This is called taking it in reverse.

Relatively speaking, sending out the messenger in advance is a display of trust when it has nothing to do with the overall situation... This is an open conspiracy.

Since the trip had been made, quite a few of the accompanying ministers were inevitably nervous, but the interesting thing was that some of them, like Emperor Zhao, did not take it seriously... Most of these people had been with the emperor for a long time since Huaishang and Nanyang. Like Emperor Zhao, they had witnessed many battles on the battlefield and were completely accustomed to this kind of thing, even familiar with it. Moreover, they also understood Emperor Zhao and knew that he liked to use tricks to find someone to take the blame for trivial matters, but was always responsible for military and national affairs. Some of them were young officials who had just been appointed this time, and they were eager to try, like a newborn calf who was not afraid of a tiger.

For example, Hu Quan, an editor of the Privy Council, volunteered to act as a messenger and go to Mount Tiantai first... Emperor Zhao was so surprised that he agreed and took the initiative to remind him not to speak arrogantly or cause trouble, and just tell him that he would be going there soon.

Of course, Hu Quan was just a small messenger who went to deliver the message according to the system, so he would not do anything to force the general to rebel. On November 28, Emperor Zhao came to Tiantai Mountain and went straight into Li Qiong's camp. Li Qiong, who had been notified in advance, really left the camp alone and went straight to the emperor.

The previous doubts and fears now turned into a puff of smoke and dissipated.

After all, Li Qiong, who was nominally Wang De's subordinate but actually directly under Emperor Zhao, had no reason to rebel under the current circumstances...and when Emperor Zhao entered the Tiantai Mountain camp, he did not deliberately avoid the topic. Instead, he reprimanded him, demoted him by one rank, fined him one month's salary, and immediately sent another envoy across the river to the other side to demand that the Jin army return the defected leader.

This time, it was the turn of another new scholar, Yu Yunwen, to volunteer.

Emperor Zhao naturally accepted the suggestion, but after the matter was settled, he ordered the eastern part of Huazhou (actually the Henan part of the former Kaide Prefecture, which was assigned to Huazhou after the Song and Jin dynasties confronted each other across the river) to be summoned by Li Bao, the commander of the front army of the imperial camp, Fu Xuan, the commander of the front army of the imperial camp, and Fu Qing, the commander of the central army of the imperial camp, to Mount Tiantai to discuss military affairs.

A whole day later, on the last day of November, Yu Yunwen unexpectedly had not returned yet. His life or death was unknown, but Emperor Zhao had no time to think too much. He just climbed Mount Tiantai with the three defenders who had arrived in a hurry and Li Qiong, looking at the north bank of the Yellow River, ready to listen to the military opinions of the frontline generals.

There are definitely dozens of Tiantai Mountains in China, and they are named because the tops of the mountains are mostly rocky and look like towers… In the future, the most famous one would naturally be the Tiantai Mountain in Zhejiang, but at this time, this Tiantai Mountain, which is only a few hundred meters high and may disappear in the future as the Yellow River changes its course, is the most famous Tiantai Mountain in the world.

Belongs to the king level in Tiantai Mountain.

There is no way. First, this mountain is very close to the capital of the Song Dynasty, Tokyo, and the surrounding economy is developed; second, this mountain is located on the side of Baimadu, the main passage from Daming Prefecture in Hebei to Tokyo and Nanjing in Henan, with a large number of people coming and going; third, the course of the Yellow River at that time was different from that of later generations, and the main road just passed by the side of this mountain. Climbing Mount Tiantai, you can see both sides of the Yellow River and the fertile land of Hebei in the Central Plains. The vast scenery can also be called a famous scenic spot.

Let’s stop talking and get back to the present.

On this day, the sky was clear, and there was even a slight southerly breeze, which made the weather a little warm. Emperor Zhao led his entourage and four Huazhou garrison commanders to climb the high rooftop. He felt that he could see very far, and the field of vision was wide and flat, so he was naturally in a good mood... But after he looked at the Yellow River and turned to the northeast, he remained silent for a long time.

The reason is very simple. Even a fool like Emperor Zhao, after climbing to a high place and looking far into the distance, could not help but think of a strange thing about the Yellow River... that is, there was something wrong with the Yellow River courses on their respective military maps. Although one could not see the situation dozens of miles downstream from Mount Tiantai, the military map he had just seen yesterday clearly marked three forked river courses before and after the important town of Puyang downstream.

"I remember that the map showed that the Yellow River split into three branches in the lower reaches... Why is it so?" Emperor Zhao looked at it for a long time, thought about it for a long time, and finally turned back to ask with confidence.

However, today it was not only the know-it-all Yang Yi who accompanied Zhao Jiu. Behind Zhao Jiu, in addition to the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Camp Wang Yuan, the deputy commander-in-chief Qu Duan, and the Palace Censor Wanqi Xie who was inspecting the forts in the rear, there were also countless accompanying civil and military officials, as well as the generals and officers of Huazhou... The only thing was that there were no prime ministers or generals accompanying him.

Therefore, when the question was raised, it was the Secretary of the Central Secretariat Fan Zongyin who took the lead and answered in a serious tone: "Good instructor, you know that the river below is not bifurcated, but the war has been dangerous since the Jingkang period, the Yellow River embankment has been in disrepair for a long time, and there has been a lot of rain this summer, so the river took the opportunity to flood into various old courses."

"I see..." Zhao Jiu still frowned, but he held his belt with one hand and pointed to the lower reaches of the Yellow River and continued to ask. "Why are there three old roads?"

Fan Zongyin was stunned and didn't say anything for a while.

Emperor Zhao knew that this matter must be known to everyone, but at this moment he was too lazy to cover up those things, so he asked directly: "Just explain the origin of these three forks!"

Fan Zongyin was alert, but he dared not say anything: "Your Majesty, this is because I have returned to the river several times..."

"What do you mean by returning to the river?"

"The Yellow River floods and is repeatedly blocked and breached... In order to rectify the natural disasters of the Yellow River, many measures have been taken to change its course."

"If it's a change of course, why is it called 'returning to the river'?"

"Reporting to the emperor, the Yellow River has been flowing northward since this dynasty, and the several changes in its course are all efforts to move the river southward. From the perspective of Henan, where Kaifeng is located, it is a 'return'..."

"I see, but why must we move south?" Zhao Jiu was still confused. "The water flows down by itself. She is heading north, so we should just follow the flow of the water. Why must we move south?"

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading!