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

Chapter 1006: Internal strife in Jiangnan

In Lin'an Prefecture, at the Sifang Pavilion, Shi Hao and Yang Yizhong sat facing each other, their faces both somewhat ashen.

Because Luo Huaiyan burned the State Affairs Hall and the Six Ministries to the ground, the Sifangguan, which was close to the imperial city, became the new place of residence for the ministers and officials of the Song Dynasty.

However, due to the hasty move, the house was quite simple, and the two of them had no fruits or vegetables, just two cups of tea.

"At this time of great turmoil, Prime Minister Shi should remain steadfast like the famous prime ministers of the past in order to stabilize people's hearts. How can he be alarmed three times a day?"

Upon hearing these words, Shi Hao nearly choked on his own breath: "Prince Yang, don't talk like that. Why don't you come and sit in my seat and feel the turmoil in the crowd?"

Yang Yizhong, holding his teacup, said calmly, "Very well, I suppose Prime Minister Shi has the ability to rise to both high office and generalship. Go to Lianghuai to guard against Flying Tiger."

Upon hearing this, Shi Hao became even more furious. He tried to get up but felt pain in his legs, and he was momentarily disheartened.

Yang Yizhong raised his eyelids and glanced at him, taking a sip of hot tea: "Lord Shi, you should at least pretend to be serious. I've heard rumors outside that when the news of the complete annihilation of the Lianghuai army came, Lord Shi looked calm and composed, but his legs were so weak that he couldn't even stand up."

Shi Hao finally lost his temper and slammed his fist on the table: "Yang Yizhong! I injured my leg in the chaos that day! It wasn't because my leg was weak!"

Yang Yizhong said somewhat listlessly, "Whatever, that's what everyone's saying anyway. Did the Left Prime Minister summon me here just to talk about these things?"

Shi Hao's anger flared up once again.

Haven't you been rambling on and on?!

However, considering the current situation, Shi Hao forcibly suppressed his anger: "Prince Yang, you are now in charge of the Palace Guard and the Imperial City Guard. Are you really not going to do anything about the rumors circulating in Lin'an City?"

Yang Yizhong smirked: "You've come to the wrong temple. If I'm not mistaken, I'll be going to Lianghuai after the New Year to sort things out. Since you're the sole prime minister, you should also shoulder this responsibility."

After a long silence, Shi Hao shook his head and replied, "Zhou Cong, the prefect of Lin'an, has already resigned and left. A small portion of the important officials in the court have also resigned and returned to their hometowns. When the news of the annihilation of the Lianghuai army came, many of the remaining officials also claimed to be ill and did not attend court. Lin'an Prefecture is in complete chaos. I don't have a thousand hands and a thousand eyes, so how can I clear up the rumors?"

Yang Yizhong looked at Shi Hao with some surprise, and shook his head slightly as well: "Prime Minister Shi, when you and the Emperor made this decision, didn't you foresee this situation? What about your accomplices?"

Shi Hao paused, opened his mouth as if to speak, but said nothing, and in the end could only let out a long sigh.

Shi Hao and Zhao Gou, being two intelligent men, had certainly anticipated this situation! They were even somewhat prepared for the possibility that pro-war officials in the court would abandon their posts and leave.

But neither of them cared!
I've always heard of a situation where there are too many people wanting to be officials and not enough official positions, but I've never heard of an abundance of official positions compared to the number of people who want to be officials.

The separatist faction of Jiangnan literati and scholars went to great lengths, among whom were some outstanding individuals.

But these smart people are often the first to understand the situation.

After the news of the annihilation of the Lianghuai Army came, the commotion in officialdom almost immediately came to an abrupt halt.

Are there any people who aspire to become high-ranking officials in the State of Song today?
Of course there are, and they are as numerous as mountains and seas.

But as the current Left Chancellor, how could Shi Hao tolerate having a bunch of incompetent officials under him? No work could be carried out, and the entire Song Dynasty's political situation would become even more chaotic.

After a long silence, Shi Hao finally spoke with difficulty: "That's why we need to find a way to eliminate these vicious rumors, otherwise the court will be in complete turmoil, and I will be powerless to do anything about it."

Yang Yizhong squinted and pondered for a moment, then suddenly coughed violently. After covering up a barely perceptible trace of blood red with a cotton handkerchief, he slowly said, "I don't like using politics to make deals, but now that things have come to this, there's no other way."

"If you want me to activate the Imperial City Guard, fine, but you must issue a proper imperial order and execute one person through official channels."

Shi Hao asked warily, "Kill who?"

Yang Yizhong rolled his eyes and said, enunciating each word clearly, "Qian Duanli!"

"No! Absolutely not!"

Shi Hao flatly refused.

Qian Duanli was a sixth-generation descendant of King Qian Chu of Wuyue and the son of Duke Qian Chen of Rongguo. He served as Vice Chancellor and concurrently as Acting Privy Councilor. Although he did not appear during the entire coup, he was an indispensable figure in the group.

The reason is quite simple and clear.

During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period... oh, the official name now should be the Six Dynasties and Thirteen Kingdoms... the Wuyue Kingdom voluntarily surrendered its territory to the Song Dynasty, so the Qian family of Wuyue held a special position in the Song court and received preferential treatment from the Zhao family.

The territory of the Wuyue Kingdom stretched from the Yangtze River in the north to Fuzhou in the south, from the sea in the east to Quzhou in the west, with its capital at Hangzhou, which is now Lin'an Prefecture.

