Chapter 148: Flawless Calculation

The moment Wanyan Wuqimai finished speaking, rows of enormous ships appeared on the distant river. Each one was as large as dozens of the Jin army’s small boats combined, a veritable leviathan.

“What is that?” Wanyan Satan asked in astonishment, his mouth falling open.

The sudden appearance of those great ships made it obvious even to the Jin soldiers that they could not belong to their own side. The Jin had not even possessed a proper navy, let alone warships. Those enormous vessels could only belong to the Song army.

Sure enough, as the warships drew nearer, everyone finally saw the flags flying above them—the military banners of the Great Song.

At the very front of the fleet stood a gallant female general, directing the warships as they raced toward the Jin army.

She was Liang Hongyu, wife of Han Shizhong. She had donned full battle armor, looking utterly unlike the delicate woman she usually appeared to be. Her heroic bearing lent her a striking, unconventional beauty.

“Who is that woman standing aboard the warship?” Wanyan Wuqimai asked suspiciously.

Wanyan Satan’s expression turned bitter. He wondered how the emperor could still have the leisure to concern himself with the identity of a female general at a time like this.

“Your Majesty, I have never heard of such a woman among the Song generals.” After a pause, he continued, “Your Majesty, the Song warships are bearing down on us with tremendous force. We must reach the shore immediately. If one of those huge ships strikes us, our small boats will surely capsize.”

Wanyan Wuqimai nodded and sneered. “The Song must truly be out of men if they have resorted to making a woman a general.”

He attempted to rally the Jin soldiers against the attack, but the instant the Jin boats came into contact with the Song warships, they were smashed to pieces.

This was a battle between utterly unequal forces. Wanyan Wuqimai wanted to organize a resistance, but in the end he abandoned the idea. Any attack would be nothing more than a mantis trying to stop a chariot.

The Jin soldiers began rowing desperately toward the opposite bank. The distance of a hundred yards had become the boundary between life and death. Those who managed to swim across would live; those who failed would drown in the Songhua River.

Liang Hongyu led dozens of warships on a circuit of the Songhua, completely cutting off the Jin troops still attempting to cross. The soldiers who had not yet reached the opposite bank threw down their weapons and surrendered one after another. In the end, no more than twenty thousand men remained with Wanyan Wuqimai, including over a thousand officials and members of the imperial family.

On the far bank, Wanyan Wuqimai looked at the shaken survivors and tried to reassure them.

“We are safe now. The entire army will march west with me. Once we reunite with the main force, we will soon retake the capital.”

Crown Prince Wanyan Dan stood there shivering, soaked from head to toe. Wanyan Wuqimai walked over and patted him on the shoulder.

“Are you afraid?”

Wanyan Dan nodded vigorously. Raised in the imperial palace, the crown prince had never endured such hardship. During the crossing, the icy river water had drenched him, and he now seemed to be coming down with a chill.

“Afraid? There is no such word in the blood of our Jurchen people. When I followed your grandfather in campaigns throughout the realm, what danger did I not face? What does this small defeat amount to? Besides, the iron cavalry of our Great Jin remains intact. Once your Uncle Zongbi and the others return, these Song soldiers will be no match for us.”

Wanyan Dan nodded again and asked, “Have we completely shaken off the Song army?”

Wanyan Wuqimai, wanting to teach the crown prince a lesson, smiled and said, “Rest assured. We are safe.”

After a pause, he continued, “If you were commanding this battle, you must remember this: on the opposite bank of the river, you would have to station an ambush as well. Only then could you ensure the complete destruction of our army.”

Wanyan Satan, standing nearby, was so alarmed that he tried to cover the emperor’s mouth, but he was too late. From the distance came a tremendous roar of battle cries as a Song force charged in from the east.

At its head was Yang Zaixing.

Yang Zaixing led the charge. Before the man himself arrived, his arrows had already come whistling through the air.

Three arrows from a single bow!

Yang Zaixing spotted Wanyan Wuqimai at once among the crowd. His attire was simply too conspicuous. Yang Zaixing loosed another arrow, aiming straight at him.

Wanyan Wuqimai was startled and instinctively leapt aside, narrowly dodging Yang Zaixing’s famed shot.

But that was only the beginning. The moment he evaded the first arrow, another followed close behind.

Wanyan Wuqimai darted left and right, barely avoiding three arrows in succession. But when the fourth came, there was no way to escape.

With a heavy thud, Yang Zaixing’s arrow struck Wanyan Wuqimai in the shoulder. The shot carried tremendous force, passing clean through the entire right side of his shoulder. Even the arrow’s tail continued to tremble from the lingering momentum.

Cold sweat poured from Wanyan Wuqimai’s body.

He had once watched Yang Zaixing fire that very kind of arrow from atop the city wall. But witnessing it and experiencing it firsthand were entirely different matters. The agony in his shoulder finally jolted him fully awake, and sweat broke out across his face.

“Rally the soldiers! Charge with me!”

The ferocity in Wanyan Wuqimai’s nature had been thoroughly awakened. The pain did not daze him; instead, it made him even more savage.

“Your Majesty, absolutely not!” Wanyan Satan hurriedly restrained him. “Our army’s morale is at rock bottom. Even if you lead the soldiers in a charge, it will accomplish nothing!”

“Your Majesty, you yourself said that once we reunite with the main force, the Song army will be no match for us. We should retreat while we still can. The Song have a saying, do they not? A gentleman may wait ten years to avenge a wrong. Let us reunite with the main army before we deal with them.”

Wanyan Wuqimai drew a deep breath and finally managed to calm himself. Then he ordered Wanyan Satan, “Issue my command. The entire army will retreat north.”

This time, Wanyan Wuqimai had learned his lesson and grown wiser. Every route he had taken had been anticipated by the Song army. Clearly, they knew he intended to reunite with the main force and then launch a counterattack. That was why he had been intercepted at every turn.

Thus, Wanyan Wuqimai decided to retreat north. Surely the Song would never expect him to suddenly change direction.

And so Wanyan Wuqimai led more than twenty thousand defeated and battered troops in a frantic flight northward. They did not finally escape the Song army’s pursuit until they had plunged deep into the mountains.

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