Chapter 881: The Song-Jin Allied Forces, a Common Enemy for All Under Heaven

Chapter 881: Chapter 80: The Song-Jin Allied Forces, a Common Enemy for All Under Heaven

—The situation keeps shifting.

All that has been stirred up this time is by no means something as simple as just the Great Song.

Aside from the Great Song, the one most directly affected is naturally Wanyan Digü.

He cannot afford not to be cautious.

As the founding Emperor of Jin at present, Wanyan Digü has already become a completely different man from what he was at the start.

He has to tread carefully now, facing this wave of impact from Gu Hui!

Within the newly established “Jin” Imperial Palace of Kaifeng Prefecture.

Wanyan Digü dismissed his attendants, keeping only a few trusted senior ministers. He rubbed the detailed secret report on the public trial at Yinchang Prefecture in his hands, and in his rough brows there was none of the arrogance that followed great victories of the past—only a rare, heavy gravity.

“Pass down my orders,” he spoke in a low voice, the sound echoing through the somewhat empty hall, “all forces are to temporarily halt the offensive to the south, pull in the troops, and consolidate the prefectures and counties already occupied.”

“Keep strict watch on the movements of Gu Hui and Yue Fei’s forces. Without my decree, no one is permitted to provoke them on his own.”

His fierce subordinates, such as Wanyan Wushu, showed confusion on their faces; just as they were about to speak, Wanyan Digü raised his hand to stop them. His gaze swept over them, carrying an insight that went beyond simple military victory or defeat: “You think that Gu Hui is merely killing a chancellor and erecting a kneeling statue, do you?”

He answered his own question, his tone growing even deeper: “He is uprooting the very foundations!”

“What he is digging up is not only the roots of Zhao Song—yet is it not also shaking the very foundations of all Emperors under Heaven?!”

Wanyan Digü keenly sensed that everything Gu Hui was doing did not have simple dynastic replacement as its core, but was a thorough negation of the entire ruling logic of ‘heaven‑bestowed imperial power’ and ‘the cardinal bonds between ruler and minister.’

How could he possibly accept that?

Do not forget, Wanyan Digü has always been an exceedingly sharp man.

Otherwise, he would never have had the chance to get to where he stands today.

A man like him naturally sees much farther than others, and thus can perceive many unusual things.

And this is also why Wanyan Digü is halting his offensive!

Compared to the Gu Clan—

This already rotten Great Song Court is, in fact, no longer something he regards as a threat.

He wants to eliminate Gu Hui.

Yet in doing so, he likewise does not wish to completely turn Gu Hui into a mortal enemy.

The Great Song Court is the pawn he himself has chosen to send charging ahead!

Meanwhile, in the Jiangnan Water Village.

The music and song on the painted pleasure boats continued as ever, yet in the secret chambers of the great aristocratic clans the atmosphere was heavier than ever before.

The Patriarchs no longer merely discussed poetry, books, and romance; they spoke far more, with anxious hearts, of that “shocking” move in the north.

“A public trial of the chancellor, the people erecting a kneeling statue—once such a precedent is set, where do the cardinal norms stand?

“What difference then remains between us scholar‑officials and the common folk?”

Panic spread through the gentry like an invisible plague. They intensified their contacts, sending money and grain into Yingtian, praying that the court could swiftly eradicate this mortal hidden danger.

In Chuan‑Shu, the Jiedu Envoys who relied upon natural barriers each had their own calculations.

On the one hand, they issued harsh orders to seal off the passes, strictly forbidding “heretical books” from the north to enter; on the other hand, they could not help secretly weighing whether, should the realm fall into upheaval, the barrier of Jianmen could protect their own positions—and even whether they might seize a share of spoils from the chaos.

The powerful clans and scattered Rebel Army forces of Jing Lake and the Two Huai regions held an even more ambiguous attitude.

They feared Gu Hui’s set of rules in which “the law does not favor the noble,” yet deep down they faintly felt that this might be an opportunity to break the existing configuration and escape the double oppression of the court and the scholar‑clans. A restless, uneasy emotion surged as an undercurrent at the lower levels.

As the news continued to spread, the entire realm was undergoing great changes because of it!

…

Time passed in a rush.

Gu Hui continued to carry out everything in an orderly fashion.

Now he was like a soft blade, using this lull across the realm to constantly expand the influence of his ideas.

And just as Wanyan Digü had foreseen.

When the Jin Army’s offensive gradually slackened, the Great Song Central Hub immediately noticed what was happening.

Yingtian Prefecture, Chuigong Hall.

The continuous pall of gloom eased for a moment as battle reports from various regions kept arriving; the mood in Chuigong Hall was markedly relaxed.

Zhao Gou sat upon the imperial throne, his back a little straighter than usual. Though the terror deep in his eyes had not fully faded, there was already some relief on his face, like one who had survived a great calamity.

“Your Majesty’s great fortune! Heaven shields the Great Song!” Wan Qixie was the first to step forward, his voice carrying just the right degree of excitement. “This time the barbarian chieftain Wanyan Digü sheaths his sword surely in awe of Your Majesty’s heavenly majesty, and moreover because he has clearly seen the true face of that traitorous rebel Gu Hui—insane, defiant of the Way, enraging both men and gods!”

“This shows that even the northern barbarians can sometimes distinguish right from wrong, and know that our Great Song alone is the rightful orthodoxy!”

Another minister hurried to echo him: “Lord Wan Qixie speaks most truly!”

“Though the Jin barbarians are fierce, they still know that the cardinal ethics and moral order cannot be abolished.”

“That Gu Hui turns the Way on its head, openly trampling a thousand years of ritual and law, he has already become the enemy of all under Heaven. Wanyan Digü’s move precisely shows his intent to join hands with our court to jointly punish this fiend!”

The ministers chimed in one after another; compared to the factional strife of the past, the court at this moment was practically of one mind.

Seeing this, a faint smile also appeared on Zhao Gou’s face.

Wan Qixie, noticing Zhao Gou’s expression relax slightly, immediately struck while the iron was hot and bowed to report: “Your Majesty, it is not only that the barbarian chieftain has turned back; the loyal and righteous gentry in Jiangnan likewise, moved by Your Majesty’s sacred virtue and fully aware of the peril facing the realm, are all willing to sacrifice their households to ease Our difficulties and aid the Royal Army!”

His voice rose, colored with some rhetorical flourish: “The Zhang Clan and Wang Clan, those great houses of Suzhou and Hangzhou, have already taken the lead in donating two hundred thousand shi of grain and rice, which is now being rushed here by canal boats through the night!”

“The Liu Clan of Jiangxi, the Chen Clan of Huguang, and others have likewise opened their clan treasuries, contributing vast sums of silver and cash as military funds!”

“As soon as recruitment proclamations were posted in various places, those responding flocked in far greater numbers than before, all because the scholars and commoners alike understand that the disaster on the Northern Border is truly a great plague that shakes the very foundation of human relations. They are willing to march with the Royal Army to jointly defend the cardinal norms!”