Qin Hui's involvement in the highest levels of the Jin Dynasty's political struggles was essentially a matter of dimensionality reduction. Although the Jin Dynasty's upper echelons were becoming increasingly corrupt, and internal contradictions were intensifying, they had not yet deteriorated to the point of wanting to put each other to death.

Moreover, the nobles of the Jin Dynasty in those days had mostly risen through military campaigns. Few devoted all their energy to internal political struggles. They still maintained a consensus to fight against external forces and the simple idea of using military aggression to compensate for and alleviate internal issues.

Therefore, Qin Hui's well-aimed blow proved remarkably effective.

In June, after a series of trials and discussions, and thanks to Wanyan Talhai's mediation, the Jin Dynasty's leadership indeed followed someone's plan. They carried out a series of simple yet significant personnel adjustments within the Supreme Military Decision-Making Institution, the Grand Marshal's Office (都元帅府).

The Jin Emperor, Wanyan Wugumai, voluntarily relinquished the position of Grand Marshal, which was then concurrently held by the Jin Dynasty's greatest contributor, and de facto military leader, Nianhan. The Jin Dynasty's Third Prince, Eliduo, who was responsible for leading the reserve forces stationed in Yanjing, was shifted from Right Deputy Grand Marshal to Left Deputy Grand Marshal, a change of little significance. However, the Grand Marshal's Left Military Supervisor, Wanyan Talhai, was promoted to Right Deputy Grand Marshal in one leap, making him seem extremely powerful. Finally, the Fourth Prince, Jin Wushu, also rose to become the Grand Marshal's Left Military Supervisor, successfully entering the army's highest echelons.

The previous changes were acceptable, but the last appointment initially caused some discussion. Most generals believed that Wanyan Wushu was somewhat lacking. Although he had achieved military merits when leading troops out last winter, he had also suffered significant losses. Not to mention comparing him with the Western Route Army's Wanyan Loushi, Wanyan Gushen, Wanyan Yinshuke, and Wanyan Balisu, he was also far inferior to General Ali and others within the Eastern Route Army.

In short, based on his military record, he did not seem qualified to hold such a crucial position as the Grand Marshal's Left Military Supervisor, a role that could effectively make him the commander of a route army.

However, the will of the highest authorities was unwavering, and besides, the internal affairs of the Wanyan family were not something that others could interfere with.

By late June, after the personnel adjustments in the Grand Marshal's Office were completed, Nianhan and the three Wanyan brothers, with Wanyan Talhai's facilitation, failed to meet again in Yanjing. Both sides ceased their entanglements, and Wanyan Talhai simply fulfilled his promise, directly submitting a memorial to Huining Prefecture, requesting the Emperor to make a decision as soon as possible.

However, how could even the Jin Emperor make a decision for these two families?

If he could make a decision, why would he worry all day about whether his son could become Emperor?

Therefore, the Jin Emperor, Wanyan Wugumai, formally issued an imperial edict. The edict contained only three sentences:

Firstly, the Song Emperor is the heart of the Song Dynasty, because of his existence, Hebei is in turmoil and the Song people in the Central Plains are united. We must not let him go. Wherever he is, we must pursue him.

Secondly, we should learn from our past mistakes in dealing with the Song Dynasty. During and after the war, we must support figures like Zhang Bangchang and use them to rule the Central Plains.

Thirdly, although Shaanxi and Longyou are barren, their strategic location is prominent and cannot be ignored.

In other words, no matter how much he tried to smooth things over, Wanyan Wugumai still formally ordered the attack on the Great Song Dynasty in his capacity as the Jin Emperor, and he directly targeted Zhao Jiu himself!

Upon receiving the imperial edict, the two sides who were deadlocked in Yanjing immediately abandoned their disagreements and reached a consensus: to mobilize the entire army immediately, and once autumn arrived, to advance southwards from the north, first sweeping away the Hebei insurgents, and then dividing their forces into multiple routes to cross the river and destroy the Song Dynasty together.

Of course, the Grand Marshal, as the Grand Marshal, particularly emphasized that the Western Route Army's main force should be responsible for capturing the five routes of Shaanxi, and only a portion of their troops should be sent out from Xijing Luoyang and Huaizhou.

