I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 158 The Fall of Tokyo, I Vow to Avenge My Brother.
Zhao Zicheng's heroic feat of single-handedly recovering Qingdao and Jinan on Jingdong Road was indeed awe-inspiring.

Unfortunately, this good news did not reach Bianliang (Kaifeng) immediately.

When Zhao Zicheng achieved a complete victory, the routes he used to communicate with Bianjing (Kaifeng) through Yun and Yan provinces had already been cut off by the Jin army.

Of course, theoretically, if Zhao Zicheng wanted to send a message, he could still send a messenger through Huainan Road, taking a long detour. However, given the chaos of war, and the fact that he was already distrusted by his elder brother, the authority he received was very limited. Furthermore, the officials and soldiers of Huainan Road would not cooperate with him, making communication extremely complicated.

Furthermore, reports of victory were not a high priority; reports of defeat were what needed to be delivered immediately, regardless of cost. This resulted in Zhao Huan in Bianjing not being able to learn of his distant cousin's achievements right away.

In contrast, Zhao Zicheng's prestige was unparalleled throughout the entire Jingdong East Road region.

Whether it was Dengzhou and Laizhou, where Zhao Zicheng had once served as an official; or Qingzhou and Jizhou, which had just been recovered; or Weizhou, Mizhou, Yizhou, Pizhou, and other places that had never had any dealings with Zhao Zicheng before, they all immediately accepted his rule as the "Jingdong Road Military Commissioner".

In addition, since his title of "Commander-in-Chief of Jingdong Road" theoretically allowed him to govern both Jingdong East Road and Jingdong West Road simultaneously, some prefectures in Jingdong West Road that bordered Zhao Zicheng's territory quickly aligned themselves with him and obeyed his orders after receiving Zhao Zicheng's report of victory.

However, most of the Jingdong West Road area is now cut off by the Jin army or directly occupied by the Jin army, such as Yunzhou and Yanzhou. Therefore, the area that Zhao Zicheng can directly rule is mainly just Xuzhou.

But that was enough, because Xuzhou was an extremely important crossroads between the north and south.

Zhao Zicheng believed that in order to prevent the Shandong Peninsula and the Taishan region under his rule from being cut off by the Jin people from the land and to ensure smooth communication between the Jingdong East Road and the Huainan Road, he had to defend Xuzhou.

Although further east of Xuzhou there are places like Haizhou and Chuzhou, which can connect the north and south, these places are less defensible than Xuzhou, being the flat plains of northern Jiangsu.

To ensure that the connection between Shandong and Huainan is not severed, defending the North Jiangsu Plain is out of the question; we must defend Xuzhou.

Zhao Zicheng considered that generals such as Guan Sheng, Qin Ming, and Huyan Zhuo were all used to their original defense zones, and in order to avoid soldiers not knowing their generals and generals not knowing their soldiers, they could not easily change their defenses.

So he ordered his troops to remain in their original positions, while he transferred Yue Fei to Xuzhou to take on this important task.

Yue Fei knew the importance of Xuzhou, so he didn't say much and directly took a small number of troops to take up his post.

Before leaving the capital, Zhao Zicheng received authorization from the emperor to make appropriate adjustments to the civil and military officials of the Eastern Circuit of Jingdong. This order was initially intended to appease Guan Sheng, Qin Ming, and others who "might turn against the emperor again," giving Zhao Zicheng more leverage in his efforts to win them over.

Now, it was convenient for Zhao Zicheng to adjust the official positions of military officers. Zhao Zicheng temporarily added the honorary title of Xuzhou Defense Commissioner to Yue Fei, and made corresponding adjustments to others.

(Note: In the Song Dynasty, the prefectural defense commissioner was merely a nominal official, meaning he received a salary but was not actually responsible for the defense of the prefecture. Zhao Zicheng's case was an exception, allowing Yue Fei to truly live up to the title.)
……

While Zhao Zicheng was deploying his defenses on the eastern front, the Jin army, which had originally planned to take advantage of the situation and launch another offensive against Bianjing, accelerated its actions at all levels because there were no more advantages to be gained on the eastern front.

The Jin army, with a total strength of nearly 80,000 men, launched a pincer attack on Bianjing from the northeast and due north.

There's not much to say about the route coming from due north, as it's basically the same as the actions during the same historical period.

The route from the northeast was the one that, after gaining an advantage in the Yun and Yan directions, swept a left hook horizontally towards Bianjing.

Before approaching Bianjing, this force first captured Songzhou (Guide Prefecture/Shangqiu), east of Bianjing, and then marched towards Bianjing.

