Volume 1 Chapter 22: What is the government thinking?
For a long time, since Zhao Laojiu ascended the throne, the core issue here has been whether to go to Nanyang or Yangzhou.
To be fair, Nanyang or Yangzhou seem to be almost the same, both are choices of giving up completely hopelessly on the situation in Hebei and having no choice but to give up most of the Central Plains, and then pinning hopes on recovering from the rear.
Moreover, from a rational point of view, Yangzhou seems to be more suitable than Nanyang, because Yangzhou is the starting point of the Grand Canal, which can naturally gather the financial resources of the south of the Yangtze River, and there is also the Huai River in front to serve as a barrier; relatively speaking, although there are mountains around the Nanyang Basin, the northeast is flat, and there is not much to rely on except for Zong Liushou, who has an army of millions.
However, everyone also understands that there is a deeper difference between Yangzhou and Nanyang, which is the fallback option if these two places can no longer support:
If they could not defend Yangzhou, they would have to cross the river. Once they crossed the river, anyone with a little historical knowledge would understand its political significance. There was nothing to hide. This was also the true thought of many people who had experienced the Jingkang Change. The Jin people were really powerful, so what if they hid from them?
Therefore, Yangzhou, which seems to be the most reasonable and suitable place, is the unanimous opinion of the peace advocates.
So what about going to Nanyang?
Going to Nanyang, you can advance into Guanzhong, and retreat into Xiangyang. Not to mention the pro-war meaning of entering Guanzhong, even if you retreat to Xiangyang, that place undoubtedly has a stronger political signal of restoration than in Jiangnan. This was clearly stated in Wu Hou's Longzhong Strategy back then. This place is the starting point for the restoration of the Central Plains!
Therefore, after weighing the balance between survival and restoration, the war faction generally believed that Nanyang should be the temporary secondary capital.
As for Zong Ze's return to the old capital, Yue Fei's crossing of the river to the north, and Han Shizhong's initially confused strategy of directly breaking through the defense zone of Jin's god of war Wanyan Loushi and heading to Chang'an, they were basically regarded as nonsense by the mainstream opinion... Even Zong Ze's intermittent letters requesting to return to Bianliang, in a sense, were probably because he had already recognized the nature of certain people in Hebei and was using this to play a double act with Li Gang.
They were trying to hold and pull Emperor Zhao forcibly!
Because under the circumstances at that time, the only way to hold down Emperor Zhao was similar moral kidnapping methods... Don't you see, even a group of peace advocates only dared to say that they would go to Yangzhou to fight against the Jin Dynasty, and hid the words of crossing the river to live in peace. Isn't it because they themselves knew that during the "Two Sages Hunting in the North" and when the people in the Central Plains and Hebei were still united, if they said such words, they would be grabbed by the braids and scolded to death by the pro-war faction, and then beaten to death by the people?
Correspondingly, even the war advocates would never dare to talk about war lightly, because that would be a rebellious way of putting the two saints to death, and it is not what a son or a minister should think... In fact, even Li Gang could only say that if we strengthen ourselves, the two saints will return.
However, isn’t there something wrong with this clear and unambiguous logic of confrontation?
Because a little-known but unmistakable fact is that ever since the well-falling incident, the Zhao official at the intersection of all confrontations and alliances, contradictions and tugs, or our time traveler Mr. Zhao Jiu, has a completely different logic in his mind:
First of all, Zhao Jiu has never worried about the Two Saints, nor would he be morally blackmailed by the Two Saints, because in his eyes they are just two useless burdens who would be better off dying early and reincarnated as soon as possible. He doesn’t even know what the Two Saints look like.
Therefore, when he was considering a problem, he never thought about those people, nor was he disturbed by their existence.
Secondly, Zhao Jiu's determination to fight against the Jin was unquestionable and unshakable.
This is not a question of nationalism, but the fact that the time traveler, Zhao Guanjia, has already analyzed from multiple angles and with the perspective of future generations, and determined that resisting the Jin army is in his absolute interest!
Of course, there is definitely a bit of nationalism involved.
Moreover, after Li Gang came back and the migration began, Zhao Jiu gradually came into contact with the customs of that era. Obviously, due to the basic moral concepts of modern people, he developed a kind of unrealistic sense of responsibility... He witnessed many lively people in Jiegou and was squeezed by the living environment in Shuizibu Town, which somewhat dispelled his numbness about this era.
However, it only dispelled a lot of it, and it seemed that there was still a little bit missing from completely tearing apart the film that separated the individual from the times.
