I traveled back to the Southern Song Dynasty and was actually outmaneuvered by Yue Fei.

"Your Majesty, Mother is well."

"It's good that you're all well. When Consort Zhang first entered the Prince's residence, she was a very cheerful person."

The day I combed her hair, she looked at me in the mirror and smiled, saying that being able to enter the Prince's Palace was the greatest blessing of her life.

Consort Wei paused, then looked directly into Zhao Bozong's eyes, as if judging whether the person in front of her was worth her finishing her sentence.

"Consort Zhang needs to rest and recuperate, but she also needs someone to move around the palace more often on her behalf."

Zhao Bocong knew that this was a greeting on the surface, but in reality, it was Consort Wei giving a secret signal.

After Zhang Quwei told her all the details of Feng Yi's line of work, she came today to verify Zhao Bocong himself under the guise of genealogy verification.

"Zhang Quwei has already told me about it."

Consort Wei's voice suddenly dropped to almost no inflection. Her eyes were not on Zhao Bozong, but on the osmanthus flowers in the porcelain vase on the table.

"I thought about what you did countless times when I was in the north. Zhijia is your man, and Li Bao is your man."

The battle at Jiaoshan in Zhenjiang not only destroyed Zheng Gangzhong, but also Qin Hui's foundation in the navy. Now I ask you, what do you want?

"I want Qin Hui to fall."

Zhao Bozong said these four words in a very flat voice.

Consort Wei raised her head and looked at him calmly.

"Why do you want Qin Hui to fall? Is it because he killed Yue Fei? Or because he betrayed the Song Dynasty?"

"Because he's blocking everyone's way."

Zhao Bocong did not look away.

"The path of war, the path of revival, the path for the imperial family to survive, and the path for the army of our Great Song to no longer have to fight against its own people."

Yue Fei was the best general of the Song Dynasty, but the fact that Yue Fei died at the hands of Qin Hui only pleased the Jurchens and did not benefit any Song people.

For sixteen years, Your Majesty was in the north, while Qin Hui was planting spies in the south for sixteen years.

Now that the Jurchens have released the Empress Dowager, they want to use her to pressure the Emperor, use the Emperor to pressure the pro-war faction, and use the blood of the pro-war faction to continue irrigating their southward advance.

Qin Hui was the biggest gatekeeper on this road; when he fell, the road was cut off.

Zhao Bozong blurted out everything he wanted to say in one breath.

Consort Wei's fingers gripped the osmanthus branch in the porcelain vase, slowly tightening their grip.

She remained silent for a long time, so long that the cicadas outside the window began to chirp incessantly again.

"Qin Hui will die one day. I won't ask how he dies; I only ask you—who do you intend to let live?"

"All those whom Qin Hui trampled underfoot," Zhao Bozong replied calmly.

"Yue Fei's reputation, the surviving former subordinates of Yue Fei's army, the loyal ministers who were exiled, conscripted, or buried at the bottom of the case files."

And then there's the emperor, who's been oppressed for half his life by that letter of submission and sue for peace; the one I need the Empress Dowager to help is the last one.

Consort Wei tilted her head slightly, finding it somewhat unbelievable: "You mean, you want the Emperor to deny that letter himself?"

"It's not a denial, it's a public statement." Zhao Bozong shook his head, his voice so low that only the two of them could hear.

"There was only one letter, but the Empress Dowager and the Jurchens were not the only ones who knew of its existence."

Qin Hui knew the entire contents of the letter because he had drafted it on Qin Hui's behalf.

With this letter in her possession, the Empress Dowager held Qin Hui's most fatal weakness: evidence of a letter seeking peace through treason.

Consort Wei remained silent for a few moments, then suddenly shook her head.

"You don't understand the emperor. He ascended the throne at the age of sixteen and spent several years hiding on a boat, not even knowing where Lin'an was."

He can't accept admitting his mistake now.

"So it's not about making him admit his mistake, but about letting him know what a greater evil is."

Before that, we need to win over a crucial person in the imperial court. The Court of Imperial Clan Affairs has his record of past favors and privileges, which still records his meritorious service in leading troops to escort the Prince of Anding out of Bianliang.

"You mean Yang Yizhong?" Consort Wei's tone was complicated when she mentioned this name.

