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

Chapter 371 The Prime Minister Has Thoughts
Yu Yunwen's expression improved slightly, and he said to Liu Huai, "Liu Dalang, you should know what the court means."

Liu Huaifu took another sip of tea and said with a smile, "This is a formal imperial decree. It was written and executed by the Secretary of the Central Secretariat, read by the Secretary of the Imperial Secretariat, and co-signed by the Prime Minister. This shows that the opinions of the palace and the court are unanimous. What else is there to not know?"

The emperor of the Song Dynasty could not issue an edict simply by writing a note; procedures had to be followed.

In simple terms, the imperial edict would be drafted by the Zhongshu Sheren, then reviewed by the Jieshi Zhong, and then signed by the prime minister. If the matter was complicated, the Taijian would have to impeach the emperor.

Throughout the entire process, each link provides institutional supervision and checks and balances on the power of the military.

Of course, this only applies to ordinary emperors. Zhao Gou and Qin Hui are not ordinary bastards. They have broken many political rules, and this one is naturally no exception.

If Zhao Gou had bypassed the Secretariat, the Imperial Secretary, and the Prime Minister to issue an edict directly, that would have been acceptable. This was generally called a handwritten edict or an internal edict. This kind of edict had no legitimacy, and it was not uncommon for someone with strong will to directly push back.

But the decree in front of him went through the entire process, which only showed that both Zhao Gou and the right prime minister Chen Kangbo hoped that the Jingnan Army would go to Lin'an to receive rewards.

The key point is that going to Lin'an to accept the reward was just a superficial act. Those present were all smart people, and they knew that as long as they went to Lin'an, the Jingnan Army would never come back.

This is not because the Song Dynasty court wants to play some tricks like "rewards will be given at the parade tomorrow, no need to wear armor", but because the Song Dynasty court urgently needs a sense of security and urgently needs a reliable army to protect it.

If the Jingnan army had 20,000 soldiers, the Song court would definitely have some concerns.

But the Jingnan Army had only 5,000 soldiers and both Zhao Gou and Chen Kangbo felt that they could still control it.

As for the issue of loyalty, what can I say?

At this time, in the eyes of all the kings and ministers of the Song Dynasty, the Jingnan Army and the Dongping Army were both extremely loyal and righteous people.

These Hebei men had already opened up the situation in Shandong, but when they saw the fierce fighting in Lianghuai, they would rather give up their advancement in Shandong and come to Lianghuai to help. At the critical moment, they rushed straight to Caishiji and faced the Jin army. How can such deep patriotism not move people?

As for why it was the Jingnan Army and not the Dongping Army, one of the reasons is difficult to explain.

The Jingnan Army was different from the Dongping Army. Although Zhang Rong, the commander-in-chief of the Dongping Army, was born a Shandong bandit, he had served in the Song Army for many years and had been under Liu Guangshi for a long time. His various relationships were intertwined and had long been impure.

The Jingnan Army, on the other hand, had no background and was as pure as a blank sheet of paper, making it just the right size for use.

This phenomenon is actually not uncommon. Not to mention the Red Heart Team in the early Southern Song Dynasty, the Western Byzantine Empire also regarded the Varangian Guard composed of Nordic people as its core force.

The fundamental reason is that this kind of army has no factions and no followers, so it is easy to be won over by the supreme ruler and not be influenced by others.

For example, Zhang Zigai, the general of Huaidong, was deeply rooted in the army, and everyone would give him face, but Liu Huai dared to slap him in the face.

This is indeed the truth.

But what time is it now?
The Song and Jin dynasties were ready to start a decisive battle. The Jin ruler Wanyan Liang was eyeing the small Southern Song court across a river, but now he wanted to move the army guarding Cai Shi away just to protect the safety of the officials in the court?
Isn't this nonsense?

Seeing that He Boqiu had sneered, Yu Yunwen waved his hand to drive away the rest of the generals, leaving only Liu Huai, Li Dao, He Boqiu, Xin Qiji and Shi Jun in the tent.

"Liu Dalang, are you wondering why the emperor should have agreed to this, anyway?" Yu Yunwen's tone was calm, but the meaning behind his words was not polite at all. He was not only mocking Chen Kangbo, the current Right Prime Minister and the sole Prime Minister, but also showing a slight disdain for the current Emperor Zhao Gou.

