Swords into Plowshares Episode 10 Recap
> Swords into Plowshares Recaps
That night, the sky above Bianliang City collapsed. With a single command from Zhang Yanze, the Khitan cavalry broke through the crumbling city defenses, instantly turning the city into an Asura's hell. Firelight stained half the sky red. The screams and wails of men, women, and children, mixed with the sneering laughter of the barbarian cavalry and the thunder of hooves, intertwined into a single cacophony.
Nobles and commoners alike suffered disaster; not a single one of the thousand monks at Xiangguo Temple survived. Tens of thousands of bodies piled up like mountains, and children were discarded on top of these piles, their cries echoing throughout the entire city. Zhao Hongyin desperately protected his family amidst the chaotic soldiers. Shuiqiu Zhaoquan and others were also on high alert at the post station.
Zhao Kuangyin, Qian Hongchu, and Guo Rong led their remaining troops, charging left and right through the market districts. When their swords dulled, they seized new ones to continue fighting, wishing they could kill all these barbarians. However, in the face of the already determined overthrow of the dynasty, anyone's valor was merely a small boat before giant waves, tragic and heroic yet powerless to reverse the tide.
Yao Yuanfu defended Mingde Gate to the death, his armor shattered and his body covered in blood, yet he still held his battle saber like an iron tower, single-handedly blocking the rebel and Khitan armies. To save the Emperor's life, Feng Dao personally stepped forward to negotiate with Zhang Yanze and his entourage. He firmly insisted that the city gates could be opened, but only after the Khitan Emperor Yelü Deguang arrived in person.
This move aimed to convey to the Khitan that while the Central Plains could change rulers, it must be accomplished by the Khitan Emperor himself, thereby preventing power from falling into the hands of disloyal and unrighteous individuals, safeguarding the Chinese cultural heritage, and preventing the emergence of another "puppet emperor." Under Feng Dao's mediation, Zhang Yanze had no reason to launch a strong assault and could only wait. Shi Chonggui awoke in a side hall.
He looked at the robes presented by the attendant but neither touched nor wore them, instead donning only plain clothes and heavily pushing open the door to leave. Feng Dao stood under the corridor, bowing deeply to him as a subject. As the city gates slowly opened, Shi Chonggui led his relatives and ministers, performing the "leading a sheep" ritual and kneeling in the biting cold wind.
They were greeting the Khitan army sweeping in with the yellow sand, led by Yelü Deguang. This was the most humiliating moment since the "puppet emperor" Shi Jingtang ceded the Yan-Yun prefectures – an emperor kneeling to greet a foreign ruler, signifying the complete submission of the Central Plains' orthodox rule by force. Among this kneeling crowd, only Qian Hongchu and Feng Dao were absent.
As the ruler of the Wuyue kingdom, which occupied a region, Qian Hongchu could have gone with the flow. However, he could not bear to bow down and declare himself a subject to the Khitans, nor was he willing to witness such a humiliating scene. He decisively chose to remain within the city, making his absence the most fervent protest.
Fortunately, Yelü Deguang intended to pacify the Central Plains and did not pursue the matter further, ordering his temporary encampment at Chigang and establishing the Khitan lord's winter 'nabo' (mobile palace) in Bianliang, to demonstrate his rule over the Central Plains. Qian Hongchu remained deeply resentful and advocated for the Wuyue kingdom to refuse submission to the Khitans, but he was sternly dissuaded by Shuiqiu Zhaoquan.
Sun Taizhen accompanied Qian Hongchu, gazing at the ruined palaces in the distance, sighing with helplessness, "Bullshit state affairs." Inside the Department of State Affairs after Bianjing changed hands, Feng Dao and Fan Zhi sat side by side, discussing how Sang Weihan's death was not merely to uphold a minister's integrity, but truly a sacrifice of his life to extend a breath of life to the surviving national lifeline.
Fan Zhi remained silent; perhaps he understood that this was Sang Weihan's gamble with his life, intended to show the Khitan lord that Zhang Yanze would not become another Shi Jingtang. At that time, Zhao Kuangyin gathered his trusted followers to plot an assassination, intending to take Zhang Yanze's head to avenge the national humiliation. However, before the sword was even drawn, the plan was forcibly thwarted by his father, Zhao Hongyin.
Zhao Hongyin reminded Zhao Kuangyin that while thousands of families in the city had been plundered, only the Zhao family remained safe. The bandit had not missed him; he was waiting for him, and going there would surely be a one-way trip, inviting disaster that would wipe out the entire family. It was under his father's guidance that Zhao Kuangyin proactively confessed his "sins" to Feng Dao, expressing his despair and anger regarding the current situation.
Upon hearing this, Feng Dao did not blame him. Instead, he told him that the dead are gone, and the living have a long road ahead. What needs to be done is not in anger, but in strategy; not in seeking momentary gratification, but in planning for the long term. Living, at times, is harder than dying, and more useful. At this moment, inside the Kaifeng Prefecture Yamen, it had long become a place for Zhang Yanze's murderous games.
Moreover, he extended his wicked hand towards Lady Ding, the Lady of Chu, in an absurd hall. Lady Ding, born into a prestigious family, possessed unyielding integrity. Faced with Zhang Yanze's vile coercion, she neither yielded nor flattered, nor did she panic. Instead, when subjected to humiliation, she fiercely resisted, tightly gripping a dagger aimed at Zhang Yanze.
