Chapter 289

On the afternoon of the twenty-eighth day of the sixth month, the civil and military officials escorted the imperial carriage back to Dongjing, but by this time, the city of Dongjing was already in an uproar.

This was only natural. Although the official full-format court gazette could not be printed and distributed so quickly, and hand-copied supplements could not circulate widely in such a short time, some basic information about the White Horse Shaoxing had already spread by word of mouth through the gazette and officials who had returned to the capital ahead of time as commoners... Unexpectedly, for this serious political event that was almost a major upheaval, the truly widespread discussions and controversies among the various street-corner rumors were only about two matters.

The first, naturally, was that peace negotiations had failed, and war was likely to continue.

The other was the matter of the Emperor publicly mocking the Two Sages at Shaoxing Ford, and directly sending the Two Sages and imperial clan members past Dongjing to Shaolin Temple, Dongxiao Palace, and Nanyang... For the common people, this blatant violation of "filial piety and brotherly duty" was the most shocking, and many found it difficult to understand.

Regarding this, even though everyone knew in their hearts that the Two Sages were indeed worthless, and even though some people took the initiative to defend it, saying that Heaven, Earth, the Sovereign, Parents, and Teachers were the order, with Heaven and Earth still above the Sovereign and Parents, it still could not stop the private discussions among the lower-class city folk based on the ethics of filial piety and brotherly duty. It was foreseeable that from then on, this young Emperor would inevitably bear an indelible moral stain.

Zhao Jiu's scolding of his parents would probably be ranked alongside Li Shimin's imprisonment of his father.

Not only that, those seventy or eighty high-ranking ministers who had been purged were also labeled as loyal ministers and filial sons who had defended the great principle of filial piety and brotherly duty but failed, and thus resigned in anger. Furthermore, the Emperor Zhao even encountered the classic scene of being blocked at Xuande Tower—several elderly Confucian scholars, under the pretext of submitting memorials at the palace gate, requested that the Emperor bring the Retired Emperor back to the palace to be cared for.

The reason, naturally, was that the Two Sages could not possibly usurp the throne or anything like that.

However, even though it was somewhat unexpected, Zhao Jiu was too lazy to bother with it... What else could he do? The matter was already settled; he had to look to the future. There was a mountain of things to do. Did they expect him to summon the newly appointed abbot of Shaolin Temple, Fahe, because of a few old men blocking the palace gate, and then stuff two catties of arsenic into him?

Those two wretches would eventually be forgotten by everyone in a corner, remembered only by history.

Therefore, the Emperor Zhao paid no attention to the elderly Confucian scholars blocking the palace gate, nor did he punish them. He simply rode his horse past them and entered the main gate of Xuande Tower.

However, since the Emperor Zhao had put on a defiant attitude of "a dead pig not afraid of scalding water," some people began to opportunistically take the opposite side.

Only on the second day, the Palace Censor Mo Qixie submitted another memorial, using the distinctions between Emperor Taizu and Emperor Taizong as brothers; Emperor Yingzong's succession from a collateral line; the distinction between Emperor Zhezong and the Retired Emperor as brothers; and the distinction between Yuansheng and the current Emperor... that is, the Emperor Zhao as brothers, to request a reorganization of the ancestral temple and a clarification of the ancestral lineage system.

To be honest, with Zhao Jiu's low-level knowledge of clan laws, he didn't even know what the ancestral lineage system was, nor the rules of the seven temples or nine temples. It was only because the memorial was from Mo Qixie that he didn't misunderstand it to mean the same thing as the Confucian scholars blocking the road yesterday. But precisely because it was Mo Qixie, the Emperor instantly understood that there must be something fishy about it.

Because, no matter what, with two Ministers, one Vice Minister, two Nine Ministers, and one Supervisor having been dismissed, and with Mo Qixie having already clearly stated his position that very day, this fellow's current move could not possibly be meant to annoy the Emperor Zhao.

So, Zhao Jiu summoned the know-it-all Yang Yizhong, asked a few questions, and immediately understood.

