When the nationwide study movement came to an end, Ma Yun left Yangzhou and took a boat down the Grand Canal to the south. Reading artifact. After entering the Yangtze River, then go against the current. When he arrived near Jinling, he did not enter Jinling immediately, but first entered the camp of the Praetorian Guard in Stone Town, near Jinling. In the camp, Ma Yun set up a shrine, personally recited the eulogy, and went to the north to pay tribute to the soldiers who died on the battlefield. This move naturally won the great favor of the sergeants, but it made the officials who were preparing to welcome the big gift in the suburbs a little helpless.

"Wait and greet Your Majesty!" His Majesty the Emperor stayed in the barracks and did not go out, and the five ministers of the political hall, Xu Zhongya, Fan Zhen, Tuoba Heng, Shi Wende, and Wang Yun, could not sit still in Jinling. Not to mention that the emperor has returned after a few months of absence, it is reasonable that these high-ranking officials must see the emperor, besides, although these five people have their own strengths, their personalities are different; But to be able to hold such a high official position, I still have some understanding of the emperor's psychology. Why did the emperor suddenly stay in Yangzhou, is it really as the edict said, and the people of Huainan live and die and share the same fate? Why did His Majesty the Emperor wait until the officials of the whole country had unified their thinking before returning to Jinling? Why did he return to Jinling, did not enter the city first, but advanced to the camp of the Praetorian Guard. The Praetorian Guard has a total of 30,000 horses, although there are not many people, but they are the emperor's private soldiers, and the military salary is paid by the emperor himself, and is not subject to the constraints of the household department, and the command is tightly held in the hands of the emperor, and the Privy Council is not qualified to transfer. In the eyes of the ministers, the sacrifice of the fallen is just one reason. I'm afraid that the emperor still has concerns about the situation in Jinling. Of course, this does not mean that the emperor is suspicious or dissatisfied with the hundred officials of Jinling, this is an opportunity for the emperor to show his loyalty to the hundred officials. Therefore, the five ministers came together.

Ma Yun said with a smile: "You love Qing's body. We haven't seen each other for two months. Meng Yong, bring some of Xinzhou's specialties and give them to the ministers to taste. This is an authentic Jingxi fruit, which is not easy to eat in our south. ”

The hearts of the five people warmed, and they didn't expect Ma Yun's first sentence to be so bland. The defeat of Bianjing, whether it was from Ma Yun's ascension to the throne and proclamation as emperor three years ago, or from the beginning of Ma Yin's title as the king of Chu forty or fifty years ago, can be called the first defeat since the founding of the country. But this defeat is still commanded by His Majesty the Emperor himself, they are not afraid that His Majesty the Emperor will be angry and angry, like Emperor Wen of Song, after suffering a defeat, they will immediately retaliate in the second year, and they will suffer another defeat, because Ma Yun has already said that "Chu and Zhou will coexist for a considerable period of time", this "quite long" is very flexible, and the policy is very convenient to explain, whether it is five years or ten years, it belongs to the category of "quite long"; Although the emperor was still emphasizing the "unification of the whole country," the program of struggle and practical action were completely different things.

However, Ma Yun's bland words undoubtedly reassured them, and the emperor's calm mood made them feel at ease. The emperor did not lose his fighting spirit!

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" The five of them knelt down again and thanked them.

Ma Yun helped them up again, glanced at the faces of the five of them, and suddenly smiled: "Our monarchs and ministers have been together for nearly ten years, and in the past ten years, Da Chu has been able to sweep the south of the Yangtze River, thanks to the great help of all Aiqing." Although we are defeated today, as long as we are here, we may not have a chance to turn over one day. A few days ago, I also said some things in Yangzhou, but because the location is different, those words can only be regarded as a reminder to everyone and blow the wind. Now I have returned to Jinling, back to the Imperial Palace. It is necessary to have a clear edict to declare the world and explain some things about the Northern Expedition to the people of the world, and the Northern Expedition was defeated, and it was defeated very badly. First, Zhu Aiqing proposed to plot Jingdong Dao, devour Henan Dao, and gradually encroach on the pseudo-Zhou; Later, Zhao Aiqing persuaded me to guard the Bianhe River, confront me for a long time, and drag down the pseudo-Zhou. I didn't adopt it, but insisted on going my own way, wanting to fight and defeat Bianjing, but I didn't expect to fall for the tricks of the pseudo-Zhou, and used the tired army to face the rapid army, and returned defeated. Even I almost died. The advantages that the country has accumulated for several years are gone, which is really embarrassing! ”

The state of Chu implements the system of "three provinces, six ministries, one hospital, one hospital", and these five people are the leaders of them. In the defeat of Bianjing, they naturally knew that the defeat of Dachu was extremely miserable, and they lost two deputy commanders, two defense envoys, and dozens of regimental training envoys and command envoys. However, the truth of the defeat of Bianjing was the first time they had heard about it, and what they had heard in the past was the "glory despite defeat" version of the wind catcher. But now that they hear Ma Yun say this, they naturally will not investigate who should be responsible for the defeat, but are thinking about how to write this edict. The meaning of Ma Yun's words is to take all the responsibility for the defeat on his own, which is a bit of a crime for himself.

Shi Wende was the first to jump out and object: "'Soldiers, the major affairs of the country', Sun Tzu said: 'But he also said''There is no form and impermanence, there is no impermanence in the four seasons, there is no impermanence in the soldiers, and there is no impermanence in the water'. Our army went deep into the enemy's territory, and the guides and scouts were not adaptable, so they could not detect the enemy's conspiracy in time, so Your Majesty did not need to blame himself too much. Now everyone thinks that His Majesty is still glorious despite his defeat, and the minister thinks that he will issue a clear edict according to the discussion in the market? ”

What is the discussion in the market, the discussion of the common people is discussed by Ma Yun and Zhao Pu, and it is conveyed to the world through the wind chasing room. Shi Wende, as a minister, is in fact the nominal Shang Province Shang Ling, which can compete with Xu Zhongya in the Central Province and Fan Quality in Menxia Province in the imperial court. How could he not know where the talk came from? It's just that making the emperor responsible for the defeat is unimaginable in Shi Wende's opinion.

Ma Yun smiled: "Ladies and gentlemen, there are only you and me today, and there is no outsider." There is a lot of talk in the market, hehehe, the Ming people don't say dark words, they are all sent by me and Zhao Aiqing to release them. I have to bear the responsibility for the defeat, not for anything else, but to reassure the sergeants, so that the sergeants will not finally return from the battlefield and become scapegoats all the time. But more importantly, I want to create an atmosphere of courage for Da Chu through this matter! The prosperity of Dachu does not depend on me alone, but on officials, gentry, and the people. When a country is prosperous, someone must come out and do practical things. We should encourage everyone to do practical things, and we should not worry about everyone doing wrong things, after all, only by doing things can we do wrong things. If you talk all day long, you don't have a chance to make mistakes. Critics and critics are easy to be, but I don't take them, I want doers. I want to let go of everyone's hands and feet through such a thing, so that everyone has the courage to do practical things. ”

The five people glanced at each other, what the emperor said was reasonable, but the emperor was responsible for the defeat, which is not equivalent to giving an edict when there is a natural disaster, and this matter will hurt the emperor's reputation of Qingming!

Xu Zhongya pondered and said, "Your Majesty Shengming." This move will surely open the curtain of the prosperous era of Taihe. However, the minister thought that in the battle of Bianjing, although our army was defeated, it was not for nothing. The minister thought that it could be said that these harvests were also written into the edict. ”