On the first day of the last month of the first year of Jianyan, when it was snowing heavily, Zhao Jiu met Zhang Jun, one of the so-called Four Generals of the Restoration, who was as famous as Yue Fei and Han Shizhong, at Dongtai Pavilion where the Fei River flows into the Huai River, 30 miles west of Shouzhou City!

In fact, Zhao Jiu knew this person. Not only had he heard of him after he came out of the well, but even before he traveled through time, this name was hard to forget because it was simple and direct, and it had always been associated with Yue Han in a negative way... Of course, after he came out of the well, this name became even more well-known.

On the contrary, as for Liu Guangshi, Zhao Jiu was not quite sure whether this man was one of the Four Generals of the Restoration, because he could understand that a famous general had low moral standards, but it was difficult to accept that a general who was known by everyone as a war-avoiding general and a long-legged general could make any contribution to the Restoration... Could it be that when Yue Fei, Han Shizhong and Zhang Jun were fighting the Jin army on the front line, this General Liu relied on his speed advantage and talent for surrendering rebels to deal with all the rebellions in the rear?

But then again, Zhao Jiu, who likes to chat with his squad leaders, now knows very well why Zhang Jun and Liu Guangshi have such prominent positions in the army?

The reason is simple - just like the body occupied by Zhao Jiu, everyone just happened to appear at the necessary opportunity with some irreplaceable capital when the mountains were collapsing and the earth was breaking.

Among them, Zhao Laojiu's capital is naturally his bloodline, while Liu Zhang's capital is their soldiers and horses.

In addition, there may be a saying that Liu Guangshi was the son who succeeded his father; Zhang Jun was similar, but he was somewhat of an heir of the Zhong family army with a different surname.

Liu Guangshi's father was the famous Liu Yanqing, who was one of the longest-legged generals in the Song army! General Liu always liked to avoid battles, miss deadlines, steal credit, and run away. He ran all the way from Baigou to Tokyo, but he was probably not as long as the horses of the Jin army, so he was inevitably stabbed by the Jin army.

And probably for this reason, after Liu Guangshi made his debut, his leg skills became even more amazing, to the point that he surpassed his master!

But no matter what, Liu Guangshi has the connections left over from his father, an old military leader who was one of the most respected in the Song Dynasty, which he had built up over decades... and Liu Yanqing was lenient to his subordinates, and the same was true for Liu Guangshi.

Therefore, when the Jingkang Incident collapsed that day, Liu Guangshi was on his way to Tokyo with his 3,000 soldiers. When he heard that the front had suffered a great defeat, he made a prompt decision. Instead of turning back, he dropped everything and led his 3,000 soldiers from Guanxi to Hebei. He was the first to run to the side of Zhao Laojiu, who was still a figurehead marshal at the time, and from then on he rose to prominence!

You can tell from their official titles that they are all commanders of the Imperial Camp, and above them there is Wang Yuan who is the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Camp. However, Liu Guangshi is in charge of the affairs of the Imperial Camp and the inspector-in-chief of the Imperial Camp... The actual power he has may not be less than that of Wang Yuan.

He was even the first Song Dynasty soldier to be officially awarded the title of Taiwei after the Jingkang period, a title that was just confirmed a few days before Zhao Jiu came out of the well.

As for Zhang Jun and Zhang Boying, their path to rise during the Jianyan period was roughly similar to that of Liu Guangshi.

He also pulled out an army of two to three thousand people during the Jingkang collapse, and then appeared where he should be when there was no one around Zhao Laojiu.

However, correspondingly speaking, Zhang Jun is obviously more capable, because unlike Liu Guangshi, he does not have a good father, so he comes with 3,000 complete soldiers and horses as soon as he appears. After he has mastered both civil and military skills, he can also enjoy his father's natural connections... Zhang Jun was able to inherit the powerful Western Army, the Zhong Family Army, by fighting for his life.

First of all, Zhang Jun really followed Zhong Shizhong in a bloody battle in Taiyuan, and even when the entire army was almost wiped out, he pulled out a remnant and broke through the siege; secondly, he maintained his leadership position by relying on his performance on the battlefield and his personal charm along the way.

Of course, there must have been a little bit of luck, for example, he met a nobleman Liang Yangzu, the prefect of Guide Prefecture who first accepted the remnants of the exile such as Zhang Jun, and then took them to see Zhao Laojiu. He was a man who knew how to advance and retreat... When Zhao Laojiu ascended the throne, he discussed preserving the original Grand Marshal's Mansion and wanted this person to be the marshal, but Liang Yangzu took the initiative to give up his military power and central power, and asked to go south to manage finances.

And Zhang Jun inherited this throne, which made him qualified to be the commander of the imperial camp, below Liu Guangshi and above Han Shizhong.

Back to the present.

Amidst the heavy snow, the atmosphere of the meeting in the Dongtai Pavilion was unconsciously becoming tense and stiff. After Emperor Zhao entered the warm pavilion prepared for him by Captain Zhang, he first had the gorgeous curtains removed without any respect, and then ordered that most of the delicacies and fine wines in the pavilion be given to Ban Zhi and Huyan Tong's troops who had worked hard in the armored march. Only a few ducks that were freshly roasted on the stove in the pavilion were left untouched. Then he sat there without saying a word until now.

Poor General Zhang, who was already over forty years old, had been standing on the edge of the pavilion without sitting down, and some snow had gradually accumulated on his shoulders... If this were to get out in the future, wouldn't there be an allusion to "Standing in the Snow on Dongtai" to specifically describe the cold-hearted nature of officials?

After all, considering the emperor's preferential treatment of Han Shizhong that day, and the emperor's change in attitude towards some of his former confidants after he fell into the well that day, it was impossible to stop the civil and military officials present from having wild thoughts.

And to be honest, everyone generally felt a little unfair for General Zhang, because there was no reason why Han Shizhong's subordinates rebelled and got the jade belt, but General Zhang went out of the city thirty miles to pay respect to them, but was treated like this!

Of course, Zhao Jiuzhen didn't mean it, quite the contrary. It was precisely because he knew the importance of General Zhang that he was hesitant and didn't know how to talk to him, and then he thought about something else without realizing it.

"Zhang Qing, please come and sit with me."

Finally, just when Zhang Jun's old subordinate Yang Yizhong was about to break the taboo and give a reminder, Emperor Zhao finally spoke. His casual words made both the civil and military officials in the pavilion breathe a sigh of relief.

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