Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 376 Jiangzhou Situation

"The rebellion in Jiangzhou is nothing to be afraid of, it should be quelled in no time. The Hehuang area is very important to the Song Dynasty, it's worth taking the risk." Zhao Xing said.

Although he suspected that the people in Jiangzhou were rebelling, there was a shadow of the Wizard Cult involved.

However, the current situation in the Song Dynasty is not so bad that the people would rebel and endanger the safety of the Song Dynasty.

Even if the Wizard Cult was instigating and guiding behind the scenes, Zhao Xing was not very worried.

The Emperor nodded slightly when he heard this and said, "The rebellion in Jiangzhou is indeed nothing to be afraid of. But Xixia will not sit idly by and watch the Song Dynasty occupy Hehuang. I'm afraid that this is why Xixia sent an envoy here."

"Father is wise!"

Zhao Xing flattered him first and said with a smile, "It is precisely because Xixia sent envoys that I am not worried! Xixia sent envoys, which means that Xixia is unwilling to give up the advantage it has gained on the plateau, and wants to force the Song Dynasty to withdraw its troops in this way. Even if the Song Dynasty increases its troops, Xixia can only deploy troops on the border to force the Song Dynasty to withdraw, but it is impossible for them to really fight with the Song Dynasty."

The emperor was silent for a while after hearing this, then he suddenly smiled, shook his head in self-mockery and said, "I'm old now. I said I don't care about the affairs of the court, but I still can't help but worry about them."

The emperor might not have failed to think of what Zhao Xing said.

However, the emperor was more worried that sending more troops to Hehuang would lead to a war with Western Xia.

His concerns in this regard prevented him from thinking too much.

Now that he saw Zhao Xing taking Zhou Xiang into consideration, he felt relieved, but at the same time, he felt that he was worrying too much and couldn't help but laugh at himself.

"Your Majesty, you are trying to fill in the gaps for me. How can you be worrying about nothing? I am young and have only been on the throne for a short time. I will need your guidance in the future." Zhao Xing said with a smile.

"Now they are all officials, but they still like to flatter the government just like before."

The emperor laughed and scolded, then said, "Okay, go and do your work, don't disturb me while I'm fishing."

"Father, we have been fishing for so long but no fish has been caught. Could it be that you didn't make a good nest?" Zhao Xing smiled as he looked at the calm water.

"Making a nest?" The emperor looked at Zhao Xing in confusion.

As soon as Zhao Xing heard this, he knew that his father was not making a trap. But when he thought about it, it made sense. The eunuchs in the palace were generally children from poor families bought from the public, or they were younger sons of convicted officials.

But my father is kind and he doesn't kill officials, so where would the children of criminal officials come from?

Therefore, the eunuchs in the palace all came from poor families and had no idea about fishing or bait making.

My father was busy with government affairs in the past and had no time to fish, so it’s normal that he didn’t understand.

"Father, there is a saying that goes 'You can't catch a wolf without sacrificing a child.' When fishing, you should first sprinkle more fish food to attract the fish."

As Zhao Xing spoke, he picked up the fish food beside him and grabbed a handful and scattered it near the float.

“If you want to fish, you have to be willing to put down the bait.”

After scattering all the fish food, Zhao Xing put down the plate and clapped his hands.

"Then Tong Pingzhangshi was also the bait you threw?" the emperor suddenly asked.

Zhao Xing was startled when he heard this, then smiled and said, "Father, what are you thinking? I want Wang Anshi to be the co-prime minister, but he is only a fifth-rank Hanlin scholar now. If I promote him, the court officials will not be happy. I am deliberately not deciding yet, just to wait and see."

Yesterday it was decided to promote Zeng Gongliang to the position of Privy Councilor, and he was considering who should take over the vacant position of Tongpingzhangshi.

Although he is only a deputy prime minister, he is a prime minister after all, so he can be respectfully called Xianggong.

Since they also have a certain say in major events, Zhao Xing naturally wants to support his confidants.

Unfortunately, Wang Anshi's qualifications were too shallow, and Zeng Gongliang's promotion to Privy Councilor was actually a skipping of grades.

