On the south bank of the Yellow River, a hundred miles away from Wuren Mountain, the Jin Kingdom's more than 100,000 southern invading troops acted as a victorious nation, carrying hundreds of years of savings from the Song Dynasty's treasury, as well as countless wealth plundered from the people and hundreds of thousands of prisoners, divided into seven Batch, start slowly.

Among these seven groups of troops returning from the north, in addition to the left deputy marshal Wanyan Zonghan (Jurchen name Nianhan) of the Jin Army's West Route Army, who led 30,000 troops, they escorted Song Huizong, his queen, concubines, princes and ministers of the fifth rank and above in the court. Except for crossing the Pujin Bridge from Zhengzhou and returning north, the other six groups all returned north via the Yellow River Bridge between Huazhou and Junzhou.

Among these six groups, except for the earliest group, which was escorted by Meng'an Guxin on March 27, the second year of Jingkang, more than 2,200 men and more than 3,400 women from the royal family of the Song Dynasty set off in advance. , with a faster speed, had already crossed the Yellow River. The remaining five groups of people and horses were blocked in the road due to the large number of plunders, mules, horses, cattle, sheep, luggage, money and grain, and women. In addition, the Yellow River Bridge was burned by the Song army and was in dilapidated condition. , despite months of emergency repairs, the time was short and the bridge was narrow and crude, blocking all the Jin Army's five armies on the south bank.

After several days of maneuvering, the third group of people who arrived at the bridge first, including five thousand guards and nearly ten thousand craftsmen led by Bru and Sac, crossed the river first. As a result, these two brothers were unfortunate enough to accidentally cross the river near Liyang. He "invited" a god of plague to his camp. In one night, two fierce generals who had experienced hundreds of battles and destroyed the Liao Dynasty and the Song Dynasty were killed and the other seriously injured. The whole army was defeated.

At this time, outside the command tent of Wanyan Zongwang, the right deputy marshal of the Jin Army's East Route Army, belonging to the fifth batch of troops returning from the north, a group of high-ranking generals of the Jin Army were watching a body whose armor was scorched black and whose body was burned beyond human shape. The dying wounded and a headless corpse. Every war-torn, resolute and stern face showed panic and confusion that had never appeared since the southern invasion of the Song Dynasty.

Among the onlookers, the most eye-catching one is a man wearing an iron pocket with phoenix feathers on his head, with long strings of velvet balls hanging from his ears on both sides. He is wearing heavy silver armor and has a large purple furry collar. He is tall and majestic. The big man.

This man was none other than Zong Wang, the eagle of the Wanyan family who was the first person to destroy the Song Dynasty and capture the king.

Zong Wang looks very similar to his father Aguda. They both have a broad forehead, thick black eyebrows and a pair of slender eyes that are powerful. Almost half of the broad face is taken up by a thick beard. Even so, It is also difficult to hide the criss-cross scars all over his face, like a demon king that has appeared from the wilderness, with a ferocious face and a terrifying look.

In fact, among the many Jin Army generals present, almost everyone has more or less obvious scars on their faces. Some of these scars are scars left when hunting wild beasts; some are marks left by battlefield killings; and more , is self-mutilation under various circumstances...

Indeed, it is self-mutilation!

The Jurchens still retain certain customs of the Huns and Turks, the once powerful people in this northern land, and "blood oath" is one of them. Whenever the Huns and Turks avenge their blood relatives or perform funerals, Sometimes, they often cut out their faces with a knife to show their determination and grief. This is the "blood oath".

The Jurchens not only inherited this ritual completely, but even developed it - for example, when Aguda was besieged by the 700,000-strong army of Emperor Yelu Yanxi of the Liao Dynasty in the fifth year of Tianqing, he cut his face with a knife to show his defeat. The Liao were determined and successfully boosted their morale. In the end, with only tens of thousands of troops, they defeated the enemy that was ten times the number and completely defeated the Liao people.

In the eighth year of the Jin Dynasty (1123), Wanyan Agu was beaten to death. The entire Jin Kingdom was grieved. No matter whether they were princes, ministers or traders, they all had their foreheads slashed with a knife, and their blood and tears were handed over. This was the most solemn "gift" in the Jurchen funeral. "Blood and Tears" ritual. Because of this, it is extremely difficult to find an adult man with a slightly cleaner face in the Kingdom of Jin.

At this time, Zong Wang was extremely angry, because lying in front of him were the two generals of the third batch of troops returning from the north: Meng Ambulu and Sachi.

Needless to say, the headless corpse was naturally stabbed. The man who was burned beyond recognition and dying was Bru. This man was very unlucky, and the grenade thrown by Di Lie happened to be exploded. The flame shock wave affected him. His gorgeous armor suddenly turned into a red iron under the high temperature of thousands of degrees Celsius, burning him into a piece of human-shaped charcoal. At this time, he was still alive, and his vitality was still strong enough. Yes.

