The next day, Zhao Tong got up early. After dinner, he received a double letter from Fan Lou.
After he opened the message and read it, he understood what Fan Xuewen was thinking.
However, it is common for people to follow the power and cling to power, especially for a family like the Fan family that has been doing business for generations. If they were aloof, independent and indifferent, they might not be able to last for hundreds of years, and they would have been destroyed in the troubled times of the Five Dynasties.
He was noncommittal about the content of the letter. He asked Lei San to go to the door and replied "I understand" before starting to read.
The book is a miscellaneous book called "Spring Curtain Night Talk". The embroidery is exquisite and intense, and the descriptions are colorful. Zhao Tong couldn't put it down for a while.
As the time approached noon, he reluctantly put down the book, and then his eyes fell on the letter sent by Fan Lou.
After thinking for a moment, he showed no expression, stood up with some difficulty and weirdness, and then slowly walked out.
After walking half a circle around the house, we came to the martial arts arena. This martial arts arena was originally very small, but after Lei San won money at the Guanpu shop in Zhouqiao last time, he ordered the place to be expanded. Now it is barely big enough. Run away from the horse and you can try to build soldiers on horseback.
At this moment, I saw a few people making noise next to the weapons rack in the martial arts arena. Among them was Su Shi, playing with a Yanyue Sword. The sword also had a name, it was called Guan Wang Sword. The blade was wide and long, and the blade was heavy, but in Su Shi's hand But it spins like a windmill. It doesn't matter whether it can kill the enemy, but it looks good.
Zhao Tong put his hands behind his back and watched Su Shi jump and move around. He thought to himself that he was indeed a martial arts practitioner. His ankle was sprained yesterday, but it was cured today.
Everyone also saw Zhao Tong at this time and hurriedly greeted him. Su Shi stopped the drill in the middle, lowered his head and called "Your Majesty" before silently walking towards the weapon rack.
At first he was strong and strong, but gradually his legs and feet began to feel awkward. After putting the Yanyue knife back, he became even more limp.
Then he turned around with difficulty and saluted again, his figure was lonely, and he limped slowly towards the outside of the field.
Zhao Tao stared at his back with squinted eyes, "Well, very good. Yesterday I was sprained and today is fine. Then I became lame again when I walked. You are such a loyal subordinate."
He picked up a clean stone pier and sat down, and let several guards practice against the long soldiers, mostly with swords against spears, sticks against sticks, and crutches against shooting stars.
The guards tried their best, but most of the long soldiers were heavy. If they didn't hone their martial arts skills and temper their strength since childhood, they could barely perform, but they couldn't open and close as they wished, and they couldn't dance like a tiger or a tiger.
He frowned when he saw it: "When eating, one is worse than two, but when practicing martial arts, two are not as good as one. Get out of my way!"
Zhao Tong stood up as he spoke, then walked to the weapon rack, looked around, then stretched out his hand to hold a Xuanhua axe.
This ax has a long handle, the thickness of a dove egg, and a head like a washbasin. It has two blades, one large and one small. The blade is covered with flower-shaped patterns left during forging. It is a Xuanhua axe.
This ax is the second-most heavy weapon on the rack, second only to the hammer, and weighs a full seventy-seven kilograms. No one in the house comes to play with it on weekdays. Only Gao Chong will play with it a few times when he comes, and even Zhao Gou can't play with it.
Zhao Tong held the ax in his hand, looked at the guards and said calmly: "I will show you the thirty-six axes of Tiangang!"
The guards had basically never seen Zhao Tao perform martial arts, but now they saw him easily holding a seventy-seven-pound ax in his hand, and they couldn't help but cheer.
Zhao Tong snorted, changed his hands to move the ax, and used all the ax skills. After only a few moves, the guards secretly smacked their tongues and praised the prince in their hearts.
Zhao Tong swung his axe, and after performing three moves, halfway through the fourth move, he suddenly seemed to have lost strength and shouted "No!"
He had originally raised the ax, but suddenly he dropped it by mistake, and the seventy-seven-pound ax hit his left arm.
Zhao Tong screamed and stepped back. All the guards turned pale in panic and stepped forward to help him.
He was helped to the stone pier and sat down. His face turned pale gold for a moment. He looked at his left arm that was hanging down weakly and sighed: "It's broken!"
The prince's arm was broken by a weapon. The news spread out of the palace and then to the market. Then, with the help of caring people, it spread to the imperial city...
