Chapter 274

As everyone knows, Qin Hui's experiences and mentality after being taken captive to the Jin state underwent a gradual process.

At the very beginning, it was because his essays were well-written and he performed most gently and appropriately among the Song officials, so he gained the favor of Nianhan, and subsequently received preferential treatment during the journey north.

Just this matter alone actually amounted to nothing.

Then, he successively received protection and preferential treatment from Jin nobles like Wuqimai and Dalai, becoming a strange figure somewhere between a guest of honor and a prisoner among the Jin nobility. Although theoretically he was passive in all this, there was already a process where quantitative change led to qualitative change. Because during this process, Qin Hui gradually began to do some clerical work for these Jin nobles, received rewards of gold, silver, and silk, lived in a large mansion, and even gained the ability to influence certain matters through the Jin nobles.

Then one day, he began to follow Dalai on campaign, writing surrender letters and serving as a staff officer. At this point, the nature of his actions was already completely beyond doubt and difficult to cleanse.

But at this time, Qin Hui himself had always been cautious, or rather, deliberately concealing.

The reason was self-evident. Qin Huizhi, during his historic meeting with Hong Ya, had rarely bared his heart. He deeply knew that, no matter what, the best outcome was to return to the Great Song side while still alive and continue to be an official... He was a man from Huainan, a Presented Scholar, the grandson-in-law of a Chancellor, and the student of another Chancellor. Returning to the Great Song was true wealth and glory. And after witnessing with his own eyes the barbarism of the Jin people and the fate of the captured scholars and commoners in the Jin state, not only did he not arouse a spirit of resistance or sympathy, but on the contrary, he now only thought of quickly extricating himself and his family from this quagmire, returning to the Great Song to continue being a man above others. At worst, he would ignore the people of the Two Rivers and choose to stay in the Great Jin as a high official.

It was precisely for this reason that he always acted cautiously, tried not to show his face, and did not seek any official positions in the north, hoping that one day he could successfully return south and make his grand entrance... And interestingly, the high levels of the Jin state had always facilitated this.

However, all these exquisite plans and careful calculations were repeatedly and directly smashed by that Zhao official in the south... Like a hammer smashing porcelain, it couldn't be more direct.

Sometimes, Qin Hui couldn't help but feel a suspicion: was it because that official in the south was too young, a hothead? Then he would comfort himself, wondering if the other party might change in the future. But after comforting himself, he could only lament his own situation—curled up all day, when would he ever stretch out?!

And perhaps it was precisely because of this that, once an evil thought was born, this Academician Qin actually showed a somewhat indomitable attitude... Whether it was pursuing peace negotiations to return south, or seeking a high position in the north through peace negotiations, he could no longer tolerate the existence of someone like Nianhan.

The only fault was that the other party stood in his way!

Once the intention to kill arose, everything else was disregarded.

Of course, to put it another way... smashing the pot because it's cracked was roughly the same meaning.

Regardless, let's just say that Qin Huizhi, stimulated and lamenting his own situation, momentarily tore off that cowering demeanor, went back, and merely carrying some chestnuts, spoke with Jin Wushu, who had previously revealed some intentions, for about the time it takes to burn an incense stick, then directly took his leave. After Qin Hui left, Jin Wushu tossed and turned that night, unable to sleep for a time.

This was not to say that the plan Qin Hui proposed was not feasible. On the contrary, this Fourth Prince of the Jin state had never imagined that a pale-faced scholar could see the situation so thoroughly, easily dissecting it like a skilled butcher carving an ox, pointing out such a simple, direct, and highly feasible path—truly the feeling of using four ounces to deflect a thousand pounds... And with such a broad road so clearly laid out before him, this Fourth Prince instead became somewhat hesitant.

Not that he didn't dare. After all, the Fourth Prince had also climbed up on the last rungs of the founding merit, having rolled through mountains of corpses and seas of blood. How could he be afraid of this? His momentary hesitation was only due to worry that handling it this way might bring further turmoil to the state, and then leave an opening for the master of that dragon banner in the south.

That's right!

The Fourth Prince, who had narrowly escaped death at Yaoshan and crossed the river, was no longer the arrogant and conceited Fourth Prince of before. His pride, tyranny, and arrogance had long been washed clean by the heavy rain on the night of the great battle at Yaoshan, and the surging muddy waves when he later crossed the river!

Not only that, that battle had turned the river into blood. Whether it was Wanyan Loushi's divine charge, the overwhelming pressure of that dragon banner like Mount Tai pressing down, or Han Chang's sneer by the river, all had left an indelible impression on him. He no longer had any doubt about the revival of Zhao Song, nor any doubt about the decline of the Jin state's military power. Moreover, that day in Hezhong, while bobbing up and down holding that white wooden dragon, he had already sworn in his heart that if he survived, he must guard against arrogance and impetuosity, and must shoulder the heavy responsibility of his family and state... No matter what, he would never allow himself to witness that dragon banner pressing down on Yanjing with his own eyes.

