Valley rains are like silk and dust, in boiling pot beeswax floats when savoring fresh brew.
Peony buds break, cherries ripen, not yet letting fallen petals diminish spring's hue.

Late March, the cusp of spring and summer, marks the Grain Rain season. In the Jianghan region, a round of rainfall suddenly aligns with the time, starting its gradual northward advance from the south. This allows Fan Qiong and Fan Bao Chen, entrenched in the Xiangzhou area and officially labeled 'rebels' a few days prior, to finally set aside some of their previous trepidation and manage to get half a good night's sleep.

The reason it's called half a night's sleep is that amidst the continuous patter of rain, a bit of thunder gradually mingled in. Though not ear-splitting, it was enough to jolt Fan Qiong, who was sleeping in his armor, awake. Upon waking, he was met with endless bewilderment and emptiness, unable to recall a past event that kept repeating in his dream. It was precisely that event that made his heart race, abruptly waking him and leaving him lost in agonizing thought.

Objectively speaking, Fan Qiong, currently lying on the couch in the Xiangzhou prefectural government's back chamber, gazing thoughtfully at the rain streaks outside the window, couldn't understand how he had suddenly acted in such a manner.

It must be known that during the Jingkang Incident, he led tens of thousands of troops from Jingdong, being the first among the King-Protecting army to reach the gates of Tokyo. At the time, he was regarded as a hero, and that King-Protecting action did indeed force the Jin to retreat, supposedly exchanging the three towns of Taiyuan for the Jin's withdrawal...

Of course, what immediately followed was the total collapse of the Taiyuan battle, the Jin's return, and the death and utter demoralization of countless national generals.

Logically, if there were any turning point, any complete disappointment with the Great Song, it should have been something that happened during this period.

But at this moment, Fan Qiong lay in bed, watching the rain, carefully recalling, and found that he didn't seem to have completely wavered during that stage like others did, because immediately afterward, he was appointed as the Capital's Four Walls Patrol Commissioner, becoming the de facto commander of the capital's defense. And this appointment was enough to make him, who still held tens of thousands of elite troops, ecstatic... his strength undiminished, promoted and rich, and becoming the new Emperor's only military reliance, with a bright future ahead, so how could he waver?

In fact, if he remembered correctly, after this incident, he had repeatedly sought opportunities in the second siege, taking the initiative to attack, not fearing to fight the Jin at all, and no matter how many soldiers died, how many times he was defeated by the Jin cavalry, he never lost heart.

Back then, dying could get him a place in the history books, right?

However, just as he thought of this, Fan Qiong suddenly discovered a memory he wanted to avoid as much as possible but couldn't get past:

It was when the Jin took advantage of the winter ice to fiercely attack Xuanhua Gate, that he personally led his most elite thousand soldiers, planning to do the opposite, also stepping on the winter ice to cross the river and attack the Jin from behind. But what happened? The Jin walked back and forth, the river ice solid as usual, but when the Song army stepped on it, the ice directly cracked from the middle of the formation, and five hundred of the thousand men were instantly gone.

It seemed that from that moment on, the entire city defense army lost its last shred of courage, and Fan Bao Chen also decided in his heart that the Great Song's Mandate of Heaven was lost, and began to abandon himself, and had a strange expectation for the future situation of the Great Song... otherwise, later he wouldn't have regarded Zhang Bangchang as a man with the Mandate of Heaven, and then made those actions that made him doomed forever!

What 'not fighting against the Jin', what 'arrogance and domineering', the clear imperial edict issued by the Nanyang Emperor a few days ago was all false. Fan Qiong had long determined the reason why the Nanyang Zhao Emperor wanted to kill him – after Emperor Yuanzong (Song Qinzong) was detained by the Jin, he was assigned by the Jin to publicly escort the Retired Emperor and civil and military officials, imperial concubines, and members of the imperial family out of the city, and suppressed the blocking common people along the way!

This matter, when he held heavy troops while the temporary capital had no soldiers at the time, was a promise made by the Emperor and Li Gang together to not pursue past offenses, but now that the situation had improved, the Emperor actually withstood this wave of Jin's sweep, and simply went back on his word and was going to deal with him.

However, now that things have come to this, thinking about these things is superfluous. Fan Qiong can only sigh that he didn't see that the Nanyang Emperor had such courage and strength, and could maintain the situation to this day, so that he secretly hated that he didn't stay in the north and surrender to the Jin... It can only be said that this Emperor is so patient and so ruthless, compared to the two Sages in Tokyo back then, he doesn't seem like a Zhao!

