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

Chapter 532: The Prince's Kindness Becomes More Evident

On the night of April 1, the messenger crossed the Yangtze River and delivered Liu Huai's military order to the Jingnan Army and the Dongping Army.

Soon, the troops distributed in the two routes of Huainan began to move, and various military intelligence documents were delivered to the central government through official channels.

First, the Jingnan Army discovered the remnants of the Jin navy in Huaixi, and wrote a letter to the emperor stating that nothing was burned in Yuxi that day. There were still several large ships and hundreds of Jin thieves roaming the river.

Because Yuxi River was still blocked at that time, the Song navy in Chaohu Lake found it difficult to enter the Yangtze River, and the Jingnan Army had no warships, so the court needed to send navy to encircle and suppress the rebellion.

Zhang Guang, commander-in-chief of the Jiankang navy, continued to perform steadily. Upon hearing that there were Jin troops wandering on the river, he did not care whether they were remnants or not, and immediately imposed martial law on the river, saying that he wanted to protect the government and Jiankang.

If we fall into the trap of luring the tiger away from the mountain, what should we do if these Jin thieves are desperate and attack Jiankang?
Then the Dongping Army volunteered, claiming that they had many ships and could wipe out the bandits.

Prime Minister Chen Kangbo was quite capable. He keenly discovered that the simultaneous submission of petitions by the Jingnan Army and the Dongping Army seemed to be a coincidence, but also seemed to be in coordination with something.

Out of the most basic vigilance against foreign troops, Chen Kangbo ordered the Dongping Army and the Jingnan Army to stabilize the situation in the two Huai regions respectively and not to make any moves.

Especially the Dongping Army. The Jin bandits in Huaidong have been causing trouble for such a long time and have not been eliminated yet. How can they send troops to the Yangtze River?

After Chen Kangbo criticized him for a few words, Zhao Gou came out to commend Zhang Baiyu and promoted him to a higher position for his contribution in suppressing the civil unrest.

The central government knew that it was Zhang Jun who caused the trouble, which led to the Dongping Army focusing its main energy on the civil unrest in Huaibei. It was understandable that they had not yet wiped out those small-scale roaming Jin troops, and it was not a crime of war.

It's like a slap in the face followed by a sweet reward.

The Jingnan Army still had to stabilize the situation in Huaixi and could not act rashly.

As for who will deal with the Jin army roaming on the river?

Zhang Guang, the commander-in-chief of the Jiankang navy, it’s decided to be you!
I'll give you one month to clean the river!

Faced with the decree issued personally by the emperor and the prime minister, Zhang Guang dared not disobey it no matter what.

But he was also really afraid of the Jin army. Even though the Jin army was already a remnant, Zhang Guang was still extremely afraid. At this time, he had no thoughts about the emperor and the court. Regardless of whether Jiankang would be empty, he mobilized thirty main battleships and moved upstream at a snail's pace.

At the same time, several troops of the Jingnan Army were also gathering towards the river. Most of these knights consisted of only dozens of people, but they were all extremely elite and powerful. The leading officers were all from Shandong, and their families and properties were also in Shandong. They were Liu Huai's most loyal force.

There were undercurrents in Lianghuai, but as a crown prince who did not have any power at the time, Zhao Shen was in a very good mood, so much so that the smile on his face never stopped.

Shi Hao reminded him, "Your Highness, this time you are inspecting the troops in front of the palace. You should be demonstrating the emperor's power, not your grace. If Your Highness gets too complacent, disaster may come."

Zhao Shen immediately became serious: "If my mentor hadn't reminded me, I would have made the same mistake again today."

Shi Hao nodded with satisfaction.

This is the good thing about my disciple: he is very obedient.

At the beginning of Wanyan Liang's invasion of the south, Zhao Shen was young and energetic. He wrote directly to Zhao Gou to advocate war and wanted to personally lead the troops as the vanguard to fight against the Jin army.

Upon learning of this, Shi Hao immediately advised Zhao Shen, "How could a prince lead troops for a great general? This is a grave taboo! During the Spring and Autumn Period, when Shen Sheng of Jin led troops abroad, he was slandered by traitors at home and ultimately committed suicide. Meanwhile, after Tang Suzong led his army away from Tang Xuanzong, he immediately succeeded to the throne in Lingwu. Doesn't Your Majesty know about this? Who could accept these two consequences?"

Zhao Shen was immediately frightened and quickly asked Shi Hao to show him a way out.

Then Shi Hao wrote a second memorial on behalf of Zhao Shen.