It turned out that, since ancient times, the number of positions in the ancestral temple that were never removed was limited, about seven or nine. Whether it was seven or nine, whether it followed the rules of the great Confucian Zheng Xuan or the principles of the famous Confucian Wang Su, in any case, there was only one founding ancestor... For example, the Former Han had Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang, and the Later Han had Emperor Shizu Guangwu Liu Xiu... And for Zhao Song, from the very beginning, there had been a dispute over the temple name of Taizu due to the issue of Taizu and Taizong.

When Yang Yizhong got to this point, Zhao Jiu already understood.

Although he didn't know the intricate ritual rules involved, Mo Qixie's memorial had already subtly pointed out a key point: since the Emperor Zhao was trying to establish a "New Song," he might as well use ritual law to make a certain break from the previous Zhao Song, thereby laying the political and legal foundation for him, Zhao Jiu, as the founding ruler of the "New Song"... So that when Zhao Jiu died, he could also emulate Guangwu and get the temple name Shizu.

But how to put it?

Zhao Jiu was momentarily tempted, because this seemed like something that would have to be done sooner or later. But he also understood that his current achievements were probably not enough to justify such a move... The real time to do this would be when he had driven straight to the Yellow Dragon, destroyed the Western Xia, pacified Dali, recovered Nanyue, and planted a flag in the Western Regions.

Therefore, after a moment's hesitation, the Emperor Zhao kept the memorial in the palace without issuing a response.

However, this move immediately led to misjudgments... and misjudgments on both sides. Subsequently, many other opportunistic officials who had retained their posts submitted memorials requesting the reorganization of the ancestral temple. Not only that, but even those who were originally supposed to leave the capital and return to their hometowns reacted as if stung by a hornet, immediately submitting memorials in their retained official capacities, begging the Emperor Zhao to ensure the continuous inheritance of the Zhao Song.

Even within the court itself, many high-ranking officials opposed discussing the ancestral temple issue at this time.

This pointless matter, combined with the vacancies for as many as seventy or eighty key positions, and the public debate within the city about the Emperor's lack of filial piety, quickly turned all of Dongjing into a chaotic mess.

Things were once again somewhat unexpected... Zhao Jiu had originally wanted to make his intentions clear, but unexpectedly, after discussing it with several chancellors like Lu Haowen, he chose to continue maintaining his previous hesitant stance.

The reason was simple. According to Zhao Ding, after the White Horse Oath to establish the Shaoxing era, there would inevitably be major political aftershocks... And at this moment, the battle situation in Qingzhou was unclear. Precisely because the frontline war was the most critical matter of interest compared to the current debate, it might not be a bad thing to confine the political aftershocks to some pointless matters, letting everyone focus their attention on these things, and preventing the political tide from affecting the Qingzhou campaign.

Of course, there was another layer of meaning: Yue Fei had worked hard for most of the year, only to return to the north and immediately throw himself back into battle. Had the troops had enough rest? Would their combat effectiveness suffer? Moreover, they were launching a surprise attack from the mountainous Yizhou region. If it failed, how would he explain it to the people of the realm?

Regarding this, although Zhao Jiu had a blind trust in Yue Fei, he still followed the good advice.

By the way, Zhang Boying and Yue Pengju certainly did not know the complex thoughts of the Emperor and the chancellors at this time, nor did they know that the White Horse had become Shaoxing, nor did they know that such a large political wave had arisen in Dongjing... After all, just counting the time, Yue Fei had arrived in Xuzhou in early June. And according to the Emperor Zhao's instructions, he and Zhang Jun were to ensure the occupation of a prefecture in the Qingzhou direction by the end of the month. Even the nearest strategic target, Yidu, the capital of Qingzhou, was a full six to seven hundred li from Xuzhou, and they had to cross the Yimeng mountain paths. So he and Zhang Jun certainly could not afford any delays.

In fact, the Imperial Vanguard Army only rested for five or six days before selecting twenty thousand troops to advance together with the Imperial Right Army, which was originally responsible for this area of defense.

