In the eleventh year of Wu Jianshuo, on the nineteenth day of December, in the eyes of later generations, the battle of Rainwater Creek, which was a turning point for the entire Jin Kingdom and the world, ended before the end of the main battle.
Of course, the continuous fighting state will not stop there.
The battle of Yuyuxi was essentially the result of Qu Zhengyan's first frontal attack on the battlefield, under the premise that the strength of the Huaxia Army had surpassed that of the Jin soldiers, taking advantage of the psychological blind spot that the Jinmen had not yet fully accepted this cognition. result. The more than 14,000 Huaxia Army defeated nearly 50,000 Jin, Liao, Xi, Bohai, Puppet and other multi-party coalition forces, and took advantage of the time period when the other party had not yet responded.
The core element that underpins this battle is the fact that the Huaxia Army has been able to defeat the Jurchen main force elite head-on. Under this core element, many details of the planning and use of conspiracy in this battle have become the details.
Among them, the bloody blocking of Shengli Gorge, or the slaying of Yingzuiyan, can only be regarded as the icing on the cake. From the overall point of view, as long as the quality of the Huaxia army surpassing the Jurchen has become a reality, it will inevitably show this result on a certain battlefield on a certain day - or under the accumulation of many records. What Qu Zhengyan and others chose was to turn over the biggest hole card at this active point, and by the way, cut down the Rainwater Stream in one go.
The war lasted for two months. At this time, the Jurchen could no longer retreat. At this point in time, it was announced to everyone that the strength of the Huaxia Army to defend the southwest did not lie in the Jurchen labor expedition, nor in the defense of the southwest. The location is convenient, and there is no need to take advantage of Jurchen's internal problems to drag down the opponent's expedition for a long time.
The strength of the Huaxia Army's battle with Jurchen is that even if you fight head-on, you are not my opponent.
"...Thinking about it this way, if I'm sticky, I'm going to have a headache now..."
In the early morning of December 20th, while a large group of people from the Zizhou headquarters were waiting for the news of Yuyu Creek, on the frontline battlefield, Qu Zhengyan and Yu Zhongdao, the two commanders, were also wrapped in quilts and grilled in the frontline hut. Waiting for the dawn to come. This night, the mountains outside were still a mess.
The battle in the daytime brought a resolute and unquestioned victory. There were more than 30,000 people who were either beheaded or captured in the nearby mountains. Among them, the number of people who died in battle was still mainly Jurchen, Khitan, Xi, Bohai, and Liaodong.
In this battle of Jinbing, in order to avoid the impact of the unfavorable operations of the Han Chinese and puppet troops on himself, the number of Han troops that Zong Han mobilized into Jianmenguan did not exceed 200,000. Rainwater Creek attacked nearly 50,000 troops, of which the number of puppet troops was about 20,000. The backbone of the battlefield was still composed of Jin, Khitan, Xi, Bohai, and Liaodong.
Being able to be led south by the Jurchen, these people's combat ability is not weak. Considering that the Jin Kingdom has been established for nearly 20 years, and it is a golden period of smooth sailing, the sense of belonging of each major ethnic group is still strong. Xiren Bohai people originally Just befriending the Jurchen, even the Khitan people who were once destroyed by the country, in the later time, a group of old officials were reused, and the Han people in Liaodong did not regard the Nan people as their kin.
Twenty years have passed, and most of the Jurchens have good belongings, while the rest of the ethnic groups have more vigorous aspirations - this is like if you don't have a good father, you will suffer more - this time the South The expedition is regarded as the last opportunity for meritorious service. The armies of several ethnic groups other than the Jurchens will even show a stronger desire for meritorious service and will to fight than the Jurchens in many cases.
The 50,000-strong Jurchen army—except for the Han puppet army who surrendered itself—many of them were not even mentally prepared to be defeated on the battlefield or to surrender on a large scale. The desperate battle increased the casualties of the Huaxia Army when it attacked the fortress.
By the end of the day, the outer camp of Yuyuxi Jinbing had been destroyed. The inner camp had gathered more than 5,000 people with Jurchen as the core, and launched tenacious resistance with intensive artillery fire. Thousands of deserters. At this time, considering the difficulty of completely annihilating the opponent, Qu Zhengyan kept his rationale and started to retreat.
In fact, although the road between Yuyuxi and Huangtouyan has not been completed at this time, two generals of the same rank in Jurchen and Shuili—Yu Yu and Dalai—have taken hundreds of people across the mountain at this time. After crossing the ridge, we came to Rainwater Creek.
The 50,000-strong army on the opposite side was stormed with 14,000 people, and more than 20,000 people were captured on this day. The Huaxia army was also exhausted and almost reached its limit. At three o'clock in the morning, that is, after the generals of the ugly time, Dalai led more than 600 people to get out of the rainy creek camp with difficulty and tried to attack the Huaxia army camp. Or at least let the more than 20,000 prisoners who have not been fully escorted to the rear mutiny.
Unexpectedly, the monitoring network arranged by Qu Zhengyan on the front line is still maintaining its work. In order to prevent Jurchen from counterattacking this night, Qu Zhengyan and Yu Zhongdao stayed up all night, and even kept urging a small-scale inspection team to go to the front line to carry out strict supervision by personally naming them.
