Chapter Seventy-One: Jin Ting

  He was a high-ranking official of the Jin dynasty. In 1211, he led the army to defend the capital against the Mongol invasion and was promoted to Right Deputy General-in-Chief. However, in 1213, after several defeats, he feared being killed by the powerful minister Xishi Liezhu and launched a coup, killing Xishi Liezhu. He then submitted himself for punishment to Emperor Xuanzong of Jin, who, considering his recent ascension to the throne and the unstable domestic situation, did not dare to punish him. Instead, he pardoned him and even promoted him to Left Deputy General-in-Chief, appointed him as Ping Zhang Zhengshi, and entrusted him with state affairs. This year, he was further promoted to Right Prime Minister.

  Jin Xizong's kindness to Huhegaqi made him deeply grateful, and since Jin Xizong came to power, he has been diligent in his work. This time, when the Mongolian army almost reached Bianjing City, he knew that Jin Xizong was shocked and worried about this matter, so he racked his brains and thought about it carefully.

  When he heard that Tiger High Qi sought an audience, Jin Xuanzong, although in a bad mood, still summoned him.

  "My dear, you have come to see me today, is there something important?" Jin Xuanzong sat on the dragon chair, looking down at the standing Tiger Gao Qi below. As for this guy, Jin Xuanzong was still quite satisfied with him, at least he was very respectful to him, otherwise, he wouldn't have let him be the Right Chancellor of Da Jin, the Prime Minister of the Golden Kingdom.

  Tu Hu Gao Qi replied respectfully to Jin Xuanzong, who was high above: "I have been thinking about the future of the Great Jin Dynasty for many days, and I must be worried about the Mongolian army now. I dare to offer a plan to Your Majesty, which can ensure that the Great Jin Dynasty will not be troubled by the Mongolian army for a short time!"

  It's really a good sleep, someone gave a pillow, Jin Xuanzong was feeling annoyed about this matter, and heard that Shu Hu Gaoqi had a way to solve his troubles. He immediately came to spirit, stretched out his body from behind the dragon case, and hurriedly asked Shu Hu Gaoqi: "My dear, what clever plan do you have? Quickly tell me!"

  Gao Qi saw Jin Xuanzong's behavior and knew that today he had pressed the right button again. Although he was now in a high position as Shangshu You Cheng, he had been deprived of military power in the Zhongshu Institute. Being an official was not bad, but having military power in one's hands was more reassuring, so he came up with this plan!

  "I humbly report to Your Majesty, please forgive my blunt words! The northern part of the Great Jin Dynasty is now on the verge of collapse, and the Shandong region is plagued by frequent civil unrest. For the Great Jin Dynasty, the current situation is extremely perilous. If this continues for a long time, the prospects for the Great Jin Dynasty will be worrisome!" Zuo Hu Gao Qi said to Emperor Xuanzong of Jin.

  "This is all nonsense! Jin Xuanzong himself doesn't think he's a fool, and he's also aware of the things that Tiger Gao Qi said. So, impatiently, he said: 'Hurry up and say your plan, these things I naturally know! If you have something to say, just say it directly, don't beat around the bush!'"

  Your humble servant obeys the edict! Your humble servant dares to speak out! Now, if His Majesty wants to break this deadlock, it's not that there is no way. Our Great Jin country's territory is getting smaller and smaller, once the Mongols march south again, such a plain area is exactly where the Mongolian iron cavalry can roam freely, and our Great Jin country has retreated to Bianliang, the north is already without any defensive position, which led to this time the Mongolian army almost reached the outskirts of Bianjing!

  "This is precisely because our country's territory is increasingly shrinking, if the emperor wants to revive the prestige of our great Jin state, he must expand the territory and strive to capture more land, form a situation where we can attack and defend, so that our great Jin state can be at ease!" said Gao Qi, bowing his head in response.

  Jin Xuanzong's eyebrows furrowed, and the words of Shu Hu Gaoqi seemed to make some sense. The Great Jin Dynasty had lost many territories in the north one after another, and was compressed into the Central Plains. Last time, he could still move the capital from Zhongdu to Bianjing City, but the situation was not stable at all. When the Great Jin Dynasty destroyed the Northern Song Dynasty, although the Northern Song was defeated and fled, losing a large territory north of the Huai River, they could still escape to the south of the Huai River and rebuild the Southern Song Dynasty in the south, barely surviving. But if Genghis Khan's army attacked Bianjing City again, where could he flee to?

