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

Yue Fei's army began its northern expedition, and took the opportunity to recover the former northern territories of the Song Dynasty.

Wherever they went, they swept through the enemy lines with unstoppable momentum, until they reached the Yancheng Fortress, where they were separated from Wanyan Zongbi's troops in Xiangzhou by only one place, where a standoff ensued.

In the Battle of Bianhe, the Jin army suffered heavy casualties, and the elite and fierce army under Wanyan Loushi was completely annihilated, directly putting the Jin state in an extremely passive situation.

Wanyan Zongbi dared not rashly send troops south. His 70,000-strong army was the last reliance of the Jin state, and he dared not take the initiative to attack again.

Meanwhile, in the capital city, upon learning that Wanyan Loushi's army had been almost completely wiped out, Wanyan Lie, who had always been in good health, immediately fell ill.

During his convalescence, Wanyan Lie temporarily handed over the reins of government to his nephew, Wanyan Tang.

This move immediately aroused the dissatisfaction of several princes and ministers.

Wanyan Tang seemed to have inherited Zhao Huan's characteristics. Faced with the situation of the Jin state, he did not hesitate to send envoys to make peace with Yue Fei.

For the sixteen-year-old Wanyan Tang, internal strife was far more difficult to deal with than external threats. He was willing to agree to any conditions as long as Yue Fei was willing to withdraw his troops.

Wanyan Tang's sincerity in seeking peace was met with strong opposition from the Ninth Prince, Wanyan Kang.

Upon learning that Wanyan Tang had seized absolute power in the court, he immediately abandoned Wanyan Zongbi's troops stationed in Xiangzhou and rushed back to the capital to vie for power.

After all, Wanyan Kang was Wanyan Lie's most beloved youngest son. How could he be willing to let his father's nephew inherit the throne?

In the capital, high-ranking officials vied for power, and powerful ministers formed factions and took center stage.

Meanwhile, the Jin army inside Xiangzhou Prefecture remained firmly in place.

During this period, the entire Xiangzhou Prefecture, which had become a military town, was only interested in doing one thing: repairing the city walls.

The city wall, which was originally only one zhang wide, was forcibly expanded to two zhang wide under the call of Wanyan Zongbi. Glutinous rice and rammed earth were used to reinforce the interior of the wall in order to protect it from artillery fire by Yue Fei's army.

As it turned out, Wanyan Zongbi's wall-building strategy was effective; the two-zhang-thick city wall could not be breached even with the armor-piercing shells standard for 75mm cannons.

During this period, Yue Fei launched more than a dozen rounds of artillery bombardment, but failed to breach the city wall. To avoid unnecessary losses, he hesitated to order a full-scale attack.

The battle between the two sides thus reached a stalemate.

It was at this moment that an envoy sent by Wanyan Tang arrived before Yue Fei and presented him with a letter seeking peace.

"General Yue, our Great Jin is willing to admit defeat. As long as you are willing to withdraw your troops, just name any conditions you have!"

The Jin envoy stood respectfully behind Yue Fei, bowing and holding the contract, awaiting Yue Fei's response.

Yue Fei raised his hand and said, "Surrender is fine, but your king must come to me in person to talk. Otherwise, this war will never end."

Jin Shi nodded and said, "General Yue, His Majesty's status is so noble, how could he condescend to come here?"

"You know that the royal family has a distinguished status, so how did you treat the two emperors of the Song Dynasty and the Song imperial family?"

Upon hearing this, Jin Shi's eyes flickered for a moment before he said, "General Yue, the Zhao family's emperor is incompetent and foolish, so why should you be loyal to them?"

I've heard that General Yue is now a favorite disciple of the Emperor of Great Chu, and following him guarantees a bright future. Why then should I continue to serve these two incompetent rulers of the Zhao family?

Yue Fei chuckled lightly: "You're wrong. I've never fought for the Zhao family emperor, but for the millions of people of the Song Dynasty."

The incompetence of the Zhao family emperors is not an excuse for you to bully and slaughter the people of my Great Song Dynasty at will.

