Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 643 Confidence
The eunuch Liang Yan, the military supervisor of the Jin Dynasty, escaped the disaster and ran to Xuzhou in a panic.

He endured two days in Xuzhou City, and gradually joined up with the chief steward Tushan Shousu, Meng'an Tangkuo Wuye, the general Nahe Oulu and others.

At this time, the scattered soldiers who had escaped gathered together and gathered more than 20,000 people.

Eunuch Liang did not wait any longer and ordered the Xuzhou garrison to continue accepting the scattered soldiers who had escaped back. He then fled back to Zhongdu in a hurry with these remnants of the defeated army to report the death.

As soon as he saw Wanyan Liang, Liang Yan burst into tears.

He denounced Yelu Yuanyi for being ambitious and refusing to listen to advice, and for turning a deaf ear to his words of advice. As a result, Yelu Yuanyi fell into the Song people's treacherous trap, harmed himself and others, and died on the battlefield.

In short, he put all the blame on Yelu Yuanyi, saying that it was Yelu Yuanyi's self-righteousness and arbitrary behavior that led to the defeat.

However, he had long discovered that the strategy formulated by Yelu Yuanyi had problems and had repeatedly advised him against it.

Generals such as Tushan Shousu, Tangkuo Wuye, and Nahe Hanlu knew that Wanyan Liang was moody and murderous.

In order to protect themselves at this time, they had no choice but to follow Eunuch Liang's words and put the blame on Yelu Yuanyi.

When Wanyan Liang heard that the losses in the battle of Lingbi were so great, it was like a bolt from the blue.

The elite Jurchen troops of the Jin army are now becoming increasingly scarce, with no way to replenish them.

Wanyan Liang was so furious that he was shaking all over.

At this time, Yelu Yuanyi's son, Yelu Wangxiang, was serving in the Wuwei Army of the Jin Dynasty's imperial guards.

Wanyan Liang immediately ordered Yang Tang, the commander-in-chief of the Wuwei Army, to capture Yelu Wangxiang and behead him on the spot.

Afterwards, Wanyan Liang ordered people to search Yelu Yuanyi's mansion and put all his property into the inner treasury. All male members of Yuanyi's family over the age of twelve were beheaded, and the women and children were sold as slaves.

After destroying Yelu Yuanyi's mansion, Wanyan Liang's anger subsided a little. Thinking about the current difficult situation, he immediately summoned the Privy Councilor Wanyan Ang, the Minister of the Chancellery Zhang Hao, the Prince's Junior Tutor Erliye and others to come to the palace to discuss matters urgently.

For the Jin Kingdom, the biggest problem now is the issue of manpower.

The losses in the Battle of Lingbi were too great, and the main casualties were suffered by the Jin Dynasty's "Central Army".

The problem is that now all the land north of Liaodong is controlled by the newly established "New Jin Empire", and it is difficult for Wanyan Liang to replenish his troops.

So, how to solve the problem of the military?

Wanyan Liang urgently summoned his trusted ministers and pondered for two days before he finally figured out a solution.

Fortunately, the difference between the Jin Dynasty and the Song Dynasty was that the civil and military officials of the Jin Dynasty could not control Wanyan Liang at all.

Wanyan Liang could make decisions on all military and national affairs of the Jin Dynasty with just a single word.

Therefore, after Wanyan Liang made a decision, he could directly issue an imperial edict, and his swift and decisive effect was much stronger than that of the Song Dynasty.

Immediately, Wanyan Liang issued an edict to abolish the Zhongshu and Menxia ministries, retaining only the Shangshu province, which was directly under the emperor.

The Secretariat and the Privy Council were responsible for both government and military affairs, but the Privy Council was under the control of the Secretariat.

While streamlining the organization, the Jin emperor also had more direct control over military power.

Subsequently, the Jin Dynasty carried out a major reform of its military service system, imitating the Song Dynasty's establishment of a central government-controlled army, local garrison troops, border defense troops and local security forces.

