Chapter 172: Chapter Four: The Rivers and Lakes Are Full of Storms (Continued)

That spring-summer transition, both Song and Jin were plagued with endless troubles.

Here, the imperial heir passed away; there, the imperial younger brother fell gravely ill; here, the Grand Councilor stepped down; there, three factions vied for succession; not to mention that earlier, here they had lost northern Shaanxi, leaving the Guanzhong region in a mess with almost no hope of sorting it out, while there, the eastern army returned without merit, having lost men and generals, breeding internal resentment.

And by early summer, both sides simultaneously faced major external crises.

For Zhao Song, it was naturally the shock and terror caused by Liu Yu of Jinan abruptly declaring himself emperor… Such an event had an enormous impact on the Han people, especially since Liu Yu was originally a legitimate Zhao Song official, a scholar-official who had passed the imperial examinations. The psychological impact of this could not be dispelled by simply imitating some Grand General and drinking a few cups of wine while cursing a bit.

As for the Jin, the Mongols had officially rebelled!

To speak of it, the Mongols had been a border threat to the Khitans as early as the Khitan period. After the Jin inherited the Khitan border situation, transitioning from border threat to landlord themselves, they inevitably inherited other Khitan border troubles, the most prominent of which were the Mongols.

In fact, as early as when Wanyan Aguda rose to power, due to the Khitan's weakness, the Mongols on the steppe also quickly shook off suppression and entered a phase of expansion and consolidation. Among them, the most powerful tribe was the oldest of the Mongol tribes, the Kiyad, whose leader was Khabul of the Borjigin clan.

In the second year of Jingkang, taking advantage of the Jin army's main force heading south, Khabul convened an alliance of the tribes and was jointly elected as the Mongol chieftain… which was essentially a khan in a certain sense, and from then on Khabul could be called Khabul Khan.

However, Khabul's khanate was elected, not achieved through tribal warfare and consolidation, so his control was not very strong. The significance of his existence was also as a representative of the Mongols, to strive for a certain degree of autonomy from the Jin on everyone's behalf.

Therefore, after the Jin successfully engineered the Jingkang Incident and the main force of hundreds of thousands of troops returned, Khabul wisely chose diplomatic negotiations with the Jin. The final result of the discussions was that he formally accepted the Jin's imperial appointment, becoming a so-called "King of the Mongols," and the following year, when the Zhao Emperor was muddling along in Nanyang, he chose to personally travel to the Jin capital, Huining Prefecture, to pay homage to the Jin ruler, Wanyan Wuqimai.

Up to this point, it seemed the two sides would settle their status and return to the stable situation of the former Khitan era.

But for some unknown reason, at this time, an outrageous incident occurred during a banquet… Khabul drank too much—whether truly drunk or feigning it was unknown—and actually went up and personally stroked the beard of the Jin Emperor Wuqimai. Wuqimai, on his part, immediately flew into a "rage" over the discourtesy, had him seized on the spot, and harshly reprimanded him while forcing him to kneel below the dais like a subject.

It was even said that he took the opportunity to strike Khabul a few blows on the shins to vent his anger from being beaten by Nianhan.

Khabul was reportedly too drunk to remember at the time, but after waking up, he surely harbored a grudge. This fellow pretended nothing was wrong, toured Huining Prefecture for a while, and then, when the Imperial Younger Brother suddenly fell gravely ill and the frontline war situation became unstable, and Wuqimai and other dignitaries went south to Yanjing to meet the army, he took the opportunity to bid farewell and then slipped back to the Mongol steppe.

And then he rebelled.

In truth, given the strategic posture of the Mongols and the Jin, war between them was inevitable… The great Liao had collapsed, and the Mongols naturally wanted to seize the chance to gain independence, unwilling to be oppressed by the Jurchens who had once been their equals. The Jurchens, of course, wanted to emulate the Khitans and make the Mongols submit as vassals, obediently acting as their dogs.

There was a fundamental contradiction between the two sides, and the farce between Khabul and Wanyan Wuqimai seemed to have an element of mutual probing.

But regardless, it was indeed quite dramatic that the Borjigin and Wanyan clans ended up launching their first full-scale war over a beard issue.

