"Is Commander Yue here?"

The night was approaching its deepest hour, the moon full and cold. Zong Ze raised an eyebrow with pleasure when he saw his son, Zong Ying, enter carrying a bloody head. However, his delight grew even more when he saw two young men following behind his son. He even rose from his bed to greet them.

"Greetings, Grand Chancellor Zong!"

One of the young men, the ordinary-looking Yue Fei with mismatched eyes, dared not be negligent when Zong Ze called out to him personally. He immediately stepped forward and bowed.

Behind Yue Fei, a tall, handsome young man, Ma Kuo, courtesy name Zichong, the son of Ma Zheng, who had gained fame in his youth for his involvement in the Maritime Alliance, and had often frequented the palace, also quickly followed suit and bowed.

Zong Ze had been granted the title of Vice Privy Councilor by Zhao Jiu the previous autumn, making him a veritable Grand Chancellor of the Western Secretariat. He was also the Defender of the Eastern Capital, representing the hearts and minds of the people of Hebei and the Central Plains, and carrying the weight of a regional authority. Furthermore, he was already seventy years old. How could the two young men not pay their respects with utmost courtesy?

However, Zong Ze was not one to dwell on empty formalities. After they met, he sat back down on his bed and simply raised his hand, signaling, "Commander Yue, stay. I have something good to show him. You two may go and stand guard at the door."

Zong Ying, carrying the head, and Ma Kuo, who had painstakingly crossed enemy-occupied territory from the northern part of the Taihang Mountains, felt a pang of bitterness but could only obey. They acknowledged with a "Yes," and went out to become guards.

"Pengju," Zong Ze said, sitting cross-legged and barefoot back on his bed. After hearing the door close, he smiled at Yue Fei, who was standing before him. "Do you remember my words before your expedition last December?"

"Fei dares not forget it for a single day!" Yue Fei replied solemnly, cupping his fist in salute. "At that time, this humble general led five hundred horsemen as a tabai shi (reconnaissance officer) to scout the main force of Wanyan Zonghan at Sisui Pass. Before departing, Grand Chancellor Zong's exact words were: 'You deserve to die, but I will pardon you without question. Now, you must perform meritorious service for me. Go and observe the enemy's strength, and do not engage in reckless combat!'"

"Those were the words," Zong Ze continued, asking, "So, what did you do?"

"This humble general disobeyed your military order and engaged the enemy's main force in battle before returning," Yue Fei replied frankly.

"Indeed," Zong Ze sighed lightly, wrapping his variegated fur robe tighter around himself. "You violated my command and military orders..."

Seeing his demeanor, Yue Fei felt a rare urge to offer some explanation.

However, Zong Ze raised his hand slightly, stopping him from explaining, and continued on his own:

"Actually, according to military regulations, you should have died the moment you arrived in the Eastern Capital. Because, no matter what, deserting your commander and returning south across the river on your own, killing you would have been perfectly justified. Moreover, at that time, Wang Yan was isolated in the north, and he was the Hebei Pacification Commissioner I personally appointed. There was no reason to spare you. Everyone in the Defender's Office said you should be killed... But I still pardoned you and only demoted you to Bingyi Lang. And that time last December as well, I clearly told you before your expedition not to engage in reckless combat, but you openly violated my military orders. Yet, after your return, I once again ignored military law and not only did not punish you but greatly rewarded you and promoted you to commander... Do you know why?"

"Because this humble general can resist the Jin!" Yue Fei replied proudly, his mismatched eyes seeming to look down upon everything. "This humble general was under your command in Hebei before, and now I am under your command in the Eastern Capital. I have always been the one who has inflicted the most damage and achieved the most victories under your command..."

"Exactly!" Zong Ze responded with delight. "That's exactly it! Resisting the Jin is the top priority in everything. The discord between you and Wang Yan ultimately comes down to whose method of resisting the Jin is the most effective. My order for you not to engage in reckless combat was because the cavalry is precious and must be reserved for major battles, not wasted... Since you can maintain your resolve to resist the Jin and possess the means to do so, I will naturally give you great responsibility. Am I right?"

"Wrong!"

Yue Fei continued to reply with proud disdain, "If you truly wish to recover Hebei, you should adhere to military law and enforce strict discipline... The way you are acting now, not just towards me but towards the entire Defender's Office of the Eastern Capital, is either lenient or strict based on the situation. Although it can temporarily restrain people's hearts, it cannot last long and cannot cultivate a strong army! Moreover, everything depends on you alone, and all rewards and punishments come from you alone. Once something happens to your health, the great situation here in the Eastern Capital will be ruined in a single morning! Perhaps half of the troops here will scatter and become bandits!"

Zong Ze was silent for a long while before managing to say from his bed, "You should change your personality as well. Otherwise, if any other Grand Chancellor were sitting here, they would have pointed at your mismatched eyes and said you were looking down on them, and then they would have executed you!"

"This humble general knows that I am no longer the stubborn person I was in Hebei. I only dared to speak so freely because I am particularly aware of your heart and will." Yue Fei bowed in response. "I hope you will forgive me."

