CHAPTER 335: CHAPTER 28: SONG-JIN WAR

As the banquet came to a close, the sky had grown darker.

Losa exchanged a few more pleasantries with an Imperial noble before finally leaving the resplendent Golden Hall.

He let out a long sigh, thinking to himself that being an Emperor was not an easy job, unless one was a foolish ruler, the kind that leads to the downfall of a nation, then that’s truly living comfortably.

"Let’s head back."

Losa casually patted Furinjira’s small head. It had been quite some time since he last did that, and today it felt particularly good: "Furin performed well today, worthy of praise."

"Hmph, nothing practical comes with it."

Jeanne rolled her eyes, suggesting that not having killed everyone in the audience was considered good performance, right?: "Master, if you really want to praise Furin, you should say ’a good head feels nice to pat.’

Furin dared not voice her anger. After a moment’s thought, she turned to Chelina beside her: "Nina!"

"Huh?"

Chelina seemed a bit lost, blankly blinking her big eyes.

Losa and Prajna exchanged a knowing smile.

He was certain that this kind of life was exactly what he wanted.

Back at Anna’s estate, just as Losa was about to wash up briefly, Jeanne, who had returned from camp, pulled him aside to ask seriously: "Master, I’m planning to attempt a battle record tonight, what do you think?"

The battle record was an item used to enhance elite status in the system, and Losa had previously drawn one and given it to Jeanne directly.

Jeanne had now reached level sixty, twenty levels away from the maximum level, needing at least several thousand Suludes gold coins more, so Losa always thought it was still early for her to use the battle record.

Surprised, Losa said: "Are you confident enough to defeat Wanyan Zongbi, who commands an army of five thousand?"

Currently, under his command, the troops totaled as follows: one hundred veteran soldiers from the Eagle Banner Brigade, and one hundred from the Varangian Guard (Count’s Guard), over twenty heavy cavalry archers, and over twenty woodland archers.

Approximately four hundred knights from the Teutonic Order and Saint Lazarus Order.

One hundred and twenty-five winged cavalry and over a hundred Imperial Knights.

Over five hundred farmer soldiers from the Black Eagle Banner Team.

Plus nine hundred newly expanded recruits, including three hundred light infantry, one hundred light cavalry, and five hundred heavy infantry.

The regular army totals more than two thousand men.

Among them, the most combat-worthy, considered elite warriors, make up about a third, for example, over half of the four hundred monastic knights are attendants.

Additionally, if considering town militias and local security detachments, there could potentially be nearly a thousand more, but these soldiers would most likely not be counted as Losa’s troops.

As for the troops of the vassals under his command, Losa was certain they would not be counted as his soldiers either.

Thanks to the Recruit Training Camp, a system-produced building, the speed of new recruit training greatly increased, but even at full pace, only about a month’s training had occurred, and they had not yet been tested in actual combat, so they obviously couldn’t be called real warriors.

During the time of Jin Wushu, when the Jin Kingdom was newly established, it should have been at its peak fighting power, and neither the Qidan Liao Dynasty nor the Song Dynasty could rival it.

Under Wanyan Zongbi’s command, the Iron Pagoda cavalry was one of the world’s top armored shock cavalry of the time. Legend has it that the Iron Pagoda cavalry would connect with iron chains to advance "like a wall."

But after Losa truly came to command the military, he figured this must have been a fabrication by pedantic scholars who found it hard to believe that cavalry could be so orderly.

After all, a bunch of pedantic Song Dynasty scholars often just made empty discussions from outdated battle diagrams, what did they know about armored cavalry?

They imagined even chaining the Iron Pagoda cavalry’s steeds together; how would they have any mobility left?

If one fell, would the rest of the Iron Pagoda cavalry drag the dead horse along the ground?

Besides the Iron Pagoda, under Wanyan Zongbi’s command, there should also be lighter cavalry like the Guizi Ma, varying in degree of armor, and usually deployed on the sides of the main formation for flanking attacks.

All in all, these two types of cavalry would likely make up the main components of Wanyan Zongbi’s "five-thousand strong army," and Losa did not expect that this time’s battle record would specifically make Wanyan Zongbi lead a group of Bohai, Xi, Qidan, and Han people into battle.

In other words, our soldiers aren’t as elite as theirs, nor are there as many.

If the Jin Wushu in this Yesterday’s Giant Ship World also possesses extraordinary power, Jeanne’s chances of winning are indeed very slim.

Losa thought for a moment, then unfolded his brows: "But trying it wouldn’t hurt, after all, there are three attempts."

