Chapter 344: Questions and Answers

On the first day of the third month, the official gazette carrying Zhang Jun's memorial and reply to the Emperor was already on its way to all corners of the realm. At the same time, the court, following the precedent of that famous assembly during the Jingkang era, used a head-count method to directly and indisputably pass Zhang Jun's entire package of proposals.

Back then, the Retired Emperor had used this method to suppress the war faction, shifting the court's overall stance to one of peace—in that head count, over a hundred people participated, seventy percent favoring the cession of the three prefectures of Taiyuan, Zhongshan, and Hejian, while thirty percent firmly opposed.

Faced with such stark numerical contrast, the peace faction ultimately shed the constraints of righteous principle, turned the tables on the war faction, and the Retired Emperor was able to extricate himself, shedding political responsibility and proceeding directly to peace negotiations.

However, unlike the Retired Emperor's intent to shed political responsibility, today's Emperor and the radicals used this method to push through Zhang Deyuan's package of proposals, clearly as an act of political suppression and demonstration—to use an indisputable political vote to leave the gradualist faction with no room for opposition.

Of course, even so, that didn't mean things would go smoothly, nor that opponents would shut up.

It could only be said that after this vote, internal court opponents might temporarily fall silent, but public opinion outside the court would have no such qualms. And if this political plan ultimately ran into problems, not only would internal court opponents speak up again, but the ranks of opponents would grow even larger.

As for whether the political plan would run into problems... one must understand, a political plan is just a political plan. Even if it looks good and sounds good on paper, in actual implementation it might still turn bad, even bringing disaster to the state and its people... Moreover, the series of political plans Zhang Jun proposed were fraught with controversy and certain idealistic narratives from the very start.

When it came to actual implementation, who knew what troubles might arise.

Time came to mid-March, the spring season, the weather growing warmer by the day.

Just past dawn that day, after the Emperor finished his routine archery practice at the Military Academy, he was slightly sweaty but didn't hurry over to the stone pavilion. Instead, he turned toward Apricot Hill near the city wall beside the Academy to rest a while. No sooner had he ascended Apricot Hill and sat down in the thatched pavilion atop it than Liu Yan led a squad of Imperial Personal Guards to stack several dozen secret memorial boxes beside the Emperor, and someone immediately set out brush and ink within the pavilion.

Seeing this, Zhao Jiu shook his head with a wry smile: "I was trying to dodge these memorials, but it seems I can't escape them even here."

Liu Yan was naturally embarrassed by this, yet he had to ask cautiously: "Your subject is anxious—shall I return the secret memorials to the stone pavilion?"

"No need," Zhao Jiu shook his head in response, reaching for the brush while gesturing to Liu Yan. "This is a rule I set myself... better to abide by it."

Seeing the Emperor's gesture, everyone else, including Yang Yizhong and Fan Zongyin, retreated several paces back, while Liu Yan alone immediately began unsealing the secret memorial boxes by hand, handing the memorials to the Emperor for review.

And the Emperor proceeded to reply and annotate those secret memorials on the spot.

As a rule, Zhao Jiu was always very meticulous when annotating secret memorials. Besides replying to the specific matters raised in them, he would generally inquire after the well-being of these commanders, and sometimes even correct their typos and such.

But this time, the Emperor was clearly impatient. He read one, casually scribbled a few lines of reply at the end, read another, scribbled a few more lines, and quickly disposed of the dozen or so secret memorials.

It was plainly perfunctory.

Once done, Liu Yan naturally gathered up the memorials and departed at once, preparing to send them back promptly according to protocol. Zhao Jiu watched him descend Apricot Hill, then shook his head with another wry smile: "Every secret memorial is full of recommendations and self-praise. Just wait—tomorrow and the day after, when their memorials come through the Privy Council, it'll be the same talk... Have you all counted how many memorials there are about expanding the army?"

Everyone naturally knew the Emperor was complaining, and most responded with wry smiles as well—after all, if the Emperor was annoyed by these memorials and reports, how could they, who assisted in handling them, be any better off?

But just then, Ren Baozhong, a Receptionist wearing a cotton headwrap, stepped forward half a pace without any hesitation and clasped his hands before the thatched pavilion:

"For Your Majesty's information, civil and military officials, from the central government to the localities, have not ceased submitting memorials about army expansion for the past ten days. Your subject naturally does not know about the secret memorials, but as for the formal memorials forwarded through the Privy Council and the Palace Eunuch Service that mention army expansion, from the great court assembly on the first of this month up to last night, there have been two hundred and twenty-seven in total..."

On Apricot Hill, everyone fell silent in astonishment, unsure whether they were shocked by the number or by this Tangut old man's initiative.

