After sending Shen Ming away, Shen Yi began to write letters to the emperor.
Although he did want to mention his third uncle's affairs to the emperor, at his level, in the secret letter to the emperor, Shen Ming's affairs could no longer be considered a particularly important matter.
The theme of this letter can only be the decisive battle.
In the letter, Shen Yi explained the current situation in detail and gave his own judgment on the situation.
His judgment was that if Northern Qi was not extremely stupid, then there would definitely be a decisive battle under preparation.
It has even started to be implemented.
This decisive battle was a life and death battle for the entire Northern Qi court.
But for Nan Chen, it is not a life and death battle.
Because if they lose the battle, they can still retreat to the south of the Huaihe River. With the national power of Northern Qi now riddled with holes, it is impossible for them to continue to move south.
This is a war that has room for error against Southern Chen, but has no room for error against Northern Qi.
At the end of the letter, Shen Yi mentioned something about his third uncle Shen Ming's family.
After writing it and checking it to make sure there were no mistakes, he sealed the letter and asked the inner guard to rush it to Jiankang six hundred miles away.
Kaifeng is only more than a thousand miles away from Jiankang. This letter was delivered to Emperor Hongde on the morning of the third day after it was sent.
At this time, Emperor Hongde had just gotten up not long ago. Sun Jin, holding Shen Yi's letter, carefully arrived at the Manlu Palace, lowered his head and said: "Your Majesty, Mr. Shen has an urgent letter for six hundred miles."
The emperor rubbed his temples, reached out to take it, and waved, "I understand, just step back."
Having said this, he paused and said, "When you have nothing to do, go and take a look at Gao Ming for me, and ask the imperial doctor to check more often."
The high eunuch was ill, so seriously ill that he was almost bedridden.
Now Sun Jin has begun to take over the affairs of the inner court.
This is actually a bit like a probation period, but no one said it clearly.
Sun Jin bowed his head respectfully: "I go to see Eunuch Gao twice every day, and I won't forget it even for a day."
The emperor nodded slightly, and after opening the letter, he glanced at it briefly, then closed the memorial, thought for a while, and said: "Sun Jin, go to the Assembly Hall and invite Prime Minister Chen and Zhao to come to the Manlu Hall to see me. "
At this point, he paused and continued: "Moreover, let the people from Tai Hospital go to Prince Jin's Mansion again today to see Uncle Jin Prince's doctor."
Sun Jin lowered his head, bowed and retreated.
His Majesty the Emperor changed into a lavender robe. After some activities, he picked up Shen Yi's letter and read it, then stretched out and put the letter aside.
Not long after, the two prime ministers entered the Manna Hall one after another. After the emperor gave them a seat, he smiled at the two prime ministers and said: "I invite you two to come over today. There is something I want to hear your opinions on. "
Chen Jing bowed his head respectfully: "Please give me your Majesty's instructions."
The emperor looked at Shen Yi's letter and said: "Just now, I received Shen Yi's letter. The letter probably means that Northern Qi will make big moves in the near future. It is estimated that there will be a large-scale war by the end of this year to the beginning of next year at the latest. The decisive battle is coming."
After Zhao Changping heard this, he lowered his head and thought, but said nothing.
Chen Jing looked at Zhao Changping on the side, hesitated for a moment, and then said: "Your Majesty, for this kind of matter, should we invite the other three prime ministers, or summon officials of third rank and above to discuss it?"
"It's not that time yet."
The emperor smiled and said: "As I said just now, I just want to listen to your opinions first."
Chen Jing thought for a while and asked: "Did Shen Zhongcheng say in the letter what the odds of winning are?"
"No."
The emperor smiled hoarsely: "He is not a child of seventeen or eighteen years old. How could he say such things clearly in the letter? But Shen Yi said some other things in the letter."
Emperor Hong De looked calm and said: "He said that in this decisive battle, the number of troops on both sides plus the civilians will definitely exceed one million people."
"The Northern Qi Dynasty is already exhausted. If such a big war breaks out now, if it cannot be ended within two years, the Yandu court will collapse."
