Chapter 152: Surrounded

Who could the speaker be if not Wanyan Liang?

As it turned out, following his defeat, Wanyan Liang had been forced to flee with his remaining soldiers deep into the mountains. He had originally intended to retreat to the capital of Shangjing, only to find that Shangjing was already tightly surrounded by the Song army.

With no other choice, Wanyan Liang had no option but to lead his men deeper into the distant mountains. As luck would have it, he happened to encounter a routed detachment of the Jin army hiding within these very peaks.

Recognizing that his opportunity to achieve great merit and establish his career had arrived, Wanyan Liang revealed his identity to the scattered Jin soldiers. Combined with the ten thousand or so men he had already gathered, his forces now unexpectedly swelled to over twenty thousand.

Having these twenty thousand soldiers in his hands instantly restored Wanyan Liang's confidence.

"Hmph, you merely possess a sharp tongue," Wanyan Liang said, pausing for a moment as he realized that Yang Zaixing was a rare and exceptional talent whom he wished to recruit. "Right now, you are completely surrounded by my great army. If you surrender obediently, I can spare your life.

"At present, I command over twenty thousand men, whereas you have a mere thousand. To resist is to walk a path of certain death. If you submit to me, I promise you the rank of a general, one that will certainly not be lower than the position you currently hold."

Clearly well-informed about the internal affairs of the Song Dynasty, Wanyan Liang continued his seductive persuasion: "I am well aware of the low status military commanders endure in your Song state. Even if you achieve monumental merit, you will never be trusted by your emperor. You would be far better off surrendering to me. Our Great Jin nation values martial power above all else; once you come over to us, our dynasty will undoubtedly place great trust and responsibility in you."

Yang Zaixing let out two booming laughs. "Even if I, Yang Zaixing, were to die in battle, I would never become a traitor to my country or a running dog of you Jurchens! You petty thief, although you have twenty thousand men, do you truly think you have already swallowed me whole? You must first ask the spear in my hand whether it agrees!"

Hearing himself reviled by Yang Zaixing, Wanyan Liang's lips trembled. He said to those around him, "Kind words cannot persuade a ghost bound for death. Since you are determined to throw your life away, I shall grant your wish. All forces, charge! Annihilate them!"

Though the numerical disparity was immense, not a trace of fear showed on Yang Zaixing's face. Instead, brimming with abnormal excitement, he took the initiative and charged directly toward the Jin army before they could make their move.

The thousand-plus vanguard troops following Yang Zaixing were all madmen. Seeing him launch a charge, they too rushed forward one after another, completely fearless of death!

Watching this group of men, Wanyan Liang's eyes were filled with admiration. If he possessed such a fierce and ferocious army of tigers and wolves, his three great aspirations would surely be fulfilled.

One thousand men fighting against twenty thousand—the gap in strength was simply too vast. The moment the two sides clashed, the thousand-plus soldiers were instantly swallowed up by the vast ocean of the Jin army.

Li Linbo finally arrived with the four thousand men of the rear guard. Seeing the overwhelming sea of Jin soldiers before him, he was startled and initially wanted to send someone to request reinforcements from Zhang Jun. After a brief hesitation, however, he decided to go and plead for help in person.

It was not that Li Linbo feared death; rather, he was genuinely worried that anyone else he sent would fail to bring reinforcements back.

The four thousand Song soldiers plunged into the fray, yet they still could not alter the Song army's numerical disadvantage. The battle between the Jin and Song forces was entirely a four-on-one rout. Despite Yang Zaixing's astonishing combat prowess, the majority of the Song soldiers were ordinary men. They fell one after another, and the situation for the Song army grew increasingly perilous.

Li Linbo rode at a gallop until he found Zhang Jun.

"Military Advisor, it's terrible!" Li Linbo reported. "General Yang has run into a Jin ambush ahead. Right now, five thousand soldiers are being surrounded and slaughtered by a Jin army of twenty thousand. The situation is critical. I implore the Military Advisor to lead our troops immediately and go to General Yang's rescue."

Zhang Jun thought to himself with a grim sense of satisfaction: *That serves you right for refusing to heed my warnings and walking right into an ambush.* He said to Li Linbo, "General Yang stated quite clearly that he would take full responsibility should anything go wrong. Since he made such a declaration, he must bear the consequences of his own words. Now that this has happened, I am powerless to help."

Anxious at heart, Li Linbo urged Zhang Jun urgently, "Military Advisor, the enemy force numbers fewer than twenty thousand. As long as you lead our army to their support right now, we can undoubtedly break General Yang's encirclement."

Zhang Jun shook his head. "I warned him beforehand, yet he refused to listen to advice. Now that he has fallen into an ambush, if I were to lead the troops to his rescue and the remaining soldiers also fell into a trap, what then?"

Anxiety gnawed at Li Linbo. Every moment of delay rendered Yang Zaixing's situation all the more perilous. Deciding to throw caution to the wind, he argued, "Military Advisor, you are the commander-in-chief of this campaign. If General Yang and the five thousand soldiers are completely annihilated by the Jin army, all the victories our army has previously achieved will be reduced to nothing. When His Majesty lays the blame, the Military Advisor will undoubtedly find it difficult to shirk responsibility."

Hearing these words, Zhang Jun narrowed his eyes slightly. He was a clever man and understood the predicament Li Linbo was describing. If he knowingly left Yang Zaixing surrounded and refused to send troops to save him, he would surely face punishment from the emperor. Yet, the thought of deploying troops to rescue Yang Zaixing filled him with intense resentment.

Taking a deep breath, Zhang Jun snapped, "Brash fools, who know only how to charge blindly ahead! Now that they've stirred up trouble, they expect this official to clean up their mess!" Grumbling in complaint, he finally issued the order for the entire army to advance and rescue Yang Zaixing.

Along the way, however, Zhang Jun deliberately dragged out the marching pace, wanting Yang Zaixing to suffer a bit more as an outlet for the dissatisfaction burning in his own heart.

Consumed by anxiety, Li Linbo repeatedly hurried forward to urge him on. "Military Advisor, if we arrive too late, the five thousand vanguard troops will be completely wiped out by the Jin army!"

Zhang Jun sneered. "Isn't your General Yang exceptionally formidable in battle? Let's not rush; let him slay a few more Jin soldiers, otherwise he won't have his fill of fighting."

"Military Advisor, at a time like this, personal grievances are trivial while the righteous cause of our nation is paramount!" Li Linbo pleaded earnestly. "If General Yang meets with any misfortune by the time we arrive, His Majesty will still hold you accountable."

Hearing this, Zhang Jun sneered coldly. "You, a mere brute of a soldier, dare lecture me on the righteous cause of the nation? What do you know of national righteousness? Insulting a superior and flatly refusing to obey military orders—is that your idea of righteousness?"

As a civil official, Zhang Jun possessed a sharp tongue that Li Linbo, naturally, could never hope to match in an argument.