The suggestion suddenly put forward by Yu Yunwen was inherently risky and impractical, bordering on wishful thinking.

For example, if the weather suddenly turned cold, it wouldn't even require the Yellow River to freeze. Just the Bian River and Guangji River freezing would render the whole thing a joke.

Furthermore, entrusting a newly-subjugated bandit force from Liangshan Marsh with a plan that seemed extremely risky, putting their lifeblood, their inland fleet, on the line, was a huge practical obstacle… Because it wasn't just a question of whether Liangshan Marsh was willing, but, crucially, they had to make a decision and take action in a very short time for it to work.

This was a huge test for the Zhang Rong-Liangshan Marsh-Dongping Prefecture military group.

Besides, now that Tokyo City was semi-open, how to dig through the Guangji River and Bian River without arousing the suspicion of those with ill intentions, how to get the Liangshan Marsh ships to come to Bianliang with a plausible excuse, how to allow the ships to pass unhindered through the densely-built Tokyo, each one was a problem.

And these things were sequential rather than parallel; if even one of them went wrong, the whole thing would be as ridiculous as a castle in the air.

But on the other hand… everyone had to admit that Yu Yunwen's suggestion, or plan, did point out a theoretically feasible military plan within the current oppressive predicament.

After all, even the planners themselves thought it was extremely difficult, which meant that, conversely, if the plan succeeded, if the Liangshan Marsh navy appeared in the Yellow River channel, the subsequent surprise attack would be almost a certainty.

Even more than that, even if the subsequent surprise attack failed, even if the Jin fleet at Xiao Wu Sao detected something and fled directly along the old course of the Yellow River north, as long as the Liangshan Marsh navy entered the Yellow River channel, it would completely reverse the strategic situation between the Song and Jin dynasties in the middle reaches of the Yellow River – because for a long time, the power of Liangshan Marsh was an objective reality but confined to that huge water body. Such a military force appearing on the Yellow River like a divine army descending from the heavens could almost immediately liberate the Henan region outside the Yellow River from Jin military pressure.

What is optimizing force configuration? This is a typical example of optimizing force configuration, using good steel on the edge of a blade.

Therefore, the significance of this matter was extraordinary. On the third day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhao Jiu hastily returned to Tokyo and discussed it face-to-face with the four Chief Councilors. Even though the four Chief Councilors knew that the matter was extremely risky, they unanimously agreed to take a gamble.

However, it ended there. This matter was top secret, known only to the Chief Councilor level, and no one else knew.

On this day, the Zhao Emperor sat upright in the palace. With Yu Yunwen and Yang Yizhong presumably already having arrived at Liangshan Marsh, he originally wanted to personally write another earnest private letter to Zhang Rong, but every time he picked up the brush, he just practiced calligraphy instead.

He asked himself if he had done his best for these commanding officers. The official positions, honors, and wealth he could give, as well as moral encouragement and personal relationships, he had truly given everything… Under such circumstances, this letter was not needed.

Sending it would only seem anxious.

The next morning, the Department of State Affairs and the Privy Council issued a decree, going through official channels to Liangshan Marsh, ordering them to send a fleet along the Guangji River (Wuzhang River) to Tokyo to receive the Imperial Guards' navy's salary, military equipment, and provisions for the next year, and requiring the prefectures and counties along the way to carefully assist with logistics, and to help dredge river debris, etc.

At the same time, Chen Gui, the Privy Councilor in charge of the defense of Bianjing, finally announced his new city defense plan after several months, which was to open up the Wuzhang River, Jinshui River, Bian River, and Cai River within Tokyo City, forming an internal moat system around the imperial city and palace city.

This kind of thing sounded reliable, at least more reliable than something like 'returning the river'.

As soon as the plan was issued, the Privy Council, Kaifeng Prefecture, and the Department of State Affairs moved in unison, and at noon, according to the military workshop divisions, they re-mobilized tens of thousands of civilians from the city and immediately started construction… It could only be said that fortunately, the Zhao Emperor and the Chief Councilors had not lifted the control of military officers and military workshops.

It is worth mentioning that the work began at noon, and in the afternoon, a local Tokyo resident found several imperial college students to write a petition on his behalf… The old man meant that the terrain in the north and south of Tokyo City was uneven, and the riverbeds of the Bian River and Wuzhang River were also at different heights. Even if the moat was dug, it would only last for a while. When the summer rains came, it would easily cause flooding!

