It is said that Chief Censor Hu Mingzhong volunteered to prevent the censors from going to Xiangyang, which showed his loyalty but also made everyone else embarrassed... Oh, only your Censorate is loyal and will stand by the government?
And everyone knows that this guy is a fool. If Emperor Zhao had not considered him as a mentor for his wanderings, and if former Chief Censor Zhang Jun had not forgiven his personal grudges and recommended him before leaving office, and if he had not had internal qualifications among the Censors, how could he have achieved such a prominent position?
Of course, fortunately, the official was knowledgeable and did not comment. He just smiled and left, which prevented everyone from asking to go to the front line.
However, thanks to Hu Mingzhong's statement, everyone gave up the idea of persuading the emperor to take a long-term view, and this was exactly what Emperor Zhao admired about Hu Yin.
Back to the present, the Jin emperor issued an edict at the end of June, and this public decree was passed to Nanyang through the hands of the Hebei rebels in early July, and Emperor Zhao also switched the government back to wartime mode in mid-July.
It was not until this time that Emperor Zhao had some understanding of his family background.
"There is no need to worry about food and fodder. Although the food stored by Prime Minister Liu in Nanyang has been sent to various cities in the west of Beijing, the Jin people have not yet crossed the river, so it should not affect the transportation of autumn harvests in various places. Jinghu's own food and fodder should be enough." That evening, in the military quarters of Yushan Camp, the Minister of Revenue Lin Qi, who came with him under the pretext of reporting military information, continued his report, but did not mention the previous incident with Prime Minister Zhong. "So there is enough for the military. I am afraid that once the war breaks out, the front line will collapse in a short time, and then countless defeated soldiers and civilians will go south..."
"Don't think about it." Zhao Jiu, who was sitting in the middle of the military quarters, shook his head to stop the other party from continuing. On the left and right of the official stood the chief guard Lan Gui and the imperial guard Yang Yizhong. As for Liu Yan, he was currently inspecting and supervising the 2,000 guards who had just arrived at the military camp, and had never entered. "If it really comes to that, the central government will be powerless to do anything. They can only defend themselves in Nanyang and Xiangyang. There is no point in saying more..."
"Yes." Perhaps because they were transferred to the military camp, Lin Qi was much more careful in his words even though they were in a small barracks. "Then the Ministry of Revenue can directly report to the government and the Privy Council that there is enough food and fodder to use."
"That's right. Unless reinforcements don't arrive for more than 200 days, we rarely hear the phrase 'running out of arrows and food'. This is good news after all."
Emperor Zhao clasped his hands together and sighed, then passed over the Minister of War Chen Gui (who knew as much about military equipment and city defense as Chen Gui did) and asked another person, "How many soldiers are there?"
"Reporting to the emperor," Wang Yuan, the commander of the Imperial Camp, pretending not to understand the emperor's strange words, did not need to step out of the line to face the crowded barracks, but stepped forward directly. "According to the list of soldiers and horses in the Imperial Camp, the Imperial Camp Right Army in Huaidong, the Imperial Camp Left Army in Huaixi, the Imperial Camp Central Army in Nanyang, and the Imperial Camp Rear Army in the southeast, there are about 120,000 people in total. As for the Tokyo Zong Liaison Office, Nanjing Zhang Zhizhi Office (Zhang Suo), Shanzhou Li Jinglüe Office (Li Yanxian), and various Western Army offices, as well as Xijing Big and Small Zhai, and Hebei Volunteer Army, it is not clear enough. We can only roughly estimate that Henan and Shaanxi have a total of no less than 300,000, and Hebei Volunteer Army is countless."
"This means that the central government has no less than 400,000 troops." Chief Censor Hu Yin was a little surprised.
"Unless the Hebei Volunteer Army can cross the river to provide support, no matter how many there are, it will be meaningless." Deputy Privy Councilor Lu Yihao looked at the young Hu Mingzhong with a straight face. "As for Li Yanxian of Shanzhou and the Western Army of Guanzhong, no matter how many there are, they can only contain the Jin army in the west. Let's see how many they can contain and how long they can contain them. As for Zhang's troops, most of them are bandits in Jingdong and defeated soldiers who have just surrendered. These people are indecisive and don't have much combat power. It's possible that they will flee directly when the Jin army arrives..."
"Yue Fei can always trust Zhang Suo." Zhao Jiu suddenly interrupted. "Yue Fei should have more than 10,000 people now."
"The Zhangs only have 20,000 soldiers at most." Lu Yihao said immediately, but after a short pause, he continued. "Besides, Li Boxi's rear army can't be relied upon either."
Not only Lin Qi and Li Guang, but the other ministers crowded in the military quarters also raised their heads and stared at the new Prime Minister who had just taken office for a few days, or simply had only been in Nanyang for a few days, and then looked at Emperor Zhao who looked normal under the light.
However, Emperor Zhao did not show any suspicion or shock.
"Is it because they need to protect the Queen Mother?" Wang Boyan asked. "Or is it because the rear army is not strong enough and can't afford to travel a long distance to support the front line?"
"Neither of them." Lu Yihao said bluntly. "It's because Li Boxi is a poor leader. Once the war starts, it's unclear whether Zhong Xiang will rebel or not, and the southeast will be in trouble."
The atmosphere in the tent suddenly became stagnant, and countless people breathed heavily.
However, Lu Yihao turned around and bowed to the official who was about to speak, then continued:
"Good instructor, you know that I came from the southeast, and I have a very clear understanding of the situation there and the behavior of Li Xianggong. I have always known that this man's politics, personnel, and logistics are well organized. But for many years, despite the lessons of Tokyo and Taiyuan, and the new examples of Fan Qiong, he is still sloppy in military affairs... Previously, there was chaos in the southeast, and there were military riots in Jianzhou, Hangzhou, Tanzhou, and Mingzhou. It seemed that he easily quelled them, but in fact, he just wanted the southeast to be stable as soon as possible after holding the troops, so he pardoned countless rebels and bandits, and continued to treat them well, and took them into the rear army of the imperial camp... And these are all serious hidden dangers... Therefore, I dare to assert that once the Jin people come, there will be chaos in the southeast again, and even the rear army of the imperial camp will be in chaos. How can they support the front line?"
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