Inheriting a Taoist temple, the story begins with Wu Zetian offering incense.

Chapter 424 What?! The Emperor has captured the flag and executed a general?! [Requesting monthly votes]

North of Pingxia City, on the northwestern border of the Great Song Dynasty, this remote place has now become the front line against the Western Xia. Since Zhao Xu took personal control of the government, the border of the Great Song Dynasty has been extended northward by hundreds of miles.

After the first Battle of Pingxia City, the Song Dynasty achieved a long-awaited great victory. Emperor Zhao Xu issued an edict to reward the three armies and invited the meritorious officials to Kaifeng to personally commend and encourage them.

This action greatly motivated the military generals. In addition, Empress Dowager Liang, who held great power in Western Xia, was addicted to fighting and would often gather the entire nation's troops for a personal expedition, only to send them away in another wave.

It can be said that the total number of soldiers lost during the entire Song-Xia War was less than the number sent by Empress Dowager Liang. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers were lost in total, especially in the three battles of Pingxia City, where the corpses of the Western Xia army were so numerous that they blocked the river channels.

Today, the border has been pushed to an area hundreds of miles north of Pingxia City. Further north lies the Yellow River beach, just a step away from the core area of ​​Western Xia.

News of Zhao Xu's personal expedition had already reached Western Xia, which was then in the midst of internal strife.

King Li Ganshun, through the Liao envoy, poisoned his mother, Empress Dowager Liang, who was known as the "ATM of military merit" in the Song Dynasty, in an attempt to straighten out the court and take control of the government. Before this, Li Ganshun sent an envoy to the Song Dynasty to deliver a letter of peace, but it was torn to shreds by Zhao Xu, who lacked martial ethics. Zhao Xu also used the excuse that the Western Xia people had humiliated the Song Dynasty to justify his personal expedition.

When the news arrived, Li Qianshun was so angry that he killed the envoy's wife and children to vent his anger... He suspected that the envoy had said something too extreme to anger Zhao Xu, and he never expected that the emperor in Tokyo, who was always coughing up blood, would suddenly stop coughing.

The Western Xia people initially didn't believe that the Song emperor would personally lead the expedition, but as soon as Zhao Xu crossed Tongguan and the imperial entourage approached the Song-Xia border step by step, the Western Xia people began to get nervous.

At this moment, Li Qianshun's half-brother, Li Chage, stepped forward.

Richard was just twenty years old. He was brave and fierce, able to draw a strong bow, and his arrows could penetrate heavy armor. He was known as the number one warrior of the Western Xia clan. Many Western Xia people praised him as Wei Huo of the Tanguts, Han Bai of the Xia Kingdom, etc. They praised him as being as fierce as possible.

Under such flattery, Richard became even more arrogant and volunteered to fight against the Song emperor. He swore at the Western Xia ancestral temple that he would definitely take back Pingxia City and rename it Pingsong City!

At a time when Western Xia was in turmoil, Richard's bold words reassured the officials and generals. Li Qianshun was also grateful for his brother's courage in taking on the heavy responsibility and appointed him as the commander of the Imperial Guards. The imperial clan minister Weiming Awu was appointed as the supervisor of the army, leading the Western Xia Imperial Guards to fight against Zhao Xu.

Weiming was the surname of the Western Xia royal family. After Emperor Jingzong of Western Xia, Li Yuanhao, broke with the Song Dynasty, he changed his Han surname Li and searched through historical records to find Weiming from the surnames of the Tuoba Xianbei people to make it the imperial surname. He claimed to be a descendant of the Xianbei royal family... If the Song Dynasty wouldn't be our father, we'd find a Xianbei father. In short, Western Xia couldn't be without a father.

However, the relationship between Western Xia and Song Dynasty was tumultuous, and the so-called imperial surname, Weiming, rose and fell, gradually becoming less and less used. People preferred to use the surname Li to flaunt their lineage.

At this moment, looking at the Song Emperor on his white horse and wielding his silver spear, Wei Ming A Wu exclaimed in surprise:
"That's not right. The Song emperor is very weak. The last time the envoy went to Tokyo, he said that the emperor was coughing up blood day and night and would not live for more than five years. How come he is so energetic now?"

