Volume 2 Chapter 27: Outing (Part 1)
In late April, people in Nanyang City were in unrest.
The reason is simple. The news of Han Shizhong's defeat in Xijing could not be concealed in Nanyang City, which was not yet formal enough.
However, on this day, as the weather suddenly turned hot, detailed military intelligence from Han Shizhong was reported immediately without any delay. After everyone in the central government, from the officials down, roughly understood the situation, they couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
It turned out that the cause of this battle was still Li Yanxian. Li Yanxian crossed the Yellow River and recaptured Jiezhou with Zhongtiao Mountain as his base, and established contact with Wang Yan's Eight Character Army. This greatly shocked the Jin people who regarded Hebei as their heartland, because this action had huge political and strategic significance.
Therefore, as a last resort, the highest Jurchen commander Wanyan Gushen (also known as Wanyan Xiyin), who was still in the Xijing Luoyang area, was the inventor of the Jurchen writing, the actual planner of the so-called "Two Saints Hunting in the North", and also the right-hand man of Wanyan Nianhan's faction, one civil and one military. He made a prompt decision and ordered the entire army to withdraw to Hebei and abandon Xijing Luoyang.
Faced with such a situation, Han Shizhong might be jealous of Li Yanxian's military achievements (this kind of thing is too common), or people like Zhai Daxiao and Lu Xing might have been killing the Jin people in Xijing and had a blood feud with each other... In short, after Han Shizhong obtained unanimous consent from the army, before Wanyan Gushen and Yelu Yudu were about to withdraw their troops, he joined forces with Zhai Daxiao and Lu Xing to launch a multi-faceted joint raid attempt to make a big news.
However, when the three armies marched out at the same time, Wanyan Gushen was also gathering his troops at the same time to prepare for crossing the river.
Therefore, the result was that Lu Xing's troops encountered Yang Jin, a rebel who surrendered to the Jin people, and the two sides met hastily on the road and had a hard battle; while Han Shizhong's main force also encountered Yelu Yudu's Khitan troops; in the end, only the elder and younger Zhai led Niu Gao and other volunteers to arrive at the designated battlefield and face the Jurchens directly, and naturally suffered a disastrous defeat... If Han Shizhong had not repelled Yelu Yudu and provided support, I am afraid that the elder and younger Zhai as well as Niu Gao would have all died on the banks of the Yellow River.
However, the post-war situation was not as bad as imagined, because after the great victory, Wanyan Gushen still chose to turn around and cross the river with Yelu Yudu's Khitan troops, which was equivalent to giving up Henan and Luoyang.
Moreover, according to Han Shizhong's urgent letter, Yelu Yudu, the former Liao royal family general, had obviously held back during the battle, and might be able to be used in the future; as for the rebel Yang Jin, that goes without saying, he had clearly fought his utmost... When he was summoned, he probably thought Wanyan Gushen was going to take him with him... but he was still left alone in Henan, helpless, and could only stand by the Yellow River in the wind.
In response to this, General Han almost swore an oath in the letter, which seemed to be a military order, meaning that Yang Jin must be hanged on the bank of the Yellow River within half a month, otherwise he would not return to Huaixi.
Of course, he had to come back. If he didn't come back, how could he rest, expand his troops, and prepare for battle? Emperor Zhao couldn't help but send another decree to comfort him, and asked Han Shizhong to return to Huaixi to rest as soon as possible after defeating Yang Jin, and to supplement Yang Jin's troops with the big and small Zhai and Lu Xing.
In short, it was more or less a false alarm. Moreover, people have become accustomed to losing battles these days. Zhao Jiu can't forbid Han Shizhong from losing a battle just because he gave him a belt, right?
However, after the "crisis" of Han Shizhong's defeat in Xijing was resolved, only Emperor Zhao felt relieved and even slept soundly during his nap. However, people in Nanyang City were still in a state of unrest.
The reason is simple: there are too many people and too many things to do. Moreover, the various problems are there, and the severity of them is completely different for different people.
For example, for the unique Zhao Emperor, the most important thing is the military situation on the front line. Because in Zhao Jiu's eyes, everything in the rear is ultimately for the victory of the front line against Jin. This is the most important value of his life for the next ten or even twenty years, and it is also related to his life and property. This has been unshakable since he refused to go to the southeast and came to Nanyang.
Therefore, the emperor was so excited about Li Yanxian's great victory that he even appointed him as the governor of Yongxing Army Road and pacified him overnight. Then he issued an imperial decree overnight to appease Han Shizhong and inquire about the battle situation. Finally, he completely relaxed after making sure that the situation had stabilized.
