Chapter 1: The Awakening of Shin Wang...

  At this time, the Jin soldiers inside the city were also stunned, but all of them let out a sigh of relief. They didn't get to see the bloody slaughter scene after all, and it seemed that this Song Dynasty's King Xian was not as bloodthirsty as rumored. Nor did he resemble those Han Chinese righteous armies of the past, who would kill Jin soldiers and prisoners upon capture. Otherwise, those barbarian knights wouldn't have risked their lives for him either.

  Then they began to worry about themselves. The Xianbei outside the city were still alive, but King Xin wanted to attack the city. It seemed that the Xianbei had already hated King Xiao Gan of the Xianbei who had seen them die without saving them. Once the angry Xianbei started attacking the city as vanguards, our heads would be in danger.

  At this time, Zhao Xun used the Jie people as vanguards and began to launch a siege. At this time, the king of the Jie people, Xiao Gan, certainly did not dare to let the Jie people in the city resist the enemy. All the Jie people were one family, if the Jie army inside the city did not exert themselves and allowed these rebellious Jie people to enter, then everything would be over.

  So Xiao Gan deployed the 2,000-strong army of Han, Bohai, Khitan and Jurchen people to the south gate and east gate where the rebel army was gathering, while placing the Xi army at the north gate and west gate. From the deployment of the rebel army under Xiang Wang, it can be seen that the main force of the rebel army is in the northern city, which is the main direction of attack. The Jurchen army, composed of Han, Bohai, Khitan and Jurchen people who are not worried about rebellion, is used to resist the enemy head-on, which is completely correct.

  In the entire Jin army, there were actually not many Jurchen or Manchu warriors. The total number of Jurchen tribes was also very small. At the time when the Jurchens first rose up in arms, they had at most 20-30 thousand people. Now, the total number of Jin soldiers, including local city defense troops, adds up to nearly one million, among which the actual number of Jurchens is very small.

  Otherwise, if there were many Jurchen people in the Jin army. After Wanyan Wenzhong's death, Xiao Gan would not have been able to use his highest position to control Pingding Castle.

  Xiaogan set up his defenses mainly at the south gate and east gate. Unfortunately, Zhao Kuo was skilled in using tactics of false appearances, so he fell for it again.

  Xin Wang Yijun's main attack direction was actually the least possible northern city. Zhao Xun secretly buried all his main forces in a forest outside the north gate of the city.

  In the forest, tens of thousands of infantrymen from Ma's army, Shen Mountain Army, Feng Lei Army, Kuang Bao Army and Hei Long Army were all placed here. After a battle with Khitan general Jin Bofu at Mount Fujiao and another battle against Wanyan Wen, the commanders of each army were defeated, many wounded, and each army reduced by at least 20%. Although they temporarily replenished their forces with captured soldiers, their combat effectiveness was clearly not up to par. However, there was no time to worry about this now; time was pressing, and regardless of whether they could fight or not, they had to push forward first.

  At this time, Ma Zheng personally commanded the attack on the north city. As night fell, the attack began. Tens of thousands of people immediately moved catapults, battering rams, cloud ladders and other siege equipment, instantly emerging from the forest to launch a simultaneous attack on the city walls.

  Less than three thousand Khitan soldiers were defending the north gate of Pingding, which was actually enough to withstand the attack of the 10,000-strong righteous army. The problem was that they had been intimidated by the righteous army and could hardly escape from Fushan, let alone return safely. Only one in ten Khitan soldiers managed to escape back to Pingding, but before long, the righteous army arrived.

  They were to suffer another blow, first with the complete defeat of Wan Yan Wenzhong's army of 10,000 men, and then with the capture of over 17,000 Khitan soldiers who were abandoned by their own king.

  Among the captives, many people had their own relatives and brothers, this blow was too great. At that time, the Xianbei people had no morale at all, they just wanted to save their lives and escape.

  Under the cover of night, the Jie people saw that the righteous army was launching a fierce attack on them, and there were more troops pouring out of the mountains and forests outside the city, and they immediately collapsed.

  The Xianbei army immediately fled, and they fled west to the Western City. After escaping from the Western City, they fled in the direction of Shouyang in the west. If they had run slowly, this road might have been blocked by the righteous army.

  The Xī army guarding the North City fled, and the righteous army directly rushed into the unguarded North City Gate. Immediately afterwards, the Xī people of the West City Gate, Jīn Army, joined forces with the fleeing Xī people from the North City Gate and opened the gate to run towards Shòuyáng in the west.

  Jin Jun's Xianbei army collapsed, all ran away, what city is Xiao Gan still defending? Facing the countless charging Yiwang Yi army troops. He followed behind and ran, compared to things like face, high officials, establishing a country, one's head is still the most important. If Xiao Gan wasn't afraid of death, he would have died for Liao State back then, why surrender to Jin people?

