The Jin soldiers had just retreated, and the small court of Jianyan, which was dominated by civil officials, experienced another turmoil. And the protagonist of this turmoil is Prime Minister Lu Yihao, who made great contributions to Gaozong's escape.

The Jiangnan region was regained peace, and Emperor Gaozong and the Jianyan court naturally wanted to clean up the mountains and rivers, regroup, and restore the order of the rule.

The key to how to restore order lies in the word "money."

After several years of war and chaos, the constraints of the Jianyan court on local governments became lower and lower, and many local governments and local forces such as Caoyun became more and more disobedient, and repeatedly withheld taxes and did not pay them, causing great trouble to the imperial court.

Lu Yihao is upright, impatient, and irritable, even in the face of the rebels' swords and guns, he dares to shout loudly, not to mention that it is a peaceful day.

As a result, Lu Yihao issued several orders one after another, implementing the "policy of ensuring financial resources", and bringing the monopoly of salt, iron and other important materials, as well as the collection and management of economic money and monthly pile money, all into the scope of the imperial court's control.

As a result, these policies have attracted numerous voices of opposition.

From the perspective of the imperial court, Lu Yihao's policy is not wrong, but the fault is that the control power of the imperial court is too weak, and Lu Yihao's means of implementing the policy are also slightly rough.

There was really no way, Emperor Gaozong had no choice but to remove Lu Yihao from the position of prime minister and put Fan Zongyin, who was only thirty-one years old, as the governor of the political affairs

In May of the fourth year of Jianyan, that is, the month when Yue Fei recovered Jiankang Mansion, Emperor Gaozong, according to the suggestion of Prime Minister Fan Zongyin, successively established Huainan East and You Road, Jingnan Southwest and North Road, Jinghu North Road and a corner of Shaanxi. It is divided into a number of small military districts. Each military region has set up a pacification envoy. It has jurisdiction over the defense of two to four or five prefectures, prefectures, and armies, and is also in charge of civil affairs and finances.

Zhenfu envoy is a new name, equivalent to a feudal town in the Tang Dynasty. It's just that the division of the feudal town is the most jealous of the old Zhao family, so it's just a different name.

This kind of pacification caused about 20 imperial courts in the jurisdiction of Jianyan to seal and appoint more than 30 envoys

Most of these areas were occupied by bandits, tyrants, generals, regents, etc., and the imperial court had little say in it. Fan Zongyin believes that although this kind of measure is "a little reinstatement of the law of the feudal town", it is a "way to save the evil" to resist the Jin soldiers.

In fact. Fan Zongyin's proposition is purely passive and defensive in nature, and it is not at all a far-sighted plan to plan to recover his homeland.

The above-mentioned areas were ravaged by the scourge of war, the economy was weakened, and the areas under the jurisdiction of the various towns were not large, and the manpower, material and financial resources were limited, so it was impossible to effectively resist the Jin soldiers even if they were simply defended.

What's more, the composition of the pacification envoys is complex, and the hearts of the people are different. In less than four years, they either defected to the enemy or were killed by fire. or defeat and sacrifice, or loss of jurisdiction. It is difficult to summarize the various endings.

This is the historical testimony of the so-called "cure for evil".

In this split-seal drama, Yue Fei also got a piece of the pie by virtue of his past exploits.

In July of the fourth year of Jianyan, the imperial court promoted Yue Fei to the rank of official martial arts doctor, Changzhou defense envoy, and appointed Tong, Taizhou town envoy, and Taizhou governor.

From the perspective of official position, the martial arts doctor is one official higher than the original martial arts doctor, but according to the "double turn" system, it is actually a semi-official, and the defense makes the double stabbing two officials higher, and Yue Fei's virtual title is regarded as three consecutive promotions.

Before this, Yue Fei had also given a twist to the imperial court and applied to guard the Huai River Valley, because the Huai River Valley was the only way for Jin Bing to invade Kou in the south.

The imperial court's new order for Yue Fei to send a real post was probably in consideration of his own request to "beg for soldiers to guard Huai". Unfortunately, the imperial court had already set up at least eight districts in the Huainan region, and the remaining territory was limited, so it chose Tongzhou (Zhijinghai, present-day Nantong, Jiangsu) and Taizhou (Zhihailing, present-day Taizhou, Jiangsu) as Yue Fei's jurisdictions.