To put it bluntly, in the eyes of Emperor Zhao, everything else is nothing compared to the military intelligence on the front line.
Relatively speaking, for the local residents of Nanyang, after confirming that the Jin people would not come, the most important thing was the rumor that there might be a large-scale renovation of the city defense, because this matter would inevitably involve their travel and even the survival of their own houses, which was a major matter that truly concerned their livelihoods.
For example, talents from all over the country have recently gathered in Nanyang. They discuss everything, but discussion is discussion, and the palace examination itself in a few days is the biggest thing... Because whether they want to serve the country and save people in distress, or have the utilitarian intention of advancement, they have become officials first.
As for the old bureaucrats caring about the Yuanyou Party members not being rehabilitated in time, the Bashu craftsmen caring about being diverted to Xiangyang to settle down, and the merchants caring about the restoration of the smooth flow of the Yangtze and Han Rivers, that is even more natural.
Similarly, it is only natural that the Chief Censor Zhang Jun ... Because long before, as the government affairs were carried out in an orderly manner, he had keenly realized his awkward position in the court. And as many things happened in these days, he became more and more restless.
“It’s difficult.”
Facing his best friend Liu Ziyu who had returned from Xiangyang, Zhang Deyuan, who was sitting on the ground under a green tree by a small river in the west of Nanyang City, opened his heart to the wine in the cool river, just like he did to Zhao Ding and Hu Yin when they were displaced. "Ziyu, you don't know that in the eyes of outsiders, I, Zhang Junxu, am the Chief Censor, the so-called position of half a prime minister, and the most trusted person in the government. I should have been satisfied long ago, but in my position, I am neither up nor down, neither forward nor backward, and it is difficult to do anything..."
Liu Ziyu grabbed a pear, took a bite, but said nothing.
"Yan Xiu, please don't disbelieve me." Zhang Deyuan probably understood the other party's mentality, but explained seriously. "I just want to ask you one thing. You said that the sun is shining here, the flowers are red and the trees are green, it is the peak of early summer scenery, it should be the time for scholars and officials to drink wine and write elegantly, why are there only two serious officials sitting here? You just came back from your meritorious service, and the government granted you a special leave , what about me?"
Liu Ziyu then put down the pear and thought for a moment: "Is Deyuan saying that the rest of us have work to do and can't rest?"
"Of course." Zhang Jun sneered, raised his cup and drank, then raised his hand to list them. "I will imitate our emperor's manner and list them from beginning to end... Needless to say, the four ministers at the top, the emperor passes notes every day, assigning tasks to the ministers one by one. If the task is completed, they will tick the note and hang it in the hall. If the task is not completed, they will make an exception and still hang it in the hall. If it is delayed, the emperor will go to the hall every day and slap the table, asking in public whether a certain minister has a few notes that have not been handed in today... The secondary capital is in a hurry, the main hall, the meeting hall, the capital hall, and the Privy Council are all integrated, and everyone is watching, which minister can not go all out?"
"I knew about this in Xiangyang." Liu Ziyu also shook his head and smiled when he heard this. "The three-line minister Lu Haowen, it is said that Lu Xianggong is busy with the work of opening, dividing and reporting the notes every day, almost stealing the work of Lan Daban; the pile-of-notes minister Xu Jingheng, Lu Xianggong handed all the difficult and important government affairs to him, so that he had a pile of notes in his arms, and there were not many that could be handed in; the Guanxi minister is Yuwen, Yuwen is in charge of the major affairs of the Western Army, but the situation in Guanxi has not been completely settled, so the Guanxi notes are often interrupted, and then the hall is full of them; the proud minister Wang Boyan, who is in charge of the rest of the military affairs, is often efficient, so all his notes are ticked, and the hall is full of them, and he is very proud recently ."
Zhang Jun shook his head more and more: "Even so, who wouldn't want to hang a note themselves?"
"Indeed." Liu Ziyu also became serious. "You and I were just joking in private. If we really talk about it, who wouldn't want to do things like you gentlemen? Just like what I said just now, except for Xianggong Lu's slight ridicule, the other gentlemen, no matter if they are more involved or more distracted, or if they fail to complete their tasks, everyone in the world seems to know that you gentlemen are doing things one by one, not just sitting there doing nothing. But Deyuan... you must be only 31 years old!"
Zhang Jun nodded slowly, but then shook his head slowly: "Yan Xiu, if that's all, then of course I'm greedy, but now among the close ministers, I'm the only one who's idle..."
