Traveling back to the Northern Song Dynasty: Picking up a princess as my wife

On a day in March 1127 AD, outside an unnamed village in Tangyin County, Daming Prefecture, several Song Dynasty militiamen ambushed and killed a passing Jin soldier.

This Jin soldier was careless. He thought that there was no danger in a place that had already been occupied, especially since their troops were stationed in Tangyin County. As a result, he was easily killed, and his equipment and supplies were divided up by these local militiamen.

Li Zhen took the dry rations handed to him by an old soldier and stuffed them into his mouth without caring whether his hands were dirty or not.

This is the third month since he transmigrated here. He was cooking at home when he accidentally cut his palm with a kitchen knife. The blood stained the jade pendant at his waist, and then he transmigrated here in a daze.

Others who transmigrate are emperors, generals, princes, or nobles, or at least generals, but he arrived in the Song Dynasty wearing a cooking apron and holding a kitchen knife.

As soon as he arrived, he was surrounded by the villagers, who believed he was a spy sent by the Jin Dynasty. Several local militiamen insisted on beheading him and taking his head to the county government for a reward. Only after he repeatedly explained and cajoled the situation did the villagers reluctantly accept his identity.

Li Zhen told them that he was a monk who had returned to secular life, since only monks shaved their heads in this era. This way, he could at least cover up his identity; otherwise, he would be in big trouble if these local militiamen really killed him. Li Zhen genuinely believed they would make a move, because he saw that the militiaman named Cui San was holding a knife and staring intently at his neck, making him feel a chill run down his spine.

Li Zhen also tried cutting himself with a knife and applying the medicine to the jade pendant, but nothing changed; he didn't experience his transmigration. Looking at the still-bleeding wound on his finger, Li Zhen had no choice but to wrap it with burlap.

With nowhere else to go, Li Zhen had no choice but to join the village's militia, barely managing to get some food to keep himself from starving.

Because Li Zhen is literate, he is considered a cultured person in a militia of illiterate soldiers, which has greatly improved his status among the soldiers, currently second only to the squad leader.

The sergeant handed a letter to Li Zhen: "Li lad, take a look at what's written on this."

Li Zhen carefully opened the envelope, took out the letter inside, and examined it closely. Fortunately, the contents were written in Chinese characters, not in bronze script; otherwise, Li Zhen would never have been able to understand it.

After Li Zhen finished reading the letter, he was shocked. The letter said that the Jin army had captured Bianjing and taken the Song emperor prisoner. The letter was addressed to the garrison general of Zhending Prefecture, instructing him to prepare to receive the prisoners from Bianjing.

Li Zhen said to the squad leader, "It says here that our Bianjing city has been captured by the Jin army, and our emperor and the ministers in the court have become prisoners of the Jin army."

After hearing this, Corporal Wang Changdao picked up his wooden spear and began to wreak havoc on the corpse of the dead Jin soldier, leaving the local militia members speechless.

Tangyin County, under the leadership of its magistrate, had long since surrendered to the Jin army. However, countless local militia and garrison troops who hated the Jin people refused to become their lackeys and began to wage guerrilla warfare in various places. This is one of the reasons why the Jin army was unable to advance south in large numbers later, as they had to send a large number of troops to suppress these resistance forces.

Li Zhen and his group of six, carrying wooden guns and leading the stolen horse, swaggered into the village. At this moment, Widow Zhang greeted them with a joyful expression upon seeing them return.

Widow Zhang: "Old Wang, have you gotten any grain yet?"

Wang Changdao untied the bundle from his waist and threw it into Zhang Widow's arms: "This was snatched from the Jin soldiers. It's not much, but it'll be enough to eat for a few days."

When the Jin army marched south to attack Bianjing, they ransacked every village and town along the way, forcibly confiscating all edible food as their military rations. The lives of the Song people were of no concern to them, which is why so many Song people hated them.

Another village soldier said with a fawning look, "Wang, the sergeant, was incredibly brave just now. He stabbed that Jin soldier off his horse with one spear, and then killed him in no time."

Upon hearing this, Widow Zhang immediately stepped forward and began searching Wang Changdao's body: "Old Wang, are you alright?"

Taking advantage of the situation, Wang Changdao reached out and patted Zhang the widow's buttocks: "Hahaha... I don't even care about a little Jin soldier."

At this moment, Li Zhen curled his lips in disdain. If he hadn't set a trap with rope between the two trees, the few of them wouldn't have been able to stop the Jin soldiers on horseback.

Wang Changdao probably realized he had exaggerated a bit, so he said to Widow Zhang, "Hurry up and take the dry rations back to cook. All six of us are hungry. After we finish eating, let's see if we can take this warhorse to Tangyin City and sell it. Then we can get some more food."

Through their interactions over this period, Li Zhen learned that Wang Changdao was not a bad person. After learning that the village's grain had been looted by the Jin soldiers, he tried every means to get grain back to help everyone, barely keeping the village from starving to death.

Li Zhen secretly touched the jade pendant hanging on his chest. He had been racking his brains for a while but couldn't figure out how to return to the modern world. However, he instinctively felt that his time travel must be related to it.

Li Zhen found this jade pendant last month while browsing a flea market. He was drawn to its pattern and color and, almost against his will, spent three thousand yuan to bring it home. He had only been playing with it for a month when it ended up here.

Soon, Widow Zhang brought out a large basin of cooked dry rations. Li Zhen frowned upon seeing it. It was more like pig swill than food. Although Li Zhen was disgusted, he knew that many people in the village couldn't even afford this pig swill. Just a few days ago, they had been digging up thatch roots in the wild to cook and eat. So Li Zhen could only force himself to finish the food in his bowl.

After finishing their meal, Wang Changdao said to the remaining men, "If you have nothing else to do after you finish eating, go for a walk in the river to the east and see if you can get some food. Later, Brother Li Zhen and I will go to Tangyin City to sell that horse and get some grain."

The four were squatting on the ground, licking the rim of their bowls with their tongues, seemingly trying to eat every last bit of rice left. After hearing their leader's instructions, they nodded repeatedly in agreement.

Since traveling back to the Northern Song Dynasty, this was the first time Li Zhen had left that small village. Seeing the low and dilapidated city gate and walls of Tangyin, Li Zhen couldn't help but wonder: Wasn't the Song Dynasty supposed to be very wealthy? How come a county town looks so dilapidated?

The filthy passageway was filled with vagrants, barely clothed, emaciated and with faces as black as charcoal, clearly having gone without food for days. This explains the strength of the beggars' guild in the Song Dynasty; if life were better, who would want to be a beggar or a vagrant?

To be on the safe side, Wang Changdao and Li Zhen removed the saddles and other items from their warhorses to avoid being recognized as having stolen them from the Jin soldiers.

The two men and one horse strolled into the West Market in the county town. It was already close to noon, and there weren't many people in the cattle and horse market there.