[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-shao-song":3,"chapter-shao-song-shao-song-chapter-27":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Shao Song",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1558193,2024,"Chapter 27: Walking Away","shao-song-chapter-27",27,"\u003Cp>A poem says:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chariots rumble, horses neigh, each traveler bears bow and blade at waist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fathers, mothers, wives, children run to see them off, dust obscures Xianyang Bridge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They clutch at clothes, stamp feet, block the road and wail, their cries rise straight up to the clouds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The story goes that the war horrors Zhao Jiu had long imagined in his heart finally appeared starkly before his eyes for the first time—yet they were very likely caused by his own hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You must understand that Shouzhou straddles the Huaihe River, and its richest twin cities, Xiacai and Shouchun, face each other across the river, linked by docks, roads, and markets without interruption. On clear days, standing on Bagong Mountain south of the Huai, one could even see the splendor of both cities at once.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Therefore, when the local people north of the Huai heard that the Jin were coming, they naturally felt no confusion or reluctance about fleeing south of the Huai.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But—and here's the but—able-bodied men had to stay behind to defend the city, wealth and goods had to be taken away, grain had to be turned over to the authorities, and most devastating of all, the military intelligence was too urgent... According to Liu Guangshi, all six military prefectures south of Mount Tai under his command had been attacked. The nearest point from northern Xuzhou to the Huai River bank was only four hundred li. With the Jin army's demonstrated willingness to fight and endure hardship over the past few years, a well-organized, combat-ready vanguard force could arrive in five or six days.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, it might also be seven or eight days, but who would dare gamble under such circumstances?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Especially now, at the year's end!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And so, the extremely insecure people of northern Shouzhou, the tense river transport, the skittish court officials and soldiers, the unstable morale and erupting greed of Zhang Jun's troops—all led to a chaos that was almost inevitable. And in that chaos, the Song army's lack of discipline, the arrogance and selfishness of court officials, and the panic and anger of the common people were all magnified in turn, plunging everyone into a state of agitation and disorder...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In a word, the war had not yet arrived, but the disasters it triggered had already begun.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Official residences and civilian homes were all burned to the ground; not a single jar or door remained intact... Men and women, old and young, were trampled and abused day by day. Quite a few towns had not a single survivor, and the stench of corpses could be smelled for a hundred li.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So it was that on the evening of the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month, outside the east gate of Xiacai, two groups of unarmored local militia were openly brawling. Some of the wounded had their bellies slashed open, their intestines spilling all over the ground, only to be frozen by the icy earth, clearly beyond saving. Many commoners nearby were terrified and blocked, but had no choice but to try to enter the city. On the city gate tower, watching the Zhao Emperor stare fixedly at the scene below, his face growing darker and darker, the Imperial Censor-in-Chief Zhang Jun suddenly spoke a few words.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What is this?\" Zhao Jiu turned and asked coldly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It is from the first year of the Jingkang reign, after the Jin first invaded the south. Li Ruoshui, then a Court Erudite, was sent as an envoy to Hebei to persuade the Jin to withdraw north. These were the frontline accounts he reported upon his return.\" Zhang Jun lowered his head and replied. \"Your Majesty, these matters are at most public order incidents. Once the Jin iron cavalry arrives, that will be a true catastrophe—jade and stone burned together, cities sacked and towns torched are commonplace. Though Your Majesty is benevolent and has witnessed this with your own eyes, and it would be fine to intervene, when the greater situation presses, for Your Majesty to personally use the Imperial Guard to rectify this would be to attend to trifles at the expense of essentials.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Jiu let out a long breath, forcing himself not to look at what was happening below the gate tower... He understood Zhang Deyuan's meaning. Beyond explaining the conflict below, this man, his personal Imperial Censor-in-Chief, was essentially advising him, the Zhao Emperor, to cross the river as soon as possible to reassure the people—something everyone had been urging for days. But Zhao Jiu was too lazy to respond to this trusted minister, because it wasn't that he wasn't prepared to cross the river; rather, he was discontent and wanted to hold out until the last possible moment to leave, in order to calm people's hearts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Both wanted to calm people's hearts, but what Zhang Jun and his ilk meant by calming hearts was to reassure the court officials and the scholar-officials south of the Huai. What Zhao Jiu had in mind were the hearts of the Shouzhou commoners fleeing south before his eyes. The two considerations seemed not contradictory, yet they were utterly different.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One could only say that in recent days, because of the Emperor's increasingly pointless stubbornness, even though those still at the court were all his confidants, yes-men, or agreeable types, the divergence between ruler and ministers was becoming clearer by the day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A moment later, just as the atmosphere on the gate tower grew heavier and Yang Yizhong could no longer hold back and was about to go down to handle things, Tian Shizhong, the central army general under Zhang Jun, hurried over—perhaps knowing Zhao Jiu was nearby. He seized the two groups of militiamen at the city gate, killed four or five men on the spot as a warning, and mercifully ended the life of the nearly hopeless wounded man. Only after ascertaining the cause did he personally ascend the city wall, carrying the severed heads, to report to Zhao Jiu.