I traveled with them to the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 159 Thousand-Man Slayer

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"Your Majesty, you must not act rashly!!!"

The person who said this was Li Lin, and because she was in such a hurry, her wording was somewhat inappropriate. How could one use the phrase "acting rashly" when speaking to the emperor?

The problem is, Li Lin is really anxious.

Huang Jingchen, Liang Shicheng, Li Yan, Yang Jian and other eunuchs were capable, but they were all ordinary people living in peaceful areas and knew nothing about military affairs.

If Tong Guan were here, he certainly wouldn't have advised Zhao Yu to hastily withdraw from Xuande Tower.

You should know that Xuande Tower has defensive fortifications such as the horse-faced gate.

In such a place, let alone hundreds of people guarding it, even if only a few dozen people are guarding it with sufficient firepower, it would be difficult for the enemy to break through without sending out one or two thousand elite soldiers.

On the contrary, if they flee, the chaos will be truly dangerous.

Even if Zhao Yu were to successfully retreat to the palace, what about his concubines and palace maids? Would these vulnerable women suffer casualties in the process?

The key point is that this is in front of the palace, and there are imperial guards nearby. As long as they can hold out for a short while, reinforcements will definitely come to the rescue of the emperor.

Even if other armies are unreliable, the Divine Machine Army, personally built by Zhao Yu and Li Lin, will surely come to the rescue of the emperor.

In short, in Li Lin's view, as long as they do not act rashly and seek their own death, they will be in no danger.

But Huang Jingchen and his bunch of idiots insisted on leading Zhao Yu down a deadly path. How could Li Lin not be anxious?

As trusted eunuchs of Zhao Yu, Huang Jingchen and others knew that Consort Li, who dared to warn Zhao Yu against rash actions, was no ordinary person. The most powerful Shenji Army of the Zhao Song Dynasty was closely connected with her.

Therefore, as soon as Li Lin opened her mouth, Huang Jingchen and the others, who were somewhat self-aware, immediately shut their mouths.

Actually, Zhao Yu, who had never experienced a similar incident, was also a little panicked.

Fortunately, Zhao Yu knew that Li Lin was capable and wouldn't harm him.

Therefore, Zhao Yu feigned composure and asked Li Lin, "What does my beloved consort think?"

Li Lin didn't waste any words; she went straight to the point, saying, "This place is easy to defend and difficult to attack. They don't even have bows and crossbows; how can they possibly succeed?"

The management of weapons in the Northern Song Dynasty basically continued the system of the Tang Dynasty.

In the early Song Dynasty, Emperor Zhao Kuangyin issued a decree prohibiting residents of Bianliang (Kaifeng) from possessing any weapons. Long-range weapons with significant lethality, such as bows and crossbows, were strictly forbidden from being privately owned. Carrying bows and crossbows on the streets was out of the question.

Upon closer observation, it becomes clear that the assassins below are armed with only short weapons such as knives, hammers, and maces; at least so far, no ranged weapons such as bows and crossbows have been seen.

As soon as Li Lin finished speaking, a burly general chimed in, "What Lady Li says is absolutely right. These hundred or eighty ants below are nothing to fear."

Upon seeing this general, Zhao Yu felt even more at ease.

Zhao Yu smiled and said, "I have long heard that Wang Banzhi is skilled in archery. May I have the honor of watching him?"

Wang Banzhi, also known as Wang Shunchen, the bodyguard that Zhao Yu had specifically requested from General Zhong Pu, immediately bowed and said, "Your subject obeys!"

As they were talking, Wang Shunchen took his precious bow and several quiver of arrows and came to the horse.

At this moment, a large circle with a radius of more than ten meters spread out on the road, but the chaos was no less than before. Squatting, screams, flames burning on the road along with fallen lanterns, children crying loudly in the distance, shouts from the crowd, people searching for their companions, and some people being pushed down and struggling to get up. An old horse tied to a tree ahead was startled, struggling and neighing wildly. In short, the area in front of Xuande Tower was in complete chaos.

Meanwhile, six or seven assassins took advantage of the chaos to rush to a place fifty or sixty steps away from Xuande Tower.

Upon seeing this, Wang Shunchen laughed loudly, "I will order the first one to wear a flower between his eyebrows!" Then, three arrows flew out in quick succession.

The three assassins at the forefront were still wondering what was happening when they were all shot in the head.

Seeing that things were going badly, the remaining people all tried to retreat.

Unexpectedly, Wang Shunchen moved extremely fast. Before the four assassins could run far, four more arrows followed closely behind, and all four assassins were pierced through the back and died.

These seven men were probably among the most valiant and renowned assassins, because after their deaths, the other assassins were so stunned that they stood frozen in place, unsure of what was happening upstairs in Xuande Tower.

Wang Shunchen was no ordinary man. During his time in the Western Army, he had already risen to the rank of Chongyi Envoy and Governor of Yao County, a seventh-rank official, based on his military achievements.

