New Song Dynasty: My Wife is an Imperial Princess

After lying in prison for two more days, a jailer escorted Tang Qian to the military camp outside the city.

Wanyan Xun tossed him a thick military uniform and then ordered his subordinates to bring over a yellow horse: "Judging from your frail appearance, I'm afraid you won't be able to leave the Yanshan Mountains. You'll stay by my side as an advisor for now, lest you die on your way back to Tokyo. As for your servant, he'll have to stay in prison for a while. If you come back alive, I'll naturally go and fetch him."

Tang Qian put on his general's uniform and wrapped himself in a thick cloak. Reluctantly, he mounted his horse, mentally cursing all the women in the young general's family. He thought to himself that if he had known he would have to walk the same route in the dead of winter, he would have preferred to have run away on the way here.

When they came, they were at least sheltered by a carriage, but now they have no choice but to sit on horseback and brave the wind and snow. Tang Qian is really worried that he won't be able to withstand it and will fall off the horse.

With all the troops assembled, Wanyan Xun waved his hand and shouted, "Let's go!" All the Jin soldiers in the camp immediately began to move. Tang Qian squeezed his horse's belly with his legs and followed behind Wanyan Xun, slowly leaving the camp gate.

Looking back at the army that was following closely behind, Tang Qian was slightly taken aback for a moment, and a slightly amused smile appeared on his lips.

"As the saying goes, an army cannot move without supplies. Your Highness has a great responsibility this time, and you cannot afford to fail."

"You seem to be mocking me." Wanyan Xun snorted coldly. On the surface, he did not show any anger because of Tang Qian's rudeness, but in his heart, a trace of resentment still rose. Although he was indeed only given the surname Wanyan and inherited the throne because of his father, and was not a true member of the Wanyan royal family, it was an insult to make him responsible for escorting grain.

Looking up at the sky, Wanyan Xun's eyes were full of determination: "One day, I will shut up all those who despise me."

Leading his personal guards, Wanyan Xun walked and stopped in the cold wind for more than three hours before arriving at a mountain pass. He waved for the army to stop. The route was already steep, and with the snow and ice covering it, it was even more difficult for the soldiers to push the baggage. As night fell, it was time to set up camp.

Even though they had only traveled a little over thirty li that day, Tang Qian had to admire Wanyan Xun's strict military discipline. He knew that the journey had been extremely difficult. Tang Qian felt that if it were the Song Dynasty's army, they would be considered a strong army if they could travel ten li.

Tang Qian, who had been exposed to the biting cold wind all the way, was shivering so badly that he could barely walk into the tent. This caused the Jin soldiers to burst into laughter. They were full of confidence in the upcoming war against the Song Dynasty. The Song people were so weak that the mere city of Kaifeng would be as easy as taking candy from a baby.

With a slight tilt of his head, Wanyan Xun signaled, and a bodyguard took a leather bag from the saddle, uncorked it, and handed it to Tang Qian: "Have a drink to warm yourself up. It won't be so cold after we leave these mountains in a couple of days."

Tang Qian took the leather pouch, sniffed it briefly, and then handed it back: "I'm physically weak and can't drink strong liquor." He pointed to a leather pouch on the other side of the saddle, "Could I have some water first?"

The guard was taken aback at first, then burst into laughter: "You can't drink what's in that skin bag, it'll kill you."

Tang Qian pursed his slightly bluish lips, then suddenly became interested. He looked at the nearby warhorses, each with two leather pouches hanging from them, and asked with a puzzled expression, "If we can't drink from them, why are we all carrying them?"

The guard glanced at Wanyan Xun, who was already walking away slowly. His previously hesitant expression turned into one of smugness: "Do you know how my 20,000 Jin soldiers defeated the 300,000 Liao troops in Nanjing?"

The guard didn't say what he was going to say next, but it wasn't hard to tell from his expression that the Jin army was able to capture Youzhou City with 20,000 troops, which had a garrison several times larger than their own, because of what was contained in the leather pouch that each of them carried.

Tang Qian stroked his chin thoughtfully. The guard dared not say another word. He knew that leaking military secrets was a capital offense, but fortunately he stopped in time. The man in front of him had no idea what was inside the body, so it did not count as leaking secrets.

