Chapter 151: Conflict

Seeing that his first arrow missed Wanyan Zongbi, Yang Zaixing released two more in rapid succession.

Wanyan Zongbi leaped down from his horse, shielding his body behind the warhorse.

"Hiss..." An arrow pierced directly into the horse's flesh. The warhorse let out a miserable, piercing whinny as the shaft embedded itself halfway into its body. Terrified, the horse bolted, tearing wildly forward.

Taking advantage of this opening, Wanyan Zongbi rolled toward the side of the road, concealing his body behind a large boulder.

Yang Zaixing cursed under his breath. A veteran general of a hundred battles was indeed formidable; they possessed a primal awareness of danger that allowed them to evade it beforehand. Now that Wanyan Zongbi was sheltered behind the rock, Yang Zaixing had completely lost his chance to assassinate him.

"Give it to them with everything we've got!" Yang Zaixing roared.

Without needing further prompting, and in accordance with the pre-arranged plan, the Song army began their assault on the Jin forces. Over a dozen Song soldiers pushed a massive boulder down the mountainside. The giant rock descended from the heavens with the overwhelming momentum of a thunderbolt crashing toward the Jurchen troops.

"Enemy attack! Watch out!" Wanyan Zongbi shouted at the top of his lungs.

The Jurchen soldiers in the center looked up, only to be met by a rapidly enlarging boulder. "Ah—" A miserable scream was cut abruptly short, followed by a spreading pool of blood flowing out from beneath the massive rock. Struck from the sky by such a colossal stone, those Jurchen soldiers were surely crushed into pulp instantly.

The Song army's rolling stones and log cascades kept tumbling down the mountain. After several massive boulders were hurled down, the Jin forces were cleanly split into a vanguard and a rear guard.

The over twenty thousand Jurchen soldiers in the vanguard were suddenly left without a leader, plunging into absolute chaos as the situation spiraled out of control.

Seeing this, Yang Zaixing resolutely stood up and called out to the assembled troops, "Brothers, follow me down to wipe out these Jin bandits!"

"No! General Han's order for our army was to launch a surprise attack, not for you to lead the troops down into a pitched battle. If you charge down like this and happen to walk right into an enemy ambush, what then?" Zhang Jun demanded, stepping in front of Yang Zaixing.

Yang Zaixing replied dismissively, "The Jin army has already been split into two sections, and the rear guard cannot support the vanguard right now. This is the prime moment to attack. A general in the field is not bound by every imperial decree; General Han has no idea of the situation on our end. Just follow my lead on this."

Zhang Jun blocked his path, insisting, "If something goes wrong because you insisted on having things your way, can you shoulder the responsibility for it?"

"Whatever happens, Yang alone will bear the consequence. It has nothing to do with you, Military Advisor," Yang Zaixing said, finding Zhang Jun immensely irritating. He reached out, slapped Zhang Jun's shoulder forcefully, and added coldly.

Zhang Jun retorted coldly, "General Yang speaks with such ease. The lives and fortunes of over twenty thousand soldiers—can you shoulder that? Are you capable of bearing it? I am the military advisor of this entire army; you are merely a vanguard commander. As military advisor, I now forbid you from entering the fray."

Zhang Jun outranked Yang Zaixing, and he brandished his official title now in an attempt to suppress him.

Hearing Zhang Jun's words, Yang Zaixing sneered. "Trying to put pressure on me? You don't have the capability." He had never thought much of Zhang Jun to begin with, so naturally, his tone was entirely unceremonious.

"What do you think you're doing?" Zhang Jun asked, looking at Yang Zaixing in shock.

"Heizi, gather five thousand troops from the vanguard and charge down with me to annihilate the enemy!" Yang Zaixing ordered his deputy.

"Understood!" Heizi roared in acknowledgment. As one of Yang Zaixing's most trusted loyalists, he executed his commander's orders without the slightest hesitation.

"Yang Zaixing, if you act so recklessly and disaster strikes, don't blame this general for not warning you—I will absolutely not come to your rescue," Zhang Jun threatened.

Ignoring him entirely, Yang Zaixing let out a thunderous roar and took the lead, charging down the slope at the head of the five thousand vanguard troops.

The five thousand Song soldiers under Yang Zaixing's command swept forward like a pack of tigers and wolves. Although vastly outnumbered by the Jin forces, they faced an enemy completely devoid of fighting morale, and the battle remained a completely lopsided slaughter.

Left without leadership, the Jurchen soldiers had no idea how many enemies were charging at them upon seeing the descending Song army, and they began to flee in all directions. Yang Zaixing led his five thousand men in a five-li pursuit, cutting down nearly ten thousand enemy troops.

"General, we are about to clear Stone Mountain if we go any further. Should we continue the pursuit?" Heizi asked Yang Zaixing.

Nodding, Yang Zaixing replied, "Pursue them. While our morale is at its peak, I intend to annihilate this entire Jin force."

"General, the rear guard hasn't caught up yet, and we have barely over a thousand men left with us. Pushing forward like this is far too dangerous," Advisor Li Linbo cautioned Yang Zaixing at that moment.

Yang Zaixing glanced back and realized that because they had advanced too quickly, the number of Song soldiers keeping pace with him had dropped to under a thousand. Chasing down tens of thousands of retreating Jurchen troops with merely a thousand men was indeed akin to striking a boulder with an egg.

However, Yang Zaixing remained utterly undaunted. He patted Li Linbo on the shoulder and said, "Stay here to wait for the rear guard, then bring them up to reinforce us. Everyone else, follow me straight into battle!"

Panicked, Li Linbo urged, "General, we should at least wait for the main rear guard to arrive before charging together."

Waving his hand, Yang Zaixing told him, "The battlefield changes in the blink of an eye. This is a golden opportunity to completely wipe out the Jin army. My mind is made up; just do as I say."

With that, Yang Zaixing shouted to the soldiers around him, "Brothers, follow me and kill!"

Knowing Yang Zaixing's stubborn temperament and seeing that his mind was already set beyond persuasion, Li Linbo realized he could do nothing to change it and had no choice but to stay put and await the arrival of the rear guard.

Meanwhile, Yang Zaixing led his thousand-odd Song soldiers in pursuit of the fleeing Jurchen forces for another three miles.

Suddenly, the Jurchen troops ahead stopped running.

A faint sense of foreboding stirred within Yang Zaixing, and he ordered, "Maintain strict defense!"

Scarcely had his voice faded when a massive force of Jurchen soldiers poured out from all directions, a dense, dark sea of humanity that instantly inverted the tactical situation.

Yang Zaixing's brow furrowed as a cold realization struck him: how had such a massive force of Jurchen troops appeared here? There were easily over ten thousand of them. Combined with the tens of thousands who had fled earlier, Yang Zaixing and his men were now thoroughly and heavily surrounded.

"No nameless person dies by this prince's hand. Who are you? State your name," a figure suddenly stepped out from the crowd.

Yang Zaixing narrowed his eyes to take a closer look and recognized an old acquaintance—the defeated prince he had fought against during the rout at Wuchang City.

"I was wondering who it could be. Turns out it's my old defeatist of an adversary. What's this? You barely escaped with your life from my hands last time, and yet you haven't learned your lesson, coming back to throw your life away now?" Yang Zaixing said with a cold laugh.