Zhao Guanjia, who made a deal with Zhang Jun through installment reservation and repayment, did not stop inspecting the troops. Two days later, when the follow-up personnel arrived, he and Zhang Jun continued eastward. Not only did they go to Binzhou, they also inspected the troops.

He defeated Zhang Zongyan's troops who had returned, and continued eastward. In the middle of the twelfth lunar month, he arrived at Denglai and inspected the imperial navy.

Here, Zhao Guan's family comforted Li Bao and granted him the position of co-capital commander on the spot, which was an improvement in the standards of the imperial navy and this person. However, they also asked Li Bao to take the initiative to send two sea ships.

Accompanying the fleet organized by Zhang Jun to go to sea also means being familiar with the sea routes.

At the same time, the meeting between Yue Fei and Tian Shizhong between Qingzhou and Zizhou seemed a little quiet.

Of course, during this period, the imperial court secretly urged Zhao Guan's family to return to Luan, and the imperial troops from all over the country greeted Zha Zi who expressed his loyalty due to various rumors, including Yue Fei's opinion of him taking charge of the right army of the imperial camp... but they never stopped.

.

It is worth mentioning that Yue Fei was not in charge of the imperial camp right army to avoid suspicion or anything. Instead, he implicitly stated in the secret letter that as a Hebei native, he controlled the imperial camp front army adapted from the former Tokyo left-behind secretary, and even

Including the Eight-Character Army, everything is fine, but in controlling the Imperial Camp Right Army, I am afraid that the Imperial Camp Right Army, which is based on the Western Army, will be dissatisfied in various places.

This is just like Zhang Jun seeking an explanation for Tian Shizhong that night, he came here to make sure.

To be honest, this behavior was a bit out of place. Any emperor would probably have something to say in his heart, but Zhao Jiu knew that Yue Fei had a reason for this move... Specifically, with Yue Pengju, everything that was helpful

Because of the Northern Expedition plan, he would accept or do it, regardless of whether it would cause trouble for himself.

To put it bluntly, this is called sacrificing one’s life for one’s country.

However, even if he understood Yue Fei's thinking, Zhao Jiu couldn't really explain anything to Yue Fei at this time. Because he helped eliminate Zhang Jun, the soul of the right army in the imperial camp, so that Yue Fei could control the imperial camp through Tian Shizhong.

The power of the Right Army has already reached a certain limit. If you want to give an explanation, you can only give it from the status. Once it is given from the status, it is likely to expose the fact that Zhang Jun has been stripped of military power.

This is going too far and is not good for anyone.

Not only will Zhang Jun's authority be wiped out, Yue Fei will definitely not be in trouble either - a commander controls half of the military power of the imperial camp, especially since Yue Fei is a life-and-death friend of Zhang Rong, the commander of the navy? And he is stationed in Jingdong?

This is simply unbelievable.

In this situation? The first person to jump out to oppose is probably Zhang Jun and Zhang Deyuan, the prime minister who has always been the most convinced and supportive of Yue Fei. And according to Zhang Deyuan's temper, I am afraid that it will directly cause the greatest embarrassment to Yue Fei. Then things will

It will become uncontrollable.

After all, this matter has nothing to do with personal relationships, likes and dislikes, right and wrong, but more about the system and just-in-case considerations. Even further, Zhao Jiu did this? In the eyes of everyone except him, it is indeed a bit dangerous.

As for Zhao Jiu himself, although he has ten thousand peace of mind, it is not enough to be compared with outsiders.

Putting aside these thoughts, since Zhao Jiu came to Dengzhou, met Li Bao, and watched the fleet go to sea, it was already the fifteenth of the twelfth lunar month, and this place was a full 1,200 miles away from Tokyo. There was no need to delay any longer. So.

, Turning around, this official who had something on his mind led a small number of cavalry again, and took Zhang Jun, Wang Yan, Liu Yan, Yu Yunwen and other close ministers who could run long distances back to Jishui first, and then rode along the river back to the west, all the way.

Heading to Tokyo.

One thousand two hundred miles, it took ten days? It’s not the fastest, but it can definitely be called a thousand-mile turn.

