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

The beginning of March in the sixth year of Xuan Yuan was destined to be an extraordinary month.

When Wanyan Lie was sending 500,000 shi of grain to Northern Yan for emergency relief, he also reached an agreement with Murong Ke.

The Northern Yan tacitly approved the Jin state's military action against the Song state and promised that it would never interfere.

Now completely freed from his constraints, Wanyan Lie decided to seize this opportunity to annihilate the Song Dynasty in one fell swoop, and issued a death order:

They rejected all of Song's requests for peace talks and surrender, determined to conquer Bianzhou and capture Zhao Huan alive this time.

In fact, the news that the Jurchens were going to invade the south was not kept completely secret; the Song state had already learned of the Jurchens' intention to invade.

However, Zhao Huan, Ye Fan, and other officials did not take this seriously.

The glorious victory of the previous Northern Expedition had completely robbed these naive officials of their reason, leading them to believe that the Jin people's actions were nothing more than a bluff.

However, their blind optimism is not without reason.

Aside from trust in the inclusion of the Shu Mountain Sword Sect in the Song army, the more crucial point was that the war with Northern Yan had ended. According to the original agreement with Northern Yan, if the Jin people invaded, Northern Yan would mediate.

It must be said that although Emperor Huizong of Song was incompetent and foolish, he still had some self-awareness.

The Song army was weak and vulnerable. To ensure the stability of the Song Dynasty, it was necessary to find another powerful regime to support it.

Unfortunately, after Zhao Huan ascended the throne, this policy of maintaining friendly relations with Northern Yan did not continue.

At the beginning of the year, the Northern Yan also sent people to Bianjing to request Zhao Huan to provide some assistance on the issue of food.

However, Zhao Huan only made a verbal promise and never sent a single grain of food to Northern Yan.

Northern Yan did not respond to this, but Song's diplomatic stance had already greatly displeased the Northern Yan officials.

Murong Ke once wrote a letter in his own hand, hoping that the State of Song would abide by the promises made between the two countries and not act as a treacherous person.

However, the Song court and its officials never responded.

The reason why the Song rulers and ministers dared to refuse to fulfill their promises was because they were certain that the Northern Yan would not abandon the Song state. Once they abandoned the Song state, they would watch the Jin state grow stronger and eventually turn against them.

Indeed, Song's idea was not wrong, but when Northern Yan was struggling to protect itself, did it have time to meddle in your affairs?

In negotiations between Yan and Song, it was always Northern Yan that suffered losses, while Song took it all for granted.

However, even at this point, the Song court still believed that even if they treated the Northern Yan poorly, they would have to step in and mediate if the Jin invaded the south in a large-scale attack. So why waste so much money and grain to appease the Northern Yan?

Thus, the entire court was enveloped in an optimistic atmosphere, fully enjoying the "excellent" situation at hand.

This optimistic spirit gradually spread from the halls of power to the common people.

At this time, a mysterious confidence permeated the entire Song state. Even after learning that the Jin army might march south, they were no longer as at a loss as before.

The victory of the National Protection Army's Northern Expedition made them believe that they had seen hope of defeating the Jin people. The once ferocious and terrifying Jin cavalry did not seem as scary as they had thought.

This was also thanks to Ye Fan's intentional or unintentional propaganda. The National Protection Army had only annihilated a few dozen Jin soldiers during this Northern Expedition, but after some embellishment, the number was quickly increased to tens of thousands.

Of course, some people have questioned the credibility of this data.

However, the recapture of Xiangzhou Prefecture was beyond doubt. Those who supported Ye Fan silenced all the doubters with just this one point.

On the morning of the fifth day of the third month, sixty miles outside Xiangzhou Prefecture, Wanyan Loushi, a famous general of the Jin Dynasty, dipped two fingers into a bowl of steaming wolf blood and then smeared it on his face.

The other Jin generals also made the same move.

Behind them stretched an endless army of infantry and cavalry, bathed in the bright morning sun, awaiting the sound of the bugle call to march forth.

"The Song Kingdom! It has repeatedly broken its promises! This time, it has even taken advantage of our Jin Kingdom's unpreparedness to seize our important Xiangzhou."

"This time, by the king's order, we must trample Bianjing and utterly destroy this faithless nation. Furthermore, we must capture their emperor and bring him to Shangjing for the king's judgment!"

"Warriors! You are the most valiant warriors of the Jin Kingdom, following me through countless life-and-death battles for many years without ever retreating. I believe you are also outraged by the Song Kingdom's despicable actions."

"The Song people consider themselves to be from a land of imperial rule, and they have always looked down on us people who come from barbaric backgrounds. They call us barbarians and beasts!"

"But what if they are barbarians? What if they are beasts!"

"This time, let our anger be transformed into power, and let us utterly destroy these self-proclaimed lands of etiquette!"

"Oooooooo-"

As soon as Wanyan Loushi finished speaking, a chorus of wolf howls erupted from the scene.

The Jin army's elite troops were already prepared, waiting only for the order to rush into battle without hesitation.

"Beat the drums! Sound the horns!"

dong dong dong-

woo-

Hundreds of war drums, along with nearly a thousand rhinoceros horn horns, sounded simultaneously.

The moment the Jin Dynasty's wolf-flying banner unfurled in the wind, all the Jin soldiers stood at attention, ready to go to war.

"Let's set off! Our first battle: retake Xiangzhou Prefecture!"

"Roar, roar, roar—"

With a furious roar, Wanyan Loushi's 150,000 elite troops unleashed a deafening shout and marched towards Xiangzhou Prefecture.

Meanwhile, in Xiangzhou Prefecture, the people of Xiangzhou, completely unaware of the impending war, were strolling around the bustling streets.

In the teahouse, a scholar in white robes, holding a cup of coarse tea, said to another scholar in gray robes beside him, "Have you heard? The Jurchens are about to march south again."

"cut."

The scholar in gray snorted coldly.

"Our national defense army is invincible. If the Jurchens dare to invade our Song territory, they will only be bringing shame upon themselves."

In the past, at this time, these scholars would feel a pang of fear at the slightest sign of any movement by the Jurchens.

But now, all that shines in everyone's eyes is boundless confidence.

"The Jurchens were terrified after the first battle; how dare they come back now?"

"Even if the Jurchens really come, so what? The spirit of the National Protection Army is evident to all. Those warriors are all at the highest level, each capable of taking on a thousand men. Do the Jurchens have that kind of ability?"

"Ha, I really hope that the Imperial Guardian General can one day continue the Northern Expedition and storm into the capital, thus demonstrating the prestige of our Great Song Dynasty."

Inside the teahouse, everyone was chatting and laughing, showing no fear whatsoever of impending war.

The tea server enthusiastically moved among the guests, refilling their tea and water.

Just then, someone on the street began to bang a gong to warn everyone: "The Jin army is attacking! All residents of the city, immediately go home and lock your doors and windows!"

The messenger banged the gong three times to confirm that the message had been delivered to this area, and then immediately went to the next street to relay it.

"Oh, these Jurchens really don't know what's good for them, they actually dare to come?"

"Come on, Brother Zhang, Brother Wu, since we're just killing time anyway, how about we play a game and bet on how many Jurchen heads the National Protection Army can cut off this time?"

“Interesting, I’ll bet two thousand heads.”

"I bet five thousand."

Even as war broke out, the teahouse remained a scene of joy and harmony, with no one realizing just how brutal the war would be.