It is well known that Qin Hui's capture to the Jin Kingdom involved a gradual process in both experience and mentality.

Initially, he was favored by Nianhan because of his well-written articles and his display of utmost docility among the Song officials. Consequently, he received preferential treatment during his journey north.

This single event, in itself, was insignificant.

Subsequently, he continued to receive protection and preferential treatment from Jin dignitaries like Wanyan Wugunai and Talan, becoming a strange figure somewhere between a guest and a prisoner of the Jin court. Although, in theory, all of this was passive, it still led to a qualitative change resulting from quantitative accumulation. Because during this process, Qin Hui had gradually begun to do some writing work for these Jin nobles, receiving rewards of gold and silver, living in a large mansion, and even having the ability to influence certain matters through these powerful Jin figures.

Then, one day, he began to follow Talan in the army, writing surrender documents and working as a staff member. At this point, the nature of his behavior was completely undeniable, making it difficult to exonerate him.

But at this time, Qin Hui himself was always cautious, or rather, deliberately obscured his actions.

The reason is self-evident. Qin Hui had frankly confided his innermost thoughts during his historic meeting with Hong Ya. He deeply knew that, no matter what, the best outcome was to return to the Song side and continue his career as an official while he was still alive... He was a native of Huainan, a Jinshi graduate, the grandson-in-law of a chancellor, and a student of another chancellor. Returning to the Song Dynasty was the true path to wealth and glory. And after witnessing the barbarity of the Jin people and the fate of the captured scholars and civilians in the Jin Kingdom, he not only did not arouse any spirit of resistance or sympathy, but rather the opposite. He now only wanted to escape this quagmire with his family as soon as possible and return to the Song Dynasty to continue being one of the elite. At the very least, he would ignore the people of Hebei and Hedong and choose to stay in the Jin Dynasty as a high-ranking official.

It was precisely for this reason that he always acted cautiously, trying not to show his face and not to pursue any official positions in the north. He simply hoped to return to the south smoothly one day and make a grand appearance... And interestingly, the Jin high command always facilitated this.

However, all his ingenious ideas and careful calculations were directly shattered time and time again by that Zhao Emperor in the south... Just like a hammer smashing porcelain, it couldn't have been more direct.

Sometimes, Qin Hui couldn't help but feel a sense of doubt, wondering if the Emperor in the south was too young and naive. Then he would comfort himself, wondering if the other party would change in the future. But after comforting himself, he could only lament his own situation – "Confined all day, when will I be free?"

And perhaps it was precisely because of this that, once an evil thought arose, this Qin scholar instead showed a somewhat reckless attitude... Whether pursuing peace talks to return to the south, or seeking a high position in the north through peace talks, he could not tolerate Nianhan's existence.

He blamed the other party for standing in his way!

Once the intention to kill arises, all else is disregarded.

Of course, to put it another way... it's roughly the same as "a broken jar is beyond repair."

In any case, it can only be said that Qin Hui was stimulated and lamented his situation. He temporarily shed his timidity, returned, and only spoke with Wanyan Wushu, to whom he had previously revealed some of his intentions, for about the time it takes to burn an incense stick, before taking his leave directly. After Qin Hui left, Wanyan Wushu tossed and turned that night, unable to sleep for a while.

This wasn't to say that Qin Hui's idea wasn't feasible. On the contrary, the Jin Fourth Prince had never imagined that a pale-faced scholar could see the situation so clearly, easily pointing out a simple, direct, and highly feasible path, like a butcher dissecting an ox, truly giving the feeling of using four ounces to move a thousand pounds... But with such a clear and broad path laid out before him, the Fourth Prince hesitated.

It wasn't that he was afraid. After all, the Fourth Prince could be said to have climbed up on the lowest rung of the founding merits, having rolled in mountains of corpses and seas of blood. How could he be afraid of this... His hesitation was simply due to worrying that such a disposition might bring further turmoil to the country, leaving a gap for the owner of that dragon banner in the south.

That's right!

The Fourth Prince, who had narrowly escaped death at Yaoshan and crossed the river, was no longer the arrogant and self-important Fourth Prince he had been before. His pride, arrogance, and self-importance had long been washed away by the heavy rain on the night of the Battle of Yaoshan, and by the turbulent waves when he crossed the river later!

