Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Xingzhongfu (Chaoyang City).

Yin Shuke discovered that Li Bao was withdrawing his troops and guessed that the opponent wanted to attack from behind.

While he sent Qingqi to notify the defenders of Jinyuan County to strengthen defense, he led his army westward to Jianzhou (Dapingfang Town, Chaoyang City), trying to force Li Bao to return to defend the city.

After besieging Jianzhou City for nearly ten days, Yin Shu could not defeat it at all.

There are not many Ming Dynasty defenders here, but nearly ten thousand civilians have organized themselves and taught them how to throw thunder. Once a certain section of the city wall is in danger, immediately throw bombs down there.

Yin Shuke was blown away and lost his temper, so he led his troops back to Xingzhong Mansion in despair.

The armies of Yue Fei and Wang Yan continued to move north, and they also brought prairie cavalry with them to seize the city all the way to Linhuang Mansion.

Li Baoqi came back with his troops after a surprise attack, and then brought Li Yanxian's troops with him, and asked Li Jinyi to cooperate in sending troops.

The troops mobilized by the three to fight Xingzhong Mansion totaled nearly 50,000 people. However, Yin Shuke failed to attack Jianzhou and returned to Xingzhong Mansion with only 10,000 soldiers left, including the defeated soldiers who fled from Jinzhou.

"Mr. Li, your Majesty has ordered eighty cannons to be delivered!"

"Haha, isn't this going to turn Yin Shu Ke into a pulp? Drag them all up and give me a hard blast!"

Taking the original artillery pieces of Li Bao, Li Yanxian, and Li Jinyi, plus the eighty more cannons sent by Ju Ming. Outside Xingzhongfu City, the Ming army's artillery number reached 130.

"Boom boom boom!"

The east, northeast, and southeast of Xingzhong Fucheng are all surrounded by rivers. One hundred and thirty artillery pieces of the Ming army were deployed on several other sides to bombard the city walls every day.

On the fifth day of bombardment, there was a crack in the city wall, and on the sixth day it partially collapsed.

The Ming army still did not attack, and continued to bombard the city walls in turn while making pontoons and siege equipment.

Yin Shuke sent troops many times to try to destroy the Ming army's pontoon bridge, but was shot back with muskets and crossbows. Even people didn't dare to stand on the city wall, who knows where the cannonballs might have landed.

One morning, Yin Shuke took advantage of the foggy weather to send troops out to destroy the siege equipment.

He finally achieved some results and burned more than 30 Ming army siege equipment.

However, it doesn't help.

Yin Shu didn't even think about breaking out of the siege, because the surrounding cities were all occupied by the Ming Dynasty. Where could he escape to?

The shelling lasted for more than half a month. If it had not been for fear of overheating of the gun barrel and had been firing at a leisurely pace, I am afraid that the Ming army would have almost run out of shells.

Xingzhong Fucheng has had seven walls destroyed.

Gradually, Yin Shu could no longer restrain his soldiers, and the Jin soldiers in the city knew that they were bound to die, so they simply began to indulge as much as they wanted. They drank and had fun all day long, robbed young women in the city, and even exchanged them with each other after playing with them.

The wife and daughter of a local military officer were also raped and humiliated by Yin Shuke's own soldiers. They were so angry that they led their troops to seek an explanation.

The two sides fought on the spot, and not only was the local officer killed, but Yin Shuke's soldiers also slaughtered his entire family.

Yin Shuke was dealing with another brawl. He rushed over after hearing the news and was about to punish him severely, but found that the soldiers didn't even bother to look at his commander.

In front of Yin Shuke, the officer swaggered past and led the soldiers to ransack the house.

They had many copper coins wrapped around their waists and went out into the street to scatter them everywhere.

Suddenly I heard that there was still wine hidden in a house, so they rushed to the house in a swarm, killing people all over the house before looking for wine to drink.

"Boom boom boom!"

Gunfire was still being fired outside the city.

A shell flew in and smashed a big hole in the wall of the house.

Many Jurchen soldiers laughed and gathered around, pointing at the holes and discussing how heavy the shells were.

Yin Shuke was almost sixty years old, and he looked around the streets with dejection. There were fights and fights everywhere, drinking and gambling, rape and robbery, and tens of thousands of enemy troops were just outside the city.