The Privy Councilor and the Prime Minister are of the same rank, but in fact he is half a level higher. Zeng Gongliang is the Vice Prime Minister, so there is a difference of one and a half levels between them.

But at least in terms of rank, the Prime Minister and the Privy Councilor were at the same level, and seriously it was only a promotion of one level. In addition, Zhao Xing did not give the court officials a chance to react, so no one objected.

But Wang Anshi was only a fifth-rank official, and being promoted directly to a second-rank official was a huge leap.

It just so happened that the imperial examination was about to be over, and Zhao Xing planned to delay it for now. After it was over, he would promote Wang Anshi one or two levels. Later, he would find a chance for Wang Anshi to make contributions, and it would be easier to promote him to the position of Tongpingzhangshi.

But he didn't expect that his father would think he was a bait left behind. "I'm overthinking that. Now go and do your work." The emperor waved his hand.

"Your son will take his leave!" Zhao Xing bowed and said.

He really didn't have time to waste now.

The purpose of supporting Zeng Gongliang to take the position was to increase the number of troops.

Now that the Western Xia envoys are about to arrive in Bian Jing, the issue of increasing troops should be decided and cannot be delayed any further.

After returning to Longtu Pavilion, Zhao Xing asked Sanshui to send someone to summon the prime minister and the chief and deputy officers of each department to hold a small court meeting.

At the small court meeting, Zeng Gongliang, who was not yet familiar with the operation of the Privy Council, directly requested to send more troops to Hehuang.

The others had expected this, and perhaps because they were shocked by Li Jin's resignation, no one objected.

The matter of increasing troops was thus decided.

Zhao Xing asked Zeng Gongliang to select 30,000 elite soldiers from the western suburbs camp and rush to Hehuang as soon as possible to obey Gu Tingye's orders.

Now that the Tubo and Qiang people are both in Hehuang, mobilizing too many troops will inevitably arouse fear on both sides.

Moreover, if the number of additional troops is small, the Western Xia will not care too much.

Otherwise, if Zhao Xing sent 100,000 troops over there, Xixia would probably withdraw its troops from the plateau immediately.

The most important thing is that the military strength in Bianjing is a bit insufficient, and too many troops cannot be transferred away.

…………

After several days, Song Chaozhong led 50,000 troops and finally arrived at Jiangzhou City.

Prime Minister Shen and officials of Jiangzhou, both high and low, personally welcomed him at the city gate.

"Greetings, Lord Shen. It is really an honor for your humble servant to come and welcome me in person!" Song Chaozhong dismounted from his horse and bowed.

"General Song, you are too polite. If you had been a little later, Jiangzhou City would have been in danger. Now I can finally breathe a sigh of relief." Prime Minister Shen sighed.

"When I heard that the rebels were besieging Jiangzhou City, I sent people to strictly order the docks along the way not to allow any ships to sail at night, and then I sailed here overnight. Are those rebels really so bold that they dare to attack the city?" Song Chaozhong said in surprise.

On the way here, the sky was dark at night and it was impossible to sail at night. It would have taken him several days to arrive.

However, halfway through the journey, news was received that the rebels were besieging Jiangzhou City.

The Song Dynasty did not think that the rebels had the ability to capture a strong city like Jiangzhou City, but they still notified the docks along the way not to allow ships to sail at night, and then traveled day and night, which is why they arrived a few days earlier.

But now, according to what Prime Minister Shen said, Jiangzhou City was almost broken.

"Let's talk about the details after we enter the city. I'll introduce General Song to you. This is Chen Zhizhou, and this is..."

Prime Minister Shen introduced several important officials of Jiangzhou to Song Chaozhong.

Then the group entered the city and came to the prefectural government office.

The situation is urgent now and there is no time to hold a banquet.

When they arrived at the main hall of the prefectural government, Shen Xianggong told Song Chaozhong about the situation.

After listening to this, Song Chaozhong frowned. The situation here was more complicated than he had imagined.

At the beginning, there were only tens of thousands of rebels, including men, women, young and old, but there were not many young and strong people.

Even though they looted several counties, they didn’t have many weapons.

However, these rebels were secretly commanded and did not attack civilians. They were coerced and instigated and gathered in large numbers.

(End of this chapter)