Chapter 51: The Battle of Pingzhou (Three)

  In the grand hall, Song Huizong was pacing back and forth, worriedly asking: "Cai Ai Qing, what do you think we should do at this moment?"

  "The Emperor bears the weight of heaven and earth, embracing the mission of the universe. In my humble opinion, for the current situation, I beg Your Majesty to heed the voices of the people and move the capital to a more remote location." All the courtiers, led by Cai Jing's faction, came forward to advise Emperor Song Huizong to relocate the capital to a more remote location.

  "Your Majesty, it's not possible. If Your Majesty leaves, the soldiers and civilians of Bianjing will be in a state of panic. I still have 70,000 troops in Bianjing. As long as Your Majesty is here, we can certainly defeat the Jin people's ambition to destroy our great Song dynasty." Li Gang stepped forward and said loudly.

  Emperor Huizong of Song was also hesitant, if he were to leave Bianjing at this time and Bianjing was defended, the history books would surely record him as timid and cowardly, which would be unbearable for his reputation. Suddenly, Emperor Huizong's eyes lit up, and a plan came to mind. He said: "I have recently observed the celestial phenomena at night, and the purple star is somewhat dim, while the heavenly star next to it is increasingly bright, indicating that our great Song needs a new emperor to lead the era of prosperity and glory, so I have decided to pass the throne to my eldest son Zhao Huan."

  Emperor Huizong of Song said: "Where is the official in charge of etiquette?" ?? Xin Rui Song Shi 51

  "The subordinate is here." A middle-aged literary official stepped forward and responded.

  "You must prepare for the coronation ceremony immediately, the Golden Army is on its way here, remember to keep the ceremony simple."

  "It is your majesty, I will go and do it immediately."

  Emperor Song Huizong saw that some of his veteran ministers wanted to dissuade him and said in a deep voice, "My mind is made up, you just follow orders."

  Li Gang sighed, the emperor seemed to be leaving, and only then did he pass on the throne to Zhao Huan. But Li Gang also felt a little relieved in his heart, so Zhao Bian would be the crown prince, and the nationwide wanted order would be revoked.

  "There is one more thing: the warrant for Zhao Jian's arrest must not be withdrawn. Let the Crown Prince choose his younger brother instead. You may all withdraw, I am tired."

  Li Gang sighed inwardly, it seemed that Emperor Huizong of Song was quite annoyed about Zhao Dan leading the troops to Yanjing privately and had no intention of forgiving him.

  At the time of the grand ceremony in Bianjing, Zhao Jiong and others had rushed to Taiyuan at full speed, with each person riding three horses day and night without stopping. Zhao Jiong only brought five imperial guards, while the rest continued to escort Wu Caixia down to Jiangnan. Although they were both reluctant to part ways, Wu Caixia also knew that Zhao Jiong had important matters to attend to, so she obediently followed his arrangements. The Changsheng Army rescued over a dozen injured Imperial Forest Army soldiers and sent them to a county town hundreds of miles away to temporarily reside. These injured Imperial Forest Army soldiers were severely wounded and could not recover in a short period of time, leaving no other choice but to take this course of action.

  Zhao Kui set fire to the Water Fortress as he was about to leave, and a huge blaze shot up into the sky, reducing the bloody Water Fortress of that night, along with all memories, to ashes. Zhao Kui rode his horse forward continuously, knowing in his heart that Wanyan Zonghan would soon receive news of Wanyan Zongwang's defeat, and when the time came for the Golden Army to retreat, it would be difficult to achieve results, which would bring about the Second Battle of Bianjing ahead of schedule.

  Zhao Kui understood that he had to defeat Wanyan Zonghan's Western Route Army in order to delay the Jin army's advance on Bianjing again, and to complete his own preparations for resisting the Jin army. Zhao Kui knew that even if he led his troops to victory at the Jin people's stronghold, he would still have no way out when he returned, as disobedient people had no right to live in ancient times. However, Zhao Kui could no longer afford to worry about this; this time, defeating Wanyan Zonghan was a must, and he had to crush the Jin army's morale.

