Volume 3 Chapter 4: Many Turbulences in the Jianghu (Part 2)
At the turn of spring and summer, both the Song and Jin countries were in constant trouble.
On this side, the royal heir died, and on the other side, the crown prince was seriously ill; on this side, the prime minister resigned, and on the other side, three factions were fighting for the throne; not to mention, this side had lost northern Shaanxi and Guanzhong was in a mess with almost no hope of sorting things out, while on the other side, the Eastern Route Army returned empty-handed and suffered heavy casualties, which led to internal resentment.
In early summer, both sides encountered major foreign invasions.
The Zhao and Song dynasties were naturally plunged into anger and panic because of Liu Yu's sudden declaration of emperorship in Jinan... This kind of thing had a huge impact on the Han people, especially since Liu Yu was a serious minister of the Zhao and Song dynasties and a scholar-official who had passed the imperial examination. The impact of this shock could not be eliminated by drinking a few glasses of wine and cursing like the general Da (white on top and big on bottom).
But on the Jin side, the Mongols officially rebelled!
It is said that the Mongols had become a border threat to the Khitan as early as the Khitan period. The Jin people inherited the Khitan's border structure. After they changed from a border threat to landlords, they inevitably inherited other border threats from the Khitan, and the most obvious of these were the Mongols.
In fact, as early as when Wanyan Aguda rose to power, due to the weakness of the Khitan, the Mongols on the prairie also quickly got rid of their oppression and entered a rhythm of expansion and annexation. Among them, the most powerful tribe was the Qiyan tribe, which had the longest history among the Mongols, and its leader was Kublai of the Borjigin clan.
In the second year of the Jing Kang period, when the main force of the Jin army was moving south, Hebula convened a meeting with various tribes and was jointly elected as the Minister of Mongolia... In fact, he was a Khan in a sense, and Hebula could be called Hebula Khan from then on.
However, the Khan Kublai was elected, and had not experienced any annexation through tribal wars, so his control was not very strong. The significance of his existence was to serve as a representative of the Mongols, in an attempt to gain a certain degree of autonomy for everyone from the Jin people.
Therefore, when the Jin people successfully created the Jingkang Change and hundreds of thousands of main forces of the army turned back, Hebula wisely chose to engage in diplomatic mediation with the Jin people. The final result of the discussion was that he formally accepted the Jin people's imperial edict and became a so-called "Mongol King". In the following year, when Zhao Guanjia was living in Nanyang, he chose to go to the Jin capital Huining Prefecture in person to pay homage to the Jin ruler Wanyan Wuqimai.
At this point, it seemed that the two sides were about to settle down and return to the stable situation of the old Khitan era.
But for some reason, at this time, the two sides caused an incredible thing to happen at the banquet... Hebule was drunk, and it was unclear whether he was really drunk or not. He actually went up to stroke the beard of the Jin Dynasty Emperor Wuqimai with his hand. Wuqimai immediately fell into a state of "anger" because of the other party's rudeness. He took him down on the spot and severely reprimanded him as if he were a subject.
Not to mention, he even took the opportunity to hit the other person a few times to vent his anger at being beaten by Nianhan.
It is said that Hebule was drunk at the time and did not mention it, but he must have been resentful after waking up. He pretended to be fine and played in Huining Prefecture for a while. When the crown prince suddenly fell seriously ill and the war situation in the front was unstable, Wuqimai and other dignitaries went south to Yanjing to support the army, he took the opportunity to say goodbye and slipped back to the Menggu grassland.
Then he rebelled.
In fact, given the strategic posture of the Mongols and the Jin Dynasty, it was natural for a war to break out between the two sides... After the collapse of the Liao Dynasty, the Mongols naturally wanted to take the opportunity to gain independence and did not want to be bullied by the Jurchens, who were once their equals. And the Jurchens naturally wanted to learn from the Khitans and make the Mongols their vassal and then serve as dogs obediently.
There are essential contradictions between the two sides, and the farce between Hebula and Wanyan Wuqimai also seems to be a test of each other.