So, at this moment, our Emperor Zhao is probably confused about his thoughts, not to mention others... The more this is the case, the more he wants to tear off this layer of film as quickly as possible without any scruples!
"What is Deyuan (Zhang Jun's pen name) thinking about?"
In late November, on the banks of the frozen Yingshui River, a huge and bloated team was moving down the river. However, even though it was frozen, as the mother river of Shunchang Prefecture, formerly known as Yingzhou, the Yingshui River still brought great convenience to the migrating team due to its water characteristics.
Therefore, during the relatively proper itinerary, the two leaders of a certain section of the team still had time to think and talk immediately.
"To be honest, Brother Yuan Zhen," Zhang Jun came back to his senses from his deep thoughts and did not hide anything from Zhao Ding. "I was wondering what the emperor was thinking..."
"I know what Deyuan means." Zhao Ding smiled bitterly and shook his head, bringing out a puff of white mist in the cold winter. "You and I both know that the emperor is unwilling to give in, but how can we be willing? But now we have to cross the Huai River to Yangzhou, so what if the emperor has other ideas? Shunchang Prefecture is still a node, and it is still possible to go to Nanyang or Yangzhou. Once you reach Shouzhou, cross the Huai River, and the Dabie Mountains are due south and west... What are the Dabie Mountains? The north and south are divided into the Yangtze River and the Huai River, and the east and west are divided into the Jingyang River. There is only one way to go to the southeast!"
Zhang Jun shook his head repeatedly: "This is exactly what I am hesitant about. You must know that once we cross the Huai River, we can only go south, and the morale of the people in the world will be dampened along the way. The emperor was so determined that day, how could it be a gesture of discouragement?"
"Well!" Zhao Ding was helpless, but he pointed at the migration team of civilians and sighed. "Let's not talk about the southeast, and let's follow Deyuan's thoughts. The only thing is the current situation... You said that the women, children, the elderly and the weak were originally sent first, and the original intention was to move lightly, so how did it end up like this? Isn't this really like Han Zhaolie taking the people across the river?"
"This is also helpless." Zhang Jun finally became serious and began to persuade. "During the Jingkang period, the Jin people plundered Tokyo without restraint, turning it into a wasteland. At that time, countless people from Tokyo fled here... Don't forget how the ginger and fermented black beans came... Now the Jin people have completely destroyed the east and east roads of Jingdong, and are still plundering without restraint. Refugees from the two routes of Jingdong are coming again. The government wants to leave again, and they have to collect men and the treasury. The people are panicking and follow us. What can we say? We should try our best to maintain it. When these people arrive in Huainan, the climate is warm, or simply disperse to the southeast, there are many towns and cities there, and it is very rich, so there will always be food to eat..."
Zhao Ding also looked solemn, but lowered his voice: "How could I not know this truth? Besides, we have come all the way from Tokyo, and we have seen worse situations than this. What I am worried about is that the commotion here is too big. Once the Jin people get to know, they can attack us even though they are only 500 to 600 miles away... Just like the comparison made by the emperor before, it is obvious that wild beasts eat people and shed blood, but if we turn our backs to the wild beasts, wouldn't that be luring the wild beasts to attack us?"
"The Jin troops will surely come!" Zhang Jun responded immediately. "Your Majesty's analogy is very appropriate, and from the overall situation, since we set out from Nanjing (Shangqiu), we will surely be pursued by the Jin troops..."
"I'm talking about the current situation."
"Small and large do not conflict. Since the Jin people are bound to come, why not take the people of Shunchang Prefecture with them?" Zhang Jun became more serious. "Besides, if the Jin people want to come, they have to get past Liu Guangshi first. Liu Guangshi already has more than 10,000 people under his command. Now he has the right to defend several military states south of Mount Tai. I'm afraid he has no less than 30,000 to 50,000 people. Even if the Jin people really come, he doesn't need to fight. As long as he can defend the city and retreat step by step, he can always hold on until the beginning of spring!"
Zhao Ding shook his head repeatedly, apparently dissatisfied in his heart, but he did not argue any further.
Moreover, although the two were friends for life and death and staunch political allies, it was obvious that the young Zhang Jun was the first to gain power, and his mind was full of how to please the emperor in order to stabilize his position; at the same time , Zhao Ding was older and had always been cautious, otherwise he would not have been the first to stand up and persuade Zhao Jiu as the emperor's trusted confidant and advocate of war in Shunchang City that day... Moreover, the older man was the direct subordinate of the younger man, and there was some awkwardness in the right to speak between the two sides.
