Volume 2 Chapter 57 Chaos
The war is going on. Even if it has entered the stalemate stage, Nanyang, where the front-line commanders of both sides are concentrated, cannot just calm down.
For example, Emperor Zhao quickly decided on a strategy of appointing Du Chong as the commander-in-chief and Yue Fei as the general to integrate the troops of the Tokyo Garrison to rescue Han Shizhong.
In fact, this matter was so important that Zhao Jiu was relieved the next day after he found Du Chong's name on a note that advised him to return to Tokyo... Judging from this incident, this person was undoubtedly a pro-war faction, and at least he got along well with Zong Ze in Tokyo.
That’s right, Du Chong submitted a petition as a member of the Tokyo Garrison, requesting Emperor Zhao to return to the old capital. This is clearly seen in the history books.
However, at this point, Zhao Jiu could only console himself, because the decision had been made and things seemed unable to be changed.
Moreover , Nanyang is destined to be a place of unrest.
On the last day of the early twelfth lunar month, when the situation in Tokyo was unclear, Xu Jingheng, Wang Boyan and Liu Ji from Xiangyang were the first to become restless. When Nanyang did not respond for a long time and only said that "Nanyang is still stable", Xiangyang carried out the predetermined plan. Zhang Jing, the commander of the imperial army, crossed the Han River, went north along the frozen Baihe River from the east bank, and approached Nanyang City.
At this point, the situation became delicate again, because the Jin army did not attack, but watched the troops advance along the Baihe River to the other side of the Baihe River, which was only fifteen miles away from the southeast corner of Nanyang City.
It is said that the civil servants in Nanyang always fluctuate with the situation, sometimes happy and sometimes worried:
At the beginning, the Jin army gave up attacking the city. Although knowledgeable people said clearly that there must be a conspiracy of the Jin army, such as the situation on the front line was worrying, so the Jin army deliberately opened the passage to let the people in Nanyang city know in an attempt to disrupt their own formation. This was a "strategy of attacking the heart", but this still could not suppress the relief and relaxation of most people, as if the battle had already been won.
Then, as expected, news came from the north, saying that Guanxi was defeated, Han Shizhong in the Wuhe region was dying, Tokyo was doing nothing, etc., so the city became chaotic again, the Xiangyang faction showed signs of revival, and most of the experienced ministers agreed with Emperor Zhao to find an opportunity to leave.
Now, Zhang Jing has brought 4,000 to 5,000 soldiers to the east bank of Baihe River to set up camp. The Jin army did not attack, but some people thought that the Jin army had lost their courage and suggested that Emperor Zhao send Wang De and Fu Qing out of the city to rob the camp? !
Of course, there are still people who understand.
"This must be the Jin army deliberately lenient, luring our army out of the city to support them, in order to annihilate them outside the city." The one who came out to speak was Liu Ziyu. These days, even the civilians could relax for a few days because of the lull in the war, and the soldiers could be rotated out of the city, but he was busy with the city defense in the early stage, and helped plan other plans in the later stage. He looked a little tired, but he spoke quickly at this time.
"We can't lose our courage completely, can we?" Chief Censor Hu Yin frowned slightly. It's not that he just followed the crowd, but he always believed that they should attack instead of defend. As early as in Nanjing, he believed that Emperor Zhao should lead the army in person and cross the river to the north. It's just that since it involves military affairs, everyone, including Emperor Zhao, generally ignores him.
Therefore, when Liu Ziyu heard that it was Hu Yin who spoke, he instinctively felt a headache. He didn't know whether it was because of his recent fatigue or he simply felt that it was useless to talk to this person, so for a moment he had no intention of arguing with him in court.
Fortunately, he had been in the Privy Council for a long time and had some prestige and connections, so his subordinates immediately came forward to greet him.
"I'm sorry." Hu Hongxiu heard such a ridiculous remark, and seeing that Liu Canjun, who took the best care of him, kept silent, he immediately stepped out of the line and spoke directly to Emperor Zhao, pretending that he didn't hear Hu Yin. "Perhaps the Jin army has a bigger plan!"
