Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 844 - 702

Chapter 844: 702

At the court conference that day, nearly all appointments followed Li Xuan’s preferences.

It was difficult for him to obtain half of the votes among the regent ministers, but to ensure that his and Yu Hongchang’s candidates made the top three in the court debate was much simpler.

However, Li Xuan certainly couldn’t make his maneuvering look so unbecoming.

The court still needed the support of several regent ministers, and Li Xuan also needed the overwhelming majority of the court and political forces united.

To marginalize the regent ministers or to drive them out of the court were both inferior choices.

As the chief minister of the Jin Dynasty, he must balance yin and yang, creating harmony amongst his ministers, leveraging their talents as much as possible, rather than exacerbating conflicts.

Like Wang Anshi, who outright demoted those with differing political views, while it might be straightforward and gratifying, it has caused hundreds of years of party strife since the former Zhao, even leaving a lasting poisonous legacy.

Therefore, the purpose of this court session was more about deterrence.

If everyone was willing to sit down and negotiate, then a bit more "candy" could be shared. If not, then face would be torn, and the debate would determine the superior.

After this court debate, the administration of the court in all aspects began to move smoothly.

Li Xuan and the regent ministers reached a tacit agreement: all the personnel matters of officials of the 3rd-rank or higher from north Zhili, south Zhili, and along the Yangtze River Canal would be decided by him alone.

For positions below the 3rd-rank, the Ministry of Personnel was also required to give priority to the candidates he proposed.

As for other regions, Li Xuan did not inquire at all.

His focus on reform was concentrated in these provinces.

Li Xuan’s idea was to implement the new policies in these wealthy provinces first, and once they had proven successful, he could roll them out elsewhere without delay.

Those poorer regions were conservatively minded, to begin with, and could ill afford disruption.

On July 26th, as scheduled, the court’s grace examinations began.

It is worth mentioning that the chief examiner for this examination was none other than Li Xuan himself, with Shang Hong serving as deputy chief examiner. The proctors for each room were also appointed by Yu Hongchang after consulting with Li Xuan’s opinion.

Due to the urgent need for officials, after a court discussion, the regent ministers temporarily increased the number of acceptances.

This time, a total of eight hundred and twenty Jinshi were enrolled, the highest number in the history of Jin Dynasty’s imperial examinations.

To Li Xuan’s relief, his reforms to the examination system faced little resistance in the court.

Not one of at least eight regent ministers opposed the addition of mathematics subjects.

The Jingtai Emperor knew how to use men well, promoting those who were competent and efficient.

As long as they were capable, he could tolerate them, even if they were inclined towards the True Emperor Dowager, like Shang Hong, Xiao Ci, and Gao Gu.

The eight regent ministers appointed by the Jingtai Emperor before his death were not mediocre at all; they all recognized the importance of mathematics.

So even if they did not openly support the reform, they would not oppose it outright.

The result of the examination was very pleasing. Although the Eight-Legged Essay had left its poisonous legacy in the world, there were still many students who had put effort into mathematics.

The eight hundred Jinshi enrolled by the court basically had a good command of the mathematical knowledge of the "Nine Chapters of Arithmetic."

Many of them had also studied his "Explore and Rectify Things"; their examination papers were not only logical but also regarded the principles of "Explore and Rectify Things" as the standard.

Therefore, most of their rankings were quite high, generally at the top of the second and third ranks.

Li Xuan was aware that many candidates had speculative intentions, but he did not mind.

It was difficult to falsify articles, and even if these people wished to curry favor with him, they had to truly understand his teachings.

Those who were superficial and attempted to mix the false with the true were easy for Li Xuan to spot.

And those who could comprehend the principles of "Explore and Rectify Things" and also had accomplishments in mathematics, regardless of their character, had at least a strong political acumen and promising abilities, making them talents he could utilize.

Then, in mid-August, Li Xuan appointed Wang Yuan as general, leading forty thousand newly trained troops from the third and fourth Divine Machine Camps as the core, together with a cavalry of one hundred twenty thousand from Jizhou and Liaodong to campaign in Liaodong.

By this time, it was nearing winter, and due to cold waves, the temperature in Liaodong had already dropped significantly.

However, deploying troops in September had one advantage: the nomadic tribes of Liaodong needed to settle down for winter, and their locations had mostly stabilized.

Li Xuan made an extra effort in preparations against the cold for his soldiers, providing each man with two sets of cotton clothes and specially acquiring a large supply of leather to prepare boots and gloves for all his soldiers.