The strategies employed by a weak emperor and a strong emperor are different.

Before Weiming Awu could even discuss it with Richard, the younger brother of the Western Xia emperor let out a loud howl:

"Well done! Watch as I behead the Song emperor, reclaim the Western Xia city, and drink my horses' water on the banks of the Wei River..."

The young and impetuous imperial brother, barely twenty years old, had no interest in analyzing the situation with Wei Ming A Wu. He picked up his spear and led his troops into battle, intending to establish his own fame by stepping over the corpse of the Song emperor.

Wei Qing, Huo Qubing, Han Xin, Bai Qi, they're all just chickens and dogs in front of me, Richard!
Seeing that the Western Xia people were not defending themselves but instead launching a surprise attack, Zhao Xu picked up the walkie-talkie and asked:
"Zhang Jie, use your binoculars to see who's coming. If they're someone of importance, I'll strike them down with lightning to prevent this scoundrel from escaping!"

Before Zhao Xu personally led the expedition, Zhang Dun's cousin, Zhang Jie, was in charge of the war against Western Xia. The three battles of Pingxia City proved Zhang Jie's strength. Unfortunately, he was nearly seventy years old, weak and sickly, and had repeatedly requested to retire and return to his hometown, but Zhao Xu refused each time.

Once they've entered Western Xia territory, Zhao Xu will ask Zhou Yi to strengthen Zhang Jie's body and extend his lifespan... Since you have the ability, then continue to shine for the Song Dynasty.

Zhang Jie picked up the binoculars, carefully observed the area behind him, and then picked up the walkie-talkie to speak:
"Your Majesty, this man is Richard, the most valiant general of the Western Xia royal family. He is said to be both wise and brave, and is known as the Wei and Huo of the royal family and the Han and Bai of the Xia Kingdom. I urge Your Majesty to withdraw and not confront this scoundrel."

After saying this, Zhang Jie waved his hand to Zhe Keshi beside him, signaling the newly emerging young general to lead the army forward, lest something happen to him.

However, upon hearing the introduction, Zhao Xu immediately became furious:

"Huo Biaoqi is my second senior brother. How dare the Western Xia people humiliate him like this? I'll cut off his dog's head!"

After saying that, Zhao Xu tossed the walkie-talkie into his mount's saddlebag and prepared to face the enemy.

Each side led over a thousand cavalrymen, and they quickly clashed. When Weiming Awu saw that Zhao Xu's cavalrymen were all riding white horses, he was shocked and hurriedly waved his command flag, sending out another thousand cavalrymen.

The Song Dynasty has been behaving very strangely lately. The emperor is weak yet he can personally lead troops into battle; lacking horses, he can still muster thousands of white horses… All these signs indicate that the Song Dynasty has been feigning weakness all along, and now its true strength is revealed. It must be said that Weiming Awu is very cautious, but under the surveillance of drones, his secret reinforcement of troops was clearly seen by Zhang Dun, Zeng Bu, Zhao Ji, and others.

Zhang Dun dispatched the famous general Liu Fa to lead troops to provide support. Liu Fa was the number one hero in the Battle of Pingxia City. In every battle against Western Xia, he always took the lead and made outstanding contributions to the entire army. There was a saying that "when people talk about famous generals, Liu Fa must be the first."

Historically, Liu Fa was framed by Tong Guan and ultimately died fighting a bloody battle. Upon hearing this, Li Gang personally wrote "Elegy for the Fallen Warriors" to commemorate him. Ten years after Liu Fa's death, his son Liu Zhengyan launched the "Miao-Liu Rebellion," which implicated Liu Fa. His achievements and reputation were forgotten, and those who did not study the history of the Song Dynasty did not even know that such a famous general existed.

Liu Fa was very experienced. Instead of rushing over, he led his men to approach in a roundabout way, trying to maximize the gains.

At this moment, Zhao Xu and Richard bumped into each other. Zhao Xu was 1.8 meters tall, and his silver alloy armor was shiny. Richard liked him at first sight.

He had his eye on Zhao Xu's armor, while Zhao Xu had his eye on the guy's head.

