Thirty-three sighs of fir

  Han Jiuer's destination was the private residence of the Han family in the capital, her great-grandfather Han Qigui was a prime minister for three dynasties, and he had acquired many properties in Kaifeng Prefecture. The mansion given to the eldest grandson Han Zhiyi was his official residence when he served as an official in the capital.

  Four people came to the front, still visible was the luxurious and majestic Prime Minister's mansion of that day. The courtyard walls were high and imposing, with four layers of flying eaves and five colors of decorations, shining as if new. The large bird-headed gate stood towering, but the vermilion door was tightly closed, and there was no sound of people inside the courtyard.

  Han Jiuer's face was filled with surprise and uncertainty, she stepped forward to knock on the door ring, waited for half a day, before footsteps came from inside, the big gate creaked open, an unfamiliar old servant came out, but recognized Han Jiuer, hurriedly bowed his head in respect: "So it's Ninth Miss, please come in quickly!"

  Four people entered the gate, but saw that except for the old servant couple, there was no one else in the mansion. After asking, they learned that after Han Jiu'er's father and brother arrived in the capital, they had not yet settled down, and then received the news of the Taishang Emperor's escape to the southeast. Han Xiaoqu, who had been holding an idle post since he was removed from his position as the governor of Xiangzhou, knew that following the old emperor would be the safest, so he also led his family to follow him.

  The three brothers looked at each other, and it was clear that they couldn't escort Ninth Sister to the southeast again. Han Jiuer smiled understandingly and said, "Three brothers, don't worry, we have our own place in the capital, please send my little sister on her way."

  Han Jiuer's destination was her aunt's house. This aunt, named Zheng Yi Nian, was the Secretary Supervisor in charge of ancient and modern maps, national historical records, astronomy, and calendar calculations. Although his position was not significant, he was a small but indispensable official. Zheng Yi Nian became the son-in-law of the Han family with some background, as his father, Zheng Ju Zhong, had been the Prime Minister of Emperor Daojun. He was also from an official family. This aunt always doted on her young niece, and whenever Han Jiuer came to the capital, she would send someone to pick her up and have her stay at their residence for a few days.

  The Zheng Mansion was a large compound that had been home to several generations, although it wasn't as grand as the Han Mansion in the same city. Nevertheless, it had once served as the residence of a prime minister and stood out among the surrounding common dwellings. Two neat and tidy young servants stood at the entrance, while inside the mansion was filled with the sound of voices, at least more lively than the Han Mansion.

  When the three brothers arrived with Han Jiu'er, a four-person warm sedan chair happened to land at the door. A slender and tall scholar who followed him jumped off his horse, carefully lifted the curtain of the sedan chair, and walked out a beautiful woman wrapped in a purple fragrance fox fur coat.

  "Long life to the king's aunt, Wan Fu!" Han Jiu'er recognized this woman as soon as she saw her and stepped forward with a polite bow, but then forgot about her current appearance, looking quite out of place.

  "You're... Little Jiuer!" The woman stopped in her tracks, hesitated for a moment, and then recognized the disguised Han Jiuer, shouting out in surprise with exceptionally good eyesight.

  "Uncle-in-law, good fortune!" Han Jiuer bowed again to that pale-faced and slender-bearded scholar.

  "Miss Jiugu, long time no see, why are you dressed like this?" Wen Shi's face showed surprise, but his demeanor remained gentle and elegant.

  "It's a long story, let's talk about it later when we get to the mansion." Han Jiu'er sighed softly and turned to introduce the three brothers, "Three brothers, this is Qin Hui, the Academician of the Imperial Academy!"

  The Imperial Academy was the highest institution of learning in ancient China, reaching its peak during the Song Dynasty. Students at the Imperial Academy were considered to be future pillars of the state, and the Director of the Imperial Academy was the official responsible for managing these students.

  "The men and women have met Qin Xuezheng!" The Song people originally revered scholars, let alone being the cousin of Han Jiu'er. The three brothers stood up respectfully, with the courtesy of soldiers seeing officials, they clasped their hands in salute.

