Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 1005 Rumors Pierce the Ears

The internal strife that occurred in Xijin was actually expected by everyone.

There was no external force to aid them, and no city within their borders that they could not defend.

Although Xijin is not yet at the point where it can only hold onto one city, it is clearly hopeless and has just suffered a major defeat. Wanyan Liang's ability to drag out the internal strife for a month is already quite remarkable.

Of course, in hindsight, there were no winners in this internal strife.

While the rebels completely collapsed and scattered, some went to the former territory of Western Xia, some went to Longyou, and some clever people like Hu Chong went to Hezhong Prefecture.

However, these were originally Jin troops. After the great defeat, Wanyan Liang lost more than half of the more than 20,000 troops he had gathered. The entire western Jin front was reduced to only a few thousand Jurchen troops, leaving the Jurchen nobles with nowhere to even find their graves.

Those ambitious people in the city fared even worse.

Because both sides launched a surprise attack, and with the core leader Wodao Chong causing trouble outside the city, the rebels inside the city were completely out of sync with those outside. They had just rushed out and raised their flags, and before they could even shout a few slogans, they were trapped inside the city and chased and hacked by Hezhameng'an.

Since the establishment of the Western Xia Dynasty, Guanzhong has been a frontier region with a fierce and warlike people. Many of them joined the fighting, and Chang'an City quickly descended into chaos.

The saying goes, "On a dark and windy night, murder and arson are committed." Whether it was a villain who set the fire or an accidental ignition during a fight, the fire started that evening.

All sides ceased hostilities to put out the fire, but how could human power hastily stop the devastation of fire and water?

The fire burned for two days and two nights, reducing nearly half of Chang'an and most of the imperial palace to ashes. Even half of Wanyan Liang's beard was burned away, resulting in devastating losses.

Even if we include the Sichuan army that had to withdraw due to political reasons in the court, plus the two armies of Zhang Congjin and Li Shiyan that had been suppressed for the past two years, there is not a single winner in the Guanzhong Plain now.

Just as the situation in the Kansai region was settling down in a rather comical manner, the great chaos in the Song Kingdom was just beginning.

There's no way around it. Don't be fooled by the historical records that often describe armies of millions, with camps stretching for hundreds of miles. In reality, a unified feudal dynasty's elite field army would at most number around 300,000.

For a separatist regime, after the annihilation of 40,000 elite field troops, it would be an exaggeration to say that they were left with only their last breath, but it would be quite appropriate to say that they were seriously injured and had half of their ribs broken.

In fact, when the news of the complete annihilation of the Lianghuai army reached the court, the Song Dynasty was silent for a time.

It is said that although Prime Minister Shi Hao appeared calm and composed, after finishing his official business in the Hall of State Affairs, he tried to stand up from his chair three times but could not. It was only after his subordinates helped him stand up that he was able to stand up straight.

As for Zhao Gou... it's not easy to inquire about him within the palace walls. However, it's said that the palace is constantly summoning merchant ships and preparing to recall Li Bao, the commander-in-chief of the Liangzhe naval forces, to Lin'an.

This is the standard starting move for escaping by sea.

Zhao Gou has done this kind of thing once before, and wanted to do it once before, so it is only natural that he is now preparing to do it again.

At the crucial moment, Yang Yizhong ultimately didn't falter and nipped the matter in the bud.

It is true that the Song Dynasty navy is very reliable now, but the Han army also has a powerful navy.

When the Han navy pursues them relentlessly, does Emperor Zhao intend to flee to Java and keep company with savages?
This was only the action of the highest level of the Song state. As for the officials of the Jiangnan separatist faction who had already taken advantage of the situation, they collectively put a heavy brake on it.

The most typical example is that all the attacks on Lu You disappeared in a single day.

The court's original plan was to recall Lu You to the court, and if he dared to return, he would be dealt with on charges of being a remnant of Yu Yunwen and Liu Huai.

If Lu You doesn't return, then declare him a traitor and call upon officials, powerful figures, and gentry in Shu to kill him.

From then on, the Song court was dominated by a separatist faction, who lived a quiet life behind closed doors, which made people happy just thinking about it.

But what do all those schemes amount to under Xin Qiji's iron hooves?

Now, Liu Huai, the "traitor" of the Song Dynasty, has sent his generals to sweep through the armies of Lianghuai. If Lu You were to become a "traitor" as well, who knows who would die!
After the separatist faction fell silent, the pro-war faction, which had been swiftly suppressed in the past month, immediately rose up and attempted to make some changes.

Ironically, the high-ranking pro-war faction largely resigned and returned home after Yu Yunwen's death, while those in the middle and lower ranks quickly fell into ideological confusion.

The fact that an emperor emeritus usurped the throne is unprecedented in history. What does this mean? Can we say that Zhao Gou, as a father, was disloyal and unfilial?

Zhao Shen had truly gone mad again, and it was impossible for him to advocate for Zhao Gou and get him to return power to Zhao.

As for advocating war and launching a northern expedition...

The complete annihilation of the Huaihe River Army was caused by the Northern Expedition, wasn't it?
You can't say that the Northern Expedition didn't count because we didn't fight the Jin invaders, right?

Therefore, the pro-war faction only gained some momentum among the people, but then completely lost power due to the loss of its leader and ideological confusion, and could not stir up any trouble at all.

"In summary, that's the situation in the Song court." Luo Huaiyan nodded, grasped Su Kuan's hands, and said earnestly, "You've really worked hard these past few days, Old Su."

