Volume 1 Chapter 3 Where are all my confidants?
Yang Yizhong’s arrival made the young Zhao Jiu very alert. It was a terrible feeling to be under surveillance all the time!
That evening, Emperor Zhao got angry like a cat with its fur standing on end. He ordered the ice cream made by Concubine Pan... which was actually some kind of milk-skin dessert... to be distributed to the soldiers of the Red Heart Team, and then he forced them to stay overnight in the team's tent!
Kang Lu sent people to invite him again and again for this matter, but they were all driven back. Yang Yi Zhong and Liu Yan, the commander of the Chixin Battalion, who also arrived early but dared not speak, knelt on the ground to persuade him, but they could not shake Emperor Zhao's determination.
In the end, there was no choice but for everyone to let the government do as it pleased.
However, that evening, the autumn wind was blowing hard. Zhao Jiu was sleeping in the middle of the night when he suddenly heard a commotion outside the tent and saw a bright light of fire illuminating the tent. He jumped up in surprise.
"What happened?"
Just as Zhao Jiu was about to go out, he noticed a familiar figure illuminated by the campfire outside the tent, so he actually lay back on the couch.
"Good instructor, I know that a few thieves from the Red Heart Team probably misunderstood your previous words because of rumors, and thought that the Jin army would be here soon, so they wanted to rebel and kidnap you to join the Jin army..." Yang Yizhong whispered across the tent.
“…”
"But don't worry, Your Majesty. Most people still remember your kindness. Liu Yan also has the support of the Red Heart Team. There are only three or five traitors, and they were tied up by the people in the same camp just now."
"I'm not worried!" Zhao Jiu, who was lying on the couch, was upset and could only sigh. "I just don't know where the future lies!"
"If the emperor really does not want to go to Yangzhou, he might as well discuss it with the ministers again." After a moment, Yang Yizhong gave a reluctant answer.
But the response to Mr. Yang was silence.
Having said that, Zhao Jiu really had no fear or worry, nor was he angry about the sudden appearance of a few traitors in the Red Heart Team who had seemed so loyal in the evening... This is not to say how strong his heart was, how wise his mind was, or how broad his heart was. To put it bluntly, he still did not have a strong sense of substitution for this body and the current situation, and he still felt that he was out of place.
As for the reason for this incompatibility, apart from the lack of necessary time to settle down, it was largely because he didn't know what he could do.
Logically speaking, a time traveler who came to this era would definitely fight against the Jin Dynasty. This is true from the perspective of national justice and morality, and also from a selfish perspective... After all, who wants to end up with the reputation of Zhao Gou in another time and space? The most despicable or irresponsible way is to sing and dance in Lin'an while supporting Yue Fei's attack on Huanglong, right?
From a rational point of view, we must also resist the Jin people. Even if Zhao Jiu had no historical knowledge, he had at least received nine years of basic compulsory education. He at least knew that it was impossible to surrender to a barbaric nation like the Jin people. As long as the Jin people felt that they had the opportunity and the strength, they would definitely take the initiative to fight you!
The more you give in, the more they will bully you!
Even if Zhao Gou was able to successfully negotiate peace in history, wasn't it because of the fighting on the front lines by Yue Fei and Han Shizhong?
Even from a supernatural perspective, we should resist the Jin Dynasty!
Thinking about how Zhao Jiu traveled through time in the Taoist Temple, if there really were gods and monsters, it was impossible that the Taoist sent him here to let him lead the Song Dynasty to surrender to the Jin people and complete national integration earlier, right?
So, Zhao Jiu had thought it through very early on. If he couldn't go back here, he had to fight against the Jin! This was the main mission of himself as a time traveler, and he couldn't avoid it!
Historically, the Song-Jin War was in fact the main contradiction in China for decades to come.
But, for the moment, he really doesn't know how to fight against the Jin?
You must know that as the Emperor Zhao, Zhao Jiu has not been idle these days. Even if some people are deliberately isolating and fooling him, he has learned some information from other directions (mainly from the lower-level shifts) about the current chaotic scene and situation... For example, the army of the Song Dynasty has basically not had any military victory since it tried to retake the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, and the army has been defeated again and again!
Song and Jin joined forces to attack Liao, and Tong Guan sent 200,000 of the most elite field troops to Youyan!
The first invasion of the Jin army to the south opened the first half of the Jingkang Shame. Liang Shicheng first sent hundreds of thousands of troops in Hebei! Then, under the city of Taiyuan and the city of Bianliang, the wise men of the Song Dynasty and the famous generals of the Western Army, of course, the most important ones were the so-called two saints Huizong and Qinzong, who jointly sent another 200,000!
