As soon as this was announced, the government and the public were in an uproar.
A large number of officials immediately impeached Yao Zhong and demanded that the court deal with Yao Zhong seriously and never let the arrogance of military generals overwhelm civilian officials.
Public opinion surged, and for a time it seemed as if thousands of officials in the entire court were impeaching Yao Zhong. Everyone aimed their guns at Yao Zhong and fired at him rapidly. No matter what, the turbulent wave really shocked Zhao Hao.
But for civil servants, this is a very serious topic.
Those arrogant military generals now dare to punch civil servants and cause trouble in the governor's office. Then the next step is to go to Lin'an City and seize the throne?
We are thinking about you, Your Majesty!
Only at this level could the imagination of the Southern Song Dynasty officials make such a leap forward.
This situation was not accidental, nor was it the officials' belief that Yao Zhong must have colluded with the Ming army but Song Chen must not have colluded with the peasant army.
Putting aside all facts, this is a politically correct issue, and the loudest voices in the court are all civil servants. The microphones are in the hands of civil servants, and the voices that come out are theirs. .
Since the war against Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty, it has been the family law of the Zhao and Song Dynasties to treat the noble and the military as lowly. It has been a rule of the Zhao and Song Dynasties. The generals have been restricted and suppressed in many ways, and they have been made to dance in shackles in order to make the generals obedient and not threaten the rule of the imperial court. Things happened again, causing tragedy.
Military generals can defeat foreign enemies, they can surrender, they can surrender to cowardly and incompetent people, they can have hordes of greedy, lustful wives and concubines. They can do anything, but they can't rebel.
Society cannot revere military merit, lest there are too many military talents and the court cannot suppress them.
In order to prevent Chen Qiao's mutiny and the yellow robe from happening again, and to save Zhao Guangyi's crumbling emperor's throne after two defeats and complete death, the generals had to make sacrifices.
Regardless of whether he made a mistake or not, as long as a military commander provokes civilian officials, it must be [putting aside all facts, didn’t he make a mistake? 】
It was never military generals but civilian officials who could control and guide public opinion in the Song Dynasty. Most of the people who spoke in court were civilian officials, not military generals.
Their buttocks naturally sit on the side of Zhao Song Family Law, which protects their interests. Once a conflict breaks out between military generals and civil servants, they will first bring out Zhao Song Family Law and knock the military attaché to the ground, put ten thousand feet on him, and let him die, and then talk about other rights and wrongs. No.
Therefore, the attitude of the court officials is obvious.
Zhao Yan was quite helpless in the face of this situation.
Although he instinctively felt that this matter was in deep water, he felt that Yao Zhong, a general who had just been transferred to Xiangyang less than a year ago, was unlikely to be able to reach any commercial agreement with the Ming army immediately. This was unscientific.
And after all, did the Ming Dynasty really need the armaments of the Southern Song Dynasty?
Don’t they produce it themselves?
Compared to the Ming army in Henan, maybe the bandit army on Jiangnan West Road needs the ordnance of the Southern Song Dynasty more, right?
However, in the face of strong protests from the Manchu civil officials and the practical needs of Zhao and Song family law, Zhao Hao had to accept the request of the civil government and the suggestions of Ye Yiwen, the left prime minister of the Secretariat, and Shen Gai, the right prime minister of the Secretariat of the Secretariat, to first set the tone for Yao Zhong's mistakes. .
Then discuss the rest.
"Yao Zhong said that the Song Dynasty had colluded with the Jiangnan West Route bandits, and Song Chen said that Yao Zhong had colluded with the Henan Ming Army. The two criticized each other, and I think it was not groundless. I think there must be something fishy in this matter, and we need to send envoys to investigate thoroughly. , what do you think, ministers and ministers?"
After Zhao Hao set the tone that Yao Zhong had made a mistake, the civil servants were finally willing to think rationally about the problem. They did not dare to be careless when it came to loyalty to the court.
But Yao Zhong’s punishment is indispensable. Some people have come forward to demand that Yao Zhong be taken down directly and removed from his position as commander. He cannot be allowed to continue to command the army, otherwise who knows what he will do once he commits a crime. ?
Zhao Yan was dissatisfied with this and believed that the fourth crusade was imminent. Yao Zhong was the designated commander-in-chief. How could he be taken down because of this undecided matter?
