The Iron-Blooded Emperor of Song

In the Battle of Haoshuichuan, the Song army suffered a crushing defeat. General Ren Fu died for the country, and more than ten thousand sons and brothers were buried in the valleys of Western Xia. In the court of Bianjing, the civil officials knelt and wept tears of blood, crying out in unison for "peace negotiations." But the "Zhao Zhen" sitting on the dragon throne was no longer the benevolent ruler who only knew how to cry. He was Li Cunxu—the Prince of Jin from the chaotic Five Dynasties era, who destroyed Yan and shattered Liang and fought across the Central Plains. After dying at the hands of a favored concubine and a court entertainer, his soul crossed into the body of the most "benevolent" emperor of the Northern Song. Two sets of memories merged into one body with the bloodline of a god of war. He saw clearly the true cause of the defeat at Haoshuichuan: it was not that the people of Song could not fight, but that the man sitting in this chair had written the word "fear" before the word "war." "We will not negotiate for peace." Those four words nailed shut the retreat of the entire court's peace faction. He plucked Di Qing from the ranks of common soldiers, broke the ancestral family laws to establish the three border policies of "no ceding land, no paying indemnities, no submitting as vassal"; he personally led a campaign, pushing the dragon banner to the walls of Weizhou, rekindling the dying morale of the border army. And thousands of miles away in Xiazhou, the newly enthroned Yuanhao received the scout report and for the first time showed a grave expression: "A man who can say no to peace when the whole court begs for peace—it's not that his temper has changed, it's that his bones have changed." A ruler of a fallen kingdom, his soul crossed into a weak emperor. With iron-blooded means, he rewrote the word "benevolence" to be hard. In this life, the Great Song will not negotiate for peace—only fight. — Description from novelcodex.orgFull novel: The Iron-Blooded Emperor of Song — read the rest free on N​o⁠v​e⁠l​C⁠o​d⁠e​x⁠.​o⁠r​g⁠