An important reason for such a hurry is that Zhao Guan's family has been absent from many things this winter... Although he had signed the national debt as soon as he returned to Beijing, the sale of national debt was only for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Imperial Banzhi and the Ministry of Revenue were left to their own devices; Cuju

The league final was finally held as usual, but they had to invite the two queen mothers to come out to sit in the box, and then Lu Gongxiang came out to present the awards; the rest were similar... And if this continues, there will be some trouble in Beijing.

Therefore, it can be said that this official did not miss the second day, the 26th of the twelfth lunar month, to study politics.

After all, the importance of this matter cannot be compared with other things.

One more thing must be said here. After several years of inheritance, Taixue Wenzheng now has a sense of ritual and has a specific process.

Generally speaking, starting from the morning, the important ministers below the Prime Minister held the manuscripts themselves, and under the eyes of the officials, they told the "grand students" what achievements their departments had made this year under the leadership of Zhao Guan's family, which was very interesting.

It feels like a job report. Then there will be a short break at noon to facilitate private communication among many people. In the afternoon, it is a time for important ministers to be asked questions. Although it is still an open question and answer session, generally within the first half month, relevant reports will be published in the newspaper.

The core issues will be warmed up and given a rough guide, and Zhao Guanjia himself will also play a role as a go-between at this time, allowing relevant departments to come forward to answer relevant questions.

Back to the present, this time, it may be that everyone knows that Zhao Guan's family is tired from traveling, or it may be that the fact that this official has been angry for nearly two months has made the political atmosphere in the capital a bit bad. It is more likely that this official is

The family was sitting upright, but they kept frowning and thinking, as if they were in a bad mood... Therefore, during this political inquiry, not many people talked nonsense and provoked Zhao Guan's family.

But as everyone knows, no one is questioning Zhao Guanjia face to face, but Zhao Guanjia has been questioning himself... In other words, since Ma Kuo turned around and left that day, he has been asking himself a serious question these days - how to recharge his energy to continue

Meet the needs of the Northern Expedition?

Theoretically, the national finances are gradually improving. It is impossible to say that after seven or eight years, the country will return to 80% of the level of its former heyday. By then, it will be enough to support 300,000 elites and meet other daily expenses, and then carry out

A large amount of precious metals, grain and grass were accumulated in preparation for the Northern Expedition.

And this is exactly what many conservative ministers expect, and it is also the plan that Zhao Jiu has long rejected... If you choose this, you might as well choose to go to Yangzhou in the first place, which is safer!

Why did you stay in Huaishang that day? It was because you couldn’t bear to abandon the Central Plains!

Why are you so anxious today? It’s because you can’t bear to abandon Lianghe!

Some things cannot be done with an abacus and calculations, whichever one is the most reasonable... The national spirit and the motivation for national integration must all be considered.

But if he doesn't wait for so long, how can he save enough food, horse supplies, cloth, and precious metals for 300,000 people for the Northern Expedition while raising troops? Just rely on him to reduce the expenses of the harem?

It must be understood that at the moment, we can no longer save money on civil service salaries and other expenses. This will only limit the speed of the country's recovery, which will not be conducive to long-term plans. It is equivalent to drinking poison to quench thirst.

And this is another deadlock.

I am afraid that it is precisely because of this that Zhao Jiu chose to try to get involved after learning about Zhang Jun's business, regardless of the risks and public opinion.

This official is already a bit hungry and has no choice but to eat.

Not to mention how the Zhao Guan family was so worried about the Northern Expedition that they did not return to Beijing for most of the winter. After returning to Beijing, they also exposed their worries in Taixue Wenzheng. It is only said that the Guan family finally returned to Beijing, which in the end made the entire capital political.

The atmosphere relaxed a little.

On the second day, the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, after hurriedly dealing with the past Taixue political inquiry, Taixue became lively instead... because this day was the beginning of the annual holiday. According to the practice of the past few years, students who live close to home in Taixue generally have to go to school.

Everyone has to wait until today to return home, but students who are far away from home usually have to prepare various matters for staying in the capital for the New Year.

Of course, under the current special system of three palace examinations and one annual examination, the value of imperial students is self-evident. Therefore, in the past few days, not only the palace will summon some outstanding imperial students, but also many dignitaries, such as Wu and Lu

And the families of important ministers, including the current prime ministers, would also ask their children to invite some of their best students to their residences to celebrate the New Year. Even the most inferior ones stayed in the Imperial College, and there were also wealthy businessmen, nobles, and temples who came to visit them.

Come and support meat, vegetables, rice and noodles.

