"So, you're all originally from Liaodong as famine refugees?"

As dusk settled, in a field at the very edge of the Mingdao Palace complex, beside a bonfire on the stubble of a recently harvested field, Zhao Guan'jia casually set down his ceramic bowl, wiped his mouth with a lack of decorum, and continued his relentless questioning.

"Reporting to Guan'jia..."

"Just call me 'Dajia,' and sit while you speak." One of the greatest advantages of a time-traveler is their ability to be unpretentious.

"Reporting to Dajia," the burly man, usually known for his eloquence, sat back down on his stool, seemingly at a loss for words, making his speech falter. "We weren't originally famine refugees, but ordinary families from Liaodong... like me, I used to be a horse trader... But when the Jurchen emperor, Wanyan Aguda, rose up to fight the Khitan emperor, the Khitan emperor levied too much money and grain, making it impossible to make a living in Liaodong, which turned us into famine refugees. Later, when the Khitans couldn't defeat the Jurchens, they recruited us Han Chinese refugees in Liaodong, telling us that our lack of livelihood was all the Jurchens' fault, so they called us the 'Grievance Army.' Later, a Xi person became emperor and renamed us the 'Ever-Victorious Army.' The eight hundred cavalrymen who have come with the Xingzai are all veterans from the Yanzhou Camp of the original Grievance Army's eight camps..."

"Where is Yanzhou?" Zhao Jiu asked, his curiosity piqued.

"Reporting to Dajia, the formal name for our Yanzhou isn't actually Yanzhou, but Yanyuanzhou, located near Liaoyang Prefecture in the former Liao Dynasty's Dongjing Circuit, bordering the sea to the south..." another man couldn't help but interject.

So, they're from Yingkou!

Zhao Guan'jia, sitting there in his eye-catching round-necked red robe, suddenly understood, nodding repeatedly and even slapping his thigh in realization.

As Zhao Guan'jia continued to nod, his mind raced with thoughts... Firstly, he had actually been to Yingkou in his previous life, which triggered a bout of homesickness; Secondly, he understood perfectly that this was a 'Beggar Army' with no attachments or ties! Moreover, they were among the few skilled cavalrymen in the Xingzai!

So, naturally, he began to consider things.

On the other side, the veterans from Yingkou, seeing the young Zhao Guan'jia deep in thought, assumed he was merely a former prince unfamiliar with the affairs of the court, and thus confused as to why they were here... not daring to stop, they could only continue explaining their origins clearly.

It turned out that after this army was formed, their camp commander was named Liu Yan, and the general of the Grievance Army, or the Ever-Victorious Army, was the famous Guo Yaoshi.

Guo Yaoshi was one of the most legendary figures in the world at that time... not because of his unparalleled martial arts or outstanding military strategy, but because he, as a remnant of the Khitans, repeatedly betrayed both sides on the Song-Jin border. He first surrendered to the Great Song, but after witnessing the internal weakness of the Song, he surrendered to the Jin army and directly suggested to the Jin Grand Marshal and Second Prince, Wanyan Wulibu, to strike straight at Bianliang, effectively facilitating the Jin army's southward invasion and the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty.

In other words, this man was one of the instigators of the Jingkang Incident.

However, Liu Yan, the commander of the Yanzhou Camp in the Ever-Victorious Army, which was largely composed of Han Chinese from Liaodong, was a genuine Song Chinese, apparently a scholar from the south, who had somehow ended up in the Liao Dynasty many years ago, with some hidden reason... So, when Guo Yaoshi betrayed the Song, most of the Ever-Victorious Army followed him back north, but this man led the Yanzhou Camp and remained with the Great Song.

In response, Emperor Huizong, to commend the loyalty of this unit, specially bestowed a name, calling them the Red Heart Brigade!

Later, this unit went through many twists and turns, but always remained steadfast in its loyalty, and during the Jingkang Incident, it was one of the few units that remained active on the front lines against the Jin, while still maintaining its structure and combat strength after the war.

The more Zhao Jiu heard, the more ideas he had, and he even felt fortunate... He knew that his coming here was thirty percent curiosity and seventy percent to avoid Yang Yizhong, but he didn't expect to reap such a great reward!

And where did that reward lie?

Precisely in the fact that this unit came from Liaodong!

You see, throughout history, in China and abroad, when the internal situation is complex, and the position of the monarch and generals is unstable, they often use foreign troops as their personal guards, because they have no vested interests internally. As long as the monarch and generals can guarantee their treatment, these foreign troops are the most reliable.

For example, around this time in the Western world, on the religious divide, many small lords' guards were precisely from the opposing side... North African Moorish warlords favored Christian guards; Spanish nobles favored North African guards, roughly the same principle.

Of course, Zhao Jiu wasn't a great history buff.

On the contrary, his historical knowledge mostly came from nine years of compulsory education and some basic science books, at most supplemented by some high-end online novels like "Qin Dynasty Bureaucrat," and low-end games like Total War, so he didn't know these strange things.