Not only that, but that battle, in which blood flowed like a river, whether it was Wanyan Loushi's valiant charge, or the crushing pressure of that dragon banner, or Han Chang's mocking smile by the river, had left him with an indelible impression. He no longer had any doubts about the revival of the Zhao Song Dynasty, nor any doubts about the decline of the Jin military strength. Moreover, on that day in the river, when he was floating up and down holding that white wooden dragon, he had already vowed in his heart that if he could survive, he would definitely restrain his arrogance and impatience, and take on the heavy responsibility of his family and country... No matter what, he would never allow himself to witness that dragon banner pressing down on Yanjing.

For two days, Wushu was in a state of internal conflict, but showed nothing on his face, leaving Qin Hui with no choice but to suppress his unease and pretend that nothing had happened... until the third morning, when the two of them came to the Chief Marshal's office again to 'attend court'.

"Today, these are roughly the matters..."

Nianhan sat alone in a high position, drank a mouthful of warm tea, and then clapped his hands. "In addition to these, there are a few things that we need to do proactively. First of all, I think we need to send an envoy to Goryeo to demand tribute, and this time it needs to be doubled. Why? Because after Oliduo (Loushi) died in battle, Goryeo immediately sent an envoy to Bianjing, which shows that they are not fundamentally convinced by us. But the more unconvinced they are, the more strict we should be with them."

Whether it was Wushu or the others, they all nodded in agreement.

It must be said that Nianhan's disposition was still very appropriate... Goryeo, that broken place, used to be regarded as a strong enemy by the Jurchens when they were in Liaodong, and the Goryeo Dynasty was indeed regarded as a wealthy place. But after swallowing Liao and overthrowing Song, and taking Hebei, such a fertile land, they felt that they were too lazy to even move troops against Goryeo.

And since they had no intention of destroying the other party, it seemed extremely necessary to intimidate them as much as possible through diplomatic means.

Nianhan didn't look at anyone else, only saw Wushu nodding, and then nodded directly, and continued to say in the seat: "Then it's settled, there is another thing, Yelu Ma Wu sent a letter saying that Yelu Yu Du has been acting strangely these days... what do you think?"

Wushu and the others looked at each other, what could they think of this broken thing?

A high-ranking surrendered general who had been stripped of his military power, a Khitan who had once served as the right supervising army of the Chief Marshal's office in the Jin Dynasty. When Taizu was around, this guy's request for children, wives, and concubines in the army aroused the suspicion of Taizu Wanyan Aguda; later, during the Jingkang Incident, when the Jin army went south to destroy Song, the Song Emperor also wrote a letter to lure him to surrender, further arousing the suspicion of the Jin high command, so that his military power was gradually stripped away after Jingkang; and now, Loushi is dead, and then the national lord suddenly suffered a stroke, and you, Nianhan, have become the national discussion Bojilie and Chief Marshal, and Huonv is still causing trouble across the river with Bali Speed, it would be strange if Yelu Yu Du didn't act strangely in the west!

So what to look at? Look while sitting!

Anyway, he has no soldiers or soldiers, can he turn out flowers?

"My meaning is, let Bali Speed kill him." Nianhan thought for a while, and continued to say: "Save him from running to the other side of the river and shaking the morale of the army."

"That's true, but if Yelu Yu Du is really killed, what about Yelu Ma Wu and the other Khitan soldiers and horses in the east and west armies?" Wushu said solemnly. "With the current situation, won't it still shake people's hearts?"

Nianhan shook his head repeatedly: "I naturally know that it is all shaking people's hearts, but things have to be viewed from other places. If he runs to the other side of the river, whether he surrenders to the Song people or Western Xia, or goes to Mongolia to meet Yelu Dashi, and raises some banner, the Khitan army will always be shaken. If we kill him, it will only be a temporary shake, so-called long pain is worse than short pain, and we can also take the opportunity to show the Khitan and Xi people in the army our authority..."

Wushu immediately woke up and was about to nod.

But at this moment, Nianhan continued to say: "Moreover, he has occupied this position in the Chief Marshal's office for so many years, and now, besides him, it is convenient for Bali Speed, Huonv and others to come up."

Everyone cheered up together.

After saying a thousand words and ten thousand words, the Jin Dynasty still has to talk about military power... Yelu Yu Du was killed because he lost his military power, and was discussed like a pig on how and when to kill.

And the Jin military power can be roughly divided into three places.

The field army is naturally the east and west armies, each with nearly 100,000 at its peak. In addition to the two armies, there are also certain garrison troops and guard troops, scattered in Yanjing, Huanglongfu, Liaoyangfu, Datong and other places... That is, all over the original Liao Kingdom. This number, scattered in the east, west, north and south, must also be about 100,000.

Three hundred thousand is the peak of the Jin Dynasty, that is, the year after the Jin Dynasty created the Jingkang Incident.

