Chapter 185

…

Zhao Yu was convinced by Zhang Chun.

Xiao Sese was clearly sent to him by Yelu Yanxi as an outlet for his anger, yet she brazenly claimed she had prepared him for it herself.

You can't claim credit like this, can you?

The key is, judging by the size of Xiao Sese's belly, even if not five months, it's certainly been four.

Intimacy during this period isn't impossible, but posture, intensity—all must be carefully managed; it's simply too troublesome.

Mostly, Zhao Yu isn't short of women; there's no need to be so eager.

Besides, Yelu Yanxi and his ministers had sent Zhao Yu three hundred beautiful young girls from various ethnic groups—plump or slender, each with unique charm, every one exquisitely selected, skin like cream, eyes glimmering with irresistible allure. Each one would gladly smile for him, offer tenderness, let him do as he pleased, take as many as he wished—he had no reason to wrong himself.

So Zhao Yu glared at Zhang Chun: "Nonsense."

After so many years as husband and wife, how could Zhang Chun not know what Zhao Yu was thinking?

Zhang Chun counseled Zhao Yu: "Your Majesty, take another look—Wang Fei was once the number one beauty of the Liao Kingdom. Though now married, she carries a different kind of allure."

In truth, even without Zhang Chun's prompting, Zhao Yu had noticed: though pregnant and unadorned, Xiao Sese was far more beautiful and refined than any of the immature, countless ethnic maidens scattered throughout the palace.

But this still wasn't enough to change Zhao Yu's mind.

Zhang Chun continued to tempt Zhao Yu: "To defeat the enemy, drive them out, seize all they own, watch their dearest weep, ride their horses, take their wives and daughters—this is the greatest joy in life."

Zhao Yu realized Zhang Chun was a demon—she always tried to teach him the worst ways.

Hmm, well, Zhao Yu wasn't exactly a saint either; what Zhang Chun described was precisely what he desired.

Or perhaps one could say, this was a universal male pursuit—at least Zhao Yu was one of them.

So Zhao Yu's tone softened slightly: "Not yet."

Seeing Zhao Yu's tone soften, Zhang Chun pressed further, leaning on his shoulder: "Your Majesty doesn't know—pregnant women offer unique pleasures. But we carry your imperial blood; we dare not risk it. Xiao Sese carries the seed of the enemy; even if something goes wrong, it's no great loss."

Zhao Yu glared at Zhang Chun, appalled by her cruelty.

But Zhang Chun wasn't afraid—she raised her voice further: "Your Majesty, do you know how a new lion king defeats the old one, conquers the pride, takes all the females, and kills every male cub of the former king? This is nature's iron law: the strong devour the weak; the powerful claim all, the weak lose everything. If you wish to subdue the barbarians, you must be more savage than they. Your Majesty must follow this path to demonstrate the might of Great Song, to terrify all barbarians into never daring to invade again."

At Zhang Chun's words, Xiao Sese turned deathly pale. She had never imagined Zhang Chun was so cruel—she was inciting Zhao Yu to kill her unborn child.

Xiao Sese felt she hadn't wronged Zhang Chun much; she thought, 'Could it be… because I just spoke back to her, she's now holding a grudge?'

Zhao Yu extended his index finger and struck Zhang Chun hard on the head, warning her: "I dislike cruel women."

Seeing Zhao Yu's righteous stance, Xiao Sese felt a flicker of relief; her eyes grew slightly moist, tears shimmering, yet she held them back—appearing both fragile and resilient.

Beside them, Li Lin frowned at Zhang Chun's incitement. She hadn't expected such words to come from Zhang Chun, who had received modern education.

Zhang Chun glanced at Li Lin, then spoke again to Zhao Yu: "Your Majesty, have you considered that now, with our army dominant, the Liao Emperor sends his beloved concubine and beauties to beg for peace? What if roles were reversed…"

Zhao Yu cut her off: "I would never allow such a thing."

Zhang Chun, recalling Zhao Yu's ability and character, knew he'd never be trapped like a fish in a barrel, so she changed tack: "If your humble concubine and my senior sister were captured by the barbarians, would they spare our unborn imperial princes?"

As soon as Zhang Chun posed this hypothetical, Zhao Yu's gaze toward her softened—he understood what she meant:

During the Jingkang Humiliation, when the Jin forces breached the Northern Song capital, the delicate imperial nobles became like tender boiled chicken on a chopping board, at the mercy of their captors.

On the journey north, those who were forced to take abortifacients were already relatively fortunate; Zhao Gou's first wife, Xing Bingyi, only seventeen, was forced to "fall from her horse and lose the fetus."

Soon after the abortion, the Jin soldiers eagerly began torturing her.

This was no isolated case. Soon after the Northern Song imperial family began their northward march, reports emerged of several imperial women suffering miscarriages after falling from horses—including Wang Fei Zhu Fengying, Imperial Princess Xunde Zhao Fujin, and Imperial Princess Roufu Zhao Huanhuan.

