Chapter 441: Fear

After the spring of the tenth year of Jianyan ended, a large portion of people across the world—from south to north, from east to west, from Mongolia to Goryeo, from the Khitan to the Jurchen themselves—seemed to have reached a consensus.

That was, the Great Jin had actually already fallen.

The decade-long war between Song and Jin had already ended.

However, the conclusion of this war, or rather the landmark event marking the so-called fall of the Great Jin, was destined to be endlessly debated.

Some said Jin was a tribal confederation, founded on military might, so on the second day of the second month, the moment His Majesty Zhao ordered the entire army to press forward, the state was effectively destroyed without error.

Others said the reason Jin was regarded as a proper state was ultimately because it had entered Han territory, adopted some Han institutions, and only gained a claim to legitimacy once it had systems and the people's hearts. Therefore, the Jurchen abandoning Yanjing, the so-called nation and clan fleeing Han lands together, and returning beyond the Great Wall was the true mark of Jin's fall.

Of course, some also said that Jin Wushu's march south to Cangzhou, where he couldn't even get a baked cake and was directly beheaded by His Majesty Zhao without a word—that was the mark of Jin's fall... because Jin Wushu himself was the last all-around supreme ruler within Jin with strategic vision, military experience, and political experience, and also the actual commander of the Jin army in the later stages of the Song-Jin war.

But, considering that Jin still had thousands of miles of territory beyond the Great Wall, and still had... so, there were always some who pursued procedural justice and thought Jin hadn't fallen yet, and the Song-Jin war wasn't over.

At the end of the third month and beginning of the fourth month, as Lu Yihao returned to Yanjing escorted by tens of thousands of armored soldiers, this Grand Viceroy of Hebei became the central figure of this stage of the northern expedition. The Prince of Qin, Han Shizhong, who had gone ahead, voluntarily yielded the former Liao Secretariat, and Grand Viceroy Lu immediately established a temporary Grand Viceroy's office there. Following various previous decrees, he launched a massive amount of work, and countless administrative orders were issued from this place.

His Majesty Zhao, who had left the Yellow River and was slowly heading north along the coastline, fully cooperated by issuing decrees the entire way, approving almost every request from Yanjing.

Yanshan Circuit was reestablished; the new Grand Coordinator was without question concurrently held by Lu Yihao. Datong Circuit was formally established; Ren Baozhong and others received their formal appointments as Grand Coordinator. Meanwhile, the proposals from Dongjing for the Grand Coordinators of Hedong Circuit, Hebei East Circuit, and Hebei West Circuit were all rejected outright, and military administration continued in the name of the Grand Viceroy's office.

This last point stirred some waves in Dongjing and local officialdom, and the waves grew larger and larger.

Because soon, as countless appointment and dismissal documents were issued directly from the Yanjing Grand Viceroy's office, local surrendered officials north of the Yellow River began to be formally screened based on their "spring plowing work performance." About forty percent of the officials were retained, while those jinshi who had accompanied the army to inspect spring plowing, the advisors who had participated in the northern expedition, and literate military officers in the army began to be transferred in large numbers to local posts.

This meant that the Dongjing officialdom gained almost none of the most anticipated rewards from this northern expedition.

However, the interesting thing was that amidst what should have been an atmosphere full of anger and dissatisfaction, a certain kind of fear and dread was clearly mixed in... and this fearful emotion seemed to far outweigh the dissatisfaction and anger.

To put it plainly, after ten years of achievement, and according to the understanding of this era, the exalted His Majesty naturally claimed and enjoyed the largest share of merit and prestige.

Now, in this Confucian-colored feudal empire, no one could question His Majesty anymore. In the era and in history, in the orientation of power, he, Zhao Jiu of Cangzhou, had become an anchor point.

In Dongjing, in Hebei, among civil officials and military generals, there was only the fear of being abandoned by His Majesty, and no qualification for anger or dissatisfaction.

