Unlike the bureaucrats who craved stability, even had a morbid pursuit of it, Zhao Jiu had long anticipated this wave of Jin invaders... There was no reason for the Jin not to come. In fact, for the first three years of the Song-Jin war, they would retreat as soon as the weather turned hot and head south as soon as it turned cold. Even their troop deployment and battle strategies were the same each time: the so-called eastern and western armies, each with ten-odd *wanhu* (ten thousand households) and a hundred-odd thousand troops, of which the Jin comprised fifty to sixty thousand, with the rest being from other tribes, and they particularly favored a decapitation strategy, targeting the enemy's core cities and key commanders.

So why would they come for three years and then not come in the fourth?

In reality, treaties, declarations of war, and diplomacy between countries are all fake. For a country like the Jin, which has not yet shed its barbaric mindset, unless they are hurt and frightened, they will fight if they can and plunder if they can. That is the reality.

Even based on this habitual pattern of deployment, they should have prepared for this year's southward invasion, let alone with an imperial edict to spur them on?

And next, perhaps due to this vastly different attitude towards war, the Zhao Emperor and the officials in Nanyang completely lost the harmony they once had.

In fact, these officials weren't ignorant of some truths, and they had heard some words from someone, but when faced with the situation, they still found it difficult to accept. Within days, in the auxiliary capital of Nanyang, emotions such as panic, perfunctoriness, and pessimism began to spread, and phenomena such as perfunctoriness and even escape appeared one after another, as if those who had been elated by Nanyang's prosperity in the previous months were not them.

Naturally, the Zhao Emperor was disappointed by this, but not utterly so, because he had only placed three months of confidence in this group, and besides, compared to a year ago, these people at least would not and dared not advocate for peace talks.

At the same time, returning to Zhao Jiu's perspective, he, the Zhao Emperor, became increasingly calm after the initial shock... After all, he hadn't been idle for the past half-year. He had done so much, even if the situation was worrying, could it be as worrying as last year?

If it really ended in a complete defeat, with people scouring the mountains and seas to find him, then he, this transmigrator, deserved to die without a burial place.

In fact, the Zhao Emperor had already thought it through. Three lines of defense, five or six military regions, Zong Ze, Yue Fei, Li Yanxian, Han Shizhong, Zhang Jun – wasn't this the best lineup currently available? With layers of resistance, couldn't they tear off a few pieces of meat from the Jin army?

And when the Jin invaders arrived at Nanyang, directly under his control, they would inevitably be at the end of their strength. All he had to do was defend the city! Even if Nanyang couldn't be held, he could retreat to Xiangyang behind it, and the spine of the Great Song would never fall. Wouldn't that work?

Simply put, use as much strength as you have and just do it! If he couldn't be Li Shimin, couldn't he be Empress Dowager Cixi?

"Zhong Xiang wants grain?"

The newly appointed Chancellor of the Right, Lü Yihao, who was recognized as the most senior civil official, raised his head and retorted coldly. "Your Ministry of Revenue actually thinks we should give it to him?"

Except for the Emperor, who seemed disrespectful to others by playing with a Jianyan Tongbao coin behind his desk, everyone else, from Lan Gui and Yang Yizhong standing by his side to the several chief ministers, high officials of the six ministries, key officials of the censorate, as well as close ministers composed of Hanlin scholars like Scholar Xiao Lin and drafters of the Secretariat, and even lower-ranking officials like Liu Ziyu, Wan Qixie, and Hu Hongxi further down in the hall, all took the matter seriously.

Because Lü Yihao was reprimanding Lin Qi, the Minister of Revenue, who was Li Gang's highest-ranking representative in Nanyang, and the topic under discussion was also extremely serious.

Under the gaze of countless people, Lin Qi, the Minister of Revenue, gritted his teeth and, with politeness, replied in a deep voice: "Reporting to the Chancellor of the Right, the Ministry of Revenue believes we should give it to him."

"Why?" Lü Haowen, the other Chancellor Lü, seeing the situation was unfavorable, took the initiative to interject to smooth things over.

"On what basis?!" However, Lü Yihao did not need Lü Haowen to interject at all.

