For a long time, since Zhao Laojiu ascended the throne, the core issue here has been whether to go to Nanyang or Yangzhou.

To be fair, Nanyang or Yangzhou seem to be almost the same, both are choices of giving up completely hopelessly on the situation in Hebei and having no choice but to give up most of the Central Plains, and then pinning hopes on recovering from the rear.

Moreover, from a rational point of view, Yangzhou seems to be more suitable than Nanyang, because Yangzhou is the starting point of the Grand Canal, which can naturally gather the financial resources of the south of the Yangtze River, and there is also the Huai River in front to serve as a barrier; relatively speaking, although there are mountains around the Nanyang Basin, the northeast is flat, and there is not much to rely on except for Zong Liushou, who has an army of millions.

However, everyone also understands that there is a deeper difference between Yangzhou and Nanyang, which is the fallback option if these two places can no longer support:

If they could not defend Yangzhou, they would have to cross the river. Once they crossed the river, anyone with a little historical knowledge would understand its political significance. There was nothing to hide. This was also the true thought of many people who had experienced the Jingkang Change. The Jin people were really powerful, so what was wrong with hiding?

Therefore, Yangzhou, which seems to be the most reasonable and suitable place, is the unanimous opinion of the peace advocates.

So what about going to Nanyang?

Going to Nanyang, you can advance into Guanzhong, and retreat into Xiangyang. Not to mention the pro-war meaning of entering Guanzhong, even if you retreat to Xiangyang, that place undoubtedly has a stronger political signal of restoration than in Jiangnan. This was clearly stated in Wu Hou's Longzhong Strategy back then. This place is the starting point for the restoration of the Central Plains!

Therefore, after weighing the balance between survival and restoration, the war faction generally believed that Nanyang should be the temporary secondary capital.

As for Zong Ze's return to the old capital, Yue Fei's crossing of the river to the north, and Han Shizhong's initially confused strategy of directly breaking through the defense zone of Jin's god of war Wanyan Loushi and heading to Chang'an, they were basically regarded as nonsense by the mainstream opinion... Even Zong Ze's intermittent letters requesting to return to Bianliang, in a sense, were probably because he had already recognized the nature of certain people in Hebei and was using this to play a double act with Li Gang.

They were trying to hold and pull Emperor Zhao forcibly!

Because under the circumstances at that time, the only way to hold down Emperor Zhao was similar moral kidnapping methods... Don't you see, even a group of peace advocates only dared to say that they would go to Yangzhou to fight against the Jin Dynasty, and hid the words of crossing the river to live in peace. Isn't it because they themselves knew that during the "Two Sages Hunting in the North" and when the people in the Central Plains and Hebei were still united, if they said such words, they would be grabbed by the braids and scolded to death by the pro-war faction, and then beaten to death by the people?

Correspondingly, even the war advocates would never dare to talk about war lightly, because that would be a rebellious way of putting the two saints to death, which is not what a son or a minister should think... In fact, even Li Gang could only say that if we strengthen ourselves, the two saints will return.

However, isn’t there something wrong with this clear and unambiguous logic of confrontation?

Because a little-known but clear fact is that ever since the well-falling incident, the Zhao official at the intersection of all confrontations and alliances, contradictions and tugs, or our time traveler Mr. Zhao Jiu, has a completely different logic in his mind:

First of all, Zhao Jiu has never worried about the Two Saints, nor would he be morally blackmailed by the Two Saints, because in his eyes they are just two useless burdens who would be better off dying early and reincarnated as soon as possible. He doesn’t even know what the Two Saints look like.

Therefore, when he was considering a problem, he never thought about those people, nor was he disturbed by their existence.

Secondly, Zhao Jiu's determination to fight against the Jin was unquestionable and unshakable.

This is not a question of nationalism, but from the very beginning, the time traveler Zhao Guanjia had already analyzed from multiple angles and with the perspective of future generations, and determined that resisting the Jin Dynasty was in his absolute interest!

Of course, there is definitely a bit of nationalism involved.

Moreover, after Li Gang came back and the migration began, Zhao Jiu gradually came into contact with the customs of that era. Obviously, due to the basic moral concepts of modern people, he developed a kind of unrealistic sense of responsibility... He witnessed many lively people in Jiegou and was squeezed by the living environment in Shuizibu Town, which somewhat dispelled his numbness about this era.

However, it only dispelled a lot of it, and it seemed that there was still a little bit missing from completely tearing apart the film that separated the individual from the times.

So, at this moment, our Emperor Zhao’s thoughts are so unclear to others that even he himself may not be able to figure it out... The more this is the case, the more he wants to tear off this layer of film as quickly as possible without any scruples!

"What is Deyuan (Zhang Jun's pen name) thinking about?"

In late November, on the banks of the frozen Yingshui River, a huge and bloated team was moving down the river. However, even though it was frozen, as the mother river of Shunchang Prefecture, formerly known as Yingzhou, the Yingshui River still brought great convenience to the migrating team due to its water characteristics.

Therefore, during the relatively proper itinerary, the two leaders of a certain section of the team still had time to think and talk immediately.

"To be honest, Brother Yuan Zhen," Zhang Jun came back to his senses from his deep thoughts and did not hide anything from Zhao Ding. "I was wondering what the emperor was thinking..."

"I know what Deyuan means." Zhao Ding smiled bitterly and shook his head, bringing out a puff of white mist in the cold winter. "You and I both know that the emperor is unwilling to give in, but how can we be willing? But now we have to cross the Huai River to Yangzhou, so what if the emperor has other ideas? Shunchang Prefecture is still a node, and it is still possible to go to Nanyang or Yangzhou. Once you reach Shouzhou, cross the Huai River, and the Dabie Mountains are due south and west... What are the Dabie Mountains? The north and south are divided into the Yangtze River and the Huai River, and the east and west are divided into the Jingyang River. There is only one way to go to the southeast!"

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