Chapter 334 Annual Income

Emperor Zhao, who had made a deal with Zhang Jun by way of installment repayment, did not stop his pace of inspecting the troops. Two days later, when the follow-up personnel and ceremonial guards arrived, he and Zhang Jun continued to travel eastward. Not only did they go to Binzhou to inspect the retreating Zhang Zongyan's troops, but they also continued to travel eastward and arrived at Denglai in the middle of the twelfth lunar month to inspect the Imperial Camp Navy.

Here, Emperor Zhao comforted Li Bao and promised him a position of co-commander-in-chief on the spot, which was a raise in the rank of both the Imperial Navy and this man. At the same time, he asked Li Bao to take the initiative to send two ships to accompany the fleet organized by Zhang Jun to sea, which also meant that he was familiar with the sea route.

At the same time, the meeting between Yue Fei and Tian Shizhong in Qingzhou and Zibo seemed a little quiet.

Of course, during this period, the court privately urged Emperor Zhao to return to the palace, and the troops in the imperial camps from all over the country expressed their greetings and loyalty due to various rumors, including Yue Fei's opinion on his leadership of the right army of the imperial camp... they never stopped.

It is worth mentioning that Yue Fei was not trying to avoid suspicion when taking charge of the Right Army of the Imperial Camp. Instead, he implicitly stated in the secret letter that as a Hebei native, he could take charge of the Front Army of the Imperial Camp, which was reorganized from the former Tokyo Liaison Office, and even the Eight Character Army, but if he controlled the Right Army of the Imperial Camp, which was based on the Western Army, he might not be able to accept it.

This is just like what Zhang Jun did that night when he asked for an explanation for Master Tian, ​​he came to get a guarantee.

To be honest, this behavior was a bit inappropriate. Any emperor would have been thinking something in his heart, but Zhao Jiu knew that Yue Fei did this for a reason... Specifically, in Yue Pengju's opinion, he would accept or do anything that would help the Northern Expedition, regardless of whether it would bring him trouble.

To put it bluntly, this is called sacrificing one's life for the country.

However, even if Zhao Jiu understood Yue Fei's thinking, it was difficult for him to give Yue Fei an explanation at this time. Because helping to eliminate Zhang Jun, the soul of the Imperial Camp Right Army, so that Yue Fei could control the power of the Imperial Camp Right Army through Tian Shizhong was already a certain limit. If he gave another explanation, he could only give it in name. Once he gave it in name, it would probably expose the fact that Zhang Jun was dismissed from his military power.

This is going too far and it's not good for anyone.

At that time, not only would Zhang Jun's power be wiped out, but Yue Fei would definitely not have an easy time either - a general controlled nearly half of the military power in the imperial camp, especially since Yue Fei was a close friend of Zhang Rong, the commander-in-chief of the navy, and they were stationed in Jingdong, which was simply unbelievable.

In this situation, the first person to jump out and oppose is probably Zhang Jun, the prime minister who has always been the most convinced and supportive of Yue Fei. And according to Zhang Deyuan's temper, he will probably directly embarrass Yue Fei, and then things will become out of control.

After all, this matter has nothing to do with personal relationships, likes and dislikes, right and wrong, but more about the system and considerations for emergency situations. Even further, Zhao Jiu's actions were indeed somewhat dangerous in the eyes of everyone except him.

As for Zhao Jiu himself, although he was extremely relieved, he could not tell anyone about it.

Putting aside this thought, Zhao Jiu had come to Dengzhou, met Li Bao, and watched the fleet go out to sea. However, it was already the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, and this place was a full 1,200 miles away from Tokyo. He really couldn't delay any longer. So, the official, who had something on his mind, led a small number of cavalrymen, and took Zhang Jun, Wang Yan, Liu Yan, Yu Yunwen and other close officials who could run long distances, to return to the Jishui River first, and then galloped west along the river, all the way to Tokyo.

It took ten full days to travel one thousand two hundred miles. It was not the fastest, but it could definitely be considered a great journey of a thousand miles.

One important reason for being in such a hurry was that Emperor Zhao had missed many things this winter... Although he had signed the national debt as soon as he returned to Beijing, the sale of the national debt was only done by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Imperial Guard and the Ministry of Revenue; the final of the Cuju League was finally held as usual, but they had to invite the two empresses to sit in the box, and then Prime Minister Lu came out to present the awards; other things were similar... and if it continued like this, there was no telling what kind of chaos would break out in the capital.

Therefore, no matter how much the official was persuaded, he did not miss the next day, which was the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month, to attend the Imperial Academy to discuss government affairs.

After all, the importance of this matter cannot be compared with other things.

I must add one more thing here. After several years of inheritance, the Imperial Academy’s political affairs consultation has now become very ritualistic and has specific procedures.

Generally speaking, it starts in the morning. First, the ministers below the prime minister hold their manuscripts and tell the "students" about the achievements of their departments under the leadership of Emperor Zhao in the current year. It feels like a job report. Then there will be a short break at noon, which is convenient for many people to communicate privately. In the afternoon, the ministers will be asked questions. Although it is still an open-ended question and answer session, generally within half a month before, the official newspaper will warm up the relevant core issues and give a general guide. Emperor Zhao himself will also play a role of threading the needle at this time, so that the relevant departments can come out to answer the relevant questions.

Back to the present, this time, it could be that everyone knew that Emperor Zhao was tired from the journey, or it could be that the fact that the emperor had been away for nearly two months out of anger caused the political atmosphere in the capital to be a little bad, or it could be that the emperor was sitting upright but was frowning and thinking, as if he was in a bad mood... So this time, not many people talked nonsense and provoke Emperor Zhao.

But little did he know that while no one questioned Emperor Zhao in person, he had been questioning himself... Or rather, ever since Ma Kuo turned and left that day, he had been asking himself a serious question these days - how can he conserve his energy to meet the needs of the Northern Expedition?

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!