"Father!"

A clear shout suddenly rang out, causing Fan Qiong to be startled, and then directly gripped the handle of the sword in his hand. Only when he saw that it was his own daughter, Xiu Niang, walking in with an oil lamp, did he relax.

"Father, there are too many mosquitoes, would you like to burn some realgar duckweed (a Song dynasty version of mosquito coils, made of realgar and dried duckweed)?" Sixteen-year-old Fan Xiu Niang, seeing her father raise his sword, was startled, but still carefully walked over to ask.

"No need for that." Fan Qiong repeatedly shook his head. "Burning too much of that stuff makes people dizzy. Now is a critical time, so don't light that. Don't light it for me without permission..."

"Yes." Fan Xiu Niang put down the oil lamp and carefully responded.

"What time is it?" Fan Qiong looked at the oil lamp, and only now did he come back to his senses from his previous dream.

"It's just past half of the afternoon, but the clouds outside are too thick, so it's dark." Fan Xiu Niang whispered, then came closer and continued to ask. "Father, it's been three days, do you want to take off your armor and change into clean clothes? I can also take the opportunity to wipe down the armor for you?"

Under the lamplight, Fan Qiong, whose body almost smelled sour and seemed to have a trace of blood, looked at his daughter's pure black eyes, was slightly stunned, and almost agreed.

But in the end, he chose to shake his head repeatedly: "Not just the Emperor from Nanyang, there are also people in the city who want to kill our family. Your father can't relax for a moment!"

Fan Xiu Niang lowered her head and said nothing, but turned back and went out, and soon brought a basin of hot water and a face towel, lowered her head to wring it out, preparing to wipe her father's face and neck.

Fan Qiong, looking at his daughter's white forehead and clean temples as she leaned over, also sighed in his heart, thinking that back in the north, he looked down on the Zhao Emperor for searching everywhere for laundry maids. But when that Emperor showed his old habits in Nanyang a few days ago, he, who had already felt a great disaster coming, had the thought of sending his daughter over to exchange for a life, but after only a little hesitation, he wasted the last chance.

"Father?" After a moment, Fan Xiu Niang, still holding the hot towel, carefully broke the silence.

Fan Qiong came back to his senses again, but took the hot towel and wiped himself, and sighed as he wiped.

"Father." Fan Xiu Niang looked at her father and couldn't help but repeat the question that was destined to have the same answer. "The Emperor is determined to kill Father, what should we do?"

"Won't die!" Fan Qiong finished wiping his face, threw the gray face towel into the basin, and repeated the answer that he had said countless times. "As long as we can hold on for half a year, the Jin will definitely send a large army to Nanyang, and then your father will turn from bad luck to good!"

Fan Xiu Niang wrung out the hot towel again, her expression hesitant, seeming to want to say something but stopping.

"What else do you want to say?" Fan Qiong gripped his saber, his eyes slightly narrowed. "Could it be that those concubines in the backyard have instigated you to persuade me to plead guilty? Have you forgotten how the last one died?!"

Hearing the last sentence, Fan Xiu Niang, remembering the scene a few days ago, was instinctively startled, and her face turned pale, so she quickly grabbed the towel and shook her head repeatedly: "What Lady Zhang said is true, but she didn't let me persuade Father to surrender to Nanyang, but she heard that the Emperor is lustful, and Father wanted to dedicate his daughter a few days ago... I want to say that I am willing to share Father's worries."

Fan Qiong's expression softened, but he shook his head again: "It's too late!"

After saying that, this man, who was once a loyal subject of the Great Song and now didn't know what he was, directly supported himself with his saber and got up, not even looking at his daughter, and went out on his own.

And not to mention how Fan Xiu Niang worried about her father, only to say that Fan Qiong left the back chamber and turned into the front courtyard along the corridor, but met several trusted personal soldiers waiting here.

"How is it?" Fan Qiong came to the steps, and without the forced euphemism in front of his daughter, he sternly questioned.

In the rain, the leader was about to kneel directly to report: "Grand Commandant, to let Grand Commandant know, the city walls are too wide, and we have too few men. Today, we happened to encounter a squad leader of the Left Army leading a whole team of people to escape, but we only had time to capture seven or eight people!"