As an aside, Songzhou was the very place where Zhao Kuangyin rose to power before he ascended to the throne. In his early years, Zhao Kuangyin served as the "Military Governor of Guide Army," and the seat of Guide was located in Songzhou. The reason why Zhao Kuangyin named his country Song was because he had served in Songzhou.

Therefore, Songzhou held a very high status during the Northern Song Dynasty, belonging to the "Nanjing/Yingtian Prefecture" of the Northern Song. Originally, after Zhao Ji and his son Zhao Huan were captured, Zhao Gou took advantage of the fact that other close relatives of the royal family had disappeared and rushed to become emperor, and completed the enthronement procedures in Yingtian Prefecture.

However, the historical Zhao Gou was too weak. After ascending the throne in Yingtianfu, he continued to be chased around by the Jin army. He fled all the way to Jiangnan and was searched by the mountains and seas. In the end, he had no choice but to wait for the Jin army to retreat north and choose Lin'an as his temporary residence.

In this life, due to Zhao Zicheng's butterfly effect, the Jin army failed to break through Taiyuan and could not attack Bianjing from the north and northwest. Instead, they attacked from the north and northeast. Songzhou, located east of Bianjing, was the first place captured by the Jin people.

The defensive forces that the Song army could organize on the Bianjing battlefield were not much more than those in the same period in history. In the original history, when the Song army defended Kaifeng for the second time, its forces were much weaker than in the first defense. The key variable here was that a considerable part of the main force of the Western Army was consumed by the Jin people on the bloody grinding wheel of Taiyuan.

Historically, because the Jin army persisted in attacking Taiyuan, the Song Dynasty had to divide its forces to rescue Taiyuan during the period when the Jin army temporarily retreated to relieve the siege of Bianjing. As a result, the Song army adopted a piecemeal tactic, which allowed the Jin army to shorten its supply lines while simultaneously lengthening the Song army's supply lines.

The Song army was constantly being decimated by the Jin army on its way to Taiyuan. Once the elite of the Western Army was almost completely drained, the Jin army launched a full-scale southward attack on Bianjing, and there was no Western Army left to save Bianjing.

In this life, the Jurchens did not forcefully conquer Taiyuan, but the Song Dynasty preserved most of Shanxi, and Wang Bing did not die.

However, when Wanyan Zonghan shifted from siege to blockade in the Shanxi direction, he also used some tricks to lure and annihilate a part of the Song army's reinforcements. However, the scale of this annihilation battle was far smaller than that of the same period in history.

However, if we also consider the battle where Wanyan Zongwang feigned death and weakness to lure the enemy before his death, and the counterattack against Zhong Shidao in the field, the Song army also lost tens of thousands of elite troops in that battle. Taking both the advance and retreat into the battle into account, the total losses of the Song army were not much less than in the original history. Of course, there were still some changes, because of Zhao Zicheng's butterfly effect, the Jin army's losses were also much greater.

Especially in the decisive battle against Zhong Shidao, several thousand of the Jin army's elite elite troops were killed. In addition, there were the additional losses suffered by the Jin people during the first defense of Bianjing, the losses caused by Zhao Zicheng's breakout, and the 1,200 Xi soldiers that Zhao Zicheng killed when he went to the eastern route of Jingdong.

All things considered, the Jurchens lost at least five or six thousand more elite Jurchen soldiers than in the same period in history, plus at least five or six thousand Han, Khitan, and Xi soldiers. In total, the Jurchen army suffered at least ten thousand more casualties.

Therefore, even after Wanyan Zonghan gathered the main forces from both the east and west routes and united them all to fight again in Bianjing, he could only muster 80,000 men. Originally, given the strength of the Jin state, it was estimated that they could muster 100,000 men to fight a war of annihilation (during their first southward campaign, the eastern route army alone numbered 60,000).
In addition, there is an unrelated point that must be mentioned—in the original history, Zhong Shidao died of illness during the interval between the two Jin invasions of Bianjing. Although it was not a completely natural death, there was an element of shame and indignation that aggravated his condition and led to his death.

In this life, Zhong Shidao suffered a humiliating defeat because he was forced to advance by Zhao Huan and fell into Wanyan Zongwang's trap of feigning death to lure the enemy. Therefore, not long after his return, he died from his injuries and grief.

At that time, Zhong Shidao had already suffered minor injuries during the retreat, and was further burdened by extreme grief and regret. His state of mind was probably similar to that of Geshu Han, who was forced by Li Longji to leave Tongguan and fight the An Lushan rebels during his serious illness.

