"Does His Majesty truly intend to use Yue Fei?"

Unexpectedly, after a moment of silence, it was Lü Haowen who spoke, not Lü Yihao, whose influence was steadily growing.

"If not him, who else is there to use at this time?" Under the falling snow, Zhao Ju turned his head, his hands clasped behind his back, and glanced at the increasingly fortified main Jin army camp to the north, then sighed.

Lü Haowen, and the others as well, were first stunned, then all felt a touch of emotion... because as His Majesty said, who else was there to use at this time?

Speaking of which, the reasons why Zhao Ju wanted to use Yue Fei were self-evident. To him, a transmigrator, the name Yue Fei alone was reason enough, just like the name Han Shizhong was the basic courage he had to operate in this era. But even leaving that aside, who was there to use given the current situation?

It must be known that at this moment, looking around the entire battlefield, only the Tokyo Garrison Headquarters had some leeway in terms of troops that could make some moves.

Therefore, someone had to go to Tokyo to preside over the situation.

Zong Ze was certainly usable, but according to Zhao Ju's guess, he was indeed too ill to manage.

Li Gang, after the Jingkang Incident and this recent turmoil in the southeast, had caused everyone to lose confidence in his military capabilities.

Li Yanxian was definitely usable, but Shaanzhou was the connection point between the Central Plains and Guanzhong and Hebei. It was a crucial node, and its survival was critical to maintaining the Song-Jin front along the Yellow River. Moreover, even though the situation in Shaanzhou seemed slightly better now, it was only because the main force of the Western Route Army had not come to Shaanzhou. If Li Yanxian were sent to Tokyo to lead troops, wouldn't that immediately attract a counterattack on Shaanzhou from Wanyan Loushi or Wanyan Yinshuke? At that point, opening a breach and allowing the Jin army's eastern and western armies to converge would be a suicide mission.

By the same token, Zhang Jun could not be easily transferred either, otherwise, the gateway to Jianghuai would be wide open. If a Jin army detachment suddenly marched south to Yangzhou, that would be a disaster!

And after thinking it over, even in the eyes of the central ministers, in the Jingdong and Jingxi areas, the only one who had achieved some military success and was somewhat trustworthy was this Yue Fei, the Pacification Commissioner who was still a condemned prisoner a year ago.

So, he had to be used, there were simply not many generals available, but he could not be given a title beyond his rank, otherwise, things would really go wrong.

Look at Li Yanxian, Han Shizhong, Zhang Jun, Qu Duan, and the rebellion in the southeast.

Why did Li Yanxian change his name to resist the Jin?

Wasn't it because he had been dissatisfied with Li Gang's military strategy from the beginning, slandering Chancellor Li Gang as a military incompetent, which led to him being wanted?

Han Shizhong, while watching the new emperor ascend the throne in Nanjing and observing the various troops gathered at the temporary capital, said a heartfelt remark after drinking too much - 'I am the first in the world'!

What did he mean?

He meant that everyone else was useless!

As for Zhang Jun and Qu Duan, they were both veterans of the Western Army, so there was no need to mention them further.

And the rebellion in the southeast, you put Wang Shunchen in charge, his title was big enough, but he hadn't been involved with the military for decades, who would be convinced?

Oh, and there was also Liu Guangshi, who was dead, he didn't care about titles and rarely disagreed, he just liked to shift the blame to his neighbors.

The things in the military, how could they be so simple? Arrogant and fierce generals were one thing, but the fundamental problem was that if you wanted so many people to entrust their lives to one person, you had to show some proof.

Not to mention, eighty or ninety percent of the troops at the Tokyo Garrison Headquarters were refugees from Hebei and bandits from the two capitals. If things went wrong, they wouldn't have much psychological pressure to turn into bandits.

However, to be fair, the situation had reached its current state was somewhat unexpected, because Zhao Ju had put in a lot of effort in Nanyang and had considered such difficult situations.

Zhao Ju didn't know Zong Ze's lifespan in history, but he roughly knew that Zong Ze had died in grief and indignation in Tokyo, and coupled with the man's age, he had specifically set up an insurance policy for this matter, and also to ensure Yue Fei's performance.

