[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-shao-song":3,"chapter-shao-song-shao-song-chapter-121":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Shao Song",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1558287,2024,"Chapter 121: Tongbao","shao-song-chapter-121",121,"\u003Cp>Unlike the bureaucrats who craved stability, even pursuing it with a pathological obsession, Zhao Jiu had long anticipated this wave of Jin Jun's arrival... There was no reason for the Jin Jun not to come. In fact, in the four years of Song-Jin warfare, for the first three years, they retreated as soon as the weather turned hot and marched south as soon as it turned cool. Even the troop deployments and operational strategies were identical each time: the so-called Eastern and Western Route Armies, each with over a hundred thousand men from a dozen or so Wanhu units, of which fifty to sixty thousand were Jin Jun and the remaining forty to fifty thousand from other tribes. They were especially fond of decapitation tactics, fixating on the enemy's core cities and primary commanders.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So why, after coming for three years, would they not come in the fourth?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In truth, all treaties, declarations of war, and interstate diplomacy were false. For a nation like the Jin, which had not yet shed its barbarian mindset, the reality was simple: if they could fight, they fought; if they could plunder, they plundered—unless they had been beaten and terrified into submission.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even based on this habitual pattern of campaigning, they should have been preparing this year's southern invasion. And that was without even considering the imperial edict.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And then, perhaps because of this starkly different attitude toward war, His Majesty and the Nanyang bureaucrats completely lost their former harmony.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In truth, these bureaucrats understood some of the reasoning; they had heard some of the words spoken by a certain person. But when the moment of truth arrived, they still found it hard to accept. Within a few days, emotions like panic, perfunctoriness, and pessimism began to spread through the auxiliary capital of Nanyang. Phenomena such as going through the motions and even desertion appeared one after another, as if it hadn't been them who had been elated just months earlier over Nanyang's thriving prosperity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His Majesty was naturally disappointed by this, but not utterly so, because he had only mustered three months of confidence in this group. Besides, compared to a year ago, these people at least would not and dared not speak of peace negotiations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same time, turning back to Zhao Jiu's perspective, aside from some initial shock, His Majesty had become increasingly composed as time went on... After all, it wasn't as if he had done nothing in these past six months. Having accomplished so much, even if the situation was worrying, could it be as bad as last year's?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If he truly suffered another crushing defeat, with the enemy scouring the mountains and seas after him, then he, as a time traveler, deserved to die without a burial place.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, His Majesty had long since planned it out: three defensive lines, five layers of staggered resistance. Could they really fail to tear off a few chunks of flesh from the Jin Army?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And by the time the Jin Jun reached Nanyang, which he directly controlled, they would inevitably be at the end of their strength. All he had to do was defend the city! Even if Nanyang couldn't be held, he could fall back to Xiangyang behind him and ensure that the backbone of the Great Song never fell. Wasn't that possible?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To put it bluntly, use whatever strength you have and just do it! If he couldn't be Li Shimin, couldn't he at least be Empress Dowager Cixi?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Zhong Xiang wants grain?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Newly appointed but recognized as the most senior civil official, Privy Councilor Lu Yihao looked up and replied coldly. \"Your Ministry of Revenue actually thinks we should give it to him?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Except for His Majesty, who was fiddling with a Jianyan Tongbao coin behind the imperial desk, showing insufficient respect to the others, everyone else—from Lan Gui and Yang Yizhong standing at his side, to the several chief councilors, high-ranking officials of the Six Ministries, key censors and remonstrance officials, as well as close ministers like the young Academician Lin and Hanlin Academicians and Secretariat Drafter, and even the lower-ranking officials like Liu Ziyu, Mo Qixie, and Hu Hongxiu further down the hall—all wore serious expressions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because the target of Lu Yihao's rebuke was Minister of Revenue Lin Qi, and Lin Qi was the highest-ranking spokesperson for Li Gang, Duke Li, in Nanyang. And the topic under discussion was also an extremely serious one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under the gaze of countless people, Minister of Revenue Lin Qi clenched his jaw and, while maintaining politeness, replied in a deep voice: \"Reporting to the Privy Councilor, the Ministry of Revenue believes we should give it.