Chapter 127: Reprimand

As it turned out, the doubts and waiting of His Majesty and the Nanyang central command did not last long, because the Jin could not afford to waste much time either, letting the opportunity for battle slip away... Whether the initial surprise attacks succeeded or failed, they had to continue advancing. So as the late autumn of September arrived, perhaps as the Jin's follow-up forces gradually managed to assemble, the outlines of the Jin main force began to appear one by one.

Among them, news of Wanyan Loushi came first.

This general, recognized within the Jin army and likely also by the Song army as the Jin's ever-victorious commander, the most reliable general under Wanyan Zhanhan, led the main force of the Jin Western Route Army, fifty thousand strong, across the Yellow River, landing at the mouth of the Yan River, advancing upstream to strike directly at Yan'an.

The news came with a considerable delay; counting the time, it was not much later than the five-pronged surprise attacks. And according to information forwarded by Yuwen Xuzhong from the local Grand Coordinator, Wang Shu, the Prefect of Yan'an, Qu Duan, had abandoned resistance, essentially choosing to withdraw directly. It was possible that Yan'an had already fallen by now.

To this, His Majesty and the various officials at the central command could not really utter any words of reproach.

After all, the disparity in troop strength was so great, and Wanyan Loushi's record and reputation were right there. Avoiding a direct confrontation to preserve strength was a reasonable choice. Besides, regarding Guanxi and Li Yanxian, the Nanyang court had long made it clear: delay as long as possible, hold out as much as possible, with no additional demands... So Qu Duan's actions this time truly left nothing to quibble over.

Only, everything suffers in comparison. The news had just arrived of a minister of Zhang Suo's caliber dying for the state, and of Xin Daozong, a scion His Majesty had secretly looked down upon, dying in battle. Then came Qu Duan's voluntary abandonment of Yan'an, which inevitably stirred some comparisons in people's minds.

But still, as said before, from the current perspective, knowing only that he had abandoned Yan'an left one with nothing to say.

The second major general revealed after Wanyan Loushi was somewhat surprising, yet also within reason... he too belonged to the Western Route Army—the so-called Taiyuan Garrison Commander, Wanyan Yinshuke.

Because Li Yanxian's counterattack had succeeded, and Wanyan Loushi had led the Western Route Army's main force across the river, the military situation in Shanxi and Hedong gradually came into view for the Song army. Only then did everyone realize that Wanyan Yinshuke, the second-ranking general of the Jin Western Route Army, had not budged an inch, holding fast in Taiyuan.

His presence not only successfully received the defeated and retreating Wanyan Saba but also caused one of Li Yanxian's bold strategic plans to die in the womb, plunging Hedong into a stalemate.

At this point, the troop deployment of the Jin Western Route Army was essentially roughly determined:

Wanyan Loushi effectively took on the role of the main assault commander, leading fifty thousand troops across the Yellow River to sweep through Shaanxi;

Wanyan Yinshuke led twenty thousand troops to garrison Taiyuan (the Taiyuan Basin); Wanyan Gushen and Yelu Yudu, with unknown troop numbers, garrisoned Hezhong Prefecture (the Linfen area in later ages), jointly ensuring Jin control over the Shanxi and Hedong region while also securing Wanyan Loushi's rear;

Wanyan Saba (Wanyan Saili's younger brother), Wanyan Balisu (Wanyan Yinshuke's younger brother), and Yelu Mawu each led between five and ten thousand troops to participate in the surprise attacks.

At this point, there might still be unclear details like Yelu Mawu's sudden rise, the transfer of Yelu Yudu's military authority, and Wanyan Gushen's unknown troop strength, but the overall strategic deployment of the Western Route Army was already fully revealed—there was offense and defense, conventional and unconventional.

And this seemed to prove once again that the Jin Western Route Army was still the toughest, most battle-hardened, and most strategically and tactically adept unit among the Jin.

Time moved on. By the time of the Double Ninth Festival on the ninth day of the ninth month, as messengers from the Tokyo Garrison Command arrived one after another, the rest of the Jin army's deployment was also completely exposed. And this time it was much simpler—the Jin's Grand Marshal Wanyan Zhanhan, Left Vice Marshal Third Prince Wanyan Eriduo, Right Vice Marshal Wanyan Talan, and Marshal Left Army Supervisor Fourth Prince Wanyan Wushu were all in the Great Ming Prefecture area. Moreover, after follow-up troops arrived, Wanyan Talan and Wanyan Wushu immediately divided their forces and crossed the river southward. The former advanced from Puzhou (northeast of Kaifeng), the latter from Zhengzhou (west of Kaifeng), bypassing the most fiercely contested Huazhou (directly north of Kaifeng), attempting to launch a fierce pincer attack on Tokyo.

