I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 149 If you dare to go on a mission to the Jin camp, you must be prepared to fight your way out.
Zhao Zicheng hadn't expected Zhao Huan to ask such detailed questions, but since the emperor had asked, he certainly had to answer them properly.

After a brief moment of thought, Zhao Zicheng came up with a small solution and discussed it with the emperor:

“If Your Majesty wishes to make all of this seem more realistic and to make the Jin people believe that your younger brother is truly willing to risk his life for the country, then Your Majesty can bestow another imperial decree in public: for example, when you formally appoint your younger brother as the chief envoy at the court meeting and finalize the bottom line for the negotiations, your younger brother can pretend to object, thinking that the conditions are too low and the Jin people will not agree, and may even plot to harm the envoy.”

Then the Emperor would announce publicly: "If I, your younger brother, am killed by the Jin people while on a mission to the Jin camp, then my title of Prince Xiu may be passed down to my descendants, hereditary without fail." The Emperor naturally knew that princely titles in this dynasty were not easily inherited; even a prince would be demoted by one rank with each generation. Therefore, hereditary succession without demotion was an immense favor.

If I were to reluctantly agree to this condition, the entire court would believe that I was negotiating with the Jurchens with a death wish. The Jurchen spies planted within our court would likely also perceive this as a desperate gamble by our Great Song Dynasty, thus making them more restrained in their demands.

Because the Jurchens were merely seeking extortion, not genuinely intending to kill them and implicate themselves in injustice, or to force the Han people to believe that the Jurchens would not let them go and thus unite in hatred against them. Moreover, the court could use this opportunity to reinforce certain ideologies, such as "Since ancient times, there have been those who have lost their countries, and those who have lost their empires." The Jurchens were brutal and ignorant of morality and righteousness; if they were allowed to rule the Central Plains, the moral order and ethics of the world would inevitably collapse. Therefore, protecting the Song Dynasty was not about protecting the Zhao family, but about protecting the entire nation.

I had actually discussed these principles with the Emperor Emeritus several years ago by chance... Although the Emperor Emeritus fled south in a panic when the situation arose, I believe that my views back then were correct and indeed appropriate for uniting people's hearts and minds and getting the world to fight for the Song Dynasty at this critical juncture.

"Our Great Song Dynasty has a population of tens of millions and fertile land, while the Jurchens number only a few hundred thousand. The reason they can so easily dominate our Great Song is because the Han Chinese people don't know why they are fighting. Once we can ignite their unity, what threat are the Jurchens, however fierce they may be?"

Zhao Zicheng's words, especially the latter half which contained his personal agenda, were actually quite treasonous. In an era where the government ruled by a family, how could one openly proclaim that "there are those who will perish in their own country, and those who will perish in their own country"?

The Zhao family naturally hoped that the Zhao family was equivalent to the world, and that protecting the world was equivalent to protecting the Zhao family. Otherwise, wouldn't it be saying that "whoever can ensure that the Han people are not poisoned by foreign races should have the mandate of heaven"? Rather than "only the Zhao family should have the mandate of heaven, and the mandate of heaven has nothing to do with whether one has merit or not."

However, at this critical juncture, with the Jin army besieging the city and launching repeated attacks, the Song Dynasty has reached its most dangerous moment. Zhao Huan is so distraught that he has made an exception and promoted Li Gang from the fourth rank to the second rank of Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and also allowed Zhao Zicheng to skip the rank of Duke and be promoted directly to Prince.

In such a situation, it is quite possible to use a dangerous predicament to force the emperor to make some concessions and progress in terms of the court's official ideology and orthodox narrative.

In times of emergency, one should act expediently; when one is critically ill, one will try any remedy.

After listening to his cousin's words and weighing the matter carefully, Zhao Huan also felt that his cousin's words made a lot of sense. Besides, his cousin had risked his life to protect the country, so how could he, as the elder brother, remain so adamant about not giving an inch?

