Volume 2 Chapter 54: Differences (Part 2)
Lü Haowen did not get the support he deserved, which made him panic. However, the palace was full of elites of the Song Dynasty, and there were always some who understood.
For example, Scholar Kobayashi, who hasn't spoken in the court for a long time.
For various reasons, this Hanlin scholar lost the desire to express himself on these things after the Xiangyang Incident, but he knew very well what was going on.
To put it bluntly, the crisis in Nanyang has been temporarily resolved, and whether the emperor stays in Nanyang or goes to Xiangyang does not seem to be a choice related to his life and property and the future of the country, but rather an ambiguous situation. In this case, everyone can put aside the national interests and discuss the issue from a personal standpoint.
Generally speaking, the half of the central government officials who stayed behind in Nanyang probably didn't want the honor and political capital brought by this battle to be diluted and shared by their colleagues in Xiangyang... They felt that they had paid the price for holding on under tremendous pressure for the first fifteen days, and the victory was contributed by them.
Why should the emperor go to Xiangyang when Nanyang has been defended?
Why was it that they were the ones who had to use their badges to get hot water and live in shared housing, but the credit for this final battle should be divided evenly, and the political resources that should have been exclusively enjoyed by them were divided up by others?
And to be honest, only the civil officials in the palace were a little more reserved. If Wang De and Fu Qing, who had participated in the bloody battles under the city and performed well last month, were asked to speak out, they would probably not say anything. They only wanted to secretly kill the messenger from Xiangyang and not let the emperor see it! Only a spoiled young master like Xin Yongzong would take the opportunity to curse and mock Zhang Jing and Qiao Zhongfu for being nothing and daring to steal the credit at this time?
Of course, if he goes to find his two brothers, that would be acceptable.
If you think about it carefully, it was because Lu Haowen, as the prime minister, had no room for promotion and was determined to be a court paperhanger. He had no need for military achievements or qualifications, so he was confused for a while and did not understand what everyone meant.
If we look at the original supporters who turned against us, such as Li Ruopu and Li Guang, they all had specific reasons:
Among them, Hanlin scholar Li Ruopu is Li Ruoshui's younger brother. He agreed at that time for the sake of the overall situation, but since there is no interest involved now, from this person's position, he will never take the initiative to ask the emperor to back down.
As for Li Guang, after communications were restored, previously accumulated information about the southeast came from the south of Xiangyang, giving people a rough idea of the situation in the southeast... It turned out that the prolonged delay of the rebellion in the southeast was directly caused by Li Gang!
Furthermore, after Wang Yi rebelled, Li Boji was worried that the generals of the rear army of the imperial camp had close ties with Wang Yi, so he temporarily replaced the generals. He chose an old general who had been idle in the southeast for decades, Wang Shunchen, the governor of Yueyang Army, to serve as the main general on the front line and command the battle in Jiangning.
However, Wang Shunchen was a famous general of the Western Army when he was young, and he had performed exceptionally well on the battlefield, but that was decades ago. Later, his daughter married Emperor Daojun and became one of the two royal concubines (all of them went to the north to hunt), so he was promoted to Jiedushi and enjoyed wealth and honor... In short, this man had lived a life of luxury in the so-called rich land of Jiangnan for decades, so how could he have the capital to be a general? Who could obey him?
In fact, the reason why the second rebellion broke out at that time was because there were rumors in the army that the rear army of the imperial camp had Commander-in-Chief Yang Lao Taiwei as the main general in Yangzhou to guard the empress dowager, and Wang Shunchen as the main general on the Jiangnan front. It was because Prime Minister Li Gang could not stand young generals, and wanted to appoint all old men as generals, taking the opportunity to purge... Therefore, the rebel suppression army mutinied halfway under the leadership of a group of core officers, and Wang Shunchen could only flee back to Yangzhou in embarrassment under the escort of Xin Yanzong.
Well, at a time like this, Li Guang was a man who kept his promises. How could he dare to stand up and go against the wishes of so many colleagues in Nanyang and make enemies for Prime Minister Li?
How to say it?
This kind of thing has nothing to do with morality, nor is it harmful, it is basically human nature. However, for Scholar Kobayashi, who had just withdrawn his gaze from Li Guang, he always felt a sense of annoyance... because it was meaningless.
Moreover, Bachelor Kobayashi was certain that Emperor Zhao was also annoyed, but he had no choice but to face these things.
