Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 625: Holiday Soak
This battle to recover the lost cities in Lianghuai must be fought.

Because even those civil servants who did not understand military affairs knew that to defend the Yangtze River, one must defend the Huai River.

The Huai River and the Huai River must not be lost, otherwise the Yangtze River will become the first line of defense.

Lin'an will no longer have any strategic advantages when facing the Jin army, nor will it have any city to rely on to defend itself.

However, although everyone from top to bottom was united in making the decision to fight, it does not mean that many officials are dissatisfied with the current situation.

"Your Majesty, in the eleventh year of Shaoxing, Song and Jin reached a peace agreement, and since then the two countries have never fought again.

Now the Kingdom of Jin has declared an all-out war against our Great Song, conquering cities and seizing territories, with casualties piling up everywhere!
Shouldn’t we reflect on this?”

Shi Hao, the Imperial Edict Director, spoke to King Jin with great sorrow.

He was originally a professor at the Prince Pu'an's Mansion, which means he was the teacher of the current emperor.

Therefore, after the new emperor ascended the throne, he was promoted rapidly and has now reached the position of Director of Imperial Edicts.

Prince Jin even knew that his brother the Emperor intended to let him take charge of the government, but he still needed to build up some experience.

Shi Hao is a conservative, not a capitulator. There is an essential difference between the two.

He did not agree to be an enemy of the Jin Kingdom because in his opinion, the Song army was weak and was no match for the Jin army.

Therefore, in his opinion, the State of Song must endure like King Gou Jian of Yue and accept any humiliation.

During this process, he worked hard to govern the country and continue development. When the Song State became visibly strong, he would then plan a northern expedition to recover his homeland.

He was also delighted about the division of the Jin Dynasty.

However, he was conservative about secretly funding the New Jin and weakening the Jin Dynasty's strength.

Because he always believed that even after the division, the Jin Kingdom was still countless times stronger than the Song Kingdom, and he had to be extremely careful and not easily anger them.

He was worried that if the Jin Kingdom discovered his funding of the New Jin, it would bring disaster to the Song Kingdom.

Moreover, he was mostly opposed to the various reforms that Zhao Yuan had carried out since he ascended the throne.

But he didn't think that his good student would be so confused. He believed that it was the frivolous and absurd Prince Jin who influenced his brother.

The emperor was a gentleman, and was grateful for his brother's great favor of giving up the throne, so he tolerated his brother's ridiculous behavior, which led to such an embarrassing situation in the Song Dynasty.

Zhao Yu rolled his eyes and said disdainfully: "Master Shi, I'm going to slap you now, and if you don't hit me back, are you going to hide in a corner with your face covered and reflect on yourself?"

"You... are rude!"

"whispering sound!"

"Let's not talk about this matter for now. When you come back, I will give you some advice. I have another question that I would like the king to answer."

"speak!"

"According to the rule, when sending troops, the commander-in-chief is nominated by the prime ministers and selected by the emperor, and all the selected officials are civil servants.

Why did you, Your Majesty, take the initiative this time and appoint the generals recommended by the Privy Council?"

Zhao Yu said: "Old Master, whether to fight or not is decided by the civil officials. How to fight is decided by the military generals. This is in accordance with the rules.

If I let you lead the army, can you fight?"

Zhao Yu was sprayed in the face by his spit, and he became a little angry: "Come on, even if you can only talk on paper, I still consider you capable.

Come, come, choose any one of the Seven Military Classics. If you can memorize it, I will immediately withdraw your appointment and let the prime minister recommend you."

"You and I……"

"Why, you can't recite it? Old Master, you are a scholar. If I find a butcher now and ask him to teach you how to write an essay, do you think it's absurd?"

"How can the two be compared? Reading can enlighten one's mind, enlighten one's reason, and cultivate one's virtue!"

"Wow, I didn't say you don't understand. If you understand the truth, you should know that everyone has their own specialties.

Because scholars are wise, I say that whether to fight or not is up to civil officials. Because each profession has its own specialization, I say that how to fight is up to military generals. What's wrong with that?"

