Contrary to Shen Tu Xin's claim, He Jing, the military commander of Guangde Army, did not use the people of Hangzhou Prefecture as a threat.

At this moment, He Jing ran even faster than Shen Tu Xin and Gao Shou Yi.

He took a few of his close confidants, gave up everything else, and some horses, and headed south from Hangzhou, beginning his journey across most of southern China, heading west.

For him now, the safest place is the country of Jiaozhi!

The Kingdom of Jiaozhi fought against the Song Dynasty and even captured many of its cities.

Later, the Song army marched south and defeated the army of Jiaozhi that had invaded the Song Dynasty, but did not cause any damage to Jiaozhi itself.

This is enough to show that fleeing to Jiaozhi was very safe.

When the 2,500 imperial guards in Hangzhou could not find their commander, the pent-up fear caused by the defeat of the Jiangnan Road imperial guards spread completely.

On this day, someone said that Han Shizhong's army would arrive in Hangzhou in half a day.

The imperial guards scattered in panic, and Hangzhou fell without a fight.

On December 20th, Han Shizhong arrived in Hangzhou, accompanied by Prince Kang, Zhao Gou.

The once bustling city of Hangzhou was nearly a third ruined under the "care" of the Imperial Guards.

Fights in restaurants, refusing to pay prostitutes, extorting protection money on the street, harassing respectable women on the street, and even murders in the street are countless.

Every night when they returned, the rebels would gather together to discuss the day's results.

Who raped how many women today, and who killed how many people?

How did they kill him? They blew his brains out.

They even cut off a piece of flesh from a widow in the east of the city and brought it to a restaurant to eat with their drinks.

What the rebels talked about most was that seven or eight rebels broke into a house with three girls, the oldest being only eighteen years old and the youngest twelve.

Seeking thrills, the eight rebels tied everyone up in the backyard and then raped the three girls in full view of everyone.

What they enjoyed most was that the girl's parents were so traumatized that they smashed their heads against a wall and died.

The rebels became especially excited when these things were mentioned.

Such imperial guards are a thousand times more hateful than hooligans and bandits!

In orthodox history, the army at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty was notorious for its thuggery.

Having experienced several battles, Han Shizhong knew very well that these scumbags should not have been allowed to live in this world. No matter how kind they had been before, they had now completely degenerated into beasts.

The emperor would absolutely not allow such a beastly army to exist.

Therefore, Han Shizhong decisively submitted a memorial to the throne.

Officials living in luxury, upon seeing Han Shizhong's memorial, would naturally stand on the moral high ground and despise Han Shizhong's cruelty.

How could you kill them all!

They're human too!

They were just ordinary soldiers, and they were misled by their superiors. They were innocent!

Are they innocent?

What about the people in the south who were humiliated and murdered by them? Did they deserve their fate?

Everyone must bear the consequences of their actions.

When Han Shizhong received the emperor's order to kill the rebels and rushed to Hangzhou, he found that the last remaining rebel force had already fled. Without even eating, Han Shizhong immediately organized several teams to pursue the fleeing rebels.

"Not a single one can be missed!"

From Han Shizhong's perspective, annihilating these rebels was a way of showing the emperor that he was absolutely loyal and willing to be the emperor's executioner.

From Zhao Huan's perspective, he wanted to use the most direct and ruthless methods to inform all officials and troops stationed in Fujian, Lingnan, Jinghu, Chengdu, Kuizhou, and other regions.

Anyone who dares to rebel against the imperial court shall be executed without exception!

He wanted this event to be recorded in history so that future generations would know about it and what the consequences of splitting a country are!

He wanted to build a monument for all the New Army soldiers who died in this war, to commemorate their eternal spirit.

Two days later, 1,367 people were brought back.

Han Shizhong personally oversaw operations outside Hangzhou, while Wang Kuian rushed to Hangzhou from Yue Fei's camp to oversee the execution of over a thousand rebel soldiers on behalf of the emperor.

On this day, a steady stream of Hangzhou residents came to watch.

All the people hated these rebels.

In Han Shizhong's words: "When the Jurchen invaders marched south, they were not so arrogant. Now they are ruthless towards their own people."

Outside Hangzhou, a report of over a thousand heads falling was sent back to Tokyo, and Zhao Huan was very satisfied upon seeing it.

The most important aspects of military and political reform are, firstly, the reform of the military system, and secondly, the reform of the military's atmosphere!

How can we establish a new social atmosphere?

How to build an army that protects the country and never harms the people?

First, send all the former rogue troops to meet the King of Hell!

Next, implementing the new policies in Fujian, Lingnan, Chengdu, and other places will be much easier.

There's no need for so many people to die like this time.

In the evening, it began to snow in Tokyo.

Liu Yanzong strode into the palace and gave a report on the Qian family in the southeast.

"Qian Jin captured Shen Tu Xin, but it was a ruse?"

"That's right, Shentu Xin ran away."

Zhao Huan frowned slightly: "Find it for me even if you have to dig three feet into the ground."

"Your Majesty, according to the law, the Qian family is guilty of treason by colluding with rebel forces and should be exterminated along with their entire clan!"

Zhao Huan said, "Wang Kuian gave me a report saying that Old Master Qian was imprisoned by his son Qian Jin. It was Qian Jin who colluded with Shen Tu Xin. In this case, it is exactly the same as what Qian Mu said. Old Master Qian did not have any intention of rebelling."

After a moment of silence, Zhao Huan continued, "I've heard that the Qian family is colluding with the rebels. Not only officials in the southeast, but even ordinary people are going to the government offices to plead for the Qian family. You say the Qian family is so popular with the people, yet I'm now risking popular support to exterminate their entire clan. Isn't the southeast already chaotic enough?"

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!