The sky was blue, and the rain fell from the sky and seeped into people's clothes, bringing with them the eroding chill of winter.

Outside the Jianmen Pass, the crowded refugee queue filled the valley, and the cries of women and children dissolved into a desolate patch in the rain, and the old men climbed the towering ramp in front of the Jianmen Pass, knelt on the ground, and begged the guards inside the pass to let them go.

The miserable scene has lasted for more than ten days, and most of the refugees who were driven to the north have fallen ill, both old, weak, and disabled, they have little food and clothing, and they lack medicine, and hundreds of people die every day - even if life in the mountains of Sichuan and Shu is difficult, the Sword Pavilion has not seen such a bleak scene for many years.

The soldiers in their robes on the city wall stood with guns in their arms, and they could hardly bear to look at them. As this heavy rain falls, the old, weak, sick and disabled in the valley ahead will slowly collapse before their eyes, taking their last breath. The scene that appeared before their eyes was nothing less than hell on earth.

However, it could not be released.

Wanyan Zonghan's more than 200,000 troops had already entered Lizhou and were stationed dozens of miles away. And Jianmen Pass is the most important level in Shudi.

Now Si Zhongxian's 20,000 elite soldiers and more than 10,000 local troops are guarding here. As long as the sword gate is still in hand, it can be fought if it wants to be fought, and it can be talked about if it is wanted, and no matter what choice it takes, it has a high degree of strategic value.

In this context, even in the process of negotiation, the two parties involved are constantly testing Si Zhongxian's bottom line.

The Huaxia Army is relatively gentlemanly - also because there is no need to take it by force, at most they are secretly constantly lobbying all parties in the name of righteousness, and they are united vertically and horizontally.

The Jurchens took a two-pronged approach, on the one hand, Wanyan Xiyin instructed to send an embassy, and under the leadership of Si Zhongxian's father, Si Wenzhong, Si Zhongxian was given unimaginably generous conditions. On the other hand, Wanyan Zonghan, who was outside the Sword Pavilion, showed a resolute will to fight and became more impatient day by day, and while the mission was still negotiating, they drove a large number of sick and weak people to the Jianmen Pass, and instigated them that as long as they passed, the Huaxia army would give them food and treat them.

Opening the pass and cautiously letting people through the pass is a choice in the eyes of ordinary people, even if there is a spies of two or even one team or two teams mixed in the crowd, it seems that it will not be able to break the Xiongguan guarded by more than 30,000 people. But there is never such a logic on the battlefield, and experienced hunters will test the bottom line of their prey by various means, and sometimes, one step back may determine the bloody throat after a few steps.

Wanyan Zonghan and a kind of Jurchen generals located outside the Jianmen Pass are obviously such experienced generals, even if the negotiation has the substantial upper hand, they are sparing no effort to convey their ferocity and self-confidence: Even if you don't surrender, we will crush you fiercely!

As for the end of September, there were more than 30,000 sick and weak Han people who had been driven to the northern end of Jianmen Pass.

Walking northeast from the Xiongguan of the Sword Pavilion, the lewd rain stretches for more than 30 miles. The ancient city of Zhaohua, which has fallen, is the core of the Han army of Wanyan Zonghan, and about 80,000 female Allah forces are stationed in the Zhaohua camp, and on the western side of the outer part of Zhaohua City, more than 100,000 people who were driven forward by the Jurchens are hiding in dilapidated camps and under tents, trembling.

In the rain, more than 2,000 people were driven out of the camp by the Jurchen army, prisoners who had fallen ill but could not be cured. In order to prevent them from dying in the camp, the Jurchens drove the sick and their families out of the camp and led them in the direction of the Sword Pavilion to the west.

For these wounded, sick and weak Han Chinese, the Jurchen army did not do much supervision. Of course, there are patrols, once encountered, they will shoot arrows and kill people from afar, and it is not impossible to avoid the Jurchen army in the nearby mountains and forests to hide and detour, but first, the patient's health is deteriorating, and second, at least where the Jurchen army walked, where was not the ruins and death. This autumn, the Jurchen army swept all the way from the direction of Xiangfan, and for the next big war, what should have been looted has already been looted.

