Sky Curtain: The Overlord Charges into Battle, Shocking Emperors of All Dynasties

"How fortunate the Song Dynasty was to have so many loyal ministers!"

Li Shimin said with great regret

Given Lu Xiufu's abilities, it was already extremely difficult for him to maintain the normal operation of the imperial court under those circumstances.

Moreover, Li Shimin failed to discern any resemblance between Lu Xiufu and Qin Hui.

If Lu Xiufu could truly have single-handedly succeeded in negotiating peace with the Mongols, buying the Southern Song Dynasty several decades of time...

Lu Xiufu was undoubtedly a hero.

However, for Lu Xiufu to turn the tide is simply wishful thinking.

The fall of the Southern Song Dynasty was inevitable; the disparity in national strength between the two countries was simply too great.

Unless Yue Fei is brought back to life, or even sent to the Southern Song Dynasty himself, there might still be a glimmer of hope.

"I wonder if there were any loyal subjects of my Great Tang when it fell?"

Li Shimin said this aloud, but in his heart he was thinking...

If the last emperor of the Tang Dynasty could, like the emperors of the Song and Ming Dynasties, have left some dignity for the Tang's demise, that would be enough.

Li Shimin didn't need to consider whether the last emperor of the Tang Dynasty was of his blood, or even whether his son Li Zhi was his descendant.

Wu Zetian had already killed all of Emperor Taizong's bloodlines except for her and Li Zhi's children.

Even if the throne changes hands in the future, it will still be his bloodline, right?

The Southern Song Dynasty perished completely when 100,000 soldiers and civilians drowned at sea.

However, countless righteous people still fought against the Mongol Yuan dynasty, sacrificing themselves one after another.

For example, Wen Tianxiang persisted in recruiting volunteers to resist the Yuan dynasty in Guangdong.

Wen Tianxiang had already been captured by the Yuan Dynasty before the Battle of Yamen.

The Yuan Dynasty highly valued Wen Tianxiang's abilities, or rather, the Yuan Dynasty highly valued every official of the Southern Song Dynasty, and tried every means to persuade Wen Tianxiang to surrender.

On the eve of the Battle of Yamen, Yuan general Zhang Hongfan locked Wen Tianxiang in his ship's cabin and forced him to write a letter to Song general Zhang Shijie, urging him to surrender.

Wen Tianxiang did indeed put pen to paper; he wrote a poem entitled "Passing Lingdingyang".

[Hardships and misfortunes began with the first classic text; war and desolation surrounded us; the mountains and rivers were shattered, like drifting catkins in the wind; my life was adrift, like duckweed battered by rain.]

Fearful on the beach of Huang Kong, lonely in the Ling Ding Ocean.

Since ancient times, who has ever escaped death? Let my loyal heart shine through history.

During the Battle of Yamen, the Yuan army tied Wen Tianxiang tightly to a warship, forcing him to witness Lu Xiufu carrying Zhao Bing and jumping into the sea, where 100,000 soldiers and civilians were swallowed by the waves.

He was then taken to Dadu (Beijing) and imprisoned by Kublai Khan, the Yuan Dynasty emperor, for three years.

During these three years, the Yuan Dynasty repeatedly sent envoys to persuade him to surrender, including Liu Mengyan, a fellow top scholar and prime minister, and his former master, Emperor Gong of Song, who had already surrendered to the Yuan Dynasty.

However, Wen Tianxiang's heart was as firm as stone and could not be swayed.

[He sat in prison for three years, in a small, filthy, and dark cell, where the smells of dampness, heat, and decay rose up.]

Wen Tianxiang, having learned from Mencius's words, "I am good at cultivating my vast and righteous spirit," composed the "Ode to Uprightness."

A faint, clear current swirled in the sky, spreading and eventually filling the entire heavens.

As the pure energy circulated, a voice as resounding as a great bell echoed from the void.

"Heaven and earth possess righteous energy, which manifests in various forms."

"Below are rivers and mountains, above are the sun and stars."

...

"True character is revealed in times of adversity, and its deeds are recorded in history!"

The voice suddenly became louder, and as it faded, illusory figures appeared in the sky.

The historian fell to the ground, his back pinned down, a sharp sword piercing him, the blood spurting from his mouth staining the writing implements and bamboo slips crimson.