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It turned out that one of these two militia groups came from Shunchang Prefecture. Having been incorporated into Zhang Jun's command earlier, they were responsible for guarding a small ferry crossing outside the east gate. During their duty, they extorted a local refugee family and refused to arrange a boat for them. As luck would have it, someone in the extorted family had an acquaintance patrolling nearby, so they went to complain... The two groups met on the open ground outside the city gate, exchanged a few words, and when they couldn't agree, broke into a direct armed brawl.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Upon hearing this, Zhao Jiu felt both helpless and increasingly displeased... It wasn't that he couldn't understand what had happened below the city gate, or the limitations of this era. But understanding was one thing; as a soul from that other time, he felt a sense of absurdity and disappointment at this kind of inter-unit brawling on an emotional level.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, after these agonizing days, aside from Zhao Ding, who had voluntarily turned back from south of the Huai and was organizing a transit camp for the people on Bagong Mountain opposite, gradually displaying extremely seasoned bureaucratic skills—which gave the Zhao Emperor a slight relief—there was not a single piece of news that could make him relax his brow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Your Majesty!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as dusk was falling and Zhao Jiu was about to offer a few words of encouragement to Tian Shizhong before turning back, Zhang Jun, the Grand Defender, suddenly came to the gate tower to seek an audience. The moment they met, he knelt down beside a few bloody severed heads, his tone heavy. \"We truly cannot delay any longer! I beg Your Majesty to pack up now and set out from the inner ferry within the city tonight, heading south of the Huai!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Have you received news?\" Zhao Jiu took a deep breath, trying to calm his mind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yes!\" Zhang Jun replied solemnly. \"According to frontline intelligence, most of Grand Defender Liu's forces have reached the Woshui River and should be crossing now. They will arrive here tomorrow or the day after...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Come here for what?\" The Zhao Emperor frowned. \"Wasn't he ordered to cross at Haozhou (the Fengyang-Bengbu area)?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"They must be hard-pressed by the Jin pursuit.\" Zhang Jun's expression grew even graver. \"Our scouts have clearly seen traces of Jin troops on the east bank of the Woshui... In fact, for the Jin to only show signs now is already somewhat late.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Jiu was speechless and could only nod with effort.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And so, the Zhao Emperor had no room for maneuver. That evening, the court officials and the Grand Defender discussed matters clearly... The Emperor and the court would cross the Huai at night, first stopping temporarily at Bagong Mountain opposite. Commander-in-Chief Wang Yuan was left as the water transport overseer, in charge of the boats to ensure continued traffic between the two banks. The local people who had not yet crossed, as well as the refugee families, and even Liu Guangshi's troops when they arrived, were all to enter the city first, then be ferried and dispatched from the protected inner ferry of Xiacai on the Huai. Aside from the inner ferry, all other ferry crossings and boats outside the city were to be burned to prevent them from falling into Jin hands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Jiu did not participate in these discussions, and even when crossing the river that night, he seemed dazed and listless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Your Majesty!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just before boarding the boat, Zhang Jun, the Grand Defender, knelt before the Zhao Emperor for the second time. \"Your servant has a word to say.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Speak.\" Despite all the disappointments, Zhang Jun had, in this round at Shouzhou, held the bottom line of a soldier. Zhao Jiu found it hard to harbor any extra ill will toward him, and equally hard not to take his words seriously.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Your Majesty, the enemy's power is now at its peak. It would be fitting to temporarily retreat south. Therefore, after crossing the Huai, I beg Your Majesty to make some preparations and then head south again, using the river as a defensive barrier. Then train troops and governance, calm people's hearts, and wait until the state's situation stabilizes before launching a major campaign—it will not be too late.\" At the ferry, amidst the chaos, Zhang Jun kowtowed earnestly. \"This is your servant's true heart! Only by saying it now will Your Majesty not think me a coward. I beg Your Majesty to consider it carefully.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the ferry, Zhao Jiu stared fixedly at this man... If he remembered correctly, this was the first time he had heard someone openly propose the policy of crossing the river and seeking partial peace—a taboo. In the past, not only would he, Zhao Jiu, have reacted, but even those peace advocates and capitulationists who secretly desired it would have first stepped forward to denounce it, then give Zhang Jun a protective excuse about a military man not understanding morality and literature, before discussing feasibility.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet today, in this situation, Zhao Jiu truly found it hard to refute.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I understand.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, after a long silence, that was all Zhao Jiu could say.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>PS: There's more.\u003C\u002Fp>",1864,"2026-06-06T07:45:46.639Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","023abbc6d6b7aa0abcbf81cb19fb3d6df31d27d8cec22583d5a5f3f9252ca3e0","shao-song-chapter-28","shao-song-chapter-26",489,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fshao-song-cover.jpg"]