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Why?\" Lu Haowen, the other Councilor Lu, seeing the situation turn unfavorable, interjected to mediate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"On what grounds?!\" Lu Yihao didn't need Lu Haowen to interrupt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Because the central government does not lack grain,\" Lin Qi said earnestly and sincerely. \"Both Councilors Lu, since Zhong Xiang is still flying the banner of a court righteous army, he can be won over. Giving him grain now is not about hoping to use a little food to turn this rebel into an ally, but if it can pacify him for a time and prevent him from seizing the opportunity to rebel, that would be saving the situation.\" At this point, the Minister of Revenue turned to address the other colleagues. \"As for the future, even if Zhong Xiang later proves fickle, and even if some of today's grain ends up aiding the enemy, as long as it keeps him from rebelling now, once the Jin Jun withdraw, we will have ten thousand ways to settle accounts with him slowly... May I ask, why not do it?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yihao let out a cold laugh, his stance clear, while Lu Haowen fell silent for a moment, appearing to want to speak but holding back... The latter seemed swayed by Lin Qi's argument, yet feared this unrelated clansman Lu Yihao and dared not agree easily.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for the others in the hall, they too were hesitant, and it was clear that many had been convinced by Lin Qi.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even His Majesty, while toying with that Jianyan Tongbao coin, appeared lost in thought... Of course, His Majesty didn't have much feeling about the current dispute; he was merely reflecting on his own split personality because of it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To be honest, Zhao Jiu's attitude toward Zhong Xiang and Yang Yao, or rather toward this Dongting Lake force formed through religious association, had always been complex and changing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At first, Zhao Jiu had immediately recognized the name Zhong Xiang when he saw it on Ma Shen's memorial, because this man, as half the protagonist of the Dongting Lake uprising, had appeared in history books and *The Complete Tale of Yue Fei*. He was roughly a representative of peasant rebellion, a result of officials driving the people to revolt and the Zhao Song's ineffective resistance against the Jin. Even suppressing the Dongting Lake uprising had once become a stain on Yue Fei's life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, when His Majesty actually came into direct contact with information from this era, he immediately changed his previous view. Because as far as he knew, Zhong Xiang did use religious associations to help the local poor, but at the same time, he had also been calling himself a \"Great Sage\" on Dongting Lake from very early on. After the Jingkang Incident last year, he had even directly tried to use supernatural hints to suggest he was the \"King of Chu.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In other words, a helper and exploiter of the poor, an ambitious demagogue and a utilitarian pursuer—these multiple facets were all the reality of Zhong Xiang... And this was also the reality for many peasant uprising leaders. Fang La, just a few years earlier, was the same, and Zhang Jiao, a thousand years before that, was no different.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So, without discussing the legitimacy and limitations of peasant uprisings, His Majesty, as a time traveler and a member of the Zhao family, naturally harbored a contradictory psychology.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As a time traveler, he was bound to have unlimited sympathy for the laboring masses—after all, in his previous life, he came from a poor rural background and had received that kind of education. But as the most... prominent member of the Zhao family in this realm, he couldn't help but feel a serious sense of threat toward a group destined to rebel.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And this contradictory psychology had recently reached an extreme.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Your Majesty.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just then, another close confidant of Li Gang, Li Guang, the Palace Censor and Lin Qi's greatest political ally in the hall, seeing that Lu Yihao was momentarily at a loss for words and that most people around had been swayed, naturally wanted to strike while the iron was hot. He gritted his teeth, stepped past the several councilors, and directly addressed His Majesty, who was lost in thought above, with a cupped-fist salute. \"There is precedent for this, just like with Defender-in-Chief Zong and Duke Li. Before Defender-in-Chief Zong returned to Dongjing, the area around Dongjing was full of bandit armies, but Defender-in-Chief Zong turned those bandit armies back into Great Song officers and soldiers. In the southeast, there were also repeated military mutinies, but Duke Li was there, and by not dwelling on the past and providing proper relief, didn't he turn soldiers who might have become rebels back into proper troops? So it is said that the strength of a nation lies in virtue, not in natural defenses. Even a rebel like Zhong Xiang might be pacified...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But didn't Duke Li's pacification of mutinous troops also produce a villain like Fan Qiong?\" Suddenly, the young Academician Lin, who had been silent all along, spoke up with a stern expression, directly cutting off Li Guang's words.