Zhao Guan Jia's final proposal did not elicit much opposition.

There were many reasons.

For example, the Zaizhi (宰执, top officials) who lacked military authority were naturally timid when facing Zhao Guan Jia on military matters; for example, this wasn't the first time Zhao Guan Jia had personally led a campaign; for example, there was some merit to the highest commander going to the front lines, such as the current uncertainty about the enemy's situation, and only by understanding the enemy's situation could timely decisions be made...

But in reality, the two most important reasons were, first, as shown in the exchange between Qu Da and Zhao Guan Jia, the front line was divided in two by Wanyan Loushi, who occupied Tong Pass, and to ensure that multiple independent units on both sides fought bravely together, nothing would be more effective than Zhao Guan Jia moving to the front lines; second, the current situation was ultimately different from the past, after years of hard work, there were some troops and defensive measures, and Zhao Guan Jia's trip was to sit in Luoyang, which, although burned to the ground, was still a secondary capital within the defensive perimeter... militarily safe, and politically not causing too much disturbance.

Therefore, the Zaizhi, along with the Six Ministries' Ministers, the樞密院职方司 (樞密院职方司, Office of Military Planning in the樞密院), and the generals in the capital, discussed briefly and ultimately agreed to Guan Jia's proposal in principle under Zhao Guan Jia's gaze.

Of course, there were inevitable劝谏 (persuasions) and 叮嘱 (reminders), roughly telling Zhao Guan Jia not to go near the city of Shanzhou, to be careful of Jin cavalry raids, and then sternly warning Yang Yizhong, the commander of the Imperial Bodyguard, not to put Guan Jia in danger.

However, even so, Zhao Jiu still encountered an unexpected but reasonable obstacle... That night, Zhao Jiu stayed at Consort Pan's residence, and was awakened by the sound of crying in the night.

After waking up, in the darkness, Zhao Jiu originally wanted to get up and comfort her, but after thinking for a long time, he chose to turn over, open his eyes wide, lie on his side, and pretend not to know.

In fact, Zhao Jiu certainly understood what Consort Pan was up to... To put it generously, it was a 后宫哭谏 (crying plea from the imperial harem), to put it stingily, it was 儿女情长 (personal feelings).

And whether it was a 后宫哭谏 (crying plea from the imperial harem) or 儿女情长 (personal feelings), how to put this matter? At least Zhao Jiu's choice was beyond doubt... Yuan Shao and Cao Cao were watching from above!

With the situation as it was, either learn from Yuan Shao, putting 儿女情长 (personal feelings) first, and ultimately have his entire family destroyed, to the point of being looked down upon by everyone, or learn from Cao Cao, maintaining a heroic posture his entire life, only to show 儿女情长 (personal feelings) when he was dying, and be looked down upon by Su Dongpo.

Of course, Su Dongpo looked down on everyone... Otherwise, he wouldn't have been demoted for half his life.

In short, which one to choose between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao? Did it even need to be said?

Zhao Jiu couldn't possibly not go to the front lines because of a burst of crying behind him.

Returning to the present, although Zhao Jiu's determination was made, within the inner palace, under the warm quilt, feeling the other person's body temperature, smelling the fragrance on her body, and listening to the undisguised sobs, he couldn't bring himself to scold her for her impropriety... because from the perspective of someone sharing a bed and having intimate relations, he understood Consort Pan's fears, and even felt some pity for her.

Because he knew that this woman regarded him, the Guan Jia, as her absolute reliance, and her fear was a natural reaction after experiencing so much upheaval.

And facing such a person, Zhao Jiu couldn't bring himself to utter any high-sounding words.

And so, after being awakened, Zhao Jiu simply turned his back and remained silent and motionless. And Consort Pan, after realizing that the person beside her had woken up and turned over, cried for a long time, and seeing that he didn't say a word, finally gradually quieted down.

Without mentioning this interlude that even a third person would unlikely know about, with matters roughly settled, the next day, the fifth day of the first month, without any delay, Zhao Guan Jia raised his 金吾纛旓 (Jin Wu Dao Qi, the imperial banner), and surrounded by thousands of Imperial Bodyguards, both cavalry and infantry, directly left Tokyo City to the west, heading towards Luoyang.

The 御驾亲征 (imperial campaign), which was unthinkable in the peaceful years of the past, was now as direct and swift as eating and drinking, which caused many newly returned gentry and commoners inside and outside Tokyo to sigh with emotion.

But regardless, Zhao Guan Jia openly traveled west, initially with few troops by his side, so it only took a day and a half to enter Zhengzhou on the afternoon of the seventh day. But starting from this day, the various armies of the Imperial Camps stationed throughout the Henan region mobilized across the board in response to the news from Tokyo City and the imperial campaign. Tens of thousands of troops, in units of two to five thousand or more, acted under the leadership of their respective commanders. Regardless of anything else, the 35,000 troops of the Imperial Central Army gradually gathered around Zhao Guan Jia, commanded separately by Wang De and Wang Yan, and under the coordination of Wang Yuan and Qu Duan, advanced in an orderly manner.