"I think this might not just be my affair," Jeanne hesitated and then added: "Do you remember the previous simulated battle? It felt like an incredibly realistic dream, so I suspect this time, there’s a high probability we’ll all be in it together."

Losa was momentarily dazed.

"No, if what you say is true, then I’m afraid it’s not just us together, but everyone together."

Thinking this, Losa frowned again, wondering what would happen if Jeanne chose to activate combat records and some soldiers under his command hadn’t slept?

"Anyway, try it tonight first."

Losa said this.

"Alright."

Jeanne smiled and said, "If everyone really comes together, then for those new recruits, it also counts as a rare real combat experience."

...

"Indeed..."

Losa carefully observed his surroundings. With his current strength of spiritual power, he naturally did not need to pinch his thigh to test whether he was in a dream.

"Old man, what year and month is it?"

The old man was startled by Losa, who was fully armored, "General," he replied, "it is currently the Jingkang era."

"Where have the Jurchen reached?"

You, a Hu person, dare to mention the word "Jurchen."

The old man thought inwardly, but dared not show any disrespect. In this chaotic time, no one dared provoke this armed man, even if he were only a thief and soldier, a friendly smile was necessary.

Not to mention this Hu person’s clothing was splendid, clearly at least a captain or high-ranking military marquis.

"This old man doesn’t know, just heard that several days ago the city of Cai State was breached, and that Liu Taiwei and his troops fled faster than anyone, probably already crossed the Huai River."

"Having reached this point, surely it is the time when the two Emperors Huizong and Qinzong were taken north, and Zhao Ji is enthroned. At such a moment, it’s an earth-shattering situation, the Song people’s morale has been crushed by the Jurchen, so relying on ’allied forces’ is extremely unlikely."

Losa murmured to himself.

The most important thing now is to join Jeanne and his army.

They have just appeared here, not yet established,

"Oh, I forgot to ask, old man, where is this place?"

"Shouzhou, just south of here is Xiaocai, where you can take a ferry to cross the river."

Losa smiled and drew a cross in front of himself, but then realized he was wrong and bowed: "Thank you, old man."

He felt around the place where the money bag was kept. Unfortunately, with him entering the dream were only these armors, perhaps food supplies were with the army, but the money bag was not left on him.

The old man paid no attention to Losa’s awkwardness, seeing this Hu person not only speaking fluent Chinese but also being polite, he slightly relaxed: "No need to be polite, General, quickly cross the river."

Losa nodded and was about to leave when suddenly he heard the urgent sound of horse hooves behind him.

At this moment, the morning mist was slight.

Amidst the mist, the silhouettes of more than ten cavalry flashed past, as they approached, most wore Emei helmets and were clad in Zha armor, with their mounts’ front half also covered with simple Zha armor.

Charging out of the fog, they immediately saw a "Hu cavalry" riding a tall horse here. Several whistles sounded, and more than ten cavalry began to disperse, surrounding Losa.

Losa snorted softly: "Old man, you run quickly, let me deal with these Jin dogs."

The old man didn’t hesitate, responded casually, and hurriedly ran away, though his age caused his legs to shake, making it hard to run fast.

Losa sat upright on the horse, and casually put a golden mask on his face.

These are likely Jin cavalry, and very clever too, seeing Losa’s outfitted figure, they knew his armor was fierce, and began wielding heavy weapons like iron hammers and wolf fang clubs towards Losa.

Losa wielded the armored lance, lightly squeezed the horse’s belly, and charged towards the more than ten cavalry.

This armored lance was powerful, in the past, he wouldn’t have been able to wield it more than a few times before exhausting his strength.

But now his power and physical strength have vastly improved, even without using the Bloodfall technique that overextends strength, he could wield it freely for a short time, knocking a Jin cavalry off his horse and breaking his bones with one blow.

Nearby, another cavalry heard the whistling wind by his ears, and suddenly his vision went dark, his head being hammered directly by Losa’s iron spear, causing blood to burst from his seven orifices, and falling off his horse dead.

The more than ten cavalry initially wanted to allocate a few to kill escaping civilians, seeing this fierce Hu cavalry, they immediately dispersed, taking bows from the saddles to circle at a distance.

Someone else blew a horn, intending to harass with cavalry bows, delaying Losa, and calling for reinforcements.

Their riding bows couldn’t harm Losa’s Dragon Scale Armor, even if hitting his face, the "indestructible" golden mask only transmitted slight vibrations.