  As the North Gate was breached by the righteous army, the East and South City Gates were also opened one after another. Wang Jin led the Dragon Wolf Riders to charge into the city as well.

  The battle was almost over in an instant, and within less than half a time, the banner of King Xīn's righteous army had risen in the city.

  Zhao Xun stared at the banner of General Wang, which was dancing wildly in the wind, and he was stunned for half a day. He himself couldn't believe that his army had captured Pingding City, the capital of Pingding Prefecture, in just half an hour.

  Everything is simply unbelievable. Poor myself, for the past two days, I was thinking of ways to attack Fushan and engage in a decisive battle with the main force of the Jin army. I had spent countless efforts on it. As a result, within less than two days, not only did we take down Fushan, but also captured Pingding City.

  With Pingdingcheng and Fushan, plus the more than 20,000 Jin soldiers who surrendered, Zhao Chen had the confidence to resist the 50,000-strong Jin army, and all the troubles that plagued him were solved.

  Victory was in sight, and the cheers of countless righteous troops rose to the sky. Under the instigation of some cunning generals, many righteous troops shouted out "Long live King Xian! Long live King Xian!"

  The Han people of Pingdingcheng were boiling with excitement, the righteous army was boiling, tens of thousands of people cheered and shouted hoarsely. The city of Pingdingcheng occupied by the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty had been retaken by the Song people, and everyone was proclaiming their excitement and joy with the most frantic cheers.

  Wanyan Zongbi led the 50,000 Jurchen troops to retreat. Under the joint persuasion of Puji Nu and Xiao Gan, who fled to his camp, Wanyan Zongbi retreated to Shouyang and stared at each other with the army of Prince Xiang of Wei.

  Pu Jia Nu and Xiao Gan both knew that this Song Dynasty's Prince of Xin, Zhao Kun, was not simple. His consecutive victories were not due to luck, but rather the use of clever strategies to take advantage of the situation, terrain, human factors, and various elements to defeat them. They also began to take seriously this Prince of Xin who had defeated them.

  The 50,000 Jurchen soldiers led by Wanyan Zongwang were almost the strongest force in the rear of the Jin state. If there was any mistake, the rear of the Jin-occupied territory would have problems. At present, the main force of the Jin army is gathering on the southern front to fight against the Song army and has no time to go north to deal with the army of Prince Xin.

  So, the 50,000 Jurchen soldiers led by Wanyan Zongwang could only guard Shouyang and confront the army of Prince of Qi, avoiding greater losses. They did not seek merit, but sought to avoid blame. The main reason was that Pu Jiaonu and Xiao Gan were both fearful and timid.

  At this time, in the commander's tent of the righteous army, Zhao Ze was constantly running in and out, handling various matters of the righteous army. At this moment, a messenger shouted: "Commander! The people from the Eight Trigrams Army have arrived."

  Hearing his roar, Zhao Jun was stunned for a moment, then jumped up and hastily asked: "Where? Where are Generals Fu Xuan and Jiao Wentai?"

  "General Gao has just sent word that he encountered the vanguard of the Eight Trigrams Army thirty miles east of Pingding City, where he met General Xiao Guanyu. Generals Fu Xuan and Jiao Wentong are leading the main force of the Eight Trigrams Army in pursuit."

  Zhao Song was delighted, although Wang Yan had given up leading the elite troops to join him, but he had left 100,000 righteous army and civilians to himself. Wang Yan's approach actually allowed Zhao Song to gain a large number of people and military resources.

  Zhao Kun originally wanted to escape the danger and reunite with Wang Yan. Later, he developed and grew in the Taihang Mountains and established a base behind enemy lines in the area occupied by the Jin army. However, Wang Yan still did not respond to his letter and instead led 10,000 elite troops south to Dongjing.

  Although Zhao Song led the Xining army with his own strength, he successfully defeated the pursuing troops and the blocking Jin soldiers. What Zhao Song needs most now is soldiers and food. As long as there are people, they can plant grain, and as long as there are people, there will be a source of soldiers.

  Who has an army? In the north, apart from Zhao Song, only the Eight Trigrams Army and civilians have a force of 100,000. So now the Eight Trigrams Army and civilians are coming to surrender to him, and Zhao Song is very pleased.

  "Hurry to welcome, hurry..." Zhao Bing said: "Inform all the military generals, tell everyone this good news, immediately send a flying horse message, tell them that the Eight Trigrams Army has arrived, we have won and will meet in triumph."

