"That's true." Lu Yihao seemed to be thinking. "Since the government blew up Taiyuan City, this battle was inevitable."

Zhao Jiu shook his head slowly, not knowing what he was thinking.

And Lu Yihao also leaned on his crutches and remained silent for a while.

But after a moment, he looked ahead at the misty spring rain and came to a realization: "The governor said before, 'First look at the water level', then what should I look at second? The Jin army camp is out of sight, so could it be that I should look at this vast expanse of green?"

"My husband has good eyesight." Zhao Jiu looked ahead and answered frankly. "I noticed it from the first day. After the rain, the spring green cannot be hidden. And with the continuous rain in the past few days, the green has become thicker and thicker visibly..."

"Looking south from Huolu City, you can only see a little bit of the Taihang Mountains. The green in spring is mostly weeds in the fields that no one has taken care of," Lv Yihao thought. "The whole Huolu to the south and east is all good farmland."

"Yes, it's good farmland." Zhao Jiu calmly replied. "It's already February, and the spring ploughing should have started. During the spring rain, the farmers should have put on straw raincoats and hats to clear the waterlogging. However, most of the local farmers are actually being confined to the opposite military camp as soldiers... The remaining elderly, weak, women and children have also fled to the Taihang Mountains."

"The Taiping River is just a yellow strip, but now it is full of green. It is indeed an unstoppable trend." Lu Yihao sighed. "No wonder the emperor is so determined. Even when General Qu arrived in such a mess, he did not stop the emperor from doing what he wanted."

"That being said, we still have to talk about military matters." Zhao Jiu shook his head and explained. "From the fact that Han, Li, Wu, and Wang all tried their best to protect Hu Yantong, I know that they want to remind me that our army's morale is still high and the war must not be delayed. Today, Qu Duan's argument with them is even more obvious... If it weren't for their firm attitude, how could I, a mere official who knows nothing about military affairs, dare to be so firm?"

Lu Yihao nodded, then suddenly laughed out loud.

Zhao Jiu turned around in confusion, only to be met with a slightly strange gaze from the other party.

"I lost my composure." Lu Yihao looked away, a little emotional. "I just thought of the situation during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong... Before the Treaty of Shanyuan, the emperor of China dared not cross the river, so he had to be tricked by Kou Zhun to cross the river. Even so, after thinking about it, he still hated Kou Zhun... Since the Spring and Autumn Period, where has there been such an emperor? But..."

"But the Song Dynasty has so many emperors like this." Zhao Jiu couldn't help but laugh. "And why, today, you and I, the emperor and his subjects, have come to a small town under Zhending Prefecture, only ten miles away from the Jin army of more than 100,000?"

"That's right." Lu Yihao looked at him solemnly. "That's exactly what I meant."

Zhao Jiu smiled and nodded, then paused for a moment. The king and his subject were speechless for a moment, and the rain seemed to ease up as they paused.

After a while, Emperor Zhao, who had watched the rain for a while, was about to speak again, but unexpectedly, Lu Yihao took the lead and said something shocking:

"Your Majesty, as the saying goes, a dying man speaks the best words... I have two things to tell you, Your Majesty. Please listen carefully to me, considering that I am the prime minister. If anyone has any doubts about anything in the future, Your Majesty can blame me."

Zhao Jiu said nothing, just stared at the other person.

Lu Yihao leaned on his cane and looked ahead at the increasingly weak rain. "Your Majesty, I have been thinking about your words outside Taiyuan City that day. With my experience and ability, I have come to think of one more way besides persuading you not to break your promise as always... that is, you should put yourself first!"

"First?"

"First." Lu Yihao answered affirmatively. "The emperor once said in Jiangnan that everything must have a beginning, and the key to my life is to put first."

"I would like to hear the details."

"It's not a profound knowledge, not as good as Lu Gongxiang's transformation of family learning into original learning... It's just a little experience, and it's very superficial, just the literal meaning." Lu Yihao replied with a sigh. "For the present and the future, these are two specific suggestions, and they are also the two sentences I want to say."

"Please teach me, sir."

"First, there will be a big battle in a few days. If necessary, you can lead the army." Lu Yihao persuaded. "In my opinion, this is not dangerous, because the best troops of the country are here. When the troops on the other side of the river surpass this side, you will be in the safest place in the world if you lead the army. Hiding in the back, but separated from the army, will bring danger and disaster."

"That makes sense." Emperor Zhao gave a reply that everyone present had expected.

"Secondly, after this Northern Expedition, there are many things to deal with. The difficulties north of the Yellow River have been made clear by your Majesty before, and I have thought about it for a long time. If we want to deal with it properly, there is also a way to deal with it first!" At this point, Lu Yihao turned his head and looked at me seriously. "Your Majesty, when I was in Yanshan Road, I saw that Yanjing has a great geographical advantage. It controls Hebei and also governs the areas outside the Great Wall. If this Northern Expedition can take all five routes in the north, why not move the capital to Yanjing and reset the situation?"

After hearing the last eight words, Liu Yan and Shao Chengzhang, who had been motionless, trembled together, and then couldn't help but look at each other behind Emperor Zhao and Prime Minister Lu, unable to hide the shock in their eyes. Not far away, the only civil servant present was shocked and realized that this was probably a huge political gift given to him by Prime Minister Lu, who had promoted him, in return for his careful service over the past few days.

However, to the surprise of these people and Lu Yihao, Emperor Zhao did not show any surprise at all, but just nodded calmly: "Prime Minister Lu is right, Yanjing has the aura of a king!"

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