if there were no such strict military law constraints, and without the activity of the Weiwei army in it, the Hanshui defense on the front line of Xiangfan would have broken down long ago.

Since the beginning of the war, the strength of the Jurchen army's offensive has been staggering.

As an old minister who followed Ah Gu to start an incident, the number one general in the Jurchen army for a long time, when Yan Zonghan put on an attitude of letting go, the Wu Dynasty army on the front line of Xiangfan was facing huge pressure.

Just like the battle situation that Luqiaoshan once felt in the southwest, with the emergence and large-scale application of new weapons such as artillery, the situation on the battlefield has undergone many new changes. The infantry team, which was once only restrained by a phalanx, could easily suffer huge losses in the face of a large number of artillery, and if it was only beaten in a dull way, the infantry formation would probably collapse directly after a short time.

Although in the early stage of the appearance of artillery, some people thought that the cavalry had been restrained, but due to the position restrictions of artillery, slow transfer and other factors, high-speed mobile attacks and flexible tactics were put on the primary agenda, and whether cavalry or infantry, morale or insufficient training, quality of the "old soldiers", in addition to hiding behind the city wall can also play a role, to the battlefield, has lost its meaning.

If you go back to the first battle of Tokyo more than ten years ago, the million-strong Qinwang army near Bianliang will also be vulnerable in front of the more than 100,000 Beiwei army.

In three months, the Beiwei army fought nine large-scale victories, but in the vicinity of Xiangfan, Zong Han, Xi Yin and others continued to uproot the various camps outside the city with fierce offensives, and by November, most of the city had been abandoned or breached. On the night of November 13, near the fortress named Funiu City by the Han River, Shi Yunpeng, the commander of the Wuhui battalion of the Wu Dynasty, led 40,000 troops to encounter the Jin army on the way to transfer, the two sides had reached the night, and each other had stopped the pace of transfer, the two sides continued to friction in a small scale, but they had already sent troops for help, behind Shi Yunpeng, Liu Guangshi's 60,000 main forces were stationed in Funiu City, and more than 100,000 troops could be mobilized in the distance.

On the morning of November 14, when the first rays of fish belly white were drawn in the eastern sky, nearly 400,000 troops from the two sides of Jin and Wu had rushed to the vicinity of Funiu City, and Yue Fei led the elite of 40,000 Beiwei troops, and the main forces of the Jurchen elites such as Xi Yin and Yinshuke entered the battlefield one after another.

The battle broke out in the morning, and after that, nearly 200,000 people arrived from all over the place, opening the prelude to the largest battle in Xiangfan since the beginning of the war. The whole battle lasted for more than ten days on the bank of the Han River, Yue Fei commanded the army to constantly set up a position, build a defensive line, gradually transfer the battlefield to the vicinity of the Funiu Walled City, relying on the geographical advantage and the advantage of troops to confront and attack and defend with the Jurchen army, on November 17, Zong Han led his 30,000 personal soldiers to join the battlefield, and the Beiwei army covered the rest of the troops to retreat and start a battle with it.

This Tushan Wei is the most elite guard that Zong Han has been operating for many years, and more than 30,000 people are among the best courageous among the Jurchen soldiers, and some are even over forty years old. Yue Fei led the Beiwei army to fight with him for half a day, and finally retreated in defeat.

After that, the Wu Dynasty army according to the Funiu walled city, with the water division to defend, the Jurchen army siege equipment has also been pressed to this side, to the end of November, both sides have accumulated a huge number of casualties, this walled city was uprooted by the Jurchens, the Wu Dynasty army retreated to Xiangfan, but still control the control of the Han water.

In the tragic and tenacious tug-of-war in Xiangyang, at the end of the same November, several major events broke out in the world.

In the southwest, in Zhangcun, the center of the Huaxia Army, when Ning Yi saw the envoy of the Wu Dynasty who came sneakily, and listened to the other party's whimsical plan, Ning Yi's whole person also fell into a state of stunned.

