Beheading twelve people and expelling a ship of fifteen people was a rare victory in the war against the Jin Dynasty. Among them, five or six people were confirmed to be real Jurchen soldiers, which greatly boosted morale. However, in the situation where tens of thousands of troops were confronting each other across regions with cities, mountains and rivers, it was still a small victory and not worth mentioning... Celebrating this victory would be recorded in history books and made people laugh at it.

As for Wang De's promotion to commander, it was not a happy event worth celebrating. It was not even a sign of Wang De's combat capability. It was just something that had been discussed in the first place.

After all, after Liu Guangshi's death, Wang De is now the one with the highest official rank, the strongest subordinates and the most experience among his troops. He himself is a rare person with experience in fighting against Jin. Although Zhao Jiu has formally taken back his original position of Grand Marshal of the Army from Prime Minister Wang Boyan and became the nominal commander of the 3,000 Western Army of Liu Guangshi's former subordinates, it is impossible for him to actually command the war.

On the contrary, now in the camp at Bagua Mountain in Huainan, there are 3,000 Western Army led by Qiao Zhongfu and Zhang Jing, divided into left and right wings; there are 3,000 Fu Qing's troops; there are 1,000 Hu Yantong's troops; hundreds of imperial guards; and 2,000 Wang De's troops; and 5,000 to 6,000 civilians who were withdrawn from Huaibei but left behind to build the camp... Leaving aside the helpless empty pay and vacancies, there are a total of 14,500 to 15,000 people, including nearly 8,000 combat soldiers, no less than 5,000 armored soldiers, and 700 to 800 war horses of each army!

These were all the data Zhao Jiu had gathered through the rewards, and that was why he insisted on personally supervising the rewards. He needed to write down the numbers in a small notebook in his imperial account, and he did write them down...

In a word, if Zhao Jiu, an inexperienced man, were to command so many troops, it would definitely lead to the destruction of the Zhao State! There must be a real leader! And Wang Yuan, the Grand Commandant, was really hard for Zhao Jiu to trust.

So, as I said before, Wang De’s ascension to the throne is natural, and it is impossible to celebrate this matter.

On the contrary, at this time, the fourth prince of the Jin Dynasty, Wushu, led the main force of the Jin army. The approximate number of over 20,000 was much more reassuring than the previous 100,000, but they were still invincible in field battles and still made the Song army fearful, not to mention the fire that Liu Guangshi set before crossing the river, turning Xiacai City into an isolated city.

Who knows if Xiacai City will open its gates and surrender in the next quarter of an hour? Then let the Jin army calmly pass such an important town, collect ships from somewhere in Huaixi, cross the Huai River, and then search the mountains and seas.

However, after all that, a few days after the Jin army arrived, the Huainan Bagongshan camp still had an inappropriate feast, and even had lights and decorations... The reason couldn't be simpler, it was the New Year! And the governor of Shouzhou, Lin Jingmo, who had been ordered to lead the people of Huaibei to the south, happened to bring the supplies from the southeast states that Zhao Jiu had been looking forward to, including a lot of wine and meat!

It was freezing cold, they were away from home, it was a festive season, and they were facing a powerful enemy. There was also ready-made wine and meat, so there was no reason not to distribute them to boost morale.

"I am an official who is really..."

In the curtain in front of the imperial tent on the top of the mountain, under the flying Jinwu banner, Emperor Zhao looked at the "special diet" that Governor Lin prepared for him, and he couldn't help laughing.

The important ministers and close officials who were having the banquet together also rarely smiled.

It turned out that, just like that day in Jiegou, because a eunuch happened to buy a bucket of ginger and fermented black beans, the prefect prepared a few buckets of ginger and fermented black beans for the emperor when he delivered supplies. This time, probably because Taiwei Zhang Jun was preparing dishes in Feikou and the emperor only had a few kinds of ducks left, Lin Jingmo actually prepared a bunch of Huai-di's famous salted water ducks for Emperor Zhao!

If this gets out, will the nicknames of "Ginger and Chili Emperor" and "Duck Official" be acceptable?

Of course, everyone just laughed it off, because ginger and salted duck were not luxury items after all, and it would not be a big deal if it was spread out, but it would make the emperor seem approachable. A few days ago, in order to boost morale, Emperor Zhao took his squad and officers from the two wings of the Western Army out of the camp every day to shoot wild ducks along the Huai River!

But the more I get used to eating duck, the harder it is to swallow this New Year's saltwater duck.

In fact, after Zhao Jiu made a joke, he only ate one duck leg. He indeed thought it tasted great, but it was too greasy and too salty. He couldn't finish too much of it, so he had to leave the entire duck untouched. Instead, he could only have some rice porridge, fried pork and the like to go with the wine. He often cast envious glances at the Secretary of the Central Secretariat Hu Yin... The latter ate almost all the duck in front of him. His speed and good appetite made everyone, including Zhao Jiu, secretly envious.

But let’s not talk about these ducks. After all, it was the New Year, after all, it was thanks to Emperor Zhao’s stubbornness that they survived two major crises, after all, supplies were replenished, after all, the Jin army did not have the ability to cross the river, after all, Xia Caicheng had not surrendered... According to the Chinese custom of enjoying life in the moment, the atmosphere of the banquet was still very good.

However, after three rounds of drinking, the drunkenness gradually became apparent, and according to the Chinese drinking rules, some messy things were inevitable:

Wang Yasha, who had just been promoted, probably wanted to express his gratitude, so he had to beat the drum and dance for the official... Beating the drum was fine in the army, but dancing was still allowed;

Then, Wang Yuan and Wang Boyan each "recalled" the past when they had shared the joys and sorrows with the government in Hebei, one crying and the other sighing, which was regarded as another expression of loyalty;

After Zhao Jiu comforted them, Qiao Zhongfu and Zhang Jing burst into tears. It was unknown whether it was because they were veteran generals of the Western Army and had been unable to fight under Liu Guangshi before, so they felt wronged, or because they were so worried and anxious that day that they were released today.

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!