He recruited soldiers and conscripted soldiers on a large scale.

The Meng'an and Mouke armies, which were mainly composed of Jurchens, were all transformed into centrally-controlled armies, which were further divided into imperial guards and mobile forces.

The Palace Front Inspection Office was set up to lead the Imperial Guards, which were mainly responsible for the palace guards and the defense of the capital. The mobile army served as the strategic reserve force of the Jin Dynasty.

Basically, because too many Jurchen soldiers were killed in the Battle of Lingbi, and the Jin Dynasty lost control of the area north of Liaodong, which was mainly populated by the Jurchens, it could only imitate the Song Dynasty's military system and carry out more radical reforms. It began to recruit a large number of Han people in the north to become part of the Jin Dynasty's main force.

……

On the Song side, the emperor sped up his return to Lin'an.

Along the way, Zhao Yuan and the ministers accompanying the emperor evaluated the rewards for the meritorious generals based on the battle reports that were passed on one after another.

In fact, the rewards for most generals are easy to solve.

Since they were originally military generals, all they had to do was to promote them to higher positions, give them higher titles, and reward them with houses and lands.

The only one in real trouble is Yang Yuan.

He was a civil servant, but he was also the man with the greatest military merit in the Battle of Lingbi. The emperor also felt sympathy for his talent and did not want him to continue on his path as a censor. So the emperor was scratching his head as to how to place him.

Fortunately, the emperor himself had his own ideas, and the ministers who accompanied him this time were all of the same mind as him.

In this way, the emperor made up his mind, and Yang Yuan's future was basically determined.

He was promoted to the title of founding county duke.

The reasons given by the government were very sufficient. The title of founding county duke was usually only awarded to civil servants with political achievements, while the title of founding county duke could be awarded for either military merit or political achievements.

Yang Yuan's achievement this time was military merit.

Moreover, in the beginning, because Yang Yuan had too little experience, the entire Censorate was demoted to a lower level. However, Yang Yuan was making great contributions so quickly that it was difficult to suppress him any further.

As for his official position, it was adjusted to Zuo Jianyi Dafu, an important official under the Menxia Province.

Tang Situi had half a step into the threshold of becoming prime minister, while Yang Yuan had half a step into the threshold of ruling.

The Imperial Counselor was the equivalent of a "gangster" in the Song Dynasty officialdom, just like the "wild card" in mahjong. The Censorate would only take action if you committed a crime or made a mistake.

However, the Counselors had the right to make suggestions to the emperor and officials at all levels and correct their mistakes.

In other words, his original position as Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate was equivalent to a prosecutor, and his main focus was on judicial aspects.

However, the Censor-in-Chief could not only interfere in the judiciary, but also had the power to participate in politics.

The inner court, the outer court, the emperor, the ministers, he can criticize anyone...supervise.

Zhao Yuan discussed the matter with the ministers accompanying the emperor and reported the result back to the court.

Now Zhao Yuan is not really afraid of too much dissatisfaction and criticism from the court officials.

When he ascended the throne, the uncle emperor of the Jin Dynasty became the brother emperor, because Wanyan Liang was five years older than Zhao Yuan.

In the past, uncle emperors were of a different generation. Even if the Jin emperor was only one year older, he was still an uncle.

Now that we are of the same generation, we can only address each other as brothers based on our age, so there is no such thing as humiliation.

The Goryeo Kingdom once again recognized the Song Dynasty as its suzerain state.

The New Jin Empire also established diplomatic relations with the Song Dynasty, becoming brother countries.

Now that the Song Dynasty has won another great victory, this is the confidence of the emperor, giving him the courage to face the pressure from court officials.

What's more, Tang Shitui and other officials of the Ministry of Personnel have not yet cleaned up their mess. Whether to treat them leniently or strike them hard depends entirely on the emperor's decision. What is there for him to be afraid of?
Li Dao was having dinner at home when he heard the news. As soon as he heard about Yang Yuan's personnel arrangements, the cunning Li Dao knew that the emperor was training Yang Yuan to be the prime minister.

