Chapter 149 – Battle of Huanglong Prefecture
Section 3 — Encircle the Point, Strike the Reinforcements (圍點打援)
To encircle a key stronghold (the "point") and strike the reinforcements that come to relieve it.
Rather than attacking the objective directly, the strategy isolates it, draws in enemy support forces, and destroys them to weaken the whole.
They did not attack the fortress.
Instead, they severed the roads.
They killed those who came to help.
The words were brief.
They needed no interpretation.
That very day, the Jin army scattered.
Some rode north.
Others moved along the river.
Others vanished into the forest.
The formation spread wide.
Its center dissolved.
From the outside, it looked like a broken army.
But within, it remained one.
The moment they stood upon the road,
they were all fighting the same war.
The first thing to be cut off was the messengers.
A single rider who left Huanglong did not return after three days.
Another who followed him never returned either.
Inside the city, they assumed delay.
Outside, it was already over.
The forest was deep.
The road was narrow.
Where horses had to pass in single file,
arrows came first.
A short sound—
and then nothing.
Bodies were not left on the road.
They were dragged away without a trace.
Even the fact that it had happened
was erased.
The road remained open.
That was what made it deadly.
Next to vanish were the merchants.
Carts disappeared.
Cargo disappeared.
People disappeared.
When days passed without return,
people blamed the road.
The rain must have delayed them.
The river must have flooded.
There were many reasons.
So no one doubted.
But the road already belonged to Jin.
Wanyan Nushil rode the roads himself.
He did not wage large battles.
He divided his forces.
Then divided them again.
Ten men.
Twenty.
At most fifty.
They were never seen.
If seen, it was already too late.
This was a war that ended
before it could be seen.
"Cut them here."
He raised his hand—not over a map,
but over the ground itself.
Forest ahead.
A gorge behind.
No way out to the sides.
"Let none pass."
The order was simple.
Days later,
the vanguard of the Liao relief force entered that road.
Cavalry in front.
Spearmen and archers behind.
A long column, with carts trailing.
Not a small force.
The road was level.
Low forest stretched to both sides.
Nothing moved in the distance.
Nothing ahead.
Nothing behind.
So they did not slow.
Then—
Dust rose slowly on the road ahead.
Not wind.
Men.
Soldiers in silver armor stood blocking the path.
They did not move.
Spears held.
Shields set.
Goryeo soldiers.
The lead rider pulled his reins.
The horse reared and stopped.
"Hold!"
The column rippled and wavered behind him.
The Liao commander narrowed his eyes.
They were few.
Only a thin line.
Something that could be broken through.
He lowered his hand.
"Push through!"
The order was short.
The cavalry charged.
Youngwoo shouted:
"Caltrops!"
Hundreds were thrown forward.
Again and again.
The ground before the Goryeo line became a field of spikes.
"Raise spears (擧槍)!"
"Raise!" "Raise!" "Raise!"
Long spears angled upward.
Anyone charging would be impaled.
Horse or man—no difference.
"Shields!"
Shields rose.
"Shields!" "Shields!"
A solid wall formed—
like the shell of a turtle.
The Goryeo line did not retreat a single step.
Spears thrust between shields.
Grounded pikes lifted into killing angles.
Charging horses were pierced through the chest.
They twisted.
Riders were thrown into the air.
Metal screamed against metal.
The line held.
Beneath them, caltrops shattered footing.
Horses leapt, stumbled, threw their riders.
"Archers—release!"
Arrows rained down.
Not scattered—
focused.
Controlled volleys,
fired in perfect unison.
They fell like a storm
on a single point.
But that was only the beginning.
The forest to the left trembled.
It had been empty moments before.
Then arrows burst from within.
No time to react.
No time to raise shields.
They struck fast and close—
without pause.
Through necks, backs, faces.
Screams tore through the air.
On the right, the forest split open.
Jurchen cavalry surged out.
Low in the saddle,
speed unbroken.
Spears drove into flanks.
Blades cut throats.
The Liao formation collapsed.
Front blocked by Goryeo.
Flanks torn apart by Jurchen riders.
A voice screamed from behind:
"Retreat! Fall back!"
Too late.
The road behind was narrow.
Horses collided.
Carts blocked the way.
Then arrows came from behind.
And Jurchen cavalry sealed it shut.
Completely.
The Liao soldiers lost all direction.
Spears ahead.
Blades at their sides.
Arrows behind.
The unseen enemy
outnumbered the seen.
The Goryeo line held firm.
Heavy.
Steady.
Step by step,
it held the road.
Between them, Jurchen cavalry cut through.
Strike.
Cut.
Pass.
Never returning.
Only ruin remained.
The battle was short.
Orders broke.
Formations shattered.
Men scattered.
No one knew where the fight was anymore.
Only sound remained.
A brief scream.
The snap of metal.
The end of breath.
That was enough.
When it ended,
no one stood on the road.
Horses lay fallen.
Spears stuck in earth.
Blood soaked into the ground.
But it did not remain long.
Jurchen soldiers moved swiftly.
Bodies removed.
Traces erased.
The road reopened.
As if nothing had happened.
The next day, sunlight filled the road.
Wind moved. Grass swayed.
It was quiet.
Too quiet.
And from that day on,
no army ever reached Huanglong by that road.
The next day was the same.
Sunlight.
Wind.
Grass.
As if nothing had ever happened.
What surrounded the fortress
was not an army.
It was an unseen hand.
A hand that seized roads,
time,
and erased men one by one.
That was
Encircle the Point, Strike the Reinforcements.
After that, many tribal forces attempted to reinforce Huanglong.
None arrived.
The roads were completely controlled.
Perfect traps laid.
Enemies were eliminated swiftly.
Not just before the fortress—
but hundreds of li away.
Reinforcements were cut off before they could gather.
They came again.
And were destroyed
before they could even assemble.