Within two days, Wushu's heart was full of contradictions, but his face showed nothing at all, forcing Qin Hui to also suppress his anxiety and pretend nothing had happened... Until the morning of the third day, the two of them once again went to the Grand Marshal's Office for "court."

"Today, there are probably just these few matters..."

Nianhan sat alone in the high seat, drank a gulp of warm tea, then clapped his hands. "Besides these, there are a few things we need to actively do. First, I think we should send an envoy to Goryeo to demand tribute, and this time it must be doubled. Why? Because after Woliyan (Loushi) died in battle, Goryeo immediately sent envoys to Bianjing. This shows that they are fundamentally unconvinced in their hearts. But the more unconvinced they are, the stricter we should be."

Wushu, as well as the others, all nodded in agreement.

It had to be said that Nianhan's handling was still very appropriate... As for that wretched place of Goryeo, when the Jurchens were in Liaodong in the past, they truly regarded it as a formidable enemy and considered the Goryeo dynasty a wealthy place. But after swallowing Liao and overthrowing Song, taking the fertile lands of Hebei, looking at that wretched place of Goryeo, they felt too lazy even to move troops.

And since they had no intention of destroying the other side, it was extremely necessary to use diplomatic means to intimidate them as much as possible.

Nianhan did not look at the others, only saw Wushu nod, then no longer hesitated and directly nodded as well, continuing to speak from his seat: "Then it's settled. There's another matter. Yelu Ma Wu sent a message saying that Yelu Yudu has been acting strangely these days... What do you all think?"

Wushu and the others looked at each other. How were they supposed to look at this broken matter?

A high-ranking surrendered general stripped of military power, a Khitan who had once risen to the position of Right Army Supervisor in the Grand Marshal's Office of the Great Jin state. Back when the late Emperor was alive, this fellow's begging for children, wives, and concubines in the army had already aroused the suspicion of the late Emperor Wanyan Aguda. Later, during the Jin army's southern campaign to destroy Song and create the Jingkang Incident, the Song Emperor even wrote letters to seduce him into defecting, further arousing suspicion among the high levels of the Jin state, to the point that after Jingkang, his military power was gradually stripped away. And now, with Loushi dead in battle, and the state lord suddenly suffering a stroke, with you, Nianhan, becoming the State Councilor and Grand Marshal, and Huonü still causing trouble across the river with Basu, it would be strange if that Yelu Yudu didn't act strangely in the west!

So how to look at it? Just sit and look!

Anyway, he doesn't have a single soldier left. Can he still turn things around?

"My meaning is, let Basu kill him," Nianhan thought for a moment and continued. "To prevent him from running to the other side of the river and shaking morale."

"That's true, but if we really kill Yelu Yudu, what about Yelu Ma Wu and the rest of the Khitan troops in the Eastern and Western Route Armies?" Wushu said seriously. "Given the current situation, wouldn't that also shake people's hearts?"

Nianhan shook his head repeatedly: "I naturally know it would shake morale either way, but we have to look at it from another angle. If he runs to the other side of the river, whether he defects to the Song or the Western Xia, or goes through the Mongols to see Yelu Dashi and raises some banner, the Khitan army's morale will be shaken continuously. If we kill him, it's only a temporary shake. The so-called 'better a short pain than a long one'—we can also take the opportunity to show authority to the Khitan and Xi people in the army..."

Wushu immediately came to his senses and was about to nod.

But just then, Nianhan continued: "Moreover, he's been occupying that position in the Grand Marshal's Office for so many years. Getting rid of him now conveniently makes room for people like Basu and Huonü to come up."

Everyone perked up together.

Say what you will, the Great Jin state still had to talk about military power... It was precisely because Yelu Yudu had lost military power that he was being discussed like a pig, about how and when to kill him.

And the military power of the Jin state could roughly be divided into three parts.

The field armies were naturally the Eastern and Western Route Armies, each nearly a hundred thousand strong at their peak. Besides these two route armies, there were also certain garrison troops and guard forces, scattered in Yanjing, Huanglongfu, Liaoyangfu, Datong, and other places—that is, various places of the former Liao state. This number, adding up the bits and pieces from east, west, north, and south, also amounted to about a hundred thousand.

Three hundred thousand—that was the peak of the Great Jin state's full strength, that is, the highest point in the year after the Jin state created the Jingkang Incident.

