At the end of the birthday banquet, Mrs. Zhao motioned for Zhao Jiaren to stay. Seeing off the person who congratulated him on his birthday, Mrs. Zhao asked, "San Lang, your child is so unpleasant." ”

Zhao Jiaren immediately replied: "Mother." I am still like this to the Queen Mother, and of course it is impossible for my family to give them a way to sit and count the money. ”

Mrs. Zhao didn't expect her son to make such an analogy. She sighed, speechless. Recently, Lin'an has been discussing more and more about the Empress Dowager's visit to the court, as Zhao Jiaren said, there are quite a few people who oppose Zhao Taiwei's approach to the Empress Dowager.

Zhao Zhizhuo is Zhao Jiaren's father, and there are many 'undetermined' elements who want to take Zhao Zhizhuo's path to restore his official position. Mrs. Zhao had long asked the old man not to help these people, and she was deflated here by Zhao Jiaren, and she touched a soft nail at Zhao Jiaren's father. The angry guys dropped their words, all of which were against Zhao Taiwei Weifu's personal use, and against Zhao Taiwei's bullying of the Queen Mother.

Zhao Jiaren was annoyed by these people, and he said angrily: "Mother." The Queen Mother just thinks that she is the Queen Mother, so she should be supported by someone by nature. You taught me when I was a child, guiding me to read and study. Teach me to serve my country. To my father, you can also persuade me. But what did Empress Dowager Yang do besides giving birth to a son to Duzong? ”

Being compared like this, Mrs. Zhao was not angry, she sighed: "But she is the queen mother after all." ”

"This is such a person in the palace, and there is such an official in the court, so the Mongols invaded the south to almost destroy my Great Song Dynasty. will make Lin'an surrender. Now the Queen Mother doesn't talk about how to reflect on her sins, but wants to get involved in wealth and power. Do you have such a thick skin?! Zhao Jiaren was not angry with his mother, he just couldn't help but be angry.

Mrs. Zhao sighed: "San Lang." I know you hate them. But I want to ask you, if you do this, you will offend many people. Can you be offended to the end? ”

Zhao Jiaren nodded decisively, "That's why I encouraged everyone to work hard." If the whole world is like this group of people who only want to sit and collect money, they will be destroyed by the Mongols. Only when there are enough motivated people can we become richer and stronger. ”

This is not so much an explanation or a description as it is Zhao Jiaren's expectation. Those who strive to pioneer will always be a minority in a country.

Seeing that her son was so persistent, Mrs. Zhao, who originally wanted her son to be able to handle it smoothly, also gave up this thought. She went back to the house and took out a list, which was full of people who had approached Zhao Zhizhuo before and later and wanted to seek officials from him, as well as the time when they sought officials. Mrs. Zhao said: "A good memory is better than a bad pen." I'm too old to write down so much. As for the future, I'll let your dad not participate in anything. San Lang, you can do it yourself. ”

On the way back, Zhao Jiaren briefly skimmed through the list, but the more he looked at it, the more interesting it became. Combined with the anti-rape committee's investigation of opponents, the names of these people and the time they joined are quite consistent with this list. It seems that many people were finally disappointed after looking for Zhao Zhizhuo, and then they completely fell into the ranks of opponents.

Taiwei Zhao returned to the political hall and called Lu Xiufu first. Lu Xiufu was in charge of the nationalization of land in Lin'an Prefecture, and after talking to his mother this time, Zhao Jiaren wanted to solve the problem of Empress Dowager Yang as soon as possible. Waiting for Lu Xiufu to sit down, Zhao Jiaren said: "You go and ask Zhang Shijie again to see what the Queen Mother means." And you told Zhang Shijie that now our army is on the counteroffensive. If he wants to return to the army, he should do so as soon as possible. When the younger generation gets up in the next two years, there will be no more positions in the army for veterans like Zhang Shijie! ”

Lu Xiufu didn't quite know why Taiwei Zhao asked him to do this. But the captain confessed, and Lu Xiufu had no intention of refusing. He found Zhang Shijie and made his words clear. Zhang Shijie fell silent. During this period of time, the Queen Mother meant that she was willing to agree to Zhao Jiaren's request. The Imperial City is not quite the same as the Imperial Palace, and a large part of the Imperial City is used for offices. The palace was where the royal family lived. If Empress Dowager Yang can come to the court, that is, she will show up at the court meeting of the imperial court, and there are some official documents to be instructed. She didn't leave the palace and enter the imperial city very often. Therefore, what made Zhang Shijie anxious was not this matter of the dynasty, but the military that Zhao Jiaren talked about.

Zhang Shijie can be regarded as a half-life of Rong Ma, if he can't return to the army now, Zhang Shijie can probably only live his life as the commander of the three hundred Royal Forest Army. If you want to change this possibility, you have to bring down Zhao Jiaren, and Zhang Shijie has not seen this opportunity until now. And Zhao Jiaren is only thirty-five years old now. If nothing goes wrong, he will be under no pressure for another twenty years. Zhang Shijie felt that he would be old in less than ten years. So returning to the army is a very attractive condition.

After being silent for a while, Zhang Shijie sighed: "Let me think again." Just think again! ”

Zhang Shijie is still thinking about it, and the Song army has already had new results. Two days after the capture of Ezhou, the Song army crossed the Yangtze River and surrounded Hanyang. The siege mode was still concocted in the same way, and the Mongol army had no means of resistance at all. Unlike Ezhou, the Hanyang garrison no longer had the Yangtze River to exploit, and the Song army blocked the access to the waterway from Hanyang. That's when the siege began.

