Chen Shuyuan gazed at the Golden Imperial Plaque upon the central beam and heaved a long, weary sigh. This plaque served as a constant reminder that although the Song Dynasty flourished in economic and cultural opulence, the Empire had long neglected its military might and lacked the prowess for war.
The clear evidence of this weakness lay in the relentless harassment of the northern borders by tribes from beyond the passes—most notably the Liao Empire (辽) of the Khitan (Qidan : 契丹) hordes. These "barbarians" were renowned for their ferocity and ruthlessness in battle; they frequently dispatched military expeditions to plunder, murder, and sow chaos while annexing the territories of the Song..
These "savages" began their incursions during the reign of the founder, Emperor Song Taizu ((宋太祖) Zhao Kuangyin (赵匡胤), and continued unceasingly thereafter. Time and again, the Song armies suffered setbacks and were forced into submission, enduring continuous exploitation. By the reign of the second sovereign, Emperor Song Taizong (宋太宗) Zhao Guangyi (赵光义), the two nations struck a peace accord known as the Chanyuan Treaty (澶渊之盟). Under its terms, the Song were compelled to deliver an annual tribute of gold and silk to the Liao in exchange for a cessation of hostilities. To the gallant heroes of the Central Plains (Zhongyuan), this treaty was viewed as a burning shame and a grave disgrace.
Yet, even after this accord, while large-scale conflicts were averted, the borderlands remained besieged by raids and the kidnapping of citizens. These atrocities constantly threw the common folk into a state of panic and disorder. Beyond the Liao in the North, the Western Xia (西夏) also launched periodic invasions from the West. This era of the Song Dynasty was a season in which the Han people were pitiably oppressed and humiliated by foreign barbarian forces.
Chen Shuyuan himself truly understood the deep-seated anguish caused by these foreign invasions. He was reduced to a destitute and wandering orphan before his tenth year, for his father had been conscripted by the authorities as a soldier to meet the onslaught of the Liao armies—a journey from which he was fated never to return to his ancestral hearth.
Chen Qingyi (陈欣怡), the father of Chen Shuyuan, was merely a destitute scholar—an unaccomplished student who had repeatedly tasted the bitterness of failure in the Imperial Examinations. Despite immersing himself in the Classics and reading multitudes of books for many years, he lacked both the profound knowledge to pass and the influential connections or wealth to secure an official rank. Thus, his life was devoid of success; he eked out a meager existence by writing for hire—drafting legal complaints and correspondence—and selling his calligraphy and paintings in the marketplace to nourish himself and his family from one sun to the next.
In matters of scholarship and attaining a post as an Imperial Literatus, he was of no use; however, regarding the strength of his heart and the spirit of battle, one could say he was even more lacking! This failed scholar possessed neither the heart nor the vigor to slaughter even a single fowl with his own hands! When his wife was with child, he devoted himself to his brushwork to earn enough to purchase a well-fattened chicken, yet he could not bring himself to slit its throat or pluck its feathers to prepare a broth; ultimately, he was compelled to hire Grandmother Tao (陶), an elderly neighbor, to perform the deed for him.
Therefore, for a man like Chen Qingyi to be dispatched to the battlefield to meet the onslaught of the Liao armies was an arrangement most inappropriate. Yet, what recourse did he have? The scholar was so wretchedly poor that he could not find the gold to bribe the officials to spare him from conscription. In the end, he was seized and sent to serve as a soldier. From the day he walked out of his hearth with tears in his eyes, Chen Qingyi never again returned to his home; the young boy who witnessed his father's melancholy smile and tear-stained countenance would find those images engraved in his heart forever.
The wretched existence of Chen Shuyuan truly began with the loss of his father in that hour. For a boy of not yet ten years to be left alone with his mother was an ordeal of extreme difficulty, as they were burdened by poverty and forced to struggle for survival on their own.
His mother, formerly engaged in the grueling labor of mending garments to supplement the family's uncertain income, was forced to struggle for survival alone once she was left to raise her only son.She toiled with iron determination, dedicating her nights to the meticulous cutting and sewing of old clothes after spending her days as a servant for hire—carrying water, cleaning homes, and washing dishes within the local wine shops.
