Chapter 1 July Is Not a Suitable Time to Travel

July is not a suitable time to travel.

Especially not southward.

For Zhao Guan Jia (the official), July seemed particularly unsuitable because his departure would mean missing this year's Mid-Autumn Festival sacrifice, the Tai Xue (Imperial Academy) students' ranking, the palace examination, and the birth of Consort Wu's second child... None of his children had their father present before they were born.

However, for an official, when is a good time to leave the capital without disrupting things?

It all boils down to whether it's worth it.

This southern tour was a decision made after careful discussion among the court's important officials and Zhao Jiu's own long deliberation... It was no coincidence that several important officials simultaneously suggested the southern tour. Rather, it was because if they were going to launch a northern expedition, the emotions of the south had to be taken seriously. Whether it was to suppress or appease, they had to visit the south before the northern expedition, lest the north and south remain opposed.

Otherwise, the central government would feel that the south was holding them back whenever a problem arose, and the south would feel that the central government was targeting them with every measure. The result would be a phenomenon similar to a party ban without an actual party ban, leading to the re-emergence of new, widespread, and fierce factional strife.

From this perspective, as Zhao Guan Jia repeatedly purged the court and promoted policies related to the northern expedition, the ostracism of Ma Shen, Li Guang, and other minority factions became increasingly apparent. Even Zhao Guan Jia himself often avoided these two important officials, which was essentially a manifestation of a similar phenomenon.

Of course, this was definitely not good, and Zhao Jiu knew it... But everyone understood that the 'origin' of this issue was not only in the court but even more so in the south.

In addition, Zhao Jiu himself wanted to see the south with his own eyes, to understand the local social structure, to find out how heavy the burden on the southern people was, and what was the reason for the anti-war sentiment from top to bottom?

Finally, was it possible to alleviate the burden on the southern people slightly without affecting the fundamental plan of the northern expedition?

Therefore, whether it was to secure the home before repelling foreign enemies, to understand the people's conditions, or to promote domestic harmony between the north and south, a trip was in order.

However, even after making the decision to go south, preparations still had to be made properly...

At the beginning of July, the court successively issued edicts, first acknowledging and praising Envoy Lü Yihao's contributions in the southeast, further increasing his fief, and granting him the title of Duke based on the level of his fief.

Then, Zhang Zai of the Guan School was posthumously honored as the Earl of Mei, and he was enshrined in the Confucian Temple along with Wang Anshi.

Immediately afterward, the posthumous honors bestowed by the Supreme Emperor Yuansheng during the Jingkang era to Sima Guang were revoked, and Sima Guang's title of Duke of Qin was removed.

According to Zhao Guan Jia's original words in the Dibao (official gazette), Sima Junshi was a gentleman in character and a model in scholarship, but he was a disaster as a prime minister. It was precisely because of this kind of person's lack of knowledge and ignorance of politics that he initiated fierce party strife and was the root cause of the Jingkang Disaster.

In addition to publishing these three latest edicts, the Dibao also specifically mentioned Zhao Guan Jia's past 'pardons' of Su Shi and other Yuanyou partisans at Baihe in Nanyang. Then, in the name of the four councilors, the Dibao explicitly reiterated the court's basic attitude toward the new and old parties... Respect for the New Party, but no conviction or pursuit of the Yuanyou Old Party.

All of this together was the tone that Zhao Guan Jia wanted to convey to the southern public opinion before his trip to the southeast—no malice, but don't expect to take the opportunity to overturn things at a fundamental level. Some things would not be shaken.

After the edicts came the selection of accompanying personnel.

Yang Yizhong and Liu Yan were to attend him, of course. It was decided after much hesitation to bring two thousand cavalrymen. Although it seemed a bit embarrassing to have such precautions while touring the country, it would be convenient to have a mobile force at hand in case something happened or if Zhao Guan Jia himself was planning something.

As for the commanding general of the cavalry, the court debated for a long time. In the end, they dared not let Qu Da, the commander of the cavalry, go, nor did they let Li Shifu, whose troops were all composed of Fanqi (non-Han cavalrymen), lead the team. After much discussion, they finally chose Liu Qi, who came from a military family and had the demeanor of a refined general.

The selection of other close officials to accompany him was much simpler.

Two Hanlin Academicians: one was Fan Zongyin, who was considered the leader in terms of seniority and reputation among the Neizhi (inner secretariat) group... Even though the San Zhao Xue Shi (Three Imperial Edicts Scholar) only had one face—Wang Anshi once complained about Han Qi when he was his subordinate in Yangzhou, saying that this person only had one face... Having one face says a lot. The other was, of course, Hanlin Academician Lü Benzhong, who was a descendant of a prominent family for four generations and whose hometown was also in Huainan, so it would always be useful to bring him along.

