Chapter 113 A Rush

On the first day of March, imperial gazettes containing Zhang Jun's memorials and the Zhao Emperor's responses were already on their way to all parts of the country. At the same time, the court imitated the famous court assembly during the Jingkang era, using a head-counting method to directly and indisputably pass Zhang Jun's comprehensive plan.

Back then, the Supreme Emperor Yuan Sheng had used this method to suppress the pro-peace faction, fundamentally shifting the court's policy to favor peace. In that head count, out of more than a hundred participants, seventy percent favored ceding Taiyuan, Zhongshan, and Hejian, while thirty percent firmly opposed it.

Faced with such a stark numerical contrast, the pro-peace faction ultimately shed the burden of moral condemnation and instead overwhelmed the pro-war faction. The Supreme Emperor Yuan Sheng was thus able to extricate himself and avoid political responsibility, directly initiating peace negotiations.

However, unlike the Supreme Emperor Yuan Sheng's intention to evade political responsibility, today's Zhao Emperor and the radical faction were using this method to promote Zhang Deyuan's comprehensive plan, clearly engaging in political suppression and demonstration... aiming to use the indisputable result of a political vote to eliminate any room for opposition from the moderate faction.

Of course, even so, it didn't mean things would go smoothly, nor did it mean the opposition would shut up.

It only meant that after this vote, the internal opposition within the court might temporarily fall silent, but the public opinion outside the court would have no such scruples. Moreover, if this political plan ultimately caused problems, not only would the internal opposition within the court reopen their mouths, but the scale of opposition would also be even greater.

As for whether the political plan would cause problems... one must understand that a political plan is, after all, just a political plan. Even if a political plan looks good and sounds good, its actual implementation may very well turn out badly, even harming the country and the people... Moreover, the series of political plans proposed by Zhang Jun were full of controversy and some idealistic narratives from the very beginning.

When put into practice, heaven knows what troubles would arise.

Time came to mid-March, the height of spring, and the weather grew warmer.

On this day, just after the morning hours, the Zhao Emperor, after his routine archery practice at the Martial Academy, was slightly sweaty but did not rush to the stone pavilion. Instead, he turned to Apricot Hill, which adjoined the city walls near the Martial Academy, to rest. As soon as he ascended Apricot Hill and sat down in the thatched pavilion, Liu Yan led a team of Imperial Guards to pile dozens of sealed boxes next to the Zhao Emperor. Then, others immediately set up writing implements in the pavilion.

Seeing this, Zhao Jiu shook his head and smiled wryly, "I just wanted to avoid these memorials, but I can't escape them even here."

Upon hearing this, Liu Yan was naturally embarrassed but could only carefully inquire, "This humble servant is terrified. Should I put the secret memorials back in the stone pavilion?"

"No need." Zhao Jiu shook his head in response, reaching for a brush and gesturing towards Liu Yan. "It was a rule I set myself... It's best to abide by it."

Seeing the Emperor's gesture, everyone else, including Yang Yizhong and Fan Zongyin, retreated several steps together, except for Liu Yan, who immediately opened the sealed boxes himself and handed the secret memorials to the Zhao Emperor to read.

And the Zhao Emperor replied and commented on those secret memorials on the spot.

It should be said that Zhao Jiu usually paid great attention to commenting on secret memorials. In addition to replying to the specific matters mentioned in the secret memorials, he would generally also express concern for these commanders and sometimes correct their typos.

But this time, the Zhao Emperor was obviously a little impatient. He read one, casually replied with a few sentences at the end of the letter, then read another, replied with a few more sentences, and quickly replied to these dozen or so secret memorials.

Clearly full of perfunctoriness.

After replying, Liu Yan naturally collected the secret memorials and left immediately, preparing to send them back quickly according to the rules. Zhao Jiu watched him descend Apricot Hill, but then shook his head and smiled wryly again, "The secret memorials are all about recommending people and boasting about achievements. Just watch, tomorrow or the day after, the memorials they submit through the Privy Council will still be these words... Have you ever counted how many memorials there are about expanding the army?"

Everyone naturally knew that the Emperor was complaining, and they mostly smiled wryly upon hearing this... After all, if the Zhao Emperor was annoyed by these memorials and reports, what about them, as those who assisted in handling the memorials?

However, at this moment, Ren Baozhong, a Pavilion Attendant wearing a cotton turban, stepped forward without any hesitation and cupped his hands in front of the thatched pavilion:

"So that the Emperor may know, civil and military officials, central and local, memorials about expanding the army have never stopped in the past ten days. This humble servant naturally does not know about secret memorials, but the official memorials forwarded through the Privy Council and the Palace Affairs Department, which mention matters related to expanding the army, from the grand court assembly on the first day of this month to last night, total two hundred and twenty-seven..."

Above Apricot Hill, everyone was momentarily stunned into silence, not knowing whether they were frightened by this number or by the ambition of this Tangut old man.