  Shandong? No way! That place has already been messed up by the righteous army and can't stay there, Shanxi? Also no good, that place is too close to Western Xia, and with a Mongolian charge, Shanxi can't stay either! Shaanxi? Don't even think about it, now Western Xia is eyeing that place!

  Thinking carefully, there is really nowhere to run. Can't just sit back and watch Genghis Khan destroy the Jin Dynasty? Emperor Xuanzong of Jin didn't dare think about it. After all, this was a country that his ancestors had fought hard to establish with every sword and spear. He had already lost nearly half of it, could the Great Jin really perish in his hands?

  But expanding the territory is not something that can be done with just one sentence! Moreover, Jin Xuanzong did not understand what Tuhu Gaoqi meant by "expanding the territory", which place was he referring to, could it be...?

  "Go on!" King Xuanzong said to Shi Huqie, "In which direction should we expand our territory?"

  "Yes! Your Majesty! I think that if the Emperor wants a place to retreat, the Southern Song Dynasty is not a bad choice. As long as the Emperor sends troops and takes control of the Jianghuai region and Sichuan, we can rely on these places and fight against the Mongols without worrying about them being so arrogant and coming and going freely within our Jin Dynasty's borders. At that time, it will be easy to advance or retreat, and there will be no more worries! Moreover, under the rule of the Song people, Jiangnan is rich and prosperous, second only to heaven. Once we take control of Jiangnan, how can it still be like now, with our country so empty? At that time, it will not appear again that every time there is a problem, we are caught off guard!" Tiger Gao Qi bowed his head and replied.

  Jin Xuanzong was startled by Hu Ge's words, and his heart immediately became active. Hu Ge drew a very beautiful scene for him: the prosperity of the Song Dynasty is a matter that everyone can see, and now his Jin Dynasty has lost its territory after repeated defeats, and it can be said that it has become poor to the point of being destitute. If he could really take down Jiangnan and other places as Hu Ge said, at least he wouldn't have to be so poor and ugly, always stretching out his hand to extort money from the common people. In that case, it's possible that the Jin Dynasty's national prestige could be restored.

  Although the proposal of Shi Huqiu was very tempting, Jin Xuanzong did not immediately get confused and raised his doubts: "Attack Southern Song? Do we have the strength to attack Southern Song now?"

  Tiger Hu shook his head and said, "How can't we? Your Majesty should not overestimate the people of Southern Song. Looking back at the war history between Song and Jin, when did the Great Song ever gain an advantage over our Great Jin? The weakness of the Song people is well-known throughout the world. In the past, didn't our Great Jin repeatedly defeat the Song people until they were defeated and fled in disarray?"

  Moreover, the Southern Emperor has been furious with our country since he last listened to Han Tuozhou's opinion and launched the Kaixi Northern Expedition against our country, but was defeated by our country and escaped back to Jiangnan after losing his helmet and armor. The Song army then lost a large number of elite soldiers and is no longer a match for the elite soldiers of our great Jin Dynasty!

  Although our Great Jin is currently no match for the Mongol army, dealing with the Song army that we have already intimidated should still be an easy task. Now is precisely when the Song people are at their weakest. As long as Your Majesty makes up his mind, it will certainly be possible to capture Jiangnan in one move and bring it within the borders of our Great Jin. At that time, naturally, the world will still belong to Your Majesty! What's there to worry about not being able to revive the prestige of our Great Jin?

  After listening to Gao Qi's ordinary remarks, Jin Xuanzong suddenly felt that his chest was much clearer, and he thought that Gao Qi was right. The Southern Song Dynasty was indeed weak and pitiful. Last time, they launched the Kaixi Northern Expedition with great momentum, and various Song armies attacked, but they didn't gain any advantage from the Jin State. They were all defeated and fled back to the area south of the Yangtze River, and even lost HuaiBei and other places to the Jin State.

  Moreover, after the Jin army won, they didn't put much pressure on Southern Song, but the other side was already in a mess. As a result, even their own prime minister, Han Tuozhou, was beheaded by their current prime minister, Shi Miyuan, and his head was sent to the Great Jin State as an apology. They also had to sign the humiliating Treaty of Kaifeng, which was a loss of sovereignty for the Song people.

