Volume 2 Chapter 72: Asking about Things (Part 1)
When Zhao Jiu said he wanted to go to Tokyo to celebrate the Lantern Festival, he was not trying to test whether Daozu was observing him, but was stating a fact, because at this moment, the road from Changsha to Tokyo was open and he could go directly there.
How did Yue Fei and his men get here from Tokyo? He just had to go back the same way. As long as they traveled light, they could easily reach Tokyo on the Lantern Festival.
Of course, the prerequisite for arriving in Tokyo safely is that Han Shizhong, who leads 60,000 to 70,000 people, cannot be wiped out by Yelu Ma Wu and Talan, or Yue Fei, who leads more than 20,000 people, is directly breached by Wanyan Wushu within two or three days... As for wanting to settle down there, successfully force the Jin army across the Yellow River and end this Jin army's major offensive, it seems to be just a basic premise.
So, if you say this matter is simple, it is extremely simple; but if you say it is difficult, it is also like trying to carry Mount Tai across the North Sea.
But no matter what, after seeing Hu Yin suddenly lose control and burst into tears, Zhao Jiu became more determined about this idea, because he had a reason to go.
After this victory, I dare not say whether the entire chess game in Henan battlefield has been revitalized, but at least the stage of fighting desperately has passed. At this time, Zhao Jiu must make plans for the future, and with Han Shizhong and Yue Fei in charge, he does not need to interfere too much in military affairs, or personally interfere in military affairs, but should do more valuable things from the perspective of an emperor.
This matter is to win people's hearts.
After all, from the specific situation, Zhao Jiu almost abandoned Nanyang and stood up Xiangyang. It is a fact that the people in Nanyang and Xiangyang are unstable and morale is low. Moreover, he also made a drastic move to kill high-ranking civil officials. Therefore, no matter how the war progresses, he must find a political high point as soon as possible, so as to clamp down on and gather the exiled courts in Nanyang and Xiangyang when the war is repeated, or to regain control of them after the war.
The political high point was when the emperor returned to the old capital.
In addition, the Jin army changed its previous policy of plundering and slaughtering, and began to vigorously implement the strategy of "those who obey me will prosper, and those who disobey me will perish", and vigorously supported and used surrendered generals and officials. Large-scale surrender has occurred in the entire Henan and Liangjing areas. After this battle, Zhao Jiu learned from some specific captives the specific plan of the Jin high-level officials to support the puppet state...
Therefore, Zhao Jiu had to make a gesture to appease the people along the Yellow River.
Of course, the most crucial thing is that from a long-term perspective, after more than a year of displacement, Emperor Zhao has clearly realized that as an emperor, his biggest and even only trump card is his identity as an emperor... Then, when the Jin army will never give you a chance to settle down, if you want to make the most of this identity to "cash in", you should win the hearts of the people to the greatest extent, and win the hearts of everyone, and cannot be limited to the field bureaucracy system that he inherited as a matter of course when he first came to this world.
He has to go out.
In short, returning to the present, if we look at Hu Yin, we will understand that the return of the new emperor to the old capital would be a great shock and spiritual comfort to the literati and anyone who still has a trace of idealistic pursuit.
What’s more, what about the people of Henan who have suffered from wars repeatedly?
What’s more, the people of the two rivers who were eagerly waiting for the opportunity.
Not to mention, Zong Ze was terminally ill, Du Chong was dead, and Quan Bangyan was trapped in Huazhou... But for the stability of the Tokyo Liaison Office, he had to go to Tokyo to see and say farewell to Zong Liaison Office in person.
Therefore, after Emperor Zhao finished speaking, he had nothing else to say.
On the next morning, Zhao Jiu summoned all the military commanders and above to gather together and announced his decision. Just as he imagined, these commanders were shocked and divided into two. Those who understood what was going on naturally understood and were speechless, while those who didn't understand were also speechless... However, after yesterday's battle, Emperor Zhao already had enough confidence and prestige in front of these people, and everyone just obeyed his orders silently.
In fact, the military situation and the matter were very urgent, and Emperor Zhao did not delay anything. In addition to the people he brought out from Nanyang, he also named Wang Shan, the commander of the Tokyo Garrison, and the injured Li Kui. The two forces combined had about four to five thousand people, and they set out almost at the same time as Han Shizhong's pursuit troops after breakfast.
Zhao Jiu arrived in Yanling that morning.
After gathering Lan Gui, the chief escort of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and a group of officials from the Tokyo Garrison who were staying here, and taking a short rest, the imperial carriage left the city again, crossed the Wei River, headed northeast, and arrived in Weishi in the evening.
That night, Han Shizhong sent an envoy to report that Wanyan Talan had retreated northward the night before and directly to Xinzheng in Zhengzhou. Then, upon hearing that the Song army was chasing him, he continued to march northward without stopping. It was unknown where he was in Zhengzhou at this time. However, as Han Shizhong's vanguard troops pursued to Xinzheng, one thing that was certain was that after the battle of Yanling-Changshe, Yelu Mawu, who was supposed to be the first to react, did not dare to neglect the news and abandoned Zhongmu to go west to meet his own marshal.
