Chapter 37 The Battle Decisive at Water

"County Commandant, the Mongol army has sent more troops to attack the mountain from the west! What do we do?"

Xiong Shan led his men to kill the squad of Mongol soldiers who had come up the mountain to scout. Returning to the summit, he was somewhat disheartened by the situation.

The plan to ambush the Mongol army on the narrow path had failed. While throwing rocks from the high ground could injure some of the Mongol soldiers, it wouldn't secure victory.

At this moment, three hundred Mongol soldiers and two hundred auxiliary troops were attacking the mountain, while the Xunjian (River Patrol) troops on the summit numbered only one hundred.

Li Xia was still staring at the foot of the mountain, muttering to himself as if calculating something.

"Two hundred Mongol soldiers, one hundred Dali soldiers... nearly a hundred trackers... two hundred captured soldiers on the shore... How many captured soldiers are on the boats?"

"County Commandant?"

"Don't rush." Li Xia said, "Continue defending the mountain."

Not far away, Mao Yier led a squad to load a basket with stones, shouting an order.

"Release the catapult!"

The seven squads in front pulled with all their might, and the falling rocks smashed down the mountain.

"Quick, keep loading stones!"

Mao Yier was still shouting when suddenly someone grabbed him by the collar.

Yang Ben raised his hand and pointed to the west, roaring, "Squad Leader, didn't you see? The Mongol army is flanking around the mountain!"

"Why are you asking me? We're loading stones."

"If we don't stop them, we'll be surrounded, or the Mongol army will bypass us and reach the county seat!"

Mao Yier didn't understand, shrugged off Yang Ben's hand, and shouted, "Just follow orders! Load the stones and smash them!"

"I'm going to take men to stop them..."

Yang Ben was cut off mid-sentence when Xiong Shan rushed up and kicked him.

"Fill the catapult with stones, now!"

"This isn't how you fight a battle!" Yang Ben, having taken a kick, felt his anger rise, his face flushed red. He forcibly suppressed it, shouting, "Can't you see?! The Mongol army is surrounding us!"

"Shut up, all of you!" Li Xia suddenly shouted, "Adjust the aim of the catapult! Smash the two hundred Mongol soldiers at the foot of the mountain who are holding the line."

He raised his hand and pointed, pointing directly at the ranks of the Mongol army's deputy chiliarch, Nige.

"County Commandant, but the Mongol army is still attacking the mountain..."

"Never mind them, smash their rearguard!"

Yang Ben glanced towards the Fujiang River in the east and was the quickest to react. He suddenly roared, "Right, load the stones, adjust the aim, smash them!"

~~

Nige raised his head and saw a large rock smashing towards him.

"Damn it."

He cursed and ordered his troops to scatter.

He couldn't understand how this Song general was commanding. The summit was about to be captured. Instead of escaping or blocking, what was the use of smashing rocks over here?

Suddenly, someone shouted, "Boats! They have boats!"

"Boats?" Nige was stunned. "Qingfu County has a navy?"

"Boom!" The falling rock smashed into the ranks of the Mongol army...

Nige didn't look to see if anyone had been hit. His gaze turned to the Fujiang River, where he saw Song army boats sailing down the river at great speed.

"Not just boats, look..."

Looking more closely, he saw many logs in front of the Song army boats, being carried by the swift river, crashing into his three ships with a thunderous roar.

"Quick, fire arrows!" Nige roared.

With a "bang," the logs had already crashed into them...

~~

On the mountaintop, Li Xia scanned the mountainside. He saw that the Mongol army and Dali auxiliary troops climbing up the mountain were still attacking, numbering five hundred men in total.

This was what he had attracted by occupying the high ground, using one hundred men to attract five hundred.

But today, the decisive factor in this small battle was not here.

It was in the navy.

Li Xia had been thinking, what was the difference between himself and Zhang Shi when it came to facing the Mongol army outside the city... The most crucial point was that Zhang Shi was attacking upstream, while he was downstream.

The momentum of upstream versus downstream was as different as heaven and earth.

~~

"Bang!"

As the logs crashed into the three Mongol army boats, a large boat from Qingfu County sailed down the river.

Bao San stood at the bow, directing the ship, personally waving the signal flags.

"Drop anchor!"

The large boat threw out its anchor, hooking onto the rocks and trees on the eastern bank, stopping firmly in the middle of the river.

"Fire arrows!" Bao San roared again.

A rain of arrows fell upon the Mongol army's ranks. At the same time, the Mongol army was also firing arrows at the boats.

The Mongol army had to defend against falling rocks; the Song army, on the other hand, hid on the boats, using the cover of the deck and shields, and had more arrows. In the exchange of fire, they were not at a disadvantage.