According to the old man, during the Renzong reign, someone had already thought about connecting several rivers, but it had failed.

The Privy Council received the petition and attached great importance to it. That day, in the name of consulting on city defense, they invited these imperial college students and the old man to the Chongwen Hall in the palace, where the Department of State Affairs was now located. Then, the engineering designer, Minister of War, Governor of Kaifeng Prefecture, and Acting Privy Councilor Chen Gui personally came down the steps to greet them, set up a desk in the public room of the Chongwen Hall, and listened carefully to the old man's explanation, while asking the participating imperial college students to help organize the suggestions.

Such a prominent Chief Councilor, a Chief Councilor of the court, being so courteous to the virtuous made the imperial college students feel that the 'stealing books' incident must be a frame-up, let alone the current project?

Therefore, several people contacted other imperial college students and wholeheartedly assisted Privy Councilor Chen and the old man in their engineering discussions in the west of the city, measuring heights, studying waterways, and discussing the possibility of sluice gates.

For several days, the imperial college students and the old man were extremely busy inside and outside the palace.

While the senior leaders were seriously listening to the suggestions of the people, in just three days, tens of thousands of strong men in the city, under the strong stimulus of the Emperor issuing 60,000 catties of fresh pork during the New Year, had already dug a qualified ditch more than two li long along the eastern side of the inner city, in the once prosperous area of Tokyo, crossing Niu Xing Street.

This speed was actually a bit slow, but it was enough… After Zhao Emperor returned to the capital and inquired with Chen Gui, he calculated clearly that if they chose to connect the two rivers in the most prosperous area of Niu Xing Street at any cost, it would actually be equivalent to building a ditch more than three li long, five or six zhang wide, and three or four zhang deep.

The amount of construction work for this ditch, averaged over the four or five thousand strong men registered in Tokyo, was actually only six or seven cubic feet of soil per person.

Obviously, due to the hasty construction, there was bound to be a lot of wasted labor and repeated labor.

But it really didn't matter.

After another two or three days of hard work, on the ninth day of the twelfth lunar month in the morning, the ditch was hastily flooded successfully, and the Wuzhang River and the Bian River were really temporarily connected!

That night, the Zhao Emperor hurriedly got up from Consort Pan's couch and went to the Chongwen Hall to learn a definite news – three days ago, Zhang Rong had already led thirty paddle-wheel boats and more than one hundred flat-bottomed ferries from Liangshan Marsh.

Facts proved that Zhang Rong had not disappointed Zhao Jiu's long-term favor and trust. After Yang Yizhong and Yu Yunwen came to Zhang Rong with the secret edict and the marriage decree through Xiao En, the Liangshan Marsh leader only listened to Yang Yizhong's secret edict, and before hearing about the marriage, he did not hesitate and directly promised to fight.

However, because of the urgency of time and the need to maintain secrecy, it was not good to openly reveal the details to everyone. Therefore, after returning to Liangshan Water Village, Zhang Rong simply selected his most core subordinates and most reliable leaders, taking about three-quarters of Liangshan Marsh's paddle-wheel boats and only half of the flat-bottomed ferries, and hurriedly came out of the Guangji River.

Now, Zhao Jiu and the Chief Councilor Xu Jingheng on duty were already sleepless… Of course, the Zhao Emperor still pretended to go back to sleep, but actually he didn't fall asleep.

The next morning, because it was winter, the sky was very late to dawn. After enduring for a long time on the couch, Zhao Jiu no longer hesitated and immediately returned to the Chongwen Hall. In the presence of the four Chief Councilors who had gathered, he ordered the demolition of the Northeast Shanli Water Gate (which leads directly to Liangshan Marsh), the Zhengxi Water Gate (the mouth of the Bian River outside the outer city), the southeast corner gate of the inner city (the Bian River enters the inner city gate), and the west corner gate of the inner city (the Bian River exits the inner city gate) in the dual names of the imperial decree and the Department of State Affairs' decree, and the demolition of all the bridges on the Bian River inside and outside Tokyo City!

Shangtu Bridge, Xiatu Bridge, Zuoyou Bian Bridge, Jinliang Bridge, including the grand and magnificent Yujie Zhou Bridge, these familiar famous bridges that had accompanied Tokyo City for decades or hundreds of years… were all demolished!

That's right.