"Wanyan Balisu and Yelu Mawu's troops should count as the Western Route Army's support for the Eastern Route Army. Counting them as twenty thousand, then around Tokyo, that's one hundred and twenty thousand Jin main force?!" Inside the increasingly bustling and crowded Yushan camp barracks, the visiting Minister of War, Chen Gui, couldn't help but look grim upon hearing this military intelligence.

"So what if it's one hundred and twenty thousand?" Privy Councilor Lu Yihao replied coldly. "Just twenty thousand more."

"So what if it's one hundred and twenty thousand?" Chen Gui was almost angered into laughter. "Privy Councilor Lu! Lord Lu! The Jin have twenty thousand more, while we lost Zhang Suo, meaning we have twenty thousand fewer. One increase and one decrease—doesn't that change it from the original two hundred thousand against one hundred thousand to one hundred and eighty thousand against one hundred and twenty thousand? Before it was two to one, now it's three to two. That's already dangerous enough."

"Wanyan Zhanhan and Wanyan Eriduo won't cross the river. Based on Jin combat habits, they should stop around Great Ming Prefecture and Puyang to supervise the army. Wanyan Eriduo might even withdraw early," Hu Hongxiu said cautiously, having been much more subdued after several beatings in officialdom. "And to protect the rear, Great Ming Prefecture and Puyang should leave behind twenty to thirty thousand troops as reserves and support."

"Is that the kind of talk for a Privy Council military staff officer?" The nearly sixty-year-old Chen Gui immediately shot back, leaving Hu Hongxiu too intimidated to respond. "If the Jin want to leave heavy troops in Great Ming Prefecture to control the Yellow River, wouldn't Garrison Commander Zong at Huazhou also have to station troops to guard against that?"

"Minister Chen," Liu Ziyu clasped his hands in greeting. "Staff Officer Hu means that, given the situation, from the overall perspective, while we can't say we have no troops to deploy, we are constrained by the big picture. What we can actually do is limited."

"Are we supposed to just sit by and let Tokyo fall into enemy hands again? That is the legitimate capital of the nation!" Chen Gui said indignantly. "It shouldn't have been lost during the Jingkang Incident! I've been there myself—such a big city, so many troops, storehouses full of supplies—it should have been held!"

"What use is talking about the Jingkang past now?" Lu Yihao sighed, folding his hands, once again siding with his nominal subordinate Liu Ziyu. "Minister Chen, we all know you regret not being able to come to the emperor's aid back then, and because you've gradually become recognized by the realm as skilled in defense and knowledgeable about military affairs, that regret has never diminished. Now you wish you could take Garrison Commander Zong's place to defend Tokyo... But those of us here, many of whom personally experienced the Jingkang Incident, feel that the current situation is already ten or a hundred times better than the Jingkang years. At the very least, we don't have to take the blame for our superiors and then be tied up by our own subordinates and sent to the Jin camp in a daze."

Chen Gui was momentarily stunned, and the others in the room fell silent.

Lu Yihao continued, folding his hands and sighing: "During the Jingkang Incident, it was like a nation on the verge of ruin, with monsters appearing everywhere. All sorts of incidents, when viewed at the time, seemed to make sense, but looking back from a distance now, they seem utterly absurd... Like father and son fighting, brothers at odds—could you have imagined that someone as proper as Lord Yuwen was involved back then? And once you get caught up in that kind of thing, what absurd and ridiculous act couldn't you commit? But look at him today."

The room had long since fallen silent. From Wang Boyan on down, everyone seemed lost in thought, lost in memory.

"And the New Party versus Old Party struggle..."

Lu Yihao continued standing before the large desk that had been set up only half a month ago, sighing slowly. "They all say that Lord Lu in Nanyang City is a 'three-article lord,' and Lord Xu in Xiangyang City is a 'pile-of-articles lord.' But as Zhang Deyuan said by the Baihe River before, during the siege of Jingkang, it was these very two who urged the Emperor to change the curriculum at the Imperial Academy, pardon the Yuanyou faction, and remove Prince Shu Wang from the sacrificial rites of the Supreme Sage, to the point that the people of Tokyo made up jokes to mock them... I'm old, my memory isn't what it used to be. What was that saying? Does anyone remember?"

"Reporting to the Privy Councilor."

Moqi Xie, a rising star in the Privy Council who had just returned, stepped forward and clasped his hands with a smile. "I was at the Imperial Academy at the time, and I happen to remember. It went something like: 'Don't care about Taiyuan, but care about the Imperial Academy. Don't care about autumn defense, but care about the Spring and Autumn Annals. Don't care about catapult stones, but care about Wang Anshi. Don't care about Prince Su, but care about Prince Shu. Don't care about Yanshan, but care about Nie Shan. Don't care about Tokyo, but care about Cai Jing. Don't care about the Hebei region, but care about exempting candidates from exams. Don't care about Hedong, but care about Chen Dong. Don't care about the Second Prince, but care about establishing the Crown Prince.'"

