Chapter 54: The Decisive Battle of Jinyang (Part I)

"Grand Marshal, why don't you take a guess: how many singing and dancing girls did that little brat Zhao Dezhao ultimately invite over to entertain us for the celebration?"

"How many?"

Changshou laughed heartily, raised three fingers, and said with a beaming, triumphant grin: "Three! A mere three! One playing the pipa, two dancing, and the age of one of the dancers was even old enough to be that little thief Zhao Dezhao's mother!"

Upon receiving this answer, Yelu Sha, Yelu Mo, and other primary Liao military commanders all felt a surge of secret delight in their hearts. Yelu Sha then pursued the inquiry: "Aside from these, did you discover any other unusual circumstances?"

"Yes!" Changshou immediately gave an affirmative answer, and then continued: "Grand Marshal, when this humble servant was leaving the Song thieves' camp, I discovered another unusual circumstance: while that little brat Zhao Dezhao was personally escorting this servant out of the camp, their honor guard kept beating drums and striking gongs the entire time. At the time, this servant found it somewhat strange—why play music just to send me off?"

After a brief pause, the shrewd Changshou continued: "Therefore, this servant kept an extra eye open at the time. Taking advantage of the opportunity while leaving the camp, I secretly checked the situation inside the Song thieves' camp. As a result, I found that before the sun had even reached dusk, there were already very few Song thieves' soldiers walking around the camp. This servant immediately concluded at the time that the Song thieves were intentionally playing music and beating drums very likely to conceal the lifeless atmosphere within their camp!"

Yelu Sha nodded with satisfaction and praised, "Well done. Now we can basically be certain that the plague situation within the Song thieves' army is not only equally severe, but very likely even more severe than our own! Even those two old Song barbarian dogs, Li Jixun and Ding Deyu, have probably fallen ill together, which is why that little brat Zhao Dezhao was forced into the saddle to temporarily take over command of the Song thieves' army."

"Grand Marshal, what should we do next?" Changshou hurriedly asked. "Should this servant use negotiations as an excuse to go back to the Song thieves' camp and continue scouting out the truth?"

"It is indeed necessary to continue scouting." Military Supervisor Yelu Mo decisively accepted Changshou's suggestion and said, "It would be best if we can figure out just how many battle-ready soldiers the Song thieves still have left."

To everyone's surprise, Yelu Sha, who had always been known for his steady and prudent temperament, actually shook his head after careful consideration and said in a deep voice, "There is no need to continue exchanging pleasantries with the Song thieves. Issue the order immediately: make preparations for battle tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow our entire army will deploy to fight a decisive battle to the death with the Song thieves!"

"Grand Marshal, you've made up your mind so quickly?" Yelu Mo asked in astonishment.

"This determination must be made!" Yelu Sha said with a gloomy expression. "As of noon today, our soldiers who have fallen ill and are unable to fight have already broken the mark of seven thousand! Given time, this number will certainly continue to rise, and it is not impossible for more than half of the soldiers to fall ill. To minimize our soldiers' casualties, our only recourse is to quickly defeat the Song thieves so that the army can rest and receive treatment with peace of mind, preventing the epidemic from spreading any further."

"But if we launch a decisive battle, do we have absolute certainty of victory?" Yelu Mo asked with some apprehension.

"Complete mastery of victory!"

Yelu Sha answered with extreme confidence, saying, "The current situation for the Song thieves is that they must simultaneously guard against a counterattack by the Northern Han army in the inner city of Jinyang and cope with the frontal threat from our Great Liao army. Even with a veteran general of the battlefield like Li Jixun holding the fort in the army, it must be extremely taxing for them. How much more so now that the Song thieves' commander-in-chief has very likely been replaced by that wet-behind-the-ears, callow youth Zhao Dezhao?"