Of course, the garrison troops don't count. If you really want to pull on the garrison troops, the opposite Song Dynasty can now claim 500,000 to 600,000, and even the people present know that it is impossible not to leave troops in these places, at most it is just a transit route, and some elites are selected from them to join the east and west armies.

Therefore, the key is still the east and west armies.

But returning to the present, even if only talking about the east and west armies, the situation seems a bit strange.

First of all, there were losses in the defeat of Yaoshan. The exact losses of more than 10,000, including deaths, injuries, and non-combat attrition, plus the previous losses in Fangzhou, are indeed similar to what the Song army speculated. Moreover, most of these, even the vast majority, are the core soldiers under the Meng'an Mouke system. In other words, the proportion of Meng'an Mouke and supplementary soldiers within the field army of the Jurchen side directly changed in the Battle of Yaoshan, and then the proportion of Jurchen soldiers and other ethnic groups also changed... This is also the reason why Wushu was worried that killing Yelu Yu Du would lead to the morale of the army being shaken.

There is no way, this is the sadness of having a small main ethnic group, and also the fundamental reason why the Battle of Yaoshan only killed 10,000 to 20,000 people and shook the entire Jin Dynasty, so that the national lord's mouth was crooked with anger. The loss of these soldiers and horses, plus the fact that two east army ten thousand households collapsed in an organized manner, cannot be made up by simply supplementing the numbers.

However, this is only the direct loss. There is also a serious problem now, that after the war, the command of the army was split.

The West Army was divided into two. The main body was here on the east bank of the Yellow River, but a small part of the core troops stayed in northern Shaanxi with Huonv; The East Army was also split, but this split was not caused by combat, but because the Jin high command was greatly shocked by the defeat of Yaoshan, and Nianhan suddenly went south to Damingfu in order to protect himself, and seized the military power from Talan.

Not only that, at that time, Wanyan Wushu was in Huguan, and Wanyan Eliduo was in Hezhongfu. Of course, the two brothers had no intention of handing over the troops in their hands, but after all, the two brothers were brothers, and they had always been relatively harmonious, so they could be regarded as being on the same road in appearance.

But in fact, everyone knows that this fourth prince has repeatedly risen and fallen politically despite his repeated defeats, especially his merit in bringing Nianhan back to Yanjing earlier, and now he is qualified to become an independent faction.

In other words, the current main force of the Jin army is artificially divided into five, of which the West Army is divided into two, one in Yan'an, controlled by Loushi's eldest son Huonv, with about 10,000; one in Taiyuan, controlled by Wanyan Bali Speed, with about 30,000 to 40,000; The East Army is also divided into three. Wushu is in the Huguan and Henan area, holding two complete 10,000 households; there are three 10,000 households in Damingfu, originally held by Talan, who was the representative of the national lord Wugunai, but was directly seized by Nianhan who went south alone; and then there are three 10,000 households, plus the original Hezhongfu garrison troops of the West Army, and the 20,000 Han supplementary soldiers left behind by Loushi using the elite soldier strategy, all of them are there.

"How does Chief Marshal plan to deal with it?" The old Yinsuke asked cautiously. "Will Huonv also be promoted?"

"It's simple, just arrange it as before after the war, don't move the third prince and the fourth prince's places, and don't care about the third prince's West Army soldiers and horses, it's all for the country... let the third prince continue to be the left deputy marshal, the fourth prince will be the right deputy marshal, and there is no need to specially instruct Huonv, give him the name of Shaanxi march division and marshal right governor, just do some defense in northern Shaanxi, and take the lead in Zhekqiu outside the river... Bali Speed will be the marshal right supervising army and Taiyuan's stay." Nianhan's face was as usual, and he said easily, actually pointing out several important marshal positions in the Chief Marshal's office easily. "Talan will be promoted to marshal left supervising army, and will manage the duties here in the Chief Marshal's office for me, but as for Damingfu, it is better to let Gao Jingshan be the marshal left governor, and just watch Henan in Damingfu."

The previous remarks were all right, only Yinsuke was a little depressed because Huonv's matter could not be dealt with, but almost everyone changed their color when they got to the end... because the last sentence not only meant to put Talan in a nominal position, but also Nianhan directly swallowed the three 10,000 households in Damingfu!

And if you think about it carefully, the east and west armies are completely vacant, the military power is divided into five, Nianhan alone leads three of them, and with the control of the Bojilie meeting and the Chief Marshal's office, it is equivalent to controlling the garrisons and guards everywhere, mastering all the sources of troops, and the appointment and removal of local officials is even more unquestionable.