It is worth mentioning that for this campaign, Zhang Jun, citing the fact that Yue Fei had worked hard for most of the year and traveled back and forth between the north and south, made his own unit the vanguard and had Yue Fei lead the Imperial Vanguard Army as the rear.

Although this move clearly had the intention of stealing the credit, Yue Fei had no room to argue.

Moreover, just as the Emperor Zhao was welcoming the Two Sages at Shaoxing, Zhang Jun's unit had already been slaughtering wildly... By the last day of the sixth month, which was also the last day of summer in the fifth year of Jianyan, not only had Qingzhou fallen into the hands of the Song Army, but Weizhou and Laizhou had also chosen to surrender in a state of shock.

The reason was laughable: Li Cheng and his main force were not in their lair in Qingzhou at all, but had gone west to Jinan Prefecture.

After all, don't forget, before this, everyone thought the peace negotiations would succeed, and that the Jin State was preparing to return the entire area of the puppet Qi to the Great Song. So, at that time, Liu Yu, who was somewhat desperate, used this to persuade Li Cheng, who was also a de facto separatist, to combine their forces to the west, to fight desperately for self-preservation.

Of course, as everyone knew, just as Liu Yu made his move, the Jin Wanhu Elubu directly crossed the river, seized him, and took control. But Li Cheng, due to a mismatch of information, gritted his teeth and emptied his base, mobilizing all the troops from three prefectures and leading a large army directly to Jinan... No one knew what the outcome was now.

This allowed the Imperial Right Army to stumble upon a dead rat by blind luck, easily capturing Qingzhou, Weizhou, and half of Laizhou.

It could be said that Zhang Jun's unit alone had exceeded its mission objectives.

"Grand Defender Zhang is not in Qingzhou?"

On the first day of the seventh month, Yue Fei's unit, which was bringing up the rear, arrived at Linqu. They were met by Hu Cheng, a familiar face from the Imperial Right Army stationed there who held the rank of Commander, and a somewhat unexpected Tian Shizhong. After hearing a few sentences, Yue Fei couldn't help but frown. "Did he go east or west?"

"East," Tian Shizhong immediately replied with a bow.

Yue Fei, who already had some understanding of the military situation, couldn't help but furrow his brow. The generals behind Yue Fei also showed expressions of disdain... The reason was simple: to the west of Qingzhou, in Jinan Prefecture, the main forces of the Jin Army, Liu Yu's troops, and Li Cheng's troops were all gathered together. Going west meant a head-on confrontation. But going east was different. The eastern prefectures of Dengzhou and Laizhou were among the richest in the realm, yet they had almost no defending troops.

Now, Zhang Jun was leading his troops there directly. It was likely that his old bad habit had flared up again. Even knowing that the Emperor Zhao was watching this campaign with a thousand, ten thousand eyes, he still couldn't resist going east to plunder a bit.

Seeing Yue Fei's expressionless face and the disdainful looks from the generals of the Imperial Vanguard Army behind him, Tian Shizhong did not immediately defend himself. Instead, he turned his head to look at Hu Cheng beside him.

"Military Commissioner Yue..." Hu Cheng, a local strongman from Yizhou, saw Tian Shizhong's signal and quickly defended his superior. "My Grand Defender went east for a reason. He said that the Emperor had previously told him that after recovering Jingdong, he wanted to establish a navy. First, to control the Bohai Sea and threaten the Jin rear; second, to pressure Goryeo and force it to change sides; third, the state's military campaigns lacked funds and grain, and maritime trade in the East China Sea had always been a major source of revenue... And during his standoff with the puppet Qi in Huaidong, he had always known that the puppet Qi had a navy in Dengzhou, controlled by the puppet Commander Li Qi. He went there personally to lead a rapid assault and seize all of the puppet Qi's ships."

Yue Fei's expression did not change. He simply nodded casually: "If that is the case, then it is naturally very good."