In fact, it was precisely because the two generals were dead and the other wounded, with no one to command, and the riots in Yingxiao that the Jin army suffered heavy losses on the way back north and had to abandon the stronghold, thus giving Di Lie and his men an advantage in vain.

"Everyone, tell me, what's going on?" Zong Wang vented all his anger on the defeated army's temporary acting commander, Muke, who led the team to escape, and used a leather rope to hold the kneeling man on the ground. Ming Mou Kehao was beaten hard, his back was beaten to a bloody pulp, and the bones were almost exposed. The right deputy marshal of the East Road had the great achievement and excitement that he had just wiped out a century-old dynasty, but was This inexplicable defeat caused most of the low-income consumers.

All the generals were silent for a while. After a while, a golden general finally got up the courage and stood out from the crowd. After carefully inspecting Sac's body, his face was very ugly: "From what I can see, I can kill Sac." Saber's head was smashed into powder. This kind of hand strength is really rare. Apart from that, there are no wounds on the whole body. It is conceivable that...it was a one-shot death. It is hard to imagine how anyone in this world can do this. In the camp of thousands of troops, they passed through numerous guards and silently killed the leader of the army and his subordinates and guards..."

Another golden general also said with a bit of trembling in his tone: "It can be said that Sac Bo Jin was assassinated by a rare master, but Bulu Bo Jin and his nearly 100 bodyguards and elite cavalry were assassinated by Ru Tian Huge earthquakes like thunder and flames and devouring by fire, this...this is really beyond the reach of human beings..."

The last words spoken by this Jin general made dozens of senior Jin army generals present feel a chill coming from their foreheads. They looked at each other and remained silent for a while.

Zong Wang's right eyelid suddenly twitched, and he didn't speak for a long time. The atmosphere on the scene was extremely depressed. After a while, Zong Wang slowly took off his phoenix feather iron pocket, revealing his shaved, semi-bald head. He stretched out his His big rough hands rubbed his forehead a few times, and he suddenly squinted his eyes at a middle-aged man wearing a fur coat standing on his left side solemnly, and said: "Ancient God, you are the leader of our Wanyan Department and even the big brother. The most knowledgeable sage in the Kingdom of Jin, please tell me what is going on?"

The middle-aged man next to Zong Wang is the Marshal Youjianjun of the Jindong Route Army who invaded the south, the creator of Jurchen characters, the son of Huandu, an important minister of the Wanyan tribe, and a rare versatile man in both civil and military affairs in the Jin Kingdom: Wan Yan Xiyin, an ancient Jurchen god.

When the Jin army conquered Bianbian that day, almost all the Jin soldiers were searching for money, treasures, and beautiful women. There were only two exceptions. One was the son of the old prime minister of the Jin State, Sa Gai, and the left deputy marshal of the Jinxi Route Army. Wanyan Zonghan's younger brother - Wanyan Zongxian. The first thing this brother did after entering Bianjing City was to collect a large number of books from the Song Dynasty, the legislative system, rituals and music of the Song Dynasty court and other documents. This seemed very strange to others. It was a stupid thing, but it was greatly appreciated and supported by Wanyan Xiyin.

This unusual Jurchen who likes to hold a pen more than a knife has always been highly praised by the Jin people for his intelligence and insight. But now, this "wise man" also frowned and was confused. After a long time, he

He twirled his long beard under his chin, and seemed to be talking to himself and analyzing to the generals: "Based on information from all parties, the incident started when dozens of forage carts caught fire at the same time outside the stables of the Chinese army camp. There was no trace of anything before that.

A warning was issued, and no body of the suspicious attacker could be found after that, which is one of the strange things. Meng Ansa Ci and Muke Shili were killed in the Chinese army commander's tent at the same time. One had his head cut off and the other had his chest cracked.

The death was so tragic and strange that it was difficult to guess what was responsible for it, which was the second weirdness. And the thunder and fire attack suffered by General Bru and dozens of his guards had no signs at all, which was the third weirdness.

And news came yesterday that a man stationed in the camp to collect stray horses suffered an invisible and terrible blow. Nine people including a Puchan were killed, and their death was like being stabbed by a fierce An.

The situation of trying to defeat the enemy... This is the fourth weird one. Therefore, I will finally think..." Wanyan Xiyin paused at this point, hesitant, not sure whether he should express this conclusion.

At this time, Mou Ke, who was lying on the ground and was beaten half to death by Zong Wang, uttered a vague sentence: "That is a punishment from heaven...it is beyond human control...it is the fire from the sky dropped by the God of Thunder...it burned..."

Forage caused a riot, and even burned and killed Bulu Bojin and nearly a hundred guards..."

This conspirator was severely tortured, his speech was unclear and his voice was low, but his words were like spring thunder that rolled through the ears of all the golden generals present, and stung the hearts of these grassland peoples who feared God and heaven.