After finally getting through this wave with the efforts of various royalist troops and the pro-war factions in the city, the two saints destroyed the Great Wall and disbanded their troops. As a result, when the Jin army suddenly invaded the south for the second time, which was the recent one that led to the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty, there were actually no soldiers left under the city of Tokyo!
As a joke, the Song Dynasty had been plagued by redundant soldiers for hundreds of years, and Wang Anshi worked hard to solve it but failed. However, it was solved by the Khitans and Jurchens in just a few years!
Of course, the country also perished, and its finances went bankrupt... Hundreds of years of policies of strengthening the trunk and weakening the branches had concentrated the essence of the country in a small city of Tokyo. So once it fell, the entire country's army, finances, officials, craftsmen, and strategic reserves were emptied overnight!
This is also the reason why this body is clearly the biological son of Song Huizong, and he ascended the throne in Nanjing (Shangqiu), but is called a new regime.
Now, back to the present, the only organized, large-scale professional army in the entire Song Dynasty is now in Guanzhong and the northwest, which are the so-called remnants of the Western Army. However, the roads are blocked by Wanyan Loushi, the ever-victorious general of the Jin Dynasty. The southeast, Jingxiang, and Bashu, which can collect taxes, also need time to transfer and coordinate.
At this moment, there are only more than 10,000 soldiers here, including those sent out to suppress bandits, and most of them are temporarily incorporated militia; the Central Plains where they are located are full of rebellious armies and rebels, and there are several who claim to be emperors; the finances are basically maintained temporarily by looting various royal Taoist palaces...and no one knows when Jin Wushu will lead his 100,000 troops to search the mountains and seas!
Of course, these crises have not yet come to him. What makes Zhao Jiu most unbearable is that he cannot find someone to communicate with under such survival pressure.
Kang Lu and Yang Yizhong were guarding against him like a thief. The two prime ministers, Huang Qianshan and Wang Boyan from the East and West Palaces, had only met him twice, but both times they urged him to go south after seeing that he was in good health... In fact, let alone these two people, Zhao Jiu had no illusions about the civil servants of the entire Song Dynasty Provisional Government who were currently here! In his eyes, these people were nothing more than the difference between purple robes, red robes and green robes!
After all, if the civil servants of the Song Dynasty were of some use, would the Jingkang Incident have happened?
Besides, they were now on the way to escape to the south, and the few pro-war civil servants had already been driven away... Li Gang, who was mentioned in history books, was dismissed from his post as prime minister and his whereabouts were unknown at the moment; Zong Ze was squeezed out to Tokyo and could not be separated from him at all; as far as he knew, the pro-war civilians who were also mentioned in history books, namely the Taixue student Chen Dong and others, had just been chopped off by the owner of this body in Nanjing (Shangqiu)!
In this situation, how can you ask him to communicate with others? Who can he communicate with? Will anyone believe him after he communicates? And the most frustrating thing is that he can't refute it... because he really doesn't know how to fight against the Jin. What can he do to fight against the Jin?
Did he really have to flee to Lin'an first and then slowly plan his actions? But he was unwilling to do so!
All I can say is that these loyal soldiers from Liao deserved it for becoming disloyal after mistakenly thinking that the Jin army had arrived!
"Officials!"
The noise outside the tent had gradually died down, and amid the whistling wind, Yang Yizhong spoke again. "Tongzhilang Liu Yan is here to apologize in front of the tent..."
"It's none of his business, let's pardon and release those people!" Zhao Jiu answered casually across the tent. "They are Liao people, let them go wherever they want, I won't pardon and appease them in person."
"Yes!" Yang Yizhong was silent for a moment before responding.
After a commotion, the tall general's figure was once again illuminated by the fire outside the tent, but he was still sitting upright with his sword and armor in hand.
The emperor and his minister were silent for a long time, separated by a cowhide tent. Yang Yizhong suddenly took the initiative to speak: "The emperor seemed to be looking for Yue Fei and Yue Pengju before?"
"Do you know him?" Zhao Jiu frowned slightly, too lazy to care about the fact that the other party was always watching him.
"He is from Xiangzhou, Hebei. His surname is Yue, his given name is Fei, and his courtesy name is Pengju. He was originally under the command of Deputy Commander Liu in the Marshal's Mansion. Later, he was awarded the title of Wuyi Lang and is famous for his martial arts... He drank with me in the Marshal's Mansion before. He should be the person the emperor is talking about."
"Where is the other person?"