He didn't believe his cousin would harm the Zhao family.

Some words spoken by outsiders may indicate dissent, but the Zhao family would never turn against the Zhao family!
“What you say is very true, and I will certainly consider it.” Zhao Huan rarely made a decision, and he agreed to this point.

……

The next two days were for going through all the formalities, holding court meetings, and making arrangements.

The matters suggested by Zhao Zicheng were all put through the motions in the court discussion, and all the information that needed to be revealed to the Jin people was also revealed.

It was said that Zhao Zicheng was going to the Jin camp as an envoy, and that he was going to "die." Some upright ministers in the court who were his staunch supporters even privately advised him not to be too forceful, and that it was enough to be true to one's conscience and not to fight too hard.

These "upright ministers" naturally included Li Gang and Zhao Liangsi first and foremost.

Li Gang admired Zhao Zicheng's magnanimity, while Zhao Liangsi was grateful for his life-saving grace.

Before leaving, Li Gang privately requested an audience and earnestly advised, "The rigid are easily broken, Your Highness, you must not be rash! Preserving your useful life is far more important than 'leading the Jin people into injustice'! The country is already in such a state of decline, we cannot afford to lose a loyal and heroic person like Your Highness!"

But Zhao Zicheng patted Li Gang on the shoulder with the same nonchalant attitude:

"Your Excellency Li is overthinking it. As long as it benefits the overall situation of the world, one should disregard life and death. As for personal honor, disgrace, fortune, or misfortune, one should not be swayed by such trivial matters."

Besides, I am not a reckless man. To be honest, I once killed Fang La's general Deng Yuanjue and others amidst a horde of Mani rebels. Later, I personally braved arrows and stones, leading the charge to repel Fang La and penetrate his lines. In truth, I possess some martial arts skills. On this journey, I will be as cautious as possible, bringing only a few guards. If the Jurchens truly intend to harm me, I will naturally defend myself. There is no need to worry too much. As long as Brother Li keeps this a secret and never speaks of it to anyone else, lest the Jurchens be prepared.”

Upon hearing this, Li Gang, though unaware of Zhao Zicheng's actual martial arts prowess, still felt that Zhao Zicheng had overestimated himself. However, he was deeply moved by Zhao Zicheng's trust.

What magnanimity and composure Prince Xiu possessed! He told others, "We must never tell anyone else," yet he allowed Li Gang to know. Li Gang secretly vowed that he would never mention this matter again, nor would he need to persuade him further.

After bidding farewell to Li Gang, Zhao Zicheng led a guard, all of whom rode the finest horses, to escort him through the area between the two armies early the next morning.

However, most of the guards would return after escorting him to the Golden Camp, because it was impossible for so many people to all go in, and they would be too conspicuous and a burden if an accident occurred.

Finally, Zhao Zicheng entered the Jin camp with only two attendants: Yue Fei and Dugu Jian.

These deployments were all carried out with Li Gang's cooperation.

During the past few days of the defense of Bianjing, Dugu Jian's martial arts skills have improved again, and he has killed a total of forty or fifty enemy soldiers. After the baptism of bloody battle, he has won the full trust of Zhao Zicheng and Yue Fei. Of course, not all of the fifty people he killed were Jurchens. Only a small half of them were Jurchen soldiers, and more than half of the others were Khitan soldiers, Han soldiers, or even Bohai soldiers.

In any case, Dugu Jian has begun to find his place in life as a Han Chinese martial artist and is no longer confused about his birth in Yanyun.

Today, Zhao Zicheng and Yue Fei both wore carved feather armor underneath. Dugu Jian, however, had only recently arrived, and since the carving of carved feather armor was too time-consuming to prepare, he was unable to procure it for the time being, so he simply wore a very fine leather soft armor.

