Chapter 86: Flowing Light (Part 2)

On this day, Emperor Zhao removed the fuel from under the cauldron, used the opponent's force to defeat the opponent, and killed two birds with one stone... Well, in short, he used Li Gang, the Prime Minister who was far away in Yangzhou, to easily defeat the powerful "Shouzhou Faction" and decided on Nanyang as the secondary capital. Then, he took advantage of the situation and decided on many major events within a stick of incense, which caught everyone off guard and made everyone sigh in admiration.

It can only be said that under the original system, the Zhao Song government already had enough power, and in times of chaos, an Zhao Song government that could win battles seemed even more uncontrollable.

However, what caught people even more off guard was Wanyan Wushu.

Contrary to what was imagined, the Jin army did not launch any revengeful counterattack. According to the scouts' report, when Zhao Jiu was holding a meeting at Bagua Mountain, the fourth prince of the Jin Dynasty, who had gathered all the troops, hurriedly crossed the Wo River and led the entire army to continue northward.

Aren’t you afraid of getting your butt rubbed by rushing so fast?

After Jin Wushu left, Zhang Jun, the newly appointed governor of Dingjiang, commander of the right army of the imperial camp and governor of the five prefectures of Huaidong, and Zhang Suo, the direct scholar of Longtu Pavilion and governor of Jingdong and Jingdong, joined forces to march north, recovering lost territory and carefully monitoring Jin Wushu's withdrawal. Accompanying them were the third brother of the Xin family, Xin Daozong, and some officials and their families from Jingdong and Jingdong who were lingering in Shouzhou, so the area near Bagong Mountain was immediately emptied!

A few days later, the Jin army continued to march northward, and then turned from Xuzhou to Yanzhou at the foot of Mount Tai. The entire army, with less than 20,000 cavalry, carefully organized and crossed the passage east of Mount Tai. In this regard, whether it was Zhang Suo and Zhang Jun who were far behind, or Yue Fei who had just received the imperial edict and was stationed in Jizhou, knowing that their troops and combat power were limited, they did not dare to easily provoke such a large and strict cavalry, but carefully guarded against the enemy crossing this traffic pass and returning to the occupied area of ​​Jinan Prefecture on the banks of the Yellow River.

When the news came, Emperor Zhao did not delay any longer, but immediately issued an edict, taking the imperial camp that he had been working hard to reorganize in the past few days, and prepared to set off up the Huai River to Nanyang.

Among them, Han Shizhong, the military governor of Wucheng Army, the commander of the Left Army of the Imperial Camp, and the governor of the four counties in Huaixi, led the Left Army of the Imperial Camp (actually the so-called Han's Army) with about 8,000 people to march to the north of Huaibei;

Wang De, who had just taken office as the deputy commander of the imperial camp, was temporarily in charge of Qiao Zhongfu, Fu Qing, and Zhang Jing, who had just been promoted to commanders, and Xin Xingzong and other generals, with about 12,000 troops, to march to Huainan.

Then, the imperial guards and Hu Yantong's unit, which had the smallest number of troops, guarded the emperor's family, the civil and military officials, some of the officials' families, and a few lightly wounded soldiers, and they set out directly from the Huai River by boat and headed west.

Of course, Han Shizhong specially sent troops to the downstream to take his own property and the families of soldiers, the naval generals were dissatisfied with the handover of most of the sailboats to Zhang Jun, Wang De’s appointment as deputy commander of the imperial camp caused dissatisfaction among some generals, and Zhang Que, the prime minister and co-director of the Privy Council, fell ill as soon as he set out and had to stop in Chuzhou... and so on and so forth, there were all kinds of miscellaneous things that were bound to happen by chance.

However, as some people secretly commented at this time, the government held great power, the morale of the military and civilians in Lianghuai was greatly boosted, and the soldiers all obeyed the central government after this battle. The strange situation in the past where any slight disturbance would trigger a crisis was long gone.

Therefore, these trivial matters did not affect Xingzai's journey to the west at all.

On February 14, the camp officially set out. Emperor Zhao boarded one of the specially reserved large sailing ships and set out from the north and south by land and water, heading west in a mighty manner. On February 15, Emperor Zhao himself easily crossed the Xishi Mountain by water and arrived at Nanfeikou, where he stopped and waited for the troops from the north and south to gather here.

"Would you like to stay ashore for a while?"

The person who spoke on the bow of the ferry was the supervisor of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Feng Yi, an old employee of Prince Kang's Mansion who now runs the Imperial Pharmacy. He had been sent to serve Li Gang and Concubine Pan in Yangzhou before, and after coming back, because Emperor Zhao did not allow these people to go to Bagua Mountain at will, they stayed in Shouchun on the banks of the Nanfei River. At this time, Fang returned with another minister of the East Palace, Xu Jingheng, and took over the daily affairs of the Forbidden City.

The official this person was referring to was naturally Zhao Jiu, who had just met with Mr. Xu Jingheng and came out to the bow to get some fresh air.

"Good, your Excellency will know." Seeing that the Emperor was puzzled, Feng Yaban explained earnestly. "Shouchun to the south of here was originally a big port, but during the Battle of Bagong Mountain, the north-south passage there was blocked by the army, so this place naturally became a key passage connecting the north and the south, and vaguely became a market. Xu Dacan took the opportunity to set up the Guandu, Shangkou, and Tea and Salt Offices here... I came back from here, and I know that this market behind the ferry is small, but it gathers countless new and exotic goods from the north and the south, and there are also singing and dancing restaurants. It is really lively. Even the civil and military officers on the march have gone down to take the opportunity to buy. Your Excellency, why don't you go to the shore to rest for a while to relieve the fatigue of the boat and the horse?"

Zhao Jiuli was standing on the bow of the only sailboat. Hearing what was said, he looked south and saw that in the spring afternoon, the ferry market ahead, which had been quiet due to the arrival of soldiers on the river and the prime minister on the shore, had gradually become lively again. There was even a hint of noise, which made him feel tempted.

However, after thinking about it for a while, he slowly shook his head and said, "Forget it. If I go up, I don't know what kind of trouble it will cause. It's fine to be on the boat."

Feng Yi agreed carefully, and naturally did not dare to say much. Lan Gui beside him could not help but secretly curled his lips. Only Yang Yizhong seemed to be thinking about something, but did not say much.

However, having said that, Emperor Zhao was also extremely bored on the ship. He first returned to the cabin to take a few notes, and sent someone to instruct Zhang Jun to send imperial censors to inspect both sides of the river and to support the troops on the left and right sides of the imperial camp to prevent the army from disturbing the people. Then he walked around the side of the ship a few times and shot to death a wild duck that for some reason dared to swim past the imperial carriage. In the end, nothing happened and he could only take a nap in the fragrant atmosphere of the spring afternoon.

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