This issue is somewhat sensitive.
Because so far, the war between Dachen and Northern Qi that lasted for more than half a year has ended. During this time, both sides suffered casualties. The Huaihe Navy plus the casualties of the Forbidden Army totaled more than 30,000 people.
Of course, not all of the more than 30,000 people died. Most of them were only injured, but they had truly lost their combat effectiveness.
However, as for the outcome of this war, especially the casualties of the Northern Qi Dynasty, there is no detailed explanation in either the official data released to the outside world or the internal documents of the court.
even…
Zhao Changping, the Minister of Household Affairs, didn't even know about it.
Zhang Xiang sat on the chair, looked at Shen Yi, and smiled hoarsely: "Zi Heng, you are an official in the imperial court. You don't even know. How can I, a bad old man who has retired from office, know?"
Shen Yi exhaled a breath and said, "To be fair to the old Prime Minister, this question was asked to Uncle Zhao before, but Uncle Zhao, the Minister of Household Affairs, only knew how much pension the imperial court needed, but he knew nothing about the casualties of the Qi people. Si After much deliberation, apart from His Majesty, the only one in the entire court who can inform this junior is you, the old Prime Minister."
Only the emperor, the Zhao family and officials from the Ministry of War knew about this kind of thing.
Shen Yi was in the Ministry of War and had no connections.
But Zhang Jing is different. The old man has been the prime minister for more than ten years. Like Yang Jingzong, his disciples and former officials are everywhere. Although he is not in office, he most likely knows many things that Shen Yi doesn't know.
"There are some things that are of little use even if you know them."
As the old man cleared away the pen and ink on the table, he said: "It just adds to the troubles."
"Last year, I was in the Di Reporting Department and saw too many frontline clerks, so I was very curious and wanted to know the casualties of Qi people."
Zhang Jing was silent for a while, then lowered his eyebrows and said, "Okay, I'll tell you."
He looked at Shen Yi and said, "But what I said today can come out of my mouth and into your ears. Once you walk out of this door, I won't recognize it."
Shen Yi nodded: "Junior understands."
Old Xiangguo sighed and said: "Last year, the imperial court fought with the Qi people, and a total of more than 35,000 casualties were suffered, and the Qi people..."
"Probably only half that amount."
"And most of them are wounded soldiers. The number of those who were actually killed in battle is at most 5,000."
Every time Zhang Jing said a word, Shen Yi's face became unnatural. By the time he finished speaking, Shen Yi couldn't help but muttered: "This is a big defeat!"
Zhang Xiang shook his head slightly and said calmly: "This is to drive away a powerful enemy."
Shen Yi was silent.
He sat on the stool and didn't speak for a long time. After being silent for a while, he sighed: "Old Prime Minister is right, I shouldn't ask. After asking, I felt even more angry."
"I'm just so sulky."
The old Xiangguo smiled and said: "Young people must have this kind of anger in their hearts, otherwise the whole country will think that our country, Chen, is peaceful and peaceful, and the rivers and seas will be clear and the sea will be destroyed."
Shen Yi shook his head and stopped talking.
Zhang Jing patted Shen Yi on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Stay home for a meal tonight?"
Shen Yi shook his head and said: "No, Lao Xiangguo, I just returned to Jiankang, and I still have a lot of things to do. When I get some free time, I will bother Lao Xiangguo again."
"good."
Zhang Jing smiled and said: "I know you are not willing to eat with a bad old man like me. I will invite you over when Yi An comes back."
Shen Yi bowed his hand to Zhang Jing, then said goodbye and left.
After walking out of the Zhang family gate, Shen Yi began to make calculations in his mind.
He was estimating the emperor's resentment towards the Zhao clan.
Shen Yi knew early on that the Zhao family suffered a defeat in the Huaihe River and was praised by the imperial court. He just didn't know the specific data, so he didn't know what the emperor's views were on this matter.
Now that he had obtained the data from Old Man Zhang, he could more accurately estimate the emperor's hatred for the Zhao clan.
When the Huaihe Navy faced the Qi people, they did not need a big victory or a small victory. As long as they could drive the Qi people back, even if there were some small defeats, the emperor would be very willing to accept it.
But now, after paying the casualties of nearly 20,000 imperial troops and 10,000 Huaihe Navy, the Huaihe Navy has only brought so little battle damage to the Qi people, and even forced the court to pay the Qi people "year-old coins", forcing The emperor had to accept the princess of Qi people as his concubine!
More importantly, His Majesty the Emperor had to pinch his nose afterwards to commend General Zhao and the Huaihe Navy.
After this back and forth, one can easily imagine the hatred in the emperor's heart.
If not, the emperor would not have been so eager to focus on the coastal Japanese pirates, hoping to use the Japanese pirates to form a new armed force to replace the Huaihe Navy.
After knowing the emperor's specific ideas, Shen Yi could be bolder when doing things next.
After leaving the Zhang family, Shen Yi returned to his home. After meeting his wife, he went into the study, picked up his brush, and started writing articles.
Early the next morning, when he went to work at the Di Newspaper Department, he inserted this article into the first draft of the next issue of Di Newspaper, and submitted it to the Ministry of Internal Affairs for approval.
In the afternoon of that day, the first draft was sent to Gao Ming. After reading the first draft, Eunuch Gao's face became a little strange.
After hesitating for a moment, he took the manuscript into the Manna Palace and found His Majesty the Emperor who was reviewing the memorial in the Manna Palace. Eunuch Gao waved his hand and signaled the eunuch waiting on the side to step back, and then he replaced the eunuch. position, standing respectfully behind the emperor.
"The Romance of Fairy Wood"
His Majesty the Emperor did not look back, but said calmly: "At this time, you should be handling matters in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Why are you here so early today?"
He looked back at Gao Ming with a calm expression: "What? Is something wrong?"
Eunuch Gao lowered his head slightly and flattered her calmly.
"Your Majesty is holy."
The little emperor snorted: "I don't like to listen to this when I have something to say."
Eunuch Gao smiled and took out the first draft from his sleeve, handed it to the emperor, and said with a smile: "Look, Your Majesty, I saw an interesting article in the first draft of the new issue of Di Bao."
Eunuch Gao pointed to one of the articles in the first draft.
This article has a very long title, two lines long.
"More than half of the imperial army went north to resist Qi, and the emperor's own army showed its decline!"
"The navy's position in Huaihe River to stop the enemy only hurts the enemy's skin, but the Northern Territory of Dachen is impregnable!"
Seeing this somewhat weird title, the little emperor immediately raised his eyebrows and became interested.
He read with great interest this article, which was clearly a narration of facts, but had a hint of yin and yang, and his eyes became excited: "Written by Shen Qi?"
Gao Ming nodded and smiled: "Although the signature is not his, 99% of it was written by him."
At this point, Eunuch Gao paused and continued: "If nothing else, just based on this title, the Imperial Army will probably be very angry when they find out."
"Annoyance is also anger towards the Huaihe Navy."
"Besides, the Huaihe Navy has made great achievements in resisting the enemy, so it's appropriate to praise them."
After saying this, the emperor looked at the title again, and the more he read, the happier he became. He smiled and said: "This article will not be changed word for word. Let the Di Newspaper Department publish it immediately. I will see it tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow at the latest. It spreads throughout Jiankang!”
He turned to look at Gao Ming again, with a smile in his eyes.
"I want to reward Shen Qi, think about it for me, what kind of reward would be good!"