But in any case, the fact that the Borjigin and the Wanyan clan launched their first full-scale war over the issue of beards was quite dramatic.
It was a pity that Emperor Zhao had not been informed of this matter at this time, otherwise he would have made a solemn note of it in his notebook. Because relatively speaking, these days, life was a little boring, and he even seemed to have little interest in some national affairs that he should have attached great importance to.
"Are there fingers in it this time?"
At the turn of spring and summer, the south wind was strong. Zhao Guanjia, who was working hard to eliminate all wild mammals larger than mice in the Genyue ruins, turned around and saw Yang Yizhong coming with a familiar box, and he couldn't help but look alert.
"I dare not open it privately." Yang Yizhong was stunned for a moment before he bowed. "This is a secret letter sent by Commander Zhai of the Left Army of the Imperial Camp..."
Zhao Jiu glanced at Zhai Biao standing beside him, but he pursed his lips, indicating that the son should open his father's note box, but he didn't know what he was guarding against. Zhai Biao, on the other hand, had no scruples and took the box directly. After opening it, there was really no little finger, and he just took out a piece of ordinary silk.
Emperor Zhao finally felt relieved, so he put away his bow and arrow, stepped forward to take it and have a look. However, after reading just one word, he felt his blood pressure rising again. It turned out that the handwriting on the document was red. He knew without thinking what Zhai Chong was up to.
So Zhao Jiufu raised his hand again and handed the document to Zhai Biao: "You read it!"
"Good instructor, you know that I can't read a few words since I was a child..." After taking the document, Zhai Biao pretended to look at it twice, but then bowed his head respectfully and handed it back with both hands.
Why do you still look at it when you don’t know the words?
Zhao Jiu almost laughed out of anger, but he handed it to Lin Jingmo on the other side and asked casually, "Does your father know how to read?"
"Good instructor, you know that my father can't recognize as many words as I do." Zhai Biao said with confidence.
Zhao Jiu was too lazy to say anything this time.
When Scholar Kobayashi took it, he was silent for a moment before reading it out:
"I kowtow to the emperor and say hello. I just learned about the matter of Liu the thief in Jinan Prefecture in Xiping at the beginning of this month. I was very angry, but I should have ignored it because I followed the emperor's order to follow Han Taiwei to recuperate in Huaixi. But although I don't know the truth, I often hear people say that there is no two suns in the sky and no two masters for the people. If I ignore this Liu the thief, won't people think that the emperor has no loyal and reliable people to use? I thought about it and the more I thought, the angrier I got, so I bit my finger and dripped blood, and asked the clerk to write a note to the emperor with my blood, just to let the emperor know that if you want to attack Jinan, I will definitely go first, and learn from Han Taiwei to capture Liu the thief alive, and then cut him into pieces to vent your anger..."
After hearing this, Zhao Jiu remained silent for a long time.
Scholar Xiaolin had no choice but to wait for a while before reminding him, "Sir, that's all."
"Write a letter...Write a letter to all the commanders of the Imperial Camp. Just one message. Don't write these bloody things when writing a letter in the future!" Zhao Jiu shook his head and picked up the bow and arrow again. "Also, I want to say something to Liu Wenshun who cut his finger. I know he is from Jinan and he hates Liu Yu very much. But no matter what, he should cherish himself when he expresses his feelings..."
"Is that all?" Amid the sound of the wind, Scholar Kobayashi took a step forward and looked at him sternly.
Zhao Jiu was slightly startled, then put down the bow and arrow in his hand again: "What did Lin Qing say?"
Scholar Xiaolin was a little hesitant, but he still answered frankly: "Your Majesty, I think that although Liu Ni is a clown, he is the first to do so... If we don't destroy him quickly, there will be no problem for Jinan, but we must be careful not to shake the morale of our own people."
