You have truly caused me great suffering!

After Hurza agreed to return, he integrated the five Kereit tribes and formally discussed the matter.

Upon receiving the news, Chen Shao couldn't wait to start crediting his cousin Liu Guanglie for his achievements.

They were to bestow upon him the surname Chen and grant him the title of Prince.

However, this was opposed by Yuwen Xuzhong, Zhang Chunxiao, and others, who said that the decree should only be issued after the matter had been settled.

Chen Shao humbly accepted the advice and met with Hurzha several times, assuring him that Da Jing would not break his promise.

After all, if Chen Shao broke his promise, their Kereit tribe would get nothing and would also cripple themselves.

This matter was entirely based on Chen Shaohe and Da Jing's character and prestige.

Another point is that the Great Jing Dynasty truly had 100,000 cavalry.
Throughout history, very few states have been able to support 100,000 cavalrymen.

There was such an event during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, and that time was quite special because their enemy, the Xiongnu, had produced four consecutive wise rulers and had an even larger cavalry force.

Thus began the decisive battle between the Han and the Xiongnu, which can be considered the most magnificent war in the entire history of the cold weapon era.

However, Emperor Wu of Han raised 100,000 cavalrymen, which drained the savings accumulated during the reigns of Emperors Wen and Jing, and was supported by the entire nation going hungry. Whoever won that battle would become the world's hegemon.

The next person to have 100,000 cavalry was Li Longji before the An Lushan Rebellion.

Chen Shao should be considered the third.

Although the Kereit tribe has 70,000 tents, which could probably muster 70,000 to 80,000 soldiers, their warhorses are different from those of the Dajing tribe.

Although the Great Jing cavalry numbered only 100,000, the number of horses in the army was no less than 500,000.

Warhorses used in actual combat are not fed only hay every day, but also dry rations and salt. During battles, they are given two eggs with each meal.

In terms of cavalry quality, only the first Jurchen Tartars, who used hundreds of years of Khitan accumulation to meticulously raise their warhorses, could compare. However, in terms of numbers, they were far from sufficient.

This was all due to Chen Shao's good fortune. The Western Xia region he occupied was a prime pastureland, the Song Dynasty was wealthy, the Silk Road in the Western Regions had reopened after more than a hundred years of stagnation, and the Xiao family's various maneuvers in monopolizing the jade trade gave him the resources to support these cavalrymen.

Even so, it almost dragged him down. Before entering Hedong, Dingnan Army had been struggling to keep its finances from collapsing.

Unfortunately, Taiyuan, which Wanyan Zonghan wanted to attack, was located in Hedong, a region that was both strategically important and geographically advantageous.

With the northwest as his backing and the east bank of the Yellow River as his base, Chen Shao adopted a policy of "war to sustain war" against the Jurchens, finally securing his core force of 100,000 Dingnan cavalry.

Now that the country is strong and various policies have made Dajing abundant in resources and its vast territory, it can finally afford to support itself.

The Kereit cavalry and the Great Jing cavalry were not the same type of troops at all.

Hurzha knew his stuff, which is why he humbled himself and came to Jinling in person, ostensibly to negotiate, but really to beg for survival.

Fortunately, he encountered Chen Shao, an emperor with high aspirations who did not want to waste the hundreds of thousands of herdsmen of the Kereit tribe.

Otherwise, his arrival in Jinling would have been pointless; they would have detained him long ago and ordered a war.

After spending two months together, Chen Shao believed that he could make a reasonable choice and not let his good intentions go to waste.
-
Zhang Run, the Vice Minister of Rites, prepared to wash his face and change his clothes early in the morning before visiting Zhang Xiaochun, the Minister of Rites.

He wanted to discuss the conditions the court had given Gao Shunzhen with Zhang Xiaochun again before reporting them to His Majesty.

Upon arriving at the Zhang residence, the old steward said with a smile, "Minister Zhang, my eldest son was summoned by His Majesty this morning to attend a meeting."

Zhang Run quickly replied, "It's alright, it's alright. I'll wait here for you, Master Zhang. If you don't return for a long time, I'll discuss it again at the yamen tomorrow."

Today is a day off, but even active individuals like Zhang Run are still busy with official duties.

In fact, he was practically a workaholic, rarely taking a break on his days off. Moreover, he didn't like to rest; what others saw as a demanding job, he found enjoyable.

Only useless and incompetent people would be happy to be idle and neglect their duties.

Zhang Run was extremely envious of Zhang Xiaochun and others being summoned by the emperor to attend a small meeting. After the old steward left, he stood there, staring at the floor, and sighed after a long time.

Now His Majesty and the important ministers of the court are surely gathered in the Funing Palace, discussing matters that could determine the life and death of millions and the rise and fall of the dynasty. I wonder when I will be able to participate in it.

