C22

Chapter 22 - Imperial Jade Seal 2

It was as if the heavens were sighing at the tragedy of the Kaifeng City. It was already dawn, but the sky outside was extremely gloomy, and the snow was falling harder and harder!

In the side chamber, one could see that the snow outside was already a foot thick! This winter, it was the first time the snow had fallen so heavily!

Zhao Chen sat uneasily, but Li Gang was respectfully accompanying him at the side! Actually, Li Gang was also extremely anxious, he also hoped that Wang De would find the Imperial Jade Seal and return early.

"Is the Imperial Jade Seal really that important?" Zhao Chen looked outside and said.

"If Your Highness wants to take back the mountains and rivers, you must have this item!" Li Gang said.

"How could I even have the thought of taking back the mountains and rivers?" Zhao Chen secretly laughed bitterly in his heart!

To a seventeen year old boy, these six months of experience were like a scene from a movie! It was too difficult to get him into the movie all of a sudden!

"Li Gang, tell me, why would our Song Dynasty be bullied by the Jin Army to the point where royal father, mother and emperor were all taken away by the Jin Army? Why would a stately Song Dynasty like me be bullied by a group of barbarians walking out from the mountains, to the point of being exterminated? " Zhao Chen said.

"This …" Li Gang was silent for a moment, then said: "Your Highness, the reason why we are being bullied by the Jin Army is because our army is lacking!"

"Why not the army?" Zhao Chen said.

"Our military system is in chaos! Among the Imperial Guards, there were many who did not know how to fight or even know how to fight! Furthermore, all these years, the soldiers of the Imperial Guard have never been trained! " Li Gang said.

"Other than the Imperial Guards, we also have Western Army! Western Army has fought with the Western Xia for many years, so their fighting strength is not bad, why can't they do the same? " Zhao Chen said.

"Western Army is indeed better than the Imperial Guards, but not by much! Their military system was also very chaotic, and they rarely trained in the past! Also, the Western Army has become a private army! " Li Gang said.

"Private army?" Zhao Chen was a little doubtful.

"Yes!" There are countless families of generals in Western Army, and these families have been passed down from generation to generation! Western Army's grandfather was a general, her father was a general, and her son was also a general. And the soldiers in the army were passed down from generation to generation! It was just like how in the past, her grandfather was a soldier of the seed army and his grandson was a soldier of the seed army! This was the private army! seed army, Yao Army, Liu Jiajia, Home Breaker were all famous private armies of the Western Army! "In the past, there were some Yang family generals, who have been passed down from generation to generation, but now, the Yang family has declined and is not worth mentioning." Li Gang said.

Zhao Chen nodded his head, thinking that this was probably the ancient "warlord"!

"Western Army is entirely a private army, they only think about their own interests and never consider the interests of their country! They resisted the Western Xia because the Western Xia was in their north. The Western Xia had invaded their home, so they had no choice but to fight! Back then, they came down from the south to rob Fang La because the imperial government had promised them that after they took down Jiangnan, they would be allowed to rob and plunder in Jiangnan without restraint! The calamity that had befallen the Western Army back then had vastly surpassed the calamity that had befallen Fang La. This time, Zhe Keqiu and Zhe Yanzhi were defending the Yellow River, so why would the Jin Army only need one night of war to cause all of them to flee? On one hand, it s true that they are as cowardly as mice. On the other hand, Zhe Keqiu and his father wanted to save their own Home Breaker and did not want to let their own Home Breaker suffer any losses! " Li Gang said.

"So they just watched as the Jin Army crossed the Yellow River?" Zhao Chen said.

"Yes sir!"

"Damn thing!" Zhao Chen could not help but scold.

"Besides the lack of troops, there are also a lot of traitors in the court this is also a problem! Zhang Bangchang and Li Bangyan were the prime minister and deputy prime minister, and they actually helped the Nvzhen catch her monarch! Normally, these traitors only knew how to be corrupt! All of these are because our Song Dynasty is on the verge of being destroyed! " Li Gang said.

Zhao Chen nodded, he looked out the window, and saw the snow flying everywhere. In his heart, he was thinking, could it be that the Northern Song was truly destroyed because of all these?

