Zhang Yu: Alliance of Chanyuan

In the first year of Jingde, the Liao army came to Chanzhou with 200,000 troops. Zhang Xun, the leader of the Weihu Army who had guarded the border for ten years, led 500 remaining soldiers to defend the isolated city. When food and aid were running out, the people broke down their doors as shields, and the old woman sewed up blood armor. On a day when the yellow sand filled the sky, Zhang Yu used his crossbow to snipe Liao commander Xiao Dalan, turning the crisis around with one arrow. Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty came to the north city in person and wanted to reward him generously, but Zhang Xuan refused: "I only know how to guard the border." He distributed the reward money to the soldiers, cultivated wasteland and planted vegetables under the city wall, and taught the young man Afu to read and write: "Defending the territory requires courage, and guarding peace requires virtue." Xiao Dalan's death gave birth to the "Chanyuan Alliance" and ushered in a century of peace between Song and Liao. Later generations only saw the bustling Tokyo and the bustle of the market, but few people remembered that the paper covenant was written with the blood of the isolated city as ink and the backbone of mortals as pen. This book is based on the historical facts of the Song and Liao Dynasties, restores the details of the city defense with cold weapons, and focuses on ordinary people who are overwhelmed by the grand narrative. Where the smoke of gunpowder clears, the music of the prosperous times begins, and the answer of history is always like the whisper of the Yellow River: all peace begins in a cold winter, when someone decides - I will stand here and not retreat.