Tang Qian, being sensible, did not press the matter further. Seeing him turn and enter the military camp to warm himself by the fire, the guard breathed a sigh of relief.

As his joints, which had been frozen stiff, slowly relaxed under the heat of the charcoal fire, Tang Qian secretly rejoiced that he had finally escaped death, while in his heart once again dragging out that shameless scoundrel Wanyan Xun and whipping his corpse.

"You little brat, if you want to become famous, don't drag me down with you."

If he endures this freezing weather for a few more days, he really doesn't know if he'll freeze on his horse and never wake up again.

Although Tang Qian seemed to have been frozen senseless and didn't seem to care about the military secrets he had just blurted out, the guard was not one to let his guard down. In the following days of marching, he kept an eye on Tang Qian's movements, intentionally or unintentionally.

After confirming that the boy had indeed never asked a single question about the second leather pouch on the horse's back, or even looked at it directly, the outspoken guard finally put his worries to rest.

It should be known that Wanyan Xun always disciplined his army strictly. If he had known that Wanyan Xun had once mentioned to a Song person that the special leather bag contained a secret, even if he had not revealed it to the Song state, he would have been beheaded according to military regulations.

Thinking of this, the guard looked at Tang Qian's silly back with a smug grin and chuckled: "Song Zhu is indeed not without reason."

After traveling and stopping intermittently through the wind and snow, the logistics supply troops led by Wanyan Xun finally emerged from the snow-covered Yanshan Mountains. Looking at the desolate and barren North China Plain before him, Tang Qian couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief.

Having survived a round trip in such an extreme environment without freezing to death, Tang Qian felt that his life was not meant to end there. Thinking back to his time in Youzhou, when he had not betrayed his country, Tang Qian believed that he had done right by his ancestors and the Song Dynasty. He wondered if he could find an opportunity to escape to Lin'an. He didn't ask for great wealth and honor in his later years, but at least he could save his life first.

But in the next instant, thinking of Tang Xiaoqi who was still imprisoned, Tang Qian felt that he could not act rashly now. If he ran away now, Xiaoqi's life would definitely be in danger.

I didn't kill Bo Ren, but Bo Ren died because of me?

Tang Qian couldn't help but sigh, his sigh filled with helplessness and reluctance. It was a pity that in such a chaotic world, he was just a nobody who could barely take care of himself. No matter how hard he tried, he probably couldn't become a savior.

However, in a moment of reflection, Tang Qian temporarily abandoned the idea of ​​escaping. He couldn't save the entire Song Dynasty, but he really didn't want to see Xiao Qi die in Youzhou.

Once outside the territory of Youzhou, this Jin supply detachment officially entered Song territory. To prevent being ambushed, Wanyan Xun sent out scouts to gather intelligence and made preparations for battle at any time.

The news brought back by the scouts made Wanyan Xun feel that his caution had been excessive.

"The Song Dynasty fortresses along the way are all covered with the flags of the Jin Dynasty, and even the county towns we pass through have changed hands. We can head west all the way to Tokyo."

Tang Qian knew that the Song army's combat effectiveness was basically zero at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, but he really couldn't imagine that they would flee at the first sign of trouble, retreating without even seeing the enemy. He thought that such a terminally ill Song Dynasty was indeed doomed.

Wanyan Xun turned his head and glanced at Tang Qian, his eyes full of contempt: "Under such circumstances, do you still insist that our Great Jin cannot conquer Tokyo?"

Back then, when facing hundreds of thousands of elite troops from the Liao Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty won with ease. The Song army was so incompetent that Wanyan Xun believed that a single charge from his army would cause this rabble to collapse.

"Has Your Highness considered the possibility that the Song army is retreating to the capital to avoid being defeated one by one by your army? Surely Your Highness understands the principle that a single chopstick is easily broken."

Wanyan Xun snorted coldly, still stubbornly refusing to admit his mistake even now; he truly wouldn't shed a tear until he saw the coffin.

"Then I'll let you die knowing why, and I'll be the first to plant the Great Jin flag on the walls of Tokyo."