Before Shi Hao was executed, Zhao Hao gave him one last chance to write a letter to himself.
In this letter, Shi Hao did not try to save his own life. He just recommended several military-talented officials in the Privy Council to Zhao Hao, hoping that Zhao Hao could reuse them in his future, so that he would have a chance to restore the decline of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Among them, Yu Yunwen is the one he is most optimistic about.
He recommended to Zhao Yu that although Yu Yunwen had no military experience, he had military talents and should be trained.
After this letter was sent, Shi Hao had nothing to say anymore. Facing death approaching step by step, he would certainly be afraid, so he asked to numb himself with alcohol to reduce fear and pain.
Zhao Min agreed and also gave him a big meal.
On the last day of his life, Shi Hao drank like crazy, ate and drank until he vomited like crazy and was completely drunk. Finally, he was carried to the execution ground unconscious.
The sharp blade flashed past, and Shi Hao finished his life in a state of drunkenness, dreams, and death.
He was better than Zhang Jun. Zhang Jun was still fighting for his own survival until the last moment of his life. He didn't believe that he would be the first scholar-official to be killed, so he cried very loudly.
Shi Hao is different. With Zhang Jun as a warning, he is much calmer.
Zhao Hao read Shi Hao's last letter with some inexplicable emotions. He sighed deeply when he looked at some suggestions and talents recommended by Shi Hao to him.
Finally, I folded the paper and put it in my favorite book.
He has no spare time to promote any talents now. What he needs to do now is to wipe the ass of this war.
The peasant army destroyed most of the warehouses in the Five Prefectures, killed many officials who were familiar with the local situation, eliminated the armed forces, and brought a devastating blow to the local Southern Song rule. In many places, small groups of robbers gathered in the mountains and forests. The government is powerless to fight against the strong man.
On the other hand, the loss of a large number of soldiers caused a setback to the Southern Song Dynasty court's plan to form a new army, which had just been completed. Seeing that it had to spend a lot of money to build an army, the Southern Song Dynasty treasury was stretched at this moment.
After Zhao Hao ordered the death of Shi Hao, he ordered Zhou Linzhi to lead the Privy Council. Ye Yiwen continued to serve as Shangshu Zuocheng, and he recalled Huizhou governor Shen Gai to serve as Shangshu Youcheng - this position should have been reserved for Tang Sixui. of.
However, Tang Sidei failed to live up to his expectations and lost Jiande, the capital of Yanzhou. Zhao was very angry and dismissed Tang Sidei directly and drove him back to his hometown. The welfare benefits made Tang Situi want to cry without tears.
Shen Gai, who had better luck, was fortunate enough to be recalled to the court by Zhao Yu and served as Shangshu Youcheng, in charge of the court's financial work.
But when he returned to Lin'an to serve as Shangshu Youcheng, he immediately had the idea of exchanging lives with Tang Sidui.
The finances of the Southern Song Dynasty have reached a very dangerous point. If you want to maintain it, you may need to work like a sweatshop. It is better to go home and retire. Even without a pension, you can live well by relying on your family's savings and land.
Why come here to take care of this unfortunate and terrible finances?
In addition to daily expenses, it is also necessary to pay annual coins, pay normal military expenses, spend military expenses to form a new army, and spend a lot of money to rebuild cities that were damaged by the war.
Many of them are still messes left over from the Ming and Song Dynasty wars, and they have not been repaired until now because there is really no money to spend, or a lot of money has been spent, but the effect is very poor.
Needless to say, money was stolen.
What can we do?
As the chief housekeeper, Shen should be so worried that he couldn't even eat.
Shen Gai was in a bad mood, and the new Privy Councilor Zhou Linzhi was in an even worse mood.
Counting Shi Hao, two Privy Councilors have been killed in a row. Whether he will become the third one is open to question.
After he took over as Privy Councilor in fear, he saw the mess left by Shi Hao and couldn't help but cover his forehead and cry out in sorrow.
Really, for a moment, he wanted to just resign.
After the defeat of the two armies, the mess on Jiangnan West Road was really unacceptable. Yao Zhong's elite army, who finally led his army to the Jinghu Theater, was in a very embarrassing situation.
Both of these cost money.
How to make up for the losses of the Ezhou army?
Will the Sichuan and Sichuan troops come from afar to leave or stay?
At the same time, Wu Gong had a passionate confrontation with the Ezhou bureaucrats and started to have bad tastes at each other.
