"My idea is very simple." Zhao Jiu released Han Shizhong's hand and spoke slowly. "A good minister is a renowned general of the country. In matters of war, I must heed your advice. Since you say, from a military perspective, that the Jin army didn't necessarily need to retreat in such haste, then this abrupt withdrawal must have some debatable aspect."

The several accompanying civil officials stood silently, while Zhao, the Emperor, turned his head to look directly at Zhang Jun:

"Although what Deyuan said during the day has its merits, military matters concern life and death. We must anticipate the enemy's strength and be strict with ourselves. We can't just find a reason, make the situation sound reasonable, and let it pass... If we're really looking for an explanation, Jin Wushu is young and impetuous, his temperament not unlike mine. During the war, he even sent a document over to mock me. How could such a person, with no one truly able to restrain him in the army, give up so readily?"

Zhang Jun immediately bowed his head. "Your Majesty is right. I was negligent in my thinking and made presumptuous conjectures."

"Therefore, Liangchen," Zhao Jiu turned back to Han Shizhong. "The reason I called you here today is not to force you to admit fault, but to tell you that you are my support. I still rely on you in military matters... Tell me, if Jin Wushu has other plans, what is his grand strategy? How should we respond? This matter requires you."

Han Shizhong immediately became elated, but hearing the latter part, he grew solemn. After a moment's thought, he gave his answer: "If I were Jin Wushu and had other plans, there would be only two possibilities. One is to take advantage of the retreat north, suddenly launch an attack at Mengcheng, and lead the main cavalry force to raid Jizhou, swallowing up that Yue Fei and Zhang Rong's forces... But if that were the case, we would be helpless, not even having time to notify them."

Zhao Jiu nodded slightly. Jizhou was over four hundred miles away, and the Jin were all cavalry. If that were the case, they could only leave it to fate. But then again, the Emperor was not too worried, because according to military reports, Yue Fei and Zhang Rong together had nearly twenty thousand men, and they held both Jizhou City and Liangshan Marsh. With Yue Fei's abilities, how could he not defend a city? Even if he couldn't, he could retreat into Liangshan Marsh, taking advantage of the local terrain. Would Jin Wushu dare to pursue him there?

"The other option is naturally to lull us into complacency, so he can launch a sudden counterattack, continuing to think about crossing the Huai River to take me?" With this thought, Zhao Jiu followed the other's line of reasoning and spoke.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, that is both true and untrue," Han Shizhong replied boldly, supporting himself on his waist in the military barracks. "It's not that I'm boasting, although Your Majesty has reminded me that seagoing ships rely on large sails and become targets for small boats and rockets when the wind stops, but Your Majesty fortified the clear fields beforehand and gathered the ships. How could the Jin army suddenly gather small boats, and how could they break through my fleet with a single turn? Therefore, if I were Jin Wushu, I would not launch this counterattack from here."

"Then where would it come from?" For some reason, Zhao Jiu felt relieved upon hearing this.

"There are only two routes: either secretly cross the Fei River and Ying River to the west in the north, and raid Guang Prefecture (present-day Gushi and Huangchuan); or secretly cross the Wo River and Huan River to the east in the north, and raid Sizhou downstream (present-day Hongze Lake area, no lake at this time)!" Han Shizhong said thoughtfully. "Among them, Guang Prefecture is especially likely!"

"Why?" Yang Yizhong, the second person here who understood military affairs, finally couldn't help but interrupt. "Guang Prefecture has strong troops, while Sizhou is sparsely defended. Moreover, after crossing the river upstream, there are many mountains between Guang Prefecture and the Eight Public Mountains, while the downstream route is flat... Wasn't that Shulie blocked in the mountains because he got lost?"

"Not so," Han Shizhong waved his hand. "Guang Prefecture may seem to have more troops, but the generals under Miao Fu, Liu Zhengyan, Ding Jin, and Liu Yan are not unified, and Prime Minister Yuwen may not be able to unite them. Moreover, Ding Jin, who commands more troops, is a recent surrender. It's hard to say whether he can or wants to fight! As for the terrain, let me ask you, Yang Dalang, if ten thousand Jin soldiers cross the Huai River together, what does the terrain matter? Besides gathering troops to escort Your Majesty south, do we have a second option?"

"Then Sizhou..."

"Sizhou is not impossible, but isn't it too far?" Han Shizhong sneered. "Since it's a counterattack, it's the last resort. What's needed is surprise. Sizhou is separated by Hao Prefecture. How can it be as convenient as Guang Prefecture in the west? Moreover, how would they know that I, Han Wu, emptied Sizhou to defend Shouzhou and Haozhou? They only know that Sizhou is my, Han Wu's, defense zone. They might even fear it because of this!"

Yang Yizhong couldn't refute him at all.

