This is really scary! Before, there were only some soldiers and stokers. If Han Qi suddenly showed up, this turn of events would be really life-threatening!
He quickly drank some tea to calm down. While he was catching his breath, Han Zhongyan had already arrived in the court. He bowed slightly and said, "Judge Zhang, I am very sorry. My father wanted to come here to help the imperial court after receiving Judge Zhang's invitation. However, because my father is old and unable to travel a long distance, he asked me to come here to testify on his behalf." Zhang Fei treated everyone equally and did not stand up to return the greeting. He just sat on the Diaoyutai and smiled, "In fact, I don't want to disturb Han Xianggong. Han Xianggong was deeply involved in the Suizhou battle. There is a lot of evidence that must be provided by Han Xianggong. Maybe I was not thoughtful enough. I hope Judge Han will convey my apologies to Han Xianggong on my behalf." Han Zhongyan said, "No, no, this is our job."
"Judge Han, please take a seat."
"Thank you!" Han Zhongyan sat down. Zhang Fei asked, "As usual, I have to ask, can Judge Han's testimony represent Mr. Han?" Han Zhongyan nodded and said, "Yes, because my father has told me everything he saw, heard, knew, and thought. Everything I say represents my father." The distinguished guests were stunned again.
Although Han Qi did not come, the shocking effect may be lacking, but Han Zhongyan's words are enough to show Han Qi's respect for the imperial court, which makes everyone look at the imperial court with new eyes!
Wow... What kind of power is this imperial court? If even Han Qi has to cooperate with the imperial court, then who else can refuse to cooperate, except perhaps the emperor?
In the letters sent from the capital, they were only informed of Zhang Fei's relationship with Sima Guang, Wang Anshi, and Xu Zun, and Han Qi was never mentioned in any letter.
If there was no relationship, Kaifeng Prefecture might not even be able to invite Han Qi to testify. This is really outrageous!
Wei Yingfang was sweating a little. Zhang Fei, however, was still concentrating on the trial as before. Xu Zhiqian, who was standing beside him, unfolded a document and placed it in front of Zhang Fei.
Zhang Fei lowered his head and looked carefully, then raised his head and asked Han Zhongyan: "Judge Han, according to what I know, after the court learned that Deputy Envoy Zhong occupied Suizhou, it quickly sent Minister Han to govern Shaanxi. Is that true?"
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"Yes." Han Zhongyan nodded and said, "In fact, my father was preparing to leave Beijing for Huainan to take up his post. On the day before leaving Beijing, the court suddenly received news that Deputy Envoy Zhong had recaptured Suizhou, so the emperor temporarily issued an edict to have my father transferred to Yongxing Army and concurrently serve as the governor of the four routes in Shaanxi." Why is this case more complicated? In fact, there is a key reason, that is, Song Yingzong had just passed away and Zhao Xu had just ascended the throne. The handover of imperial power is always the most sensitive moment in a feudal dynasty.
At that time, some censors impeached Han Qi for his autocratic and domineering behavior. Han Qi also knew that he was in a high position and that if he continued to stay in the Secretariat, it would affect the imperial power. So after Zhao Xu ascended the throne, he refused to work in the Secretariat and insisted on being transferred to another place.
Zhao Xu didn't know whether he was sincere or insincere, but after trying to persuade him to stay, he appointed him as the governor of Huainan. But he didn't expect that this incident would happen before he left.
Zhao Xu immediately transferred Han Qi to Shaanxi to deal with the Suizhou issue. Han Qi had always been very concerned about the border, and he was ordered to go to Suizhou immediately.
Therefore, before the troops were dispatched, Lu Shen and Xue Xiang were both key witnesses, and in the middle process, those soldiers were key witnesses. However, after the recovery of Suizhou, Han Qi was the most critical witness because he was the executor of subsequent matters.
Zhang Fei asked again: "When the emperor transferred Prime Minister Han to govern Shaanxi, did he let Prime Minister Han have full authority, or did the court have already made the decision?" This time everyone perked up.
The decisions involving Han Qi were absolutely top secret at the time and represented the court's true intentions at the time. No one present now was qualified to participate.
