Tangli Fried Snow

Half a month later, more than a hundred ships carrying Khitan soldiers, weapons and warhorses marched from the Bohai Bay toward the capital of the Song Dynasty.

This was only one-third of the advance force; the remaining two-thirds of the infantry and cavalry were traveling south by land day and night.

On one of the most luxurious ships sat a young general. He was broad-shouldered and burly, with a square and solemn face. His head was shaved bald, with only the long hair on the sides braided and hanging down beside his ears. He exuded a sinister and ruthless aura. This was Yelü Hongdan, the fierce Khitan general who was leading the troops to attack the capital of the Song Dynasty and the commander of the Iron Forest Army.

At this moment, he was drinking fine wine and eating exquisite snacks, surrounded by several beautiful young women. While eating a roasted lamb leg, he kept his eyes fixed on the androgynous prince consort opposite him.

Although this prince consort also followed local customs and braided his hair into a few braids, he looked more like a woman.

Yelü Hongdan stared at Zhao Muqing, then slashed the roasted meat in his hand with the knife, his teeth clenched as if he wanted to cut the neck of the person opposite him as well.

Zhao Muqing calmly said, "I don't like being threatened."

Yelü Hongdan spoke fluent Chinese. As he slowly chewed the meat in his mouth, he said, "Who threatened you?"

Zhao Muqing snorted at him, raised her glass to him in a gesture, and then drank a glass of wine by herself.

"The tides are against us."

Yelü Hongdan scoffed at this, chewing on his roasted meat, and said, "But the wind is blowing in our favor. You'll be able to go home in a few days."

A glint flashed in Yelü Hongdan's eyes, and he smiled again, saying, "I wonder if the former crown prince is still alive if we really break through the city gates."

Zhao Muqing stared at him and said, "I am not Zhao Hehua. I understand people's hearts, and I know better than him how to use power. I also understand your methods of leading troops."

“But Zhao Hehua is the rightful heir. As long as we find him and use him as a figurehead, we can oust that little emperor from the throne.”

“I am also the rightful heir.” Zhao Muqing smiled slightly and said, “I am more suitable for the throne than that eight-year-old child or that good-for-nothing who only knows how to play with women. You’d better be polite to me. If I inherit the throne, I might turn you into a piece of roast meat too.”

Yelü Hongdan threw the knife in his hand onto the table and said viciously, "Believe it or not, I'll have someone throw you into the sea right now."

Zhao Muqing wasn't afraid of him at all: "No, you won't."

"Without me, you would never have been able to conquer the capital of the Song Dynasty."

Yelü Hongdan's eyes shone with a wolf-like darkness. Their gazes met in a flash of sparks and lightning in the air, but neither of them spoke again.

Yelü Hongdan placed the most beautiful girl on his lap and began to ravage her until her fair breasts were covered in red marks. Only after hearing her painful groans did the expression on the man's face slowly turn to pleasure.

Zhao Muqing acted as if he hadn't seen anything, continuing to drink and eat slowly and deliberately.

. . .

Just as Jin Yuyan was busy overthrowing the crown prince and installing her own son on the throne, believing she had victory in her grasp, the Khitan in the far northeast welcomed their youngest and most ambitious emperor in history, Emperor Shizong, Yelü Abe. Upon ascending the throne, he rescued his childhood sweetheart, Huang Wanqing, from the cold palace of the Song Dynasty, and went to great lengths to bring her to his side, heal her wounds, and then made her his concubine.

A month later, Yelü Abe betrothed Princess Mingyue, the daughter of the previous emperor and his elder brother, to Huang Wanqing's son, thus strengthening their kinship ties.

The headstrong young king, influenced by the beautiful concubine's pillow talk, made a bold decision: disregarding the ministers' objections, he launched an attack on the Song state in winter.

Yelü Hongdan was an ambitious young general. Ordered by the new emperor to take advantage of the unstable morale and the ongoing war between the old and new regimes in the Song Dynasty, he launched an attack. Yelü Hongdan led 120,000 cavalry south, conquering the poorly defended Yingzhou with overwhelming force. Within days, he reached the walls of Jingzhou, advancing directly towards the Song capital.

According to the prince consort, at this time, the Song Dynasty's elite army was either locked in a stalemate with Duan Jingyu in the south or stationed on the northwest border fighting the Mongols. The military force in the capital consisted of only 20,000 imperial guards, 20,000 Jinling Guards, plus some able-bodied young men, and a miscellaneous private army of some high-ranking officials and members of the royal family, totaling a mere 50,000 men who were simply no match for the Khitan cavalry.