When traveling to the Jin camp, even wearing metal soft armor like chainmail would be too conspicuous and easily arouse the Jin people's suspicion, which would be unseemly. However, soft armor made of feathers and leather would not have such a suspicion. The Jin people had never seen such rare items before and would instead regard them as novel and noble clothing of the Song people.

Dugu Jian's leather armor is made of a blend of rhinoceros and shark skin, which is an inner and outer layer of rhinoceros and shark skin. The shark skin provides smoothness, bounce, and toughness, while the rhinoceros skin provides strength and surface hardness.

Zhao Zicheng and Yue Fei's carved feather armor was more complex. It was based on and inspired by Xu Ning's family heirloom goose feather armor, and many improvements were made.

For example, the feathers used to weave armor were changed from wild goose feathers to gyrfalcon feathers. Since ancient times, when making top-quality arrows, the feathers from the arrow tail were selected. Gyrfalcon feathers were the best, while wild goose feathers were the second to last, only better than wild duck feathers.

Xu Ning's family heirloom was chosen because he was too focused on reducing costs, resulting in the slightly weaker Great Goose Feather. Zhao Zicheng, as the de facto "King Emeritus of Goryeo," naturally had to spare no expense in making soft armor for his personal safety.

Furthermore, Goryeo is located near Changbai Mountain, where it can obtain the gyrfalcon, the most revered divine bird of the Jurchens. Killing more of these birds to make armor would also boost Goryeo's prestige.
In this era, there's no need to consider environmental or legal issues; Zhao Zicheng could kill all the bald eagles to pluck their feathers without any consequences.

Furthermore, the feathers used to make the eagle feather armor are not chosen arbitrarily; only the same primary flight feathers as those used for goose feather armor can be used. These are the outermost ring of feathers on the wings, the thickest and longest that withstands the greatest wind pressure. The primary flight feathers of the gyrfalcon can be as long as one and a half feet, and the overlapping and weaving area is enough to cover a person's upper body.

The inner layer of secondary flight feathers, if slightly shorter or less resilient, would be unusable; a single piece of armor couldn't be made without hundreds of gyrfalcons. Once completed, it would easily withstand a crossbow bolt with 50 joules of kinetic energy. Unless someone could sail to New Zealand and obtain the still-surviving Haast's eagle from there, or sail to South America and find the Andean condor, there wouldn't be any more resilient feather material available on Earth.

Zhao Zicheng had dabbled in the down industry in his early years and had accumulated considerable expertise in bird feather preservation techniques. Therefore, as long as he had enough materials, the subsequent production process cost for these items was relatively low, at least lower than the labor cost of Xu Ning's family heirloom.

As for the tendons used to finish the outer edge of the armor, Zhao Zicheng upgraded them from high-quality beef tendons to Siberian tiger tendons—the highest quality beef tendons have a tensile strength of only about 180 MPa, while Siberian tiger tendons can reach a tensile strength of 400 MPa.

Whether it's the Siberian tiger or the gyrfalcon, they are both considered divine creatures by the Jurchens. During his years in Goryeo, Zhao Zicheng would catch these creatures to make luxurious armor for his own use, not only for defense but also to boost his morale.

In the future, when people tell the world that the armor worn by King Xiu was made from the essence of the totems used to kill the Jurchens, his soldiers' morale will be boosted just by standing on the battlefield, even if it's just for good luck.

The soldiers needed to be convinced that the myth of the "invincible Jurchens" could be broken.

In addition to the finest weapons and armor, Zhao Zicheng also kept several flintlock revolvers that he had meticulously crafted over the past two years, each one unique.

His previous attempts to mass-produce muskets were unsuccessful; he couldn't make them, mainly because it was too difficult to create precise, seamless barrels using the drilling method. Drilling required an absolutely fine blade to cut into the forged, dense steel column, making the cost utterly unbelievable.

However, if only a very small number of these weapons are to be made, even if it wastes some top-quality swords, it doesn't matter, since they are all secret weapons for personal use. As for the air leakage problem caused by the cylinder structure, it can be solved by using the most precise manufacturing process to ensure that the gap between the cylinder and the barrel is small enough and lubricated enough to prevent it from getting stuck.

