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

On the sixth day of the first month of the first year of Xuansheng, in Xiangzhou Prefecture.

The sky was overcast and dark.

The air was thick with the smell of gunpowder, and there was a burning black curtain everywhere.

The thick city wall was blasted open by 105mm field artillery, leaving two huge gaps filled with rubble that formed a semi-circular slope.

Inside the city, collapsed houses were everywhere, and the ground was littered with the mangled corpses of Jin soldiers, lying sprawled among the ruins.

A tattered banner still stands amidst the hazy smoke.

"Shh, don't talk, everyone be quiet."

After leaving the ruins, Wanyan Zongbi gestured to the Jin soldiers who were crouching behind him to be quiet, signaling them not to make a sound.

A few days ago, when Wanyan Zongbi witnessed Yue Fei's army unleashing 105mm heavy artillery to bombard the city walls, he knew that Xiangzhou Prefecture was no longer defensible.

But he was still unwilling to give up, because once Xiangzhou Prefecture was lost, the Great Jin would no longer have a complete fortress to resist Yue Fei's offensive. Only by risking his life could he have a chance to turn the tide.

Although the probability is extremely slim.

A series of crisp, chaotic footsteps reached Wanyan Zongbi's ears.

Those were the footsteps of Yue Fei's army.

As time went on, Yue Fei's army grew larger and larger with each battle.

The force that started with 10,000 men crossing the Yellow River to launch the northern expedition has now grown to more than 70,000.

After the Iron Pagoda cavalry was almost completely wiped out, the morale of the Jin army was low, and many of them had already secretly fled.

With the relentless bombardment by Yue Fei's army's artillery over the past few days, the garrison remaining in the city is now less than five thousand.

With insufficient troops and reinforcements failing to arrive, the battle reports sent to the capital went unanswered.

Xiangzhou Prefecture is now isolated and helpless, much like Bianjing City in the past.

"call……"

He tried to regulate his breathing and keep his emotions calm.

Hearing the footsteps approaching from outside the broken wall, he gripped the curved blade tightly in his hand.

He looked up and saw that behind a crumbling wall opposite him, his deputy general Wanyan Da, along with a squad of Jin soldiers, were also ready for a fight.

"kill!"

Just as the Song army charged into the official road in the middle of the bunkers on both sides, Wanyan Zongbi roared and jumped into the battle first, raising his hand and slashing a Song soldier to the ground.

"Kill them!"

Wanyan Da roared and followed closely behind, wielding a short axe and an iron mace in each hand, like a berserker wielding two bows, stirring up a storm of blood and gore.

Encouraged by the two men, more Jin soldiers rushed out of their bunkers and engaged in a fierce battle with the Song army.

The sounds of fighting were incessant, echoing throughout the entire Xiangzhou Prefecture.

This attack by Wanyan Zongbi caught the Song army off guard. He gathered all the warriors in the army at one point and fought a fierce battle that turned the world upside down.

Pfft, pfft—

With a swift turn of his blade, Wanyan Zongbi severed the throats of two Song soldiers in an instant.

The splattering, boiling blood pushed the atmosphere of the battlefield into an even more extreme abyss.

Soon, this wave of Song troops began to retreat in defeat under the fierce fighting of the Jin soldiers.

After Wanyan Da killed a Song soldier with an axe, he looked up and found that there was no one left in front of him.

His selfless fighting allowed him to break through the Song army's formation.

"Oooooooo-"

He raised his mace and let out a triumphant shout.

blow--

puff~

But the next moment, a sharp arrow pierced Wanyan Da's neck from the side.

"Uh~"

He groaned, then knelt on one knee, his face filled with disbelief.

Looking up again, he saw even more Song soldiers approaching from afar.

"Warriors, charge!"

Wanyan Zongbi roared, swung his sword to deflect the incoming arrows, and charged at the Song army once more.

The remaining Jin soldiers roared and rejoined the battle.

The second wave of fighting broke out, turning the battlefield into an even more brutal meat grinder.

