Why is it so?
But in addition to being panicked, he was also worried about his good friend Zhang Jiuchen, fearing that Zhang Wuqiu would be beaten to his true form by this official with profound internal skills at the martial arts conference today.
"Of course, I also know that you are the disciple of Yang Shi, and I understand the difficulties in your position, so I did not ask directly. But since we meet today, I will not read your documents. Whatever you say and what you think, let's use the word sincerity as the basis and talk it out face to face." Zhao Jiu just glanced at the monk and turned his head away. He had no idea that the monk had so many tricks up his sleeve.
On the other side, Zhang Jiucheng was somewhat moved by these words, but he also left the monk Dahui aside and bowed respectfully to Emperor Zhao: "Your Majesty is so sincere, if I can't speak frankly, I will be ashamed."
"Go ahead!" Zhao Jiu waved his hand.
"The important thing I want to say is that although the Jingkang Disaster shocked the world, the emperor does not need to worry too much about it, because in my opinion, although the Jin Dynasty is powerful, it will not last long, and although China is temporarily trapped, it will definitely be able to revive!" Zhang Jiuchen stood up and faced him proudly.
Zhao Jiu's expression remained unchanged, as usual, and he just nodded slightly: "I know what you want to say, but in my opinion, this is only half true... The half truth is that the Jurchens are like wild beasts out of the forest. Once they get the fertile land of the two rivers, their wildness will be worn away, and they will corrupt and degenerate very quickly. It is indeed difficult for them to last long. Although China has the Jingkang Change, the overall situation is still there, and the local situation has not reached the point where it cannot be maintained, so it is not a problem for them to regain their power... But I still think that everything depends on human efforts. If the Jurchens can have the determination to be reborn, they may be able to emulate the Liao Kingdom and survive in the north for a long time. If China hopes that the Mandate of Heaven will come to it, and does not work together with the world, then the revival will be just empty talk."
Zhang Jiucheng was silent for a while, and finally said the most crucial two words: "But you can slow down a bit."
"No time to delay!" Zhao Jiu shook his head, his face suddenly becoming extremely serious. "If we delay a little, perhaps the Jin Dynasty will decline further, but I don't think China can be unique and maintain its morale for a long time without falling along with the Jin people... What's the use of having more troops in Jingkang?"
"Your Majesty, the reason why I say that the Jin Kingdom will not last is because, although a country is big, it will perish if it is warlike; although an army is strong, it will be in danger if it forgets customs!" As the topic deepened, Emperor Zhao became completely serious. The three ministers and below, from the close ministers to the "consultants" who were close by, had already become solemn, but Zhang Jiucheng remained unshakable. He just stood there, with a calm tone, and continued to debate with Emperor Zhao. "Your Majesty only took the Jingkang Incident as a warning to our country, shouldn't we be on guard against repeating the same mistakes from the Jin people?"
Zhao Jiu saw the tense atmosphere and laughed. "I won't argue with you on this topic any further. If we continue, it will just be you talking about the burden on Jiangnan and me talking about the people of Lianghe waiting for the royal army in tears... There will be no conclusion... You might as well tell me frankly, what exactly do you mean by easing up a little? How do you say it specifically?"
"First, please withdraw the Yuechun money, stop the additional taxes in the southeast and Jingxiang, so that the people in the southeast can have a break." Zhang Jiucheng was not polite at all. "Even though I just passed by the West Lake, I heard that the vegetable-eating demon sect in Xiaoshan was arrested. I also ask the emperor to consider that they are all poor and helpless people, and forgive them a little and punish them leniently... Lu Yihao is strict and severe in the southeast. Since the emperor is touring the south, he should correct it."
After these two sentences were spoken, only Wu Ti was silent again. Li Gang and Xu Jingheng instinctively looked at Lu Yihao, who was sitting closest to the emperor. They saw that this man was not annoyed at all, but just sat upright, which surprised them.
"And then?" Emperor Zhao couldn't stop asking. "Without Yuechun's money, how can the imperial camp maintain its troops?"
"That's exactly what I'm going to say. After Yaoshan, the Jin Kingdom's dislike for soldiers has become obvious. There's no need to maintain so many troops. We can reduce them a bit and clean up the imperial camp, removing corrupt generals and overbearing officers." Zhang Jiucheng responded immediately. "To make arrangements."
"Who is the corrupt general, and who is the domineering officer?" Emperor Zhao did not stop even as the crows cried.
"Han Shizhong, Qu Duan, Zhang Jun, Zhang Rong." Mr. Wuqiu said without hesitation. "Qu Duan is arrogant, Zhang Jun is greedy, Zhang Rong is a bandit, Han Shizhong is not as greedy as Zhang Jun, not as arrogant as Qu Duan, but he is greedy for money, lustful, arrogant, and frivolous, and he has all the five evils. Get rid of these old and immoral generals and re-establish the Imperial Camp. In the future, they will be able to defeat ten of them with one."
"Maybe!" Unlike the terrified "for consultation" around him, Emperor Zhao was not annoyed. "What happens after we clean up the imperial camp?"
"We should also remove those who are incompetent and immoral, and select those who are both talented and virtuous to assist the emperor."
“Who is incompetent and who is immoral?”
"Those who are incompetent like Prime Minister Zhang Jun, those who have no moral integrity like Minister of Works Hu Yin, those who are indecisive like Guanxi Envoy Yuwen Xuzhong, and those who are ruthless like Southeast Envoy Lu Yihao, are all unworthy of being among the prime ministers!"
Monk Dahui was so scared that he broke his silent meditation for the day and began to chant Buddha's name secretly... He was not chanting for his old friend, but for himself. He was ready to jump out at any time and risk his life to save his old friend.
However, upon hearing this, apart from Lu Yihao's cold snort, no one said much, and Emperor Zhao just grinned, his voice slightly louder than Wu Ti's: "Then where are the capable and virtuous people? Is it your teacher, Yang Shi who stood in the snow outside Cheng Men?"
Zhang Jiucheng hesitated for a moment.
But it was this hesitation that allowed Emperor Zhao to seize the flaw: "Mr. Wuque is not sincere enough!"
Zhang Jiucheng bowed his head and replied: "My teacher is virtuous enough, and his knowledge of classics is unmatched, but I dare not say that he is proficient in general affairs..."
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