For this surprise attack, the Zhao Emperor completely destroyed the magnificent scene in the Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival… Of course, it was not him alone who destroyed it. The Jingkang Incident, and the two emperors who chose to surrender, had already destroyed 80% of the living people in the picture, and Zhao Jiu only destroyed the bridges in the picture.

Moreover, the Zhao Emperor's move to demolish the city gates was not an unprecedented thing. As early as before, it was the Supreme Daoist Emperor among the two emperors, who, in order to allow a huge artificial mountain stone to enter the city from the Guangji River and be placed in Genyue, had actually demolished the Northeast Shanli Water Gate once.

So today, Zhao Jiu was just demolishing it again.

Let me add a word here. Zhao Jiu had seen that huge artificial mountain stone more than once in Genyue… When Yuan Sheng (Emperor Qinzong of Song) tried to smash all the scenic rocks of Genyue during the siege, he obviously encountered difficulties in front of this big stone, so he only smashed half of it and then pushed the main body down.

But I really have to thank the Supreme Daoist Emperor. If it wasn't for such a magnificent artificial mountain stone collapsing there, the Zhao Jiu, as a time-traveler, would not have been able to realize the feasibility of Yu Yunwen's plan at the first time… If such a large artificial mountain stone could be transported into Tokyo City, there was no reason why the large ships of Liangshan Marsh couldn't come in!

It can only be said that in terms of frivolousness and the courage to put whimsical ideas into practice, the Supreme Daoist Emperor deserved to be the Supreme Daoist Emperor. His old man has always been at the forefront of the times.

Back to the present, as soon as this order was issued, the Zhao Emperor and the four Chief Councilors in the Department of State Affairs knew that the whole city would inevitably be shaken. The deceptive words, announcements, and false projects could no longer be concealed, and it had a feeling of no turning back.

But how to say it?

Zhao Jiu didn't care anymore… There was even a sense of relief and anticipation.

But it must be emphasized that although they were all sitting in the Chongwen Hall, the Zhao Emperor's sense of relief and anticipation was destined to be different from the Chief Councilors' sense of relief and anticipation.

The Chief Councilors' sense of relief and anticipation referred to the Liangshan Marsh navy's Great Shift of the Universe appearing on the Yellow River, and then eliminating the Jin army's inland river ships, completely moving the defense line to the dangerous Yellow River area, making the rear completely stable; while Zhao Jiu's sense of relief and anticipation referred to stabbing this knife out, to gain a little bit of advantage for the great battle that was bound to come sooner or later.

The Zhao Emperor still firmly believed that the great battle was imminent and unstoppable.

In this way, after another few days, on the morning of the twelfth day of the twelfth lunar month, Tokyo City, which had been closed for two days and caused panic, finally waited for the long-awaited fleet… But only a dozen paddle-wheel boats arrived in the early stage.

There was no way, there was a problem on the road. Two paddle-wheel boats were stuck in the river channel. Yang Yizhong, holding the golden token, took down the magistrate who had not cleaned the river channel according to the decree of the Department of State Affairs on the spot, and then spent a lot of effort to drag the two paddle-wheel boats to the fork port in front before continuing sailing.

This was an accident, but it was an expected accident… A whole day was wasted in vain.

However, by the evening, the subsequent ships finally entered the city one after another. It didn't matter whether they were flat-bottomed ferries or fishing boats, they waited directly outside the city. And the subsequent dozen or so paddle-wheel boats, under the brightly lit and continuously burning braziers on both sides of the river, carefully followed the previous dozen paddle-wheel boats through the newly dug ditch and entered the wide Bian River channel.

And the Xiangguo Temple had already transported small counterweight catapults and gunpowder bags to the Bian River channel overnight.

They were just waiting for the next day to dawn to load the ships and set off.

It was the first time for Zhang Rong to use small cannon carts on the ship, so he went to Xiangguo Temple with Chen Gui, the Privy Councilor, early to observe and learn. But the Zhao Emperor stood on the north bank of the Bian River, watching the continuous dozens of dark ships in front of him, and lost himself for a moment.

"Are these paddle-wheel boats?"

Zhao Jiu looked at it for a long time by the light of the braziers before speaking… He actually felt that these ships, which were only two or three zhang wide and ten or so zhang long, were too small. It was conceivable that this kind of ship could probably only install a smallest-sized counterweight cannon cart on the bow, which would be remarkable… Of course, that was from the perspective of later generations. In essence, he also understood that this was the top weapon in inland rivers these days.