Where are the elite Jurchens here?

The news that Wanyan Zongfu and Wanyan Zonghan were completely wiped out had already reached Xingzhong Fucheng. Because of this, the defenders in the city seemed to have lost their souls.

They also tried to break out, but they were all beaten back to the city by the Ming army. Only a few lucky ones managed to escape.

Calling his son Wanyan Yuying over, Yin Shuke said, "You can break out again tonight, and you can run as far as you can. If you really can't break out, don't come back. It's better to die under a knife or a gun."

Wanyan Yuying was dejected.

"The Ming army is coming!" A soldier shouted outside the house.

The father and son hurriedly rode a horse, but saw that the soldiers in the city were even more confused.

Some people carried weapons to the city wall, some wandered around holding wine jars, and some even burned their houses and set themselves on fire.

Yin Shu wanted to mobilize troops and generals, but he couldn't direct them at all. He couldn't even find all his own generals. Military law is no longer useful. He has already executed many people. If he continues to kill people indiscriminately, he will probably mutiny on the spot.

"It's your choice."

Yin Shuke said something to his son, and suddenly he drew his sword and committed suicide.

Besides committing suicide, he didn't know what else he could do.

Wanyan Yuying held her father's body and sat on the street blankly for a long time.

The loud shouting of killing came, and Wanyan Yuying suddenly woke up. He saw the Ming army chasing the Jin soldiers and killing them. A group of broken soldiers ran towards him and were chased and killed by the Ming army.

Wanyan Yuying felt great fear in her heart. She put down the body and knelt on the ground, shouting in Chinese: "I wish to surrender, I wish to surrender! Long live His Majesty the Ming Emperor! Long live His Majesty the Ming Emperor..."

"Tie them up!"

When this voice reached Wanyan Yuying's ears, it was like a fairy music coming from the sky, as long as he was not killed on the spot.

…

Ju Ming led his army to Xianping Mansion and did not continue to advance.

He himself sat in Xianpingfu City and sent various generals to occupy the city. Among them, more than 10,000 soldiers went straight to the capital of Jin Kingdom.

Going to Beijing, there is internal strife.

Wu Qimai, who had suffered a stroke, suddenly recovered. His sons joined forces with the Jurchen nobles and gained the support of Han and Bohai civil servants to launch a bloody massacre against their political opponents.

Prime Minister Wanyan Zongqian was first convicted of rebellion and was killed directly during the meeting.

He suddenly killed Wanyan Zongqian, and then went to kill Wanyan Zongqian's descendants.

In Wanyan Zongqian's family, only the young female relatives and Aguda's eldest grandson could survive this massacre.

After Wanyan Zongqian was destroyed, Wu Qimai's political opponents were leaderless, and a large number of nobles ran outside the palace to pledge their allegiance to the emperor.

The next person to be exterminated was the slave of the Shi family who was seriously ill and had not yet recovered.

Hearing the screams of death in the courtyard, Shi's slave struggled to get up from the bed, but fell to the ground after taking only two steps.

He is Aguda's son-in-law and Wanyan Zonghan's confidant. He has experienced countless battles in his life, and has never been defeated before encountering the Ming army. At this moment, he can't even save his family.

In order to fight, Wanyan Zonghan and Wanyan Zongfu drained all the soldiers and horses who went to Beijing.

When the news came back that they were defeated on the front line, and that Wanyan Zongqian was trapped and killed during a meeting, the three of them immediately had different thoughts. More than half of them turned to Wu to beg for money, and then discussed surrender with Han and Bohai civil servants!

All the family members of the frontline generals who were loyal to the Jin Kingdom were killed, leaving only the young female dependents.

The families of those generals who rebelled against the Ming Dynasty were protected for fear of angering the Ming Dynasty.

Shi Jianu crawled hard for a while, and finally he crawled near his armor. That was the armor given by Aguda himself, and that was the iron sword obtained by defeating the Liao Kingdom.

Dragging his old and sick body to his feet, Shi's slave grabbed the armor, but was unable to pick it up at all.

"That old thing is in there!" someone shouted at the door.

The slave of the Shi family gave up his armor, stretched out his hand to hold the iron sword, and turned around while panting.