Of course, Chen Kangbo was also a big deal on this matter.
The fourth encirclement and suppression campaign that was about to be launched was to be carried out with Yao Zhong as the commander. Yao Zhong was rich in experience and had outstanding military exploits. Letting him lead the reconstructed Jinghu Theater Army would definitely achieve good results.
But now something like this has happened.
After thinking about it, Chen Kangbo also felt that he could not speak for Yao Zhong.
"Yao Zhongjiu is in the army. He has rich experience and has made many military exploits. He is a general in the army. He was originally the best candidate to lead this anti-bandit campaign..."
Chen Kangbo said depressedly: "But as soon as this incident came out, the government and the public were in an uproar. It was impossible to agree with the order for Yao Zhong to lead the troops into battle. And no matter what reason Yao Zhong had, it could not be used as an excuse to punch officials. This was definitely wrong. .
Now his actions have caused a lot of discussion between the government and the public, and they are very distrustful of him. In addition, officials in the Jinghu area will also be very dissatisfied with Yao Zhong and will isolate him. If he presides over the war, he will definitely be held back, so... "
"So he can't use it?"
Zhao Hao snorted coldly: "Can personal grievances be compared with national events? Jinghu officials are too arrogant!"
"Your Majesty, this is not a personal grudge, this is an ancestral law."
Chen Kangbo said helplessly: "The rules set by our ancestors are to suppress the generals and prevent them from crossing the line. This is the consensus of both the government and the public. Although Yao Zhong has outstanding military exploits, he did not do the right thing this time."
When Zhao Xun heard this, he snorted again.
"In short, what do you mean is that Yao Zhong must be severely punished, or even sent to jail?"
Chen Kangbo shook his head.
"Whether it is a crime or not remains to be awaited the results of the investigation, but in this game, Yao Zhong will no longer be the head coach."
Zhao Min was silent for a while, then slapped the armrest hard.
"Of course Yao Zhong was at fault in this matter, but aren't those corrupt officials at fault? They embezzled military supplies and passed off shoddy goods. This kind of thing has happened not once or twice! I don't believe the local officials at all in this matter. No problems!
No matter how you say it, Yao Zhong is a veteran, and he also understands the laws established by his ancestors. To make him so angry that he loses his mind, you can imagine how far the local officials have gone too far! It must be investigated strictly! Check it out! "
Chen Kangbo did not object to strict investigation, but he was not satisfied with Zhao Yu's attitude.
"Your Majesty, your Majesty should not do things like the preconceptions of the civil servants of the Manchu Dynasty. Who is right and who is wrong has his own fair judgment. You cannot be the first to think who is right and who is wrong in this matter. Otherwise, it will affect the fairness of this matter."
"Then what do you think?"
Zhao Min looked at Chen Kangbo with an unkind expression.
Chen Kangbo shook his head.
"I'm not sure. I only know what to do now."
Zhao Xin's face was uncertain. After much deliberation, he had no choice but to make this decision.
Because the matter was very serious and someone with sufficient authority was needed to handle it, Zhao Xi decided to send Zhou Linzhi, the political advisor to Ezhou, to handle the matter personally.
But in any case, Yao Zhong cannot be the coach of this crusade, so the Privy Council must re-select the coach of the crusade against the rebels.
After many choices, they had no better choice. They could only let Zhou Yun, the commander of the Infantry Division stationed in Jiujiang, temporarily take on the role of coach, while Wang De's son Wang Shun served as deputy commander.
After all, they are stationed locally, are closer, and are more familiar with the local environment. Rather than sending another person to be the coach now, it is better to let them take action.
As for Yao Zhong...
Seeing that he could no longer command the army of Xiangyang Mansion, Zhao Min began to have a headache again regarding the general of Xiangyang Mansion.
Xiangyang Prefecture is mainly composed of Sichuan troops. A sudden change of commanders in other places may lead to a bad leadership situation. Now that Xiangyang Prefecture is facing a direct threat from the Ming army, Zhao Min really does not dare to mess with the generals.
Therefore, at the suggestion of Chen Kangbo, Zhao Hao decided to transfer Wang Yan, an important general in the Sichuan-Shu War Zone, to leave his garrison and stationed in Xiangyang. He served as the commander of the Xiangyang army and the magistrate of Xiangyang Prefecture. He was fully responsible for the defense of the Ming Dynasty's Henan Corps.