"Lin Qing is right." Zhao Jiu nodded, looking a little serious. "But Lin Qing, the suppression of the rebellion in the southeast, the resettlement of Henan people, the reconstruction of Dongjing City, the rest of the army, and the settlement of the disputes in Guanzhong, which one is not important? As for Liu Yu's claiming the throne, it was indeed a bit beyond my expectation, because I thought that since he had driven away the Jin army, he would not have the confidence to claim the throne again with only the seven states of Jingdong; but from the bottom of my heart, I had expected the emergence of such a person from the beginning... In other words, I was prepared for someone to claim the throne, but I didn't want it to be at this time... And you made me lose my composure because of his sudden claiming the throne, and I always feel that it is not worth the loss."
Scholar Kobayashi stood with his hands up and chose to continue listening... This was a special way of communication between him and Emperor Zhao. Many times when he did not understand or even held opposing opinions, he would not speak out against it, but chose to continue communicating in this way. Correspondingly, Emperor Zhao seemed to need such a person who was profound and good at listening.
In fact, as the person who actually presides over the work beside Zhao Jiu, coupled with his shrewd character, Scholar Kobayashi may be the person who listens to Emperor Zhao's political opinions the most.
On the other hand, when , Zhao Jiu would not usually hide anything:
"This incident happened at this time, and there is a big problem, that is, if we start to suppress the rebellion immediately, can we win quickly? If we can win quickly, it's fine. If we can't win quickly... I won't say that we lost the war, I will just say that we can't win quickly... Then the whole situation will be disrupted because of a mere battle to suppress the rebellion in Jinan. In the end, when the Jin people come back this year, we will be unprepared. We are too weak now!"
Lin Jingmo finally nodded slowly.
He did not agree with Emperor Zhao's remarks on priorities. At least he did not think that the defense of the southeast, Guanzhong, and Tokyo, and military rest were more important or had higher priority in this matter, but he acknowledged Emperor Zhao's final concern.
It must be understood that after the previous battle, the Song Dynasty emptied its storage, lost a large number of elite troops, lost northern Shaanxi, completely vacated Henan, and cut off supplies from the southeast. It only relied on the courage brought by the battle of Changsha and the political reputation of Emperor Zhao in the old capital to maintain a superficial "winner" posture.
But what is the reality?
In fact, Han Shizhong's hasty conscription after returning to Huaixi caused local unrest, forcing Emperor Zhao to write to him personally, asking him to maintain military discipline.
In fact, due to Henan's re-registration and relief for returning refugees, the storage capacity in Nanyang and Xiangyang also dropped to a very dangerous level;
In fact, although Chen Gui said that Dongjing City could be defended, his plans were repeatedly limited to the number of civilians and the allocation of money and grain;
In fact, because the Southeast was cut off from supply and the huge Tokyo garrison army was taken over at the same time, in order to save money, all officials were on half-salary. As for Emperor Zhao coming to Tokyo and settling in the imperial city, even weeding in the harem was done by Madam Wu and some young eunuchs who had returned. Emperor Zhao even hunted all day instead of shooting arrows in the past. At the beginning, it was because there were foxes, rats, cats and rabbits in the palace, which scared the few palace servants everywhere...
It is so pitiful that even though there is such a huge palace, the two princesses have to live under someone else's roof when they return.
At this time, it seemed reasonable for Emperor Zhao to stick to the original strategy and temporarily ignore Jinan in order to survive the most difficult moment and then make a thundering strike.
After all, if it is true as Emperor Zhao said, once we send out troops and fail to win quickly, what will we do then?
Will the whole thing collapse?
have no idea.
But it will definitely have a serious impact on the new round of war after this fall.
After returning to the front, since Scholar Kobayashi understood the emperor's meaning, he nodded slightly again and stopped asking about the matter. Instead, he asked to leave directly, and Zhao Jiu agreed directly... This was a foregone conclusion. In addition to writing letters to appease those controlling officials, Scholar Kobayashi also had to convey the emperor's meaning to some people. There were some things that the emperor could not communicate directly and openly, so he could only convey his meaning in this way.
Scholar Kobayashi said to give it to Chief Censor Hu Yin, and the Censorate would ensure that it was not nonsense, and said to give it to a few Hanlin scholars, so that the entire document management system would have a clear idea and perhaps there would be less resistance in public discussions.
