[Thirty-six] Centipede Ridge

  Four men on four horses, taking advantage of the night, rushed towards Wanyan Ridge. Unexpectedly, several fire dragons followed them. Yue Fei thought for a moment and didn't think it was right, so he led three of his subordinates in another direction to lure the enemy away.

  It's strange to say that the pursuing soldiers also changed direction, as if they had a thousand-mile eye. Yue Fei became even more puzzled, clearly I was in the dark and the enemy was in the light, how could he not shake them off?

  "Brother, could it be that Mo Fei has some kind of magical powers?" Even Xu Qing, who was usually carefree and innocent, felt that something wasn't right.

  "Right, you've messed with the wrong guy, now get out of here before I make a mess of your whole camp!" Unbridled Zhang Xian had somehow managed to pick up another blade of grass in his mouth, a telltale sign that he was ready to kill.

  "Kill..." Yelü Dashi's eyes widened as he gripped his broken wind axe, his hatred for the Jin people ran deeper than that of the Song people.

  "My dear brothers, don't be impulsive. I'd like to see how this large group of Tartars can catch up with just the four of us." Yue Fei knew that there must be a reason behind this, and as someone who had studied military tactics, he wouldn't be able to rest or eat until he figured out what was going on.

  Four people were being chased by soldiers, twisting and turning in the empty fields. The stars above were obscured by dark clouds, and after many turns, they even lost their own direction, unsure which way they were facing. Meanwhile, the pursuing soldiers behind them were getting closer and closer, their horse hooves audible.

  The four men's mounts, with Yue Fei's white horse being the most spirited, was a gift from his wife after he saved her in the Battle of Yanjing. It had now grown up and ran for half the night without showing any signs of fatigue. The other three men's horses, on the other hand, were exhausted and snorted loudly. As it happened, the Khitan horses were generally more enduring than those of the Song people, so if they continued to run, at least three out of the four men would have to dismount and walk.

  "Halt!" But it was no use. Yue Fei looked around and saw that there was nowhere to hide, a vast open plain stretching out before him. His heart steadied, he glared at the three men as if they were a hundred soldiers, bellowing: "Brothers, prepare for battle!"

  "Got it!" The three of them responded in unison, as if they had been waiting for a long time. They didn't even think that there were only four of them, while the pursuing troops were a large group of people. They didn't even have the idea of dying in battle, because the four of them had experienced the bloody battle of Kaifeng, rolled around in piles of corpses several times, and followed Yue Fei until now. They knew that this brother was not a reckless person and would not send them to their deaths for nothing.

  "Zhang Xian, you go to the left wing! Xu Qing, you go to the right wing! Ertu, follow me. After I shoot a round of arrows, we'll charge together. Remember, don't worry about killing the enemy, just disrupt the formation." Yue Fei gave orders in a deep voice, Zhang Xian and Xu Qing responded and left, while Yelu Ertu followed behind Yue Fei.

  Horseshoes clanging, bells jingling, three fire dragons formed into three vertical lines stretching over.

  The white horse pranced and kicked its hooves, Yue Fei stood calmly in the way of the enemy's path, still wondering how the Tartar's tracking skills could be so incredible. The fire dragon was getting closer and closer, close enough to see the reflection of the flames on the iron helmet, a sudden alarm rose in his heart, and he recalled the ultimate principles of military strategy "using strength to defeat strength" and "advancing as retreating". The Tartars were not the strongest cavalry, today let me, Yue Fei, test this strongest point!

  Yue Fei's eyes turned cold, he grabbed the large bow on his back, thinking of the bow and the words given to him by Han Shizhong, silently reciting in his heart: "Han Shizhong, may your spirit in heaven see how I, Yue Fei, drive out the invading barbarians from our Great Song!"

  With a bow in hand, his heart unwavering, Yue Fei measured the distance as the enemy entered range. Taking a deep breath, he swiftly shot out the "36 Star Formation" that would later shake the heavens and make the Jin people tremble with fear at its mere mention.

  Three hundred Jin troops tasted the bitter experience of being shot at like birds, with the hundred-man and ten-man commanders in front colliding with an invisible wall as if they were galloping, falling off their horses one after another, and the troops behind them fell into great chaos, thinking they had encountered a Song army ambush.

  Jin Jun was indeed ambushed, and Zhang Xian and Xu Qing, who were rubbing their fists on both sides, listened to the unique sound of the large bowstring and counted the number of Jin army men falling off their horses. In the Pingding military camp, who didn't know that Yue Fei's "Thirty-six Star宿" was a must-have, his quiver was also specially made, larger than normal, just enough to hold thirty-six carved feather arrows.

