Chapter 1 The Unfolding

The morning rain was picking up a bit, and amidst the vibrant green, the resounding cries of battle clearly marked the west side of the stone bridge and highlands. The battle had fully commenced on the upper reaches of the Taiping River.

The Song army's Imperial Guard Left Army, numbering twenty thousand, along with the 15,000 Dangxiang light cavalry under Li Shifu, the 10,000 Khitan-Xi light cavalry under Yelu Yudu, and 15,000 West Mongol light cavalry, totaled sixty thousand troops.

The Jin army, having noticed the Song's deployment of forces upstream, had countered by positioning four Wanhu units.

Within the Song army, Han Shizhong's Imperial Guard Left Army cavalry and infantry were undoubtedly the elite and the main force. Although Li Shifu's unit consisted of light cavalry, they were still Imperial Guard soldiers, well-equipped and disciplined, making them a reliable auxiliary force. However, the Mongol and Khitan-Xi light cavalry paled in comparison in terms of equipment and discipline. Of course, no one expected them to break through the Jin lines; their task was primarily to restrain and harass the enemy, using their mobility to disrupt the battlefield and allow the second Song main force to cross the river and engage.

Similarly, the Jin army's combat strength varied. Their cavalry was never on par with their infantry, and not all Wanhu units were equal.

The winding battle line stretched roughly north to south, extending eight or nine *li* (a Chinese unit of distance, approximately 0.5 kilometers) from the riverbank to the rear of the highlands. The actual battle line was likely over twelve or thirteen *li*. However, for a battle involving a theoretically combined force of one hundred thousand, this line was somewhat short, even excessively so.

Overall, both sides' forces were still densely packed.

However, this was precisely why Han Shizhong's great banner appeared on the battle line – the Great Song needed its sharpest blade to cut through everything.

"What are you doing?" Amidst the deafening battle cries, Pusan Beilu, one of the four Jin Wanhu units on the western front, suddenly grabbed his son, questioning him directly.

"I'm going to behead Han Shizhong under that great banner!" The tall and sturdy Pusan Wuzhe pulled down his mask, his face flushed red with exertion. "Immortal glory awaits today!"

"You think you can just behead Han Shizhong like that?" Pusan Beilu was speechless. "Don't gamble with your life so easily!"

"Father!" Wuzhe retorted resentfully. "The Taizu (Emperor Aguda, founder of the Jin dynasty) had our Pusan tribe stationed on the border of Goryeo, preventing you from achieving merit in campaigns against the Liao and Song. Later, the Third Prince (the Third Prince Eliduo was a maternal relative of the Pusan clan) wanted you to serve as the Commander-in-Chief of Longde Prefecture, but you voluntarily gave it to Ben Du, becoming just an ordinary Wanhu. As a result, not only were they ungrateful, but they also spoke ill of your incompetence behind your back..."

"Wuzhe," Pusan Beilu said, full of helplessness. "The Taizu's decision to have our Pusan tribe guard the Yalu River was well-intentioned. As for the Commander-in-Chief position, whether I take it or not is of little consequence. I've always been stationed in the rear and lack military experience... As for what others say behind my back, why bother with mere words? Preserving the tribe is paramount."

"Even to preserve the tribe, shouldn't we fight to the death today?" The young Pusan Wuzhe remained indignant. "The Fourth Prince's words make sense, don't they? If the skin is gone, what can the hair attach to? If the Great Jin loses today, the nation will be ruined. What good will the Pusan tribe be then? We should risk everything to repay the country."

"No one is stopping you from repaying the country, but this battle doesn't require you to repay it in this way. Understand that we are defending here; the Song army has no foothold on this side of the river. As long as we hold the line and wait until dusk, the marshal will lead tens of thousands of elite cavalry to sweep across the field, and that will be a victory," Pusan Beilu pleaded patiently.

Pusan Wuzhe was about to reply when a sudden cry erupted from the upper reaches to the west, interrupting their conversation.

