Volume 3 Chapter 25: Right and Wrong
"Li Qing, why don't you explain it in detail?"
After Zhao Jiu laughed out loud, he did not continue to lose his composure, but returned to the throne and sat upright, and responded calmly. "Why was Yue Fei incompetent and led the country astray?"
"Your Majesty... Censor Li!" At this moment, Chief Censor Li Guang suddenly stepped out, bowed slightly to Emperor Zhao, then turned around and spoke seriously to Li Jing. "General Yue is currently at the front line against the Pseudo-Qi army. Although the Censor can speak out on hearsay and will not be punished for speaking out, he must also know that the military situation is serious! Therefore, if the matter involves military information, please do not judge right or wrong for the time being, so as not to affect the morale of the army!"
Zhao Jiuqing knew that Li Guang was protecting his subordinate and close friend and brother, but he said nothing.
"Let the Minister know that although this matter is related to the current military situation, it is not directly related!"
Li Jing heard the reminder and first responded to Li Guang in a serious tone, then looked at Emperor Zhao in the throne in a serious tone, "Your Majesty, what I said is not hearsay, but what I have personally investigated and know. There is solid evidence, and it is definitely not a wanton attack on the general..."
"Tell me." Zhao Jiu became more and more curious... He really wanted to know how Yue Fei was associated with the word incompetence.
"Your Majesty, I just entered the capital as the Supervisory Censor at the beginning of the month. My first task is to supervise the reorganization quota of the various armies in the Imperial Camp with my colleagues in the Censorate. These days, when I was reviewing the files in the Privy Council and checking the results of the reorganization of the various armies, I compared the various numbers various armies and found that there was a type of number in Yue Fei's army that was very different from that in the other armies..." At this point, Censor Li responded earnestly. "Your Majesty, if the numbers were different for each army, it would be fine, but in fact, the numbers for each army are not much different, except for the front army of the Imperial Camp. It can be seen that Yue Fei is indeed lacking in ability and incompetent!"
Emperor Zhao's expression remained unchanged, but he began to feel doubtful and uncertain in his heart.
After all, the other party's "evidence" already has the feeling of big data... and data will not lie, and big data will not lie even more.
Of course...
"What are the different numbers?" Zhao Jiu responded sternly. "How do you know that Yue Fei is incompetent, Li Qing? You must know that even if it is different from other armies, it cannot be said to be useless data. It may be due to the climate or the origin of the soldiers. For example, northerners eat noodles and don't like rice. Most of the front troops in the imperial camp are from Hebei. It is normal for some logistics numbers to be very different."
"I'm not so needless as to do that!" Li Jing finally showed some anger in his words. "I'm not seeking revenge for personal gain..."
"That's not what I meant." Zhao Jiu saw that the other party was about to get emotional, so he could only urge him. "Li Qing, just go ahead and say it."
"Your Majesty." Censor Li finally revealed the answer earnestly. "After careful investigation, I found that the number of officers at all levels in the front army of the imperial camp led by Yue Fei was several times more than that of the other armies!"
It is said that there is no fixed rule for the imperial lecture, but only noble ministers can attend this occasion... For example, the first imperial lecture after Emperor Zhao ascended the throne was hosted by Prime Minister Lu Haowen, and the Hanlin academicians, the six ministers, and the imperial censors were in attendance, with no one else participating.
In other words, everyone present was a cultured person.
But even so, after Li Jing said this, there was still some uproar in the Chuigong Hall.
"What does this mean?"
He was not pretending. In fact, Emperor Zhao was really a little dazed for a moment.
"It shows that Yue Fei is incompetent!" Li Yushi continued earnestly. "Why did the government pretend to be deaf and dumb and protect this man? Not to mention that the officers are several times more than those in other places, and the cost is huge, just say where do all these officers come from? Didn't the government ask him to reorganize the army, but he had no courage. He just roughly cut down the low-level soldiers of the 100,000 soldiers of the Tokyo garrison, but did not dare to deal with the officers easily, so that redundant officers filled the army... With so many officers, it's no wonder that Liu Ni, the pseudo-Qi, fought in Dongping for many days, but he could not even move at the Wenshui River!"
The palace was in an uproar, with many people whispering to each other. After a moment, the Chief Censor Li Guang also stepped out with a serious expression:
"Your Majesty, we know that it is not appropriate to deal with the commanders on the front line during the war, but no matter what, please take precautions early. First, quickly send the Central Army or the Right Army of the Imperial Camp to aid Dongping. Second, we must deal with the Front Army of the Imperial Camp and Zhang Rong, the governor of Dongping, after the war..."
Zhao Jiu's expression remained unchanged, but he was still a little confused in his heart. He still didn't understand the logic here.
At this time, even the protagonist of today, Prime Minister Lu Haowen, spoke seriously: "Your Majesty, I think Li Zhongcheng's words are still appropriate. Of course, the specific matters should be discussed immediately by the Privy Council, and a strategy should be formulated before a quick decision is made."
Zhao Jiu finally spoke, but still seemed hesitant: "Wouldn't it be better if we had more officers? That way we could use them as we wish, right?"
As soon as these words were spoken, there was silence in the hall for a moment.
But after a while, the Censor Li Jing could no longer bear it and said angrily: "Your Majesty, the more officers the better, I have never heard of that!"
"Your Majesty." Li Guang, the Imperial Censor, also said sternly. "Officers have always been set, and military governors and generals like Yue Fei have the power to add officers and subordinates at all levels, but what does it mean that he has several times more officers than other military governors? Aren't you afraid that too much is as bad as too little? There are so many officers, it must be because he was not clear when he reorganized the troops before, not for the purpose of 'using his own hands like fingers'!"
Zhao Jiu finally reacted at this time, but found it funny again.
