Volume 1 Chapter 58 Lantern Festival (Part 1)
"Commander Yue is here?"
It was nearly three o'clock in the night, the moon was full and cold. Zong Ze saw his son Zong Ying coming in with a bloody head, and he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows in joy. But when he saw two young men following his son in, he was even happier, and he even got up from the couch to take them.
"Greetings, Lord Zong!"
One of the two young men, the one with ordinary looks and one eye bigger than the other, Yue Fei, did not dare to be negligent when he heard Zong Ze calling him personally. He immediately stepped forward and bowed.
Behind Yue Fei was a tall and handsome young man. He was the son of Ma Zheng, who was famous throughout the country for contacting the Maritime Alliance in his early years. Ma Kuo and Ma Zichong, who had been in and out of the palace since they were young, hurriedly followed suit and bowed when they saw this.
Besides, Zong Ze had been given the title of Privy Councilor by Zhao Jiu as early as the autumn of last year. He was a legitimate prime minister of the Western Palace and the governor of Tokyo. He was the heart of the people in Hebei and the Central Plains, and he was also a lord of a town. Moreover, he was already in his seventies. How could the two of them not pay a respectful visit?
However, Zong Ze was not a person who cared about empty formalities. After the two sides met, he sat back on the couch and simply raised his hand to signal: "Commander Yue, please stay. I have something good to show him. You two go out and guard the door."
Zong Ying, who was carrying the head, and Ma Kuo, who had traveled thousands of miles from the northern section of Taihang Mountains through the enemy-occupied area to get here, looked at each other with sorrow, but they could do nothing but say "yes" and go out together to act as doormen.
"Pengju." Zong Ze sat cross-legged and barefoot on the couch again. When he heard the door open outside, he smiled and spoke to Yue Fei standing in front of him. "Do you remember what I said before you left for the battle in the twelfth month of the previous year?"
"I will never forget it!" Yue Fei clasped his hands and answered seriously. "At that time, I led 500 cavalrymen as a Tabaishi (reconnaissance officer) to investigate Wanyan Nianhan's brigade at Sishui Pass. Before leaving, the prime minister said: 'You deserve death for your crimes, I will not ask you. Now you should do meritorious service for me, go and observe the enemy's situation, and do not fight lightly'!"
"That's what you said." Zong Ze continued to ask. "Then how did you do it?"
"I disobeyed your military order and fought against a large enemy force on the battlefield, but was defeated and returned." Yue Fei answered honestly.
"Yes." Zong Ze wrapped his colorful fur robe around him and sighed. "You have violated my restraint and military orders..."
Seeing the other party's attitude, Yue Fei rarely wanted to take the initiative to explain something.
However, Zong Ze raised his hand slightly to stop the other party from explaining, and continued to speak on his own:
"In fact, according to military regulations, you should have died when you first came to Tokyo. No matter what, you left your commander and crossed the river to the south. It would be wrong to kill him with one sword. What's more, Wang Yan was alone in the north at that time, and I personally appointed him as the governor of Hebei. There was no reason to spare you. Everyone in the entire garrison said that you should be killed... But I still pardoned you at that time, and only demoted you to Bingyi Lang. And the time in December before the New Year was also the same. I clearly told you before you went to the battle that you were not allowed to fight lightly, but you openly disobeyed the military order. After I returned, I ignored the military law again. Not only did I not punish you, but I rewarded you greatly and promoted you to the commander... Do you know why?"
"Because I can fight against the Jin!" Yue Fei answered proudly, with one eye bigger than the other, as if looking down upon them. "I served you in Hebei before, and I am still serving you in Tokyo now. I have always been the one who killed the most and was the most effective in battle..."
"That's right!" Zong Ze replied happily. "That's right! Fighting the Jin army comes first. You and Wang Yan had a disagreement, and it all comes down to whose method is the most effective in fighting the Jin army. I told you not to fight lightly because cavalry is valuable and must be kept for great use on the battlefield, not to be wasted... and since you have the will to fight the Jin army and have the tools to fight the Jin army, I will naturally make great use of you. Don't you think so?"
"wrong!"
Yue Fei continued to speak proudly. "If you really want to recover Hebei, you should strictly abide by military law and strict military discipline... If you behave like this, it will not only affect me, but also the entire Tokyo Garrison Office. Although it can restrain people's hearts for a while, it will not last long, and it will not be able to raise a strong army! Moreover, everything depends on you, and all the grace and power come from you. Once your health is not good, the situation in Tokyo will be ruined! Half of the soldiers here may disperse and become thieves!"
Zong Ze was silent for a long while, and finally said reluctantly on the couch: "You should change your temper, otherwise if any other husband sat here, he would point at your eyes and say that you looked down on him, and then kill you!"