The reason why the remaining members of the Western Army were disloyal and unwilling to serve Zhao Huan after Zhong Shidao's death in this timeline was largely due to this factor.

Many soldiers were indignant, viewing Zhao Huan's reckless command to force an advance as an act of folly similar to that of Emperor Xuanzong (Li Longji). "That idiot emperor who knows nothing loves to give such nonsensical commands!"
Since Li Longji deserved the Mawei Post Station Mutiny after his disastrous command, and no one was willing to protect him as he fled to Shu, why should Zhao Huan expect the Western Army to risk their lives to protect him? Does such an incompetent person deserve loyalty?
The remnants of the Western Army dared not openly defy the imperial order, but they were certainly capable of shirking their duties. One could even say that the last remnants of the Western Army were even more thorough than Zhao Zicheng in their refusal to come to the rescue. And, in all honesty, this was the consequence Zhao Huan deserved for his own reckless and haphazard actions.

With all these factors combined, as the wheels of history turned into early September of the first year of the Jingkang era, the Jin army finally besieged Bianjing again—at least from the north and east, while the west and south were not yet surrounded.

Li Gang had already been sent to another place by Zhao Huan. Zhao Huan hurriedly ordered the other officials to reorganize the defense, but the Song army was at a great disadvantage and could not stop the Jin people at all. Zhao Huan had begun to resort to desperate measures, and superstitious practices such as "seeking divine soldiers from Guo Jing" were beginning to emerge.

……

Zhao Huan's incompetence and reckless actions naturally came to the attention of the imperial relatives and nobles in Bianjing.

However, most of the imperial relatives were equally incompetent, short-sighted, and complacent, so they couldn't stir up any waves for the time being.

However, Zhao Zicheng's wife, Murong Yan, was clearly not among those who were incompetent and short-sighted. Long before her husband left the capital, she had received repeated instructions and had begun preparing for a breakout.

Over the past two weeks, her efforts to befriend those "royal sisters-in-law" have progressed quite smoothly. A small group of unmarried sisters-in-law, ranging from under seventeen to over twelve years old, have gotten along well with her, their "distant cousin-in-law."

The retired Emperor Huizong (Zhao Ji) was incredibly prolific, fathering a total of thirty-four daughters. The first eighteen daughters were either married by the age of 17 or died young.

From the nineteenth daughter, Princess Shunde Zhao Yingluo, down to the twenty-ninth daughter and Princess Fu Zhao Jinzhu, they were all between the ages of twelve and sixteen and were still unmarried. Of course, two of them died young from illness, so in reality, only nine survived.

The last five women after the thirtieth were all children under ten years old, too young to withstand the chaos of war, and taking them along on an escape would be too much of a burden. Moreover, because they were so young, even if they were captured by the Jurchens, they wouldn't be subjected to humiliation, so Murong Yan didn't bother to befriend any children to increase her own difficulties.

After half a month of getting to know each other, most of the nine Zhao sisters, except for a few who were particularly cowardly and timid and would not dare to disobey their elder brother Zhao Huan's orders even if it meant death, had developed full trust in their distant sister-in-law Murong Yan.

After all, her cousin Zhao Zicheng's reputation as a hero was widely known among these young ladies. They all knew that with her cousin's protection, they would surely survive and not be captured or humiliated. Seeing that the defense of the city was not progressing well and her brother was about to make another reckless move, Murong Yan finally seized an opportunity to plan her escape with her closest sisters-in-law.

Ultimately, Princess Zhao Yingluo of Shunde, Princess Zhao Yuanzhu of Yifu, Princess Zhao Duofu of Roufu, along with Zhao Xiangyun, Zhao Zhuzhu, Zhao Jin'er, Zhao Chuanzhu, and Zhao Jinzhu, all wanted to ask their sister-in-law for help in escaping.

Most of these people were rather cowardly and did not put up much resistance in history. Only Zhao Duofu and Zhao Jin'er rebelled. Zhao Duofu later tried every means to escape and fled back to the south, while Zhao Jin'er, unwilling to be humiliated, apparently committed suicide after being captured.

After spending some time with them, Murong Yan got a general idea of ​​their personalities, so she put Zhao Duofu and Zhao Jin'er in charge of the other six sisters to ensure that they followed her orders.

Before breaking through, Murong Yan only briefly explained a few points, which could be considered as a three-point agreement:
"Bianjing is still holding out to the death. If we openly break out and let the people know that the imperial relatives have all fled, it will shake their morale. So we must leave secretly, without revealing our identities, and without fighting with our own people."