The Jurchens believe in the animism of all things in heaven and earth, believing that they can bring misfortunes and blessings to people, and can also know the blessings of others. Like other ancient peoples in the Northeast, they respect heaven the most and believe that gods dominate everything, the victory or defeat of wars, and various natural signs.

They are all the will of God. Therefore, on major festivals such as the expedition and New Year's Day, worshiping the sky or the sun are all performed. Among them, the ceremony of worshiping the sky is particularly grand: "The wood is used as a plate, like a boat, and the red material is painted with clouds and cranes. The frame is five or six high.

Put the ruler on the plate, recommend food to it, and gather the clans to worship it." After Aguda established the country, the gold master built a platform in Changwu Hall as a place to worship heaven.

When the 100,000 Jin army came to the city, the evil Taoist Guo Jing set up an altar on the wall of Bianjing City to practice magic, promising that he could invite the "Liujia Divine Ding" to easily defeat the enemy. When the Jin people saw it from a distance, they were also frightened and hesitated, and they stopped moving forward. It's a pity.

"Master Guo's" level is really limited. After struggling for nearly a month, he couldn't do any tricks. He didn't even touch a hair on the golden soldier, and finally he leaked. As a result, the soles of Guo Shenxian's feet were oiled, and the golden soldier was

They also took advantage of the situation and rushed to the top of Bianjing City.

Zong Wang raised the whip violently and was about to give Muke another severe beating, but his arm was gently held by someone beside him. Zong Wang turned his head and met Wanyan Xiyin's worried eyes.

He shook his head slowly: "This matter is indeed strange, and the various circumstances are difficult to explain. The deputy marshal should not be too harsh..."

Zong Wang's arms were frozen in the air for a long time, the expression on his face was changing, and finally he whipped the whip on the open ground: "Invite the shaman master!"

Shamanism, as a primitive religion that worships gods, has long been popular among various ethnic groups in Northeast China. The more backward the economy, the lower the productivity level, the more the tribes believe in it. When Agu launched an army to rebel against the Liao Dynasty, its main backbone soldiers were generals.

Basically, they are all born girls who live in the white mountains and black waters all year round. Their productivity is low and they don't even have many iron tools. However, they are all proficient in fighting skills and brave and powerful. Their bodies are amazing, but their mental level is still worse than feudalism.

In the original state. Therefore, when the Jin army went out to fight, shamans were indispensable and important members of the army. They had a transcendent status and were responsible for important tasks in the army such as prayer, divination, exorcism, treatment, etc.

When the great shaman of the army, wearing a Xia Phi wreath, a white robe and holding a gold foil staff, appeared in front of Zong Wang, surrounded by eight worshippers, all the Jin Army soldiers, including Zong Wang, were respectful.

People with higher positions usually bowed to greet them, while ordinary soldiers and even some low-level officers kowtowed and showed their palms.

The great shaman, with gray eyebrows, stiff face, and half-open eyelids, seemed to be predicting the future. Before Zong Wang could speak, he made a silent gesture, and then held a divination ceremony: first, he chose a snow-white rooster, and used gold to

Cut the throat with a knife and bleed, remove the leg bones, clean them, soak them in a golden bowl filled with special liquid, then take them out and burn them in the fire. During the whole process, the great shaman kept mumbling something in his mouth.

The eight worshipers danced strange dances non-stop, neatly echoing the chants of the great shaman. The long and monotonous incantation seemed to have an indescribable magic power, making all the surrounding Jin soldiers feel dizzy.

He was dizzy, and all of them were frightened and as silent as cicadas.

After a while, the great shaman took out the Yao bone. When he saw the cracks in the Yao bone, his stiff face suddenly changed color, his black lips trembled slightly, and he was speechless.

Zong Wang finally couldn't help but approached and asked: "Master, what's the result of the divination?"

The great shaman shook his chicken claw-like hands, and his bones fell to the ground. He slowly raised his head, with a hint of fear in his cloudy eyes: "That is a weapon that does not belong to this world. The culprit who destroyed these warriors does not belong to this world either."

The soul in this world is so terrible, so terrible..."

Zong Wang only felt a chill running down his spine, a chill rising from the bottom of his heart, and said in a harsh voice: "Master Shen said... it was not done by humans?"

The Great Shaman did not answer, his eyes fixed on the bones that fell to the ground - due to the collision with the ground, a new crack appeared. It was this new crack that made the Great Shaman's expression change again. It took a long time.

After that, the great shaman suddenly raised his head, reached out to grab Zong Wang's sleeve, and said in a trembling voice: "That evil spirit went north..."

"To the north?" Zong Wang asked in confusion, "What's in the north? Can it still break into Huanglong Mansion?"

"No! There is still one of our troops north of Liyang!" Wanyan Xiyin on the side lost his voice, "The first batch of troops returning from the north led by Gu Xin was reported by a messenger the day before yesterday that they have arrived in Tangyin. At this moment, I am afraid that

Already arrived in Xiangzhou."
Chapter completed!