But at this time, Wanyan Wushu was already content. Because regardless of whether the Western Route Army was willing to send some troops to assist, or even if the entire Western Route Army did not come, he would still have a force of 100,000 men!

100,000 Jin soldiers were enough to destroy the Song Dynasty and sweep through the Central Plains. What need did he have for donkey carts?

"I believe that this person should not be easily let go!"

"Chancellor Xu, I also believe that he should not be easily let go, but what can we do now if we don't let him go? Are we going to arrest him? How can we arrest him? What if we really force him to rebel?"

In early autumn, in the evening, cicadas were still chirping incessantly, but the weather was gradually turning cool. In the imperial residence in Nanyang City, two top officials were arguing fiercely, while Zhao, the emperor, sitting behind the imperial desk, was somewhat absent-minded.

"Chancellor Yuwen," Xu Jingheng said solemnly. "I never said to arrest him, but to apply both kindness and severity... If we cannot appropriately display the authority of the central government at this time and force him to back down, how will the central government reorganize the Western Army in the future? Do we have to send the emperor to the military camps to win over these people one by one?"

"It's not impossible," Zhao, the emperor, interjected instinctively.

"Once or twice is fine, but how can we do this every time?" Xu Jingheng said angrily upon hearing this. "Moreover, how many people are like Han Shizhong, who seems like a rogue on the surface but is actually loyal and brave? Zhang Boying and Han Shizhong are trustworthy, but what if we encounter a real rogue next time? Your Majesty's words are very inappropriate!"

Zhao Jiu came back to his senses and nodded slowly again, because these words were too correct... He knew that Han Shizhong was trustworthy, and Zhang Boying was likely trustworthy, so he dared to do it. How could he dare to go if he replaced them with someone he had never heard of?

Of course, no one mentioned Zhai Chong's incident. It's not that Zhai Chong was untrustworthy. In fact, everyone knew that Zhai Chong was trustworthy, but some people felt that it was unnecessary to go, as it would be beneath the emperor's dignity. This matter was not related to what was being discussed now.

However, after Xu Jingheng overwhelmed everyone else, he was at a loss for words for a while, because he could only overwhelm others, but he could not solve the current predicament of the mobile imperial court.

What predicament?

It has to start with the fundamental reason why the mobile imperial court came to Nanyang.

Speaking of which, the reason why the struggle between Nanyang and Yangzhou represented the war faction and the peace faction before had objective and realistic reasons.

For example, according to the data before the Jingkang Incident, in the entire region south of the Yangtze River, except for the Suzhou-Hangzhou area, where there were a few garrisons, the rest of the areas basically only had some scattered local troops, about twenty to thirty thousand men according to the establishment.

Moreover, according to the general view these years, the Southeast has no military tradition.

Uh, this kind of regional discrimination is probably the feeling that people in the Yangtze River Delta cannot be the backbone of China, and the Osaka Division is the shame of the Imperial Army. I don’t know why, but it is very popular, and even some have become the mainstream of public opinion... For example, Li Gang, Hu Yin, and other standard Southeast officials who control the power of the court like to blacken themselves every day, and often write that only soldiers from the Northwest are strong troops.

So at this time, what does it mean for you to take tens of thousands of troops and roll to Yangzhou or even cross the river?

Start from scratch? Build an army from zero? And use people from the Southeast to form an army? Can this kind of army recover Hebei and welcome back the two emperors?

Going to Nanyang, to put it bluntly, is still aimed at the remaining Western Army troops, high-quality soldiers in the Northwest, and the horse trade with the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau area.

Having the framework of the Western Army, recruiting high-quality soldiers locally, and then exchanging some good war horses with Tibetan compatriots is the way to resist the Jin Dynasty.

Of course, Zhao Jiu did not believe in the difference in the quality of soldiers in the Northwest and Southeast. He, as an engineering dog, did not have the habit of regional discrimination.

Moreover, in actual operation, on the issue of soldier quality, Zhao, the emperor, now feels that refugees from Hebei and Hedong may be more suitable. These people have a natural desire to fight, and using them as soldiers can effectively avoid affecting local production.

However, in any case, if you want to resist the Jin Dynasty, especially if you want to push back within ten years, you cannot ignore the Western Army and Guanxi.

Otherwise, Zhao, the emperor, would not have come to Nanyang with so many shortcomings and biting the bullet.