Now, Hu Cheng, as an extra-system frontline strongman who might not even be on the official roster of the Imperial Right Army, was waiting here for two reasons. First, naturally, because he was a local magnate in Yizhou and knew the local geography well. Second, Zhang Jun valued his personal friendship with Yue Fei, so he had spoken to him and had Tian Shizhong watch him while he waited here specifically to explain... After all, Yue Pengju was also a high-ranking Imperial Army Commander and the Emperor's favorite general. If he caught a flaw, and it ended up in a lawsuit before the Emperor, who knew who would suffer the consequences!

And sure enough, after glancing at Tian Shizhong, Hu Cheng quickly continued:

"It's not just about the ships. As for the direction of Jinan Prefecture to the west, my Grand Defender's meaning is this: now Li Cheng has led tens of thousands of troops, along with Liu Yu's original forces and an unknown number of Jin troops, all gathered in Jinan. A direct attack might not be effective. But if we can quickly sweep through the remaining four prefectures, then, not to mention elsewhere, Li Cheng, having lost his base, will see his tens of thousands of troops scatter. Only then, when we move towards Jinan and meet up with the pincer attack arranged by the Emperor, will it be the most appropriate. Therefore, he would like to invite Grand Defender Yue to go north to Yidu to rest and reorganize. After he finishes sweeping the east and returns, they can combine their forces and advance westward."

Upon hearing this, the generals behind Yue Fei, such as Wang Gui and Zhang Xian, sneered even more... It seemed that Zhang Jun not only wanted wealth but also wanted to take all the credit. According to this arrangement, he was unwilling to let the Imperial Vanguard Army have even a shred of the major merit.

However, amidst their sneers, the generals also felt that Zhang Jun was, after all, an old soldier. Although this arrangement allowed his Imperial Right Army to take all the advantages, from an overall strategic perspective, it did make some sense and didn't seem to be a mistake.

Presumably, this Grand Defender Zhang knew that the Emperor was focusing on this campaign with a thousand, ten thousand thoughts, so he didn't dare to go too far.

Unexpectedly, just when everyone thought the matter was settled and the Imperial Vanguard Army could only follow Grand Defender Zhang's arrangement and go to Yidu, Yue Fei, though still expressionless, openly shook his head: "Commander Hu, you are my trusted friend to whom I entrusted my mother and wife. I won't hide it from you... Whether Grand Defender Zhang acts for the public good or for private gain, whether he seeks wealth or credit, the Emperor will settle accounts with him after the war. As for me, leading the Imperial Vanguard Army back from suppressing the rebellion in the south, we have enough merit, and the troops are indeed somewhat fatigued. So I don't really care about these arrangements. My only concern is that he is a bit too contemptuous of the enemy."

Hu Cheng was slightly startled, clearly puzzled.

Tian Shizhong then became serious, stepped forward, cupped his hands, and said: "Grand Defender Yue, thanks to the Emperor's blessing, Li Cheng has, by a strange twist of fate, led tens of thousands of troops to be trapped in Jinan. Jingdong is now a clear path. From a purely military standpoint, my Grand Defender's arrangement is extremely appropriate. It shouldn't be considered contempt for the enemy, should it?"

Yue Pengju did not look at the other man. Instead, he turned around, pointed at the junction of hilly and flat terrain outside the city gate of Linqu, and then shook his head: "It only seems like a clear path. In reality, just like this terrain, once you actually walk it, you'll find it's still somewhat rugged... Not to mention others, just Li Cheng. This man is formidable. According to defectors, he led thirty to forty thousand troops west. What if, thinking of his base, he suddenly turns back? Would the Jin really stop him? Moreover, now that we have launched our campaign, the Jin will also wake up. It's possible they won't stop him, but will instead formally reconcile with him and urge him to come back!"

Tian Shizhong was still unconvinced: "That is precisely why my Grand Defender invited Grand Defender Yue to go to Yidu and Linzi in northern Qingzhou, to have Grand Defender Yue lead his unit as a shield..."

