The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 430 The Manichaeans Have Arrived
The Dabie Mountains, stretching for hundreds of miles, form the dividing line between the three provinces of Anhui, Hubei, and Henan.

In this era, it served as the dividing line between Shouzhou and Huangzhou and Qizhou.

A force of tens of thousands had just crossed the Dabie Mountains and entered the territory of Shouzhou.

The leader, a robust man in his forties, faced the direction of Shouchun City and murmured: "My broken body, the blazing sacred fire. What joy is there in life? What sorrow in death? To do good and eliminate evil, only for the sake of light..."

One of his men stepped forward and whispered, "Brother Yang, have we entered Shouzhou?"

The man known as Brother Yang was a general of the pseudo-Chu Kingdom named Yang Tian. He once led tens of thousands of men to fight across Dongting Lake. He considered himself a peerless hero, but after encountering Yue Fei, he realized that he was no match for him. In front of Yue Fei, he was like a little chick, with no heroic spirit whatsoever.

Unable to win in a fight, and unable to win in a reasoned argument, he was subjected to a double blow from Yue Fei, both in terms of military and civil matters, and couldn't even retaliate.

He had no choice but to lead his tens of thousands of men northward, traversing vast swathes of Southern Song territory and entering the Dabie Mountains. After struggling and fighting in the mountains for many days, he finally arrived in Shouzhou.

Yang Tian looked around at the surroundings and nodded, saying, "This should be Shouzhou. We're definitely not in the wrong place. I came here when I was traveling the world with my sword. Look, that river ahead should be called Yanzi River. If we follow the river, we'll reach Yanzi River Town."

The subordinates breathed a sigh of relief: "That's wonderful!"

One of his men asked, "Brother Yang, are we really going to surrender to the Northern Song Dynasty?"

Yang Tian nodded: "Of course, otherwise why would we travel such a long way and cross the arduous Dabie Mountains?"

The subordinate asked, "Why didn't you vote for Yue Fei? Didn't you say Yue Fei was a good person?"

Yang Tian shook his head: "You don't know anything. If Yue Fei were the emperor, I could surrender to him. But Yue Fei is just a general. If I surrender, I'm actually surrendering to the Southern Song Dynasty. What's the use? When Yue Fei is transferred elsewhere and no longer cares about us, the Southern Song court will send someone to manage us, and that person will be a corrupt official just like before. We'll go back to the life we ​​had before the uprising. I'm asking you, do you want to go back to that?"

The men were startled: So that's how it is. No wonder Brother Yang was determined not to surrender, even if it meant leading tens of thousands of brothers through the Dabie Mountains, where countless people died from falls and illnesses along the way, yet he still pressed on. So that's the reason. Brother Yang was truly farsighted.

Yang Tian sighed deeply: "Let's go, let's go find the people from the Northern Song Dynasty."

Subordinate: "Was the Northern Song Dynasty really stronger than the Southern Song Dynasty?"

Yang Tian: "I have a close brother named Yang Xiao. He once served as an envoy to the Northern Song Dynasty and met with Yue Gongzi, the most powerful corrupt official in the Northern Song. After speaking with Yue Gongzi, he returned to Huting Lake and strongly advised Brother Yang Yao to change his ways, but Brother Yang Yao did not listen, which led to today's defeat. Brother Yang Xiao told me about Yue Gongzi's character and his experiences in the Northern Song Dynasty. I believe that the Northern Song Dynasty must be different from the Southern Song Dynasty. Now that we have entered Shouzhou, let's take a good look at the differences with our own eyes."

The men all nodded obediently...

Everyone respected Yang Tian and was willing to listen to him, so they followed him and continued forward.

The Yanzi River meanders and twists, and walking along its banks is quite strenuous.

They walked effortlessly through the desolate area just outside the Dabie Mountains, but after a while, the scouts ahead reported: "Brother Yang, there's a gray fortress by the river ahead. One side of the fortress is a mountain, and the other side is the Yanzi River. There's no way to get around it."