And this insurance was Zhang Suo, the Pacification Commissioner of Jingdong and Jingxi.

Zhang Suo had set up a military camp near Huazhou very early on and had a great relationship with Zong Ze. Many of Zong Ze's subordinates had passed through Zhang Suo's hands. More importantly, he, like Zong Ze, was Yue Fei's mentor, and his trust in Yue Fei was beyond doubt... So according to the original plan, even if something happened to Zong Ze, Zhang Suo, a high-ranking official in Nanjing, would take over the Tokyo Garrison Headquarters, and Yue Fei would definitely receive more powerful protection and broader space for development.

But saying all this was useless... Kong Yanzhou defected on the battlefield, and Zhang Suo died for his country!

"This matter is not so simple, it needs to be sorted out." Perhaps having waited for a long time without hearing Lü Yihao's words, Lü Haowen had to continue hesitantly. "Your Majesty... I wonder if Your Majesty has considered something about Nanyang when considering the situation in other places?"

"What is it?"

"This matter was previously mentioned by Minister Chen, and I quite agree with it." Lü Haowen turned his head to look at Chen Gui, a movement that drew a cold look from the other Chancellor Lü, but Lü Haowen didn't have time to pay attention to these things, but pointed towards the shadows and lights to the north under the increasingly dense snowflakes and turned back to speak solemnly. "The Jin army is afraid of our army's trebuchets, so they dare not approach the city, nor do they take any siege actions, but is the Jin army truly powerless? It is understandable that they besiege on three sides and leave one side open, but with so many cavalry, can they not block messengers from coming and going? Why do they directly allow messengers from all places to enter and exit?"

"Of course I know what they mean." Zhao Ju looked at the Jin army camp outside the city, his hands clasped behind his back, and was honest. "It's a psychological warfare tactic. Since Nanyang's city defenses are excellent, they simply use this tactic to force us to make deployments, and once we make deployments, we will inevitably reveal weaknesses, which will be opportunities for them... But this is a calculated scheme, you can't say that Han Shizhong is in danger, the Tokyo Garrison Headquarters is stagnant, and the situation in Guanzhong is worrying, are all lies, right?"

Lü Haowen opened his mouth, but ultimately nodded: "It's good that Your Majesty understands... But I have another question, since Your Majesty clearly knows that the Jin army outside the city is waging psychological warfare, deliberately sending the predicament on the northern front, why still forcibly make deployments? And what exactly do you want to do by using Yue Fei? Is it just to replace Garrison Commander Zong and take charge of Tokyo affairs? As it stands now, Garrison Commander Zong should only be seriously ill, and Yue Fei is not being restrained in Tokyo..."

"Chancellor Lü." Zhao Ju sighed. "Chen Gui only told you that the enemy is scheming, but did he tell you that guarding a desolate city is a way to await death? Isn't the current situation in Nanyang due to the new type of trebuchets, a powerful counterattack weapon?"

Lü Haowen and Chen Gui bowed slightly together, but did not refute anything.

And Zhao Ju simply made it clear: "I want to save Han Shizhong... Han Liangchen cannot die! He is my courage! I can't even imagine who will be able to hold the overall situation in the future once Han Shizhong dies in Changshe? Yue Fei is indeed a talented man, but as you all said, he is only twenty-seven, and blades and swords have no eyes, if Han Shizhong can die young on the battlefield, who knows what will happen to him in the future?"

On the city wall, everyone looked at each other in silence, but no one felt surprised. Based on His Majesty's previous care for Han Shizhong, this reason was definitely credible.

"Of course it is understandable that Your Majesty wants to save Grand Commandant Han, Han Shizhong is a great general of the country and must be saved, but where are the troops coming from?" At this moment, Lü Yihao suddenly spoke, interrupting Lü Haowen and asking first. "According to the military intelligence collected by the Privy Council in recent days, although Wanyan Talhai has divided his forces everywhere, he himself should be sitting under Changshe, personally besieging Changshe, and the surrounding troops, from Yelu Mawu in Zhongmou in the north to Talhai's son-in-law Puchagu Balu in the south, he has a total of 40,000 troops in his hands, and mostly cavalry... So, if the siege is not lifted in three to five days, they will only be annihilated by the Jin army under the city... There must be a large army!"

