After the Mid-Autumn Festival, The Filature of the Song began implementing martial law from north to south.

Prefectures of Pu, Hua, Zheng, and Henan (Kaifeng), as well as Henan Prefecture (Luoyang), Shaanxi Prefecture, and the former Henan section of Meng Prefecture, all established beacon towers, doubled the number of soldiers patrolling along the Yellow River levee, and increased the number of fleets monitoring the opposite bank of the river.

The various imperial army corps re-counted their numbers and verified the inventory of all military supplies such as ordnance, grain, and warhorses. Unified inspections and clearances were conducted on the riverfront fortified villages.

Along the Yellow River in Henan, soldiers' families, the elderly, the weak, women, and children were encouraged to move south to the Huaihe-Nanyang area.

The various envoys, chief ministers, and commanders, along with Yan Xiaozhong, the prefect of Nanyang, received imperial edicts to focus on rectifying defenses and acting according to circumstances. Other military and administrative officials in Henan also received edicts and orders from both the palace and the capital, instructing them to cooperate with the envoys and commanders while arranging defenses, and not to disobey orders without central approval.

At the same time, the court specifically issued clear orders to various places in Guanxi, emphasizing Yuwen Xuzhong's absolute authority and Li Yanxian's special status in Shaanxi Prefecture.

The transportation of supplies from the southeast, Jingxiang, and Huainan was also being urgently coordinated.

Things seemed to be proceeding in an orderly manner, but the central government still had its own concerns.

After all, no matter how much preparation was done, it was still just preparation. Once the Jin attacked, who knew what the situation would be? Moreover, from a military strategic perspective, although the Song army had imperial troops in Henan, which gave them a sense of confidence, there were still two huge military gaps that could not be ignored.

These were the problems in Guanxi and the problems of Dongjing (Kaifeng).

From the Guanxi side, the problem was that things were too rushed and hasty.

To make good military preparations, one needed excellent soldiers and complete logistics. Guanxi seemed to have both… Guanxi was recognized as a source of excellent soldiers, and there was a ready-made elite troop seed unit, namely the 10,000-plus elites of Jingyuan Road (from this perspective, Qu Duan did some good). The economic strength of Bashu (Sichuan) was also undeniable, especially after Zhang Jun boldly appointed Zhao Kai as his financial deputy, who led a remarkable fiscal reform that increased Bashu's original financial base of over 10 million strings of cash.

However, the problem was that the three carriages of Guanxi only killed Wang Xie in July, and unified military power for only a month. Before the central government decided to increase taxes, a significant portion of Bashu's financial revenue was sent down the river to Nanyang… Therefore, the preparations there, from soldiers to materials, were insufficient.

Unfortunately, their old opponent there was Wanyan Lou Shi, Wanyan Zong Han's military deputy and the actual deputy commander of the Western Route Army.

It is necessary to say a few more words here: Wanyan Lou Shi was an unavoidable figure in this era, and one who made all Song soldiers tremble with fear… There was no other way. Opening the small booklet compiled by Commander Wang Yuan, on those few pages about this person, one would find that this man, who was likely a Wanyan clan slave or a tribal leader of a subservient tribe (the two identities are not mutually exclusive), had fought his way from Liaodong to Henan, with truly dazzling military achievements.

The main force of the Liao army was crushed after this man led his troops on a long-distance raid, changing horses on the battlefield, and launching nine cavalry assaults on the Liao central army in a single day with Yin Shu Ke. The 30,000-cavalry main force supporting Liao from Western Xia was repeatedly and rapidly attacked and broken up by him. Fan Zhixu's 200,000-strong Western Army reinforcements were scattered by him leading ten Meng'an (a Jurchen military unit). In the Battle of Taiyuan, he and Yin Shu Ke together defeated the hundreds of thousands of reinforcements one by one.

It can be said that he participated in almost all the major main force battles during the rise of the Jin army, and always took on the hardest and most difficult battles, yet always emerged victorious.

Truly always victorious.

Even Li Yanxian's military miracle in Shaanxi Prefecture only occurred after this person turned to Guanxi and northern Shaanxi. Even last year, in such a hasty manner, he led his army to steadily swallow Yan'an Prefecture and force the surrender of three prefectures outside the river, which was impeccable.