"What does it mean?" Zhao Guanjia, who was daydreaming, came to his senses and became a little curious.
"I think that the Jin army saw this army coming from Xiangyang and guessed that Commander Zhang was here to support the emperor, so they pretended to be relaxed and waited for the emperor to leave the city so that they could solve the problem once and for all." Hu Hongxiu never stopped making shocking remarks.
There was a sudden noise in the hall, and Zhao Jiu was slightly startled, then he grinned rarely, but did not respond.
"The situation is very good. Why would the emperor go to Xiangyang instead of staying in Nanyang?" Hu Yin continued to frown when he heard this. "How could the Jin army be so foolish?"
"Are the Jin army really confused?" Hu Hongxiu couldn't help but confront the Imperial Censor, whose political status was completely different from his. "Hu Xiantai! The Jin army didn't do this specifically. They just relied on their cavalry and invincibility in field battles, so they let Zhang Tongzhi go. Once they made up their minds, they could eat up these four or five thousand soldiers at any time. How can they be considered confused?"
"According to what you said, the four or five thousand soldiers under General Zhang are already dead by now anyway?" Hu Yin found it increasingly absurd. "When facing the Jin army, we can only defend the city and let them abuse us? In any case, at this time, it is wrong for General Zhang to come to the king to defend him?"
"It is really inappropriate for Commander Zhang to come to our aid this time. He is like a sheep walking into a tiger's mouth." Hu Hongxiu was completely unaware of the other party's emotions, and continued talking to himself.
"Ridiculous!" Hu Yin was furious. "According to your words, should we not fight the Jin army? Should we just let the Jin army come and go and wreak havoc without doing anything? Do you know what it means to respect the king and expel the barbarians? The barbarians are only in power for a while. If China can unite as one and dare to fight, it will be easy for the country to recover. Others don't understand this principle, but you, a student who joined the army, don't understand it either?"
Hu Hongxiu was speechless for a moment... It's not that he had nothing to say, but he was frightened by Hu Yin.
"Hu Zhongcheng." Liu Ziyu finally couldn't stand seeing his subordinates being controlled, so he gritted his teeth and responded. "Are you trying to imitate Li Gongxiang?"
"What do you mean?" Hu Yin was suddenly stunned.
"First, learn from Li Gongxiang who expelled Li Yanxian and Li Anfu during the Jingkang period, and forced Li Anfu to change his name and flee, and fight against the Jin Dynasty with his crime!" Liu Ziyu responded sternly. "Then learn from Li Gongxiang who expelled Yue Fei and Yue Zhenfu at the beginning of Jianyan period, and forced the latter to join the army with nothing on the bank of the Yellow River!"
Hu Yin's face flushed, but he was unable to respond for a moment.
"How can Yue Fei's escape be blamed on Prime Minister Li?" Li Guang, the Imperial Censor in the palace, hurried out to explain, but got stuck. "Yue Fei's escape was because Huang Qianshan was in power at the time, so he expelled him without authorization..."
As the Imperial Censor in the Palace, Li Guang was ready to impeach Liu Ziyu immediately after hearing what Liu Ziyu said, but doing so would obviously be in line with Li Gang's intolerance, so he quickly suppressed the idea as soon as he opened his mouth. But even if he avoided this, he got stuck in the middle of his words because he suddenly realized that his hasty response not only acknowledging that Li Yanxian's expulsion was the fault of Li Gang, the benefactor, but also acknowledging that Yue Fei's impeachment that day was correct.
But to a ghost?
Yue Fei impeached Li Gang for "not resisting the Jin" and demanded that Li Gang cross the river and head north. How can this be right? Just because Yue Fei won a battle and is now in need, it doesn't mean that everything this young man did since childhood is right, right?