A slight pity was that the Zhao Emperor was unaware of this at the time; otherwise, he would have surely made a point of recording it in his notebook. Because relatively speaking, during these days, he couldn't help but find life a bit dull, even losing some interest in certain national affairs that should have been of utmost importance.

"Are there any fingers in it this time?"

During the spring-summer transition, with the south wind blowing strong, the Zhao Emperor, who was dedicated to single-handedly eliminating all wild mammals larger than rats from the ruins of Genyue, turned his head and, seeing Yang Yizhong approaching with a familiar box, couldn't help but show a wary expression.

"Your servant dared not open it privately." Yang Yizhong was startled for a moment before bowing. "This is a secret dispatch from Controller-in-Chief Zhai of the Left Army of the Imperial Encampment…"

Zhao Jiu glanced at Zhai Biao, who was standing nearby, and then pursed his lips, signaling this son to open his father's dispatch box, though it was unclear what he was guarding against. Zhai Biao, without any hesitation, stepped forward, took the box, and opened it. Sure enough, there were no little fingers inside, only a piece of ordinary silk.

Only then did the Zhao Emperor relax. He put down his bow and arrow, stepped forward to take it, but after reading just one character, he felt his blood pressure rise again. It turned out the writing on the document was in red ink, and he didn't need to guess that Zhai Chong was up to some trick.

So Zhao Jiu raised his hand again and handed the document to Zhai Biao: "You read it!"

"May Your Majesty know, your servant has known few characters since childhood…" Zhai Biao took the document, pretended to look at it for a moment, then respectfully lowered his head and returned it with both hands.

If you don't know characters, why did you look at it for a few moments?

Zhao Jiu was almost amused into anger, but directly handed it to Lin Jingmo on the other side while casually asking: "Then does your father know characters?"

"May Your Majesty know, my father at home knows even fewer characters than I do." Zhai Biao was unabashed.

Zhao Jiu couldn't be bothered to respond this time.

Little Academician Lin took it, paused briefly, and then read aloud:

"Kowtowing to greet Your Majesty. I only learned in Xiping at the start of the month about the traitor Liu in Jinan Prefecture. I am furious. But since I am following Your Majesty's orders to rest and recuperate with Grand Commandant Han in Huaixi, I should not interfere. Yet, though I don't understand great principles, I often hear people say there cannot be two suns in the sky nor two masters for the people. If this traitor Liu is ignored, won't people think Your Majesty has no loyal and reliable men to use? I thought it over and over, growing angrier each time, so I bit my finger, let the blood drip, and had the scribe write this dispatch with my blood on it. I only want Your Majesty to know that if we are to attack Jinan, I will surely lead the way, capture the traitor Liu alive just like Grand Commandant Han captured Fang La back then, and then cut him into a thousand pieces to vent Your Majesty's anger…"

Zhao Jiu remained silent for a long while after hearing this.

Little Academician Lin had no choice but to wait for a moment before reminding him: "Your Majesty, that's all there is."

"Send a reply… send a reply to all the Controller-in-Chiefs of the Imperial Encampment, with just one message: from now on, no more writing dispatches with this bloody nonsense!" Zhao Jiu shook his head and then immediately picked up his bow and arrow again. "Also, add a separate note to that Liu Wenshun who cut off his finger. Tell him I know he is from Jinan and that he hates Liu Yu to the core, but no matter what, expressing loyalty is one thing, he should still take care of himself…"

"Is that all?" Amidst the wind, Little Academician Lin stepped forward and spoke seriously.

Zhao Jiu was slightly startled, then put down his bow and arrow again: "What does Minister Lin say?"

Little Academician Lin hesitated slightly but still spoke frankly: "Your Majesty, your servant believes that although the rebel Liu is a jumping clown, he has set a precedent… If he is not swiftly destroyed, while we need not worry about Jinan becoming a real threat, we must be cautious of wavering morale among our own people."

"Minister Lin is right." Zhao Jiu nodded, becoming slightly more serious. "But Minister Lin, suppressing the rebellion in the southeast, resettling the displaced people of Henan into households, renovating Dongjing, resting and reorganizing the army, mediating disputes in Guanzhong—which of these is not urgent? As for Liu Yu declaring himself emperor, it did catch me a bit off guard, because I thought that since we had driven away the Jin army, with only the seven prefectures of Jingdong, he wouldn't have the confidence to declare himself emperor again. But deep down, in the long run, I have anticipated the emergence of such people from the start… In other words, I was prepared for someone to declare themselves emperor, I just didn't expect it to be now. And if you want me to disrupt our own plans just because of his sudden declaration, I feel that would be a loss outweighing the gain."

