[Server Chat Log]
[Voidframe: The battle at Yancheng is, to be honest, most striking precisely because Jin Wushu's handling of it was almost flawless. He chose the right battlefield, made the right decisions, and committed his main force at the right time. From a purely theoretical standpoint, every box for a great general was checked. Yet he still lost. In the end, this is the difference between the ceiling and the floor of what defines a truly great commander.
Warquiet: In ancient warfare, winning and losing is normal. What really separates an elite army from an ordinary one is not never losing, but losing without collapsing, losing without disintegrating. That is what makes a strong army. But in the cold weapon era, a unit like the Iron Pagoda cavalry was extremely expensive to raise and maintain. After this battle, Jin Wushu probably felt so much pain over the losses that it was enough to make him spit blood.
UnbrokenIRL: It also feels like these ten years were a period in which Yue Fei was learning from the Jin army itself. Back in the Song Xia wars, battles were often decided in a single charge, one push that meant either a big victory or a disastrous defeat. But by the time Yue Fei was fighting the Jin, it had become a style of winning without reckless pursuit, losing without falling into chaos, reorganizing in the rear, advancing and withdrawing in layers, enduring and persisting. The gap in professionalism was enormous.
BornForWar: That was only natural. The Jin themselves even mocked that if your cavalry could not fight a hundred exchanges, then it was not real cavalry at all. In the early days, the Jin probably looked at Song troops and felt they were made of paper.
NoRespawn: Man and horse both drenched in blood, Yue Fei was practically a man of heaven. Even by Song dynasty standards, he ranked among the fiercest generals.
StillStanding: Of course. Before this battle, Yue Fei had already warned his son Yue Yun in a grave tone, "If you do not win, I will behead you first." That is what people call a father's love like a mountain. Take a moment to taste those words.
PingDiff: Jin Wushu would probably say, shaking a mountain is easy, shaking the Yue Family Army is hard. Please be informed.
CritAbuse: Indeed, if anyone could truly break the Yue Family Army, it would have to be the anti Song legendary general, Zhao Gou.
Li Shimin: since ancient times, famous generals have ruled their families with the same strictness as they rule their armies. To call this fatherly love like a mountain is perfectly appropriate.
LastHitGod: Brother, you're wearing the Li Shimin skin and saying that? Li Yuan just gave you a thumbs down. Li Chengqian just gave you a thumbs down."
Riftborn: Li Erfeng was actually not that bad to his sons. If you really want to see true examples, go look at Emperor Xuanzong, who killed three sons in a single day. That is what you call fatherly love like a mountain.
Yes, in the literal physical sense. So heavy that it crushes people.]
In the Ganlu Hall, Li Shimin shook his head and laughed at the later generations' comments. Now he would not get angry over such words. Instead, he tossed aside his brush and turned to Empress Zhangsun with a broad laugh.
"Empress, how has Chengqian been these past years?"
Empress Zhangsun smiled gently.
"In the past, Chengqian would grow silent and tense whenever he saw Your Majesty."
"Now, if he does not see Your Majesty for even one day, he misses you, and when he attends court, he smiles far more often."
Chu Suiliang, on the other hand, felt this was only natural. As the court diarist over the past half year, he had personally witnessed how the Emperor reflected on how to teach and guide the Crown Prince, combining lessons from later generations, offering guidance without harsh scolding. The Crown Prince, in turn, had shown more willingness to share the Emperor's burdens and had recently begun reading records of Western Regions in the Hongwen Hall.
This matter was only a brief interlude. After finishing his smile and questions, Li Shimin quickly walked to the side and began adjusting a small sand table. In short order, he roughly restored the situation of the Battle of Yancheng as described earlier.
Li Jing also stood and walked over, staring at the intersecting formations on the sand table. After a moment of thought, he said, "This Yue Fei and the Jin general are engaging in layered strategic contests."
Li Shimin nodded. "What you say, Yaoshi, is exactly what I was thinking."
He then picked up a thin bamboo stick and pointed at the sand table.
"In all battles, it is nothing more than creating situations where the strong suppress the weak, where one uses advantages to strike at disadvantages. The Jin army likely guessed that Yue Fei would not allow infantry and cavalry to become separated, so they used the Guaizi Horse to lure and disrupt, then intended for the Iron Pagoda to annihilate the enemy cavalry."
Not only Li Shimin, but the civil and military officials under him were all well versed in cavalry matters. Even back in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, there had been talk of roaming cavalry. Just by hearing the name, they could already imagine its strengths and weaknesses.