"To teach the Emperor to know," said Yang Yizhong, the know-it-all, who had returned with the subsequent fleet. "These ships are named because there are water wheels at the bottom of the cabin. They are pedaled by manpower, and can turn and move forward and backward freely. And the lower level concentrates on operating the ship, and the upper level concentrates on fighting, which is far better than ordinary inland river ships… The only thing is that they need an open water area to be useful, so this time entering the Guangji River channel, they are also careful and careful along the way… But the Emperor can rest assured, once they enter the Bian River, the Bian River is wide, and it will be much safer. Once they enter the Yellow River, it will be like a fish in water, and they will be going downstream from then on, and the Jin army will definitely be caught off guard."

Zhao Jiu shook his head, obviously his mind was not on these nonsense that he had already heard Chen Gui say: "How did Liangshan Marsh get so many paddle-wheel boats… Can they build them themselves?"

"They were all abandoned during the official army's encirclement and suppression that day… It is said that there were originally fifty or sixty, and after the defeat, forty or so were left behind. This time, thirty were sent out." Yang Yizhong was slightly embarrassed.

"It counts as doing a good deed." Zhao Jiu sighed softly.

"..."

"I remember you took down a magistrate on the road?" Zhao Jiu suddenly turned around and asked again.

"Yes." Yang Yizhong quickly replied. "It was an expedient measure. In order to get through as soon as possible, I had no choice but to do it."

"I know what's going on… A new Jinshi, only thinking about being an official and forgetting to do things… I'm asking you, where is the person?"

"He is still being escorted behind, and is preparing to hand him over to the Department of State Affairs for punishment."

"Behead him." Zhao Jiu suddenly said bluntly.

Yang Yizhong was stunned for a moment: "...Emperor?"

"Behead him." Zhao Jiu repeated. "Whether it's internal or external, true or false, this is a serious military matter, not a civil matter. We can't indulge them, and there's no need to hand him over to the Department of State Affairs. I am the Grand Marshal of the World's Armies and Horses. Today I am beheading him to enforce military law! It doesn't violate the system!"

Yang Yizhong was still a little hesitant: "Emperor, this is a new Jinshi..."

"Then he must be beheaded." Zhao Jiu continued to repeat. "Why could we behead a captain, preparation general, or commander for embezzlement when inspecting the Wubao defense line before, but now we can't behead a magistrate who has actually delayed military intelligence? Behead a new Jinshi!"

Yang Yizhong slowly nodded, turned around and specifically summoned Zhai Biao, the idiot, to pass on the order. After explaining clearly, he turned back, but hesitated to speak.

"Say what you want to say..." Zhao Jiu was impatient for a moment.

"Emperor, I heard the Emperor talking to Grand Commandant Zhang in the Xiangguo Temple before. At that time, I wanted to advise, but my identity was awkward, so I couldn't help but hesitate..." Yang Yizhong took the initiative to be silent for a moment before being honest with each other. "Emperor, I think the Emperor is too lenient with several commanding officers."

"Is it not good to be lenient with you?" Zhao Jiu said after a moment of silence. "It's wartime, and we need people to risk their lives..."

"Of course it's a good thing, but too much is as bad as too little." Yang Yizhong earnestly said. "Moreover, the Emperor is a bit harsh on the civil officials..."

"Is that what you want to say?"

"I...I think it's a good thing for the Emperor to want to attach equal importance to both civil and military affairs, but with more than a hundred years of tradition, even the military officers themselves have become accustomed to the different paths of civil and military affairs. Therefore, some things, the Emperor thinks he is treating everyone equally, but everyone in the world thinks the Emperor is deliberately treating one side harshly." Yang Yizhong became more and more earnest. "The Emperor is lenient with the commanding officers and generals because he wants to fight in wartime, which is no problem, but even in wartime, is there no need for civil officials to work hard? Moreover, the court has its own system of rewards and punishments. When rewarding, the Emperor is particularly lenient with the commanding officers, which can naturally make the commanding officers' hearts 服 (fú) – Yield/Submit/Be Convinced. But when punishing, he should not arbitrarily increase the burden on one side, so as to cause misunderstandings… This is my humble opinion, and I hope the Emperor will not be angry."

