Emperor Zhao kept his word. After Li Qiong, Wu Lin and others retreated with the captives and part of the troops, and Li Yanxian returned to Taiyuan, the emperor started the procession and the accompanying troops down the Hutuo River to Hejian Prefecture.
Along the way, he went to Dingzhou, Qizhou, and Shenzhou, pacified the local areas, inspected spring ploughing, buried corpses, and appointed and dismissed officials.
It was during this process of Emperor Zhao's eastward advance that, as the captives moved south one after another, a large number of troops withdrew, and at the same time Yue Fei's troops advanced to the old Song-Liao border. The impact of this war finally broke out without any hindrance.
The most obvious feedback to Zhao Jiu was that he received a constant stream of congratulatory messages along the way.
"One battle will destroy the enemy and bring peace to the universe!"
These are the words spoken by Mao Shuo, the newly surrendered governor of Dingzhou, when he paid a visit to the emperor. His desire for progress is fully displayed through these two words, "universe."
"To slaughter millions of people in a short time is a great pleasure that has never been seen before in the history."
This is a sentence from a memorial submitted by a famous scholar from Qizhou. It is the original text of the scholar Su Shi's evaluation of the Battle of Kunyang. It not only quotes from classics, but also secretly compares Emperor Zhao to Emperor Guangwu as a model for the restoration of the country. It can be said to be of excellent standard.
However, Zhao Jiu was really uneducated and, among the seven or eight people who reviewed the article, only he and Han Shizhong did not know that this sentence was a double allusion. As a result, not only did he fail to appreciate the deep meaning of the other person, he also pointed out very clearly that only 30,000 to 40,000 people were killed and 70,000 to 80,000 were captured in the Battle of Huolu. It was obvious that he wanted to maintain his image of being pragmatic.
However, Wanqi Xie probably understood Emperor Zhao's character, so the memorial he received when he arrived in Hejian seemed somewhat plain and simple, and Zhao Jiu particularly liked one sentence in it.
As the saying goes:
"In the Battle of Huolu, our emperor's power shook the world, and the cause of the revival of the country was set from then on!"
Of course, these things, as well as the gratitude expressed by Tian Shizhong, the Prince of Fengxiang, could not cover up the increasingly awkward and uneasy attitude of Emperor Zhao... The reason was simple. Zhao Jiu had been on the road, and everything was in place in the rear. The people, especially the big cities in the Central Plains and the south, gradually put aside their doubts and were quite encouraged. Cities of the level of Dongjing City were gradually boiling. But at the same time, Emperor Zhao's previous tricks had never appeared. In front of Yanjing, the Jin Kingdom was busy deploying defenses, and the garrison troops outside the Great Wall and the local conscripted troops were constantly gathering. There was panic, and even rebellion, but there was no feeling of collapse that was out of control.
Having no other choice, when he arrived at Hejian Prefecture, in order not to delay the military progress, Emperor Zhao had to abandon his so-called insightful personality and directly issued the order.
"In theory, I shouldn't interfere with your use of troops." Zhao Jiu pointed out to Han Shizhong. "But this time is really different... If the Jin army shows any flaws this time, you can certainly swallow up these new Jin troops, but there is no need to rush to attack Yanjing. And if the Jin army does not show any major flaws, although you have the right to deploy the troops of the two rivers north of Hejian, you should be more cautious, press from three sides, and take every step carefully... Yanjing will be taken sooner or later, but there is no rush... Do you understand what I mean?"
What's not to understand?
Encircle but do not attack, exert full pressure, coordinate with the official's backup plan to seize the outside of the Great Wall, wait for the enemy to be caught in a dilemma, and then collapse...The only serious problem is that after winning the battle, the arrogance in the army will inevitably become worse. In addition, there are a few senior generals like Wang Sheng who missed the opportunity to fight and the reward. He, the number one person in the army, needs to come out to strictly restrain them to avoid a reckless battle, so as to avoid a capsize in the ditch in the end.
Of course, in addition to this, it also means to fulfill the previous promise and give the honor of capturing Yanjing to the generals of Hedong headed by Han Liangchen.
Therefore, Han Shizhong did not say anything extra and just bowed and left.
After Han Shizhong left with the generals, Emperor Zhao continued to make assignments, but he officially established a presence in Hejian Prefecture, leaving Lu Yihao and Wu Jie in Hejian City to take over the civil and military affairs in the rear of the Hebei front line, and Tian Shizhong to lead the defense around Hejian. Then he actually took a few close ministers and half of his squad, plus the Minister of Works Hu Yin, and went to the Yellow River.
He arrived in Jingcheng on February 27 and met Prince of Lu Zhang Rong.
The king and his ministers had not seen each other for a long time, and the atmosphere during their conversation by the river was much more relaxed than before. However, even Zhang Rong was no exception. He felt uneasy and grateful about being crowned king, and it took Zhao Jiu a lot of effort to appease him.