Walking back is death, hiding in the mountains is slowly dying, going to the Sword Pavilion, maybe one day the Han general guarding the Jianmen Pass really showed mercy, gave them food, and allowed them to be treated. Or open the pass and send them to the other side to join the Huaxia army, which is said to be flying the banner of benevolence and righteousness?

Perhaps as the faint hope turns into a dead end day by day, people will realize that in fact, the dead end has already come.

The navy-blue horse team stood on the hill west of the city, and Wanyan Zonghan was dressed in a big fashion, watching as thousands of people left the camp and stumbled forward. Crying erupted, and some people fell into the muddy water and knelt down to plead for help.

When they were captured, they still had a few belongings, and in the camp, the Jurchens would provide a little food every day, but when they were driven out, they had nothing on them. In the rain, some of them were sick, there was no medicine and no next meal, and all the sick people – even if it was just a small cold – would die within a few days, gradually, under the watchful eye of their loved ones.

The king of the true pearl, Wanyan Sheye, came up from the other end of the hill with his retinue, he was the eldest son of Wanyan Zonghan, and he went out with Muhan since he was a child. When the Jurchens destroyed Liao, he was more than ten years old and had not yet emerged, and when he reached the second battle of Bianliang, the twenty-seven-year-old Wanyan Shiyema and his younger brother Wanyan Xiebao, the king of Baoshan, were already generals in the army.

In another period of history, when Jin destroyed the Jingkang shame of the Northern Song Dynasty, Song Huizong was arrested in the Jurchen camp and tried to intercede with Wanyan Zongwang, Zongwang took the opportunity to propose marriage for Wanyan Xiebao, the son of Sticky Han, and asked Song Huizong to marry his thirteenth daughter Huifu Emperor Ji to Xianbao as a concubine, and Huizong agreed.

Soon after, the Jingkang Revolution intensified, the royal family in Beijing, the ministers' wives and concubines, and children were all reduced to slaves and prostitutes, and the second emperor of Huiqin and the queen princess all lived a slave life in the Jin country, which was inferior to pigs and dogs, and only this Huifu Emperor Ji named Zhuzhu became the only concubine of the Jurchens to marry back. This became an excellent template for the domineering general Wen in later generations, and some stories from the perspective of the female harem were born, but at that time, it is difficult to determine whether the only concubine who married back had a better life and situation than his parents and sisters.

In any case, in this world, more than ten years have passed since the shame of Jingping, and although the two brothers Zhenzhu and Baoshan, who are now in their thirties, are not as famous as veterans such as Yinshuke and Pullaway, they are already the mainstay of the generals of the Jin Kingdom. This time, the Western Route Army went south, pointing to the southwest, and the two brothers also followed their father's side. This may also be the last time the Jurchen Western Courtyard has arrived so completely, which is enough to show their seriousness about this expedition.

"It's hard to see these landscapes in the Northland for a long time. Father, son is coming. As he spoke, he turned over and dismounted to salute Zong Han, Zong Han glanced at him and raised his hand: "How many days does it take to prepare for the car?" ”

"If it is completely ready, as my father and uncles have shown, it will take half a month."

"Okay." Zong Han nodded, and then looked ahead, "Although Sichuan and Shu are mountainous, but after this area, there will be fertile plains, which are blessed. The Han land is vast, the scenery is also beautiful, if the god of grain is here, maybe you have the same sigh, but after this war, I am afraid that the god of grain and I will not come here again, you and Baoshan, when there is a day of re-performance. I only hope that by then, my Jurchen people will be strong and strong, and you will be worthy of this river and mountain. ”

Sheyama arched his hand: "Remember my father's teachings." However, what the son said just now did not mean the mountains in front of him, but the people below. The southerners are short and frail, mean-minded, gentle and frugal, but in fact they are all timid and afraid. My son thought to himself, such a scene is the greatest exhortation to my Jurchen. ”

Sheyama's words were a little arrogant before, and Zong Han looked around a little, and only then nodded when he said that. Among the Jurchens, Wanyan Zonghan has always been the most resolute and powerful main battle faction, and his pioneering and progressive attitude has actually run through the rise of the Jurchens.