And calculating like this, this chief marshal is two points stronger than when Taizu's power was at its peak!

In fact, the situation in the hall next truly verified this point. In the Taizu period, people could still freely discuss these key appointments at will, but now, after Nianhan finished speaking in one breath, no one dared to refute it for a long time.

Who dares to refute it?

Talan, who has been stripped of everything and put in an idle position? He wanted to refute it, but he didn't want to serve soup and medicine to the national lord. Yinsuke naturally also had opinions about his younger brother not completely taking over the West Army, but he had proposed it several times, but was refuted by Nianhan several times, and it was destined to be useless.

After a long pause, the fourth prince Wanyan Wushu sighed in his heart, and then looked at the faces of everyone in the hall. Nianhan was complacent, the eldest brother Wanyan Wobben's face was livid, directly glaring at each other; the third brother Wanyan Eliduo was silent; Talan lowered his head and could not see his face; Wanyan Yinsuke was thoughtful... and finally, just as Wushu turned his gaze to Wanyan Xiyin, who was eager to try, someone suddenly spoke.

Everyone followed the sound and looked over, but found that it was the eldest prince Wanyan Wobben, who had almost been reduced to an idle person in the short half year from being the biggest competitor for the throne.

"Even if the Chief Marshal's office is self-contained, does the Chief Marshal have to report to the national lord for such an arrangement?" Wanyan Wobben slammed the table and sternly confronted in public. "What kind of rules are these? There has been no such thing from Taizu's uprising to the previous month!"

Nianhan's face suddenly changed, but he stroked his beard and sneered in his seat: "The eldest prince is right! How about this, in two days, the eldest prince and I will report to the national lord together, and see if the national lord has any other words, do you think it is feasible?!"

Wanyan Wobben was suddenly anxious, but he was helpless, so he glared at his two younger brothers, and then walked away angrily.

But Wushu, at this time, suddenly spoke, as if to smooth the atmosphere: "Chief Marshal, if the soldiers and horses are almost allocated, should we also draw some soldiers and horses from Liaoyang and Huanglongfu to replenish the previous war damage?"

Nianhan quickly became vigilant when he heard this: "I will personally handle this matter..."

Wushu then sighed: "Chief Marshal, what I want to say is, this time, everything else in the transferred soldiers and horses is fine, why don't we find a big city to station the two 10,000 households of the East Army separately, and not divide them in Hebei? You must know that since the East Army was divided into places in Hebei, they have been gambling and hunting all day long, making the local people miserable, and their own combat power has gradually become insufficient..."

Nianhan raised his eyebrows slightly, and Wanyan Xiyin also became serious, but after thinking for a moment, the chief marshal, who held the power alone, shook his head repeatedly: "It's not good to shake the morale of the army... The raw Jurchen soldiers from Liaodong see that everyone else has servants and belongings, but they don't have them, and they can't help but feel resentment, and besides, this time at least two 10,000 households have to be replenished. If they are replenished in one city, who will manage them? Divide out another marshal's supervising army or give it to you, fourth son?"

When Wushu heard this, the corners of his mouth twitched slightly, and he actually smiled lightly, and then stopped talking.

And behind him, Qin Hui, who was sitting there in a daze, looked at the fourth prince's profile and the corners of his mouth, watching the other party smile lightly, but his whole body was numb.

In other words, things are already very obvious. Qin Hui has seen clearly these days that everyone in the seat has something they want... such as Qin Hui, who wants to escape the sea of ​​suffering and enjoy wealth and power; and Wanyan Wushu, who wants to rectify the army and rebuild the Jin Dynasty.

And what about Wanyan Nianhan?

This chief marshal was pushed to this dangerous position by accident. On the one hand, he was complacent and wanted to try his best to maintain this unrestrained situation. On the other hand, he was also vigilant in his heart, fearing that once he lost his power, he would fall into the same situation as the national lord Wugunai... Therefore, what is shown outside is that Wanyan Nianhan is in power alone, recklessly, but he is also cautious and dare not touch the interests of the army and cause real danger.

And this is the real reason why he tolerated Huonv, won over Wushu, and put Talan in an idle position.

But coincidentally, Wanyan Wushu has already determined that if he wants to realize his great ideals, he must start from preparing the army. There is a structural contradiction between the two, and there is no room for maneuver at all.

In other words, Qin Hui just saw the fourth prince smile, and he knew clearly that his plan was going to work. How could he not feel half of his body numb, as if he had seen a beauty?