Perhaps it was precisely for this reason that His Majesty Zhao acted so unscrupulously, allowing Yanjing to encroach on Dongjing's authority and responsibilities, while he himself didn't even show his face, only following the river to the sea, doing some absurd things.

On the third day of the fourth month, His Majesty Zhao, who had truly performed ancestral rites in Cangzhou, continued north into the territory of Yanjing Prefecture (at this time Yanjing included most of later Tianjin). After arriving at the Jushui River, he immediately issued an edict, abolishing the title of "Northern Capital" for Great Ming Prefecture, changing Yanjing to Beijing. At the same time, with Yue Fei as commander and Yelu Yudu as deputy, they were to command the armies of Eastern Mongolia and Goryeo, go beyond the Great Wall to pursue the Jin ruler, advance into Liao territory, and sweep the lands beyond the frontier.

At this time, everyone finally understood the final leniency His Majesty Zhao had granted Jin after Wushu's death—the Prince of Liao, the Great Crown Prince Wanyan Woben, had to die.

After he died, the Jurchen could be given another chance to come and listen to the terms.

"That Jin Wushu knelt for an entire afternoon, didn't even dare ask for a baked cake, and this was the result?"

Inside Yanjing city, in the Secretariat, the Prince of Qin, Han Shizhong, finished reading the relevant documents behind a desk, then suddenly let them go, turned his head, and smiled at the few people beside him. "Once Wanyan Woben dies, won't Eluguan and Talan rise to power? Then won't Jin be handled however we want?"

"Not only that."

The Prince of Xing, Ma Kuo, shook his head in response. "Now that Jin has abandoned the Yan-Yun great clans and gone beyond the frontier, if you can still say there's a court structure, it's that Wanyan Woben decides everything with a word, but the military forces have already split into Wanyan's direct line and other Jurchen tribes... His Majesty's original intention, I'm afraid, is to continue to cut out the heart and dig at the bones, force out chaos, and bring down the Wanyan clan from within Jin."

"If that's the case, Jin will truly perish from the inside out, root and branch." Han Shizhong sighed with inexplicable emotion.

"Isn't it good to perish from the inside out, root and branch?"

Just then, Lu Yihao's voice suddenly came from outside the hall. Han Shizhong and the other military officers below him turned to look, and indeed saw Grand Viceroy Lu, whose complexion had been much clearer these past few days, walking in leaning on a cane, followed by the Minister of Works, Hu Yin Hu Mingzhong, along with Fan Zongyin, Yu Yunwen, and other civil officials. They all stepped forward to greet and pay their respects.

Not entirely unexpectedly, Lu Yihao returned the courtesies to Han Shizhong, Ma Kuo, and the others, then unhurriedly moved to the main seat. Only after the Grand Viceroy directly opened the documents already laid out on the desk, picked up a brush, and began to endorse them, did the civil and military officials below, including Han and Hu, finally take their seats and continue the previous topic.

"Where has your thoughts wandered, Lord Lu?" Han Shizhong sighed in his seat, adjusting his belt. "I was just thinking about Jin Wushu's appearance before his death... According to what that fellow Cheng Min told me when he came back, to think that Jin Wushu, a ruling prince of a nation, knelt before His Majesty for half a day, didn't dare say a word, and didn't even dare ask for a baked cake to his face... saying he didn't want to ask, and didn't dare to ask... truly laughable!"

"What's so laughable about that? Isn't that just human nature?"

Hu Yin replied flatly without expression. "In his heart, he had some unwillingness and a bit of a death-defying spirit, so he was unwilling to beg for food, and didn't want to lower himself to plead for Jin... but after all, he had come to surrender with his back against the wall, intending to trade his life for a sliver of hope, so he also didn't dare make any unnecessary moves, afraid that if anything went wrong, even his own life would be thrown away for nothing... It can be said he was so afraid for Jin's future that he didn't dare to even breathe a word."

"Indeed."

Ma Kuo nodded heavily. "If that's the case, His Majesty actually understood Wushu's intentions, and was only waiting for Wushu to speak..."