Wang Yuan’s tactics were as swift and forceful as wind, fire, Thunderbolt; within just two months, he had swept the entire plains of Liaodong.

Most of the Jurchen tribes in Liaodong had suffered heavy losses during the repeated southern invasions by the Meng Wu. The few tribes that had preserved their vitality were inclined towards the Jin Dynasty.

So wherever Wang Yuan led his army, he faced little resistance. With an unstoppable momentum, they reclaimed Huining Government (Harbin), and as far as Mulhan Mountain (northeast of Hegang), then the entire army returned to Shenyang before the harsher winter weather could set in.

At this time, the areas further north near the Tungusic tribes and Sakhalin Island were yet to be reclaimed, but the essence of the Nuregan Zhihuishi Division had already fallen into the Jin Dynasty’s hands.

The remaining northern Jurchen and living Jurchen tribes could be pacified simply by sending some envoys.

These tribes lived far away and isolated; the Jin Dynasty’s control over them was only nominal, and they couldn’t truly govern them.

Many of these tribes did not even know that the Nuregan Zhihuishi Division had once fallen to the Meng Wu.

They would not care who controlled the plains of southern Liaodong, as their submission was only in name; whether they submitted to the Meng Wu or the Jin Dynasty made little difference to them.

On the day that the court announced the reconstruction of the "Nuregan Zhihuishi Division," the entire court was electrified, with the officials exhilarated.

Wang Yuan’s exploits in the eastern campaign were not that significant, with less than a thousand heads taken along the way.

But this marked the first time the Jin Dynasty had reclaimed lost territory since the Tumu Fort Catastrophe, signifying the nation’s power was being restored.

Although Prince Yi, Yu Jianshen, continued to cause trouble in the northwest at this time, the discerning court officials did not take him too seriously.

Whether it was popular support, geographic advantage, or military strength, Prince Yi had no upper hand. His only reliance was the so-called support of the Kunlun Sect.

This foreign Taoist sect inexplicably emerged with dozens of spellcasters of heavenly level and fully backed Yu Jianshen in carving out an independent regime in Shaanxi.

But at this point, Xi’an was flanked to the north by the Zhihuishi Division of Shaanxi (Gansu) and the Guyuan garrison, while the east was blocked by Fang Ying, Zongbing of Henan, and Guo Tai, Zongbing of Taiyuan, who sealed off Tongguan and Henan Government, making it difficult for Yu Jianshen to extend his military influence. Thus, he was confined to one corner, unable to affect the grand trend of state affairs.

Hence, both within the court and among the populace, there was an air of vigor and a sense of a nation on the rise.

However, by the end of October, two major events occurred within the court.

First was the report of poor harvests from various places in the south, with pleas for the court to reduce the taxes and grain levies for the year.

Second was the return from the south of envoys previously sent by the Jin Dynasty in August to reprimand Jiaozhi State and Damian State for their support of the Luchuan Si’s Tu Division causing chaos in Jin lands.

The two states had differing attitudes, with the Damian State respectfully escorting the envoy out of their lands and assuring no further collusion with the Luchuan Tu Division.

Jiaozhi State, on the other hand, refused to acknowledge the accusations and expelled the Jin Dynasty’s envoys, inciting a great uproar within the court.

The fleet arranged by Li Xuan failed to purchase much grain from Jiaozhi and Zhan City as hoped.

Upon landing in Hanoi, their ships were immediately turned away and only managed to smuggle some grain onboard with the help of local Jiaozhi potentates.

As for Zhan City, no grain was available for purchase.

That was because the King of Jiaozhi, Li Yuanlong, had already brought his forces to Zhan City’s doorstep, and the two countries had been at war for months.

Li Xuan was quite surprised. Zhan City was originally the Xianglin County of Rinan County established during the Han Dynasty, located south of Jiaozhi (southern Vietnam).

The region was a fertile stretch of land yielding harvests multiple times a year, and the famed ’Zhan City rice’ originated from there.

Initially, his plan was to turn to Zhan City as an alternative if grain couldn’t be purchased from Jiaozhi.

Li Xuan immediately summoned the Shaoqing of Honglu Temple and Peng Babai back to the capital to question the details.

The fleet that went to the Jiaozhi State was led by Peng Babai.

Peng Fulai’s father wasn’t only a dominant salt trader across the two Huai rivers and south Zhili, but he also had significant influence in overseas trade.