The Emperor naturally understood that Ren Baozhong was having a late blooming, but having been Emperor for so many years, how could he not know that regardless of a person's motives, as long as they actually proved useful, that was better than Fan Zongyin spending his time looking in a mirror? Just a moment ago, while he was shooting arrows, that fellow had secretly taken a look at himself.

With this thought, the Emperor naturally turned a kind face to Ren Baozhong: "Ren Qing, you've been attentive. And what are the origins of those two hundred and twenty-seven memorials? Can you classify them in detail?"

"In reply to Your Majesty, the memorials say all sorts of things," Ren Baozhong replied without hesitation. "Often a single memorial touches on many aspects. Your subject's literary Chinese is inferior to that of the many academicians and drafters; I can only roughly grasp the meaning, and can't even untangle the twists and turns in some people's words. I truly cannot classify them specifically to share Your Majesty's burden..."

Hearing this, Fan Zongyin, Lu Benzhong, and the others immediately broke into smiles, forming a sharp contrast with the perpetually expressionless Yang Yizhong beside them, which left Zhao Jiu momentarily speechless... it could only be said that these two Hanlin Academicians truly had an air of wealth and ease.

And just then, Ren Baozhong continued without changing expression: "Thus, I beg Your Majesty's forgiveness—I can only offer a rough summary, not to be taken as definitive."

"Speak," Zhao Jiu, who had long anticipated this turn, turned back and faced him seriously, growing increasingly appreciative of this Tangut old man.

Regardless, the man had ability—why not give him some opportunities?

Sure enough, Ren Baozhong seized the opportunity without hesitation and laid out his summary point by point... unsurprisingly, it largely matched what Zhao Jiu had been summarizing over the past few days.

As it happened, ever since the court forcibly and formally pushed through Zhang Jun's package of northern expedition preparation plans in early March, as the news reached the localities and related matters began to be implemented immediately, the central government had promptly received all kinds of varied feedback.

However, among these five matters, settling the empress dowager and rectifying names were too sensitive. In particular, the Emperor and the ruling councilors' resolute stance had been thoroughly demonstrated through the gazette and the great court assembly on the first of March, so few were willing to court trouble by discussing these two matters... after all, not everyone had a good elder brother like Li Jing, allowing them to be posted as prefect to a place like Xingqing Prefecture, where there was great potential for action.

Had no one noticed that even Censor-in-Chief Li Guang, Li Xiantai, hadn't spoken up this time?

Of course, this was also because these two matters, when implemented specifically, involved little and were relatively simple—on the second of March, the court directly dispatched envoys to Shaolin Temple and Dongxiao Palace, and issued appointments to Quan Bangyan and Guo Zhongxun.

At the same time, building financial resources was a truly tough nut to crack, the key to determining the success or failure of the northern expedition preparations. For a time, many people adopted a wait-and-see and hesitant attitude toward this matter... no one dared to volunteer to participate, nor did anyone dare to criticize lightly; they simply watched.

To put it bluntly, many silent potential opponents were probably waiting for problems to arise in the specific implementation of this matter, at which point they would speak up.

As for the alliance matter, it required time to await reactions from all sides, and was not something one could easily comment on for now.

Of course, envoys had already been sent out on a large scale.

Relatively speaking, for the time being, everyone's focus had converged on the measure of small-scale army expansion—a relatively simple matter with mature conditions, yet involving a great many interests.

Thus, over the past ten days, secret memorials and formal memorials alike had come pouring in, with all sorts of content.

According to Ren Baozhong's summary, the opinions from all sides were as follows:

As for the Imperial Camp military commanders, most submitted memorials stating how strategically vital their garrison locations were, how formidable the enemy they faced, how inadequate their troop strength was, and at the same time, how exceptionally capable their troops had been in the past, how often they had fought outnumbered, and how outstanding their achievements were... in short, they wanted to secure expanded troop quotas for their own units.

In sharp contrast, local officials from the front lines submitted memorials in droves, mostly describing the hardships of supporting troops locally—how local manpower had been drained dry by the garrisons, how financially strapped they were, how local public order was plagued by the garrisons. They clearly did not want newly expanded troops to be stationed in their areas, nor did they want the troop quotas already stationed there to increase further.

Interestingly, while the military commanders vied for their own quotas, they never failed to trip up their rivals, hinting or stating outright how incompetent other units were. But the civil officials were almost unanimous in their stance and remarkably united—from the Jingdong West Circuit where Yue Fei's army was stationed, to the newly recovered northern Shaanxi, there was not a single local civil official who welcomed more troops.

Those qualified to write memorials all wrote memorials; those unqualified wrote official documents directly to the Department of State Affairs and the Privy Council to apply pressure.

Even Mo Qixie submitted a memorial, claiming that the presence of Yue Fei's army was a major obstacle to the economic recovery of the Jingdong West Circuit, and so on!

