This late spring and early summer saw both The Filature of the Song and the Jin Dynasty plagued by incessant troubles.

On one side, it was the death of the imperial heir, while on the other, it was the severe illness of the heir apparent. Here, the premier was dismissed, while there, three factions vied for power. Not to mention, The Filature of the Song had previously lost Northern Shaanxi, and the Guanzhong region was in utter chaos, with little hope of resolution. The Jin Dynasty, on the other hand, saw its Eastern Route Army return without success, suffering losses and engendering internal resentment.

As early summer arrived, both sides were simultaneously hit by major external troubles.

For Zhao Song, it was naturally the sudden proclamation of Liu Yu in Jinan as emperor, plunging the nation into fury and fear... This event had a tremendous impact on the Han people, especially since Liu Yu was originally a legitimate Zhao Song official, a scholar who had passed the imperial examination. The shock of this betrayal could not be dispelled by simply emulating the Da Xia generals, drinking a few cups of wine, and hurling a few insults.

As for the Jin, the Mongolians had officially rebelled!

Historically, the Mongolians had been a border concern for the Khitan people. The Jin Dynasty inherited the Khitan's border situation. Having gone from being a border concern to becoming the landlord, they inevitably inherited the Khitan's other border troubles. Among these, the most prominent were the Mongolians.

In fact, as early as the rise of Wanyan Aguda, the Mongolians, due to the weakness of the Khitans, had simultaneously and rapidly shed their oppression, entering a phase of expansion and annexation. The most powerful tribe among them was the Qiyan tribe, the oldest among the Mongolian tribes, and their leader was Khabul Khan of the Borjigin clan.

In the second year of the Jingkang era, taking advantage of the Jin army's all-out southward advance, Khabul convened a meeting of various tribes and was jointly elected as the Mongolian chief... essentially, a khan. From then on, Khabul could be referred to as Khabul Khan.

However, Khabul's khanate was based on election, not tribal warfare and annexation, so his control was not very strong. His existence served as a representative of the Mongolians, seeking to secure a certain degree of autonomy from the Jin.

Therefore, when the Jin successfully engineered the Jingkang Incident and tens of thousands of their main forces returned, Khabul wisely chose to engage in diplomatic negotiations with the Jin. The final agreement was that he formally accepted the Jin's imperial edict, becoming the so-called 'King of the Mongolians.' The following year, when the Zhao Emperor was still muddling through his days in Nanyang, Khabul chose to personally visit the Jin capital, Huining Prefecture, and pay homage to the Jin Emperor, Wanyan Wuqimai.

Up to this point, it seemed that the two sides were about to settle their titles and return to the stable situation of the Khitan era.

But for some reason, during the banquet, something inconceivable happened... Khabul, whether truly drunk or feigning it, actually went up and stroked Emperor Wuqimai's beard. Wuqimai immediately flew into a 'rage' at this impudence, capturing Khabul on the spot and severely reprimanding him in the manner of treating a subject.

He might even have taken the opportunity to kick Khabul a few times, venting the resentment he felt from being beaten by Nianhan.

Khabul reportedly remained silent due to his drunkenness at the time, but upon waking up, he must have harbored resentment. Pretending that nothing had happened, he toured Huining Prefecture for a while. When the heir apparent suddenly fell ill and the war situation on the front lines became unstable, Wuqimai and other dignitaries headed south to Yanjing to support the army. Khabul seized the opportunity to bid farewell and slipped back to the Mongolian grasslands.

Then, he rebelled.

In fact, given the strategic positions of the Mongolians and the Jin, it was only natural for war to break out between them... With the sudden collapse of the Liao Dynasty, the Mongolians naturally wanted to seize the opportunity to gain independence, unwilling to be oppressed by the Jurchens, who had once been their equals. The Jurchens, of course, wanted to follow the example of the Khitans and make the Mongolians their vassals, obediently acting as dogs.

There was a fundamental conflict between the two sides. Khabul's antics with Wanyan Wuqimai seemed to be a form of mutual probing.

In any case, the Borjigin clan and the Wanyan clan initiated their first full-scale war over the issue of a beard, which was truly dramatic.

