A Scroll of Infinite Glory

Chapter 250 Bianliang, Liangshan

Kaifeng, Bianliang, is an ancient city. Legend has it that in the early Zhou Dynasty, Bi Gong Gao, the son of King Wen of Zhou, built the city here. The name Kaifeng originated in the Spring and Autumn Period when Duke Zhuang of Zheng chose this place to build a granary city, taking the meaning of "opening up and expanding the territory" and naming it "Qifeng".

During the reign of Emperor Jing of Han, to avoid using the same character as Emperor Jing's name, Liu Qi, Qifeng was renamed "Kaifeng". During the Warring States period, King Hui of Wei moved the capital here and named it "Daliang". During the Five Dynasties period, Emperor Taizu of Liang established his capital in Kaifeng and renamed it "Dongdu".

The Later Han, Later Zhou, and Song dynasties all used the same name – Tokyo Kaifeng Prefecture.

This area has many lakes and rivers, a mild climate, abundant rainfall, and four distinct seasons. However, the large population and towering buildings mean that some rivers in the city are covered by the reflections of the eaves on both sides, and the water surface is almost never exposed to sunlight.

The washing steps extend into the water, and the steps of one house meet those of another on the riverbed.

Every morning, figures carrying hot water and calling out their wares can be seen throughout the streets and alleys. The flavors of hundreds of kinds of food and snacks fill the air between magnificent buildings and ordinary people's homes, enough to whet anyone's appetite.

The gardens, mountains, lakes, buildings, and pavilions built by the emperors of the Song Dynasty have become the most dazzling embellishments in this city, some weathered and understated, others enduring and ever-new.

The wealth of the provinces and prefectures flowed continuously between land and water, concentrating in this extremely rich and prosperous city.

So when the city fell, every soldier in the besieging army had bloodshot eyes, staring at the city in shock, hunger, and disbelief.

Even their warhorses neighed impatiently, trampling on the ancient, moss-covered bricks and stones, recklessly charging and driving away the people in the city.

They came from the Jin Dynasty, rising suddenly amidst the harsh, cold mountains and rivers, sweeping across the land like a storm, destroying the Liao Dynasty, and then arriving in the Song Dynasty.

Bianliang's prosperity was unmatched by any other place in the Liao Kingdom. After the city fell, even their commander lost control over his soldiers and could only let them run rampant in the city, plundering what they wanted, ravaging the women they desired, and killing the men, old people, and children who were an eyesore to them.

Of course, their commander did not intend to restrain them. Only a portion of his trusted Jin soldiers stormed into the palace and plundered the most valuable and highest-quality wealth of Bianliang.

The eunuchs and palace maids were all crying and running away in panic, only to be stopped, robbed and killed. Like quails that had lost their ability to think, they lay weakly on the ground, trembling as their belongings were taken away and their clothes were stripped off.

Those powerful officials of the Song Dynasty, who could suppress their generals with a single decree, performed equally poorly.

With the entire capital city of the Great Song Dynasty captured, the dynasty's fortune scattered like a torrential downpour of blood. Not only could they not condense a divine image of fortune, but they couldn't even use their usual, most comfortable habits to influence others' minds with their official power.

The young emperor still had the protection of good fortune, but when he was dragged off his horse by the Jin general, the remaining good fortune only prevented him from being thrown to his death.

Even the retired Emperor Daojun was dragged out, passed through palaces, and forced to prostrate himself, becoming one of the prisoners.

The blood-red setting sun shone on the capital city, the layered eaves collapsed and burned, and finally the water could also reflect this ominous sunlight.

The blood-red sun remained silent, witnessing a savage and bloody carnival until the Jin army reluctantly left.

They certainly didn't leave empty-handed; besides valuables, they also brought prisoners.

The group, escorted by the Jin general Zongwang, included Emperor Daojun, Empress Zheng, princes, grandsons, sons-in-law, princesses, and concubines, and traveled north along Huazhou.

Another route, escorted by General Zong Han, included the young Emperor Zhao Huan, Empress Zhu, the Crown Prince, members of the imperial clan, and figures such as Sun Fu, Zhang Shuye, and Qin Hui, who traveled north along Zhengzhou.

Among these groups were several thousand musicians and artisans captured by the Jin soldiers, along with books, maps, treasures, and religious artifacts, as well as no fewer than 100,000 men and women, who returned north.

Every day, many people in the team died, left on the roadside, or in the water, barely clothed and covered in bruises. Many others were thrown into pots.

Emperor Zhao Huan of Song, hiding in such a troop, was filled with fear and could not sleep at night, sometimes sobbing. But he also had the opportunity to see the devastated battlefield and the traces left by the Jin army as they marched in and crushed the Song army.