Although Shi Hao was full of brilliant ideas, he was not good at speaking. He was very angry at Zhao Qu's criticism, but he couldn't utter a word.

He waved his hand angrily and said, "Your Majesty, you are making unwarranted arguments and making unreasonable demands. I am too lazy to argue with you.

I want to ask you again, why didn't you send a military supervisor when you mobilized so many troops this time?"

"Uh……"

"When a general leads his troops into battle, he should be supervised by a military supervisor, who should record their achievements and failures, control the military power, and prevent desertion and rebellion. This is an ancient system.

This system has been in place since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Why did the king change it without authorization?"

"We have to act quickly, and if we delay for too long, it will be even more difficult to regain the lost territory.

Therefore, there was no time to appoint a military supervisor for the time being."

Shi Hao said sternly: "Even though I am just a scholar, I understand the difference between the speed of a large army and a lone rider.

Not to mention that the army has not yet set out, even if it has already set out, it is not too late for the king to appoint a military supervisor now."

The military supervision system is indeed an ancient system, and it has indeed existed since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

However, few of us mention its positive side.

There is really no need to waste words on things that are natural and should be the case.

Anything that is written down and written down is a lesson.

Just like when we read history books, winning a battle is usually recorded in just a few words, but losing a battle is recorded in great detail, it is completely a "battle review" and "post-war summary."

Therefore, the records we see about military supervisors usually only have negative effects and no positive uses at all.

But if this is true, how could such a system have been passed down from the Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Period?

In fact, in many cases, military supervisors can play a positive role.

In addition to supervising the army and guarding against rebellion, he also had the privilege of rewarding merits and punishing faults directly to the emperor.

This can boost morale and urge soldiers to fight bravely.

He was sent by the emperor, and after the task is completed he will just return to the center. There is no conflict of interest between him and the commander-in-chief.

On the contrary, generals may not be good at communication and coordination in various aspects such as logistics supply, cooperation with friendly forces, and local assistance.

But if there is a military supervisor who is more prestigious than him, things will be much easier.

Whenever the military supervisor played a bad role, it was because his power was magnified and he could directly interfere in military affairs.

Moreover, this military supervisor had no idea of ​​his own abilities and actually used this power.

If he were to lose this battle, all of Prince Jin's actions during his time as regency would be pulled out of context and used as evidence to impeach him for this consequence.

But Zhao Qu didn't care about being impeached.

At worst, he can just go back and be a leisurely prince. He doesn't like to be in charge of things anyway.

What he loves is only pure...beautiful women and beautiful ears.

However, if he suffered a defeat, it would likely affect his brother's reform plans, which was what Zhao Qu was worried about.

During the Song Dynasty, the power of military supervisors was too great.

It just so happens that those civilian military supervisors feel particularly good about themselves and always like to bypass the generals and directly interfere with specific operations.

In Zhao Yu's opinion, the fact that these bastards were ignorant of the problem was one thing, but the bigger reason was that although they looked down on warriors, they were eager to gain military merit.

That is a supreme honor that will go down in history, especially when accomplished by a scholar.

So you say he wants to win? Yes, he wants it even more than the coach.

But the problem is that the things he did were all shitty.

Therefore, Zhao Qu did take advantage of the opportunity to send troops urgently and deliberately skipped this link.

At that time, the government was discussing politics in a side hall, and the decision and order were given on the spot, and the ministers had no time to react.

It was not until the military order was officially issued that they realized that Zhao Qun's "keep everything simple" policy had eliminated too many things.

They didn't want to delve too deeply into the issue of the commander.

Because this is also a part of the official military system reform, and it is only being implemented.

That is, although the ministers will still publicly recommend and the emperor will select, military affairs must be led by military generals, and only military generals can be recommended. This is something that must be implemented in the future.

Including the military supervision system, it is actually also being formulated, and there will be certain restrictions on military supervision in the future.

But no matter how much restrictions there are, even if they cannot directly intervene in military operations, it is still a hoop put by civil officials on the heads of military generals.

