Chapter 68: Discussion (Part 1)

"The head of Wanyan Saili has been displayed in the various prefectures of Jingdong, and Jizhou has been firmly recovered. This shows that the news of this battle is reliable and the results are outstanding. Your subject first congratulates Your Majesty, and offers congratulations to Your Majesty!"

At the evening meeting of the Wooden Shack–Council of State, unexpectedly, the first to step forward was actually Privy Council Director Wang Boyan. "If Your Majesty had not set the strategy at Yingshang that day, established a foothold in the Huai region, and forcefully overruled all objections to hold Shouzhou to the death, and widely issued decrees from Bagongshan to clarify the great righteousness of resisting the Jin, calling on the realm to hold their territory and fight, how could this great victory have been achieved?"

"Indeed!"

Imperial Camp Commander-in-Chief Wang Yuan also followed closely, stepping out from beside the brazier. "What is called 'planning within the command tent and winning victories a thousand li away'... Commander Han annihilated the enemy at Juejianzhou, Commander Wang crushed the enemy at Xiashigu, Grand Defender Zhang struck first with cannon fire against Jin Wushu, and now this great victory at Liangshanpo—all rely on Your Majesty's proper planning and divine use of troops. And the earlier great defeat of Jin Wushu's pontoon bridge on the Huai River was directed personally by Your Majesty. From ancient times to the present, no one has used troops like this—not even Tang Taizong or our dynasty's Founding Ancestor! Your Majesty, the great revival of the Song is in sight!"

Zhao Jiu, sitting upright on the broken chair before the imperial tent, was slightly startled. The trace of jealousy that had arisen earlier was actually scattered quite a bit by these two flatteries... Of course, setting aside the flattery that everyone loves to hear, and without needing the recently somewhat shrunken Junior Academician Lin to fill in the gaps, Zhao Jiu himself knew what these two were doing.

Over time, Zhao Jiu had gained a certain depth of understanding of these civil and military officials of the provisional court who had always stayed by his side. For example, Wang Boyan, Wang Yuan, and the like—the so-called surrender faction, peace faction, Yangzhou faction—in fact, only a very small number were truly hardcore from the inside out. Most people were labeled as such only because they went with the flow and were good at gauging the sovereign's intentions.

The previous sovereign, Zhao Gou, was determined to flee south and feared resistance. To stay close to the core, these people naturally transformed into the peace faction, the Yangzhou faction, or even the surrender faction. But now, the current sovereign, Zhao Jiu, had gritted his teeth and remained in the Huai region, his determination to resist made clearer than clear. These people naturally seized the opportunity to shift their stance.

In fact, Zhao Jiu had only learned a few days ago that Wang Boyan's son had been captured by the Jin in Hebei, and the Jin had used this to threaten him. He had, to some extent, held his ground.

But back to the present, the posture of the two men who had lost power, Wang Boyan and Wang Yuan, naturally drew disdain from the civil and military officials of the provisional court.

However, the division of labor between Wang and Wang was appropriate. Wang Boyan, as the second-ranking subject of the provisional court, the Western Administration Minister, first stepped forward to discuss military affairs, which was entirely unproblematic. Moreover, his words retained some of the dignity of a Privy Council Director, while all the excessive flattery was left to Wang Yuan.

As for Wang Yuan, he was a military man. Was flattery a crime?

Thus, the crowd could only watch coldly from the sidelines as these two seized the initiative!

"Let's not talk about that for now," Zhao Jiu instinctively warned himself about his strange mindset, then pressed on. "The Western Administration and the Imperial Camp are in their proper roles. Do you have any preliminary plans for handling this battle and the subsequent arrangements?"

"In reply to Your Majesty, this matter falls within our duties. Your subjects dare not be negligent," Wang Boyan said, clearly prepared. "First, the war is still tense, so we should first discuss the immediate post-battle arrangements..."

"What arrangements?"

"With his retreat cut off, Jin Wushu will inevitably head north. But given the strength of his army, we must be careful to guard against him along the way... Your subject believes that Grand Defender Yang should take the lead, overseeing the officers, troops, and volunteer forces of all the military prefectures in Jingdong Circuit, with proper deployment. Then Zhang Jun and Han Shizhong should lead their troops to follow. Only after he has passed Mount Tai can we say this battle is over."

"Well said."

Zhao Jiu nodded repeatedly, forced to acknowledge Wang Boyan's prudence.

"Thank you for the praise, Your Majesty." Wang Boyan was rarely overjoyed, then continued, "I also have preliminary plans for the arrangements and rewards after the withdrawal."

"Speak."

"Looking at this entire campaign, north and south are truly one body. Among them, Yang Weizhong, Han Shizhong, and Zhang Jun have rendered extraordinary merit. Therefore, Han Shizhong should be restored to the rank of Pacification Commissioner, allowing him to re-establish a command..." At this point, Wang Boyan paused briefly before speaking solemnly. "And with the state in crisis, why not temporarily let military men serve as Military Commissioners? Let Zhang Jun establish himself in Huaixi, Han Shizhong in Huaidong, and make Yang Weizhong the garrison commander of Nanjing (Shangqiu). Then Your Majesty can remain in Shouzhou, gather Liu Zhengyan, Ding Jin, Xin Daozong, Xin Xingzong, Wang De, Fu Qing, Zhang Jing, Qiao Zhongfu, Hu Yantong, and other generals before the imperial presence. With the financial resources of Huainan and the Southeast as your foundation, directly controlling the Two Huai and remotely controlling Dongjing and Nanjing, you can naturally grasp the overall situation, and revival is in sight!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the thatched hall immediately erupted in uproar.

