In May, many important events occurred in the Dongjing (Tokyo) city.

For instance, Emperor Zhao emphasized the response strategy to the puppet Qi regime, announced the approval of the southeast monthly "chun qian" (copper cash) proposed by Lü Yihao, and established the troop quotas for the various imperial guard armies...

Among them, the Imperial Guard Rear Army, after the Jiangning military revolt, was directly reduced to a fixed quota of 15,000 troops, still stationed in the southeast, mainly to assist Lü Yihao in stabilizing the rear and serving as a necessary reserve force:

The Imperial Guard Left Army, led by Han Shizhong's Huai Xi Army, had a quota of 45,000 troops;

The Imperial Guard Right Army, led by Zhang Jun's Huai Dong Army, had a quota of 35,000 troops;

The Imperial Guard Front Army, led by Yue Fei, consisting of the former Dongjing Garrison Command and his personal troops, had a total quota of 55,000 troops. This required a large-scale downsizing and elimination of the Dongjing Garrison Command troops, as their quality was uneven despite their willingness to fight;

The Imperial Guard Central Army, due to the presence of the Hedong militia in Li Yanxian's Shanzhou Army, and because he was unable to leave the front line, a specific number was temporarily difficult to determine, but Wang De and Wang Yan together had a quota of 35,000...

All of these added up to a fixed quota of 200,000 infantrymen, plus a paper-based cavalry force of 30,000, but the latter would be difficult to realize in the short term and would have to be developed gradually.

In addition, there were appointments in Guanxi.

Due to geographical reasons, Guanxi was difficult to separate from Bashu, and considering transportation losses, the two naturally formed an independent economic and military system. The most reasonable and appropriate approach was for Bashu to directly supply Guanxi and then form an army in Guanxi.

Moreover, Bashu was wealthy, and was the only region not affected by the war, and from Zhao Kai's economic reforms, its economic potential could be further tapped. Therefore, despite being far away, it was necessary to pay special attention.

In this regard, Emperor Zhao remained as open as ever. He still had Yuwen Xuzhong stationed in Chang'an to coordinate everything; Zhang Jun was appointed as the Transportation Commissioner of Bashu and the five Xihe routes, overseeing rear finances and provisions; Hu Yin was appointed as the Pacification Commissioner of the Fuyan and Jingyuan routes, overseeing the front lines... This formed a trustworthy three-person team.

After all, Emperor Zhao trusted Hu Mingzhong relatively well. Although he was militarily incompetent, his character was impeccable. Since he had stated that he would only listen to veteran generals and would not interfere in military affairs with personal opinions, he could certainly do so.

Compared to these important matters, things like appointing Li Guang as the Vice Censor-in-Chief and Wan Qixie as the Supervising Secretary, and sending them to Nanjing as "supervisors" for Yue Fei's military reorganization, seemed insignificant.

Finally, although this May was particularly busy, Emperor Zhao ultimately decided to personally receive the Goryeo envoy, Kim Busik...

Indeed, Zhao Jiu ultimately went back on his word.

No matter how Liu Ziyu probed, how could the Goryeo envoy agree to an alliance with the Song to resist the Jin? This was not when Wanyan Aguda had just raised his army with only a few thousand troops, when Goryeo might have entertained some thoughts. The Jin Empire was now a vast nation with hundreds of thousands of armored soldiers, and it was unrealistic to expect Goryeo to resist the Jin on its own.

In fact, Goryeo had been remarkably pragmatic throughout the process of the Jin's rise, the Khitan's demise, and the Song's decline... When Wanyan Aguda first raised his army, they saw that he was weak and sent troops to suppress the rebellion under the guise of helping their suzerain, the Liao Dynasty. Later, when Wanyan Aguda went on a rampage in Liaodong, they immediately formed a brotherhood alliance with the Jin. Then, when the Jingkang Incident broke out and the two Emperors were taken north, they were shocked by the news, but immediately became vassals of the Jin Empire.

