Chapter 170 That's My Money

After Aguda said this, everyone in front of the bed fell silent.

Since Lai Liuhe swore an oath to fight against the Liao Dynasty, many Jurchens, including Aguda, have been fighting for more than ten years. They accomplished the feat of swallowing the Liao Dynasty like an ant swallowing an elephant.

After fighting for so many years, I didn't have time to enjoy myself before my life came to an end.

Even a few months ago, Aguda personally led his troops to pursue Emperor Tianzuo of Liao, and later returned to help the Song army capture Yanjing, but he was already exhausted.

There are many "Jin veterans" like him in the Jin Dynasty.

After fighting abroad for many years, when I get older I always miss my hometown and the simple life there.

As for the young and vigorous factions such as Xieye (Wanyan Gao), Wuliebu (Wanyan Zongwang), and Nianhan (Wanyan Zonghan), they were in the prime of their life, so how could they be willing to be bound by a piece of paper alliance?
When Aguda proclaimed himself emperor, he still lived in a simple tent and had no corresponding etiquette at all.

Even if his neighbor next door killed a chicken, he, as an emperor, might go and eat for free.

During the process of destroying the Liao Dynasty, the Jin people saw what prosperity was, knew what enjoyment was, and began to follow suit.

After traveling around for more than ten years, when Aguda met Ma Kuo in Yanjing two months ago, he had demonstrated complex etiquette to the Song envoys according to the standards of the Liao emperor, which was exactly the same as the diplomatic relations between the Song and Liao states.

You should know that when Ma Kuo went to Liaodong for the first time, Aguda only met him briefly in the tent and started a conversation directly. This was only the first step of delivering the letter of credence. There were first the procedures of the official asking for permission, leading the envoy with the letter of credence into the tent, kneeling down to report the matter, kneeling down to thank, asking the emperor how he was, kneeling down to thank again, and then inviting the chief and deputy ambassadors to meet him.
The Jin people were able to grow from weak to strong, and their military and diplomatic means continued to improve. They used the methods they learned when dealing with the Liao people to extract as many resources as possible from the Song Dynasty.

When the situation is strong, don't give in.

When the situation is weak, argue with reason.

The Song Dynasty's constant concessions made the Jin people see its weakness, and the weakness shown by the Song army made the Jin people even more greedy.

When wealth and power do not match, it is like when the Lin family possesses the Sword Manual of Exorcism.

The 'veterans' want to enjoy life, the young people want to achieve success and gain more wealth, but the world always belongs to the young, so the covenant is doomed to be invalid.

On the other hand, the rapid rise of the Jin Dynasty was inseparable from human greed and the long-poverty-stricken poor’s crazy desire for wealth.

The older generation accumulated wealth by destroying the Liao, while the new generation needed to conquer another country in order to maintain the Jin people's strong fighting power and their need for power and wealth.

There was silence in the tent for a long time. Finally, Nianhan held Aguda's hand and asked for instructions in a low voice.

"The Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun were won by our Jin Kingdom after bloody battles. The Song people did not contribute a bit in the war against Liao. If we let them buy them directly with money, it would be unfair to those brothers who died in the war. I think that apart from Yanjing, we can recognize that Zhuozhou and Yizhou belong to the Song Dynasty, and not give up an inch of the rest!"

"You're acting too hastily, ahem."

Aguda coughed violently several times, and was then helped by Wanyan Zonggan to lie down. After a while, he slowly spoke again.

"Guo Yaoshi surrendered to the Song Dynasty and brought Zhuozhou and Yizhou with him. These two states were not conquered by our Jin Kingdom. If we do not hand over all of them except Yanjing, wouldn't it be obvious that we want to be enemies with them? Although the Song army is a little weak, it cannot be covered up by these appearances. The Han people have lived in the south for thousands of years, and their foundation must be deeper than that of the Liao Kingdom. As I said, abide by the covenant."

"Yes"

Although everyone was unwilling, they had no choice but to agree.

Just as he was about to leave, Aguda left a playful remark.

"I signed the oath. If I die, I won't be able to control you."

Nianhan and Xie looked at each other in silence, but there was joy in their eyes. They thought that with these words, the matter would be easy, and His Majesty would finally compromise for the sake of the Jin Kingdom.

That night, the stars fell in Fengsheng Prefecture and Aguda died of illness.

His era ended and a new era began.

Without further ado, let’s continue with Qinzhou.