Han Shizhong and Yue Fei never encountered such a figure in history. It is hard to say what would have happened if they had. In any case, among the people Zhao Guan Jia currently had in his service who had encountered this person, such as Zhang Jun, Li Yanxian, Qu Duan, and Yang Yizhong, were all defeated by him… Of course, that statement is not entirely accurate. The accurate statement is that these people were remnants of the defeated troops under Wanyan Lou Shi at the time, and were not worthy of being called defeated opponents.

At that time, Song armies of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of troops were repeatedly defeated by Wanyan Lou Shi and Wanyan Yin Shu Ke, the main partners of the Jin Western Route Army, with smaller forces defeating larger ones, again and again. The reason why Zhang Jun, Li Yanxian, and Qu Duan were able to become important military ministers was mainly because they gathered the defeated soldiers after Wanyan Lou Shi withdrew his troops.

Not only that, this person and his old partner Yin Shu Ke continued their conquests, capturing a Khitan king, capturing the Liao Emperor Tian Zuo, and even capturing Yelü Dashi (who successfully escaped after leading the Jin army for a few days)… To put it bluntly, if he had not been absent from the siege of Dongjing during the Jingkang Incident, this person might have achieved an unprecedented feat in Chinese military history: capturing the emperors of four great nations.

Such an opponent, leading a main force of the Jin army, and facing their own weakest area, who wouldn't be worried?

As for Dongjing (Kaifeng), there is no need to say more. Dongjing is too far forward. Once the Jin army crosses the river, it will be another siege of Dongjing. And the phrase "siege of Dongjing" has almost given the Song Dynasty a post-traumatic stress disorder.

Therefore, perhaps knowing that worrying about Guanxi was useless, or because they were in the midst of it, the entire Song central government, after entering a state of war readiness, focused on the defense of Dongjing, and everyone's attention was on it.

Putting aside the inevitable initial panic, as the city gradually re-adapted to martial law, an unexpected burst of energy suddenly arose around the city defense construction in and around Dongjing, which had recovered to a population of about 300,000.

The newly appointed Councilor of State, Chen Gui, was undoubtedly the commander of the Dongjing defense and the core of the city defense system. He also served as the Minister of War and the Prefect of Kaifeng, and basically obtained most of the imaginable authority. Therefore, as his orders were issued and the central government officials cooperated wholeheartedly, the entire Dongjing quickly began to militarize and fortify, using Nanyang as a template.

Countless tons of coal fuel were transported from all over the Central Plains. Most of it was sunk into the newly excavated artificial lake inside the Jingshui Gate of the imperial city, and a small portion was sent directly to the brick kilns outside the city, which were constantly producing bricks.

The brick kilns used coal and temporarily felled trees from the forests around Dongjing as fuel, producing solid bricks day and night.

These bricks were certainly not comparable to the materials of the Dongjing city wall, but they were sufficient to build simple and practical sheep-and-horse walls outside the city, and to build countless brick walls inside the city to form Nanyang-style partitioned military quarters, and then to build arrow towers and bunkers.

All three layers of the city wall were reinforced and thickened. The city gates with gate towers were completely transformed into military fortresses, each with at least one "du" (hundred-man team) stationed there. The ten or so water gates were even more heavily defended, all equipped with double-layer iron mesh sluice gates, and soldiers sent by Liangshanbo were assisting in their management and disposal.

However, the most eye-catching thing was the three rivers that ran through the city… In order to facilitate the entry and exit of reinforcements, and also to continue to properly defend around the rivers after the outer city was breached, the Cai River, the Bian River, and the Guangji River, which ran through the city, were fully dredged, widened, and deepened. This work had already started before, and now it was continuing without stopping.

By late August, this work had entered a climax. Even Zhao Guan Jia, who had recovered from his illness, and Wang De, the Defence Commissioner of the Four Walls of Bianjing, who had led his troops back to the city, went to the river to carry earth and dig mud, and even had Lady Wu lead a few palace maids and a group of Tokyo cooks who had been gathered to boil water and cook meals for the people on the riverbank.

In this enthusiastic atmosphere, the Guangji River, which was formerly known as the Five-Zhang River because it was five Zhang (about 16 meters) wide, was already seven or eight Zhang wide. This width was basically based on the width of the bridges on the river. It only narrowed to five Zhang again at the water gates at both ends.

The Bian River needs no further explanation. Looking at the Qingming Shanghe Tu (Along the River During the Qingming Festival) one knows how wide the river was. Now that it had been cleared, it was even more sparkling with water, which made people sigh with admiration.