Throughout this process, Goryeo had unknowingly taken advantage of the situation to occupy all the territory east of the Yalu River, expanding its territory by more than half.

In comparison, the foolish Western Xia competed with the Jin for territory after the Khitan's demise, resulting in a cavalry battle where its main mobile force was completely crushed by the Jin's most powerful Western Route Army. After the Jingkang Incident, it clearly lacked the strength to expand, but still tried to take advantage of the Song's borders, only to be countered by Qu Duan and Wu Jie, and then fell silent to this day.

In other words, Goryeo, as the third country (certainly clearer than Western Xia) that understood the situation most clearly besides the Song and Jin, had always had its own judgment of the situation. Their envoy's arrival in Dongjing was clearly influenced by the Jin army's unsuccessful campaign at the beginning of the year, and they felt that the future situation would likely be a north-south confrontation between the Song and Jin... The Jin Empire was strong, but could become a more powerful Khitan, while the Song Empire was weak, but could stabilize the situation.

Thus, Goryeo had once again double-bet, continuing a tradition of over a hundred years.

As for why Emperor Zhao went back on his word, the reason was simple.

Prime Minister Lü Haowen personally told Emperor Zhao that while Goryeo could not be used to resist the Jin, trade between the two countries was still very friendly. After the Jingkang Incident, trade had been severely hampered because Goryeo's land in the Qi-Lu region had fallen into the hands of bandits. A proper reception, expressing hope for the resumption of sea trade from south of Xuzhou, would greatly benefit the increase in commercial taxes.

The impoverished Emperor Zhao naturally followed this advice.

However, just as the Emperor was seeking out merchants in Dongjing who knew the inside story of Goryeo to prepare in advance, he was shocked to discover... Goryeo might actually have the possibility of actively attacking the Jin!

This was not fantasy, but fact, due to internal strife in Goryeo.

"Let the Emperor know, Goryeo has also been troubled in the past."

Still in that lakeside stone pavilion, the only difference was that seven or eight days had passed, the weeds here had grown more luxuriantly, and the snakes and insects in the lake had obviously flourished. In broad daylight, the sounds of people could not drown out the croaking of frogs and the chirping of cicadas... The speaker was a tall, dignified middle-aged man in white, named Wang Lun, a former unsuccessful scholar and later a wealthy Donghai merchant. Because of his refined behavior, he was nicknamed "White-Clothed Scholar," and he was now sitting in the stone pavilion nervously telling the Emperor.

"First, in previous years, a great powerful official emerged in the country, who was the maternal grandfather of the current Goryeo King, named Li Ziqian. He wielded great power in the court, and after experiencing three reigns, gradually developed the intentions of Wang Mang..."

At this point, the man paused obviously. The other dignified middle-aged man in plain clothes, also sitting on a stone bench in the pavilion, also instinctively looked embarrassed, because this accompanying person was a standard maternal relative, the head of the Pearl Wu clan.

That's right, this man in plain clothes, around forty years old, was naturally Wu Jin, Emperor Zhao's father-in-law whom he had repeatedly mentioned he wanted to "shake down." This time, Emperor Zhao had asked him to find the Goryeo sea merchant, the White-Clothed Scholar Wang Lun.

"Judging from your words, it must not have succeeded." Emperor Zhao naturally knew what was going on, but he did not care and urged him casually.

"Of course it didn't succeed." Wang Lun quickly replied. "How could such a thing succeed? The current Goryeo King is also a man of means. Like Zheng Bo conquering Duan in Yan, feigning capture to let go, he won over the trusted general of his maternal grandfather in the first year of Jingkang, and then suddenly eliminated his maternal grandfather, executed all of his faction, and then exiled his maternal grandfather's trusted general."

Zhao Jiu nodded slowly... This was also the old routine in East Asia. It could only be said that Goryeo was deeply rooted in the right stock, worthy of being one of the long-standing core civilizations of East Asia.

"Later," Seeing the Emperor nod, Wang Lun gradually removed his initial nervousness and became smoother. "Although the Li clan fell, the power of the army and finances were temporarily in no one's hands, which instead caused infighting among the nobles in Gaegyeong and Seogyeong in Goryeo..."

