Chapter 147 Muddy Goosedown

Wanyan Wushu set off in the second half of the night, ignoring the collapsing and defecting Yan Yun New Army along the way. By dusk the next day, when the Jin dignitaries retreated to Gubeikou, he encountered Han Shizhong's Beiwei Army, which was advancing rapidly.

After questioning him, Cheng Min, the commander of the Beiwei Army under the Imperial Guard Left Army, was overjoyed. He didn't even bother to go north to Fanyang to take over the surrendered troops. He only sent his deputy to continue north, while he personally escorted Wanyan Wushu to Baosai to see Han Shizhong.

After another day and a half of hard travel, they arrived at Baosai, but Han Shizhong didn't know what to do with this person.

In fact, according to his temperament and character back then, Marshal Han should have ignored everything and personally hacked this person to pieces with that rusty dagger. But now that the war had reached this point, and even Yanjing was about to be captured, the once invincible Jin Dynasty, which had invaded the surrounding areas and driven Han Shizhong all the way from the Hutuo River to the Huai River, had disappeared in essence since Huolu... Therefore, not surprisingly, Han Shizhong felt somewhat devoid of spirit at this time.

Besides, from a legal point of view, Wushu was still one of the two ruling princes of the Jurchens, and everyone knew that he had been in charge of military and political affairs related to the Song army. To the Song army, he was a leading figure, so it was not appropriate to deal with him arbitrarily.

Therefore, Han Shizhong only found the dagger that he had almost thrown away, wrote a note himself, and sent Cheng Min to escort the other party eastward to find Zhao Guanren, so that the official could make the decision himself. As for himself, he directly advanced north, preparing to receive Yanjing and do some cleaning for the arrival of Lu Yihao, the Chancellor of the Rear.

It is said that Zhao Jiu was not in Hejian now, but in Cangzhou.

There were different speculations as to why Zhao Guanren did not follow the army to Yanjing but went to Cangzhou, but there were two main theories.

Some people said that the official had long claimed to be Zhao Jiu of Cangzhou rather than Zhuozhou, the ancestral home of the Zhao family, and from Baima to Wulin, there were many discussions about establishing a new Song and abandoning the old Song, I'm afraid that he had long harbored some well-known intention to establish a new temple, and today he would take advantage of this great victory to settle the matter.

Some even speculated maliciously that news of excessive joy from the Shaolin Temple and Dongxiao Palace would soon be heard.

In addition, some people guessed that the official was making way for Chancellor Lu, allowing this chancellor, who had been brooding over Yanjing, to have his wish fulfilled and enter Yanjing first, and then act as he pleased... It was not wanting to steal Chancellor Lu's limelight.

Both theories made sense. In fact, Zhao Jiu did have both considerations. At the same time, he had another clear, direct, simple, and ordinary reason... This official just wanted to go downstream and see what the Yellow River estuary looked like in this era.

The three northern tributaries of the Yellow River rejoined in Hejian Prefecture, and then flowed north and then east, entering the sea from the northern border of Cangzhou. This final section of the river into the sea, due to strong human influence, actually passed through the former border between the Song and Liao countries, so it was also called the Boundary River.

Zhao Jiu was waiting for Wanyan Wushu on the Cangzhou side of this so-called Boundary River.

To be more specific, he actually met the fourth prince of the Jin Dynasty in Nigu Village, which was more than ten miles away from the estuary.

The meeting between the two was unusually calm, even excessively calm.

After Zhao Jiu received the message and returned from the estuary to Nigu Village, Wanyan Wushu had already been bound to the rammed earth platform in the center of the military village. After being searched, he knelt directly at the end of the platform. His personal sword and dagger, along with Han Shizhong's note and the servant Taishi Nu's description of the sword's origin, had already been placed on the table under the dragon flag at the other end of the platform.

Then, Zhao Jiu also sat behind the table under the dragon flag.