The battle was also a complete victory, and all 10,000 defenders at Hanyang were annihilated. The Mongol Wanhu Gorten who escaped from Ezhou and the Han Wanhu Jiang Qingzhi were both captured. At this point, the Song army completed the first step of the strategy formulated by Zhao Jiaren, preventing the Mongol army from smoothly rushing from the Han River into the Yangtze River.

Zhao Jiaren quickly got the news by relying on carrier pigeons. Mongolia, on the other hand, relied on horses, and it took several days to get the news. When the Great Khan Kublai Khan heard this, he was furious. He didn't expect the Song army to move so quickly, and when the two sides agreed to a truce before, the Great Khan thought that Zhao Jiaren would have to fight Hanyang a year later.

Now the situation has become that the Mongol army is somewhat in a dilemma. If Zhao Jiaren is ignored, Zhao Jiaren can easily go up the Han River and attack Xiangyang. If Xiangyang is lost, it means that Mongolia will revert to the strategic situation of 20 years ago. This made Kublai Khan, who had paid a huge price to conquer Xiangyang, very angry.

At the same time as the Mongol Great Khan convened a court meeting, the Song army moved north along the Han River with a little trimming. This was the best scenario in the previous plan. As long as Xiangyang and Fancheng were recaptured, plus the southern part of Henan that had been recovered, the defense system of the Great Song Dynasty could be complete again. At that time, it didn't matter what the Mongols said. Because the front line of the war has already toppled Henan.

In the Mongolian court, the Mongol monarchs and ministers were equally serious. In order to be able to conquer Xiangfan, the Mongols mobilized 200,000 troops and almost succeeded in destroying the Song state. Bo Yan, the generalissimo of the Southern Expedition, said in his usual cold tone: "If Xiangyang is recaptured by the Song State, we are afraid that we will not be able to return there in this life." ”

If it was in the Ming and Qing dynasties, this would probably be scolded by some people. In Mongolia, however, this problem is not at all. These war-savvy ministers knew what was right and what was wrong. Knowing that this was the only outcome, including Kublai Khan, the Mongol Khan asked, "What should be done?" ”

Boyan actually wanted to say, 'Admit it'. But he knew that saying this would mean advocating a complete truce, and some people in Mongolia thought so, and some people did not. So the generalissimo did not speak, he waited for others to express their strategic views.

The important ministers talked a lot, and Hao Jing spoke, "Your Majesty, the Song Kingdom acted arbitrarily and did not abide by the agreement. The minister thought that he still had to teach him a lesson. If they are left unattended, they will continue to eat away. If you give up Xiangyang today, do you want to give up Shandong tomorrow. ”

At the mention of Shandong, Kublai Khan's face became even more unpleasant. The Mongols mined iron between Yuzhou and Zaozhuang, but after the arrival of the Song army, the iron could not be delivered. These areas were flat and suitable for the Mongol cavalry to gallop. However, Boyan's command of more than 100,000 troops was repulsed by the Song army outside the flatter Guide Province, and Kublai Khan did not want to repeat the mistake of the past.

Hao Ren listened to what his teacher Hao Jing said, and he was also a little surprised in his heart. If it was before, his teacher Hao Jing would definitely emphasize peace because of the current situation. Unexpectedly, after being criticized by Zhao Jiaren's academics, the teacher changed from a staunch Lord-Peacer to a certain degree of hawk. For Hao Ren, this change was a bit disappointing for him.

Seeing that others didn't speak, Hao Ren couldn't help but speak. "Great Khan, the usefulness of Xiangyang is that we can go here and attack the Song Kingdom. However, with the current situation, we can't use Xiangyang if we want to fight with the Song Kingdom. In Shandong, in Henan, we can go to war with the Song State at any time. In this case, it is useless to keep Xiangyang. If the Great Khan did not want to give up Xiangyang, I think I could move from an armistice to peace with the Song State. In the peace talks, Song asked the Song State to cut Xiangyang to us......"

Kublai Khan's brow furrowed as he listened. That's what he's most troubled about. Xiangyang itself has no special significance, what is meaningful is that Xiangyang can prepare for future actions. Now Mongolia has no option to destroy the Song Dynasty in its expectations for the future.

Turning his head to look at Zhang Hongfan, Kublai Khan asked, "Zhang Hongfan, if you recruit troops again, do you think you can recruit 100,000 soldiers?" ”

Zhang Hongfan had a great reputation in this war against the Song Dynasty, and in response to the Great Khan's question, Zhang Hongfan hurriedly replied: "Great Khan, this matter is not easy. The previous Northern Han army had already made gains in the Song Dynasty, so they just wanted to stay at home. ”

"Humph! A few days ago, I read some poems, and there is a "Mulan Ci" that says that the Khan has a large army, and there are twelve volumes of military books, and the scrolls have the name of the master. Why was it possible to recruit so much at that time? Kublai Khan said dissatisfied.

This question is more profound, Zhang Hongfan bowed his head and was silent.

It's only a catty? Hao Ren couldn't help but replied: "Great Khan, he was a government soldier at that time. ”

Hearing such a standard answer, Hao Ren and Hanchen were a little surprised.

Kublai Khan was not surprised, he said with interest: "Tell me about it." ”