The days of hardship in the wilderness were tough, especially when everyone was waiting.

To be fair, Han Shizhong's marching speed was quite fast. On October 17th, the Xingzai (mobile government) finalized their strategy, then dispatched fast horses to send military orders to various parts of Jingdong. It wasn't until the 23rd that they found Han Shizhong.

There was a small interlude in this. It turned out that this Commander of the Imperial Guards' Left Army was originally suppressing a rebellion in Danzhou (modern-day Shan County, Shandong Province), only three hundred miles from Jiegou. However, he was exceptionally capable. The command given by the Xingzai before their departure was fulfilled shortly after they left. He had quelled the rebellion there and recruited the surrendered rebels, but was summoned by his superior, Liu Guangshi, to lend a hand. By the time the messenger arrived, the rebellion under Liu Guangshi had also been almost completely wiped out by Han Shizhong.

However, after receiving the order, Han Shizhong did not slack off in the slightest. After congratulating Liu Guangshi, he immediately reorganized his 8,000 troops and turned back. By October 30th, a fast horse reported to the Xingzai that Commander Han had already arrived at Mingdao Palace… In another two or three days, he would be able to reach the Xingzai.

Nevertheless, even so, the officials in the Xingzai could not help but feel idle and restless… In the past, they could discuss personnel appointments in various places, talk about the assignment and placement of officials in different regions, but now that the Huaixi bandits were stubbornly blocking the way, and the roads were unsafe, after discussing the affairs of Jingdong and Tokyo, there was really nothing else to do.

Thus, the officials of the Great Song Dynasty began their traditional pastime, which was mutual recrimination.

In a few days, someone first impeached Yuwen Xuzhong, a Grand Academician of the Zizheng Hall, for his mistakes during the Jingkang Incident… This was probably because this Grand Academician had recently become increasingly favored and trusted by the Emperor, and there were rumors that he was about to enter the Xifu (Privy Council), so everyone was putting themselves in Li Prime Minister's shoes and warning him;

Then someone impeached Li Gang for being domineering and abusing his power to the point that the Xingzai was stuck in this remote countryside… This goes without saying, with Li Boji's performance, I don't know how many people want to share the burden for His Majesty!

However, these were all minor squabbles, because the serious censors had not taken any action. To move figures like prime ministers and grand academicians, it was necessary for the Imperial Censor to directly open fire – a political tradition of the Great Song Dynasty: if the Imperial Censor directly impeached the prime minister, the prime minister had to resign to prove his innocence.

At this time, the Emperor could dispose of the matter according to his own wishes, either retaining the prime minister and removing the Imperial Censor, or going with the flow and dismissing the prime minister altogether!

Li Gang's two previous dismissals as prime minister followed this procedure… And now, wasn't this Censorate personally controlled by the Emperor?

On the first day of November, in the evening, Zhang Jun, the Imperial Censor-in-Chief who had nothing to do, returned to his residence in a relaxed mood.

Although it was called a residence, how could a temple in the wilderness, no matter how tidy, compare to a large-scale imperial palace like Mingdao Palace? So, even as the Imperial Censor-in-Chief, having entered the Emperor's favor at a young age and wielding great power, he was only assigned a quiet厢房 (xiāngfáng, wing room) in the temple, without even a living room. And even so, his neighbors on the left and right were all academicians, ministers, and imperial censors, many of whom had brought their families… In this situation, I'm afraid that even a minister's snoring at night would cause a court dispute.

In fact, Han, the junior academician of the Ministry of Revenue, was kicked to a corner early on by the other bored academicians because his snoring was too loud.

Back to the present, Zhang Jun had not yet entered when he smelled a rare fragrant aroma in the corridor. He shook his head and smiled, and when he pushed the door open, he saw a pot of jiangchi (姜豉, ginger and fermented soybeans in meat jelly) on the table in his room, and his two friends were playing chess on the couch, waiting for him!

When one of the older men saw Zhang Jun arrive, he immediately overturned the chessboard, got up, and smiled, saying, "If Deyuan (Zhang Jun) doesn't come, Mingzhong and I will starve to death in front of this pot of Ginger Vice-Minister!"

Ginger Vice-Minister is another name for jiangchi.