Both men turned to see Han Shizhong's unparalleled great banner moving towards their position. Ahead of the banner, a wing of several hundred Jin cavalry could no longer be said to be retreating; it was more like a rout. Some fleeing soldiers, in their panic, even crashed into the infantry lines, causing momentary chaos.

"Wuzhe, I'll allow you to command on the front line," Pusan Beilu said, turning back and making a final effort to suppress his unease. "Take your *mouke* (a unit of soldiers) with you, and I'll give you ten more. But you must hold the line and not expose yourself, and don't act rashly like before... Your earlier attack towards the river delayed your joint advance with Tu Heshu, and Ben Du is already displeased... Can you promise me that?"

"Understood!" Wuzhe said, his heart filled with resentment. He hastily raised his mask, turned, and rode away.

Seeing this, Pusan Beilu felt a sense of helplessness.

His son, who had been leading a *mouke* in the front lines since the age of sixteen seven years ago, had participated in battles under the care of his cousin Eliduo. He had even followed Elubu and Ali across the river during the Battle of Yao Mountain to attack Luoyang, forcing the Song Chancellor Wang Boyan to his death, and had earned battle merits recorded in the marshal's office.

This difference in experience and age meant that father and son had drastically different views on war, and their actual influence in the army was slightly misaligned.

Otherwise, why would Pusan Beilu be so worried? And how could Pusan Wuzhe command the troops on the front lines?

Enough of digressions. Pusan Wuzhe left the infantry and led ten *mouke* along with six *mouke* from his own *mengan* (a larger military unit), alternating ten *mouke* in two waves to check the Song offensive while using his main force of six *mouke* to reorganize the troops and rally the routed soldiers. He quickly regained control of the situation.

This was unavoidable.

With the full-scale launch of the upstream battle, Han Shizhong personally led the Beiwei Army to advance at this exposed weak point, making it the most intense part of the Song offensive and arguably the only area where the Song army held a clear advantage.

However, having an advantage did not mean the Song could achieve a sweeping victory and advance like a tide.

There were casualties, but for the heavy cavalry and infantry on both sides, as long as the formation didn't collapse and morale didn't break, large-scale slaughter was almost a joke, especially with the drizzling spring rain that, while not yet severely affecting the movement of horses and livestock, had rendered the primary armor-piercing weapons of both sides – heavy arrows and crossbows – ineffective.

As Liu Yan had said, once the Kedigong bows were brought out, the range and accuracy were in a different league altogether. But the Jin army's reliance on short-range hard bows and heavy arrows was no different.

There was also progress. Han Shizhong used the Beiwei Army as the vanguard, with Jie Yuan's elite troops as a flanking force to hold off Tu Heshu, and then brought in Li Shifu as reinforcements. It could be said that they had elite troops, manpower, and morale, leaving no reason why they couldn't overwhelm the enemy.

However, both armies' formations were too dense, so the battle was often like this: the Beiwei Army engaged the Jin's *guaizi ma* (outflanking cavalry) tactics with their own cavalry, broke through the successive waves of attacks, and advanced a hundred paces. Then, a new Jin cavalry unit would again approach from the gap in a *guaizi ma* formation. The original routed soldiers could catch their breath in the rear and display the tenacity of the Jurchen cavalry, reorganizing themselves and rejoining the ranks.

This was a typical stalemate.

Now, the Jin wanted to maintain the stalemate, while the Song wanted to break it.

This was a test for both sides.

The rain came in bursts, causing frustration and impatience on both sides. As the rain eased again, Pusan Wuzhe, amidst the chaos and the retreat of a hundred paces from Han Shizhong's great banner, suddenly noticed dozens of elite Jurchen Iron Pagodas (heavily armored cavalry) approaching from the distant highlands.

Pusan Wuzhe recognized them by their iconic horse armor as belonging to Wanyan Ben Du's personal guard. He braced himself to be reprimanded, assuming that his repeated retreats had incurred Ben Du's displeasure.

