Giant Ship Across the Song Dynasty: My Supplies Come from My Motherland

Chapter 149 You motherfucker...

On the very night that Prince Rui was about to rush to the battlefield in Zhangjiakou with his wife and Lin Zhou, their carriage was stopped again on the way out of Zhongdu.

The person who stopped them was still Wanyan Liang, but today Wanyan Liang brought more people, and they were wearing armor. There were even people with shields in front of them to block them.

"elder brother."

Wanyan Liang, hands behind his back, arrogantly entered amidst a group of guards: "Where are you going?"

"Smack—"

Lin Zhou raised his hand and fired a shot. The bullet pierced through the shield in front of Wanyan Liang and took off his helmet. Wanyan Liang looked down and saw that there was a hole in the iron helmet. Without saying a word, he rolled away and got out of Lin Zhou's sight.

"What's wrong with you! At least go through the motions!" Wanyan Liang shouted from behind a large rock, "Don't you know the rules?!"

"I know your mother, come out here!"

"Come here!"

"Come out here!"

"Come here!"

The two were now exchanging barbs from a distance, and neither side's archers could make a move. Firstly, there were too many people on both sides, and secondly, the weather conditions were not good. The spring fog at night was too heavy, and it was impossible to distinguish between people and ghosts from ten meters away.

Lin Zhou had really aimed correctly this time, very accurately, but who knew—the pistol's kinetic energy was indeed a bit weak, and the trajectory was interfered with when it passed the shield, grazing Wanyan Liang's scalp before passing by.

Wanyan Liang was even more surprised that, despite being fully armed, he still couldn't withstand a single shot from that strange weapon. If it weren't for his shield, he would practically be dead by now.

That guy over there is really after his life.

"I fucking—" Wanyan Liang roared from where he was hiding, "I'm escorting my brother, what's it to you! You attacked a nobleman, what's your crime?!"

"I don't care what you're doing, get out here!" Lin Zhou shouted angrily, brandishing his gun. "I don't believe you can dodge a few shots!"

"A real man doesn't just stand there if he doesn't want to! Come on over here if you dare!"

"Fuck your mother, come on over here!"

As Lin Zhou spoke, he jumped off the carriage, and immediately everyone's eyes were on him. Wanyan Liang's archer had already placed his hand on the bowstring, but then lowered it.

Just then, Wanyan Liang peeked out from behind the rock, glanced at it, and then quickly retreated: "Damn it, you're wearing heavy armor!"

"I'm coming! Come out here!"

The iron pagoda was incredibly heavy, and Lin Zhou felt his legs tremble with every step, but he stubbornly insisted, "Come on, come on, come on!"

"Wait for me! I'm coming!"

"Come!"

"Here it comes!"

The shouts came from the other side, but the sound seemed to grow farther away. By the time the next shout came out, Wanyan Liang had already appeared behind a tree twenty meters away.

"You piece of trash, what are you running for!"

"Come here!"

The two were still struggling, and now it was time to ask, why weren't the soldiers on both sides moving? Lin Zhou was already so arrogant, so why were Wanyan Liang's men still circling around him?

This brings us to the issue of the tribal dueling mechanism. Wanyan Liang requires prestige; he can run away or lose, but if...

If he gets chased all over the place when he's fighting one-on-one and has to call for help, he might win, but he can forget about becoming the next chieftain.

This explains why, in history, after killing Wanyan Heng, also known as the Prince of Rui, when he wanted to kill Yangti, he summoned him to the drill ground and had strong men beat Yangti to death instead of directly ordering his arrest.

This culture was difficult for the Song people to understand, but it was indeed rooted in their genes.

Losing isn't scary; what's scary is not being able to handle the game.

The soldiers did obey orders, but the moment Wanyan Liang and Lin Zhou extended their invitations to fight, it was as if the two of them had entered the octagon. Wanyan Liang dared not give orders recklessly. If he couldn't handle the situation, he would not be able to gain the approval of the tribal nobles. After all, he rose to power by relying on the conservatives, by opposing Song-style modernization and maintaining the core of Jurchen civilization. How could he dare to lead the way in violating the rules?

He was absolutely certain of victory today. After all, he had carefully examined his wounded guards upon returning and discovered that the damage caused by the hidden weapons was even less than that caused by arrows; they only pierced through two holes before passing through. He himself was wearing iron armor; surely he was foolproof, right?

But who knew he misjudged the power of that thing? It wasn't that it lacked penetrating power, it was just that you weren't tough enough, buddy.

Lin Zhou was too exhausted to walk any further, so he silently shuffled back to the carriage. He didn't even dare to lift his helmet, but simply said to the carriage, "Old man—I can't walk anymore."

"Get in the carriage quickly!" shouted the prince, shield in hand. "Let's go!"

The carriage rumbled to life, and the soldiers behind it followed in unison, moving smoothly through Wanyan Liang's encirclement.

They charged out without hindrance.

At this moment, Wanyan Liang hid behind a tree, watching the carriage helplessly. He didn't dare to chase after it, and just shouted, "Wait for next time! Don't be so arrogant!"

"Useless trash!" Lin Zhou poked his head out and cursed, "You bastard, you dare to rebel? Go back to feeding the pigs!"