This hoop cannot be taken off, never.

In the short span of fifty-three years, the Central Plains went through five dynasties and ten kingdoms, and fifteen emperors rotated like a revolving lantern, with each emperor ruling for an average of three and a half years.

Are these emperors and their families the ones who are miserable?
What’s even more miserable are the people of the world!

All lives in the world are in dire straits.

The "Battle of Chuzhou" between the Later Zhou Dynasty and the Southern Tang Dynasty was extremely fierce.

Although Chai Rong won, he suffered heavy losses, so he angrily ordered a massacre in the city.

Zhao Kuangyin, who was a general under his command at the time, saw a young woman in an alley with his own eyes.

The little woman's head had been chopped off and was lying on the ground.

The baby in her arms was still lying in her arms and drinking milk, completely unaware.

This scene made the battle-hardened Zhao Kuangyin's hair stand on end. He did not have the power to change Chai Rong's order to massacre the city, but he stopped the further massacre in the alley where he was and adopted the orphan.

The people in this alley were thus saved, and the alley was renamed "Yinzi Lane".

Many years later, the latter forgot its origin and changed it to "Gold Lane."

But the well-read Mr. Shi knew this very well.

As a member of the civil service, he did not want the civil officials to suppress the military officials.

But he knew very well that once military generals lost control, the harm they caused to the world would be a hundred times greater than that caused by civil officials.

Shi Hao spoke very emotionally. With red eyes, he explained the pros and cons to King Jin, and specifically mentioned an incident that the founding emperor of the Zhao family, Zhao Kuangyin, had personally experienced.

Shi Hao wept and said, “My king, you want the generals to let go, and I understand your painstaking efforts.

However, we cannot completely delegate power. This loophole cannot be opened. Those who hold military power must be controlled."

"Uh... I understand what the old master said." Seeing that old master Shi was in tears, Zhao Qu, who was usually soft-hearted, felt a little embarrassed.

Zhao Yu said: "In fact, the court has no intention of abolishing the military supervision system. It just needs to summarize the lessons learned from past dynasties and draft a reasonable new system. It has not yet been properly formulated..."

Zhao Yu paused and said, "Well, let's do as the old master says. I will send an official to serve as the military supervisor in Lianghuai. Is that all right?"

Shi Hao was satisfied. He believed that military generals must be under the supervision of civil officials. As long as this goal was achieved, he would be satisfied.

Although Mr. Shi is a conservative, he is indeed a gentleman of flawless morals.

……

Yang Yuan has been living a rare period of peaceful life recently.

The emperor is about to return to Beijing, and wars are still going on in Lianghuai...

At this time, it is not appropriate to cause any more trouble within the Song Dynasty.

All departments of the imperial court are concentrating all their efforts on making various preparations to support the war in Lianghuai.

During this stage, internal investigations and purges must not be conducted.

Therefore, the most correct approach for the Censorate at this time is to do nothing.

Of course, covert investigations and data collection are still being carried out in secret.

Those who took advantage of the Jin army's invasion of the south, disregarded national interests and the lives of the people, must be held accountable.

In order to strike back, they used the invading enemies as a means to strike back at their political opponents, and even secretly created opportunities for the foreign enemies in order to help them win.

For people like this, we should make a list first and settle accounts with them one day.

But the collection of these things is not so busy.

Moreover, Yang Yuan himself is famous, and it is not suitable for him to do this, as it will attract too much attention.

As a result, Yang Yuan, who had delayed taking many holidays due to his busy official duties, applied for several days of leave at one time to stay at the Yang Mansion to accompany his family.

The summer heat has gone, the weather is gradually getting cooler, and Yang Yuan is sitting and chatting with his lovely wife and family in the back garden of his home.

Bingxin, Yuchan, Luxi and Danniang are playing leaf games.

Luxi is already pregnant, but it has only been a short time, so we don’t know whether it is a boy or a girl.

Luxi, who is finally pregnant with her own flesh and blood, is very happy now. She thinks this child must be a great blessing, because she had a particularly good luck playing cards today. Dan Niang, Bing Xin, Yu Chan and others have already lost a lot of small amounts of money.

