Volume 2 Chapter 56: Hu Si
The sudden appearance of a man like Du Chong comforted Emperor Zhao. In fact, it was snowing that night, and Zhao Jiu returned to the palace. On the one hand, he summoned Du Chong's second son Du Yan to issue an order, and on the other hand, he asked Du Chong's son-in-law Han Ru to enter the palace. Then, with Xiao Lin and Yang Yi Zhong by his side, he asked Du Chong about his resume and background in detail... It was obvious that he was still a little worried.
But after listening to it, I could only nod my head repeatedly and sigh in silence.
It would be ridiculous for anyone to point fingers at Du Chong and say that he had problems. At this point, Du Chong had only two problems. One was that he was too "fierce" in his early anti-Jin resistance. When he was guarding Cangzhou in the border area, he killed the common people who fled from the north to the south as spies of the Jin army; the other was that he abandoned the city when he was in Daming Prefecture.
However, these two things are really not a big deal these days.
There were many murderous generals in the Song army. Even though Du Chong attracted criticism, it was only because he was a civil servant, and it was a bit beneath his status to be accused of indiscriminate killing. In addition, Zhao Jiu, who was probably the only one in the court who was sensitive to such things, was not very clear about the events in the early years of the Jing Kang period. When he heard the vague words three years later, it was unlikely that he really knew what had happened at that time.
As for escaping back from Hebei...to put it bluntly, who didn't escape back from Hebei?
In fact, after this person fled from Daimyo Prefecture to Tokyo, he still maintained his treatment and was appointed as the prefect of the old capital. In fact, he became a senior official of the Tokyo Lyushusi, which shows the attitude of both the upper and lower levels towards this person.
At that time, Zhao Jiu had not yet seized power, and many things were entrusted to four ministers. Now, when he thought about it again, he simply suspected that the candidate Du Chong was just like Zhang Suo he designated, who was the backup of the Tokyo Liaison Office designated by the capital province.
Because it’s so suitable!
That’s right, compared to those two black spots, there were many things that Du Chong and the Tokyo Liaison Office had in common.
In terms of qualifications, this person was a Jinshi during the reign of Emperor Zhezong, and he also served as the governor of Daming Prefecture. His age and resume are very stable; in terms of his native place, his Xiangzhou origin is particularly eye-catching...
It must be emphasized here that the reason why this native place is eye-catching has nothing to do with the fact that he is from the same hometown as Yue Fei... Zhao Jiu will pay attention to these, but Lu Haowen and others will not care about these... The main reason is that the native place of Xiangzhou, Hebei, has great significance to the Tokyo Liaison Office.
You know, the army is divided into factions. For the previous Song Dynasty, it has always been divided into three factions according to the region: the Western Army, the Hebei Imperial Army, and the Tokyo Direct Imperial Army.
Han Shizhong, Liu Guangshi, Zhang Jun, Daxin, Xiaoxin and Tangxin are all from the Western Army.
The troops of the Tokyo Garrison had mixed origins, and were brought together by Zong Ze's personal charm and ability. Among them were a small number of Western Army troops, such as the commander Sang Zhong, who was a lieutenant under Zhong Shidao; there were also many local imperial guards; but most of those who dared to fight and were able to fight were still mainly military bandits, refugees, and rebel forces that had fled from Hebei and Hedong. This group of people naturally had the local color of Hebei, or it could be said that it was precisely because they were born in Hebei that they dared to fight and were able to fight, and because they had a personal feud with the Jin people.
Yue Fei was the backbone of this faction, and Yue Fei had a fellow countryman named Zhang Yong, who was also the commander of the Tokyo Residential Office. If Kong Yanzhou is included, when the front line was at its peak, there were a total of four officials above the commander level from Tangyin, Xiangzhou (including Wang Gui).
This shows the importance of the issue of native place there.
In other words, once Zong Ze, the de facto founder of the Tokyo Liaison Office, dies, only a senior official from Hebei can stabilize this huge refugee military group!
Zhao Jiu even suspected that if Zhang Suo didn't die, but Zong Ze died, then Zhang Suo, who was born in Jingdong, might not be able to suppress the troops of the Jingdong Liaison Office, and Du Chong would have to step in at that time... You see, Zong Ze should just have a health problem at this time, and he is not dead yet, so this group of people ran to the southern part of Jingdong to wait and see.
The natural instability of the refugee group is obvious. When away from their hometown, the sense of security of the title of fellow villager is extremely important.
As for the appeal of Emperor Zhao himself?
Well, unless he goes there in person to sacrifice the emperor's face, it seems a bit hopeless, because the Tokyo Garrison does not pay military salaries!
That's right, Zhao Jiu could only support the Tokyo Garrison with food and money as much as possible, and he really couldn't pay them the full salary... As for half of the country, before seeing the results of the financial reform, it was already a great achievement to be able to support hundreds of thousands of the left, right, and rear troops of the Imperial Camp through the central finance.
That's it. The right army and the rear army of the imperial camp were directly transported from the southeast and the accounts were transferred to Nanyang.
