Qiming 1158

Chapter 375 Zhao Gou suddenly realized that he had overlooked another possibility

Regarding Chen Kangbo's request, Zhao Gou was worried and doubtful, and he was always undecided.

He was very worried that Wanyan Liang would attack Song south after finishing up the Restoration Army, completely destroying the peaceful life he cherished.

And this naturally makes many officials who hold the main battle position dissatisfied.

So after this secret interview, the relevant content of this credential was quietly leaked to the outside of the court for some unknown reason.

As a result, this letter of credentials caused a huge shock both inside and outside the Lin'an court.

Not to mention the staunch Northern Expedition faction and the conservative advocates of war, even many courtiers who hold the position of the advocates and factions are inexplicably indignant, and feel that their dignity has been very clearly humiliated.

In the past, Jin Guo only secretly expressed his disdain for the Southern Song Dynasty. He had never threatened the Southern Song Dynasty so clearly.

In the past, although the Southern Song Dynasty had no lizi, at least there was still face.

But this time, the lining and face are gone.

Wanyan Liang was too much.

Except for a few courtiers who remained silent, most courtiers expressed their anger and dissatisfaction, and scolded Wanyanliang, the gold master.

They strongly demanded that Zhao Gou refute this letter of credentials and send it back intact to show Song's attitude towards Jin.

If you can't protect yourself, you still dare to threaten Da Song?
Do you really think that the 40 soldiers raised in the Song Dynasty are all for dry food?
There are Khitan people in the north, and Han people in the south, but we have to see if you, Wanyan Liang, dare not push the Song Dynasty to the opposite side!
At this great opportunity, the radical Northern Expedition faction took this opportunity to speak out and demanded that the imperial court send troops to the Northern Expedition, retake Kaifeng, return to the old capital, and give Jin Guo some color.

Countless imperial students, general officials and low-level officials all wrote to the imperial court at this time, strongly arguing that the imperial court would take a tough stance on the state of Jin.

Among them, Lu You, the official deleted by the imperial decree, was the most radical.

He shouted loudly that it was an extremely shameful thing for the Song Dynasty to declare itself a minister to the Jin State. Now that the Jin Dynasty is in constant domestic and foreign troubles, and the heroes of the Central Plains swarmed against the Jin State, it was the time when the Song Dynasty was on the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains and recaptured the old capital and the dignity of the country. When is the Northern Expedition, and when?

Lu You's literary talent is flourishing, and his articles are widely circulated among the folk scholars and low-level officials, and he has achieved great influence.

Encouraged by Lu You's article, a large group of literati attacked Jin Guo and launched a powerful public opinion offensive.

What can be confirmed is that no matter how dictatorial regimes are, they will be influenced by public opinion, even if the influence is minimal, there will always be.

Usually, Song Junchens discuss government affairs behind closed doors, and don't let outsiders know about it, but this kind of big international dispute that can't be hidden is not something that Song Junchen can decide alone.

Under the huge pressure from the court and the people, Tang Situi and others were too slow to express their attitude, and Zhao Gou swayed and didn't know what to do.

The northern expedition is definitely not possible. Zhao Gou directly ruled out this option. He would be grateful if Jin Guo did not come to beat him. How could he take the initiative to find fault?
But if he can't make a little response to conform to the tough trend inside and outside the court and the public, he is afraid that the emperor will become the target of public criticism.

Public anger is hard to offend.

Facing the public anger, Zhao Gou inevitably felt a little guilty.

So he summoned the important ministers again to make a final agreement on the matter.

The difficulty of the problem is that if there is no troops, it will give Wanyan Liang an excuse to invade the south. If the Restoration Army can withstand this wave of attacks, then the Southern Song Dynasty is of course the safest, and it doesn't matter whether they send troops or not.

But if the Restoration Army was just a muddy mess and was pushed down by Wanyanliang, then the Southern Song Dynasty would be very dangerous, because Wanyanliang, with his "millions of troops", could take advantage of the situation to go south and threaten the Jianghuai line of defense in the Southern Song Dynasty.

So the crux of the question is whether the Restoration Army is tough enough.

Originally, I heard that the Restoration Army had defeated the Jinbing many times, and the evaluation of the Restoration Army by the bigwigs was not bad. As a result, there were two consecutive civil strife and two leaders were changed. This evaluation turned sharply.

The elites of the Southern Song Dynasty all believed that there was a big problem within the Restoration Army. They were afraid that they would not be able to withstand the attack of the Jin Kingdom at all.

But Chen Kangbo didn't care.

