In late March, with Wanyan Loushi's surprise attack on northern Shaanxi, the Song-Jin war broke out again.

This war, in terms of the mobilization, scope, and political determination of both sides, could be called unprecedented. The Jin Dynasty staged a palace coup to fight this battle, and the Great Song Dynasty orchestrated a palace entrustment of the orphaned emperor to respond... Moreover, once both sides made their decisions, they paid no further attention to the messes behind them.

The Möngke Kham, the Great Sage Grandpa of Dongting Lake, and Yelü Dashi of the Western Liao, all figures and terms that would normally be treated with utmost caution, were completely abandoned by both sides.

Implicitly, both countries had a sense of burning their boats.

There was no other way; for both the Great Jin and the Great Song, this was a battle for national destiny that was destined to arrive.

It was indeed destined. If Zhao Jiu had previously relied only on the 'experience' of a time traveler, roughly guessing and thinking vaguely, now there was no need for any further doubt:

The full-scale war between the Song and Jin dynasties had lasted for five or six years, and these five or six years were divided into stages.

In the first two and a half years, the Great Song, with absolute strength, repeatedly collapsed, while the Great Jin expanded again and again. This quantitative change eventually led to the Jingkang Incident, which almost destroyed the Great Song. In the following three years, the Great Song, still possessing a large part of its body, but just waking up from shock, struggled to survive. After three years of struggle, it finally returned to its old capital. At the same time, the Jin Dynasty's expansion since its founding was finally gradually suppressed.

At this time, after tempering and accumulation, the war entered a new stage, and the signs of a stalemate between the Song and Jin along the Yellow River line were already very obvious.

However, at this moment, both sides had already entered into a war machine mode... As long as they both insisted on this mode, many things would not be transferable by human will... The battles that were bound to break out would break out sooner or later, and even the predetermined battlefields were destined.

Everyone knew that the Imperial Guard of the Great Song was stronger after three years of effort, while the Western Army was still weak. Everyone knew that Guanzhong was a strategically important place, taking it could stabilize the Central Plains, and keeping it could also sustain the Central Plains.

This battle was destined to break out, destined to break out in Guanxi, and destined to be affected by the overall situation of their respective countries. Every move, every action, every strategy, from national strategy and national character to specific government orders and appointments, would be tested in this battle.

And Loushi and Zhao Jiu were less the initiators and welcomers of the battle, and more the sword wielders and shield bearers chosen by two enormous countries; they simply did not refuse or evade.

In fact, if Loushi hadn't realized that his body was about to give out, it was very likely that Wanyan Zonghan, who would have relaxed due to political infighting half a year later, or even Wanyan Wushu, would have come to Guanxi to do this.

If Zhao Jiu hadn't suddenly realized that he had his own real flesh and blood in this era, and then made up his mind deep down, perhaps it would have been Han Shizhong who would have presided over this matter... Even if Zhao Jiu had never climbed out of the well, didn't Zhang Jun gamble everything in Guanzhong to seek a breath for the small court in the southeast?

This battle was bound to be fought!

"This battle is bound to be fought, because only by winning this battle can we preserve Guanzhong. You must know that once Guanzhong is lost, the Central Plains cannot be defended. At that time, Guanzhong and the Central Plains will end up like Hebei..."

"What is the fate of Hebei? The palace reports have already made it very clear, and I have already explained it. Moreover, you, the Central Army of the Imperial Guard, are along the Yellow River line. I don't believe you haven't seen the refugees from Hebei. Even if you don't know, you should ask your Eight-Character Army comrades... Don't think that being a subject of the Jin people will be how it is. Those Meng'an and Mouke of the Jin people don't treat the local people as human beings. They gamble with each other and grab people from the villages as chips. A strong man counts as two chips, a woman counts as one chip, and an old man and a child count as half a chip... That's how the Eight-Character Army in the Taihang Mountains rose up..."

"But if, if we can win this battle, then Guanzhong can be preserved. If Guanzhong is preserved, with the population, wealth, and armaments of our Great Song, we will surely be able to raise an army of 300,000 to launch a northern expedition in three years, recover the two rivers in five years, and perhaps destroy the Jin in ten years..."

On the last day of March, at dusk, in front of the Sishui Pass, a Song army of about four to five thousand was setting up camp.

Thanks to the military conflict and the corresponding imperial expedition more than two months ago, this time the Song army inevitably knew the ropes. The most direct point was that there were large-scale garrison points left over from the last time along the route from Tokyo to Shanzhou, which made it much easier for the Song army to set up camp. As a result, the newly appointed Jinshi dispatched in the army were able to convey the imperial decree and explain the palace reports to the Dutou before dinner.