"What does Commander (Wanyan Ben Du) want?"

Irritated, Wuzhe's tone was agitated.

"Not the Commander." Unexpected yet logical, the response came from a familiar voice. The speaker pulled down his mask, revealing himself to be Pucha Asa, Pusan Wuzhe's friend and one of Wanyan Ben Du's direct confidantes, currently a *puliyan* (a lower-ranking military officer). "It's Prince Wei."

"What does Prince Wei want?" Wuzhe, who had relaxed slightly at the arrival of his friend, tensed up again.

"Prince Wei knows that Han Shizhong has come through your father and son's position and is worried that you can't hold him back. He sent someone to ask Commander (Wanyan Ben Du) about the situation, but wasn't there a heavy downpour earlier? It was hard to see clearly, so the Commander sent me down to take a look," Pucha Asa said casually.

What does "knows that Han Shizhong has come through our father and son's position and is worried that we can't hold him back" mean?

Wuzhe was immediately enraged, but he couldn't lash out at Asa, a man of courage but little intelligence.

Asa asked a few questions and observed for a while. Seeing that the Jin army was indeed losing ground and relying on the resilience of the *guaizi ma* to cover their retreat, he frowned.

"If this continues, I'm afraid you won't last until noon, and Han Shizhong will push you all the way to the highlands?"

"That's right," Wuzhe said helplessly.

"I'll report this to Prince Wei?" Pucha Asa asked tentatively.

"What else can I do?" Wuzhe blurted out.

Asa didn't mind, he pushed up his mask and turned to leave.

But at that moment, a commotion erupted in front of them. Asa turned back in surprise to see the Jin front line once again scattered and disorganized by the Song iron cavalry, driven by the unparalleled great banner. Wuzhe, already accustomed to this, quickly issued a series of orders to maintain the line.

After issuing the orders, Wuzhe withdrew his gaze from the great banner a few hundred paces away. He had been planning to send someone to ask his father for another batch of reinforcements to replace the demoralized forward troops. But when he glanced at Asa, who was standing there watching curiously, a thought stirred in his mind.

"Asa," Wuzhe said.

"What is it?"

"To be honest, I originally wanted to take Han Shizhong's head myself, but I have important duties and promised my father to oversee the front lines and not to attack without permission..."

"You want me to go?" Asa, though courageous, wasn't stupid.

"Aren't you known as the bravest warrior in the Longde Prefecture army? Can't you kill a bull with one punch? On the march, didn't you lift a supply cart stuck in the mud in front of the Fourth Prince with one hand? Now is a good opportunity. Han Shizhong is a divine general, but he's old and has been fighting all morning. How can he be your match? I'll give you five *mouke* as support. If you succeed, it will be a great achievement..."

"Don't you want this achievement?" Asa interrupted him.

"Am I, the young master of the Pusan tribe and the nephew of the Taizu, lacking opportunities for advancement? When the time comes, wealth and glory will naturally come... I'm considering this for the sake of the country and the war... If we can kill Han Shizhong here, the Song offensive will be cut short!" Wuzhe forced himself to say. "On the other hand, Asa, don't tell me you didn't deliberately lift the cart in front of Prince Wei to curry favor... How would I compete with you for merit?"

Asa was silent for a moment, then looked back towards the highlands.

Wuzhe understood and immediately added, "Even if you fail, my father and I will protect you in front of Prince Wei if the Commander blames you! If it really comes to it, come to me, and I'll still give you a *mengan*... Are you going or not?"

Asa took a deep breath and looked at the great banner just a few hundred paces away. He suddenly chuckled. "I'm just a lowly *puliyan*; if I fall, I fall. But if I succeed, it will be a monumental achievement... Why wouldn't I go?!"

Wuzhe was overjoyed.

