Zhao Jiu's statement about going to Tokyo for the Lantern Festival wasn't a probe to see if Daozu was watching him, but a declaration of fact, because at that moment, the road from Changshe to Tokyo was open, and he could go there directly.

He could simply retrace the route岳飞 and his men had taken from Tokyo to this place. As long as he traveled light, he could easily reach Tokyo by the Lantern Festival.

Of course, safely reaching Tokyo depended on whether Han Shizhong and his sixty to seventy thousand men weren't completely wiped out by Yelu Ma Wu and Talan, or whether Yue Fei and his twenty thousand men weren't directly breached by Wanyan Wushu within two or three days… As for wanting to settle down there and successfully force the Jin army across the Yellow River to end this major Jin offensive, that seemed to be just a basic prerequisite.

So, the matter was either extremely simple or had something of the flavor of "carrying Mount Tai to cross the Bohai Sea."

But regardless, after seeing Hu Yin suddenly lose control and burst into tears, Zhao Jiu became even more determined in his idea, because he had a reason to go.

Speaking of which, after this victory, he dared not say whether it had revitalized the entire Henan battlefield, but at least he had survived the stage where he had to fight desperately. At this point, Zhao Jiu had to plan for the future. With Han Shizhong and Yue Fei in charge, he no longer needed to overly interfere with military affairs, or rather, personally interfere. Instead, he should do things of greater value from the perspective of an emperor.

That thing was to rally hearts and minds.

After all, from a specific situation perspective, Zhao Jiu's trip almost abandoned Nanyang and stood up Xiangyang. It was a fact that morale in Nanyang and Xiangyang was unstable and low. Moreover, he had taken the drastic step of executing high-ranking civil officials and ministers. Therefore, no matter how the war progressed, he had to seek a political high ground as soon as possible to restrain and unite the exiled court of Nanyang and Xiangyang during the war's ups and downs, or rather, to regain control of them after the war.

This political high ground was the emperor's return to the old capital.

In addition, this time, the Jin army's southward invasion had changed its past policy of wanton looting and slaughter, and began to vigorously implement the policy of "those who submit will prosper, those who resist will perish," and vigorously support the use of surrendered generals and officials. A large-scale surrender had already occurred in the two Jing regions of Henan. After this battle, Zhao Jiu learned definitively from certain prisoners about the Jin Kingdom's high-level specific plans to support a puppet state…

Therefore, Zhao Jiu had to make a gesture to appease the people along the Yellow River.

Of course, the most crucial point was that, from a long-term perspective, after more than a year of wandering, the Zhao Emperor had clearly realized that as an emperor, his greatest, even his only, trump card was his status as emperor… In a situation where the Jin army would never give you the opportunity to settle down, if you wanted to maximize the use of this identity to 'monetize,' you should strive to win over the hearts of the people to the greatest extent possible, and win over the hearts of everyone, not just be limited to the bureaucratic system of the 行营 he had naturally inherited when he first came to this world.

He had to go out.

In short, back to the present, looking at Hu Yin, you would know how great a shock and spiritual comfort the new emperor's return to the old capital would be for scholars and anyone with even a trace of idealistic pursuit.

What about the people of Henan who had repeatedly suffered from war?

What about the captured scholars and people of the Two Rivers region who were eagerly awaiting?

Not to mention that Zong Ze was terminally ill, Du Chong was dead, and Quan Bangyan was trapped in Huaizhou… Just for the stability of the Tokyo Remaining Garrison, he had to go to Tokyo to see and bid farewell to the Zong.

Therefore, once the Zhao Emperor had spoken, he said no more.

The next morning, Zhao Jiu convened all the army commanders above the level of commander and announced his decision. As he had imagined, these commanders were divided into two after the initial shock. Those who understood what was going on naturally understood and then fell silent, while those who didn't understand also fell silent… Only, after yesterday's battle, the Zhao Emperor had enough confidence and prestige in front of these people, so everyone just listened to the order in silence.