No matter how noble the intruder's reasons may be, it cannot change the fact that he is an intruder.

Therefore, put away your words. Whatever you have done to humiliate the Song people, I, Yue Fei, will repay you in kind.

Jin Shi stepped closer: "General Yue, are you really going to be so heartless? Is there truly no room for maneuver?"

Yue Fei turned around and angrily said, "And what about you? Did you give the Song Dynasty any room for maneuver? Now you know to beg for mercy, but when you did what you did to the Song Dynasty before, did you even consider whether there was any possibility of reconciliation?"

The Jin envoy remained silent for a long while before continuing, "General Yue, I hope you will discuss this further. It is indeed a fact that the Jin Dynasty is weakened."

But don't forget, the gateway to Xiangzhou is being held firmly by the Fourth Prince. If a battle were to break out, it would likely be a bloodbath between the two armies.

"Rivers of blood?" Yue Fei sneered upon hearing this. "The difference in military equipment between the Independent Brigade and the Jin Dynasty is like heaven and earth."

What else could the Jin Dynasty rely on besides its cavalry? If you want rivers of blood to flow, your Jin army needs to meet that condition first.

The Jin envoy gritted his teeth: "General Yue, are you truly unwilling to accept the peace treaty of our Great Jin?"

Yue Fei shook his head: "Go back and tell Wanyan Lie that the Independent Brigade will only accept surrender documents and will not make any peace with the enemy."

The Jin envoy was taken aback, suddenly recalling that at the beginning of the year, Wanyan Lieyan had refused any possibility of peace talks with the Song people.

Now that the year is drawing to a close, the arrow shot at the beginning of the year has returned precisely to him, leaving him with mixed feelings.

But the Jin envoy wanted to try again, after all, the situation in the Jin Kingdom was completely different from that at the beginning of the year. Before they could digest the wealth extracted from the Song Kingdom, they were forced into a deadly predicament.

"General Yue, if the Jin dynasty is willing to surrender, what should be done?"

Now that things have come to this, knowing that seeking peace is useless, the Jin envoy only wants to know Yue Fei's new conditions so that he can go back and report to Wanyan Lie.

Yue Fei replied directly: "Release Emperors Zhao Ji and Zhao Huan, as well as all members of the imperial family, and compensate the Jin state for all the losses it has caused to the Song territory over the years."

Jin Shi's expression darkened.

Releasing the two emperors back is not difficult.

However, now that Zhao Ji has been enfeoffed as the Duke of Hunde, he has been taken to his fiefdom of Wufang City by Wanyan Lie, and his clanswoman has been betrothed to him.

As for Zhao Huan, he became a stud, dedicated to producing offspring for the Wanyan clan nobles.

Now, Yue Fei can release the two men with just a word; there are simply too many things involved.

In addition, Zhao Ji's concubines and daughters were either married off to other nobles from the Wanyan clan or sent to brothels to serve customers.

If they were put back, who knows if Yue Fei would continue his northern expedition after learning of their plight?

As for the issue of compensation, it is actually the least significant of all the problems.

After all, the Jin dynasty was short of money, and the money from plundering Song territory had already quietly flowed into the pockets of the Jin nobles.

"Very well, I will truthfully report General Yue's intentions to His Majesty."

Jin Shi bowed to Yue Fei, then turned and left dejectedly.

As soon as the Jurchens left, Yue Fei immediately summoned Zhong Lue: "General Zhong, we can't wait any longer. We must capture Xiangzhou Prefecture as soon as possible."

After a moment's thought, Zhong said, "But right now, our army is short of artillery shells, and the remaining ammunition is not enough to completely crush the Jin people who are relying on the city walls."

Yue Fei interrupted him: "I've heard that the Jurchens have an army called the Iron Pagoda, consisting of 8,000 heavily armored cavalry and 20,000 heavily armored infantry complementing each other. Is that true?"

Zhong Lue replied, "Yes, the Iron Pagoda is Wanyan Zongbi's most elite force in the Jin Dynasty."

Yue Fei: "Then let's find a way to annihilate this army first."