I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 119 Avoiding Four Years of Detours
On that day, Zhao Zicheng, along with Guan Sheng and Yue Fei, drank wine from large bowls and ate large chunks of meat, showing none of the affectations of a civil official.

Don't take everything said while drunk too seriously, especially those boastful or presumptuous remarks. They're just for building rapport, and you'll forget them once you sober up.

Just like how men in later generations go for massages and baths together and then gossip about their boss behind their backs, how can you take it all seriously? After the massage and bath, once they're back in their suits, those presumptuous remarks are naturally no longer taken seriously.

Yue Fei hadn't had any meat or wine for many days. At nineteen, he was used to poverty and couldn't resist the unlimited supply of mutton. He inevitably ate and drank too much. In the end, he was dragged to the back hall of the martial arts training hall, where he found a spacious couch, laid out a down mattress, and haphazardly lay down to sleep.

He didn't wake up until late the next day. When he saw the unfamiliar surroundings, he was startled and it took him a long time to recall that he had practiced martial arts and eaten and drunk with Lord Zhao the day before, and had received a lot of help and rewards.

"It is truly rare in this world for a civil official to treat scholars with such respect and value military men. In the more than one hundred years of the Song Dynasty, there has never been such a precedent. Am I still dreaming?"

Yue Fei was still in a daze when, fortunately, his sixth brother, Yue Fan, heard the commotion and came in with water to help him tidy up, which brought Yue Fei back to his senses. (Yue Fei was the fifth son; his four older brothers had all died young, some from childhood illnesses, and others from poverty and improper upbringing.)

Yue Fan was only fifteen years old, four years younger than Yue Fei, so he wasn't very good at drinking. Yesterday, he was so focused on eating meat that he didn't get drunk.

Yue Fei wiped his face, got up to change his clothes, and touched the gold-hilted dagger with a sharkskin sheath and gold handle that was tucked in his sleeve. Only then was he finally 100% sure that he was not dreaming.

"Such a precious sword, though small, is probably worth more than a hundred strings of cash... However, it was bestowed upon us by the Prefect, and it would be unjust to sell it. Otherwise, with just this sword, Mother and Madam could live a peaceful life, and Madam wouldn't have to worry about housework."

Yue Fei sighed to himself, but unexpectedly, Yue Fan immediately told his brother some good news:

"Fifth Brother, were you really so drunk yesterday that you were completely out of it? You were still worried about the family. You probably forgot all the last things the Prefect said to you yesterday."

Yue Fei looked completely bewildered: "Did the Prefect give you any further advice back then?"

Yue Fan: "After drinking, Fifth Brother casually mentioned the hardships his family faced. The Prefect immediately said, 'What's so difficult about that? Since we are kindred spirits, a hundred strings of cash are not enough to settle down. You can move the Dowager and your siblings to Laizhou and grant them land and houses to live in peace.'"

This morning, the Prefect sent out scouts with valuables and a letter of appointment for Fifth Brother to our hometown. He also asked me to write a letter explaining the situation, which I took with me. Since I'm not literate enough, someone taught me a few characters.

Historically, Yue Fei was only thirty-nine years old when he was killed. His eldest son, Yue Yun, was twenty-two at the time, so Yue Fei had a son very early. He was seventeen when he had a son, so he must have been married at least sixteen.

In ancient times, poor people married young, and Yue Fei had already been married for three or four years at that age. He not only had an elderly mother and wife to support, but also a two-year-old child to feed.

In contrast, Zhao Zicheng, a young nobleman, was a few months older than Yue Fei. However, Zhao Zicheng had only been married for a few months, and his wives and concubines were not yet pregnant.

When Yue Fei heard that Lord Zhao had acted so quickly and had already sent people to fetch his elderly mother, wife, and children, he was slightly taken aback.

"Lord Zhao is truly both respectful to scholars and generous in giving; there is such a hero in the world."

……

Yue Fei tidied himself up and then had breakfast.

The breakfast was also very good, with mutton flatbread, a generous portion, and a few boiled eggs and a plate of cabbage.

Chen Guang, Yue Fan, and other fellow disciples and friends who came with Yue Fei were also settled and received very good living conditions.

As Yue Fei's martial arts instructor, Chen Guang was appointed as the martial arts instructor for the Jinan Prefecture's garrison. Yue Fan and the others were temporarily assigned as ordinary cavalrymen to the cavalry force that Yue Fei would soon lead.

Yesterday, Yue Fei and Zhao Zicheng fought to a draw. Zhao Zicheng had publicly made a bet that if Yue Fei could fight him to a draw, he would be appointed as a captain in the army. This promise would naturally be kept, and no one would object. So at this moment, Yue Fei was already a captain in the cavalry of Jinan Prefecture.

In a normal army, a captain could command one hundred soldiers, but the cavalry was smaller than the infantry, and Guan Sheng's forces were already understaffed, so Yue Fei was actually assigned to fifty cavalrymen.

Guan Sheng originally only had two hundred cavalrymen in Jinan Prefecture. Zhao Zicheng transferred two hundred reinforcements from Laizhou, and with the newly recruited ones, the total number of cavalrymen was only five or six hundred.

In the Song Dynasty, where good warhorses were scarce, a prefecture with five or six hundred cavalrymen was already quite a force. Giving a newcomer like Yue Fei one-tenth of them was an extraordinary and significant responsibility. After getting ready, Yue Fei was once again led to pay his respects to Zhao Zicheng and Guan Sheng.

Yesterday, everyone drank alcohol and didn't talk about anything serious; the only topic of conversation at the table was martial arts.

Today is my official start day, so we definitely need to talk about something else.