Zhang Rong was not idle either. He was waiting here for Emperor Zhao. After meeting the emperor, he set out again the next day and urged the navy to continue downstream to advance to Cangzhou and participate in the attack on Yanjing.
Besides, it was ridiculous for Zhao Jiu to survey the hydrology of the Yellow River at this time. Even if the Yellow River needed to be repaired now, it would not be the turn of an outsider like him to survey it... The trip to Hejian was essentially to meet with the Hebei Front Army and then supervise the generals to advance to Yanjing.
Therefore, once Zhang Rong left, the official was completely free of trouble.
However, it may be because he had just met Zhang Rong that the official was extremely bored and suddenly remembered that he seemed to have delayed for a long time, so he actually started to type by the river.
"Excuse me...but why not "Water Margin"?"
On the last day of February, the spring breeze touched the heart of the people by the Yellow River. In the evening, Hu Yin, who came out from Jingcheng to welcome the emperor, took the manuscript handed over by Emperor Zhao from the table in front of the seat on the river bank. He felt a little strange after just one look. "Is "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" also acceptable?"
"What do "Water Margin" and "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" have to do with me?" Zhao Jiu said confidently. "It's just a short story I wrote casually. Minister Hu is knowledgeable. Why not take a look?"
Hu Yin suppressed an impulse and frowned as he read it carefully . However, after reading it for a while, he didn't know where to start complaining. Only when he read to the end did he finally sigh and roughly understood what Emperor Zhao meant.
It turns out that this short story is called "Jade Guanyin", which is a type of novel that has become popular recently. It is said that it follows the Tang Dynasty legends on top, and imitates the vernacular language of "Water Margin" and "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" that a certain official refused to recognize, while in reality it echoes the increasingly prosperous and complex variety show performances.
Nowadays, students in Tokyo city like to write this kind of book and exchange it for pocket money with monks and Taoists.
The plot is also very simple.
She was nothing more than a little girl from a family of framers. She was born smart and beautiful, but because her family was poor, she was sold to a prince in Chang'an as a maid a long time ago.
This is a standard popular start.
But who would have thought that the official would actually come up with a counter-routine, and then wrote that the prince was vulgar and arrogant, and wanted to grant the marriage just because the girl's family did things properly and cleanly, and there happened to be a jade craftsman in the palace who was good at craftsmanship and honest. Who would have thought that the girl's family was born stubborn and wanted to have a good marriage, but because she didn't know the jade craftsman's character at the beginning, and the leader of the prince's personal army took a fancy to the girl's family, he interfered and slandered the jade craftsman, so the girl's family was unwilling to marry, and the prince simply gave up the matter and was too lazy to ask.
However, as they got along better and better, the girl's family discovered that the jade craftsman not only had real skills, but also had a good temperament, good looks, and was an honest man. He was exactly the kind of good marriage they were looking for. So they finally came back to each other, and fell in love with each other. The jade craftsman also used the leftover jade materials to make a jade Guanyin as a token of their love, and prepared to elope.
As a result, the matter was discovered by the chief of the palace's personal army, who became jealous and reported it directly to the prince.
When the prince heard that his arranged marriage was rejected, the two of them actually fell in love again and prepared to elope. The prince thought he had been humiliated and flew into a rage. He arrested the jade craftsman on the spot, first sent him into exile, then beat the girl to death with a stick and buried her in the harem of the Chang'an Palace.
However, several years had passed since they last met, and the prince had grown older and his temper had cooled. He began to repent of what had happened, and ordered his troops to find the jade craftsman and make some compensation. However, the troops followed the official documents and were surprised to find the young girl and the jade craftsman in a small town by the Yellow River. They found that the two had actually gotten married and had opened a shop in the town.
The soldiers were panicked and reported to the prince. The prince thought it was a ghost and went to see for himself. It was indeed the case, but he did not dare to go forward. He returned to the palace in a daze and had people dig up the place where the little girl was buried that day. As expected, there was no body, only a broken jade Guanyin.
To be fair, the plot of this story is pretty good, and it is one of the best popular novels on the market, especially the contrast between the four characters, which is very vivid... The little girl is stubborn and beautiful; the jade craftsman is honest and dutiful; the leader of the personal soldiers is talkative and narrow-minded; the prince has a fiery temper and regards human life and marriage as worthless.
But these were not the reasons why Minister Hu lost his voice. To put it bluntly, Minister Hu had seen a lot of things. What was this? In order to stabilize the people's hearts in the rear, he had made a great effort to fight the Northern Expedition. He even broke up the marriages of the sons of Prime Minister Zhao and forced them to be matchmakers... What really made Hu Yin speechless was that this prince was originally named Prince of Yan'an in Chang'an, and later when he repented, he was promoted to Prince of Qin for his military merits.
Taking into account Han Liangchen's usual strong and rude style towards his subordinates, as well as his previous experience of being a vicious person, one can almost say that this prince is Han Shizhong.
"The emperor has good intentions." After a while, Hu Yin, who thought that this was really done by Han Shizhong in Chang'an, sighed. "This is because he is worried that the King of Qin will not be able to survive in the future..."