  Yue Fei didn't need to count, he knew that each of his arrows hit the center of an iron helmet, and the torches held by the Jin soldiers were like spotlights illuminating the target for him.

  "Thirty-seven!" Zhang Xian and Xu Qing simultaneously counted to this number on both flanks, although it was a bit strange, they also knew that their brother Yue Fei's first round of bow and arrow had finished, let out a shout, waved his weapon, and cut off the waist to kill. Almost at the same time, Yue Fei and Yelu Dashi also shouted and rushed forward head-on.

  On the other side, the three teams of Golden Army were all frightened out of their wits. They had clearly seen the corpses of their comrades on the ground, and they had all died from a single arrow piercing their eyes. What was even more terrifying was that one of the arrows had actually penetrated an iron helmet, carrying the body of the first victim into the eye socket of another comrade behind him.

  Yue Fei rode his horse forward, like a white lightning bolt entering the Jin army. His iron spear, tempered a thousand times, finally had its chance to prove itself. It shook out countless blossoms of death, directly piercing the enemy's weak points - throat and eyes. When encountering resistance, it would thrust straight into the enemy's chest armor. One spear could pierce through the heart, those heavily armored cavalrymen who feared no ordinary swords or spears truly met their match. Those who touched it died instantly, those who collided with it were injured.

  Yue Fei had just passed, and Yelü Dashi arrived again. The Golden Army, which had already been defeated, didn't know what they were up against. Yelü Dashi's broken wind axe was a special weapon designed to break heavy armor. Either it would chop down from head to waist with one swing, or sweep horizontally, knocking down a whole row of soldiers.

  Jin Jun's troops started in disarray at the front, but those in the back were still able to maintain their formation. Zhang Xian and Xu Qing had already killed their way from both wings. The two also had their own special skills for defeating the enemy: Zhang Xian held a spear in his right hand and a hammer in his left, using the spear to thrust at the enemy's throat while striking their heads with the hammer. Xu Qing's twin hammers were heavy weapons that could crush armor; when the enemy came at him with chaotic jabs of their spears, he would simply knock them aside, sending the spears flying back, and then take advantage of the momentum to strike again, knocking down a whole group.

  Three thousand Golden Army soldiers were thrown into chaos, and due to the darkness, it was unclear how many Song troops had arrived. They were only charged by four men for a few rounds before they collapsed and scattered like birds and beasts. The three neat fire dragons suddenly turned into chaotic sparks on the dark ground.

  Yue Fei, Zhang Xian and Xu Qing converged at the waist of the three fire dragons, under the iron hooves were the corpses of Jin soldiers and scattered torches, as well as horses that had lost their owners but refused to leave. In the distance, Yelü Chucai was back and forth, clearing the battlefield.

  The three of them were in high spirits, looking at each other with not a single hair out of place. The bloodstains on their bodies all came from the enemy, and they couldn't help but burst into loud laughter, finally venting some of the pent-up anger that had been building up for so long.

  A miserable cry rang out inopportunely, and it turned out that Yelü Dashi had discovered a Jin soldier who was not yet dead, and without any courtesy, he added another axe blow to send him to heaven.

  "Donkey dung, leave a living mouth!" Yue Fei's heart moved, and he loudly reminded Zhang Xian and Xu Qing, "We'll disperse in all directions, we must find a living mouth to ask clearly."

  Yue Fei wanted to ask two things: Firstly, what was the identity of the Jurchen Han who was killed, which caused such a big stir? Secondly, how did the pursuing soldiers know the whereabouts of the four people so clearly, as if they were connected by a thread.

  It's not easy to find a living mouth, just because the four of them are all fatal moves, and the enemies who hit head-on have no chance of survival. At the same time, the Jin soldiers are all skilled in riding, as long as they are not dead, they can also ride away, while the fish that Yelü Daxi just cleaned up were knocked unconscious by Xu Qing's big hammer and just woke up.

  The four of them searched around, but couldn't find a single living person. Just as they were about to give up in disappointment, another fire dragon emerged from the dark horizon. Zhang Xian laughed and said, "Brother, the living person you wanted has been delivered right to your doorstep again."

  "Good timing, I was just getting bored!" Xu Qing raised his twin hammers with a fierce aura, but his expression changed immediately as several fire dragons emerged, and their numbers continued to increase.

