The court meeting did not end until noon. Even though Emperor Daojun was furious, the officials below did not come up with any good countermeasures.
Except for Tong Guan, who had always insisted on deploying the Western Army for conquest, most of what others said was unworkable and mostly perfunctory.
Emperor Daojun couldn't hear it, but he had no good solution to the current situation. He just couldn't get away with it because of his reputation. Two conquests had humiliated the Imperial Guards, and he, as an official, was even more embarrassed. It's hard to get off the tiger.
However, thinking about the six people transferred from the Western Army, I had a slight thought in my heart. Although the thoughts were only sporadic, I always wanted to try.
Originally, these six people were transferred just in case. At first, I thought the generals were incompetent. But no matter how confused I am now, how could I not see that the Gyeonggi Forbidden Army is not incompetent in general, but incompetent in all soldiers and generals!
Of the six members of the Western Army, he only summoned Liu Qi. He regarded Liu Zhongwu as his confidant, and he treated Liu Qi the same way.
Liu Qi had been in the army these days and had already understood the situation of the Ma Bu Army. He knew that the Imperial Guards in the capital were corrupt, greedy for life and fearful of death, and were difficult to use, so he spoke frankly to Emperor Daojun and told them everything.
But Emperor Daojun thought, but with you generals of the Western Army leading us, we will always be stronger than before, right?
After hastily announcing the disbandment of the dynasty, Emperor Daojun turned back and said: "King Qi stays!"
Zhao Tong came out of the courtroom and followed Emperor Daojun to the back. He originally thought he was going back to Yanfu Palace to talk, but unexpectedly he went directly into Chuigong Palace.
The Chui Gong Hall was empty. After Emperor Daojun sat down, he ordered Zhang Di to close the door of the hall and looked at Zhao Tao.
Zhao Tong felt furious at the sight, and just when he was about to ask, Emperor Daojun said, "Second brother, would you like to share my worries?"
When Zhao Tong heard Emperor Daojun's tone, his heart couldn't help but move, and he saluted, "My child should share his father's worries and do his best for the court."
Emperor Daojun nodded and continued to look at Zhao Tong. He remained silent for a long time, his eyes full of scrutiny and contemplation.
Zhao Tong secretly thought, isn't this because he wants him to lead troops to suppress Wang Qing? This is not a good job. It would be better to fight Xixia than to fight Wang Qing.
There are records of the princes leading troops on expeditions during this period. During the Maritime Alliance, during the Song and Jin Dynasties and the Liao Dynasty, the third prince Zhao Kai became the generalissimo of the Northern Expedition.
However, the former army boy Guan suffered two disastrous defeats in Yanjing and Baigou. Zhao Kai, who had already led the army out of the capital immediately, hurried back and reported his orders to Emperor Daojun without saying anything.
Emperor Daojun originally asked him to accumulate military merit, and then replaced the prince to be more righteous.
Literary Neng is the number one scholar, Wu is the leader of Yan Yun, if Zhao Kai is not the crown prince, who should be?
However, after Tong Guan was defeated, Zhao Kai still dared to go anywhere. Even Emperor Daojun was not worried about him going.
Zhao Gou also led troops. When the Jin army went south for the second time, he was ordered to send an envoy to Jinying to seek peace. He turned back midway and stationed in Xiangzhou, where he was appointed as the general marshal of Hebei's military affairs and took charge of Hebei's military affairs.
At this time, Emperor Daojun said: "Second brother, I remember that you once said boldly to regain Yanyun?"
Zhao Tong was stunned and said: "My child... don't dare to forget."
Emperor Daojun thought for a moment: "Second brother, we can attack the traitors in Huaixi first!"
Zhao Tong's expression immediately became frightened when he heard this, and said: "Dad, this... I'm afraid the child is not strong enough."
Emperor Daojun frowned: "Is it more difficult for a mere grass bandit than to regain Yanyun?"
Have you been deceiving me before? He spoke boldly and said that he would take back Yanyun for me, and after he said that, he opened his mouth to ask for an official. Now a grassroots bandit rebels, but he hesitates and fails to catch him. Even if he fights a grassroots bandit, he still fails to catch him, so what can he do to regain Yanyun?
Zhao Tong thought to himself, is it possible that you, the old man, don’t know it yourself? The privy councilors of the Xifu personally led the troops out, but they still lost their helmets and armor, lost the city and lost the land, and there were probably only a few thousand soldiers and horses left out of the tens of thousands.