"That's right." Lü Haowen also nodded seriously.

"There are twenty or thirty thousand in Tokyo, thirty or forty thousand south of Kaifeng Prefecture. If Li Yanxian abandons Hebei and only defends Shaanzhou, he might be able to gather some more, plus the remnants of Liu Bao and Tian Shizhong... If they are all gathered together, it is impossible to have 100,000, but seven or eighty thousand should be possible, right?" Zhao Ju replied solemnly.

"Are you going to ignore Tokyo?" Minister of War Chen Gui immediately asked anxiously.

"To preserve the land and lose the people is to lose both people and land, to preserve the people and lose the land is to preserve both people and land." It was Chancellor Lü Yihao who answered Chen Gui. "The city of Tokyo is of course important, but it is not as important as Han Liangchen... If Han Liangchen is saved, even if Tokyo is lost, it can be taken back sooner or later! But if it continues like this, the cities of Wuhe will fall one by one sooner or later. What will Tokyo use to protect itself then?"

Chen Gui was speechless for a moment.

"I have thought about this matter carefully." Zhao Ju quickly stopped the two from arguing. "Tokyo is only two hundred *li* away from Changshe, and the Jin army closest to Tokyo is Yelu Mawu's army in Zhongmou, ten thousand people, fifty *li* away... Sieging and relieving a siege are not the same thing. If we can gather troops to rescue Han Shizhong, and then return to Tokyo to rest and reorganize, Yelu Mawu will not have time to capture Tokyo."

Everyone fell into thought again.

After a moment, Hu Yin spoke seriously: "What Your Majesty said makes sense, Han Shizhong is a famous general of this dynasty and must be saved!"

Immediately afterward, the Junior Scholar of the Imperial Academy also stopped his silence: "Han Shizhong must indeed be saved!"

"I also think he should be saved!" Yan Xiaozhong, who had been silent all along, finally disregarded his friendship with Chen Gui and cupped his hands without hesitation. "Otherwise, how will the people of the world see Your Majesty's sincerity?"

On the city wall, a chancellor, an inner court official, the Governor of Nanyang, and a Censor all expressed their approval of the Emperor, and the matter could not be changed.

In fact, Lü Haowen no longer insisted, but cupped his hands and said, returning to the key point of the problem: "If so, and since Garrison Commander Zong's condition cannot be made public, we can only find a minister to be Garrison Commander Zong's deputy, and then supervise Yue Fei's march south to integrate the Tokyo Garrison Headquarters."

"That's all we can do." Zhao Ju was silent for a moment, ultimately giving up the possibility of letting Yue Fei be the commander directly, but still worried. "But I'm afraid that the one who can be a marshal near Tokyo can't let go and give it to Yue Fei."

"Your Majesty, don't worry." Lü Haowen sighed slightly. "I've thought about it, and there is still a good candidate... Now that Deputy Garrison Commander Quan Bangyan is trapped in Huazhou, and Grand Commandant Lü Qiong is trapped in Xiangcheng, there are only two candidates left. Since Your Majesty also wants someone to look after Yue Fei, we must remove Wang Yan, who has a grudge against Yue Fei, so there is only one person left, and this candidate is just right."

Zhao Ju's heart stirred, but he didn't have time to think much, but blurted out: "I know who you're talking about, the last person is naturally the former Garrison Commander of Daming Prefecture, the current Governor of Kaifeng Prefecture, Du Chong... But didn't he flee back from Daming Prefecture? Is he usable? Does he dare to fight? I faintly heard people say that he is a indiscriminate killer?"

"Your Majesty, the current situation is that there are only a few people with this qualification at the moment, and this person is just the right person to do the job." Lü Haowen said in detail. "The most important thing is that this person and Yue Fei are from the same hometown."