"Moreover, the current situation is also extremely favorable to us. In order to encircle the Northern Han army, the Song thieves have already been forced to divide their forces and garrison them separately. Seeing us deploy in force to launch a decisive battle, the main force of the Song thieves has only two choices: either be forced to deploy and meet us in battle, or hunker down and refuse to come out."

Analyzing up to this point, Yelu Sha's smile grew increasingly ferocious as he said, "If the main force of the Song thieves chooses to hunker down and refuse to come out, we will change our target and launch a fierce assault on the Song thieves' detachment encircling the inner city of Jinyang. At that time, the Northern Han army will certainly seize the opportunity to sally forth from the city and launch a counterattack. With the Northern Han army and ourselves attacking the Song thieves' detachment from both inside and outside, achieving victory will naturally be as easy as turning over one's hand!"

"Brilliant, Grand Marshal!" Yelu Mo finally understood Yelu Sha's intention and hurriedly praised, "Once the Song thieves' detachment is broken, their main force will inevitably grow fearful in their hearts and surely harbor thoughts of making a hasty escape. At that time, even if we cannot seize the opportunity to pursue them with all our might and expand our gains, we can still settle our minds to rest the army, treat the sick soldiers, and minimize our troop losses."

Yelu Sha nodded with a sinister grin and silently prayed in his heart: "May the Gods of Nature bless us. I hope that the Song thief brat Zhao Dezhao is ignorant of life and death, and courts his own destruction by dispatching the main force of the Song thieves to meet us in battle. This time, it is not entirely impossible for us to completely annihilate the Song thieves' army!"

***

Thus, having made up his mind to take the initiative and launch a decisive battle, by the following day, the Khitan army—numbering over fifty thousand troops—bustled into action. They rushed to make dry rations, inspected weapons, and distributed horse fodder, making all relevant preparations for the impending battle.

In view of the special circumstances of the plague running rampant in the Liao camp, Yelu Sha, Yelu Mo, and others deliberated repeatedly and ultimately decided to deploy forty thousand infantry and cavalry to launch this major battle. Yet even so, many Liao soldiers with milder symptoms or still in the incubation period still had to pick up weapons and step onto the battlefield, inevitably impacting the overall combat effectiveness of the Liao army and becoming the greatest hidden peril for the Liao army in this decisive battle.

Fortunately, given the intelligence confirming that an epidemic had likewise broken out in the Song camp, Yelu Sha, Yelu Mo, and the others remained full of confidence in this decisive battle, firmly believing that their own army defeating the Song army would be a matter of absolute ease.

***

What a pity, Yelu Sha, Yelu Mo, and the other Liao military decision-makers seriously misjudged the true condition of the Song army. Through various clues and traces, right at noon on the very same day the Liao army was making all-out preparations for war, Li Jixun—who had fought battles for the better part of his life—deduced that the Liao army was on the verge of deploying. He hurriedly had the Song soldiers make comprehensive preparations for war as well, while simultaneously rewarding the troops with a lavish feast to boost morale, enabling the Song army forces to face the arrival of the Liao army in their optimal state.

The division under Ding Deyu, who had come from Bianliang, poured out in full strength to serve as the vanguard and main body of the Song army. Ding Deyu's subordinate general Liang Jiong led a force of ten thousand to guard against the Northern Han army, with both stationed firmly on the front line, leveraging the central imperial army's advantage of superior weapons and equipment. Li Jixun led the main force to reinforce the rear array of the Song army. This was the tactical deployment of the Song army: playing no tricks, they would square off squarely and fairly against the Liao army to decide the victor.

It was only at this juncture that Zhao Dezhao—who had previously been hyperactive and jumping around incessantly—stopped running about, closed his mouth, steadied his mind, and diligently studied the military experience of renowned Song generals like Li Jixun, learning the various arrangements and common sense of how to launch a frontal decisive battle in the age of cold weapons.