  Zhao Bing led the various army generals and officials out of the city to welcome the remnants of the Eight Trigrams Army. About ten or more miles outside the city gate, Zhao Bing saw the remaining troops of the Eight Trigrams Army in the distance. With the support of the crowd of generals, he hastily went forward to meet them.

  The eight-word military leaders also came hastily after dismounting. Fu Xuan and Jiao Wentong walked in the front, while Xia Guan Yu and other generals followed behind.

  When they were about seven or eight steps apart, Fu Xuan and Jiao Wentong suddenly stopped and knelt down. "General Fu Xuan (Jiao Wentong) pays his respects to Your Highness, may you live for a thousand years, a thousand years, ten thousand years!" The Eight Trigrams Army officers hesitated for a moment before also kneeling down.

  After Xīn Wáng escaped, he started a rebellion at Wǔ Mǎ Shān. Later, he led his army to fight against the Jīn army at Wǔ Mǎ Shān. Although this had been going on for two or three months, to the soldiers of the Bā Zì Army, Xīn Wáng was still a stranger.

  However, the shock that Xinfeng brought to them this time was huge. From the moment Xinfeng's righteous army set out from Wuma Mountain, everyone thought that Zhao Chen would be blocked halfway, and they were indeed surrounded by enemies in front and pursued by soldiers behind.

  However, a large number of civilians and righteous men flocked to Zhao Xun, causing the King's Righteous Army to suddenly expand. At first, they heard that the king led his army to repel the pursuing troops and defeat the army of the Pu family. They also thought it was a rumor, and the achievements were exaggerated by people. When they met the Black Dragon Army, they heard that the king had already captured Leiping, Fushan, and Pingding City, and they were shocked.

  Compared to the fleeing Emperor Gaozong, this king was more real in their hearts. The prince of the Great Song was no longer a deceptive legend, but a real royal prince who took it upon himself to resist the Jin and repeatedly defeated the Jin army.

  At this moment, Fu Xuan and Jiao Wentong led a group of Ba Zi Jun remnants to meet the King of Xin himself, and the image of the king became more complete and clear. With such an impressive record, Fu Xuan and Jiao Wentong, along with the Ba Zi Jun generals, immediately surrendered to King Xin Zhao Chen, and everyone knelt down in public to show their submission.

  Zhao Song hastily ran over, with both hands supporting, and immediately helped up Fu Xuan and Jiao Wentong, the generals of the Eight Armies who were left to guard Taihang Mountain.

  Fu Xuan and Jiao Wentong, the eight-character military generals who stayed in Taihang Mountain, brought 100,000 civilians and strong men to surrender to King Xin this time, which was also a helpless choice.

  As Wang Yan led the elite troops of 18,000 southward, the remaining 1.1 million civilians and able-bodied men were actually abandoned by Wang Yan. Wang Yan's decision to go south was also a helpless move. Because tens of thousands of civilians were a great burden, he thought that if he took so many people south, they would not be able to escape the siege of the Jin army.

  When Wang Yan led his troops south, the reason why the Jin army did not attack him was not because they were afraid of him. It was because the leadership of the Jin army thought that Wang Yan's going south and not causing trouble in the occupied area was a good thing. Moreover, since Wang Yan did not lead the civilians south, the Jin army did not launch an attack on him.

  In fact, if Wang Yan led the 100,000 civilians southward, the Jin army would definitely launch an attack. For the Jin people, the most precious thing is population. As long as there are people, food, clothing and everything will be available. Therefore, the Jin soldiers attach great importance to the population.

  Similarly, for Zhao Xun, population is also the most important. Zhao Xun now wants to establish a base, and this is his ideal place. Here, Zhao Xun wants to develop high-temperature furnaces for smelting and forging, dig coal and refine coke. Also, refine and manufacture gunpowder and hot weapons. With the current technological level of the Song Dynasty, even if they can't make flintlock guns, they can still make matchlock guns.

  There are also crops such as radishes, pumpkins, and millet that can increase grain yields. All of Zhao Yun's ideas require a large population to complete. Now he needs a lot of people, at this time, more than 100,000 people left by the Eight Banners Army came, and Zhao Yun was naturally very happy.

  Back to Pingding City Road. The people from all over the country who were settling down saw King Xiang's big flag. Seeing the large army coming from the northeast, they were excited. One by one, the people shouted with their voices: "Long live King Xiang! King Xiang..." Cheers rose to the sky. Soon, everywhere was filled with deafening cheers, and the cheers violently struck the hearts of the Ba Zi Army generals, who for the first time deeply felt the high status of King Xiang Zhao in the minds of these people.