The so-called "rest day" was just a regular holiday for the court officials. It meant that officials were mindful of their image, so they would take a day to bathe and change clothes every now and then. However, bathing did not require a whole day of bathing; the term "rest day" was just a more elegant way of saying it.

Before the Han Dynasty, officials had a "ten-day rest period," known as "xunxiu." During the Tang Dynasty, this was changed to a "five-day rest period," called "xiumu" (meaning bathing and washing hair; the ancients considered regular cleaning necessary for etiquette). The Northern Song Dynasty inherited the Tang system, implementing a five-day rest period.

The Jing Dynasty, building upon the foundation laid by the Northern Song Dynasty, further established systems such as rotation, shift work, and duty rosters. This ensured officials had time to rest and recuperate while also preventing government offices from being unattended.

Chen Shao rarely convened meetings with officials during his days off; today was an exception.

Because the matter of the southern desert was always a major concern for him, and also the most important matter for most officials in the court.

The Northern Barbarians, the Northern Barbarians—every dynasty has been troubled by them. The Great Jing is currently powerful, but they must consider the future of their descendants and, while the nation is strong, resolve this problem once and for all.

As for domestic affairs, in the new year, he plans to continue to engage in probing and debating with civil servants to test their ability to accept the new policies.

After chatting for a short while, Li Tangchen used a casual remark as a pretext to ask whether the reign title should be changed.

The reign title Jianwu has been used for three whole years.

Chen Shao shook his head and said, "There are still several major battles this year, so it is not advisable to change the era name."

Therefore, the new year continued to use the old era name, which was Jianwu 4.

When the ministers heard that Chen Shao refused to change the era name, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

Not changing the era name is also a form of political confidence and political stability.

For example, the famous "Zhenguan" period lasted for more than 20 years.

Frequent changes of reign titles not only wasted resources and manpower, requiring the reminting of coins, printing of calendars, and alteration of documents, but also easily caused confusion among the people, which was inconsistent with Chen Shao's governing policy of external expansion and internal "rest and recuperation."

If nothing unexpected happens, he will continue to "build martial arts" indefinitely, since his martial arts journey will never stop.

Otherwise, why build so many firearms? Is it just for setting off fireworks?

Some emperors frequently changed their reign titles because of the so-called "auspicious omens" that kept appearing. They would change the reign title every time they encountered an auspicious omen, which was actually a self-deceptive and insecure act.

Chen Shao refused to change the reign title, which was within Zhang Xiaochun's expectations. As a civil official, he originally opposed the reform of the imperial examination system and the expansion of war.

But as he spent more time with Chen Shao, he gradually realized that His Majesty's decisions were always correct in the long run.

So he gradually learned to remain silent and observe the effects first. For example, during the last craftsman's entry into the product, after raising a question, he never expressed his opinion again.

He was a civil official, a scholar-official and high-ranking official who had passed the imperial examinations. His silence on such a matter was itself a statement. This didn't mean their thinking was truly so advanced; it was purely due to Chen Shao's prestige.

If something were to happen to Chen Shao at this time, and a mere, inexperienced young emperor were to take the throne, even if he said or did the same things as Chen Shao, they would still vehemently oppose him.

The imprints ingrained in an individual or a group are not easily erased; they have been taught the principles of governance and strategy since childhood.

Craftsmanship and skills can only be supplementary; they cannot be the main focus.

Chen Shao also had one advantage: he never took the initiative to bring up new policies in such small-scale discussions.

Otherwise, even if his ministers wanted to smooth things over and pretend to be confused, there would be no way to stop them.

They were all forced to contradict the emperor.

He didn't mention it himself, but instead let people like Pai Shih-chung, Hsu Chin, and Kao Chi speak.

Let them argue, I'll slowly change it, little by little.

What Chen Shao had to do was to strike a balance, so that the scholar-officials wouldn't turn against him for this small change, but would have no choice but to accept it reluctantly.

Like slicing a sausage, get things done slowly and deliberately, without causing any major trouble.

After all, Dajing has only been established for a little over three years. If it wants to change the world, taking too big a step will easily lead to disaster.

The more thorough the preparation and the more solid the groundwork, the easier it is for such reforms to take shape smoothly.

History has shown too many examples of radical reforms leading to complete failure.

The Central Plains are a land that thrives on stability and tranquility.

The only potential problem with this approach is Chen Shao's lifespan. If he were to die prematurely, the situation could easily be completely reversed.

But Chen Shao had come to terms with it: "I've done my best; life and death are in the hands of fate. If things really don't go well, it just means the historical timing isn't right yet, and the Central Plains aren't allowed to quickly reach the stage I've planned. In that case, I can only trust in the wisdom of future generations."

Wisdom has its limitations, and even the divine has its shortcomings.