"Kill him quickly!"

A group of noble young people rushed in.

Shi Jianu swung his sword to strike, but the sword was knocked away, and he himself lost his footing and fell down.

Po Luhuo, who was also recuperating in Beijing, suddenly walked into the room and sighed when he saw Shi Jianu's embarrassed appearance.

Shi Jianu coughed twice, lay on the ground and asked, "You also rebelled?"

Po Luhuo sighed: "You are the one who rebelled, I just followed the general trend. Both armies were defeated. If I don't kill you, how can you surrender to the Ming Dynasty? If you don't surrender quickly, the Kingdom of Jin will really be gone."

"How can you have the nerve to see Taizu after you die?" Shi Jianu sneered.

"You go to see Taizu first," Po Luhuo ordered, "give him a good time, don't humiliate him in every possible way."

Wanyan Zonghan's family members were also being massacred at this moment.

Only Wanyan Zongfu was extremely popular, and people from all sects and tribes came to ask for mercy. Even father and son Wu Qimai and Wanyan Zongpan felt that Wanyan Zongfu's family could stay.

Of course, if the news comes that Wanyan Zongfu ordered the massacre of the Bohai commanders, the Bohai civil servants in Beijing will definitely be furious.

…

Just as the bloody massacre was going on in Beijing, a remnant army returned.

The leader was Wanyan Zongxian. When Liaoyang fell, he and He Shiliezhining fled to Shenzhou with their troops.

Shenzhou was attacked over a long distance by the Ming army again. He had too few available soldiers, and there were arsonists in the city. So, he lost Shenzhou again and broke out with only a small number of soldiers and horses to escape.

He wanted to tell Wanyan Zongfu, but was chased into the mountains by hundreds of Ming troops.

After two days of hiding in the mountains, tired and hungry, Wanyan Zongxian cautiously came out. When he met the defeated troops, he said that Wanyan Zongfu was defeated.

He gathered some broken troops and fled around the battlefield. The next day, he met Jin Wushu by the river.

The two men joined forces, and their strength finally exceeded a thousand.

They rested for half a day in Xianping Mansion, then looted the whole city and left, and then gathered troops and horses in Hanzhou to prepare for another battle.

But there was no way to recruit troops at all, and forced recruitment was a burden, so they simply fled all the way back to Shangjing.

When he heard that Wanyan Zongxian and Jin Wushu were returning with their troops, Wu Qimai felt as if he were facing a powerful enemy and personally led all the troops and civil and military ministers to greet them.

Wanyan Zongxian guessed what happened when he saw the civil servants and generals beside Wu Qimai. He asked directly: "Are my family members still well?"

Wu Qimai said: "You are not closely connected with those rebellious people, so naturally the whole family is fine."

Jin Wushu also asked: "Where is my family?"

Wu Qimai said: "The family members of Nianliduo (Wanyan Zongfu) are all fine. You and Nianliduo are so close, so naturally nothing will happen."

Wanyan Zongxian and Jin Wushu looked at each other, and the former said: "Bring our family members here."

More than an hour later, the two family members were sent outside the city.

Jin Wushu asked: "How does Your Majesty plan to deal with the southern thieves?"

Wu Qimai scolded: "How can you be compared to the Southern thieves? Those are all soldiers of the Ming Dynasty. I have sent a messenger to ask for surrender. After all, I want to protect the Kingdom of Jin Zuo."

Jin Wushu clenched his fists and wanted to rush over and kill Wu Qimai.

However, there can be no more internal strife now.

Otherwise, I don’t know how many of the Jin Kingdom’s remaining troops would survive.

Moreover, with their families under control, both sides would definitely suffer losses if they fought.

Wu Qimai said: "Now that all the armies have been defeated, the Dajin army should be reorganized. You two have come back just in time. Can you hand over the soldiers for unified deployment?"

Wanyan Zongxian looked at the family members who were surrounded and said helplessly: "It all depends on His Majesty's will."

Jin Wushu was so angry that he threw his spear to the ground.

The news that they were recruiting troops in Hanzhou had already spread back to Shangjing. Wu Qimai knew that they were still alive and had soldiers, so he did not massacre their families.

There were family members as hostages, but upon their return they had their military power taken away!