When the court sought to purchase grain, Peng Babai called to action and numerous ships swiftly converged.

Unfortunately, although Peng Babai’s organized fleet made a tidy profit, it did not bring back much grain.

When the two men appeared before Li Xuan, the Shaoqing of Honglu Temple was overwhelmed with shame: "Initially, the court officials of Jiaozhi treated me with respect, even promising to sever their support for the Si’s Luchuan Tu Division.

However, after September, their attitude suddenly changed. The Jiaozhi Ritual Officer who had been responsible for receiving me started avoiding me. Then their ruler summoned me, berated me harshly, and used my so-called impoliteness and disrespect as an excuse to have me whipped ten times. After that, they forcibly turned me over to Lishi and expelled me from their domain!"

As the Shaoqing of Honglu Temple felt both shame and anger, his outrage was palpable too.

As an envoy of a superior nation, he suffered such an ignominious insult in Jiaozhi.

Feeling disgraced before the court officials, the Shaoqing of Honglu Temple bore immense pressure upon his return to the capital — disdain from the officials and ridicule from the ministers.

This led him to contemplate suicide, and had he not needed to report on his mission for closure, he would have already drowned himself in a lake.

Li Xuan’s expression remained cool: "Do you know what caused Jiaozhi State’s drastic change in attitude?"

"Your Highness!" The Shaoqing of Honglu Temple, Zhang Yun, took a deep breath: "My family has a long scholarly tradition and I am well-versed in courtesy. During the envoy mission to Jiaozhi, I maintained no arrogance or presumption, no demeaning condescension, and treated everyone with due respect.

The only thing was, at the beginning of September, I refused the Jiaozhi Ritual Officer’s request for the court to officially recognize their king as the ’King of the Annan Kingdom.’ But as the Jin Dynasty has firmly rejected this request from Jiaozhi multiple times, it should not have provoked such rage. Therefore, the change in Jiaozhi State’s attitude should not be attributed to our mission."

He hesitated slightly: "According to information Peng brother discovered, in the middle of September, someone from the Central Plains secretly entered the Jiaozhi royal palace. After that, not only did they expel our envoy mission, but soon after, they also launched a military campaign against Zhan City."

Li Xuan nodded slightly and then looked towards Peng Babai: "Uncle Peng, what’s your view?"

"It must be the Jinque Palace, also known as the Kunlun Sect."

Peng Babai, in Li Xuan’s presence, did not presume to claim seniority, and folded his hands in greeting: "If my guess is correct, the Jinque Palace must have promised to help the Jiaozhi king attack Zhan City.

Furthermore, recently the grain prices in Jiaozhi, Zhan City, and other places have skyrocketed to two hundred wen per dan. I suspect the Jinque Palace has been buying up large quantities of grain there, driving up the prices."

Li Xuan was stunned for a moment, then unexpectedly laughed without anger: "Interesting! It truly seems like the heavens themselves are conspiring against that nation."

He thought about a yellow paper in his sleeve, which was a communication from another fleet he had sent to Lu Song. They had indeed purchased a great deal of grain but had encountered a massive sea storm, forcing them to remain in the local port.

This fleet was not gathered from civilians but was organized by the Neiguan Bureau.

Because the fleet had been delayed for so long, the Neiguan Bureau had even dispatched a ’Fire-Eye Crow’ to inquire and discovered that an exceptionally powerful storm, one unseen in hundreds of years, had erupted in the Nanyang region.

"Bilo, make a trip to the imperial palace and request the Princess Jianguo to quickly gather all the spellcasters in Yizhou (Taiwan) for a high-ground ritual!"

After instructing Dugu Biluo, Li Xuan kindly said to the Shaoqing of Honglu Temple, Zhang Yun: "You should take sick leave and stay home for a while. In no more than three to five months, I will certainly send you back to Jiaozhi to avenge your humiliation."

The Shaoqing of Honglu Temple, Zhang Yun, was momentarily stunned upon hearing this.

At first, he found it hard to believe, but then, remembering Li Xuan’s series of spectacular victories over the past several months and his extraordinary capabilities, he prostrated himself and said: "If Your Highness can enable me to cleanse this affliction of immense humiliation, I am willing to sacrifice my life in your service!"

It was actually an improper vow since his allegiance should be to the Jin Dynasty, not to the County Prince Fenyang.

But the Shaoqing of Honglu Temple, Zhang Yun, hated Jiaozhi State so profoundly that he was willing to give everything to make the ruler and officials of Jiaozhi pay a price.