Yingzhou was captured by the Khitan cavalry, and Jingzhou was also in imminent danger. It was only a matter of time before it was captured. Empress Dowager Jin summoned several trusted ministers, Shen Shibai, her younger brother Jin Cheng, and Jiang Qimo to the palace. For half a day, no one came up with a feasible plan to deal with this catastrophic disaster.

Jiang Qimo remained silent for a long time. He and Jin Cheng secretly discussed the matter for a long time before Jin Cheng spoke to the Empress Dowager privately for half an hour.

Finally, Empress Dowager Jin summoned Shen Shibai again, and the three of them secretly discussed the matter for a long time.

The imperial decree was issued the following day. On one hand, 10,000 troops were dispatched to Jingzhou to support the defending forces, ordering them to hold the city at all costs and delay the southward advance of the Khitan army. On the other hand, Jin Cheng was to lead a group of men with a secret letter to the northwest to request reinforcements. In addition, an urgent imperial edict was issued, ordering General Jin Yan to send troops to the capital to defend the emperor.

Meanwhile, the imperial city strengthened its military preparedness and rebuilt fortifications, increasing the intensity of its military defenses. Jiang Qimo led an army of 40,000 to prepare for the major battle to defend the city.

Before Jin Yan could complete his troop deployment and withdraw his men to defend the capital, Duan Jingyu led a large army to press on and launched a fierce attack on Jin Yan's army.

Two major battles broke out in the State of Song in quick succession.

The 10,000-strong army from the capital city had just arrived in Jingzhou when they engaged in a three-day, three-night defensive battle with the Khitan cavalry. All the city walls were stained with blood before they managed to repel the enemy's fierce attacks. Under the enemy's tight blockade, the soldiers and civilians of Jingzhou united as one to resist the enemy and miraculously held out for more than 20 days.

Finally, when they ran out of ammunition and food, the city gates were breached by the Khitan cavalry. The Khitans, in a fit of rage, carried out a massacre in retaliation, turning the entire city into a sea of ​​fire. Men, women, and children were all slaughtered, and the city became a living hell.

On the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month, with the New Year just around the corner, the Khitan cavalry approached the city, and the entire Song capital trembled with fear.

Yelü Hongdan was cruel by nature. He even ordered his soldiers to cut off the ears of all the people who died in the massacre of Jingzhou, and put a cart full of ears frozen into ice blocks outside Yong'an Gate of the imperial city. He then sent people to "persuade" people to surrender outside the city gate all day long.

Jiang Qimo also sent men to fight a unique "verbal battle" with the enemy on the city wall.

A small squad carrying white flags rushed out of the Khitan army camp and sped towards Yong'an Gate, stopping only when they reached the large cart's handle.

"Lord Jiang, do you want me to shoot them dead?" Yu Zhentian squeezed next to Jiang Qimo: "My Divine Arm Crossbow has a range of three hundred paces. Shooting those few people dead is just a piece of cake."

“They weren’t armed, so there was no need for them to do that.” Jiang Qimo waved his hand and said, “In war, envoys are not killed. Soldiers who are truly convinced of victory will never stoop to slaughtering messengers who only have mouths.”

Yu Zhentian thought to himself, "They've slaughtered the unarmed civilians and piled up their 'spoils' outside the city walls. What honor is there left?" But he didn't say anything more and silently lowered the arrow in his hand.

"The great, invincible war god born of Heilongjiang, the ever-victorious commander of the Iron Forest Army, General Yelü Hongdan, has asked me to convey this message to you." A burly Khitan man with a full beard roared, pointing a white flag at the Song soldiers on the city wall, "You two-legged sheep, are you afraid?"

The entire squad burst into loud laughter, slapping their horses' rumps in an exaggerated manner, causing their mounts to spin around in dissatisfaction.

"If you're scared, just open the city gates and let us in. Serve us with fine wine and women obediently. If you serve us well, I might even leave you a whole corpse if I'm in a good mood."

“If our Iron Forest Army manages to breach the city gates ourselves,” he said, pointing to a pile of ears on the cart, “then this is what will happen to you.”

Jiang Qimo ignored them completely and led his men down to eat and sleep, leaving only two loud-voiced and argumentative adjutants on the city gate to argue with the others.

When he returned, the two sides had already exchanged greetings about each other's ancestors for eighteen generations, as well as the parts of each other's families, especially the parts of the mothers.

The two sides were still not satisfied and continued their verbal sparring from dawn till dusk, like a relay race, for three whole days.

. . . .

Shirley and all the palace maids in Gyeongbokgung Palace knelt in the Buddhist hall with the Grand Empress Dowager and recited scriptures for a month.