In fact, the military situation and matters were very urgent, and the Zhao Emperor didn't delay anything. In addition to the people brought out from Nanyang, he also named Wang Shan, the commander of the Tokyo Remaining Garrison, plus an injured Li Kui. The two units combined had four or five thousand men, and they set off after breakfast almost at the same time as Han Shizhong's pursuit force.

That morning, Zhao Jiu arrived at Yanling.

After gathering Lan Gui, the Grand Supervisor of the Inner Attendants Bureau who was left behind, and a group of officials from the Tokyo Remaining Garrison, he rested briefly before the imperial carriage left the city, crossed the Wei River, and headed northeast, arriving at Weishi in the evening.

That night, Han Shizhong sent a messenger to report that Wanyan Talan had fled north the night before, retreating directly to Xinzheng within Zhengzhou. Then, upon hearing that the Song army was pursuing with a large force, he didn't stop and continued north, and it was now unknown where he was in Zhengzhou. But as Han Shizhong's vanguard pursued to Xinzheng, one thing that could be confirmed was that Yelu Ma Wu, who should have been the first to react after the Battle of Yanling-Changsher, did not dare to neglect after hearing the news, and abandoned Zhongmu to the west to meet his marshal.

Objectively speaking, this was not good news, because these two forces had merged, which added considerable difficulty to Han Shizhong's combat mission. But at the same time, without a doubt, having lost the threat of Zhongmu, the Zhao Emperor could safely set off.

Therefore, Zhao Jiu sent Li Kui overnight with a thousand soldiers to occupy Zhongmu, but continued to head northwest lightly with Wang Shan's forces early the next morning.

In the afternoon, they had already passed Chichang Town and arrived at Qingcheng, a small town south of Tokyo.

This day was the fifteenth day of the first month.

It is said that when Du Chong sent out his troops, Yue Fei had originally left behind strong generals, or rather, his three most trusted generals, to garrison Tokyo: Tang Huai, Zhang Xian, and Xu Qing, who died in the battle on the Yi River. They were all his Xiangzhou brothers and were left behind to garrison Tokyo.

But around the New Year, Zong Ze's body had rarely improved for two days, so he got up and personally inquired about the situation, but then sent the three generals to Yanling to be deployed by Yue Fei, and replaced them with the garrison troops of the Tokyo Remaining Garrison… In his words, if that place was defeated, Tokyo would inevitably be lost; but if that place was victorious, then Yelu Ma Wu would definitely not dare to attack.

Old things should not be mentioned too much, but in any case, there were about ten thousand troops left in Tokyo to guard against Yelu Ma Wu. Tokyo City itself, Qingcheng in the south of the city, and Yuetai in the west of the city all had troops.

Therefore, when Zhao Jiu arrived here, troops had already come to scout. Although they saw their own flags, they still shouted from afar to stop the troops more than two hundred steps outside the city, and wait for the Qingcheng garrison to come to verify.

The Zhao Emperor had nothing to say and directly reined in his horse under his dragon banner.

Immediately afterwards, a team of just over a hundred people appeared in sight. They didn't even have complete leather armor. Only the team leader was wearing iron armor, but he still walked over. When they reached the center of the army, they were stunned when they saw the dragon banner. Guo Zhongxun and Wang Shan immediately rode out together. The man immediately saluted and greeted without mentioning it, but his eyes were always looking in the direction of the dragon banner.

After a brief conversation, he directly bowed to the ground, leading his subordinates to kneel and salute.

After a while, Guo Zhongxun and Wang Shan returned together to report that they could continue to advance, but unexpectedly, at this moment, most people under the central dragon banner, at least those from Nanyang, looked a little gloomy and remained silent.

"Does Your Majesty want to comfort them?"

After hesitating for a moment, Guo Zhongxun asked tentatively, a little nervously. "This team leader was transferred to the Imperial Guards of Tokyo before the Jingkang Incident. He can be considered an old Tokyo resident and may have even seen Your Majesty..."

