Chapter 41 Crossing the River

  At this time, Di Lie was most concerned about the progress of the pontoon bridge. It was uncertain whether the enemy troops in Xiangzhou City would come out to intercept them, but the vanguard cavalry scouts from Gongxin would definitely appear here two days later. The chaotic scene before him, anyone with eyes could see that something big had happened, and if they escaped to report back, the cavalry could cover over a hundred miles in less than a day, and if they couldn't cross the river in time, the consequences were self-evident.

  When Di Lie rushed to the north bank of the Wan River, he saw that the progress was satisfactory. The basic framework of the pontoon bridge had taken shape, and all that remained was to reinforce it. According to the craftsmen, fortunately, the river surface was not too wide, and there were enough boats for bridging, plus sufficient manpower and skilled craftsmanship, so it would be no problem to complete the pontoon bridge before nightfall.

  Di Lie nodded in satisfaction and instructed that after the meat was cooked, it should be served to the bridge builders first. These craftsmen from the Song Dynasty's official workshops, although possessing the best skills of this era, would be considered engineers in later generations, but in this era, their social status was not even comparable to that of an ordinary citizen of Kaifeng. Being favored by a big shot known as "Your Excellency", the craftsmen were all sincerely fearful and grateful. One after another, they kowtowed on the ground, saying that if they couldn't complete the work within the deadline, they would be willing to accept the death penalty.

  Di Lie was about to encourage a few more sentences, but saw a small boat on the opposite bank, full of people, swaying back and forth as it crossed over. The first person to get off the boat had a slender figure, like a butterfly fluttering, and it was Ye Die'er. Behind her were Zhang Rong and several other men.

  The butterfly-like girl walked gently and came before Di Lie, after making a gesture of respect with her sleeves, she quietly stood behind him.

  Di Lie noticed that her eyes were slightly red, and she must have seen another unbearable scene. And the group following behind her, including Zhang Rong, all had heavy footsteps and gloomy faces, no longer with the same reckless and arrogant attitude as when they first met.

  Here is the translation:

  Arriving in front of Di Lie, Zhang Rong didn't say a word, first kneeling down to pay his respects, then raising his bandaged hands and clasping them together: "Great lord, you have eyes but no pupils, not recognizing kindness, I have committed many wrongs, please punish me!" Then he turned his head to face the crowd of men under him and said: "We are the heroes of Liangshan Marsh, we dare to do what is right. Previously, I did something wrong, repaying kindness with enmity, worse than a pig or dog. Now, I hand over my life to you, great lord, to deal with, you all must not interfere and trap me in injustice, have you heard?"

  Jia Hu and the other Han men hung their heads in dejection and reluctantly obeyed.

  Di Lie dismounted his horse, took big strides forward, grasped Zhang Rong's thick arms with both hands, and forcibly pulled him up. Smiling, he said: "You're a good fellow too, no need to be polite. Today's events have fulfilled two proverbs - one is 'no blame for the ignorant', and the other is 'no fight, no acquaintance'. How was it? Was that last round satisfying enough? If not, we can drink wine while having another round."

  Zhang Rong stared blankly at Di Lie for a moment, then suddenly slapped his thigh: "Good fellow, you're indeed a good fellow! No need to say more, this time I'll partner with you."

  "Partner?" Di Lie was somewhat perplexed, unsure of what the situation was.

  "Alright, partner." Zhang Rong gritted his teeth and said, "I've already sworn an oath in front of my sister's tombstone to offer a hundred golden dog heads as sacrifice for her. If not, I'll never relocate her grave! Previously, I've already taken down one, still short of ninety-nine more. The Golden Dog's influence is vast, with just our dozen or so people, we're no match for them. If you're willing to help..."

  "Of course, how could I not be willing? Welcome to join us." Di Lie was overjoyed, this guy's combat power was indeed strong enough. More importantly, these guys' aquatic abilities were top-notch, just making up for the shortcomings of his own troops.

