Chuzhou.
While the fierce fighting was going on in Pizhou, news that Mongolia was about to invade the Southern Song Dynasty was spreading in the city.
Zhao Tai owns many properties in Chuzhou, among which wine shops and theaters have the largest flow of people and are also the source of news dissemination.
At this time, in a house in Chuzhou, Hu Zhen was standing in the study with her hands behind her hands, listening to reports from her subordinates.
"Thousands of households! We have spread the news! There are many people in the city, bringing their families and families, to the south to cause trouble!" one person reported.
Hu Zhen nodded: "There's only so much we can do now! Go! Inform the people in the wine shop and theater to pack your things and leave for Lin'an tomorrow!"
Zhao Tai is actually quite pessimistic about this war.
Of course, his pessimism was not about himself, but worried about whether the Southern Song Dynasty could withstand the Mongolian attack.
Zhao Tai's worries were not unfounded. Judging from the information he received, there were different opinions within the Song court. The official Zhao Yun was timid in fighting, while the Mongols were bent on attacking the Southern Song Dynasty. The results were generally foreseeable.
Therefore, Zhao Tai asked people to spread the news, hoping that the people in Jianghuai could prepare early to avoid being massacred by Mongolia.
News of Mongolia's brutality spread in Jianghuai. In addition to the oral accounts of the northern refugees who fled into the Southern Song Dynasty, there were also Jin Yiwei secretly fueling the fire.
Zhao Tai hoped to use this to attract the attention of state capitals throughout the Southern Song Dynasty, or to allow some people to go south in advance to avoid disaster.
Zhao Tai had doubts about whether the Southern Song Dynasty could resist the Mongols' invasion of Huainan, so he gave Hu Zhen an order very early to sell off his property in Huainan to reduce the losses caused by the Mongols' southward march.
"Don't worry Qianhu! I have already informed them and the ship has been arranged!"
Hu Zhen nodded when she heard this, "Okay, then go down!"
After his subordinates bowed and exited, Hu Zhen glanced at the study, feeling somewhat reluctant to leave. She sighed and began to pack her things, light the brazier, and destroy some letters and information.
…
In Chuzhou City, affected by the clouds of war, the people in the city were panicked.
Although the Southern Song Dynasty government repeatedly stated that Mongolia had no intention of invading southward, and even if Mongolia invaded southward, the court was prepared and told the people not to panic, many people still decided to leave Chuzhou.
Early that morning, in the west of Chuzhou City, an official ship docked. Zhou Simao, the newly arrived Huaidong pacifier, stepped off the ship and saw the commotion all around. Many people were rushing to get on the ship, and they couldn't help but frown.
"Mr. Sir, the official sedan is ready!" The officials who came to greet Zhou Simao on the pier saw Zhou Simao's chess and cards, quickly stepped forward to salute, and then turned sideways to greet him.
Zhou Simao was about fifty years old, with a thin appearance, slightly squinted eyes, and a few strands of beard under his chin. He looked quite majestic. He took a look at the situation on the pier, then walked into the official sedan, "Go directly to the Yamen!"
Zhou Simao originally wanted to go to the Appeasement Department first, but when he saw the chaos at the dock, he had people carry him to the Zhizhi Department Yamen.
Zhao Fan, the envoy of the Lianghuai system, was stationed in Chuzhou and was worried about the current situation.
He knew very well that the Mongols came for Zhao Tai on the surface, but in fact they wanted to deal with the Song Dynasty.
His opinion is that the Mongols cannot be defeated one by one. They must either take the initiative and place the battlefield in the Central Plains and Shandong, or withdraw the Kaifeng garrison and defend the Huaihe River with all their strength, and then urge Jinghu and Sichuan to contain Mongolia so that Mongolia cannot Dare to attack in a big way.
Although he wrote many times, the Song Dynasty had the national conditions of the Song Dynasty and the court had its own difficulties.
After the game between all parties, the final result was that he was not allowed to act rashly or take the initiative to provoke Mongolia.
Lin'an's order undoubtedly restricted Zhao Fan's hands and feet, making the Song army very passive. Fortunately, although Lin'an did not allow him to strike first, it did send him a lot of forbidden troops to strengthen the Huaihe River defense line.
