While he was comfortably resting in bed, Wanyan Loushi was far from enjoying such ease.
Despite the distance between the two sides being less than thirty li, the Song army suddenly halted, showing no intention of attacking.
After a full two days and nights, Wanyan Loushi finally made up his mind and dispatched ten thousand cavalry towards Zhe Kucun's flank.
Of course, Wanyan Loushi made no attempt to conceal his intentions during this maneuver.
His original assumption was that after he divided his forces, Zhe Kucun would either adjust his formation and divide his troops as well, or Zhe Kucun would lead his men to attack Yucheng directly.
Either of these scenarios would have been beneficial to Wanyan Loushi. After all, his soldiers were almost all cavalry; the more scattered the Song forces became, the greater their chances of victory.
However, what he did not expect was that as soon as he began to reposition his troops, Zhe Kucun actually turned his soldiers around and headed southeast towards Nanbei Pass.
Upon hearing this news, Wanyan Loushi was utterly dismayed. Wasn't this man here to rescue Taiyuan City?
The two sides had not even met, and this man turned around and retreated. This left Wanyan Loushi completely bewildered.
“Marshal, should we continue the pursuit?”
Seeing Wanyan Loushi’s face, as dark as the bottom of a pot, several Jurchen generals nearby asked in hushed tones.
“Pursue what? How can we pursue?”
Looking at the towering mountains on the sand table before him, Wanyan Loushi’s mind began to curse Zhe Kucun’s ancestors for eighteen generations.
What kind of warfare was this?
The moment he showed a murderous intent, the other side immediately turned and fled!
And the route they took was entirely on rough, winding mountain paths!
If he dared to send his cavalry to pursue, he feared his precious cavalry would be pushed off the mountain slopes before they even saw a shadow of the enemy!
“But he has already left, so what about us…”
“Yes, General, this battle was fought too disgracefully. Give me five thousand cavalry, and I will chase him down and rip Zhe Kucun’s head off for you!”
While Wanyan Loushi could endure this humiliation, his generals could not.
It must be understood that Jurchen soldiers were different from Liao and Song soldiers; they did not have fixed salaries.
If they could not capture enemy cities and behead enemy generals, the wealth and rewards they could obtain were pitifully small.
Therefore, under any circumstances, they always maintained a high degree of enthusiasm for war.
“All of you, shut up, and send out the scouts! I don’t believe this man won’t come back!”
After taking several deep breaths, Wanyan Loushi finally made up his mind.
Taiyuan City was experiencing daily casualties at this time. He refused to believe that Zhe Kucun could truly stand by and watch from afar.
“Yes!”
Regardless of whether the generals below were willing to listen to him, they could only temporarily step aside.
An hour passed, and the outside of the tent remained silent.
Two hours passed, and there was still no sound outside the tent.
A full half-day went by, and there was still no news of the Song army returning…
At this point, Wanyan Loushi was completely stunned. What in the world was going on? Did this old fellow travel all this way just to show his presence at Taiyuan City?
It wasn’t until midnight, as he heard the drumbeats from the city, that Wanyan Loushi, who had been throwing tantrums in the camp all day, finally erupted.
“What did you say? Gone? What do you mean gone? Are you all blind? Are you all deaf? How could I have raised such fools!”
Upon hearing this news, Wanyan Loushi felt like killing someone!
This was not one sheep or two sheep; this was a total of thirty thousand men. How could they suddenly disappear?
“Reporting to the General, it was fine before dark. But as soon as it got dark, they went crazy, searching for scouts all over the mountains and plains. Our men had no choice but to retreat to the outer perimeter. When we went back…”
As the scouts spoke, they themselves looked wronged.
“Bastards! Hurry up and go find them! Twenty thousand men, a whole twenty thousand men!”
If it were not for the fact that he was in dire need of manpower at this moment, and these were all Jurchen soldiers, Wanyan Loushi would have wanted to chop them down with a single stroke.
“Yes!”
The few soldiers who had narrowly escaped death, after hearing his words, fled the tent as if granted a great amnesty.
The entire night, Jin scouts frantically moved towards the direction of Nanbei Pass, attempting to find the Song army.
However, even though they worked until noon the next day, they still could not find any trace of Zhe Kucun and his men.
Just as Wanyan Loushi was in a furious rage, even more infuriating news arrived.
“Reporting to the General, at midnight last night, a group of Song troops launched a surprise attack on Shiling Pass, killing over a thousand defending soldiers. All the supplies stored below Shiling Pass were burned by them…”
“What did you say? A surprise attack on Shiling Pass? Where did these Song troops come from? Zhe Kucun’s army was in Yucheng yesterday afternoon, how could anyone have launched a surprise attack on Shiling Pass? Were the guards at Shiling Pass all fools!”
The news of Shiling Pass falling drove Wanyan Loushi completely mad.
Shiling Pass was the gateway to Taiyuan, a strategic location that was difficult to attack but easy to defend. Their capture of Shiling Pass was purely due to luck.
After inspecting the terrain of Shiling Pass, even Wanyan Zonghan had felt a chill down his spine.
If the Song soldiers defending the pass at the time had been even slightly more elite, it would have been a pipe dream to capture Shiling Pass without losing tens of thousands of lives.
It was precisely because of the strategic importance of this location that Wanyan Loushi had stored all the treasures they had plundered near Taiyuan at Shiling Pass, and had also stationed three thousand Jurchen soldiers to guard it.
But now, all the wealth they had painstakingly plundered had been burned to ashes!
What made him even more frustrated was that, at this moment, he didn’t even know who had caused him such great losses.
No matter what, they were currently on Song territory, and were besieging a vital town in Hedong.
If their retreat route were to be cut off at a critical juncture, it would not be a joke.
Thinking of this, how could he possibly have the time to haggle with Zhe Kucun anymore?