***

The time that opened Zhao Dezhao's eyes soon arrived. On the morning of the twenty-second day of the eleventh month, at the Si hour, the Liao army—which had been confronting the Song army for over twenty days—mobilized in force. Leading their horses, they marched south on foot, slowly advancing toward Jinyang. During this period, the Khitan army, as per custom, dragged branches to raise dust upwind, galloping back and forth across the battlefield with horses dragging tree branches to intentionally generate massive clouds of dust to magnify their own army's momentum and mislead the enemy's judgment.

By the way, if it were nighttime, the Liao army's habit was to march while setting fires everywhere to spread the glow of flames, likewise employing a show of force to intimidate the enemy.

To the wild delight of Yelu Sha and the others, the Liao army had already traveled half the distance, yet the scouts heading south still had not returned to report any movement from the Song army. Yelu Sha promptly concluded, wagering that the Song army did not dare to take the initiative to meet them in battle and intended to adopt a defensive posture to repel the enemy.

Regrettably, just as Yelu Sha and the others caught sight in the distance of Jinyang City—whose outer city was controlled by the Song army—a fast-riding scout galloped back and reported loudly: "Grand Marshal, the Song barbarians have sortied! The barbarian detachment inside Jinyang City, along with the barbarian main force south of Jinyang City, have sortied simultaneously and assembled on the open field, preparing to fight us in a frontal decisive battle!"

"How many troops in total?"

"Pardon my offense, Grand Marshal, but time was too rushed, and we have not yet had time to scout it out!"

"Trash!" Yelu Sha cursed, then barked, "Hurry up and scout it clearly! Also, make sure you look clearly at the Song thieves' banners, and report back truthfully!"

The scout acknowledged the order and departed. Yelu Mo then suggested from the side, "Grand Marshal, since the Song thieves are still assembling, why don't we dispatch a unit of elite cavalry to charge into the Song thieves' formation and see if we can take advantage of the opportunity before the Song thieves' battle array is fully formed to give them a severe jolt?"

Under ordinary circumstances, Yelu Sha, who favored cautious action, certainly would not have easily taken such a risk. However, this time was different: first, he wanted to test the Song army's current true condition; second, he was convinced that the Song army's current commander-in-chief had been replaced by the utterly inexperienced Zhao Dezhao. After hesitating for a moment, Yelu Sha nodded anyway and loudly ordered: "Give the order to Taler, telling him to lead three thousand elite cavalry to strike first and launch a frontal assault on the Song thieves' vanguard!"

The order was transmitted. Three thousand Khitan cavalrymen, led by the renowned Khitan fierce general Taler, quickly sortied ahead of the main Liao army and charged first toward the Song army formation, which was still in the midst of assembly. To Taler's wild delight, when he led his troops charging up to the Song army's front, the Song vanguard—numbering around eight thousand men—had not yet fully secured their footing. Thus, without hesitation, Taler let out a roar and led the Khitan cavalry in a frontal charge, attempting to smash through the Song vanguard in one fell swoop.

At the very beginning, the Liao army's charge indeed achieved its effect. They smoothly broke through the gaps in the Song army's battle formation and penetrated deep into the lines. However, as the Khitan cavalry's momentum of charge was blocked and they were forced to abandon their breakthrough assault, the various ranks of the Song infantry swiftly shifted their formations according to the terrain, encircling the Khitan cavalry who had penetrated deep into their lines from all four directions. They then proceeded with methodical, interlacing assaults, striving to divide and encircle the Khitan vanguard before annihilating them at their leisure.

By the time the main body of the Liao army arrived at the scene, out of the more than seven thousand soldiers in the Song vanguard, not only had over four thousand men completely surrounded the Khitan vanguard from all sides, but another three thousand or so soldiers remained motionless. While securing local numerical superiority, they also retained spare capacity to respond to changes in the battle situation, vividly demonstrating formidable organizational discipline and overall combat effectiveness.

