Fearing being killed for his overwhelming merits, the empress decided to marry him.

"Yue Pengju is only twenty years old this year. He joined the Song Dynasty's Daredevil Camp at the age of fourteen. At such a young age, he was able to repel the Jin cavalry several times with an overwhelmingly inferior force. He is truly a young man of great talent."

When Jiang Mengxuan spoke of Yue Pengju, she made no attempt to hide her admiration.

"Ah Lang, could we recruit someone like Yue Pengju to serve under our Great Chu? Right now, the Song court is incompetent, and the government is cracking down on military men."

A talent like his is destined to be buried in the State of Song. Could we find a way to recruit him?

Upon hearing this, Shen Lang sighed, "I'm afraid it's a bit difficult. A general like him, who can train an elite force for the Song Dynasty in just a few months, will not easily give up on the Song court."

"That's true," Jiang Mengxuan said, a hint of disappointment in her voice. "The younger and more promising the general, the more patriotic they are."

Such a person will not easily betray their country, even if that country is beyond saving.

Shen Lang: "It is precisely because such people exist in history that history is so fascinating, isn't it?"

Jiang Mengxuan smiled but did not reply.

"What then?"

Shen Lang continued to press for details regarding the future developments between Song and Jin.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Mengxuan shook her head with a wry smile.

"I thought the actions of Emperor Huizong's reign were already incomprehensible enough, but I never imagined that perhaps I'm just too inexperienced... "

At this point, Jiang Mengxuan didn't know how to control the expression on her face, so she simply started talking about the message sent by the Jingwei Division.

Although the Jin army on the left flank encountered resistance at Shaoguan, it did not have a significant impact on the overall situation of the Song and Jin dynasties.

The right wing army, led by Wanyan Loushi with 50,000 troops, marched from Xiangzhou Prefecture and rushed to Yancheng. Without stopping, they launched a fierce attack on Yancheng.

Han Zhong led the soldiers and civilians in the city to fight desperately, relying on the city walls. Wanyan Loushi was unable to break through the city walls, and the battle was immediately at a stalemate.

Upon learning that both the left and right armies of Wanyan Lie in Shangjing City had encountered fierce resistance from the Song army, he immediately led 80,000 troops to Yancheng, where they joined forces with Wanyan Loushi's army and launched another strong attack.

However, the resistance of the soldiers and civilians of Yancheng, led by Han Zhong, was more intense than ever before. For three consecutive days, the Jin army even lost four generals who had reached the Transcendent Realm, yet they still could not shake Han Zhong in the slightest.

At this time, both Jin armies suffered setbacks, their rapid advance into the Bian River encountered unprecedented difficulties, and their morale plummeted.

Therefore, Wanyan Lie resorted to other means, and once again wrote a letter in his own hand and sent it to Bianzhou Prefecture for Zhao Ji to open personally.

The letter falsely accused the Song army of instigating the Jin dynasty's anger and demanded that the troops of Han Zhong and Zhong Shidao, who were threatening the Jin border, be withdrawn, otherwise the Song-Jin war would break out again in full force.

Such an absurd and self-destructive request...

Emperor Huizong of Tang agreed without even thinking about it.

After receiving Wanyan Lie's letter, he immediately ordered Gao Wei and Tong Daofu to go to Shaoguan and Yancheng respectively, ordering the garrison commanders to give up resistance and withdraw all troops to the Bianhe camp.

Upon receiving such an absurd and outrageous order, Zhong Shidao was so enraged that he vomited blood on the spot and died suddenly in the army that very night.

With Zhong Shidao dead, the Song army in the north lost its leader and could only retreat to the main camp north of Bian River under the leadership of Yang Yan.

On the other side, Han Zhong refused to carry out the order after receiving it, and was eventually assassinated in the military camp by Gao Wei's men. His head was sent to the Jin camp to appease the Jin people's anger.

The two ironclad defense lines of Shaoguan and Yancheng, which Zhao Ji personally ordered to be built, were destroyed by him just a few months later.

It has to be said that this kind of magical and abstract operation was incomprehensible not only to Jiang Mengxuan, but also to the Jingwei Division, which was in charge of intelligence gathering. Even Shen Lang, a transmigrator, found it difficult to understand.

How much alcohol did he drink to do something so outrageous?

After the Song army withdrew south, the Jin army immediately stormed into Yancheng and Shaoguan, slaughtering all the Song soldiers and civilians there to vent their anger.

