While some were vociferously claiming to enter Nanyang with a light load, the truth was that in late spring, as the fallen blossoms danced in the air, when Lord Zhao led his entourage into Nanyang City, there were still countless regrets.

For example, Niu Gao, whom he particularly wished to see, was nowhere to be found. This local armed leader, originally a bowman from Ruzhou, had been casually recruited by the Zhai brothers of Xijing with the promise of an official position. At this moment, he was supporting Xijing with the insignificant title of Baoyilang Small Envoy, completely unaware that if he had delayed his northward journey by a few days, he could have secured a position as a Commander in the Imperial Guard.

Another example was Zhao Jiu's awareness that the hastily implemented reforms, intended to establish a wartime headquarters with unified authority and responsibility, were riddled with chaos. There were bound to be personal agendas of various prime ministers and ministers embedded within them. Constrained by his own shortcomings, the Emperor was unable to unravel the complexities in the short term, and thus had to accept the potential new loopholes in the system.

Yet another example was that, perhaps precisely because the reforms required the cooperation of ministers in terms of power, Zhao Jiu ultimately failed to kill Fan Zhixu, whom he particularly wanted to eliminate, and instead banished him to Zunyi Stockade... That's right, after a subsequent inquiry, the ministers confirmed that the so-called Zunyi Army had long been downgraded to Zunyi Stockade... But it didn't matter. Lord Zhao watched with cold eyes, curious to see if this man could even survive to soak his feet in the hot springs of Zunyi.

However, these regrets were ultimately just regrets. Nanyang City was right before his eyes, and there was no need to dwell on them any longer.

And on this day, after Lord Zhao demarcated campsites and residences outside the city, and distributed the Imperial Guard's Central Army soldiers, he led the civil and military officials of the temporary court into Nanyang City. The entire court was immersed in a sense of almost overwhelming happiness, satisfaction, and security... Many people wept openly along the way. The chief ministers, without even waiting to enter the temporary palace, jointly petitioned the Emperor to grant Liu Ji, the Transport Commissioner of Jingxi, a position as Deputy Prime Minister of the Department of State Affairs (the name for the Eastern Secretariat after the merger of the four provinces), following the example of Zhang Que. Otherwise, they would be ashamed and uneasy themselves.

Naturally, Zhao Jiu readily agreed, and with a broad gesture, he also changed the title of Transport Commissioner to Pacification Commissioner of Jingxi South Circuit.

Now, Liu Ji was both Deputy Prime Minister and Pacification Commissioner, vaguely resembling Li Gang and Zong Ze in his position... Of course, the essence remained the same. He was still the military and political head of Jingxi South Circuit, still responsible for coordinating the transportation of materials from the Yangtze River basin to the temporary capital in Nanyang. The key was that his rank had significantly increased, and both Liu Ji and everyone in the temporary court were much happier. What could be better?

However, in all fairness, Zhao Jiu's promotion was not simply to fool the man according to his own political logic, because Liu Ji had visibly done a great deal of work...

It must be known that, according to the arrangements made last June, with the determination of Nanyang as the temporary capital, all normal material contributions from the Sichuan region were intercepted here in Nanyang. And Sichuan had emerged from the entire turmoil virtually unscathed, so its financial and material resources were needless to say.

Thus, Liu Ji utilized the resources of Sichuan and the local manpower, gathering a large number of artisans. In Nanyang, he expanded the city walls, built the temporary palace, and established dedicated warehouses for storing gold, silver, money, silk, grain, and specialty products. At this moment, the warehouses were filled to the brim, with grain and silk piled up like mountains!

Not only that, but as the Emperor's arrival was long delayed, he even added the Imperial Academy and the government offices of key departments on both sides of the temporary palace, and even built residential areas for the families of officials and Imperial Guards along the river in the south of the city!

With such provisions, how could the temporary court not be moved to tears?

It must be known that, counting from the beginning of last year, the main officials in the temporary court had been wandering for more than a whole year! And half of that time was spent in dire straits with scarce resources... Was it not true that Lord Zhao scraped the gold dust from the Daoist and Buddhist deities every day?