Back to the present, for some reason, after Emperor Zhao thought about it and confirmed that Du Chong was indeed suitable and almost the only candidate, he returned to his residence in the harem and went to bed, but he still couldn't fall asleep and was still worried about the current situation.
There was even a faint feeling of strangeness that was hard to explain but somehow familiar.
Besides, the reason why I came to Nanyang in the first place was naturally to take care of Guanzhong... Although I had anticipated this invasion and didn't expect to sort out Guanzhong this year, judging from the mess that Qu Duan, Wang Xie, Wang Shu, and Zhe Keqiu, the four actual leaders of Guanxi, had made in the past six months, Emperor Zhao really had no face to say that he had control over Guanzhong.
Qu Duan is domineering and arrogant to the point of being sickening; Wang Xie (the one who went to Hanzhong to invite Zhao Jiu to Sichuan) is obviously incompetent; Wang Shu is a seemingly useful civil official, and was also nominally the highest political figure in Guanzhong before Yuwen Xuzhong entered Guanzhong. He did not fear fighting, but judging from his previous defeats and his inability to control Qu Duan and manage Wang Xie, he is obviously a person with a military level roughly equal to Li Gang and a political level roughly equal to Lu Haowen. The only redeeming feature of his position is his pro-war stance.
As for Zhe Keqiu, it’s better not to think about him!
In addition, looking back at the entire battle situation, Zhang Suo died and Han Shizhong was besieged, although there were reasons... For example, Zhang Suo was ambushed by the Jin army, there was also the sudden rebellion of Kong Yanzhou, and there was even the deeper reason that Jingdong had been swept by the Jin army last year; for example, Han Shizhong went to rescue Zong Ze, and Zong Ze's situation seemed to be more dangerous at that time. No one could say anything about that rescue, just as most people at this time agreed to rescue Han Shizhong.
However, in terms of results, they were two huge defeats and tragedies after all.
Sometimes Zhao Jiu couldn't help but wonder, if he had been a little more tense and careful during the period when the Jin army was delayed by the Hebei rebels, and had also asked Zhang Suo to be more careful, would the collapse of the two routes in Jingdong be avoided, and would Zhang Suo be able to survive?
If he had noticed Zong Ze's abnormal behavior earlier, or had established , instead of treating him as a mere "backer", then the crisis of the Tokyo Liaison Office, including Han Shizhong's previous ambush, might have been avoided.
To be fair, for Zhao Jiu, the progress of the war so far is actually much better than the worst case scenario expected. Science and technology have not deceived him. In other words, even if the old Taoist is watching in the sky, there is still a basic law to abide by.
Therefore, the new artillery vehicle based on the lever principle played a great role.
However, the current situation is much worse than the best expected case scenario... Zong Ze's poor health has little to do with him, but Zhang Suo's death is hard for him to let go; Han Shizhong's siege makes him feel a strong contrast and surprise. He is determined not to accept that his own "scientific" efforts have caused such unexpected losses.
What's more, Han Shizhong himself is his greatest reliance since he came to this world. Although the two of them cannot be called friends, they are already rare acquaintances.
However, these are just reflections, which are common emotions and cannot be called "weird". In fact, at this moment, looking at the shadows of snowflakes falling outside the door, Zhao Jiu still has two final emotions in his heart, and it is these two emotions that make him become "weird".
One of them is a cliché but lingering thing...Zhao Jiu is still jealous of Yue Fei.
Although he has given the utmost support in action, the time traveler is still jealous of the son of the era whom he has never met.
As for the reason, Zhao Jiu had been thinking about it for so long that he could probably give an idea of it.
But overall, it was nothing more than the combination of being a time traveler and the emperor that gave rise to a strong desire in this young man... He wanted to replace Yue Fei and become the one who saved the world!
A normal Emperor Zhao would not have such a desire, and neither should a time traveler, but when they are combined together, it seems so natural.
It is difficult to characterize this desire. To put it in a vulgar way, it is called ignorance of the immensity of heaven and earth, or even a bit politically incorrect. But if we must elevate it, we can also call it a sense of mission.
If you don't want to do something for this country and nation, how could you have such a desire?
How easy it would be to just lie down in Hangzhou, at most have one more sea adventure in between, and then wait a dozen years, until Yue Fei entered his golden age, and his Yue Family Army would have reached a hundred thousand men, with seventy to eighty thousand armored men. Then, by that time, twelve gold medals would be sent to the front line to urge the troops to join in the fun... How simple is that?
But if you can take the initiative to do something, why do you have to lie down?
If the war had ended a year earlier, how many people like Zhang Yongzhen would have saved their lives, and how many Zhang Yongzhen would have successfully returned home ? Isn't it that Yue Fei's simple patriotism was formed by his attachment to his hometown? Wouldn't it be better to prevent Yue Fei from becoming a hero and let him retire and return to his hometown at the age of 30 as a pacification envoy?
If you can enjoy peace and be a wealthy person, why should you leave your homeland and live towards death?