After saying that, he spat, but the spittle was blocked by his helmet, and he yelled and pulled his head back—

Wanyan Liang watched Prince Rui leave, his eyes and expression growing increasingly gloomy. At that moment, a man waving a paper fan stepped out from beside him and said with a smile, "Young Prince, you've got quite the scheme."

"If we don't push them a bit, how will they rebel?" Wanyan Liang sneered, flicking his sleeves and saying with resentment, "That guy is really annoying!"

"Hahaha, heaven knows why someone like this would suddenly appear." The scholar-looking man also laughed and shook his head: "It's utterly ridiculous."

"Return to the capital!" Wanyan Liang flicked his sleeves. "It's time to force that good-for-nothing Wanyan Heci to abdicate."

At first, the absurdity and childishness served as a means to cover up his subsequent intentions. Only now, at the moment when Prince Rui left Zhongdu, did this grand drama truly come together seamlessly.

Wanyan Zongbi was either going to die or rebel. If he didn't die, he would force his family to rebel. He had never received any orders from Emperor Xizong of Jin, nor did he have the authority to mobilize the army in the capital.

What he wanted was never this place; what he wanted was the throne of the Great Jin Kingdom.

In other words, compared to his father Wanyan Zongbi, Wanyan Heng was a complete weakling. Wanyan Zongbi stubbornly refused to rebel, and Wanyan Liang was equally helpless.

However—the chain of suspicion has already been formed, and the distance between them is more than three thousand miles. It can almost be said that what's done is done, and there is no way to turn back.

Even if Wanyan Zongbi had the will to serve the emperor, he probably couldn't have foreseen that the granaries of Zhongdu were already empty, and that all the grain within a radius of eight hundred li had been poured out. Even if it fell into their hands, it would only be a few empty cities. By the time they realized what was happening, the Jin dynasty would have already changed hands.

All the so-called trends, including the public opinion about "Yue Fei of the Jin Dynasty," were nothing more than a scheme orchestrated by Wanyan Liang, who created a web of suspicion between the emperor and his ministers.

Damn it—Yue Fei has been dead for four years, and they're still fighting the Jin. Qin Hui deserves to kneel for a thousand years.

Meanwhile, Lin Zhou, who was sitting in the carriage, had already removed his armor. He clicked his tongue and said, "I have a bad feeling about this. He's just trying to scare us, you know? We don't have the advantage."

"Something's not right." Prince Rui lowered his eyelids, but suddenly his gaze hardened. "But it doesn't matter anymore. At this point, it's hard to say."

"Can't you go back and explain to the emperor?"

"How do you explain this? Selling hundreds of thousands of bushels of grain to the Song Dynasty—could that be decided by Wanyan Liang alone? Even if the emperor didn't know..."

The court was completely empty, from top to bottom.

At this point, Prince Rui suddenly laughed: "My father and Yue Fei are really alike. They were both single-mindedly focused on the Northern Expedition, and both were somewhat blindly loyal. It turns out that old rivals can become more and more alike. Yue Fei didn't have a good ending, but will my father have one too? Weren't both the Jin and Song dynasties ruled by conservatives?"

Lin Zhou didn't answer, but his mind was racing through the historical records he had been researching, trying to figure out which link in the chain had gone wrong and caused the event to happen four years earlier than planned.

Did you see a young man in the crowd just now?

"No."

"The person wearing a long robe and waving a paper fan."

"No—I didn't notice. I was trying to blow Wanyan Liang's head off. What a pity—I really didn't miss this time. He was just too lucky. Damn, I've never seen anyone with such good luck."

Lin Zhou didn't think about the intricacies of the situation at all; he was completely immersed in self-blame for failing to kill Wanyan Liang twice.

"Yes." Prince Rui raised his head: "That man is Tang Kuo Bian, the Imperial Son-in-Law and Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel of the Jin Dynasty."

"What do you mean?"

"Ha—" King Rui shook his head: "It's not that we want to rebel, it turns out they want to rebel."

"So what do we do now—"

"I took the wrong path!" Prince Rui slammed his fist into his thigh. "I fell for their trap!"

"Turn back?"

"There's no going back. The escape is a done deal, and there's no way to deny it."

Lin Zhou really couldn't understand why there were so many "no's" here, no this and no that, damn it—is politics really that complicated?

"Then what will you do—"

"Turn back and protect the king." Prince Rui clenched his fists and looked at Lin Zhou: "After you return to Lin'an, find Han Shizhong and tell him that if he can help me, the Jin Kingdom will retreat north of the Yellow River and return Bianliang to the Song Dynasty."

"You have no proof, how am I supposed to tell him? Do you think Han Shizhong is some innocent young man who believes everything he says?"

Lin Zhou's words reminded Prince Rui. He rolled his eyes a few times, then suddenly laughed: "I will draft the letter of state."

"You're just a prince—aside from being the best at polo, you're not that great at anything else."

Prince Rui kicked Lin Zhou: "What if it were the Regent!?"

"What do you mean? Regent? Yangti is going to be emperor?"

"That's called the Emperor Emeritus—don't ask anymore. Just give Han Shizhong what I gave you, and he'll understand. Don't ask anymore, okay?"

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