In fact, this time in the Jin country, there are not many people who support the southern expedition, and it can even be said that there are almost none. And the reason why it can be determined, even if it is not considered to be the arbitrariness of Yan Chang, it is also the result of his efforts to overcome public opinion.

And the most fierce opposition to the Southern Expedition was not Wanyan Zongzheng with a ghostly heart, nor was it the servant who was cautious in his words and deeds, but Zhang Hu, the most competent minister of Wanyan Changzhi. After Yan Changzhi put forward the resolution of the southern expedition, Zhang Hu immediately said: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the proposal of the southern expedition is absolutely impossible. ”

The way of finishing the face: "Boyi, why not?" ”

Zhang Hu said: "I Dajin has just finished checking the land and reforming the tax system, but because of the haste of the times, there are still a lot of mistakes, and although the new tax system has achieved temporary results, after all, the implementation time is still short, and it cannot be said to be perfect, so it takes time to test the effect, and then gradually improve." However, the officials and powerful forces in the financial institutions are still resistant to the new tax system, and the people are not used to it, and the people's hearts are unstable. On the other hand, the Southern Song Dynasty was stable, the Ren rebellion was quickly quelled, and there were famous generals like Yang Yan sitting in the country, and the Yangtze River was dangerous, so it was not easy to defeat it. Therefore, according to the minister's opinion, it is necessary to wait three years before the southern expedition can be carried out. ”

However, after listening to Zhang Hu's words, Wan Yan Changzhi was not angry, but asked, "Boyi, why wait until three years later?" ”

Zhang Hu said: "After three years, the new tax system will inevitably be repaired and improved, and the officials, the powerful and the common people are all accustomed to the new tax system, and the people have their own minds. ”

"What if in the past three years, the Southern Song Dynasty first attacked my Dajin?" ”

Zhang Hu said: "It is not easy for me to attack the Song Dynasty, but it is not easy for the Southern Song Dynasty to attack my Dajin. If the Southern Song Dynasty really sent troops to attack, my Dajin could just wait for work and give the Southern Song Dynasty a head-on blow. Therefore, please think twice about the move of the Song Dynasty. ”

At this time, Wanyan Fushou and Na Yan Shu'an also said: "Your Majesty, Boyi's words are reasonable, and please think twice about your Majesty's actions." ”

Wan Yan Changzhi pondered for a moment before he said: "What Bo Yi said just now is not unreasonable, in fact, I have also thought about it carefully, but I still think that the move of cutting down the Song Dynasty is still imperative, do you know why?" ”

The three of them glanced at each other and said in unison: "I wish to hear the emperor's knowledge." ”

Wan Yan Changzhi said: "If we only have one opponent, the Southern Song Dynasty, Bo Yi's opinion is naturally the safest and most effective way, but my Dajin is now facing not only one Southern Song Dynasty, but also the Mongol Tatars in the north, and they also want to raise troops to the south at any time." My Dajin is actually suffering from the enemy on his back, and the situation is dangerous. After three years, the civil strife in Mongolia will definitely be calmed down, and then if the Song and Mongolia sides attack our Dajin from the north and south at the same time, how will they deal with it? ”

The three of them listened to it, and they all knew that what Wan Yan Changzhi said was the truth. In fact, if it weren't for the simultaneous rebellion within Song and Mongolia this time, the trend of the north-south attack would have been formed.

After a long while, Zhang Hu said: "But three years later, my Dajin's national strength is not comparable to what it is now, even if the Song and Mongolia sides attack from the north and south at the same time, my Dajin may not be able to resist." What's more, in the past three years, there may be other changes in Song Meng's interior, which may not be known! ”

Wan Yan Changzhi shook his head and said, "Even if my Dajin can resist at that time, it will inevitably fall into a two-front battle, exhausted, and no matter how strong the country is, it will be exhausted." As for the three years, although there may be changes in the Song and Mongolian provinces, how can I hope for the fortune of the country on such an illusory thing? And now it happens that Mongolia is in civil strife, and I have no time to look south, and my Dajin has no worries, so I just want to go south. However, this time the southern expedition is not to completely destroy the Southern Song Dynasty, as long as it can occupy the land north of the Yangtze River and completely suppress the sphere of influence of the Southern Song Dynasty in the area south of the Yangtze River. I only need to fortify along the river, so I am not afraid of the Southern Song Dynasty's Northern Expedition, nor do I need to be afraid of the Song and Mongolian attacks from the north and south. What do you think of my proposal? ”

Zhang Hu thought in his heart that this method of Wanyan Changzhi was indeed much more active and active than his own opinions in theory, and if this strategic goal could be achieved, Daikin could indeed get rid of the passive situation completely. But the question is, will we be able to achieve the strategic goals as we wish? What if the Jin army's southern expedition fails? But after seeing Yan Changzhi's confident appearance now, Zhang Hu also knew that he couldn't say this to the emperor. I had to turn my head to look at Wan Yan Fushou, hoping that he could persuade Wan Yan Changzhi.

