Emperor Zhao's final proposal did not cause much opposition.
There are many reasons.
For example, the ministers who lacked military authority were at a loss for words when facing Emperor Zhao on military issues; for example, Emperor Zhao was not the first time to lead an army in person; for example, there was a reason why the highest commander went to the front line, such as the enemy's situation was unclear at this time, and only by finding out the enemy's situation could a timely and decisive action be taken...
But in fact, the two most important reasons are: first, as shown in the conversation between Qu Da and Emperor Zhao, the front line was divided into two by Wanyan Loushi who occupied Tongguan. In order to ensure that the two sides of the multiple independent troops fought bravely together, nothing could be more effective than Emperor Zhao going to the front line to fight; second, the current situation is different from the past after all. After years of hard work, there are more troops and defensive measures, and Emperor Zhao is going to Luoyang to take charge. Although Luoyang was burned to the ground, it is a secondary capital located in the defense circle after all... It is very safe militarily and will not cause too much waves politically.
Therefore, the ministers discussed it with the six ministers, the Privy Council, and the generals in the capital, and finally agreed in principle to Emperor Zhao's proposal under his watch.
Of course, there was inevitably some persuasion and instructions, probably telling Emperor Zhao not to go to the city of Shanzhou, and at the same time, to be careful to guard against the sudden attack of the Jin cavalry, and then sternly warned Yang Yi Zhong, the commander of the imperial guard, not to put the emperor in danger.
However, even so, Zhao Jiu still encountered an unexpected but reasonable obstacle... That night, Zhao Jiu stayed at Concubine Pan's house, but was awakened by crying sounds at night.
After waking up, in the dark of night, Zhao Jiu wanted to get up and comfort her, but after thinking for a long time, he chose to turn over, lie on his side with his eyes wide open, without saying a word, pretending to be ignorant.
By the way, Zhao Jiu certainly understood what Concubine Pan was up to... To be generous, it was a cry of remonstrance from the harem, and to be stingy, it was a romantic scene between young ladies.
Regardless of whether it was the harem crying out for advice or the love between the young men and women, what can we say about this matter? At least Zhao Jiu’s choice is beyond doubt... Yuan Shao and Cao Cao are watching from heaven!
The current situation is such that one can either learn from Yuan Shao and be sentimental first, which results in the whole family being wiped out and being looked down upon by everyone, or learn from Cao Cao and act like a hero throughout his life, but be sentimental before his death and be looked down upon by Su Dongpo.
Of course, Su Dongpo looked down on everyone... otherwise he wouldn't have been demoted for half his life.
In short, is there any need to say which one to choose between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao?
There was no way Zhao Jiu wouldn't go to the front line just because of a burst of crying behind him.
Back to the present, although Zhao Jiu had made up his mind, he was unable to get up and scold Concubine Pan for being inappropriate under the warm quilt of the mandarin ducks in the harem, feeling the other person's body temperature, smelling the other person's fragrance, and listening to the undisguised sobbing... Because from the perspective of someone who slept in the same bed and had physical intimacy, he understood Concubine Pan's worries and even felt a little pity for her.
Because he knew that this woman regarded him, an official, as her absolute support, and her fear was a natural reaction after experiencing so much displacement.
But facing such a person, Zhao Jiu couldn't say any righteous words.
So, after being awakened, Zhao Jiu simply turned sideways and said nothing, not moving. When Concubine Pan noticed that the person beside her had woken up and turned over, she cried for a long time, but when she saw that the other person didn't say a word, she finally stopped crying.
Not to mention this episode which even a third party was unlikely to know about, everything was settled. The next day, the fifth day of the first lunar month, without any delay, Emperor Zhao raised his Golden Guard banner and, accompanied by thousands of imperial guards on horseback and on foot, marched west out of Tokyo City and headed for Luoyang.
In the peaceful times of the past, the emperor's personal expedition was unthinkable, but now it was as direct and quick as eating and drinking, which made many newly returned soldiers and civilians in and outside Tokyo sigh with emotion.
But no matter what, Emperor Zhao went westward with a dignified manner. At first, he did not have many troops with him, so he entered Zhengzhou in the afternoon of the seventh day in just one and a half days. But from this day on, the various armies of the imperial camp entrenched in the entire Henan region were mobilized along with the news from Tokyo City and the imperial carriage. Tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, with a scale of more than 2,000 to 5,000 in each unit, acted independently under the leadership of their respective commanders. Regardless of the others, only the 35,000 troops in the imperial camp gradually gathered around Emperor Zhao, and were respectively commanded by Wang De and Wang Yan, and under the coordination of Wang Yuan and Qu Duan who were accompanying them, they marched in an orderly manner.
On the tenth day, Emperor Zhao entered Henan Prefecture where Luoyang was located, and on the twelfth day he moved into the old city of Luoyang. Together with the three tribes of Da Zhai, Xiao Zhai and Niu Gao that were already stationed around Luoyang, Zhao Jiu already had more than 40,000 combat soldiers and more than 10,000 auxiliary soldiers or civilian laborers by his side.
At the same time, Li Yanxian, who had returned to Shanzhou, also delivered good news:
It turned out that on New Year's Day, Li Yanxian learned that the Jin army was heading south, but did not rush back to Shanzhou. Instead, he continued to let Pinglu garrison commander Shao Yun take charge of the situation, while he personally led thousands of troops who were originally scheduled to withdraw to Henan, and rushed to the foot of Zhongtiao Mountain, launching a nighttime counter-attack against the Jin army's detachment of only 5,000 troops, namely Wanyan Saba.
Wanyan Saba never expected Li Yanxian to be so bold, and was caught off guard. In addition, he had not yet established a firm foothold, so he fought hastily. Although he managed to defend Jijin, Li Yanxian and his men burned half of their baggage and robbed seven or eight hundred war horses.
After crushing the Jin army's fighting spirit and crippling half of its detachment, Li Yanxian withdrew to Pinglu, from where he calmly crossed the river to return to Shanzhou. Moreover, according to his report, he also took the opportunity to leave a favorite general named Zhao Cheng in the Zhongtiao Mountain stronghold, leading two thousand soldiers... to serve as a surprise force when necessary.
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