In addition, Ren Baozhong, the Gemenzhihou (palace attendant); Mei Li, the Zhongshusheren (drafter of imperial edicts); Yu Yunwen, the Qijushe Ren (recording official) who also headed the Military Statistics Department; and the newly appointed Secretary Zong Ying also accompanied him.

Shao Chengzhang, an Yabanzhihou (palace attendant) from the Neishi Sheng (Department of Palace Affairs) who had long resided in Yangzhou with Empress Dowager Yuanyou, also went along.

At the same time, to ensure the smooth operation of Tokyo and not delay government affairs, one Duke Councilor, four Prime Ministers, one Vice Censor-in-Chief, and six Ministers were all left behind, meaning no important officials from the outer court accompanied him.

In a sense, it could be considered a light entourage.

In other words, it even had a hint of a lone hero venturing into the tiger's den.

In any case, after much fuss, in early July, after updating the latest chapter of *Shui Hu Zhuan* (Water Margin), which told the story of Chao Gai being shot to death by an arrow after descending from the mountain, Zhao Guan Jia officially set off, heading straight to the southeast along the Grand Canal.

The first stop was Nanjing (present-day Shangqiu), which was about two hundred li from Kaifeng and had always been a secondary capital alongside Western Capital Luoyang. However, like Luoyang, it had also suffered a fatal large-scale military disaster—in the second year of Jianyan, the Jin Kingdom's eastern route army generals, Elubu and Ali, led a large army south to raid this place, causing Zhang Suo, an important Song official responsible for the eastern front, to die for his country, which then triggered the collapse of the entire eastern defense line of the Tokyo garrison.

The entire city suffered severe damage that time, and the countryside was looted many times by bandits and defeated soldiers.

Perhaps it was because of this that Zhao Guan Jia, who had repeatedly traveled between Jingxi and Guanxi, felt nothing special about this place except that the accent was gradually becoming more familiar.

Therefore, this official only rested briefly at the old palace in Nanjing for one day, offered a slight sacrifice to Zhang Suo the next day, and then immediately set off.

Of course, there were other considerations for being so hurried—such as the three thousand-plus soldiers.

In fact, three thousand five hundred troops were absolutely nothing in this era. There were hundreds of thousands of troops along the Yellow River to the north, and they should have already started rotating. But the front line was the front line, and the rear was the rear. Three thousand troops would still bring a heavy burden to the local area. Therefore, Zhao Jiu was basically proceeding in a military fashion. He brought all the ceremonial items, but he packed them all away along the way. He simply followed the military regulations, personally commanding the army, and traveling forty or fifty li a day, marching during the day and camping at night.

In this way, after passing Nanjing, they reached Lianghuai (the area encompassing the Huai River basin). Zhao Guan Jia was even more familiar with the Huaibei area, so he did not stay long either... In late July, the weather gradually turned cooler, and the climate was pleasant... The imperial carriage passed the Mingdao Palace in Bozhou without entering, and continued south along the Grand Canal, successively passing through Bozhou, Suzhou, and Sizhou, and left the Grand Canal at Qingyang Town in Sizhou, turning towards the Si River, and crossing the Huai River at Mopankou on the eighth day of the eighth month.

It is said that even before crossing the Huai River, Sun Jin, the Pacification Commissioner of Huainan East Circuit, had sent people to Huaibei early to request instructions to come from Yangzhou to welcome the emperor. However, Zhao Guan Jia issued an edict, using the excuse that the autumn harvest was in full swing and it was not easy to disturb the people, forbidding him from coming to greet the emperor, only saying that he would arrive in Yangzhou before the Mid-Autumn Festival.

It should be known that there was a reason why Sun Jin, the Pacification Commissioner of Huainan East Circuit, was recommended by Zhao Ding to succeed him—namely, this person was a Junzi (gentleman)... or, to put it more directly, an honest person who followed the rules.

His moral standards and personal integrity were beyond reproach. He wrote excellent articles. He would always seriously implement whatever the superiors said, and he would also earnestly consider any problems from below. He had some of the traditional literati's faults that he should have, but he was, after all, an honest person who would never cause trouble.

Therefore, after receiving the edict, he really stayed in Yangzhou and did not come out.

After all, the edict made sense. In an agricultural society, the most important thing in the world was the autumn harvest. The emperor's words were so high-sounding that the honest man really couldn't refute them.

However, Yangzhou City was the largest town north of the Yangtze River in Huainan, a gathering place of the essence of Lianghuai, and also the gateway from the southeast to the north... Don't forget, just the Lianghuai area alone produced nearly a million bolts of silk for taxation each year. Therefore, it was conceivable that even though those exiled nobles had long since rolled back and become historical garbage, the wealthy merchants, monks, Taoists, scholar-officials in the city were still among the best in the world.