"Hahaha, thank you, thank you, I win again."

Lu Xi smiled happily and hugged the chips of the three people in his arms. His two sweet eyes almost turned into the shape of a gold ingot.

Yazawa Kanon and Alihu were sitting on a mat among the flowers chatting, while Xiaonai and Qingtang were fiddling with the barbecue grill nearby, and the aroma of meat filled the air.

Yang Yuan, Ying Ge and Ji Xiang were each lying on a rocking chair, sitting by the pond.

Yingge was lying in the middle with a big belly.

She was about to give birth, the first of four girls to be born.

Duozi squatted beside Yang Yuan and massaged his thighs.

By the pond, A'man, Ata, Li Fengniang and Zhao Ning'er were playing games.

Li Fengniang sat on the old trunk of the willow tree with her horse and sword, commanding: "Now, I am the master, Ning'er is the mistress, and A'man is the eldest son..."

Ah Man was dissatisfied and asked, "Why are you the master?"

Li Fengniang glared and said, "Don't you agree? I can recite the "Female Filial Piety Classic", "Brotherly Stories", and "Female Analects" by heart. You recite one for me."

"Tsk, it's great that you can recite."

Li Fengniang sneered and snapped her fingers, her joints crackling as she said, "I also know a thing or two about fists, kicks, swords and knives."

Ah Man curled her lips and said, "Okay, okay, you be the master and Ning'er be the mistress."

Li Fengniang said: "Ah Man, you will be the chef!"

Ah Man glared again and said, "Just now I was still a big boy, how come you suddenly became a cook?"

Li Fengniang raised her chin and said, "Because we don't have a son who always talks back to his parents.

"Ah Ta is well behaved, Ah Ta will be our good son. Madam, what do you think?"

Zhao Ning'er said softly, "I will obey you, sir."

Ah Man rolled his eyes in annoyance, what a bunch of childish guys.

Yingge looked at their serious expressions and couldn't help laughing: "They are so interesting. If I hadn't had a stomachache, I would have wanted to go play with them."

Ji Xiang couldn't help but laugh and said, "This is why I like Yingge so much."

Yang Yuan asked: "Why?"

Ji Xiang laughed and said, "Because Yingge is always heartless, hahaha."

Yingge glared and said, "You Japanese woman, who are you calling stupid?"

Ji Xiang said, "Erlang, just tell me, is this Northeastern girl fierce or not?"

Yang Yuan smiled and said, "Yingge is just a little more childish, simple and straightforward. I love this about her very much."

After hearing this, Wugu Lun Yingge raised her chin proudly.

Ji Xiang said: "I am also straight, why don't you like me?"

Yang Yuan asked in confusion: "Why don't I like you anymore?"

Ji Xiang said aggrievedly: "Yingge is about to give birth, but I have a flat stomach and can't even fart.

If I remember correctly, I slept with you earlier than Yingge, right? Why is it that she is about to give birth, but I still don’t have a child? "

Yang Yuan was speechless and said, "Is it possible that it's because you are too straight?"

Ji Xiang said doubtfully: "It's not good to be too straight? Then you stay with me tonight, and I will try to bend a little."

As soon as Ji Xiang finished speaking, Yang Yuan felt as if a feather was gently brushing against the hem of his robe.

When he lowered his eyes, he saw that one of Duozi's hands had already slipped under his robe, while the other hand was still gently patting his thigh, his brows furrowed.

Yang Yuan picked two grapes from the plate next to him, put one into his mouth, wiped the other with his thumb, and pressed it into Duozi's mouth.

Duozitan opened her mouth and took his thumb and the grape into her mouth. She looked at him with her beautiful eyes, which were so wet that they seemed to be dripping with water.

Because Yang Yuan was lying on the far left and Ji Xiang was lying on the far right, Duozi was kneeling between the recliners of Yang Yuan and Yingge with her back to the two women, so her little movements could not be seen by others at all.

