The Army Enters the City, Intimidating All Under Heaven!

[Inside the Imperial City Bureau!]

[A dust-covered city-guard captain swung down from his horse and hurried over, shouting loudly enough to ring through the hall:]

["Urgent military intelligence! Report to the Middle Marquis at once!"]

[He had ridden hard all the way here. His breathing had yet to settle, and beneath his pale face lay a trace of panic.]

[Reaching the front of the hall, the captain bowed and urgently reported, "Reporting to the Middle Marquis, the North Gate scouts have sent an urgent message. Enemy forces have been spotted on the main road from Jiangnan."]

[His voice mingled irrepressible terror with urgency. "The enemy army is less than fifty li from Kyoto!"]

["Reports say the enemy forces are like a rising tide. Their numbers are likely no fewer than a hundred thousand!"]

[The moment those words were spoken!]

[Everyone in the hall turned pale as clay, struck dumb with shock.]

[A hundred-thousand-strong army was advancing upon Kyoto!]

[Nothing like this had happened in countless years.]

[Yu Chen, having lived through Emperor Huizong's reign, immediately pictured the biting North Wind. In a fluster, he said, "Could it be... that the North Wind has crossed the border and marched south to invade our lands?"]

[The North Wind marching south!]

[The words sent the hall into an uproar. Fear and unease spread like a plague.]

[Xie Linghao could no longer suppress his fury. His curse made the pillars tremble slightly: "A hundred thousand troops, only fifty li away—why are we only hearing of this now?!"]

[A hundred thousand troops, their iron hooves thundering—such a force should have been like black clouds pressing down upon the city. There were so many relay stations and watchful eyes along the way; how could an army of this size have slipped through silently, only revealing itself