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

Chapter 884 If a minister is not discreet, he will lose his life.
When Shi Hao returned to his residence in the evening, Zhao Huaide, the supervisor of the Imperial City Guard, had been waiting for him in his study for quite some time.

Shi Hao seemed unsurprised by the presence of another person in the study. After placing his stiff-winged turban aside, he went behind his desk and said in a deep voice, "You shouldn't have come to my residence."

Zhao Huaide smiled and said, "Please rest assured, Lord Shi, in Lin'an City, if the Imperial City Guard doesn't want people to know certain things, those things will remain secret forever. Just like my visit to see you today, no one will know."

Shi Hao picked up the scalding hot teapot, poured himself a cup of tea, and then said calmly, "Just like how you were secretly fighting against the spies Liu Dalang sent to Lin'an?"

Zhao Huaide's expression changed, but he didn't dare to get angry at a powerful official. After a moment of hesitation, he said in a deep voice, "We'll wipe out all those scoundrels sooner or later!"

Shi Hao drank a cup of hot tea: "Seriously, how far have you gone in your struggle with Liu Dalang's spies? Is it possible that nothing in Lin'an can be hidden from him anymore? If so, wouldn't the Song Dynasty be a sieve in front of Liu Dalang?"

Zhao Huaide chuckled twice: "Lin'an is a prosperous commercial city, we can't possibly send all the merchants from the north back."

Moreover, these merchants are all involved in various affairs, some even being lackeys of high-ranking officials in the court. How could our Imperial City Guard possibly manage them all?

Shi Hao frowned: "So the Imperial City Guard uses the pretext of catching spies to specifically target those merchants without any connections, in order to plunder the people's wealth."

"Are you aware that the Lin'an Prefecture has already filed a complaint with me?"

Zhao Huaide's face paled slightly, but he still managed to say under the pressure of being the prime minister, "Those merchants are all somewhat suspicious."

"Hmph!" Shi Hao slammed his teacup down on the table. "What suspicions? Unfounded suspicions?"

Seeing that Zhao Huaide was about to speak, Shi Hao impatiently waved his hand and said, "Enough, enough, this is not the point of arguing with you today."

This is just a reminder: when doing things, leave room for others and give yourself some leeway.

Catching spies is important, but is commercial tax not important? The Lin'an Prefecture has already made it clear to me that if this year's commercial tax is delayed, then none of us will have any shame.

The street-cleaning tigers will beat you every time they see you, and even if the case goes to the government, Lin'an Prefecture will be in the right.

"Don't expect Long Dayuan or Yang Yizhong to protect you then! They'll be in trouble too!"

Zhao Huaide finally lost his composure.

After giving the fellow a dressing down, Shi Hao said, "Go back and tell Yang Yizhong that I have said what I needed to say and done what I needed to do. As for the outcome, that is beyond my control."

Zhao Huaide cupped his hands and said, "That's natural. However, since the Prince has made such a plan, he must have made some preparations. Right Chancellor, please do not worry."

After saying this, Zhao Huaide concealed himself in the shadows and, under the cover of night, left the Shi residence.

By the time Zhao Huaide met Yang Yizhong at Deshou Palace, the moon was already high in the sky.

After pacing slowly in the side hall for a while, Yang Yizhong sneered and said, "Prime Minister Shi is indeed quite skilled. He cleared himself of all charges with just a few words, truly resembling a good prime minister who cares for the country and its people."

At this point, Yang Yizhong felt inexplicably indignant, and then coughed violently again.

His health had been poor for the past two years, but his second son, Yang Tan, was the vice president of Shandong Medical College. Over the years, he had optimized many prescriptions and introduced health preservation methods such as dietary therapy, which allowed Yang Yizhong to benefit from and improve his health.

Even so, Yang Yizhong was getting old, especially after experiencing a long period of scheming and plotting, he would still feel palpitations, shortness of breath, and cough violently.

After a moment, Yang Yizhong finally stopped coughing and said to Zhao Huaide, "Forget about Shi Hao. You continue spreading rumors in Lin'an. You must make sure..."

At this point, Yang Yizhong clutched his chest, as if enduring immense pain, and said, "We must make the Emperor understand that the Northern Expedition is not feasible!"

After Zhao Huaide loudly agreed, he hesitated and then brought up another matter: "Lord Shi also told the Imperial City Guard not to make a big show of arresting spies, and to release all the merchants who were arrested."

Yang Yizhong clutched his chest and sneered, "These big headscarves are truly arrogant and greedy, only interested in a little wealth. Who knows how many important military and national affairs have been secretly leaked out."

"Ignore him, continue investigating the traitor. I'll handle everything!"

Zhao Huaide hesitated for a long time before finally saying "Yes" in a low voice under Yang Yizhong's increasingly stern gaze.

Yang Yizhong said gently, "Xiao Zhao, I know you have grievances in your heart, but the Imperial City Guard is the eyes and ears of the emperor, and it is their duty. How can we allow a group of treacherous villains to run rampant in Lin'an? With this kind of mentality, how can you promote the Imperial City Guard in the future?"

Zhao Huaide sighed: "Your Highness, others may not know, but don't we know? Liu Dalang's defeat of the Jin army and generals in the north not only terrified the Jin invaders, but also frightened the Song army."

This isn't something that can be changed by the gains or losses of a single city or place. Do we really think catching spies and killing agents here will be effective?

Yang Yizhong wanted to explain to Zhao Huaide, but when he thought about how the two of them had just plotted to sabotage the Northern Expedition, he felt completely disheartened and could only wave Zhao Huaide away in silence.

