Chapter 89 Dragon Snake
Before the Huaixi thief Ding Jin was found to have committed suicide with a knife while going to the toilet, the Palace Censor Hu Yin Hu Mingzhong had many identities. For example, he was one of the youngest civil officials in the court, well-educated, of clean origin, and had a bright future. For another example, he was also the most ardent anti-Jin faction in the court, always like to propose the most radical anti-Jin plans at the most inappropriate times. For another example, he was also a close friend and younger brother of Zhang Jun and Zhao Ding, and was considered to be the glue between the two upstarts who were now estranged.
Even if Emperor Zhao appointed this person, to be fair, he was more or less attracted by his prominent political stance... Just think about it, when someone tried to soften the anti-Jin stance and tried to save the country in a roundabout way, he was brought out, and it was about welcoming back the two saints, crossing the river to the north, and the principles of the emperor and the father. Who could resist? Who dared to speak?
To put it bluntly, he was just a tool and someone else's political appendage, at most a potential stock.
However, after Ding Jin was buried in a random pit, the name Hu Yin no longer needed to be explained by others or certain positions. Hu Mingzhong became famous overnight, and Xu Jingheng, the former Chief Censor and current Prime Minister of the Eastern Palace, praised him as a "true censor" at the time.
Even the emperor, who was well aware of the situation, after hesitating and dodging the ridicule, arrived at Zhugao Town the next day and officially issued a series of decrees:
First, Zhang Jun's purple robe was stripped off, and he was changed from Chief Censor to Trial Chief Censor, making this man who might be the closest to the youngest prime minister of the Song Dynasty three points further away from that position;
Second, Hu Yin officially replaced Zhang Jun, who was responsible for cleaning up the disturbances caused by Han Shizhong's troops along the way and taking charge of military discipline;
Third, through the above two events, he officially admitted the mistakes of Emperor Zhao, admitted that he was too lenient to some meritorious officials and ignored the court system, and used this to warn the people to be cautious and not arrogant...
After the decree was issued, everyone knew that Hu Yin's impeachment yesterday had already produced real results.
But that was not all. After the emperor continued his journey westward for two days and arrived at the Huai River just north of Dingcheng, the capital of Guangzhou, where he gathered with the three generals Miao Fu, Liu Zhengyan and Liu Yan and met Yuwen Xuzhong, Emperor Zhao formally summoned all four ministers, two from the east and two from the west, to discuss the issue of selecting talents to serve in the court.
Following the advice of the four ministers, Emperor Zhao made some minor revisions and eventually issued a series of new decrees... However, he used the excuse of "current difficulties and national crisis" to require all localities to recommend talents regardless of their background.
Among them, each military prefecture in Guanxi, Southeast, Jingxiang, Jingdong, and Bashu will recommend one civil and one military officer, plus a man of integrity who has made special contributions in the national crisis; and the local garrison commanders and governors are allowed to recommend an additional ten people; because Lianghuai and Jingxi are close to the imperial court, each county is allowed to recommend one man of integrity in addition to the military prefectures.
This so-called man of integrity was naturally the one that Emperor Zhao cared about most, "one who could resist the Jin army", and was also his private cargo that he had forced in.
After these people arrived at the secondary capital of Nanyang, they would be divided into civil and military personnel for a small test and training to supplement the talents of the secondary capital. Of course, Zhao Jiu was not capable of correcting the huge problem of the division of civil and military personnel.
In addition, Emperor Zhao issued another decree, giving Li Gang the same convenient personnel power as Zong Ze on the front line, allowing Prime Minister Li to temporarily appoint high-ranking officials who are vacant in the southeast, and only needs to report and discuss afterwards... However, correspondingly, Li Gang's confidant Lin Qi was transferred from the Ministry of Personnel to the Ministry of Revenue.
Back to the present, after this incident, Censor Hu's reputation was once again elevated among the people. Everyone knew that the profound meaning of the impeachment made by this censor that day had been achieved, and this person already had the ability to promote major political affairs.
However, regardless of how Censor Hu's reputation was growing in the imperial court, or how the imperial court was experiencing a new atmosphere, Emperor Zhao still had to continue his journey west.
At the end of February, the emperor arrived at Guangshan Mountain, the westernmost part of the Huaihe River in Guangzhou. Because the Huaihe River ahead was too shallow and narrow, he officially abandoned his boats and headed for Caizhou on the north bank... At this time, bad news came from the south, that Jianzhou (Jian in Fujian) had a mutiny. Emperor Zhao did not dare to neglect this and immediately appointed General Miao, Fu, and Liu Zhengyan as the commander-in-chief and deputy commander-in-chief of the rear army of the imperial camp, and led the troops to the southeast, assisting Li Gang in maintaining law and order in the southeast in the name of protecting the empress dowager.
After the two generals left, within a day or two, as they had just entered the interior of Caizhou, Han Shizhong and Wang De, who were leading the way on both sides, began to encounter various armed forces and started a large-scale battle. The imperial guard had to enter Ruyang, the capital of Caizhou, which had been captured by the Jin army before, on the first day of March, and then use it as a base to recruit the rebels and wait for Wang De and Han Shizhong to attack from all sides to eliminate the rebels in order to open up a so-called turning point.
It was at this time that the Emperor received a series of accurate information from the rebel army and the envoys sent by Zong Ze, saying that the large-scale southward advance of the Jin army last winter, just as the Eastern Army led by Talai and Wuzhu basically swept through the two routes of Jingdong like autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves, the Western Army remotely controlled by Nianhan also caused extremely serious consequences in the west.
Although this had been anticipated, and even before Bagong Mountain, many uncertain news had been received, but after hearing these messages, and thinking about the rebels and bandits all over Caizhou, everyone in the line was shocked and serious, and no longer had the relaxed attitude they had before:
The Western Capital Luoyang was captured, looted and burned by the Jin army.
Chang'an, which was previously considered the best choice for the secondary capital, fell early, but this was because after being besieged for more than ten days, it encountered an earthquake and betrayal at the same time...The one who defected was none other than Fu Liang, one of the two generals appointed by Li Gang in Nanjing (Shangqiu) that day, the former deputy envoy of Hedong.
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