  Since you want to squeeze the persimmon, it's natural to pick a soft one first. Now looking around, Genghis Khan of Mongolia is definitely an iron persimmon. He won't squeeze himself, and Jin Xizong doesn't even dare to think about getting more benefits from him!

  Western Xia is not a soft persimmon either, because I sent troops to attack Western Xia, and after fighting for almost half a year, the result was that I lost soldiers and generals, and didn't gain any advantage. Even if it were a persimmon, it would be an unripe one that can't be pinched!

  So there is only the soft persimmon of Song Ningzong left for him to pinch, and the last time the Song people were defeated by the Jin country is still fresh in memory. If it wasn't for the fact that their military strength was not enough at the time, perhaps they would have really gone straight down to Jiangnan and destroyed this small court of Southern Song!

  Thinking of this, Jin Xuanzong couldn't help but shake his body, and the aura of the king burst out, and his heart began to stir. This idea was like a balloon, blown by Tufu Gaqi, and it began to inflate violently.

  With this calculation in mind, it just so happened that the Mongolian army withdrew from Tongguan during this period, and the righteous armies in Shandong and other places were defeated by the Huashan Army led by Pu Zongshi, and the war against Western Xia in the west did not go smoothly, but there was no major damage, only temporarily The Jin army turned to defense again, just in time to concentrate its forces to clean up the weak Southern Song Dynasty. If things went well, he might really be able to complete the great cause that his ancestors had been unable to accomplish for a hundred years and thoroughly destroy the Zhao family's regime!

  Jin Xuanzong began secretly making up his mind and immediately summoned the officials to court, starting discussions on marching south to attack Southern Song.

  The result was that Hu Dujun's proposal immediately met with strong opposition from officials such as Xu Ding, who saw the situation more clearly than Hu and advised Jin Xuanzong not to do something so suicidal.

  But among them, Xī Dǐng was the most strongly opposed. He spoke out against it: "Your Majesty, now is absolutely not the time to take up arms against Southern Dynasty again. At present, our Great Jin country's borders are already surrounded by powerful enemies, and our national strength is declining day by day. How can we be so rash as to use force against Southern Dynasty once more?

  The Southern Dynasty has been operating in Jiangnan for hundreds of years, and it is already deeply rooted. Think about it, when our great Jin Dynasty was so prosperous, we couldn't even eliminate them, let alone now?

  The Song people are weak, but they are not something we can swallow now. They have strong defenses along the Yangtze and Huai rivers. Our soldiers have been fighting for years and are exhausted. If we rise up again with swords and armor, it will only create another powerful enemy in our rear, which would be disastrous for our great Jin state!

  In my humble opinion, we cannot only not attack the Southern Dynasty now, but also should make friends with the Southern Dynasty and unite with the Southern Dynasty to jointly defend against the Mongolian army. This is the best strategy! Only in this way can the Great Jin State be free from worries, concentrate on fighting against the Mongolian army, I hope Your Majesty will think thrice before acting!"

  Jin Xuanzong did not expect that this matter would actually lead to the opposition of so many courtiers, and he felt very unhappy in his heart. He glanced at another side where General Hu Gaoqi was standing.

  Hu Ge immediately stood up to refute Xi Ding: "Left Chancellor, this statement is different. The Southern Dynasty has been an enemy of our Great Jin for generations. Just a few years ago, they even sent troops to attack our Great Jin. How could they make friends with us? Not to mention forming an alliance with us against Mongolia! This is simply the ravings of a madman!"

  Do you think the southerners have always been weak and unable to withstand, are they a match for my great Jin country's powerful army? Now that the Southern Dynasty has recently suffered a defeat, they lost their elite troops in the previous war with our country, it is the best time for our great Jin country to take action. Moreover, the Southern Dynasty has always been untrustworthy, two years ago when they saw us busy fighting against the Mongols, they abruptly stopped paying tribute to our country. If we don't punish them, are we going to wait until their wings grow strong again and come attack us?

  Just as you said, our country has been at war for years and is now facing financial difficulties. If we lose the annual tribute from the Southern Dynasty, it will be even more difficult. Now we only have to take advantage of the fact that the Southerners are not on guard and give them a good lesson. As long as we station troops in the rich and fertile Jiangnan region, we naturally won't have to worry about the Mongolian army's invasion from the south. On the contrary, we can hold our ground at the strategic location of the Yangtze River and Huai River, advancing or retreating at will, unlike the current situation where we are in such a precarious state.