"Yes, that's it... Truly laughable!"

Lu Yihao continued folding his hands, then sighed again. "And that matter of the demonic man Guo Jing, and the matter of that monk Zongyin who was killed earlier. If you want to talk about reasoning, of course there was reasoning... When Tian Dan was besieged in Jimo, every time he decided whether to send out troops, he would consult divination about good or ill fortune, and every time he went out to battle, he won. And before, when Garrison Commander Zong was in Hebei, he also divined before every battle, but he lost every time... Isn't it all the same idea? In extraordinary times, when authority is insufficient, you use ghosts and gods to fool the subordinates, to reassure the people and boost the soldiers' morale. But throughout history, those who got caught up in their own tricks and ended up treating them as a lifeline—that was only those two incidents during the Jingkang Incident!"

The barracks fell completely silent. Lu Yihao paused for a moment after speaking, then suddenly turned and changed his expression toward Chen Gui: "Minister Chen!"

"Lord Lu." Chen Gui was startled and quickly braced himself to clasp his hands in response.

"Let me ask you, what is the use of your outburst today?!" Lu Yihao said with a half-smile, clearly reprimanding him. "You keep going on about what happened during the Jingkang Incident, but what difference is there between your current behavior and those idle people during Jingkang who, relying on the emperor's favor, ruined things when faced with great calamity?!"

Chen Gui was dumbfounded and opened his mouth to explain.

"You don't need to say more." Lu Yihao sneered at him. "Don't you think you have talent and want to make a difference? But hasn't His Majesty let you make a difference? From a mere county magistrate who passed the Classics exam, to Pacification Commissioner, then Minister of War—turning purple robes in a single year—what kind of trust is that? You say you know how to defend a city, but Nanyang is now the auxiliary capital, where His Majesty and the central command are located—hasn't that been entrusted to you?! Haven't troops been gradually transferred into Nanyang City these past few days? In the previous months, weren't you already permitted to conscript laborers at will to modify the city defenses? As for the overall military situation at the front, dozens of people in the Privy Council eat and sleep in this camp, working day and night without stop—what methods haven't we considered? Even today's matter, whether to send reinforcements or not, is merely lacking a decision. Where does it fall to you to throw a tantrum and interrogate people in front of two Privy Councilors and an entire Bureau of Military Operations?!"

"Your subordinate is ashamed." Chen Gui's face was bright red as he awkwardly responded.

"You don't need to be ashamed." Lu Yihao continued folding his hands with a cold laugh. "In the old days, I would have thrown you out of the court even if it cost me my position as councilor. But His Majesty has decided that Nanyang City will still rely on you in the future, so I'll tolerate you for now. Let's see how you apply yourself to defending the city... Go and deploy your troops quickly. Don't let down His Majesty's trust."

Chen Gui had no choice but to respectfully bow and agree, then take his leave.

As they say, everything has its nemesis. Chen Gui was nearly sixty and the Minister of War... In fact, in the barracks at that moment, only the two Privy Councilors were older and held higher rank, capable of reprimanding him. But as the emperor's new favorite, how could someone of Wang Boyan's temperament risk offending him? So in the end, he fell into the hands of Lu Yihao, known for his strictness and harshness.

Not entirely unexpected.

Chen Gui came and went in a hurry, and the barracks resumed its noisy arguments as before, with Lu Yihao closing his eyes to rest as usual.

Meanwhile, Wang Boyan, who had been silent all along, looked at the empty chair at the far end of the large desk and couldn't help frowning slightly. He quietly called out to Moqi Xie:

"How long has His Majesty been out? Who is accompanying him?"

"He's been out for about an hour," Moqi Xie quickly replied respectfully. "Only Lady Wu in military attire with a sword, Deputy Commander Liu (Liu Yan) leading the palace guards, and Junior Academician Lin as company. It's said that, seeing the fine weather and the Double Ninth Festival, he went to climb the heights on Yushan... Perhaps he is thinking of the Two Emperors from afar."

"It's not about thinking of the Two Emperors from afar; he's gone to make a decision," Wang Boyan sighed in response. "You're young and have good legs. Go wait on the mountain and come back with His Majesty."

"Yes." Moqi Xie was only too happy to take on this errand and immediately acknowledged it before leaving.

Wang Boyan watched Moqi Xie's hurried retreating figure and shook his head repeatedly.