In his youth, Chen Shuyuan chanced upon a disturbing rumor: that his mother had secretly sold her own frame to secure the medicine needed to treat his chronic malady.At that time, being but a young child who understood little of the ways of the world, he did not grasp the true nature of why Uncle Fu (福 ) and his cohorts chanced upon their home in the deep silence of night, making such unseemly noise.Their existence was one of untold hardship; many were the days when mother and son had no sustenance to reach their bellies, forced to swallow only water to alleviate the gnawing torment of hunger.
Yet, his mother possessed a resolute spirit; never once did she utter a word of complaint or lamentation in front of Little Chen.She gritted her teeth against the misery, toiling to ensure her son had food and clothing.Meanwhile, their kin and former friends offered no compassion; they came only to press for the repayment of the heavy debts incurred by his father, who had borrowed gold from them to fund his repeated journeys for the Imperial Examinations.When his father vanished upon the battlefield, the burden of this debt fell solely upon the mother and son to repay.There were even those who threatened to sell Little Chen to recoup their silvers, though fortunately, such talk remained but a malicious threat.
Exhausted by her grueling labor, his mother eventually fell gravely ill and passed away, leaving him a completely destitute orphan.To worsen his lot, his uncle-in-law and aunt seized his ancestral hearth and expelled him from the house, claiming it as repayment for his parents' debts.Reduced to a wandering life, he eked out a hand-to-mouth existence, suffering a wretchedness that reached its very zenith.
Chen Shuyuan engraved this account of vengeance in his heart against the Liao invaders!It was their incursions that served as the root cause of his father's loss and the calamitous ruin of his entire family!
After Chen Shuyuan had established his absolute sovereignty over the Divine Eagle Sect (Shen Ying Pai), he was in the prime of his life, being some forty years of age. The sect's affairs flourished under his two sworn brothers, who served as the Vice-Masters of the Left and Right—acting as his arms and legs to expand the sect's formidable influence over both land and water.With a strategist of penetrating wisdom managing all matters with ease, the sect commanded immense power and was held in great dread by the warriors of the Jianghu.During this season, tidings arrived that the Liao armies from beyond the passes had encroached upon the borders, plundering, murdering, and kidnapping citizens across various cities.
Chief Steward Liang Jingtian, though having joined the fold for but a few years, was a man of monumental importance and held in the highest trust.He perceived the Khitan incursion as a golden opportunity and proposed that the Divine Eagle Sect muster a volunteer force to join the Song Dynasty's armies to repel the Liao hordes.Liang reasoned that such heroic exploits would achieve meritorious service for the state and further expand the sect's awe-inspiring prestige (Barami) within the Imperial Court and the capital.
However, when the proposal was presented, a multitude from both the high echelons and the low ranks of the Divine Eagle Sect voiced their dissent.Being citizens of the Song, many harbored a deep-seated dread of the Liao's ferocity and viewed such an undertaking as a matter too large for their shoulders.They feared that deploying the sect's forces, who were devoid of experience in massive warfare, to join the military would be a risk resulting in more loss than benefit.Furthermore, they calculated that even a victory would sap their wealth and manpower, leaving the sect vulnerable to being overthrown by rival camps in the future; thus, it was viewed as an affair where "reward was sparse and the cost high."
Although Sect Master Chen wholeheartedly agreed with the Chief Steward's vision, he was acutely aware that while his retainers were valiant within the martial world, many were chilled to the bone with fear of the Liao's savage might.Thus, he maintained a stony silence and uttered not a single word.
However, the Chief Steward was undeterred in pushing his plan, spreading out a map and analyzing reports gathered from all four corners.He explained to the power-holders within the sect that the Liao people were suffering from natural disasters and a severe lack of sustenance this year.Their invasion was primarily for the purpose of plundering provisions, rather than a display of true military readiness for war.
