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 66: No Other

However, Liu Ziyu did not stop just because everyone nodded in approval. Instead, he continued to speak with some difficulty: "Secondly, the actions of the Li father and son may seem shocking, but how can there really be no loyal ministers and generals who are dedicated to serving the country? Think about that Ma Kuo, who was imprisoned for his father and son, but was released by the Jin people and became friends with the nobles of the Jin Kingdom. He could have been rich and prosperous and enjoyed peace and prosperity, but he abandoned his family and children and went to Wuma Mountain to fight against the Jin for five or six years without changing his heart... Compared with this, isn't the behavior of the Li father and son ordinary? Besides, since ancient times, hardship has only led to death. Compared with the martyrs of Jingkang, Taiyuan, Huaishang, Nanyang Baihe, and Yanling, what is there to be surprised about the actions of the Li father and son?"

Zhang Jun was about to speak but stopped himself. Many civil and military officials in the hall who had experienced those events were also in awe. Even the generals from Guanxi were silent.

Even Zhao Jiu stared at Liu Ziyu and nodded slowly:

"Then let's do it this way. Let Li Yongqi act with Wu Lin. Lord Lin, add an imperial decree to promote Li Yongqi's military rank by three levels, and make him the commander of the Baoan Army."

Naturally, everyone was silent, and Scholar Kobayashi kept writing... In order to minimize the possibility of the fact that Emperor Zhao had come to Chang'an in person being exposed, daily newspaper meetings of this level were usually not attended by the attendant, so Scholar Kobayashi had to do the hard work alone.

However, despite the hard work, after Wu Jie's great victory, most of the news around was good news, and people gradually lost the strong sense of tragedy that they had at the beginning because of the government's entrustment of the orphan, and the panic that they had felt because of the approaching Jin army. It is also a fact.

In a word, no matter what, compared with the original pessimistic premonition, the situation is always improving, otherwise most people would not gradually be inclined to send troops, and only Liu Ziyu, an important official, would still insist on a conservative strategy.

And it was in such an atmosphere that everyone gradually realized that the attitude of the emperor was the final decision, and a few of them even realized that the emperor had actually made the decision long ago and was just waiting for something other than the two Beiwei armies.

Before that, it seems difficult to get this official to make a final statement.

Of course, there were still a few people in the hall today who understood what Emperor Zhao was waiting for. Yang Yizhong and Zhang Xian, who had just arrived, both knew that the emperor was waiting for the result of Yue Fei crossing the river, and Zhang Xian even knew that his brother had been planning to cross the river in the next few days.

"What happened today?" Just when everyone was about to end this ordinary 'daily military meeting', there was another noise in the Prime Minister's residence. Yang Yizhong also went out to deal with the situation. Seeing this, Yuwen Xianggong laughed first. "Could it be that there are thousands more soldiers from somewhere?"

Before they could even smile apologetically, they saw Yang Yi Zhong hurriedly bringing in a document stained with sweat, and they waited in awe once again.

This time, in front of everyone, Zhao Jiu took it and opened it. After just one look, his expression changed. When his expression returned to normal and he tried to adjust his posture to look at it carefully under the light, he lost his grip on the letter in his hand and it fell to the ground.

The letter paper was thin and swayed slightly in the air, but it floated to one side. Zhang Jun took a step ahead and picked it up before Yang Yizhong. He took a look at it and his face changed immediately.

All the civil and military officials in the room were already frightened by the emperor's behavior, which was difficult to conceal. Now they were even more panicked when they saw Zhang Jun lose his composure.

"I lost my composure." At this moment, Zhao Jiu sighed before Zhang Jun could. "In fact, I should have expected this... To be honest, this is Li Yanxian's urgent report. Pinglu was just lost today."

The civil and military officials in the hall sighed, but also felt relieved:

The fall of Pinglu meant that the only large stronghold of the Song army on the north bank of the Yellow River had disappeared. It also meant that the main force of the Jin army in Hedong, numbering more than 100,000, had completely cleared the road behind them and would soon be able to advance westward. Since ancient times, the advance from Hedong into Guanzhong has been unstoppable, and Han Shizhong could only delay it for a while.

However, the fall of Pinglu was within expectations, except that Hedong, which had been patient before, suddenly made a strong effort and broke through in one battle, which made people have to face up to the level of the third prince Erlido.

Yang Yizhong took the letter from the silent Zhang Jun and carefully handed it back to the gradually calmed Emperor Zhao. The latter took the letter and clenched it without reading it. He just shook his head repeatedly, as if he was unwilling.

"I thought Pinglu could hold out for a few more days... but now that Pinglu has been lost, the Hedong army could cross the river at any time, so we have to make plans early... Even Loushi seems to be waiting for reinforcements. If we delay any further, something bad will happen."

Everyone's hearts were slightly moved, and many people wanted to take the opportunity to speak out. Liu Ziyu was about to speak as well, but as if possessed by a ghost, he actually looked at Zhang Jun first, while Zhang Deyuan just returned to his seat and was in a daze. This made Liu Yanxiu stunned for a moment, and then he seemed to be thinking about something.

"That's it!" At this moment, Emperor Zhao obviously lost his patience, but he raised his hand and waved everyone away. "That's all for today... Lin Qing, bring me the decree! Zhengfu (Yang Yizhong) go find the messenger and tell him to settle down and not spread the news of the defeat at the front."

The defeat at the front made the emperor in a bad mood, and everyone had no choice but to say goodbye. Yang Yi Zhong even went out early to look for the messenger.

However, when everyone left, Xiao Lin, a scholar, came forward with the imperial edict. Zhao Jiu's expression remained unchanged, but he said something shocking: "Mr. Lin, tear up the imperial edict and rewrite it a few times. It is to let Hu Yantong stationed in Weiqiao go south to Lantian overnight! Send another edict to Li Yanxian, telling him that I know Pinglu has been lost, and let him deal with it himself, but he must be careful about what he says to Guanxi in the future!"

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