The dangers in troubled times are always inexplicable and confusing, just like Han Shizhong's rebellion this time. It was indeed absurd, but the danger did exist, because it is natural for human beings to do anything without constraints.
In fact, theoretically speaking, this is not the first time that our Emperor Zhao has encountered a similar incident. Previously, when he was in the imperial court, some people from the Red Heart Team misunderstood his words and thought that the Jin army had arrived, so they planned to capture him as a stepping stone to return to Liaodong.
On the other hand, this could not be the last time. According to the style of China's professional military after the Tang Dynasty, there would be countless similar incidents recorded in history books until the end of the Song Dynasty, and perhaps even until the end of the Ming Dynasty.
However, this false alarm was also special... Because after being forced into a corner, Zhao Jiu, who was willing to give it his all, gained not only an unprecedented sense of security, nor did he begin to have some inexplicable confidence. The key was that other people's views of this Emperor Zhao also underwent some subtle changes.
"Mr. Li is ill. Is he really unable to take on the job?"
Under the personal protection of Han Shizhong, at noon on the fifth day of November, Zhao Jiufu, wearing a cowhide belt, had just arrived outside Shunchang Prefecture (now Yingzhou City, later Fuyang) when he heard the report from Shangshu Youcheng Lu Haowen.
However, like everyone else, Emperor Zhao was neither too surprised nor overly worried.
The reason for this is that everyone knows the cause of Li Gang's illness before, and the deepening of his illness is expected. Moreover, Li Gang is only 45 years old this year, and he is usually strong and energetic. In addition, he has come to Shunchang City, a big city with no shortage of medicine, so he can be properly taken care of. Therefore, he does not need to worry too much about the probability of cold.
However, apart from this, one thing that everyone knew was that although Li Gang was an outstanding administrator and a good hand at managing the government affairs, he was careless and violent in his actions. It was unknown how many people he had offended, and how many people were eager to see him take a break so that everyone could catch their breath.
Besides, isn't there an official here who fought a hundred cavalrymen to suppress the rebellion and tied up the military power with a belt? Everyone is not without a backbone.
Back to the present, Han Shizhong, with seven or eight thousand soldiers, of course could not lead the troops into the city. He went outside the city to arrange defenses and set up camps. Zhao Jiu, however, entered Shunchang Prefecture accompanied by civil and military officials. When he brought all the officials back from visiting Li Gang and settled down, it was already evening.
However, when the official had just taken his seat in the government hall, ready to explain what had happened and to communicate, Wang Boyan, the co-director of the Privy Council, stepped forward cautiously... It turned out that Shunchang Prefecture (Fuyang) was an important town on the Huai River, connecting the two Huai Rivers and a thoroughfare by land and water. Therefore, information from all sides had been gathered here in just three to five days. After all, Wang Boyan was the head of the Privy Council here, so he dared not fail to report it.
"In five days, Jinan Prefecture (formerly Qizhou, now the area around Jinan) was gone?" Zhao Jiu was dumbfounded. "I have also seen the map. Jinan Prefecture is so big, and it is also the capital of Jingdong East Road. Jinan City is also a world-famous city with a large population. How could it be gone in five days? It would take the Jin army five days to run over there, right?"
"Good instructor, I know." Wang Boyan's words became more cautious. "I know that Jinan Prefecture Liu Yu surrendered Jinan to the Jin Dynasty. Guan Sheng, the original garrison commander of Jinan Prefecture, wanted to leave the city and set up camps to resist the enemy, but was poisoned by Liu Yu. This happened more than ten days ago..."
Zhao Jiu was confused for a moment, as if thinking about something.
Of course, he would think about it. First of all, the name Guan Sheng was too familiar. Secondly, Liu Yu also sounded vague to him at this time, probably like a well-known traitor. At this time, these vague information overlapped together, and Zhao Jiu roughly understood in his heart that this should be a cutscene or a plot killing... He was seven or eight hundred miles away and had never intervened in Shandong affairs. The butterfly effect should not have spread over there, so naturally there was nothing he could do.
However, Emperor Zhao was wrong. He certainly didn't know that this incident was actually caused by him, or the real large-scale butterfly effect, which had already started since he stayed in Bozhou and swept across the whole world!
Take this incident for example. In fact, if Zhao Jiu had not called Li Gang back, but fled all the way south to Yangzhou, then this famous traitor might have to wait until next year to take office in the already ruined Jinan and surrender there. But now, because Emperor Zhao had been stationed in Bozhou for a long time and waited there for Li Gang to come back and make drastic changes to the government, Liu Yu, the chief judge who escaped from Hebei, did not even have time to travel around Jianghuai and took office in Jinan Prefecture ahead of schedule.
But it doesn't matter. Under the overall situation, there are many civil servants like Liu Yu who are frightened by the Jin army and hate the ruling party when they hear that they will take office on the bank of the Yellow River! And to be honest, Jinan Prefecture will bear the brunt of the attack. The main force of the 100,000 Jin army will go south. Even if they can really hold out for a while, they can only delay for a few days, or force the Jin army to divide its troops and besiege the city.
What else?
Does Zhao Jiu still have troops to rescue? If Liu Guangshi can stabilize the south side of Mount Tai, he will be thankful.
On the other hand, as high-ranking officials, Liu Yu and his people probably knew the strengths and weaknesses of the Central Plains. In addition, they were spineless and had evil natures, so they became traitors without any pressure.
"Behind Jinan Prefecture is Zibo Prefecture (now the area of Zibo, Shandong Province), right?" After Zhao Jiu figured it out, he was not too surprised, nor did he talk too much about it. In the eyes of the civil and military officials, this was naturally quite generous. "Who is the governor of Zibo Prefecture?"
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