Legend says that one day during the journey, heavy rain fell. The concubines, maids, and common women had nowhere to hide; the rain soaked their clothes, revealing their supple figures. The Jin soldiers stared, eyes wide, like wolves among sheep—some dragged women into large tents, others grabbed any woman nearby. Amid the torrential rain, screams drowned out the downpour, mixed with the Jin soldiers' beastly laughter; the dignity of Northern Song men was utterly trampled into the mud. At that moment, Zhao Ji, Zhao Huan, and others could only cover their faces and weep, or turn away and shut their eyes.

Cao Cairen, one of Zhao Ji's concubines, sought privacy to relieve herself. Her actions drew the attention of several Jin soldiers, who approached with lewd grins. Cao Cairen fixed her pleading gaze on Zhao Ji; for one second their eyes met. Zhao Ji, once Son of Heaven of the Northern Song, a man, turned his head away. Then came Cao Cairen's cries: "No, no!"—her voice fading from high to low, until silence, broken only by the Jin soldiers' laughter.

Zhu Lian, the true Empress of the Northern Song, driven to suicide after repeated harassment by the Jin, sacrificed her life to preserve the last dignity of the Zhao Song dynasty.

Empress Dowager Wei, mother of Southern Song Emperor Zhao Gou, endured repeated transfers among Jin aristocrats during captivity; the child she bore later didn't even know who his father was.

When a nation falls this low, what good is it to establish the Southern Song? It remains forever nailed to the rack of historical shame.

Even if Zhao Ji, Zhao Huan, and others survived the northward journey, their arrival in Jin territory was only the beginning of hell.

Captive women were distributed among generals, Wang Hou, and soldiers according to rank.

Being sold into brothels was relatively better; the worst fate was becoming military prostitutes, enduring years of brutal abuse by savage Jin soldiers, then discarded without even a straw mat for burial.

Upon reaching the Jin capital, all captured Northern Song imperial nobles, male or female, were forced to perform the "Qian Yang Li"—strip bare above the waist, wear sheepskin, crawl on all fours like sheep into the Jin ancestral temple.

Zhao Ji endured endless humiliation in Jin territory before dying; his corpse was rendered into oil in a pit. The Jin placed him on a stone grate over a small fire, letting his fat drip into a basin below. When his body was half-cooked, they threw him into the pit.

Zhao Huan, seeing this, tried to jump into the pit to retrieve his father's body. The Jin soldiers immediately stopped him—live flesh would ruin the carefully rendered oil—and left him weeping helplessly beside the pit.

Someone might say: "This was the Jin's sin, not the Liao's—why blame the Liao?"

Do you think the Liao never did similar things?

Don't be naive.

This is the universal practice of nomadic peoples—they are, at heart, bandits, operating solely by bandit logic.

Even in the early Song, and earlier, the Liao frequently raided southward, capturing Han Chinese to expand their population as slaves—otherwise, how did the Liao Kingdom get so many Han servants?

Haven't you noticed? When Zhang Chun said this, Xiao Sese didn't refute her.

Isn't that because Xiao Sese herself knows what her ancestors did?

After a moment of silence, Zhao Yu vowed: "Your Majesty may rest assured—I will never show weakness."

Zhang Chun nodded in satisfaction, then pointed at Xiao Sese: "Start with her."

Zhao Yu frowned again, wondering why Zhang Chun kept pushing him to take Xiao Sese.

Zhang Chun knew that unless she explained clearly, Zhao Yu wouldn't listen—and would suspect her character.

So she laid it bare: "Your Majesty doesn't know—this Wang Fei hid a dagger inside her inner thigh, intending to assassinate you. If she succeeded, the heavens of Great Song would collapse. Your humble concubine would be widowed. Such a venomous woman—either make her submit willingly, or kill her outright. There is no third path."

Hearing this, Zhao Yu's gaze toward Xiao Sese turned dark. He hadn't realized she carried a blade, intending to kill him.

A chill spread through Zhao Yu's heart. He gazed at Xiao Sese's fragile exterior, now revealing her resolve and coldness—like a poisonous flower blooming defiantly in the wind: beautiful, yet deadly.

Zhang Chun added: "Such a beauty—killing her outright is a waste, too kind. And she's only four or five months pregnant; leaving her unattended risks her causing trouble."

After a pause to let Zhao Yu digest this, Zhang Chun continued to pave the way for him: "Why not have His Majesty exert himself a little, and see if the Kefou Sect can make her shift her affections to His Majesty? If His Majesty truly wins her heart and saves both her life and the child's, it would be a great act of benevolence. If she remains unrepentant, killing her and her son can still wait—what does His Majesty think?"

While speaking these words, Zhang Chun made no effort to avoid Xiao Sese; indeed, many of her remarks were clearly meant for Xiao Sese herself.