Zhao Ju suddenly realized that in this era, being from the same hometown was a huge guarantee of personal relationships. Moreover, more importantly, there was also an implied meaning that Lü Haowen didn't say, the generals of the Tokyo Garrison Headquarters were mostly from Hebei refugees, so Du Chong's hometown was also a guarantee for the Tokyo side. If you replace him with a high-ranking official who is not from Hebei, those generals may not be convinced... However, Zhao Ju clearly had no impression of the name Du Chong and didn't know what his historical image was, so he quickly turned to look at Yang Yizhong again.

Yang Yizhong originally had no room to interject in this kind of occasion, but as Zhao Ju's personal information retrieval device, Commander Yang still ignored the thin layer of snowflakes that had accumulated on his shoulders and quickly bowed to give the answer:

"Reporting to Your Majesty, Chancellor Lü is not wrong, the two are from the same hometown, and their friendship is quite good... Yue Fei is one of the few martial artists who is studious and enterprising, and Governor Du once said in Tokyo in the middle of the year that there are many heroes in Xiangzhou, but most of them are rude people, and the only one who can associate with him with the friendship of a fellow townsman is Yue Pengju... Although these words may be more of a mockery of Zhang Yong, the Commander of the Tokyo Garrison Headquarters who is also from Xiangzhou, it can still be seen that Du Chong and Yue Fei get along well."

Speaking of which, Yang Yizhong paused slightly before whispering: "Not only that, Governor Du's eldest son, Du Song, and third son, Du Kun, are both in Xiangyang; while his son-in-law, Han Ru, and second son, Du Yan, are both in the city at this time."

This meant that there were hostages who could be trusted.

Zhao Ju was relieved for a moment, but shook his head slightly.

Speaking of which, now that things had reached this point, how could he not know that there was such a ready-made good candidate in Tokyo, even a natural candidate, with qualifications, current official position, and hometown, all of which were the most suitable... Lü Yihao, who had just arrived in Nanyang, didn't know the personnel situation, which was understandable, but Lü Haowen, who was in charge of the capital province and had personally participated in arranging official positions for the past six months, had only provided it now, obviously still maintaining a conservative attitude and unwilling to take the initiative to stir up trouble.

Of course, as the saying goes, having a way is better than having no way, and Lü Haowen had finally provided such a suitable candidate under his compulsion, so what more could he think?

If not him, who else was there to use?

Zhao Ju did not repeat the words he had said once before, but with a trace of relief and a bit of fatigue, he made a decision on the spot: "Then send an envoy to Tokyo, without letters or imperial decrees, to prevent them from being intercepted by the Jin army, let the envoy enter Tokyo to see Zong Ze and explain this matter in person!"

"Your Majesty!" Lü Yihao quickly interjected, adding slightly. "You can issue an irrelevant imperial decree to add to Yue Fei's official title, and then let Du Chong's second son, Du Yan, be the envoy... The imperial decree is to distinguish the authenticity for the Tokyo Garrison Headquarters, so that regardless of whether Garrison Commander Zong is awake or not, everyone in the Tokyo Garrison Headquarters will know Your Majesty's intentions; and when Du Chong sees his own son, he will naturally understand Your Majesty's intentions out of gratitude. At that time, even if he has a fear of difficulties, his son can clearly convey Your Majesty's intentions, and he will not dare not march south to collect troops to save Han Liangchen, nor will he not heavily use Yue Fei."

Hearing this, Zhao Ju almost completely relaxed: "In this case, we can have some expectations! Hurry up and do it, let Du Yan leave the city overnight! Don't delay for a moment!"

Everyone cupped their hands together and said nothing more.

ps: After checking carefully, Du Chong should have served as Zong Ze's deputy after going south from Daming Prefecture. Moreover, the Tokyo Garrison Headquarters itself was a special faction composed of Hebei refugees. At that time, only high-ranking officials from Hebei were qualified to take over the highly respected founder, Zong Ze... Therefore, in terms of his qualifications and hometown, it was natural for Du Chong to take over Zong Ze, and even the Southern Song Dynasty refugee government could not easily shake it.

As for Yue Fei being called Du Chong's beloved general by the people of the time... it is not difficult to understand. The Great Peng Bird was promoted nine levels in a row in about a year under this fellow townsman's administration. From a personal favor, in the eyes of outsiders, Du Chong was no worse to Yue Fei than Zong Ze.