So back to the present, it is already autumn, and the Jin people have retreated for several months. Chang'an has also been recovered, and Guanxi seems to have been pacified. Even Moqi Xie successfully recruited Zhong Xiang and returned to be promoted... That's right, Zhong Xiang accepted the chaotic official position of Dongting Lake Pacification Envoy given by the central government, and promised to wipe out Li Xiaoyi, a bandit who was running around Dongting Lake, for Zhao, the emperor... It sounds like it's true, but in any case, Moqi Qing has made contributions!

But Zhao, the emperor, wants to control the Western Army, has he controlled it?

Of course not.

The reason is simple: two generals, one named Qu Duan and the other named Wang Xie, took the lead in controlling the situation in Guanxi after the chaos. The three most important prefectures in Guanxi, Jingzhao Prefecture, Fengxiang Prefecture, and Yan'an Prefecture, were controlled by Wang Xie in Fengxiang Prefecture, and by Qu Duan in Jingzhao and Yan'an Prefectures.

And the nature of these two people is completely different.

Among them, Wang Xie is the one who ran to Hanzhong before and persuaded Zhao Jiu to go to Chengdu. After that incident, Zhao Jiu had already sentenced him to death in his heart, and sending him to Fengxiang was also to prevent him from harming Hanzhong and affecting the overall situation.

Qu Duan is different. Although Qu Duan's background is relatively humble, his father was, after all, a Yiqian Banzhi who died in battle. He himself was given an official position when he was three years old and was good at writing articles when he was young... There is a saying in the Western Army that specifically says that he is 'Qu Da who is both civil and military'.

In other words, this person is a standard Western Army general, and a 'self-made man'. It is precisely because of this that during the process of recovering Chang'an, this guy killed Liu Xiliang, a Tongzhi officer of the same level, and reported that this person was a deserter, so the central government pinched its nose and believed it; then this guy took advantage of the battle between two troops in Chang'an, launched a surprise attack, and wiped out and annexed the two troops together, and the central government also pinched its nose and recognized it.

Not only that, but the central government also appointed him as Zhizhi of Yan'an Prefecture on the advice of Yuwen Xuzhong... This is basically the treatment after Li Yanxian recovered Shanzhou.

However, now that Chang'an has been recovered, many things have become clear, and the central government has only now realized that Liu Xiliang was not a deserter at all, but a meritorious minister who had just recovered Fengxiang and was preparing to recover Chang'an! What is it called to kill someone at this time, annex their troops, and then go to fight Chang'an?

And in Chang'an, the central government knew from the beginning that one of the two warring troops was flying the banner of the Great Song Dynasty, because the leader of this rebel army had received the appointment of Li Yanxian from the neighboring Shanzhou, and impatiently presented the merit of recovering Chang'an through Li Yanxian. But how should I put it? It is indeed difficult to distinguish between the rebel army and the bandit army these years, so the imperial court did not pay too much attention to Qu Duan's actions.

However, now the central government also knows another thing: Qu Duan surrendered the bandit leader after breaking through the two troops at the same time, but beheaded the rebel leader who had Li Yanxian's appointment document and displayed his head to the public...

After these two things broke out, the court was in an uproar, and even Zhao, the emperor, who has always been tolerant of military generals, didn't know what to say.

Let’s say that Zhao Jiu of course knows that the Western Army is a bastard, and the more capable they are of fighting, the more bastard they are. Han Shizhong, Zhang Jun, and Wang De are all from the Western Army, and they are all bastards. Wang De was still worried a few days ago because the old grand marshal Yang Weizhong came back, fearing that the military power of the imperial army's central army would be taken away, so he made trouble there. Yang, the old grand marshal, had only been here for a few days and took the initiative to go to the southeast to protect the empress dowager. Now he is the Dutongzhi of the rear army of the imperial army... But the bastardness of these people is not at the same level as the bastardness of Qu Duan!

And the most important point is that Zhao, the emperor, did not see where Qu Duan showed a military level comparable to his bastardness! He fought a battle with the Jin army, and he did win, but it was still his subordinate Wu Jie who led the troops independently.

Do you think this is the end?

After Nanyang learned all this, it still did not punish him, but on the advice of Yuwen Xuzhong, the Department of State Affairs officially sent a document to Chang'an through Wu Pass, asking Qu Duan to come to report his duties and explain these two things.