Zhao Jiu listened with little interest. Wasn't this kind of thing too reasonable?

Speaking of which, how could Wang Lun, a wealthy merchant who had read books, not understand how to observe words and expressions? Knowing that the Emperor was impatient to hear these trivial matters, he quickly skipped these nonsense and got to the point:

"Let the Emperor know, both factions of nobles fought among themselves based on regional factions, giving the Goryeo King a chance to establish his own confidants. In order to personally seize power, he did not hesitate to promote the monk Myo Cheong and some newly promoted trusted ministers, such as Jeong Chi-sang, to take charge of the government. These people all strongly advocated attacking the Jin and had initiated an attack on the Jin during the Jingkang years. It was only because the current envoy, Kim Busik, returned from Dongjing that day, warning of the chaos of the Jingkang Incident and explaining the strength of the Jin, that it was stopped."

Zhao Jiu's heart stirred slightly, finally becoming a little interested.

"Your Majesty," Wang Lun finally carefully expressed his views after the introduction. "Your Majesty asked me about the internal affairs of Goryeo, and I have to be bold in responding... In my opinion, the people of Goryeo, from top to bottom, generally still despise the barbaric attitude of the Jin, and there is considerable resentment in the court about being vassals of the Jin. However, a group of people, led by the current envoy Kim Busik, are dedicated to serving the powerful, regardless of whether they are barbarians or Chinese. They wholeheartedly serve whoever is powerful, never hesitating to change their allegiance, nor caring about face. Kim Busik was the one who previously submitted a memorial to become a vassal of the Jin. Now, seeing Your Majesty's dragon威 (wēi - majesty/might) greatly enhanced in the Central Plains, it is still Kim Busik who takes the initiative to send an envoy."

Zhao Jiu pondered for a moment, then nodded slowly, saying, "You have worked hard."

Wang Lun was startled and immediately got up to salute.

"That's fine." Zhao Jiu thought for a while, then said casually. "If you still want to do business, then do business, just consider this trip to have been in vain. But if you are interested, I will issue a note asking Prime Minister Lü whether, at this time when the country needs people, we can invite you to temporarily join the Honglu Temple as a guest official for Kim Busik... And then, if you do well this time, we will bestow a title, and you can officially do this?"

Wang Lun had failed the imperial examination in the past and then became a sea merchant. This audience was already filled with some expectations, so how could he not want to? However, he also knew that he had to pass Lü Haowen's test, so he did not dare to reveal too much emotion and only bowed his head in gratitude.

After expressing their gratitude, Wang and Wu knew that the matter was over and did not dare to stay longer, so they directly cupped their hands and took their leave.

Emperor Zhao did not care and even personally escorted Wu Jin a few dozen steps before returning to the pavilion to ponder.

Leaving aside what Zhao Jiu thought of and how he planned to deal with the Goryeo envoy, Wang Lun and Wu Jin left together, walking for many steps. Seeing the surrounding荒草萋萋 (huāng cǎo qī qī - overgrown with weeds) and the lack of people, they became even more emotional, but they did not dare to say more.

But turning the corner, they were greeted by a display of attendants. It was a display of attendants, but there were no livestock or carriages, only four or five palace maids and eunuchs surrounding a lady in palace attire, who was personally holding a plate of shaved ice and gracefully heading towards the Emperor's direction.

Wang Lun was still confused, but Wu Jin was in great distress. He bowed deeply from afar, but the lady did not even look at him, nor did she say hello, and directly passed by.

When the person left, Wang Lun finally understood: "Is that Consort Pan? Where is your wife?"

Wu Jin looked at the sun and was also depressed, but he only shook his head: "At this time, she should be reading or practicing martial arts... Anyway, she is in school."

The White-Clothed Scholar was dumbfounded.

ps: Thanks to the 67th萌 (méng - cute) of this book, the student 青藤老人 (Qīngténg Lǎorén - Green Vine Old Man)!