  "But we have a condition." Zhang Rong turned his head and glanced at his men, gritting his teeth as he said, "This partnership is only temporary. Once we've killed enough of the Golden Haired Dogs, we'll still need to return to Mount Liang..."

  Di Lie was stunned, still thinking that his own arrogant aura had burst out, but it turned out not to be entirely the case. Alright, let's uphold the party's united front principle, unite all forces that can be united, regardless of whether they are temporary or long-lasting.

  Di Lie laughed loudly and patted Zhang Rong's sturdy shoulder: "Alright, temporarily then. You bring your own people, when there's a chance to cut down the Golden Dog, I'll let you go up. Is that alright?"

  Zhang Rong let out a sigh of relief and felt deeply grateful, thinking that this person was truly someone he could get along with.

  When the time came, the floating bridge was completed as scheduled. Di Lie immediately arranged for Yang Zhe to lead 500 soldiers across the river first. Two miles south of the riverbank, they built a circular fortification with deer thorns and refused horses to defend against the enemy army in Xiangzhou. Left open with Zhi He led the remaining 500 soldiers to guard the camp, while Fang Hong's cavalry was scattered all over the southern and northern banks of the Wan River, monitoring the enemy situation within dozens of miles to ensure the safety of the central military camp.

  It was night, and the original Jin army's campfires were lit up one by one, with people's voices in an uproar and the smell of wine and meat wafting through the air. In the same place, just last night they were still like slaves to cattle, but in just a short twelve hours, they had already turned things around and become the masters. These several thousand Song captives who had their fates changed truly felt as if they were dreaming.

  Di Lie brought A Shu and Zhang Rong, Jia Hu and others, carrying several jars of fine wine, to toast the freed Song captives. After a couple of hours, they had drunk their fill, but also gained gratitude and established an image of "closeness to the people", which further united the hearts of the people. No matter what era, when big shots humble themselves, they can easily gain the support they need.

  Di Lie is also a figure who can withstand liquor in modern times. He deliberately chose a pot of low-alcohol clear wine, and as a result, after drinking half a pot, he only felt a bit bloated, but his stomach was fine.

  When the wine was halfway through, a group of noisy people caught Di Lie's attention. Someone went to ask and found out that it was the same group of idle imperial sons who had not worked during the day, protesting that they were not arranged for dinner, and even sent soldiers to monitor them, which was really excessive.

  Di Lie Wei smiled with a hint of intoxication: "It seems that our countrymen are indeed not intimidated by these nobles who were once high and mighty! Ah Suo, put on your Jurchen headdress and use the Jurchen language to communicate with them."

  As expected, Artas was gone for a moment, and over there, the drums suddenly stopped beating, and even fearful cries were heard.

  Di Lie shook his head, it seems that ancient and modern times are the same, "foreigners" can intimidate people. For the Song people of this era, the Jurchen who destroyed their country was equivalent to the foreigners who colonized half of China in later generations. Those powerful nobles may not take their own common people seriously, but they were extremely wary of foreigners who represented strong forces behind them.

  Those Zhao Song royal family members were already suspicious of this mysterious so-called overseas prince, and seeing that he had Jurchen people by his side made them even more anxious. Who knows what kind of connection this person has with the Jin state? Don't let him be like their own Song dynasty, constantly fighting and making peace at the same time, until they hand over these Zhao Song royal family members to the Jin people... Thinking about this, no one dared to speak up again, enduring the strong temptation of the fragrance in the air, letting their stomachs churn with anxiety...

  The sky was just lightening up when the tense river-crossing operation began.

  The two banks of the river were crowded with people and mule-drawn vehicles, bustling and congested. After a full two hours, less than one-tenth of the people, horses, and supplies had crossed safely.

  Di Lie rode his horse, standing on the high bank of the north shore, frowning as he looked at the chaotic scene on both sides of the pontoon bridge. As a special forces soldier, he had carried out such rapid crossings countless times before, usually measured in seconds, not hours or even days like this.