  The faces of the four changed at once, and they saw that the flames were emerging from all sides, forming a huge encirclement, gradually closing in on them. They were no longer facing just a few hundred people, but tens of thousands.

  "Brother, how should we respond to the enemy?" Zhang Xian bit off a piece of grass, somewhat hesitant, after all it was his first time facing an army of thousands.

  "Brother......" Xu Qing's forehead was sweating finely, unsure if it was from the heat or nervousness, his hands tightly grasping the large hammer.

  "Alright, let's end this! You die or I die!" Yelü Dashi swung his axe towards the empty air, fearless and unyielding.

  Yue Fei remained silent, his brow furrowed in concentration, one hand grasping the hilt of his sword, his horse motionless beneath him. His eyes fell upon the corpses of their enemies scattered on the ground, and suddenly lit up with an idea. Just then, a bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating the dark earth in an instant, followed by a deafening clap of thunder that left the four men's ears ringing. Immediately after, a torrential downpour came crashing down.

  What a timely rain, pouring down on the surrounding fire dragons, turning them from dragons to snakes, and from snakes to insects, merging into the mud. It turned out that the Jin army's iron cavalry was most afraid of rainy days, because their heavy armor and horses would become wet and cumbersome after being drenched in rainwater, making it difficult to move even an inch. Therefore, the dry autumn and winter seasons were the Jin army's favorite time for battle, when bows were strong and horses were fat, and it was also the coldest weather that the people of the northern country were most adapted to, like a tiger returning to the forest.

  Taking advantage of the heavy rain as cover, the four men broke through the encirclement safely. The rain continued to fall until dawn before stopping. The four men, who had completely lost their way in the rainy night, walked out of the morning mist and suddenly found that Wugui Ridge was right in front of them. They all heaved a sigh of relief: "Heaven is helping us!"

  Four men joined over a hundred soldiers on the top of Wugui Ridge, just in time for breakfast. Yelü Chucai started devouring a large bowl of fried noodles, while Zhang Kun and Xu Qing eagerly boasted about their exploits of scouting out the enemy camp and single-handedly chasing off the pursuing troops. But more than half of them were skeptical, and immediately some soldiers asked Yue Fei to verify: "General Yue, in the dark of night, with only four men and four horses, how could those Tartars not have caught up to you? And still managed to surround you on all sides?"

  Yue Fei, who was chatting with Wang Gui, also smiled and scratched his head. This question had been lingering in his mind for a long time. He suddenly felt a shock: if he couldn't figure out what tracking technique the Tartars used, how could he be sure they were safe now? They couldn't stay here any longer! He stood up abruptly and gave a loud order: "All brothers, stop eating! Quickly mount your horses and leave this place at once!"

  Yue Fei's words had hardly fallen when a familiar whistle was heard from mid-air, and almost simultaneously the drums on all sides of Wanyan Ridge thundered, and the hidden scouts rushed to report: "Commander, there are Tartars, a large number of Tartars, countless Tartars!"

  Yue Fei, who had not yet removed his armor, jumped up onto a protruding rock with several swift steps and gazed out at the scene before him. All he saw were black dots and flags scattered all over the ground as far as the eye could see - there were tens of thousands of Jin soldiers! He turned around and gave another order: "Bring the horses, ascend the mountain!"

  The Wanzhang Ridge, located in the middle section of Taiyuan City and Pingding Army, is named after its resemblance to a centipede. It is situated between hills and small mountains, with slopes on all four sides, and there are no strategic locations to defend. When Yue Fei ordered his troops to ascend the mountain, they only gained an advantage in height; whether they could hold their ground and for how long depended entirely on the willpower of over a hundred soldiers and the workings of fate.

  However, attacking the mountain was not Jin Jun's strong suit. Seeing the small team of Song army leading their horses up the mountain, they did not rush to attack, but instead cheered on the spot.

  Upon arriving at the mountain top, Yue Fei immediately divided his troops into three groups. One group was in charge of sentry duty, one group built fortifications and another group dug holes to store rainwater, as this small hill naturally had no streams or springs for drinking water.

  With a great enemy in front, united against the common foe, each soldier of the Song army did not dare to slack off and performed their duties, but there was one question that lingered in everyone's mind: "Why such a large array for just our small group of a hundred people?"

  With preparations complete, Yue Fei's heart was slightly at ease. According to his plan, as long as he could hold on until nightfall or another heavy downpour, no matter how many thousands of troops came, he had the confidence to lead his men in a breakout charge.