"Isn't this what Minister Hu reminded me of?" Zhao Jiu said indifferently. "I have thought about it. If I want to write, I will write a series, one for each of the eighteen princes, and write according to their personalities... Han Shizhong is hot-tempered and strong, Zhang Jun is greedy for money, Zhang Rong indulges his old brother... Yang Yizhong has them all, but he attaches too much importance to the reputation of his family... In the end, they all end up with a good intention but a bad deed. Just a thought, a negligence, a personality exposure, and they almost destroy the families of the common people and create a tragedy."
"Since ancient times, the powerful have done evil because of this. The government wants to warn its officials, so of course it's fine." Hu Yin looked at Yang Yizhong, who looked confused and terrified, and asked seriously. "But what about Yue Fei? Did Yue Fei do this kind of thing?"
"Being too harsh on family members and younger generations, resulting in a tragic human relationship?" Zhao Jiu, who was sitting behind the desk, was thoughtful. "It can't be that all the other seventeen people wrote it, but he didn't, right? Wouldn't it make me, the writer, a little unfair? And if they ask about it privately, it won't be good if he doesn't write it."
"That's true." Hu Yin wanted to refute, how could he make something out of nothing, but when he heard that it seemed to be sent privately, he thought about Yue Yun's face, and then he realized that the emperor was worried about his son-in-law, but he still shook his head. "Your Majesty, from the heart, I still agree with this idea, but I don't agree with this method. Besides, after a great victory, is it not appropriate to write these now? So that someone who receives this will have some misunderstandings? Did someone fight for credit during the enthronement?"
"That's not the case." Zhao Jiu shook his head. "I just think that it's ridiculous for me to endure this kind of situation like I did in the past ten years... For the sake of the monarch and his subjects, it's better to be the bad guy and say the dirty words first... Besides, I want to send it to them privately after all."
"Okay." Hu Yin originally thought that these stories were true. After hearing what was said ten years ago, he was even more certain. In addition, his private opinion was reiterated, so he finally expressed his agreement.
However, although it was to be sent privately, by this point, Yang Yi Zhong, one of the Eighteen Kings beside Emperor Zhao, had already become completely uneasy, and seeing that the conversation was about to end, he was almost ready to step out and apologize.
Unexpectedly, after Hu Yin glanced at Yang Yizhong, he couldn't help but continue to ask: "Your Majesty, is there really no dispute over merit this time? Why do I seem to have heard some things from others? Looking at the final result of the title of king, it seems to be somewhat confirmed?"
"Someone did fight for the throne." Zhao Jiu was silent for a moment, but he finally stood up, pinched his beard, turned to the river, and admitted the matter with his back to Hu Yin. "But it wasn't so straightforward. The first few fought for the second few... It was still decent."
Hu Mingzhong's expression remained unchanged, and he understood everything.
You must know that after the Battle of Huolu, the one whose prestige really increased, or the one who gained the greatest reputation and power, was none other than Emperor Zhao, who was so bored that he hid by the Yellow River to write novels.
Compared with this one, the other generals are really not worth mentioning. There is no such thing as unrewarded merit. There is only the reality that the official authority is growing day by day and he does whatever he wants.
So it is completely conceivable that before the throne was announced, facing the distinctive character of the Zhao official, the low-level drama of competing for merit and position was indeed difficult to appear... No one dared to joke about their own future and results. However, human desires are endless, and it is impossible not to fight, so in the end, it is nothing more than fighting in a different way.
For example, using the power of the collective and the faction to fight and make exchanges. Instead of fighting for yourself, let your subordinates fight for you, and let your superiors and colleagues fight for you.
This way of competing for credit not only effectively avoided Emperor Zhao's bad feelings towards the parties involved, but also mainly highlighted that they could use the tiger's skin as a banner, form gangs, and leave a good reputation for each other.
"Did the government let them win the fight?" Hu Yin came back to his senses and thought about the final result, but he found it interesting again.
"Most of them didn't." Emperor Zhao didn't even turn his head, but laughed. "But there were two people I couldn't do anything about, and they really got it..."
"One is the King of Qin, and the other is..." Hu Yin asked with great interest.
"One is Qu Duan, the Prince of Zhenrong, and the other is me." Zhao Jiu said shockingly. "It has nothing to do with Han Shizhong."
Hu Yin was stunned for a rare moment.
"Qu Duan lost too many people in the Imperial Cavalry in this battle. In my opinion, his temperament has changed a lot... After the battle, I looked at the casualties and felt really sorry. At first, I hesitated whether to give him the title of a prince. After all, he is a legitimate commander-in-chief with military exploits and experience, but he has some bad past. If he is given the title of a prince, Wang Shu will not be able to explain it. So I took the initiative to find him and ask if he wants to be a county prince with a big banner?" Zhao Jiu did not keep him in suspense, but just stood there with his hands behind his back and explained calmly. "But Qu Duan took the initiative to say that he did not want the big banner, but hoped to change the throne for Liu Qi."