With the obstacles to their advance cleared, the Jin troops advanced unimpeded and successfully reached the Song army's camp north of the Bian River in early August.

At this moment, Zhao Ji finally realized that the Song-Jin war had already resumed when he received the military report from Yancheng.

However, it was too late to regret it at this point. On one hand, he ordered the Song army in the northern camp of Bianhe to do their best to resist the Jin army, and on the other hand, he ordered Cai Yuanzhang to go to the Jin camp for new negotiations.

Emperor Huizong (Zhao Ji) wanted to take advantage of the fact that the main force of the Song army was still intact to gain more leverage at the negotiating table.

However, before Cai Yuanzhang could reach the Jin camp, he received the devastating news that the Bianhe camp had been destroyed by the Jin army and that 50,000 remnant soldiers had crossed the Yangtze River and returned south.

According to intelligence from the Jingwei Division, Wanyan Loushi, Wanyan Wo, and Wanyan Shu launched a surprise attack while the Song army was caught off guard.

During the fierce battle, the Song army camp was in chaos, communication between generals at all levels was cut off, and the Song court did not have the funds to equip military officers below the third rank with communication jade slips, which led to the 350,000 Song troops being cut off, surrounded and defeated one by one by the Jin army.

In this battle, only Yue Pengju's 500 elite armored soldiers stood in neat formation and repelled the Jin army's attacks several times, killing and wounding many enemies.

However, small-scale victories could not reverse the overall defeat. Yue Peng, a lowly scholar, had little influence and, faced with a hopeless situation, could only tearfully lead the remaining three hundred elite soldiers across the river to the south of the Bian River.

Upon learning this news, Cai Yuanchang was so frightened that he immediately returned to the capital to report to Emperor Huizong.

Zhao Ji was completely disoriented and spent his days in the back garden complaining to his sworn brother, "Stone Brother," seeking comfort and praying that the Jin soldiers would retreat quickly.

As for the peace talks with the Jin army, they were all entrusted to Cai Yuanchang.

But Cai Yuanchang refused to go to the Jin camp no matter what.

He still feels lingering fear after witnessing the Jin soldiers barbarically throwing the bodies of Song soldiers into the river on the south bank of the Bian River.

However, the Song envoy dared not go to the Jin camp, but the Jin camp did send an envoy over.

The person who came was still Wanyan Wo.

This time, he was even more arrogant, and in the main hall, he severely humiliated the Song emperor and his ministers, and even pushed all the blame for the Song-Jin war onto the Song side.

In response, not a single official in the Song court dared to utter a word.

After being humiliated, Wanyan Wocai proposed peace terms:

The Song state was required to pay the Jin state an annual tribute of one million taels of silver, one hundred thousand bolts of silk, and forty thousand shi of grain.

The State of Song must pay the State of Jin a one-time compensation of ten million taels of gold and one hundred million taels of silver, and resolve the issue of food supplies for the army.

The Song state had to submit to the Jin state.

None of these unreasonable demands were acceptable to the Song court, but in order to appease Wanyan Wo, they could only offer kind words of advice to avoid the Jin people launching an attack.

"Recent news from the Song court suggests that Emperor Huizong (Zhao Ji) intends to abdicate in favor of his son, Zhao Huan, who is not yet fifteen years old. The edict has already been drafted and will be issued before October."

It seems this foolish ruler has realized he can no longer remain on the throne and intends to dump the mess on Zhao Huan.

Jiang Mengxuan sighed softly.

"Zhao Huan was also pitiful. I was already sixteen when I inherited the throne, while he was a year or two younger than me."

The problems he faced were dozens of times more difficult than mine. It's a pity that Emperor Huizong was so incompetent and foolish; how could he have left such a great external threat to his descendants?

Shen Lang thought for a moment and said, "I don't want to concern myself with the affairs of the Song court, but there is still hope of bringing ambitious young generals from the Song court to my Chu territory."

Jiang Mengxuan immediately understood: "A Lang, you want to recruit the generals of the Song Kingdom into the military academy?"

Shen Lang nodded and replied, "The Song Kingdom is basically finished. Even if it manages to hold on, it won't last more than a few years."

During this period, we might as well recruit and train all the currently unemployed young generals of the Song army, so that in the future…

Shen Lang touched his nose and didn't continue speaking.

But Jiang Mengxuan immediately understood his intention.

Her husband was planning to cultivate their hatred for the destruction of their country, so that he could help the State of Chu annex the State of Song in the future!