Yang Chang waited until the fifth day of June, after Wang Yuan led his troops to set off from Xiangyuan, before he selected five hundred military officers to escort the rebels to Beijing for trial.

He thought that this trip was risky, as he had to confront Cai Jing and sneak into the palace to steal the princess, so he only took Sun An with him, and the rest of the people stayed in Qinzhou, with Wu Song and Lin Chong jointly in charge of military affairs.

A few days after Yang Chang left the city, Hu Sanniang suddenly found Wu Song and proposed to transfer Zhu Tong back to Tongdi.

"What's the matter, my sister-in-law? Sanlang has taken Sun An away this time, and there are still bridges to be repaired in Wuxiang, so Brother Zhu has to stay there to take charge."

"Could you please change someone, second brother? I would like to ask Zhu Jieji to go to Yuncheng and bring his mother and his cousin's family over."

"Then I'll let Master Lu take his place."

Wu Song agreed first, then asked: "Why is my sister-in-law so anxious? Can't she wait for Sanlang to come back and pick him up?"

"This is it"

After a slight hesitation, Hu Sanniang told Yang Changyu about his plan to steal the princess.

Wu Song was surprised but also found it reasonable. He pinched his chin and muttered to himself, "I thought his enthusiasm for Lei Long was strange. It turns out that the young man in white is actually a princess. No wonder Sanlang encounters strange things so often."

"The official has never known it either."

"Okay, I will transfer Brother Zhu back immediately and send him directly to Yuncheng."

"Thank you, second brother."

When Hu Sanniang clasped her fists in greeting, Wu Song waved his hands and said, "Sanlang and I are brothers in life and death. Don't be polite to me in the future. But it's not enough to just take his family. What if the court investigates him?"

"What should I do?"

When Yang Chang was in Qinzhou, Hu Sanniang was a strong-willed person and did not think much about it. It was only then that she realized the seriousness of the matter and suddenly became panicked.

"Don't panic, sister-in-law. Since Sanlang dared to do this, he should have thought of a way out. Master Lin has always had insights. Second brother, go and ask him."

"it is good."

After hearing Wu Song's comfort, Hu Sanniang felt a little relieved.

As the heat rose in June, Lin Chong had stopped his normal training and only gave instructions on spear and stick in the morning and evening.

Wu Song said goodbye to Hu Sanniang and left the city. He found Lin Chong under a willow tree by the river north of the city. Lin Chong was fishing leisurely in the shade of the tree.

"Master Lin, Master Lin"

"Wudutou?"

Lin Chong suddenly stood up, scaring away the fish that had just taken the hook, and then he laughed and went forward.

"Come a little later, we will have fresh fish to go with your wine tonight."

"I came to see you for something important, a thousand times more important than eating fish and drinking wine!"

"what happened?"

"Sanlang might cause trouble."

Wu Song frowned and made a brief introduction. Just as he was about to ask for advice, he saw Lin Chong twirling his beard and smiling.

"I thought something had happened. The captain didn't know that Brother Yang was planning something big, so he was holding back and accumulating strength?"

"Ah? You knew that?"

"Of course, I'll tell you."

Lin Chong then poured out his guesses to Wu Song, just like the flowing water passing by.

Wu Song was dumbfounded after hearing this. He thought to himself, I only knew that Sanlang was extremely brave, but I never thought of him as a rebel. Could it be that I don’t understand enough?
In fact, it’s not that he lacks understanding, but that Lin Chong has a strong imagination.

As soon as Lin Chong finished speaking, Wu Song asked anxiously: "Since you have understood, what should we do now? Qinzhou only has 5,000 soldiers and horses, and Wang Yuan can suppress it with 20,000 soldiers. What big things are we talking about?"

"What the captain wants to do is recruit soldiers in advance?"

"Although I have thought so, Fang Shen has just been arrested for rebellion. If he does things so blatantly, wouldn't it be a hindrance to Sanlang?"

"Let me think about it."

Lin Chong turned around and looked at the river flowing southward. He suddenly remembered the matter of dredging the river at the beginning of the year. He immediately clapped his hands and laughed: "Got it!"

"What's the coach's plan?"

Wu Song's eyes were full of expectation. Lin Chong said slowly, "Brother Yang gave the people land for free and let the soldiers do the construction on their behalf. His prestige in Qinzhou is surprisingly high now. Why not recruit local warriors to train in the slack season in the name of building bridges and roads? In the future, they can cultivate in the farming season, train in the slack season, and fight in the war season. When we start the rebellion in the future, there will be as many soldiers as there are young and strong people in Qinzhou."