The envoy of the Wu Dynasty who came secretly was named Cao Ji, with a square appearance, but his eyebrows and eyes were smart and sleek, and he came to release his goodwill on behalf of Zhou Yong, the emperor of the Wu Dynasty. In the mouth of the other party, according to Zhou Yong's thoughts, they had dealt with each other before, and even met each other - that was when Jiang Ning was in Jiangning - since Ning Yi was the teacher of Jun Wu and Zhou Pei, it was a family, and now the Jurchen is powerful, and the Wu Dynasty is in danger, and Huaxia Jun said in the previous article that when it is in danger, it is necessary to be consistent with the outside world, and not to fight in the same room. Zhou Yong hoped that the Huaxia Army could send troops to fight against the golden dog and fulfill its promise.

Of course, as for the details of how to send troops, Zhou Yong himself actually didn't have much of a charter, only saying that if the Huaxia Army was willing, the Wu Dynasty would definitely fully cooperate. As for how to cooperate, Zhou Yong thinks that the ideal state is that Ning Yi can find someone to come out and mediate when he is in such a difficult situation, anyway, he will do more publicity, he is over there, as long as there is a step to go down, he can come down...... Balabala, that's what it means anyway.

Ning Yi asked several times, and finally determined that there was no participation of Junwu or Zhou Pei and others at all, considering that the fierce war was going on at this time, Ning Yi discussed with the General Staff and several other people, and gave Zhou Yongxiu a letter, in which he sincerely informed the difficulty of this matter, and emphasized that if Zhou Yong could really have this kind of thought, he would hand over the whole matter to Zhou Pei or Junwu, and everyone would talk about the matter carefully and openly.

In December of the tenth year of Jianshuo, this incident was like a wonderful joke, and Ning Yi couldn't help but laugh every time he thought about it, and felt full of strange irony and illusory, like a spicy and interesting fable. Of course, neither he nor anyone involved in this matter had yet to think about the nightmarish consequences that might ensue from this incident.

In December of this year, there was little snow in the south of the Yangtze River, but the sky and the earth were extremely cold.

In the palace of Lin'an City, Zhou Yong, the emperor who was gradually emaciated, with white sideburns and a decadent appearance, received a reply from the southwest. This is Ning Yi's handwriting, and the wording is not formulaic, and the words are kind and polite, which makes Zhou Yong's heart begin to warm up.

At this moment, the table in the imperial study where Zhou Yong was located was already full of battle reports from all over the place, and he even had a big map hung on the wall, marking the battle situation in various places in a way that he could understand. For so many years as the emperor, Zhou Yong has never been so diligent, but in the past six months, he has been watching these things every day. These things made him feel cold, and they didn't feel as warm as the letter from the Southwest.

What made him feel the most chilling was not the war reports, which were something that even his dearest children did not know.

In the box in the corner of the imperial study, there are records about the shame of Jingping, about the cousin Zhou Ji who has been arrested in the north, and about all the tragic things that have happened because of the Jurchens over the years. After becoming the monarch of the Wu Dynasty, some people felt that he was incompetent and ignorant, although his ability was limited, how could he be so ignorant?

At the beginning of his reign, he just thought that the Jurchens were powerful, and it was not long before he began to think about the current situation he would face. He fled to Yangzhou, feeling that it was far enough, drunk and dreaming of death in the palace, but the Jurchens soon killed him, he fled to the sea, because of the fear in his heart and even left his own children, until the Jurchens retreated, returned to the shore, and came to Lin'an, he seemed to be mediocre, but in fact, for the outside world, he wanted to know what he wanted to see, and he could see it after all.

How powerful the Jurchens were, he knew, what the Jurchens would do to him, and from the things that came from the north every year, he could see clearly what kind of life his cousin Zhou Ji had in the north; Jingping's shame, those relatives, those princes and princesses suffered - if it was just a story, maybe it would be okay to grit your teeth, but this is his future.

Even if you hide in the thickest city walls, what if you look at the tens of thousands of soldiers outside the city? They can't beat the Jurchens.

It's really killed, so that on the day of the defeat, I can't hide from it.

Zhou Yong has been a gentleman, he has played the world and bullied the people, but even he can't do such a heartbreaking thing, and now, these things are going to fall on his head. Millions of soldiers? Tens of millions of Li people? It's a lot, it's really going to be defeated, and in a few months, I was arrested on the way to the north.