Time flew by quickly, and it was already the end of the afternoon. Zhao Tong was half lying and half sitting in the room, sighing. His left arm had been fixed by two wooden boards, and a strap was hung diagonally from the back of his neck.
At this time, he looked at the sky outside and was about to ask someone to make a pot of tea to quench his thirst, when suddenly Lei San trotted in.
"Your Majesty, someone from the palace is here, saying that they want to take the prince to attend the celebration banquet."
Zhao Tong's expression froze when he heard this. It seemed that Emperor Daojun was determined to get him to the celebration banquet, and he actually sent someone to pick him up.
Glancing at the splint on his arm, he gritted his teeth and said, "Help me go out!"
Lei San murmured: "My lord, you are so injured... why don't you give the palace another note?"
Zhao Tong shook his head and sighed: "The officials have said that they have to be carried. How can the officials not keep their words?"
Lei San said: "But my lord, your arm...is so inconvenient, how can you participate in the banquet?"
Zhao Tong glanced at him, frowned, and suddenly asked, "Have you seen Ouyang Bei in the past few days?"
Lei San shook his head: "I haven't seen it before. I heard from people in Suiyulou that it seems like I go to Zhouqiao every day to fight without knowing whether I will win or lose."
Zhao Tong said: "Stay away from him from now on, especially in places like Goulanguanpu. If he calls you, never go, otherwise sooner or later he will cheat your wife."
Lei San was stunned. Although he didn't understand what the word "wife" meant, he thought it had something to do with money. He just felt that his mind was quite flexible, so how could he be tricked by the guy who killed him with a thousand swords? However, he did not dare to refute, so he nodded and said, "My subordinates will remember it."
After leaving the palace gate, Zhao Tong saw a carriage parked in front, with the palace logo engraved on the shaft frame, and four young eunuchs standing and waiting.
Zhao Tie took a look, but he didn't recognize anyone, so he couldn't help but said: "Which palace are they from?"
The leading young eunuch saluted: "Reporting to the prince, the younger ones are not from the palace, but are dedicated to serving the main halls in front of them."
Zhao Tong nodded. Serving the main hall in front of him was not a good job. He was busy during the day and there were no rewards, and he could not get along with the officials and courtiers. Generally, he had no future. Only those who could not afford the money would be sent there.
He said: "Where is the celebration banquet held, but in Daqing Hall?"
The young eunuch said: "Go back to your lord, it is the Daqing Palace. This celebration banquet is large in scale. All the officials from the capital with responsibilities above the seventh rank will come, and only the Daqing Palace can accommodate it."
A capital official of rank seven or above? Zhao Tong thought for a while and realized that the scale was indeed not small. There were already many officials in the capital in the Song Dynasty. Although Yuanfeng streamlined it a lot during the restructuring, Cai Jing's reform this time added many more responsibilities, which made it even more complicated than before. Be bloated.
However, Daqing Hall should be able to accommodate it. After all, Daqing Hall is grand inside and has a vast courtyard. It can accommodate ten thousand people during annual ceremonies. It is the largest palace in the main hall. Even if you put a table and sit down to drink, it can There is no problem in accommodating one or two thousand people.
He said: "Did the officials say anything else?"
The young eunuch lowered his head and said, "I don't have any other intention. I just heard that the prince is ill and asked the young ones to be careful on the road."
Zhao Tong pursed his lips and said, "Be careful, you can't just go there with a guard of honor."
The young eunuch didn't dare to reply when he heard this, so he just pretended not to hear. Seeing Zhao Tong walking down the steps, one arm hanging on the splint, he couldn't help but help him in a hurry.
After getting on the carriage, Zhou Chu led a few guards to follow him and headed straight to the imperial city.
It was afternoon, the sky was still bright, and there were many pedestrians on the streets of Tokyo.
As we got closer and closer to the palace, the road became crowded. Although there were not many carriages, there were more two-person sedans, green mules, and black donkeys.
Not all officials are qualified to ride carriages. Even if the inspections are not strict now and many officials dare to behave more, some petty officials cannot afford carriages.
Not to mention horses are expensive, even a horse costs a lot of money, and raising horses is even more expensive. You have to hire a special groom and order fodder from outside, because using a horse-drawn cart and hiring a driver is a huge investment. Although the official salary of the Song Dynasty was very high, some ordinary officials could not afford the huge expenses.