"I have some understanding of this man Li Cheng... If I were Li Cheng, wanting to save my own lair, knowing that tens of thousands of government troops had arrived, I would not take the main road along the Ji River to turn back and attack Linzi and Yidu." Yue Fei still squinted, staring at the line where the hills and plains met to the west, then raised his hand and pointed. "I would come from here... to attack Linqu! If Linqu falls, the Yizhou passage is cut off. Not only could he retake Qingzhou, but he could turn defeat into victory, locking tens of thousands of Imperial Army troops on this Jingdong Peninsula. Then, just see if the main Jin force from Great Ming Prefecture will come and fight desperately!"

Tian Shizhong was momentarily stunned, then opened his mouth as if to speak, but stopped.

It wasn't that he didn't want to speak, nor that he hadn't grasped Yue Fei's meaning... Yue Fei had already made it perfectly clear. The key was that after he understood, his instinct was to say "close the door to beat the dog," but then he felt somewhat awkward, and then he thought to switch to "catch a turtle in a jar," which was even more awkward.

It was simply that he couldn't find the right words for a moment.

"If that's the case, and Li Cheng actually pulls it off, wouldn't it become 'closing the door to beat the dog'?" Just then, Hu Cheng, who had also caught on, blurted out from beside Tian Shizhong.

"It truly is a situation of 'catching a turtle in a jar,'" Zhang Xian, standing behind Yue Fei, also frowned.

Tian Shizhong glanced at Zhang Xian, who had fought alongside him many times, and Yue Fei also turned his head to look at his own sworn brother Hu Cheng. The two of them were speechless for several breaths.

"Ahem!" Just then, Wang Gui coughed dryly, stepped past Zhang Xian, and spoke seriously. "Military Governor, if that's the case, why don't we just hold our position here and wait at our ease for the exhausted enemy?"

"No," Yue Fei turned back to reply. "If we hold here, what if Li Cheng uses his superior cavalry to take Linzi or Yidu? In the end, the Qingzhou line is stretched too far from north to south!"

"Then what should we do?" Tian Shizhong quickly pressed.

"Do the opposite. From here, we go west to meet him and block him at Zichuan! That way, we can be completely secure and not fail the Emperor's trust!" Having said this, Yue Fei looked at Tian Shizhong with a commanding gaze and stated his plan frankly. "My troops are few. I don't know if Grand Commandant Zhang gave any orders to General Tian before he left, but can you come with me?"

Tian Shizhong was silent for a moment. He initially wanted to refuse and then directly move his troops to Yidu... After all, if his own few thousand heavy infantry moved with the main force of Yue Fei, according to the old rules of the Western Army, they would be sent to die as the vanguard. But for some reason, after glancing at Zhang Xian across from him and recalling the experience at Yaoshan, he nodded heavily as if possessed:

"I am willing to follow the Grand Commandant west!"

Yue Fei merely nodded, said nothing more, and directly ordered the entire army to change direction, never setting foot in Linqu. Tian Shizhong, leaving Hu Cheng behind in Linqu, led three thousand of his own elite troops to follow.

The army of twenty-three thousand, plus the two thousand laborers provided by Hu Cheng, marched grandly westward along the road formed by the boundary between hills and plains... Nothing happened that night, and scouts who reached the Zishui River found no sign of the enemy.

Then, a day later, around noon, as the main army was crossing the Zishui River, scouts who had crossed ahead suddenly reported back: a large enemy force, fully armored and well-ordered, had just emerged from the hilly terrain beside Zichuan City, twenty li away. They had apparently just crossed the Longshui River, bypassed Zichuan City without entering, and were heading straight for Yidu or Linqu!

Judging by the banners, it was Li Cheng!

There was no doubt that Yue Fei's judgment had been correct.

Subsequently, the scouts of both sides clashed continuously, crisscrossing the hills and plains. Amidst fierce skirmishing, they relayed intelligence to their respective commanders, both of whom were somewhat caught off guard... Not only had Li Cheng not expected his plan for a counter-sneak attack on Linqu to be seen through, but even Yue Fei hadn't expected Li Cheng to arrive so quickly!