Around the same time, dozens of messy, scribbled letters were also delivered to Luo Huaiyan's desk.

"what is this?"

"This was delivered by a magpie who works at Chen Junqing's residence. He said that Chen Junqing's behavior today was very strange, and he seemed very anxious."

"He wrote a letter in his study and had his subordinates slip it into the military documents and send it to Nanyang."

"Magpie was just a servant, so he had no way of knowing the contents of the letter. After the Chen family's servant finished tidying up the study at night, he went to the kitchen, wrapped up all the waste paper, and brought it over."

Luo Huaiyan nodded repeatedly, turning over several dirty sheets of paper by the light of the oil lamp.

Some papers were covered in ink stains, making it impossible to read anything, while others were clearly Xuan paper used by Chen Junqing for calligraphy practice, containing meaningless combinations of characters. After searching for a long time, Luo Huaiyan finally found a few useful sheets.

"Brother Yu... Brother Yu... Prime Minister Yu Yunwen, this is a letter to Prime Minister Yu..."

“This is…this is the character Shu, Bashu…Mr. Lu.”

"And Kansai... What is the connection between Kansai and Shi Hiroshi? Why are they mentioned together?"

Luo Huaiyan was completely baffled: "Go and ask the fruit shop owner what Shi Hao did all day?"

The Imperial Guard captain hesitated for a moment: "We finally managed to take over the fruit shop. It's not stable now, and we could easily be exposed."

Luo Huaiyan waved his hand: "Something big is about to happen. All the preparations we've made over the years are for this moment to be made. Go quickly!"

As dawn approached, the captain brought back accurate information.

Yesterday, Shi Hao dressed in his court robes and went to the palace alone to meet the emperor.

"After Shi Hao came out, Chen Junqing went to the palace to meet the emperor. Then, this Minister Chen hurriedly returned to his residence to write a letter."

Luo Huaiyan stroked his chin and paced back and forth in the room: "Chen Junqing is definitely an ally of Minister Yu. The thing he wants to remind Minister Yu of must be a huge mistake."

Shi Hao... Guanxi... Sichuan... Mr. Lu..."

Luo Huaiyan stopped in his tracks, frowning thoughtfully: "Is Shi Hao going to make a move against Mr. Lu?!"

The captain frowned and said, "It can't be that fast, can it?"

Luo Huaiyan shook his head: "It's hard to say. Find someone who is familiar with Cao Dache to send a message to Shu. I will write a complete document and present it to the King of Han. The political turmoil in Song may rise again. The King of Han can prepare in advance."

A moment later, a document written in secret was completed and handed to the messenger, who was to deliver it to Hebei as soon as possible.

When this document arrived in Hebei, it was already the first day of the twelfth lunar month.

North of the Yellow River and south of its northern branch, at the Han army camp, a military sports meet was in full swing.

Winter activities are limited to a few things: either village operas or large markets. The military camp is a small society, but it still has military attributes, so it's impossible to let sheep graze there.

How to let these young men vent their energy was also an important problem that the generals had to solve.

If it were a regular army, they would have expanded their brothels by now, but given the Han army's military ideology, that would have been impossible.

Therefore, Liu Huai suddenly had a bright idea to organize a grand military competition, but Liang Su desperately dissuaded him.

We are currently in a state of war. Even if it is just a war of attrition, it is still a war. How can we exhaust our soldiers and men?

Liu Huai readily accepted the suggestion and changed it to the All-Army Games.

There are only two main events: polo and cuju (ancient Chinese football).

Both of these sports have a long history. Not to mention Cuju, even with polo, because the Flying Tigers were full of skilled horsemen, they could easily organize sixteen teams of ten men each to play a round-robin elimination tournament.

Such a lively event naturally attracted the attention of the surrounding residents, and many more people came to watch the game.

In this regard, Liu Huai's approach was naturally to maintain order and then let things take their course. After all, the Han army was built by its own people, and it was simply outrageous to drive away the villagers.

Of course, overt gambling must be strictly prohibited, but as for gambling in private, no one can control that.

This place originally had more than 7,000 regular soldiers and nearly 10,000 auxiliary soldiers, making it a small city. There were merchants accompanying the army on weekdays.

With a larger population, there is naturally a greater demand for commerce. Soon, a market was established around the military camp, creating a thriving atmosphere.

Xi Jin's scouts, disguised as villagers selling mountain goods, circled the military camp and were overjoyed. They reported back to Pu San Zhongyi that the Han army was complacent and unprepared, and that they could launch a surprise attack.

At first, Pu Sanzhongyi was somewhat tempted, but after sending his trusted confidants to investigate, he felt a chill run down his spine.

He was somewhat prepared for the Han army's morale to be so high as to be absurd.

However, Pu Sanzhongyi did not expect that the people of Hebei would so quickly turn their hearts to him.

If ordinary people can approach military camps with peace of mind, one can imagine Liu Huai's influence in Hebei.

If the Jin army wanted to launch a surprise attack on the Han army, they would probably be discovered and reported to the Han army by the local people as soon as they organized the ferry.

Not to mention that the servant San Zhongyi was terrified.

After a month of fierce competition, the Cuju and Polo matches finally reached the finals. In a stadium leveled from a natural depression, the four teams stood tall and proud, receiving cheers from the soldiers and civilians present.

Liu Huai waved the flag himself to signal the start of the competition. After returning to his seat, he saw Liang Su rushing over: "Young Master, an urgent report has come from Jiangnan."

(End of this chapter)