Although Zheng Xie participated in the whole process, he was only a counselor, not a decision maker. The real decision must have been made by the emperor and the prime ministers.
Han Qi's confession is the most authoritative evidence of the court's decision at that time. Han Zhongyan pondered carefully for a moment before saying, "According to what my father said, there was actually no very clear decision within the court at that time, but basically they were planning to give up Suizhou." Zhang Fei asked, "I don't quite understand what Judge Han said." Han Zhongyan explained, "When my father learned about this, he initially thought that since Suizhou had been taken, he should not retreat. Not to mention that Suizhou's geographical location is critical, the key is that this will make Xixia think that our Song Dynasty is too weak and may become more aggressive. However, some ministers in the court believed that Suizhou was isolated and difficult to defend, and advocated giving it up. Later, my father also agreed to give up Suizhou, but this was not the final decision. The government still asked my father to go to Shaanxi first to find out the situation before making the final decision." This is obviously different from Zheng Xie's confession, which shows that different powers lead to different views.
The result of the discussion at that time was that the party advocating giving up had the upper hand. However, Zheng Xie saw that due to the financial difficulties, he should not start a war with Xixia, which would be very risky.
However, what Han Qi saw was whether the dispute could be maintained strategically, which was enough to prove that Zheng Xie was not involved in the highest decision-making circle.
Zhang Fei looked down at the document and said, "But in the end the court did not abandon Suizhou." Han Zhongyan nodded and said, "That's because my father came to Yongxing Army." At this point, he looked at Guo Kui who was sitting next to him.
"Prime Minister Guo believed that Suizhou should not be abandoned and strongly advocated the development of Suizhou. Under the persuasion of Prime Minister Guo and my father's observation of the war situation at the time, he believed that Suizhou could be defended, so he decided to adopt Prime Minister Guo's suggestion and mobilize food and grass to support Suizhou." Zhang Fei asked, "What did Prime Minister Han observe?" Han Zhongyan said, "First, it was because General Zhe Jishi deployed elite troops in Dali River in advance and defeated the enemy troops coming to rescue from Yinzhou several times, which made the right wing of Yanzhou worry-free. At that time, General Zhong had already severely damaged the main force of the enemy and arrived at Jin Temple to occupy the dangerous terrain. Based on these circumstances, my father judged that General Zhe's deployment on the right wing of our army was enough to buy time for Suizhou. As long as more troops were stationed in Suizhou City, If we can consolidate the natural barrier of Hengshan, we won't have to worry about it, and we can also ensure the safety of Yanzhou." Zhang Fei asked, "Does Prime Minister Han know what happened before, that is, that Prefect Lu ordered Deputy Envoy Zhong to retreat to Qingjian City?" Han Zhongyan nodded and said, "I know." Zhang Fei said, "According to Prime Minister Han's judgment, under the circumstances at the time, if General Zhong retreated to Qingjian City, would it have an impact on General Zhe?" Han Zhongyan said, "My father thinks it might have an impact." Zhang Fei said, "Can you explain it in detail?" Han Zhongyan said, "If the enemy army stops the offensive immediately after retaking Suizhou, it will not affect General Zhe, but if the enemy army takes advantage of the situation and launches an attack on Yanzhou, then General Zhe may face The situation will be very bad if we are attacked from all sides." Zhang Fei asked again: "According to Han Xianggong's judgment of the situation at that time, if the leader of Western Xia, Li Liangzuo, had not died, would it have triggered a war between our country and Western Xia?" Han Zhongyan nodded and said: "It is very likely, and my father did not agree to go to war with Western Xia at that time, but my father also believed that the situation at that time was still controllable. After all, we have always had envoys with Western Xia. Even if a war breaks out, as long as we build up the natural barrier of Suizhou, the Western Xia will not be able to easily break through our defense line, and we will have to negotiate in the end. If Suizhou is in our hands, we will be able to have an advantage in the negotiations. To put it another way, even if we have to abandon it, my father also believes that at that time It was definitely not the best time to abandon the defense, because the Western Xia had already launched an offensive. Once we abandoned the defense, we could not determine whether the Western Xia would stop or take advantage of the situation to launch an attack, which would seriously affect the morale of our army. "Zhang Fei continued to ask: "Does Prime Minister Han think that Deputy Envoy Zhong's previous deployment to recapture Suizhou was perfect or a risky move?" Han Zhongyan pondered for a moment and said: "My father thinks that from a strategic point of view, Deputy Envoy Zhong's move was relatively risky, because it was indeed not appropriate to go to war with Western Xia at that time. But from the perspective of tactical deployment, it was very perfect, and General Zhong and General Zhe were also very well prepared. "Hearing this, Wang Shao, Guo Kui, Yuan Jiang and others could not help but admire him.
