Chapter 440: About to Die (Continued)

Jin Wushu set out in the dead of night, paying no heed to the Yan-Yun new army that was collapsing and defecting all along the route. By the evening of the next day, just as the Jin nobles were evacuating to Gubeikou, he encountered Han Shizhong's Beiwei Army, which was advancing with all speed.

After questioning him about his background, Cheng Min, the commander of the Beiwei Army attached to the Imperial Left Army, was overjoyed. He abandoned even the task of advancing north to Fanyang to take over the surrendering troops, sending only his deputy northward while personally escorting Jin Wushu to Baosai to see Han Shizhong.

After another arduous day and a half of travel, they arrived at Baosai, but Han Shizhong did not know how to deal with this man.

In truth, if it had been according to the spirit and temperament of his younger days, Marshal Han would have, regardless of the consequences, taken that dagger, which was nearly rusted, and personally sliced this man to pieces. But with the war having reached this point, with Yanjing about to be taken, that Great Jin, which had once been invincible in its aggression against its neighbors and had driven him, Han Shizhong, from the Hutuo River all the way to the Huai River, had actually vanished as a concept back at Huolu... So, not entirely unexpected, Han Shizhong at this moment also felt somewhat drained of all his fighting spirit.

Moreover, from a legal standpoint, Wushu was still one of the two ruling princes of the Jurchens, and everyone knew that he had always been the one responsible for military and political affairs between the Song armies. To the Song army, he was considered the number one figure, so it was not appropriate to dispose of him arbitrarily.

And so, Han Shizhong simply retrieved that dagger, which he had nearly thrown away somewhere, wrote a memorial with his own hand, and had Cheng Min lead a team to escort the prisoner eastward to find His Majesty Zhao, letting His Majesty make the final decision. As for himself, he headed directly north, preparing to take over Yanjing and do a bit of cleaning up for the subsequent entry of Lu Yihao, Lord Lu, in the rear.

Now, Zhao Jiu was not in Hejian at this time, but in Cangzhou.

His Majesty not following the main army to Yanjing but going to Cangzhou led to various speculations among his subordinates, but there were two mainstream theories.

Some said that His Majesty had long falsely claimed to be Zhao Jiu of Cangzhou rather than from the Zhao ancestral home of Zhuozhou, and from Baima to Wulin, he had often spoken of establishing a new Song to continue the old Song. He probably had long harbored an intention, known to all, to change the line of sacrifices, and today he was taking advantage of this great victory to settle the matter.

Some even maliciously speculated that soon there would be news of some 'surprising excess' from the Shaolin Temple and the Dongxiao Palace.

Besides this, others guessed that His Majesty was making way for Lord Lu, allowing this lord, who had been so fixated on Yanjing, to have his wish fulfilled, entering Yanjing first and then doing as he pleased... meaning he did not want to steal Lord Lu's thunder.

Both theories were very plausible. In fact, Zhao Jiu did have these two considerations, but at the same time, he also had another clear, direct, simple, and ordinary reason... This Emperor simply wanted to go downstream and see what the mouth of the Yellow River looked like in this era.

The three branches of the Yellow River's northern flow reunited in Hejian Prefecture, then first went north and then east, entering the sea from the northern border of Cangzhou. This final stretch of the river channel, due to strong artificial factors, actually passed along the former border between Song and Liao, and was therefore also called the Boundary River.

It was on this side of Cangzhou, at the end of this so-called Boundary River, that Zhao Jiu waited for Jin Wushu.

To be more specific, he actually saw the Fourth Prince of the Jin Kingdom at Niguzhai, a dozen or so li from the river mouth.

Their meeting was exceptionally calm, even excessively so.

After Zhao Jiu received the message, turned back from the river mouth, and returned to Niguzhai, Jin Wushu had already been bound to the tamped-earth command platform at the center of the military stockade. After a thorough search, he was made to kneel at the edge of the platform. The sword and dagger he carried, along with Han Shizhong's memorial and the account of the sword's origin from his attendant Taishinu, had already been placed on a table under the dragon banner at the other end of the platform.

Then, Zhao Jiu also sat down behind the table under the dragon banner.

He flipped through Han Shizhong's memorial in front of him, glanced at the story about Yue Fei and Jin Wushu's face-to-face talk on the grassy slope, as learned from the attendant Taishinu, then set it aside, turned his head to look at the course of the Yellow River to one side, and said not a single word. He did not even look at Jin Wushu.

