Unlike the bureaucrats who longed for stability, or even had a morbid pursuit of stability, Zhao Jiu had anticipated the arrival of the Jin people... There was no reason for the Jin people not to come. In fact, the Song and Jin had been at war for four years, and in the first three years they retreated when the weather got hot, and went south when the weather turned cold. Even the deployment of troops and the battle strategy were the same every time they went out. The so-called East and West Armies had more than 100,000 households and 100,000 people on each side, including 50,000 to 60,000 Jin people and 40,000 to 50,000 from other ethnic groups. They also particularly liked the decapitation tactic, targeting the opponent's core cities and key commanders.
Then why did you come for three years but not come in the fourth year?
In fact, all the alliances, declarations of war, and diplomacy between countries are fake. For a country like the Jin Dynasty that has not yet gotten rid of the barbaric national thinking, the fact is that unless it is hurt or scared, it will fight as long as it can and rob as long as it can.
Even if they were to send troops based on this habit, they should have prepared to march south this year, not to mention there was an imperial edict.
And then, perhaps because of this completely different attitude towards the war, Emperor Zhao and the bureaucrats of Nanyang completely lost the harmony they had in the past.
In fact, these bureaucrats understand some truths and have heard some things from someone, but they still find it hard to accept when the time comes. Within a few days, panic, perfunctory, and pessimistic emotions began to spread in the Nanyang auxiliary capital. Perfunctory and even fleeing phenomena appeared one after another, as if they were not the ones who were excited about Nanyang's prosperity in the past few months.
Emperor Zhao was naturally disappointed by this, but not terribly disappointed, because he had only given this group confidence for three months. Moreover, compared with a year ago, these people at least would not and dared not talk about peace talks.
At the same time, turning back to Zhao Jiu's point of view, except for being a little shocked at the beginning, he became more and more calm later on... After all, it's not like he did nothing in the past six months. He did so many things. Even if the situation is worrying, can he be as worried as he was last year?
If he really fails miserably and is searched everywhere, then he, a time traveler, deserves to die without a burial place.
In fact, Emperor Zhao had already thought about it. Three lines of defense, five or six military regions, Zong Ze, Yue Fei, Li Yanxian, Han Shizhong, and Zhang Jun, this is the best lineup at present, right? With so many obstacles, can't we tear off a few pieces of meat from the Jin army?
By the time the Jin army arrived at Nanyang, which he directly controlled, they would have been exhausted and would just defend the city! Even if Nanyang could not be defended, he could return to Xiangyang and make sure that the backbone of the Song Dynasty would never fall. Wasn't that possible?
To put it bluntly, just do it with all your strength! If we can't be Li Shimin, can we still be Cixi?
"Prime Minister Zhong wants food?"
The new official, Prime Minister Lu Yihao, who is recognized as the most experienced civil servant, raised his head and looked at him coldly. "You, the Ministry of Revenue, actually think it's worth it?"
Except for the emperor who was fiddling with a Jianyan Tong Bao coin behind the desk, showing a lack of respect for others, all the others, from Lan Gui and Yang Yi Zhong standing beside him, to several prime ministers, senior officials of the six ministries, several core censors and other important figures, as well as close ministers such as Xiao Lin Xue Shi, Hanlin Xue Shi and Zhong Shu She Ren, and even middle and lower-level officials such as Liu Zi Yu, Wan Qi Xie, and Hu Hong Xiu who were farther away in the hall, all responded seriously.
Because the person whom Lu Yihao scolded was the Minister of Revenue Lin Qi, and Lin Qi was the highest-ranking spokesperson for Prime Minister Li Gang in Nanyang, and the topic being discussed at this time was also an extremely serious one.
Under the gaze of countless people, Minister of Revenue Lin Qi gritted his teeth and said politely, "Reporting to the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Revenue believes that it should be given."
"Why?" Lu Hao asked. The other Lu Xianggong saw that the situation was not good and took the initiative to interrupt and try to smooth things over.
"Why?!" However, Lu Yihao didn't need Lu Haowen to interrupt.
"Because there is no shortage of food in the central government." Lin Qi said earnestly and sincerely. "My two Lu Xiangs, since Prime Minister Zhong is still under the banner of the court's righteous army, he can be won over. Giving him food now does not mean that we can rely on a little food to attract this usurper as a support, but if we can appease him for a while and prevent him from taking the opportunity to rebel, it will be considered a rescue." Having said this, the Minister of Revenue turned to other colleagues again. "As for the future, even if Prime Minister Zhong changes his mind in the future, even if some of the food today seems to be aiding the enemy in the future, as long as we can prevent him from rebelling now and the Jin people retreat in the future, we have ten thousand ways to talk to him slowly... May I ask why not do it?"
Lu Yihao sneered, his attitude was obvious, while Lu Haowen was silent for a moment, hesitating to speak... The latter seemed to be moved by Lin Qi's words, but was afraid of Lu Yihao, a distant relative, and did not dare to agree easily.
As for the other people in the hall, they were all hesitant, and it was obvious that many of them were convinced by Lin Qi.
Even Emperor Zhao was playing with the Jianyan Tongbao coin while thinking about something... Of course, Emperor Zhao didn't feel anything about the current dispute. He just lamented his schizophrenia because of this dispute.
Speaking of which, Zhao Jiu's attitude towards Zhong Xiang, Yang Mo, or the Dongting Lake force formed by a religious association has always been complex and changing.
At the beginning, Zhao Jiu was immediately impressed by the name Zhong Xiang when he saw it on Ma Shen's note, because this man was mentioned in history books and "The Complete Biography of Yue Fei" as half the protagonist of the Dongting Lake Uprising. He was roughly the representative of the peasant uprising, which was the result of the people's rebellion caused by the officials and the Zhao Song Dynasty's ineffective resistance against the Jin Dynasty. Even the suppression of the Dongting Lake Uprising once became a stain on Yue Fei's life.
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