Upon hearing this, Yang Tian exclaimed "Eh!" and thought for a moment: "That must be a pass of the Northern Song Dynasty. Since we have come to surrender to the Northern Song, why bother going around it? Let's just walk over and talk openly."

Before long, Yang Tian arrived outside a small, gray fortress. Inside, a dozen or so Northern Song soldiers were stationed. These soldiers, seeing a massive, dark mass approaching from the south—probably tens of thousands—were terrified. Before the people even reached them, they frantically lit beacon fires, sending plumes of smoke soaring into the sky…

Then, the dozen or so soldiers all picked up their muskets, gritted their teeth, and climbed up the fortress wall. They set up their muskets on top of the wall and watched with dread as tens of thousands of people approached.

Tens of thousands of people! If they all charged forward recklessly, a few dozen muskets wouldn't be enough to stop them; they could climb the fort in no time.

However, the Northern Song army had strict discipline, and soldiers guarding the "border fortresses" were never allowed to easily abandon the fortresses and flee. Only when the enemy really started a strong attack and they had no possibility of defending themselves were they allowed to "preserve their strength" and retreat.

The hands of dozens of soldiers holding muskets were trembling...

Fortunately, the tens of thousands of people did not attack the fortress, but stopped two arrow-lengths away. Only a strong man in his forties stepped forward, raised his hands to indicate that he was unarmed, walked outside the fortress, and shouted: "Is this a fortress of the Northern Song Dynasty?"

The platoon leader in the fort poked his head out and shouted, "That's right, this is Northern Song territory. Who are you? Why are you invading our Northern Song?"

The burly man quickly said, "Please don't misunderstand, we are not invading enemies, we have come to surrender to the Northern Song Dynasty."

"Oh? You've come to surrender?" The platoon leader breathed a sigh of relief, but remained vigilant. What if they were just feigning surrender to trick him into opening the door? He continued, "Where did you come from? You don't look like ordinary civilians."

A strong, muscular man: "I am Yang Tian, ​​a young general from the State of Chu."

Platoon Leader: "Huh? Chu!"

Yang Tian: "To do good and eliminate evil, only for the sake of light..."

Platoon leader: "Wow, so it's Manichaeism. You all stop right there, or I'll shoot."

Yang Tian couldn't help but sigh inwardly: Is our Manichaeism really that bad? Everywhere we go, people say we're a demonic cult. Even the soldiers of the Northern Song Dynasty show hostility when they hear our name.

He couldn't help but raise his head and say, "We have come here sincerely to surrender, you don't need to do this."

Platoon leader: "Your tricks of equalizing wealth and classifying people won't work here."

Yang Chang sighed again in his heart: Even the lowly soldiers of the Northern Song Dynasty knew that our story was a lie?
His tone was somber: "That's right, it was a lie. Brother Yang Yao has already paid the price with his life for it. A lie can't last forever. Once Yue Fei arrives, the lie will be exposed, and everything will be like a bubble... Joy and sorrow, all return to dust. Pity the people of this world, for they have so many worries."

Platoon Leader: "You know it's a lie, yet you're still spouting off about the Holy Fire Sutra?"

Yang Chang: "Although equalizing wealth and social status is a lie, the Holy Fire Sutra is not wrong! Before joining Manichaeism, I spent more than 20 years traveling the world, dealing with all the injustices and doing good to eliminate evil. What wrong have I done? I pity the people of this world, who have many worries. What wrong have I done?"

The platoon leader, upon hearing this, was filled with respect: "What you've said makes some sense."

Just as the two were talking, a roar came from afar. A troop of Northern Song soldiers came running over. There were only about twenty of them. It seemed that people from another border fortress nearby had seen the "smoke signal" and were coming to reinforce them. This troop was also startled when they saw tens of thousands of Manichaeans in the distance...

(End of this chapter)