As early as the third year of Xuanhe (1121 AD), the Song army fought against the Jin army south of Yanshan. As was the usual case, all the armies were defeated by the Jin army.
At that time, Han Shizhong was patrolling the Hutuo River with more than fifty cavalrymen when they unfortunately encountered two thousand Jin cavalrymen.
At that time, Han Shizhong had already fought with the Jurchens and had defeated them so badly that they cried out for their mothers.
In orthodox history, in October of the first year of the Jingkang era (1126), Han Shizhong, who was then on defensive duty in the Hutuo River area, was pursued and forced into Zhao Prefecture by tens of thousands of Jin soldiers. The enemy surrounded the city in multiple layers.
At that time, the city was short of soldiers and food, and morale was low. Some people advocated abandoning the city and fleeing.
Han Shizhong immediately issued an order: anyone who dared to suggest abandoning the city would be executed.
That night, heavy snow fell. Han Shizhong selected 300 strong soldiers, secretly left the city, sneaked into the Jin army's siege commander's camp, killed the commander, and then launched a surprise attack on the Jin army's garrison, inciting internal strife and fighting among the Jin soldiers.
After a night of fierce fighting, the Jin soldiers suffered more than half their casualties and lost the will to fight, so they scattered and retreated.
Han Shizhong persisted in the resistance against the Jin dynasty in the Hebei region for several years. Although he did not hold a high official rank and commanded a small number of troops, he was invincible in every battle and attack, and his reputation intimidated the Jin army.
But even such a military general remained a subordinate until the chaos of war arrived, when he finally had the opportunity to rise to prominence.
This shows just how badly the bureaucratic system of the late Northern Song Dynasty buried talent!
Zong Ze, the first generation of key figures in the resistance against the Jin dynasty, was already old. Emperor Huizong and Emperor Qinzong of Song had been captured and taken to the north, and Tong Guan and others had all died. The country was truly on the verge of collapse, and only then did he have the opportunity to display his talents.
Han Shizhong was not only brave and resourceful, but also highly skilled in martial arts and possessed immense strength. Just the fact that he was protecting Zhao Huan meant that no Jin soldiers could get close within a three-meter radius!
Zhao Huan could only see blood flying through the air, people falling one after another in front of him, and people being trampled into mincemeat under the hooves of horses.
At that moment, he finally understood what it meant to be all talk and no action.
No wonder Zhao Kuo died so tragically. What is a real battlefield? It is a clash of powerful forces, a collective battle of well-trained soldiers, not the artistic and sentimental thing that those scholars standing in high places or keyboard warriors of later generations imagine.
In war, human life is worth less than grass. Behind each vibrant life is a complete family. Perhaps the child is still crying for milk in the wife's arms, or the old mother has finished weaving and is still awake late at night. She gets up to open the door, her eyes gazing longingly at the northern sky, hoping that her son will come back soon.
But now they are worse off than vegetables and radishes. One by one, their heads are chopped off, their bones are broken, they lose their legs and feet, or they watch helplessly as their comrades who were bragging together during the day are trampled into mincemeat.
This is war! Destroy everything! Give you no chance to negotiate! Don't care if you promised your wife you would go back, or if you promised to appear in the woods at the village entrance next spring.
War is cruel, but only by ending war with war can we achieve peace! Only by shedding blood can we stop the bleeding!
At this moment, Zhao Huan's heart was as hard as steel, but the blood in his veins was boiling like magma. He had to win this battle!
The main force of the Song cavalry grew stronger with each battle, and infantry from all sides rushed to protect them, gradually forming a solid defensive line on both flanks, and they fought tenaciously against the Jin army.
Previously, the Jin army viewed the Song army as a rabble that would scatter like birds and beasts at the first sign of trouble, and was utterly incapable of being defeated.
But today, the Jin army was shocked to discover that every single Song soldier fighting tonight seemed to have gone mad. Many Song soldiers didn't have horses, and some of them simply charged forward, knocking down the Jin soldiers on horseback. If one person couldn't catch them, two would, and if two weren't enough, five, ten, or even twenty!
Some of them rushed forward and were pierced by the Jin army's spears. But as soon as they were pierced, the Song soldiers became even more terrifying. They clung to the spears and pulled the Jin soldiers off their horses. If one of them couldn't drag them, his comrades would grab him and help drag them. If one person couldn't do it, then ten or fifty people would do it!
This is an army that doesn't care about its own lives! How can we fight them?!
The Song army's ranks instantly became like an impregnable fortress, while the main cavalry force in the center was unstoppable, charging straight into the main Jin army formation and directly confronting Wanyan Loushi's elite troops.
A very famous painter in later generations, relying on historical records and oral accounts from the descendants of some soldiers who survived this war, created a realistic and vivid painting. In the painting, the wise and mighty Emperor Zhao Huan holds a long sword and leads the way, with guards on both sides clearing the way for the emperor.
At that moment, it seemed as if all the enemies were prostrating themselves at the feet of the emperor, and the sun, moon, mountains and rivers were turning upside down. The invincible warriors followed the holy emperor and tore through the enemy's attack!
That battle saved China from collapse and prevented the country from falling apart!
Wanyan Loushi roared, "Kill the Emperor of Song! A reward of ten thousand taels of gold will be given!"
With such a generous reward, the Jin army, as if injected with adrenaline, charged forward in unison.
Zhao Huan roared, "Capture Wanyan Loushi alive and bestow upon him the title of Marquis of Yongwu!"
The main forces of the Song army and the main forces of the Jin army finally clashed, like two terrible torrents crashing together, splashing up waves that instantly killed countless people.
A burly Jin general led a dozen cavalrymen in a desperate charge toward Zhao Huan. The three vanguards at the front were immediately killed, and the general, in a frenzy, launched an attack on Zhao Huan, who was surrounded.
At this moment, Zhong Shidao was covered in blood from the fighting. If it weren't for the guards following him closely, Zhong Shidao would have already died from exhaustion. Yao Pingzhong, on the other hand, was a skilled fighter and was fighting with great passion.
Not far away, Zhe Keqiu was having an even more intense battle. The Zhe family army was known for its fierce and valiant military style. This wave of attacks, following the emperor's charge, greatly enhanced the reputation of the Zhe family army, and everyone was bloodthirsty.
The Jin army considered themselves wolves, but the Song army before them was a mighty lion!
No matter how powerful a wolf is, can it be a match for a lion?
Even now, Wanyan Loushi still believes that the Jin army is invincible, and that he, Wanyan Loushi, is invincible. He imagines his few thousand iron cavalry charging into the Liao army's tens of thousands of troops, and then marching from the northeast to the northwest, with no one able to defeat him or stop him. How could he possibly lose to the Song army!
Only when the Jin soldiers fell one by one, and when Han Shizhong killed the general who came to attack Zhao Huan with a single stroke, and when the rest of the brave Jin soldiers were directly crushed by the Song army, did a crack appear in Wanyan Loushi's invincible heart.
Once the crack appeared, it spread rapidly, and from within it, thin threads of fear began to entwine around his heart.
Why did the Song army suddenly become so fearless?
But Wanyan Loushi was a seasoned general, and he quickly suppressed his fear and personally led his trusted men to attack Zhao Huan.
Wanyan Loushi's personal combat prowess was so strong that it instilled fear in both the Liao and Song armies. He possessed the murderous aura of a powerful figure, and ordinary soldiers couldn't even hold their swords steady in front of him.
Wanyan Loushi beheaded the two Song soldiers at the front with a single stroke, sending their heads flying into the air. He roared, "Emperor of Song! Prepare to die!"
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