Early the next morning, Qin Hui hurried to the imperial study. By coincidence, Zhang Jun's express report was also sent to the Privy Council by flying pigeon, and Xu Xiantu was reporting to the emperor!
"The prime minister has arrived just in time! I was about to send someone to announce the call."
"Your Majesty, what happened?" Qin Hui asked with a smile on his face.
"This is the express report Zhang Jun sent back from Xiangyang. The Prime Minister will take a look at it first."
An eunuch forwarded a copy of the pigeon letter to Qin Hui.
The letter was delivered by carrier pigeon, so it was very short, only two lines.
'I have led an army of 100,000 troops to Xiangyang to capture Yue's army. However, Yue's army was in turmoil and a large number of Western troops descended from the north. The captured troops were disobedient and showed signs of rebellion. I suggest that they be disbanded and returned to the countryside. We are eagerly awaiting a reply!'
Qin Hui understood that Zhang Jun had controlled Xiangyang, but the army could not control it. Many surrendered to the Western Army, and the remaining army surrendered on the surface, but secretly showed signs of rebellion, so Zhang Jun suggested disbanding.
Qin Hui received 10,000 yuan from Zhang Jun every year as various filial piety. Since Zhang Jun suggested disbanding, it would be okay to disband.
"Your Majesty, we currently have an army of 500,000, and military expenses have been overwhelming us. If we can reduce the army by 100,000, I, the Prime Minister, will raise a toast to celebrate."
Qin Hui first made a joke to ease the atmosphere, and then said to Zhao Gou: "Wei Chen has always advocated disarmament. Your Majesty should still remember that Wei Chen has written two memorials on disarmament. Now let Yue Fei's army be laid off, and
If they are disbanded on the spot, our finances will be greatly relieved. Your Majesty, it will reduce the financial burden and remove the worries, so why not?"
Zhao Gou nodded. Qin Hui's words touched his heart. He couldn't sleep because of money worries every day. If Zhang Jun wanted to share the worries for him, of course he would.
"Xu Xiangguo, that's it! Send a letter to Zhang Jun immediately. I agree with his plan. Yue Fei's army will be disbanded on the spot."
Xu Xiantu was the leader of the Privy Council. Of course he knew that Yue Fei's army was the most elite army in the Song Dynasty. Chen Qing refused to let go and recruited them desperately, but the emperor decided to disband them. It was a pity.
But Xu Xiantu had no choice. He knew that the emperor did not care about whether the army was elite, but about whether the army was loyal. After experiencing the Liu Miao Incident, the emperor simply did not believe in military generals, nor in the troops brought out by these generals.
"I obey the order!"
Xu Xiantu bowed and hurriedly left.
At this time, Qin Huicai bowed and said: "Your Majesty, I have something important to report."
"What's up?"
"Your Majesty, Xiao Yi, the envoy of the Kingdom of Jin, came to visit Wei Chen last night. He brought someone who was Wanyan Wushu's staff and brought a letter written by Wanyan Wushu, which was addressed to Your Majesty."
"Wanyan Wushu wrote to me?"
Zhao Gou was startled and said in surprise: "Where is the letter? Let me see it?"
Qin Hui took out a letter and handed it to Zhao Gou. Zhao Gou opened the letter and read it carefully. Of course, Wanyan Wushu's literary skills were not so good and he could not write a literate letter. At this time, his staff wrote it according to his instructions.
The seal was pressed by Wanyan Wushu himself.
After Zhao Gou read the letter, he couldn't sit still. He stood up with his hands behind his back and came to the window. The content of the letter was of course to persuade him to go to the north and compete with Chen Qing for territory.
Wanyan Wushu actually persuaded him to go to the Northern Expedition. It sounds funny, but the reality is that the situation in the Central Plains has changed drastically. Chen Qing occupied 40% of the land in the Central Plains. The essence of Wanyan Wushu's letter is that the Song and Jin Dynasties
Form an alliance and jointly eliminate Chen Qing.
Zhao Gou was not very willing to participate, not because Chen Qing was also a Song army. In fact, Zhao Gou hated Chen Qing more than the Jin Kingdom and wished to destroy his nine tribes.
But Zhao Gou is not a fool. He knows in his heart that even if he and Wanyan Wushu join forces to drive Chen Qing out of the Central Plains, Wanyan Wushu will still clean up himself and drive his army out of the Central Plains. In the end, what he did to others was in vain.
Wedding dress.
It was just the last words in Wanyan Wushu's heart that hit home, 'Does Your Majesty want Chen Qing to regain Bianliang and Zhao Heng and his son to return to Bianliang?'
This is the key point of Zhao Gou. As long as Chen Qing doesn't take back Bianliang, Luoyang, and Yingtian Mansion, he can bear it, but he can't bear to take back Bianliang, unless Chen Qing gives Bianliang to himself, but
is it possible?