"Wait a moment. Let's wait here a little longer. When Han Shizhong makes his next push and gets closer, I'll attack!" Asa, though rough, was also meticulous, and quickly formulated a plan. "Han Shizhong is a divine general after all. Even though he's old, we must be careful... Any beheading must be unexpected and take the enemy by surprise."

Wuzhe was speechless.

The opportunity came quickly. After only half an hour, the front line re-enacted a scene that had already played out five or six times:

The two sides' battle lines were barely holding. Han Shizhong's great banner suddenly advanced, driving his elite Beiwei Army to launch a large-scale advance on both flanks. The Jin's *guaizi ma* couldn't withstand the force and momentarily lost control of their formation in a small area, retreating in disarray and causing the central infantry line to retreat hastily.

As the commander of the front line, Wuzhe should have replaced the troops on both sides, supervised the center, and gathered the routed soldiers to prepare for the next wave, as usual.

However, this time, after discovering that the great banner was located in the forward right near the river, Wuzhe made a slight change... The left flank remained the same, but the right flank was replaced by his own five *mouke* who had not yet participated in the battle. Concealed among these five *mouke* were fifty Iron Pagodas of Wanyan Ben Du's personal guard, led by Pucha Asa.

The cavalry on both flanks alternated. The left flank immediately tried to stabilize the line in conjunction with other cavalry, sheltering the infantry. But the 500-plus cavalry on the right flank accelerated as they passed the routed soldiers, heading straight for the unparalleled great banner.

The Song army had just won a small victory and was trying to press forward when they were suddenly counterattacked by a fresh force. They were caught off guard and the cavalry managed to break through the Song formation, approaching within a hundred paces of the great banner.

However, that was all they could do. As the surrounding Song soldiers realized what was happening and converged from all sides, the Jin cavalry's momentum was quickly checked. The Song soldiers assumed that the Jin were simply launching a tactical counterattack to stabilize the line and regain control of the situation, and relaxed their vigilance. But at that moment, the cavalry formation suddenly split open. Fifty heavily armored Iron Pagodas, having already picked up speed, burst out of the formation and charged straight towards the great banner, now only a hundred paces away, with unstoppable momentum.

The Song cavalry in front were caught off guard and scattered by the elite Iron Pagodas, allowing the latter to truly reach the vicinity of the great banner.

The rain had subsided slightly, improving visibility. The Song front lines witnessed this and immediately panicked.

Without further ado, Pucha Asa, having charged in front of the great banner, was overjoyed, but he quickly suppressed his excitement and searched for Han Shizhong. However, all around the great banner were Song cavalry in copper-faced armor. There was no way to easily distinguish anyone without a cloak, sash, or jade belt.

However, he quickly noticed one rider who was different from the rest. First, this man was burly, resembling the legendary Han Shizhong. Second, he was skilled in martial arts and incredibly strong, using a large iron spear to knock an Iron Pagoda directly off his horse in one exchange. Finally, he had been closest to the great banner and remained unmoved by the Jin assault, even subtly directing the troops.

Asa hesitated no longer. He spurred his horse forward, wielding his heavy broadsword to attack.

Three Song Beiwei knights saw this and abandoned their opponents, charging forward with their spears. But Asa easily deflected the spears with a flick of his wrist, restraining the three Song knights with his strength. The Song knights were shocked, but Asa simply slashed the three spears in half and ignored them, instead heading straight for the rider he had identified as Han Shizhong.

Seeing the Jin general displaying such divine strength, the burly Song rider under the great banner didn't flinch. Instead, he calmly raised his iron spear to meet the attack. The two sides exchanged blows, and Pucha Asa was convinced that the opponent was Han Shizhong. Otherwise, how could he possess such strength and skill? He became even more determined to kill the opponent and achieve immortal glory.

Seventy or eighty paces from the great banner, Han Shizhong, his face concealed by the copper mask and dressed no differently from the other Beiwei soldiers, shifted his gaze from the duel between the Jurchen warrior and Wang Shixiong and turned to Cheng Min, the commander of his Beiwei Army.

"Where did this cavalry come from?"