Yang Yuan smiled and said, "Okay!"

After hearing this, Duozi gave him a charming and alluring look.

As long as my master sleeps with me, I will be on equal footing with that little bitch Ji Xiang.

When I make my master like me more, I will be able to ride on Ji Xiang's head and feel proud.

The more Duozi thought about it, the more excited he became, and his fair little face turned red.

Just then, a maid hurried over and came to Yang Yuan.

Duozi's little hand, which was teasing under his robe, suddenly stopped moving.

The little maid seemed not to see anything, but her face turned red.

She leaned over and whispered something in Yang Yuan's ear.

Yang Yuan waved his hand and said, "Got it, I'll go right away."

When Duozi heard this, he quietly withdrew his hand.

When Yang Yuan looked up, she was sucking on her finger, glancing at him with watery eyes, slightly opening her lips and wrapping her tongue around the fingertip.

Yang Yuan stood up and walked to the front hall, his back not quite straight. Perhaps he had been too busy with official duties in recent days and was too exhausted, and he had not yet recovered.

When Yang Yuan arrived at the front hall, he met the eunuch sent by the Regent Prince Jin to deliver the imperial edict.

Seeing Yang Yuan arrive, the eunuch who delivered the imperial edict opened the "order".

The emperor's order is called an imperial edict, and the regent's order is called an order.

This "order" appointed Yang Yuan as the military supervisor of Lianghuai. After it was read, the warriors standing behind the eunuch who delivered the order handed over the "talisman" that the military supervisor should have.

The military inspector is equivalent to an imperial envoy. When the imperial envoy is carrying out important duties, the court can grant him a "royal flag", while the military inspector will be given a "flag and badge".

In the late Ming Dynasty, Yuan Chonghuan killed the Liaodong general Mao Wenlong by burning incense and praying to the sky, and then asking for the royal flag.

The "King's Flag" is a thing entrusted by the emperor. Its function is to allow the person holding the "King's Flag" to take decisive measures in special circumstances to avoid delays in major events due to reporting through layers of authorities. For "traitors" and "treacherous ministers", it is convenient to execute them first and report later.

Otherwise, Mao Wenlong, as the garrison commander of Liaodong, held the title of general, while Yuan Chonghuan, as the commander-in-chief, did not have the deterrence of the royal flag and banner that "seeing the banner is like seeing the king", so even ten Yuan Chonghuans would not dare to touch Mao Wenlong.

The military supervisor’s “talisman” was a tiger talisman and a copper dragon talisman in the shape of a dragon head.

With these two things, he has the privilege of killing the general on the battlefield.

If he did not have this power, how could the military inspector supervise the generals who led the troops and caused them to rebel or surrender to the enemy?

The civil officials were concerned about appointing a military supervisor, and Zhao Qu actually knew that a military supervisor should be sent.

If civil officials are unreliable, can all military generals be trusted?

Necessary moderation and precaution are a must.

What bothered him was the mentality of the civil officials of the Song Dynasty who thought they were omnipotent and who, as military supervisors, were too fond of exceeding their authority and directly interfering in military operations.

But because he held the power of life and death, and the power of reward and punishment, the generals did not dare to resist.

Therefore, before the new military supervision regulations were formulated and promulgated, he thought about it and decided to let Yang Yuan be the military supervisor, and only then would he feel at ease.

Yang Yuan is a civil servant. Who dares to say that he is not a civil servant?

Be careful or his "Three Firsts in the Imperial Examination" archway might fall down and crush you to death.

Yang Yuan didn't want to be a military supervisor, because he was very self-aware and didn't want to interfere with the battle command of the front-line generals. So what was he going to do? Be a war correspondent?

The wonderful vacation was ruined. Yang Yuan said with a bitter face: "When does your Majesty want me to rush to the army?"

The eunuch who delivered the decree smiled and said, "The day after tomorrow morning, all the generals will lead their troops to march out."

Yang Yuan said listlessly, "I understand. I will report to the army tomorrow and we will set off together the day after tomorrow."

(End of this chapter)