Zhao Xu used the basic spear techniques he had learned along the way to deliver a straight thrust. Richard sneered, raised his lance to deflect it, and then exclaimed in surprise, "Eh?"

He hadn't expected Zhao Xu to be so strong, and he almost couldn't deflect the spear tip. Zhao Xu was also somewhat surprised. This was the so-called number one general of the Western Xia royal family.
He had fought with his second senior brother at Hunyuan Palace. If it had been Huo Qubing, Richard would be dead by now.

Among the fellow disciples, Li Bai was still young and had never sparred with anyone, but Huo Qubing and Xin Qiji were both top-notch warriors. Although Zhou Yi had improved Zhao Xu's physical strength, he still lacked a lot of experience in combat.

In this exchange, both sides adjusted their mindset. Richard no longer underestimated his opponent, while Zhao Xu had an expression that said, "It's nothing special."

When the second round began, Zhao Xu no longer held back. He first blocked Richard's lance, then used the backhand spear technique that Xin Qiji had taught him. As the two crossed paths, he turned and thrust back. The high-strength spear tip, forged from tungsten steel, effortlessly pierced Richard's breastplate and went straight through his heart.

The Western Xia emperor's younger brother, who had made bold pronouncements before the war, died prematurely, ending his less-than-glorious life.

Zhao Xu sheathed his spear, not even glancing at Richard's corpse, and led his thousand elite White Horse cavalrymen to launch a surprise attack on the Western Xia forces.

Zhe Keshi and Liu Fa did not expect the battle to end so quickly, so they spurred their horses and charged towards the Western Xia's position from the left and right respectively.

Wei Ming A Wu couldn't believe what he was seeing. The valiant Richard had actually been killed by the Emperor of the Song Dynasty with a single spear thrust. The infantrymen smuggled from the Song Dynasty were as flimsy as tofu, offering no protection whatsoever.

"Oh no, we've been tricked by the Song Dynasty!"

Shocked, Weiming Awu quickly regrouped his troops and attempted to defend with heavy infantry as the core. At this point, running away was not an option, as the troops would scatter if they did. Holding their ground with a round shield formation offered a sliver of hope.

But the god of hope was not on the side of Western Xia. Zhao Xu charged to the front of the battle line and, before the heavy infantry could counterattack, pulled out the token of Hunyuan Palace from his bosom and held it high above his head.

The once clear sky was instantly covered with dark clouds, and bolts of divine lightning descended from the sky, shattering the entire round shield formation of the Western Xia heavy infantry into pieces. Wei Ming A Wu, who was organizing his troops, was even charred into a pile.

At that moment, the Western Xia people felt as if they had encountered legendary heavenly soldiers and generals. They no longer dared to fight back, threw down their weapons, turned and ran north, shouting as they ran that the gods had arrived.

What was originally a battle of cold weapons was turned into a magical attack by Zhao Xu. The already timid Western Xia people were instantly terrified and wished they had two more legs, so they ran north for their lives.

After Zhao Xu pursued the enemy northward for a while, worried that he was stealing credit from his soldiers, he tightened the reins and stood on a mountain ridge, watching Liu Fa and Zhe Keshi chase the Western Xia army like they were on steroids.

Zhang Dun and his men were so excited that their hair stood on end. They rode all the way here, and as soon as they saw Zhao Xu, they dismounted and bowed.

"Congratulations to Your Majesty for capturing the general and the flag, thus upholding the prestige of our Great Song Dynasty!"

Everyone was a proponent of war, and now that an emperor capable of fighting on the battlefield had appeared, everyone was filled with excitement and tears welled up in their eyes.

Inside the Hunyuan Palace, Zhou Yi printed out a set of blueprints. He habitually flipped through his black notebook, hoping to see if his eldest disciple had prepared any new surprises for him. Instead, he found a note about Zhao Xu's valiant battles:

Zhao Xu kills Richard, a fierce general of the Western Xia royal family, earning +8 merit points.

Zhao Xu slays a general, seizes a flag, and breaks through the Western Xia army's formation, earning +15 merit points.

Wow, instead of Zhao Ji firing mortars, Zhao Xu went into battle to kill the enemy. The Western Xia people are in luck now!
(End of this chapter)