It is said that before Zhao Guan's family went on another imperial expedition, he had tried to allow these Jinshi to directly enter each Du (hundred-man team), and then be sure to convey and implement his determination, decree, and military orders to the lowest level, but he gave up because there were not enough people.

But even so, as the officials and the central government expressed an unprecedentedly strict attitude, these new Jinshi and military aides had to increase their direct contact with the officers.

At the very least, reading the palace reports to the Dutou every night during encampment, explaining the imperial decrees and military orders, and introducing geography and military intelligence, had become a 'rule' that these Jinshi had to do, and also became a rope around the necks of these new Jinshi.

In fact, the palace report system belonging to the Court of State Ceremonial had also entered a so-called wartime state after the palace entrustment of the orphaned emperor, with almost daily supplements, and the content was no longer limited to traditional forms. At the same time, in order to ensure the widespread dissemination of palace reports in the army, hundreds of Imperial College students, including hundreds of scholars in Tokyo City, whether they were young men from wealthy families or booksellers, were uniformly conscripted into the Imperial College to be responsible for copying and collating each supplement.

"Today's palace report supplement is roughly like this."

By the bonfire, after foaming at the mouth, Liang Jiaying, who was born in Tong Jinshi and only in his twenties this year, looked at the seven or eight Dutou and two or three Zhunjiang beside him, but seemed a little timid. "Seeing that dinner is not ready, if you have any other needs, just say it. If you don't understand anything, just ask, write a letter or something..."

The heads of these soldiers around, each of whom could be Liang Jinshi's father or brother, looked at each other, and they were also a little timid, or rather uncomfortable.

For Liang Jinshi, he was the second son of a Guangzhou maritime merchant. Last year, when he followed his father to Huaibei to collect goods, he happened to encounter the imperial decree encouraging the redemption of people and opening the grace examination. His father took the opportunity to move his mind and relied on the merit of spending money to redeem people in Huainan and Huaibei to find a way out for this second son, who would probably divide the family property in the future. He meant for him to get the status of a state student, go back to Guangzhou to be a clerk in the future, and complement his elder brother.

Who would have thought that Zhang Jun, the Pacification Commissioner of Huaidong, was an extremely efficient person in accepting money and handling affairs? Seeing that the maritime merchant redeemed people and the filial piety was not small, he directly made a stroke of the pen and gave this Guangdong Jiaying boy a special merit, guaranteeing him entry into the Imperial College, and finally he even got a Tong Jinshi degree in the palace examination.

And Liang Jinshi prided himself on knowing his own limits, so he never dared to take his Tong Jinshi degree seriously. He didn't dare to say anything when he was sent to the army to be a scribe. He was timid when reading a palace report, partly because he knew that his Guangzhou accent couldn't hold the Luoyang elegant accent, which was indeed a bit of a pit, and seemed like an alien; and partly because he came from a merchant family, he knew what immediate gains and losses were, and knew that he, a second-rate accountant and scholar, was actually nothing in the face of war and swords...

Correspondingly, these soldiers were also panicking in their hearts... They knew that Tong Jinshi was a little worse, but wasn't Tong Jinshi also a Jinshi? Was it the same thing as them carrying knives? Who would dare?

In addition, the other party's strange accent was also an important reason why they dared not speak... After saying it for a long time, repeating it many times, barely grasping the general meaning, it was still awe-inspiring.

Liang Jinshi called out to everyone, and seeing that no one responded, he looked at the other bonfires around him. He saw that the other accompanying Jinshi either sat upright and stern, and spoke calmly, with the surrounding soldiers keeping silent and no one dared to offend; or they were familiar and easy-going, talking and laughing with the surrounding military leaders, making people feel like they were bathed in the spring breeze; even the publicly recognized rigid old scholar Tong Jinshi was just slowly reading the palace report, with excellent rhythm... It was even more embarrassing.

Dinner was probably still two quarters of an hour away, and several military leaders noticed that something was wrong, but they gradually focused their attention on a military general with only one ear in the seat.