"What the Prime Minister said is a bit outdated." In the cold atmosphere, the one who could oppose Prime Minister Lu so easily was naturally another Prime Minister Lu. Lu Yihao put his hands together without blinking. "This is a different time. Let's not talk about anything else. The situation in Tokyo and Huaixi is still unclear. If the front line is still in a stalemate, the emperor in Nanyang can at least calm the people on the front line, right?"
Lu Haowen was startled when he heard this, but then he smiled awkwardly: "I was too impatient, let's wait until the situation is clear."
Unexpectedly, Lu Yihao did not pursue the matter relentlessly, but nodded slightly: "That's exactly what I meant. Let's wait until the situation is clear before discussing this matter!"
The two gentlemen reached an agreement and forced the matter to stop. The emperor did not say anything, and the hall fell silent again. They talked a little more about city defense, supplies, and merits, and then dispersed.
However, this delay was destined not to last long. Just a few days later, as the Jin army intentionally or unintentionally further relaxed communications from outside Nanyang City to inside the city, Emperor Zhao finally learned the military intelligence from the front line that he had been waiting for for a long time, from all directions, from the east, south, west and north.
But to be honest...the situation is not very good, or it can be said to be very bad.
First of all, although the cities between the Five Rivers (Yingshui, Weishui, Qishui, Shangshui, and Rushui) were attacked in a scattered manner, that is, the Jin army did not have many troops besieging the cities, one of them still fell in the previous half month - the smallest city, Wuyang, was broken by the Jin army's Wanhu Pucha Hubalu, and the defending general Li Bao, nicknamed Bing Guansuo, tried to break out after the city fell. Now his life or death is unknown. Some people say that he has died for his country, while others say that he fled to Ye County, Ruzhou, and became a bandit.
But no matter what, there are only six or seven cities, and two of them have been lost, but Wanyan Talan's troops there have not been much loss. In other words, every time a city is lost, the pressure on the remaining cities will increase further, and then it will become more and more dangerous... It is no harm to say that the place is in danger.
What's more, the most important Han Shizhong is in Changsha, making communication difficult.
In addition, Wuguan Xin Xingzong also promptly sent him the information about the battle situation in Guanxi that had accumulated in his hands, which was even more bad news.
The Jinning Army, which was already in a desperate situation, was also conquered. This was expected, but what was particularly hard to accept was that when the defending official Xu Huiyan was escorted to Wanyan Loushi's army and brutally executed, the reason given was that he was disrespectful to the surrendered general Zhe Keqiu!
At the same time, although Qu Duan expressed his obedience to Yuwen Xuzhong's envoy on the surface, he still refused to listen to the military orders of his superior Wang Xie after sending troops. Both sides kept sending documents to Yuwen Xuzhong to sue each other. One said that the other party refused to obey orders, and the other said that the other party was incompetent and harming the country. They didn't care at all that Wanyan Loushi used his troops steadily and swiftly, and now he has occupied three states, one prefecture and one army in northern Shaanxi, and he has freed up his hands and no longer has to worry!
Of course, there was good news. Li Yanxian of Shanzhou sent someone to report via Wuguan. The general meaning was that if the main force of the Jin army's western route did not come to Shanzhou in the next step, he could give up the newly recovered territory in Hebei and try to lead some of the Hebei volunteers and Shanzhou troops to support other places.
Finally, there is the most important city of Tokyo. Compared with the clear military situation in other places, this fatal main battlefield has some unclear meaning.
First of all, Tokyo did not escape danger because of the strategic shift of the main force of the Jin army. This was mainly because the Jin army strangled three strategic points - Ali and Olubu were in Nanjing; Wanyan Nianhan personally sat in Damingfu and remotely controlled Wanhu Danghai to continue besieging Huazhou; and Wanyan Talan did not forget to separate a main Wanhu to strangle Zhongmu.
Zhongmu is located in the west of Tokyo City, Nanjing is located in the southeast of Tokyo City, Damingfu and Huazhou are located in the north of Tokyo City. Surrounded on three sides, Tokyo City is still unable to move.
But there hasn't been any major progress.
So it is true to say that there is a stalemate there.
However, the real troubles and problems in Tokyo City are not the gains and losses of these cities.
It is said that shortly after the war broke out, a rumor spread on the front line - it was said that Zong Ze, the governor of Tokyo, had already run out of energy and was on the verge of death. Therefore, the troops of the Tokyo Garrison, which were previously relied upon as the main force and the core force should have been no less than 100,000, lost their coordination and fought on their own, and were defeated by Wanyan Wushu and quickly lost the city and territory.