Not only that, but as intelligence gathered, another pressure-inducing fact for Yue Fei and the Imperial Camp generals was that Li Cheng's troop numbers seemed larger than anticipated.

A brief note here: Li Cheng originally held the three commanderies of Qingzhou, Weizhou, and Laizhou under the puppet Qi, giving him considerable strength. It was only due to a lack of political legitimacy that he bowed to Liu Yu. After the Battle of Dongpingfu, Liu Yu's eldest son was captured and another of the puppet Qi's major generals, Kong Yanzhou, nicknamed "Little Yue Fei," was killed. Li Cheng alone preserved his strength and successfully escaped through the battlefield. Afterwards, his warlord habits unchanged, he opportunistically absorbed Zizhou, which had previously been under Liu Yu's influence, into Qingzhou. Nominally still the master of three commanderies, he actually controlled four, making him more like the master of the puppet Qi than Liu Yu... These three commanderies, plus Dengzhou and Jinan, were the origin of the term "five commanderies of Jingdong" used in the peace negotiations.

Back to the present. According to defectors from Qingzhou, Li Cheng, in these universally recognized great commanderies, was militarizing to the extreme, maintaining a total of forty to fifty thousand regular and auxiliary troops. For this campaign, he had brought thirty-five thousand, already far more than the twenty thousand the Imperial Camp's Forward Army had brought. That's why Yue Fei had requested Tian Shizhong's assistance.

However, according to scout reports, Li Cheng's current force was densely packed, with both cavalry and infantry, numbering no less than forty thousand! And among them were even several thousand soldiers dressed as Jin Jun cavalry!

"Grand Commandant Yue, while there's still time, should we retreat behind the Zishui River and defend along the river?" Tian Shizhong's expression was grim.

To be honest, Yue Fei wavered for a moment. After all, he had met Li Cheng once at the Guangji Army and had a deep impression of the man. He knew Li Cheng had real skill and ability, at least no less than Zhang Rong. It was just a pity that his ambition was too great... So one turned from a government officer into a bandit, and the other from a bandit into a government officer.

And for a man like this, having managed three commanderies in Jingdong for several years, at the very least, his troops' combat effectiveness was worth noting... The scouts' reports confirmed this. An army of tens of thousands, advancing in strict order, was not something an ordinary person could achieve, nor could ordinary rebel forces match. Such a military force, approaching with the momentum of a returning army, plus several thousand cavalry reinforcements of uncertain origin (whether Jin or not), had truly pushed the Imperial Camp's Forward Army to its limits.

"No."

But he wavered only for a moment. Yue Fei made up his mind on horseback, even drawing his saber and waving it to give the order. "First, the arrow is already on the string, it must be fired; second, when two armies meet on a narrow path, the one who fights for the breath wins... Let me be frank: charging head-on might not guarantee victory, but retreating now will surely lead to defeat! Pass my order: after crossing the river, the entire army will form ranks, spread out, and continue westward without stopping!"

"East!"

After hesitating for a moment, Li Cheng, who had long since lost his twin sabers and whose eyes were already bloodshot, finally slowly drew an ordinary waist sword and heavily swung it eastward. "Form ranks, entire army! Press eastward! We absolutely cannot retreat now!"

PS: Awkward... too sleepy. The title was "East and West," but I got a lot of things wrong.

Routine sacrifice, "Strange Cultivation Game":

The cultivation game "Blue Ocean" launched with a bang, but its high difficulty drove away a large number of players. Fang Yue stayed. Three months later, the strange descended upon reality, and game data synchronized with reality. When people all over the world were being hunted by the strange, Fang Yue's style was different from theirs.

Fang Yue: Bold strange, I can tell at a glance you're not human!

Fang Yue: Strange, I want you to help me cultivate!

Fang Yue: Strange, did I allow you to flee? Mighty Heavenly Dragon!