The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 277 That was an insult to him

Qi Chongli only then realized what was happening, and stumbled out of the crowd, urgently shouting, "Your Highness, you mustn't! You mustn't! If you do this, you'll be putting yourself in a position of disloyalty and injustice."

After saying that, he turned to Qi Chongwen and angrily shouted, "Second brother, what do you mean by this? You...you people, did you plan this all along? You actually did this behind my back?"

Qi Chongwen shrugged: "Brother! Let's not argue, how about we reason things out?"

Qi Chongli: "You've already committed such an disloyal and unjust act as supporting a new emperor, how can you still talk about reason?"

Qi Chongwen: "If the prince doesn't become emperor, who do you think everyone will support?"

Qi Chongli froze, and a name flashed through his mind: Gong Yi.

Yup!

If the prince hadn't declared himself emperor, he would have returned to Jiangnan with the eunuch.

What will the local gentry and common people do? Will they obediently follow them to Jiangnan?
That would inevitably mean finding someone else to be enthroned as emperor, and that would definitely be Gong Erniangzi.

Wouldn't that be worse than installing a king?

He Wang still has the bloodline of the Song Dynasty royal family, so there is some reason to his actions. But if Gong Er Niangzi is enthroned, it would be... not good for the Song Dynasty as a whole, or for the cause of resisting the Jin Dynasty.

Qi Chongli sighed deeply: "Never mind!"

The news of Zhao Shi's ascension to the throne seemed to have wings, spreading throughout the four prefectures and sixteen counties in the blink of an eye.

Just half an hour ago, Yue Wenxuan was feigning reluctance to declare himself emperor, but half an hour later, he produced a large stack of pre-prepared appointment documents, appointing Gong Erniangzi as Privy Councilor with full authority over the army, Wu Jialiang as General of the Left Guard, Zhang Yong as General of the Right Guard, Qi Chongli as Left Chancellor, Qian Zhuoqun as Right Chancellor, Ji Menghan as Minister of Personnel... and officials at all levels received corresponding promotions...

There are many vacant official positions, even several ministers of the six ministries are missing.

But it’s not a big problem!

Having a few vacancies is just right; it's not necessarily a bad thing to have everyone eyeing those spots with envy.

After the appointment of officials was completed, Yue Wenxuan immediately issued a "Proclamation Against Liu," calling Liu Yu a "false emperor" and the Qi state a "false Qi." He stated that the land north of the Yangtze River originally belonged to the Song Dynasty, and since his own country was the Song Dynasty, the land north of the Yangtze River was also Song territory. He demanded that Liu Yu immediately hand over all the land north of the Yangtze River, and perhaps he could spare his life.

This news shocked the world!

Zhao Gou, who was in Jiangnan seeking refuge, was furious and immediately announced to the world that Zhao Shi was an imposter and not his seventeenth brother at all.

But the fact that he only announced this now is obviously useless. Everyone thinks that Zhao Gou is angry and deliberately refusing to acknowledge his younger brother.

The puppet emperor of Qi, Liu Yu, was also furious, declaring, "I will immediately send troops to destroy you," and dispatched his son Liu Lin as the Grand General to punish the rebels, preparing to attack the Jiaodong Peninsula.

The Jin Dynasty was also furious and immediately offered to send Left Deputy Marshal Talan to support Liu Yu. However, although Talan made a lot of noise, he remained in Yanjing and had no intention of leaving the city. At this time, Talan had been labeled a "peace advocate." He did not want to fight, not at all, and only wanted to negotiate peace with the Northern Song Dynasty. Especially before they figured out how to deal with firearms, no one could pull him back to the battlefield.
-
In Jiaoshui County, Zhao Shi, dressed in a dragon robe, sat in his imperial carriage, walking through the main street with a blank expression, surrounded by cheering crowds.

The figurines of Gong Er Niangzi and Yue Wenxuan themselves stood on the city wall not far away.

Yue Wenxuan pointed at Zhao Shi: "See? When I don't give him orders, he's just a rigid shell." Gong Erniangzi, of course, could see that, and whispered, "Every time he handled things skillfully before, it was because the True Lord gave the order?"

“Yes!” Yue Wenxuan said, “He’s long dead. What’s there is just an empty shell. I’ve told you this repeatedly to put your mind at ease and to stop thinking about infighting and seizing power. I will make this shell leave the stage when the time is right.”

Gong Erniangzi said with a serious expression: "Your Majesty is overthinking this. I am where I am today because of Your Majesty's help. Your Majesty's word is law. Even if I were a real person, let alone just a shell, I would not object to Your Majesty making me emperor, and I would not engage in any infighting or power struggle."

Yue Wenxuan: "Yes! That would be best."

As the two were talking, the brothers Qi Chongli and Qi Chongwen came up the steps of the city wall.

Qi Chongli bowed deeply: "Prime Minister, the earthen forts you requested to be built on the border between Mizhou and Weizhou have all been completed, and the passes have all been set up. We are just waiting for you to arrange for soldiers to garrison them."

Gong Er Niangzi nodded: "I would like to ask Qi Shi to send some people to the passes over Mizhou."

Qi Chongli was slightly taken aback: "Eh? Is it a member of my clan?"

Gong Erniangzi: "Mizhou is the home of your Qi family, and your determination to defend your homeland is stronger than anyone else's. I think it's very reliable to have the Qi family members guard the passes and fortresses. For the same reason, I would like to ask the Ji family to arrange people to go to Weizhou."

Qi Chongli perked up: "I can guarantee that with my own hands."

Gong Er Niangzi laughed and said, "However, the disciples you send to guard the pass must be trained by Qi Tianjiang. You can't send people who haven't received systematic training, or they will definitely cause trouble."

Qi Chongwen stepped forward and said, "Please rest assured, Privy Councilor, we will definitely pay attention to this."

Ever since the Qi clan was chased by the Jin invaders and forced to retreat from Gaomi to Jiaoshui, a large number of Qi clan members began to train with Qi Jiguang. At first, they did not take the training methods of the "bandit generals" seriously and were somewhat dismissive, but after training with Qi Jiguang for a few days, they were greatly impressed.

Qi's soldiers were originally only at the level of local militia, but after a month of training by Qi Jiguang, they became at least five times more powerful than the Song Dynasty's imperial guards.

Some of the key members of the Qi family even studied military strategy under Qi Jiguang, and were engrossed in reading "Jixiao Xinshu" every day.

The saying goes, "The poor study literature, the rich study martial arts!"
For wealthy families like the Qi family, learning martial arts is very suitable. Several "generals" have quickly emerged among the younger generation of the Qi family. Although they have not yet been tested in actual combat, they can recite military strategies fluently.

He has at least half of Ma Su's level.

Qi Chongwen is one of them. Recently, he has been studying the combination of various firearms and cavalry in combat, and he is so engrossed in the research that he is completely absorbed in it.

At this point, Qi Chongwen suddenly had a question and lowered his voice, saying, "Privy Councilor! General Qi is your most capable general, right? But why didn't he stand on the front line to command during the last battle against the Jin invaders? Instead, he stayed in the back to observe the battle. This time, the Emperor has appointed civil and military officials, and everyone has been promoted. Why didn't General Qi receive even the lowest military officer position?"

Gong Erniang smiled and winked: "These mundane official positions are not worthy of General Qi. Assigning him an official position would be an insult to him."

Qi Chongwen: "???"

Qi Chongli: “???”

(End of this chapter)