Inheriting the Song Dynasty

In 1127 AD, the Northern Song Dynasty fell. Immediately, the ninth imperial prince, Zhao Gou, ascended the throne in Shangqiu amidst widespread anticipation, inheriting the Song imperial line and r...

Chapter 39: Zaocheng

This is exactly what I mean by not knowing the answer to any of the three questions.

Zhao Ding frowned, looked back at the Privy Councilor Zhang Jun, and then continued to ask, "May I ask, Your Majesty, how did you conceal the deployment of the front troops of the Imperial Camp from the Privy Council?"

"I didn't hide it from the Privy Council." Zhao Jiu glanced at the Prime Minister Zhang Jun who was hesitant to speak, and answered directly. "I originally wanted to let Zhang Jun, the right army of the Imperial Camp, launch a surprise attack independently, and then use the Imperial Camp Cavalry and the Imperial Camp Central Army to support, but Yue Fei came back too quickly and crossed the river in mid-May, so I changed my mind temporarily and included him. What I did was just to let the Privy Council be careful about the situation in Jingdong, allocate more military resources to Xuzhou, and then arrange for the Imperial Camp Front Army to take the Xuzhou route..."

"Prime Minister Zhao." Zhang Jun also had no choice but to argue. "It's not wrong for Yue Fei to go through Xuzhou when he returned north. The military resources in Xuzhou were increased to guard against Liu Yu. You also nodded in the secret cabinet... The key is, since Yue Pengju crossed the river and returned north, who cared about which way he took? Even if someone cared about him at that time, they only cared about his note! In my opinion, don't ask these questions now. Hurry up and follow the official's previous preparations. Send the Imperial Camp Central Army and the Imperial Camp Cavalry to Jinan to contain the enemy. Then the Imperial Camp Navy should also go downstream to cross the river to blockade it."

"No." Li Qiong, the deputy commander of the Imperial Army, suddenly intervened between the two powerful officials and apologized. "I'm sorry..."

"No problem." Zhao Ding was as calm as ever. "Go ahead."

"So that the gentlemen know." Li Qiong said seriously. "According to the military intelligence from Taihang Mountain, the Hebei direction is divided by the east and west of the old Yellow River. The Jin people's Daming Prefecture in the east and Longde Prefecture (Huguan) in the west both have their main armies. In order to prevent the Jin people from besieging Wei to save Zhao, the Imperial Camp Navy must not go downstream. Moreover, Qingzhou is a surprise attack. With Jinan in the way, it can only be a distraction and cannot affect the actual victory or defeat... Your Majesty." Having said this, Li Qiong bowed to Zhao Jiu again and said, "I am willing to lead my troops and the Eight Character Army to Dongping Prefecture to feint and attack Jingdong. This will be enough to distract Jinan. Even the Imperial Camp Cavalry must stay behind to provide backup support. On the contrary, the logistics in the Xuzhou direction must not be lacking."

Zhao Jiu looked around at the other generals in the hall, and seeing that no one objected, he nodded and agreed: "Let's arrange it like this...you will set off early tomorrow morning."

Li Qiong bowed and retreated.

"That's good." Zhao Ding sighed, knowing that it would be difficult to pursue the matter, but he shook his head. "In terms of Qingzhou's military affairs, besides the urgent need to provide support, there is another matter... Your Majesty, regardless of whether Yue Fei and Zhang Jun succeeded at this time, and regardless of whether we know the battle situation, the court report must be sent out first, saying that Qingzhou has changed hands and Li Cheng was defeated and retreated! And the Jin envoy Wulinda Zanmo knew that the Jin Kingdom could no longer give up the five counties, so he was furious and left north!"

Zhao Jiu was slightly stunned... Is this still possible?

To be honest, he was prepared to break his promise and have his prestige reduced by 300 points as punishment.

"It can be said that he was furious, but also felt that the government's measures were amazing. He left a letter in Zaocheng, saying that he was convinced this time." Qu Duan finally couldn't help but interrupt again, attracting the attention of many generals around him, including Han Shizhong, who wanted to interrupt. "Let the official newspaper publish his letter... Anyway, he can't refute it."

Isn’t this bad?

Zhao Jiu instinctively rejected it.

"You write it!" Zhao Ding turned around again and looked at Qu Duan coldly. "Finish it quickly before midnight tonight, or else the fast horse won't be able to wait! And if there is even a flaw in the article, and it's embarrassing, I will hold you accountable!"

Qu Duan actually nodded in agreement...and Zhao Jiu didn't even have time to interrupt the whole time.

But this was just a small matter after all. Soon, the Prime Minister Zhang Jun also hurriedly responded: "Your Majesty, there is one more matter that must be dealt with as soon as possible..."

Zhao Jiu knew it clearly in his heart, but he couldn't help but frowned slightly: "In fact, I know that after today's incident, there will only be more things to deal with, and I'm afraid there will be more than one thing to deal with."

"But things have their priorities." Zhang Jun responded earnestly.

"That's right." Zhao Jiu sighed slightly, no longer as fierce as he was during the day. "We have to fill the positions quickly, and then we can go back to Tokyo to discuss the southern economy and the burden on the people..."

Zhang Jun was stunned... Not only Zhang Jun, but also Zhao Ding, Lu Haowen who had his eyelids drooping, Liu Ji, Chen Gui, Li Guang who were silent, and even Qu Duan who had just retreated were all stunned.

"Have I forgotten something?" Zhao Jiu immediately sensed something, and then named an unexpected name. "Qu Da! You are both knowledgeable and skilled in both literature and martial arts, so you should know something. Come on and tell me!"

"Your Majesty..." This time, Qu Duan raised his head under the cold stares of all the civil and military officials in the hall. "Your Majesty is right to think about the burden of the South, but I have also dealt with people's livelihood in Guanxi, and I know that no matter how difficult it is, the people dare not rebel, nor can they speak out. At most, they will make up a folk song! And any civil unrest is caused by one reason: they really can't survive, even without food; and another reason is that someone is instigating and gathering. Now that the South has just been pacified, they will definitely not rebel, and they will not resist the taxes that were previously added. At most, they will say that they are on guard against the spread of things like the Vegetable Eating Demon Cult. And the ones who really need to worry are the seventy or eighty people who left today..."

Zhao Jiu thought about it for a moment and immediately came to his senses, but then fell into confusion again.

The reason is very simple. In this era, due to the lack of basic means of transportation and communication, it is impossible for ordinary people in the South to bypass the government and form a large-scale southern anti-tax group. Someone has to organize these people with an organizational structure that goes beyond the basic feudal social framework to create the risk of rebellion.

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