The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 528 A War of Nation Annihilation

Daming Prefecture, from the Eastern Jin and Sixteen Kingdoms period to the Song Dynasty, was the seat of various prefectures, states, provinces, circuits, and provinces throughout history. It was also the secondary capital of the Song Dynasty. At its peak, its population reached over 100 million, more than that of Kaifeng. The city is mentioned many times in the novel "Water Margin". Later, it was submerged by the Yellow River, and the ancient city of Daming Prefecture was buried in the Yellow River sand at a depth of 4 meters.

Of course, at this time, Daming Prefecture had not yet been submerged by the Yellow River and was still an extremely prosperous metropolis.

Moreover, it's not near the Yellow River anymore!

At the end of the Song Dynasty, the Yellow River changed its course, diverting to the Huai River and flowing into the sea, which caused Daming Prefecture to be far away from the Yellow River for a period of time.

If it were right next to the Yellow River, Yue Fei and Han Shizhong could have launched a surprise attack on Daming Prefecture directly from the Yellow River, but that's not possible now.

Yue Fei and Han Shizhong had no choice but to cross the Yellow River at the "Baima Ancient Ferry" and then travel overland to Daming.

Baima Ancient Ferry is also a famous place. In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it was here that Guan Yu beheaded Yan Liang with a single stroke, helping Cao Cao's army to defeat Yuan Shao.

Such a strategic location would naturally have checkpoints belonging to the puppet state of Qi.

On the south bank of Baima Ancient Ferry was the Great Song's Gray Fortress, while on the north bank was the Qiaotou Pass of the puppet Qi state, where a large number of puppet Qi soldiers were stationed to guard against the Song army crossing the river to attack.

The general stationed in such an important place was naturally a general of the puppet state of Qi, and that was Pang Di!
At this moment, Pang Di was also holding a secret letter in his hand. This letter was shot to him by a water ghost that floated up in the river at midnight the previous night.

Pang Di tore through layer after layer of oiled paper, and found only a few sentences in the letter: "I know that the general's heart is with the Song Dynasty. Tonight our army will cross the river and recover our homeland in Hebei. I hope the general will give his full cooperation."

Pang Di was overjoyed: "Finally! It's finally here! The day has finally come for me to be a subject of the Song Dynasty again. Issue my order: tonight, all units will conduct night training for their soldiers, deploying them according to the method I described last time..."

That night, a bright moon hung high in the sky.

It's time for the rotation of guards at the riverside fortress of the pseudo-Qi state.

Pondi's trusted soldiers went up to the watchtower and relieved the exhausted sentries, letting them go back to camp to sleep.

Then, a group of trusted soldiers each lit a torch and arranged the torches in the shape of characters on the riverbank.

Sometimes they formed a V-shape, sometimes a straight line...

On the south bank of the river, a silent army watches the torches from afar!

This army was the vanguard led by Yue Yun. All the soldiers were dressed in black cloth armor and their faces were blackened with coal. From a distance, they blended perfectly into the night. Even the boats they were on were painted black.

"The torches are lit! Let's go, let's cross the river."

Yue Yun chuckled and tightened his grip on the iron spiked spear: "Brothers, once we get ashore, be careful when you kill. Don't kill your own brothers. Remember, if you encounter us, immediately put down your weapons. Anyone sitting on the ground with one hand raised is one of our brothers."

"Roger that!"

A black fleet of ships, carrying black soldiers, began to cross the river...

Before long, they crossed the Yellow River and arrived at this side of the riverbank.

Pang Di's confidants on the shore immediately opened the gates of the water fortress, then laid down their weapons, sat on the ground, and raised their right hands.

Yue Yun nodded to them and said in a low voice, "Thank you, brothers. We'll be family soon."

"We've entered the camp!"

"set fire!"

"Kill!" Yue Yun gave the order, and a large group of dark-skinned soldiers charged forward. Torches were thrown haphazardly into the camp of the puppet Qi Kingdom, and fires broke out everywhere in an instant. The soldiers of the puppet Qi Kingdom were terrified by the night attack. Many of them ran out of their rooms without even putting on their armor. They saw dozens of fires already burning outside, and a group of burly men with blackened faces hacking and slashing indiscriminately...

The soldiers of the puppet Qi Kingdom had always had low morale, and they could not withstand such a surprise attack. In an instant, they lost the will to resist and ran around the camp in chaos, shouting desperately, "Run! The Song Dynasty has crossed the river!"

Meanwhile, on the south bank of the Yellow River.

Yue Fei and Han Shizhong's main force was also looking towards the north bank. As soon as they saw the fire on the north bank, Yue Fei immediately waved his hand and said, "Main force, cross the river immediately."

Immediately, a large number of warships rushed out from the south bank. These ships no longer needed to conceal their movements; all of them lit torches, and a vast expanse of flames soared into the sky as they charged toward the north bank.

The Qi army camp on the north bank was in complete chaos. Many soldiers were cut down as soon as they ran out of the camp. Some of the smarter ones did not rush out of the buildings, but hid inside to observe. They soon discovered that as long as they dropped their weapons, sat on the ground, and raised one hand, the Song soldiers would not kill them.

Is there even a question? Of course, we should just do it!

Many of the fake Qi soldiers who were not originally inside agents inexplicably followed the inside agents, giving up resistance and sitting on the ground with their hands raised, like kindergarten children waiting for the teacher to give them candy.

They even asked the people around them, "Why didn't the Song soldiers kill them when they sat down and raised their hands?"

The mole rolled his eyes and said irritably, "Is that even a question? Do you even have a brain?"

"Huh? So you were an inside agent for the Song Dynasty all along, brother. You have to help me out. Don't expose me later that I was just imitating your moves. Just say I'm your little follower and an inside agent... Please, brother, give me a way out."

"Alright! Seeing how obedient you are, I'll just say you're my lackey, and I'll guarantee your life."

"Thank you big brother, thank you big brother."

The puppet Qi soldiers, who were waiting to surrender, soon saw the Song warships continuously docking at the shore...

More and more Song soldiers landed.

That number was truly unprecedented.

Then not only the soldiers arrived, but also the auxiliary soldiers and laborers began to board the boats to cross the river, and the place was packed with people.

And that's not all; the boats on the river are still continuously transporting goods...

Several hours later, the number of Song Dynasty soldiers and auxiliary troops crossing the river exceeded 100,000, and the number of civilian laborers reached more than 200,000.

Seeing the scale of the river crossing, the soldiers of the puppet Qi were terrified. They realized that the Song Dynasty had launched not just a small surprise attack, but a war of annihilation aimed at destroying the puppet Qi state.

"Thank goodness I surrendered! My God! If I hadn't surrendered this time, I wouldn't have had the chance to surrender at all later."

"The State of Qi is definitely doomed."

"Nonsense! Even if the Song Dynasty didn't attack, Qi would still be finished. Don't you know that? Jin Wuzhu is in Daming Prefecture right now. He came here to depose our Qi emperor."

"Since we're going to be destroyed anyway, we might as well let the Song Dynasty attack us. I used to be a Song citizen too."

"Being a Song person is definitely better than being a Jin person."

The Song army that crossed the river quickly split into two groups. One group, led by veteran generals of the Northern Song Dynasty, cleared the battlefield, reorganized the camp, and proceeded steadily and methodically.

The other team, led by Yue Fei and Han Shizhong, acted swiftly and without hesitation, passing directly through the puppet Qi camp and heading towards Daming Prefecture in the northeast.

(End of this chapter)