As time went on, apart from a small number of warriors, the physical strength of the Jin soldiers had reached its limit, and they were constantly surrounded and annihilated by the Song army.

Even so, not a single Jin soldier retreated; they were determined to fight the Song army to the last moment.

"Hey--"

"what--"

Wanyan Zongbi was blocked by ten long spears and had no choice but to use his armpits to hold the spears between his arms.

He bit his teeth so hard they almost bled, gripping the deadly spear beneath him tightly.

But with a shout from the Song soldiers, they threw his body high into the air and then slammed it to the ground.

Then, ten spears simultaneously thrust towards him.

Wanyan Zongbi, lying on his back on the ground, did not sit idly by and wait for death. Instinctively, he rolled to the side to avoid the fatal blow and immediately began to look for cover.

Unfortunately, there were corpses and rubble everywhere, and there was nowhere to hide.

As his back pressed against a crumbling low wall, the ten Song soldiers lunged at him menacingly once more.

"roar~"

Suddenly, a wild beast's roar rang in my ears.

Wanyan Da, wielding two weapons, charged desperately towards the Song army, ignoring the arrow piercing his neck.

In the instant he got close, he flicked his short axe, piercing through a man's cheek.

Then another iron mace struck another Song soldier's helmet, cracking the helmet and his head on the spot.

"Drink~"

With another angry shout, Wanyan Da's face flushed red as he pressed his two weapons against the twin swords of a Song soldier who hadn't had time to draw his spear.

Clunk~

With a crisp sound, the mace and the back of the axe crossed and crushed the spearman's neck on the spot.

Wanyan Da's terrifying combat power terrified this small Song army squad.

They couldn't imagine how a person with an arrow in his neck could still display such terrifying fighting power.

Judging from his face, he was clearly about to suffocate and die.

In the brief moment they hesitated, Wanyan Zongbi regained consciousness, grabbed a heavy sword from the ground, and slashed at the back of a Song soldier.

At that moment, the upper body of the Song soldier split open in a "/" shape, splattering out a pile of blood and flesh.

puff~

Bang~

The two attacked from both sides, and after another fierce battle, they miraculously defeated the ten-man squad of Song soldiers.

However, after the last Song soldier fell, Wanyan Da finally burned out his last bit of life and collapsed at Wanyan Zongbi's feet.

After Wanyan Zongbi bent down and closed his eyes, he glanced at the chaotic scene around him.

The Song army was growing larger and larger, and his own men were falling one by one.

He knew that Xiangzhou Prefecture was truly beyond defense.

boom--

A cannon shot rang out, exploding on the distant ruins.

"Retreat! Retreat to the north gate, quickly!"

Wanyan Zongbi immediately ordered the remaining troops nearby to retreat towards the north gate.

He has done his best to hold Xiangzhou this far.

"Kill them! We can't let a single Jin soldier escape!"

Seeing the Jurchens begin to retreat, the Song army's morale soared, and they roared as they launched a pursuit.

From afar, Yue Fei, after observing the battle situation within the city through his binoculars, decisively ordered: "Immediately launch an encirclement and annihilation operation against the remnants of the Jin army!"

"Yes!"

Zhong Lue and Han Ming accepted the order and immediately led their respective men in pursuit towards the north gate...

"Fourth Prince! Get out of the way!"

When Wanyan Zongbi arrived at the north gate barbican, he was accompanied only by seven personal guards.

Meanwhile, a Song Dynasty squad of a dozen or so men were hot on their heels.

Just as he was feeling desperate, a loud roar rang out from ahead.

Upon closer inspection, he saw his own subordinate Yelü Fangye and two hundred archers behind him.

Wanyan Zongbi understood and immediately raised his hand to signal his followers to shrink to the sides of the barbican.

"Fire arrows!"

Swoosh swoosh swoosh—

At Yelü Fangye's command, two hundred archers released their bows in unison, instantly wiping out the entire Song army squad that had entered the city gate.

"Retreat! We can't hold out!"

Wanyan Zongbi didn't even look at the battle results; he directly gave Yelü Fangye a loud order.