According to Chen Gui's plan, the dug-out mud was used to build high dams and brick walls on the inner side of the rivers, setting up artillery positions, creating several excellent lines of defense.

Not to mention the Daxiangguo Temple, where cannon carts, earthen balls, stone bullets, and gunpowder packs had been produced non-stop from the beginning.

Here, Zhao Guan Jia must be praised again. This Guan Jia was not sick every day before, and he did not run to the Daxiangguo Temple all day long to freeload on their food and drinks… Long ago, with his suggestion and assistance, the counterweight cannon carts here had been divided into several fixed models, and each model strived to use a unified standard of measurement to organize the 'standard' 'standard parts' as much as possible.

A basic assembly line, the benefits were self-evident.

One was to improve efficiency, one was to ensure that the cannon carts on the battlefield could be quickly repaired, and the other was to facilitate transportation.

This was Zhao Guan Jia's main key project this year after initially failing to develop artillery… It was not high technology, but it was definitely practical. The key was that the benefits of doing so could be understood and recognized by everyone.

In short, the whole city was buzzing with activity.

However, as the days passed, the passion gradually wore off, followed by fatigue and numbness.

Zhao Guan Jia went from digging river mud all day at the beginning to carrying bricks all day later… Sometimes, he couldn't help but feel that being an emperor was not worth it. Before transmigrating, he found a job, but he came here before starting it. As a result, he experienced such high-intensity bricklaying labor here. Who was more miserable than him?

And being so tired, he had no strength when he returned to Yanfu Palace at night… After eating the snacks sent by Consort Pan, lying on the bed, he would basically fall asleep quickly, smelling Consort Pan's fragrance.

Sometimes he also stayed at Lady Wu's place, and Lady Wu, who was also exhausted, often secretly cried in the middle of the night. It was hard to know if she was crying because she married the wrong person, so that she had to spend half of the year boiling water and cooking, and the other half reading and practicing martial arts… At this time, Zhao Jiu was completely numb even if he was awake, and had no strength to comfort her or get angry.

However, what came after numbness?

The answer was expectation.

It sounds absurd, but the fact is that August ended, and entered September, and September was almost over… As this city defense renovation activity, praised by Zhao Guan Jia as 'forty days of hard work after the autumn', came to a successful conclusion, so successful that even Chen Gui could not think of any way to add anything more, others did not know, but Zhao Guan Jia was actually beginning to look forward to it.

Looking north expectantly.

But to his disappointment, the beacon fires never lit, and the Jin never came.

Moreover, this absence was not false… Ma Kuo, Ma Zi Chong, after escaping into the Taihang Mountains last year, gradually began to move south to avoid the core ruling area of the Jin army around Yanjing, but he filled the vacancy of Wang Yan's Eight Character Army and re-established contact with Henan. According to Ma Kuo's latest intelligence, the Jin army had not even mobilized. At least the Meng'an and Mouke stationed in various places in Hebei had not mobilized.

Entering October, winter officially arrived, and Ma Kuo's latest report was still clear: the Jin army had made no moves.

This was of course a good thing, at least it allowed the Guanxi side to speed up and use this valuable time and this year's autumn grain from Sichuan to organize a sizable force.

However, correspondingly, in order to prevent Henan from causing unnecessary tension and slackness due to maintaining a long-term high degree of tension, which would lead to a successful Jin army surprise attack, Zhao Guan Jia, after discussing with the chancellors, the Department of State Affairs, and the Privy Council, took the initiative to relax some of the tense posture, ordering all places to maintain martial law, but to adjust the pace, ensure that soldiers could take turns to visit relatives and take vacations, ensure normal urban life, but to be careful of spies and surprise attacks… and so on.

After the edict was issued, it was not clear about other places, but such a large city as Dongjing instantly fell into a strange state… No one knew what to do.

Winter was undoubtedly the off-season for farming, and people were already somewhat idle. Because of the need to prevent spies, both military and civilian supplies were generally delivered outside the city. The city was completely divided into Fang Qu (residential districts), and ordinary people, although living at home, found it difficult to easily enter and exit the Fang Qu… Families with strong laborers and soldiers could directly receive a ration and a portion of coal (almost all of them), but sauces, linen, and other things had to be bought from the government with money.

In other words, commercial activities had also basically stagnated… Over time, people naturally became flustered.