"Waited for over an hour?"

Lu Yihao flipped through a few documents on the desk before him, then suddenly sneered. "You're princes and ministers, and this is the extent of your insight?"

Ma Kuo immediately fell silent, and Han and Hu were also helpless. Even Fan Zongyin and others who were about to speak up also remained silent... They knew, of course, that Lu Yihao meant no harm, it was just his habit... Fortunately, it was them, and fortunately, they were still in the mopping-up phase of the northern expedition. If Wang Yan were here, or in normal times, this single sentence would have created a pair of enemies.

"What does Lord Lu think His Majesty was considering?"

After a moment, it was Han Shizhong who, with a strong sense of ownership, reopened the conversation... After all, although the other party was a lord, a Grand Viceroy, old and infirm, deserving of respect, at this point, he truly wasn't afraid of him.

"What could His Majesty be considering?"

Lu Yihao continued flipping through documents, shaking his head in response. "Nothing more than knowing Wushu's thoughts from the start, as you said, preparing to wait a little. But after waiting a long time, he was moved by the scene, and instead became just like the other party, feeling fear for the future in his heart..."

Hearing these last words, Hu Yin's heart stirred slightly, while everyone else was momentarily stunned.

"What is His Majesty afraid of?" Han Shizhong was stunned, then inexplicably panicked.

"You, Prince of Qin, Marshal Han, His Majesty's backbone and shield, what are you afraid of?" Lu Yihao suddenly looked up, fixing the foremost military official with a half-smile.

Han Shizhong immediately straightened his belt, puffed out his chest, and smiled back: "Listen to Lord Lu, how could even I start to be afraid?"

But after finishing his laugh, for some reason, the panic in Han Shizhong's heart grew stronger, and even his smile gradually faded.

"What could one be afraid of?"

Lu Yihao picked up his brush, continuing to read and endorse documents, still shaking his head. "The highest official under the throne, the foremost of the age. Even the title Prince of Qin isn't enough; you have to add a Commandery Prince for your brothers in the army... Isn't that enough to breed fear in a man's heart?"

Han Shizhong wanted to speak but stopped. Ma Kuo also began to realize. Even Fan Zongyin, Yu Yunwen, and others lowered their heads.

And Lu Yihao continued to mutter to himself, rambling on:

"And besides worldly wealth and rank, there are achievements and fame, and that 'drunkenly trimming the lamp to gaze at my sword'...

"You, Han Liangchen, have also read books. You should know that if a *History of Song* is compiled in the future, you, Han Shizhong, will likely have a separate biography. If it's divided into a *History of the Northern Song* and a *History of the Southern Song*, you might even rank among the top three biographies in the *History of the Northern Song*..."

"At most the top five..." Han Shizhong couldn't help but interject.

"Top five, then." Lu Yihao said dismissively. "But whether it's top three or top five, with such wealth and rank, such fame, can you truly keep it secure until death?

"Don't you know what you're really made of?

"What if your descendants cause trouble? What if, in the thirty years to come, you fail to keep pace with His Majesty... and end up losing your integrity in your later years? What then?

"It's lonely at the top... Prince of Qin, Marshal Han, are you truly not afraid?"

Han Shizhong initially wanted to interject again, but in the end, he remained silent for a while, then slowly lowered the hand holding his belt, patted his knee, and said somewhat awkwardly: "Lord Lu speaks clearly. How could Shizhong not be afraid?"

Hearing this, Yu Yunwen, who had arrived here a few days ago to deliver an edict, lowered his head even further.

"Look... even with your level of merit, you end up afraid. What about His Majesty? His Majesty's merits are even heavier than Mount Tai—how could he not be afraid?" Yu Yunwen was afraid, but someone else was not. Lu Yihao didn't even lift his head, responding calmly as if discussing everyday matters.

Little did they know that everyone in the hall—several civil and military officials of the highest rank, along with clerks and other mid-level officers—had long been holding their breath, not daring to make the slightest extra movement.