"Waste!"

Fan Qiong was temporarily exasperated and shouted curses, even wanting to draw his sword and slash randomly, but as soon as he broke out, he found that a sore had grown in his mouth at some point. It was okay to speak softly and gently with his daughter before, but at this time, a forceful curse tore the wound, causing him unbearable pain.

However, since he didn't reach for his sword, he still supported his cheek and continued to curse: "Left Army Commander Han Li is a waste, actually letting a whole team of people have dissent, I see that he also has dissent! And you are also waste, how did you only catch seven or eight people, could it be that you also have divided loyalties?!"

The soldiers were helpless and could only look at each other, kneeling and bowing their heads in the rain.

Fan Qiong cursed for a while, only feeling that the pain in his mouth was really severe. In the end, he could only support his cheek and sit withered under the corridor, and it took a long time to recover his strength. But at this time, the fear, fear, anger, and violence in his heart were fundamentally difficult to calm, and even became more intense.

"Are they all captured alive?" After a moment, Fan Bao Chen, who seemed to have calmed down, suddenly spoke.

"Naturally." The lieutenant, soaked in the rain, carefully responded.

"Then pass the order, let all military officers above the rank of commander in the army, and all the adjutants directly under my Central Army, come to the state government hall!" Fan Qiong's eyes were bloodshot, but his tone was unexpectedly light. "As before, I want to publicly execute them, and let them all come to observe the execution!"

The soldiers looked at each other, and had nothing to say, but quickly fled out into the rain.

Soon, in Xiangyang City, which had already been squeezed into a large military camp, Fan Qiong's most core ten thousand troops, the Left Army Commander Han Li's troops, the Right Army Commander Wang Jun's troops, and the various parts of the direct Central Army, all received the message... but they were all accustomed to it, because this kind of thing had been going on for three days.

The only thing to say is that Left Army Commander Han Li will inevitably have to worry a little more this time.

Relatively speaking, Right Army Commander Wang Jun, this former confidant of Fan Qiong whose two front teeth were shot off by the Jin during the Jingkang Incident, was naturally a little more casual.

This famous harelip commander, after receiving the order, as always, had people stuff silver and wine for the soldiers, before taking a few personal soldiers to the backyard of his residence to change clothes... According to Fan Qiong's rules these days, everyone can bring guards to see him at the state government, but except for his soldiers, no one is allowed to wear armor.

"Scholar Lin!"

Entering a tightly guarded, brightly lit place in the back chamber, the harelip Wang Jun actually immediately prostrated himself on the ground. "Scholar Lin, this humble general takes the liberty of asking the Scholar to change into coarse cloth clothes and accompany me to the state government..."

The person who was reading a book on the couch, naturally was the Scholar Lin, who was determined to do something for the Emperor. Hearing this, he glanced casually at the ground and frowned:

"Commander Wang, the Emperor's edict only came six days ago, but five days ago you let your concubine's father find Li Gong outside the city, asking him to connect with someone from Nanyang Prefecture. And I am a dignified Jade Hall Scholar, a so-called confidant of the Emperor, a minister of the inner court, only because I see that you are one of the best generals under Fan Qiong, did I risk coming to see you. But you have been evasive for three consecutive days. Do you think Fan Qiong still has a chance of survival now? Can you really continue to be so wishy-washy?"

"Scholar!" Wang Jun kowtowed again, but looked up and pleaded earnestly with his harelip. "I'm really not indecisive. I also know that Grand Commandant Fan will probably not have a good ending this time, but Grand Commandant Fan really has the grace of knowing me... Back in Tokyo during the Jingkang years, I was just a mere vice commander when my front teeth were shot off. In two years, I became a commander, in charge of the three thousand most elite soldiers... How can I bring myself to do it at this time?"

Scholar Lin sneered: "Then why are you still kneeling here and talking to me? Wouldn't it be better to tie me up and give me to your Grand Commandant Fan to repay his kindness?"

Wang Jun kowtowed again: "Isn't this because I also know loyalty? Loyalty to the Emperor, righteousness to the Grand Commandant, this is exactly the saying in the *jianghu* that loyalty and righteousness are difficult to have both. Back then, when I was in Dongping Prefecture, with Zhang Rong, Grand Commandant Zhang..."