Amidst the screams, the first to scatter were the trackers.

"Run! Run..."

The three Mongol army boats had no time to drop anchor and had been hit by the logs. Having lost the trackers pulling the ropes, they immediately began to drift downstream.

"Fire arrows!" Bao San ordered, while also shouting, "Captured brothers! Turn against them! Turn against them!"

While the Song soldiers fired arrows, they shouted, "Turn against them..."

At the same time, eight more small boats sailed down the river, chasing after the Mongol army boats being swept down the Fujiang River.

These small boats were led by Jiang Fan, who stood at the bow of one of the boats, staring intently ahead.

Behind him, the Xunjian (River Patrol) troops were still shouting.

"Captured brothers! Turn against them!"

……

On a Mongol army boat, a prisoner named Yu Tian was still operating the oars under the coercion of the Mongol soldiers, trying to stabilize the boat. He suddenly turned his head and glanced around.

In the hold of the ship, sacks of grain were stained with blood, and the captured women were ragged and huddled to one side.

Yu Tian glanced again, seeing that there were twenty Mongol soldiers on the boat and more than a hundred sailors operating the oars.

Farther away, Nige's two hundred Mongol soldiers on horseback were getting farther and farther away.

Suddenly, with a "thud," a grappling hook was thrown from a Qingfu navy boat and caught onto the boat.

A Mongol soldier put down his bow and arrow, drew his scimitar, and stepped forward to cut the rope.

Yu Tian suddenly stood up, grabbed a wooden oar, and smashed it down.

"Brothers! Turn against them!"

"Kill!"

The shouts of killing rang out, and Jiang Fan's spirits lifted. He ordered his Xunjian (River Patrol) troops to pull hard.

"One, two!" Xu Kui roared the cadence, leading his squad to pull the small boat towards the boat captured by the Mongol army.

"Charge!" Jiang Fan took the lead, waving the grappling hook in his hand, the first to climb onto the boat...

~~

Nige frowned, already sensing that things were not going well.

By this point in the battle, he had not lost many of his *Tamma*, but he had fallen into a strategic disadvantage.

He had sent three hundred Mongol soldiers up the mountain, leaving only two hundred men on the line to guard the four hundred Song prisoners.

Once these Song soldiers turned against them and routed the Dali auxiliary troops, it would disrupt his battle line.

The next moment, he saw another large boat sailing down the river from upstream, docking below Balou Mountain. Two hundred Song soldiers leaped off the boat and flanked them...

~~

"Kill!"

Liu Jin Suo and Lou Hu arrived at the battlefield by boat and quickly landed on the small path between the Fujiang River and Balou Mountain, drawing their sabers and charging out.

Their target, however, was not the Mongol army, but the two hundred prisoners at the foot of the mountain.

Soon, the two hundred prisoners collapsed in a rout, leading to the defeat of the Dali auxiliary troops...

~~

"Boom!" Another large rock fell from the summit of Balou Mountain, smashing into Nige's ranks.

As Nige had anticipated, the battle had turned into a disadvantage, and it was happening even faster than he had expected.

The Song army had the advantage of the downstream current, and their reinforcements were arriving too quickly.

The Mongol army was under attack from falling rocks; the boats on the river were constantly attacking with arrows; the prisoners on the two large boats had been turned against them; the Song soldiers had already outflanked them; the Dali auxiliary troops had been routed...

Nige decisively ordered a retreat to the west.

He had not been defeated, but planned to use his usual tactics, luring the Song soldiers to the open area to the west, and then using the advantage of his cavalry to encircle them.

The two hundred-man teams of Gaerdi and Tumen Baoyin, who were climbing along the west side of Balou Mountain, had already heard the horn.

They looked back, understanding Nige's order.

"Encircle the pursuing Song army."

Gaerdi and Tumen Baoyin gave their orders.

"Quick! Turn back down the mountain and encircle them!"

~~

On the summit of Balou Mountain, Li Xia surveyed the battlefield and quickly ordered, "Inform Liu Jin Suo down the mountain, it is enough to scatter the Dali auxiliary troops. Don't be greedy for merit. We will eliminate one hundred-man team first."

"Yes!"

The battle flags waved...

The Song army did not pursue the Mongol army's main force, letting the Dali auxiliary troops run all over the mountains and plains. Instead, they turned and encircled the one hundred-man team of Xiri on the mountainside.

In this battle, Li Xia not only wanted to defend the county seat, but also did not want to swallow the entire Mongol army in one bite.

He was slowly learning to command, learning to use the terrain and the current of the river to divide and encircle the enemy. He would be satisfied with eliminating a small one hundred-man team.

More importantly, he could allow his soldiers to grow rapidly in these small victories.