"More than two months ago, the emperor ascended the throne in Nanjing (Shangqiu), and then the prime minister Li who was in office at that time... that is, Li Gang Li Boji." Yang Yizhong took the initiative to explain, as if he knew exactly what to say about the emperor's "amnesia" after he fell into the well. "Prime Minister Li was planning to let the emperor visit Nanyang, while Prime Minister Huang and Prime Minister Wang were planning to let the emperor visit Yangzhou. They argued endlessly for a while, and when Yue Pengju heard about it, he violated the rules and wrote to the emperor again and again, asking the emperor to resist the Jin, and impeached the three prime ministers for harming the country. As a result, he was directly dismissed from all military positions and expelled from the army!"
"Yue Fei impeached Li Gang for harming the country?" Even though Zhao Jiu was prepared for the absurdity of some things in this era, he was still stunned. "He was kicked out for this?"
"yes!"
"Aren't they both fighting against the Jin?" Zhao Jiu felt more and more absurd that Yue Fei was dismissed because of impeaching Li Gang. "Li Gang is the banner of the world's anti-Jin movement!"
"This is where Yue Fei's guilt lies." Yang Yizhong's voice remained calm. "He was a military officer, a low-ranking official, and he knew nothing about the overall situation in the court or the frontline. Yet he wrote a letter to the emperor to discuss state affairs, and even impeached the wrong person. How could he not be convicted? At the time, Li Xiang was still the ruler, so it's possible that he was driven out by Li Xiang's confidants."
"Let's not talk about this for now," Zhao Jiu was silent for a moment amid the wind. "Do you know where Yue Fei is now?"
"I don't know where he went, but he is from Xiangzhou, Hebei. He was determined to fight against the Jin army because of the chaos in his hometown. He probably left the army to return to Hebei to join the rebel army to continue fighting against the Jin army, right?" Yang Yizhong tried to answer again. "But most of Hebei has fallen, and the war is in turmoil. It's too difficult to find him."
Zhao Jiu was completely helpless, but still had a hint of unwillingness: "Mr. Yang, do you remember what he said in his memorial?"
"It is nothing more than advising Your Majesty to personally lead the six armies to cross the river to the north and go to Xiangzhou to fight against the Jin, instead of heading south..."
Zhao Jiu was in a trance for a moment... Even he knew that the main force of the Song army was lost and Hebei was flat. But the main force of the Jin army was in Hebei at this time, including no less than 100,000 cavalry including Jurchens, Khitans, and Han people from Liao. Did they want him to lead tens of thousands of people to Hebei to deliver them?
And where did he get the Six Armies?
Not to mention, those people from the Loyalist Team had said something before, that Zhao Gou had fought before when he was the marshal in Hebei before he ascended the throne, and he let Zong Ze fight, but the result was still a complete defeat.
This Yue Fei...
"How old is Yue Fei this year?" Zhao Jiu's mood became worse and worse.
"Twenty-four, one year younger than me." Yang Yizhong said softly.
Zhao Jiu had expected this, but he still couldn't help but sigh. He really wanted to ask loudly in this vast wilderness where his confidant of the official was.
Following a sigh from inside the tent, Emperor Zhao did not ask the question. Instead, the attendant outside the tent could not help but ask in a low voice, "Why does the Emperor have to look for this person?"
"I really want to stay in the Central Plains to fight against the Jin." Zhao Jiu replied almost weakly. "I heard someone say during my shift a few days ago that he is a talented martial artist, and he is from Hebei, and he is determined to fight against the Jin. I thought he might be of some use."
"Let's not talk about this person. Isn't it the decision of the emperor to go to Yangzhou after a long consideration?" Yang Yizhong rarely asked. "Why do you want to stay in the Central Plains?"
"ha……"
Zhao Jiu sneered but did not answer.
In fact, it is still the same question. It is useless to tell the truth... For the surrenderists here, if you tell them that even if they go to Yangzhou or even to Jiangnan, the Jin people will not let them go, they will only think it is ridiculous.
Just think about it, if there were no illusions about partial peace, where would the surrender faction come from? Or to put it more nicely, where would the peace faction come from?
"Why is the official laughing?"
It seemed that the number of times Yang Yizhong took the initiative to speak tonight exceeded the total number of times he had spoken to Emperor Zhao in the past few days.
"Isn't it natural for me, Zhao Jiu, to fight against the Jin?" Zhao Jiu had no choice but to perfunctorily say this on the couch. "Don't you understand the four words 'national hatred and family feud'? Why do you always think I want to live in peace?"
The autumn wind howled incessantly, the night was dark, and until the east side of the Huanghuai Plain gradually turned white, no one inside or outside the tent made a sound.