The scouts who were watching in the dark night found the Dalai troops who were sneaking in, and the situation was quickly reported back. The commander in charge nearby quietly mobilized a few artillery pieces and launched a round of shelling unexpectedly while the other party walked in.
Since it was at night, it was difficult to judge the damage caused by the shelling, but the huge movement caused finally made Dalai and his party give up the plan of the sneak attack and scared them back to the military camp.
This is a little episode that happened in the early morning of the twentieth day. By dawn, the support troops from Zizhou had entered Yuyu Creek one after another. At this time, all that was left was to clean up the fallen troops in the mountains and further expand the results of the follow-up action. The basic plan for the victory of the entire Yuyu Creek battle was finally. completely stabilized.
Over the next few days, wounded soldiers and prisoners were successively transferred to the rear. The mountain road from Yuyuxi to Zizhou was crowded with people coming and going every day. The wounded soldiers and prisoners were transferred to Zizhou, and the propaganda team, logistics supply team, and recruits who had undergone certain training were replenished to the front line. At this time, the young year has come, some pigs and chickens were killed in the rear and transported to the front to reward the army, and cultural and art groups also came up, and the results and significance of the battle of Yuyuxi have been rendered by the propaganda department of the Huaxia Army at this time. . The news was passed to the rear and everywhere in the army, and the whole southwest was restless in the result of this battle.
In Huangming County, Tua Lisu's attack has been temporarily stopped. From the Jiange to the front line dozens of miles away, the Jurchen troops headed by Zong Han have fallen into a real cold winter.
In the last stage of their lives, these Jurchen heroes who have lived their entire lives have fallen into the embarrassing situation of riding a tiger and being in a dilemma.
Of course they will make a decision.
The Huaxia Army is also waiting for their decision to fall.
On this afternoon of December 26, Mao Yishan was recalled to the rear as a heroic representative after undergoing preliminary treatment. At this time, the casualty statistics and follow-up arrangements in the regiment had been completed. He took two deputies with red flowers on his chest and returned with several staff members of the propaganda department.
There is no hard and fast standard for the return date. There were many soldiers on the way back. Mao Yishan felt embarrassed by hanging a red flower, and he took it off after the rainwater creek pass. When he passed the wounded soldiers' general camp, he ordered a few people from the propaganda department to leave first, and he took his deputy to look at the seriously wounded companions. In the evening, he met Hou Wu and Hou Yuanyong and their sons in the nearby prison camp.
He killed Xu Lili with his own hands, a great hero who made great contributions. When he was arranged to leave the front line temporarily, the teacher Yu Zhongdao took a bottle of wine and sent him away. That evening Mao Yishan took it out and gave it to Hou Wu and Hou Yuanyong to drink. Hou Wu was in charge of the prison camp work, waved his hand and refused, and Hou Yuanyong accompanied him to drink the bottle of wine. After the meal, Mao Yishan happily visited the captive camp and went directly to the captured Jurchen elite soldiers.
At this time, a rough dinner was being used in the camp. When Mao Yishan passed by, a large number of prisoners were taking shelter from the wind after eating. Mao Yishan walked up to the wooden platform next to him: "These guys... do they all understand Chinese?"
"There are some... understand a few words."
"Oh, fifth brother, call someone to translate for me." Mao Yishan was in high spirits, his hands on his hips, "Hey! Jurchen grandchildren! Look at me! The one who killed your eldest goose is Lao Tzu—"
Hou Wu didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Yi Shan, you didn't drink much..."
"What is invincible, coward!" Mao Yishan pulled Hou Wu's sleeve with a smile, "Brother Fifth, help me translate."
The Jurchen prisoners under the stage looked towards this side one after another. A few people understood what Mao Yishan said, and their faces became unpleasant. Hou Wu's face turned cold, and he waved to the surrounding soldiers. They all put up the crossbow.
"Why! I'm not convinced! Come up with a seed, and I'll one-on-one! My name is Mao Yishan, which is better than your boss... What a bad name in a goose, it sounds much better!"
Hou Wu stared at the movement in the crowd, and Hou Yuanyong, who was on the side, covered his face and was already secretly laughing. Mao Yishan was relatively introverted in his early years, but later he became a family and became an officer. He called a few times, thinking that the prisoners didn't understand, and asked his deputy to wear a big red flower on his chest, dancing with his hands: "I! Crack! Goose inside!"
"Hahaha! You're not happy..."
After being so presumptuous for a moment, Hou Wucai pulled Mao Yishan away, and when a few people returned to the fire in the room, Mao Yishan's mood fell, and he talked about the battle of Yingzuiyan: "After the fight, count the points. Three hundred and thirty-two of the people around him died. Although it is said that if the earthen jar is not broken away from the well, the general will inevitably be killed in battle, but... I have to send a letter to their family when I go back this time."
After more than ten years of fighting, the people around him have died round after round, but no matter how many times they have experienced it, such things are always like words carved in the heart by a soft knife. It was a long-lasting, heart-wrenching pain that could not even be vented in any hysterical way. Mao Yishan threw the firewood into the fire, his expression restrained, and only some moist red appeared in the bottom of his eyes.
Hou Wu patted his shoulder. On the side Hou Yuanyong laughed: "Uncle Mao, don't talk about that. Just say that you killed Xu Lili. Who do you think can't sit still?"
Mao Yishan and Hou Wu looked at the young man, then looked at each other again, and laughed in unison...