Volume 1 Chapter 68 Discussion (Part 1)
"Wanyan Saili's head was shown to all the counties in Jingdong, and Jeju was definitely recovered. This shows that the information of this battle is true and reliable, and the results are outstanding and obvious. I would like to congratulate the emperor first!"
Unexpectedly, the first person to stand up at the meeting held in the wooden shed that evening was the Prime Minister Wang Boyan. "If the emperor had not decided on Yingshang that day, established a foothold in Huaidian, and insisted on defending Shouzhou against all odds, and issued an edict at Bagong Mountain to explain the righteousness of resisting the Jin army and call on people all over the world to fight on their own land, how could we have such a great victory?"
"good!"
Wang Yuan, the commander of the Imperial Camp, followed closely behind him and flashed out from beside the brazier. "It is said that planning in the tent can lead to victory thousands of miles away... Commander Han annihilated the enemy at Juejianzhou, Commander Wang defeated the enemy at Xishi Valley, and General Zhang preemptively fired his artillery at Jin Wushu. In addition, the great victory of Liangshanpo this time was all due to your proper planning and skillful use of troops. And the previous destruction of Jin Wushu's floating bridge on the Huai River was personally commanded by your emperor. Throughout history, no one has ever used troops like this, not even Emperor Tang and Emperor Taizu of this dynasty! Your Majesty, there is hope for the revival of the Song Dynasty!"
Zhao Jiu, who was sitting on the broken chair in front of the imperial tent, was slightly startled. The slight jealousy that had arisen before was actually dispelled by these two pieces of flattery... Of course, leaving aside the flattery that everyone loves to hear, and without the need for the recently atrophied Scholar Kobayashi to fill in the gaps, Zhao Jiu himself knew what these two were doing.
Over time, Emperor Zhao had a deeper understanding of these officials who had always been by his side. For example, Wang Boyan and Wang Yuan, the so-called surrenderists, peace advocates, and Yangzhou faction, were actually only a small number of them who were insiders and hardcore. Most of them were labeled just because they followed the crowd and were good at guessing the emperor's intentions.
The previous emperor Zhao Gou was determined to flee south and was afraid of the war of resistance. In order to keep up with the core, these people naturally had to transform themselves into the peace faction, the Yangzhou faction, and even the surrender faction. But the current emperor Zhao Jiu gritted his teeth and stayed in Huaidian. His determination to fight the war is clear as day, so these people naturally have to seize the opportunity and change their positions.
In fact, Zhao Jiu only found out a few days ago that Wang Boyan’s son was also captured by the Jin people when he was in Hebei. At that time, the Jin people also used this to threaten him, and he had more or less stood firm on his position.
But back to the present, the attitude of Wang Boyan and Wang Yuan, two people who had lost their power, naturally aroused the disdain of the civil and military officials.
However, Wang and Wang had a proper division of labor. Wang Boyan, as the second minister of the imperial court, was the first to discuss military affairs, which was not a problem. Moreover, he still retained the dignity of a prime minister in his words, and all the overly flattering words were said by Wang Yuan.
As for Wang Yuan, he is a military man. Is it a crime for him to flatter others?
So, everyone had to watch from the sidelines as these two people seized the initiative!
"Let's not talk about this for now," Zhao Jiu instinctively alerted himself to his strange mentality, and then asked, "The West Palace and the Imperial Camp are doing their job properly. Do you have any plans for the handling of this battle and the subsequent arrangements?"
"Your Majesty, this is within our duty, and we dare not neglect it." Wang Boyan came prepared. "First of all, the war is still tense, so we should first discuss the post-war arrangements..."
"How do you arrange it?"
"With their retreat cut off, Jin Wushu will certainly flee north, but given his powerful military, we must be careful to guard against them along the way... I think that Taiwei Yang should lead the troops and soldiers of the various military states and volunteers in the east of Beijing, deploy them properly, and then Zhang Jun and Han Shizhong should lead the troops to follow them. Only after they pass Mount Tai can we say that this battle is over."
"Well said."
Zhao Jiu nodded , and had to admit that Wang Boyan was cautious.
"Thank you for your praise." Wang Boyan was so happy that he continued, "I have a plan for the arrangements and rewards after the withdrawal of the troops."
"Tell me."
"Looking at this war, the north and the south are actually one. Among them, Yang Weizhong, Han Shizhong, and Zhang Jun have made special contributions, so Han Shizhong should also be appointed as the envoy to re-establish his authority..." At this point, Wang Boyan paused for a moment before he became serious. "And the country is in danger, why not temporarily appoint military men as governors? Let Zhang Jun establish Huaixi, Han Shizhong establish Huaidong, and Yang Weizhong stay in Nanjing (Shangqiu). By then, the government will be in Shouzhou, and Liu Zhengyan, Ding Jin, Xin Daozong, Xin Xingzong, Wang De, Fu Qing, Zhang Jing, Qiao Zhongfu, Hu Yantong and other generals will be in front of the emperor. With the financial resources of Huainan and Southeast as the foundation behind him, he can directly control the two Huais and remotely control Tokyo and Nanjing. In this way, he can naturally control the overall situation and the restoration is in sight!"