The Jin soldiers practiced demonic arts that had disappeared from history. They obtained a mysterious technique from somewhere that allowed them to explore mineral veins, and with it they prospered, to the point that even their country's name was "Jin".

However, their original territory was too small. The continuous warfare against Liao and Song over the years did not give them enough time to use the mineral resources to push all their soldiers to the level of demonic elite troops.

The armies of Song and Liao, relying on the imperial dynasty's fortune and magic, should have been able to contend with them. After all, it had already been proven during the Han Dynasty that the potential of the imperial dynasty's fortune and magic was in no way inferior to that of the demonic path.

Even though the Liao Dynasty was plagued by internal strife and lost its opportunity due to the siege by the Song and Jin dynasties, the Song Dynasty, despite its incompetent emperor, still had many virtuous ministers and capable generals who could contribute.

However, both the Song and Liao dynasties were defeated, which puzzled many people in the court.

When Zhao Huan saw the traces of the battlefield, saw the white bones exposed in the wilderness where the Jin soldiers had passed, and saw that not one in a hundred people survived, and that there was no rooster crowing for a thousand miles, he finally understood why.

Because the Jin soldiers not only possessed demonic cultivation techniques, but also the imperial destiny, which was the dark side of the path of destiny. Some benevolent emperors and ambitious rulers throughout history were determined to hide it, so much so that later emperors were unaware of this aspect.

The Imperial Fortune Method is the ultimate form of unorthodox practices. It manipulates people's hearts and minds, gathering the thoughts of the masses to gain power. However, these thoughts can be positive, such as the masses' love and approval, or negative, such as the masses' fear and resentment.

Wherever the Jin army's iron hooves passed, the lands fell, and the fear of the Song dynasty's remaining people became the Jin army's resources.

Unorthodox methods, unorthodox methods!

Even when Emperor Wu of Han was at the height of his power, he never thought of naming this method of imperial destiny the "righteous path" or "kingly way," and this is the reason why.

Zhao Huan seemed to understand these things in a daze, but it was too late. He became a prisoner and was imprisoned in different places, suffering endless humiliation.

He drifted through two or three years in a daze. He couldn't remember anymore, only that he heard a lot of things.

For example, the secret techniques of the Jin Dynasty were originally buried in the Changbai Mountain Pool and were obtained by Wanyan Aguda.

For example, the nobles of the Jin dynasty also began to learn the ways of enjoying themselves from the Song people, and a different atmosphere seemed to gradually emerge among the army and officials.

But none of this matters.

The only reason Zhao Huan was still alive was because he dared not die.

Then, some nobles from the Jin Kingdom came to the place where he was imprisoned. They stopped their horses and laughed at him from a distance. The once young emperor of the Song Dynasty, who had been pampered and comfortable, had become thin, pale, and haggard.

The Emperor of Destiny stood atop a tall building, gazing down at the pale face in the distance, his eyes devoid of any emotion.

That was his past life, let's just call it his past life for now, because after being imprisoned for an unknown period of time, when Zhao Huan opened his eyes again, he found himself back in the time when he was still the crown prince.

At that time, he questioned whether everything around him was real or fake. Even though everything in the palace—sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch—was telling him the word "real," he still couldn't escape the nightmares of the past, to the point that he would cry and scream in the night.

Even though he later used the information he knew from his previous life to do many things, ascended the throne ahead of time, and destroyed the Wanyan family, the fear and hatred in his heart were never completely eliminated during the first three years of his reign.

Now, the Emperor of Destiny looks at his former self and then at his former enemies, and he is no longer moved.

He was simply distracted while cultivating, and randomly picked a scene from his memory to use as a space for his thoughts.

When the Emperor of Heaven intentionally opened his eyes, the surrounding streets and buildings all collapsed silently, including the enemies and nobles of the Jin Kingdom, his former parents, wives and daughters, and his former self.

Even in the far distance of this dream, the scarred city of Bianliang was also destroyed like smoke.

What came into his view was Bianliang today, the imperial palace and gardens.

This city was not so serene and luxurious; instead, it was filled with the murky smell of minerals and demonic energy. The imperial aura that only a few could see in the sky did not scatter as blood rain in a sorrowful manner; instead, it emitted an extremely ferocious groan.

It was this dragon's roar that made the Emperor of Destiny wake up with a furrowed brow.

Hidden within the colorful clouds of imperial fortune lies the bloated and enormous aura of a golden dragon, its body covered in blood-stained marks. Having been wounded, it feels not sorrow, but only rage.

Its right forepaw was completely shattered, and the other three claws were also damaged. The dragon horns on its head were also broken.

This morning, the golden dragon, which represents the dynasty's fortune, already looked like this. The complete destruction of its claw signifies a major defeat on the Liangshan battlefield.

The situation was clearly very favorable before, but overnight, the army of 100,000 suffered a crushing defeat.