It should be known that even though the commodity economy in the Song Dynasty was relatively developed, it could not cope with the seasons. There were few vegetables in winter, and jiangchi was a kind of meat jelly made mainly with ginger, which was warming and flavorful. Naturally, it was a rare 'seasonal delicacy' in winter, and an excellent accompaniment to wine. In Tokyo in the past, every official had eaten this thing. Over time, they used a story from the Five Dynasties as a veiled reference and gave it the nickname of Ginger Vice-Minister.

Zhang Jun was also happy to see these two people, so he directly closed the door. Without even greeting them, he sat at the table, reached out, and pinched a piece of meat jelly. Only after eating it did he excitedly say, "I didn't expect to have jiangchi today. This is really rare!"

The two men looked at each other, and then sat down together. The younger one, 'Mingzhong,' took out a pot of wine from somewhere, took the initiative to set out bowls and chopsticks, and then poured wine for the two of them.

After the three of them sat down, the younger Mingzhong said solemnly, "Brother Deyuan doesn't know. Since the eunuch went to the distant market town to purchase and came back with a vat of jiangchi, there have been rumors in Yingzhou and Chenzhou that the Emperor loves to eat jiangchi. Therefore, Zhao Yuanxian, the prefect of Chenzhou, came to see the Emperor today and specially brought several vats. Many people have been given some! Just because there are many people at Brother Yuanzhen's place, I gave my share to Brother Yuanzhen's sister-in-law and came to Brother Deyuan's place to mooch some meat."

Hearing this, Zhang Jun shook his head and smiled again and again, "Let's not talk about these things, just say that the Emperor really has an undeserved reputation. It's quite like how Prime Minister Niu liked to eat venison back then."

As soon as he said this, the other two also shook their heads and laughed.

The story goes that the eunuch in the Forbidden City went out to buy things, and happened to encounter a peddler and bought a vat of jiangchi. What happened? That night, the Emperor only gave Consort Pan one bowl, gave half of the vat to trusted military officers in front of him, and gave half to important officials in the court. He didn't eat a bite himself… The place was small, so everyone knew about it, and it spread outside that the Emperor liked to eat jiangchi.

"The Emperor is a sagacious sovereign!" After laughing, Zhang Jun sighed in earnest after drinking it all in one gulp. "Even the enlightened rulers of the past may not have been able to do this."

"Who says otherwise?" The older man also sighed along. "This is truly undressing to clothe them and pushing food to feed them. What is even more commendable is giving everything he has in times of hardship… It is hateful that some people are not satisfied."

Zhang Jun's heart stirred slightly, but he picked up a piece of frozen meat, put it in his mouth, and drank another cup before raising his head. Then he pointed towards the central palace, asking tentatively, "Zhao brother is talking about that one?"

"Who else could it be?" Zhao brother, who was Zhao Ding, Zhao Yuanzhen, shook his head and sneered again when he heard the words. "As a subject of the Emperor, he has no respect for the Emperor. Back then, the Emperor didn't even use it himself, and he was the first to send this jiangchi to him. As a result, after he found out, he scolded the Emperor for privately traveling in Xingzai and going to the market, causing what kind of disturbance to the people? The Emperor was clearly afraid of disturbing the people and didn't even enter the market. Even Yang and Liu, the Emperor's beloved generals in front of him, were scolded, and Yang Yizhong was even demoted by one rank… It is said that those who lived close to him that day, such as Prime Minister Lü and Academician Yuwen, quickly distributed this jiangchi to their subordinates, for fear of causing trouble. As a result, when he went back, he and his son ate it comfortably."

Zhang Jun also shook his head when he heard this, but slowly said to him, "It doesn't matter, these are all small things… Moreover, the Emperor's intention to trust Prime Minister Li this time after falling into the well is known to everyone. Otherwise, why would everything be left to Prime Minister Li to handle in the central palace?"

"I understand." Zhao Ding also said solemnly. "The overall situation does need him to be prudent. But let's watch. In three or five months, when Nanyang is stable and we move to Luoyang, if he still treats His Majesty so childishly, I will definitely impeach him face to face."

Zhang Jun nodded repeatedly, obviously still agreeing with the other party's view.

And the young man next to him, who was Hu Yin, Hu Mingzhong, didn't care about these topics at all. After pouring the wine, he poured it for himself, drank it himself, and had already secretly eaten half a pot of frozen meat.