"But I'm afraid of being separated from His Majesty. What is His Majesty afraid of?" Han Shizhong paused for a moment, then pressed on. He was genuinely curious now.

"His Majesty is also afraid of being separated from you all." Hu Yin suddenly interjected. "Too close invites disaster, too far breeds suspicion, leaving both lord and minister uneasy... So if His Majesty does something mad one day, don't be too suspicious. It may just be that he lost his composure out of fear."

"Indeed." Ma Kuo seemed to recall something and sighed with feeling. "Some things are simply impossible to explain clearly... Besides, three hundred thousand Imperial Guards is still too many. After this business with the Jin, I'm afraid a hard decision will have to be made."

Han Shizhong nodded slightly.

"This has been the case since ancient times." Fan Zongyin couldn't help himself either. "Word is spreading below... that the Prince of Qin, the Prince of Jin, or the Prince of Wei might take over the Privy Council and enter the Secret Pavilion. The Marshal's position is just a pretext. There are also rumors about the Commandery Prince of Zhenrong, the Commandery Prince of Longde, and the Commandery Prince of Longxi."

This remark directly stirred up a buzz of noise in the hall.

"You all underestimate His Majesty too much." Lu Yihao let the momentary chaos in the hall run its course, just lowering his head to handle the last remaining document. Only after finishing his endorsement and putting down his brush did he speak with emotion from his seat. The moment he opened his mouth, the entire hall fell silent. "His Majesty is certainly afraid of failing to maintain the bond between lord and minister. But is His Majesty not afraid of how to govern, how to explain the handling of the Two Rivers to the Eastern Capital? Is he not afraid of how to face the devastated lands north of the River? Is he not afraid of how to explain to the Southeast that taxes must wait until the north of the River is pacified and the Jin state is completely destroyed? If he were not afraid, why would he hide away to repair the Yellow River?"

"Repair the Yellow River..." Han Shizhong echoed the phrase, as if not quite understanding.

"Repairing the Yellow River means being so afraid that he dares not face anything—because repairing the Yellow River can never go wrong." Lu Yihao explained earnestly. "It's like when His Majesty used to raise fish and plant mulberries in the rear palace... Raising fish and planting mulberries—those can never go wrong either."

"This is... a bit hard to believe, isn't it?" Ma Kuo also grew uneasy.

"What's hard to believe?"

Lu Yihao swept his gaze across the group. "Several lords and close ministers who have long served His Majesty—quite a few of you are aware of this meaning of His Majesty's. Haven't you noticed that Minister Hu has been silent for a long time?"

The others looked at Hu Yin in surprise. Seeing that he showed no sign of refuting the claim, they all became even more solemn.

"From the very beginning, His Majesty has been afraid to act. It was just that the situation at the time left him no choice but to do so... This is the heart-demon that arose when His Majesty had no choice but to shoulder the realm's burden during the Jingkang Incident... It has always been like this!" At this point, Lu Yihao seemed lost in thought. "I have always believed that on that day at the Mingdao Palace, His Majesty never actually lost his memory. He simply needed an excuse to fob off the world after summoning up his courage! In the end, though His Majesty is the Son of Heaven, he is still flesh and blood... It's very hard for him."

No one refuted this. After ten years, no one still believed in the story of His Majesty Zhao's amnesia. In fact, Lu Yihao's explanation was already the unspoken consensus among the people and in official circles. The only reason it was never discussed openly was that it involved His Majesty. But in private exchanges, even the common folk in the Eastern Capital were tired of chewing over such stale gossip.

Still, bringing it up now did provide further evidence of His Majesty Zhao's inherent nature: always afraid to act, afraid to take responsibility, afraid to deal with chaotic situations.

Even Hu Yin fell into a dazed recollection... Not that Hu Mingzhong had any different thoughts, but he suddenly realized that back then, he too had been just like His Majesty—afraid of many things.

