Chapter 3: Where Are My Trusted Men?

Yang Yizhong's arrival made the young Zhao Jiu's wariness spike—this feeling of being constantly watched was unbearable!

That evening, this Imperial Majesty erupted like a cat with its fur standing on end. He ordered the snow cakes—actually a kind of creamy milk dessert—made personally by Consort Pan to be distributed to the soldiers of the Red Heart Corps, then forcibly stayed overnight in the Red Heart Corps camp!

Over this, Kang Lü sent people repeatedly to invite him back, only to be driven away each time. Yang Yizhong and Liu Yan, the Red Heart Corps camp commander who had also rushed over early but dared not speak, knelt together and pleaded earnestly, yet they could not shake this Imperial Majesty's resolve.

In the end, with no other choice, superiors and subordinates alike had to let the Majesty have his way.

However, that night, an autumn gale howled. Sleeping until midnight, Zhao Jiu suddenly heard a commotion outside the tent, accompanied by flickering firelight reflecting on the camp. Startled, he sat up.

"What's happening?"

Just as Zhao Jiu was about to go out, he spotted a familiar silhouette cast by the campfire onto the tent wall, so he lay back down on the couch instead.

"Let Your Majesty know, a few scoundrels in the Red Heart Corps, probably misinterpreting Your Majesty's earlier words through hearsay, thought the Jin army was about to arrive. They plotted rebellion, intending to kidnap Your Majesty and defect to the Jin…" Yang Yizhong said softly from outside the tent.

"…"

"But Your Majesty need not worry. Most remain mindful of Your Majesty's grace, and Liu Yan has the Red Heart Corps' loyalty well in hand. It was only three or five traitors, and they were bound by their own tent mates as soon as they began conspiring."

"I'm not worried!" Zhao Jiu, lying on the couch, sighed in irritation. "I just don't know where the road ahead lies!"

"If Your Majesty truly does not wish to go to Yangzhou, perhaps you could discuss it again with the councilors," Yang Yizhong replied after a moment's hesitation.

But the response to this Gentleman Yang was utter silence.

To be honest, Zhao Jiu felt no real fear or anxiety, nor was he angered that a few rebels had suddenly emerged from the Red Heart Corps, which had seemed so loyal that evening… This wasn't because his heart was strong, his mind wise, or his bosom broad. Put simply, he still lacked a strong sense of identification with this body and the current situation; he still felt out of place.

Besides the lack of necessary time to settle in, this alienation largely stemmed from not knowing what he could do.

Logically, a time traveler arriving in this era would certainly resist the Jin. This was true from the perspective of national righteousness and morality, and also from self-interest… After all, who would want to end up with the reputation of Zhao Gou from another timeline? Even the most cowardly or irresponsible approach would be to revel in Lin'an while supporting Yue Fei's drive straight to the Yellow Dragon, right?

Rationally, too, one had to resist the Jin. Zhao Jiu, despite lacking deep historical knowledge, had undergone nine years of compulsory basic education. He at least knew that yielding to a barbaric nation like the Jin was utterly futile. The Jin would attack you as soon as they saw an opportunity and had the strength!

The more you submit, the more they bully you!

Even historically, wasn't Zhao Gou's successful peace negotiation achieved by Yue Fei and Han Shizhong fighting on the front lines?

Even from a supernatural perspective, resisting the Jin was the right thing to do!

He, Zhao Jiu, had crossed over in a Dao Ancestor temple. If immortals and spirits truly existed, could the Dao Ancestor have sent him here to lead the Great Song to surrender to the Jin and hasten ethnic integration?

So, Zhao Jiu had thought it through early on. Since he was here and couldn't go back, he had to resist the Jin! This was the main quest for him as a time traveler, inescapable!

Historically, the Song-Jin war was indeed the primary conflict in China for the next several decades.

But for now, he truly didn't know how to resist the Jin!

You see, as the Imperial Majesty, Zhao Jiu hadn't been idle these days. Even though some people deliberately isolated and deceived him, given the chaotic scene and situation, he had gleaned some information from other sources (mainly low-ranking attendants)… The Great Song's army, from the failed attempt to retake the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun onward, had basically achieved no military victories, and the army had been repeatedly squandered!

When Song and Jin jointly attacked Liao, Tong Guan lost two hundred thousand of the most elite field troops at Youyan!

During the Jin army's first southern invasion, which began the Jingkang Humiliation, Liang Shicheng first lost over a hundred thousand in Hebei! Then, at the foot of Taiyuan and Bianliang, the wise men of the Great Song court and the famous generals of the Western Army—most notably the Two Sages, Huizong and Qinzong themselves—jointly lost another two hundred thousand!