  Taiyuan City

  The flames of war raged in Taiyuan City, the Western Route Army of the Jin army was more fierce and brave than the Eastern Route Army led by Wanyan Zongwang, and with the acquisition of the Song army's four-state siege weapons, the Song army suffered heavy losses in Taiyuan City for a time. Zhang Xiaochun had no choice but to post notices to recruit soldiers, but the situation did not improve. Later on, all civilians between 15 and 60 years old were given weapons and assigned to defend different sections of the city day and night.

  Grain stored in the city is under military control, regardless of wealth or poverty, and is supplied equally per person per day. The ancient city of Pingzhou, built by Pan Mei during the Northern Song Dynasty, has a circumference of only 10 miles, with Yunlu Street to Hou Xiaohai in the north and south, and Qiaotou Street to Shuiximen in the east and west. Zhang Xiaochun sits in the government office, while Wang Bin supervises the defense on the city wall every day.

  Jin soldiers charged again, Wang Bing gripped the steel knife with its blade already rolled up in his hand, his eyes glaring at the dense Jin soldiers rushing below without any fear, and shouted loudly: "Brothers, don't be afraid, even if King Yan came, we would pluck out a few of his whiskers. Let the Jin dogs know the spirit of our Great Song Dynasty, follow me to kill."

  Wang Zong's momentum affected the soldiers and civilians defending the city, everyone gripped their weapons tightly and waited quietly for the Jin army's attack.

  A loud rumbling sound, the Jin army's catapults launched a barrage of stones that heavily impacted the city wall, shattered stone blocks spewed out with dust and debris, several Song soldiers who failed to dodge were crushed by the stones, their bodies mangled beyond recognition, corpses splintered into multiple pieces, the city head was splattered with blood flowers.

  The Song army soldiers on the city wall had long been accustomed to it, holding their weapons in hand without much reaction. The assembled civilians were a bit panicked, but they also knew that if the Jin army entered the city, they would surely die. They followed the nearby imperial guards, grasping their weapons and waiting for the arrival of the Jin army.

  When the Jin army rushed into range, the Song military and civilians threw down the prepared rolling stones and wooden logs from the city head, and the archers also shot arrows at the Jin army. The charging Jin soldiers fell to the ground with arrows, bleeding profusely, staining the ground deep red.

  The Jin soldiers trampled over the bodies of their comrades and continued to charge forward, with dense arrows pouring down on them. Many Jin soldiers fell to the ground after being hit by arrows, but they did not panic. Instead, they calmly raised their shields and advanced in an orderly manner. As soon as they entered the range of the Song army's bows, they immediately drew their own bows and counterattacked. The Jin soldiers' archery skills were superb, forcing the Song army to lower their heads and unable to withstand the pressure. Both sides were exhausting each other, with two Song generals pouring scalding hot oil down on the Jin soldiers climbing up the ladders. The Jin soldiers on the ladders screamed in agony as they grabbed at their own skin, which had been scorched by the boiling oil, and fell heavily to the ground, their fate unknown.

  "Haha, Xiao Liu, three more golden dogs have been scalded to death, it's really refreshing." The soldier on the left who was pouring oil into a pot said to the slightly thinner soldier on the right.

  "Brother Zhang, be careful, quickly dodge!" Before the words of the Song army on the right had fallen, a sharp arrow pierced the helmet of the Song army on the left, and fresh blood flowed down his forehead. The soldier surnamed Zhang fell straight to the ground.

  Xiao Liu Zi's eyes welled up with tears, picked up the stone beside him and threw it fiercely towards the city below. The stone hit a Jin soldier's head squarely, instantly smashing his skull, scattering red and white matter everywhere.

  Xiao Liu Zi laughed and said, "Zhang Da Ge, look, I've killed another Golden Dog." Suddenly a huge boulder smashed into Xiao Liu Zi's face, and he felt a severe pain before losing consciousness. Wang Ben rushed over and saw that the upper half of a young warrior's body had been crushed deep into the wall by a massive stone block, while the lower half lay scattered on the ground.