At that time, the emperor was quite furious and almost issued an edict to mobilize 100,000 imperial guards and draw half of the 300,000 border troops back to personally lead the expedition.

However, Li Gang and others desperately advised against it, saying that the border troops should not move rashly and that they should at least prepare food supplies first. They also said that time should be left for Han Shizhong to make preparations in advance, and to redeploy the remaining troops to prevent a surprise attack from the Liao Kingdom.

After a noisy morning court session, the emperor did indeed temporarily change his decree, only mobilizing the imperial guards and giving Han Shizhong five days to deploy defenses, and another twenty days to raise provisions on his own. He allowed them to divide the border troops in two at the end of the month and send 150,000 men to Liangshan.

This was not simply because of Li Gang and his group's persuasion, but because the emperor, after careful consideration, realized that prolonging the war within the Song Dynasty's borders for a while longer wouldn't be so bad.

The methods of governing the dynasty's fortune, whether positive or negative, are actually very difficult to grasp.

How difficult it is to form a positive and prosperous dynasty is evident from historical records. Few people throughout history have achieved this. Even Emperor Wu of Han, who pioneered this method, struggled to maintain the prosperity in his later years and was stigmatized. The difficulties involved are self-evident.

As for a foolish ruler like Emperor Daojun, don't even talk about a golden age; he couldn't even grasp the dark side of the dynasty's fortune.

The lives of ordinary people are like weeds. Even if a tyrannical ruler is in power, as long as they can barely survive, they rarely harbor resentment, because all their energy is devoted to making a living, and they have little time to hate.

Moreover, their knowledge is too limited to explain the root cause of their suffering, nor can they pinpoint the source of their resentment or hatred, thus they are unable to provide any positive influence on their lives.

After Emperor Tianming realized this, he sighed in his heart more than once, "What a lowly people!!" So he deliberately spared Cai Jing, Tong Guan and the other six traitors, arresting them first and then releasing them, just to let them fully exert their methods of persecuting the people.

This current mining system, riddled with loopholes, allowing local governments to maintain private armies and exploiting mineral resources at every level, was established by these six individuals at the emperor's behest.

In this way, those who benefited would support the court, and their accumulated wealth and private armies would become tools to protect the court when necessary.

And the people now knew who to blame.

Why is life getting harder and harder? Because all the able-bodied young men have been pulled into the mines.

Why are there fewer and fewer people in the family? Because those who went to the mines all died there, and those who came back also died of illness.

They finally understood this most obvious and simple logic, and they were gradually forced to the point where they could not survive even if they tried, and could only hate.

The Emperor of Heaven was very pleased with this.

But when war broke out, he discovered that in a situation where there were rebellions and wars everywhere, the dark side of the Song Dynasty's people could be unleashed even more efficiently.

As long as they don't actually succeed in their rebellion, the longer this war continues, the faster the emperor's cultivation will progress.

Originally, it was estimated that it would take about ten years to reach the realm of ascension, but now that time is constantly being shortened.

"If I can truly ascend to heaven this year, then even if the war drags on and deteriorates to the point that the Song Dynasty is beyond saving, it will not matter."

The Emperor of Destiny savored the fine wine made from five kinds of medicinal herbs, listening to the distant sounds of the Imperial Guards being mobilized, feeling utterly content.

Within the five-colored smoke and clouds invisible to the naked eye of ordinary people, a blood-spotted golden dragon churned, and an endless stream of dark dragon energy, like a waterfall of blood, cascaded down from the heavens and poured into the emperor's body.

The refined mineral pills and magical wines stored in various corners of the palace also transformed into a gentle demonic essence, seeping from the ground and returning to the only person in the palace qualified to enjoy all these treasures.

He lowered his eyes, and between the thin slits of his eyelids, a thick, slow flow of desire emanated from him—a desire so profound that he would not hesitate to exhaust the blood and tears of countless people in order to prove his point.

"After my ascension, if I look back, will I see two Song Dynasty emperors..."

………………

Within the Liangshan Marsh, Guan Luoyang continuously activated his Li Huo Golden Eyes for several hours, scanning and observing the vast expanse of misty waters.

After a long while, he reached out and beckoned, and a figure burst out of the water, which he grabbed and landed on the shore.

"call!"

Guan Luoyang let out a sigh of relief, then smiled at the soldiers waiting on the shore, "This is the last one who has fallen into the water unconscious. Quickly send him to Mr. Gongsun and the others for treatment."

"The rest of you should rest for a bit, then go and bury the dead. Even if they were enemy soldiers, many of them simply didn't have a choice."

The soldiers nodded in agreement.

On the mountain road, Li Kaixian hurried over and said, "Chief, a group of people claiming to be envoys from the Liao Kingdom have come to visit."

(End of this chapter)