"Not only that, there is one more thing." Zhang Jun stopped beside the empty government office road, looked at the government office not far behind him, and then looked at the intersection hundreds of steps ahead where a crowd was gathered, but shook his head seriously. "Did you know that Han Shizhong's servant came to see me this morning?"

Liu Ziyu nodded immediately: "Just now when the Xiantai found me, he told me that it was fortunate that Han Shizhong was thoughtful and did not let the attendant mention the summons last night, otherwise the Xiantai would have to rest today."

"Then do you know what the servant said to me?"

"Please give me some advice, Your Excellency." Under the bright sun in the morning, Liu Ziyu had somewhat dissipated his previous resentment.

"The attendant told me that General Han heard that the emperor was poor, and that he would give out the tributes his subordinates paid to him, so he had nothing to use, and sometimes he only lit one candle at night... He also had some captured items at the front, and wanted to pay them back, but was afraid that the emperor would not use them, so he asked me how to deal with it."

"I must have seen it last night." Liu Ziyu thought of Zhang Jun's story and suddenly realized it. He sighed again. "I have been accompanying him for many days and have heard some of the stories, but I didn't expect the emperor's family to be so poor..."

"It's not just hardship." Zhang Jun was increasingly helpless. "Yan Xiu, you really need to have a higher vision... In times of national crisis, who doesn't feel hardship? Here, you can't get paid for half a year, but many people bring their families with them. Before arriving in Huainan, they treat a meal of ginger and fermented black beans as a treasure. Isn't that hardship? Even you, Liu Ziyu, just settled your family down, and you came here from the southeast, traveling thousands of miles alone. Isn't that hardship? I just want to ask you, why don't you feel hardship?"

"My father hanged himself to save the country, my second brother's family died slowly, my sister-in-law and three nephews all died in the chaos. With national hatred and family feuds, how could I care about whether I lived in poverty or not?" Liu Ziyu almost blurted out.

"Isn't the emperor burdened with national hatred and family feuds?" Zhang Jun sighed again.

Liu Ziyu looked around and saw a group of imperial guards walking away in armor and swords. He frowned slightly and said, "Does the royal family have such friendship? What's more, there was the strange incident of falling into the well. I heard that the emperor has rarely been moved by the north since then, and has not rescued the two saints. It seems that he is not in harmony with his father and brother."

"Is this the rumor in the southeast?" Zhang Deyuan paused noticeably.

"Before the Shouzhou victory, there were quite a few rumors like this, and even more afterward. But they were all positive. After all, what good reputation can the Two Saints have in the southeast?"

"That's fine." Zhang Deyuan couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. "In fact, everyone here knows that the emperor's words are indeed quite disrespectful to the two emperors. Previously, he forbade us to negotiate peace with the Jin people, and forbad us to talk about returning the two emperors before restoring the two rivers. A few days ago, he even said on the road that the disaster of Jingkang was caused by the two emperors coming before the world... With such an attitude, it is normal to hear such words in the southeast. But Yanxiu, think about it, if you don't have resentment, why would you do this? And since you have resentment, you still care about it to some extent. But the emperor may not only care about one person."

"That makes sense." Liu Ziyu also took a deep breath. "The Jingkang Incident was an unprecedented shame, so it's normal for the emperor to feel resentment and hatred... But isn't it a good thing that the emperor has such ambitions?"

"It's a good thing, but it's not a good thing either." Zhang Jun shook his head repeatedly. "This is the key point I want to make. In my opinion, it's right for the emperor to focus on restoring the country and avenging the humiliation, but if there is only one thought of restoring the country and avenging the humiliation, what's the point of not thinking about other things? You, Liu Ziyu, have national hatred and family feuds, and you are irreconcilable with the Jin people. Don't you care about your relatives, family members, and old friends in your hometown? A few days ago, there was a riot in Jianzhou. Didn't you ask me about the relevant incident? Among the ministers in the imperial court, who doesn't want to have a higher official rank? Even the humble and courteous Prime Minister Lu, when he heard that Prime Minister Li was not coming, didn't he also take advantage of the situation and recognize Nanyang? But what about the emperor?"

"Officials..."

"Mr. Lu told me that the emperor was extremely selfish before and after he fell into the well... But in my opinion, the emperor was selfish before he fell into the well, but he was not selfish at all in his actions afterwards. It was just that he was selfish, or he was both public and private. It was hard to tell." Zhang Jun said seriously. "One piece of evidence is that since the emperor fell into the well, he has only been focused on resisting the Jin and restoring the country. He has thrown away all his wealth, treasures, women, and even his own life."

"That's right." Liu Ziyu was also thoughtful. "For example, Li Boji, the prime minister, is now left in the southeast. People in the southeast say that he has a hard time speaking out because the emperor has entrusted the heir and the queen mother to him. As a minister, what else can he do except to serve him wholeheartedly? On the other hand, which emperor would entrust the implicit power of deposing and enthroning to a minister, if it's not for the sake of resisting the Jin? But..."

"But how can a twenty-year-old bear such behavior?" Zhang Jun finally said what he really wanted to say. "The emperor is too tired... He was like a puppet when Li Xianggong was here, and he was so nervous during the battle in Shouzhou. When he went west, he was nervous and worried that he would not do well. You must know that when you and I were twenty years old, how could we shoulder the world on our shoulders?"

"But the emperor is the emperor after all."

"The emperor is also a human being, and the current emperor was just leisurely and free before he was twenty years old." Zhang Jun was increasingly helpless. "You people only think that he is the emperor, and think that he should be a saint, but you don't treat him as a human being... A strong man comes and asks him to make a woodcarving, a mature man comes and complains that he is too reckless in resisting the Jin and asks him to consider the overall situation, and a reckless man comes and wants him to be wise and powerful. Little do you know that if you keep doing this, the emperor will be unable to hold back in the future and will go back to being like Nanjing (Shangqiu) in the past, choosing laundry women and avoiding war. What can you do? Do you want to push the Prince of Xin in Wumashan in the north or the heir who has only been in Yangzhou for a few months? Will Han Liangchen and Zhang Boying agree?!"

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