Yue Fei was able to get this cup of soup, in addition to his own merits, he also received the help of external forces.

First of all, a large number of Confucian scholars in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, led by Shao Ji, constantly wrote letters to the imperial court to promote Yue Fei; Shao Ji even ran to the mansion of Prime Minister Fan Zongyin to fight for Yue Fei.

The second is Zhang Jun's recommendation. Zhang Jun accepted Qi Fang's surrender before and picked Yue Fei's peaches, and now he is happy to give Yue Fei a favor, which is also right.

As one of the three giants of the Song Dynasty's military at that time, Zhang Jun's words still carried a lot of weight.

"History of the Song Dynasty" volume 365: Zhang Jun came from western Zhejiang, and was known as Yue Fei

To be able to become a prince and command one party, others will of course be satisfied. But for Yue Fei, such an arrangement is not interesting.

The reason is very simple, Tongzhou and Taizhou are remote, located in a corner of the river and sea, not strategic places, which is actually inconsistent with his original intention of "begging soldiers to defend Huai".

So Yue Fei gave Emperor Gaozong a recital, saying:

"The gold thief invaded Kou Qian Liu, and his ambition was the end. It is necessary to kill it quickly, destroy it completely, and recover all the roads, otherwise the years will be long, and the trouble will be great. If the court allows Fei to beg today, he will beg his mother, wife and two sons as hostages, and he will be exempted from charging and calming the envoys of Taizhou, and he will stop the heavy and difficult envoys of Huainan East Road. Ling Fei recruited soldiers and horses, covered up the gold thieves, recovered Benluzhou County, and regained Shandong, Hebei, Hedong, Gyeonggi and other places. So that the ambition of Fei Ping's life can be less fast, and he will repay the king with all his courtiers. …… If Meng pointed out that Yun Fei begged, that is, he begged for command, and he did not dare to rely on the imperial court, and did not ask for the benefit of the military horses. Fu begging Junzhao. ”

This piece looks righteous and full of positive energy.

"As long as you give me the right to command, I don't want a single soldier in the imperial court, recruit troops and horses on my own, and cover up the gold thief" What a bold statement this is, what a bold statement!

The problem is that, from the political realities of the time, this is a very immature statement, because he pierced the unspoken rules of the imperial court.

Yes, the Song Dynasty had an unwritten rule that military generals above a certain level were required to keep their families in Beijing as hostages; But this is an unspoken rule, which can only be understood but not spoken.

Just imagine, if Emperor Gaozong approved Yue Fei's recital, those Confucian scholars and subjects would say that the generals of the Great Song Dynasty would leave their biological parents, beloved wives and children in Beijing as hostages in order to protect their families and defend the country, and not count birth and death, so wouldn't the emperor be a faint monarch and be scolded by all the people?

If the emperor does not approve of Yue Fei's play. Doesn't it mean that the emperor didn't give Yue Fei a chance to serve the country. Will it chill all the soldiers, including Yue Fei?

This is a recital that no emperor likes to see.

Come and think about it. Song Gaozong had no choice but to reply to Yue Fei with an edict, praising him for his loyalty and bravery.

After that, there was no follow-up

With the help of the Song Dynasty's leading party and the strange weather, Wanyan Wushu led tens of thousands of gold soldiers to escape from Han Shizhong's pursuit and escape back to the north bank of the Yangtze River.

However, the story is still developing and not over yet.

The reason is simple. Jin Bing also carried a large amount of property that was stolen from the Jiangnan area this time. These belongings are so large that they are difficult to transport back to the north without water.

To take the waterway, one must pass through two places: Chuzhou and Chengzhou.

Xue Qing, the commander of Chengzhou and Tianchang Army in the Southern Song Dynasty, and Zhao Li, the governor of Chuzhou, Sizhou, and Lianshui Army, and Zhao Li, the governor of Chuzhou, just blocked the return of Yan Wushu.

In order to make the Jin soldiers return to the north smoothly, the gold lord Wu Qimai sent Wan Yan Chang, the marshal of the left supervision army who presided over the Huainan battlefield, to Liuhe to replace Wan Yan Wushu, and presided over the breakthrough together with Wan Yan Tuhe, the king of the dragon and tiger.

And Wanyan Wushu was sent to Shaanxi to command the battle on the western front against the Song Dynasty.