And, the most critical point was that they had never experienced real war... The Jurchens stopped at the Huai River, the military turmoil in the southeast was limited to Jiangnan, the rebellion in Jingxiang never crossed the Dabie Mountains, and even Fang La's rebellion before that had not crossed the Yangtze River... Therefore, in addition to the ease and prosperity here, it was difficult for the mindset of the scholars and common people to escape the old ways of abundance and prosperity.

Therefore, seeing that Sun Jin, Sun Xiantai (honorific title for magistrate), did not move like a fool, the local scholars, village elders, wealthy merchants, and even well-known monks and Taoists, became somewhat anxious.

Every day, people would seek out Sun Jin to offer advice.

This one said that although the emperor said he would enter Yangzhou in the Mid-Autumn Festival, it was a full two hundred seventy or eighty li from Mopankou to this place. How could he make it in seven days? It would be better to welcome the emperor early, so as to avoid the emperor spending the Mid-Autumn Festival outside the city without even a banquet to hold.

That one said that the emperor came too quickly. The various industries originally wanted to get together and create some special effects for the emperor on the canal, but there was no time at all. It would be better to ask Sun Xiantai to stop him on the way, so that everyone could prepare.

Someone else said that the emperor was a northerner. The farthest south he had ever been was a stop at Mount Bagong. After crossing the Huai River and heading south, would he suffer from acclimatization? It just so happened that I have a cook at home who used to be from Tokyo, who made baozi fillings in Grand Tutor Cai's house. She was separated when the Supreme Daoist Emperor (Emperor Huizong) fled to Zhenjiang in the past. It would be better to send her over to make soup for the emperor.

Then someone said that although the scholars and people of Yangzhou had seen the Empress Dowager and had also seen the Supreme Daoist Emperor fleeing in distress once (he had fled to Zhenjiang before the Jingkang Incident), they had never seen the current emperor. Today, upon hearing that the emperor was coming to Yangzhou, many young students wanted to show their talents in front of the emperor, and many scholar-officials wanted to speak to him face-to-face. Now that the autumn is high and the air is crisp, why not go up to meet him early?

Moreover, the wilderness could also inspire everyone's poetic and Chan (Zen) intentions.

They were afraid that after the emperor arrived in Yangzhou, he would only stay briefly, meet with the elders, inspect the work, and then leave directly. Wouldn't the local scholars and common people have waited in vain?

In short, Sun Jin stayed in Yangzhou City, and when he went to do official business, the officials and staff below would advise him. When he returned home, his wives and children would also be asked to say these words. Annoyed, he went to Daming Temple to eat vegetarian food, and the monks at Daming Temple would also shyly ask if the emperor was coming to stay at Daming Temple or at the old palace of the Empress Dowager.

Although Daming Temple had a thin foundation, it was, after all, an ancient temple of six or seven hundred years, and it had enough houses.

However, Sun Jin was, after all, the Junzi that Zhao Ding had taken a fancy to, and he actually endured it.

Moreover, during this period, under the watchful eyes of the public, the column of three thousand-plus cavalry and infantry actually did not enter any cities along the way, nor did it disturb any places. Every day, they steadily moved south along the official road next to the canal, and camped on time at the designated places every night, advancing solemnly and orderly at a speed of forty or fifty li per day, without any disorder.

In a daze, there were rumors that the reason why the procession was so fast was because the emperor was not in it at all—this emperor had taken Pan Guifei (Imperial Concubine), who was familiar with Yangzhou, on a private visit to investigate local advantages and disadvantages, and the person in the procession who was dressed as the emperor was General Yang Yizhong... Although discerning people knew that the emperor had not brought any imperial concubines on this trip, and Yang Yizhong would definitely not have the courage to dress up as Zhao Guan Jia, it still caused chaos everywhere.

For a time, those who collected autumn taxes became cautious.

But no matter what, on the fourteenth day of the eighth month, a force of five or six hundred cavalrymen took the lead in rushing into Yangzhou and taking over the streets and the palace. Then, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the morning, before the autumn heat had subsided, the three-thousand-man army appeared on the north side of Yangzhou City on time.

At this moment, everyone put away their chaotic thoughts. The scholar-officials and state school students brought their articles, the retired officials brought their advice and memorials, the wealthy merchants brought their treasures, the monks and Taoists brought their mouths, and the ladies and common people brought their eyes, all following the honest Junzi Sun Xiantai to the north of the city to welcome the emperor.

In a sense, the people of Yangzhou almost turned out in droves to see what this Zhao Guan Jia looked like.