On the tenth day, Zhao Guan Jia entered Henan Prefecture, where Luoyang was located, and on the twelfth day he entered the old city of Luoyang. At this time, in addition to the three units of Da Zhai, Xiao Zhai, and Niu Gao, which were already stationed around Luoyang, Zhao Jiu had more than 40,000 combat troops and more than 10,000 auxiliary soldiers or laborers.

At the same time, Li Yanxian, who had returned to Shanzhou, also sent a good news:

It turned out that on New Year's Day, Li Yanxian learned that the Jin army was advancing south, but did not rush back to Shanzhou. Instead, he continued to let Shao Yun, the defending general of Pinglu, preside over the situation, while he personally led several thousand troops who were originally going to withdraw to Henan, and rushed to the foot of the Zhongtiao Mountains, where he launched a night counterattack against the Jin army detachment, Wanyan Saba, which had only five thousand troops.

Wanyan Saba never expected Li Yanxian to be so bold, and was caught off guard. Furthermore, he had not yet established a firm foothold, so in the hasty engagement, although he defended Jiji, he was also led by Li Yanxian to burn half of his supplies and seize seven or eight hundred war horses.

After blunting the Jin army's edge and crippling half of the Jin army's detachment, Li Yanxian withdrew to Pinglu, from where he calmly crossed the river back to Shanzhou. Moreover, according to his report, he also took the opportunity to leave one of his beloved generals, named Zhao Cheng, in the Zhongtiao Mountain stronghold, leading two thousand soldiers... to serve as a surprise force when necessary.

To this, Zhao Jiu naturally wrote a decree with a flourish, encouraging and praising him, and once again informed him of the specific situation of Han Shizhong detouring from Wu Pass to support Chang'an, and of him leading the entire Imperial Central Army to aid.

One was in Shanzhou and the other was in Luoyang, very close to each other and with smooth roads, so soon, Li Yanxian sent another reply, requesting that Zhao Guan Jia immediately divide his troops and enter Shanzhou.

His reasons were simple to state:

First, although Wanyan Loushi had not been idle for more than ten days, and the Jin had successfully conquered many important towns around Tong Pass, taking Huayin to the left, advancing to Hucheng to the right, going north to Chaoyi, and blocking Taihua to the south, on the whole, the Jin were only consolidating their rear and providing necessary strategic support, while the main force that Wanyan Loushi had brought south this time was still roughly stationed near Tong Pass, and the strategic direction was unclear.

Second, although Wanyan Loushi's actions seemed a bit slow, it did not mean that he could not act quickly. Once he decided to attack Shanzhou, he was likely to directly attack Shanzhou City.

At the same time, the area between Shanzhou City and Luoyang City, that is, the section south of Sanmenxia, has been a single road between the valleys since ancient times, the so-called 淆、渑故道 (Xiao and Mian ancient road), with narrow roads and numerous checkpoints, making it difficult for a large army to pass quickly and at full speed.

Therefore, Zhao Guan Jia should first send half of the Imperial Central Army to cross this road and come to Shanzhou to obey his, Li Yanxian's, command, while the other half should protect Guan Jia in the Luoyang Plain as a reserve force.

Otherwise, once Wanyan Loushi suddenly advanced, he might block the 淆、渑故道 (Xiao and Mian ancient road) with a small force of elites, leaving the tens of thousands of troops in Luoyang idle in vain.

"Guan Jia! Li Yanxian is arrogant!"

In Luoyang City, which was much cleaner than Tokyo City, Qu Duan was furious and impeached Li Yanxian on the spot. "Let alone the fact that there has been no engagement at the front, and even the Jin army has not determined its main attack direction, how can a Jiedushi (節度使, military governor) immediately demand nearly half of the personal troops from the Emperor's side for his own use? And even explicitly state that he should command them?"

Wang Yuan also found it difficult to endure, and seconded on the spot: "Guan Jia, Li Yanxian has overstepped his bounds... As a great general of the court, he is ordered to garrison Shanzhou, and he has not lacked military equipment and supplies. How can he demand the central government's directly controlled troops from Guan Jia on the eve of battle? What is the difference between this and firefighters locking the well and demanding benefits from the people when a fire breaks out in the city?"

In the overly empty and abandoned palace of Luoyang, Zhao Jiu's expression remained unchanged, and he only looked at the envoy: "Scholar Li, what do you think?"