As soon as these words came out, Lan Gui, who had not said a word before, immediately burst into tears. Hu Yin, Liu Yan, Wan Qixie, and others also sighed.

It is said that Zhao Jiu's trip to Tokyo had the dragon banner erected all the way, and from Yanling onward, he had changed into a red robe and gold belt as suggested by Lan Gui.

However, along the way, the route may have happened to be the area where the Song and Jin armies had confronted each other and marched, so the scenery along the way was desolate, the towns were dilapidated, and the fields were barren. Many places clearly still showed some signs of habitation, but now they were sparsely populated. Obviously, they had all fled… Even in the few towns that still had settled populations, their first reaction to seeing the large army was to guard themselves strictly and refuse entry.

In a word, the kind of scene of people bringing food and following like shadows that many people had imagined, the kind of scene that would bring tears to their eyes, simply did not happen, because no one appeared at all.

Then it was no wonder that the Zhao Emperor, who had returned to his old place, and several close ministers were in such a heavy mood, and it was even less strange that Guo Zhongxun, who was a judge of the Tokyo Remaining Garrison, was uneasy and made such a gesture, letting a team leader come to perform a scene of harmonious relations between the ruler and the people.

Zhao Jiu came back to his senses and realized that he had been misunderstood. What did he care about this?

It must be known that today, everyone under this central dragon banner was qualified to be sentimental, but he, who had come to Tokyo for the first time, had absolutely no feelings… The reason he was silent was because he saw that these soldiers still had order, so he knew that after entering the city, he would most likely have to face Zong Ze.

In other words, others were timid because they were close to their old place, while Zhao Jiu was in awe because he was close to people.

He didn't know what attitude Zong Ze would use to treat him, and what posture and way he should use to face Zong Ze.

"Everyone, would you like this old servant to comfort them on behalf of Your Majesty?" Seeing that the Zhao Emperor had been silent for a long time, Lan Gui, the Grand Supervisor of the Inner Attendants Bureau who was becoming more and more proactive as they approached the old capital, took the initiative to speak.

"Let me go and see." Zhao Jiu came back to his senses, but smiled at him, and then directly flipped over and dismounted, heading forward.

The others dared not neglect and quickly followed him in droves.

"This subject, Bei Yan, the Commander of the Third 指挥 of the Sixth Army of the Left 厢 of Changning, from the 无为军, kowtows to Your Majesty." The man saw Zhao Jiu dismounting and coming here, and loudly announced his official position and name from afar… 都头 was the former official title of the leader of a hundred-man team, Changning was the army number, and 无为军 was the place of origin. It was obvious that this team leader who had come to investigate and verify was a man of eloquent speech.

"Rise." Zhao Jiu came to the front and immediately dismissed the formalities.

"Your Majesty's return to Tokyo is truly a cause for great joy for this subject and others…" The team leader named Bei got up and flattered him according to the routine.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Jiu smiled instead upon hearing this: "Is it really joy?"

"It is really joy." Bei Yan was first stunned, then shocked. "How could we not be happy when Your Majesty returns? Moreover, Your Majesty's coming here must mean that the royal army in the south has won a great victory."

"The royal army has indeed won, but the Jin army has not left. If I come here, Tokyo will inevitably become the target of the Jin army's main force in the future, and most of you will have to die for it. Can you still be happy?" Zhao Jiu continued to ask with a smile.

"This subject…" Bei Yan was only slightly stunned before quickly kowtowing again and responding, "This subject and others are willing to die for Your Majesty!"

However, Bei Yan was a clever man, but the soldiers kneeling behind him didn't have such good brains. They were all stunned, just seeing the team leader kneel down again, and then kneeling down in a panic.

Obviously, these people only felt hurried and flustered about the emperor's arrival, and only felt nervous and fearful about the possibility of the Jin army coming here.