"Besides, there's another reason," Zhang Jun, who hadn't spoken for a long time, suddenly opened his mouth slowly. "If they want to raid Guang Prefecture, they must pass through Shunchang Prefecture (present-day Fuyang). When we withdrew from Shunchang Prefecture earlier, Your Majesty, with your benevolence, specially relocated many people from Shunchang Prefecture... Marching from there would provide some cover. General Han's words are quite reasonable."

"In any case, send people to notify upstream and downstream overnight. Both Sizhou and Guang Prefecture must be informed to prepare in advance," Hu Yin also spoke in a timely manner. "Even Jizhou should be reached by sending people to detour, and we cannot ignore it just because it takes a long time to deliver the message."

Everyone nodded together and looked at Zhao Jiu again.

However, the Emperor sat expressionlessly in the chair in the military barracks, first nodding slightly, but then shaking his head repeatedly, as if he had other ideas: "It must be done, but even so, I am still somewhat worried, because in Guang Prefecture, apart from Liu Yan, I can't trust anyone..."

In the military barracks, except for Han Shizhong and Little Scholar Lin, the eyebrows of the other three almost rose in unison!

Although Little Scholar Lin didn't raise his eyebrows, his mind was working normally, even one step ahead – it was normal not to trust Ding Jin; no one trusted him. But why were Miao Fu and Liu Zhengyan also untrustworthy?

Could it be because they were Western Army generals? And the Emperor harbored ill will towards Western Army generals because of the Liu Guangshi affair?

Thinking about it, it seemed that those who had made contributions and were being used were not Western Army generals! Yue Fei, Fu Xuan, and Zhang Rong need not be mentioned. Even Han Shizhong and Zhang Jun, although both were from the Western Army, were of humble origins, not from generations of generals. Even Yang Weizhong, the old Grand Commandant Yang, was now the most senior and longest-serving in the Western Army, but he was also self-made! He was a barbarian from Huanqing Road who had risen to the top military position through his own efforts. Although he was from the Western Army, he was definitely not from a military family!

Thinking further, it seemed that the Xin brothers, Miao Fu, Liu Zhengyan, and others didn't have a very good future?

It could only be said that the Emperor was worthy of being the Emperor. Although young, he had long seen the corruption and uselessness of the Western Army's military families. After the Liu Guangshi affair, he had made up his mind and was patiently biding his time... And continuing to think, was it a good thing that he had been intercepted by Hu Yin and called back by the Emperor the other night, and had reluctantly chosen to support Zhang Rong in his confusion?

Otherwise, it would be better than misjudging the situation and supporting Liu Zhengyan and Miao Fu, right?

But he didn't know if that Zhang Rong was sensible, whether he was black-faced or white-faced...

Speaking of which, not to mention the deep digressions of the others, Zhao Jiu's thinking here was actually much simpler – from beginning to end, he only trusted Yue Fei, Han Shizhong, and Zhang Jun in military matters, two and a half people. The first two counted as people, and the last one counted as half.

After all, who told him that the army construction was a complete mess, and he could only rely on the abilities of the generals themselves, and among the Four Generals of the Restoration, only these three were truly useful?

As for the later Liu Yan, Yang Yizhong, Wang De, and others, it was only after prolonged personal contact, either gradually trusting these people, or seeing their abilities, that they were included in the category of trustworthy, and then recorded in the small notebook in his imperial tent.

In other words, Zhao Jiu initially only hoped to use himself as bait, and then rely on Han Shizhong and Zhang Jun to fight a defensive battle in the predetermined battlefield of Shouzhou, because he only had these two cards in his hand at the time. And now, with the support of Yue Fei and others, although he had won a great victory, which was an unexpected surprise, after the scale of the battlefield had completely expanded, the Emperor found that he was somewhat powerless!

And at this time, many civil and military officials in the temporary capital were still misjudging, but the misjudged situation was reversed!

At that time, everyone regarded Han Shizhong and Zhang Jun as ordinary Song military generals, but Zhao Jiu knew that these two were still a cut above the others and could compete with the Jin. Now, with some military achievements, everyone regarded the rest of the Song army as being at the level of Han, Zhang, and Yue, but only Zhao Jiu knew that these three were actually the highest level of the Song army... The vast majority of the rest were still useless.

And when it came to Guang Prefecture upstream, a simple logic was that, with the abilities of Han Shizhong and Zhang Jun, they could only barely withstand Jin Wushu with superior forces in a preset battlefield. Even the most reliable Yue Fei, the military report clearly stated, ambushed five thousand with twenty thousand, relying on the miraculous terrain of Liangshan Marsh and regular flooding to win... Then how could the two generals Miao and Liu, who fought Ding Jin for so long before forcing him to surrender, even before they had time to annex and reorganize, perform against the Jin army?

The logical deduction should be no problem, right?

Therefore, the Emperor Zhao Jiu was in danger again!