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As soon as the young Academician Lin spoke, both the parties involved and everyone else in the hall were stunned, unsure how to respond.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, everyone knew the importance of the young Academician Lin in His Majesty's eyes. But first, the young Academician Lin valued his own status and was usually very reserved, rarely making public statements before the throne. Second, because of his surname, the young Academician Lin often deliberately avoided Minister of Revenue Lin Qi... Therefore, his sudden intervention now led many to mistakenly wonder if it was at His Majesty's behest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Zhong Xiang cannot be trusted!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just then, Lu Yihao also sorted out his thoughts and immediately counterattacked. \"Before the Jingkang Incident, the world believed the Jin Jun could not shake the overall situation, so at that time, Zhong Xiang sent his own son to come to the emperor's aid. But after the Jingkang Incident, seeing the Great Song in imminent peril, he couldn't wait to have his son reorganize the Dongting Lake fishermen into a rebel army and spread rumors about being the 'King of Chu.' When the auxiliary capital was established in Nanyang, and His Majesty acted with vigor, executing Ding Jin, driving out Wanyan Yinshu, sweeping Huaixi, and eliminating Fan Qiong, and the central government regained some vitality through a series of measures, he immediately accepted the central government's pacification. And now, as soon as news of the Jin invasion spreads, he immediately comes asking for grain... What is this? Is he asking for grain? I only see an ambitious opportunist testing the court! If you give him grain today, don't think it will stabilize him; instead, he will likely think the central government is weak and wait for the Jin Jun to arrive before raising his troops!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Privy Councilor Lu,\" Lin Qi came to his senses and quickly responded. \"Can we really explain matters of the human heart clearly?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Do you dare to vouch for him?!\" Lu Yihao replied coldly. \"If you dare to vouch for him, I will permit you to aid the enemy!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Qi became even more tongue-tied.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Enough.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as the tension in the hall reached its peak, His Majesty, who had been tossing a Tongbao coin in his hand, suddenly spoke. \"Isn't this just a gamble? Success or failure won't affect the big picture anyway... As if a single Zhong Xiang could poke a hole in the sky. If he doesn't rebel, that's good; but even if he does, can his waterborne forces come ashore, break through Ma Shen, and seize Xiangyang?!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone fell silent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His Majesty glanced at the Jianyan Tongbao coin he had caught and then suddenly laughed: \"My mind is made up. Better to give it to an internal thief than to an external invader... Give it to him! Minister Mo Qixie, you will make the trip again!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone realized how His Majesty had made his decision and found it absurd, but none could offer a better plan. They could only watch as Mo Qixie hurried forward to receive the imperial decree.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Starting tomorrow, I will no longer hold court here for your deliberations, and you need not all remain here.\" Zhao Jiu put away the Tongbao coin, stood up, and continued, leaving the full hall of officials even more stunned and fearful. \"With the war begun, I will take up residence at the Yushan camp. The Privy Council, from the two councilors down, will all follow me to the military. Prepare quickly. I want to see the full army's troop deployment at the camp tonight. Stop dealing with all other matters. As for the two chancellors of the Department of State Affairs, Councilor Lu will remain in Nanyang to oversee the overall situation, with sole decision-making authority. Councilor Xu, do not delay; go immediately to Xiangyang. If Nanyang faces upheaval, Councilor Xu can make major decisions together with Councilor Liu in Xiangyang. In any case, stop quarreling all day... Of course, the officials of the various ministries and bureaus should also split in two. Decide among yourselves who goes and who stays. Do not delay.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With that, His Majesty simply tucked his hands into his sleeves and headed toward the inner palace, leaving the hall in utter silence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Your Majesty!\" In the midst of this dead silence, Censor-in-Chief Hu Yin suddenly stepped forward and spoke loudly. \"The Censorate will not follow the same arrangement. We wish to split in two: half will attend Your Majesty, and half will go to various places to supervise the armies! There is no need to go to Xiangyang.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Countless people in the hall turned pale at these words, but His Majesty turned back with a smile, said nothing, and continued walking away with his hands tucked in his sleeves.\u003C\u002Fp>",2421,"2026-06-06T07:45:46.639Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","269d87de2f0e54a6bc55658fc99e24e5b58b4eb876f2fa11cf1b3d4d5ecc8684","shao-song-chapter-122","shao-song-chapter-120",489,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fshao-song-cover.jpg"]