It was a slight pity that the Zhao Emperor was unaware of this event at this time, otherwise, he would have solemnly recorded it in his notebook. Relatively speaking, he found life somewhat dull these days, even feeling apathetic towards certain national events that should have been of utmost importance.

"Are there any fingers inside this time?"

In the late spring and early summer, with the southerly wind prevailing, the Zhao Emperor, who was dedicating himself to single-handedly eliminating all wild mammals larger than rats within the ruins of Genyue, turned around and saw Yang Yizhong approaching with a familiar box, and his face betrayed a hint of wariness.

"Your subject would not dare to open it without authorization." Yang Yizhong paused for a moment before bowing in response. "This is a secret dispatch sent by Commander Zhai of the Imperial Guard Left Army..."

Zhao Jiu glanced at Zhai Biao, who was standing nearby, and gestured for this son to open his own father's dispatch box, seemingly guarding against something. Zhai Biao, however, showed no hesitation. He stepped forward, took the box, and opened it. Sure enough, there were no small fingers inside, only a piece of ordinary silk.

Only then did the Zhao Emperor relax. He put down his bow and arrow, stepped forward to take a look, but his blood pressure rose slightly after reading just one word. The writing was in red ink, and he knew what trick Zhai Chong was up to.

So Zhao Jiu raised his hand again and handed the document to Zhai Biao: "You read it!"

"To inform Your Majesty, your subject has not learned many characters since childhood..." Zhai Biao took the document, pretended to read it for a moment, and then respectfully lowered his head and returned it with both hands.

You don't know how to read, yet you pretended to read it?

Zhao Jiu almost laughed in exasperation. He directly handed it to Lin Jingmo on the other side while casually asking, "Does your father know how to read?"

"To inform Your Majesty, my father knows even fewer characters than I do." Zhai Biao replied with a straight face.

Zhao Jiu didn't bother to respond this time.

The Junior Academician Lin took it and remained silent for a moment before reading aloud:

"Kowtowing to Your Majesty, I only learned about the traitor Liu's affairs in Jinan Prefecture at the beginning of the month in Xiping, and it filled me with anger. However, because I was ordered by Your Majesty to rest with Grand Commandant Han in Huaixi, I should have ignored it. But although I don't understand great principles, I often hear people say that there cannot be two suns in the sky, nor two masters for the people. If this traitor Liu is ignored, wouldn't people think that Your Majesty lacks loyal and reliable men to employ? The more I thought about it, the angrier I became. So I bit my finger, dripped blood, and used my blood to write a dispatch to Your Majesty, only wanting Your Majesty to know that if we are to attack Jinan, I will be at the forefront, capturing the traitor Liu alive just like Grand Commandant Han captured Fang La, and then flaying him alive to vent my anger for Your Majesty..."

After hearing this, Zhao Jiu remained silent for a long time.

Junior Academician Lin was helpless and could only remind him after a while, "Your Majesty, that's all."

"Send a reply... send a reply to all the commanders of the Imperial Guard, with one meaning: in the future, don't write dispatches with such bloody things!" Zhao Jiu shook his head and picked up his bow and arrow again. "Also, add a separate sentence to Liu Wenshun, who cut his finger: I know that he is from Jinan and that he hates Liu Yu deeply, but in any case, expressing his loyalty is one thing, but he should cherish himself..."

"Just that?" Amidst the sound of the wind, Junior Academician Lin stepped forward and asked solemnly.

Zhao Jiu paused slightly and put down his bow and arrow again: "What does Minister Lin say?"

Junior Academician Lin hesitated slightly, but still spoke frankly: "Your Majesty, your subject believes that although the traitor Liu is a petty clown, he is, after all, setting a precedent... If he is not quickly destroyed, we need not worry about Jinan becoming a threat, but we must be careful that our own people's hearts waver."