"These words, one after another, you've rehearsed them in your heart, haven't you? Are you, Yang Yizhong, going to become a famous minister?" Zhao Jiu finally laughed. "But why did you choose to say it in the middle of the night?"

"I can only be a traitor in this life, how can I become a famous minister?" Yang Yizhong finally said helplessly. "These words are not for me to say, but today I have the audacity to say them because I think the Emperor has a great ambition, and will be employing people later, so I'm saying them."

Zhao Jiu nodded: "Listening to your words, I will endure for the sake of the country, and I will endure for a moment at this time… Send that magistrate to the Department of State Affairs for disposal!"

Yang Yizhong immediately responded and left.

To this, Zhao Jiu just shook his head… Speaking of which, the Zhao Emperor didn't think Yang Yizhong's words were very reasonable at all. Compared to before the Jingkang Incident, he was indeed not lenient with the civil officials, but the problem was that compared to the Jin people on the opposite side, the treatment of the civil officials in the Great Song was always like gods in the sky, and he was really not afraid of anyone harboring resentment.

What's more, he asked himself if he was equally lenient with the cooperators among the civil officials.

As for why he still followed Yang Yizhong's nonsensical advice, it was still the same sentence, in wartime, he wanted the commanding officers and generals to risk their lives, so he should be lenient—Zhao Jiu was not lenient with the magistrate, but with Yang Yizhong, the number one figure in his Imperial Guard armed forces.

While being a military officer, Yang Yizhong also naturally controlled a third force as the head of the secret service. It was also a fact that he was jointly attacked by the outer court on weekdays, and it was also a fact that he had taken the blame for him, Zhao Emperor, many times. And tonight, killing this magistrate, the greatest pressure was not on him, Zhao Jiu, but on Yang Zhengfu, who had arrested the person in the first place.

That's all.

On the thirteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, at noon, hearing that more than thirty small cannon carts had all been successfully loaded onto the ships, the Zhao Emperor, who had pretended to go back to sleep last night, returned to the Bian River, leading the capital's ministers and Zhang Rong, who had worked hard all night, as well as several Liangshan Marsh navy leaders who were participating in the battle, to bid farewell.

"The success or failure of this battle is not worth worrying about. I will not go to the front line to cheer on Grand Commandant Zhang." Zhao Jiu held Zhang Rong's hand and said with a relaxed smile. "Let the new Jinshi Yu Yunwen accompany you to observe the success or failure on the river on my behalf. I will wait for news in the capital. You can just work hard to fight."

Zhang Rong didn't stand akimbo, nor did he smile, but seriously responded: "Not to mention that blocking the Jin people on the Yellow River is a better way, just to say that the Emperor is so loyal to us, we should also stab our ribs for the Emperor and fight for it."

Many dukes, ministers, and Chief Councilors on the riverbank couldn't help but look at each other and smile when they heard this.

But Zhao Jiu just nodded repeatedly, released the other party's hands, and said nothing else.

Zhang Rong didn't want to say much, but turned around and jumped onto the first paddle-wheel boat with his flag hanging, and ordered the paddle-wheel boat to step on the water wheel. When the boat slowly started and the speed increased, he suddenly thought of something, and directly bowed in the direction of the river embankment on the deck: "Emperor, I see that the people of Tokyo are very inconvenient. After we pass by, please repair the water gates and bridges, and fill in the ditches!"

Before Zhao Jiu could respond, the paddle-wheel boat was unstoppable and had already sailed away. Then dozens of paddle-wheel boats started in turn in the front, and more than a hundred small boats were behind, and they went down the river in a mighty manner in the river in front of them, directly out of the city.

After the fleet flashed past the city wall and entered Jinming Pond outside the city, even the flags could not be seen.

"Imitate Li Yanxian's 'Pillar of the Midstream' flag, and make a 'Acting on behalf of Heaven' flag of the same shape." Zhao Jiu did not miss him, but directly turned his head and instructed. "After this battle, regardless of the result, send it to Grand Commandant Zhang."

ps: Sacrificing the new book, 《The First Ruthless Person of the Southern Ming》

Thanks to the 73rd Moe Person Gui Zi Zhi Ming classmate, and other大佬's Third Alliance.

Just kidding, when you see this chapter at this time, you must think it was coded in advance… In fact, the weather in Beijing is so comfortable today, I coded it from 7:30 in the morning to 4500 words, and then slept intermittently for five hours, during which I coded the last thousand words intermittently