"From the river," Cheng Min blurted out.

"That's not what I'm asking," Han Shizhong said calmly. "I'm asking where he and his supporting troops started from."

Cheng Min paused, thought for a moment, and then pointed his saber towards a position behind the Jin army. "That place, it seems to be next to that *mengan* banner!"

"I was wondering why the front lines were so organized when the Wanhu banner was much further back," Han Shizhong said with a smile. "There must be a Jin commander there capable of commanding respect... This is an opportunity!"

Han Shizhong suddenly pointed towards the river, precisely where the Jin force that attacked the great banner had come from. Because of the need to send the beheading force directly to the great banner, and because the beheading force was pinned down by the Song army, the gap on this side had not been closed in time.

Cheng Min, who had been personally trained by Han Shizhong and later took command of the Beiwei Army, immediately understood. He looked towards the great banner.

"Don't worry about that. In a major battle, how can we be distracted by such trivial matters? Besides, Wang Shixiong is actually stronger than that Jin general, just less experienced in battle. If he drags it out, he'll eventually finish him off," Han Shizhong said, not even glancing behind him. He looked at the front lines, or rather, at the distance beyond the front lines. "Blow the horn, mobilize the entire Beiwei Army to advance! Then, lead five hundred cavalry along the gap created by this Jin force, directly to that *mengan* banner. I'll lead five hundred cavalry to support you. We must crush the enemy in front of us and push the battle line forward!"

"Yes, sir!"

The sound of the horn suddenly rang out, pulling Wuzhe, who was anxiously speculating about the battle under the distant great banner, back to reality. He looked around blankly and saw the Song Imperial Guard Left Army's Beiwei Army pressing towards him in force.

At first, he thought the Song army was doing this to rescue Han Shizhong and the great banner. But soon, as a Song cavalry force rapidly launched a counter-attack along the path of his beheading force, the young Jurchen nobleman, who had been in the army since the age of sixteen, finally realized his mistake – his rash attack had disrupted the previous dynamic balance of the battle line, exposing a fatal flaw.

For a moment, Pusan Wuzhe had the idea of retreating to avoid the attack. But as soon as he turned around, he saw his father's banner waving in the faint rain a few hundred paces away. Shame washed over him, and he simply stopped turning back, hurriedly gathering his troops to try to stop the Song offensive head-on.

Then, after hastily sending out a cavalry force that had not been properly prepared, that force was immediately scattered like driftwood facing a flood.

Moreover, Wuzhe was horrified to find that the Song cavalry force that had broken through from the flaw in his right flank near the river not only failed to attack the central infantry line to expand their gains, but instead charged straight towards him, who was slightly exposed.

The enemy was not only using Asa's path but was also trying to use his own methods against him, attempting to behead him in return?

His decision to send Asa had not only disrupted the battle rhythm but had also exposed himself?

He was going to behead Han Shizhong, but the Song army was coming for him instead?!

Terrified, Wuzhe, who had been shouting in front of his father about personally killing Han Shizhong, panicked completely. He turned his horse and tried to flee... But after riding for only a few dozen paces, he suddenly realized for the third time... On the battlefield, to guard against any eventuality, everyone wore armor and masks. Unless they showed their silver waist plaques, how would the enemy know if he was a *puliyan* or a *mengan*?

But by fleeing, everyone around him had followed, completely exposing him!

Out of some instinct, Wuzhe made another wrong choice. He actually tried to stop his horse, but since his identity had been revealed and the area was empty, what good was it to stop now other than to delay? So, he paused for only a moment before realizing this and trying to flee again... This was the so-called panic. Which young man hadn't had similar experiences?

But on the battlefield, this kind of experience, if had once, was unlikely to be repeated.

Cheng Min led his troops straight towards him. Wuzhe simply ordered the flags to be abandoned and fled, barely managing to fight his way through several blocking soldiers and finally catching his breath. He prepared to flee back to the rear army. But at this time, another wave of Song soldiers came from the channel near the river on his right flank. A tall Song cavalry general in copper-faced armor, guided by the advancing Song soldiers, charged towards Wuzhe from the side.