In fact, just a few days ago, when the Emperor left Fangcheng Mountain, he did not forget to have the temples and monasteries on Fangcheng Mountain searched, and robbed the monks and Daoists of their wealth and printing tools for books. Yet, none of the accompanying staff raised any objections... At that time, the local officials of Nanyang thought that the Emperor and the temporary court had unified their thinking and were going to learn from the Two Sages' mistakes by engaging in some kind of suppression of Buddhism and Daoism. In reality, it was simply a matter of habit for some people who had been poor for too long.

If the key officials of the temporary court had known that Nanyang had such abundant resources, some would probably have stopped Zhao Jiu and remonstrated with him to his death, urging him to do less of this thieving.

Of course, after settling down in Nanyang on this day, many officials, upon reflection, couldn't help but sigh... If Zhao Jiu hadn't fought that battle on the Huai River, if Li Yanxian of Shanzhou hadn't just created a military miracle, what would have been the fate of this reassuring city in the face of Wanyan Yinshu Ke?

Nothing more than the same fate as Tokyo!

"The Emperor is not in the palace?"

The next day, after replenishing the salaries of the officials and the grand banquet last night in the name of summoning local elders, on the twenty-second day of the third month, many important ministers of the temporary capital, having resumed normal office duties, inevitably felt a bit of laxity. However, when they arrived at the temporary palace on time this day, they were startled awake by the Emperor.

"To inform you gentlemen." The Inner Attendant Bureau Chief Steward, Lan Gui, who was left here, looked helpless, but could only face them with resignation. "Early this morning, the Emperor, under the escort of the night duty Scholar Lin and Commander Yang, rose and went to the military camp outside the city. He also temporarily summoned Wang Yuan, the Imperial Guard Commander, and Yan Shao Yin, the Acting Prefect of Nanyang Prefecture, saying that he wanted to personally distribute military pay to various units of the Imperial Guard's Central Army."

"Yang Yizhong deserves to be executed!"

In the deserted hall, amidst the occasional cooing of spotted doves from the small forest outside the hall, Xu Jingheng was the first to erupt. However, he could not scold the Emperor, nor could he scold those key officials, so he could only scold Yang Yizhong, whom everyone could scold. "As a guard, how can he not report to the prime minister when the Emperor leaves the city without authorization?"

Liu Ji, who was attending such an occasion for the first time, frowned slightly, unsure of what to say... And the surrounding chief ministers could only futilely sulk after that sentence of 'Yang Yizhong deserves to be executed.'

Let's say that the Emperor wants to seize military power by distributing military pay, and the prime ministers naturally cannot speak out against it. However, wasn't it just yesterday that the salaries of the temporary court officials were replenished and rewards were given? So why did the Emperor rush to personally distribute military pay early this morning, skipping over everything else? Was he dissatisfied that the prime ministers did not treat everyone equally, or did he want to tell the soldiers that only he, Zhao Jiu, remembers the great army outside the city?

It's fine if you want to ingratiate yourself, but don't do it by stepping on others, okay?

"Gentlemen." Lan Gui hesitated slightly, but still spoke up to explain. "Before leaving, the Emperor had Scholar Lin leave a few memorials on the imperial desk, asking you to make a decision as soon as possible. When he returns, he also wants to hear you discuss politics before the Emperor... I dare not act without authorization, so please, Prime Minister Lu, take them yourself."

The chief ministers had no choice but to suppress their anger and look at those memorials. However, when Lu Haowen took the first piece of paper on the desk and turned it over, he felt a headache coming on... It turned out that the first piece of paper had the two words 'Tuduan' written on it!

The other chief ministers stepped forward and also gasped, but they were all speechless.

It should be known that the term "Tuduan" was a political strategy of Liu Yu during the Song Dynasty of the Southern Dynasties, mainly referring to the reorganization of household registration in the Southern Dynasties' ruling area against the backdrop of the Northern people migrating south at that time. Currently, Jingxi has just suffered from war, and there are many refugees. Not only that, but looking at the overall situation since the Jingkang Incident, with the Huai River and Qinling Mountains as the boundary, there are also many Northern people fleeing south, and in the short term, the Great Song Dynasty does not have the ability to recover the lost territory.

Therefore, the 'Tuduan', which involves resettling and registering the Northern people fleeing south in their current locations, seems extremely important and urgent.

However, although this is the case, this matter is too complicated, involving almost all aspects. Under the myriad of threads, how could one possibly 'make a decision as soon as possible'?