He didn't know that his son would read the news of Zhou Ji every year over the years, gritting his teeth and feeling extremely humiliated and angry. But over the years, Zhou Yong himself has actually been in a dark corner, and when he sees those things every year, he feels fear from the bottom of his heart.

The battle report on the table, the things written every day and every day, he can understand, the contrast of the numbers, the southward retreat of the defense line every day and every day...... The daughter is lonely and has an iron heart, and the son gives up everything and works hard in front, trying to reassure himself as a father, he can understand these things.

Therefore, he sent envoys and secretly communicated with the southwest. Of course, things are quite difficult, and he actually doesn't know how Ning Yi's great crime of killing kings will be erased, but the gentle attitude in the other party's heart makes him feel that this beginning is not bad. As long as the other party has a heart, he will kill the emperor, and how difficult other things can be.

Zhou Yong didn't dare to tell Zhou Pei about it, this winter, he talked to his daughter twice, and after Zhou Pei's words became more and more hard and decisive, Zhou Yong felt that her daughter had no way to communicate.

It seems that as an emperor, I can first release goodwill to the southwest. Zhou Yong thought so in his heart, and then felt more and more reasonable, he was the emperor, and he made a statement, as long as he made a start, the courtiers couldn't suppress it if they wanted to, and in the southwest, Ning Yi was so clever, he would naturally take advantage of the situation to take the situation......

In this way, the seeds of disaster began to germinate in Zhou Yong's heart.

At the same time, Wanyan Zongfu's army forcibly crossed the Yangtze River, seized the dock near Jiangning, and launched a large-scale battle with the Wu Dynasty naval division and army, with casualties on both sides. Junwu wrote a New Year's recital to the imperial court in Zhenjiang, detailing the balance of forces between the warring sides, each other's advantages and disadvantages, and pointed out that Wu of the Jin Kingdom had been bedridden for nearly a year, and his health was deteriorating, and the defense line of the Han River and the Yangtze River had not been broken at this time, and several of our elite armies already had the combat power to come and go with the Jurchens, and in the coming year, they only needed to drag the Jurchen army, even if the war was at a disadvantage for a while, as long as the Jurchens were dragged into the quagmire, our Wu Dynasty would win, and the Jurchens would eventually be defeated.

Although there is some exaggeration in this recital, the whole strategic thinking cannot be said to be wrong, and it is indeed a picture of the future that can be reached and realized in front of everyone's eyes. On December 16, the watch had not yet been sent to the south, the battle of Jiangning was still going on, and the urgent military intelligence came from the east and was sent to Zhenjiang.

Fourteenth, the vultures in Jiangyin, forcibly crossing the Yangtze River.

Jun Wu stood up from the room, and after a while, he rushed out the door.

“…… Intercept him. ”

There was only one thought, echoing in his mind, of course, at this moment, he only subconsciously sensed that something was wrong, but he had not yet thought about what a huge chain reaction the whole thing would cause.

Southeast of Jiangyin, light snow.

The huge cavalry had bypassed the city and was heading south. The vultures were on the hill, and in his eyes, there was his usual ferocity and seriousness.

The most elite cavalry unit in the Eastern Route Army, more than 50,000 people, was all with him.

The secret letter sent by Xi Yin was in the sleeve of his robe, and the handwriting on the secret letter had almost become blurred. If in the past, Xi Yin didn't like him, he didn't like Xi Yin, but in many major matters, Wushu had to admit Xi Yin's vision and wisdom. This time in the southern expedition, Xi Yin did not show too much hostility to the Eastern Route Army, and communicated and planned strategies with this side earlier, and after the Yunzhong tragedy, Xi Yin also sent urgent reminders and suggestions one after another.

Sosuke and Wushu took the suggestion.

The little prince of the Wu Dynasty wanted to drag the decisive battle in Zhenjiang and Jiangnan, but the real decisive battle was not here.

In December, the Wushu cavalry avoided the decisive battle.

Straight to Lin'an!