Chen Qing will definitely support the emperor's brother and his son into Bianliang. What if the emperor's brother ascends the throne again in Bianliang?
Thinking of this, Zhao Gou shuddered a little.
Although the late Emperor Zhao Huan had expressed his willingness to give up the throne and gave himself an abdication edict without the treasure seal, saying that the treasure seal was still in the Kingdom of Jin, this was fine. The key was that the etiquette was inconsistent.
When the emperor abdicates, he should build an altar in front of the Ancestral Temple to pay homage to his ancestors, and then formally issue an edict in front of hundreds of officials. None of these etiquettes are included. It is just an abdication notice published in the "Beijing News". It is not a front-page headline.
Which emperor announced his abdication in a newspaper?
If he denied writing the abdication edict, how could he prove that it was true?
After discovering this major flaw in etiquette, Zhao Gou was on pins and needles for a year. He campaigned to attack Jinghu South Road. In fact, he also wanted to renegotiate with Chen Qing. If the late emperor was willing to complete the etiquette, he would build an altar in front of the Ancestral Temple to worship and worship.
The ancestors rewrote the edict of abdication under the notarization of hundreds of officials, read it in public, and then formally ascended the throne in front of the Ancestral Temple. To complete this set of rituals, they would rather allocate the entire Jinghu South Road to Chen Qing.
Zhao Gou sighed deeply and asked, "What else did Wanyan Wushu's envoy say?"
"The envoy also said that Li Qiong, who was stationed in Xu, Su, Pi, Hai and Lianshui armies, has surrendered to Chen Qing. We can send troops to destroy the rebel Li Qiong and capture the Xu and Su four-state army, which will destroy Chen Qing.
The plan to attack Kaifeng Mansion forced Chen Qing to shrink his strategy. As a thank you to us, Wanyan Wushu can be assigned to Xusu and his four-state army."
Zhao Gou was really tempted. If he could not only wipe out the rebel Li Qiong, but also occupy the four states of Xusu, and especially prevent Chen Qing from regaining Bianliang, killing three birds with one stone, Zhao Gou would be very willing. He asked again
Said: "What if Wanyan Wushu goes back on his word and sends troops to attack us?"
Qin Hui said quickly: "With Chen Qing watching the west, Wanyan Wushu needs us to build momentum in the east to contain Chen Qing from attacking the Central Plains. Wei Chen believes that Wanyan Wushu will not go back on his word on this matter. He
You will definitely be happy to see us stationed in Xusu and the four prefecture-level troops."
"This matter is of great importance, I will consider it again!"
At noon, Zhao Gou returned to the inner palace for lunch. As soon as he arrived at the inner palace, a eunuch came to report, "The Queen Mother is here, in the Qingliang Pavilion!"
Zhao Gou was startled and hurried to the Qingliang Pavilion. He knelt down in front of the bamboo curtain to say hello, "Your Majesty pays homage to the Queen Mother and wants to say hello to the Queen Mother!"
Empress Dowager Wei said calmly from behind the curtain: "The Ai family heard that Chen Qing is about to attack Bianliang and recover the Central Plains. Will your Majesty just watch this traitor recover the capital and be supported by the world?"
Zhao Gou's heart skipped a beat. This must have been Wanyan Wushu using his mother to put pressure on him. The only person who could influence his mother was Wanyan Zongxian from the Kingdom of Jin. Zhao Gou was really a little annoyed. Why did his mother treat that person from the Kingdom of Jin?
Just never forget it?
Zhao Gou had no choice but to bite the bullet and said: "The emperor is also considering the Northern Expedition!"
"That's right. Your Majesty is the orthodox one. The Northern Expedition to the Central Plains and the restoration of the old capital should be completed by your Majesty. When will it be the turn of the traitor to intervene? The Ai family is here to remind the officials of this matter. Don't let Jingzhao do that.
The traitor outshone Your Majesty and won the hearts of the world."
"The Queen Mother's teachings will be remembered by the emperor in his heart!"
Empress Dowager Wei's pressure became the last straw that overturned Zhao Gou's inner balance, and Zhao Gou decided to expedition from the southeast to the north.
Of course, Zhao Gou's decision to make the Northern Expedition was just his own decision.
There are still many things to do for the sake of appearance, such as building momentum to give the anti-golden faction the upper hand, and then asking the ministers to initiate the initiative, and everyone will sign a letter to form a consensus on the Northern Expedition, and then he will go along with the flow and agree to the Northern Expedition.
He also needed someone to take responsibility for him if the Northern Expedition failed.
It happened that Zhang Jun was still recuperating in Lin'an, and Zhao Ding was also in Lin'an.
That night, Zhao Gou issued an edict to restore Zhang Jun and Zhao Ding to their positions as prime ministers. They were granted the title of Shangshu and Zuocheng and entered the cabinet political affairs hall.