"The army has no fighting power, and there are many corrupt officials in the imperial court. Actually, it was not only in the Northern Song, but also in the Southern Song. It was the same in the later dynasties … The Ming Dynasty was like this, and was exterminated by the Nvzhen later on … After the establishment of the Nvzhen, the Eight Flag Army became more and more powerless after being assimilated by the Han Chinese. The Qing Dynasty was a country filled with corrupt officials in the last years of its life, to the point where they were bullied and humiliated by the little countries of the East Ocean … Why did it become like this? The time of the Han and Tang Dynasties was definitely not like this! During the time of the Han and Tang Dynasties, everyone dared to fight, the poems written by the scholars were bold and powerful, the scholars dared to give up on their words, and the generals dared to say that "whoever offends my men, however far they go, will be killed"! In the last years of the Han Dynasty, the world had been divided into three kingdoms. However, the three kingdoms were also famous generals, and the armies of the three kingdoms were still extremely strong. The Emperor of the Central Plains was the "Sky Kobold" in the hearts of the foreign races. Even in the last years of the Tang Dynasty, when there were many territories in the world, the throttling of any strong town in the Central Plains could still dominate the foreign races and be invincible! The Huns and Chidans have been defeated by us, the Chinese. As for Chidans and the girls, we can only call us the Chinese. We can only call us the Chinese … And from the Song Dynasty on, the Chinese nation changed, the Chinese people lost their former valor, became abnormally weak, anyone could bite on China, the Chidans, the Western Xia, the Mongols, the allied armies of the eight nations, the Japanese, anyone could bully us, we could not defeat them, at most, they occupied us, we assimilated them … "I'm afraid there's a deeper reason for this, or it might be related to national culture and national character …" Zhao Chen secretly thought.

As for the specific national culture and national characteristics, Zhao Chen didn't even have a clue for a moment!

Just as Zhao Chen was looking out, he suddenly heard footsteps from outside! Zhao Chen and Li Gang were both shocked!

Zhao Chen anxiously looked into the distance, only to see over a dozen female True Soldiers walking past them, and a female True Soldier had already entered the palace!

The two hid their bodies and held their breath! After a long while, the female soldier's footsteps gradually disappeared. Only then did the two of them heave a sigh of relief.

"No, Nvzhen has already entered the palace. It will be even more difficult to escape now! Wang De doesn't know when he'll return, we have to leave first! " Zhao Chen said.

"But, we haven't gotten the Imperial Jade Seal yet!" Li Gang hesitated.

"If I die here, what's the point in obtaining the Imperial Jade Seal?" Zhao Chen said.

"This …" Li Gang was startled, he thought for a moment, and realised that it was true.

Zhao Chen took a deep breath. Although he knew that his martial arts were useless, he had to leave this place now!

Just as he was about to exit the side hall, a shadow suddenly flashed outside and a big sized man appeared in the center of the side hall.

The instant Wang De appeared just now, Zhao Chen's heart was beating wildly! When he saw that it was Wang De, he was overjoyed!

"You're finally back!" Zhao Chen said somewhat grudgingly.

"General Wang, did you get the Imperial Jade Seal back?" Li Gang asked nervously.

"Fortunately, I did not fail my mission and retrieved the Imperial Jade Seal from Zi Su palace!" Wang De said excitedly.

Originally, Wang De thought that the Imperial Jade Seal was in Funing Hall, so he headed towards there! Who would have known that the Imperial Jade Seal was not in the Funing Hall, but in the Zi Su hall! The Imperial Jade Seal was just a symbol. When the Song Dynasty Emperor gave the order, he did not use the Imperial Jade Seal, but rather used a person's seal! Therefore, the Emperor of the Song Dynasty did not place the Imperial Jade Seal in the Funing Hall, who usually dealt with the affairs of the court, but instead paid tribute to them in the Hall of Zi Su Palace! Fortunately the Zi Su Hall was close to the Funing Hall, so Wang De didn't linger for too long after he came out of the Funing Hall.

"This is great!" Li Gang said excitedly.

Immediately, Wang De took out a square box, it was about 10 cm in length and width, he placed it in front of Zhao Chen!

Zhao Chen curiously received the box! After receiving it, the first thing he felt was that it was extremely heavy!

He slowly opened the box and a beam of golden light shot into the sky! Zhao Chen was shocked, the box in his hand actually fell down! Fortunately, Wang De was by his side, so Wang De quickly caught the box.

"Your Highness, what happened?" Wang De said.

"I can see a golden light shooting up into the sky. I can barely keep my eyes open! Didn't you see that? " Zhao Chen said.

