Nanjing, the Great New Imperial Palace.
Inside the Golden Palace, in the imperial court.
The court officials had been waiting for a long time, but Emperor Zhao Gan, as always, failed to hold court on time. Everyone had no choice but to wait patiently in the court, whispering among themselves.
The topic of conversation was naturally the emperor's personal expedition to Longcheng to quell the rebellion of Chen Huai'an, the heir apparent to the Prince of Jin.
It is worth mentioning that after being dismissed by the tyrannical Zhao Gan for three days following the last court meeting, Prime Minister Qin Ruhui was reinstated to his original position and given full authority to lead the Six Ministries and oversee the Emperor's personal campaign to quell the rebellion.
Interestingly, Sun Heling, the Vice Minister of Rites who repeatedly contradicted Zhao Gan in court that day and risked his life to remonstrate, was not angered by Zhao Gan and remained a third-rank official in the court.
"His Majesty has arrived!"
Suddenly, a sharp eunuch's voice came from outside the Golden Palace: The Emperor has arrived!
The next moment, Zhao Gan strode up the steps of the Golden Palace and sat down on the dragon throne, which symbolized the supreme imperial power of the Great Xin Dynasty.
Surprisingly, Wenren Yu, the favored concubine who used to be inseparable from Zhao Gan and cling to him like an octopus, did not attend the morning court session with the emperor today.
This unusual scene left the court officials somewhat uneasy.
In the end, under the leadership of Prime Minister Qin Ruhui, all the civil and military officials knelt down and paid their respects.
"Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!"
On the dragon throne, Zhao Gan waved his hand impatiently and said, "My beloved ministers, rise!"
Then, he spoke directly: "Prime Minister Qin, how is the strategy for suppressing the rebellion that I appointed you to lead the Six Ministries on progress?"
Qin Ruhui hurriedly replied, "Your Majesty, the memorial on quelling the rebellion in Longcheng has been written, and I will present it to Your Majesty immediately!"
As he spoke, Qin Ruhui took out the memorial he had prepared beforehand and held it up with both hands, about to hand it to the eunuch below the steps of the main hall.
However, Zhao Gan, sitting on the dragon throne, had no interest in reading it himself. Instead, he directly ordered, "Prime Minister Qin, just read it aloud. I'm too lazy to read it myself."
Forehead......
Qin Ruhui hesitated for a moment, thinking to himself that the memorial on quelling the rebellion in Longcheng was a secret of the court. If it were read aloud in front of all the civil and military officials, wouldn't someone with ulterior motives overhear it and then inform Chen Huai'an?
Prince Chen Polu of Jin has been operating in the Daxin court for decades. There's no guarantee that there aren't any remnants of Prince Chen Polu hiding in the court!
"Qin Ruhui, I told you to read it, are you blindfolded?"
On the dragon throne, Zhao Gan roared, startling the dazed Qin Ruhui.
The latter, disregarding everything else, had no choice but to read aloud from the memorial:
"Your Majesty, your humble servant, in charge of the six ministries, has been gathering intelligence from all sides for several days. Ultimately, guided by the opinion of Minister of War Shen Guangming, we have formulated the following plan to quell the rebellion—"
Immediately afterwards, Qin Ruhui began to eloquently recount the contents of the memorial in front of Zhao Gan and all the civil and military officials.
In order to quell the rebellion in Longcheng, Qin Ruhui learned from the experience of Wu Qingyun, the Northwest General, who was arrogant and underestimated the enemy, which led to a disastrous defeat. From the very beginning, he adopted a posture of going all out.
First, Qin Ruhui, together with Shen Guangming, the Minister of War, compiled a summary of the military deployments of the Great Xin Dynasty throughout the country:
The final decision was to draw 200,000 troops from the coastal areas of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shandong to prepare for the Japanese invasion; 200,000 elite troops from the fifteen prefectures of Youyun; and 100,000 border troops from the Anxi General's Office, for a total of 500,000 troops to form a pacification army.
The army split into two routes. One route went north from Shandong, passing through fifteen prefectures of Youyun, and finally gathered in Yingzhou. From east to west, it attacked Yunzhou City, which was actually controlled by the rebel Chen Huai'an.
Another route marched south from the four towns of Anxi, eventually gathering in Chang'an Prefecture, and then attacked the stronghold of the rebel Chen Huai'an, Longcheng, the fiefdom of the Prince of Jin, from west to east.
The two armies that quelled the rebellion were led by Guo Dingfang, the General of the Western Garrison and the General of the Western Garrison, and Li Jingyu, the son of the famous general Li Kuang of the Great Xin Dynasty and the Flying General of Youzhou.
Guo Dingfang was the commander of the Imperial Guard of the late Emperor Zhao Mang. He followed the late emperor in his campaigns in the south and north and made great achievements. Later, he was appointed as the commander of the Anxi General's Office of the Great Xin Dynasty, commanding 300,000 Anxi border troops to guard the Western Regions.
Li Jingyu, son of the famous general Li Kuang of the Great Xin Dynasty, fought alongside his father for many years. He was the vanguard general of the Xin Dynasty in recovering the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun and commanded 100,000 elite troops stationed in Youzhou.
Both men were renowned generals of the Great Xin Dynasty, and were utterly loyal to the Zhao family's imperial power.
Finally, Qin Ruhui said, "Your Majesty, the above is the strategy for quelling the rebellion that I and the six ministers have discussed together. Please make your decision!"
On the dragon throne, Zhao Gan, after listening to Qin Ruhui's report, nodded and expressed partial agreement with the strategy for suppressing the rebellion.
He said, "Prime Minister Qin, the strategy for suppressing the rebellion that you and the six ministers devised is excellent. In my opinion, there are no problems with either the attack strategy or the troops to be deployed."
"but--"
At this point, Zhao Gan suddenly changed the subject and continued, "Have you forgotten something? I will personally lead the expedition to quell this rebellion. In the memorial you just reported, I didn't hear a thing. Which army have you placed me in?"
"emperor--"
Upon hearing this, Qin Ruhui immediately prepared to explain.
Unexpectedly, Zhao Gan didn't give him the chance at all, interrupting Qin Ruhui directly: "Prime Minister Qin, there's no need to say more, I know what you want to say!"
"It's simply because they're afraid of the risks of the emperor personally leading the campaign, and they're worried that that traitor Chen Huai'an might disturb His Majesty's presence, right?"
After a pause, Zhao Gan continued, "A mere Chen Huai'an is not enough to frighten me!"
"I have made my decision—"
"I hereby appoint myself as the Supreme General of the Heavenly Strategy, leading an army of 500,000 to Longcheng to quell the rebellion. The Anxi border army will still be under the command of Guo Dingfang. The 200,000 Japanese pirate soldiers and the 200,000 Tiger Warriors will be personally commanded by me."
"As for Li Jingyu, let him serve as a vanguard general by my side!"
"That's the decision. Court is adjourned!"
"Your Majesty, this is unacceptable, Your Majesty!"
At this moment, an untimely voice of opposition suddenly rang out in the Great Xin court.
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