"I know you all have your concerns, but I am an old man waiting for death, with no need for such scruples. His Majesty won't hold it against me either." Lu Yihao looked around at everyone's reactions and suddenly gave a wry smile. "Besides, I have even more outrageous things to do. Do you think I invited you all here today just for idle chat?"

Han Shizhong and Ma Kuo quickly rose to their feet. Hu Yin, having come to his senses, stood up unhurriedly. Fan Zongyin hesitated before rising, and Yu Yunwen promptly followed suit.

"Marshal Han... there is something His Majesty wants to do but is afraid to dirty his hands over. I also want to do it, but I don't mind. I wonder if you mind?" Lu Yihao smiled as he spoke.

"Please give your orders, Lord Lu." Han Shizhong, slightly embarrassed, quickly cupped his hands.

"Confiscate property and kill people."

Lu Yihao spoke calmly. "All the city defenses and passes in the Yanyun prefectures are now in our hands... The local great clans are either Military Governors from the late Tang or Inspectors from the Five Dynasties and fragmented Tang. Every family has centuries of foundation, each with private armies and countless household servants. They may even be hiding weapons. Now that we need to grant land based on military merit, the other four circuits are manageable, but where is the land to be found in the Yanshan circuit? Moreover, the Two Rivers are devastated—we need to provide relief and repair the rivers. Money and grain are never in excess!"

Han Shizhong understood instantly. Hu Yin seemed about to speak but ultimately held his tongue.

"First, use the matter of the new army to make them hand over their weapons. Then survey the land, check for hidden populations, release their servants. Finally, under the pretext of colluding with the enemy, clean out the big families and great households..." Lu Yihao glanced at Hu Mingzhong from his seat before continuing. "If anyone dares to show the slightest disobedience, you march out directly and uproot their centuries-old holdings from the ground!"

"Rest assured, Lord Lu."

Han Liangchen quickly thumped his chest. "Since His Majesty and you, my lord, have this intention, would I, Shizhong, be afraid of losing my reputation?"

"Minister Hu, you and the others will have to work hard on the matters of weapon surrender and land survey." Lu Yihao finally turned to the nominal person in charge of this affair. "If you don't know the details, go ask Zheng Xiunian... As for the final investigation of traitors, I will handle it myself."

Hu Yin nodded with effort.

"Commissioner Ma." Lu Yihao finally looked at Ma Kuo. "There are considerable military supplies captured at Yanjing and Fanyang... You will have to work hard to supply Marshal Yue for his expedition beyond the passes into Liao territory."

"Naturally." Ma Kuo had no extra words for this task.

"There is also a private matter I'd like to ask Academician Yu to help with."

With that, Lu Yihao suddenly stood up, leaning on his cane, and squinted at Yu Yunwen, who was hiding behind Fan Zongyin. "You go privately and inform the Prince of Wei on my behalf—I won't show my face. Ask him to send reliable men to Jinzhou... Either Taohua Island or Juhua Island (Juehua Island)... Anyway, have them capture Guo Yaoshi, who fled to the islands after hearing news of me, and bring him to me. They say I never hold a grudge overnight, but this matter—I've remembered it for twelve years! Surely you wouldn't let me, the Grand Viceroy of Hebei, die with my eyes open?"

Yu Yunwen was startled for a moment, then immediately bowed his head in response: "This matter is simple... Please await good news, Grand Viceroy."

Only then did Lu Yihao nod in satisfaction.

Two days later, Yue Fei, who had already passed Yuguan, received an oral decree from His Majesty Zhao, delivered by the Red Heart Squad. Without much hesitation, he halted briefly by the roadside and summoned two men on the spot: "Guo Jin, Yang Zaixing—this matter requires a report to the imperial presence. You've both been before His Majesty, so I'll entrust this to you. Two companies will be enough. Deputy Commander Li (Li Bao) will send ships to pick you up! Try to take them alive!"

With the military order given, and given Yue Fei's strict discipline, Guo and Yang had no choice but to comply, even though they had no desire to go to some damned Juhua Island or Taohua Island.