As night fell, lingering, sorrowful clouds rolled across the sky, stretching to the other side of the mountains.
The cold wind is like a knife, using the earth as a chopping board and treating all living beings as fish and meat; snow falls for thousands of miles, turning the sky into a furnace, casting everything into silver.
This winter is exceptionally cold, with the entire land of Hebei frozen over.
A small cavalry unit galloped through the wind and snow. They had already crossed the Yellow River, quickly passed through Longde Prefecture, and then Liaozhou, entering the territory of Taiyuan Prefecture at midnight.
“Situ Heng, Taiyuan Prefecture is just ahead. That damned Wanyan Zonghan is there. There must be scouts ahead. I’ll lead the brothers westward, making as much noise as possible. You take two brothers and make sure to deliver Tong Guan’s dog head to Taiyuan Prefecture!”
In the wind and snow, the man who spoke was tall and imposing, riding a horse with his cloak fluttering. He was Lin Jinfeng, the commander of the Investigation Division, and Situ Heng was the deputy commander. The two of them led thirteen riders and traveled all night from Tokyo to Taiyuan City, carrying the imperial order to deliver Tong Guan's head to Taiyuan City.
For no other reason than this Tong Guan, who, as the Privy Councilor and a prince, served as the Pacification Commissioner of the Western Army, fled back to Tokyo alone upon hearing that the Jin invaders were advancing south. This left the Song Dynasty's most elite Western Army leaderless, allowing Wanyan Zonghan to sweep through the south and cause the Song Dynasty to lose 100,000 men.
Now that Taiyuan City is surrounded by Wanyan Zonghan, Zhao Huan insists on sending Tong Guan's head at this time to give all the soldiers and civilians of Taiyuan City an explanation!
Situ Heng said, "Boss Lin, this humble servant is willing to lead the brothers to lure away the Golden Dog!"
"Stop spouting your bullshit! Make sure you bring Tong Guan's dog head to Taiyuan City and hand it over to Zhang Xiaochun!"
"Yes! Your subordinate obeys!"
After saying that, Situ Heng, along with two Imperial City Guards, split up with Lin Jinfeng and sped off into the night.
Lin Jinfeng laughed in the wind and snow: "Men, come with me, let's go meet the Jin dogs' scouts. Be on your best, don't embarrass me, we are the Emperor's personal guard!"
"yes!"
The remaining nine Imperial Guards said in deep voices, each one full of energy: "If only we could run into that dog Wanyan Loushi, we would definitely kill him and take his head back to the capital to present to the Emperor!"
With that, they disappeared into the night.
Before long, they indeed encountered a group of Jin scouts, about twenty men, a cavalry unit, who were also spotted by the Jin army.
The Jin army scout captain shouted, "Who are you? What are you doing here? State your names!"
Lin Jinfeng and the others ignored them and turned to run away.
"They're Song soldiers! Take them down!"
The scout captain roared, and more than twenty riders gave chase.
The scout captain sent someone back: "Go quickly and report to General Sa Lihe that Song troops have been spotted!"
"The rest of you, follow me and capture these Song traitors alive!"
Lin Jinfeng led his men and ran very fast. After running for about half an incense stick's time, Lin Jinfeng suddenly ordered them to stop and roared, "Men, let these Jin dogs see the might of our Imperial Guard!"
"Get the crossbow ready!"
At his command, ten men skillfully took out their crossbows, quickly drew their bows, aimed at the rapidly approaching Jin soldiers, and fired an arrow each, hitting five Jin soldiers who fell from their horses.
They immediately fired a second arrow, hitting six more Jin soldiers who also fell from their horses.
The crossbow has a range of 500 meters, and within 300 meters, it can penetrate armor, resulting in either death or serious injury.
With only nine Jin soldiers remaining, they had already reached the front, and it was clearly too late to use the Divine Arm Crossbow.
Lin Jinfeng roared, "Brothers, draw your knives!"
Ten Imperial Guards simultaneously drew their gleaming blades and engaged the Jin army scouts in battle amidst the wind and snow.
On the other side, Jin general Wanyan Salihe had received news of the discovery of the Song army's whereabouts, and he actually led two hundred cavalrymen to rush over here.
The Imperial City Guards were the emperor's personal troops, and naturally, each of them was highly skilled. Before long, all the Jin scouts had been killed, while only three Imperial City Guards were injured.
Lin Jinfeng laughed heartily: "Brothers, there are only ten of us. Now let's split up and scatter to distract the Jin bandits."
The ten men, riding horses, dispersed.
In ancient times, when besieging a city, it was not usually necessary to completely surround it on all four sides. Instead, three sides were surrounded, and one side was left open. This was to disrupt the morale of the defending soldiers.
Situ Heng led two Imperial City Guards straight towards the South Gate, rushing forward at great speed. The scouts of this area had already been lured away by Lin Jinfeng, so their journey was relatively unobstructed.
Even so, they still encountered the Jin army very close to Taiyuan City. After several rounds, both of the Imperial Guards they brought with them were killed in battle, leaving only himself. He was also slashed twice, with his chest cut so deep that the white bone was visible.
One of the scouts fled back to report the military situation. Situ Heng didn't have time to chase after him. With Tong Guan's head slung around his waist, he hurriedly ran towards Taiyuan City.
Before long, the Jin army caught up with them.
With Taiyuan City in sight, the soldiers guarding the city saw a cavalryman rushing towards them, shouting, "Quickly lower the basket! I am Situ Heng, the Imperial Guard!"
Just then, Zhang Xiaochun, the prefect of Taiyuan, happened to be on the city wall and saw this scene. He immediately said, "Quickly, lower the basket!"
Soldiers immediately lowered the basket, and seeing that the Jin army had caught up to the city walls, the soldiers on the city walls began to fire arrows, which forced the Jin army to retreat.
As Situ Heng ascended the city wall, Zhang Xiaochun immediately ordered his men to help him up. Situ Heng pushed the soldiers away, saying, "Prefect Zhang, I am the Emperor's special envoy, here by imperial decree with His Majesty's written order!"
Zhang Xiaochun immediately knelt down, and the soldiers on the city wall also immediately knelt down.
"Long live the Emperor!"
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