"Because the central government here does not lack grain," Lin Qi said earnestly and sincerely. "The two Chancellors Lü, since Zhong Xiang is still flying the banner of the court's righteous army, then he can be won over. Giving him grain at this time is not to say that we expect to use a little grain to turn this usurper into an ally, but if we can appease him for a while and prevent him from causing trouble, then it is a salvation for the times." At this point, the Minister of Revenue bowed again to his other colleagues. "As for the future, even if Zhong Xiang goes back on his word in the future, even if some grain today seems to be aiding the enemy, as long as we can prevent him from rebelling at this time, we will have ten thousand ways to deal with him slowly after the Jin retreat... May I ask, why not do it?"

Lü Yihao sneered, his attitude obvious, while Lü Haowen remained silent for a moment, hesitating to speak... The latter was clearly moved by Lin Qi's words but was afraid of Lü Yihao, who was unrelated to him, and dared not easily agree.

As for the others in the hall, they were also hesitant, and it was clear that many of them had been persuaded by Lin Qi.

Even the Zhao Emperor himself was lost in thought while playing with the Jianyan Tongbao coin... Of course, the Zhao Emperor did not feel anything about the current dispute; he was just moved by this dispute to once again lament his own split personality.

Speaking of which, Zhao Jiu's attitude towards Zhong Xiang and Yang Mo, or rather, towards this Dongting Lake force formed by religious association, has always been complex and changing.

At first, after seeing Zhong Xiang's name on Ma Shen's memorial, Zhao Jiu immediately had an impression because this person, as half the protagonist of the Dongting Lake uprising, was in the history books and "The Story of Yue Fei." He was roughly a representative of peasant uprisings, the result of officials forcing the people to rebel and the Zhao Song Dynasty's ineffective resistance to the Jin. Even suppressing the Dongting Lake uprising once became a stain on Yue Fei's life.

However, when the Zhao Emperor actually came into contact with some information in this era, he immediately changed his previous view. Because as far as he knew, Zhong Xiang did indeed take actions to help the local poor people by using religious associations, but at the same time, this person had also been calling himself the Great Sage in Dongting Lake since very early on. After the Jingkang Incident last year, he even directly tried to imply that he was the 'King of Chu' in a mystical way.

In other words, the savior and exploiter of the poor, the demagogue with ambition, and the pragmatic pursuer are all facts about Zhong Xiang... And these are also the facts about many leaders of peasant uprisings, just like Fang La a few years ago and Zhang Jiao thousands of years before that.

So, without discussing the legitimacy and limitations of peasant uprisings, the Zhao Emperor, as a transmigrator and a member of the Zhao family, certainly had a contradictory mentality.

As a transmigrator, he certainly had to sympathize with the working masses without limit. Who told him that he was born in a poor rural area in his previous life and received that kind of education? And as the most influential member of the Zhao family here, he inevitably felt a serious sense of threat from a group that was destined to rebel.

And this contradictory mentality has recently developed to an extreme...

"Your Majesty."

Just then, Li Gang's other confidant, namely Li Guang, the Supervising Censor of the Palace, who was Lin Qi's biggest political ally in the hall, saw that Lü Yihao was momentarily speechless and that most of the people around him had been persuaded. Naturally, he had to strike while the iron was hot. So he gritted his teeth, simply bypassed the several chief ministers, and directly addressed the Zhao Emperor above, who was lost in thought, cupping his hands and speaking frankly. "This matter has precedents, just like the relationship between Zong, the regional commander and Li, the chief minister. Before Zong, the regional commander, returned to Tokyo, there were military bandits all around Tokyo, but Zong, the regional commander, turned the military bandits back into Song soldiers; and military unrest had repeatedly occurred in the Southeast before, but because Li, the chief minister was there, he did not punish past offenses and treated them with kindness and propriety. Didn't he also turn the rebels who might have become bandits back into proper troops? Therefore, the strength of the mountains and rivers lies in virtue, not in danger. Even a traitor like Zhong Xiang might be treated with kindness..."

"But didn't Li, the chief minister's kind treatment of the rebel army also produce a villain like Fan Qiong?" Suddenly, Scholar Xiao Lin, who had been silent all along, spoke with a solemn expression, actually interrupting Li Guang's words directly.

As soon as Scholar Xiao Lin spoke, the parties involved, as well as the others in the hall, were all stunned, not knowing how to respond.