Su Kuan's posture was clearly relaxed after being tense for a long time, to the point that his whole body was somewhat limp: "It's good that the young master is back. I am just an average person and can't manage such a mess at all."

Luo Huaiyan offered words of comfort before saying, "Our army has won a great victory. Next, we need to cooperate with Brother Xin Wu to launch a psychological offensive against the Song Kingdom."

"Winning hearts and minds?"

"In the art of war, winning hearts and minds is paramount, while conquering cities is secondary," Luo Huaiyan said in a scholarly tone, before continuing, "According to Brother Xin Wu, the biggest problem for the Song Kingdom right now is its confused thinking. It seems like no matter what they do, it's wrong. We need to show them what the right thing to do is!"

On this land of China, what is the most correct thing to do?!
Of course, unification is the way to go!
Soon, a rumor spread throughout the streets and alleys of Lin'an.

It tells the story of Zhao Kuangyin, who pacified the chaotic Five Dynasties period in the Central Plains and uttered the famous saying, "How can I allow others to snore beside my bed?", but ultimately failed to unify the country.

Because he lacked sufficient merit, Zhao Kuangyin was blocked from ascending to heaven and failed to be ranked among the immortals.

Zhao Kuangyin was dissatisfied, but dared not curse, so he could only weep outside the Heavenly Gate for days.

The Heavenly Emperor was ultimately kind-hearted. Seeing this, he dispatched the four divine generals under the True Martial Emperor—Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise—to assist him. As long as Zhao Kuangyin could help the human world complete the great cause of unification, he could still be ranked among the immortals.

Zhao Kuangyin happily brought his four emperors to the mortal world, but he did not expect that a day in heaven is equivalent to a year on earth. In the time it took to stay outside the Heavenly Gate, a hundred years had passed on earth. When he looked closely, he was shocked to find that he had just encountered the Jingkang Incident.

As the founding emperor of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin was bound to assist his descendants. Therefore, he sent four emperors to the mortal realm, who were reborn as the four great generals Yue Fei, Han Shizhong, Wu Jie, and Liu Qi to maintain order.

But who would have thought that Zhao Gou was a eunuch who could not have children and was also somewhat twisted in his mind, so he wrongfully killed, abandoned, and humiliated these four generals to death.

After Liu Qi's death, the four emperors returned to their positions and complained to Zhao Kuangyin that his descendants were truly incompetent. They suggested that he should assist the true ruler of the north in unifying the four seas and pacifying the world, so that Zhao Kuangyin would still have great merit and could eventually be enshrined as an immortal.

Zhao Kuangyin was still unwilling to give up. When he saw that a proper emperor, Zhao Shen, had succeeded to the throne, he was overjoyed. He possessed Zhao Shen's body and wanted to use his status as the founding emperor of the Song Dynasty to warn Zhao Gou not to be power-hungry and cause trouble.

This concerns the great cause of your ancestors' ascension to immortality!
However, Zhao Gou, unable to control his desires for women, became interested in men instead. When he saw Zhao Kuangyin possessing Zhao Shen's body and transforming into a majestic golden-armored general, he could not resist and went forward to embrace him for pleasure.

Zhao Kuangyin returned to the throne in a sorry state and ascended to heaven, extremely furious.

When Zhao Gou discovered that he was holding Zhao Shen, he was filled with shame and indignation. He then deposed and imprisoned Zhao Shen and returned to the throne himself.

When Zhao Kuangyin saw that his descendants were in such a state, he turned to the north to seek out the true ruler of the Liu family, according to the prophecy of the golden knife.

This rumor was so cleverly crafted that it included gods and Buddhas, eroticism, palace taboos, vulgar ethics, and even some obscure historical facts. It spread like wildfire throughout Lin'an City.

To be fair, this rumor is full of absurd errors. For example, the story about the Four Emperors being reincarnated as generals simply doesn't hold up to scrutiny in terms of timing.

However, rumors are not written by academic scholars from the Academy of Sciences. Because the general public enjoys reading them, any minor flaws are overlooked.

On New Year's Eve, this malicious rumor finally reached the families of officials and continued to spread upwards.

Many scholars were somewhat astonished, and many intelligent people could figure out that this was probably a rumor spread by the Han Dynasty.

That's nonsense. The prophecy of the Golden Knife has already come out. Who else besides Liu Huai is a great hero with the name of the Golden Knife?

However, after many people reprimanded their families for not spreading the news, they strangely remained silent.

There's no way around it; the idea of ​​unification it contains is just too politically correct. If I criticize it and a colleague takes it to heart, will I end up being held accountable?

Meanwhile, a more sophisticated message was also spreading among the scholar-official class.

The Great Han Dynasty is about to compile a history book on the six dynasties and thirteen kingdoms, and sincerely invites great scholars from all over the world to join in this grand undertaking.

This news was not spread by Luo Huaiyan, but was published in the "Dibao" and "Gewubao" and distributed throughout the country. After the inevitable delay in information dissemination, it finally reached Jiangnan.

This is truly earth-shattering news, far more exciting for politicians than mere gossip and rumors.

For a time, countless people whispered and discussed this matter at high-level gatherings of scholars and officials.

As these two targeted messages spread among the common people and the scholar-official class, the court immediately began to be in turmoil, just as all the wise men had predicted.

As the Left Prime Minister, Shi Hao felt as if he were sitting on a volcano, unable to eat or sleep, and his beard was almost completely gone.

(End of this chapter)