Of course, the garrison troops didn't really count. If they were to pull in the garrison troops, the opposing Great Song could now also claim five or six hundred thousand. Even those present knew that these places couldn't be left without troops. At most, they could serve as transit points, selecting some elite soldiers to add to the Eastern and Western Route Armies.

So, the key was still the Eastern and Western Route Armies.

But returning to the present, even just talking about the Eastern and Western Route Armies, the situation seemed somewhat strange.

First, there were the losses from the defeat at Yaoshan. Including deaths, injuries, and non-combat attrition, plus the previous losses in Fangzhou, the total was roughly the same as the Song army had estimated—a definite loss of over ten thousand. And most, even the vast majority, of these were core troops under the Meng'an Mouke system. In other words, after the battle at Yaoshan, the proportion of Meng'an Mouke troops to supplementary troops within the Jurchen field forces had directly changed, and consequently, the proportion of Jurchen troops to troops of other ethnicities had also changed... This was also one of the reasons why Wushu had just worried that killing Yelu Yudu would shake morale.

There was no help for it—this was the sorrow of a small main ethnic group, and also the fundamental reason why the loss of just ten to twenty thousand men at the battle of Yaoshan had shaken the entire Great Jin state, to the point where the state lord's mouth was twisted with anger. The loss of these troops, plus the fact that two Wanhu units of the Eastern Route Army had collapsed as organized formations, could not be made up for simply by filling in the numbers.

But this was only the direct loss. There was also a serious problem at hand: after the battle, a split in command authority had occurred within the army.

The Western Route Army was split in two. The main part was here on the east bank of the Yellow River, but a small portion of core troops remained in northern Shaanxi with Huonü. The Eastern Route Army had also split, but this split was not caused by battle. Rather, it was because, after the high levels of the Jin state were greatly shaken by the defeat at Yaoshan, Nianhan, in order to protect himself, suddenly went south to Damingfu and seized the military power from Dalai's hands.

Not only that, at the time, Wanyan Wushu was in Huguan, and Wanyan Eliduo was in Hezhongfu. The two brothers naturally had no intention of handing over the troops in their hands, but since they were brothers and had always been relatively harmonious, they could still be superficially considered one faction.

But in reality, everyone knew that this Fourth Prince, though repeatedly defeated in battle, had seen his political status rise again and again after each defeat. Especially with the merit of bringing Nianhan back to Yanjing, he was now qualified to form his own faction.

In other words, the current main field forces of the Jin army had been artificially split into five parts. The Western Route Army was split in two: one part in Yan'an, controlled by Loushi's eldest son Huonü, numbering about ten thousand or more; the other in Taiyuan, controlled by Wanyan Basu, numbering about thirty to forty thousand or more. The Eastern Route Army was split into three: Wushu in the Huguan and Henei area, holding two complete Wanhu units; three Wanhu units in Damingfu, originally under the control of Dalai as the representative of the state lord Wuqimai, but seized by Nianhan when he went south alone; and then three more Wanhu units, plus the original Western Route Army garrison troops in Hezhongfu and the twenty thousand Han supplementary troops abandoned by Loushi after his elite troop strategy, all of which were there.

"Grand Marshal, how do you plan to handle it?" Yinshuke, who was getting on in years, asked cautiously. "Is Huonü also to be promoted?"

"Simple. Handle it according to the post-war arrangements as before. The positions of the Third Prince and the Fourth Prince don't need to be moved, and don't bother about the Western Route Army troops under the Third Prince. It's all for the state... Let the Third Prince continue as Left Vice Marshal, and the Fourth Prince as Right Vice Marshal. As for Huonü, there's no need to give special instructions. Give him the titles of Northern Shaanxi March Commissioner and Right Army Commander, have him do some defensive work in northern Shaanxi, and also manage the area of She Kequi outside the river... Basu will be Right Army Supervisor and Taiyuan Garrison Commander." Nianhan spoke calmly and easily, casually pointing out several key marshal positions in the Grand Marshal's Office. "Promote Dalai to Left Army Supervisor, to manage the duties here in the Grand Marshal's Office for me. As for Damingfu, let Gao Jingshan be Left Army Commander, to keep an eye on Henan from Damingfu."

The earlier parts were still acceptable, except for Yinshuke, who was somewhat depressed because Huonü's matter couldn't be handled. But when it came to the last part, almost everyone changed color... Because the last part not only meant sidelining Dalai, but also that Nianhan was directly swallowing the three Wanhu units in Damingfu!

And thinking carefully, the Eastern and Western Route Armies were completely sidelined, military power was split into five parts, and Nianhan alone controlled three of them. Coupled with his control over the Bogile Conference and the Grand Marshal's Office, this was equivalent to controlling the garrison and guard forces everywhere, mastering all sources of troops, and the power to appoint and dismiss local officials was naturally within his grasp.