However, as he approached, the Song general reined in his horse and turned to face Wuzhe.

Wuzhe didn't dare to delay. He quickly spurred his horse and raised his spear, preparing to fight and flee while the enemy's horse was still turning and hadn't gained speed.

However, the enemy didn't raise his spear, but instead raised a large iron bow.

There was no time to think. The two sides crossed paths, the speed wasn't fast, and the Song general slightly raised his hand and used the back of the bow to deflect Wuzhe's spear. Wuzhe failed to strike and was overjoyed. He only wanted to escape now; why bother with anything else?

But the joy had just surfaced under his mask when he felt his neck guard being grabbed by something, pulling him backward with tremendous force.

His feet immediately lost contact with the ground, and he was pulled off his horse.

Moreover, after falling off his horse, Wuzhe wasn't thrown to the ground. Instead, he continued to be dragged by the tremendous force from his neck guard, sliding along the muddy ground.

Amidst the chaos, Pusan Wuzhe was so terrified that his mind was blank. He didn't know and couldn't think about what was happening.

Of course, to others, things were simple. The Song general was incredibly strong and agile, like a ghost. When the two horses crossed, he first used the back of his bow to deflect Wuzhe's weapon, then seized the opportunity to hook Wuzhe's neck with the bowstring, and even twisted his hand to secure the bowstring tightly around his neck.

It was only because Wuzhe's neck guard was sturdy and secure that he wasn't strangled on the spot.

Even so, Wuzhe was doomed. The Song general dragged him all the way to the Song army's gathering point by the river. After releasing the bow, Wuzhe was so disoriented that he couldn't even turn over, let alone stand. He could only lie on the ground and be at the mercy of others.

The Song soldiers didn't hesitate. Several people rushed forward, and without even holding him down, one person pried open his mask, while another stabbed him in the face with a knife, easily ending the life of the heir of the Pusan tribe.

Pusan Wuzhe, instead of becoming the Left Chancellor and Grand Marshal in another timeline, leading ten thousand troops to attack the Song and manipulating the court as a maternal relative, died in a puddle on the banks of the Taiping River because of a small flaw on the battlefield.

He was twenty-two years old.

Even in death, he didn't know that it was Han Shizhong himself who had dragged him off his horse.

However, it must be said that although Pusan Wuzhe wasn't the future Jin official with the weight of a nation on his shoulders, his death still had a huge chain reaction, even at this time, even as a young maternal relative general... The Pusan Wanhu's front army, already on the verge of collapse and now under intense Song attack, and having lost its commander on top of that, quickly collapsed in a complete rout.

Han Shizhong didn't hesitate to mobilize his entire army, with the Beiwei Army in the front and Li Shifu's Dangxiang cavalry in the rear, swarming forward and driving the routed soldiers ahead.

Blood and mud, carried by the rain, spread rapidly downstream, painting the vibrant green.

On this local battlefield, the Jin army's situation collapsed. Pucha Asa, who had been entangled with 'Han Shizhong', finally lost his composure and tried to escape, but Wang Shixiong seized the opportunity to find an opening, knocked him off his horse, and easily finished him off.

Similar to Pusan Wuzhe, Pucha Asa, the so-called 'Jurchen Divine General' of another timeline, didn't get a chance to show his brilliance and, like Pusan Wuzhe, lay lifeless in the mud... The men who killed them weren't interested in their stories; Wang Shixiong, responsible for guarding the great banner, didn't even bother to take his head and quickly urged the great banner forward.

On the highlands, Wanyan Ben Du, who was watching the battle from afar, didn't know that his confidant *puliyan* had just died, nor did he know that the Third Prince's cousin had followed the Third Prince to the afterlife. However, he could clearly see that the Song army had defeated the front army of Pusan Beilu's Wanhu in one fell swoop and was pressing forward with unstoppable momentum, gradually approaching the highlands.