Zhao Ding was forty-three years old this year, twelve years older than Zhang Jun, and thirteen years older than Hu Yin, Hu Mingzhong, next to him. One was from Shanxi, one was from Sichuan, and one was from Fujian. Their qualifications were different, their ages were different, their official positions were different, and their places of origin were different. Originally, they were people who could not be found in eight poles. If they wanted to drink together in Tokyo in the past, it would have to be a grand court banquet.

However, things are unpredictable. These three people are now friends in life and death… They really are friends in life and death!

Back then, during the Jingkang Incident, when the Northern Song Dynasty was destroyed, these three people, plus Song Qiyu, the remonstrating official who was killed by Li Gang, either feared death or sought to preserve their integrity, in short, they escaped to the Imperial Academy together, and then abandoned Zhang Bangchang and voluntarily came to Zhao Emperor together.

According to conspiracy theories, these people had already formed a political group with extraordinary potential.

However, although this small group was considered to be friends in life and death with each other and was extremely reliable, it was clearly lacking a leader, lacking organization (otherwise Song Qiyu would not have been killed), and everyone's political views were different… For example, Zhao Ding also wanted to resist the Jin, but he believed that the internal situation should be stabilized first, and then the restoration should be carried out. In other words, internal stability must be ensured before resisting foreign aggression; while Hu Yin was much more radical. He believed that the current Emperor should not even have ascended the throne, and should have gone north to welcome back the two Emperors from the beginning; as for Zhang Jun, it was a little hard to say, but some people vaguely mocked him for currying favor and trying to guess the Emperor's intentions to make strategies!

Of course, overall, the same experience in Tokyo made them realize the barbarity and cunning of the Jin people, so they roughly raised a common banner of irreconcilability and resisting the Jin!

Then, because of the previously universally low official positions, there was another layer of selfishness in wanting to help each other rise to power.

In fact, Zhang Jun's successful promotion back then had factors of the three people working together… After Zhao Jiu issued the decree, the three people who were already suspicious had made arrangements. Zhao Ding used his old and prudent words, Zhang Jun used his words to attack Li Gang, and Hu Yin used his theory of persuading the Emperor to cross the river and welcome back the two Emperors, and they all worked together.

Finally, after the bet was won by Zhang Jun, Zhang Deyuan did not forget his two good brothers. Zhao Ding was immediately recommended as the Supervising Secretary of the Department of Revenue from Assistant Director of the Department of Revenue, and Hu Yin was also recommended as the Drafter of Decrees from Recorder. These were both noble and important positions, and good places to have daily contact with the Emperor!

And obviously, now that the situation has slowed down a little, Zhao Ding, the oldest of them, is a little impatient again. Only Zhang Jun is now deeply in the Emperor's heart and knows that Li Gang cannot be easily shaken, so he has made some comfort.

It is said that the Xingzai is simple. After a pot of jiangchi was finished, two bowls of hot rice were eaten with seasonings and daily winter vegetables, and the belly was full. Then, Zhao Ding, one of the three, was a Hedong native and had a family who had fled with him, so he had to go back to the camp outside to take care of his family, while Hu Yin simply stayed to prepare to sleep with Zhang Jun.

However, just as the three of them were about to get up to say goodbye, they suddenly heard a commotion outside. Then, they vaguely saw lights lit up in the outer barracks, and several torches were rushing here at great speed. Obviously, there were sentries and messengers riding horses in the camp late at night, alarming some officials' families.

The three of them looked at each other, and without saying much, they went to the central palace together… But on the way, they heard the exact news:

The main force of the Jin army suddenly appeared in the lower reaches of the Yellow River. The vanguard, Wanyan Zongbi, also known as the fourth Prince of the Jin army, Wanyan Wushu, had more than 50,000 troops and had already crossed the river, heading straight for Jingdong East Road! From Liangshanbo eastward, the entire Yellow River line was in urgent need of reinforcements!

"The Emperor actually guessed right, Wanyan Wushu really came!" In a daze and shock, Zhang Jun instinctively thought of the reminder that Zhao Jiu had given to Zong Ze in Mingdao Palace.

ps: First, I apologize. I slept in today and didn't wake up until after 2 pm.

Then thank you to the editor, it is such a big recommendation, and also thank you to the website, the New Year gift bag has also been received, and there are actually two golden chopsticks and a bowl... The only thing that is certain is that this thing looks like gold, but it is definitely not gold.

Finally, continue to sacrifice the new book - *Holding Wei*