Chapter 23 Captured

  Under the faint moonlight, the Jin army camp, like a gigantic turtle without peers, quietly lay dormant in the distant dark night.

  The Jin army's camp was located about ten miles from the north bank of the Wan River, at the foot of a hill called Beigang. The northwest side of the camp was a series of rolling hills, while the southeast side was the vast expanse of the Wan River, making it a fairly standard location for a military encampment with its back to the mountains and facing the water.

  Di Lie and the other two were hiding in a thicket of weeds about three miles away from the Jin army camp, carefully observing the movements around the camp.

  Three people traveled together, and except for removing a hidden sentry, they surprisingly went smoothly and easily found the destination of this trip. This made Di Lie somewhat suspicious, as the Jin army's defense seemed to be too lax.

  Yang Zhongchong, however, did not think so. How could this be called cowardice? Let's just talk about the ten Jurchen Golden Soldiers who were killed by them one after another. Those were indeed ten genuine female Jurchen Golden Captives! Moreover, they were elite scouts. Ten names of female Jurchen elite cavalry, what concept is this? If it were Song army infantry instead, how many troops would be needed? There are two battle examples that can be roughly inferred from:

  The first event occurred last year, in the second month of the Jingkang era, when the Jin army invaded the Song Dynasty for the first time. The right deputy general of the Eastern Route Army, Zong Wang, led an army of 60,000 to besiege the capital city of Bianjing, surrounding it for a whole month and forcing Emperor Qinzong to cede territory and pay indemnities in exchange for peace. After the treaty between Song and Jin was settled, Zong Wang decided to withdraw his troops and sent seventeen riders ahead to report back to the Jin emperor before returning to their country via Cizhou.

  The Song Muzhou River North Road soldiers stationed here had previously received orders to attack the Jurchen people, unaware that a peace agreement had already been reached. After discovering that there were only over ten Jurchen riders, they led their 2,000 men and horses to intercept and kill them along the way.

  Both sides met, and the Jurchen soldiers informed them that a peace agreement had been reached. The Song people thought that this group of Jin people was weak and isolated, so they deliberately stalled with words, not believing it at all, and planned to use their numbers to attack and beat them up.

  Then, the two thousand and seventeen clashed in a fierce battle.

  Seven Jin soldiers charged forward, with five on each side attacking from the flanks. The seventeen men rushed at the Song army like a fierce storm. The Song army was thrown into chaos as they were attacked and killed, two thousand of them fleeing in disarray. Seventeen Jin soldiers cut down or shot to death, plus those trampled to death by their own horses, nearly half of the Song army's numbers were lost.

  2000: 17 PK, Jin won the final victory.

  The second battle took place in the first year of Jingkang, but this time it was in November, during the second southern invasion of the Jin army. The great army was still besieging the city, and the siege of Bianjing was still ongoing. This time, the two deputy marshals of the Jin army won a decisive victory and gathered their forces under the city walls of the Song emperor's capital. The Jin army's military strength was also twice as large as before, reaching over 100,000 troops.

  In the imperial court, everyone was in a state of panic and hiding their heads like turtles, but there was one person who stood out, Qin Yuan, the governor of Gyeonggi Province. He had trained 60,000 to 70,000 soldiers and led 5,000 of them to gather outside the Changyang Gate to confront the Jurchen army. Suddenly, six or seven Jurchen soldiers charged towards them on horseback. In an instant, the 5,000 soldiers dropped their weapons all over the ground and scattered in all directions.

  This time it was even more one-sided, with several thousand men afraid to confront a few dozen, leaving one wondering whether the Jin army was too strong or the Song army too weak.

  At that time, there were Han officials who surrendered to the Jin army. For the Jin army's devastating national attack, they wrote a poem with the sentence "Seven generals crossed the river and defeated the 100,000-strong forbidden army, eight people climbed the city wall and destroyed the thousand-ren strong fortress". This can be seen as a portrayal of the powerful forces of the Jin army at that time.

  Yang Zhe may not be very clear about specific battles, but he must know an exchange ratio. Even if the Great Song pulls out its most elite Western Army, with infantry against cavalry, at least a hundred or more would be needed to match ten Jin army scouts. If it's the Imperial Guard (Central Army), this number becomes five hundred; if it's the Xiang Army (provincial troops), then double that; and if it's local militia and baojia soldiers... never mind, the previous ratios were already embarrassing enough.

  Even if Yang Wanzhong himself was the main general of the Jin army, he would still be unafraid. Not to mention that the Song army didn't have the guts to launch a surprise attack at night, even if they did, with hundreds of people crossing the river and engaging in a fierce battle, could this commotion be kept small? By then, it would be completely possible to deploy troops and dispatch generals. Perhaps Zhong Xin was delighted that the Song army was doing so. It's just that this Jin army's Meng An had an unlucky year this time, running into a freak like the leader... Silently devouring ten Jin army scouts... Hmm, two of them were his own credit, heh heh...

  To be honest, those two night watchmen were not ordinary either. These sinister guys had actually set traps and tripwires. If it weren't for the night vision mirror and Di Lie's keen sense of touch, who knows if they would have already exposed their tracks and tonight's operation would have ended in failure.

  Perhaps it was because of the trap and the ambush, and they were able to capture them without any losses. When Di Lie and Yang Zhe rushed to the enemy's hiding place, the two sentries were actually dozing off. As a result, one person watched one, and neatly broke their necks. After searching later, it was discovered that these two sentries were not Jurchen people, but Bohai or Goryeo people, no wonder they were easy to deal with.