"It doesn't matter," Zong Ze waved his hand casually. "Since we both know each other's ambitions and are comrades, let's not dwell on these things. I called you here today for three things..."

"Please give your orders, Grand Chancellor!"

"First, your attacks towards Huaizhou in the past few days have once again yielded the most victories in the Defender's Office. I heard that you and your subordinate Wang Gui jointly killed a Meng'an. I have already written the documents promoting you to Commander and Wang Gui to Chief Commander. You can take them... Ji Qing's unit will also be returned to you. In addition, the thousand or so surviving troops of Zhang Wei, who died in battle at Huaizhou, are all convinced that you saved them, so they will also be given to you. I will gather a few hundred sets of armor and bows and arrows for you tomorrow, to get you up to about three thousand men." As he spoke, Zong Ze took a piece of paper from the table, affixed his seal haphazardly, and handed it directly to Yue Fei. "The Defender's Office will take care of the rest."

"This humble general thanks you, Grand Chancellor!" Yue Fei said as he took the still-wet documents and stuffed them into his sleeve. In less than three months, his position as Commander had returned. It was far smoother than someone's Grand Commandant.

"The second thing," Zong Ze continued, pointing to a pile of documents on the table. "These edicts have been issued everywhere. You must have seen them, right?"

"I have seen them!" Yue Fei replied straightforwardly. "The messengers going to Hebei cannot get through at all. They are all blocked at Huaizhou. This humble general has seen many in the army, but I don't know if they are all of them?"

"It doesn't matter," Zong Ze shook his head. "What do you think of them?"

"It's always a good thing!" Yue Fei was still extremely frank. "To recover Hebei cannot be accomplished in a single morning or evening. It requires a large army of hundreds of thousands to confront the main enemy force and win. To create such a elite army of hundreds of thousands, the Emperor must step forward, set such a determination and strategy, and gather the full strength of the Southeast, Jingxiang, Bashu, Guanzhong, and even the Huaihe region and the Central Plains. Otherwise, it is impossible!"

Zong Ze hesitated but simply shook his head, "These are all a bit far off. Let's just talk about one thing among them today..."

"Is it that this humble general must lead troops to Shouzhou to defend the Emperor?" Yue Fei instinctively looked back at the direction of the outer door. "Otherwise, Ma Zichong would not need to come here. Everyone in the Defender's Office knows that Ma Zichong is here to meet the Emperor."

"That's right," Zong Ze sighed. "Although the front lines are difficult, the Emperor still needs to be supported. Otherwise, if something really happens, it will be like the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. At that time, not only will the grand unification of our ancestors be difficult to see, but we might even see a Jurchen emperor, and our descendants will all have to wear their hair on the left side!"

"That must never happen!" Yue Pengju's eyes narrowed, responding instinctively. "Recently, there have been more and more refugees fleeing from Hebei because the situation there has been ruined more and more by the Jurchens!"

"Let's not talk about that," Zong Ze nodded again. "You understand what I mean. Go back and rest well. Tomorrow, when the military equipment arrives, lead your troops there. There is also a memorial on the table, advising the Emperor to return to the Eastern Capital for the Northern Expedition. Take it with you..."

"Grand Chancellor," Yue Pengju couldn't help but say again, "The Eastern Capital may seem to be able to withstand the Jurchen army, and the fighting in the direction of Huaizhou Baimajin is also fierce, but in reality, the Jin army's intention is to sweep through Hebei, not to cross the river and advance. The Jin Kingdom's Third Prince, Eliduo, is marching south at this time more like sweeping up after the Jin Kingdom's Fourth Prince, Wushu, and has not crossed the river. The so-called troops crossing the river at Huaizhou number only twenty or thirty thousand even added together. We have more than ten thousand people in dozens of units going forward one after another, taking turns fighting, and we are still struggling. How can we let the Emperor come here again? If the Emperor comes here, I'm afraid it will attract both the east and west armies of the Jin Kingdom to the Eastern Capital. What will we use to resist them then?"

"Is that so?" Zong Ze pretended not to want to delve into this matter with Yue Fei and simply acted as if he didn't understand. "Just send it over there. Anyway, the Emperor is being blocked in Shouzhou and can't come... Ninety-nine percent of the time, he will still have to go to Yangzhou. You should go and defend the Emperor."

Yue Fei reluctantly stuffed the memorial back into his sleeve and carefully tied the cuff with a leather strap. He was about to cup his fist in salute and take his leave... However, just as he raised his hand, he suddenly remembered something:

"You said there were three things, weren't you only clear about two?"

"Oh, right!"

Zong Ze also suddenly realized, but simply took off his fur robe, climbed back onto the bed, rummaged around in a corner of the bed for a long time, and then held out a box. He then turned around and beckoned, "Pengju, come up to the bed and let me show you a treasure! I almost forgot!"

Yue Fei was speechless for a moment and did not step forward.

ps: Basically confirmed, it will be on the shelves at the beginning of next month. Also, I saw that investment, it really let everyone get their money back... A sense of pride arises spontaneously.