The reason why Wanyan Wushu was transferred was very simple, he had already been scared by the sailors of the Song army. I developed an inexplicable fear of water that I couldn't suppress

Wan Yan Chang. His real name is Wanyan Tart, the son of Brother Ying, the uncle of Wanyan Aguta, the Taizu of the Jin Kingdom, and when he was not born, Wu Qimai was once adopted by his father.

It can be said that Wan Yan Chang is Wu Qimai's younger brother and Wan Yan Wushu's uncle.

As soon as Wan Yanchang arrived, he formulated a series of plans to attack Yangzhou first, then take Chengzhou, and finally surround Chuzhou.

After hearing the news, Guo Zhongwei, the envoy of Yangzhou Zhenfu and the governor of Yangzhou, asked Xue Qing, the governor of Chengzhou, to send troops to welcome the release on the grounds that he would not be broken one by one.

Xue Qing led his troops to Yangzhou, and happened to be killed by Jin soldiers. Guo Zhongwei changed his seal and allowed Xue Qing to fight alone outside the city.

Xue Qing was defeated and rushed back to Changzhou, but Guo Zhongwei closed the door again. Xue Qing is also an iron man, fought to the end, was captured with all his strength, and was brutally killed.

And Guo Zhongwei finally saw that Jin's troops were strong, so he opened the city gate, fled with his soldiers, and fled to the territory of Tianchang County.

In this way, the Jin army successfully captured Yangzhou and Chengzhou (Zhigaoyou, present-day Gaoyou, Jiangsu), and surrounded Chuzhou, and the situation was very critical.

At that time, the situation was that Cheng and Yang Prefectures had fallen into the hands of the Jin soldiers, and if they did not try their best to defend Chu Prefecture, the entire Huainan would fall under the control of the Jin people

Chuzhou was in a hurry, and Zhao Li sent battle reports to the imperial court one after another. Song Gaozong was so anxious that he immediately summoned the generals to consult with the officials of the Privy Council.

In the opinion of Song Gaozong's monarchs: Han Shizhong's army was newly defeated, and his vitality had not recovered, and Liu Guangshi and Zhang Jun had a bad relationship, so they could only choose one or the other.

Zhao Ding, the Privy Councillor, wanted to send Zhang Jun, the commander of the Shenwu Right Army, to lead the army to the rescue, because Zhao Ding thought that Zhang Jun's strength could take on this important task, but Zhang Jun refused. He replied:

"The people of the Jin Kingdom have just increased their troops, and Wan Yanchang is a general who can recruit and fight, and their edge cannot be stopped. Fighting alone can only lead to a situation that is at stake. Now I am leading my army north to defend against the enemy, it is like fighting a tiger with both hands, this is a loss-making business, there is no benefit, I will not go. ”

When Zhao Ding heard Zhang Jun say this, he was not happy, and hurriedly said: "Chuzhou is a place to be rushed, and it can shield the two Huai, if you don't protect Chuzhou, then the heart of the two Huai towns will have to be lost." ”

Zhang Jun didn't agree, he didn't agree, although Zhao Ding said the stakes, but insisted on not being moved. To continue:

"It is appropriate to aid Chuzhou, but since the southern crossing, it has not been firmly established at all. There are very few troops defending the Xingchao, the Xingchao is not safe, and the common people are in a wait-and-see state, and their mood is unstable. If we lose this battle against the enemy, the people's hearts will be in turmoil, and I don't know how to deal with the aftermath. ”

The two quarreled like this for a long time, and Zhao Ding had no choice, so he said to Song Gaozong: "If Marshal Zhang is afraid and does not dare to go on the expedition, Weichen is willing to go with him." ”

Zhao Ding's move is already a trick of pressing the box as a civil official.

Before Song Gaozong could express his position, Zhang Jun couldn't kneel: "If the emperor asks me to guard Chuzhou, not only will I not be able to defend it, but my tens of thousands of subordinates will all be finished." Resolutely don't go, Your Majesty will kill me, and I won't go. ”

Song Gaozong saw that Zhang Jun was so reliant, so he had no choice but to give up. The edict ordered Yue Fei, who was willing to fight any battle, to relieve the siege of Chuzhou, and Liu Guangshi sent troops to reinforce him...... (To be continued......)

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