After Scholar Xiao Lin left, Yang Yi Zhong was still there. Zhao Jiu ignored him and went straight into the huge Gen Yue ruins with a bow on his back. Yang Yi Zhong and several squad members followed immediately.
"Are there any rumors in Tokyo recently?" Zhao Jiu asked after shooting a wild rabbit that was committing adultery in broad daylight with an arrow.
"Liu Ni's declaration of himself as emperor shocked the court and the public, and his every move attracted much attention... From the ceremony of his declaration of emperorship, to the sacrifice to Confucius, to the manifesto accusing the government of losing the mandate of heaven and gaining the throne by illegitimate means, all were discussed," Yang Yizhong said seriously.
"What about the local area?"
"Locally, Henan is still okay, but after Nanyang and Shouchun, the wealthy areas further south are also discussing the establishment of the Pseudo-Qi Dynasty."
"It seems that this incident has a great impact on people's hearts. The Jin people have made a good move." After several squads picked up the prey, Zhao Jiu continued to go into the ruins. "Apart from this matter, are there any other discussions..."
"Please let me know, sir."
"What do the government and the public think of me doing nothing these days, hunting all day, and entrusting most of the government affairs to the ministers?"
"Good instructor, you know, putting aside the matter of the pseudo-Qi, just talking about the performance of the government, there is actually no malice between the upper and lower levels... First of all, it makes sense to hand over government affairs to the prime minister and turn to the capital and the Privy Council. Some people even say that this is ruling by doing nothing..."
"I forgot about this... Is this a human skull? There is Mei Chaofeng... Didn't I tell you, then what?"
"Then... secondly, everyone knows the difficulties faced by the emperor and the palace. After spring, the palace was overgrown with weeds. The emperor shot rabbits and Madam Wu pulled weeds, but he refused Wu's tribute. All the money and goods sent by Nanyang were not allowed to enter the palace... these things are known to everyone."
"Don't just say good things. In fact, I don't want to shoot rabbits here. If I were in Nanyang, I would go out of the city to go boating and fishing on the Baihe River. Even if Qu Duan wrote a poem to mock me every day, I would still do it. If I could shoot tigers and watch Sun Lang and Qianqi rolling across Pinggang, even if Prime Minister Lu died, I would think it was worth it." Zhao Jiu continued to look for prey while smiling bitterly. "Of course, they don't know that I really don't understand those political affairs. Between political and military affairs, just coordinating personnel, appeasing ministers, and making decisions has already taken up all my thoughts. How can I learn from Zhuge Liang to do everything myself? Then I can only hide here and shoot rabbits to supplement the family income..."
“…”
"What did you mean by 'putting aside the pseudo-Qi'?"
"There are still people discussing those manifestos of the Pseudo-Qi..." Yang Yizhong's tone couldn't help but become a little cautious.
"I understand." Zhao Jiu didn't care and continued to search for prey deep in Genyue.
Yang Yizhong said nothing more and just followed along.
The two sides marched side by side, but perhaps because of the strong wind, Guan Jia missed several prey in succession. However, at this moment, Zhao Jiu suddenly came to his senses, and then stopped and looked back:
"Anything else ?"
"Yes..." Yang Yizhong replied carefully. "General Yue's army has crossed the river, and Yangzhou itself is stable. It is said that Madam Pan is begging the Queen Mother to issue an order to allow her to come to Tokyo to meet the emperor... But in two days, Madam Pan's petition to return to Tokyo should arrive, so I don't know whether I should say this or not."
Zhao Jiu was silent for a while, but he raised his bow and aimed at a silver-white wild cat on a rockery in the distance. The cat was not afraid of people and was showing its fangs and claws at something. Then he suddenly shot an arrow. The arrow drew a very strange arc in the wind, but at the end of the trajectory with obvious falling marks, it killed the wild cat.
"Come if you want!" At this point, Zhao Jiu sighed amid the strange sound of the wind. "Such a large palace can always accommodate a few more people... Otherwise, we can't chase them away, right?"
