Chapter 93
Chapter 93
[Li Erfeng Becomes Wanyan Gou – 13]
Li Shimin and Yue Fei rode at the very front, their valor rarely seen in the world. Qin Hui stared dumbfounded. By the time he recovered, his horse had already carried him charging into the Jin formation. His face twisted, and he desperately wished he could sprout wings and fly back to the Song lines.
He wanted to retreat, but the Jin did not want him to.
Before the campaign, the Jin had heard that Qin Hui was marching south with the army. Zonghan immediately ordered that whoever captured Qin Hui alive would receive a thousand gold pieces and rise three noble ranks. In the Jin soldiers’ eyes, Qin Hui was no longer a man sitting on horseback with a long saber, but riches and honor carried upon a horse’s back. Seeing his clumsy riding and unfamiliar grip upon the saber hilt, they surged toward him like madmen.
What ability was there in bullying a scholar who had never entered battle?!
In the space of that thought, the Jin attacked. Cold sweat covered Qin Hui’s forehead. He glanced toward Li Shimin nearby and saw the long spear in His Majesty’s hands roaring like a tiger. He slaughtered the Jin until armor lay everywhere and their formation dissolved.
Qin Hui copied one move. He swept his saber horizontally, then chopped with the momentum. His motions looked fierce as a tiger, but in the end he became an absolute fool. Sudden pain shot through his wrist. Unable to maintain his grip, he dropped the saber.
In the next instant, a Jin spear thrust across. Pain erupted in his shoulder. Qin Hui cried out, fell from his horse, and was immediately surrounded by Jin soldiers whose weapons pointed at his throat.
As the blades approached, they seemed to possess temperature-cold as ice, raising dense goosebumps across his neck.
Qin Hui’s courage shattered. Utterly terrified and unable to care about anything else, he shouted, “Pengju, save me!!!”
As soon as the cry fell, a horse neighed. The Jin soldiers surrounding him scattered, and clattering hoofbeats arrived amid battle cries.
Qin Hui lay upon the ground, his armor stained with blood and mud, making him look exceptionally wretched. Yet as he lay upon the hard earth, his heart was warm, and hot liquid continually surged into his eyes.
Pengju, good brother!
Thank you for saving me!
This elder brother will never forget your great kindness!
Wait, brother, rein in your horse!
Thud!!!
Holy shit???!!!!
Yue Fei’s horse had been gifted by Li Shimin. It was fierce and extraordinarily powerful, weighing at least fifteen hundred jin if not two thousand. When one hoof landed upon Qin Hui’s belly, the immense pain and pressure nearly forced his eyes from their sockets and squeezed his soul from his body. He coughed violently, then choked out a mouthful of blood.
Yue Fei drove back the enemies before him, then looked around with confusion on his face.
Li Shimin noticed and called, “Pengju, what happened?!”
Yue Fei replied, “Something seemed to cry out over here just now, but when I arrived, it was gone!”
Qin Hui: “…”
Li Shimin said, “You must have heard wrong!”
Yue Fei said, “Probably!”
Li Shimin flicked his arm, sending droplets of blood flying from his spear tip. He laughed and called Yue Fei. “Come. Let us go meet Wanyan Zonghan ahead!”
Passion filled Yue Fei, and he laughed as well. “How could I disobey?!” He wheeled his horse and followed His Majesty away.
Qin Hui lay flat on his back and suddenly spat another mouthful of blood.
The Jin soldiers who had surrounded him earlier saw Yue Fei depart and cautiously approached again. One prodded him with a weapon and hesitantly asked his companion, “Is he still alive?”
His companion tentatively poked the part of Qin Hui’s abdomen that had been stepped on twice. Seeing Qin Hui’s eyes widen in fury, he smiled with relief. “He is alive!”
The Jin soldiers rejoiced. “Take him back immediately!”
Li Shimin and Yue Fei heard the commotion behind them but pretended not to know. After winning a great victory, they drove the enemy back thirty li, then ordered the battlefield cleared and the spoils inspected.
The army’s morale naturally soared after this triumph. Yet Qin Hui had fallen into enemy hands and been captured. In the officials’ eyes, this was the lone imperfection in a beautiful affair, like a flaw in the full moon. Some believed Qin Hui was a loyal minister devoted to ruler and state and could not be left to Jin cruelty, so they immediately requested permission to rescue him.
Li Shimin laughed heartily but offered no explanation.
Zong Ze said, “Qin Hui’s return south was riddled with suspicion. His Majesty and I noticed his unusual expression but pretended not to know. Later, we deliberately assigned him to guard Zongfu and the other two while secretly monitoring him. Sure enough, we heard him plotting with them to use a self-injury scheme to win His Majesty’s and the officials’ trust, infiltrate the highest councils, and steal our dynasty’s secrets. After discussing it with His Majesty, we decided to follow the current. His Majesty pretended to employ him heavily and kept the villain at his side, but in truth, this gave us the chance to return him to the Jin camp while using the false information he received these past days to confuse Zonghan. One stroke achieved several goals!”