As soon as these words were spoken, there was an uproar in the Thatched Cottage.
Of course there will be an uproar!
Amid the chaos, Scholar Kobayashi, who was standing under the wooden shed, sighed repeatedly in his heart.
You must know that this Yutang scholar saw clearly that what Wang Boyan said today was obviously planned for a long time, but he took the opportunity to throw it out by taking advantage of the great victory in Liangshan and the great victory in the battle of Xiacai today.
But in just a few words, Wang Shuxiang revealed more than one huge plan:
First , a military official was appointed as a general... To be honest, this was the general trend. During the Jingkang period, a vassal state was established in Hebei, let alone now? The emperor had actually shown similar intentions before.
As for Han Shizhong establishing Huaidong and Zhang Jun establishing Huaixi, these were arrangements that had actually been made before the battle and could not be called shocking.
But, so to speak, this kind of words were spoken publicly for the first time, and it was said by a prime minister, so it was always a bit shocking.
Secondly, Wang Boyan killed many birds with one stone. He also took the opportunity to win over all the military officials in a dignified manner in the name of the Western Palace. How would Zhang Jun, the Chief Censor who guaranteed Han Shizhong, and Zhao Ding, the prefect of Shouzhou who was almost integrated with Zhang Jun in Caicheng, think?
Thirdly, this fellow actually appointed Yang Weizhong as the governor of Nanjing instead of the governor. Even though Yang Weizhong had extraordinary qualifications and had made special contributions this time, it was still truly shocking.
Finally, and what shocked many people the most was that Wang Boyan actually had the intention of letting the emperor stay in Shouzhou for a long time!
Not Yangzhou, not Nanyang, but Shouzhou!
This suggestion may seem absurd, but upon careful consideration it has many merits. Even Mr. Kobayashi, who was once the governor of Shouzhou and whose family has extensive influence in Huainan, was tempted by it!
There was a commotion in the wooden shed in front of the imperial tent. Zhao Jiu pondered for a long time, but slowly shook his head: "This matter is of great importance. Why not discuss it after the war? What Mr. Wang said before was very appropriate. Now let's just talk about the rewards after the victory of Liangshanpo... Is it feasible for Yang Weizhong, the governor of Jianwu Army, to stay in Nanjing?"
"I think it's feasible." Wang Yuan, the commander of the Imperial Camp, responded immediately. "General Yang is the commander-in-chief of this battle, and he has outstanding qualifications, talents, and is loyal and reliable. However, Hebei has actually fallen, and the position of the governor of the northern route is fictitious... Why not let him stay in Nanjing?"
Zhao Jiu sighed. Even if he put aside the serious topic of staying in Shouzhou, he could sensitively sense some political struggle from the urgency of Wang and Wang, and then he had to start thinking about everything from the perspective of a political animal.
To be honest, this is the helplessness of an official. He cannot abandon the bureaucracy to concentrate on a war... Even if he has tried his best to maintain a weak central group, the bureaucracy is still following him, and as the situation improves slightly, it becomes larger and larger and appears to be everywhere.
But from a rational point of view, they are indispensable if we want to fight the war effectively.
Thinking of this, Zhao Jiu couldn't help but feel jealous of Yue Fei again. Ever since he received the military report in the evening, he had been having wild thoughts. If he was allowed to go all out and fight without any constraints, would he be able to do better than Yue Fei?
Of course not!
Zhao Jiu had not lost his mind. He knew very well that he could do a little work for himself, the nation and the people in this era, which was essentially due to his position as an official. He relied on the occupation of Zhao Gou's body. The official status was his biggest golden finger! Without these bureaucratic groups supporting him, without this status involving Zhang Jun, Han Shizhong, Wang De and Yang Yizhong, how could he have achieved such a small achievement on the banks of the Huai River?
However, having said that, rational cognition is rationality, which does not delay Zhao Jiu's emotional jealousy. This mentality came very hastily. If Yue Fei had not suddenly appeared in his field of vision like a cone in a bag, Zhao Jiu himself might not have been able to notice it... But he appeared, and as an engineering student with no major problems in his values, Zhao Jiu himself naturally could not help but be vigilant and reflective.
Why are you jealous of Yue Fei?
After thinking it over, Zhao Jiu could only think that it was after he had experienced the Shouzhou confrontation and the Zhang Yongzhen incident that he had finally torn apart the barrier between him and this era and developed a certain sense of belonging to the era. With this sense of belonging, coupled with a little bit of human selfishness, he certainly wanted to complete the redemption of the entire era and seize certain honors... This didn't seem to be an immoral idea, but the jealousy that came from it was probably because he was too young!
It seems that he still hasn’t suffered enough from the beatings of the times!