  "My husband is no longer Qin Xuezheng, he has been reassigned as a Palace Censor." The woman chimed in with a few words, her delighted expression suggesting that she wished the whole world to know.

  "Alright, alright..." The scholar obviously didn't want to argue with the three rough men, so he turned around and walked towards the Zheng's mansion gate, holding his head high and his chest out, with a somewhat proud demeanor.

  Cypress, straight trunk, evergreen year after year. The ancients often referred to cypress and pine together, symbolizing the integrity and uprightness of human character. Therefore, being named "cypress" is a compliment. The imperial censor in the palace, though not high in rank, has great responsibility, responsible for inspecting the etiquette of officials during the emperor's court sessions, impeaching those who violate etiquette. As a result, many who hold this position are straightforward and upright scholars. This official Qin Hui, his name is as good as his title, but is he as good as his name?

  Xiao Wu naturally understood the importance of the Temple's Servant Historian, and respectfully sent off Qin Hui's back, but never dreamed that this seemingly noble scholar would one day entwine his own life like a poisonous snake.

  Strictly speaking, Han Jiu'er and Qin Hui are not truly relatives, only because Zheng Yi Nian's mother is the aunt of Wang Shi, Qin Hui's wife. Zheng Yi Nian and his wife had to call Wang Shi "cousin", so Han Jiu'er followed her aunt and called Wang Shi "aunt". Since both of them were close to their aunts, they often met at the Zheng residence and became familiar with each other.

  Qin Hui was promoted to the position of Gentleman of the Imperial Secretariat just a few days ago. After the new emperor decided not to follow the retired emperor south due to Li Gang's strong opposition, the court officials were still arguing over whether to fight or make peace with the Jin people. Qin Hui took advantage of this opportunity to submit a memorial, strongly advocating for resistance against the Jin, and thus gained recognition from the pro-war ministers, and was promoted to the position of Remonstrance Official in the Imperial Secretariat. Another model of "times create heroes", but this "model" would later undergo changes that no one could have anticipated.

  "Jiuniang, Feishang still has official business to attend to, we'll take our leave here." Xiaowu's eyes followed her until she reached the edge of the land, and as they were about to part ways, a hint of reluctance finally appeared in his eyes.

  "Brother, won't you rest in the mansion for a bit?" Han Jiu'er also revealed her true feelings at this moment, but immediately restrained herself, remembering Xiao Wu's personality, and didn't insist on staying. She bid farewell properly, "Yue Wuge, Zhang Siguo, Xu Erguo, thank you for your trouble on the way, we'll meet again!"

  Walking on the chaotic streets of Beijing, Xiao Wu was oblivious to the people passing by... After sending Han Jiu'er to a safe place, he felt as if he had shed a thousand pounds of weight, but also felt empty and hollow. He thought of her words "we will meet again", which only he could hear was not just a polite phrase, but her declaration to him! Such a weak woman with no strength to truss a chicken, the thousands of mountains and rivers, the thousands of difficulties and dangers in this world, seemed to be unable to stop her determination to see him, as long as she wanted to, as long as she thought of seeing him! And he, could not refuse, nor could he give her even a hint of promise... Xiao Wu was lost in thought, his expression dazed, and he even committed the taboo of a warrior, which is to never relax one's vigilance, without realizing it.

  "The Tartars are attacking the city! The Tartars are attacking the city......" A sudden commotion in his ear brought Xiao Wu back to reality from his trance-like state. He looked around and saw that all the soldiers and civilians on the street were running in one direction, with the soldiers waving their swords and spears, and the civilians holding clubs, kitchen knives and other weapons, their faces filled with excitement and a sense of shared purpose, which made Xiao Wu's heart skip a beat.

  "Brother, let's go together! Let's go together!" Zhang Xian and Xu Qing were also excited, clenching their fists and rubbing their palms.

  "It's time to kill the enemy!" Xiaowu instantly shifted his tender and lingering feelings of love and family to the great righteousness of national survival, and the three brothers shouted in unison, merging into the tide of resistance against the Jin.