As expected of Han Qi, his answer was flawless. He was impartial, supporting both sides and not offending either side. You can't find any fault with him.
According to him, it is not impossible to abandon Suizhou, but the timing was not right. In fact, this is also the case. You have already taken it, and if you retreat directly, who can guarantee that Xixia will stop? Seeing that you are so cowardly, I have to go to your house to show my respect, in case a gap is opened?
Han Qi was also an experienced diplomat. He chose to hold on to Suizhou. If a war really broke out, he believed that the Western Xia would certainly consider it, and there would definitely be some diplomatic negotiations in the middle. It would still be time to discuss whether to abandon it or not. Suizhou was still an important bargaining chip.
This judgment was agreed upon by not only the military generals but also the civil officials with a little foresight.
"One last question." Zhang Fei asked, "I wonder what Minister Han thinks of Prefect Lu's government affairs after he came to Shaanxi?" When these words came out, many people were shocked.
Even Zhong Yan and Lu Chen were stunned. Was this going to target Lu Chen? This change of topic was really unexpected!
Because all the previous questions were directed at Zhong Yan, this was the first question directly directed at Lu Shen.
But there was no previous confession pointing to Lu Chen. Could it be... could it be that he was leaning towards Zong Yan?
It's hidden so deeply! Even Han Zhongyan couldn't help but hesitate a little, thinking, Fortunately, my father explained this, otherwise, I really don't know how to answer this question.
He asked cautiously, "I wonder what Judge Zhang is asking about?" Zhang Fei asked frankly, "When Prime Minister Han arrived in Yanzhou, what did you think of Yanzhou's deployment?" Han Zhongyan said, "According to my father's observation, Yanzhou was also ready for war at that time." Zhang Fei asked again, "Did you provide any help to Deputy Envoy Zhong?" Something is wrong!
Something is wrong! Zheng Xie began to sweat, worried about his old friend. Lu Shen himself also looked solemn.
Han Zhongyan shook his head and said, "Not really, because without the imperial edict, there is actually very limited what Governor Lu can do. My father is still needed to coordinate and mobilize." Zhang Fei suddenly turned his head to look at Zhong Yan and asked, "After Deputy Envoy Zhong regained Suizhou, did he seek assistance from Yanzhou?" Zhong Yan was still in a daze. This question was too weird. Why did he suddenly turn his attention to Lu Shen?
Zhang Fei asked, "Deputy Envoy Zhong?"
"Oh." Zhong Yan came back to his senses and shook his head, "No...no." He hoped that Lu Shen would not disturb him at that time, so he didn't dare to contact Lu Shen actively.
Zhang Fei asked Han Zhongyan again, "After Han Xianggong decided to defend Suizhou, did Yanzhou fully cooperate?" Han Zhongyan thought for a moment and said, "When my father arrived in Yanzhou, Prefect Lu did complain to my father about what Deputy Envoy Zhong did, but Prefect Lu still obeyed my father's orders and did not refuse to cooperate."
"Thank you very much, Judge Han, for taking the trouble to come here to testify." Zhang Fei nodded with a smile, and then said loudly: "Today's trial ends here. Since this case is quite complicated, I, the presiding judge, will have to carefully review today's confession. If there is anything to add, the court will open the court on another day. If not, the verdict will be announced on another day." Having said this, he gently knocked the gavel.
"Adjourn." He stood up, nodded slightly, and then left, leaving a group of guests dumbfounded. That's it?
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