This was truly not surprising. The Song army at this juncture was at its absolute peak. Before Zhao Dezhao's good uncle Zhao Guangyi unleashed his carriage-god stunt, the Song-Liao wars were dominated by the Song army holding the advantage for the majority of the time, winning more and losing less. It was only after Zhao Guangyi squandered the bulk of the Song army's elite forces at Gaoliang River that the pendulum of victory gradually shifted toward the Liao side.

Upon seeing this situation, the complexion of Liao commander-in-chief Yelu Sha drastically changed. He immediately understood that he had very likely fallen into a massive trap and that the person currently commanding the Song army was absolutely, under no circumstances, the Zhao Dezhao he had imagined. To be able to utilize formation shifts to surround cavalry with infantry while retaining spare capacity to respond to contingencies—even if Zhao Dezhao were a military genius, he certainly could not pull off such micro-management skills right now.

And indeed, right at this moment, Liao scouts arrived before Yelu Sha once more to report that deep within the rear array of the Song army, the banner of Song commander-in-chief Li Jixun had been spotted. Furthermore, the banner of Song deputy commander Ding Deyu had likewise appeared within the Song army's main body ranks.

"Motherfucking Song barbarians, truly craftier than foxes!"

After cursing with a livid face, Yelu Sha had no other options left. He could only continue to press his army forward, launching an assault against the Song army in accordance with the original plan. Three units of Khitan cavalry, each numbering around six thousand, detached from the main force. Utilizing the mobility advantage of cavalry, they swiftly outflanked the two wings and the rear of the Song army position, joining forces with the main body to encircle the Song army position on all four sides in a formation shaped like the Chinese character for "mouth" ($ ext{口}$).

Meanwhile, Li Jixun pointed out to the diligent and eager-to-learn Zhao Dezhao: "Your Highness, do you see that? This is the field battle tactic most commonly utilized by the Khitan Liao barbarians. They leverage their cavalry advantage to encircle our position on all four sides, and then divide their cavalry into multiple small squads to take turns assaulting the weak points of our position. If they can open a breach, they continue to pour in troops; if progress is not going smoothly, they resolutely fall back and let other squads continue taking turns with the assaults."

Having introduced the Khitan army's signature tactic, Li Jixun added a concluding remark: "If we are on an exceptionally open battlefield, the Khitan Liao barbarians also love to stretch out the distance, spending several days draining our morale and physical stamina to literally drag us down and exhaust us. Therefore, when fighting the Khitan Liao barbarians in the Yanyun region, our Great Song army generally tends to be at a disadvantage."

"Many thanks for your guidance, Uncle." Having attentively memorized the circumstances introduced by Li Jixun, Zhao Dezhao curiously asked, "Uncle, how should we respond?"

"There's no need to rush. While we fight, Uncle will teach you how to respond to these underhanded, thievish methods of the Khitan Liao barbarians."

When Li Jixun answered this question, the smile on his face was extremely relaxed, yet the trepidation in his heart was known to Li Jixun alone. He thought to himself: "His Highness's method of spreading the plague must surely take effect; otherwise, judging by the troop ratio and the battlefield situation, our Great Song army actually holds no upper hand whatsoever."

Meanwhile, exactly as Yelu Sha and the others had anticipated before the battle, even though there had been no communication prior to hostilities, upon seeing the Khitan army march south in force, the Northern Han army had likewise swiftly organized an elite assault force. Personally led by the Northern Han's premier renowned general, Yang Ye, they suddenly cleared and opened the gates of Jinyang's inner city, launching an assault against the forces of Liang Jiong—the Song detachment encircling the inner city.

In an instant, both inside and out of Jinyang's city walls, across the wilderness and hills, banners fluttered everywhere, horse hooves rang clear, and the cries of battle shook the heavens and earth. Arrows flew back and forth through the sky like swarms of locusts, human heads surged across the ground, and flesh and blood flew. The Song army, the Northern Han army, and the Khitan army paired off to fight one another, unfurling a series of brutal, life-or-death battles.

As for to whom the victory would ultimately belong, for the time being, it remained an unknown quantity to everyone.