"Liu Qi's title of Prince was obtained by Qu Duan?" Hu Yin was getting more and more confused. He knew that Qu Duan had rejected the Daqi, but he didn't know about the request for Liu Qi's title of Prince. "It's not appropriate for these two to be in the Imperial Camp Cavalry, right? I thought Liu Qi's title of Prince was given by the Emperor for the sake of Zhang Xianggong."
"In fact, I was also surprised at the time." Zhao Jiu nodded in response. "But after thinking about it for a while, I feel that this is a good thing... Especially since Qu Duan has always been at odds with his colleagues and has had such an overly selfish experience, now he can have a broader vision and stand higher, knowing that the cavalry should be viewed as a whole, which should be encouraged... It is always better for the generals and ministers to get along than to fight secretly."
"That's true." Hu Yin seemed to be thinking. "But based on Qu Duan's previous personality, I'm afraid outsiders would still think that the government was using Liu Qi to control him, but they didn't expect that it was actually what he asked for..."
"It's a good thing." Zhao Jiu finally smiled and turned back. "I just said that the other person vying for credit was me, and I also had my own selfish motives... So, Qu Duan's actions made me suddenly realize the truth, so I took advantage of the situation to use Jie Yuan to block Han Shizhong, used Li Qiong's Eight Character Army achievements to block Wang Yan, and used Tian Shizhong to pacify Zhang Jun."
Hu Yin stood with his hands clasped, looking at Emperor Zhao who turned his head to look at him, and Yang Yizhong who looked uneasy on the side. His expression remained unchanged, but his heart was filled with confusion.
Of course he knew where Emperor Zhao's selfish motives lay, that was Yang and Liu... The fact that these two could be ranked as kings was precisely Emperor Zhao's selfish motive. No wonder the emperor would say that only he and Qu Duan were successful in gaining credit.
In this way, the slightly strange arrangement of the last few princes makes sense.
Of course, the Imperial Cavalry is very useful, and it is a good thing that Qu Duan has made such a contrasting progress. Moreover, this person has also implicitly taken on the dissatisfaction of two senior generals, Wang Yan and Wang De, on behalf of Emperor Zhao, which can be regarded as killing two birds with one stone.
In other words, if he had not taken on the extra dissatisfaction, it is likely that a large banner alone would not have been enough to exchange for Liu Qi's title of a prince.
At this moment, Hu Yin suddenly realized something and asked again, "Your Majesty, I wonder if you have any other intentions in calling me here today to read the novel first and then talk about this matter? Are you worried that I will hate Qu Duan like Wang Shu, so you are explaining it to me?"
"No." Zhao Jiu stood sideways and looked at the other party calmly. "I just mentioned Qu Duan's matter casually. What I really want to tell Mingzhong is that I participated in the competition for merit..."
Hu Yin said nothing and just stared at the official.
"People are not saints, and they are proud of their achievements, just like swords and armor that have been left for a long time and naturally become dull and rusty... Mingzhong." Zhao Jiu responded seriously. "I want you to come because I want you to organize people, point out my greedy nature, and write a story about a Zhao Song official who was revived and became prosperous in just 30 years, but ended up like Emperor Minghuang of Tang, with the country collapsed and the four fields collapsed... I have already written about the eighteen kings, and I plan to write about the stories of Lü Haowen, Hu Yin, and Zhang Jun who ruined the country in the future... But I can easily write about the stories of meritorious officials who ruined themselves, so who will write about my own mistakes? After thinking about it again and again, not only do you happen to be here, but the key is that there are not many people who dare to write my story... So in the future, I still need you to write more about my stories."
"I understand. Although I am not good at writing, I am willing to give it a try." Hu Yin frowned solemnly at first, as if he felt something was wrong, but after hearing what he said, he smiled and became serious again. "But your Majesty, let's not talk about this matter. Your Majesty vowed before that 'it's time to get the news and take action', and before that he asked the King of Qin to suppress Yanjing. Was he counting on Goryeo and Eastern Mongolia to join forces to dig out the retreat of the Jurchens? Eastern Mongolia should be waiting for the Goryeo people according to your intention, but when will the Goryeo people move? Do they really dare to move?"
"Uh..." Zhao Jiu was a little dazed, but he finally gritted his teeth. "I think that according to the national conditions of Goryeo, they will definitely send troops, it's just a matter of a few days. Hu Qing, you should know that even if we are not counted, the Pyongyang Yangban in Goryeo has always advocated going to war with the Jin Kingdom, and although the leader of the Kaesong Yangban, Jin Bushi, does not advocate war, he is a man who understands the situation and has brains, so after the Battle of Huolu, there is absolutely no reason for them to be afraid or unwilling to send troops... I'm afraid that the Pyongyang Yangban and the Kaesong Yangban are going to fight each other, so it's delayed for a while... Let's wait a moment."
Hu Yin did not argue... because he knew very well that his family was indeed not as professional as Zhao Guanjia's.
Let’s stop talking about gossip and just talk about Goryeo.
