If the Tang Empire won, it would say to its opponents: "You damn well behave yourself in the future, or be careful that I wipe out your entire clan. Pay tribute obediently every year!"
<...What is the purpose of life, the struggle for power and influence?
If it weren't for the need to ensure the Yao family's stable foothold in the Song army, he wouldn't have allowed Yao Xiong to rashly launch a surprise attack on Wanyan Zonggan.
Those 30,000 brave soldiers would certainly not be gone forever.
Who will collect the bones lying by the Xiao River?
Who can fathom the heart of a king?
Yao Gu sat up in bed, and when the person next to him tried to help him, he pushed them away.
At that moment, he seemed to have suddenly become twenty years younger.
It was as if he had returned to sixty years ago, when he was still a young man, showing off his prowess in the army.
At that time, it was like the rising sun, radiating its vitality.
Those things seem like they happened just yesterday.
Life is truly short.
If I had known this would happen, why didn't I just live a happy, secluded life?
Thinking of this, tears streamed down my face.
He slowly put on his armor, then drew his beloved sword, examined it, and gently stroked it.
He could feel the coldness of his fingers sliding across the blade.
The servants who were serving Yao Gu were already sobbing uncontrollably; they had been with Yao Gu for twenty years.
Then, Yao Gu put away the knife, stepped on it, and hanged himself.
Two days later, the emperor sent a ceremonial guard to bring the ashes of all the soldiers who died on the battlefield back to the Martyrs' Shrine in Tokyo.
Along the way, on the east bank of the river, wherever the emperor went, the people dared not come, and countless people welcomed and saw off the emperor's entourage.
It should be said that it was to welcome and send off the heroic souls who died on the battlefield.
Some wept silently, for among those heroic souls were their own sons and husbands.
Even the children shed tears; they may no longer have a father.
In Hejian Prefecture, Hedong, there was a pitiful old woman who cried for three days and three nights after learning that her son had died on the battlefield, until she fainted from crying.