Meanwhile, there were also some debates at the central government level, but with a higher perspective... some suggested allocating more quotas to the Imperial Camp River Forces to ensure the stability of the Yellow River defense line; others proposed a major expansion of the Imperial Camp Navy to harass the Jin rear as soon as possible; and of course, more people recommended expanding the Imperial Camp Central Army, that is, the directly subordinate forces here in Dongjing.

With expanded troops naturally came the need for officers, and there were many memorials recommending personnel.

And at this point, one had to grasp the essentials.

"Your subject presumes," Ren Baozhong said at last, clasping his hands seriously amid the complex gazes of the several close officials around him. "These are all minor details. Would Your Majesty refuse to station troops in a prefecture just because it opposes it? Or add a thousand troops to whichever commander boasts more skillfully? In my rough summary, regarding army expansion, what lies before Your Majesty are actually these few questions... Expand on land or on water? Expand cavalry or infantry? Concentrate heavy forces in Guanxi or Jingdong? When appointing core generals, use old generals previously weeded out or promote from below? When replenishing mid- and lower-level officers, use veteran soldiers or new men?"

Zhao Jiu nodded repeatedly: "Ren Qing has been attentive... I've been somewhat dazzled by all this lately... What are your specific thoughts on these?"

Overjoyed, Ren Baozhong quickly stepped forward another half pace and clasped his hands: "Your Majesty... First, expand on land or on water? Expanding on land facilitates decisive battle after crossing the river during the northern expedition; expanding on water facilitates support for advances and retreats."

Having said this, Ren Baozhong immediately looked at the Emperor with some anticipation.

After a brief moment of thought, Zhao Jiu arrived at an answer... the northern expedition was a gamble; decisive battle was what determined everything. If forced to choose between the two, of course he would expand the land army.

However, though the Emperor immediately had an answer in his mind, his face showed no expression and he gave no reply.

"Second, expand cavalry or infantry—cavalry is for offense, infantry for defense," Ren Baozhong, seeing the Emperor silent, hurriedly continued his explanation.

"Cavalry!" Zhao Jiu again answered immediately in his mind, but still said nothing aloud.

"Third, Jingdong or Guanxi—heavy forces in Guanxi aim to take Hedong; heavy forces in Guandong aim to take Hebei," Ren Baozhong pressed on hastily.

"Guanxi!" The Emperor again answered only in his mind.

"Fourth, should we use veteran generals or promote from below..." Ren Baozhong was now somewhat cautious. "And after promotions, should the vacancies be filled with lower-level Imperial Guard officers or with military academy students?"

"Naturally, promote from below." Zhao Jiu finally smiled at Ren Baozhong and then spoke. "Select some with military merit from the Imperial Guard for promotion, and the grassroots vacancies after promotion should be filled preferentially from the military academy and the Imperial Personal Guards."

Ren Baozhong, having received an answer, relaxed for a moment, and the surrounding Personal Guards and military academy students were also overjoyed, though they dared not show it.

Only Fan Zongyin, Lu Benzhong, and the others could not get a word in, feeling somewhat awkward for a time.

Fortunately, after saying this, the Imperial Lord directly rose and left the thatched pavilion, then walked down from Apricot Ridge, clearly intending to return to the stone pavilion in the rear palace to handle official business. The crowd of close ministers and Personal Guards, unable to care about much else, immediately swarmed after him.

However, when the procession reached Linhua Gate, about to enter the rear palace precincts, the Imperial Lord, who had first crossed the threshold, suddenly stopped, then turned back and ordered: "Yang Yizhong, come with me. The rest of you, enter after sixty breaths."

With the Son of Heaven's oral decree, the crowd, though caught off guard and each with their own thoughts, could only halt outside the gate, watching Yang Yizhong, who had not spoken a word all day, follow the Imperial Lord forward several dozen paces, then stop in an open space before the nearest fish pond.

"Land or water?" Zhao Jiu asked with his hands behind his back.

Yang Yizhong looked back at the crowd outside the gate with complex expressions, felt helpless, and could only bow his head in reply: "Your subject is not of the caliber for a great general..."

"I will naturally also ask the various generals like Han, Yue, Li, and Zhang. Right now, I am asking you."

"Your subject privately believes it is land."

"Cavalry or infantry?"

"Cavalry!"

"Guanxi or Jingdong?"

"Guanxi!"

Having obtained an answer that matched his own thoughts exactly, Zhao Jiu neither nodded nor shook his head, nor did he pay any attention to when the people behind him would finish counting sixty breaths and enter. He simply walked directly to the stone pavilion with his hands behind his back to handle official business.

PS: Thanks to the new alliance leader Jia Haoren aguda, classmate Jia, this book's 152nd alliance leader!

Continuing to offer up the new book "The Immortal of the Aztecs."