As a result, Qu Duan turned a deaf ear, and directly cried and shed tears to the elders in Chang'an, saying that he was loyal to the country, but it attracted the suspicion of villains in the central government, etc. After crying, he submitted a memorial to Zhao, the emperor, roughly asking the emperor to sit in Chang'an and entrust him with military and state affairs. After ten years of operation, he will definitely be able to lead an army of 200,000 to recover the Central Plains, restore Hebei, and welcome back the two emperors!

After submitting the memorial, he led his headquarters directly to Yan'an in northern Shaanxi to take office, ignoring the documents of the central government.

Now, the entire central government was disgusted by him, and even Zhao, the emperor, couldn't wait to tear him apart... Because Zhao Jiu received accurate news that this guy wrote a poem on the pillar in the pavilion outside the city when he was crying and shedding tears to the elders in Chang'an before he left. There are two lines in the poem:

It is called:

Do not start a career in Guanzhong, but come to the river to row a fishing boat.

What is this saying about, who is it mocking, there is no need to say more, and Zhao, the emperor, does not have the habit of not being angry when someone points his nose and scolds him.

But the problem is that Qu Duan directly led his troops north, but the central government has no way to deal with him.

Although Yuwen Xuzhong and Xu Jingheng argued for a long time, it was because Qu Da was doing things too disgusting, so Xu Jingheng, the hardliner, won, but after Xu Xiangong won, he did not know how to deal with this person for a while.

"Remove him from the position of Zhizhi of Yan'an Prefecture!" Xu Jingheng thought for a long time before coming up with a plan. "Add him a remote Junfangyushi..."

"No," Zhao, the emperor, immediately denied. "It's already autumn, and the Jin people can come at any time. Chang'an is dilapidated and cannot be defended at all, while Yan'an Prefecture is the first to bear the brunt, but it can be defended... If he dismisses him from Zhifu of Yan'an, he may not even dare to defend Yan'an."

Xu Jingheng was rarely frustrated.

"Guanzhong must have someone to preside over it. Who will go to Guanzhong?" Zhao Jiu paused for a moment and made the last bit of effort.

Everyone looked at each other, and then each recommended a candidate, but as Yuwen Xuzhong and Lu Yihai, the minister of the Ministry of Works, took the initiative to volunteer, everyone else stopped recommending. After all, no one can compete with these two... However, Zhao, the emperor, was still a little hesitant in the face of these two candidates.

You must know that the importance of Guanzhong is beyond doubt, but the problem is that these two people may not be able to control the situation.

For example, Lu Yihai, this person's age and qualifications are the best in the hall, even far higher than several ministers. However, he was captured by the Jin people when he presided over the overall situation in Hebei, which seems to prove his incompetence in his position.

For another example, Yuwen Xuzhong has the status of Hubuxiang and has been dealing with Guanxi affairs, so he seems to be the most suitable candidate, but Zhao, the emperor, has long known that this person is a relatively weak character. In fact, Yuwen Xuzhong's consistent firm anti-Jin stance and his loyalty in being brave enough to take responsibility come more from a sense of guilt as the Jin envoy in Jingkang that day than from a sense of mission.

However, if this one is not good and that one is not suitable, who should be sent?

In the silence, as Yang Yizhong came from outside the hall regardless of etiquette, and then publicly crossed the blue jade gui and handed over a memorial, Zhao, the emperor, made up his mind: "Yuwen Qingjia has the title of Jiedushi, and in the capacity of Hubuxiang, he will immediately go to Guanzhong to pacify the various roads in Shaanxi. Lu Qingjia will have the title of Hubufu, and then send envoys to Tokyo, Yangzhou, Chengdu, Shanzhou, Nanjing, Ruyang, and Chuzhou to let the remaining garrisons, commanders, and Jiedushis in various places accelerate their careful preparations, and then reiterate their respective powers of autonomy."

Yuwen Xuzhong and Lu Yihai were about to respond, and the newly appointed Yushizhongcheng Hu Mingzhong was even preparing to impeach Yang Yizhong, but when he heard the latter, he suddenly woke up, and then the entire hall was silent - it was obvious that the war was reopened.

But the imperial court has only been in Nanyang for less than four months... It's too difficult!