At that time, the Jurchen forces were still weak and oppressed, and the team of only more than 2,000 people under Ah Guda was quite hesitant to rebel, but Wanyan Zonghan strengthened his determination for Ah Guda. Later, the Jurchens rebelled against Liao, and it was Zong Han who persuaded Ah Gu to become the emperor, and he shouted from the heights, so that the hearts of the people were attached. Later, Emperor Tianzuo fled westward, and Zong Han didn't even wait for an order, and raised troops to pursue without authorization, and finally forced Emperor Tianzuo into a dead end, captured Lou Mur, and destroyed the Liao State......

On the road to the rise of the Jurchens, Zong Han's courage is one of the most prominent symbols of the Jurchen spirit. As the eldest son of Zonghan, Sheyema has always looked at his father's back, he has an arrogant and flamboyant temperament on the surface, but he is also cautious and prudent in actual operation, and in the general direction, the atmosphere of the entire Jurchen Western Route Army is the same. Although Wanyan Xiyin controlled the negotiation of the Sword Pavilion, in the Western Route Army, the generals such as Bali Su and Saba were never sloppy in their preparations for war. Mobilization for combat was going on every day, and there was a frenzy of frenzy floating in the barracks.

"After this battle, the south and the north of the world, as far as the eye can see, are all my Jurchen territories, and there will be no more big wars in the world! I, the Jurchens, have established immortal meritorious deeds, and we are waiting for the glory of our ancestors and the glory of eternity, right now. Ahead is the Sword Gate Pass, and we will step on the Sword Gate Pass! In front of us is the Black Flag Army, and we will sweep through the four roads of Pingchuan and kill through the south and north of the world——"

Yes, the conquest of the southwest, the rich and blessed lands of the south and the north of the world are basically included in the pockets of the Jurchens. In the fanatical mobilization and pre-war preparations, the veterans who have been on the battlefield for a long time naturally have their own measurements of the difficulty of the Jianmen Pass, but they will not say downward, the south and the north have fought for a lifetime, and before the final pass, it will not be deterred by its danger if it does not surrender.

For the expedition in the southwest, Zong Fu and Zong Bi are not enthusiastic, and they also feel that the whip is beyond their reach, and it is also the brave decision of Zong Han, Xi Yin and others, which will determine the future fate of the Jin Kingdom!

At the end of September and the beginning of October, news of humiliation came from the east.

Xi Yin mobilized more than 100,000 Han troops to encircle in the direction of Changsha, Chen Fan led no more than 8,000 troops to take the initiative to attack, the three Han armies totaling 140,000 troops have been defeated, this three consecutive battles or raids or use, even battles and victories, shocked the world, Chen Fan of the Chinese army rode lightly into battle, and for a time faintly played the momentum of thousands of troops and horses to avoid white robes.

At this time, there was still a main cavalry force in the Changsha battlefield in the east and did not participate in the battle, but the defeat of more than 100,000 Han troops was like a slap in the face of the Jurchens. When the news reached Zhaohua, the Jurchen generals felt humiliated and emotional, eager to immediately attack Jianmen Pass to find the field.

This hustle and bustle lasted for several days, and on the fifth day of October, Si Zhongxian switched off the gold cut.

Zong Han, Bali Su, Saba, Sheyema, Xianbao and other people were faintly relieved in their hearts.

On the day of entering the pass and being surrendered, it was cloudy and rainy, Wanyan Zonghan rode a high war horse to the front of Jianmen Pass, and saw the pale Han general in the rain, who was said to be quite loyal and famous, he got off the horse, looked at the other party for a moment, and then patted him on the shoulder and walked past the other party.

The sword gate has been trampled under his feet.

The road to defeating the Black Flag is half done.

On October 22, the eleventh year of Wu Jianshuo, in the early winter of the year when Zhou Yong died and the Wu Dynasty existed in name only, the Southwest Campaign started without suspense on the border of Lizhou and Zizhou south of Jianmen Pass. There were no temptations, no surprises, no accidents, no fancy things like lobbying Si Zhongxian to persuade him to surrender to Jianmen Pass, the two sides were just prepared, and then decisively and resolutely entered the battle......