"Huh?" Wang De was in disbelief.

"The reason why Your Highness is able to see it is because Your Highness is the crown prince of a country. Of course, Your Highness is able to see the vast golden light emitted by the Imperial Jade Seal! This was a great fortune! There is hope for the revival of our Song Dynasty! " Li Gang said excitedly at the side.

Zhao Chen shook his head, he felt that it was getting weirder and weirder! Previously in the armory, he saw the Seven Star Dragon Abyss Sword emitting purple light. At that time, the old eunuch said that he and the Seven Star Dragon Abyss Sword were fated, and he also said that it was recorded in history that other people would see the Seven Star Dragon Abyss Sword emitting purple light! Now that he saw the Imperial Jade Seal emitting gold light, Li Gang actually said that it was a sign of fortune!

He felt that whether it was purple or golden light, these were not in accordance with common scientific knowledge! It was just an explanation of "fate" and "good omen" that made it even more ridiculous! He just couldn't figure out the way, and now was not the time to think about it, so he stopped thinking about it.

At this moment, the golden light had already disappeared, and Zhao Chen could finally have a good look at the Imperial Jade Seal!

The first feeling this Imperial Jade Seal gave him was that it was as green as blue, crystal clear and smooth, exceptionally beautiful. Looking at the Imperial Jade Seal, Zhao Chen couldn't help but think of the legend of He Shi! It was rumored that the people of Chu, Bi He, had dug up an "unpolished jade" from Jing Shan and gave it to King Chu Li. King Chu Li ordered the jade craftsmen of the palace to inspect it, and the jade craftsmen said that it was just an ordinary stone. The Martial King ascended the throne and went to meet the Martial King with his "unpolished jade." The Martial King then ordered the other jade craftsmen to inspect the jade craftsmen, who still called the jade craftsmen a stone. After crying for three days and three nights, the tears had dried up. What followed was blood, and her eyes had become blind! When King Wen learned of this, he sent a messenger to ask why Bian He was crying so bitterly. Bian He said that I was not crying because my feet had been cut off, but that it was the greatest sorrow in the world that I was being treated like a stone and as a precious jade covered in dust. The Wen King ordered his men to cut open this piece of unpolished jade and obtained a rare treasure, which was named the 'He Family Wall'!

Zhao Chen did not really know how to appreciate jade stones, but at the moment, he felt that the Imperial Jade Seal was extremely beautiful! It was just that there was a missing corner of the Imperial Jade Seal, and it had been replaced with gold! That year, Wang Mang had usurped the position of Emperor, and Wang Mang had asked the empress dowager of Han Dynasty for the Imperial Jade Seal. The empress dowager was enraged, and smashed the Imperial Jade Seal to the ground, thus she missed a corner, and used gold to make up for it! The craftsman who made up the corner of the Imperial Jade Seal must have been a famous craftsman in the world then. Although the corner of the Imperial Jade Seal was now gold, Zhao Chen could not feel its "lack of beauty", as if that corner was abnormally harmonious with the rest of the triangles, as if the Peace Wall was born like this.

The entire Imperial Jade Seal was exquisite in its elegance, revealing its classicality and solemnity! There were five dragons on the Imperial Jade Seal and it was exceptionally majestic. On its four sides were countless exquisite paintings of flowers, birds, fish and insects, the world, the nine prefectures, the world ruled by saints, and the three emperors and five emperors … These pictures were lifelike, and looking at the Imperial Jade Seal, Zhao Chen actually had a feeling as if he had entered into a picture, it could be seen how amazing the carving technique was! Only after a long while did he regain his senses and looked down at the Imperial Jade Seal again.

Beneath the Imperial Jade Seal, there were eight words carved on the ground. "Accepting orders from the heavens, that is, life forever". These eight words were carved from the seal of a bird! Zhao Chen did not recognize the talisman, but he had studied history, so even if he did not recognize the contents, he knew what it was.

"This is the Imperial Jade Seal!" Zhao Chen secretly thought.

"The Imperial Jade Seal did not lose, which proves that our Song Dynasty has not run out of energy! The reason why Your Highness obtained this Imperial Jade Seal is because your destiny is here, it represents the orthodoxy of the world! The heavens will not kill my Song Dynasty! " Li Gang said excitedly once again.

"Let's go, we have to leave this place immediately!" Zhao Chen said.