"Is he coming?!"

"He's coming, he's coming! The dragon banner can already be seen..."

"Anyone with common sense knows that that's no ordinary dragon banner, it's the Jin Wu Dao Shao (Golden Crow Banner)... But why isn't there a carriage? The *Dian Zhang* (ceremonial regulations) says there's more than just the Jin Wu Dao Shao... Let me flip through the book again..."

"Don't bother flipping, he's already here, Sun Xiantai has already gone up!"

"..."

In front of the north gate of Yangzhou City, a group of scholars, merchants, monks, and Taoists were almost caught off guard. One moment they saw the dragon banner coming in the wind, and the next moment the dragon banner was directly pressed to the front under the protection of the cavalry and stopped directly on the official road north of the city... Only seventy or eighty steps away from them.

Sun Jin, not daring to be negligent, immediately went forward with Wei Gang, the prefect of Yangzhou, and Liu Yan, the imperial commander who had arrived yesterday, to greet them. As for the rest of the officials, scholars, people, monks, and laymen of Yangzhou, including Lü Yihao's envoy who had come to welcome the emperor across the river, they were not qualified to come forward at this time, but instead held their breath and concentrated, preparing to watch the emperor in the big red robe come out, and then salute and kowtow.

However, as Sun Jin went forward, not only was there no one in a so-called big red robe, but a knight in golden armor directly jumped out of the column that had just stopped, laughing loudly:

"Is that Lord Sun and Lord Wei? Lord Sun, it's been five or six years since we parted ways in Nanyang, right? Lord Wei only transferred out of the capital a year ago."

Sun Jin and Wei Gang, hearing this voice, did not hesitate any longer, and hurriedly went forward to salute the golden-armored man.

Seeing this, the golden-armored man on horseback directly dismounted, took one of them by the hand, and helped them up, laughing again: "On this Mid-Autumn Festival, the emperor and his subjects meet, why bother with such grand ceremonies? Moreover, I have already issued an edict along the way, there is no need for deliberate welcomes and bows... Let's just be casual today."

Sun Jin was an honest man and immediately stood up. Wei Gang was also the kind of confidant of Zhao Ding and had a sincere temperament, so he immediately stood up as well. The two of them bowed slightly to Zhao Guan Jia, addressing him as Your Majesty.

At this moment, everyone knew without a doubt—that the golden-armored man was Zhao Guan Jia. They also hurriedly saluted from dozens of steps away, some kneeling, some bowing, some arching their hands in panic, and some even stunned for a moment, just standing on tiptoe to look, completely chaotic.

Zhao Guan Jia laughed even louder after the two of them saluted, and directly wanted to lead them into the city together.

However, Sun Jin, being pulled around, looked at the somewhat chaotic vicinity of the city gate, hesitated for a moment, and honestly turned around and said: "Your Majesty, the scholars and people of Yangzhou have been waiting here for a long time, all wanting to see the face of the emperor. Your Majesty has arrived in armor, and they are afraid they cannot see clearly..."

Zhao Jiu smiled in realization and immediately took off his helmet, handing it to Liu Yan, who was standing beside him. Then he asked, "Is this acceptable?"

Sun Jin wanted to say more, but hesitated for a moment, and finally nodded.

However, Zhao Jiu thought about it again, and actually turned back to take the helmet from Liu Yan, put it back on, and then turned around on his horse, stroking the horse and smiling at the two local officials: "The ancients said, 'With a hundred thousand strings of cash around your waist, ride a crane down to Yangzhou'... It can be said to have exhausted the romanticism of Huaizuo. Today, since I have come to this famous capital, I should not lose my morale... Then I will lead three thousand soldiers, ride on horseback with armor into Yangzhou! Lord Sun, you lead the way!"

Sun Jin was, after all, an honest man. He hesitated for a moment and nodded repeatedly, but allowed the emperor to enter this famous capital of Huaizuo in armor and holding a weapon.

At noon, Zhao Guan Jia rode into the Xinggong (temporary palace) of the former residence of Empress Dowager Yuanyou in Yangzhou City. Then he issued an edict, summoning the monks and Taoists of Yangzhou to come and see him.

At this moment, the scholars and people of Yangzhou, who had just recovered, began to discuss again, all wondering if this emperor would not ask about the common people but instead ask about ghosts and gods?

But soon, the officials, scholars, and elders of Yangzhou were all summoned, and everyone suddenly realized—Zhao Guan Jia actually wanted to remotely sacrifice at the Yuetai Stele Forest, to comfort the soldiers and civilians who had died since the Jingkang Incident, and then have friendly exchanges with the local scholars and people.

At this moment, everyone was caught off guard again—the land of Huaizuo had not seen the devastation of war for many years.