  Wang Fen let out a sigh in his heart, he had already become numb to such things over the past few days. Wang Fen stepped forward and took up the position that Xiao Liu had been defending earlier. A Jin soldier heavily trod on the cloud ladder and jumped onto the city wall. Before the Jin soldier could steady himself, Wang Fen fiercely chopped down with his steel knife. The Jin soldier did not expect the Song person's strength to be so great, and was pressed down by Wang Fen's power, his body suddenly shrinking an inch. Wang Fen charged forward and kicked the Jin soldier off the city wall. The falling Jin soldier collided with two other Jin soldiers who were following behind and climbing up the cloud ladder, sending all three tumbling down.

  Wang Kun had not yet caught his breath when another Jin soldier rushed up to a nearby city wall. This Jin soldier was tall and sturdy, with skilled swordsmanship, relying on his bravery, he forced back several Song soldiers around him for a time, and more and more Jin soldiers climbed onto the city wall through the gap opened by this soldier.

  Wang Yun rushed over with a steel knife, swinging his knife and chopping off the head of a nearby Jin soldier who was caught off guard. The surrounding Jin soldiers were shocked and saw that Wang Yun was wearing a general's uniform, knowing he was a big fish, they charged forward. When the Song army saw Wang Yun arrive, they immediately charged forward without hesitation. At this time, seven or eight Jin soldiers had already rushed over, the Song army soldiers roared with anger and charged forward, Wang Yun had been guarding the city every day, putting himself before his troops, the military and civilians of Taiyuan City all respectfully called Wang Yun "General Wang", his reputation was extremely high, seeing that General Wang was in danger at this time, the Song army didn't care about the Jin soldiers' ferocity, they fearlessly charged forward.

  The Jin soldier killed several Song soldiers, but soon found himself surrounded by more and more Song troops. For a moment, he was overwhelmed. Suddenly, a Song soldier threw his knife at the Jin soldier, who swung his sword to deflect it. When he looked up again, he saw that the Song soldier had charged forward with empty hands, grabbing a Jin soldier and throwing him off the city wall. The other Song soldiers followed suit, leaving only one skilled Jin soldier on the wall. He cut down another charging Song soldier and stood there, holding his sword aloft. Wang Bin rushed over and swung his steel knife at the Jin soldier, who countered with a backhand blow, retreating to the edge of the city wall. Turning around, he said, "We'll meet again," before jumping off the cloud ladder.

  Several Song soldiers wanted to pursue, the one who ran the fastest was shot in the eye by the arrow of the Jin army under the city, and he died instantly. The several Song soldiers behind him dragged his body down, and soon the Jin army sounded the golden horn to retreat, and the dense Jin army retreated like a tide. On the ground, on the city wall, there were dead bodies and broken equipment everywhere, and the air was filled with the smell of blood, becoming very solemn and murderous. Many cracks appeared on the city wall of Taiyuan City, and there were shattered stones and tiles everywhere, showing the intensity of the war.

  Wang Zong put down the knife in his hand, panting heavily. He had long forgotten how many times he had repelled the Jin army's attack. At this time, the reinforcements from the imperial court were still nowhere to be seen. Was it really going to let Taiyuan City fall? Wang Zong clenched his fist and slammed it to the ground.

  A medical officer stepped forward and said: "General Wang, the wound on your back needs to be bandaged immediately, otherwise there will be a risk to your life."

  Wang Jin only then realized the pain on his back, apparently having been hit by a stray rock. Wang Jin said: "This injury is nothing to worry about, hurry up and save those dying soldiers."

  "But General, you..."

  "Go quickly, you dare to disobey orders!" Wang Zhen angrily said.

  "I dare not, I dare not." He said, and then left with a crawling motion.

  Unfortunately, Wang Zongbi did not know that the court's decision would make him even more disappointed.