When Zhao Hanzhang received the proclamation sent by the court, she was leading school students in cutting wheat in government fields.

The school had agricultural break, and Zhao Hanzhang simply brought the school’s students to harvest wheat.

Professor Fu Tinghan was also among them. Although he didn’t understand why he had to come too, when Zhao Hanzhang invited him, he couldn’t bear to refuse, so at this moment he stood with Zhao Hanzhang in the field.

Changning stopped his horse by the roadside, holding the official document while stepping on the field ridge and running all the way. He finally found Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan among the crowd and hurriedly called: “County Magistrate, there’s an important court document.”

Zhao Hanzhang’s hand holding the sickle paused. What important document needed to be delivered to the fields?

She glanced at Fu Tinghan and strode forward, taking the document.

Changning came down into the field and stood beside her, lowering his voice: “The Prince of Donghai says Gou Xi is plotting to control the Emperor and command the feudal lords, intending rebellion. He’s summoning armies from various regions to jointly attack him. County Magistrate, you sent troops to rescue Quyang early in the year, and your military reputation spread far, so this time Xiping is also on the list. The higher-ups want Xiping to send one thousand soldiers.”

Zhao Hanzhang’s mouth twitched as she asked Changning: “Do we even have one thousand soldiers in Xiping?”

Changning looked at her expression and considered carefully: “It seems we don’t.”

Zhao Hanzhang slapped the document into his arms. “Tell the messenger I understand and will do my best to gather troops.”

Changning was startled, somewhat anxious: “County Magistrate, will you go?”

“No,” Zhao Hanzhang said. “I’m not stupid. Why would I join in their civil war?”

Changning breathed a sigh of relief and quickly nodded: “Right, County Magistrate cannot participate in this matter.”

If it were the inspector summoning them, Changning would still feel somewhat uneasy even if Zhao Hanzhang didn’t go, since they were within Yuzhou after all. But a court summons…

So far away, and they were so weak and small—they could just find some excuse to brush it off.

Zhao Hanzhang thought the same way. She didn’t believe everyone on the list would go support the Prince of Donghai.

However…

Zhao Hanzhang lowered her eyes. In history, the Prince of Donghai’s campaign against Gou Xi occurred in the fifth year of Yongjia, yet now it was only the second year of Yongjia.

What had made the Prince of Donghai launch his campaign against Gou Xi now?

“That’s not right,” Zhao Hanzhang suddenly frowned. “At this time, what about Liu Yuan?”

Liu Yuan was preparing a large army to attack Luoyang. Hearing that the Prince of Donghai and Gou Xi had completely fallen out, he was delighted. So he had his army slow down slightly, wanting to wait for them to fight before making his move.

Liu Kun in Bingzhou detected his intentions. On one hand, he organized a large army to try blocking Liu Yuan; on the other, he submitted a memorial to the Prince of Donghai, hoping he could unite with Gou Xi to jointly send troops against Liu Yuan. He could persuade the Xianbei tribe’s Tuoba Yilu to also send troops, so cavalry wouldn’t be a concern.

If the Prince of Donghai had agreed, the Western Jin in history might not have fallen.

So the Prince of Donghai of this era also didn’t agree.

While cutting wheat, Zhao Hanzhang explored the court’s developments from the court document, Ji Yuan’s intelligence reports, and correspondence with Zhao Ming. Honestly, upon learning that the Prince of Donghai had rejected Liu Kun’s proposal, she sighed with great regret.

Although she disliked the Jin state, it was still a unified regime. With it present, the chaos in the realm still had limits.

Once it was gone, the people already in hell would suffer even more miserably.

The Prince of Donghai rejected Liu Kun, and few forces across the realm responded to him. In the end, his army still faced Gou Xi’s forces alone.

Gou Xi was the man who had beaten Shi Lei into a lone commander. The Prince of Donghai’s subordinates fought consecutively, with results being either killed or captured by him.

Fortunately, the fighting didn’t seem very intense—only the generals above died, while most of the soldiers below were captured rather than killed.