A cold wind howled, and amidst the flock of sheep, a man held a bare staff, gazing south.

The fleeing convoy was met with a hail of arrows from its pursuers. People around the emperor's carriage scattered in panic, but one man calmly straightened his clothes and shielded the emperor behind him. The pursuers quickly caught up, and with a swift stroke of their long swords, a smear of crimson appeared on the emperor's garments.

He was captured by the rebels and had his teeth smashed...

He cursed the rebels for their disloyalty, his tongue cut out, his mouth filled with blood and foam, yet he continued his tirade.

On Wuzhang Plain, the autumn wind swept by, ruffling the white hair at Zhuge Liang's temples.

In the middle of the great river, a man walked to the midstream, struck his oar, and swore an oath.

...

People, scholars, and ministers from all time and space looked up at these figures.

Unconsciously, I began to chant along with the sounds from the sky.

At first, the sound was barely audible, barely enough for the speaker to hear, but as more figures appeared, the voices gradually grew louder.

A tremendous roar resounded in every time and space, shaking the clear air above and causing it to ripple and spread outwards.

"Heaven and earth possess righteous energy, which manifests in various forms."

...

"True character is revealed in times of adversity, and its deeds are recorded in history."

...

"Unfolding books under the eaves, I read; the ancient road is illuminated by its colors."

The pure energy was completely shattered by the sound waves, and the originally condensed cloud of energy was blasted into specks of firefly light, which coalesced into a different scene before everyone's eyes.

A tall, upright, and unyielding figure appeared in the picture.

With his feet shackled, Wen Tianxiang limped forward, his legs feeling as if they weren't his own.

He squinted, trying to shield his eyes from the sunlight that was somewhat glaring to him.

Even after he stepped onto the execution platform, Wen Tianxiang remained calm, but his head darted around, looking in all directions.

"I wonder where south is?"

Wen Tianxiang asked the surrounding crowd,

After learning the direction, Wen Tianxiang bowed three times towards the south and said to the executioners:

"My task is complete."

The broadsword flashed before everyone's eyes, and Wen Tianxiang's body crashed to the ground.

Fresh blood gushed out, and a corner of white paper seemed to be peeking out from his clothes.

After being imprisoned by the Yuan Dynasty for three years, the officials who had surrendered to the Song Dynasty planned to petition Kublai Khan to release Wen Tianxiang so that he could become a Taoist priest.

[And Liu Mengyan uttered a decisive statement: "Tianxiang has emerged and is rallying the people of Jiangnan again. Where are we ten men then?"]

In the nineteenth year of the Zhiyuan era, Wen Tianxiang was executed at the execution ground in Dadu (Beijing). Before his execution, he bowed three times towards the direction of the Southern Song Dynasty and calmly faced his death.

After his death, people found his last writing, a self-eulogy, in his clothing.

Confucius said, "To achieve benevolence," while Mencius said, "To uphold righteousness."

Only when righteousness is fully realized can benevolence be attained.

What do we learn from reading the classics?

From now on, I can finally have a clear conscience.

After Wen Tianxiang's death, the Song Dynasty truly came to an end.

[There was also Emperor Gong of Song, who surrendered to the Yuan Dynasty. He was only six years old when he surrendered, and when he was nineteen, Kublai Khan ordered him to go to Tibet to become a monk, where he became a great Buddhist monk.]

He was finally sentenced to death by the Yuan Dynasty at the age of fifty-three.

From the Battle of Yamen, where the Yuan Dynasty destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty and unified the country, until its final demise, the resistance of the Han people never ceased during the eighty-nine years that followed.

During the Battle of Yamen, among the Song Dynasty soldiers who jumped into the sea, a taxi driver surnamed Chen was pushed ashore by the ocean and survived.

He drifted to Yangzhou, where he made a living through witchcraft and divination, and lived to the age of ninety-nine before passing away.

The reason his life story is recorded in history is because he had two daughters.

The second daughter married a farmer named Zhu Wusi and had a grandson named Zhu Chongba.

Zhu Chongba later changed his name to Zhu Yuanzhang, drove out the Mongol Yuan dynasty, restored China, and established the Ming dynasty.

Decades later, the descendants of the Song soldiers on Yai Mountain transformed into a sharp blade to annihilate the Mongol Yuan dynasty and restore the Han people's land.