"However, there are also benefits to my coming here." Zhao Jiu smiled again. "At least some of the money and silk from the southeast, Sichuan, and Jingxiang can be brought here. This time, when we drive away the Jin army, the military pay can be sent back… Thank you for guarding Tokyo these past few years!"

Hearing this, the soldiers of this unit finally felt a little excited, and Bei Yan was also suddenly overjoyed. It was not until he saw the emperor smiling at him that he quickly lowered his head and said again, "This subject and others are not tired…"

But as soon as he said it, even with this person's eloquence, he had a somewhat difficult posture.

Zhao Jiu nodded and said nothing more, but turned around to return to his team, mounted his horse, and urged the entire army to advance.

In this way, as evening approached and the moon appeared faintly, the Zhao Emperor's dragon banner finally entered Tokyo City through the South Xun Gate.

At this time, the entire city had already learned of the Zhao Emperor's return to Tokyo, and the scene of the citizens weeping with joy that had been envisioned had somewhat materialized. Hu Yin and others could not restrain themselves and wept along the way…

However, Tokyo City had suffered extremely heavy population losses after the Jingkang Incident. The huge city (possibly reaching 50 square kilometers) now had only one to two hundred thousand people. Specifically, only a thousand or so of the Tokyo elders who heard the news were able to rush over. Such a small number of people were distributed on both sides of the extremely wide Imperial Street, appearing extremely sparse, not even as many as the city defense troops who came to meet them after hearing the news.

In this situation, coupled with the darkening sky, the Zhao Emperor did not delay. He rejected the suggestion of the Tokyo Remaining Garrison's officials to go to the Grand Palace, but after entering the inner city through the Zhuque Gate, he went directly to the Privy Council residence by the Bian River where Zong Ze lived.

Arriving in front of the residence gate, Zong Ying, Zong Ze's son, was already kneeling to welcome him in front of the gate. It was obvious that Zong Ze had also learned of the Zhao Emperor's arrival and had made preparations.

Seeing this, the Zhao Emperor had nothing to say, but comforted Zong Ying a few words before following him into the residence. He had only walked to the front of the main hall when he saw a thin old man with gray hair, dressed in coarse cloth and wearing a gray and dull wool cloak, supported by servants, standing inside the door, staring intently at the front of the door.

Zhao Jiu did not dare to hesitate and immediately stepped forward, preparing to support the other party himself.

However, as he approached, before he could touch the other party's arm, under the twilight that had not yet darkened, in the moonlight, the old man suddenly smiled coldly… His breath was unsteady and his tone was slow, showing that his body was weak, but his words were particularly clear and did not seem like those of a terminally ill person:

"Is Your Majesty rushing here to take over the military power of the Tokyo Remaining Garrison because you see that this subject is about to die, in order to prevent the throne from being unstable? Or did you lose the hearts of the people in Nanyang and want to use Tokyo City to fool the people of the world?"

There was an obvious uproar in front of the hall.

Zhao Jiu, who could not avoid it, was slightly stunned, but still stepped forward and took the other party from the hands of the servants, then lowered his head solemnly and responded: "Both are true, I am embarrassed to have been seen through by Chancellor Zong."

This time, it was Zong Ze's turn to be slightly stunned, and then he was speechless.

In this way, the two stood, one inside the door and one outside, with their arms crossed and standing for a long time before the person inside the door sighed, "On this Lantern Festival, Your Majesty has returned to your old home. As the defending minister, even if I am short of supplies, I must invite Your Majesty inside for a drink…"

Hearing these words, the Nanyang and Tokyo officials behind him obviously felt relieved, while Zhao Jiu became nervous and even more serious.

However, after thinking for a long time, he could only support the other party and say solemnly:

"Thank you for your hard work, Chancellor Zong!"

ps: Thank you to book friend gunslinger for the 50,000 Qidian coins reward... I am deeply grateful.

Good night everyone