There is no need to imitate Fan Zhongyan in cooking porridge and reading.

"That seems to be the young master of Mr. Zhao's family?"

In a window-facing restaurant box on the north bank of the Cai River, Chao Gongwu from Zhishe, who had just had a bowl of ginger soup to ward off the cold, had no time to put down the bowl, so he stared out the window at the other side of the river and blurted out.

"should be."

My friend sitting at the same table, Yu Yunwen, who was also the official name of this banquet, looked through the window for a moment, and immediately nodded in agreement. His eyesight and physique have always been recognized as excellent, and it is precisely because of this that this time,

Only then can he return early with the official family.

The old Ren Baozhong, the weak Fan Zongyin, and Lu Benzhong are all still riding back to Tokyo for the New Year.

"Do the prime ministers, parents, and sons also come to a place like this to eat mutton?" Chao Gongwu couldn't help but sigh.

"what is this?"

Opposite me, the big brother who had been drinking soup with his head bowed, Hu Quan, who was leading the report, looked up and faced each other calmly. "Not only the Prime Minister, but also Mr. Zhao is said to often come to Cai River to drink mutton soup. The officials also called this place specially for this reason.

Takeaways from... Zhao Xianggong is recognized as the best private person in the court. He does not build private property or have personal relationships. In addition, his family fled from Hedong and does not even have an acre of ancestral real estate. He lives only on salary and rewards, which is simple.

It’s normal to come here to have a tooth beating ceremony.”

"More than that?" Yu Yunwen also laughed casually. "Even though the eldest son Zhao has not been able to win over his wife so far, it is said that he was also implicated by his own father..."

"How do you say this?" Chao Gongwu asked curiously. "The son of the prime minister's family is worried about marriage?"

"What can I say? It's not because Mr. Zhao is the prime minister, so Mr. Zhao can't easily test his pen to take the college entrance examination and the imperial examination, so as not to fall into suspicion. And since he doesn't take the pen test, he can't get out of the Imperial College. No.

After graduating from Imperial College, and without fame, it will be difficult to get married..." Hu Quan, who was opposite, explained casually.

"That's true..." Chao Gongwu was speechless for a moment.

"However, even so, he is also the eldest son of the prime minister. If you don't believe it, ask these imperial students below if they would like to follow Mr. Zhao to the south of Caihe River to drink mutton soup and eat spinach sheep skin, or would they rather go with Uncle Wu

Drinking Blue Bridge Fengyue at the father-in-law's house?" Hu Quan continued to ask with a smile.

The answer is self-evident, but Chao Gongwu still just nodded when he heard this, and his words were still cautious: "Nowadays, the king is wise and the king is virtuous."

These words caused everyone present to nod, but Editor Hu opposite him shook his head and remained silent.

By the way, Hu Quan shook his head not because he had any objections to Zhao Ding. Although they had different political opinions, the level gap between the two was too big to be able to compete with each other. Moreover, Zhao Ding himself was generally recognized as having good talents and virtues.

No one was dissatisfied... The reason why he shook his head was because he lamented that people have their own ambitions and things are different.

The seven or eight people of the same age who are here today are no longer the students they were three or four years ago.

At that time, we were all classmates in the same room and Jinshi in the same subject. Even though we had different stances and different thoughts, it did not mean that we were friends. But now, we have only been working together for three years. From political status to political stance, we are all friends.

All kinds of mentality are completely different.

Among them, the most obvious one is Chao Gongwu. This man is capable, knowledgeable, and famous for his extensive knowledge and strong memorization. There is no doubt that he is one of the more outstanding ones among his peers, and his official career is also very good.

He is very serious, but he has gradually become strangers to the other people in terms of political stance.

The reason is exactly that saying: this time, that time.

Let’s say that three years ago, Chao Gong’s military family moved from their hometown in Jezhou to central Sichuan to avoid the war. At that time, the entire army naturally supported the imperial court’s use of troops to regain lost territory and stabilize the situation. But after Yaoshan, the situation became stable, and the Chao family

They also moved back to their ancestral land, but the family naturally lost the intention to support the imperial court's use of troops. Not only that, the elders of Chao Gongwu's family also complained about the abandoned fields at home being used as military camps by the imperial army, and they were not even allowed to redeem them.

Complaints gradually arose about the imperial policy.
To be continued...