Little Academician Lin clasped his hands and chose to continue listening… This was a special way of communication between him and the Zhao Emperor. Many times, when he didn't understand, didn't grasp it, or even disagreed, he wouldn't voice opposition but would choose this method to maintain communication. Correspondingly, the Zhao Emperor seemed to need such a person of deep cunning who was good at listening.

In fact, as the inner drafter actually managing affairs at Zhao Jiu's side, coupled with his own deep and calculating nature, Little Academician Lin was likely the person who had heard the most of the Zhao Emperor's political opinions.

On the other hand, when only trusted confidants like Lin Jingmo and Yang Yizhong were by his side, Zhao Jiu generally didn't bother to conceal anything:

"And the fact that this happened now presents a major problem: if we act immediately to suppress the rebellion, can we achieve a quick victory? If we can win quickly, fine. If we cannot win quickly… I won't even mention defeat, just say we can't win quickly… then a mere campaign to suppress Jinan will disrupt the entire grand strategy. In the end, when the Jin return in full force this year, nothing will be prepared. We are too weak right now!"

Lin Jingmo finally nodded slowly.

He didn't fully agree with the Zhao Emperor's prioritization, at least not in thinking that the southeast, Guanzhong, Dongjing's defenses, and army rest were more important or had higher priority than this matter. But he did agree with the Zhao Emperor's final concern.

It must be understood that after the previous battle, the Great Song had emptied its reserves, lost a large number of elite troops, abandoned northern Shaanxi, completely emptied Henan, and cut off supplies from the southeast. They were only maintaining a superficial posture of "victory" through the courage gained from the Battle of Changshe and the political prestige of the Zhao Emperor returning to the old capital.

But in reality?

In reality, Han Shizhong's hasty conscription after returning to Huaixi had once sparked local unrest, forcing the Zhao Emperor to personally write to him, urging him to stabilize military discipline.

In reality, due to the re-registration of households in Henan and the relief provided to returning refugees, the granaries in Nanyang and Xiangyang had also dropped to a very dangerous level.

In reality, although Chen Gui said Dongjing could be defended, his plans were repeatedly constrained by the shortage of laborers and the allocation of funds and grain.

In reality, because the southeast had cut off supplies while simultaneously taking over the massive Dongjing Garrison Army, all officials were receiving half salaries to save money. As for the Zhao Emperor coming to Dongjing and moving into the imperial city, even weeding the rear palace was done by Lady Wu leading a few newly returned minor eunuchs. Even the Zhao Emperor's daily hunting to replace target archery practice was initially because the palace was overrun with foxes, rats, cats, and rabbits, constantly startling the few remaining palace attendants…

So pitiful was the situation that, with such a vast palace standing there, even the two princesses had to live under someone else's roof when they returned.

At such a time, the Zhao Emperor himself insisted on sticking to the original plan, temporarily ignoring Jinan, and enduring this most difficult period before making a thunderous strike. This seemed quite reasonable.

After all, as the Zhao Emperor himself said, if they dispatched troops and couldn't achieve a quick victory, what then?

Would the entire situation collapse?

Unknown.

But it would certainly severely impact the new round of major warfare in the autumn.

Back to the present, since Little Academician Lin understood the Emperor's meaning, he nodded slightly again, stopped asking about this matter, and instead directly requested to withdraw. Zhao Jiu immediately granted permission… This was as expected. Little Academician Lin was going not only to write letters to appease those Controller-in-Chiefs but also to roughly convey the Emperor's intentions to some people. Some things were not suitable for the Emperor to communicate openly and directly, so this method was used to transmit the message.

Little Academician Lin would tell Censor-in-Chief Hu Yin, ensuring the Censorate didn't cause trouble; he would tell a few Hanlin Academicians, giving the entire civil service system a foundation, perhaps reducing resistance during public discussions.

Once Little Academician Lin had left, Yang Yizhong remained. Zhao Jiu paid him no mind, simply shouldering his bow and heading deeper into the vast ruins of Genyue, with Yang Yizhong and a few palace guards immediately following.