In fact, there was nothing wrong with Zhao Jiu's judgment.
Whether in another time and space or at the present time, Goryeo's diplomatic stance towards the Jin Dynasty has always been divided. Not to mention the mainstream great powerism, the fierce attitude towards going to war with the Jurchens has always existed, and the forces holding this attitude are very powerful in Goryeo.
The reason is simple.
First of all, the two sides were neighbors and had frequent interactions and knew each other well. Even earlier, when the Jurchens had not yet risen, the Koreans helped the Japanese defeat and deal with the Jurchen pirates who had fled from the north to Kyushu Island, and took this opportunity to greatly enhance the diplomatic relations between Japan and Goryeo.
Therefore, whether from a cultural or military perspective, the Koreans had a sense of psychological superiority over the Jurchens.
This led to them developing a sense of shame similar to the Jingkang Shame of the Song Dynasty after they were defeated during the rise of the Jurchens and then surrendered to them.
The literati, military officers, and even the common people all had the desire and emotion to go to war.
Secondly, after the rise of the Jurchens, in order to maintain stability in the rear, they fought a local war with Goryeo very early on, seizing part of the territory east of the Yalu River and northwest of Goryeo to establish their advantage.
The so-called partial territory, of course, seemed ridiculous to the Jurchens who later swallowed up the vast territory, but for Goryeo, especially the gentry and landlord class in Pyongyang, Xijing in the northwest, it was undoubtedly a blood feud like cutting off flesh... Just think about it, for the Pyongyang yangban who occupied all the wealth in the northern half of the country, losing one-third of the territory would be equivalent to cutting off one-third of their own property. How could they not hate it?
In fact, in another time and space, because of these things, coupled with the tradition of internal fighting, the pro-war Pyongyang Yangban simply used the excuse of "attacking Jin" to directly cause a split and rebellion with the Kaesong Yangban.
Back to the present, this emotion was due to the shock of the powerful military force displayed by the Jin Kingdom. Secondly, the so-called lack of wealth and interests was compensated by the Song-Jin re-export trade during the Jianyan period, so Goryeo has maintained neutrality until now.
But now I have to say it again, no matter what happened, when the result of the Battle of Huolu was passed on to Goryeo, coupled with the harsh diplomatic attitude of Emperor Zhao before the war, Goryeo, which already had a strong pro-war faction and whose ruler was the inventor of "big powerism", had no reason to remain neutral.
So why did the Koreans react so slowly?
Apart from anything else, the first thing was that he was stopped on his way back home at sea.
Time goes back to the beginning of this month. The battle of Huolu was decided on February 3rd. On February 5th, the Imperial Cavalry and Tian Shizhong's troops jointly pursued the enemy to the vicinity of Hejian. Before the tenth day, Yue Fei's troops advanced to Baosai (Baoding). By that time, they had received a large stack of "edicts" from Emperor Zhao, and there was no longer any doubt about the so-called "merchant group" arranged by Goryeo in Cangzhou.
However, the Song Dynasty's Imperial Navy and the Jin Dynasty's Navy had been fighting at sea, and no one dared to sail out in the Bohai Bay without permission!
This situation continued until five days ago, when Jin heard that Zhao Guanjia's army was advancing eastward and the Song army was likely to come from land, so Li Qi, deputy commander of the Jin navy, hastily abandoned the Cangzhou navy and headed north. The Song Imperial Camp Navy also advanced the battlefield northward to the Qingzhou area (today's southern Tianjin), and the sea route was finally restored.
Therefore, coupled with the wrong wind direction on the road, the Koreans did not arrive in Kaifeng until the morning of that day when Han Shizhong, the editor of the novel by Emperor Zhao, arrived.
However, as soon as they returned to Kaesong, they were immediately summoned by Kim Bu-sik, the regent of Goryeo who had personally arranged this matter.
"You've worked hard, go down and take a rest!"
Unexpectedly, faced with such earth-shattering news, Jin Bushi, who had read the imperial edicts, did not have any intention of asking for verification. He just nodded slightly and let these people rest early. His expression was calm and his demeanor remained unchanged, as if he had expected a similar result.
After the members of the 'merchant group' left, Kim Bu-sik showed no sign of losing his composure... The Goryeo Prime Minister just sat there with his eyes closed for a moment, then suddenly stood up, called his servants, and immediately set off for the palace.
Kaesong was the capital city carefully built after the founding of Goryeo. It had a circumference of nearly 30,000 steps and 22 gates, and was roughly the same size as Heian-kyo in Japan. Just from the regulations of the capital, we can tell that Goryeo and Japan were indeed traditional powerful countries in East Asia. Their culture, economy, and military were typical civilization heights outside of China.
But now, this civilization will undoubtedly face another severe test.
Speaking of which, the last test was during the Jing Kang period. At that time, the King of Goryeo had just come of age and gathered his strength in the palace, preparing to eradicate the powerful minister Li Ziqian. However, Li Ziqian knew in advance and sent his followers to surround the palace. In the end, the entire palace was burned down by Li Ziqian's relatives, leaving only three pavilions. The powerful minister then ran to the pavilions to find the young king who had just come of age and cried, saying that he was loyal but was suspected by the king.
