The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 346 You're pretending, keep pretending.

The three ships began their return voyage.

On the return journey, Yue Wenxuan no longer needed to push his boat with his fingers.

The euphemism given was: to let Li Bao practice his boat handling skills.

Instead, they let Li Bao's ship pull their own ship, while Qin Hui's ship was left to be operated by the Hebei soldiers, who were ordered to follow their ship.

Qin Hui and the Hebei soldiers dared not resist and obediently followed.

Gong Erniangzi glanced at the boat following beside her and said in a low voice, "True Lord, you seem to really dislike that official named Qin Hui."

Yue Wenxuan: "Huh? I've been smiling the whole time. You can tell I hate him too?"

Gong Erniangzi thought to herself: Although the True Lord is smiling, he has revealed a rare murderous aura.

Is this official really that bad?

Yue Wenxuan shrugged: "This person isn't just bad, he's shameless and despicable, even worse than bad."

Gong Erniangzi: "He escaped from the Jin Kingdom, so he must have had the Song Dynasty in his heart..."

Yue Wenxuan chuckled: "Escape isn't difficult, but to escape with your wife, page, and the whole family intact is a bit far-fetched."

Gong Erniangzi: "Huh?"

Isn't it?

I've seen people run away, but I've never seen anyone run away with their entire family intact.

Yue Wenxuan: "This person is most likely someone that Ta Lan deliberately let go of."

Gong Erniangzi: "Huh? Why did you let Talan come back?"

This is a question that shouldn't be answered carelessly.

His father had told him that whether Qin Hui was a spy was still controversial.

If he really was a spy, then Talan's release of Qin Hui was clearly intended to bring Qin Hui back to advocate for peace.

After losing the Battle of Suotouhu, Talan had become a proponent of peace. He was pushing for peace talks with the Southern Song Dynasty within the Jin Dynasty. He needed someone to go to the Southern Song Dynasty to also push for peace talks. As long as the proponents of peace in both the Jin Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty went to each other, the peace talks would naturally come to fruition.

However, the world is now very different because of Yue Wenxuan's appearance.

Between the Jin Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty, there is now another Northern Song Dynasty!
The Jin and Southern Song dynasties couldn't even touch each other. Both sides had to deal with the Northern Song first before they could go to war with each other. So what was the point of talking about peace?

If we don't negotiate peace, then...

Hey!
We have no choice but to join forces!
But these are all just my speculations, and without concrete evidence, it's not appropriate to tell Gong Er Niangzi.

Yue Wenxuan simply said, "This person has serious problems; we cannot let him return to the Southern Song Dynasty so easily."

Gong Erniangzi made a throat-slitting gesture: "Since there's a problem, let's just kill him and be done with it, saving us the trouble."

Yue Wenxuan shook his head: "No, no, no, it wouldn't be good to just kill him."

Madam Gong Er: “?”

Yue Wenxuan: "Look at Zhang Jun, the great general of the Southern Song Dynasty. He had a lot of problems, right? But just a few days ago, we even made connections with Zhang Jun. So why would we want to be friends with someone who has so many problems?"

Gong Erniangzi suddenly realized, "The more problems the enemy has, the more advantageous it is for us. If the enemy is all unyielding and incorruptible, then we'll be in bigger trouble." Yue Wenxuan said, "Yes, that's right. Qin Hui's problems are definitely bigger than Zhang Jun's. If we kill him, we'll just be helping the Southern Song get rid of a treacherous pest. Wouldn't we be foolish?"

Gong Erniangzi laughed: "That is indeed quite silly."

Yue Wenxuan: "The best solution is to first bring Qin Hui back, find out exactly what Talan wants to do after he was released back to the Southern Song Dynasty, and then let him go back to wreak havoc on the Southern Song Dynasty. As for the specific details, we still need to study them slowly."

In fact, Yue Wenxuan already had a plan in mind: if he could control Qin Hui...

In official history, Qin Hui fled back to the Southern Song Dynasty with his entire family.

Historians have debated this point: "Since his entire family was in the Southern Song Dynasty and he didn't leave a single hostage in the Jin Dynasty, how could the Jin Dynasty control him? Why would he willingly become a spy for the Jin Dynasty?"

There's no definitive answer to this debate, but Dad leans towards one explanation: fear!

During the years Qin Hui was captured and taken to the Jin Kingdom, Talan showed him the Jin Kingdom's powerful cavalry and the terrifying Iron Pagoda, which completely terrified the spineless Qin Hui, leaving him unable to stand up straight. The fear of the Jin Kingdom was deeply rooted in his heart.

This fear allowed the Jin state to remotely control him from two thousand miles away without even needing hostages, making him do whatever they wanted.

That's why he so desperately advocated for peace, going to both sides with Talan, and even helping Zhao Gou frame Yue Fei in order to seek peace.

Yue Wenxuan decided to give it a try!
Let's see if we can replace our fear of the Jin Dynasty with our fear of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Then we can use Qin Hui to pull off many amazing maneuvers...
-
After a series of clumsy maneuvers, Li Bao and his men finally managed to steer the boat back to the Dafeng Naval School in Yancheng.

Even if Qin Hui and his entourage were unwilling, they had no choice but to bite the bullet and disembark.

Yue Wenxuan's gaze swept across the area and he saw an ordinary-looking woman emerge from the cabin, cautiously following behind Qin Hui. This was Qin Hui's wife, Wang Shi. She was also among the figures kneeling before the Yue Fei Temple in later generations. Her kneeling statue's chest was polished smooth and shiny. If she knew about this, wouldn't she be furious?

Qin Hui walked beside him with his head bowed and eyes down, pretending to be obedient...

His servants Yantong and Xing'er, as well as Weng Shun, the censor of the Imperial Censorate, and his confidant Gao Yigong, all lowered their heads and acted like obedient grandsons.

This was a special skill they honed while barely surviving in the Jin Dynasty.

Yue Wenxuan waved to him: "Hehehe! Lord Qin, why are you so far away from me? Come, come closer, let's have a chat."

Qin Hui dared not disobey, and immediately walked over with his hands at his sides, as obsequious as a little dog: "What would Young Master Yue like to talk about?"

Yue Wenxuan said, "Lord Qin was stranded in the Jin Kingdom during the Jingkang era, and has been living there for four or five years now. I would like to talk to Lord Qin about his experiences in the Jin Kingdom."

Qin Hui became wary, and his eyes turned into the shape of a rat's eyes...

Yue Wenxuan: "Did General Talan invite Lord Qin to visit the Jin cavalry?"

Qin Hui dared not answer carelessly, because a careless answer would be too easily proven false, so he could only honestly reply, "Yes."

Yue Wenxuan hummed in agreement: "What are your thoughts after reading it?"

Qin Hui's eyes revealed a deep fear, clearly indicating his dread, but he said, "These barbarians are nothing to worry about. Our Great Song army will surely wipe out these barbarian cavalry."

Yue Wenxuan: "I don't want politically correct standard answers, I want your honest evaluation."

Qin Hui's eyes darted away, but he still replied, "This is my true assessment! The barbarian cavalry are nothing to worry about. Our Great Song army, with its unparalleled divine might, will surely wipe out all these barbarians... and uphold the might of China..."

Yue Wenxuan stopped pressing him for answers; he could tell from the guy's eyes that he was saying the opposite of what he meant.

Hey!
Keep pretending.

(End of this chapter)