In the border areas, the grass grows thin in autumn, and in the south of the Yangtze River, geese begin to fly in October.
Lin'an in early October is the season when the sweet osmanthus is fragrant. When boating on the West Lake, you can feel the slight coolness in the wind.
Chen Yizhong stood on a boat with his hands behind his hands. It was not until the boat arrived at Gushan that he got off the boat alone and walked.
After walking for a while, I found an old man fishing on the path beside the lake.
The old man was unkempt and disheveled, looking like an ordinary fisherman.
But Chen Yizhong respectfully called: "Mr. Zhang."
"Shh."
Zhang Jian raised his finger to signal Chen Yizhong not to startle his fish.
The two of them stood and sat and waited for a long time. Finally, Zhang Jian suddenly raised his fishing rod and caught a big fish.
He laughed heartily, put the fish into the bamboo basket, stood up, stroked his beard and said with a smile: "I bought a fishing rock to tie a fishing boat, and the fish and dragons blew the waves to scare the gulls to sleep. The white stone springs have always been better than the green mountains and small caves in the sky."
"Xianggong Zhang is in a good mood."
"What are you talking about? It's just that living in Lin'an is not easy. I can't afford fish, so I have to catch it myself."
Chen Yizhong smiled politely and replied: "Ms. Zhang is honest and thrifty."
Zhang Jian's integrity and frugality were praised by the Manchu Dynasty. He was not fond of singing and playing prostitutes, did not have fun, and lived an indifferent life. He was also generous, magnanimous, never sullen, and never remembered people's faults, so he had a nickname
, called "Man Chao Huan".
This is a rare official who can get along well with Jia Dang and is highly respected by Qingliu officials.
During the years when Jia Sidao was in charge of the Chao Gang, he also forced Zhang Jian to take up an official position once. But this time, Zhang Jian was given the opportunity to raise his hopes. Even the number one scholar, Wen Yunsun, praised him for being "rich and noble but not promiscuous, ridiculed in adversity, and always enlightened in his heart."
Juide."
Afterwards, Jia Sidao was forced by public opinion and appointed Zhang Jian as a counselor of political affairs and of the Privy Council, so that there were still important officials in the court who were honest and upright.
Since Jiang Wanli and Ma Tingluan were no longer in the court, Zhang Jian did not cause trouble with the Jia Party after he was restored to power, and he did not have strong political opinions.
However, what few people know is that Zhang Jian had a good personal relationship with Chen Yizhong and even helped Chen Yizhong with a small favor...
When Chen Yizhong was a boy, his father was an official and accepted bribes, and according to the law, he should be tattooed and punished. As a student, Chen Yizhong asked Wei Keyu, the magistrate, to forgive his father and expressed his willingness to be punished on his father's behalf. Wei Keyu scolded Chen Yizhong and still punished him according to the law.
Later, when Chen Yizhong became a high-ranking official, he secretly searched for Wei Keyu's faults, but unexpectedly found nothing.
It was not until the beginning of the year that Wei Keyu exposed a distant relative of Jia Sidao for borrowing timber from the government. He disobeyed Jia Sidao and was deposed and returned to his hometown. Chen Yizhong reported to Jia Sidao that Wei Keyu was running rampant in the countryside. Jia Sidao then ordered Zhang Jian to impeach Wei Keyu.
He was demoted to Yanzhou.
Not long ago, Wei Keyu died.
This is power, as Chen Yizhong said, "I only see the frost coming one day, and I see the green pines but not the flowers."
If he has power, he will always be Qingsong.
No one is willing to give up such power, and they only want more and more.
The boy who couldn't save his father back then has now gained great power. Killing a magistrate is like trampling an ant to death. There is no blood on his hands. All he needs is a few words with Yun Danfengqing.
"You came here today, didn't you attract any attention?"
"Don't worry, Mr. Zhang, everyone thought I was drunk on the boat."
"improvement?"
"A lot." Chen Yizhong pondered for a moment, as if there had been too much progress and he didn't know where to start, and said: "Even Jia Sidao himself believed that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and that troops must be sent."
"Ten news a day."
"Yes, Li Xia advanced quickly in the north and defeated Luoyang. After crossing the Mengjin Ferry, the cities in Henan and Hebei surrendered. It is said that even Shuntian Prefecture has surrendered, and now they are afraid of approaching Yanjing."
"So fast?!" Zhang Jian was surprised.
"Well, I don't know the details of the information given by Yuan Ting. But it can be seen that the Mongols are really anxious this time. They said that as long as the Song Dynasty sends troops, they don't need the annual coins, and they are willing to call themselves a country of brothers and fight against the Li thieves together.
Hehe, I didn’t plan to give it in the first place, so there’s no need to give it to both parties.”
Chen Yizhong's tone became increasingly excited, and he added: "Although the debate between the DPRK and China was fierce, fortunately, the decision was made quickly. It was a mistake to unite with Jin to destroy Liao. This time, of course, we will unite with Liao to destroy Jin."
"Union with Liao to destroy Jin, unite with Liao to destroy Jin."
Zhang Jian murmured twice, intending to say that there was another difference. Li Xia was a Han, while Liao, Jin, and Meng were all Hu barbarians.
But there is no need or significance to discuss this kind of issue at all. Raising it will only make people look down upon him and think he is too naive politically.
The enemy is the enemy. Does it matter whether the Han Dynasty's political power is important?
important.
The more powerful the Han government is, the more terrifying the enemy is, and the more it must be destroyed first.
Therefore, we must unite with the captives to destroy the Han.
There's no need to mention it again, just tacitly understand it.
"I thought Jia Sidao was still hesitating, fearing that he would get burned."
