Zhang Jun shook his head repeatedly: "This is exactly what I am hesitant about. You must know that once we cross the Huai River, we can only go south, and the morale of the people in the world will be dampened along the way. The emperor was so determined that day, how could it be a gesture of discouragement?"

"Well!" Zhao Ding was helpless, but he pointed at the migration team of civilians and sighed. "Let's not talk about the southeast, and let's follow Deyuan's thoughts. The only thing is the current situation... You said that the women, children, the elderly and the weak were originally sent first, and the original intention was to move lightly, so how did it end up like this? Isn't this really like Han Zhaolie taking the people across the river?"

"This is also helpless." Zhang Jun finally became serious and began to persuade. "During the Jingkang period, the Jin people plundered Tokyo without restraint, turning it into a wasteland. At that time, countless people from Tokyo fled here... Don't forget how the ginger and fermented black beans came... Now the Jin people have completely destroyed the east and east roads of Jingdong, and are still plundering without restraint. Refugees from the two routes of Jingdong are coming again. The government wants to leave again, and they have to collect men and the treasury. The people are panicking and follow us. What can we say? We should try our best to maintain it. When these people arrive in Huainan, the climate is warm, or simply disperse to the southeast, where there are many towns and cities, and it is very rich, there will always be food to eat..."

Zhao Ding also looked solemn, but lowered his voice: "How could I not know this truth? Besides, we have come all the way from Tokyo, and we have seen worse situations than this. What I am worried about is that the commotion here is too big. Once the Jin people get wind of this, they can easily get away from us even though they are only 500 to 600 miles away... Just like the analogy the emperor gave before, it is obvious that wild beasts eat people and shed blood, but if we turn our backs to the wild beasts, wouldn't that just lure them to attack us?"

"The Jin troops will surely come!" Zhang Jun responded immediately. "Your Majesty's analogy is very appropriate, and from the overall situation, since we set out from Nanjing (Shangqiu), we will surely be pursued by the Jin troops..."

"I'm talking about the current situation."

"Small and large do not conflict. Since the Jin people are bound to come, why not take the people of Shunchang Prefecture with them?" Zhang Jun became more serious. "Besides, if the Jin people want to come, they have to get past Liu Guangshi first. Liu Guangshi already has more than 10,000 people under his command. Now he has the right to defend several military states south of Mount Tai. I'm afraid he has no less than 30,000 to 50,000 people. Even if the Jin people really come, he doesn't need to fight. As long as he can defend the city and retreat step by step, he can always hold on until the beginning of spring!"

Zhao Ding shook his head repeatedly, apparently dissatisfied in his heart, but he did not argue any further.

Moreover, although the two were friends for life and staunch political allies, it was obvious that the young Zhang Jun was the first to gain power, and his mind was full of how to please the emperor in order to stabilize his position; at the same time, Zhao Ding was older and had always been cautious, otherwise he would not have been the first to stand up and persuade Zhao Jiu as the emperor's trusted confidant and advocate of war in Shunchang City that day... Moreover, the older man was the direct subordinate of the younger man, and there was some awkwardness in the right to speak between the two sides.

Just like at this moment, although Zhang Jun was responsible for maintaining the order of the migration of scholars and civilians, he kept having random thoughts. Instead, Zhao Ding, who was worried that these scholars and civilians would cause trouble, worked diligently and personally maintained the migration order.

However, since the two men remained silent, before Zhao Ding turned around to continue inspecting the team, several riders suddenly galloped past carefully along the river bank. The two men saw clearly that one of them was the Secretary of the Central Secretariat, who should be following the emperor at this time, and their brother Hu Yin, so they called out to him almost at the same time.

When Hu Yin heard the shouts, he did not pause but spoke directly: "A lieutenant from Huyan Tong's army and a magistrate who had just escaped from the north were seizing and fighting over the people's property in the army led by Xu Dacan. They were arrested by Commander Huyan. The emperor was furious and ordered me to see Huyan Tong with a golden medal to execute them both!"

At the end of his words, Hu Yin did not stop at all and disappeared directly on the embankment... and Zhang Jun and Zhao Ding were also shocked!

Besides, Huyan Tong's army was a reliable army of a thousand men that Han Shizhong left for Zhao Jiu before he left for Huaidong. The so-called Xu Dacan refers to Xu Jingheng, who happened to be the Chief Censor before Zhang Jun. Zhao Jiu didn't know his position at that time, but he didn't regard him as Huang Qianshan's accomplice because he had defended Zong Ze many times. Instead, he regarded him as a tool and threw him into the six ministries to be idle.

Later, when Li Gang came back, he knew the truth and took him as his right-hand man. Emperor Zhao then realized that he was a core figure of the pro-war faction who had been patient and silent.

Therefore, this time Li Gang left the imperial court first. In order to reassure people's hearts, Zhao Jiu specially changed Lü Haowen to Shangshu Zuo Cheng, and promoted him to Shangshu You Cheng, and co-senior to state affairs, which means he officially entered the East Palace and became the deputy prime minister. This was also to show his unchanged trust in Li Gang.

There are many similar treatments, such as Zhang Que, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, the Deputy Envoy of the Imperial Camp, and the Co-Director of the Privy Council. This person was originally thrown out by Zhao Jiu as a tool to scrape Buddha statues everywhere. It is said that he also made resentful remarks. Now he has returned to the core power institution... And these old ministers who need to return because of the situation are exactly the reasons why Zhang Jun is worried and always thinking about the emperor's thoughts.

But no matter what, the problem now is not the messy personnel changes caused by the migration, but another piece of information revealed by Hu Yin's words just now - the government actually took the initiative to kill people! And it killed both civil and military officials!

What does this represent?

What is the official thinking at this moment?

"You're not thinking about Chibi, are you?" After a long pause, Zhao Ding came back to his senses and spoke, but he couldn't help sneering at himself.

Zhang Jun remained silent.

In this way, the two continued to urge the team forward. Two days and nights passed, and bad news continued in the meantime. Suddenly, on this morning, there was a commotion in front of the team again. Listening carefully, it turned out to be cheers. After further inquiry, it turned out that the team in front suddenly found that the ice in front was gradually melting. Only then did they realize that Huaikou was not far away. In other words, the border between Shunchang Prefecture and Shouzhou was approaching...

Upon hearing this news, Zhao Ding, who had worked hard all the way, naturally breathed a sigh of relief, and all his previous worries disappeared.

After all, according to the plan, they had to separate here, but most of the civil officials took the people across the Huai River here, and successfully escorted the people of Shunchang Prefecture to the south of the Huai River; at the same time, the official generals and a small number of core personnel, with thousands of Shunchang militiamen and the money, grain, cloth, and military equipment in the Shunchang treasury, continued to travel east along the Huai River to Shouzhou to meet Zhang Jun, the governor of Xuzhou and one of the commanders of the imperial camp, who was Zhang Jun's destined nobleman, Zhang Boying.

In other words, after a period of shock and chaos, the destination is finally reached, and the Jin people have not yet caught up. Is there any better situation than this?

"Brother Yuan Zhen..."

On the north bank of the freezing Huai River, at the ferry crossing where the ice had not yet formed, Zhang Jun, with dark circles under his eyes, suddenly spoke out a warning before leaving. "After crossing the river, settle down quickly. Don't covet the prosperity and stability of Huainan, and don't accept the appointment of Huainan. Come to see me immediately... I would say that after half a year of wandering, the fate of the world will be revealed only after crossing the Huai River."

Zhao Ding was half-believing and half-doubting, but finally nodded heavily.

PS: My condition is very bad, so I will update hastily today to allow me to accumulate some energy.