"Duofu, Jin'er, I'll have to swallow some pride. If we encounter any obstacles, you two should explain the situation to the officers of the Imperial City Guard. I will take them hostage and force them to lower the basket and let us pass, trying to avoid harming anyone if possible."

Zhao Duofu and Zhao Jin'er were quite responsible and agreed to their sister-in-law's request.

The following evening, Murong Yan fled with her twenty or thirty skilled Murong family retainers, along with seven or eight princesses and a few close attendants—these were the retainers Zhao Zicheng had allocated from his fifty personal guards for his wife. Previously, when Zhao Zicheng went to Jingdong Road, he had only taken the Yan Yun swordsmen from his personal guards, not the Murong family retainers.

Before nightfall that day, Murong Yan invited her sisters-in-law to her residence for a chat. After they met up, instead of using the main gate guarded by Imperial City Guards, she used her light-footed skills and agility to scale the wall, protecting her sisters-in-law as they climbed over it one by one.

Before long, they arrived at the southern city wall of Bianjing. Murong Yan did not go through the city tower or gate, but instead found a section of the wall without a tower. She first climbed up and subdued the officer in charge of that section of the wall, and then had Zhao Duofu and Zhao Jin'er come forward to reason with him.

Murong Yan didn't just randomly choose a breakout point. She had scouted it beforehand. The officers guarding this section of the city wall had fought alongside Yue Fei and his men during the first Battle of Bianjing, so they knew many of the Murong family servants under Yue Fei at that time.

So after they had the officer under control, they revealed their identities:
“Commander Han, we have no other intention than to protect a few princesses out of the city. You should know that although the Emperor has decreed that no imperial relatives are allowed to leave, can a few women really fight the enemy? Staying behind would only be a burden. Let the women and children go first, and we won’t make a fuss about it, so it won’t damage morale.”

The battalion commander initially refused, so Murong Yan had to resort to a combination of persuasion and threats: "You once fought alongside Commander Yue, so you know how critical the situation is. The Emperor is almost convinced that those sorcerers can repel the enemy! Isn't that playing with the lives of the entire city's inhabitants?"
Once we escape, we'll find a way to join Prince Xiu. Right now, only Prince Xiu is invincible, brave, and capable of saving the Song Dynasty and repelling the Jin invaders. The Emperor doesn't have many days left; do you really expect him to protect you? Since ancient times, there have been those who bring ruin to their countries, and those who bring ruin to the world. Those who rule their countries are responsible for the downfall of the nation, but every citizen bears the responsibility for the downfall of the world!
With Prince Xiu alive, the Han people will not perish; at most, the fate and destiny of one family or lineage will change!

The commander finally couldn't help but lower his voice and protest: "What the heroine says makes sense, but if I let you out and they find out tomorrow, I'll be dead too!"

Murong Yan added swiftly and decisively, "You lower them out of the city first, and I'll allow you to escape with me—well, not exactly escape, but escorting these royal women through the siege, eventually reaching Prince Xiu. I'll guarantee you at least a commander-in-chief position."

The battalion commander heard that he could be promoted several ranks at once by Zhao Zicheng, and finally he was tempted. He didn't care that his family was still in the city, and that the kidnappers would never let him go back to take his family. Considering that Zhao Huan seemed to be nearing the end of his life, he gritted his teeth and agreed.

Zhao Duofu, Zhao Jin'er, and eight others, along with the group of Murong family servants and maids, were all lowered out. Finally, a small group of Imperial Guards followed them out.

Once outside the city, there were no carriages or horses. Fortunately, the servants of the Murong family were all skilled in martial arts and physically strong. Murong Yan had her sisters-in-law wrap their bodies in silk and tie it to the servants' backs so they could carry her easily. Murong Yan herself was skilled in martial arts and simply walked.

After walking for half the night, by dawn, they had covered more than twenty miles and were quite tired. They rested for a while in a small orchard near Zhuxian Town, slightly west of the south of the city, before continuing their journey.

After walking about ten more miles, you will reach Zhuxian Town.

While Murong Yan was resting, they encountered a patrol of Jurchen scout cavalry. The Jurchen scouts were not large, usually consisting of no more than twenty riders.

The eight princesses were terrified when they saw the Jurchen's chariots appear. These girls, who had grown up in the deep palace, had never seen such ferocious chariots before.

However, Murong Yan was not afraid at all. She also instructed the more than twenty servants who had crossbows to prepare them, and also instructed the dozens of Imperial Guards soldiers who had followed Commander Han to prepare as well.