In other words, before Zhao Gou fled south with his tail between his legs, the Qian family was already powerful in the capital. Qian Duanli was a native of Lin'an and deeply entrenched in the prefecture. He could even openly break the rules of serving as an official in a different place and serve as the prefect of Lin'an without any qualms. It would be abnormal if Shi Hao did not bring him into the coup group.

The reasons for Qian Duanli's dissatisfaction with Zhao Shen are also quite obvious.

The Lord of the Capital was doing just fine, and it seemed like the throne could be passed down through generations. But then one day, while he was still alive, the capital city had somehow moved to Jiankang (Nanjing). Who could stand that?!
Qian Duanli could tolerate it, but those Qian family's vassals couldn't!

This person's political spectrum remains consistently stable across both time periods; he was a peace advocate before and a separatist now, which is beyond doubt and obvious.

After the coup succeeded, Zhao Gou should have rewarded those who had contributed to the coup. However, because Luo Huaiyan made a ruckus in Lin'an Prefecture on the same day, the coup became completely out of control from the second day onwards.

Later, Long Dayuan and others raised the banner of rescuing the emperor and openly attacked the imperial city. The government office was burned to the ground, forcing Zhao Gou to resort to the most drastic measures to deal with the political turmoil.

This meant urging the Song army to send troops to attack the Central Plains.

The actual executors were the two unlucky fellows, Shao Hongyuan and Li Xianzong, but on that day, a powerful official from the Western Prefecture also came to Yangzhou to oversee the battle.

That is, Qian Duanli.

Yang Yizhong stared at Shi Hao until the latter finished expressing his opinion and his anger subsided slightly before saying, "Lord Shi, if you've made a mistake in hiring the wrong person, you have to change it."

Now that the entire army of Lianghuai has been wiped out and the gates of the Song Dynasty are wide open, no matter how serious the situation, nothing can quell the urgency of the situation in Lianghuai. If you don't want Flying Tiger to send men to invade Lianghuai on New Year's Day, you'd better take some action.

Shi Hao gritted his teeth and said, "Prince Yang, we didn't say you couldn't handle the situation in Lianghuai. The court will do everything it can to assist you. But what's the use of killing Qian Duanli?"

Yang Yizhong, fiddling with his teacup, smiled and said, "It's very simple. I heard some news that Qian Duanli withheld the military pay and departure rewards of the Lianghuai army. Are you aware of this?"

I have no idea!
Shi Hao almost cursed out loud, but he forced himself to suppress his anger and said, "I have been busy with government affairs these days and really do not know the inside story of the military and political affairs in Lianghuai."

Yang Yizhong sighed: "Then I will tell Minister Shi now."

Qian Duanli always said that Prime Minister Yu's northern expedition was exciting, but once the army moved, mountains of gold and silver were spent, and all the money and grain were taken from the homes of the Jiangnan gentry.

Now that he had the opportunity to control the army's logistics, how could he possibly show leniency towards those fighting men? It can only be said that this fellow did have a bit of shrewdness; although he didn't pay them, he still managed to procure a batch of military rations, ensuring that Li Fanzi and his men didn't fight on an empty stomach.

What kind of clever trick is that?

After hearing this, Shi Hao was stunned for a moment, and then he became speechless.

"Now the mess that Qian Duanli made has spread throughout Lianghuai. Not to mention the soldiers who were withdrawn, they are also extremely angry."

This person has already aroused public outrage; if he isn't dealt with swiftly, who knows what kind of trouble he might cause.

Shi Hao hesitated for a long time: "Couldn't we just remove him from his position as prime minister and let him take charge of a Taoist temple?"

Yang Yizhong slowly shook his head: "I said, the situation in Lianghuai is already boiling over. We can forget about cutting off the root of the problem. But if we don't even bother with superficial measures to stop the boiling, the situation may be completely hopeless within three months. At that time, Flying Tiger will drink from the Yangtze River and advance by land and water towards Lin'an. Please don't say that I am incompetent, Prime Minister Shi."

Shi Hao hesitated, unsure: "This is the Grand Chancellor of the Western Palace, the Privy Councilor..."

Yang Yizhong looked at Shi Hao with a strange expression, as if he were looking at an indescribable, contradictory monster. Only after making Shi Hao feel somewhat uneasy did he slowly say, "Didn't you already kill a Left Chancellor, Prime Minister Shi? Why do you now feel that you can't kill the Privy Councilor?"

Shi Hao's face immediately turned red, but after only a moment, he sneered: "What Prince Yang said makes sense. After all, it's not like our Great Song Dynasty hasn't killed a Privy Councilor before."

I remember the last Privy Councilor who was killed was tricked into going to the Dali Temple by Prince Yang, wasn't he?

Now it was Yang Yizhong's turn to turn red in the face and cough incessantly.

Two key members of the coup gang seized on each other's weaknesses and beat each other up. After a brief exchange of blows, Shi Hao sighed and said, "I will go and ask the Emperor for permission. However, Qian has made great contributions to the country, and the Emperor will spare his life."

Yang Yizhong nodded: "I will immediately have Zhao Huaide deal with the rumors in Lin'an. I may have to go to Huainan to sort things out on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month next year."

Shi Hao felt utterly exhausted: "Next year, next year will be the thirty-seventh year of Shaoxing."

Yang Yizhong remained silent, as if the reign title Longxing had never existed.

Shi Hao gazed out the window and muttered to himself, "As long as we can get through next year, everything will be alright."

(End of this chapter)