"Now, Yandu has begun to calm down the illegal donations in Northern Qi."
The emperor smiled and said: "If they continue to fight, they will inevitably increase exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes more frequently. By then, the north will become more and more chaotic, and restoring China will no longer be difficult."
"But something needs to be noted."
At the mention of this, the emperor couldn't help but frown.
"Shen Yi said in the letter that if the Northern Qi Dynasty starts a war, they will definitely give up the northern border defense. The Tatars will probably take advantage of the chaos and go south. This pass is not the pass of Zhenren Zhuli. They will not feel bad if they lose it, but our Han Dynasty cannot lose it. One city, one place.”
"So the Tatars are also taken into consideration."
When the two prime ministers heard this, they both frowned.
Zhao Changping took a deep breath and said: "Your Majesty, I have just made a rough calculation. If we have a decisive battle with the Northern Qi Dynasty and we send more troops to the north, even if we only add 100,000 troops, our government will probably not be able to sustain it."
"We also need to pay more taxes."
The emperor reached out and knocked on the table, feeling a little irritated.
"So, Shen Yi also proposed another method."
Emperor Hong De frowned and said: "Shen Yi himself doesn't agree with this method, and I don't think it's appropriate either, but I still put it forward so that you two can have an idea."
"The solution is not to send more troops to the north."
"Once the Qi people increase their troops on a large scale and move south to Shandong, our troops in Huaibei will delay the attack for a year and a half. When they cannot support it, they will retreat to the south of the Huaihe River."
Emperor Hong De looked at the expressions of the two prime ministers and continued: "After returning, wait until the north becomes normal..."
"Continue to cross the Huaihe River and fight a longer tug-of-war with the Qi people."
"If this goes on for a long time, Northern Qi will naturally be dragged down."
Chen Jing's eyes lit up and he was about to speak, but Zhao Changping frowned and said: "But if this happens, the people north of the Huaihe River will suffer a lot. Shandong, which has finally regained its people's support, will probably lose its support."
"And this went back and forth several times."
Zhao Changping smiled bitterly and said: "I'm afraid the people in the north will suffer countless casualties."
Emperor Hong De nodded.
"exactly."
"Although Shen Yi mentioned this method in his letter, he also said that if the imperial court adopts this approach, he will return to Jiankang and never lead an army again in his life."
After hearing this, Chen Jing, who wanted to speak, frowned and remained silent.
Zhao Changping sighed and said nothing.
Seeing that the two prime ministers had no idea, Emperor Hong De narrowed his eyes and said softly: "This matter still has a few months to go. We, the monarchs and ministers, will consider it slowly. There is another more important matter right now, and I want you to hurry up. manage."
"Now the war in Henan is going smoothly, and the prefectures in Henan are slowly recovering. The most gratifying thing is that the Huai'an Army and Pei Jun's West Route Army have regained Kaifeng, the provincial capital of Henan."
"Now, Henan also needs a large number of officials, and the Ministry of Civil Affairs is required to send them there as soon as possible."
Having said this, the emperor smiled.
"If the imperial court doesn't send a Kaifeng magistrate there, Shen Qi will be dragged into Kaifeng and unable to move."
After hearing the emperor's words, the two prime ministers looked at each other and understood the emperor's attitude.
If he planned to abandon the north and fight a long tug-of-war with the Qi people, the emperor would not consider sending officials to the north at this time!
Since the emperor is considering this matter, he is implying...
He is even making his attitude clear!
He needs these two prime ministers to implement his will in future court meetings or court meetings.
That’s why today’s “briefing meeting” was held.
Chen Jing has mixed emotions.
Zhao Changping, on the other hand, bowed his head respectfully.
"Don't worry, Your Majesty. After the old minister and Prime Minister Chen return, they will ask their colleagues from the Ministry of Civil Affairs to come to Zhongshu to discuss the matter."
"Your Majesty, don't worry."
Chen Jing could only lower his head.
"The Ministry of Civil Affairs will send officials north as soon as possible."