  However, in the past, whether it was training or actual combat, the emphasis was on individual comprehensive abilities and teamwork. But now, with such a large-scale forced crossing, what's being tested is the commander's organizational ability and the troops' level of training. And to be honest, these two aspects are indeed lacking!

  At noon, Zuo opened his head and climbed up the high slope, knelt down to Di Lie and saluted him. He almost couldn't get up, panting and said: "Your Highness, now only 30% of the people and materials have crossed the river, I'm afraid it's impossible to complete your request to cross the river before nightfall..."

  Di Lie cut him off without hesitation: "We can't make it before dark, and even if we have to burn torches, I want you to get me across the River Wan by midnight tonight!"

  However, lighting torches after dark would easily attract the attention of the enemy troops in Xiangzhou City. Moreover, crossing the river at night not only slows down the speed but also increases the risk of falling into the water...

  "Torches can be lit in moderation, ten or so torches shouldn't alarm the enemy forces in Xiangzhou City. As for personnel and supplies falling into the water... we can arrange some small boats on both sides of the pontoon bridge, with Zhang Rong and others responsible for salvage." Di Lie said solemnly, "Just now, a scout horse brought news that Xiangzhou City has sent out troops to contact Guxin, asking about the army's movements. Although the liaison personnel have been intercepted by us, I'm afraid we can't keep it hidden for long, so we must hurry, hurry, hurry..."

  On the left, a loud noise was heard, and without resting, he rushed to the floating bridge again.

  In ancient times, even well-trained troops would take several days to build a 100-meter pontoon bridge when crossing rivers. After the bridge was built, it would still take a long time for people and horses to cross the river. In contrast, a modern army with standard equipment could get a 3,000-man unit across in less than two or three hours. However, infantrymen of the cold weapon era had poor training methods, heavy armor, and limited supplies of fodder for their horses, all of which would cause them to take several times longer to cross a river of the same width.

  But Di Lie's troops... were not even comparable to the most useless reserve army, and at best could be considered a group of refugees. Not only was there chaos during the river crossing, but also congestion and blockages, resulting in many people falling into the water. Fortunately, with Zhang Rong and others' assistance, more than half of the people were fine, but a lot of supplies were lost.

  Ah Chu's face looked terrible, all these treasures were the master's wealth! If the master was generous with his rewards, maybe there would still be a part that belonged to him, and now it had sunk to the bottom of the river...

  Di Lie didn't feel much heartache, as long as they could cross the river smoothly, losing some supplies was also acceptable.

  At last, under the desperate efforts of Zuo Kai and later Ah Shu, who couldn't help but go up to assist, as well as nearly a hundred soldiers from the Qianjun Army, all personnel and supplies were successfully ferried across the Wen River by midnight. At 2 o'clock in the morning, Fang Hong's cavalry regiment, which was responsible for covering the rear, withdrew back to the south bank of the Wen River; at 1 o'clock, after gathering and reorganizing, with one part of Fang Hong's cavalry regiment as the vanguard and another part as the rearguard, Yang Zhechong and Zuo Kai's infantry regiments guarded the two flanks, and the entire army set off; at 3 o'clock, under the protection of the rearguard cavalry, more than 20 skilled craftsmen who had participated in building the bridge the day before began to dismantle it, and all boats were sunk.

  At the darkest moment before dawn, this long escape army, with people holding their breath and horses wrapping their hooves, hastily passed through a dense forest path five miles outside Xiangzhou City. Perhaps it was because the commander of Xiangzhou was too confident that there was a strong friendly army not far outside the city, so he basically didn't send out any scouts. He didn't even know that an army of thousands of people had slipped away from under his nose.

  When the defenders of Xiangzhou received the news, it was already three days later. The vanguard of Geng's army had arrived, and several scouts were kneeling in front of the gate of the Xiangzhou government office, drenched from head to toe, with pale faces and white lips.

  At this time, Di Lie and his thousands of men and horses, as well as their heavy supplies, had just returned to the stronghold at Jiao Ren Mountain. They hadn't even warmed up their butts when they heard some unexpected bad news.