These meticulously handcrafted items, painstakingly crafted bit by bit, cost more to make than a Swiss watch and can only be considered top-tier luxury goods. The cost of making a single pistol might be more than casting a bronze cannon.

Even so, due to the limitations of the technology of the time, it would still leak gas and flames when ignited. Therefore, the only way to avoid burning one's arms was to wear specially made, high-quality fire-resistant leather gloves and wrist guards when firing.

Furthermore, because these pistols were produced in very limited quantities, the ammunition they were equipped with naturally had to be of the highest quality. While ordinary cannons still used the most precisely formulated and efficient black powder, these pistols used nitrocellulose, produced privately in Zhao Zicheng's laboratory—

Nitrocellulose requires cotton and nitric acid, and the final reaction step is actually quite simple. Zhao Zicheng has been promoting cotton cultivation in Shandong for several years, and they can select the short-staple cotton that is most suitable for making gunpowder, so there is no bottleneck in supply. The biggest bottleneck in nitrocellulose production is concentrated nitric acid, but this can also be solved in small quantities and at no cost through laboratory preparation methods.

For example, sulfides produced as a byproduct of iron and steel smelting, or simply burning sulfur to form sulfur dioxide, then further oxidizing it to sulfur trioxide, dissolving it in water to form sulfuric acid. After concentration in the laboratory, concentrated sulfuric acid is used to produce concentrated nitric acid, and then the concentrated nitric acid is reacted with degreased short-staple cotton to produce nitrocellulose. The technical path is then a natural and feasible one.

These things are entirely possible in a laboratory, but they can't be mass-produced industrially due to the high cost. Zhao Zicheng tinkered with them first, both for his own use and to improve the level of chemistry in this era. He left experimental records and summaries of his experiences for every step of his experiments, which would be useful to future generations. In short, it wouldn't be a losing proposition.

With nitrocellulose, a pre-loaded paper cartridge structure is also essential to ensure that the flint hammer can be directly ignited, avoiding complicated preparations before firing.

To conceal these small items, Zhao Zicheng specially had two pairs of iron-plated boots made in advance. The boots had iron soles, and double-layered soles with hidden compartments in the middle to conceal pistols.

After entering the Jin camp and conducting a search, the lower hidden compartment can be dismantled. The upper iron base remains flat and will not affect walking agility in the slightest. Then, a pistol can be concealed on one's person, ensuring that even in a critical situation where the Jin attack first, Zhao Zicheng can defend himself and kill any important Jin personnel.

Finally, he also secretly hid several very small hand grenades, using a unique nitrocellulose smokeless powder, which is far more powerful than black powder. The grenades were also filled with many sharp small steel balls, and the steel shells were grooved to ensure the explosive killing effect after being thrown.

……

Having practiced his unparalleled martial arts for several years, Zhao Zicheng entered the Jin camp in a grand manner, appearing to be dressed in fine robes and exuding the dignified and noble air of a prince.

He was accompanied by two of the most outstanding martial arts masters of the time, besides his father-in-law, and they were armed to the teeth with all kinds of divine weapons and even a few small, precision firearms that were unique in the world.

With the weapons at his disposal, even if Xiang Yu himself set up a trap, Zhao Zicheng would be quite confident of escaping, let alone Wanyan Zongwang.

The Jin people conducted a cursory inspection, but did not dare to search the bodies thoroughly. They simply observed that Zhao Zicheng's clothing appeared normal, or took the opportunity of bumping into him to roughly touch and confirm that he did not have any metal armor, before letting the group in.

Yue Fei and Dugu Jian could not ultimately enter Wanyan Zongwang's tent; they could only remain outside, carrying the things Zhao Zicheng had brought, or be arranged to rest in other tents first.