After barely surviving that wave thanks to the relief troops and the war advocates within the city, these Two Sages dismantled their own defenses, disbanding the army. So when the Jin army suddenly invaded a second time—the one that had just ended the Northern Song—there were no battle-ready troops left at Dongjing!

As a joke, the Great Song dynasty's century-old problem of an overstaffed army, which Wang Anshi had labored in vain to solve, was resolved in just a few years by the Khitans and Jurchens working together!

Of course, the nation also fell, and the treasury went bankrupt… A century-long policy of strengthening the trunk and weakening the branches had concentrated the nation's essence within the small Dongjing city. Once it fell, the entire country's military, finances, officials, craftsmen, and strategic reserves were wiped out in one stroke!

This is why this body, though a son of Song Huizong and enthroned in Nanjing (Shangqiu), was regarded as a new regime.

Returning to the present, the only large-scale, organized professional army of the Great Song was now in the Guanzhong and Northwest regions—the remnants of the so-called Western Army—but the road was cut off by the Jin's ever-victorious general Wanyan Loushi. Meanwhile, the Southeast, Jingxiang, and Bashu, which could provide tax revenue, needed time for transport and coordination.

At this moment, here in the temporary capital, including the troops sent out to suppress bandits, there were only a little over ten thousand soldiers, mostly hastily conscripted militia. The Central Plains region they occupied was filled with rebel armies and defectors, with several declaring themselves emperors. Finances were barely sustained by plundering imperial Daoist temples… And to make matters worse, no one knew when Jin Wushu would lead his hundred-thousand-strong army to search the mountains and sweep the seas!

Of course, these crises hadn't yet arrived at his doorstep. What Zhao Jiu found most unbearable was his inability to find anyone to communicate with under this survival pressure.

Kang Lü and Yang Yizhong went without saying—they guarded against him like thieves. The two councilors, Huang Qianshan and Wang Boyan of the Eastern and Western Bureaus, he had only met twice, and both times they urged him south after checking his health… Actually, not just these two; Zhao Jiu held no illusions about any of the civil officials in this temporary Song government! In his eyes, these people were merely distinguished by their purple, red, and green robes!

After all, if the Great Song's civil officials had been any use, would the Jingkang Incident have happened?

Moreover, on this southward flight, the few war-advocating civil officials had long been driven away… Li Gang, who had appeared in history books, was dismissed as councilor and was now somewhere unknown; Zong Ze was sidelined in Dongjing and couldn't get away. Even Chen Dong and others, the civilian war advocates from history books—Imperial Academy students—had just been executed by this body's owner in Nanjing (Shangqiu)!

Under these circumstances,

how could he communicate with anyone? With whom? And even if he communicated, would anyone believe him? What was most disheartening was that he couldn't even argue back… because he truly didn't know how to resist the Jin or with what!

Should he really flee to Lin'an first and plan slowly? But he couldn't bear it!

It served those Red Heart Corps soldiers, originally from Liao territory, right for misinterpreting the arrival of the Jin army and developing second thoughts!

"Your Majesty!"

The noise outside the tent had gradually subsided. Amid the howling wind, Yang Yizhong spoke again. "Liu Yan, Gentleman for Circulation, is before the tent to beg forgiveness…"

"It's not his fault. Pardon and release those men too!" Zhao Jiu replied casually from inside the tent. "They were originally Liao people. Let them go wherever they want. I won't pardon and console them in person."

"As you command!" Yang Yizhong paused a moment before responding.

After some commotion, the tall general's silhouette was once again cast on the tent by the firelight outside, still sitting motionless, hand on his sword, armored.

The lord and his subject remained silent for a long time across the oxhide tent. Then Yang Yizhong suddenly spoke up: "Your Majesty seemed to be looking for Yue Fei, courtesy name Pengju, earlier?"

"You know him?" Zhao Jiu frowned slightly, too lazy to mind the man's constant surveillance.

"A native of Xiangzhou in Hebei, surname Yue, given name Fei, courtesy name Pengju. He was formerly under Vice Commander Liu of the Marshal's Office, later awarded the rank of Martial Wings Gentleman, known for his martial arts… I once drank with him in the Marshal's Office. He should be the one Your Majesty mentioned."

"Where is he now?"