And you have to let me put on a show, otherwise how can you reassure your old man about leading troops?
Zhao Tong lowered his head and said: "Dad, I thought that to recover Yanyun, we must use the Western Army, but to defeat the thieves, we are going to..." The implication is that the Imperial Guards in the capital cannot be used.
When Emperor Daojun heard this, he lost half of his anger. It turns out that this is what the second brother was thinking about. This makes some sense, but I never thought that the Gyeonggi Forbidden Army was so useless, but now I have to fight again. Fight, after all, there are generals from the Western Army.
He said: "Liu Qi and the others are all heroes of the Western Army. With them leading the army, we will always be stronger than before."
Zhao Tong was speechless and said to himself: Do you really think that a lion leading a group of sheep can defeat a group of lions led by a sheep?
Even if those lions don't fight back, you, the sheep, still have to be able to chew them.
When Emperor Daojun saw that he was silent, he added: "Besides, Deng Xunwu and Wang Xiang don't know soldiers as well as you. If the generals in the army don't know soldiers anymore, it will be difficult to win."
Zhao Tong said: "My child doesn't know how to fight. I only briefly read some of Sun Tzu's Art of War, Tan Gong's Strategy, Six Tao and Three Strategies, and the martial arts classics. They are all about war on paper. I'm afraid that I will miss the important task of begging for thieves..."
After hearing this, Emperor Daojun was silent for a few breaths and said: "Hebei Tianhu will also continue to conquer Tianhu. I have asked my third brother to make preparations and let him lead troops to Hebei to suppress Tianhu."
Zhao Tong was stunned when he heard this, and looked up at Daojun Emperor, are you serious?
Emperor Daojun sighed slightly: "But it is taboo to use troops on both fronts at the same time. The matter in Huaixi is more urgent, so we have to kill Wang Qing first, and then attack Tian Hu."
The corner of Zhao Tong's mouth twitched. You asked me to take the lead. If I win, then send Zhao Kai to fight Tian Hu. If I lose... I'm afraid Zhao Kai won't be able to fight Tian Hu anymore, right?
How could Emperor Daojun fail to see what he was thinking at this moment, and said: "Third brother is not as good as you in the military. You have been in charge of the army for two years, you know the art of war, and you have raised horses in Longyou. Third brother is incomparable." .”
Zhao Tong said: "The third brother may not be ignorant of military affairs. When I was in the palace, I saw him reading Sima Fa and Wu Zi's Art of War at night..."
Emperor Daojun's eyes lit up when he heard this: "Oh, it turns out that Third Brother is also studying military science? This is something I didn't expect earlier... Now that there is no one available in the court, we still need our own children!"
Zhao Tong knew that there was no one available because the civil servants were unwilling to take orders and go to fight. Military generals did not have this right. You had to go if you were asked, but you could not lead the troops alone. In this dynasty, only civilian officials could lead the troops.
If a military general wants to lead troops independently, he must be assigned a civilian position, and this civilian position must be higher than the military position, and he must lead the military with civilians.
The six people from the Western Army are all military attaches. They cannot lead the army alone. Their qualifications are not enough. It is not appropriate to give them civilian military duties. Hundreds of officials in the court will not agree.
Emperor Daojun saw that Zhao Tong was silent at this time, his face darkened, and said: "Second brother, Zongzheng Temple wrote another reprimand to me the day before yesterday..."
"Dad, I am willing to lead the army to fight against thieves, share my father's worries, and serve the court!" Zhao Tong said hurriedly with a serious look on his face.
Emperor Daojun looked at him for a moment and smiled: "Okay!"
Zhao Tong took a step forward and said politely: "Dad, I want to be the supervisor alone."
"Supervising the army?" Emperor Daojun was stunned when he heard this, thinking that you are the commander yourself, so why do you need to supervise the army?
Supervising the army is generally a temporary position of civilians when leading the military and civilians. Leading the military and the army with this position is considered to be lower among all wartime positions.
"Second brother, why do you want to supervise the army?"
Zhao Tong said: "Dad, this is my first time leading an army, and it's such a big thing as hunting down thieves. I'm afraid I won't be able to take care of it, so I want a deputy."
Emperor Daojun thought about it and felt that it made sense. If the third brother wanted to beg Tian Hu, he should be given a deputy, and he said, "Who does the second brother want?"
Zhao Tong thought for a moment and said, "Dengzhou General Judge, Zongze!"
(End of chapter)