Those familiar with the Song Dynasty's official system know that official ranks were highly valued in the Tang and Song Dynasties. Reaching this level meant that one's military status was equivalent to that of a senior colonel in later times.

Moreover, Wang Shunchen also temporarily served as the prefect of Lanzhou, succeeding the peerless general Wang Wenyu, and was undoubtedly a core member of the military leadership of Xihe Road.

However, Wang Shunchen was later implicated in the Bai Caoyuan fraud case and was severely punished, stripped of ten official positions and dismissed from office.

Fortunately, Zhao Xu did not kill them all, allowing Wang Shunchen to continue commanding a general's troops.

Clearly, in addition to his exceptional bravery, Wang Shunchen was also a highly capable commander.

With his feat of shooting down seven people in succession, Wang Shunchen immediately bolstered the confidence of the Imperial Guards and the Archers. They all came to the back of the horse-faced gate, ready to shoot anyone who dared to approach Xuande Tower.

In a very short time, Wang Shunchen had set up a defense that was foolproof.

After giving these instructions, Wang Shunchen stood behind Ma Mian, giving the impression of being able to hold off ten thousand men.

The assassins then realized that there was no turning back once the arrow was released; they had already been exposed. Whether they killed Zhao Yu or not, they would die anyway, so they might as well risk it all.

As a result, some assassins launched another all-out attack on Xuande Tower, while others continued to slaughter civilians, trying to drive them towards the palace, taking advantage of the chaos.

The Imperial Guards and the Archers, led by Wang Shunchen, steadily and ruthlessly shot down anyone who dared to approach Xuande Tower, even if they were unarmed civilians.

Seeing this, no civilian dared to storm the palace anymore. Even when the assassins tried to drive them away, they all ran to either side.

The assassin had no choice but to charge in himself.

These assassins made quite a show of force, but in reality, they didn't even number a hundred.

This number of people is not enough for Wang Shunchen to kill alone.

It is worth noting that in history, Wang Shunchen fired arrows for four hours in a battle, from late afternoon to late afternoon. According to the Changbian and the History of Song, Wang Shunchen "fired more than a thousand arrows, and none of them missed." It wasn't until dusk that he shot until his fingers split open and blood flowed down his elbows, before he successfully covered the retreat of the main force of the Song army. In that battle, he killed more than a thousand people, making him a veritable human Gatling gun.

Even if there are exaggerations in the account of Wang Shunchen's terrifying feat of "firing a thousand shots without missing a single one," it doesn't prevent him from being sung about in history books for a thousand years. In fact, the Song Dynasty never lacked brave and skilled generals in its expansion into the northwest, but Wang Shunchen is the only one in this era to be recorded in history books and given the title of "killing a thousand men." Even archers like Yao Si and Liu Changzuo either had more favorable battle situations than Wang Shunchen, making it unnecessary for them to fire a thousand shots by themselves, or the battlefield terrain did not allow for the use of machine guns. Compared to Wang Shunchen's achievement in this battle, they are all quite different. Therefore, the record of Wang Shunchen's killing of a thousand men has a high degree of credibility.

To put it bluntly, with Wang Shunchen, the mastermind behind the thousand-man kill, Zhao Yu's fate was sealed the moment the assassins failed to drive the civilians toward the palace.

Soon, dozens of assassins were shot and killed by Wang Shunchen and his men.

At the same time, Fan Chunli, the Prefect of Kaifeng and also the Academician of the Longtu Pavilion, personally led the Imperial Guards to rescue the Emperor.

Slightly slower than Fan Chunli was Zong Ze. He led the cavalry of the Shenji Left Army to come to the rescue of the emperor.

Immediately afterwards, more and more troops came to the emperor's aid.

Finally, all five Divine Machine Army units arrived at the scene.

After Fan Chunli, Zong Ze and the others brought the situation under control, they unanimously chose to seal off the scene, not allowing anyone to leave, determined to capture all the assassins.

Surprisingly, with the help of Yuwen Huangzhong, Zhao Ding, and Li Guang, Li Gang actually captured an assassin who was trying to escape.

After the crisis was over, Zhao Yu immediately sent Fan Chunli to appease the people, telling them that the court would soon release them to go home, that the court would be responsible for sending the dead, and that the court would send imperial physicians to treat the injured.

After such a major incident, Fan Chunli knew that his official career was over. Whether he could land safely now depended on how he handled the aftermath.

Fan Chunli didn't explain that because there weren't enough people, he didn't think Zhao Yu and the others, who were protected by many guards, would be in danger. So he transferred the guards here to maintain order. He didn't mention that the prefects of Kaifeng had been doing this for the past ten years or so, because, in hindsight, he was completely wrong.

As for this mistake, Zhao Yu could punish Fan Chunli however he pleased.

Besides, this matter is indeed Fan Chunli's fault. There wasn't enough manpower. He could say that there was no need to divert security forces from the palace just to save money.

Therefore, Fan Chunli can only rush to clean up the mess now.