"Over two months ago, Your Majesty was enthroned in Nanjing (Shangqiu). At that time, the councilor in office was Li Xiang… that is, Li Gang, courtesy name Boji." Yang Yizhong took the initiative to explain, clearly aware of the Majesty's 'amnesia' after falling into a well and knowing how to speak. "Li Xiang wanted Your Majesty to tour Nanyang, while Huang Xiang and Wang Pivot Xiang wanted Your Majesty to tour Yangzhou. The debate raged. When Yue Pengju heard of it, he violated protocol and submitted a memorial out of turn, urging Your Majesty to resist the Jin and impeaching the three councilors for harming the state. As a result, he was stripped of all military posts and expelled from the army!"

"Yue Fei impeached Li Gang for harming the state?" Zhao Jiu was stunned, despite being prepared for the absurdity of some things in this era. "And was expelled for that?"

"Yes!"

"Weren't they both for resisting the Jin?" Zhao Jiu found it increasingly ridiculous. Yue Fei was dismissed for impeaching Li Gang. "Li Gang is the very banner of resistance against the Jin!"

"That is precisely Yue Fei's fault," Yang Yizhong's voice remained calm. "He was merely a Martial Wings Gentleman, a very low rank, and a military officer. He knew nothing of the court's grand strategy or the frontline situation, yet he submitted a memorial on state affairs, even impeaching the wrong person. How could he not be punished? At the time, Li Xiang was still the main authority. He was likely expelled by Li Xiang's trusted men."

"Let that be for now," Zhao Jiu said after a moment of silence amid the wind. "Do you know where Yue Fei is now?"

"His whereabouts are unknown. But he is from Xiangzhou in Hebei. With his homeland in turmoil and his resolve to resist the Jin firm, he probably left the army to return to Hebei and join the volunteer forces to continue resisting the Jin," Yang Yizhong replied with difficulty. "But most of Hebei has fallen, and the land is ravaged by war. Finding him would be too difficult."

Zhao Jiu was utterly helpless, but still asked with a trace of reluctance: "Do you recall what he said in that memorial?"

"Nothing more than urging Your Majesty to personally lead the Six Armies north across the river, go to Xiangzhou to resist the Jin, and not head south…"

Zhao Jiu was momentarily dazed… Even he knew that the Song army's main forces were all but lost, Hebei was flat and open, and the Jin's main forces—including Jurchen, Khitan, and Han cavalry from Liao territory, no fewer than a hundred thousand—were all in Hebei. Was he supposed to lead ten thousand men to die in Hebei?

And where did he get six armies?

Not to mention, those Red Heart Squad people earlier also said one thing—that Zhao Gou, before he ascended the throne, when he was Marshal in Hebei, had fought battles too, and he sent Zong Ze to fight, but the result was still a complete rout.

This Yue Fei…

"How old is this Yue Fei this year?" Zhao Jiu's mood grew even worse.

"Twenty-four, one year younger than your servant." Yang Yizhong replied softly.

Zhao Jiu had expected this, but he still couldn't help sighing. He truly wanted to shout out across this vast wilderness and ask where exactly his trusted confidant as the Emperor was.

With a sigh from inside the tent, the Emperor ultimately didn't voice the question. Instead, the attendant outside the tent couldn't help but quietly press further: "Your Majesty, why must you seek this man?"

"I truly want to stay in the Central Plains to resist the Jin." Zhao Jiu replied with near exhaustion. "A few days ago, I heard among the palace attendants that he was a man of peerless martial skill, a native of Hebei, with a firm will to resist the Jin. I thought he might be of use."

"Not to mention this man, but wasn't this trip to Yangzhou a decision Your Majesty deliberated over for a long time?" Yang Yizhong pressed on, unusually persistent. "How can you now want to stay in the Central Plains?"

"Ha…"

Zhao Jiu let out a cold laugh and did not answer.

In truth, it was still that same problem—telling the truth was useless. For the surrenderists traveling here, if you told them that even going to Yangzhou, or even to Jiangnan, the Jin would not let them off, they would only find it absurd.

Just think about it—if there were no illusions about seeking partial peace, how could there be surrenderists, or to put it more nicely, how could there be a peace faction?

"Your Majesty, why do you laugh?"

Yang Yizhong's number of times speaking tonight seemed to exceed the total of the past several days facing this Emperor.

"Isn't it only natural for me, Zhao Jiu, to resist the Jin?" Zhao Jiu had no choice but to casually brush it off from his couch. "The four words 'national enmity and family hatred'—doesn't Attendant Yang understand them? Why do you all always think I want to seek partial peace?"

The autumn wind howled without cease, the night was thick, and until the eastern side of the vast Yellow-Huai Plain gradually turned pale, neither inside nor outside the tent uttered another sound.