  This kind of devotion, this kind of respect from the heart is something that Wang Yan has never enjoyed. Only a true prince of the Great Song who can bring stability to the people and defeat the Jin army can enjoy it. And Zhao Chen is another type of imperial prince, he created legendary military achievements. In the past, for the Eight Trigrams Army, these legendary military achievements were just hearsay, now the legend has finally become a reality. The King's prestige is extremely high, having defeated the Jin army several times, it seems that under his leadership, driving out the Jin army is really possible.

  After Wang Yan took away 10,000 elite soldiers, the Eight Trigrams Army is now mostly composed of civilians and robust men. In total, there are less than 3,000 soldiers, most of whom are untested robust men cobbled together. However, Zhao Chen did not mind at all that Wang Yan had picked out the leftovers, who lacked combat effectiveness and strength. Zhao Chen ordered a feast with wine and meat to comfort their hard work. Fu Xuan and Jiao Wentong, along with several other Eight Trigrams Army generals, accompanied Zhao Chen into the city, where they held a celebratory banquet at the Pingding City Governor's headquarters to mark their reunion.

  After eating and drinking enough, Zhao Jun and the other generals began to discuss matters. The most important thing, of course, was to reorganize the captured soldiers and expand the army.

  The first to be expanded were Zhao Baojie and Zhao Songyong's Golden Tiger Army, which was expanded into two armies. Each army had one battalion of cavalry, totaling 2,000 cavalrymen.

  Ma Zheng and his powerful general Zhang Ying renamed the Ma family army to Tianma Army, and the Tianma Army was also expanded into two armies. Each army had one battalion of cavalry, with a total of 2,000 cavalrymen in the Tianma Army. To be honest, if the Xinyang Army can rise again, Ma Zheng and Zhao Bangjie's military achievements cannot be ignored, especially today, to some extent, it can be said that Ma Zheng and Zhao Bangjie contributed to this. Now Zhao Bangjie has become a member of the Zhao family, so let's not say anything more, just keep it in mind.

  Below is the expansion of Gao Baosha's Heilong Army, with the Heilong Army expanded into two armies and Gao Baosha as the commander-in-chief. The Khitan general Xiao Deli led 5,000 cavalrymen to form the Heilong Army Cavalry Corps. The Xi general Gan Guoduo led 5,000 infantrymen to form the Heilong Army Infantry Battalion.

  Because there were many Xi people among the surrendered horses, letting the barbarian general lead the barbarian soldiers could reduce the resistance of the Xi people. As long as Zhao Chen provided food and money, the barbarian soldiers would follow him without hesitation. They would naturally follow this Song Dynasty prince to fight against the Jin people.

  In the帅帐, Zhao Ke also did not forget to send troops to Ma, who had defected to him. He expanded one army for Fu Xuan, called Iron Mountain Army, which was all infantry. Jiao Wentong also expanded into War Tiger Army, which was all infantry. Among them, some of the troops expanded by the two men included some Xi people, and some were selected from the strong and brave soldiers who had defected from the Eight Trigrams Army.

  As for the title of "Eight Trigrams Army", it will disappear into Xing Wang's Righteous Army from now on. Because the Eight Trigrams Army led by Wang Yan is the authentic one, and there is no need for Xing Wang to raise this banner again. Because now, Xing Wang's own banner has more prestige and credibility than the Eight Trigrams Army.

  In the army of King Xiang, whether now or in the future, Zhao Chen is a great banner. As long as he is there, it means that the righteous armies of both Hebei and Hedong are still resisting Jin. The Han people of the Song Dynasty have not been defeated yet and are still fighting. Therefore, this great banner of Zhao Chen must be fully displayed. Even if the Eight Trigrams Army has a strong appeal, it cannot compare to the appeal of the King's banner that wins every battle.

  "Now, the Shouyang side has Wanyan Kuoduan's 50,000 Jurchen troops as their main force. In fact, they just want to restrain us and prevent us from continuing to attack the city and capture the stronghold. Now, I need your support, strong support to continue fighting." Zhao Ze said with a bow.

  A group of generals stared at him, each with a fierce and murderous aura in their eyes. At this moment, even Jiao Wentong and Fu Xuan, who had just defected, were the same. Ever since Wang Yan left the Eight Rows Military, they had lacked the kind of fearless courage that came from constant battle. In fact, the two men had defected to Zhao Song because they were moved by his spirit as a prince, who was still so fearless despite being a close relative of the emperor. As for Wang Yan, he was far inferior to Prince Xiang in terms of status. Wang Yan! After abandoning them and heading south, he had lost their true loyalty.

  "Follow the general's order, fight another battle!" The generals all shouted in unison. All the generals, with eyes wide open like tigers, were waiting for Zhao Song's command to engage in a fierce battle with the Jin army.