Fearing being killed for his overwhelming merits, the empress decided to marry him.

On his second day at the company, news of Ye Fan's dismissal for bribery quickly spread to every corner of the Sixth Department.

"Is Ye Fan really the Prime Minister's son? Why would he be so stupid?"

"I never thought that the Prime Minister would be so cautious and prudent throughout his life, and would never do anything to disgrace the family like this. I never imagined that his lifelong reputation would be ruined by this son."

"Exactly! And of all people to bribe, why did he have to do it in the main hall of the Ministry of Justice? Now that Minister Liu has rectified the Ministry of Justice, who would dare to embezzle and accept bribes? Shouldn't Ye Fan have done some research?"

"Alas, he is still too young. I have rarely heard the Prime Minister mention this Young Master Ye. Now that I see him, I understand. He is a hopeless case."

As the saying goes, good news doesn't travel far, but bad news travels fast. In just half a day, rumors about Ye Fan quickly spread from the palace to the city.

For a time, Ye Fan became the talk of the town and a source of amusement, overshadowing other news and anecdotes.

After all, when something happens to a big shot, it always feels like something new and exciting.

This is similar to international news reports of America's Xizong falling down, or a war breaking out in an African country causing hundreds of thousands of people to suffer.

The former news item garnered 99% more attention than the latter.

The latter might not even make the headlines, at most it will only be broadcast once in a peripheral corner, just like the former, whose footage will be broadcast several times around the world for hundreds of millions of people to watch.

This news naturally reached the ears of Shen Lang and Jiang Mengxuan.

After hearing this, Jiang Mengxuan sighed with emotion: "I thought that since Ye Fan was also Ye Mo's eldest son, he must have some ability, and I could at least give the Prime Minister's Mansion some face."

Unexpectedly, such a major incident occurred only on his second day in office. In the more than eight hundred years of our dynasty's existence, we have never seen an official dismissed so quickly after taking office.

Shen Lang chuckled lightly: "Don't worry, Ye Fan won't give up his career in government so easily."

Jiang Mengxuan looked bewildered: "What is he asking for? I don't quite understand. His personality is clearly not suited for officialdom."

"Because Ye Fan also has his own ambitions," Shen Lang said with a smile. "He wants to inherit the Ye family business, then rise to prominence, take over as prime minister, bring the sect into the imperial court, and abolish all the current new policies."

"what!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Mengxuan's face was filled with disbelief.

"The Great Chu finally managed to suppress the sect forces, and Ye Fan actually wants to follow the same old path? No way, we absolutely cannot let him succeed!"

Seeing Jiang Mengxuan's agitation, Shen Lang comforted her, "Alright, you don't need to be so agitated. I'll handle Ye Fan's matter."

He's just an insignificant nobody; the current situation between the Song and Jin dynasties is what we really need to pay close attention to.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Mengxuan said, "After the summer grain harvest in July, the Jin army began to gradually approach the Song border again."

After organizing the information that the Jingwei Division had collected from the Song Kingdom, she carefully recounted it to Shen Lang.

After the peace agreement between the Song and Jin dynasties was reached in March, the Jin army returned to Shangjing with a full load of supplies. The Song dynasty finally escaped the risk of being destroyed and ushered in a rare opportunity to catch its breath.

However, after Wanyan Lie led his troops back north, he said something to the Song envoy.

"On a clear autumn day when the horses are fat, we will meet again on the banks of the Bian River."

After the Song envoy conveyed these words to Zhao Ji, this time Zhao Ji was unusually wise and not foolish.

He ordered Han Zhong's army to quickly set up defenses along the river ports and to build a military stronghold in Yancheng, 200 li away from Xiangzhou, in order to block the Jin cavalry from advancing south.

At the same time, Yang Yan's 5,000-strong elite fighting battalion was urgently dispatched to Shaoguan to assist the left wing army of the famous general Zhong Shidao in resisting the Jin army's deployment at Tailangguan.

It seems that even the heavens were moved by Zhao Ji's sudden realization, and thus gave the State of Song another excellent opportunity.

In April of the same year, a military rebellion broke out within the Jin state.

Zhang Jue, a former Song general who had surrendered to the Jin army, suddenly launched a mutiny. Within three days, he killed the Jin officials in Qinglan Prefecture, quickly occupied the prefecture, and sent a request to the Song court in Bianzhou to submit.

This move immediately garnered support from the Song army and civilians in the northern regions of the Song Dynasty, who were suffering under the brutal rule of the Jin people. They formed righteous armies and advanced towards Qinglan Prefecture, where Zhang Jue was located.

According to the agreement signed between the Song and Jin dynasties in March, the Song state was not allowed to harbor anyone who had fled from the Jin state to the Song state, including Song officials and civilians who had already surrendered to the Jin state.

However, Zhang Jue's army had a full six thousand cavalrymen, which was very attractive to the Song state, which was extremely short of cavalry.