The officials had never imagined such twists lay behind the matter and marveled endlessly. Another remembered the earlier events and cursed angrily, “What a villain, so cunning and sinister! Without His Majesty’s wisdom, he would nearly have deceived us!”
“Those Jin dogs are truly crafty as well. To fool us, they willingly endured brutal torture and obscured our perception! Detestable! Hateful!”
Li Shimin concealed his achievement and fame, sitting above them with a quiet smile.
…
Yue Fei’s horse had stepped upon Qin Hui twice. Even protected by armor, the intestines in his abdomen were either torn or injured. When Zongfu and the other two were in Dongjing, Qin Hui had tortured them until they resembled neither humans nor ghosts. They had long gathered all their strength to repay him a hundredfold. How could they let him die quickly now?
After the Jin seized Qin Hui and brought him back to camp, the three personally confirmed that he was indeed Lord Qin from the prison. They immediately summoned military physicians to treat him and insisted his life be preserved.
Qin Hui forced his eyes open through the excruciating pain. He sucked in a sharp breath, then looked around and saw three battered rolls of dough sitting in wheelchairs before him. Perhaps their recent recovery had gone well, because they were less mangled than when they left Dongjing. They sat beside his bed without speaking and silently subjected him to death stares.
Qin Hui: “…”
Qin Hui smiled more miserably than if he had cried. “Long time no see. Is everyone well?”
Wanyan Xiyin sneered. Wanyan Tuhesu’s lips twitched coldly.
Wanyan Zongfu looked at him with a terrifyingly benevolent smile. “Everyone is very well. But you will soon be very unwell.”
Qin Hui: “…”
Qin Hui: *collapses in despair*
Though Zongfu and the other two had been returned, they were covered in wounds and nearly crippled. After half a month in transit, the news finally reached Emperor Taizong of Jin in the Supreme Capital, followed immediately by terrible reports that Zonghan’s forces had suffered repeated setbacks against the Song army.
Emperor Taizong of Jin had been reclining on a couch. At the report, he sat upright, the muscles in his face twitching several times. He seized the teacup upon the table and hurled it away.
During the Jingkang Incident, the Jin had already broken the Song imperial family’s spine. They had assumed every subsequent campaign would proceed smoothly, allowing them to drive straight ahead and establish control over the Central Plains. Unexpectedly, ever since that young emperor Zhao Gou ascended the throne, the Jin had repeatedly struck walls in frontal battles. They had even lost half of hard-won Hebei!
If this continued, whether they could preserve their home in the Supreme Capital would become a question!
Emperor Taizong of Jin remained gloomy for a long while, then summoned trusted imperial relatives to deliberate. That very evening, he sent mounted messages ordering every Jin force to support one another and jointly campaign south.
Zonghan’s force remained in Hebei, Zongbi’s was campaigning in Shandong, and Wanyan Loushi advanced south from Taiyuan to support Zonghan. Three forces attacked south simultaneously with fierce momentum.
Li Shimin remained calm. He ordered Yue Fei to Shandong to confront his nemesis from his previous life, Zongbi, with veteran Zong Ze accompanying him to hold the line. Han Shizhong, Meng Gong, Wang Jian, and other generals went to face Wanyan Loushi, while Li Shimin personally took command against Wanyan Zonghan, reputedly the Jin state’s greatest general.
Although the accompanying officials knew their young emperor was brave and skilled in war, this battle was tremendously important, and His Majesty bore Great Song’s entire realm upon him. How could they avoid anxiety?
Before Zong Ze and Yue Fei departed Hebei, they advised His Majesty together, requesting that he return south to the capital and appoint the renowned general Wu Jie as commander, assisted by Li Gang, to confront Wanyan Zonghan.
Li Shimin refused and shook his head. “Wu Jie is a fine general, but he is greatly inferior to me!”
Zong Ze: “…”
Their emperor’s overflowing confidence!
Zong Ze frowned and asked, “What does Your Majesty think of Wanyan Zonghan?”
Li Shimin replied, “He deserves to be called a renowned general of his generation, but he is greatly inferior to me!”
Yue Fei advised, “Your Majesty, this subject does not intend to elevate another’s prestige or diminish our own, but this battle is no small matter, and Zonghan is no ordinary man…”
“Zonghan? Ha!”
Li Shimin leaned calmly against the back of his chair and said disdainfully, “When an age lacks heroes, even a petty man becomes famous!”
Yue Fei: “…”
Zong Ze said, “Your Majesty, did you not see Zonghan in battle before? Did you truly feel nothing at all?”
“Naturally I felt something.” Li Shimin thought back and sighed. “It was an extremely subtle feeling…”
Zong Ze brightened. “You did feel something?”
“Yes.” Li Shimin tentatively described it. “It was the kind of moment when your gazes meet. There is no need to speak or shake hands. With a single glance, the other man knows he is finished…”
Zong Ze: “…”
Zong Ze: “…………”
Your Majesty, have you watched Empresses in the Palace?
He truly wished An Lingrong could share some of her inferiority with him!