"Who can not hesitate?" Chen Yizhong said: "But today there is important news that has strengthened Jia Sidao's determination... Our army has broken through Kuimen."
"real?"
Zhang Jian was astonished, as if "the sword suddenly spread to Jibei".
In recent years, the Song army had tried to go up the river and break through the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River more than once. Finally, they finally managed to break through Kuimen while Li Xia was going all out in his Northern Expedition.
"Five hundred people."
Chen Yizhong raised his hand and said: "There are only 500 rebels guarding Kuimen. Our elite troops were mixed in with the people fleeing to the west. They attacked Kuimen by surprise and suffered heavy losses. Eleven warships were damaged and nearly 2,000 people were killed.
…”
Zhang Jian sighed.
Chen Yizhong added: "If we can't regain Sichuan and Shu in one fell swoop this time, there won't be a second chance until Li Ni's army comes back for reinforcements. This opportunity must not be missed, or the time will never come again."
"So Jia Sidao plans to conquer it himself?"
"He is still thinking, it's time for us to give him a push."
Zhang Jian understood and said: "I contact the officials from the DPRK and China."
Chen Yizhong said: "I have arranged for Tai students to stir up public opinion."
The two discussed these details for a long time, and after deducing some more, they believed that the possibility of Jia Sidao leading his troops to leave the court was already very high.
Finally, Chen Yizhong said: "The key is not to let him feel danger, we must make him think that everything is still under his control."
Zhang Jian smiled, looking understanding and generous.
The two of them, one is Jia Dang's confidant, and the other is a good old man of "Man Chao Huan". Their current status is all due to Jia Sidao's kindness, and of course they will not make Jia Sidao feel in danger.
"Don't worry, he has always been conceited."
"good."
Zhang Jian suddenly sighed and said, "We really have to mobilize the army to go on an expedition. I don't know how much food and rice it will cost. The people's livelihood is difficult."
"Yes, all this money and food has been made since the implementation of the public land law, which has made the national treasury richer. But how many percent of it comes from the wealthy gentry as Jia Sidao said? Most of them are the last rations for poor families!"
Chen Yizhong's tone was sonorous, and he changed the topic and said: "But if we don't do this, what can we do? If Sichuan and Shu cannot be recovered, then the upper reaches of the Yangtze River will be in the hands of the traitors, and the country will perish; if the traitors are not eliminated, the people will be killed.
How long will the exploitation last? It’s better to do it all at once.”
"Yes." Zhang Jian nodded, and said with his hands behind his back: "A lifetime of career and livelihood, and a desire to save the country through thousands of miles of mountains and rivers."
~~
"Damn, I hate these pretentious things the most."
Jia Sidao was sitting on the Taishi chair, stroking a snow-white cat with one hand and reading a message in the other.
I don’t know who it was that spread the news about the Song army’s attack on Kuimen, making it known to everyone.
It was inevitable that some honest people in the court would stand up and advise against attacking Li Xia at this time. They spoke of great righteousness, but could not come up with a specific way to protect the Song family.
"That's easy to say. When Li Xia destroys Meng Yuan and turns to march south, each one will fall faster than a dog."
After muttering a few curse words to himself, Jia Sidao threw away the message in his hand and took another letter from Liao Yingzhong.
"What's this?"
"It's Wang Yinglin's confession that was sent back from Jiangling Mansion." Liao Yingzhong lowered her voice and said, "There are some things... I would like to ask Mr. Ping Zhang to see it in person."
Now that the Song Dynasty had torn up its alliance with Li Xia, and without declaring war, it quickly surrounded the Tang army's stronghold in Jiangling and captured Wang Yinglin. Of course, Jia Sidao knew that doing so would be true. But there was no other way.
He only has one chance to regain Sichuan and Shu.
At this time, he took a look at Wang Yinglin's confession and blurted out another curse.
"Dog nerd."
What he didn't expect was that Wang Yinglin actually persuaded Jia Sidao to surrender, and the words he used were old things from that year, such as Zhao Fu's regicide and even the princess defecting to Li Xia, which gave Jia Sidao a headache.
"Stop interrogating this idiot. They say he is extremely smart and knows everything about the past and the present. I think his brain is missing a string."
After another curse like this, Jia Sidao rubbed his head and suddenly thought that Wang Yinglin might have done it on purpose, so that he could have an excuse to surrender Li Xia.
With the thought coming together, he shook his head, stood up, and personally burned the confession on the candle.
"Meow!"
A dissatisfied cat meowed. Jia Sidao turned around and saw that the white cat had jumped behind the screen.
"I plan to march westward myself." He murmured.
"Ping Zhanggong, has it been decided?"
Jia Sidao smiled bitterly and sighed: "How to make a good decision? There are so many things to think about, but there is only one clear idea: I have to bring my niece back."
"yes."
Liao Yingzhong didn't say much.
He has gotten used to it. Jia Sidao has been a little confused recently. He has given various reasons, but they are all "plans".
But this time there was something different. Jia Sidao seemed to have really made up his mind.
"Tomorrow, the fifth day of October, will be your Majesty's day to worship ancestors, right?"
"Ping Zhanggong remembers correctly."
"I want to test the reaction of the courtiers. If there are no problems... go to war."
"The students will make arrangements now."
"Go and arrange for Han Zhen to come see me."
"yes."
After Liao Yingzhong left, Jia Sidao walked to the bronze mirror alone and looked at himself.
He found that he was really old.
But he could not retreat yet, because only by keeping Zhao's country could he maintain his power.
People who have held power all their lives cannot bear the feeling of losing it one day.
So Jia Sidao personally picked up the vinegar paste placed in front of the mirror and began to carefully dye the white hair on his head. Just like he worked hard to save the Song Dynasty...