In response, Zhao Guan Jia could only learn the tricks in some high-end online novels, and let these people organize Cuju (ancient Chinese football) teams and wrestling teams according to the military Fang Qu. It could only be said that fortunately Cuju did not take up much space in this era, and Cuju fields could be set up directly on the Imperial Road and the East-West Street, allowing each Fang and each army to open them on alternating days for Cuju and Sumo.

However, this situation lasted for another month, including dealing with high-priced resale of sauces, official slackness, Cuju fights, and other things that could be imagined and unimaginable.

In November, the Jin army still showed no signs of movement.

At this time, Zhao Guan Jia, besides having further opened Dongjing city… generally, several Fang Qu were connected together to open the gates of the military Fang Qu, dividing the entire city into seven or eight independent large areas and small cities for activities… also became somewhat restless.

In fact, at this time, various rumors had spread. The people below mostly said that the Jin dared not go south after the battle of Yanling-Changshe last year; while officials and many new state students who had joined the Taixue (Imperial Academy) discussed one after another, saying that the Jin Emperor's younger brother had died, and that the sons of the original Taizu Aguda and the sons of the current Wolf Lord Wanyan Wugimai were fighting endlessly for the throne.

The latter had definite evidence. As early as after the Mid-Autumn Festival in August, the central government unexpectedly learned this information from Korean merchants, saying that the Jin Emperor's younger brother, namely Anban Bojilie Wanyan Xieye, had been seriously ill before, and then failed to recuperate in the autumn and died directly. Afterwards, the central government immediately sent Wang Lun, the Shaoqing (Vice Minister) of the Honglu Temple (Court of State Ceremonial) to make a quick trip to Korea from the east to investigate the information.

Now, after three months, Wang Lun successfully returned, and indeed did not disgrace his mission. He confirmed the death of Wanyan Xieye, and confirmed that the Jin seemed to have an internal struggle for the throne.

But to be honest, Zhao Guan Jia and several chancellors were skeptical about how important Wanyan Xieye was. Moreover, the Jin army had never abandoned the use of troops southward in the autumn and winter seasons because of the death of important figures or internal disputes, so the central government still did not change its mind.

Relatively speaking, Liu Ziyu, the Privy Council Capital Supervisor and also the Military Counselor of the Zhifang Division (Department of Military Cartography), put forward a view. He believed that it might not only be the effect of the Battle of Changshe last year, but that the serious military control and arrangements made by the Imperial Song after the Mid-Autumn Festival had achieved the effect of subduing the enemy without fighting.

This was very reasonable, but in any case, everyone's meaning was that the Jin army probably, should not come this year.

Of course, Zhao Jiu and the chancellors would not relax because of this, but they could not suppress the increasingly active hearts of the people below and the increasingly lax atmosphere.

Many people began to suggest opening the city on a small scale to restore a certain amount of commercial circulation… Their reasons were sufficient. During the previous large-scale strict military control, many cases of city defense soldiers and delivery officials embezzling and neglecting the people's livelihood were verified with solid evidence, and the common people were not having a good time.

At first, Zhao Guan Jia and the chancellors did not agree, but as more and more people petitioned, and the things of slackness and corruption caused by the lockdown became more and more numerous, and some people had even begun to suggest lifting the patrol of strong laborers and completely opening up the isolation of the military Fang Qu, the central government, under pressure, temporarily agreed to a small-scale opening of the city, allowing reliable merchant teams to enter the city.

Facts proved that commercial activities were the key to the city residents. As the city gates were opened on a small scale and commercial activities resumed, Dongjing almost quickly recovered its vitality, and things like strong laborers and military Fang Qu seemed insignificant.

But as the city regained its vitality, some messy things began to涌涌涌… In late November, an official formally submitted a memorial, stating that because of the special season, the royal family should comfort the people's hearts and asked to establish an Empress.

As soon as this statement was made, it immediately caused a chain reaction. Many extremely bored officials followed suit, and the memorials requesting the establishment of an Empress instantly piled up on the Imperial desk. Later, even the people and Taixue students in the capital also sent letters requesting the establishment of an Empress to the military Fang Qu gates, requesting them to be forwarded. This was not all. Because the entire Henan was under martial law, and information was mostly transferred from the military, military officers inside and outside the city soon presented secret memorials to the Emperor, requesting the establishment of an Empress.

In a trance, this matter had developed into a trend in Henan in winter.

To be honest, Zhao Guan Jia and several chancellors were a bit confused.