At this time, in the festival hall, Zhao Fan was discussing with his subordinates how to arrange defense.
"Mr. Zhizhi, Pizhou has been fighting for many days. I'm afraid the loyal army won't be able to hold on for much longer!" Li Zhongshuo, an aide under Zhao Fan, said worriedly.
Zhao Fan twitched his cheeks and stood in front of the map with his hands behind his hands, "Thanks to Zhao Guorui this time, if he hadn't understood the general situation and stood firm in Pizhou, if the Mongols had been allowed to rush over directly, the Huaihe defense line would have been easily torn apart!"
"That's right! There is no Zhao'an in the imperial court. I originally thought that the loyal army would not hold on to Pizhou, but I didn't expect that he would lead his troops to defend Pizhou!" Li Zhongshuo said: "Zhao Guorui deserves to be the unparalleled national scholar after Taizu!"
Zhao Fan nodded, agreed with this evaluation, and then asked: "What's going on with the Forbidden Army? I can't waste the time Guorui bought for us, and we must complete the deployment as soon as possible!"
Speaking of the Forbidden Army, Li Zhongshuo said in a sullen voice, "Reporting to my husband, it has been half a month since Liu Dianshuai arrived in Chuzhou and he stayed in Chuzhou City all day. Many officers of the Forbidden Army are also having fun in the city and are not interested in military affairs! "
Zhao Fan frowned. During the years of peace in the Song Dynasty, the Forbidden Army was made up of Quangui's children. They were pampered in Lin'an and neglected training. When they arrived at the front line, they still behaved like this, which made Zhao Fan feel quite uneasy.
Zhao Fan heard that the officers were having fun in the city. How could such an army fight against the Mongols? He was about to say something when suddenly a subordinate reported outside the festival hall, "Mr. Zhizhi, the new Xuanfu Xiangong is here!"
Zhao Fan was a little surprised. He didn't expect Zhou Simao to come to see him so soon. He thought about it and said to many of his staff: "Since Mr. Zhou has arrived, you can come with me to greet him!"
Zhao Fan was the Zhizhi envoy, with a higher rank than Zhou Simao, but Zhao Fan did not dare to neglect him because Zhou Simao was sent from Lin'an to monitor him and prevent him from disobeying the imperial court's will.
The Song Dynasty always used civil servants to control military affairs. Military officers would be surrounded by civilian officials to monitor and restrain the military attachés to prevent them from disobeying the court's orders.
The situation on the front line is now tense, and the gun may go off at any time. Zhou Simao was sent by the court to prevent the Song army from provoking a war on the front line.
Therefore, Zhao Fan had to come out to greet him in order to live an easy life, so as not to make Zhou Simao unhappy and write a secret report to accuse him of being domineering.
When Zhao Fan came outside the yamen, he saw the official sedan coming to greet Zhou Simao. When the sedan stopped and Zhou Simao got off, Zhao Fan smiled and said, "Zhou Fu has just arrived in Chuzhou, why don't you take a rest?"
When Zhou Simao saw Zhao Fan greeting him, he saluted and said, "I have seen Mr. Zhizhi before!"
After speaking, he straightened up and said, "Originally, I wanted to go to Xuanfu Division first, but when I was at the dock, I saw the gentry and the people rushing to get on the boat first. I was quite puzzled, so I came to ask Mr. Zhizhi!"
Zhao Fan didn't expect that Zhou Simao would find fault with him as soon as he arrived.
Zhao Fan, who was in charge of Chuzhou, naturally understood the situation when the people of Chuzhou left the city and went south to cause trouble.
He initially thought about restricting the people from leaving the city to avoid shaking the morale of the army, but then he felt that restricting the gentry and the people was not an option.
After all, he was not sure whether he could stop the Mongolian army. The spontaneous movement of the people to the south could ensure their safety, reduce the population of Chuzhou, and prevent the city from depleting food too quickly after the Mongolian army besieged the city.
When Zhao Fan saw Zhou Simao coming to question him, he didn't want to quarrel with him, so he said kindly: "It turned out that Zhou Anfu was here for this! Let's go in first and talk slowly and in detail."
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