"If you hadn't said the name Zhang Rong, how could I have come into the city with you?!" Scholar Lin threw down the book, finally furious. "What makes you think you can let me come to see you?! Zhang Rong is supposed to be the Dongping Prefecture Pacification Commissioner. What are you, fooling me here repeatedly?!"

"Scholar!" Wang Jun kowtowed again, but still spoke with a lisp. "I also know that no one believes this kind of nonsense, but I really have difficulties... And today I invite you, old man, to go to the state government with me, just to let you see my difficulties with your own eyes!"

Scholar Lin, seeing that the other party was sincere, hesitated again.

"Scholar, you old man, rest assured, the military officers in my army are all from Jingdong, and no one below Grand Commandant Fan knows you." Wang Jun quickly pressed on while the iron was hot. "And today it's raining non-stop, and the sky is dark, it's just like night. Scholar, please bear with it, put some yellow powder on your face, pretend to be my attendant and go over together, there is absolutely no danger..."

Scholar Lin had been strung along by Wang Jun for several days, in what amounted to house arrest. He was also annoyed and irritable and wanted to see the situation there so he could make the right diagnosis. After a moment's hesitation, he slowly nodded.

In this way, Scholar Lin, according to Wang Jun's arrangement, wore a set of inconspicuous clothes, and put yellow powder on his face, and finally took advantage of the non-stop rain and heavy clouds to go to the state government of Xiangyang City.

Of course, with Wang Jun, a person who ranked among the top three in the city, in front, the journey was naturally smooth. And after arriving there, Scholar Lin also understood the reason for this gathering from the conversations of these people, which was that since Fan Qiong ordered the city to be closed three days ago, for three consecutive days, he had been publicly executing those who escaped. And today it was raining, so he was actually going to kill people in the government hall.

At this time, Scholar Lin, seeing that these military officers under Fan Qiong had all arrived here, also understood Wang Jun's 'good intentions', and knew that this harelip man wanted to tell him that Zhao Emperor's name was useful, everyone understood the big picture, but under Fan Qiong's years of accumulated power, and using such barbaric means, so for a time no one dared to stand out.

Besides that, he must also want to use killing to intimidate this scholar of his.

However, to be fair, although he, Lin Jing Mo, had been ridiculed by Han Shizhong as a 'sissy', that was because he was not good at riding a horse, and had nothing to do with his other courage. Moreover, he himself had been on the battlefield, so why would he fear the so-called killing and execution?

And just as Scholar Lin was thinking wildly, while a group of military officers dressed in silk clothes were exchanging dirty words with each other in the hall, hearing a harsh sound of armor rubbing came from behind, the people in the hall instantly panicked and turned pale, and then quickly sat down in their respective seats.

However, Wang Jun was a well-behaved person after all, and with a slight gesture, three other attendants shielded Scholar Lin behind him, allowing the latter to calmly lean against the wall and hide in the shadows.

On the other side, Fan Qiong, wearing armor and covering his cheek, came up, without saying a word, but signaled the soldiers to act quickly. And as the soldiers brought some items and escapees into the hall and began to prepare, Han Li, Wang Jun and the others all became suspicious again.

Because, under everyone's gaze, the soldiers were not simply tying up the escapees, but first digging up the bluestone bricks in the hall, and then pouring water and digging the soil, directly firmly wedging a ten-foot-long wooden stake into the ground, and then placing fire basins on all sides. Only then did they tie one of the fleeing soldiers on... This posture, no matter how you looked at it, didn't seem like a proper beheading, right?

Could it be that he was going to dig out hearts and lungs to make a hangover soup?!

"Beheading all day long, how boring!" Amidst the hall's doubts, Fan Qiong suddenly opened his mouth, covering his cheek. "Today it's raining, so let's change things up! The rest, behead them first!"

As Fan Qiong spoke, several escapees who had not been put on the stake were instantly held down by fully armed soldiers, and were successively beheaded by the soldiers amidst cursing and struggling, and Scholar Lin was indeed not frightened.

"The last one is the fattest..." After the others were killed, the escapee who was tied up cursed a few times and then trembled incontinently, to the point of gradually becoming silent. Amidst the silence in the hall, Fan Qiong finally supported his cheek and continued casually in the rain. "Strip him of his skin!"

As soon as the words came out, not to mention Scholar Lin, even Han Li and the other military officers in the hall felt cold all over.

ps: Can't sleep, tonight's, sent out in advance, good night everyone.