Volume 1 Chapter 46: Inside the Tent (Part 1)
By the way, regardless of whether Scholar Kobayashi seconded the motion or not, it would not affect the rare toughness of Lu Haowen and Wang Boyan, the two ministers of the East and West Palaces!
After all, the previous ones are fine, including letting Li Gang support the crown prince to succeed to the throne in case of an emergency, which are not without room for discussion. Anyway, as everyone knows, the current situation is that the country has in fact been destroyed, and who knows when this small court and half of the country will be finished. Is it true that the Jin army with more than 20,000 troops is on the other side of the river?
However, even so, if words like "the Song Dynasty will be destroyed but the world will not be destroyed" and "we will take the mountains and rivers for our own use" could be passed by the two governments and issued as formal imperial edicts, then even if Lu Haowen and Wang Boyan could walk out of Bagua Mountain alive with Zhao Jiu from the Jin army's attack, they would deserve to be drowned in the Huai River by Li Gang, Zhang Que, Xu Jingheng and other literati.
In fact, even if Zhao Jiu wanted to convey these words privately to important officials such as Li Gang and Zong Ze in the form of an edict, it would be almost impossible, because except for the scholar Kobayashi who seconded the proposal, all others reacted most violently after Zhao Jiu's words. Even the radical Hu Yin, who had always cooperated with Zhao Jiu the most, expressed the most direct opposition... Yang Yizhong, who was the most devastated, simply knelt down and burst into tears!
However, after all this trouble, in the end, except for this last sentence, basically everything that Zhao Jiu wanted to say and do was accomplished.
"So once the war breaks out, regardless of north or south, everyone, young or old, has the responsibility to defend the land and resist the Jin!"
"Name the next one! " Jin Wushu said impatiently in the central army tent of the Jin Kingdom's Huaibei Camp. "General Shi's name is too heavy, this is the first one..."
"yes!"
Shi Wenbin, who had once again managed to survive the wrath of the Fourth Prince of the Jin Kingdom, quickly put down the document and took another one from the table. This time, he first glanced at it to make sure it was not a duplicate before continuing to read. "I have inherited your order..."
"Just say what you mean, I've heard this many times!" This time it wasn't Jin Wushu who was impatient, but the captain of ten thousand men, Erlu, who slammed the table and scolded. "Although all the races in the world understand Chinese, what's the point of saying this in a roundabout way over and over again?"
“Yes, yes!”
"This decree actually promoted Prime Minister Li Gang, who was raising troops in Yangzhou, to a higher level, and made him the Pingzhang, the minister in charge of three provinces, in charge of important military and national affairs..." Shi Wenbin quickly glanced through it, and then told Elubu and all the Jurchen, Khitan, Xi, and Han generals in the account.
"Isn't Li Gang the first great minister of the Song Dynasty?" someone couldn't help but ask. "Now that his title has been raised again, isn't it just an empty title?"
“It’s different.”
Although there were many surrendered people from the Song Dynasty in the tent , most of them did not dare to speak easily. In the end, Shi Wenbin quickly explained. "This decree is connected with the previous decree that the Zhao Song emperor would never retreat, so it has the meaning of entrusting the orphan to someone else... If the fourth prince wins and the Zhao emperor collapses, Li Gang can easily support the new emperor in Yangzhou with Queen Mother Meng!"
"That's right." Jin Wushu nodded in realization, but frowned slightly. "It's just a matter of time to join the army. What do you mean by just in case I win?"
Shi Wenbin was so frightened that his hair stood on end, but he fell to his knees with a thud.
"Get up." Without waiting for the other party to apologize, Jin Wushu waved his hand impatiently. "I didn't kill you for the two previous times you brought back that kind of reply. Why would I kill you for this today... Even if I really want to kill you, you must finish reading this pile of stolen Song Dynasty documents!"
"If there are any more documents, read them quickly!" Another general, Ali, was also getting impatient. "Don't delay!"
Shi Wenbin thanked him hastily, then got up in a panic again. He rummaged around on the shore for a long time and actually found another unread document. However, after taking a quick look at it, he couldn't help but burst into tears.
"Why are you crying again?" Jin Wushu was speechless.
"Reporting to the Fourth Prince," Shi Wenbin tried to hold back his tears, but he couldn't stop them from flowing. "This is a letter targeting all the surrenders since the Jingkang period until the New Year's Day... It says that before the New Year's Day, because the Jin army... because our Jin army is strong, we can't force anyone to do anything. Therefore, those Song Dynasty civil and military officials who were unarmed, those who were desperate, and those who were forced by the Jin people to serve in the Jin people's palaces and armies will all be pardoned and allowed to return to the Song Dynasty... Only three will not be pardoned!"
"Which three?" Jin Wushu glanced at Shi Wenbin, who was crying in front of his desk, and then looked at the large number of Song surrendered people along the way in the account, who were in a commotion for a while, and asked coldly.
"One is those who violated the military orders, lied about military intelligence, and fled without fighting, such as Liu Guangshi; the second is those who were accomplices of the enemy and attacked, killed, and suppressed the military and civilians of the Song Dynasty, such as Liu Yu, the governor of Jinan Prefecture; the third is... the third is those who served in the military of the Jin people, made plans, and served in the enemy country, such as Shi Wenbin, the governor of Yishui County..." After reading it with great effort, Shi Wenbin tried hard to control his emotions, but he couldn't hold back his tears.
Jin Wushu also thought for a while and then laughed, twirling his beard. After he finished laughing, he shook his head and said, "Old man, I finally understood... This actually means that everyone can be pardoned, but you three are too erratic, so you can't be pardoned no matter what! Otherwise, even though the world is big, how can the Zhao Song officials on the other side have heard of anyone like you three?"
Shi Wenbin burst into tears when he heard this.
Jin Wushu found it funny, but kept urging him to continue reading the imperial edicts... After Shi Wenbin finished reading breathlessly, the Fourth Prince waved his hand to dismiss the outsiders, and together with the two generals Ali and Olubu, as well as seventeen or eighteen Jurchen, Khitan, and Xi Meng'an (captains of a thousand men), and even Shi Wenbin, a traitor to the Song Dynasty and a military officer officially recognized by the Song Dynasty, held an expanded military meeting.
"No matter what, these documents can only prove that my plan was successful!" Jin Wushu held his head high, not losing his composure at all as he did the night before when he whipped Shi Wenbin a dozen times after seeing the silk. "The new official of Song State was provoked by me and issued random orders. The most important thing is that he is not running away now! The next day, we can try to build a floating bridge to cross the Huai River!"
"Why are they in such a hurry?" Ali couldn't help but frown and questioned. "I don't understand the Emperor of Song's orders, but it seems that the Fourth Prince's plan was successful. Since the Emperor of Song has issued an order to stay at Bagong Mountain and not retreat, and has asked their prime minister to take the heir to the rear just in case... why are they in such a hurry to cross the Huai River? Can't they be more cautious and wait until more supplies are available?"
"There are three reasons." Jin Wushu answered proudly, looking like he had everything under control.