The Zhao Emperor naturally knew that Ren Baozhong was experiencing a late-blooming surge of ambition, but having been an emperor for so many years, how could he not know that regardless of one's motives, as long as it was truly effective, it was better than Fan Zongyin spending his time looking in the mirror? Just now, when he was shooting arrows, that fellow secretly looked in the mirror once.

With this thought in mind, the Zhao Emperor of course showed a smile to Ren Baozhong, "Ren Qing is attentive. What are the origins of these two hundred and twenty-seven memorials? Can you classify them in detail?"

"Reporting to the Emperor, the memorials say all sorts of things." Ren Baozhong still replied immediately. "Often a memorial involves many aspects. This humble servant's Chinese is not as good as the many scholars and drafters, and I can only roughly understand the meaning. I can't even figure out the hidden meanings in some people's words, so it is really difficult to classify them specifically and relieve the Emperor's worries..."

Upon hearing this, Fan Zongyin, Lü Benzhong, and others showed smiles, forming a stark contrast with Yang Yizhong, who had been expressionless all along, which made Zhao Jiu speechless for a moment... It could only be said that these two Hanlin Academicians truly had the air of wealth and nobility.

And at this moment, Ren Baozhong continued without changing his expression, "Therefore, please forgive this humble servant, as I can only summarize them roughly and cannot guarantee accuracy."

"Speak." Having already anticipated such a turning point, Zhao Jiu turned back and faced him seriously, increasingly admiring this Tangut old man.

No matter what, this person had some talent, so what harm was there in giving him some opportunities?

Sure enough, Ren Baozhong seized the opportunity without hesitation and stated his conclusions one by one... Unsurprisingly, they were similar to what Zhao Jiu had concluded in recent days.

It should be said that since the court forcibly and formally promoted Zhang Jun's comprehensive plan for preparing for the Northern Expedition at the beginning of March, as the news spread to the localities and related matters began to be implemented immediately, the central government immediately received various and varied feedback.

However, among these five matters, settling the Empress and rectifying names were too sensitive, especially since the Zhao Emperor's and the ruling ministers' firm attitudes had been fully demonstrated through the imperial gazettes and the grand court assembly on the first day of March, so few people were willing to tempt fate by discussing these two matters... After all, not everyone was like Li Jing, who had a good elder brother and could be transferred to Xingqing Prefecture, a place with great potential, to serve as a prefect.

Didn't even Li Guang, the Censor-in-Chief, remain silent this time?

Of course, this was also related to the fact that the specific implementation of these two matters involved few people and was relatively simple—the court directly dispatched envoys to the Shaolin Temple and the Dongxiao Palace on the second day of March and appointed Quan Bangyan and Guo Zhongxun together.

At the same time, establishing wealth was a truly tough nut to crack, the key to determining the success or failure of the preparations for the Northern Expedition, so for a time many people were taking a wait-and-see attitude towards this matter... No one dared to easily volunteer to participate in it, nor did anyone dare to easily criticize it, but only observed.

To put it bluntly, many silent potential opponents were probably waiting for problems to arise in the specific implementation of this matter, and then they would speak out.

As for the alliance, it needed time to wait for the reactions of all parties, and it was not easy to interject for the time being.

Of course, the envoys had already been sent out on a large scale.

So relatively speaking, at present, everyone's focus was concentrated on the measure of expanding the army on a small scale, which was a relatively simple matter, and already had mature conditions, while also involving a great deal of interests.

As a result, in the past ten days, secret memorials and official memorials had really come in one after another, and the content was varied.

According to Ren Baozhong's summary, the opinions of all parties at present were as follows:

As for the Imperial Army generals, most of them wrote memorials saying how important the place where their unit was stationed was, how powerful the enemy they faced was, and how stretched their unit's forces were. At the same time, their unit's soldiers were so capable in the past, so capable of defeating more enemies with fewer troops, and their achievements were so outstanding... In a word, they wanted to fight for an increase in the number of soldiers in their unit.

In stark contrast to this were the local officials on the front lines, who flocked to write memorials, but mostly told of the difficulty of raising soldiers in their localities, saying how the local people were squeezed dry by the stationed troops, how poor the finances were, and how the local security was troubled by the stationed troops. It was obvious that they were unwilling to allow newly established troops after the expansion to be stationed in their localities, or for the number of troops stationed in their localities to increase again.

What was interesting was that while the generals were striving for the number of soldiers in their units, they never forgot to trip up their opponents, intentionally or unintentionally, implying or explicitly stating how incompetent other units were. But the civil officials were almost unanimous in their position and were particularly united. From the Jingdong West Circuit where the Yue Family Army was stationed to the newly recovered northern Shaanxi, no local civil official welcomed more stationed troops.

Those who were qualified to write memorials all wrote memorials, and those who were not qualified wrote official documents directly to put pressure on the Department of State Affairs and the Privy Council.

Even Wan Qixie wrote a memorial, saying that the existence of Yue Fei's troops was a huge obstacle to the economic recovery of the Jingdong West Circuit, and so on!