  Moreover, the fact that the military is currently lacking in grain and salary is also a reality. However, it is precisely because of this that we should quickly use our troops against the Southern Dynasty, to feed our army on the spot. Even if we cannot enter the heartland of Jiangnan, we only need to defeat them, and the Southerners will naturally not dare to disobey our great Jin country again. They will automatically make up for the years of unpaid tribute to our country and compensate for the losses of our great Jin country, which can be used to enrich the treasury of our great Jin country!

  Zuo Cheng was so afraid of the Southern Dynasty, could it be that he had accepted bribes from them? By the end, Zuo Hu's words even turned into personal attacks, slandering Ding as having accepted bribes from the Southern Song.

  His hands and feet were icy cold, his lips trembling with rage, pointing at Gao Qi, he didn't know what to scold him for, finally only saying: "Gao Qi, are you pushing Da Jin into a desperate situation?! You... this is... you're a treacherous official!"

  Listening to the quarrel between the two factions of Hu Ge and Xu Ding, Jin Xuanzong became impatient. How long do you want to quarrel? He waved his hand and said: "Let's stop here for today, retreat, and let me think about it again!" As soon as he finished speaking, he turned around and went back to the palace with a big sleeve.

  But such a debate is still going on in the Jin Dynasty, and the argument between the two sides has not stopped. It's gotten to the point where it can't be reconciled, and even the common people have gradually learned about this matter. The ordinary people are discussing it in a flurry, and don't know what to do!

  Not to mention how Jin Guo's side was in an uproar, let alone the situation with Gao Huaiyuan on the Da Ye County side. He wouldn't have known about the situation within the Jin Guo imperial court. As the weather grew colder and colder, after adding some new winter clothes for the young people in the Zhuangzi and the servants of the two estates, he began to consider whether or not to return to Shaoxing for a visit.

  Although he didn't like the Gao family in Shaoxing at all, and had no good feelings towards his relatives there either, he was still nominally Gao Jian's son. This time, after receiving the harvest sent by Gao Hua Yuan, Gao Jian was very satisfied, and once again mentioned that he wanted Gao Hua Yuan to return to Shaoxing for the New Year, to reunite together.

  In that case, if Gao Huaiyuan won't go, it's inevitable that Gao Jian will be unhappy and be accused of being unfilial, which would be unpleasant to hear. Moreover, the fact that he can stay in Daye County now and develop steadily is also influenced by Gao Jian to some extent, so he has no reason to turn against Gao Jian either.

  Besides, he can't help but think of home and not want to return to Shaoxing. However, Huang Yan and Zhou Huan, on the other hand, must be thinking of home. They have been following him for over a year now, and it's only reasonable that they should go back to visit their families. If he doesn't go himself, these two will definitely not bring up the topic of returning. Emotionally and logically, this Spring Festival, he has to make a trip back to Shaoxing.

  After Gao Huaiyuan had thought this matter through clearly, he called Huang Yan and Zhou Huan over and brought up the topic of returning to Shaoxing for Chinese New Year. The two were instantly overjoyed as they too had been homesick for some time but hadn't dared to mention it since Gao Huaiyuan hadn't brought it up before. Now that he had, they naturally wouldn't oppose it.

  Now that the plan is set, it's already late December, and things are going smoothly on the side of Wòhǔ Zhuāng. The expansion project in the backyard has been completed more than halfway, but some craftsmen have started to ask about returning home for the New Year. As the host, Gāo Huáiyuǎn naturally cannot require them to stay and continue working, so a part of the project has already come to a halt.

  The road to Tongguan in the mountains is also progressing step by step, and for the time being, it's hard to get through to the copper mine with just this handful of people. Therefore, Gao Huaiyuan decided to temporarily suspend the logging and road repair work, waiting until next spring to continue.

  After making some arrangements, he handed over the affairs of the old man in Daye to Xue Yan and Zhou Yi to handle. The affairs of Wohu Village were handed over to Zhou Jun, Jia Qi and Jiang Peng, who are now all capable of handling things on their own, and there is nothing to worry about.