Lin'an City, Zhengshi Hall.

Zheng Qingzhi, the Prime Minister of the Southern Song Dynasty, was sitting in his office hall, analyzing the situation with Zhao Fan, the Deputy Privy Councilor.

Last year, Mongolia broke through the Guanhe defense line of the Jin Kingdom. Seeing that the Jin Kingdom was about to perish, the Southern Song Dynasty became a little anxious.

Recently, there have been some voices from both the government and the public attacking Zheng Qingzhi’s policies.

Some ministers saw that Mongolia was about to destroy the Jin Dynasty and thought that Mongolia was becoming stronger and stronger and would attack the Song Dynasty after destroying the Jin Dynasty. However, they did not see Zheng Qingzhi's countermeasures.

The peace faction in the court was worried that Mongolia would attack the Song Dynasty, so they hoped that the Southern Song Dynasty court could improve relations with Mongolia and ensure the situation of the Southern and Northern Dynasties.

Zheng Qingzhi said in a deep voice: "Wu Zhong, in your opinion, how long can the Jin people last?"

Zhao Fan muttered: "The Jin Kingdom's Guanhe defense line has been broken, and Kaifeng is undefeated. In my opinion, they may not be able to survive even a year."

Zheng Qingzhi looked worried, "If the Jin Kingdom is destroyed, we, the Song Dynasty, will have to face Mongolia. Mongolia will destroy Xixia, Western Liao, and the Jin Kingdom. It is far stronger than the Jin and Liao Dynasties, and is stronger than the Huns and Turks. How do you think the court should defend the Mongols?"

?”

The monarchs and ministers of the Southern Song Dynasty made a lot of discussions and thoughts about the current situation in the north. Zhao Fan also thought about this. He said solemnly: "Since the reign of the Prime Minister, the imperial court has selected generals, trained troops, and stored wealth in Bashu, Jinghu, and Lianghuai.

Certain preparations have been made to accumulate millet. In addition, the imperial court’s plan to infiltrate the Jin Kingdom has also been carried out.

The process went quite smoothly, and many Jin generals had contact with us. Therefore, I thought that the imperial court should compete with Mongolia for Henan when the Jin Kingdom was destroyed. The Jin people could rely on the Guanhe defense line to fight against Mongolia for more than 20 years.

, if we take over, we can block Mongolia to the north of the Huaihe River and force Mongolia to negotiate peace with us."

Although Zhao Fan was regarded as the main war faction in the Southern Song court, the Song Dynasty had been suppressed militarily for a long time and its spirit had long been depressed. Even Zhao Fan never thought that he could completely restore the northern territory.

Their main idea of ​​​​war is actually just to fight one battle to show Mongolia the strength of the Southern Song Dynasty, and then strive to achieve the goal of peace with Mongolia on better conditions.

Zheng Qingzhi nodded and asked in a deep voice: "Wu Zhong, are you sure you can seize Henan from the Mongols and recover the three capitals?"

Zhao Fandao said: "If the government and the public are united, use the troops from Bashu to disperse the pass and contain the enemies in the pass. With the army from Jingxiang, go north to capture Deng and Cai, go to Yique to capture Luoyang, and finally use the troops from the Huaihe River to join Zhao."

If the Tai and other tribes enter the east of Henan, I think it will not be difficult to capture Henan!"

Zheng Qingzhi saw that he was quite confident and said happily: "When do you think the time will be to seize the Central Plains?"

Zhao Fandao: "I thought Mongolia would send troops to attack Kaifeng, and when they were both defeated, we could take action!"

Zheng Qingzhi nodded, "Then the Prime Minister must now try to convince the imperial court and communicate well with Bashu and Jingxiang. In addition, he must step up his recruitment of Jin Kingdom generals!"

Zhao Fan nodded, "I thought it would be easier to seize Henan. The key is to restore the Guanhe Defense Line. Defending Henan is more difficult. The imperial court is not very familiar with the Central Plains and how to defend the Guanhe Defense Line, so it is particularly important to recruit generals from the Jin Kingdom."

Important. If they defect in large numbers, we can directly use them to strengthen the Guanhe defense line. By then, our pressure will be much less."