"Minister Lin is right." Zhao Jiu nodded, his expression slightly more serious. "But Minister Lin, suppressing the rebellion in the southeast, resettling and registering the people of Henan, renovating Tokyo City, resting and reorganizing the army, and resolving the disputes in Guanzhong – which of these is not an important matter? As for Liu Yu's proclamation as emperor, it did come as a surprise to me, because I thought that since we had driven away the Jin army, he wouldn't have the confidence to declare himself emperor with just the seven prefectures of Shandong. But deep down, I have long foreseen the appearance of such a person... In other words, I was prepared for someone to proclaim himself emperor, but I didn't want it to be at this time... And if you want me to disrupt my own plans because of his sudden proclamation as emperor, I feel that it would be a net loss."

Junior Academician Lin bowed and chose to continue listening... This was a special form of communication between him and the Zhao Emperor. Often, when he did not understand or agree, he would not object, but instead choose to maintain communication in this way. In return, the Zhao Emperor seemed to need such a profound and attentive listener.

In fact, as the de facto head of internal affairs working by Zhao Jiu’s side, coupled with his profoundly scheming character, this made Junior Academician Lin perhaps the person who heard the most of Zhao Jiu's political opinions.

On the other hand, when only trusted people like Lin Jingmo and Yang Yizhong were by his side, Zhao Jiu generally did not make any pretense:

"And there is a big problem with this matter happening at this time, which is: if we immediately launch a campaign to quell the rebellion, can we achieve a quick victory? If we can achieve a quick victory, that's fine, but if we can't... I won't even mention defeat, but if we can't achieve a quick victory... then the entire situation will be disrupted because of a mere campaign to quell the rebellion in Jinan. And when the Jin people return in force this year, we will be unprepared for everything. We are too weak right now!"

Lin Jingmo finally nodded slowly.

He did not agree with Zhao Emperor's prioritization, at least not believing that the southeast, Guanzhong, Tokyo defense, or army reorganization were more important or had higher priority than this matter, but he agreed with Zhao Emperor's final concern.

It must be known that after the previous battle, the Great Song had emptied its reserves, lost a large number of elite troops, lost Northern Shaanxi, completely abandoned Henan, and cut off the supply from the southeast, relying only on the courage brought by the Battle of Changshe and the Zhao Emperor's political prestige of returning to the old capital to maintain a superficial image of 'victor.'

But in reality?

In reality, Han Shizhong's hasty recruitment of soldiers after returning to Huaixi once triggered local unrest, forcing Zhao Emperor to write to him personally, asking him to stabilize military discipline;

In reality, due to the re-registration of households in Henan and the relief efforts for returning refugees, the storage in Nanyang and Xiangyang had also dropped to a very dangerous level;

In reality, although Chen Gui said that Tokyo City could be defended, his plans were repeatedly limited by the number of laborers and the allocation of money and grain;

In reality, because the supply from the southeast was cut off while the large army of the Tokyo Garrison Command was taken over, all officials were on half-pay to save money. Even when Zhao Emperor came to Tokyo and moved into the imperial palace, the clearing of weeds in the palace was done by Lady Wu leading some of the newly returned eunuchs. Even Zhao Emperor's daily hunting to replace the usual archery practice was initially because foxes, rats, cats, and rabbits were rampant in the palace, scaring the few palace staff everywhere...

It was so pathetic that even with such a large palace, the two princesses had to live as dependents.

At this time, it seemed reasonable for Zhao Emperor himself to insist on the original plan, temporarily ignoring Jinan, wanting to endure this most difficult moment, and then strike with thunderous force.

After all, as Zhao Emperor said, once troops were sent out, what if a quick victory could not be achieved?

Would everything collapse?

Unknown.

But it would certainly seriously affect the new round of major battles after autumn this year.

Returning to the present, since Junior Academician Lin understood the Emperor's meaning, he nodded slightly and withdrew, and Zhao Jiu directly agreed... This was expected, as Junior Academician Lin would not only write letters to those commanders to appease them, but also relay the Emperor's meaning to some people. Some words, the Emperor could not directly communicate publicly, and could only convey the meaning in this way.

Junior Academician Lin would tell Imperial Censor-in-Chief Hu Yin, ensuring that the Censorate would not talk nonsense, and tell several Academicians of the Hanlin Academy, so that the entire literary management system would have a bottom line in their hearts, perhaps reducing some resistance in public discussions.