And Liang Jiaying was young after all, and his eyes turned quickly. Seeing this, he immediately stared nervously at this person... Speaking of which, Liang Jinshi knew that the Zhunjiang with the missing ear in front of him was called Hou Dan, and he was one of the most qualified officers under the command of Commander Qiao Zhongfu. He was always brave in battle. It is said that the ear was cut off by the Jin people when he resisted the Jin on the Huai River. And although this person is only a Zhunjiang at the moment, he actually controls the two most elite Du (hundred-man teams) in Qiao Zhongfu's army. These two Du are fully armored. One Du has 100 people, imitating the Wei Army formation of Vice Commander Wang De of the Imperial Guard, all holding large axes. The other Du has 100 people, imitating Han Shizhong's Ruinous Army formation, all holding divine arm crossbows. They are the core of the core combat power of this army.

Basically, they are only second to the dozens of personal guards of Qiao Zhongfu.

And Hou Dan had also seen a lot of scenes, so although he had no thought about this kind of thing at all, when he saw that Jinshi had taken the initiative to look over, he was helpless and just opened his mouth casually: "Secretary Liang..."

Secretary is an abbreviation for the position of 'Secretary of the Commander's Office' under the commander, and by extension, it is the honorific title for the person in charge of the accounts and documents in the army.

"Marshal Hou, if there is anything, just say it..."

Sure enough, when Liang Jinshi heard the other party call himself Secretary, he immediately replied with the title of Marshal, with absolutely no airs.

However, Hou Dan was pushed by everyone to say a word to this Guangzhou Jinshi, but he didn't know what to ask the other party to do. After thinking for a long time, he made a request that was not very relevant: "I remember that there was a story about the Water God of the Huai River in the previous palace report. If Secretary has time and remembers it, you might as well tell us casually..."

Liang Jiaying originally thought that the other party would ask him to help write a family letter, but when he heard this, he didn't care at all, after all, they were all forced to do it, so it was okay to pass the time... Moreover, he was familiar with the story of the fourteen-zhang greatsword, which was included in the first issue of the palace report after the revision.

Therefore, while the other accompanying Jinshi were either talking about loyalty to the emperor, or discussing the scenery of the country, or talking about the subtle words of the saints, this Tong Jinshi Secretary Liang, who did not know how to improve himself and was destined to have no future, simply gave up and used a strange accent to tell a story of outdated monsters and gods to the officers around him.

But Hou Dan, who had only one ear, and the surrounding officers listened very carefully.

After the story was finished, dinner was served. Secretary Liang, who had dealt with the errand, felt relieved, and these officers also had to go back to eat with their respective troops as usual... There was no need to mention all kinds of cumbersome military matters, but only to say that the next morning, Hou Dan, who had only one ear, got up to prepare the troops, but received a strange military order, which was to let him lead the two Du to stay behind in the camp to wait for the rear army.

This really surprised Hou Dan, because this kind of thing was usually the task of the auxiliary soldiers. How could the most elite troops be asked to do it? Moreover, as a qualified officer in the army, he already knew from Qiao Zhongfu that this time the army was advancing extremely fast, in order to rush into Guanxi before the Jin army's eastern route army gathered south to cut off Guanxi and join Han Shizhong, the Marshal of the Han...

You must know that although he was only going to the Chang'an area, which was still far from his hometown, as a person from Guanxi, he hadn't been back for five or six years, and Chang'an was considered the place where his hometown accent was.

However, this time Qiao Zhongfu didn't allow him to be glib and play tricks, and directly issued a hard military order, and set off to lead the main force to Guanxi at full speed.

At this time, Hou Dan, who was always shrewd, also discovered a new problem, that is, Secretary Liang was also staying behind in the camp with a team of auxiliary soldiers... In other words, this troop was responsible for taking over the camp, and he was simply left behind on purpose.

This made Hou Dan a little nervous, and also a little relieved.

Sure enough, by the evening of this day, that is, the evening of April 1st, seeing a familiar dragon banner rolling in from east to west along the official road, but not entering the Sishui Pass but entering the camp in front of the pass, Hou Dan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

In any case, from a psychological point of view, following the official family and protecting the official family was also a good excuse that could convince him not to go home.

And Liang Jiaying, Secretary Liang, became even more panicked... Because according to the rules, he would have to tell the Dutou about the palace reports tonight, but were the Dutou of the Imperial Guard so easy to fool? Would the senior officials of the central government come to listen?

Would the official family notice his Cantonese accent? Would he become the laughing stock of the army, Tokyo City, and even the whole world?

I knew I should have learned more Henan elegant accent!

At this thought, Tong Jinshi Jiaying boy could not help but feel utterly despondent.

ps: After thinking about it, I should still post half a chapter, online novels have to follow the rules... I've been thinking about the plot these days and it's a bit of a brain drain. At noon, I was still telling people that literary and artistic abuse of the protagonist is a good work... It's also brain damage.