However, the principles of the world are the same, and Zhao Jiu just happened to be in a situation where he had a need.

With this in mind, Zhao Jiu began to plan how to win over this unit, so he could sleep soundly.

Just as Zhao Guan'jia was beginning to consider things, the veterans from Yingkou, as they spoke more and more freely, became more and more detailed, and the amount of information increased, they mentioned a name that Zhao Jiu was particularly concerned about, which made him think of another person!

"Back in Dongjing, we followed Camp Commander Liu under Grand Commandant Liu, but we didn't expect Grand Commandant Liu's long-legged habit to remain unchanged after all these years, from the Gaoliang River to Dongjing, he still ran away as soon as the fighting started! We were just a small camp, we really couldn't do anything, we could only be swept along by his tens of thousands of Guanxi soldiers. Before we could even get our footing, we heard that Grand Commandant Liu had run too fast, and ended up running headfirst into the Jin people at Guier Temple, and was killed directly, and then ten thousand Western soldiers collapsed in confusion..."

"At that time, many scoundrels took the opportunity to run away, but we didn't run. But of the three thousand men, only one thousand remained. We asked Camp Commander Liu where to go? Camp Commander Liu said that Dongjing was out of the question, but we had all received the grace of the Great Song, and we couldn't not repay it. It just so happened that you, Guan'jia, were the Grand Marshal of Troops and Horses in Hebei, so we came to find you."

"As a result, as soon as we crossed the river, we encountered Vice Grand Marshal Zong, who had received your decree, Guan'jia, to rescue the two emperors, so we followed Vice Grand Marshal Zong to rescue the two emperors..."

"That Vice Grand Marshal Zong was truly a good man, so old, yet he was a Jinshi graduate, but like our Camp Commander Liu, he had no scholar's airs at all. Following him was the most pleasant period of time we had in recent years, but it was a pity that he didn't know how to fight... The tens of thousands of elite soldiers that you, Guan'jia, painstakingly gathered were all annihilated as soon as they went up. There was nothing we could do, we desperately protected Vice Grand Marshal Zong and escaped, but at this time, there were no troops in Hebei at all, and you, Guan'jia, had bypassed Shandong and gone to Nanjing (Shangqiu). We counted, and there were only eight hundred of us left, so we could only follow Vice Grand Marshal Zong across the river to Nanjing, and that's how we caught up with you, Guan'jia..."

"Brothers... old brothers, you've really worked hard!" The sky was completely dark, and Zhao Guan'jia, snapping back to reality, exclaimed with emotion.

"We wouldn't dare call ourselves 'brothers' in front of Guan'jia!" Several of the veterans from Yingkou, sitting closest, stood up in fright.

"Why can't you call me that?" Zhao Jiu smiled in response, and used the gossip he had heard from Consort Pan these past few days. "You've been in Liaodong for too long and don't understand the customs of the Central Plains. From the imperial family to the street workers, everyone in the Central Plains and Shandong casually calls each other 'brother'... In Dongjing, even though I was a prince, everyone in the mansion called me 'Ninth Brother,' and you and I can call a pear vendor on the street 'Little Brother.'"

The cavalrymen then settled down again.

"Speaking of which," Zhao Jiu suddenly changed the subject, with a look of anticipation. "You were with Vice Grand Marshal Zong in Hebei for a long time, did you ever recognize a man named Yue Fei?"

However, the Red Heart Brigade soldiers looked at each other, and none of them knew.

"May I ask, Guan'jia, who is this Yue Fei, that Guan'jia remembers him so fondly?" The man who had been speaking eloquently before asked boldly.

"Yue Fei isn't anyone special..." Zhao Jiu was visibly dejected. "Yue Fei is just that Yue Fei, he seems to be from Hebei, his courtesy name is Pengju, he fought alongside Zong Ze, that is, the Vice Grand Marshal Zong you mentioned..."

The Red Heart Brigade soldiers looked at each other again, shaking their heads in unison.

Zhao Jiu was completely helpless.

However, seeing Zhao Guan'jia's mood was low, and that he might leave at any moment, and because the conversation throughout the night had made many people less restrained, one of them suddenly took the initiative to ask:

"Guan'jia, I heard people say that our sudden stop this time isn't because there are bandits ahead, but because you don't want to go south anymore, is that right?"

"Oh..." Zhao Jiu was momentarily dazed, and almost blurted out. "Well, I do have that intention, but staying here, I really don't know how to resist the Jin soldiers who could come at any time, so I might have to go to Yangzhou."

The surrounding soldiers' expressions changed slightly, but they didn't say much.

At this time, Zhao Jiu also realized that he seemed to have misspoke, and wanted to change the subject, but before he could speak, a familiar voice suddenly rang out from the shadows behind him:

"Guan'jia, your subject is here on order to deliver Consort Pan's ice cream."

Zhao Jiu stood up in surprise and turned around, only to find that Yang Yizhong had been standing behind him for who knows how long, holding a bowl of milk pudding or something similar in both hands, in a respectful posture.