She gazed at Zhao Bozong for a long time, trying to see the maturity in the boy before her, something that a prince could not possibly comprehend.

After a long while, Zhao Bozong finally spoke again.

"Yang Yizhong supervised the execution of Yue Yun and Zhang Xian in the eleventh year of Shaoxing. He did not save Yue Shaobao, and this is his debt."

But he wasn't Qin Hui's lackey, and he never drank much at Qin Hui's private banquets. "He was the Commander of the Palace Guards, the only one in the Three Departments who could mobilize the Imperial Guards in front of Qin Hui." Zhao Bozong continued, "He was the Commander of the Palace Guards, the only one in the Three Departments who could mobilize the Imperial Guards in front of Qin Hui."

If he is willing to stand by and do nothing at crucial moments, those who dare not speak up now will step forward one by one.

"But for Yang Yizhong to stand idly by, the Empress Dowager's words were even more forceful than mine."

Consort Wei withdrew her hand from the osmanthus branch and placed it on her lap. She looked at Zhao Bocong again, a strange light appearing in her eyes.

An autumn breeze blew past the window, causing the candlelight to flicker.

"What do you want me to do?"

"During the winter solstice sacrifice to Heaven, the Empress Dowager would pray for loyal ministers and generals in her eulogy, without naming them, simply by embedding a single sentence—"

Zhao Bocong paused for a moment, then said, "Loyalty to the country is as clear as day."

Consort Wei's brows twitched slightly.

She knew that these eight characters came from Yue Fei's last poem.

She also knew that if she prayed for the loyal ministers at the sacrificial ceremony without naming them, Qin Hui would not be able to refute her in public, nor would he be able to interrupt the Empress Dowager during the ceremony.

"I can grant your request, but I also have a question for you."

Consort Wei slowly turned to Zhao Bozong, her expression becoming serious. "What if Qin Hui attacks you before the sacrificial ceremony on the winter solstice? What are you going to do?"

It would have been effortless for Qin Hui to move a mere prince.

Zhao Bozong did not answer immediately. He knew Consort Wei's worries. Qin Hui was now second only to the emperor, wielding immense power.

He stood up and walked to the window. In the courtyard of Cining Palace outside the window, there was an old plum tree. In September, the plum tree had no flowers, only its deep green leaves rustling in the autumn wind.

"The Empress Dowager relied on a shard of porcelain during her sixteen years in the north." Zhao Bozong turned around and looked at Consort Wei. "When I was in Lin'an, I relied on a group of people who were willing to believe in Yue Fei one more time."

In the eleventh year of the Shaoxing era, they realized they had made the wrong decision and had been waiting for someone who could use their blade.

If Qin Hui makes his move before the winter solstice, the rapid response team in the southern suburbs can enter the city through Houchao Gate within half an incense stick's time, the three thousand naval troops in Zhenjiang can head north within three days, and the four hundred veterans in Xiangyang can—”

"Enough." Consort Wei raised her hand to interrupt him, her expression still serious, but her eyes lit up.

After spending sixteen years in the Five Kingdoms City, he suddenly lit up, "Zhang Quwei said you have a map that marks the locations of various troops."

Zhao Bocong took out a miniature map of Lin'an city and a general map of the three-location network from his sleeve and unfolded it in front of Consort Wei.

The nodes on the map are marked with cinnabar.

Next to each label, the person in charge, the number of people available for deployment, and the fastest response time are written in tiny characters.

Consort Wei looked down at the painting for a long time.

Then she pushed the cup of cold tea that was in front of her towards Zhao Bozong.

This time, it wasn't in the tone of an empress dowager addressing a younger member of the imperial family, but rather like an elder who had finished scrutinizing a junior and then suddenly closed all distance.

"You resemble Mao Zedong more than your father."

Zhao Bozong did not respond to that. He put the map into his sleeve, knelt down to pay his respects again, and Consort Wei said something else as he bowed his head.

"When I was in the Jin Kingdom, there was a Han Chinese clerk in the Jin Kingdom's Marshal's Office."

Once, after drinking too much, he said to my wife: "The Southern Dynasty was not defeated by its soldiers, but by the hearts of its people."

"I didn't believe it then, but after Yue Fei died, I believed it." She stood up, her back to Zhao Bocong, her voice coming from behind her.

What you are doing now is to gradually bring back what has been scattered in people's hearts.