At the same time, there were also some debates in the central government, but the focus was higher... Some people suggested that more soldiers should be added to the Imperial Navy to ensure the stability of the Yellow River defense line, and others suggested greatly expanding the Imperial Navy in order to harass the Jin Kingdom's rear areas as soon as possible. Of course, more people suggested expanding the Imperial Central Army, that is, the directly subordinate troops here in Dongjing.

With the expansion of the army, there was naturally a need for officers, and there were also many memorials recommending people.

And at this time, it was necessary to grasp the key points.

"This humble servant is presumptuous." At the end, Ren Baozhong cupped his hands earnestly in the complex gazes of the surrounding close officials. "These are actually minor details. Does the Emperor still have to base his decisions on which state and county opposes, and thus not allow them to station troops there? Or which commander is better at boasting, and thus give them an additional thousand soldiers? And this humble servant roughly concludes that on the matter of expanding the army, what is placed before the Emperor is actually these few matters... Is it expanding the army on land or on water? Is it expanding the cavalry or the infantry? Is it placing heavy troops in Guanshan or Jingdong? When using people, will the core generals be the old generals who were previously eliminated, or will they be promoted from below? When supplementing middle and lower-level officers, will they be old soldiers or new recruits?"

Zhao Jiu nodded repeatedly as he listened, "Ren Qing is attentive... It's just that I have been somewhat blinded by these things these days... How do you specifically explain all of this?"

Ren Baozhong was overjoyed and quickly took another half step forward, cupping his hands in response, "Emperor... First, expanding the army on land or on water? Expanding on land will facilitate the decisive battle after crossing the river in the Northern Expedition; expanding on water will facilitate support for advancement and retreat."

After speaking, Ren Baozhong immediately looked at the Zhao Emperor with a slightly expectant expression.

Zhao Jiu pondered for a moment and came to an answer... The Northern Expedition was a desperate gamble, and the decisive battle was what determined everything. If he had to make a choice between the two, of course he would expand the army on land.

However, although this Emperor immediately had an answer in his heart, there was actually no expression on his face, nor any reply.

"Second, expanding the cavalry or expanding the infantry? Cavalry is for attack, infantry is for defense." Seeing that the Zhao Emperor did not speak, Ren Baozhong quickly continued to explain.

"Expand the cavalry!" Zhao Jiu still immediately answered in his heart, but he still did not say a word on the surface.

"Third, Jingdong or Guanshan? Heavy troops in Guanshan are for taking Hedong, in Jingdong are for taking Hebei." Ren Baozhong continued to speak in a hurry.

"Guanshan!" The Zhao Emperor still only answered in his heart.

"Fourth, using old generals or promoting from below..." Ren Baozhong was now a little cautious. "And the vacancies after promotion, will they be filled by more grassroots Imperial Army officers or by Martial Academy students?"

"Naturally, they will be promoted from below." Zhao Jiu finally smiled at Ren Baozhong, and then opened his mouth. "Select some officers with meritorious service from the Imperial Army and promote them, and the grassroots vacancies after promotion should be preferentially filled by students from the Martial Academy and the Imperial Guards."

Ren Baozhong got an answer and relaxed for a moment. The surrounding attendants and Martial Academy students were also overjoyed, but they did not dare to show it.

Only Fan Zongyin, Lü Benzhong, and others really could not interrupt, and were a little embarrassed for a moment.

Fortunately, after saying this, the Zhao Emperor got up directly and left the thatched pavilion, and then walked down Apricot Hill, seemingly returning to the stone pavilion in the rear palace to handle official business. The close officials and Imperial Guards did not care about so much and then flocked to follow.

However, when the team arrived at Linhua Gate, about to enter the scope of the rear palace, the Zhao Emperor, who was the first to pass through the gate, suddenly stopped, and then turned back and ordered, "Yang Yizhong, come with me. Everyone else, enter in sixty breaths."

The Emperor had spoken, and although everyone, who had different thoughts, was caught off guard, they could only stop outside the door, watching Yang Yizhong, who had not said a word today, walk forward with the Zhao Emperor for dozens of steps, and then stop in the open space in front of the nearest fish pond.

"Land or water?" Zhao Jiu asked with his hands behind his back.

Yang Yizhong looked back at the crowd with complicated expressions outside the door, and helplessly lowered his head in response, "This humble servant is not talented as a general..."

"Of course I will ask Han Yue, Li Zhang, and the other generals again, but now I am asking you."

"This humble servant privately believes it is land."

"Cavalry or infantry?"

"Cavalry!"

"Guanshan or Jingdong?"

"Guanshan!"

Since Zhao Jiu got an answer that was exactly the same as what he thought in his heart, he did not nod or shake his head, and did not even care when the people behind him would count enough sixty breaths before entering. He directly went to the stone pavilion to handle official business with his hands behind his back.

ps: Thanks to the new leader Jia Haoren aguda Jia classmate, the 152nd cute character in this book!

Continue to sacrifice the new book *The Immortal of the Aztecs*.