This envoy was Li Ruopu, who had previously gone to Shanzhou with a gold medal. At this time, his face was somewhat ashamed: "Although I am Guan Jia's envoy, I do not understand military matters, otherwise Li Taiwei (李太尉, Grand Commandant Li) would not have sent me back soon after returning to Shanzhou."

Zhao Jiu nodded, but calmly looked at Wang De and Wang Yan, who were standing in the hall: "Are you two willing to go to support Shanzhou and obey Li Taiwei's command?"

Wang Yan's status was slightly higher, and he reluctantly cupped his hands: "If Guan Jia sends me to go, I will naturally go, but although Li Yanxian is the commander of the Imperial Central Army, he is quite rude, and I am afraid that I cannot conceal my anger."

Wang De did not say that he was unwilling to listen or go, nor did he say that he was willing to listen or go, but he snorted with a smile, cupped his hands and saluted: "Guan Jia, I will listen to Guan Jia's command."

Zhao Jiu also smiled, and then, passing over the two Wangs, he first looked at Yang Yizhong on the side for a moment, but ultimately looked at the dozen or so commanders standing in the dilapidated hall: "Are there any of you willing to cross the Mianchi and immediately go to Shanzhou City to listen to Li Taiwei's military orders?"

Seeing that Guan Jia's attitude was resolute, those who had spoken before were temporarily embarrassed, and the many commanders in front of the hall looked at each other, feeling a headache, but four people stood out directly, namely Niu Gao, Zhai Xing (Da Zhai), Zhai Jin (Xiao Zhai), and Li Qiong.

After hesitating for a moment, Zhang Jing, who came from the Western Army, also stood up... and once Zhang Jing came out, the rest of the commanders also stepped forward, and no one cared about their respective superiors' faces anymore.

Zhao Jiu nodded, knowing everything... Niu Gao, Da Zhai, and Xiao Zhai were stationed in Luoyang and were originally under Li Yanxian's command, so it was natural for them to stand up. As for Zhang Jing, he was the commander with the highest reputation and merit in the so-called Nanyang era of the Imperial Central Army, second only to Wang De. He stood up later, obviously to obtain a semi-independent command.

In fact, Wang De panicked a little when Zhang Jing came out, let alone when all the commanders came out later?

However, Zhao Guan Jia was too lazy to pay attention to these little thoughts, and only pointed directly at Li Qiong: "Commander Li, why are you willing to go to support?"

"Guan Jia, I think Li Taiwei is indeed rude, but what he said on his memorial is also reasonable... If we go late, I am afraid that the 淆、渑故道 (Xiao and Mian ancient road) will be blocked!" Li Qiong cupped his hands and replied.

Zhao Jiu nodded repeatedly, and then looked at Qu Duan, who had stood out from the beginning and was now quite worried because of Guan Jia's obvious attitude: "Qu Da... you have been credited for your advice in Tokyo, and should be recorded for merit once!"

Qu Duan was confused, and everyone else was confused.

"If not for your words, how could I have seen such an absurd thing." Zhao Jiu, wearing military attire, pointed at the stage and laughed. "Look... Imperial Deputy Commander Qu Duan has only taken over the command of the Imperial Central Army for a dozen days, and he is reluctant to let go; and my Imperial commanders actually have to consider the faces of their respective superiors on the eve of battle before daring to fight... If I had not listened to your advice and come to Luoyang to personally oversee the situation, I would have almost, as you said, allowed these bastards to form their own factions, leading to disaster."

The people in the hall were each panicked, and Qu Duan was even more dumbfounded, not knowing how to reply.

But Zhao Jiu suddenly became serious and directly ordered from his seat: "Since all the Commanders and Deputy Commanders are feeling郁郁 (depressed), then let Li Qiong command the troops, leading Niu Gao, Zhai Xing, Zhai Jin, Xin Yongzong, and Jiao Wentong's unit from the Eight Character Army, a total of 20,000 troops, quickly cross the 淆、渑故道 (Xiao and Mian ancient road) and advance to Shanzhou. After arriving there, they will all obey Li Yanxian's command without fail!"

The hall was immediately solemn, and those who heard the decree naturally stepped forward and saluted to obey. And the several high-ranking generals, and half of the commanders who remained, all had a look of consternation, to the point of looking at each other and exchanging glances, preparing to step forward and collectively plead guilty.

Even Hanlin Scholar Li Ruopu was a little flustered.

But Zhao Jiu was too lazy to look at this group of Song army generals who needed a beating, and only looked at Li Ruopu again: "Scholar Li, draft an edict yourself, scolding Li Yanxian for his rudeness to you this time, and then take it back to him yourself! By the way, relay my words today to him, word for word! Tell him to speak his mind, do less testing, avoid unnecessary anger, and take care of himself!"

Li Ruopu was relieved and quickly cupped his hands.