"Regardless of whether the Restoration Army is a rabble or not, this letter of credentials is extremely rude! My Song Dynasty has been a minister of the Jin Kingdom for more than ten years, and it has already degraded the national character. At this point, should I still be insulted and despised by the Jin Kingdom? If the lord humiliates the subject to death, if your majesty is humiliated, please rule the subject to death!"

Chen Kangbo bowed deeply to Zhao Gou, expressed his attitude that he would rather not bend, and put further pressure on Zhao Gou.

Zhao Gou was very helpless, so he looked at Tang Situi, expecting Tang Situi to say something.

But under the current situation, Tang Situi really didn't dare to say those usual remarks.

Usually that's all, but now I say it again, it just hits the muzzle of the main battle faction and seeks death.

He was really afraid that he would be choreographed by Chen Kangbo after going out from here, and his reputation would be stinky from then on. By then, everyone outside would be able to drown him with a single mouthful of saliva.

He also can't completely ignore the public evaluation, which still makes some sense to him.

So Tang Si retreated again and again, but still made a statement.

"The minister thought that this act of the gold master was too much, it was too humiliating to the Song Dynasty and the majesty of His Majesty. If we really send troops to help the war, I am afraid it will cause huge controversy, so the old minister thinks that sending troops is absolutely impossible. "

Tang Situi objected, so Zhao Gou completely died of sending troops to help in the battle in exchange for a security guarantee.

But he still needs a sense of security, a strong sense of security, otherwise he will be very miserable.

"If you don't go out and be caught by the gold master, the Restoration Army will collapse again, and the million-dollar army of the gold master will drink the Mahuai River. For the Song Dynasty, wouldn't it be a danger of the country's subjugation?"

Chen Kangbo immediately refuted.

"Even if the Central Plains is safe and sound, it is impossible for him to gather millions of soldiers, let alone the Khitan rebellion in Liaodong and the Han rebellion in Shandong and Hebei. The gold master can't mobilize the whole country's troops at all, and 30 people died.

The loss in the war, the division of troops to suppress thieves, appeasement, restore order, etc., can be used to invade the Song Dynasty if the number of troops exceeds 40. It is his ability. He only has [-] soldiers and horses at most, or even less. And the Song Dynasty had [-] soldiers!

The 40 soldiers are all raised by the imperial court. Why is the imperial court spending money to raise soldiers?Isn't it just for use at this time?Now that the main force of the imperial army is still there, the Northern Expedition is not afraid, let alone defense?So, Your Majesty, what is there to be afraid of? "

Zhao Gouxin said that you don't have back pain when you stand and talk. It was me who was chased to sea and not you. How could you understand my pain and psychological shadow?

Therefore, in response to Chen Kangbo's radical remarks, Zhao Gou basically put his left ear in and out of the right ear, and then asked other courtiers. In the end, everyone came up with a compromise solution.

If you don't agree, don't refuse, don't make a statement, I'll drag you along.

But one thing is very clear, that is, it is absolutely impossible to send troops to help the Jin Army, it will be met with violent backlash from the people, and even turmoil, which will outweigh the gains.

However, once the Restoration Army is destroyed, the Southern Song Dynasty will face the threat of the Jin Kingdom, and at that time the Southern Song Dynasty must have the strength to fight to protect itself.

So Zhao Gou reluctantly ordered the Privy Council to start to preside over armament consolidation, inspections, and preparations for war.

The officials and garrisoned troops in the Jianghuai region were ordered to be psychologically prepared, in case the Jin Kingdom went south, they must prepare for battle.

Civilians guard the land and military generals fight. Once the territory is lost, both the civilians and military generals should be prepared to be questioned.

After more than ten years of peace, the Southern Song Dynasty, with its slack military equipment, finally has to pay attention to military issues again.

At the same time, Zhao Gou asked the Privy Council to keep paying attention to the situation in the north, so as to accurately judge whether the Jin Kingdom could drink the Mahuai River and whether it was necessary for the Southern Song Dynasty to fight a long-lost battle.

But this is all superficial work, according to Zhao Gou's original intention, it is to do some speculation.

The Southern Song Dynasty could not agree, refuse, or answer, drag the Jin Kingdom, and then wait and see the situation. If the Restoration Army saw that it was no longer possible, they would send troops north to attack Shandong to seize the benefits, and easily block the Jin Kingdom’s excuse for attacking south.

If the Restoration Army actually created a miracle and could drive away the Jin Kingdom, then the Southern Song Dynasty would be... absolutely safe?

Thinking of this, Zhao Gou suddenly realized that he had overlooked another possibility.

If, just if.

The Restoration Army really defeated the Jin Army, overthrew the Jin Kingdom regime, and occupied the Central Plains, then...

How should the Southern Song Dynasty deal with itself?

(End of this chapter)