He flipped through Han Shizhong's note in front of him, looked at the story about Yue Fei and Wanyan Wushu meeting on the grassy slope that he had learned from the servant Taishi Nu, and then put it aside, turning his head to look at the Yellow River channel on one side, without saying a word, or even looking at Wanyan Wushu.

In all fairness, if Zhao Jiu wanted to speak, he certainly had countless things to say, and if he wanted to see, he could also step forward and take a good look.

After all, the person opposite him was Wanyan Wushu, the fourth prince of the Jin Dynasty.

Yue Fei, Wanyan Wushu, and Qin Hui were originally the representative figures of this era.

This was not just caused by some legendary novel... or rather, back to Wushu... Whether in Zhao Jiu's personal experience of ten years, or in another time and space, this fourth prince of the Jin Dynasty was the actual pillar and military and political commander after the Jin Dynasty's founding veterans withered. All wars between Song and Jin, all diplomacy between Song and Jin, and all strategic confrontations between Song and Jin could not avoid this person, or rather, this person was simply the military and political leader of the Jin side against the Song.

From this point of view, he could even be called Zhao Jiu's main opponent in these ten years, even if there had been Nianhan, Lou Shi, and Wu Qimai.

Because among these people, no one had such a strong representation and presence in this war as Wanyan Wushu.

Zhao Guanren could have asked him how the scenery of Bagong Mountain on the Huai River was that day, and whether he had taken a closer look?

When he withdrew his troops from Nanyang, what did Wanyan Wushu think of Wanyan Talan?

When Yaoshan collapsed, did he see Wanyan Lou Shi's charge clearly?

Did he still remember Han Chang?

Had he forgotten Pu Luhun?

Did he know Zhang Yongzhen and Hou Dan?

Did he regret his retreat under Yinshan that day?

Did he know that Wanyan Olun wanted to pretend to be a soldier and escape, but was reported on the way, and the result of the last Wanhu of the Battle of Huolu was already clear?

As long as he, this official, or rather, he, this victor, wanted, he could completely set up a table of wine and give the other party a dignified farewell, have a warm wine and discuss heroes, and pretend to be a good man, or he could have someone grab the other party's hair, list the crimes, and use knives and axes... to have a joke about drinking the blood of the Xiongnu when thirsty, and eating the flesh of the barbarians when hungry.

In short, he could be vulgar or elegant, theatrical or ruthless.

However, Zhao Jiu did not move, nor did he look at the other party, but turned his head to look at the 'Boundary River', which seemed a little calm but was滔滔不绝.

Unexpectedly, Wanyan Wushu did not speak either.

This ruling prince of the Jin Dynasty, who bore the heavy responsibility of the survival of his family, even his tribe and country, certainly had countless reasons to speak, countless political demands to express, and countless complex emotions... such as fear, sadness, anger, and sorrow.

But for some reason, Wushu, who was also full of desire to confide, did not speak either.

Dressed in white and with his hands bound, he just lowered his head, knelt at the other end of the rammed earth platform, looking at the rammed earth under his knees without saying a word, as if waiting for the sentence that might come at any time.

But this sentence was delayed.

Wanyan Wushu was delivered at noon that day, Zhao Jiu returned an hour later, and then the two of them sat and knelt, one turning his head to look at the Yellow River, and the other lowering his head to wait for the sentence, confronting each other... until dusk, when the sun set in the west, neither of them made any movement.

It is said that because of the divergence, the Boundary River section of the Yellow River did not have such a rapid current, but the northern tributaries and the Sanggan River and others converged here, and finally displayed a sparkling scene in the sunset.

But as time passed, even this scene gradually dimmed.

On the other side, Hu Yin went north with Lu Yihao, Yang Yizhong was ordered to return north to Tokyo to prepare something, and Zhao Guanren was accompanied by Liu Yan, Shao Chengzhang, and the generals Tian Shizhong, Zhang Zigai, and Cheng Min.

And these people stood on the side of the platform, and no one dared to speak or make a sound to disturb them, but seeing that the sky was getting darker and darker, they finally had to think of a way.