Liu Huai laughed: "What else could it be? Although I don't know the specific situation, it is probably that the emperor is going to float his boat on the sea again. Prime Minister Chen wants to use the combat power of my Jingnan Army to stabilize the emperor and all the officials in the court. This is not the first time the emperor has done this, so what's so strange about it?" Xin Qiji and others were listening quietly, but Shi Jun wished he could poke his ears out.

Is it possible for a mere commander like him to listen to such things?
Yu Yunwen didn't scold him, but just nodded: "I can't hide it from Liu Dalang."

As the Secretary of the Central Secretariat and the next leader of the literati in Shu, Yu Yunwen naturally had his own sources of information.

“In fact, when General Liu Qi decided to retreat south to Guazhou Ferry and Huainan fell, the emperor had to flee to the sea again to avoid the enemy.

At the time, Chen Xianggong tried his best to stop the rebellion, even sending his family from Jiangxi to settle in Lin'an. This helped to stabilize the government. During this period, Chen Xianggong allowed the gates of Lin'an to open and close normally to reassure the people. Furthermore, he opened the gates of his mansion wide, undressed and set up wine in front of the gate, allowing the common people and officials to see him at any time, thus maintaining stability in the court.

"However, when the news that Dongcaishi had been occupied by the Jin bandits reached the court, the emperor panicked. The emperor drafted an edict declaring, 'If the enemy remains, all officials shall be dismissed.' When this edict reached Minister Chen, he burned it in public."

"Mr. Chen advised the emperor that if the officials were present, the court could still function and he could organize troops to fight back against the Jin army. If the officials dispersed, the court would be gone, and the emperor would be alone. Even if he wanted to resist, he would have no soldiers to wield spears or swords."

"Only by doing this can the court be stabilized. Minister Chen is worried that chaos will break out again, and he will not be able to stabilize the court. In order to reassure the emperor, the court officials, and the people, he can only withdraw the Jingnan army back to Lin'an."

Among the five generals, Li Dao and He Boqiu had long guessed that Zhao Gou would do something strange, but they were still shocked by the outrageous order to dismiss all officials.

Xin Qiji looked at Liu Huai, then lowered his head in thought.

As for Shi Jun, he was completely horrified. He had the urge to immediately cover his ears and flee from the commander's tent.

But this is impossible. Yu Yunwen kept Shi Jun in order to focus on training him and make him a general under his command. It would be beneficial for Shi Jun to know the situation in the court in advance, so that he would not do some ridiculous things in the dark.

The only one who remained calm was Liu Huai.

It's no surprise that a humanoid like Zhao Gou could do anything. In his eyes, nothing in the world was as important as his life. Forget about escaping; as long as he could save his life, he would even surrender the entire country.

The reason why Zhao Gou was still able to hold on at this time was simply because of the lessons learned from Duke Hun De and Marquis Hun De, and he had to hold on.

However, Liu Huai still had some questions: "Why must it be the Jingnan Army? Couldn't we just draw a force from the east of Huai River and south of Jiangnan? I don't believe that all the officials in the court are knowledgeable about military affairs and can tell who are the elite soldiers and generals at a glance. Gather ten thousand soldiers, change into new clothes, and eat a few good meals, and we can become a decent force. If we can't scare the Jin thieves, can we scare our own people?"

Liu Huai's words have a sense of absurdity that "the purpose of the Song army building the army is not to make the Jin Kingdom think that the Song Kingdom is protected, but to make the Song people think that the Song Kingdom is protected, and the Jin Kingdom knows that the Song army is not."

Zhao Gou was a loser, but what about Prime Minister Chen Kangbo? As a prime minister who advocated war, Chen Kangbo must have understood this principle. Why didn't he reject the imperial edict? Why did he insist on stationing the Jingnan army in Lin'an? Couldn't the remaining troops lingering in Jiangnan have been used instead?

Liu Huai thought Zhang Zigai was very good.

After drinking a cup of tea to moisten his throat, Yu Yunwen continued, "This is another matter, and it involves the Crown Prince."

"Prime Minister Yu Chu, I feel sick and would like to go to the toilet." Shi Jun immediately stood up and bowed as if to leave.

Yu Yunwen said coldly, "Stop right there! I don't mind the stench. Even if you have to poop, you have to poop in your pants!"

Shi Jun showed a smile that was uglier than crying, and sat back down shyly like a young girl.

(End of this chapter)