"I know that I am no longer the stubborn person I was in Hebei. I just spoke out of turn because I know your mind and temper very well." Yue Fei bowed his head. "I hope you will forgive me."
"No problem." Zong Ze waved his hand casually. "Since we both know each other's ambitions and we are comrades, let's not talk about this. I asked you to come here today for three things..."
"Please give your approval, sir!"
"First of all, you attacked Huazhou in the past few days after the New Year, and your achievements were the best in the garrison. I heard that you and your subordinate Wang Gui killed a Meng An together. I have already written a document to promote you to the commander and Wang Gui to the commander. You can take it... The Jiqing tribe will be returned to you. In addition, Zhang Wei died in the battle of Huazhou this time. His remaining 1,000 people are convinced that you saved them, so they will be given to you. Tomorrow will gather a few hundred sets of armor, bows and arrows for you, so that you can have 3,000 people." As he said this, Zong Ze took a piece of paper from the table, used a random seal, and handed it to the other party. "The garrison will naturally take care of the aftermath."
"Thank you, Prime Minister!" Yue Fei took the document with wet ink and put it into his sleeve while bowing his head. It was less than three months and he was already in command again, which was much smoother than someone else's position as Grand Marshal.
"The second thing," Zong Ze continued, pointing at the pile of documents on the table. "These decrees are everywhere. You must have seen them, right?"
"I have seen them!" Yue Fei continued to answer straightforwardly. "The messengers going to Hebei could not get through at all. They were all stopped in Huazhou. I have seen many of them in the army, but I don't know if they are all there?"
"It doesn't matter." Zong Ze shook his head. "What do you think?"
"It's always a good thing!" Yue Fei was still very frank. "To recover Hebei, it will not be done overnight. We need hundreds of thousands of troops to defeat the enemy's main force. To accomplish this, we need hundreds of thousands of elite troops. It will be impossible unless the government steps in, sets such a determination and strategy, and gathers the full strength of the southeast, Jingxiang, Bashu, Guanzhong, and even Lianghuai and Central Plains!"
Zong Ze hesitated to speak, but just shook his head: "These are a bit far-fetched, let's just talk about one of them today..."
"But will you lead the troops to Shouzhou to defend the emperor?" Yue Fei instinctively looked back at the direction of the outer door. "Otherwise, there would be no need for Ma Zichong to come here. Everyone in the garrison knows that Ma Zichong is here to see the emperor."
"That's right." Zong Ze sighed. "Although the frontline is difficult, the government still has to provide support. Otherwise, if something unexpected happens, it will be like . By then, not only will it be difficult to see the great unification of our ancestors, but we may even see a Jurchen emperor. You and my descendants will all have to wear left-side lapels!"
"You absolutely cannot do that!" Yue Pengju narrowed his eyes and answered instinctively. "Recently, more and more people have fled from Hebei because the situation there has been ruined by the Jurchens!"
"Let's not talk about this," Zong Ze pursed his lips again. "As long as you understand what I mean, go back and have a good rest. When the weapons are delivered tomorrow, you can lead the troops. There is also a memorial on the table, which advises the emperor to return to Tokyo to fight the Northern Expedition. You can also take it with you..."
"Sir," Yue Pengju couldn't help himself again. "It seems that Dongjing can stop the Jurchen soldiers, and the battle in Huazhou and Baimajin is also fierce, but in fact, the Jin army's original intention is to sweep Hebei, not to cross the river to advance. The third prince of Jin, Erliduo, went south at this time, more like to clean up for the fourth prince, Wushu, and did not cross the river. The so-called Huazhou crossing the river is only 20,000 to 30,000 troops. We have more than 100,000 people and dozens of troops. It's still hard to fight in turns. How can we let the emperor come here again? If the emperor comes here, I'm afraid he will attract the Jin army from the east and west to the city of Dongjing. What can we use to resist then?"
"Is that so?" Zong Ze didn't want to discuss this matter with Yue Fei, so he just pretended. "Send it over. The emperor is blocked in Shouzhou and can't get through... Ninety-nine percent of the time, he still has to go to Yangzhou, so you go to the king to rescue him."
Yue Fei had no choice but to stuff the note back into his sleeve, tie up his cuffs then bow to say goodbye... However, as soon as he raised his hand, he suddenly remembered something:
"Eun Xiang said there were three things before. Is there one thing that he didn't make clear?"
"Oh, yes!"
Zong Ze also suddenly realized what was going on, but he simply took off his fur coat, turned over and climbed onto the couch, rummaging around in the corner for a long time, then took out a box, and then turned around and waved. "Pengju, come up to the couch, I'll show you a treasure! I almost forgot!"
Yue Fei was speechless for a moment and did not step forward.