But no matter what, when Li Guang got stuck, Liu Ziyu took the opportunity to sit back and sneer:
"You two, justice is justice, and doing things is doing things. In a war, we should talk about doing things first, and justice second... And how do you know that we don't understand justice? When Hu Canjun and I were fighting the Jin army in Jingkang, where were you talking about justice? How come you are still talking about justice after two years?!"
After being scolded, Hu Yin instinctively looked at Emperor Zhao. Only now did he realize a problem... that is, this quarrel should not have happened, because Emperor Zhao and the two Lu ministers at least had the ability to control the situation, but these three people did not say a word. Instead, they all stood there thinking about something.
"That's good." Zhao Jiu was frightened by Hu Yin's look, and finally stopped thinking about it, and spoke immediately. "For the time being, we should stay in Nanyang... Send a small group of soldiers across the river to meet Zhang Jing as a test, and let him be careful and guard against it."
Liu Ziyu, who recently served as the Chief Secretary of the Privy Council, did not dare to be negligent and responded immediately.
However, at this moment, another important member of the Privy Council, Wanqi Xie, suddenly stepped out and said, "Your Majesty, I have something that I cannot tolerate. Please meet with your Majesty in private..."
Zhao Jiu was slightly stunned, and the people around him were also stunned.
However, as Zhao Jiu waved his hand, everyone in the hall watched the newcomer of the Privy Council quickly follow the emperor into the back hall.
"Go ahead!" Turning into the open space behind the hall, Zhao Jiu stood on the snow and asked seriously... Facing this person, it was impossible for him not to be a little wary.
"I shouldn't have said this, but I have to." Wanqi Xie gritted his teeth and saluted. "Your Majesty, do you remember that before summer turned to autumn, the Jin army assembled in large numbers, but was restrained by the Hebei righteous army?"
"Of course I remember." Zhao Jiu thought the other party was going to impeach someone, but when he heard the other party talking about business, he relaxed instead.
"The Privy Council and the Nanyang Central Government were not expecting this at the time, and I also thought that this matter should have been done privately by General Manager Ma of Wuma Mountain who failed to report it in time." Wanqi Xie mustered up the courage to say. "But a few days ago, I looked through the past reports of the Privy Council and found that as early as the midsummer of this year, General Manager Ma mentioned this matter in a letter, saying that if the Jin army made any unusual moves in the autumn and winter, he should try his best to delay it for a while..."
The more Zhao Jiu listened, the more confused he became... What was this?
The expansion of the team was just a hypothesis and possibility. It was normal that the Privy Council and the Central Government did not think of it later.
"I originally thought that the Privy Council was negligent, but I didn't expect this." Wan Qi Xie stole a glance at Emperor Zhao, and finally got to the point. "But a few days ago, the Emperor said he wanted to rescue General Han and asked about the available troops. I talked to General Liu and asked him if he could mobilize the Taihang Mountain Volunteer Army to cross the river to help, but he severely rebuked me... and belittled the fighting power of the Hebei Volunteer Army in every way."
Zhao Jiu was slightly stunned, and finally figured out what was going on... It turned out that he was here to tell tales.
"Just tell me what's going on!" Thinking of this, Emperor Zhao was of course a little bored.
"Your Majesty, I just found out yesterday that General Liu and General Manager Ma have a personal grudge!" Wan Qi Xie stared at Zhao Jiu and said seriously. "General Manager Ma was imprisoned in Zhending because of General Liu and his son... What General Liu and his son did that day was exactly the same as what General Li did to Li Anfu in General Liu's words today! It was because of this that I couldn't help but be indignant and asked for a private interview. But these are nothing, they are all old things. At this time of national crisis, I shouldn't mention them too much, so as not to be regarded as a villain! But the key is that I am worried that General Liu repeatedly ignored the Hebei Volunteer Army when formulating strategies because of this relationship! Your Majesty, the Hebei Volunteer Army may not be useful! Please keep this in mind!"
Zhao Jiu was stunned for a long time before he nodded slightly: "I understand, you can go back now."