His mouth felt dry, and Ben Du immediately sent a messenger to the rear.

The messenger rode down the slope, stumbled and fell with his horse when crossing the empty depression behind the highlands. Fortunately, there wasn't much mud there, and the lush green grass prevented him from becoming covered in mud.

Cavalry quickly emerged from the rear camp, rescued him, and took him into the camp after a command. Under the gaze of soldiers densely seated under wooden sheds, he was quickly taken to a tall watchtower near the battlefield.

"Pusan Beilu's army has collapsed by half?"

Wushu, who was sitting listlessly on the watchtower, repeated in a low voice and looked at Marshal Bali Basu, sitting below him under the five-colored banner and lost in thought. "What does the Marshal say?"

"Isn't that expected?" Bali Basu snapped out of his thoughts and replied calmly. "Did you expect any of the four Wanhu units on the western front to kill Han Shizhong and end the battle? Didn't Heishilie Taiyu just report that his unit had killed the West Mongol King Huer Zha Husi, but the West Mongols attacked even more fiercely, almost breaking his formation? Even the West Mongol light cavalry can't be stopped, let alone Han Shizhong."

Hearing this, Wushu finally smiled bitterly. "That's right, in this situation, even if Han Shizhong really died on the battlefield, it wouldn't stop the Song army's advance."

Bali Basu said nothing, continuing to look up at the five-colored banner... The rain had subsided slightly at this time, but water was still slowly seeping from the banner.

From the high ground of the watchtower, Wushu replied to the messenger: "Go back and tell Ben Du that his task is to apply as much pressure as possible and cause casualties when the Song army crosses the river from the front; when the western front collapses, he must gather his troops, form a large formation to shield the camp, and defend the highlands; if it really comes to it, he must die in battle, serving the country and the Taizu, instead of panicking at the collapse of half a Wanhu unit and asking me if he should launch a preemptive attack... Tell him, if he can't calm down, let him come back and guard the camp, and I'll take his place!"

The messenger, covered in mud, said nothing, kowtowed on the ground several times, and hurried back.

"Hongya!" Inside a tent several *li* away from Wushu, Yu Yunwen, pacing back and forth with his hands behind his back, finally lost patience. "There's no one else outside. I'll be blunt. I know your identity. I saw your name on the documents that Commander Yang showed me..."

"So what?" Hongya, sitting on the couch, replied coldly. "Even if I didn't leave anything in writing back then, what if I did? Do you think this is a story, that you can convict me, a Grand Councilor of the Privy Council and Vice Minister of the Ministry of War of the Great Jin, based on a few words from seven or eight years ago? Does that mean that if the 'Shadow of the Candle and Sound of the Ax' (a historical mystery) were proven, Taizong could be convicted? If you want us to give you some key information, you need to show us the big picture, not some handle... Qin Hui (a Song dynasty chancellor infamous for persecuting the general Yue Fei) didn't even care about his own son, do you think you can easily control me today?"

Yu Yunwen knew this principle, but he had been anxious since Bei Yan's death and couldn't help but lose his temper. "What do you want?"

"It's not what I want, but rather that in this situation, I just realized that there are some things that you probably can't give." Hongya said on the couch with a sigh. "Even a captured commander believes that the Song army will win this battle. Naturally, the Song army believes that a great victory is a matter of course. Whatever I say or do, won't it all be thrown away after the war?"

"Just tell me what you want!"

"I just want wealth and stability."

"If you can say something useful, how can I not give it to you?"

"How can you? Just as I can disregard the promise I made back then, how will you care about the promise you make today when you gain power in the future?" Hongya laughed even colder. "Perhaps, precisely because I'm negotiating with you today, I might end up losing my life..."

"How could you lose your life?" Yu Yunwen became even more impatient.

