Yao Pingzhong said, "Your Majesty, I am willing to lead the suicide squad to fight to the death!"

"Bullshit!" Zhao Huan almost blurted out.

Of course, Yao Pingzhong and Li Gang cannot be blamed for this. After all, a night raid on the Jin camp was a brilliant plan. If the peace faction had not intentionally betrayed this information, the raid might have actually succeeded in history, and history might have been rewritten.

However, Zhao Huan did not intend to take this risk.

From a broader strategic perspective, a scorched-earth policy is the most reasonable course of action. Moreover, he has already placed Zong Ze in Hebei, and it is believed that Zong Ze will soon lead Yue Fei to rise to prominence, giving the Jin invaders a surprise, as well as the Song military a surprise!

Zhao Huan smiled and said, "I am very pleased that Yao Qing has made such a decision. However, we have just gone through a defensive battle, and the soldiers need to rest."

Before Yao Pingzhong could say anything more, he was interrupted by the Imperial Censor He Ye: "Your Majesty's compassion for the soldiers is a blessing to the Great Song! I also believe that we should strengthen our defenses and scorched earth policy!"

The ministers couldn't help but sigh inwardly, thinking, "He truly is the emperor's loyal dog."

Not to be outdone, Wang Yanbo quickly expressed his support for the emperor: "I also believe that we should fortify our defenses and scorch the fields!"

The Junior Chancellor and the Censor-in-Chief both expressed their opinions. The other ministers, who already disliked Li Gang, disregarded whether what Li Gang said was correct or not. They were determined to oppose him anyway, so they also said, "We believe that we should strengthen our defenses and scorched earth!"

"Heh!" Zhao Huan thought to himself with amusement. "Have these ministers finally learned their lesson? Or are they all just unhappy with Li Gang?"

Zhao Huan didn't consider the motivations of these ministers; now that a consensus had been reached, the most important thing was to implement a scorched-earth policy.

Just when the ministers seemed to agree with the emperor's decision to wage war against the Jin army with a scorched-earth policy, news suddenly arrived that the Jin rebels wanted to negotiate peace. This news once again stirred up waves in the court.