Zhao Zi first asked Yue Fei some questions in a businesslike manner, mainly to confirm his previous resume and whether Yue Fei had any other martial arts skills or abilities besides the spear skills he had demonstrated yesterday.

Yue Fei answered all of Zhao Zicheng's questions, and through this exchange, Zhao Zicheng learned more about the situation.

The History of Song Dynasty is vague about Yue Fei's early life. Many materials and local chronicles added by later generations pieced together many of Yue Fei's achievements. Although the content is not distorted, it appears very disjointed to later generations.

For example, Yue Fei's first enlistment was on the eve of the invasion of Liao in the fourth year of Xuanhe. Logically speaking, he should not have made any military achievements that time, since the Song army was in complete defeat. What could a low-ranking officer change? Afterwards, because Yue Fei lost his father, he had to return to his hometown to observe mourning and did not achieve anything for four whole years.

However, later generations attributed many of Yue Fei's trivial and hard-to-verify grassroots military achievements to this period of his life, resulting in a very disjointed picture in the historical records: Yue Fei clearly joined the army to fight the Liao people, but most of his military achievements are attributed to his fighting against rebel soldiers and bandits and protecting his hometown in Xiangzhou.

After subtly comparing accounts with Yue Fei himself, Zhao Zicheng finally understood everything: the claim that Yue Fei only officially joined the army at the age of twenty and became a brave soldier simply refers to the starting point of his formal service to the Song Dynasty.

In fact, Yue Fei began to focus on martial arts training when he was fifteen or sixteen years old. He also joined the local militia in his hometown and occasionally dealt with various bandits who roamed Xiangzhou.

Hebei was in great turmoil at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, especially after the Liao and Jin dynasties went to war. Every year, a large number of refugees from the Yan-Yun region of Liao fled south to escape the war. Even before the emergence of major bandits like Lu Jinyi and Zhang Di, there were already many small-time thieves everywhere.

To establish a foothold in Hebei, every prefecture, county, and township needed its own armed forces for self-defense; otherwise, they would be plundered or even wiped out by bandits. Therefore, the powerful families, gentry, and landlords in the counties and townships were willing to pay a small amount of money to support some highly skilled martial artists to protect their hometowns.

However, when later historians compiled histories, considering that Yue Fei was a great hero and outstanding figure, they wanted to highlight his lifelong loyalty to the emperor and his fighting only for the court. Therefore, they downplayed some of his early deeds in defending his hometown and fragmented them into the years after he officially joined the army, which made the story seem rather disjointed.

However, Zhao Zicheng saw nothing wrong with this. He possessed the soul of a modern man and did not see anything wrong with a military general serving other local forces and protecting his hometown before being employed by the imperial court in his early years.

Defending one's hometown, or even one's nation, is a good thing. What is there to be afraid of saying? Does one have to defend the imperial court or the emperor to be considered righteous and honorable?

Moreover, if protecting the emperor and the court is the only glorious and righteous thing to do, then what excuse will Zhao Zicheng have to rise to power in the future?

From the very beginning of his time travel, Zhao Zicheng was determined that "loyalty to the nation is more important than loyalty to the emperor personally, and the emperor must represent the interests of the nation," which is why he was able to replace Zhao Gou.

Loyalty to the emperor is certainly important, but the premise is that the emperor cannot betray the national cause for personal gain.

Therefore, after carefully inquiring about Yue Fei's resume, Zhao Zicheng decided that in writing historical materials in the future, he must truthfully record Yue Fei's early experiences, as they were. His extraordinary talent and amazing martial arts potential at the age of fifteen or sixteen, and his meritorious service in suppressing bandits in his hometown and county, could all be truthfully recorded.

"So, my dear brother, you started reading military books at the age of fifteen and killed bandits in your village at the age of sixteen? You read Zuo Zhuan and Sun Tzu and Wu Qi's Art of War? It seems that you will need to study other books in the future. I don't mean that you should study like a doctor and spend your life studying classics, but it is not enough to only study Zuo Zhuan in history, and it is not enough to only study ancient methods in military strategy."

When you have time later, you can look at the first four histories, and selectively have someone explain them to you; you don't need to read them all. As for military strategy, you can study Zhuge Liang's Twenty-Four Chapters, Li Jing's Questions and Answers, or even works that focus on weaponry and tactics, such as the "Complete Essentials of Military Classics" from this dynasty.

The teachings of other philosophers, such as some of Han Fei's doctrines, can also be used for cunning and strategic maneuvering. Other books on daily agricultural administration, such as *Qimin Yaoshu*, and on governance, such as *Zhenguan Zhengyao*, can also be dabbled in. It's not required that you understand agricultural promotion and governance, but at least you should know the hardships of the people, how to deal with civil officials, and the difficulty of raising funds and taxes, lest you only know how to be a general in the future, and your inept fundraising and resource allocation will needlessly offend people.

After understanding Yue Fei's current capabilities and training progress, Zhao Zicheng personally compiled a reading list for Yue Fei, urging him to continue learning in addition to his military campaigns.

Yue Fei was only nineteen years old and had only read two or three large books. This amount of learning was certainly not enough, and he had a lot of room for growth in the future. Historically, Yue Fei was only a low-level squad leader when his father passed away, so it was impossible for him to be "deprived of his post" due to mourning. He probably spent four years back in his hometown making a living, which delayed his growth to some extent.

Now that Yue Fei has fallen under Zhao Zicheng's command, Zhao Zicheng will certainly not let him waste these four years.

Even if we don't assign him too many tasks or burdens, we should at least make sure he doesn't have to worry about making a living and can squeeze out the time he would otherwise spend on household chores to learn literary and martial arts.

(End of this chapter)