"Not to mention other things, just say that you, someone who wants to become a Chancellor, will you not worry that I, a former puppet official, will go around proclaiming that I saved your life when you become Chancellor in the future? Maybe you'll just send me to Shamen Island (a prison island) for a trip and quietly finish me off on the way?"

"Absurd." Yu Yunwen was speechless. "I understand now. You're used to judging others by yourself. You guess like this just because you are shameless..."

"Who isn't judging others by themselves?" Hongya replied quietly.

Yu Yunwen looked up and laughed coldly, but for some reason, he suddenly calmed down and began to size up the other man. "I see."

"What does Scholar Yu see?" Hongya became wary.

"I just realized that for someone like you, the best thing would be to enjoy wealth and stability in the Jin Dynasty. But in terms of the overall situation, you can't possibly be a responsible person, you can only go with the flow and not dare to disobey the general trend. And the reason you're making excuses today isn't because you're worried that the Song Dynasty won't be able to fulfill its promises in the future, because even if it can't, would you dare not comply? I'm afraid it's just that the words I pressed you for just now are of great importance, and if you say them here, you'll directly lose the best chance for survival, lose the foundation for wavering. Is that right?" Yu Yunwen forced himself to speak slowly, relentlessly pressing him.

Hongya was silent for a moment.

Yu Yunwen also stopped speaking for a moment, staring intently at the other man.

After a while, Hongya sighed slightly and spoke first, but asked something completely unrelated. "Scholar Yu, you came with the Emperor from Taiyuan, may I ask, did Wanhu Salihe, who stayed behind to defend Xihe, surrender or die for his country? The debate here is almost reaching a fever pitch."

Yu Yunwen replied calmly, "Minister Hong, you came with the reinforcements from Yanjing, may I ask, did Hongya, the magistrate of Xinzheng, who was appointed in the Nanyang Palace Examination that year, surrender or die for his country? The debate in his old hometown of Jinan is also endless."

Hongya stared blankly at the other man. After a long time, he shook his head and said, "Scholar Yu, why be so aggressive?"

The rain intensified again. On the banks of the Taiping River, the elite Imperial Guard Left Army, under the guidance of their commander's great banner, fought valiantly forward, while the Jin army on the opposite side was actually engaging them head-on!

When Pusan Beilu learned of his eldest son's death, he immediately thought of Wanyan Talan.

Everyone knew that Wanyan Talan had witnessed the collapse of his entire Wanhu unit at Changshe, and then watched his son-in-law being hunted down by the Song army on the riverbank. From then on, he dared not say that he had been ruined, but his personality had definitely changed drastically. Before that, he was the 'Dragon-Tiger Great King' in the mouths of the Song people, the military representative of the old Emperor Wuqimai's lineage, and had always been eager for military affairs, a major promoter of the southern invasion.

But since Changshe, he had been unwilling to talk about military matters.

Everyone had laughed at Talan behind his back. Pusan Beilu was in the Outer Pass, on the banks of the Yalu River, and seemed to have vaguely laughed at the other man as well.

But when he learned that his eldest son Wuzhe had died on the front line only a few hundred paces away from him, the Jin maternal relative general, known for his sincerity and prudence, almost instantly understood the former Talan... It turned out that the life and death of a close person could really change everything about a person immediately.

Of course, Pusan Beilu quickly corrected this idea... His reasoning was simple: Talan had only lost a son-in-law, while he had lost a son. Talan wasn't worthy of being compared to him.

Next, the Jin maternal relative general fell into a strange state. He quickly ordered the entire army to meet the enemy, vowing to kill Han Shizhong to avenge his son. He also publicly declared that anyone retreating past his banner would be killed without exception.

His main *mengan* sent out six hundred cavalry, formed into a line, and under Pusan Beilu's personal command, served as a rearguard, constantly beheading the routed soldiers. The Jin army was unable to advance or retreat, and actually mustered their remaining courage to engage the Song army in a counterattack.

The scene was very intense, and Han Shizhong's unit was also hindered in its