To be fair, this was not good news, because the two armies had finally merged, which made Han Shizhong's combat mission considerably more difficult; but at the same time, there was no doubt that after eliminating the threat from Zhongmu, Emperor Zhao could now set off with peace of mind.
So, Zhao Jiu sent Li Kui to lead a thousand soldiers to occupy Zhongmou overnight, but early the next morning, he continued to march lightly towards the northwest with Wang Shan's troops.
By the afternoon, we had passed Akakura Town and arrived at Qingcheng, a small town south of Tokyo.
This day was the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.
By the way, when Du Chong led his troops, Yue Fei originally left behind strong generals, or the three generals he trusted most, to garrison Tokyo City. Tang Huai, Zhang Xian, and another general named Xu Qing who died in the battle at the banks of the Pishui River were all his brothers from Xiangzhou, and they were all left behind to garrison Tokyo.
But around the New Year, Zong Ze's health had a rare two days of recovery, so he got up and inquired about the situation in person, but he sent the three generals to Yanling Yue Fei for deployment, and replaced them with garrison generals from the Tokyo Liaison Office... In his words, if they lost there, Tokyo would certainly be lost; and if they won there, Yelu Ma Wu would certainly not dare to attack.
We should not talk about the past too much, but no matter what, there are about 10,000 garrisons left in Tokyo to guard against Yelu Ma Wu. There are troops in the main city of Tokyo, Qingcheng in the south of the city, and Yuetai in the west .
Therefore, when Zhao Jiu arrived here, some soldiers had already come to investigate. Although they saw that it was their own flag, they still stopped them from a distance and asked them to stop two hundred steps south of the city and wait for the Qingcheng defenders to come and verify.
Emperor Zhao had nothing to say, so he reined in his horse and stopped under his dragon banner.
Soon after, a team of no more than a hundred people appeared in the field of vision. They didn't even have complete leather armor. Only the leading team leader wore iron armor, but they still came on foot. When they reached the central army position, they were startled to see the dragon flag. Then Guo Zhongxun and Wang Shan rode out together. This man immediately saluted and greeted them, but his eyes were always looking in the direction of the dragon flag.
After a brief conversation, he even leaned over to the ground and led his subordinates to kneel down and salute.
A moment later, Guo Zhongxun and Wang Shan came back together to report that they could continue to march forward, but unexpectedly, at this moment, most of the people under the dragon flag of the central army, at least those from Nanyang, had gloomy expressions and were silent.
"Do you want to comfort him?"
After hesitating for a while, Guo Zhongxun, who was a little nervous, asked tentatively. "This captain is from the Imperial Guards who were transferred to Tokyo before the Jingkang period. He is considered an old member of Tokyo. He may have met the emperor..."
As soon as these words were spoken, Lan Gui, who had been silent before, burst into tears immediately. Hu Yin, Liu Yan, Wan Qi Xie and others also lamented.
It is said that when Emperor Zhao came to Tokyo this time, the dragon flag was always erected. Starting from Yanling, he changed into a red robe, a fu hat and a gold belt according to Lan Gui's suggestion.
However, the route they took might have happened to be the area where the Song and Jin armies had confronted and marched before, so the scenery along the way was bleak, the towns were dilapidated, the fields were barren, and there were still some signs of habitation in many places, but now there was no one living there, obviously everyone had fled... Even the few towns that still had people living in them, their first reaction when they saw the army coming was to defend themselves strictly and not accept them.
In a word, the kind of winning movie and tear-jerking scene that many people fantasized about did not happen at all, because no one showed up.
It is no wonder that Emperor Zhao and several of his close ministers who returned to their hometown were in such heavy moods, and it is no wonder that Guo Zhongxun, the prosecutor of the Tokyo garrison, was uneasy. He made such a gesture to let a team come to demonstrate that the monarch and the people are one family.
Zhao Jiu came back to his senses and realized that he was misunderstood. Why would he care about that?
You have to know that today, under the dragon flag of the Central Army, everyone has the right to feel sad, except him, who is visiting Tokyo for the first time and has absolutely no feelings... The reason why he was silent was because he saw that these soldiers were still orderly, so he knew that he would most likely face Zong Ze after entering the city.
In other words, other people were timid because they were close to their hometown, but Zhao Jiu was afraid because he was close to people.
He didn't know how Zong Ze would treat him, and what attitude and method he should use to face Zong Ze.
"Everyone, how about I comfort the emperor on his behalf?" Seeing that Emperor Zhao remained silent for a long time, Lan Gui, the chief eunuch of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who became more and more proactive as they got closer to the old capital, took the initiative to speak.
"I'll go and take a look." Zhao Jiu came back to his senses, smiled again, then turned over and got off the horse and went forward.
The others did not dare to delay and quickly followed.
