You have truly caused me great suffering!

Normally, the Song Dynasty would discuss whether to change the reign title between the first and fifth day of the lunar month.

However, once the current emperor arrives, he doesn't act like a proper emperor. He just waits for the throne to be passed on to him every day and is too lazy to change things.
Secondly, although the meaning of these two characters changed in later generations due to the Jingkang Incident, their original meaning perfectly matches the current situation, so there is no need to change it.

"Jingkang" is derived from "the sun pacifies the four directions" in the Book of Songs and "the people will enjoy eternal peace" in the Book of Documents, implying stability and prosperity.

This is the perfect tool for this situation.

On the sixth day of the first lunar month, the imperial court announced that this year would be the fourth year of the Jingkang era.

Zhao Huan, accompanied by his officials, held a grand sacrificial ceremony in the southern suburbs, and then bestowed honors upon his officials.

Since Chen Shao had no more titles to bestow, he enfeoffed his son as the Prince of Anding, and all the generals under the Dingnan Army were also rewarded.

As Grand Marshal, Chen Shao ordered the vindication of Zhang Jue, the former military governor of Taining and concurrently the military governor of Ping, Ying and Luan prefectures, and ordered the erection of a monument in Jizhou.

Wang Anzhong, who strangled Zhang Jue, was arrested and tried.

In Jizhou, Zhu Lingling personally led his troops to erect a monument for Zhang Jue on the opposite bank of the river.

After a winter of recuperation, he looked a bit bigger, but because of his tall stature, he didn't appear obese.

Taking a sip of the excavated frozen soil, Zhu Lingling said with a smile, "With the weather so cold, when will we be able to start digging the canal? I think Yang Cheng will be idle for another month or two."

Beside him, Huyan Tong said with some dissatisfaction, "General, Zhang Jue used to be a Liao person. He was killed by a Song official. What does this have to do with our Dingnan Army?"

Zhu Lingling smiled and lifted a curtain, revealing two kneeling stone statues underneath, modeled after Wang Anzhong and Guo Yaoshi.

This is a bit disgusting.

It was Guo Yaoshi who personally sent people to bring Zhang Jue here and hid him in the Changsheng Army.

Finally, the Song Dynasty could not withstand the pressure and killed Zhang Jue, and also handed over his two sons to the Jurchens.

But the interesting thing is that Guo Yaoshi was the chief steward of Yanshan Prefecture, in charge of the troops of the entire Yanshan Prefecture.

He was nominally the number one military general.

The fact is, Yanshan Prefecture failed to protect Zhang Jue. As the top general of Yanshan Prefecture, do you really bear no responsibility?

This accusation has been dumped on his head, leaving him with no way to defend himself.

Zhu Lingling stroked the top of the stone statue of Guo Yaoshi and couldn't help but laugh. This move was too ruthless; it was a wonder that those civil officials in Taiyuan could come up with it.

This clearly indicates an impending attack on Liaodong. It seems this period of rest and recuperation will soon be over, and a major battle is inevitable this year.

Before launching an attack, do this first: divide the military and civilians in Liaodong.

Even today, in the vast territories controlled by Guo Yaoshi, there are still many people who admire the scholar-general Zhang Jue.

They harbored resentment towards the Song Dynasty.

If we launch a direct attack, it might force them to unite against a common enemy, since your Dingnan Army is nominally also a Song army.

By pulling this stunt, they pushed out Guo Yaoshi, who was then the chief administrator of Yanshan Prefecture in the Song Dynasty, to tell everyone that he was the one in charge.

“Who says Zhang Jue’s affairs have nothing to do with us?” Zhu Lingling said. “We are about to conquer Liaodong and will continue to expand our territory northward. Zhang Jue was a high-ranking official appointed by the Song Dynasty, and we, the Prince of Dai, are the King of the Song Dynasty. We are all one family!”

Thinking of this hothead in front of him, who was almost killed by his sworn brother Han Shizhong, it was clear how reckless he was.

Zhu Lingling had a talent for recognizing talent and felt that Hu Yantong was indeed a skilled warrior on the battlefield.

He patted Huyan Tong on the shoulder and said, "Huyan Tong."

"What's wrong?"

"If you can speak less or not at all from now on, I guarantee you can be granted a marquisate."

Hu Yantong thought for a moment, then his eyes suddenly lit up, and he said, "If someone can be ennobled without speaking, wouldn't I be able to... General, I understand!"

Zhu Lingling frowned, picked up the shovel, and silently shoveled soil with her head down.
-
Zhang Jue has been dead for so many years, but the reason he's being brought up again is indeed because they're going to take action against Guo Yaoshi.

At the beginning of the year, Taiyuan had already begun preparations for the competition.

Just like the attack on Qinghai and Tibet, this time, if we don't fight, we won't fight at all; if we do, it will be a thunderous and decisive victory.

After more than a year of recuperation, Chen Shao's place is now thriving, with abundant food and supplies.

Guo Yaoshi hasn't even started developing yet, and the two sides' ability to generate revenue is not on the same level.

Chen Shao already had a complete bureaucratic system, and with Cai Jing's surrender and Zhao Huan's cooperation, he had two legs to walk on.

This meant that the original Western Xia, the Song Dynasty, half of the Khitan, the Tibetan Empire, and the various kingdoms of the Western Regions were united in their efforts to jointly attack Liaodong.

Let alone Guo Yaoshi, even the Jin Kingdom, on paper, had no chance of winning.

Qu Duan also prepared a naval special for him, and then delivered a vicious blow to him from behind.

At the beginning of the year, Yoon Yeon-i, representing Goryeo, stated that they would definitely send troops to assist in the war.