This memorial merely admitted the grammatical error and told Zhao Gou that he would lead the army as the vanguard, meaning that he would follow His Majesty in the army and provide guards on both sides. As the saying goes: "Please accompany the emperor and perform my duties as a son."

The facts were just as Shi Hao expected.

When Zhao Gou saw the first memorial, he was furious and even wanted to kill Zhao Shen. However, when he saw the second memorial, his anger subsided and he agreed to Zhao Shen's request.

But the matter was not over yet. When Zhao Gou arrived in Jiankang, the Imperial Censor Wu Fei requested during a court meeting that the crown prince be appointed as the Marshal to inspect the army and boost morale.

This time, before Zhao Gou could get angry, Shi Hao immediately spoke out: "The Crown Prince lives in the palace and has never come into contact with the generals. All his subordinates are also moral gentlemen. How could he have accomplished such a thing?"

This is a very well said statement.

It not only expressed Zhao Shen's attitude and his intention of not interfering in military power, but also made Zhao Shen feel sorry for him.

How can a prince who doesn't even have all the officials under his command, who was born in the deep palace, raised by women, and who doesn't even dare to see the generals, inherit the throne?
It's unclear whether these words had any effect, or whether Zhao Gou felt that even if he wanted to retain power after abdicating, he still had to give the crown prince some authority. Or perhaps he was simply testing the waters. A few days ago, Zhao Gou ordered the crown prince to meet all the generals, starting with the Palace Guards.

This is also where Zhao Shen is happy.

His cheap father finally gave up power, and he can finally show his talents.

However, Shi Hao had some experience in political struggle and understood Zhao Gou's intentions.

This official must have the intention of delegating power, otherwise he would not have allowed Zhao Shen to meet all the generals.

But he must have had some tentative intentions, otherwise why didn't he start with the Jingnan Army that was about to return to Shandong?
Moreover, he was about to return to Lin'an. Even if Zhao Shen met a general a day, at most he would only meet people like Shao Hongyuan, Zhang Zigai, and Liu Bao. What was the point?
Although no further complications should occur at this critical moment when Zhao Gou was about to abdicate, Shi Hao still decided to take the risk and let Zhao Shen and Liu Huai meet to establish the relationship between monarch and subject.

Thinking of this, Shi Hao looked at Zhao Mi, who was leading the way in front and leading soldiers as guards.

Zhao Mi was also very nervous at this time.

But the reason why he was nervous was not because of the important task of protecting the prince, but because he wanted to transport Wanyan Liang to Lin'an during Liu Huai's attack, and capture several people at the same time, and lead the matter to Yang Yi Zhong, so as to bring Yang Yi Zhong down.

This kind of thing is easy to say, just like putting an elephant in a refrigerator. All you have to do is open the refrigerator door and put the elephant in.

But in fact, once it gets going, the whole thing has a sense of absurd difficulty.

The first is the shortage of staff.

Yang Yizhong had been in charge of the imperial guards for decades, and the army consisted entirely of his trusted confidants, who had received his kindness. Zhao Mi's loyal followers were few to begin with, and even these few would not have believed that the Jingnan army would kidnap Wanyan Liang.

Isn't this a joke?
Even Zhao Gou wouldn’t believe it!

Therefore, Zhao Mi could only use the excuse of protecting Wanyan Liang's safety to send the highest-level defense force.

Secondly, Zhao Mi used his connections to find out Liu Huai’s past battle records, which included battles from Shandong to Lianghuai. The more he looked at them, the more sweat filled his forehead.

Can the Palace Guards really fight head-on against the troops led by Liu Huai?
If that doesn't work, you have to resort to conspiracy and trickery.

However, Zhao Mi was a military man by nature and was not very good at plotting and scheming. After racking his brains, he could only come up with a trick of combining truth and falsehood and attacking from the east while making a feint to the west.

As for his later intention to overthrow Yang Yi Zhong, he really only told this to his confidant Tian Zhuo. If this were to be made public, someone might immediately inform Yang Yi Zhong.

But this strategy of making a feint to the east and attacking in the west is not easy to implement. At least we need a group of loyal soldiers, and even Zhao Gou cannot be notified, otherwise Yang Yi Zhong will know.

This also involves the risk of forging imperial edicts to mobilize troops.

Thinking of this, Zhao Mi couldn't help but retreat a little. Thinking about what Tian Zhuo said the day before, it would be better for him to retire and return home.

However, Zhao Mi's mind resurfaced with the majesty of Yang Yizhong in charge of the guards, and he couldn't help but feel hot in his heart again.

This matter was Liu Huai's rebellion, and it was Yang Yi Zhong who wanted to kill him, so it's not Zhao Mi's fault!

(End of this chapter)