Wanyan Fushou is also very conflicted in his heart, in fact, strictly speaking, Wanyan Changzhi and Zhang Hu's opinions are not wrong, but they choose different parties, Jin Guo is indeed in the middle of the Southern Song Dynasty and Mongolia, but now the Song and Mongolia have not yet formed a unified action due to their own internal reasons. If the two sides really unify their actions and attack from the north and south at the same time, it will indeed be enough for the Jin country.

Although Zhang Hu's proposal is passive, it can buy about three years of respite for the Jin country, so that after three years, no one can say what the situation will become, maybe there will be a turnaround. Of course, it may also be that after three years, nothing happened, and after the Song and Mongolian sides were ready, they attacked from the north and south at the same time, while the Jin State fought on two fronts and was slowly dragged across.

Taking advantage of the current civil strife in Mongolia, he concentrated his forces on the power of the Southern Song Dynasty to expand the living space for the future development of the Jin Kingdom. It's just that once the southern expedition fails, then it's hard to say, maybe the Jin country will immediately collapse, and even be in danger of losing the country.

Therefore, both options actually have risks and opportunities, and it is not up to you to say who is good or who is bad. Wanyan Fushou is also in a dilemma about this. If Wanyan Fushou was allowed to choose by himself, of course he would choose Zhang Hu's suggestion, but Wanyan Changzhi is obviously a person who likes to take the initiative in his own hands, and Yang Yan also saw through this point before he dared to assert that Wanyan Changzhi would definitely go south.

As Yang Yan said, Wanyan Changzhi has absolute confidence in his ability to use troops. The southern expedition seven years ago, although it was planned by Wanyan Chang and he also went into battle in person, the final commander-in-chief was Jin Shizong Wanyanyong. Although Jin Shizong also trusts Wanyan Changzhi very much, he sometimes has major strategic differences with him.

After capturing the two capitals of the Southern Song Dynasty, Wanyan Changzhi once advocated postponing the pacification of the land south of the Yangtze River, but first concentrated his forces to completely sweep the north of the Yangtze River, and then Xu Tu Jiangnan. Unfortunately, this suggestion was rejected by Wan Yanyong, who was eager to completely destroy the Southern Song Dynasty, and instead continued to concentrate his army and attack the Lianghu region. If Yan Changzhi's strategic advice is exhausted at that time. That southern expedition to Dajin may never return in vain, and maybe even the Southern Song Dynasty has already perished.

Therefore, in the future, Wan Yan Changyi was very envious of Yang Yan and felt that he was much luckier than himself. Because after the restoration of the Southern Song Dynasty, Yang Yan basically got Zhao Chen's absolute trust, and all military operations, Zhao Chen let Yang Yan go to his heart's content, and there was no place to control him, which also gave Yang Yan the opportunity to give full play to his military talents, and only in just a few years did he establish a very dazzling feat, of course, it also made the Southern Song Dynasty's national power soar.

However, now Wanyan Changzhi is the emperor of Dajin, and no one can interfere with him, everything is in his hands, so Wanyan Changzhi has always been eager to compete with Yang Yan again on the battlefield, and Wanyan Changzhi is also confident that the final winner will definitely be himself. It was with this idea in mind that Wanyan Changzhi decided to launch the southern expedition again.

Wanyan Fushou knows Wanyan Changzhi best, and knows that after he makes such a decision, he will not change it anymore, and it is useless to persuade him. And Na Yan Ming'an will not object when he sees that Yan Fushou agrees, so although Zhang Hu still reserves his opinion on this, the other two agreed, one is Wanyan Changzhi's father-in-law, and the other is his father-in-law, what else can he say.

Of course, Zhang Hu is also the same as Wanyan Fushou, knowing that Wanyan Changzhi and his own opinions actually have their own advantages and disadvantages, it is difficult to say who is good and who is bad, and with Wanyan Changzhi's ability to use troops, it may not be impossible to win, so he can only agree with Wanyan Changzhi's decision. At the same time, I also pray to heaven to bless Jin Guo to pass this hurdle.

Although there are now a total of seven ruling ministers in the Jin State, the actual power is actually in the hands of Wanyan Fushou, Na Yan Ming'an, and Zhang Hu, all three of whom agreed to the emperor's decision to march south, and the other four are not interesting? Naturally, it was unanimously adopted.

At this time, in the area of Zhongdu, Yijing gathered nearly 100,000 troops, as well as a large amount of grain and grass materials, which were originally used to prepare for the attack on Mongolia, but now they are all used to supply the southern expedition, which can save a lot of time. However, the strength of the Southern Song Dynasty was far above that of Mongolia, so if it wanted to carry out the southern expedition, the current gathering of people, horses, grain and grass materials was far from enough, so Wanyan Changzhi issued another order to draw 60,000 horses from the border defense army in the north, and then transferred 50,000 horses from the Janissaries in the central capital, and put them into the southern expedition. Then he ordered all localities to continue to mobilize supplies, and recruited people to prepare for the southern expedition.

As another big battle between Song and Jin is about to begin, both sides of the war are gathering and preparing. The spies on both sides also started their own work and became active.