Li Jing continued, "That is why Yue Fei sent out the Beiwei Army first and did not immediately commit the Youyi Army. This battle was nothing more than a pairwise contest. There is nothing particularly novel. In the end, battle formations always come down to one decisive clash."
On one side was mixed infantry and cavalry. On the other was combined light and heavy cavalry. In Li Jing's eyes, the possibilities in such battlefield mind games were limited. Ultimately, everything still had to be decided on the field.
"If they collapse under the Iron Pagoda, then the Song army is annihilated. If not, then the Jin are defeated."
Li Shimin nodded, looking at the image of the Battle of Yancheng on the light screen. In his heart, he could not help but feel stirred by such elite troops clashing head on.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Pei Xingjian looking hesitant, as if he wanted to speak. Li Shimin had patience for this promising young general, so he directly asked, "Shouyue, do you have doubts? Speak freely."
What surprised Li Shimin was that Pei Xingjian did indeed ask about military matters, but not in the direction he expected.
"Could Your Majesty defeat these Jin bandits?"
Li Jing immediately wondered whether he had been too gentle with this disciple recently.
Unexpectedly, Li Shimin seriously examined the images on the screen and thought for a moment before replying, "If it were when the realm had just been unified, whether I could defeat them would still be uncertain."
"But if we met now, even if we fought a hundred times, I would defeat them a hundred times."
In Li Shimin's view, Jin Wushu's use of cavalry was only passable. If they had met in the Wude era, when equipment and technology were separated by centuries, victory would be possible but hard fought.
But now, with light cavalry, with ceramic thunder pots to frighten horses and shock enemies, with the Xuanjia Army at full strength, how could he fear them?
…
In the Kaifeng Hall, the atmosphere was one of celebration.
For Zhao Kuangyin, the most important thing was finally letting out a long breath. At the same time, he was deeply absorbed in watching the clash of Song and Jin armies, and could not help but imagine.
If among the imperial guards, one could train a force as strong as the Beiwei Army and Youyi Army, able to withstand heavy cavalry charges without collapsing, then how would a northern expedition against Northern Han and the Khitan go?
If facing Khitan cavalry of such strength, with his own imperial guards, how should victory be achieved?
For Liu Han and the others, there was no need to think so deeply. As long as Song and Jin were enemies, that alone was enough reason to cheer for defeating a strong foe.
Only Zhao Pu remained dutiful, pulling Zhao Kuangyin aside to explain the need to manage and develop the northwest.
There was no choice. The Song desperately lacked good horse breeding lands. From what could be seen on the light screen, if Hebei could be returned to Song, then the imperial guards would need to both protect the capital and operate freely across Hebei. Without cavalry, that would be impossible.
Training cavalrymen was easier than breeding fine horses. And if one wanted good horses, with strong enemies in Hebei, the best approach was to turn more attention to the northwest. That would also weaken the Tanguts. Why not do both at once?
In fact, when the Emperor had earlier imagined Yue Fei striking north toward You and Yan, Zhao Pu had not even dared to say it out loud.
Right now, even breeding horses in Northern Song was difficult enough. Zhao Gou had already fled south of the Yangtze. Where would Southern Song find horse pastures? How many cavalry could they possibly have to carry out such raids?
This suggestion made Zhao Kuangyin grow more serious. He instructed the eunuchs, and soon one came running with a large map. It showed territories and geography, now corrected in many places based on scattered maps from later generations.
Spreading it on the ground, Zhao Kuangyin looked to the northwest of Song. There, the Tuyuhun remnants, the Six Tribes of the Tupu clan, occupied Liangzhou and blocked the Hexi Corridor.
Zhao Pu, clearly having thought this through, spoke with confidence.
"The Six Tribes are strong, but in the Former Tang, the Guiyi Army's Zhang Yichao once said that the Wenmo people enslaved by Tubo were originally Han people from Hexi and Longyou who had fallen into enemy hands. The Former Tang abandoned them, and they became tribes. Though the name Wenmo is now rarely seen, if Your Majesty issues proclamations to win over the people's hearts…"
"Destroy Northern Han, secure Taiyuan, then advance west, join with the Guiyi Army to strike the Six Tribes. After nurturing strength for three to five years, one may then campaign against the Khitan."
Zhao Pu painted a future that greatly tempted Zhao Kuangyin.
"In this way, the realm would once again be unified."