Restoring the Great Song Begins with Impersonating the Emperor

On the day the Jin army breached the city walls, Zhao Ming was chosen by the treacherous sorcerer Guo Jing to serve as a decoy—a sacrificial lamb meant to die in the emperor's place. Bound in chains and left to rot in a cellar, he had no miraculous powers or divine cheats to save him. Yet through sheer desperation, he managed to turn the tables on the sorcerer, donned his robes, stole the imperial dragon gown, and fled into the night. Shortly after, Emperors Huizong and Qinzong were captured and dragged northward. Bearing a face identical to the emperor's, Zhao Ming escaped to the lands south of the Yangtze River. At that very moment, the newly established and deeply unstable Southern Song court desperately needed a "legitimate sovereign" to rally behind. In a northern prison, the true Emperor Zhao Huan stared at his reflection in a filthy ditch, utterly bewildered. He was still alive—so who was the "Zhao Huan" who had ascended the throne in the south, reorganized the broken empire, and reclaimed lost territory? Was it truly that decoy? The Jin people were equally baffled, unable to determine if the captive they held was real or fake. Wuzhu merely laughed at the confusion, proposing a ruthless scheme: why not return the two captive emperors to the south and let them tear each other apart? Tensions within the Southern Song court soon reached a boiling point. The legendary general Yue Fei stepped forward with a bold demand, urging the current ruler to abdicate so that Emperor Yuan Sheng could be welcomed back to reclaim the throne. Qin Hui stood dumbfounded, stammering that Emperor Yuan Sheng had been taken captive by the Jin—he had seen it with his own eyes! Meanwhile, Zhao Gou clenched his teeth in fury, declaring that this realm could only have one true emperor. Years later, looking back on the chaos he had navigated, Zhao Ming could only marvel at his own journey. All he ever wanted was to survive, yet somehow, he lived long enough to become the great restorer of the Song Dynasty.