But one cannot possibly ignore this matter either.

With a complex mood, Lu Haowen handed the "Tuduan" paper, which felt like it weighed a thousand pounds, to Xu Jingheng behind him, and then picked up the second piece of paper. He had another headache, because it said 'Fan Qiong'.

Fan Qiong, Fan Qiong, the temporary court was too familiar with these two words. From the beginning of Lord Zhao's ascension to the throne, the temporary court has been discussing this person, from Nanjing (later Shangqiu) to Bozhou, from Bozhou to Shunchang Prefecture (Yingzhou, later Fuyang), and from Shunchang Prefecture to Mount Bagong. Finally, they arrived in Nanyang, and it could not be delayed any longer!

However, fortunately, unlike the previous debates about whether or not to deal with this person, this time, everyone had reached a unified understanding, that is, they must kill him and take Xiangyang as a backup plan... Otherwise, not to mention the effective communication between the southeast and Jingxiang, just considering the event of a Jin invasion and the danger in Nanyang, the Emperor would have no retreat, so what would happen?

And Lord Zhao's leaving this person's name at this time certainly did not mean that he wanted the chief ministers to discuss how to deal with this person again. Combined with what Lord Zhao had said earlier at the foot of Fangcheng Mountain, it was clear that he wanted everyone to discuss some auxiliary countermeasures to assist Lord Zhao in going south to Xiangyang and leveling this bandit.

Only matters of military and national importance could not be taken lightly by the chief ministers.

Lu Haowen handed this paper to the Vice Military Commissioner Wang Boyan behind him, and then continued to turn over the third piece of paper. He saw the two words Sun Mo again, but was already numb and handed this paper directly to Liu Ji behind him.

It should be said that Sun Mo was the defender of Yingchang Prefecture in Jingxi South Circuit who died under the knives of the Jin people. His matter had nothing to do with the temporary court, but it was an important unsolved case, a suspected case, and a public case in the local officialdom of Jingxi.

The matter was like this: before the Jin invasion, the position of Vice Prefect of Yingchang Prefecture was vacant. At that time, Liu Ji sent a document appointing a man named Pei Zude, who was currently in mourning, to temporarily serve as Vice Prefect of Yingchang Prefecture. When the Jin people invaded, Sun Mo, as the Prefect, quickly gathered his troops and ordered Pei Zude to lead the retreat to Yancheng, the southernmost part of Yingchang Prefecture, to defend. At the same time, he himself went to Yangdi to pick up his family. In response, Pei Zude, while defending Yancheng, impeached Sun Mo for being greedy for life and fleeing!

Subsequently, Wanyan Yinshu Ke went south and directly killed Sun Mo in Yangdi, but surprisingly did not touch Yancheng. Then Zong Ze, upon hearing the news, naturally temporarily recommended Pei Zude, allowing him to temporarily hold the title of Secretariat Drafter and serve as the Prefect of Yingchang Prefecture.

Up to this point, it seemed that the rights and wrongs were very clear. Sun Mo held a high position, but cared for his family at a critical moment. Pei Zude presided over the overall situation in the capacity of Vice Prefect, clearly a higher level... Moreover, Pei Zude had the recommendations of both Liu Ji and Zong Ze, the most influential figures in Jingxi.

The only reason why everyone didn't say anything more was that Sun Mo ultimately chose to die for his country, while Pei Zude survived.

However, the matter did not end there. Just after Wanyan Yinshu Ke withdrew from Yancheng, Sun Mo's family actually went to Liu Ji with Sun Mo's previously unissued documents to file a complaint. According to this document, Pei Zude had heard someone say that the Jin people would not come and then used this false information to deliberately deceive Sun Mo, coaxing him to go to Yangdi... If this were the case, then Pei Zude would be a treacherous person who was two-faced and even deliberately wanted to use a knife to kill his superior!

This matter involved both Liu Ji and Zong Ze. Coincidentally, the reputation of a dead prefect was at stake, causing a great deal of discussion. Pei Zude's official position had been stuck there, and the temporary court could not avoid this matter when discussing the vacancies in Jingxi... So, the one who tied the bell must untie it. Liu Ji had no choice but to take this paper.

ps: Post a chapter first, everyone don't wait.