"Excellent, wonderful."

Wu Song held Lin Chong's hand, unable to hide his excitement, and sighed, "I knew the coach had an idea. Let's get started as soon as possible. We helped to survey the land before, so we are familiar with the people and households. Could it be that Sanlang has been preparing for it?"

"That's inevitable."

Lin Chong nodded and praised, "Brother Yang always plans before taking action. I admire him very much."

After hearing what Wu Song said, he thought about it carefully. Yang Chang had shown himself to be resourceful in Yanggu, and almost everything he planned over the years had been successful. It seemed that he was born to do great things.

Since he wants to stir up trouble, as a brother we must stand by and help him.

After some discussion, Wu Song and Lin Chong quickly sent out capable soldiers to various counties and villages to select people to build bridges and roads. They did this under the pretext of better management, but in reality, half of the work was labor and the other half was training.

The solution that Lin Chong hastily came up with was highly consistent with the Tang Dynasty's military system, and also laid the foundation for future development, but Yang Chang, the leader, was completely unaware of it.

He set out on the road in the prison van in early June and did not arrive in Tokyo until late in the month.

With a month to prepare, Cai Jing knew that he could not stay out of it, so he mobilized all his resources to smooth relations and personally knelt outside Zhao Ji's palace to apologize.

At that time, Huizong was immersed in the joy of expanding territory, and he generously rewarded officials of all ranks who had withdrawn from the front lines.

Tong Guan was promoted to Duke of Xuyu, Cai You was promoted to Junior Tutor, Prime Minister Wang Fu was promoted to Grand Tutor, Zhao Liangsi was promoted to Scholar of the Yankang Palace, and Ma Kuo was promoted to Doctor of Military Merit and Defense Commissioner of Hezhou.
Even Zhu Zhen, who collected strange stones for Genyue, was appointed as the governor of Ningyuan Army and the governor of Liquan Temple. It was because he spoke for Cai Jing in front of Huizong that Cai Jing had the opportunity to plead his case in front of the emperor.

On the day when Yang Chang arrived in Tokyo at the end of June and handed over the prisoners to the Dali Temple, Huizong summoned Cai Jing to Taiqing Tower.

Taiqing Tower is located in the inner courtyard of the imperial palace. It is mainly used to store the collections of classics, history, and literature in the Four Treasures. Zhao Ji had been fascinated by the books in the tower since he was a child.

After ascending the throne, Zhao Ji ordered the Ministry of Internal Affairs to build a study room on the second floor of Taiqing Tower, named "Taiqing Xiaozhu". He often copied authentic calligraphy works of the ancients in the tower. The Slender Gold Style was also inspired by ancient relics.

Zhao Ji met Cai Jing at Taiqing Xiaozhu, perhaps because he valued his calligraphy talent.

The elderly Cai Jing was lying on the ground. Zhao Ji did not immediately call him up. Instead, he finished writing a few words before he slowly said, "You said that you don't have much time left and you can't instigate Fang Shen to frame Yang Chang. It's because they themselves have rebellious intentions. But Fang Shen's appointment as prefect was your connection. And that Qinyuan County Lieutenant Bai Li was also recommended by your student in the Ministry of Personnel. Dare you say that it has nothing to do with you?"

"I am guilty because I am confused and my eyes are dim."

Cai Jing pounded his head like pounding garlic, making the floor bang.

Zhao Ji was afraid that he would die in the hut and disturb his interest in writing in the future, so he frowned and ordered him to stop.

"Okay, you are guilty of negligence, but luckily it didn't cause a disaster, and you recommended Yang Chang, so you are slapping yourself in the face. Since you just kept saying you are old, then go back to your hometown to enjoy your retirement and leave Tokyo tomorrow!"

"Yes, yes, thank you, Your Majesty."

Cai Jing was about to kowtow to express his gratitude, but was stopped in time by Zhao Ji.

Zhao Ji pointed to the newly written words on the table and said, "I give this calligraphy to you. Take it."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for the reward."

Cai Jing approached and looked up, only to see eight large characters written in Slender Gold script on the rice paper: Great loyalty seems like treachery, great treachery seems like loyalty.

Your Majesty, this is
Ordinary people would think too much when seeing these eight words, but Cai Jing was the only one who knew that he had a bad reputation and couldn't help but think of the following sentence.