  On the eighth day of the first month, the main force of the Jin Donglu army led by Wanyan Zongbi arrived at the foot of Kaifeng City and launched a large-scale attack on the city. If last night's water attack by Zongbi was just a small lotus bud showing its tip, today's Jin army was like a mighty wave crashing down to earth, letting the Song people truly experience the tenacity and bravery of the Jurchen people.

  "Yes, it was a sunny day, the wind in Kaifeng was salty..." This is the memory of a Song soldier who participated in the Battle of Kaifeng many years ago. The name of this Song soldier was Yelü Lǘ Fèn, with "Lǘ" meaning donkey and "Fèn" meaning dung.

  That day, the wind in the capital of the Great Song was salty because it mixed with too much bloody smell, and also because the blood nature that the Song people had been holding back since the Han and Tang dynasties was stimulated for the first time, and the stimulator was a civil official weak scholar - Li Gang.

  At noon, the scorching sun was overhead, and the cold wind was biting. The Golden Army with more than 10,000 soldiers launched a fierce attack on the Suanzaomen and Fengqiu Gate of Kaifeng.

  Li Gang, who was reporting the battle situation to the Emperor in the great hall, heard the two urgent reports and immediately asked to be excused. He ordered a commander of the Imperial Guard to lead 1,000 soldiers to reinforce Fengqiu Gate and himself led another 1,000 Imperial Guardsmen to rush to Suanzao Gate. At that time, the vanguard of the Jin army had already used cloud ladders to cross the moat and was deploying to climb the city walls, while their reinforcements were arriving continuously, and the outer city gates of Bianjing were in a precarious situation. Fortunately, Li Gang's 1,000 relief troops arrived just in time and repelled the first wave of the Jin army's attack.

  The Song army on the city wall thought they could catch their breath, but unexpectedly, the Jin army was able to fight to the extreme. In one round, the defeated troops did not retreat in disarray, but instead quickly regrouped, reorganized their formation, and almost without stopping, launched another attack on the city, and what's more, it was carried out with everyone wearing heavy armor. Such a tenacious fighting method and tough combat power had never been seen before.

  Jin Jun's tactics have a name, "Advancing and retreating in sequence", relying on the strong physique of the Jurchen people trained in the harsh environment of ice and snow. If it were to engage in cavalry battles, even if it were to charge continuously for hundreds of rounds, it would not be a problem. No wonder the Liao army's iron cavalry, which had once defeated the Song army so badly that they fell like flowers flowing water, was no match for them either.

  Fortunately, the city walls of the Song Dynasty's capital were strong enough. The Song army was mainly infantry, with cavalry as auxiliary, and its tactics were to defend against attack, relying on cities to resist the iron cavalry of the northern tribes. The Song people built cities according to ancient methods, with city walls, city gates, moats, battlements, bell towers, drum towers, and watchtowers... Kaifeng was divided into three parts from inside to outside: the Imperial City, the Inner City, and the Outer City. The outer city wall was 50 miles long, with a horse face every 100 steps, an enemy tower, a dense female wall, a crossbow platform, and an arrow tower, which looked majestic. Every 200 steps on the city wall, there was a defensive warehouse storing weapons for defense. During wartime, according to the ancient method of defending cities, one soldier was placed every step, one civilian every half step, and every three steps had a crossbow, spear, axe, and mallet. Every 15 steps had a wooden stake, and every 30 steps had a pot furnace, water jar, and sand. The defensive system was so tight that as long as the command was proper, it could comfortably resist ten times the enemy.

  However, Emperor Dao of Song appointed Tong Guan and Gao Qiu to manage the military for many years, causing great damage to both the military and politics. The training and drilling of troops were completely abandoned, and the vacancies in the various armies were not filled. The upper and lower levels embezzled military rations to enrich themselves, resulting in a severe shortage of Song military strength and extremely low combat effectiveness. With such a weak army facing the newly sharpened Jin army, there was no chance of victory.

  Fortunately, there was still Li Gang in the Song Dynasty. Seeing that the Jin army's offensive did not decrease, although more and more soldiers and civilians came to reinforce, but lacked unified coordination, it became more chaotic. He immediately climbed up a temporary battle shed, loudly asking: "Do you want to be slaves of a dead country? Do you want your parents, wives and children to suffer the humiliation of the Tartars?"