The small king, who only had three pavilions left, could only remain "speechless in shame".
"Is the news confirmed?"
In the simple palace, the short-statured Goryeo king was only two years younger than the Zhao Song official. His original name was Wang Gou, but he later changed his name to Wang Kai. Upon hearing the news, he was in disbelief and walked down from his seat. He was even shorter than Jin Bu Shi who lowered his head. "Sixteen Wan Hu and one hundred and sixty Meng An, all gone at once?"
"I think it's credible." Jin Bu Shi raised his head and responded calmly. "Your Majesty, after the news of the fall of Taiyuan and Yuancheng came, I could probably guess that the Song army would win a great victory in this northern expedition, but I never thought that the Song army would win so thoroughly and so quickly."
Wang Kai took two steps back and stood on the steps, then nodded: "No wonder Jin Xianggong gathered the troops to Kaijing early at the beginning of the year, and then checked the military equipment and food reserves."
"So that the king knows, of course my actions were not just for today." Jin Bu Shi smiled bitterly at the bottom of the stairs. "Because Jin is a neighboring country after all, and Song is across the sea... So what I was more afraid of at that time was that the Song army won but could not settle the situation in one fell swoop. By then, Jin still had spare strength, and Xijing (Pyongyang) would inevitably take advantage of the Song army's victory to stir up trouble and try to attack Jin... These troops gathered in Kaesong to prepare, only 20% of the intention was for today, and 80% was to prepare to send troops to Xijing (Pyongyang) as soon as possible when necessary to eliminate the civil strife invisibly."
Wang Kai was more and more impressed: "My husband is really honest."
"It's not honesty. If my country is not too small and it's hard to survive in front of a big country, I don't want to be a vassal of the Jin Kingdom, and I don't want to go to the capital of the Song Dynasty to be humiliated by the Zhao Song officials and be insulted as a treacherous villain in the official newspaper." Jin Bu Shi was still earnest. "But there is no way, who made Goryeo next to China? Small countries can only survive by serving the big countries... Today, I came to see Your Majesty after hearing the news and persuaded Your Majesty to go to war with the Jin Kingdom. It's the same as when I heard about the Jingkang Incident in Mingzhou that day and came back directly to persuade Your Majesty to be a vassal of the Jin Kingdom."
Wang Kai was silent for a moment, and was obviously a little helpless, but after a moment, he pulled himself together and asked formally: "So, the only way out now is to start a war immediately?"
"That's right." Jin Bushi also became serious. "If we can't start the war quickly, firstly, after the war, the Song Dynasty may border Goryeo. At that time, the Zhao Song government will bring 300,000 elite soldiers to investigate, and no one can withstand the wrath of thunder; secondly, once the news spreads, even if Kaifeng is unwilling to go to war, Xijing (Pyongyang) will also be unable to hold back... who knows what chaos will happen."
Wang Kai nodded: "I am under pressure from both inside and outside, I...I understand."
"That's right." Jin Bu Shi also whispered. "In the next few years, we should be more careful. After all, we haven't declared ourselves emperor yet, so we shouldn't violate the rules."
Wang Kai nodded again, but lowered his voice and asked seriously, "Let's not talk about this matter. Even if we go to war, I'm afraid Xijing won't give up, right?"
This time it was Jin Bu Shi's turn to remain silent, but after only a few breaths of silence, he looked up and said sincerely: "Your Majesty, I have three requests for this expedition."
"Please speak, sir." Wang Kai understood and immediately sat back on the throne.
"First, we should send troops quickly, but we should keep it secret." Jin Bushi explained seriously. "Because Jin is a big country after all. Even if the main force in the front is wiped out, the Liao territory and the people in the rear alone are not something we Goryeo can resist... So we have to take them by surprise and try to paralyze them. It would be best to let the Jin people transfer as many troops as possible to Yanjing."
"I...I understand!" Wang Kai thought it was appropriate and nodded continuously.
"Secondly, I ask the king to grant me the seal and scepter of the marshal, and let me lead this battle as the prime minister and marshal." Jin Bu Shi continued to speak seriously.
But this time Wang Kai remained silent.
"Third," Jin Bu Shi continued, as if he had not noticed his lord's doubts. "Your Majesty, please give me another clear decree to allow me to select people in Xijing to go on diplomatic missions to other countries."
Seeing that Wang Kai was still silent, Jin Bu Shi explained: "Your Majesty, the last two edicts are not my intention to seize power, but my strategy to protect myself and prevent Goryeo from causing chaos when the world changes again..."
"Why do you say that, sir?" Wang Kai finally spoke.