In fact, the reason why this feeling of jealousy could not be shaken off again and again was that Zhao Jiu found this perverse logic for himself. According to this line of thought, the more he reflected on it, the more proud Zhao Jiu became... It seemed that this was an emotion worthy of pride.
However, this pride and the tremendous pressure brought by the current massive invasion of the Jin army brought Zhao Jiu another, and final, strange emotion - excessive reflection, coupled with the gap between ideals and self-explanation for the jealousy in his heart, made him begin to doubt his efforts again.
These days, Zhao Jiu sometimes thinks that compared to the person who gave him this body, he has done so many things - that person only knew how to run away, all the way to Yangzhou, then to the southeast, and then to the sea, but he, Zhao Jiu, defended the Huai River, so that the southeast and the two Huai regions at least did not decay; that person obviously abandoned the Central Plains and only knew how to enjoy himself in Yangzhou, but he, Zhao Jiu, chose Nanyang, personally defended the city and presided over the Central Plains Anti-Japanese War; that person only knew how to drag the front line, but he, Zhao Jiu, gave so much support to Li Gang, Zong Ze, Li Yanxian, Han Shizhong, Yue Fei and other anti-Jin heroes who were originally suppressed and abandoned in another time and space...
But why is the situation still so difficult? And why did something unexpected happen like Han Shizhong?
Where did the mistake go?
Is it true that escaping is more reasonable than fighting?
"What do you think would happen if I had gone to Yangzhou at the beginning?" Zhao Jiu suddenly turned around and asked the person beside him.
No one answered.
Maybe because she was too tired from cooking during the day, Wu Yu had already fallen asleep, and Zhao Jiu was not surprised. In fact, if he hadn't known that the other party had fallen asleep, Emperor Zhao would not have asked this question.
And this is exactly what makes Emperor Zhao most depressed. He has many words and ideas in his mind that he cannot tell others, so these emotions accumulate in his heart, day after day, becoming more complicated and obscure as the situation becomes difficult, so that he will often be lost in thoughts like this for half the night.
However, after asking, Emperor Zhao finally gave up his wild thoughts for the night, blew out the candle, turned around and hugged the sleeping Wu Yu to rest.
However, soon after the candlelight went out, there was a rapid and somewhat restrained knock on the door.
"Everyone! Is everyone asleep?"
"Sir! Please stand up, Sir."
The former is Feng Yi, who is in charge of the harem, and the latter is Yang Yi Zhong. The two of them came to knock on the door together, so there must be something going on.
"What's going on?" How could Zhao Jiu fall asleep? Moreover, after hearing the voices of these two people, he quickly got up and dressed in the dark. "Did Du Yan get captured when he went out?"
"No...it was Prime Minister Lu who came suddenly and said that he wanted to see the emperor in private." Another voice sounded, and it was Lan Gui, the chief escort in charge of confidential documents in the front hall.
As Lan Gui spoke, the door was carefully opened and then closed. It seemed that Lan Gui and Feng Yi came in together, personally lighting the lamp and helping the official to dress.
However, Zhao Jiu felt confused when he heard this. He covered the light that had just been lit and frowned, "Which Lu Xianggong?"
"Of course it's Lu Yihao, the Prime Minister of the Privy Council." Lan Gui answered carefully. "Prime Minister Lu is on duty in the palace tonight."
"That's right." Zhao Jiu shook his head suddenly, looked back at Wu Yu who was sleeping soundly, put on his shoes and stood up. "It's better to save Mr. Lu from doing such a thing..."
Lan Gui immediately bowed his head and said nothing.
So, Zhao Jiu put on his clothes, hurried out, and braved the snow to lead Yang Yizhong and others through the clearing in the harem where the trees had already been cut down, preparing to turn into the front hall. Unexpectedly, as soon as he reached the corner, he saw Lu Yihao standing there alone with his hands behind his back.
Zhao Jiu had no choice but to ask Yang Yizhong to leave and went forward alone.
"Your Majesty!" Lu Yihao bowed slightly. "Your Majesty, please know that I just thought of a way that is related to the overall situation. Although it is just a rough thought, it may be feasible, so I hurriedly called you to get up and wanted you to think about it..."
"Mr. Lu, please speak." Zhao Jiu certainly understood what the other party meant, so he suppressed his sleepiness and said, "If this matter cannot be accomplished, I will never tell anyone."
Lu Yihao bowed slightly, but said only one sentence and no more.
Zhao Jiu was startled at first, then woke up, but did not answer. The two of them just nodded slightly, confirmed that the information was correct, and then said goodbye at the junction of the front hall and the harem, and then turned back to rest... Lu Shuxiang also had his own room in the side room of the front hall.
Not to mention whether Lu Shuxiang, who is nearly 60 years old, can sleep well after returning, but the young Emperor Zhao was again full of wild thoughts when he returned this time. He tossed and turned and couldn't sleep for a long time.
Obviously, Lu Yihao's suggestion just now made him a little tempted...but he had no reason to do it at the moment.