To be fair, if Zhao Jiu had wanted to speak, he would have had countless things to say. If he had wanted to look, he could have walked up and examined him closely.

After all, the man opposite him was Jin Wushu, the Fourth Prince of the Jin Kingdom.

Yue Fei, Jin Wushu, and Qin Gui were originally the representative figures of this era.

This was not just due to some legendary novels... to return to Wushu... Whether in the ten years Zhao Jiu had personally experienced or in another timeline, this Fourth Prince of Jin was the actual pillar and military-political commander of the Jurchens after their founding veterans had dwindled. All wars between Song and Jin, all diplomacy between Song and Jin, all strategic confrontations between Song and Jin, could not avoid this man. In fact, he was simply the Jin side's military and political leader regarding Song.

From this perspective, he could even be called Zhao Jiu's main opponent over these ten years, even though there had been Nianhan, Loushi, and Wuqimai.

Because among these men, not one possessed such strong representativeness and presence in this war as Jin Wushu did.

His Majesty could have asked the man opposite him how the scenery of Mount Bagong on the Huai River had looked that day, and whether he had taken a good look.

When you withdrew from Nanyang, what were your thoughts on Wanyan Talan?

During the collapse at Yaoshan, did you clearly see Wanyan Loushi's charge?

Do you still remember Han Chang?

Have you forgotten Pulu Hun?

Do you know about Zhang Yongzhen and Hou Dan?

Do you regret your retreat at the foot of the Yinshan Mountains that day?

Do you know that Wanyan Wolun tried to disguise himself as a common soldier to escape, but was reported on the road, and the fate of the last Wanhu of the Battle of Huolu is now crystal clear?

If he, as the Emperor, or as the victor, had wanted, he could have set up a feast, given the man a dignified treatment, engaged in a 'warming wine and discussing heroes' session, and put on a grand show. He could also have had someone grab the man by the hair, enumerate his crimes, and bring down the axes and swords... to 'laugh and talk, thirstily drink the blood of the Xiongnu; with lofty ambition, hungrily eat the flesh of the barbarians.'

He could be vulgar or refined, theatrical or brutal, as he pleased.

But Zhao Jiu did not move at all, nor did he look at the other man. He simply turned his head to gaze at the 'Boundary River,' which seemed calm yet flowed endlessly.

Unexpectedly, Jin Wushu also did not speak.

This ruling prince of the Jin Kingdom, bearing the heavy responsibility for the survival of his clan, tribe, and nation, certainly had countless reasons to speak, countless political demands to express, and inevitably harbored countless complex emotions... fear, sorrow, anger, grief.

But for some reason, Wushu, who was also full of the desire to pour out his heart, likewise remained silent.

Dressed in white, with his hands bound, he simply bowed his head, kneeling at the other end of the tamped-earth command platform, staring at the rammed earth beneath his knees without a sound, as if waiting for a verdict that might come at any moment.

But that verdict was long in coming.

Jin Wushu had been delivered at noon that day. Zhao Jiu had returned an hour later. And then the two of them just sat and knelt like that, one turning his head to watch the Yellow River, the other bowing his head waiting for judgment, confronting each other... until the day's end, as the setting sun descended in the west, neither made a single move.

Now, because of the branching channels, the flow of the Boundary River section of the Yellow River was not so rapid. But the various northern channels, along with the Sanggan River and others, converged here into one, finally presenting a shimmering scene under the setting sun.

But as time passed, even this scene gradually dimmed.

On the other side, Hu Yin had gone north with Lu Yihao. Yang Yizhong had been ordered to return north to Dongjing to prepare something. By His Majesty's side were still Liu Yan, Shao Chengzhang, as well as generals Tian Shizhong, Zhang Zigai, and Cheng Min.

These men stood at the side of the command platform, and throughout the entire time, not one dared to utter a sound or disturb them. But seeing the sky growing darker and darker, they finally had to think of something.

Tian Shizhong hesitated, then carefully circled behind Liu Yan and Shao Chengzhang, and whispered, "Prince Liu, Chief Shao, shouldn't we present His Majesty with his evening meal?"