After Junior Academician Lin left, Yang Yizhong was still there. Zhao Jiu ignored him and went straight into the vast ruins of Genyue with his bow. Yang Yizhong and several bodyguards immediately followed.

"What rumors have been circulating in Tokyo recently?" After shooting a rabbit in broad daylight, Zhao Jiu finally opened his mouth to inquire.

"The matter of the traitor Liu proclaiming himself emperor has shaken the court and the public, and every move is attracting attention... From the imperial rituals to the sacrifices to Confucius, to the proclamations denouncing Your Majesty's loss of heaven's mandate and illegitimate ascension, there has been much discussion," Yang Yizhong said earnestly.

"What about the localities?"

"In the localities, Henan is alright, but south of Nanyang and Shouchun, in the more affluent areas, many are discussing the establishment of the puppet Qi regime."

"It seems that this matter has had a great impact on the hearts of the people. The Jin people have made a good move." After several bodyguards picked up the prey, Zhao Jiu continued into the ruins. "Apart from this, what other discussions are there..."

"Please indicate what Your Majesty wants to know."

"How does the court and the public view my idleness these days, spending all day hunting, while entrusting most government affairs to the chancellors?"

"To inform Your Majesty, setting aside the matter of the puppet Qi, speaking only of Your Majesty's performance, there is actually no malice from above or below... Firstly, entrusting government affairs to the chancellors and turning to the Department of State Affairs and the Privy Council makes sense, and some even say that this is 'governing by doing nothing'..."

"I forgot about that... Is this a human skull? Reminds me of Mei Chaofeng... Didn't I tell you, what else?"

"Then... secondly, everyone knows the difficulties of Your Majesty and the palace. After the spring, the palace is overgrown with weeds. Your Majesty shoots rabbits and Lady Wu pulls weeds, but she refused the Wu clan's tribute, and the money and silk transported from Nanyang did not enter the palace... Everyone knows these things."

"Don't just say the good things. In fact, how could I be willing to just shoot rabbits here? If I were in Nanyang, it would be so comfortable to go boating and fishing on the Bai River. Even if Qu Duan wrote a poem mocking me every day, I would still do it. If I could personally shoot a tiger and see Sun Lang, with thousands of cavalry sweeping across the plains, I would think it was worth it even if Chancellor Lu died remonstrating." Zhao Jiu continued to look for prey while smiling wryly. "Of course, they don't know that I really don't understand those government affairs, and between government and military affairs, just coordinating personnel, appeasing ministers, and making decisions has already exhausted my mind. How can I learn from Zhuge Liang and handle everything myself? So I can only hide here and shoot rabbits to supplement the household..."

"..."

"What did you mean by 'setting aside the puppet Qi' earlier?"

"Some people are still discussing the proclamations of the puppet Qi..." Yang Yizhong's tone was slightly more cautious.

"I know." Zhao Jiu didn't care and continued to search for prey deep in Genyue.

Yang Yizhong didn't say anything more, just followed.

The two of them walked side by side, but perhaps because of the strong wind, the Emperor missed several shots in a row. However, at this moment, Zhao Jiu suddenly realized something and stopped to turn around:

"Something else?"

"Yes..." Yang Yizhong said cautiously. "Grand Commandant Yue's army has already crossed the river, and Yangzhou itself is stable. It is said that Lady Pan is begging the Empress Dowager to issue an edict allowing her to come to Tokyo to meet with Your Majesty... In just two days, Lady Pan's memorial requesting to return to Tokyo should arrive, so I don't know whether I should have mentioned this matter."

Zhao Jiu was silent for a moment, then raised his bow and aimed at a silver-white wildcat that was not afraid of people and was baring its fangs at something on a distant rockery. He suddenly shot an arrow, and the arrow drew an extremely strange arc in the wind, yet at the end of its obvious trajectory, it killed the wildcat with a single shot.

"Let her come!" Finally, amidst the strange sound of the wind, Zhao Jiu sighed. "Such a big palace can always accommodate a few more people... Otherwise, I can't chase her away, can I?"