It was already late in the evening, and the entire Song army was preparing for battle, with some even having already set out or taking action in advance.

And because rescuing Han Shizhong was the real strategic goal of this battle, the Black Dragon King's troops naturally became the most reliable independent army at the moment, and were appointed by Zhao Jiu as the direct supervisory team, responsible for patrolling the periphery of all camps to prevent anyone from leaking information or defecting in the face of the enemy.

As for the group of people who had galloped here for two days and nights, Emperor Zhao, several of his entourage, and two hundred knights, they could not help feeling tired at this time, so they all went to bed early.

However, this kind of early rest due to jet lag also has disadvantages. After sleeping until the third watch and before the fourth watch, the Nanyang group, who had just had a good sleep, got up one after another.

Emperor Zhao was young and got up early, but he took Liu Yan to Yanling City. Lan Gui was the oldest, but he was the only one who slept soundly. As for Hu Yin, after he got up, he found that Academician Xiao Lin and Deputy Secretary of the Privy Council Wanqi Xie had already gotten up and were sitting side by side in the corridor of the public housing courtyard on the side of the Yanling County Government, looking at the moon in silence.

Tonight is only the twelfth day of the first lunar month, and there are still a few days until the Lantern Festival. Looking up, the moon is neither round nor crescent. One can only say that these two people are in a very refined mood.

Of course, the actual situation was that Scholar Kobayashi was absorbed in his routine thinking, and although Wanqi Xie wanted to flatter him, he was somewhat intimidated by this Scholar Lin and did not dare to speak. The two of them sat side by side awkwardly, acting like close friends.

Of course Hu Yin didn't know this little reason, nor did he need to know it, because after what happened during the day, the three civil servants got up in the middle of the night together but did not go to look for Emperor Zhao. From a broad perspective, it must be because of the same concern.

"My dear brothers, I think the government shouldn't have behaved like this today."

As the youngest and the one with the highest official position among the three, Hu Yin casually sat beside the two men, but without any scruples, he got straight to the point and sighed.

Wan Qi Xie knew what was going on and agreed with what was said, so he instinctively wanted to respond. But then he thought that this might be seen as "criticizing the emperor". He was a lowly official, not as important as the two people beside him. If he ended up like Chen Dong, no one would care. So he didn't dare to speak for a while.

However, after a moment, Xiao Lin, a scholar, thought about it seriously and responded calmly: "My dear brother, what you said is very true. The emperor is young after all, and seems a little impatient... As for today's matter, as long as the emperor gives a little signal, General Liu will naturally do it for you. Why would it be necessary for the emperor to bleed?"

Hu Yin was obviously stunned... He didn't want to say this at all.

On the other side, Wanqi Xie's mind was as clear as a mirror, and he couldn't help smiling bitterly inwardly.

With Wanqi Yuanzhong's intelligence, how could he not know the two's sharpness? And how could he not know the significance of the axe wielded by Emperor Zhao in the daytime?

The axe strike was not as simple as killing a senior official for sacrifice, nor was it just superficial like Scholar Kobayashi's emphasis on the fact that the emperor killed someone with his own hands to lose his share... In fact, this matter is easy to explain. Emperor Zhao himself said it clearly. On his way here, he never forgot the 10,000 soldiers who served as bait. He came here with hatred, so the brutal and direct means were what everyone expected.

He is a man of low status, and he is tyrannical. This official is not afraid of doing one or two things that would lower his status.

The key to the matter lies in whether to kill or not, and whether to kill publicly or not.

After all, there is a deep-seated contradiction here - to put it bluntly, in the hundreds of years of political tradition of the Song Dynasty, some people's lives are more valuable than others, but this Emperor Zhao feels that some people's lives are not necessarily slightly more valuable or cheaper than others...that's all.

…

Not to mention Emperor Zhao’s somewhat naive idea... Emperor Renzong also had similar naive ideas... Let’s just say that in the previous tradition, the most precious thing was of course the emperor’s own life, followed by the lives of those who had served as prime ministers and shared the world with the emperor, and then the lives of senior ministers of Du Chong’s level.

In fact, this is the fundamental reason why Du Chong acted like a dead pig that is not afraid of boiling water... If the government really wants to kill him, he can't escape, but if they don't want to kill him, they won't kill him.

This is also the fundamental reason why Wanqi Yuanzhong has always longed to become an official, a high-ranking official, and preferably the prime minister of two governments.

Can the Jin people give you this kind of honor and fundamental benefits? You are not named Wanyan! Are you worthy?! You are different species!

However, Emperor Zhao finally used such brutal and direct means to publicly kill a high-ranking civil official who was second only to the prime minister!

Not to mention breaking the rules, nor to mention that Emperor Zhao was actually using the axe to chop off another chair leg under his own butt. Let's just talk about one thing that was right in front of us. When the axe was swung down, not only did it kill Du Chong, it also cut off the most stable rope between Emperor Zhao and the officials in Nanyang and Xiangyang.

From now on, how many people will be secretly disappointed with Emperor Zhao? Can't he save his life even if he becomes a civil official?

Wanqi Xie was of course dissatisfied with this, and he also felt that Mr. Kobayashi's reaction was a little bland, and even seemed to be making excuses for Emperor Zhao.

"That's right." Thinking of this, Wanqi Yuanzhong also looked at him solemnly. "You are young after all, you shouldn't act rashly... Even Taizu only used a jade axe to chop off two front teeth of the censor, but there is no reason to kill people in public."

Hu Yin was stunned for a moment, almost thinking that something big had happened during the few hours he slept. But soon, this man who always said what he thought shook his head and directly pointed out the problem: "It is inappropriate for the government to kill Du Chong."

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