As instructed by Zhao Yu, after calming the people, Fan Chunli wanted to interrogate the assassins.

However, the assassins that Li Gang and his men captured had already been snatched away by the Imperial City Guard immediately.

It is said that the Imperial City Guard and the Eastern Depot even had a quarrel over this assassin.

Clearly, it wasn't just Kaifeng Prefecture that made a mistake; the Imperial City Guard and the Eastern Depot also committed serious errors. Otherwise, how could this assassination attempt have occurred? Therefore, both of them are trying to make amends.

Just as Fan Chunli was worrying about how to make amends, his men discovered an assassin who had failed to commit suicide.

Fan Chunli was overjoyed and personally went to interrogate the assassin.

Actually, the whole story is quite simple.

The assassins were spies sent by the Western Xia, totaling eighty-seven people, including three sharpshooters.

Their goal was to create chaos, force Zhao Yu to leave Xuande Tower, and have the three hidden archers shoot and kill him.

The reason for assassinating Zhao Yu is quite simple.

Li Qianshun and his ministers have already investigated and found that the Zhao Song Dynasty is accumulating strength to recover Western Xia and will soon launch a war to recover Western Xia.

As long as Zhao Yu lived, the reconquest of Western Xia was inevitable.

Then Li Qianshun and his ministers could only try to kill Zhao Yu.

Even if they couldn't kill Zhao Yu, forcing the Song Dynasty to start a war immediately, instead of waiting for the Song Dynasty to be ready, would still be good. After all, this would increase the chances of the Western Xia winning.

In fact, the Western Xia has been frequently provoking trouble on the border recently, trying to force the Zhao Song Dynasty to start a war now.

However, Zhang Jie remained extremely cautious, refusing to take the initiative to fight. Instead, he relied on his fortified villages to maneuver against the Xia army while simultaneously accelerating the preparation of strategic materials to reclaim Western Xia.

Emperor Li Qianshun and his ministers were forced into a desperate situation by the Song army soldiers, including Zhang Jie, at the front lines, leaving them with no choice but to take this risky tactic.

The people who came to carry out the assassination of Zhao Yu learned after repeated inquiries that because the population flow in Bianliang City was extremely high during the Lantern Festival, in order to maintain good public order, Kaifeng Prefecture would transfer the guards in front of the palace every year. They seized this loophole and devised this assassination plan.

Soon, Fan Chunli, Li Yan, and Yang Jian reported the same conclusion to Zhao Yu.

Zhao Yu knew that in history, Zhao Ji had encountered a similar incident during the Lantern Festival one year.

At that time, Emperor Huizong (Zhao Ji) stood alone under the window of the west wing of Xuande Tower, without any eunuchs by his side. A monk leaped out from the crowd, rushed to a spot very close to Zhao Ji, pointed at the curtain, and loudly said to him, "Who are you? What kind of god are you to dare to disrupt my religion? I tell you now, retribution is coming! I am not afraid of you, how dare you destroy the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas?"

Coincidentally, there were no guards stationed at Xuande Tower at that time, and Emperor Huizong of Song did not even have any bodyguards.

Fortunately, the monk only went to scold Zhao Ji, not to assassinate him, otherwise Zhao Ji would have been in danger.

Emperor Huizong was terrified and furious. Later, he personally went to the interrogation site and ordered the monk to be severely tortured in an attempt to find out who had instructed him to do so.

But no matter what kind of punishment the monk was subjected to, he seemed to feel no pain and did not utter a sound, which made Zhao Ji think that he was an evil ghost, so he sent someone to invite Song Chongmiao, a Taoist priest who was good at catching ghosts.

Song Chong was famous for his skillful practice of the Heavenly Law and was known as Master Song.

Song Chongmiao rushed to the scene, took a look, and helplessly reported to Zhao Ji: "The evil spirits I deal with, this person is someone I cannot recognize."

The interrogators had no choice but to continue torturing the monk, severing his Achilles tendons, then mutilating him with knives, leaving him a bloody mess, and torturing him to death.

What's inexplicable is that the monk didn't utter a single word until he died.

This sudden event is recorded in detail in the book "Iron Enclosure Mountain Miscellany" written by Cai Jing's son, Cai Tao.

Zhao Yu knew about this.

But Zhao Yu took it as a joke, thinking that the emperor could be so easily approached.

Only today did Zhao Yu realize that such absurd things could sometimes really happen.

Just like when Emperor Jiaqing was assassinated by the imperial chef in the palace, a hundred guards stood by and did not come to his aid. Or like when two hundred members of the White Lotus Society launched a mutiny in Beijing, stormed the East and West Gates of the Forbidden City, and went straight to the Qing court's palace, catching the Qing army guarding the palace off guard and throwing them into a panic.

However, knowing this is one thing, but having finally come across such a good excuse, if we don't take the opportunity to cause some trouble, then Zhao Yu's fright will have been for nothing.
……

(End of this chapter)