"It has come to this point, why does the king still pretend to be ignorant?" Jin Bushi shook his head. "Everyone in the country knows that the two groups in Kaijing and Xijing (Pyongyang) are in opposition, and Zheng Zhichang and I are also enemies... In the past, I advocated serving the greater good and therefore surrendered to Jin, forcing Zheng Xueshi, who advocated war against Jin, to claim illness in Xijing. Now the situation is changing. Based on Zheng Xueshi's personal relationship with the Zhao Song officials, I am afraid that he will rise to the top, and in turn, I will die a miserable death..."
"It won't be that serious." Wang Kai quickly comforted.
"Zheng Zhichang and I have reached the point where we are at a standstill." Jin Bushi sighed. "That's why I want this method... I will lead the army to attack Jin, and then go to Xijing to take Zheng Zhichang as an envoy to Song to meet Emperor Zhao. He is in urgent need of meeting Emperor Zhao, so he can only accept it... In this way, firstly, I am trying to show my kindness and seek a way of reconciliation; secondly, I will lead the army in Jin and he will be an envoy in Song, so we won't meet each other, and there will be less trouble."
Wang Kai nodded but did not agree. It was as if he knew in his heart that what Jin Fushi said was true, but he still had some doubts.
"Your Majesty." Jin Bushi knelt directly in the palace. "This is not only a private matter between me and Zheng Zhichang, but also a nearly one-hundred-year feud between the Kaesong Yangban and the Seokyeong (Pyongyang) Yangban... If things go wrong, I will die without a burial place, but it is not impossible to directly provoke a civil war from Seokyeong to Kaesong. What I am asking for today is not my own position as commander-in-chief, but a way for me to survive and live in peace with Your Majesty!"
Wang Kai took several deep breaths and finally nodded: "I trust Jin Xianggong, so I will follow his words and appoint him as the Marshal and the commander-in-chief of the war against Jin. I will immediately send secret messages to the border of Jin and allow him to send a special envoy to Xijing!"
Jin Fu Shi kowtowed heavily, and when he raised his head, his eyes were already filled with tears, and Wang Kai was also moved.
Just like that, on the last day of February, Kim Bu-sik, the well-prepared ruler of Goryeo, did not hesitate to mobilize more than 20,000 people who had been prepared in the vicinity of Kaesong in the afternoon of the same day after receiving the belated report of the battle of Huolu. He marched westward and arrived at Xijing (Pyongyang) in a hurry in just six days. Then he displayed the ceremonial guard of the Prime Minister and the Marshal, took over the city defense, and controlled more than 10,000 people in Xijing.
Then, after a brief settlement, on the morning of the sixth day of March, Kim Bu-sik sent out a large number of documents to the small town northwest of the city where his troops were stationed, informing the slightly wary Xijing (Pyongyang) gentry that the Song emperor had won a great victory over the Jin army in Huolu, and that the 16 Jin army commanders were almost unable to return north. The court had decided to follow the order of Emperor Zhao last year, launch a surprise attack on Liaodong, and participate in the war against Jin. It demanded that the Xijing gentry immediately join the army, prepare to accept positions, and join the northern expedition.
At the same time, he specifically asked Zheng Zhichang to come and receive orders, prepare to go on a diplomatic mission to the Song Dynasty, express his submission, and discuss post-war matters. He also asked the monk Miaoqing, who was particularly favored by the King of Goryeo, to arrive at the same time to report the situation here to the King of Gaekyeong... It was said that the King specifically asked to see the latter.
Besides, Seogyeong was originally a big city that Goryeo had painstakingly built up. After the palace was burned down that day, there were frequent discussions about moving the capital. Otherwise, there would not have been factional struggles between Seogyeong Yangban and Kaesong Yangban for hundreds of years.
This factional struggle, from culture to foreign policy, to power struggle within the country, plus regional economic foundation, is almost an all-round struggle, but because the capital is in Kaifeng, Xijing has always been at a disadvantage. Today, we can borrow such a foreign "east wind" to force Jin Bushi, the first person to submit to Jin, to go to the city to invite his old enemy Zheng Zhichang to a banquet, which is really gratifying.
Therefore, the two groups in Xijing (Pyongyang) were caught off guard by the sudden arrival of Kim Bu-sik with the imperial edict, but they were overjoyed when they saw these consecutive announcements. They then each got in a sedan chair, mules and horses, and agreed to form a team to leave the city and go to the small town.
At noon, about seventy or eighty people arrived at the same time. Although Jin Bushi himself never drank, he could only put on a stern face and host a banquet to entertain them. He also announced the positions of these people in the army according to their qualifications and titles... Although he showed dissatisfaction in his words, he was at a disadvantage in his actions.
When the news came back, Zheng Zhichang and Monk Miaoqing, who still wanted to pretend to be leaders, could no longer hold back and finally arrived together late.
"You two are finally here!"
Seeing the arrival of the people, Jin Fushi stood up in the middle of the town hall in a rage. "Especially you, Zheng Zhichang, did I ask you to come? When the country needs you to contribute, you are putting on airs?"