You can't expect to achieve absolute perfection and complete flawlessness, can you?
Perfection is something that Heaven dislikes!
Just as Chen Shaohe and his officials were discussing matters, a palace attendant handed over a memorial, saying it was being expedited from the border.

Chen Shao quickly unfolded the document, and the officials below watched him nervously.

After reading it, Chen Shao looked somewhat bewildered and gently scratched his brow.

"Send this to all the ministers."

Chen Chong took the memorial and handed it to Li Tangchen at the top. Then the other officials couldn't wait to line up and all crowded forward.

This memorial was written by Jin Ling, and its content was very concise: Wanyan Balisu has gone to join Yelü Dashi.

"Wanyan Balisu. He used to call me brother, and he has always been respectful to me over the years. I never expected that he would distrust me."

In recent years, troops have been continuously increased in the Northwest, including those from Yue Fei, Jin Ling, the old Western Army, and hundreds of fortresses and strongholds in the eleven prefectures of Dingnan, the birthplace of the Great Jing Dynasty.

In Wanyan Balisu's view, his neighbor's family members were tall and strong, and there were more than a dozen big men who did nothing all day but sharpen knives in front of their own house.

The arrival of King Jinling this time completely terrified him.

He would rather go west and surrender to his sworn enemy Yelü Dashi than come to Chen Shao's place.

Chen Shao had indeed tricked him once before, and in his eyes, Chen Shao's image wasn't necessarily trustworthy.
Jin Ling said his escape route was northwards, which meant he was running along the border of Yelü Dashi's Western Liao territory, indicating that he did not completely trust Yelü Dashi.

Even if he surrendered, Wanyan Balisu did not intend to surrender completely. Instead, he wanted to be a regional warlord who could easily run away or start fighting again if things went wrong.

The Jurchens committed too many atrocities when they founded their state, forcing him to act with extreme caution. In the Western Liao, there were many former Khitan nobles, and he might very well have a blood feud with one of them.

Even so, his decision to surrender to the Western Liao demonstrates Wanyan Balisu's distrust of Chen Shao. He probably felt that choosing Yelü Dashi offered a greater chance of survival.

He was confident he could fight back against Yelü Dashi, but he really didn't want to be enemies with Da Jing's troops in the Northwest.

If they cannot be accepted by the Western Liao, this group of people will have to continue to flee and migrate north. Anyway, the Jurchens are not afraid of the cold. If they can escape to the Rus' principality or the Kipchak steppe, it will be like discovering a new continent.

With Wanyan Balisu's strength, he was completely at home there.
Since this guy chose to flee, it was essentially the same as giving up the territory, and not many of the officials present cared.

Even in the Han-Xiongnu War, if the Xiongnu fled, there was no reason to pursue them.

On this land, you can be wiped out, but as long as you preserve even a tiny spark, there may be a chance to turn the tide in the future.

But if you escape, that means you've completely withdrawn from the game, and there's never been a race that has ever fought its way back from the West.

Historically, Yelü Dashi had tried this before, but was soundly defeated by the Jin and Mongol empires, and had no choice but to deal with the Seljuk Empire and Khwarazm.

Chen Shao was just a little annoyed that his friend didn't believe him.

If Wanyan Balisu really came to surrender, I would be tolerant of him. You're not the kind of person with much ambition, so why did you run away?
Have you forgotten the happy times in Blackwater Town?
Han Shizhong said, "Now that this scoundrel has escaped, those mixed barbarian tribes in the southern desert will surely be even more terrified, and some tribes might even surrender without a fight!"

What Chen Shao is currently unsure about is the Mongol tribe, also known as Khabul.

At this time, Khabul completely controlled the Onon and Kerulen River basins, and had more than ten Mongolian-speaking tribes under his command, including the Taichiwu, Jadaran, and Hongjila tribes.

According to the scouts' reconnaissance, the people have 60,000 tents. If each household can contribute 1-2 soldiers, the number of soldiers under their command is about 10,000.

The key point is that this person's personality is rather arrogant and unruly, far less rational than Khurja of the Kereit tribe.

Chen Shao hoped to use Wanyan Balisu's escape and the surrender of the Kereit tribe to intimidate this fellow.

If all else fails, then we'll have to fight.

After all, although he himself had been trying to subdue the enemy without fighting, the soldiers on the border were actually willing to fight.

If we don't earn some military merit soon, the Great Jing Dynasty will have already passed the founding stage.

In the future, the difficulty of being granted a title or noble rank will not only double, but will increase by tens or hundreds of times.

As the group chatted, it became noon. Chen Shao ordered the imperial kitchen to prepare food and wine for a small imperial banquet.

Zhang Run waited at the Zhang residence all morning. When it was almost noon, he knew that the Emperor must be hosting a banquet, so he returned home dejectedly.

As he left the Minister's residence, he looked towards the imperial city, his eyes filled with boundless longing. (End of Chapter)