A prime minister-in-waiting who is not even thirty years old!

Li Dao could not help but beat his chest and stamp his feet again, lamenting: "What a pity! I had the chance to be the father-in-law of the Prime Minister, but now I am just a military leader. Alas."

After hearing his father's two interjections, Li Fengnian praised, "Dad, although you are a military leader, you are also a military leader who has drunk ink."

Li Dao looked at the cuttlefish on the plate and seriously suspected that his stupid son was mocking him.

Li Dao threw down his chopsticks and said bitterly, "Next spring, the court will select scholars again.

When the time comes, I will send people to the capital to wait and see who gets the top spot, and then bring him back to be my son-in-law!

I just don’t believe that my Li family can’t produce a talent who drinks ink!”

……

During this period, Yang Yuan was mainly responsible for the arrangements for the military parade, so he had more free time.

On weekdays, I go home, play with the children, and spend time with my wife.

Especially Alihu, who is about to give birth, is more sensitive than other women, so she has to spend more time with him.

Yang Yuan probably could sense what Alihu was thinking, so he mentioned it to Lu Xi.

When Luxi went to visit Alihu again, he mentioned that after she gave birth to the child, she would come to work for him.

As long as he had something to do, he would have his own business, especially working for Madam Luxi, which meant he was holding on to the most powerful supporter in the Yang family mansion. Alihu's uneasy mood calmed down instantly.

Yang Yuan treated everyone in the mansion equally, and sometimes he would even "flood the house". He would also dress up as a night walker in the Liu family's embroidery building from time to time, and he would also visit Shishi often.

That evening, Yang Yuan came to Li Shishi again, and the two of them teased Sheng'er.

After the child was coaxed to sleep, Li Shishi said, "Now that the frontline is over and you are back, when can we arrange for Yuye to have a name?"

Fei Yuye, who had just been urged to get married by her mother and had asked her mother to ask Liu, Wang and other four matchmakers to introduce her to talented young men from Lin'an, could not bear the pressure any more and fled to Shishi for refuge, and just happened to hear these words.

She immediately stopped her hand that was about to push the door and put it close to her ear.

Little did she know that the two people in the room had more advanced Zhelong skills than her. As soon as she arrived, Li Shishi and Yang Yuan already knew about it.

Li Shishi asked this just to comfort her.

Yang Yuan understood the intention of Shishi's question, and after a moment's hesitation, he said, "Wait until the official returns to the capital and the process of conferring titles and titles is completed. If the position is higher, I will have more confidence when I go to the Fei family to propose marriage."

Li Shishi teased, "Why, are you lacking confidence now?"

Yang Yuan smiled and said, "What aspect are you talking about? In some aspects, I am very confident."

Upon hearing this, Li Shishi's pretty face flushed and she said bitterly, "That old Taoist had bad intentions and we fell for his trick.

I never thought that one day I would teach you a traitorous disciple!"

This word was mentioned by Yang Yuan when they were joking in the boudoir. Li Shishi thought it was very appropriate and said it out loud.

Yang Yuan smiled and said, "Why do I feel like you are enjoying what you said?"

As he was talking, some rustling noises were heard in the room, and Fei Yuye, who was already an experienced person, immediately felt her face turn red when she heard it.
Li Shishi begged for mercy: "Don't touch me, let me take Sheng'er back to his room first."

Yang Yuan smiled and said, "It's okay to send Sheng'er back to her room first, but... without Yuye to help you, can you do it alone?"

After hearing this, Fei Yuye quietly stepped back a few steps and stood at the corner of the stairs.

Then she stepped heavier, "dong dong dong" up the stairs, and called out from a distance: "Godmother, someone is here to see Sheng'er!"

(End of this chapter)