Chapter 366 Summer Rain (Continued)

Ren Baozhong and Liu Hongdao's crying, and crying in the rain and mud, was obviously beyond Zhao Jiu's expectations... because he hadn't seen such an extremely inappropriate drama between the monarch and his ministers for many years. The last time was when he decided to meet Han Shizhong eight years ago during his exile, or when he entrusted his son to the care of others at Yiyou Gate before the battle of Yaoshan four or five years ago?

It really makes people dazed.

In addition to this, there is another point. That is, if Ren Baozhong has experienced a lot and has no bottom line, so he can act so well, but Liu Hongdao is, after all, a serious high-ranking scholar-official. How can he act so realistically and cooperate so well with Ren Baozhong?

He clearly just arrived in Hangzhou yesterday.

In other words, these two people may not be pretending... and even if they are pretending, can Emperor Zhao just stand there like this?

"You two, please stand up."

Zhao Jiu quickly came out from under the umbrella, walked quickly into the mud, and then, with the help of two squad leaders of the Red Heart Team, he helped the two of them up one by one, and consoled them earnestly. "Isn't it just that you turned around and found that your house had collapsed? Why did you two suffer from this? It was the side wing that was leaking before, and the front hall was also affected a little. The bedroom was only affected by a few tiles. If it weren't for Yang Yizhong and the others forcing me, I would have wanted to continue waiting in the bedroom."

It was said that the two men were obviously out of control and were helped to sit aside by Zhao Guanjia and Ban Zhi. They didn't hear a few words at all and it took them a long while to regain their ability to speak.

Among them, Ren Baozhong was obviously quicker. He wiped his face with his sleeves covered in mud and then sat on the stone steps in the back hall and said sadly: "I have just met a wise master at my age. I am loyal to you. I hope you can forgive me for my loss of composure."

This is what happens when you listen to too many jokes from the Three Kingdoms storytelling.

But in a sense, it is also the truth. Without Zhao Jiu, this old thief would probably have disappeared in the remote village of Hengshan as an old man who had failed in a coup. His body and spirit would have turned to dust and been forgotten. Who would have thought that he would come into contact with core power again at the end of his life, and core power at a higher level?

To put it bluntly, apart from Zhao Jiu who was thinking of launching a large-scale war against the Dangxiang people in the Northern Expedition, who would use an old Dangxiang dog like him?

"I really don't dare to think about what will happen to the country if something happens to the emperor?" In comparison, Liu Hongdao, who spoke later, was obviously much more sincere, but he was also in a state of panic under the umbrella, so he spoke without thinking. "What about the Northern Expedition? Will the North and the South confront each other like the Liao Dynasty? If so, the national hatred of Jingkang and the private shame of Qingzhou will make me feel depressed for the rest of my life!"

This is where the pros and cons are clearly pointed out.

The greatest hatred and shame in Liu Hongdao's life was the battle in Qingzhou where numerous people were killed and wounded and blood flowed like a river. He had no choice but to abandon his hometown and position and flee in embarrassment.

In the Song Dynasty, Han Shizhong was not the only one who hated Wanyan Wushu and Wanyan Talan to the core.

But no matter what, in the rainy night, in the midst of the chaos, Zhao Jiu understood their loss of composure, so he quickly said some nonsense: "I have always known the loyalty of the two nobles. Now you are fine, so relax."

With the help of the lanterns lit by the surrounding teams, the extremely embarrassed Ren Baozhong and Liu Hongdao looked at each other, but they both saw a tacit understanding in each other's eyes - they both obviously wanted to take the opportunity to ask Emperor Zhao why he hesitated about the Northern Expedition? They even wanted to take the opportunity to explain the pros and cons and persuade the emperor.

But at the same time, after this incident, both of them felt that it was a blessing for the official to be alive, as they could make long-term plans while he was still alive. Some things were not as urgent as they had thought before.

Just when the two of them had a tacit understanding, what they didn't expect was that Zhao Guanjia, who had turned around to watch the search and rescue, had already followed their actions and his thoughts gradually became distracted.

That being said, Zhao Jiu knew it very well, although the two of them behaved like this out of sincerity today, it was definitely not because of how he, Emperor Zhao, could win people over... After all, Liu Hongdao was actually a little unfamiliar with him, the emperor, and Ren Baozhong was a person of shallow virtue, so, the loss of composure just now could not have been caused by emotional factors at all... Roughly speaking, only three-tenths was a performance, three-tenths was the emotional fluctuations of surprise and joy, and the remaining three-tenths and above showed that the political ambitions, future ideals, and even the values ​​of life of these two were actually tied to him, Emperor Zhao.

Specifically, it was connected with the Northern Expedition that Emperor Zhao had been preparing for a long time and was about to launch.

Both publicly and privately, we have formed a community of interests.

This community of interests also includes a prime minister who still possesses political influence, four incumbent ministers, two envoys, six ministers, ten military governors, eleven vice ministers, nine ministers, and four supervisors other than Liu Hongdao, as well as the public offices in Tokyo and the southeast, wealthy merchants in Lianghuai and Jingdong, and temples and monasteries in the Central Plains, Guanxi, and the southeast.

Of course, there is also Emperor Zhao himself and his close ministers who are directly affiliated with him, plus the imperial army which will grow to 300,000 in a few months.

It’s hard to say, there are still tens of millions of people in Lianghe.

Thinking of this, Zhao Jiu, whose body was finally wet from supporting and comforting the two, smiled bitterly with his back turned in the rainy night - there was nothing he could do about it, because if you counted carefully, this year was already the ninth year of Jianyan, and it had been almost eight years since the autumn of the first year of Jianyan.

During the past eight years, this time traveler has always emphasized the resistance against the Jin Dynasty in his capacity as an emperor. He has always encouraged the war against the Jin Dynasty and tried all the time to eliminate the appeasement factions in the court... From the surrender faction at the beginning, to the peace faction, to the defense faction, and now the slow-advance faction Li Gang, they were all respectfully invited out of the court by him. Then, may I ask who are the remaining people?

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