Zhou Linzhi looked at the military document that Shi Hao had not had time to reply to, and learned that Wu Gong had accused the relevant bureaucrats of the Ezhou and Hanyang armies who were preparing logistics for his army this time.
He said that they enriched themselves, took bribes, and used inferior products as winter clothing for the army, so that a large number of soldiers died of frostbite and frostbite, more than 5,000 people.
Because he was really unable to withstand the severe cold, and the winter supplies from the rear were delayed, he could no longer hold on, so he was forced to retreat. Before that, he killed thousands of Jiangnan West Road rebels and dozens of officers. Seeing this We are about to capture Nanchang.
As a result, a cold wave hit, and his record dropped to zero.
He strongly demanded that the court deal with this matter seriously and seek justice for the soldiers who died of frostbite and for him.
Before Zhou Linzhi could figure it out, he was called to the palace by Zhao Xun. Here he learned that the bureaucrats of Ezhou and Hanyang Army collectively impeached Wu Gong for being overbearing and unreasonable, treating the imperial officials as slaves, driving them wantonly, and disrespecting Jinshi.
Not only that, they also sent troops into the government to bully and beat officials, and forcibly took over warehouses for soldiers to plunder. As a result, local order was seriously damaged. They strongly demanded that the court punish Wu Gong and give them an explanation.
Zhou Linzhi's head was as big as a bucket, so he handed Wu Gong's military documents to Zhao Hao. Zhao Hao looked at him and looked uncertain.
"Do you think it is Wu Gong who is in charge, or the officials from the two states?"
Zhao Min looked at Zhou Linzhi.
"Both of them are reasonable, but Wu Gong went too far. The officials of the two states were at fault and should be dealt with by the imperial court. He directly sent troops to beat the officials and slapped the imperial court in the face. This trend cannot be allowed, otherwise it will encourage the generals. arrogance."
Although Zhou Linzhi was a privy envoy, he was also a Jinshi. Of course, he was on the side of the civil servants and was quite dissatisfied with Wu Gong's behavior.
He felt that even if an official made a mistake, it should be dealt with by the court. Why would you, a general, take over your duties?
This is not the border area of Sichuan!
Zhao Yan did not simply think this way.
On one side is the Zhao Song family law, on the other side is the fact of defeat, on the other side is the cheating civil servants who have done him a lot of harm, and on the other side is the cowardly military generals who have done him a lot of harm, and he doesn't want to take care of either.
But the Wu Gong thing is indeed a bit interesting.
"I have heard about these local officials lining their own pockets and shoddy goods, so what Wu Gong said should be true. We can't just punish Wu Gong, right? If there are sufficient supplies for the winter, wouldn't Wu Gong be able to win? ?"
Zhao Hao, who had just killed Shi Hao, was very intimidating. Zhou Linzhi did not dare to say anything more, so he said: "How do you think your majesty should deal with it?"
"We should be dismissed from our posts, and we should be investigated and investigated. Those bastards embezzled state funds and caused me to fall short of my achievements. How can they still have the nerve to make trouble? The army can provide supplies for the winter. You can imagine how lawless they are!
If such an official is not dismissed, will he still be in office? Although what Wu Gong did was inappropriate, it was better than these black sheep digging out the foundation of the Song Dynasty behind his back! I will never allow this to continue to happen! "
Obviously, Zhao Kan was more dissatisfied with the officials of the two states than Wu Gong's behavior. He thought of Su Yonglin's large-scale anti-corruption campaign and felt that the reason why the Ming army was so strong and good at fighting must be that Su Yonglin killed all the corrupt officials. reason.
He decided to move closer to Su Yonglin and didn't want to worry about so many things anymore, so the solution he gave did not meet Zhou Linzhi's expectations.
But Zhou Linzhi did not dare to contradict Zhao Min, for fear that he would become the third Privy Council member to be cut off.
So Zhao Hao quickly ordered an investigation of all the officials in the two states to see how many of them had enriched their own pockets and harmed the army. If they were found to be related to the imperial court, they could not be let go and they had to be dealt with together.
Of course, he also ordered Wu Gong to be relieved of his position and military power, and asked him to return to his hometown to reflect on his actions.
Then, Zhao Hao ordered all the remaining troops under Wu Gong to be handed over to the command of Yao Zhong, and ordered Yao Zhong to be the chief general to start preparations for another crusade on the Jiangnan West Road.
He wants to fight again.