When Zheng Zhichang heard this, he was not angry. Instead, he smiled and pointed at him, "Jin Lizhi (Jin Fushi's pen name), if you had listened to me earlier, the country would not be in such a predicament today. Are you qualified to be a marshal? When I see Emperor Zhao, Master Miaoqing will go to see the king, and I will definitely persuade the emperor and the king to severely punish you!"
Jin Bu Shi sighed helplessly, then nodded: "If that's the case, I shouldn't have expected anything from the beginning."
Zheng Zhichang laughed even louder, and before he died down, he heard cries of surprise from all around him. He looked around and realized that Jin Bushi had just waved his hand and his trusted generals and soldiers rushed out to seal the main hall gate and protect 'Marshal Jin'.
"Old thief...what do you want to do?" Zheng Zhichang had seen a lot of big scenes. When all the monks and generals around him were panicking, he was the only one who had a clear mind. "If I make a mistake, how will you explain it to Emperor Zhao?"
"How come you still take yourself seriously until your death?!" Jin Bushi was speechless. "Zheng Zhichang... The Zhao Song emperor showed you favors in order to make connections in Goryeo, which is equivalent to showing power to me, and showing power to me is also equivalent to showing you favors... What do Xijing, Kaijing, Jin Bushi, and Zheng Zhichang have to do with big shots like him? What they want is just to hold on to our Goryeo and force us to send troops to conquer the Jurchens when necessary! Do you really think that your poetry talent is comparable to that of the great scholar Su, and that the Zhao emperor has taken a fancy to you? For a person like that emperor, even if the great scholar Su was still alive, believe it or not, he would be forced to become the master of the original school?"
After saying this, Jin Bushi turned around and said, "Seventy-eight people, leave no one alive. After we have rooted out the weeds, we will enter the city and confiscate their homes for military supplies!"
Jin Bu Shi had been the Prime Minister for many years and had great prestige in the army, so as soon as he said this, the hall was filled with swords flying and blood. In just a few moments, 78 men from the Xijing yangban were chopped to the ground, and then they were stabbed one by one.
However, seeing Zheng Zhichang being stabbed twice, covered in blood, wailing but still looking up at him, Marshal Jin suddenly felt the resentment that had been pent up in his heart for many years, and regardless of his age, he personally picked up his sword and stepped forward, ready to finish him off.
However, Jin Fushi was over sixty years old after all, so how could he really chop people? When he got in front of the person, he didn't know how to swing the knife. While he was struggling, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his crotch.
When he looked down, he found that Zheng Zhichang, with a breath of resentment, had pounced on him with all his strength, and through the hem of his official uniform, he had pinched one of Marshal Jin's testicles with one hand.
In this situation, the surrounding soldiers didn't know whether they should step forward.
On the other side, Zheng Zhichang used his last bit of strength to pounce on the man. He wanted to accuse him of being jealous of his talent and personal relationship with Emperor Zhao, and was seeking revenge for him. But when he looked up and saw that the man's face had turned red, all his resentment and thoughts disappeared. He just sneered with satisfaction in his ferocious face: "Old man, you haven't drunk any alcohol today, why are you blushing?"
"My face is red with blood!" Jin Fushi, with a flushed face, forced himself to answer while hitting the opponent's back with his knife.
However, Zheng Zhichang knew that he was going to die, he just wanted to embarrass his old rival before he died, so naturally he would not let go.
Instead of letting go, he raised his head with all his strength and continued to taunt with gritted teeth: "Does your back feel hard?"
"My balls are not as hard as yours." Jin Fushi, who was in pain, gritted his teeth and endured it. He was unwilling to lose face in the last moment before his old rival's death. He insisted on standing still and tried his best to stab the opponent's face and eyes with a knife.
After dozens of slashes, Zheng Zhichang died without knowing when. However, his hand could not be pried off by several soldiers, so they had to cut it off with a dagger.
After this incident, there was silence for two days. Jin Bu Shi recuperated in the small town for two days. On the other hand, after the hasty search of the houses in the big city of Xijing, the military officers finally came again to ask for instructions.
"Return to Kaijing." Jin Bushi, who had been nurturing his eggs for two days, sat cross-legged and looked at the other side calmly. "I came here to suppress the rebellion in Xijing, but the conquest of Jin was not an empty promise... However, if I conquer Jin, I will inevitably have to confront the famous kings of the Song Dynasty. I am just a marshal, and my rank is not appropriate. I am afraid that I will be looked down upon... I must return to Kaijing first and ask the king to give me the axe so that I can conquer Jin on his behalf. Only then can it be done properly."
The generals looked at each other in bewilderment, but after two days of the seizure of property in Xijing, the entire army had already become part of the same boat with this Prime Minister and Marshal. What else could they do?
Then all the generals knelt down and said they would obey my orders.
Jin Bu Shi knew what these warriors were thinking, but he was too lazy to explain. He just sighed slightly, and then tried to stand up. However, his crotch was pulled and his balls hurt again. He couldn't help but sigh... Why is it so difficult to do something for the country in a small country?
Not only was her reputation not saved, but even her eggs were not saved.