"Your Majesty, I am the third commander of the Sixth Army of the Left Wing of Changning, and I am Bei Yan of Wuwei Army. I pay my respects to your Majesty." When the man saw Zhao Jiu dismounting and coming here, he announced his official title and name in a loud voice from a distance... Dutou was the official title of the captain of a hundred-man team, Changning was the military name, and Wuwei Army was the place of origin. It was obvious that this captain who came to investigate and verify was a man of great eloquence.
"Get up." Zhao Jiu came up and immediately waived the greeting.
"Your Majesty is back in Tokyo, and we are truly delighted..." The general with the surname Bei got up and followed the routine to flatter him.
Unexpectedly, Zhao Jiu laughed when he heard the voice: "Are you really happy?"
"As expected, he is happy." Bei Yan was stunned at first, and then shocked again. "How can I not be happy when the emperor returns? Besides, the emperor's visit must mean that the king's army in the south has won a great victory."
"Although the royal army has won, the Jin army has not left. If I come here, Tokyo will become the main force of the Jin army in the future. You will most likely die for it. Can you be happy?" Zhao Jiu continued to ask with a smile.
"Your Highness..." Bei Yan was only slightly startled, then quickly kowtowed again in response. "Your Highness is willing to die for the Emperor!"
However, Bei Yan was a smart man, but the soldiers kneeling behind him were not as smart as him. They were all stunned. They just saw the captain kneel down again, and then they knelt down in panic.
It was obvious that these people were only hasty and panicked about the arrival of the government officials, and were even more nervous and fearful about the possibility of the Jin army coming here.
"But there are benefits to my coming here." Zhao Jiu smiled again. "At least I can bring some money from the southeast, Bashu, and Jingxiang. After we drive away the Jin army this time, we can send back the military pay... Thank you for your hard work in staying in Tokyo these past few years!"
Hearing this, the soldiers of this army were somewhat excited, and Bei Yan was also suddenly happy. It was not until he saw the emperor looking at him with a smile that he quickly lowered his head and said, "It's not hard for us..."
But once the words were spoken, even with this man's cleverness, he seemed to be in a somewhat difficult position.
Zhao Jiu nodded and said nothing more. Instead, he turned around and returned to the team, mounted his horse, and urged the entire army to advance.
Just like that, in the evening, when the moon was slightly visible, Emperor Zhao's dragon flag finally entered the city of Tokyo from the Nanxun Gate.
By this time, the whole city had already known that Emperor Zhao had returned to Tokyo, and the expected scene of the people welcoming him with tears had become somewhat realistic. Hu Yin and others could not hold back and kept crying along the way...
However, after the Jingkang Incident, the city of Tokyo suffered a huge population loss. The huge city (perhaps up to 50 square kilometers) now has only a population of 100,000 or 200,000. Specifically, there are only a thousand or so Tokyo elders who were able to rush to the city after hearing the news. Such a small number of people, distributed on both sides of the extremely wide Imperial Street, seems extremely sparse, and are even less numerous than the city defense troops who came to respond after hearing the news.
In such a situation, and as it was getting dark, Emperor Zhao did not delay. He rejected the suggestion of the officials from the Tokyo Garrison to go to the Imperial Palace to welcome them. Instead, after entering the Suzaku Gate and turning into the inner city, he went directly to the Prime Minister's Mansion on the side of the Bian River where Zong Ze lived.
When they arrived at the mansion gate, Zong Ze's son Zong Ying was already kneeling to greet them. It was obvious that Zong Ze had known that Emperor Zhao was coming and had made preparations.
Seeing this, Emperor Zhao had nothing to say. He just comforted Zong Ying a few words and followed him into the mansion. When he reached the main hall, he saw a thin old man with gray hair and beard, wearing a coarse cloth and a gray woolen cloak, supported by his servants, standing in front of the door, staring at it intently.
Zhao Jiu did not dare to hesitate and immediately stepped forward, ready to help the other person over.
However, when he came close, before he touched the other person's arm, in the twilight that was not yet completely dark, in the moonlight, the old man suddenly sneered at him... His breathing was unstable, and his tone was slow, as if he was physically weak, but his words were exceptionally clear, and he didn't sound like a terminally ill person:
"Is your Majesty, seeing that I am about to die, rushing to seize the military power of the Tokyo Garrison to prevent the instability of your throne? Or has your Majesty lost the support of the people in Nanyang, and wants to use Tokyo City to fool the people of the world?"
There was an obvious uproar in the hall.
Zhao Jiu, who had nowhere to hide, was slightly startled, but he still stepped forward to help the other person from the servant's hand, and then bowed his head and replied seriously: "Both, I'm sorry to make you laugh, Lord Zong."
This time, it was Zong Ze's turn to be slightly stunned, and then speechless.
Just like that, the two of them stood, one inside the door and the other outside, arm in arm. After waiting for a long time, the person inside the door finally sighed and said, "It's the Lantern Festival, and the emperor is back home. As a guard, I have to invite the emperor in for a drink even if I'm short of supplies..."
Hearing this, the ministers from Nanyang and Dongjing behind him were obviously relieved, but Zhao Jiu became nervous and then became more serious.
However, after thinking for a long time, he could only support the other party and said seriously:
"Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Zong!"