Hearing this, Xiao Sese's face grew even paler, her body trembling slightly. She had never imagined she would be trapped in such a desperate situation. Zhang Chun's words were like sharp blades, slicing piece by piece through her inner defenses, exposing her most vulnerable core. She looked toward Zhao Yu—those eyes, once filled with the respect she had felt, now seemed deep and complex. She felt as if she could see the trajectory of her fate within them, brimming with uncertainty and danger.

Hearing Zhang Chun's analysis, Li Lin realized that if Lü Yihao had not been so attentive, and Xiao Sese had succeeded in assassinating Zhao Yu, not only would the Zhao Song dynasty have been in grave danger, but all of them would have become widows, facing an unimaginably grim fate.

The thought of spending the rest of her life languishing alone in some remote palace wing, unable to pursue her dreams or even step outside—no different from imprisonment—made Li Lin speak coldly: "Why bother? Just kill her. She's nothing but a discarded pawn with no value whatsoever."

Unexpectedly, at this moment Zhang Chun put on the guise of a benefactor, saying calmly: "Whether anyone wants her depends on how she chooses."

Zhao Yu also said: "She has shown no regard for the life of her unborn child and sought to assassinate me—she must have already embraced death. Let us grant her wish."

But Zhang Chun urged Zhao Yu: "Such a beauty, if His Majesty kills her without even touching her, would be a terrible waste. His Majesty may not know, but those abandoned souls, unloved and forsaken, are at their most fragile. If His Majesty gives her a chance, she may yet become as loyal to His Majesty as we are."

Zhang Chun smiled, then added: "His Majesty may not know, but those of us who carry children most crave a man's tenderness. Moreover, I once heard someone say that the path to a woman's heart is..."

Here, Zhang Chun whispered two words into Zhao Yu's ear...

Zhao Yu looked at Zhang Chun, thinking to himself: 'Zhang Chun has grown bolder by the day—she's no longer the timid palace maid who could barely speak when she first met me. Perhaps this is the difference between a girl and a woman?'

Zhang Chun continued to entice Zhao Yu: "If His Majesty conquers her, she might even become an asset against the Liao."

Zhao Yu was tempted, but still said: "I do not force others against their will."

Zhang Chun understood: "His Majesty may rest in the study for a while. I shall go and make her willing."

Hearing this, Zhao Yu immediately walked to the nearby study.

After Zhao Yu left, Zhang Chun walked straight toward Xiao Sese.

Xiao Sese, knowing full well what Zhang Chun intended, said coldly: "Give up this idea. I will never..."

Zhang Chun grinned: "I advise you to think carefully before you speak."

Xiao Sese fell silent, unsure what Zhang Chun meant.

Zhang Chun did not beat around the bush. She said calmly: "Our Great Song is the knife and chopping block; the people of Yanjing are but meat on the block. Under these circumstances, as long as we do not demand Yelu Yanxi's life, and ask for any person we wish, his cowardly, timid nature ensures he will not refuse—even your son, Yelu Ao."

Here, Zhang Chun lifted Xiao Sese's chin with her index finger, forcing her to look up, and said: "If you refuse to obey, I will demand Yelu Ao be handed over—and strangle him myself."

Hearing this, Xiao Sese's pupils contracted. Instinctively, she cried: "You dare!!"

Zhang Chun grinned: "Guess whether I dare."

The two stared at each other for a moment. Zhang Chun, gazing at Xiao Sese's flawless face, could not help but praise: "You truly are a peerless beauty."

Xiao Sese showed no gratitude for the compliment. She turned her head away, slipping her chin free from Zhang Chun's finger.

Zhang Chun did not mind. She continued: "You must see by now that Yelu Yanxi is a useless fool, a true tyrant. If I kill your son, your dynasty will have no hope left. The Khitan empire, which lasted over two hundred years, will end—how tragic."

Here, Xiao Sese fell into a misconception: she believed only her son, Yelu Ao, could save the Liao dynasty, never considering that others might rise as its savior.

This was natural. Mothers instinctively place all their hope on their children, convinced their child is destined to be the hero.

Xiao Sese's heart felt as if pierced by countless ants, agonizingly painful. She stared at the woman before her—smiling sweetly, yet with a heart colder than a serpent's venom—and felt a hatred and despair unlike any she had ever known.

Zhang Chun continued to psychologically manipulate Xiao Sese: "Yelu Yanxi is too corrupt to protect your son. Only you can protect him—and preserve your dynasty's hope. Moreover, let me be frank: is such a monstrous tyrant as Yelu Yanxi worth preserving your purity for?"

Thinking of all the ways Yelu Yanxi had repeatedly disappointed her, Xiao Sese closed her eyes. Two hot tears rolled down her flawless face, falling onto her chest, onto her pear-shaped breasts...

(End of Chapter)