Tian Shizhong hesitated for a moment, carefully went around behind Liu Yan and Shao Chengzhang, and whispered, "Prince Liu, Scholar Shao, can we offer dinner to the official?"

Liu Yan and Shao Chengzhang suddenly realized, and after a while, Shao Chengzhang personally offered some pork pancakes and some wine and dishes.

Zhao Jiu came back to his senses.

He looked at the wine and dishes on the table, swept over the sword and the dagger, and finally turned his head to look at Wanyan Wushu in front of him, and said the first sentence of the afternoon:

"Execute him immediately and display his head to the public."

As soon as he said this, Zhao Guanren picked up a pork pancake and walked down while eating.

And about half an hour after this official left the rammed earth platform with Liu Yan and Shao Chengzhang, Cheng Min suddenly jumped onto the platform under the gaze of Tian Shizhong and Zhang Zigai.

Seeing this, Zhang Zigai, who had the advantage of being on his home turf, wanted to jump up as well, but was stopped by Tian Shizhong... Obviously, he felt that it was not necessary to have a conflict with Han Shizhong's confidants for such a small matter, especially since Zhang Jun was in Qingzhou, and Han Shizhong was in Yanjing to the northwest.

Wushu had already heard the words 'execute him immediately', but he did not have any extra reaction. It was not until Cheng Min, who had escorted him for two or three days, came to him with a knife that he raised his head and collapsed to the ground at the same time.

"Do you have anything to say?"

Cheng Min looked down, sighing slightly. He knew that although the person in front of him was about to die, he was a person of a higher level than himself, so he maintained a bit of politeness.

"I've been kneeling all afternoon, and I'm very hungry."

Wushu replied seriously. "What did your Zhao Guanren eat just now? I wonder if you can give me a taste?"

Cheng Min was a little confused, but he looked around and thought for a while, and finally felt that there was no reason not to let the other party be a full ghost, so he directly shouted to the soldiers below the platform:

"Bring a pancake!"

"I want to eat that one."

Wushu suddenly pointed to the front, where Zhao Guanren had left, and there was still a pancake left in a basket on the table.

"That has to be bestowed by the official."

Cheng Min immediately shook his head. "How dare I, a commander, move it? Besides, why didn't you ask when the official was here before?"

"I didn't want to ask."

Wushu's eyes widened, and he replied calmly. "I didn't dare to ask either."

Cheng Min was confused... He felt that the first half of the sentence meant that the other party was a man, and at the same time he felt that the other party was still pretending when he was about to die, but the second half of the sentence took a sharp turn, and he completely didn't understand what the other party was thinking.

So, he simply shut up.

After a while, a soldier did bring a pancake. Cheng Min personally picked one up and put it to Wushu's mouth, but Wushu just closed his mouth and shook his head.

Cheng Min was too lazy to care, so he took a bite of the pancake himself, and waved his hand.

Immediately, several Beiwei soldiers who had come with him immediately stepped forward, dragged Wushu off the platform, and then dragged him to the gate of Nigu Village. Then, the soldiers on both sides held him down, and another soldier casually took a standard military puda and just one knife, and the silent fourth prince Wanyan Wushu was beheaded.

This knife also cut off the countless grievances between this person and that official, two marshals, and more than a dozen princes and dukes in the past ten years.

After the beheading was completed, another soldier took a wooden bucket filled with quicklime, skillfully put Wushu's head in it, and tied it to the side of a war horse.

Cheng Min nodded and left Nigu Village directly with the head.

He knew that Wanyan Wushu's servant Taishi Nu would report the specific conditions brought by this dead person to Zhao Guanren or the two princes, Liu Yan and Tian Shizhong, but that was none of his business.

He now just wanted to urgently bring this head to show everyone.

Wushu was dead, at the age of thirty-eight, in the year of Bingchen, a great year for the world.

ps: I really didn't expect to be so tired after going out. The journey itself is the most terrible... I'll send a chapter first, just to get by... I'll try to finish it this month, and I won't drag it past next month... Let me think about how to end it.