"Are there any recent rumors in the Eastern Capital?" Zhao Jiu finally spoke up after shooting a rabbit that had been brazenly mating in broad daylight with a single arrow.

"The matter of the traitor Liu proclaiming himself emperor has shaken the court and the public alike; every move he makes draws attention... from the ceremonial forms of his enthronement, to his sacrifices to Kong Sheng, to the manifesto he issued denouncing Your Majesty as having lost the Mandate of Heaven and holding the throne illegitimately—all of these are subjects of discussion." Yang Yizhong replied earnestly.

"What about the provinces?"

"In the provinces, if we speak of Henan, it is still manageable, but once you cross the line of Nanyang and Shouchun, in the wealthy lands further south, there is also much discussion about the founding of the puppet Qi dynasty."

"It seems this matter has greatly shaken people's hearts. The Jin have played a rather clever move." After several of the Personal Guards picked up the game, Zhao Jiu continued deeper into the ruins. "Aside from this, is there any other talk..."

"Please, Your Majesty, be more specific."

"What do the court and the public think of me spending these days doing nothing, hunting all day, while entrusting most government affairs to the chief councilors?"

"Let Your Majesty know, setting aside the matter of the puppet Qi, regarding Your Majesty's conduct alone, there is actually no ill will from top to bottom... First, handing government affairs to the chief councilors and turning them over to the Department of State Affairs and the Bureau of Military Affairs is inherently reasonable; some even say this is ruling by non-action..."

"I forgot about that... Is this a human skull? There's a Mei Chaofeng... I'm not talking to you, so what then?"

"Then... second, everyone also knows of Your Majesty's and the palace's difficulties. After spring, the palace grounds were overgrown with weeds; Your Majesty shot rabbits, Lady Wu pulled weeds, yet you refused Wu's tribute, and all the wealth and silk delivered from Nanyang did not enter the palace... these matters are known to all."

"Don't just speak of the good. In truth, do you think I'm willing to just shoot rabbits here? If I were in Nanyang, how free and easy it would be to go out of the city and boat on the Baihe River, or go fishing. Even if Qu Duan composed a poem mocking me every day, I would still do it. If I could personally shoot a tiger and watch Sun Lang, with a thousand horsemen sweeping across the level hills, I would consider it worthwhile even if Minister Lu died remonstrating against it." Zhao Jiu continued searching for game while speaking with a bitter smile. "Of course, they don't know that I truly don't understand those government affairs. Between governance and military matters, just coordinating personnel, appeasing ministers, and making decisions already exhausts my mind. How could I possibly emulate Zhuge Liang and attend to everything personally? So I can only hide here shooting rabbits to supplement the household expenses..."

"..."

"What did you mean earlier by 'setting aside the matter of the puppet Qi'?"

"There are still some who discuss those manifestos of the puppet Qi..." Yang Yizhong's tone could not help but become slightly more cautious.

"I understand." Zhao Jiu was unconcerned and continued deeper into Genyue in search of game.

Yang Yizhong also said no more, merely following along.

And so the two walked side by side. But perhaps because the wind was strong, His Majesty missed several shots at game. However, it was at this moment that Zhao Jiu suddenly realized something, stopped, and turned back:

"Is there something else?"

"Yes..." Yang Yizhong replied carefully. "Grand Defender Yue's army has already crossed the river, and Yangzhou itself is stable. It is said that Lady Pan is begging the Empress Dowager to issue an edict allowing her to come to the Eastern Capital to meet with Your Majesty... In just a day or two, Lady Pan's memorial requesting to return to the Eastern Capital should also arrive, so I do not know whether I should speak of this matter or not."

Zhao Jiu was silent for a moment, then raised his bow and aimed at a silver-white feral cat on a distant artificial mountain that was not afraid of people and was baring its claws at something. He suddenly loosed an arrow. The arrow traced an extremely bizarre arc in the wind, and at the very end of its clearly descending trajectory, struck the feral cat dead with a single shot.

"Let her come, then!" At this point, amidst the strange sound of the wind, Zhao Jiu finally let out a sigh. "Such a large palace can always accommodate a few more people... Otherwise, what can I do? I can't very well drive her away, can I?"