The reason Zhao Hanzhang knew this was because Ji Yuan told her: “After three battles, Gou Xi’s forces directly doubled.”

This meant many soldiers were captured.

Zhao Hanzhang felt a bit awkward and asked: “Does the Prince of Donghai regret it?”

Ji Yuan said: “If not now, he will soon. Liu Yuan is a wolf with wild ambitions. He’s lurking nearby, yet the Prince of Donghai, instead of pacifying and allying with Gou Xi, actually campaigns against him. He’s simply seeking death.”

Zhao Hanzhang thought the same. “But it’s strange—why did the Prince of Donghai suddenly want to campaign against Gou Xi?”

In history, the Prince of Donghai campaigned against Gou Xi because the Emperor finally couldn’t endure the Prince’s domineering and mindless behavior. So he secretly wrote to Gou Xi asking him to send a large army to suppress the rebellion.

But the matter was discovered by the Prince of Donghai, who in a rage sent troops to campaign against Gou Xi.

But that was after the fifth year of Yongjia.

Ji Yuan shook his head. “I don’t know either.”

He paused before saying: “Perhaps Zhao Zinian would know.”

Zhao Hanzhang understood instantly and immediately ran back to ask Zhao Ming.

Zhao Ming really did know. He was too lazy to explain verbally and went directly to his study to rummage around, pulling out a letter to hand to her.

Zhao Hanzhang recognized Zhao Zhongyu’s handwriting at a glance.

Zhao Zhongyu had specifically written back to tell Zhao Ming to hold Xiping and not easily send troops based on the proclamation.

Up until now, Zhao Zhongyu still thought Xiping was under Zhao Ming’s control.

One could only say that while the Prince of Donghai would campaign against Gou Xi was historical inevitability, it was also accelerated historical progression due to certain people.

From the moment the Prince of Donghai led the court in fleeing Luoyang, everything changed, yet also seemed unchanged.

Back then, when Gou Xi saw the Prince of Donghai was so self-serving and incompetent, abandoning the people of Luoyang to flee, he angrily led his army straight to Luoyang.

At that time, he and the Prince of Donghai were already at daggers drawn, only temporarily reconciling under persuasion from the Emperor, Fu Zhi, and others.

Afterward, Gou Xi returned to Yanzhou while the Prince of Donghai continued staying in Luoyang controlling the government.

There was even a Yuzhou between them, so presumably they couldn’t immediately clash.

But Liu Yuan proclaimed himself emperor a year earlier than in history and sent troops to Luoyang a year earlier. Although Wang Yan ultimately repelled Liu Yuan, both the court and localities suffered heavy losses, and officials harbored pent-up anger.

At this time, Yongzhou suffered natural disaster. Luoyang, separated from Yongzhou only by the small Hongnong region, turned a blind eye—neither providing relief nor inquiring—resulting in refugees becoming a disaster and gathering to cause chaos.

Luoyang was also affected. Grain prices in the city soared, and the people suffered unbearably.

Gou Xi felt that if the people of Luoyang remained there, they would either starve or be killed by Liu Yuan’s army moving south afterward. Better to relocate the capital and take everyone who could be taken.

As long as the Emperor remained, the great Jin remained. As long as the people remained, the court wouldn’t perish.

So he strongly urged the Emperor to relocate the capital.

Of course, this also involved his private interests. Relocating the capital to Cangyuan would be very close to Yanzhou. There, the Prince of Donghai’s influence was far inferior to his.

The Emperor was very tempted. Zhao Zhongyu’s letter only mentioned obliquely: “His Majesty summoned Fu Zhi for secret talks, and Fu Zhi remained in the palace for half an hour. No one knows what they discussed.”

“There are private rumors in court that the Emperor wanted to secretly take people and leave the capital directly for Yuzhou to cement the capital relocation. The Prince of Donghai was furious about this and considered Gou Xi the culprit.” Zhao Zhongyu continued: “This is internal strife over private interests between two parties. Sending troops is not worthwhile. Treat the proclamation as if it doesn’t exist.”