Chapter 283: Zaocheng

Zhao Jiuxing Bai Ma to build Shaoxing, by dealing with the two saints who were like hemorrhoids, he cleaned up the central bureaucracy. But it does not mean that the matter can be declared accomplished, nor does it mean that this action will not have negative effects.

In fact, the real test comes after the political declaration and the purge.

And that very night, in Zaocheng, which was still in Huazhou, he encountered the first trouble caused by this incident.

"His Majesty."

For some reason, Wulinda Zanmo, the Jin envoy who was brought here by Prime Minister Lu Gong, had a fishy smell when he opened his mouth. "The generals of the Jin Kingdom who fought against the emperor in the north all said that your Majesty's behavior was not like that of a blood relative of the Zhao family, but I just learned today that your Majesty is indeed a direct descendant of the Zhao family... May I ask your Majesty, what is the difference between your behavior today and the two saints' past behavior?"

"I've said it all, there is really no breach of contract..." Zhao Jiu, still in his cloth military uniform, said solemnly in the lobby of Zaocheng County Court. "According to the agreement, after the return of the two saints, the five counties in Jingdong must be delivered as the actual basis for the contract, but even if I am waiting for you here, you can't give up the five counties in Jingdong."

"I can probably guess what's going on." Wulinda Zanmo waved his sleeves and sneered. "We were originally on guard against the direction of Jinan. Now I think your majesty deliberately exposed the flaw of Jinan and Liu Yu, and then sent Zhang Jun to attack Li Cheng of Qingzhou from Yizhou, the so-called repairing the plank road in the open and sneaking through Chencang in secret... But your majesty, I only have two questions. First, has Qingzhou really been taken now? Does your majesty have accurate military reports? Why do you want to break the agreement and talk about war in person? Second, even if Zhang Jun has taken Qingzhou now and we can't hand over the five counties, but before that, the emperor asked the officials to negotiate peace with me on the one hand, and sent the military officials to attack Qingzhou on the other hand, is it a fair and aboveboard move?"

After these words were spoken, several prime ministers and important officials present felt a little embarrassed, but the military officials obviously did not care.

As for Zhao Jiu, he was silent for a while, and then nodded and said: "I not only sent Zhang Jun, but also Yue Fei... At this moment, there must be losses in the three counties controlled by Li Cheng."

Be it Wulinda Zanmo or the civil and military officials, all of them showed a slight change of color.

Emperor Zhao continued to speak seriously: "As for matters of honor and aboveboard, Lord Wulin, you should be able to see that I have done my best."

“Why should I try my best to convince the world?!” Wulinda Zanmo came back to his senses and continued to look angry.

"Massacre and looting, digging up graves and exposing corpses, moving people to the wild, enclosing land and making slaves... can this convince the world?" Zhao Jiu calmly confronted several military officials before they were about to step out. "After all, Wulin Daqing, the blood feud between Song and Jin is so deep that how can we convince the world with those articles? Even the Jin Kingdom, didn't they negotiate peace because Erliduo and Wuzhu, who were in power, had experienced Yaoshan and knew that the Jurchen army would stop at the river after the battle?"

Wulinda Zanmo was silent for a moment, skipping over the first half of the Zhao Song emperor's sentence and directly saying, "The Jin army stopped at the Yellow River. Can the Song army still cross the Yellow River? The current situation is that neither country has the confidence to fight across the river. We could have taken the opportunity to let the two countries live together for a few years, and maybe achieve long-term peace. But the emperor wants to let the world down for the past grievances in vain... The foreign minister has been in Tokyo for several months, and he also knows some of the statements in the court reports, but he doesn't know when the taxes in the south of the Song Dynasty will be reduced?"

"This is not something that Wulin Daqing should worry about..." Zhao Jiu finally lost his patience. "You dragged Nianhan to the door of the Shangshutai and smashed him to death, but you don't know what Xixia, who have always tried to please Nianhan, thinks? What do his old subordinates think? Nianhan fell, but Wuqimai's lineage didn't have an explanation, and was driven out of the Great Wall. It's not certain that they will live in peace... Are we writing ten wins and ten losses here?"

Wulinda Zanmo opened his mouth and could only sigh: "No matter what, after this incident between the two countries, unless there is a major military and political change, it will be extremely difficult to gain the trust of both sides again. And this situation is the work of Emperor Zhao!"

"Then let's do it!" Zhao Jiu said straightforwardly. "Sooner or later, I will sweep the fields and attack Huanglong... After experiencing Jingkang, did Wulin Daqing think that he could serve as an envoy between Song and Jin for seven times and become famous throughout the country?"

Having said this, Wulinda Zanmo shook his head even more but said no more.

"Mr. Zhai." Zhao Jiu simply turned his head and looked at the Minister of the Honglu Temple, Mr. Zhai Ruwen, who had always been beside Wulinda Zanmo. "Make good arrangements for Mr. Wulinda to return north."

Zhai Ruwen understood and responded immediately, and then carefully invited Wulinda Zanmo out.

When everyone saw this person leaving, they had different reactions.

"I didn't expect this guy to be interesting." Seeing Wulinda Zanmo leave without saying a word, Qu Duan couldn't help but sigh. "I insulted him in broad daylight, but he didn't even mention it. I don't know if he's just pretending or if he really has guts..."

Zhao Ding, the Prime Minister of the provincial capital, frowned slightly when he heard this: "Now that things have come to this, what's the point of saying these things!"

Qu Duan smiled awkwardly and said nothing.

"Your Majesty..." Zhao Ding thought for a moment and then bowed. "There are so many things going on today, I shouldn't ask at this time, but some things are related to today's events, so I have to ask."

"I know what you want to ask." Zhao Jiu said sternly. "Just say it."

"May I ask your Majesty, when did Yue and Zhang set out? How many troops did they have?" Seeing the other party's honesty, Zhao Ding relaxed a little. After all, the emperor's power during the day was still there. "Did they really leave Xuzhou, go to Yizhou, enter Qingzhou, and fight Li Cheng?"

"I don't know the exact time." Zhao Jiu answered simply. "In order to keep it secret... I just told them roughly that the two saints would return at the end of the month, and let them make their own decisions without reporting. As for the military strength, I can only say that in order to prevent the Jin people in Jinan from noticing, the two families can only send out about 50,000 troops at most. I don't know the exact number of troops. However, the attack route is indeed to attack Li Cheng in Qingzhou from Yizhou."

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