The Koreans often misjudged the situation in their own country, but they understood the situation of the Central Plains Empire better than anyone else.

They knew all too well how formidable this Dingnan Army was.

The Tang Dynasty's border troops at that time did not have as high a rate of armor, as many horses, or as many soldiers as these people.

With their fighting spirit and thirst for military merit being equally matched, this group is bound to tear apart the ever-victorious army.

If Guo Yaoshi were wise, surrendering now might be the best option. Alternatively, if you truly don't want to surrender to the Dingnan Army, you could join the Jin Kingdom again, and with both sides united, there might be a glimmer of hope, but the chances are slim.

Even if they manage to repel this attack by sheer luck, they won't have the ability to retaliate. Once the Dingnan Army retreats and rests for a year or two, their strength might be even greater when they return.

The most capable regions, such as Hedong, Guanxi, and Hebei, have not yet been mobilized.

This is the most terrifying place.

The Goryeo history books record the rise and fall of dynasties in the Central Plains. How could they not know the immense war potential of the Dingnan Army?

With a single order from the Prince of Dai, soldiers were recruited in Hedong, in the five routes of Shaanxi, and in Hexi and Longyou. It is no exaggeration to say that 200,000 soldiers could be gathered.

And it's entirely affordable to raise them.

This puts them in an invincible position. Even if they were to encounter someone like Liu Xiu who could summon meteorites and wipe out all their troops, they would still be in an unassailable position.

Once Chen Shao returns to the Northwest, he can quickly gather a large enough army to turn the tide from the various fortresses scattered throughout the eleven prefectures of Dingnan.

Now, the only question is when this battle will end and whether it will be fought beautifully.

Then, the battle against the Jin Dynasty will most likely be the Dingnan Army's last battle.

If it can be successfully completed, the Dingnan Army will be just like the Jin army, using the old core members from when it rose to power, and will sweep across the world.
-
Taiyuan Prefecture.

Because his entire subordinates were already very familiar with military preparations and combat readiness.

Therefore, Chen Shao seemed to have some free time.

He no longer needed to do everything himself; with Lao Zhong in charge, everything was arranged in an orderly manner.

He no longer needed to worry too much about spring plowing and encouraging farmers. After several years of training, the officials of Hedong Prefecture had adapted to the intensity of the task.

Anyway, if you do a good job and put your heart into it, you can really get promoted, so who would be stingy with that little bit of effort?

Once the Prince of Dai ascends the throne, this opportunity for promotion may not come again.

Even if it were possible, it wouldn't be so easy; almost everyone knows this.

It was already broad daylight, but Chen Shao still hadn't gotten up, which was a very rare occurrence in the past.

Yesterday, he personally led a group to transport several bronze cannons to the front line, where they were loaded onto a truck at the engineering college and set off.

He also led a large group of craftsmen and gunners to the front lines, both to test the power and to catch that damned Guo Yaoshi off guard.

Chen Shao harbored a great deal of resentment towards this Liaodong Han general who was always quick to surrender but never actually surrendered to him.

If Guo Yaoshi surrenders, he can fight for a few fewer years, and now he should be preparing for the war to destroy Jin.

Yesterday, after Chen Shao finished loading the cannons and watched them depart, he came to the villa and sent someone to invite Maode over alone.

They bombarded this most beautiful imperial princess since the Song Dynasty.

This time he didn't invite Song Shi along because he noticed that Maode had been acting strangely lately.

With no one to share the firepower with her, Maud was in complete disarray, utterly defeated.

Chen Shao had already gotten up, but he wasn't dressed yet. He was only wearing a white silk undergarment and was slowly walking back and forth by the window.

Maode lay on her side on the bed, her slender, white arm supporting her head, her eyes holding a half-smile as she watched Chen Shao pacing back and forth.

"You and Li Yi'an did this too."

"what's up?"

Maode laughed and said, "Don't pretend. The other day when I went to your mansion to drink Huanhuan's wine, I smelled your scent on her."

Chen Shao nodded and said, "That's right, we made rubbings of the inscription. She's an expert in this area. I've been learning from her for a long time, and that's how you do it. Don't talk nonsense and slander someone's reputation."

"Are you willing to swear an oath?"

Chen Shao touched his nose and said, "I really didn't do that. I just had her take off her clothes and glanced at what was inside her bodice."

"She listened to you?" Maode was skeptical, but considering that Chen Shao did indeed love that place, he became somewhat convinced.

“At first she was unwilling, but I said I would bet with her. She was so confident in her gambling skills that she agreed and even let me choose what to bet on.”

"You won?" Now Maode was a little incredulous; she had never seen her friend lose a bet before.

Chen Shao laughed and said, "I said let's bet on who has the shorter name, and luckily Li Yi'an is known for keeping his word."

Maode immediately stopped smiling and glared at Chen Shao. "I think it's a case of going with the flow."

Then she asked with a grin, "You really only looked at it?"

Chen Shao picked up the empty teacup, rubbed it with his palm, and said, "There's also this."

Having gotten Chen Shao to talk, Maode got out of bed.

The sunlight streaming through the curtains shone on her face and skin, making her look beautiful and full of vitality, a different kind of dignified and noble than before.
In the bright light, the subtle expressions on the face of this princess, who was born into nobility, could be clearly seen.

Her face was flushed, as if she had been drinking, and beneath that slightly shy and embarrassed expression lay an extraordinary charm, without a trace of resentment...

She felt a morbid pleasure from dragging her friend into this mess.

Since everyone's breaking the rules, it's not so shameful anymore, especially since I only have two close friends around. (End of Chapter)