Just like at this moment, although Zhang Jun was responsible for maintaining the order of the migration of scholars and civilians, he kept having random thoughts. Instead, Zhao Ding, who was worried that these scholars and civilians would cause trouble, worked diligently and personally maintained the migration order.
However, since the two men remained silent, before Zhao Ding turned around to continue inspecting the team, several riders suddenly galloped past carefully along the river bank. The two men saw clearly that one of them was the Secretary of the Central Secretariat, who should be following the emperor at this time, and their brother Hu Yin, so they called out to him almost at the same time.
When Hu Yin heard the shouts, he did not pause but spoke directly: "A lieutenant from Huyan Tong's army and a magistrate who had just escaped from the north were seizing and fighting over the people's property in the army led by Xu Dacan. They were arrested by Commander Huyan. The emperor was furious and ordered me to see Huyan Tong with a golden medal to execute them both!"
At the end of his words, Hu Yin did not stop at all and disappeared directly on the embankment... and Zhang Jun and Zhao Ding were also shocked!
Besides, Huyan Tong's army was a reliable army of a thousand men that Han Shizhong left for Zhao Jiu before he left for Huaidong. The so-called Xu Dacan refers to Xu Jingheng, who happened to be the former Yushi Zhongcheng of Zhang Jun. Zhao Jiu didn't know his position at that time, but he didn't regard him as Huang Qianshan's accomplice because he had defended Zong Ze many times. Instead, he regarded him as a tool and threw him into the six ministries to be idle.
Later, when Li Gang came back, he knew the truth and took him as his right-hand man. Emperor Zhao then realized that he was a core figure of the pro-war faction who had been patient and silent.
Therefore, this time Li Gang left the imperial court first. In order to reassure people's hearts, Zhao Jiu specially changed Lü Haowen to Shangshu Zuo Cheng, and promoted him to Shangshu You Cheng, and co-senior to state affairs, which means he officially entered the East Palace and became the deputy prime minister. This was also to show his unchanged trust in Li Gang.
There are many similar treatments, such as Zhang Que, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, the Deputy Envoy of the Imperial Camp, and the Co-Director of the Privy Council. This person was originally thrown out by Zhao Jiu as a tool to scrape Buddha statues everywhere. It is said that he also made resentful remarks. Now he has returned to the core power institution... And these old ministers who need to return because of the situation are exactly the reasons why Zhang Jun is worried and always thinks about the emperor's thoughts.
But no matter what, the problem now is not the messy personnel changes caused by the migration, but another piece of information revealed by Hu Yin's words just now - the government actually took the initiative to kill people! And it killed both civil and military officials!
What does this represent?
What is the official thinking at this moment?
"You're not thinking about Chibi, are you?" After a long pause, Zhao Ding came back to his senses and spoke, but he couldn't help sneering at himself.
Zhang Jun remained silent.
In this way, the two continued to urge the team forward. Two days and nights passed, and bad news continued to come. On this morning, suddenly, there was a commotion in front of the team. Listening carefully, it turned out to be cheers. After asking again, it turned out that the team in front suddenly found that the ice in front was gradually melting. Only then did they realize that Huaikou was not far away. In other words, the border between Shunchang Prefecture and Shouzhou was approaching...
Upon hearing this news, Zhao Ding, who had worked hard all the way, naturally breathed a sigh of relief, and all his previous worries disappeared.
After all, according to the plan, they had to separate here, but most of the civil officials took the people across the Huai River here, and successfully escorted the people of Shunchang Prefecture to the south of the Huai River; at the same time, the official generals and a small number of core personnel, with thousands of Shunchang militiamen and the money, grain, cloth, and military equipment in the Shunchang treasury, continued to travel east along the Huai River to Shouzhou to meet Zhang Jun, the governor of Xuzhou and one of the commanders of the imperial camp, who was Zhang Jun's destined nobleman, Zhang Boying.
In other words, after a period of shock and chaos, the destination is finally reached, and the Jin people have not yet caught up. Is there any better situation than this?
"Brother Yuan Zhen..."
On the north bank of the freezing Huai River, at the ferry crossing where the ice had not yet formed, Zhang Jun, with dark circles under his eyes, suddenly spoke out a warning before leaving. "After crossing the river, settle down quickly. Don't covet the prosperity and stability of Huainan, and don't accept the appointment of Huainan. Come to see me immediately... I would say that after half a year of wandering, the fate of the world will be revealed only after crossing the Huai River."
Zhao Ding was half-believing and half-doubting, but finally nodded heavily.