Of course there would be uproar!

Amidst the chaos, Junior Academician Lin, standing beneath the wooden shack, sighed repeatedly to himself.

One must know that this Academician of the Jade Hall saw clearly that what Wang Boyan said today was clearly long-planned, and he was using the great victory at Liangshanpo and the cannon battle at Xiacai to seize the opportunity to present it.

And in these few short sentences from Privy Council Director Wang, more than one earth-shattering scheme was revealed:

First, military men formally serving as regional commanders... To be honest, this was the trend of the times. Even during the Jingkang era, they wanted to establish military governorates in Hebei, let alone now. And Your Majesty had previously shown a similar intention.

As for Han Shizhong establishing himself in Huaidong and Zhang Jun in Huaixi, these were arrangements effectively made before this battle, hardly shocking.

But, and this is the but, saying such things publicly for the first time, and spoken by a dignified Privy Council Director, was still somewhat unsettling.

Second, Wang Boyan killed many birds with one stone. Using his identity as Western Administration Minister, he openly courted all the military officials. How would this make the Censor-in-Chief Zhang Jun, who had vouched for Han Shizhong, and the Shouzhou Prefect Zhao Ding, who was almost one with Zhang Jun in Xiacai, feel?

Third, this fellow actually wanted Yang Weizhong to serve as the garrison commander of Nanjing, not as a Military Commissioner. Even considering Yang Weizhong's seniority and his extraordinary merit in this campaign, this was truly shocking.

Finally, and what shook many the most, was that Wang Boyan vaguely intended for Your Majesty to remain in Shouzhou for a long time!

Not Yangzhou, not Nanyang, but Shouzhou itself!

This suggestion, seemingly absurd, actually had many merits upon careful consideration. Even Junior Academician Lin himself, a former Shouzhou Prefect with extensive family influence in Huainan, was tempted!

Amidst the commotion under the wooden shack before the imperial tent, Zhao Jiu pondered for a long time before slowly shaking his head: "This matter is of great importance. Why not discuss it after the war? What Wang Xianggong said earlier was all very proper. For now, let's only discuss the rewards for the great victory at Liangshanpo... Can Yang Weizhong, Military Governor of Jianwu Army, serve as the garrison commander of Nanjing? Is that feasible?"

"Your subject believes it is feasible," Imperial Camp Commander-in-Chief Wang Yuan immediately responded. "Grand Defender Yang was truly the commander of this campaign. He has outstanding seniority, excellent talent and ability, and is loyal and reliable. The only issue is that Hebei has effectively fallen, and the post of Northern Circuit Chief Commissioner is already fictitious... What is wrong with him being the garrison commander of Nanjing?"

Zhao Jiu sighed. Even setting aside the serious topic of remaining in Shouzhou, he could keenly detect a hint of political struggle from the urgency of Wang and Wang. He then had to begin contemplating all this from the perspective of a political animal.

To be honest, this was the helplessness of being a sovereign. He could not abandon the bureaucratic apparatus to focus solely on a war... Even though he had tried his best to maintain a provisional central group that was not too strong, the bureaucracy still followed like a shadow, and as the situation slightly improved, it grew larger and larger, becoming omnipresent.

Yet, rationally speaking, effective resistance was impossible without them.

Thinking of this, Zhao Jiu couldn't help but feel jealous of Yue Fei again. Ever since receiving the military report that evening, he had been daydreaming: if he could let loose and fight without any constraints, would he have done better than Yue Fei?

Of course not!

Zhao Jiu had not lost his reason. He knew very well that his ability to do some small work for himself, the nation, and the people in this era fundamentally relied on his position as sovereign, on occupying Zhao Gou's body. The identity of sovereign was his greatest golden finger! Without these bureaucratic groups supporting him, without this identity binding Zhang Jun, Han Shizhong, Wang De, and Yang Yizhong, how could he have achieved these small successes by the Huai River?

But, having said that, rational understanding was one thing; it did not prevent Zhao Jiu from feeling emotional jealousy. This mindset came on suddenly. If Yue Fei had not suddenly appeared in his field of vision like an awl in a bag, Zhao Jiu himself might not have noticed it... But once it appeared, it appeared. As an engineering dog with no major issues in his worldview, Zhao Jiu naturally couldn't help but be vigilant and reflect.

Why was he jealous of Yue Fei?

After much thought, Zhao Jiu could only conclude that after experiencing the standoff at Shouzhou and the Zhang Yongzhen affair, he had finally torn through the membrane separating him from this era, developing a certain sense of belonging to it. With belonging, plus a bit of human selfishness, he naturally wanted to complete the redemption of the entire era himself and seize certain honors... This didn't seem like an immoral thought, but the derivative jealousy was clearly due to him being too young!

It seemed he still hadn't been beaten enough by the times!