Calculated this way, this Grand Marshal was even two points stronger than the late Emperor at the height of his power!

In fact, what happened next in the hall truly verified this point. During the late Emperor's time, people could still freely discuss these crucial appointments. But now, after Nianhan finished speaking in one breath, for a long while, not a single person spoke up to refute.

Who dared to refute?

Dalai, who had been stripped of everything and sidelined? He wanted to refute, but he didn't want to go and serve the state lord his medicine. Yinshuke naturally also had objections to his younger brother not fully taking over the Western Route Army, but he had already raised the issue several times, only to be refuted by Nianhan each time, so it was destined to be useless.

After a long pause, the Fourth Prince Wanyan Wushu sighed inwardly and looked around at the faces of everyone in the hall. Nianhan was smug and complacent, not to mention. His elder brother Wanyan Wo Ben's face was ashen, glaring angrily. His third brother Wanyan Eliduo was silent and brooding. Dalai hung his head, his face unseen. Wanyan Yinshuke seemed lost in thought... And finally, just as Wushu turned his gaze to the eager Wanyan Xiyin, someone suddenly spoke up.

The crowd followed the sound and saw that it was none other than the Great Crown Prince, Wanyan Woben, who in just half a year had gone from being the strongest contender for the succession to almost a man of leisure.

"Even if the Grand Marshal's headquarters operates as a separate entity, does the Grand Marshal not need to report such arrangements to the Sovereign?" Wanyan Woben slammed the table and stood up, confronting him sternly in front of everyone. "What kind of rule is this? From the time of the Ancestor's uprising until last month, there was no such precedent!"

Zhan Han's expression suddenly changed, but he sat there stroking his beard with a cold smile: "The Great Crown Prince is right! How about this—in a couple of days, the Great Crown Prince and I will go together to report to the Sovereign and see if the Sovereign has anything else to say. What do you think of that?"

Wanyan Woben was momentarily furious but helpless, so he simply glared at his two younger brothers, then flicked his sleeves and left.

It was Wushu who spoke up then, as if trying to change the subject and ease the tension: "Grand Marshal, if the troops are mostly allocated, shouldn't we also draw some soldiers from Liaoyang and Huanglong Prefecture to replenish the losses from the previous battles?"

Zhan Han immediately became alert at this: "I will handle this matter personally..."

Wushu then sighed: "Grand Marshal, what I mean is, among the troops being drawn this time, the others are fine, but those two Wanhu of the Eastern Route Army—why not station them separately in a large city instead of enfeoffing them in Hebei? You see, ever since the Eastern Route Army was distributed to the Hebei region, they've been gambling and hunting all day, making life unbearable for the locals, and their own combat effectiveness has gradually declined..."

Zhan Han raised an eyebrow slightly, and below him, Wanyan Xiyin also grew serious. But after thinking for a moment, this all-powerful Grand Marshal still shook his head firmly: "It won't do to shake military morale... The raw Jurchen soldiers from Liaodong, seeing that others all have servants and belongings while they themselves have none, will inevitably harbor resentment. Besides, this time we need to replenish at least two Wanhu. If we put them all in one city, who will command them? Should we split off another Marshal's headquarters supervisor, or hand it over to you, Fourth Brother?"

Upon hearing this, the corner of Wushu's mouth twitched slightly. He gave a faint smile and then said no more.

Behind him and to the side, Qin Huizhi, sitting slumped there, watched the Fourth Prince's profile and the corner of his mouth. Seeing him smile faintly, Qin Huizhi felt his whole body go half numb.

To put it plainly, the situation was already very clear. Qin Huizhi had seen it clearly these past days—everyone in the room had something they sought... He, Qin Hui, sought to escape the sea of suffering and enjoy wealth, honor, and power; Wanyan Wushu sought to reorganize the army and rebuild the Great Jin's empire so it would not fall.

And what about Wanyan Zhan Han?

This Grand Marshal, thrust by a twist of fate into this perilous position, was on one hand complacent, eager to maintain this unbridled state of affairs, while on the other hand wary in his heart, afraid that once he lost his power and position, he would end up like the Sovereign, Wuqimai... Thus, outwardly, Wanyan Zhan Han appeared to be arrogantly wielding absolute power without restraint, yet inwardly he was cautious, never daring to rashly touch the interests of the military and provoke real danger.

And this was the real reason he favored Huonü, courted Wushu, and sidelined Talan.

But as luck would have it, Wanyan Wushu had already decided that to realize his great ideal, he must start with reorganizing the army. The two of them had a structural contradiction, with no room for compromise.

In other words, Qin Huizhi only needed to see the Fourth Prince's smile to know with certainty that his plan was about to work. So, how could he not feel half his body go numb, as if seeing a beautiful woman?