In fact, let alone these people, even Zhang Jun, who was slightly sober, forced himself to be strong, washed his face with river water, and ate some fish, meat and vegetables as preparation.
And sure enough, when the wine was enough and the fish was enough, the official put down his hand and sighed slightly... and all the people who had been staring at the official with their ears pricked up also became stern.
"Zong Liushou received another note today." Zhao Jiu took a piece of silk from Wu Yu (Mrs. Wu's name) beside him, and sighed slightly while wiping the grease off his hands. "This time, he didn't persuade me to go to Tokyo, but he said something serious. He probably persuaded me to take advantage of the Jin army's retreat to prepare weapons and arrange food and fodder, and then strengthen Nanyang, Fangcheng, and several large cities along the Yancheng line. At the same time, he recommended several people to guard these cities... This coincides with the considerations of the court, but it is more detailed."
Hearing this, Yan Xiaozhong, the acting prefect of Nanyang Prefecture, suddenly stood up and said proudly on the dike, "Your Majesty, I still recommend Chen Gui, the prefect of De'an Prefecture, who is a member of the Longtu Pavilion. I have known him since he was a county magistrate and I know his ability. If he can manage the defense of Nanyang City, I am willing to give way to him."
"The emperor has transferred Chen Gui to be the Minister of War today." Wang Boyan interrupted. "Shao Yin Yan, please be patient."
Yan Xiaozhong was slightly startled, then he sat down.
It is said that Chen Gui was only the magistrate of Anlu at the beginning of last year. During the Jing Kang period, he led his troops north to try to support the emperor. However, when he arrived in Caizhou, he found that the two emperors had already gone north for hunting, so he had no choice but to turn back.
But when they returned to Anlu, they found that the local people had already risen up. Various heroes and a large number of defeated soldiers who had poured in from the north all felt that the Song Dynasty had fallen, and they were all eager to try. At the same time, the local governor of De'an Prefecture might also think that the Song Dynasty had fallen, so he just ran away... So, the local official forces loyal to the Song Dynasty jointly pushed forward the work of a county magistrate leading the entire prefecture.
Of course, in that situation, this was a display of great loyalty, so the imperial court, who was still in Nanjing (Shangqiu) at the time, posthumously awarded him the title of Zhilongtu Pavilion and the prefect of De'an.
This victory was not important, but Chen Gui shined. He started from scratch and led a group of local archers with no combat experience. He defeated Li Xiaoyi's army with a strength of over 10,000 (his brother Li Xiaozhong was occupying Xiangyang at the time); persuaded Yang Jin's army to retreat (later Yang Jin went north, first surrendered to Zong Ze, then rebelled against Song and surrendered to Jin, and is now being beaten by Han Shizhong); annexed the local tyrant Dong Ping who was good at using double guns... By the time the emperor traveled west to Caizhou, De'an Prefecture had been stabilized and Chen Gui also had 20,000 troops.
In short, such a person was living in Anlu next door, and he was a genuine imperial examination candidate, so it was impossible for Xingzai not to notice him.
In fact, when Emperor Zhao arrived in Fangcheng, he appointed Chen Gui as the governor of De'an Prefecture (now Anlu), Fuzhou (now Mianyang area), and Hanyang Army (now Wuhan) at the suggestion of Wang Boyan, and was responsible for sorting out the Yangtze River waterway. He never said that this position was not authentic. When fighting Xiangyang, he once followed the order of Ma Shen, the governor of Jinghu North Road, to lead troops to Jingmen to block Fan Qiong's retreat.
This time, to reorganize the city defense and build a gunpowder workshop, this old custom was recommended by various people in turn, and Zhao Jiu's ears were almost callused from it... Come to think of it, it is rare to have such a person among the civil officials.
Back to the present, Emperor Zhao was interrupted by Yan Xiaozhong and almost forgot what he was going to say. He thought for a long time before remembering it, but it seemed a lot stiffer: "Anyway... today I'm not talking about these things. I'm talking about... I suddenly remembered that in the memorial submitted by Zong Liushou before, he said something about the great unification of our ancestors... Did the Song Dynasty really have a great unification?"
"Officials!"
Hearing this, many ministers including Lu Haowen were shocked, and then quickly moved the plates off their knees and stood up. Then, it was Lu Xianggong who took the lead and responded seriously. "The three words 'great unification' come from the 'Spring and Autumn Gongyang Commentary'. 'great' does not mean big, but respectful; 'unified' does not mean the unification of the world, but the unity of the upper and lower! From this point of view, the great unification of our Song Dynasty is not an empty talk."
Zhao Jiu shook his head and smiled again: "I asked Lin Xueshi before I came here. This is the ancient meaning, the original intention... But Mr. Lu, let me ask you, if we already had the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, Liaodong and Liaoxi, annexed Jiaozhi, Xixia, Dali, and remotely controlled the Western Regions, and had the Han and Tang Dynasties, and talked about unification, do we still need to trace back to the ancient meaning? If he didn't know it well, why did Emperor Taizong make such a promise, and as a result, let Tong Guan, a eunuch, be named a king of a different surname? Or do you think that Emperor Daojun was wrong to even recover Yanyun?"
Lu Haowen suddenly paused... He was not stumped by Emperor Zhao's question. On the contrary, he suddenly realized what Emperor Zhao was going to say today, and he did not dare and did not want to talk about this topic.
"Officials!"
It is said that if Lu Haowen does not dare to take the responsibility, there will be others who dare to take it, or have to take it... Just as the prime minister hesitated, the deputy prime minister Xu Jingheng suddenly stepped forward and gritted his teeth. "If it were not for the sea alliance and the unauthorized attack on Liao, how could there be so many disasters in the Jingkang period? The Taoist Emperor was deceived by the six thieves and did these two things."
"I don't think so." Zhao Jiu waited quietly for the other party to finish speaking before continuing to laugh. "Let's not talk about being deceived... just think that it was the six thieves who deceived us! But the Jingkang disaster, I think it was the Flower and Stone Gang, the Fenghengyuda, the appointment of the six thieves, the civil peace and military playfulness, but not these two. Recovering Yanyun and the sea alliance are just military strategies, just like the art of war... What's wrong with this? In the final analysis, isn't the Jingkang shame because the Jin people are strong and we are weak?!"
Xu Jingheng wanted to speak but stopped. Seeing that the other party was speechless, Emperor Zhao raised his voice and continued with a smile:
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