Furthermore, a multitude of the Liao troops were merely fresh recruits, unversed in the arts of battle; some were advanced in years, while others were but children.Most were destitute souls who had volunteered solely for the hope of finding enough food to stave off death, and thus they lacked the ferocity of former days.While their numbers appeared vast, those truly capable of combat were few, their supplies limited, and many within their ranks were weak, sickly, and utterly incapable.Thus, it was an ideal season for the Divine Eagle Sect to embark on a campaign and establish an awe-inspiring prestige (Barami) throughout the land.
Liang Jingtian offered his explanation for over two double-hours, finally swaying the minds of the sect's elite into compliance.As for Chen Shuyuan, this arrangement was profoundly to his liking!The smoldering vengeance for the loss of his parents and the myriad hardships he endured as a wandering orphan in his youth flared up within his heart.With the desire to slaughter the Khitan until his heart was satisfied, and seeing that no one offered dissent, he issued a command to mobilize the sect's forces.He contacted the authorities to volunteer his host, masquerading as a "Righteous Army" (義軍:Yìjūn) dedicated to the protection of the state.
Once the volunteers of the Divine Eagle Sect entered the field of battle, they found the conflict unfolded exactly as the Steward had predicted.The Liao host was far from the strength of previous years, appearing more as a band of marauding bandits intent only on plundering grain.When faced with a counterattack, they were ignominiously routed and dispersed with ease.
Sect Master Chen personally led the charge, brandishing his formidable Golden Blade.He unleashed decades of accumulated hatred upon the Liao soldiers without discrimination.Every memory of his lost parents, his days as a destitute wanderer, and the gnawing torments of hunger accompanied him into the fray!It was a blood debt that he was determined to recoup through the lives and flesh of the Liao!
Upon entering the field of battle and confronting the Khitan (Qidan) hordes, Sect Master Chen unleashed a relentless slaughter of unprecedented ruthlessness.Even those foes who cast aside their weapons and prostrated themselves in surrender were granted no mercy.The great blade in his hand whirled with a spinning violence, decapitating, severing limbs, and cleaving frames asunder in a continuous and unstoppable torrent.Wherever his path led, he carved a road of blood, leaving behind a gruesome scene of scattered viscera and fragments of blood and flesh.This terrifying spectacle served his objective well, for it struck the hearts of the enemy with such monumental dread that their morale was shattered even before the clash of arms commenced.
Time and again, the mere tidings of the Divine Eagle Sect's volunteers approaching were enough to throw the Liao host into absolute disarray.When courage vanishes, the outcome of any engagement is predetermined as a crushing defeat.Most Liao troops who faced the Divine Eagle Sect's host were routed and fled in a chaotic mass of confusion, a feat that became the subject of illustrious renown within the ranks of the Song military.
Reports suggested that the Liao court was not yet prepared for a large-scale war and had failed to dispatch reinforcements, leading many to predict that the conflict would conclude swiftly with a total victory for the Song.The Liao host was expected to eventually retreat from the territories of the Middle Kingdom.In truth, more than half of these rumors were the meticulous handiwork of Chief Steward Liang, who, acting with penetrating wisdom as the Junshi ((军师 - Strategic Advisor), dispatched agents to sow discord and demolish the enemy's spirit.
However, the Khitan people were not without their own supreme experts.Liang Jingtian reported to Master Chen regarding a strange and fearsome entity who had manifested in various battlefields like an eerie ghost.There were occasions where this figure stealthily infiltrated the central tents of the Song commanders, murdering high-ranking officers without a single soul being aware of his presence.
This Khitan expert was called Yin Zhang (阴长), and his appearance was most peculiar: he wore a brass mask upon his face and a shawl of owl feathers across his shoulders.His weapon of choice was a bronze bell attached to a steel chain.His entire frame was enveloped in a nauseating aura of death and arcane mystery, and his lightness skill was as swift as a spectral shadow.Folk whispered that he was a demon capable of flight or of transforming himself into a column of mist; the Liao host regarded him as their "God of Death," a deity who bestowed absolute catastrophe and ruin upon his foes!
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