  Di Lie observed for a while, and finally decided to go catch a tongue himself to understand the situation. He said in a low voice to Yang and Ye, "I'll go ahead to gather some information about the enemy's situation. You two stay here and don't move. If something unexpected happens, meet at the ferry on the riverbank. And if you get separated, remember how to contact each other?"

  Yang Zhechong touched a bamboo whistle hanging from his neck and nodded: "Remember. One long, one short, report position; being chased by enemy soldiers, blow a short whistle; if trapped in a siege, blow three long and two short... I ask the leader, how did you come up with this idea?"

  The butterfly-like girl lowered her head and stroked the bamboo flute, suddenly raised her head and said: "I... I want to follow you..."

  Di Lie was taken aback, and immediately reached out to pat her cheek, smiling reassuringly: "Don't worry, this is just a professional habit, a routine briefing before action. I won't be in any trouble, I promise you, Jin Ren will never catch me again."

  Ye Die'er didn't say a word, she just pressed her face against the thick and broad palm, gently rubbing it.

  As for the two who were pouring out their true feelings, Yang Zhechong just wanted to sneak a laugh. Because earlier, at Di Lie's suggestion, all three of them had changed into Jin people's clothing, and even cut off the Jin soldiers' braids, hanging them on the back of their leather hats to pretend to be Jin money mouse tails. Therefore, in his eyes, the scene was: a large soldier and a small soldier, holding hands and gazing at each other, silent and wordless, what a wonderful "bromantic" scene...

  During the time Di Lie disappeared, Yang Zhechong stood still in his original position, covering his hands and face with a cloth, allowing the flying mosquitoes to fly around him. From time to time, he glanced at Ye Die'er not far away, seeing her hands clasped together, her lips moving slightly, as if praying for something.

  Perhaps it was indeed Ye Die'er's prayer that, in Yang Zhechong's feeling, not long after, a locust's chirping sound came from the front, and the weeds parted to reveal Di Lie's familiar figure once again. On his shoulder, he was still carrying a dark thing, which thudded onto the grass with a pained cry as he shook his shoulder, and Yang Zhechong only then realized it was a person... well, a captive, to be exact.

  Di Lie stretched his waist: "Consider this guy unlucky, he actually sneaked out of the camp, hid and drank wine, and happened to run into my hands. I've caught him, and the interrogation below will be handed over to you."

  Di Lie also learned Jurchen language with Hou Fangjing and Yang Zhechong for a while, but due to the limited time, there was no significant effect. Some simple daily expressions could be handled, but slightly more complex ones couldn't. Therefore, usually capturing prisoners and interrogating them were left to Yang Zhechong to handle. Although his Jurchen language wasn't very good either, it was barely manageable.

  However, before Yang Chong could open his mouth, the captive suddenly jumped up and repeatedly kowtowed to the three of them: "Three heroes spare my life! I am not a Khitan dog or a Parhae barbarian, nor a Goryeo stick. I am also a Song person, a signed army from Yan land."

  "Wait a minute." Di Lie stepped forward, standing in front of Yang Zhe, "Since it's the signed army, I'll be the one to interrogate him."

  Regarding the signed army, Di Lie also heard Yang's brothers mention it. Between Liao and Jin, there were frequent conquests and border skirmishes, and they would often issue orders to sign the army, making far and near, civilian households, strong men, all taken without exception. This is also known as compulsory conscription of all Han people who are strong and able-bodied, called signed soldiers. Among them, especially in the area of Yan Mountain Prefecture, there were many. When the Jin army invaded, they would drive them to line up in battle formation, or use them as vanguards when the two armies faced each other; or during the siege of cities and forts, they would serve as cannon fodder. Therefore, it can also be called "cannon fodder army". In terms of status within the Jin army, the signed soldiers were inferior to even the Khitan people, Jie people, Bohai people and other vassal armies, roughly equivalent to the Koreans.

  Under the faint moonlight, it can be vaguely seen that this captive is a young man in his early twenties, with a thin face and a slender body, but a pair of small eyes are very lively. At this time, he was crouched on his knees on the ground, one hand constantly rubbing the back of his neck, apparently the part where Di Lie had knocked him unconscious with a palm strike still hurt.

  Di Lie crouched down, his face expressionless as he slowly approached the young captive. His voice was calm and devoid of emotion: "You look like a clever person, so I won't waste words. If you don't want me to turn my dagger into a chopping knife, then tell me everything you know, no matter how big or small."

  This young captive indeed had a bit of insight, knowing the principle that good men don't take advantage of what's in front of them. Moreover, as a small soldier like him, considering the treatment and situation he received in the Jin camp, there was really no reason for him to sacrifice himself for the Jin people. He immediately told all the intelligence he knew.

  According to him, his name is Zuo Kai, and he is from Yi State. He used to be a shop assistant. Last February, when the Jin army captured Yi State, he was recruited into the army. Due to his previous profession, although he couldn't be considered strong or powerful, he was agile and eloquent, and unexpectedly gained the appreciation of his superior, Han Xun, who made him a small squad leader in charge of about ten people. Most importantly, he didn't have to go to the battlefield; as long as he guarded the goods plundered by the Jin army well, that would be enough.

  Through the left open confession, it was further confirmed that the main general of this golden army was indeed Meng An Gong Xin. The troops he led were the first batch of Nanlue's great army to return north, with nearly 5,000 soldiers and horses. Adding the same number of captives and a large number of mules, cattle, sheep and other supplies, there were actually over 10,000 people in this camp, countless livestock.

  In such a complex personnel situation, finding a woman is like looking for a needle in the wilderness. Fortunately, Di Lie didn't plan to ask around one by one. He wanted to stir up the whole place first and then fish in troubled waters. And what Zuo Kai provided next was an important piece of information that not only dispelled Di Lie's previous doubts but also lifted the spirits of the three people.