But recently this news has become more and more confusing... Some people say it is a rumor with certainty, while others say that Zong Ze is indeed dead, or at least is terminally ill and unable to command the troops.
It is said to be a rumor, but it is said that Yue Fei, the governor of Jizhou, had taken advantage of Wanyan Wushu's great shift to successfully lead his troops to break through the defense line and enter Tokyo. Since he entered Tokyo, he has been attacking from all sides. He fought against Yelu Ma Wu of Zhongmu in the west and won two out of three battles; he supported Huazhou in the north and rescued Quan Bangyan, the deputy governor of Tokyo and the governor of Huazhou, from danger several times; and he also took military actions in the southeast when Liu Bao and Tian Shizhong, generals under Zhang Jun, tried to advance westward, in response to the situation.
When Yue Fei entered Tokyo, he had only 15,000 to 16,000 soldiers and horses. Tokyo had been fighting for ten miles in a row, and there were only about 10,000 to 20,000 soldiers and horses. To make such a high level of overall response with 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers and horses, it must be a general with a big picture view. Therefore, many people took the opportunity to infer that Zong Ze must still be alive, or at least has temporarily recovered.
As for saying that it is accurate, the reason is very direct - Zong Ze has always been particular about being on the same level as the soldiers. He is over 70 years old, but since the Jing Kang period, he has always gone to the battlefield in coarse clothes, carrying a pot and using straw as a pillow to boost morale. But this time, from beginning to end, he did not make a public appearance to appease the people.
In fact, according to intelligence, a large number of defeated soldiers from the Tokyo Garrison were concentrated in the southern part of Tokyo at this time, about 30,000 to 40,000, with five or six commanders, but there had been no movement for a long time, which further fueled this suspicion.
"No need to doubt it."
In order to avoid the crowds in the city, Emperor Zhao summoned a few important officials to the top of the city wall that night, as the weather was gloomy and there was a sign of snow. "Zong Liushou must be ill, because I know Yue Fei's ability. The one who is maintaining the situation in Tokyo must be Yue Pengju himself."
The few people who were called to the top of the city wall by the emperor included two ministers, a chief censor, a minister of war, a Hanlin scholar, a junior governor of Nanyang Prefecture, and two generals, Yang Yi Zhong and Liu Yan. They were just a few people, and when they heard what was said, their faces changed drastically almost at the same time.
"what to do?"
Without waiting for the people below to answer, Zhao Guanjia took the initiative to ask questions, which was rare. Judging from his appearance, he was obviously really anxious. "Can you send an order to let Yue Fei take charge of the war in Tokyo?"
“No!”
Lu Yihao, Lu Haowen, Hu Yin, Lin Jingmo, and Yan Xiaozhong all blurted out the same thing almost in unison.
"Why?" Emperor Zhao frowned anxiously.
"Your Majesty, don't forget about the Southeast." Lu Yihao took the lead and immediately confronted him seriously. "Not to mention that we still don't know whether Zong Liushou is really ill, even if Zong Ze is really difficult to lead the army, there are other high-ranking ministers in Tokyo, how can Yue Fei be the commander? If such an over-promoted person with only 26 or 27 people is suddenly appointed to lead the Tokyo Liushou Division, and the order comes from Nanyang in the midst of war, I'm afraid that the 30,000 or 40,000 defeated soldiers in Tokyo will directly rebel!"
"That's right!" Hu Yin also said solemnly. "Your Majesty, Yue Fei was recommended by me to be the pacification envoy, but I also know his background, so I would like to ask you today, who is Yue Fei, what is his resume, why is he the commander of the Tokyo Garrison? Who can trust him and obey him?"
Emperor Zhao remained silent... because he knew that what these people said was right. At the moment, no one believed in Yue Fei except him, Zhao Jiu. Li Yanxian's actions that day were still fresh in our memory, not to mention that the Tokyo Garrison was a bunch of miscellaneous soldiers?
Therefore, Lu Yihao was not exaggerating. If the imperial edict really came, half of the remaining troops in the Tokyo Garrison would rebel before Yue Fei could gain military power.
But the problem is that Emperor Zhao also knows very well that he is trapped in a stalemate on all sides. Only the surplus troops of Yue Fei and the Tokyo Liaison Office can break the deadlock...but only he himself knows this!
But isn’t this a paradox?
If you want to break the impasse, you must use Yue Fei. However, once Yue Fei is used in an extraordinary way, the overall situation will most likely collapse!
In the silence, snowflakes suddenly fell, and Zhao Guanjia suddenly woke up and asked again with difficulty: "What should we do?"