Zheng Qingzhi nodded, but then he became worried and said: "Our dynasty has lost the Central Plains for a hundred years. The people of the Central Plains are influenced by the Jurchens and may not be able to adapt to the system of this dynasty for a while. Don't trust those generals of the Jin Kingdom too much!"

Zhao Fan suddenly asked: "By the way, how is the progress of Enxiang's request for Haizhou from Zhao Tai?"

The last time Zhao Tai and Qiu Yue had a conflict, although Zhao Tai won in the end and drove Qiu Yue away, it made Zheng Qingzhi feel unhappy and felt that Zhao Tai was a little out of control.

Although Zhao Tai arranged a drama later and praised Zheng Qingzhi, the civil servants of the Southern Song Dynasty were always wary of military commanders.

This time Zheng Qingzhi asked Zhao Tai for Haizhou in order to show the officials the results of his policies, and it was also a test of Zhao Tai's obedience.

Now that Zheng Qingzhi is in a high position, he does not allow anyone to threaten his position.

If Zhao Tai disobeyed his orders and became a warlord who resisted the rule of the Southern Song Dynasty, then Zheng Qingzhi, who single-handedly fed Zhao Tai, would be attacked and impeached.

As a mature politician, he will not allow this to happen.

Therefore, if the situation goes wrong and he discovers something bad, he will definitely destroy Zhao Tai first and will not let Zhao Tai become a flaw in his governance.

Zheng Qingzhi stroked his beard and said in a deep voice: "There is no news yet, but considering the time, Liu Bin should send the news back in the next few days."

Zhao Fan muttered: "The official thinks that Xiao Zhao will not refuse Xianggong's request. He is from the clan, so he can still be trusted."

Zheng Qingzhi said: "I hope so! But for outer towns, we can't just rely on personal likes and dislikes, we still need to rely on institutional control. Now Xiao Zhao is a minister of Jin, so it's hard to get too involved. When Jin dies, our government will control the Central Plains.

Then we need to dispatch officials to separate them from military and political affairs, and all the promotion rights of military officers must be returned to the imperial court. Only in this way can we feel at ease!"

At this time, the two of them were talking, and an official came outside the hall and said, "Ms. Liu Bin, Liu Yushi, please see me."

Zheng Qingzhi was shocked, "Why is he coming back so soon? Let him come in!"

The two of them were talking about Zhao Tai, but they didn't expect that the officials sent by Zheng Qingzhi to ask for Haizhou happened to return to Lin'an.

Not long after, Liu Bin entered the public room and saluted the two of them, "I'd like to see you, Prime Minister Zheng, Prime Minister!"

Zheng Qingzhi looked at him and couldn't help asking: "Liu Yushi, why did you return to Lin'an so quickly and see Zhao Tai?"

Liu Bin replied: "Reporting to Prime Minister Zheng, I saw Zhao Jieshuai in Haizhou."

Zhao Fan couldn't help but ask: "What is Zhao Tai's attitude towards the imperial court asking for Haizhou?"

Liu Bin said: "Zhao Jieshuai did not agree to Prime Minister Zheng's request."

When Zheng Qingzhi heard this, his face immediately fell, but Liu Bin continued: "Zhao Jieshuai believes that Haizhou is not of great use to the imperial court. He hopes to donate Suzhou and Sizhou to the imperial court. In this way, the imperial court can station troops in Suzhou.

and Sizhou, go directly north to recapture Bianjing!"

The moods of Zheng Qingzhi and Zhao Fan were like riding a roller coaster following Liu Bin's words.

When they heard that Zhao Tai was unwilling to give up Haizhou, they all thought that Zhao Tai was just another Li Quan. But when they heard that Zhao Tai was willing to give up Suzhou and Sizhou, their hearts were filled with surprises.

Zhao Fan couldn't help but laugh and said: "My lord, Xiao Zhao is still reliable. By offering Sizhou and Suzhou, he helped the imperial court open the door to regain Bianjing!"

Zheng Qingzhi originally just wanted to test Zhao Tai and asked for the Haizhou that Zhao Tai had just captured. Unexpectedly, Zhao Tai directly dedicated his hometown to the Song Dynasty.
Chapter completed!