Cai Jing felt that Zhao Ji understood him and that this was the final evaluation he had given him. He planned to frame the painting properly after returning home and pass it down from generation to generation.

After walking out of Taiqing Tower, he bowed and said goodbye to the second floor, then left reluctantly.

I walked to Linhua Gate in a trance and met Su Yuanjing who greeted me.

"Grandmaster, have you seen His Majesty?"

"General Su?"

Cai Jing was surprised at the time, but then he smiled and sighed: "The waves behind push the waves ahead. The general is really good at this."

"what?"

"A beast is always a beast. If it is not tamed well, it will hurt people. I hope you will have a good ending."

Su Yuanjing was completely confused and had no idea what it meant.

At this moment, Cai Jing showed off the calligraphy with a look of boasting on his face.

"Your Majesty has granted me the grace to return home. No matter how much the general does, it will be in vain. These eight words were given to me by Your Majesty. In fact, they are also suitable for you."

"Loyalty seems like treachery, and treachery seems like loyalty"

Su Yuanjing muttered to himself and just came to his senses, he saw Cai Jing moving eastward.

“He.”

Cai Jing mistakenly believed that the Qinzhou incident was an opportunity taken advantage of by Su Yuanjing behind the scenes.

After all, how could Yang Chang, who came from a humble background, easily hit the snake in its most vulnerable part?

And Su Yuanjing's appearance here must be to go to Taiqing Tower to meet the emperor, and he simply wants to kill himself. Unfortunately, Your Majesty is very observant, and no matter how much you say, it will be in vain.

The loyal one appears treacherous, that's you!

In fact, Su Yuanjing was very wronged. Although he pretended to be friendly with Cai Jing, he came here not for the affairs of Qinzhou, but because Song Jiang had recently wiped out Wang Qing and sent Dai Zong to report the victory in advance.

After a while, Su Yuanjing also arrived at Taiqing Villa.

Zhao Ji had just dealt with Cai Jing and had resolved a major issue on his mind. He also believed that Su Yuanjing was involved, so his expression was very calm when they met.

Being an emperor is not as pure as writing. It is difficult to judge the loyalty, treachery, good and evil of the civil and military officials in the court. Perhaps someone has a good reputation among the people, but his actions may not please others.

Although Cai Jing was labeled as a traitor, he did many things to help Zhao Ji solve his problems.

Merits should be rewarded and mistakes should be punished.

Even if Cai Jing could be executed, he represented a group and would cause factional strife once it started.

Zhao Ji did not want to see instability in the court, and Cai Jing was indeed very old at this time, so sending him back to his hometown might be the best outcome.

After listening to Su Yuanjing's report, Zhao Ji couldn't help but hold the table in surprise, and said in surprise: "Are you saying that Song Jiang pacified Huaixi? There have been a lot of good news recently. I thought you were going to talk about Qinzhou."

Su Yuanjing replied, "The case of Qinzhou rebellion has just been transferred to the Dali Temple. It will take time to convict."

"Well, you have also contributed to this."

Zhao Ji nodded slightly and reminded, "I will ask the Dali Temple to quickly conclude the case. After you leave the palace, let Yang Chang stay in Beijing to listen to the announcement. I will find time to summon him alone in the next few days. As for Song Jiang and others, who have made contributions in suppressing the rebellion, we will deal with them after they return."

"I obey your order. We also need to send officials to Huaixi."

"I understand. I will urge Wang Fu to select officials and take up their posts."

Zhao Ji mistakenly thought that Su Yuanjing wanted to intervene, so he immediately used Prime Minister Wang Fu to evade the issue and asked again the fatal question: "By the way, about Yang Chang's divorce."

"I am still trying to persuade you, but I am incompetent."

"Okay, I'll handle it myself, go ahead."

"Yes, I will retire."

Seeing Su Yuanjing coming down the stairs, Zhao Ji walked to the window and overlooked the scenery.

Thinking of the confession mentioning that Fang Shen and Bai Li had accepted bribes and offered bribes, he associated it with the selection of officials to take up the post in the fight against Tian Hu, and all the ministers in the court were vying to recommend them.

You guys made a fortune, but I didn't see a penny.

This is outrageous, that's my money!

Zhao Ji had been living in a relatively tight financial situation recently as the national treasury had been emptied in order to recover Yanjing, so he planned to intervene and send officials to Huaixi.

(End of this chapter)