Everyone knew the importance of Scholar Xiao Lin in front of the Emperor, but firstly, Scholar Xiao Lin valued his status and had always been extremely secretive, rarely expressing his views publicly in the Emperor's presence, and secondly, because of his surname, Scholar Xiao Lin often deliberately avoided Lin Qi, the Minister of Revenue... Therefore, his sudden speech at this time made everyone misunderstand somewhat. Could it be at the Emperor's instigation?

"Zhong Xiang cannot be trusted!"

Just then, Lü Yihao also cleared his mind and immediately seized the opportunity to counterattack. "Before the Jingkang Incident, everyone in the world thought that the Jin people were not enough to shake the overall situation. Therefore, at that time, Zhong Xiang also sent his son to defend the Emperor; but after the Jingkang Incident, seeing that the Great Song was in imminent danger, this person impatiently had his son reorganize the fishermen of Dongting Lake, form a rebel army, and also had people spread the seditious rumors of the 'King of Chu'; when the auxiliary capital was set in Nanyang, and the Emperor acted decisively, executing Ding Jin, driving out Wanyan Yinshuke, sweeping through Huaixi, and destroying Fan Qiong, the central government also regained some vitality through a series of actions, this person immediately accepted the central government's pacification; and now, as soon as the news of the Jin's southward invasion spread, he immediately came to ask for grain... What is this? Is this asking for grain? I clearly only see an ambitious speculator testing the court! If you give him grain today, don't say that it will stabilize him; I'm afraid he will instead think that the central government is weak, and then wait for the Jin to come and take the opportunity to raise troops, right?!"

"Chancellor Lü," Lin Qi came back to his senses and quickly replied, "Can we be clear about such things as people's hearts?"

"Do you dare to guarantee it?!" Lü Yihao retorted coldly. "If you dare to guarantee it, I will allow you to indulge the enemy!"

Lin Qi became even more speechless.

"Alright."

At a time when swords were drawn and bows were bent in the hall, the Zhao Emperor, who had just been tossing a Tongbao coin in his hand, suddenly spoke. "Isn't it just betting on a wave? Success doesn't affect the overall situation, and failure doesn't affect the overall situation... It's as if one Zhong Xiang can pierce the sky. If he doesn't rebel, it's a good thing; but if he does rebel, can he still bring his navy ashore, defeat Ma Shen, and seize Xiangyang?!"

Everyone fell silent.

The Zhao Emperor looked at the Jianyan Tongbao coin that he had caught and suddenly laughed: "My mind is made up. I'd rather give to internal thieves than external enemies... Give it to him! Wan Qixie, take another trip!"

How could everyone not know how the Zhao Emperor had made his decision? They also felt it was absurd, but they couldn't come up with a better plan, so they could only watch Wan Qixie step forward quickly and receive the imperial order.

"Starting tomorrow, I will no longer listen to your discussions in the hall, and you don't have to stay here." Zhao Jiu put away the Tongbao coin and rose to continue speaking, which made the officials in the hall even more astonished and fearful. "Now that the war has begun, I will reside permanently at the Yushan Camp. From the two chief ministers down, all departments of the Privy Council will follow me to the army. Prepare quickly. I want to see the troop deployment of the entire army in the army tonight. Don't worry about anything else. As for the two vice-chief ministers of the Department of State Affairs, Chancellor Lü will stay in Nanyang to preside over the overall situation and make decisions without consulting anyone. Chancellor Xu, don't delay and go to Xiangyang immediately. If something happens in Nanyang, Chancellor Xu can make decisions together with Chancellor Liu in Xiangyang. Anyway, don't argue all day long... Of course, the officials and clerks of the various ministries and temples should also divide into two groups. Decide who goes and who stays yourselves. Don't delay."

As he spoke, the Zhao Emperor actually walked towards the inner palace with his hands in his sleeves, leaving a silent hall behind.

"Your Majesty!" In the silence, Censor-in-Chief Hu Yin suddenly stepped forward and raised his voice. "The Censorate will not be the same as others. I am willing to divide into two, half to serve the Emperor and half to supervise the army everywhere! There's no need to go to Xiangyang."

Many people in the hall turned pale upon hearing these words, but the Zhao Emperor turned back and smiled, then continued to walk with his hands in his sleeves without saying a word.