  The whistling sound rose again, Yue Fei gathered his eyesight and looked in the direction of the sound. He saw a dark blue bird flying swiftly in the air, circling above Wanyan Ridge. His heart stirred, he called out to Ye Luyue, pointing at the blue bird and asking: "Brother, do you recognize this bird? I remember it flew out from that dead Tartar's big tent."

  Yelü Dashi's eyesight was no match for Yue Fei, and he looked at it for half a day before finally seeing clearly. Suddenly, he slapped his thigh: "Could it be... could it be Hai Qing'er? This bird is the sacred bird of the Jurchen people, only the imperial family can own it, and its numbers are extremely rare. It's good at hitting swans, skilled in tracking, no wonder we couldn't shake off these pursuers, I actually forgot that it might be this thing causing trouble."

  "What's that?" Yelü Chucai, who was not good at speaking Chinese, had said so much, and Yue Fei's memory was also awakened. He remembered that when he and Han Jiu'er were in the Northern Country, Zong Bi had mentioned this bird. He was also suddenly enlightened and exclaimed with joy, "So to speak, the one we killed must have been a royal relative. Why did the Tartars make such a big fuss? I've heard that they have a 'law of shared fate', where generals die in battle, their subordinates also die together. If so many people died together for the death of such an important person, how could they not use all their might to avenge?"

  "Brother, brother, you also know this?" Yelü Chonghua's eyes widened in surprise, suddenly feeling that Yue Fei's understanding of the Jurchen people was even greater than his own as a Khitan person, and he could even speak the Jurchen language.

  Yue Fei suddenly understood two key points, his brow unfolded, he stood up high, looked around at his comrades and shouted: "The country has supported me for a long time, there will finally be a moment to repay it. You brothers, look at that green bird in the sky that is circling without leaving, it was the one that brought this enemy of tens of thousands, its master is a prince who I killed during my several nighttime infiltrations of the enemy camp. The great battle is imminent, first I will use this green bird to sacrifice to our flag, and teach it so it can no longer track us."

  The crowd was suddenly moved, and no one was confused. Yue Fei's words settled the army's mind, and immediately with a large bow in hand, his eyes swept across Hai Qing, who was already within shooting distance. He drew the string and shot, the arrow flying like a meteor.

  That azure bird was no ordinary creature, as soon as it heard the sound of the bowstring, it flew straight up. If it were an ordinary day, it would have flown away long ago. But unfortunately, it encountered Yue Fei, and was pierced through its wing by a single arrow, unable to flap its wings again, and fell straight down.

  The crowd cheered in unison, and the morale was greatly boosted. Almost at the same time, the Jin army below the mountain suddenly made a loud noise, drums beating loudly, the vanguard launched first, rushing to the foot of the mountain, dismounting together, like black ants swarming up the mountain.

  "Yelü Dūfén, go find the green bird, to keep the living mouth. Zhang Xian guards the left slope, Xu Qing guards the right slope, Wang Gui guards the rear slope and supervises the battle, all brothers of the family, respond to the enemy!" Yue Fei said, grabbing his iron spear, taking a step ahead, occupying the most critical position on the front slope.

  "How can the Tartars be so agile despite wearing armor?" The soldiers saw that the Golden Army, clad in heavy armor and holding spears, could still move with ease, climbing mountains as if walking on flat ground, leaving everyone speechless.

  "Take cover! Take cover!" Wang Gui, who was in charge of directing the battle, shouted loudly. It turned out that a group of Jin soldiers had already charged over the mountain ridge, planting their spears on the ground and shooting arrows into the air, creating a chaotic rain of arrows.

  The troops immediately formed a three-person high wall, stacking six-edged shields to hold them high, only defending against the air and neglecting the sides. This is naturally the bloody lesson that Yue Fei learned from the battle of Miao Yu Guan, studying tactics to deal with the unique archery methods of the Jin army, because the Song army's shield was thin, and it could only be stacked to resist.

  "Retreat! Retreat!" Wang Gui shouted again, indicating that the Golden Army had charged forward, and arrows began to fall like rain, with a fierce battle about to unfold.

  Yue Fei calmly stared at the Jin army climbing up the slope, with over a hundred men, one of whom had thrown away his iron helmet and was charging in front with a bare head and a waving rod.

  Yue Fei restrained the urge to shoot an arrow through the leader's forehead, grasped his iron spear with both hands and charged forward, while those behind him followed like fierce tigers descending a mountain.

  A fierce battle was unfolding, with Wang Gui's commanding voice ringing out from time to time: "Fight to the death! Fight to the death!" "Enemy on the right flank! Enemy on the right flank!"...