In order to escape quickly, the Imperial Guard soldiers abandoned their armor and weapons, leaving their armor on the city's battlefields. They also didn't bring any long weapons, only waist knives and crossbows.

Seeing Murong Yan's composure inspired the soldiers. If a woman dared to fight, how could a man be so shameless?

They all knew that several princesses were among those being protected. Even though the soldiers had little reverence for princesses in this chaotic era, the innate male instinct to show off in front of beautiful women remained unchanged.

"Brothers! Those with balls, hold your knives tight! Don't let the women laugh at us!" The commander, steeling himself, drew his sword and bow, ready to fight for his pride.

The Jurchen scouts also noticed the anomaly, but they weren't worried and casually surrounded the area.

Murong Yan brandished her sword, and all the servants and Song soldiers carrying crossbows unleashed their prepared bolts. The first wave of bolts felled at least five cavalrymen, and many more Jin soldiers or horses were wounded.

Murong Yan then charged out with her sword, heading straight for the Jin army scout captain in the lead. She leaped up and slashed the Jin officer's head, then went on a rampage, killing indiscriminately.

The remaining servants rushed forward and almost wiped out the Jin soldiers. Two Jin soldiers, seeing the situation was dire, tried to escape back to report, but Murong Yan seized the horses of the fallen Jin soldiers and chased after them on horseback. Finally, she threw swords from behind and killed all the fleeing Jin soldiers.

Although she is a woman, she has been practicing martial arts with her husband and parents for so many years. If she can't even deal with a dozen or so Jurchen cavalrymen, and it's because she was caught off guard, then all her martial arts training has been in vain.

Seeing their sister-in-law return with several Jin soldiers' heads as if nothing had happened, the eight sisters-in-law were all terrified. Was this the power of their cousin, Prince Xiu's, mansion? Even a woman like their sister-in-law could kill Jin soldiers so easily.

"What are you all standing there for? You already have horses, do you expect the servants to carry you? Two people per horse, all of you get on! Those who can't ride, let my maid teach you!"

Murong Yan still brought a few maids with her. These women all had a little bit of martial arts skills, and their basic riding skills were definitely not a problem.

After killing the Jurchens, we captured more than ten warhorses, which was more than enough for the princess and her maids to ride. The servants no longer needed to carry people, and they could escape on foot much faster.

After a brief resupply in Zhuxian Town, the group continued south and finally escaped the Jin army's encirclement safely, entering territory controlled by the Song Dynasty.

Murong Yan planned to travel south by land to the Huaihe River region, then by boat down the Huaihe River to Huaiyin, and finally north to Qingxu to reunite with her husband. Although the journey would be circuitous, it would be safe.

Everything that followed unfolded exactly as she had predicted. There were no further unexpected events, and after traveling a long and winding road for more than half a month, she finally arrived in Xuzhou and was able to reunite with her husband safely.

……

On the other hand, the fact that Murong Yan secretly fled with her eight sisters-in-law under the cover of night did not cause much of a stir, because she did it discreetly and did not harm her own people, thus not damaging the morale of the defenders of Bianjing.

Zhao Huan was already overwhelmed by other military pressures, and he didn't even notice the change the day after his sisters ran away.

Several days later, having exhausted all other options, Zhao Huan finally believed Guo Jing's "divine soldiers" and sent a group of people pretending to be gods and ghosts to fight the Jin army. As a result, the Jin army pushed back into Bianjing City.

The Jin army completely occupied the outer city of Bianjing and then surrounded the inner city, forcing Zhao Huan to surrender.

Zhao Huan held out for a while longer, but still couldn't get the reinforcements to come to his rescue. In the end, he personally went into the Jin camp to surrender, begging the Jin people not to kill him.

When Wanyan Zonghan met Zhao Huan, he couldn't help but look him up and down with curiosity:
"You are the Song emperor? Ha, we both have the surname Zhao, how can our integrity be so different? Come, don't worry, you won't die. Your Majesty, it's very simple if you want to live. Just write an edict to persuade Zhao Zicheng of Qingzhou to surrender to my Great Jin Dynasty. As long as Zhao Zicheng surrenders, I will not kill you."

Clearly, Wanyan Zonghan intended to make Zhao Huan the "gatekeeper emperor".

-

PS: I finally finished writing up to the point where the emperor is gone... I'm taking a day off tomorrow; my thoughts are a bit scattered when I change maps.

Think about how best to write the final, purely fictional counterattack phase.

(End of this chapter)