Dugu Jian deliberately acted very low-key, carrying a large bag of things. When the Jin people asked him to open it, they found that it only contained drinking water, food, and medicine. It turned out that Zhao Zicheng was worried about being poisoned by the Jin people during his detention, so he had prepared some things that were enough for him to eat and drink for ten or eight days.

If he were detained for an extended period, he could protest and demand that the Jurchens allow Song soldiers to deliver food to him. If the Jurchens obstructed this, it would be very unseemly, making it appear as if they were mistreating the envoy. Of course, the Jurchens could threaten and mistreat the envoy in private, but there was no need to do so openly or make it public. If they were to mistreat, they should do it behind closed doors.

There's no need to go into those trivial matters; in short, Zhao Zicheng finally met Wanyan Zongwang smoothly with the official letter.

Wanyan Zongwang was in his forties, but his hair and beard were already slightly gray. Most of his hair had been shaved off, leaving only the back of his head and a small patch on each side. His face was full of fleshy muscles, making it difficult to conceal the ferocity beneath his calm expression.

This hairstyle is quite different from the "money rat tail" hairstyle of the Jurchen people in later generations, and it is also quite different from the "chonmage" hairstyle of the Japanese people who shaved the top of their heads. It is somewhere in between. In short, it looks very ugly, but it is very suitable for the Jurchen people's nomadic, fishing, hunting, riding and archery lifestyle.

This seemingly shaved yet not shaved hairstyle may be related to Wanyan Zongwang's devotion to Buddhism and the fact that he was called "Bodhisattva Prince" by the Jurchens.

When Zhao Zicheng entered the tent, Wanyan Zongwang was still playing with a string of Buddhist prayer beads, looking completely calm and composed. His other hand was stroking the hilt of the sword tucked into his belt, the counterweight ball at the end of which had long been polished to a gleaming shine.

Wanyan Zongwang sized Zhao Zicheng up and down for a long time. The Jin generals on either side, and even the axemen further back, wore menacing and threatening expressions, attempting to use the intimidating power of silence to force Zhao Zicheng to submit. But after a long, awkward silence, Zhao Zicheng remained calm and composed. Wanyan Zongwang had no choice but to speak:
"The Song people are truly shameless! I told the Zhao Emperor long ago to send a prince as a hostage to guarantee that the terms of the peace talks would be fulfilled, and in the end, they sent you instead—you are the Duke of Xiu, aren't you? Three years ago, it was you and Zhao Liangsi who came to see the Taizu Emperor, and you were quite the sharp-tongued one back then—but I remember you are just a distant relative of the Song imperial family!"

Zhao Zicheng said neither humbly nor arrogantly, "The Second Prince said he would only talk if the Great Song sent a prince. Now, the Emperor of the Great Song has already bestowed upon me the title of prince and has even offered kind words of comfort, saying that I lost my father at the age of twenty and that three years have passed since then."

The Emperor Emeritus greatly admired me, saying that I was about the same age as his most favored son, the Emperor's third brother, and our academic careers at the Imperial Academy were also similar. Therefore, the Emperor, on behalf of the Emperor Emeritus, adopted me as his godson. Given this opportunity, am I not qualified to be sent on a diplomatic mission with full authority to negotiate the withdrawal of troops?

Zhao Zicheng's words were not entirely unfounded. Before Zhao Huan sent him to his death, he had indeed tried to get close to him and make similar promises, but there was no official imperial decree.

It's unrealistic to expect an imperial edict for such a matter; it would easily invite criticism. Emperor Huizong had already fled south to Zhenjiang, and Zhao Huan, as his son, had no authority to formally represent his father in making such a decision.

It was simply because he was so cowardly and terrified of the Jin soldiers that he needed someone to die for him, so naturally he would say all sorts of nice things without considering the consequences.

In Zhao Huan's view, Zhao Zicheng was likely to die soon, so why not praise him before he dies?

(End of this chapter)