  "Don't be a slave of a lost country! Swear to kill the Tartars!" The crowd of soldiers and civilians, all with one heart, raised their arms and shouted loudly.

  "It is so, open the armory! Good archers take bows, strong men take maces, divide into two teams and listen to certain commands! The rest move the defensive equipment!" Li Gang ordered his subordinates to open a city defense warehouse, only to see that it was filled with newly made weapons. The outermost pile was fresh-colored large crossbows, another pile was black and shiny iron maces.

  The soldiers and civilians rushed forward, each choosing their own weapons according to their strengths. Those who were skilled in archery naturally chose the large crossbow, while those with great physical strength chose the iron shield. Some shouted: "It's the divine arm bow, the divine arm bow!"

  But what was seen was that the large crossbow had a height of half a person, with the middle part of the crossbow body and the upper and lower parts all made of wood, but they were two different types of wood. The arrow groove was forged from fine iron, the wheel was entirely copper-made, and the bowstring was tied with hemp rope, while the bowstring itself was coarse and tough mulberry bark thread. The structure was very complex, yet it felt surprisingly light when picked up. It was a foot-operated crossbow, and many soldiers who had previously used the "Divine Arm" bow tried stepping on the crossbow body to test its strength, and most of them were able to draw the string, making it just suitable for individual use.

  There were also ordinary people who did not know martial arts, and they transported arrows, stones, and wooden logs. The divine arm bow used arrows that were only a few inches long, made of wood with feathers, shorter and smaller than ordinary arrows, but the arrowhead was extremely sharp and heavy, obviously a weapon for dealing with cavalry or armored soldiers.

  As for the iron rake, it is also unique, with a four-sided shape, protruding ridge corners, a clear central groove, and a sharp tail. The body of the rake near the handle has seven seal characters engraved on it: "Made by Li Gang in the first year of Jingkang". It is about 4 feet long and weighs over 10 pounds, definitely not something an ordinary person can wield. From then on, the famous "Li Gang Rake" was born.

  Li Gang, a scholar-turned-military-officer, naturally had strategies when leading troops. He specifically chose these two types of weapons and ordered the army's craftsmen to mass-produce them after taking into consideration the opinions of his generals who retreated from the front lines. The generals all said that the Tartars have two major advantages: one is their heavy armor, and the other is their sharp arrows. Their armor is extremely thick, making it difficult for ordinary bows and arrows to penetrate, especially the helmets on their heads are particularly sturdy, only exposing their eyes, and ordinary swords and spears cannot harm them. The Tartars' arrows are also very swift and deadly, shooting down like rain before the two armies even engage in battle, and once they hit, it's hard to pull them out. This is also one of the main reasons why the Song army would retreat after a single engagement - their equipment was no match for the enemy's. The "divine arm" bow and Li Gang's shield, however, had just the right effect in countering the Tartars. Since the Jin army excelled at long-range shooting, I used the "divine arm" bow to suppress them from an even greater distance. Since the Jin army relied on their heavy armor for protection, I used the iron shield with its strong striking force to specifically target their heads.

  Three brothers were also among the military and civilians, Zhang Xian took the divine arm bow, Xu Qing took the iron shield, only Xiao Wu took both weapons, but didn't know which team to join.

  Among the military and civilian crowds, two men of different ethnicities stood out. Both were dressed in left-buttoned jackets with shaved heads, one had a coarse face and the other looked handsome. Some ignorant civilians shouted: "Aren't they Tartars? Kill them!"

  Li Gang, standing high up, saw clearly and shouted to stop them: "These two are Khitan people, not Jurchen Tatars!"

  Actually, the term "Dazi" is a derogatory term used by Han people to refer to northern nomadic ethnic groups, which naturally includes the Khitan people. However, the Liao state built by the Khitan people has been destroyed by the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty, and many Khitan people who refused to surrender to the Jin fled to the Song dynasty. Their hatred for the Jin people is in no way inferior to that of the Song people.

