Time flies, Zhao Gou is almost 60 years old, which is considered a long life in ancient times. Zhao Gou recalled that when he was young, he was also heroic and ambitious.

When he was a hostage in Jinying, he was neither humble nor arrogant, dignified in appearance, magnificent, and admired by the Jin people for his civil and military knowledge, and the commander of the Jin Army even thought that he was not a royal child, because in the eyes of the Jin generals, the princes of the Song Dynasty were all gentlemen, timid as mice, and powerless.

They even planned to send him back to the Song Dynasty so that the Song Dynasty could have another prince come over as a hostage. However, since the establishment of a small court in Lin'an, he did not want to forge ahead, and was completely frightened by the Jin people, so he indulged in wine every day, did not want to make progress, and dared to say that the Northern Expedition would be relegated to the bitter cold and barren land.

Qin Hui's old thief also feels that his body is getting worse and worse these days, and he always dreams of Yue Fei, Zhang Xian, and Yue Yun coming to ask for his life in his dreams.

He proposed to Zhao Gou to let his son Qin Xi inherit the phase, but Zhao Gou politely declined. Qin Hui finally understood at this time that he had lost his position, so he was depressed all day long, and finally died one night.

After Zhao Gou heard the news, he said happily: "I finally don't have to hide daggers in my shoes when I go to court in the future."

When Qin Xi went to the court the next day, he cried about his father's death, and the courtiers were secretly happy when they heard it, and they all wrote to the emperor to accuse Qin Hui's father and son of the crime.

Emperor Zhao Gou immediately announced that Qin Xi would be dismissed from all positions, all his family property would be confiscated, and he would be exiled to a remote and bitter cold place.

Emperor Zhao Gou is now old, and he feels more and more that his physical strength is declining, and he has always been afraid that the Jin people will invade the south again, so he feels that he is not as comfortable as an emperor.

It is said that Zhao Yan is a descendant of Taizu Zhao Kuangyin, and he is as heroic as Song Taizu. The emperor's nephew Zhao Zhuo is also a descendant of Taizu Zhao Kuangyin.

Since the death of Song Taizu, according to the alliance of Jinqi, Song Taizong Zhao Guangyi ascended the throne, since then the emperor has transferred from Zhao Kuangyin to Zhao Guangyi, Zhao Kuangying's son Zhao Defang, Zhao Dezhao and Zhao Kuangyin's younger brother Zhao Tingmei have all died mysteriously, and the government and the opposition have been discussing these matters.

Now that Zhao Gou's only son died young, he had to adopt his imperial nephews Zhao Yan and Zhao Zhuo in the palace to personally educate and teach the way of the emperor.

Zhao Gou is also very weak-hearted, and he has always thought that his ancestor Zhao Guangyi is not in the right position. He was also very superstitious, believing that it was Zhao Guangyi's improper position that caused the heavens to be angry and wanted to punish his family, which led to the destruction of the Northern Song Dynasty and the humiliation of the royal clan in the north.

Therefore, he also had the heart to pass on the line of Zhao Kuangyin, so he found the emperor's nephews Zhao Yan and Zhao Zhuo through many inquiries, and prepared to train and choose one to let him inherit the throne, and return the emperor to the line of Zhao Kuangyin, hoping that Emperor Taizu's bravery and Yin Ze could protect the Southern Song Dynasty.

It is said that in order to test the two successors he cultivated, Song Gaozong sent 20 beauties to his nephew Zhao Yan in 1156 AD.

Soon, Song Gaozong recalled 30 palace maids. After inspection, the 20 palace maids given to Zhao Yan were intact, and the 10 palace maids given to Zhao Zhuo were all enjoyed by Zhao Zhuo.

Zhao Yan resisted his momentary desire, and finally won Zhao Go's trust. Song Gaozong had no queen, although he was unwilling and tossed many times, but the queen and the concubine's stomachs did not improve, and in the end they could only choose their non-biological nephew Zhao Yan as the queen.

The establishment of the prince has always been a major event in the palace for power and profit, and the establishment of Zhao Yan is also full of contradictions, because the Empress Dowager Wei likes Zhao Zhuo, and the two of them are fighting openly and secretly, and the matter of establishing the prince is not yet clear.

For the sake of his own future, Zhao Yan secretly accumulated strength with the help of Taifu and others to win Zhao Gou's favor.

Zhao Gou originally relied on Qin Hui, but in Song Gaozong's later years, he became suspicious of Qin Hui.

When Qin Hui was seriously ill, Zhao Yan reported the news to Zhao Gou as soon as possible, and Zhao Gou arrived in time, breaking Qin Hui's first-class attempt to continue to establish Qin Hui as prime minister.

If Qin Hui succeeds, Qin Hui's remnants will continue to call for wind and rain in the court, which is unbearable for Zhao Gou.

Because of this incident, Zhao Gou has a better impression of Zhao Yan. After the death of Empress Dowager Wei, Zhao Gou could monopolize power, but he still wanted to further investigate the two successors.

Prior to this, Song Gaozong first reflected on his own mistakes, thinking that the reason why he had no queen was greedy for beauty, so he decided to test Zhao Yan and Zhao Zhuo with beauties, so as not to show up in his own situation again in the future, so there was a temptation to send a beautiful woman at the beginning.

Zhao Yan is young and strong, facing 20 palace maids at once, his heart is itching, if it is not for Taifu Shihao to stop it in time, these 20 palace maids will also be enjoyed by Zhao Yan.

Poor Zhao Zhuo, who had worked hard before, had no choice but to lose in front of the beauties, thinking that Song Gaozong cared about him, and none of the 10 palace maids who gave Zhao Zhuo were spared.

Three years later, Zhao Yan was officially established as the crown prince, and three years later, that is, in 1163, Zhao Gou Zen was given to Zhao Yan, Zhao Yan became the second emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty, known as Song Xiaozong, and also the most capable and backbone emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty.

Zhao Gou himself became the emperor. Kang Yue was specially cultivated by General Wu under the account of a generation of famous generals Wu Lan, and he had more experience in the art of war, tactics, and troop arrangement.

He often practiced the art of war and formation with Wu Lan, and the two also competed in person when they rose, and the relationship between the generals was very close.

Together, they imagined that in the near future, they would cross the Yellow River, go straight to Huanglongfu, and recover the Central Plains. (To be continued)