They pleaded for reinforcements to arrive soon, and begged Lord Jiang to lead his troops in a tenacious resistance against the enemy's attack. They also pleaded for the city gates to be sturdier, lest they be breached by the enemy's siege engines. The Empress Dowager, a woman of great kindness, even prayed to Buddha to protect the palace maids and eunuchs so they could all survive. Everyone was in a state of panic; as women, they could do nothing to help in this situation and could only silently pray to Heaven.

She had completely forgotten all the history she learned in school, and even now she doesn't know what time or dynasty she traveled to, what war this siege was, whether the city gates were breached, or what the outcome was.

She could only resign herself to staying obediently in Gyeongbokgung Palace, praying for Kim Seong every day, praying for his safety, praying that he wouldn't kick the bucket, and praying that he would come back soon.

The situation in the Imperial Palace suddenly became tense. It wasn't that Sherry was being overly sensitive; rather, the palace bells had rung early this morning, the last time they were heard was when the Emperor passed away. This indicated that the battle at the city gates had already begun.

At noon, a group of soldiers in armor came to Gyeongbokgung Palace and asked the Empress Dowager to lead the palace staff to Lingxiao Palace for assembly.

Everyone was confused and in a state of chaos. Ruyi stepped forward and asked a few questions. It turned out that after three consecutive days of naval battles at the city gate, the Khitan army, which had traveled a long distance, had also finished resting and began its formal attack on the city this morning.

Su He asked nervously, "Has the war started?"

Sherry was so angry she laughed. How novel! Instead of staying home and hibernating in the dead of winter, these people from Northeast China are leading troops all the way to war. Are they here to wish us a Happy New Year or to fight?

Even at this point, no one was joking with her, a mere palace maid. The general said, "This humble servant was ordered to take the Empress Dowager to the Lingxiao Palace. The Empress Dowager said that it was built high and wide, with high surrounding walls and sturdy gates. She suggested that the Empress Dowager, the imperial concubines, the princesses, and His Majesty the Emperor go there to take refuge."

The Empress Dowager considered for a moment and said, "It's only the first day, there's no rush. I'll stay in my own territory for a few more days."

The young general was taken aback by the Empress Dowager's words and hesitated, unsure of what to do. In the end, Ruyi chased him out of the Buddhist hall and told him to leave with his men first.

For the next few days, war raged outside, and Shirley stayed in Gyeongbokgung Palace, eating and sleeping listlessly. Suhe grew more and more anxious each day, and even secretly asked her, "Moyeon, are you really able to keep your composure? Aren't you afraid?"

She was terrified, terrified out of her mind. But what good was being scared? Seeing Su He's face turn pale with fright, Shirley couldn't help but ask, "We don't have to fight on the city walls. This kind of city defense is the most grueling. As long as there are enough food and troops in the city, it can hold out for a year or two." In The Return of the Condor Heroes, Guo Jing defended Xiangyang City for a full year or two, didn't he?

It's only been a few days, there's still a long way to go.

Su He said, her face pale, "Mu Yan, but I heard that the Second Prince led his men to attack the city from a weak point in the wall. They even breached it once today, but Lord Jiang personally led his men to drive them back. That's how we barely managed to defend the capital!"

Sherry nearly bit her tongue off. "What?!"

"What do you mean by a fragile city wall? What's wrong with the city wall? Does it have osteoporosis?"

Su He whispered, "I heard that there were quality problems when that city wall was built. It was neglected for many years and became not very sturdy. There were cracks. There were also several ditches there that people could pass through. The Second Prince rammed the city with his siege engines a few times and they couldn't stand up anymore. Lord Jiang led his men to drive back the enemy and ordered the craftsmen to bring tools, stones and mud to patch up the leaks overnight so that it was temporarily safe."

Sherry was terrified after hearing this and cursed the Second Prince in her heart.

Three more days passed in trepidation. Then the young general arrived with another troop, this time even more nervous than before. His armor was covered in sword and spear marks, and stained with blood that hadn't dried. Even he, a soldier guarding the inner palace, was fighting on the city walls, showing how fierce the battle had become.

This time, the general didn't waste any words. He simply bowed and led his men to "invite" the Empress Dowager to the Hongxiao Palace.

Ruyi had already ordered people to pack her belongings, including food, supplies, and clothes. A large group of people escorted the Empress Dowager to the main hall where banquets were often held.

There were very few people on the road, and the group of people were all holding their breath and hurrying along, with no one daring to look around.

As soon as the Empress Dowager arrived, the gates in the palace wall were completely closed and reinforced with a large amount of defensive equipment. Only a few dozen soldiers remained to protect the women.

Sherry looked up a few times and saw that sharpened wood and bamboo had been placed on the city wall, along with some kerosene stones and other materials placed on a tower, probably to deal with climbing ladders.