  Only to see the tall and handsome Khitan youth bowing to Li Gang, speaking fluent Yanjing Mandarin: "The humble Yelü Hami and his brother Yelü Lügui pay respects to Minister Li. The Jurchen people have destroyed our nation, this vendetta will not be avenged, I swear not to be a human!"

  What a wonderful name for the Khitan brothers! If it weren't for the great enemy in front of them, many of the Song people present would have burst out laughing. Little did they know that this was a custom among the northern tribes, where names were often given with humble or sickly connotations, preserving the simplicity of ancient times. When they heard their oath later, the crowd fell silent again, truly a lesson from past experiences!

  "What a fine Khitan warrior! Are you two brothers willing to join the army?" Li Gang made an unexpected decision.

  "Donkey, donkey dung thanks Secretary Li, Secretary Li!" The crudely born Khitan brother was overjoyed upon hearing this and immediately kowtowed, originally being a man of few words.

  Li Gang's decision greatly boosted the morale of the soldiers and civilians, and the Khitan people were still fighting for the Song Dynasty, let alone us? Just as the Song army was adjusting its formation, the Jin army attacked again, and Li Gang gave a loud order. The team holding iron shields went forward to block the gate, beating down the Jin soldiers like smashing gourds. The team holding divine arm bows shot out a wide open space on the side of the moat, cutting off the connection between the vanguard and the follow-up troops of the Jin army. Li Gang's decision had an immediate effect.

  Thousands of Jin troops trapped under the city were not reduced in ferocity, and they desperately pulled out more than half of the cloud ladders placed on the moat, set them up on the city head, divided into dozens of small teams, and launched a desperate attack on the city.

  "Isn't the armor on these Tartar soldiers made of paper?" Xu Qing, whose hands were numb from striking with his iron gauntlets, couldn't help but curse. These Golden Soldiers had just been knocked off the city wall and fallen to the ground, yet those who hadn't died immediately got back up, climbed back up the cloud ladders, neither fearing death nor showing fatigue - it was as if their thick armor was made of paper. That paper armor was a useless thing invented by the Han people.

  "It's also possible with noodles." Zhang Xian held his divine arm bow, aiming at a Jin soldier trying to rush across the moat, while continuously chewing on a dry grass in his mouth. No wonder he thought of noodles, after entering the capital, there was no time to eat, and he had been starving for a long time.

  "No, it's made of refined iron, weighing several dozen catties." The little eunuch who was sticking to the female wall and peeking at the enemy through a hole suddenly lost his smile and responded casually.

  "Brother, how did you know? It's as if you've been through it too." Xu Qing was astonished, but he couldn't have imagined that Xiao Wu had actually gone through it.

  Xiao Wu did not respond, his smile retracted, and his eyes coldly stared at the rows of golden armor climbing up the stairs like a swarm of ants. He gripped the iron rake in his hand tightly, which was dripping with blood. If Xiao Wu had any good feelings towards the Jurchen people before, now his heart only had hatred left. On the way to escort Han Jiuer to the capital, he saw countless tragic scenes after the disaster. Wherever the Jin army passed, they killed people like hemp, corpses were scattered all over the ground, and even infants who were crying for milk were not spared. The originally densely populated land of the two rivers was now desolate, which made Han Jiuer cry all the way. The three brothers gritted their teeth in anger.

  A shiny bald head appeared in front of Little Wu's eyes, it was a golden armored general. Seeing his subordinates being beaten by Li Gang's iron-headed mace, he took off his helmet and tied the two long braids behind his head with red silk around his neck. With one hand on the ladder and the other holding a long knife, he charged to the front. A long scar crossed over his eye socket, making him look fierce and heroic.

  Xiao Wu's cheek muscles tensed, his eyes narrowed, and he grasped the bowstring with his hand, ready to pin down the scar-faced man below the city wall. As if sensing that he was being stared at, the scar-faced man's sharp gaze swept towards Xiao Wu, let out a strange cry, and suddenly released his grip on the ladder, his feet kicking off the ground like a dragonfly touching water, instantly rising up and disappearing from Xiao Wu's line of sight.