New Song Dynasty: My Wife is an Imperial Princess

The sudden question made all three people in the room stand up at the same time.

Looking in the direction from which the sound came, an elderly man with gray hair and beard appeared on the outer veranda.

The old man stood tall and straight with a resolute face. He held a long sword in his hand, which gleamed with a faint blue light in the sunlight.

The other party clearly had ill intentions. Wang Jian wanted to stop them but dared not, so he could only follow their footsteps, retreating again and again, until he reached a doorway with nowhere left to retreat. At that moment, Wang Jian drew the long sword at his waist: "**If you take another step forward, don't blame this general for being rude."

"What?" Faced with Wang Jian's threat, Li Gang merely glanced at him sideways, completely disregarding him. "Commander Wang, are you planning to take action against me?"

"This humble general dares not." Wang Jian did not open the door. "This humble general's duty is to protect the safety of the princess and her husband. Please do not make things difficult for this humble general."

Li Gang snorted coldly, not intending to sheath his sword. He was there to hold Tang Qian accountable, and if the other party was indeed a spineless coward, he wouldn't mind cleaning up Tang Huan's mess.

"Commander Wang need not worry, ** will not harm me. Please invite the Prime Minister in."

Although he could clearly sense the killing intent emanating from the other party, since Tang Qian had given the order, Wang Jian could only step aside to make way.

Li Gang took two quick steps forward, raising his long sword. He wanted to ask this kid why he had incited the emperor to retreat south.

But the sword tip had just been raised before it was quickly lowered again. Facing Princess Shunde blocking his way, Li Gang dared not act rashly, but still glared at her: "Your Highness, as a princess, you should prioritize the well-being of the Song Dynasty. Your husband's slanderous words have misled the public and bewitched the emperor, which is truly unforgivable. Swords have no eyes, so please step aside, Your Highness."

Li Gang came on strong, but Zhao Yingluo remained unmoved. Her gaze towards him gradually sharpened, and the royal majesty around her made Li Gang's heart tremble: "I only know that Tang Qian is my husband. If you want to harm the consort, you must step over my dead body."

Zhao Yingluo's words caused the Grand Chancellor to pause slightly, but he quickly recovered. He was the Left Chancellor of the Great Song Dynasty, who could remain calm and composed even when facing tens of thousands of Jin soldiers. How could he be afraid of a mere princess?

"Your Highness would be better off stepping aside. Do you really think you can stop me by yourself?"

"A mere Princess Shunde is indeed not enough of a significance. If we were to add the rest of us, do you really think we could have a peaceful conversation with the Prince Consort?"

As the other princesses filed in, they all stood beside Zhao Yingluo, separating him from Tang Qian. Li Gang finally took a step back and sheathed his longsword.

"Greetings to all the princesses."

Faced with the prince's clasped hands in greeting, none of the princesses paid any attention. Zhao Saiyue, standing at the front, even pointed at Li Gang's nose and said, "No one can hurt my brother-in-law, not even the prime minister."

Faced with the unreasonable demands of these princesses, Li Gang was at a loss for words. With the fall of Tokyo and the capture of all the royal family members, those standing here must represent the entire bloodline of the Zhao family.

He dared to disregard Zhao Yingluo, but he dared not act rashly when facing the entire royal family.

"Tang Qian's ability to rescue the princesses in Youzhou is indeed commendable, but if he were afraid of death, he could have taken you south alone. Why did he have to come to Yingtian Prefecture to disrupt our army's morale? With a formidable enemy at hand, instead of thinking about how to repel them, he only knows how to run away. What difference is there between him and a coward?"

"**Thinking this way is completely wrong.**

After parting the princesses who were blocking his way, Tang Qian smiled faintly and stood in front of Li Gang.

Zhao Yingluo was worried that the other party might suddenly attack and hurt her, and she was still about to step forward, but Tang Qian blocked her behind her: "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

"You've got some guts, kid." Tang Qian didn't hide behind the woman the whole time, which made Li Gang look at him with new respect. "But I'd like to ask what I did wrong?"

If dying on the battlefield to protect the Song Dynasty is wrong, he would rather make that mistake again and again.

"The scene of you wielding your sword and killing the enemy on the walls of Tokyo is still vivid in my mind. I greatly admire your integrity in sharing the fate of Tokyo. That battle was earth-shattering, and you were certainly right back then."

"However..." Tang Qian sighed softly, "The current situation is vastly different from the previous battle. Back then, when the Prime Minister was defending Tokyo, he had impregnable city walls, a united populace, and tens of thousands of soldiers. But now, what do we have? Apart from the remaining 50,000 Imperial Guards, we have nothing. After the crushing defeat, the morale of the entire army has vanished. Tell me, what do we have to defend Yingtian Prefecture?"

“A true man is born between heaven and earth, and what he should do is stand tall and upright. Haven’t we fled thoroughly enough in the face of the Jin army’s invasion? We really can’t flee any further.”

"To fight knowing it's certain death is not bravery, but foolishness." Tang Qian shook his head. "No one can stop the Jin army's third invasion of the south. Using our remaining strength to stop them will only hasten the fall of the court. What the Song Dynasty needs now is to bide our time and build up our strength, not to fight a desperate battle. As long as we hold onto Jiangnan and Sichuan, we still have a chance to turn things around."

"Hide your strength and bide your time? Easier said than done." Li Gang sneered. "If we retreat today, the Jin army will surely continue to advance south. Will they give us the chance to endure hardship and bide our time?"

"The Jin army is not good at naval warfare. We can rely on the natural barrier of the Yangtze River for defense. Faced with the terrain south of the Yangtze River, the Jin army's iron cavalry will be useless. With the enemy losing their advantage, why should our army not dare to fight head-on?"

"You make it sound so easy. The Yangtze River originates in Sichuan and stretches eastward for thousands of miles. With just a few tens of thousands of troops, it's not a problem to hold the south of the Yangtze River. But how can you possibly defend so many important crossing points?"

"If the Jin army wants to detour, they must cross the continuous mountain ranges. The mountain paths are narrow and difficult to traverse. Aren't they afraid that our army will set up an ambush on their only route? If they want to reach Jiangnan directly, they can only go south along the Jingdong East Road. If we conduct ambushes along the Yellow River, Huai River and the south bank of the Yangtze River, can we slow down the Jin army's southward advance?"

The imperial guards commanded by Li Gang were also northern soldiers who were not good at naval warfare, but it was not difficult for them to set up defenses on the riverbank and shoot down the Jin soldiers crossing the river.

"But the morale of our troops is low right now, and I'm worried we won't be able to hold out. If we keep retreating like this, when will it ever end?"

"So even the Prime Minister knows that our army is no match for the Jin army's invasion. Why bother holding out in Yingtian Prefecture?" Tang Qian reached out and rubbed his forehead, which was covered in black lines. "Guangling City is my bottom line. I am willing to fight the Jin army to the death in Guangling."