Liu Yan and Shao Chengzhang suddenly came to their senses. Moments later, two portions of pork flatbread and some odds and ends of wine and dishes were personally presented by Shao Chengzhang.

Zhao Jiu indeed snapped out of it.

He looked at the wine and food on the table, swept his gaze over the sword and the dagger, and then finally turned his head to look at Jin Wushu directly in front of him, and spoke his first words of the afternoon:

"Execute him according to the law, and send his head on a tour for public display."

As soon as the words were spoken, His Majesty directly picked up a pork flatbread and walked down, eating as he went.

About the time it takes half a stick of incense to burn after His Majesty, along with Liu Yan and Shao Chengzhang, had left the tamped-earth command platform, Cheng Min, under the watchful eyes of Tian Shizhong and Zhang Zigai, suddenly leaped up onto the platform.

Seeing this, Zhang Zigai, who had the home-ground advantage, also wanted to leap up, but was stopped by Tian Shizhong reaching out his hand... It was clear he felt it unnecessary to clash with Han Shizhong's trusted subordinate over such a small matter, especially since Zhang Jun was in Qingzhou and Han Shizhong was in Yanjing to the northwest.

Wushu had long heard the words 'execute him according to the law' but had shown no particular reaction. It was only when Cheng Min, who had escorted him for two or three days, came before him with a blade that he finally raised his head and at the same time collapsed limply to the ground.

"Do you have anything to say?"

Cheng Min looked down from above and sighed slightly. He knew, more or less, that although this man was about to die, he was of a higher rank than himself, so he maintained a trace of courtesy.

"I've been kneeling all afternoon, and I'm terribly hungry."

Wushu answered seriously. "What was that your Emperor was just eating? I wonder if I could have a portion to taste?"

Cheng Min was somewhat taken aback. But he looked around, thought for a moment, and ultimately felt there was no reason not to let the man die with a full stomach. So he directly called out to the armored soldiers below the platform:

"Get me a baked cake!"

"I want to eat that one."

Jin Wushu suddenly jutted his chin forward, toward the very spot where the Imperial Lord had left his desk, on which sat a basket with one remaining baked cake.

"That would require the Imperial Lord to reward you."

Cheng Min immediately shook his head. "How would a mere Commander like me dare touch it? Besides, when the Imperial Lord was here earlier, why didn't you ask?"

"Didn't want to ask."

Jin Wushu's eyes widened, calm and steady. "Nor did I dare to ask."

Cheng Min listened in utter confusion… The first half made him think the man was a true hero, while also feeling he was putting on airs even at death's door; the second half, however, took a sharp turn, leaving him completely unable to fathom the man's thoughts.

So he simply shut his mouth.

After another moment, an armored soldier indeed delivered a baked cake. Cheng Min personally picked one up and placed it at Jin Wushu's lips, but Jin Wushu only closed his mouth and shook his head.

Cheng Min, too lazy to argue, took a bite of the cake himself, then gestured with one hand while holding the cake in the other.

Immediately, several Beiwei Army soldiers who had come with him for the escort stepped forward, dragged Jin Wushu down from the reviewing stand, and hauled him to the gate of the Niguzhai stockade. There, soldiers on both sides forced him down, while another soldier casually picked up a standard military saber and, with a single stroke, severed the head of the silent Fourth Prince, Wanyan Wushu, from his body.

That one stroke also cut cleanly through the countless grudges between this man and that Imperial Lord, two Marshals, and over a dozen Imperial Princes and Commandery Princes over the past decade.

Once the beheading was done, another soldier fetched a wooden bucket filled with quicklime, deftly placed Jin Wushu's head inside, and tied it to the side of a warhorse.

Cheng Min nodded, then left Niguzhai directly with the head.

He knew that Jin Wushu's attendant, Taishinu, would report the specific terms this dead man had brought to the Imperial Lord Zhao Jiu, or to the two Commandery Princes Liu Yan and Tian Shizhong, but that was no longer his concern.

Right now, he only wanted to urgently show this head to everyone.

Jin Wushu was dead, aged thirty-eight. The year was Bingchen; all under heaven was auspicious.

PS: I really didn't expect a trip out to be so exhausting—the journey itself is the most dreadful thing… Posting one chapter first, just to make do… Striving to finish this month; even if delayed, it won't go past next month… Let me think how to wrap it all up in the end.