Essentially, no one had bad intentions in this matter... If there was any selfish motive, it was probably because Xiang Zhuang's sword dance was aimed at Pei Gong, and was directed at Wanqi Xie, the Palace Attendant Censor who was excluded by the Qingliu, because Wanqi Xie was directly responsible for supervising the reorganization of the front army of the Imperial Camp... As for Yue Fei, in the final analysis, these ministers made inferences based on common sense. They did not believe that such a young Yue Fei had that ability, so they made reasonable inferences based on the nature of the Song Dynasty army for many years.
For example, they regarded Yue Pengju's temporary stay in the Wenshui area of the front line as a sign that he was unable to control the army and was forced to be unable to support the front line. Then, based on this "iron fact", they conducted investigations and research and directly discovered more "solid" evidence!
It is almost foreseeable that, as Yue Fei's military achievements and status gradually became more outstanding, the "suspicion" of the civil officials might gradually disappear, but their vigilance would inevitably arise again, and the jealousy of the other military generals would follow.
By then, it might be even more lively.
Thinking of this, Emperor Zhao laughed again.
At this point, Li Guangdu, the Imperial Censor who had been trying to protect his subordinates and smooth things over, became angry: "Your Majesty, is there anything ridiculous about what I said?"
"No." Zhao Jiu didn't even look at the other person and answered directly. "I just remembered something... What do you think should be done with Zhang Rong? Yue Fei stopped at Wenshui. According to his explanation, the letter from General Lu, and the letter from Yang Yizhong, didn't they all say that it was Zhang Rong who caused the incident?"
This is a forced change of subject.
But it is quite useful, because the issue of Zhang Rong has been debated in the capital recently, and the debate is very fierce and very interesting... Some people, such as the deputy commander of the Imperial Camp Qu Duan, believe that Zhang Rong's behavior is tantamount to treason and that killing him is not enough to win back the hearts of the army; but quite a number of people believe that Zhang Rong was originally a bandit, and although he behaved in a pretentious manner this time, he is essentially contributing to the country, not to mention that he has made great contributions and should be forgiven.
Zhao Jiu certainly knew the fundamental reasons for these two attitudes.
To put it simply, Zhang Rong now behaves like a domineering warlord, but he used to be a bandit who had been given an official position... So correspondingly, if someone had always regarded him as a bandit, this time they would naturally think that his behavior seemed reliable; and conversely, if someone had always regarded him as an official soldier, this time they would naturally think that his behavior was a blatant provocation to the central authority and he must be severely punished.
In a nutshell, it’s a matter of perspective.
As for what Zhao Jiu was thinking... Actually, Zhao Jiu didn't think much about it, because he was waiting for Yue Fei to end this battle, and only the results on the front line could really force Zhang Rong to make a decision.
That's when you need to make up your mind.
"alright……"
As Emperor Zhao forcibly changed the topic, the debate in the palace resumed. Seeing this, Lu Haowen knew what was going on, but he came out to perform his duties as prime minister at the right time. "Your Majesty, it's getting late today, and the emperor and his ministers have already performed the ceremony of imperial lectures together. Why not let all the ministers go back and discuss these two matters together tomorrow, and then have the Privy Council and the provincial government make it clear in front of the emperor?"
"Mr. Lu is experienced and capable!" Emperor Zhao nodded immediately, but stood up again and left.
However, Zhao Jiu had only taken two steps away from the throne when he suddenly remembered something - Yue Fei's impeachment of Li Gang that day was certainly ridiculous, but he ended up getting away with nothing, and Li Yanxian was even wanted for telling the truth; and if Li Gang's brother impeached Yue Fei today, it would most likely also be ridiculous and doomed to have no impact.
It's also ridiculous.
Of course, Zhao Jiu knew in his heart that this was because Li Jing was the censor and he was protected by something like procedural justice.
However, it was still funny, so Emperor Zhao laughed out loud three times, but then he held the golden belt and walked hurriedly, so much so that the hard wings on his head swayed unsteadily... He was in a hurry to go back and practice calligraphy.
A night of silence ended the next afternoon, when large-scale discussions, impeachments, and clarifications on the Jingdong war situation were beginning in Tokyo, in Yanggu County, which was not far away in a straight line, the Prime Minister of Qi, Hong Ya, had already despaired.
However, in despair, looking at the three large flags of 'Commander Li' coming from the east and west behind Yang Yi Zhong's flag, Prime Minister Hong suddenly realized - of these three Commanders Li, one should be Li Kui, and the remaining two should be Li Bao.
These three people were all officers of the vanguard army of the imperial camp led by Yue Fei.
The fact that the troops of the front army of the imperial camp came together from the upper and lower reaches of the Jishui River could only mean one thing, that is, while the Qi army was making a detour to Hebei and encircling Zhang Rong using the Yellow River as a cover, Yue Fei was very likely planning a larger encirclement by crossing Liangshanpo on the left and Mount Tai on the right!
Did he take over the entire Dongping Prefecture?
Moreover, considering the length of the encirclement route, it is possible that after Zhang Rong prevented Yue Fei from crossing the Wenshui River, they took action immediately.
But these are of no importance, because if he thought further, Mr. Hong soon realized that he had been sold out by Li Cheng!
Not only that, that guy must really know this Yue Fei as well as he said, otherwise how could he escape so easily? So skillfully?!
We should be in Jinan now, right?!
If the Jin army does not want to cross the river to join the battle in the summer, they will probably have to support him to maintain the situation, right?
"Go out for a while." Thinking of this, Hong Ya suddenly turned around and pointed at a person beside him. "Is this Zhang Maode? Go out for a while and be my messenger."
Zhang Maode and Zhang Erguan were a little embarrassed for a moment.