Therefore, in early May, Zhao Ji secretly dispatched a Song envoy to contact Zhang Jue, planning to take advantage of the Jin army's exhaustion on their return north and join forces with Han Zhong's troops at Yancheng Fortress to seize Xiangzhou Prefecture, and then march north to capture the three towns, so as to recover the Song Dynasty's territory in one fell swoop.

At this moment, Wanyan Lie, upon receiving news of Zhang Jue's mutiny, felt extremely uneasy.

The army had just returned to the capital and was still resting. Meanwhile, the Yan state in the north had transferred 20,000 Jianzhou people to the Far East battlefield to resist the Wolf Clan. It would take time to gather troops to quell the rebellion.

So Wanyan Lie personally wrote a letter and sent it to Zhang Jue, reasoning with him and appealing to his emotions, promising him high-ranking official positions and generous salaries, and persuading him to change his mind.

Zhang Jue completely disregarded Wanyan Lie's request, maintaining close contact with the Song court and preparing to launch a joint attack on Xiangzhou Prefecture at any time, thus completely cutting off the Jin people's only route south.

This can be said to be a golden opportunity given by God to the Song Dynasty to reverse its decline. Once this plan is successfully implemented, it is uncertain whether the Jin Dynasty can be driven back to the mountains to continue hunting. At least the lost land of the Song Dynasty can be recovered.

At this time, whether it was the Song army, the people of the north, or even the wealthy gentry, they all strongly supported the Song state in recovering its lost territory, and the atmosphere was more enthusiastic than ever before.

However, at this crucial juncture, Zhao Ji's experience as a wise ruler had expired, and he had no money to renew it.

When the pro-peace faction, including Cai, Tong, Gao, and Liang, learned that the northern army was going to take the initiative to fight against the Jin Dynasty, they were so frightened that they could not sit still.

They immediately approached Emperor Huizong (Zhao Ji) and, using the concept of "contractual spirit" as a starting point, argued that this action would cause the Song Dynasty to lose credibility with the world.

At the same time, it exaggerated the fighting power of the Jurchens, claiming that once the Jurchens reacted, the Song army's weak fighting power would be no match for them.

Finally, it was said that if the Song army defeated the Jin state this time, the status of military men would inevitably be elevated, and the situation of local armies holding their own power would become very common.

Thus, under the influence of this group of opportunists, Zhao Ji was also worried that the Jin army's siege of the city for several months again would cause panic among the people, so he hurriedly ordered the soldiers at the front line not to take any action against the Jin people.

Thus, the State of Song missed the best opportunity to recover its lost territory, and in doing so, it also betrayed Zhang Jue and the people and soldiers of the State of Song in the north.

At the end of May, Zhang Juejun, isolated and without support, was ambushed by Wanyan Loushi's troops in the wilderness of Qinglan Prefecture. The two sides fought fiercely for an afternoon, and Zhang Juejun suffered a great defeat with countless deaths. Zhang Juejun himself fled to Yancheng.

After Wanyan Loushi recovered Qinglan Prefecture, he received an imperial edict and secret letter from the Song court from Zhang Jue's residence.

Upon receiving the news, Wanyan Lie was furious. He cursed the Song court for breaking its promise and immediately demanded that the Song court send the heads of Zhang Jue and his remaining subordinates to Shangjing. Otherwise, even if it meant mutual destruction, the Jin people would raze Bianliang to the ground.

After receiving Wanyan Lie's letter, Zhao Ji was so frightened that he wrote nine apology letters and ordered them to be sent to Shangjing. He also immediately followed the Jin Dynasty's instructions and had Zhang Jue strangled and all his subordinates killed before sending the body to Shangjing. Only then did the turmoil temporarily subside.

However, this move by the Song court completely chilled the hearts of the Song soldiers and civilians in the north.

The surrendered generals, who had initially held some hope for the Song court, were now utterly disappointed by the Emperor Zhao's actions.

In mid-July, as the weather turned cooler, the Jurchens immediately followed their original agreement and launched another southward campaign.

Jin general Hua Butai led 3,000 elite soldiers in a probing attack on the forward outposts of Zhong Shidao's troops, attempting to open up the left flank of their march.

However, no one in Ren Jinjun expected that Huabutai would suffer more than a thousand casualties in this battle, and he himself was killed by a Song soldier who had just turned twenty.

The Jin army's high command was furious and immediately dispatched Wanyan Yue with 5,000 troops to attack the outpost.

As a result, Wanyan Yue suffered a crushing defeat and was stabbed three times by the sentry guarding the area.

Later, after investigation by Jurchen scouts, it was discovered that this outpost of only 500 men consisted of new recruits who had been training for less than three months.

The young sentry, who possessed exceptional martial arts skills and command abilities but was virtually unknown, was named Yue Pengju.