Therefore, Tokyo officials rode in two-person sedans, or more often sat alone on mules and donkeys. Some of them probably walked all the way because they had a large number of servants and their lives were a bit tight, and they didn’t have much spare money to raise livestock.
Zhao Tong's carriage was walking in the middle of the road. It was not that others knew who he was and gave way, but that the carriage looked like the standard of the inner court. The driver was actually a young eunuch, followed by guards on tall horses, so whether it was a small sedan or a donkey or mule, , all make way for a passage.
Zhao Tong sat in the car and secretly calculated how much money it might cost to hold such a big celebration banquet. He felt sorry for Emperor Daojun. If he had known better, he would not have given Emperor Daojun so much money. A total of more than ten or two hundred thousand taels, it is estimated that Emperor Daojun would not dare to waste it like this.
As for celebrating achievements, what achievements are you celebrating? After two major defeats, they won the last one. Except for Luzhou, all other prefectures and counties in Huaixi were completely ruined by the bandits. How could they still have the nerve to celebrate?
The carriage moved forward until it slowed down in front of the Xuande Gate in the palace city.
Xuandemen is the outer gate due south of the imperial city and the closest palace gate to Daqing Palace.
At this moment, there are many officials gathered here to attend the celebration banquet. Because both the sedan chairs and the mules and horses can only be left outside, these officials are explaining the arrangements with the servants in front of the door.
But Zhao Tong's carriage belonged to the palace, so he moved forward slowly. Just as he was about to enter Xuande Gate, he suddenly heard someone talking outside.
"Brother Wang, did you hear about what happened in Fan Lou the night before yesterday?"
"Of course I heard that the government has impeached him, but now no one knows about it."
"I really didn't expect that the majestic King Qi would compete with the son of a merchant for the oiran in a place like Fanlou. He has simply degraded himself and insulted the reputation of the royal family!"
"More than that, I heard that the King of Qi was arrogant and domineering at that time. He beat up the sons of those merchants. It is said that one of them died the next day after returning home. Such actions were so cruel and cruel. I don't know why the officials did this. No punishment was imposed!”
Zhao Tong's face darkened in the carriage when he heard this. He went to Fan Tower to make a fuss. It was more or less self-destructive. It would be good to spread the word, or even add some oil and vinegar, but it was not what he heard at the moment.
This is not adding fuel to the fire at all, it is fabricating and slandering with ulterior motives!
What kind of merchant's son? Where did the merchant's son come from? The other party is a yameni, and no matter how much he is passed on, he will never be the son of a merchant.
As for why he didn't fabricate the identity of the other party as a scholar, it must be to further suppress him!
He, Zhao Tong, is also a scholar. Putting aside his status as a prince, it is nothing for two groups of scholars to compete for the oiran. Although he is a bit domineering, at most he is just using his power to bully others.
But the sons of merchants were different. The status of merchants in the Song Dynasty was not as high as that of scholars.
In particular, there were many scholars who were famous. It was reasonable for Zhao Tong to have conflicts with them, but it was not appropriate to have conflicts with the son of a businessman.
From the yamen to the merchant's son, even if the rumors were spread again within two days, it would not be like this. It was obviously a fabrication with ulterior motives.
At this time, the carriage had arrived next to the two people who were speaking, and they were heard to continue: "Oh, Brother Wang, it's a pity that we are not qualified to attend the court meeting, otherwise we would have participated in the Qi King's book and asked for orders for the people. , I’ve wanted to do it for a long time!”
"Brother Han Xian, I'm not telling you, we are in a humble position and have a low position. Even if we have a chance to meet in court, I'm afraid it won't be of much use. If it weren't for the official's favor at this celebration banquet, we two, a seventh-grade minister, would have entered the Daqing Palace. Not even qualified!"
"Brother Wang, what you said is wrong. What's wrong with our low official position? Isn't Qin Hui, the imperial censor in the palace, only of the seventh rank? Shouldn't he impeach the King of Qi first? Even if the official does not punish him, he has set an example for us. Give King Qi a warning so that he can restrain himself from now on and stop bullying the people!"
"Brother Han Xian's words make sense. As a brother, I can't stand the King of Qi, but he has a high official position, so there is nothing I can do about it. Brother Xian's words are like enlightenment, and my heart is enlightened. Since Qin Yushi dares to speak Lu, I forgive this King Qi from being so arrogant in the future!"
Zhao Tong heard this in the carriage and said calmly: "Stop the car."
The few young eunuchs in the carriage trembled when they heard this. They also heard the conversation between the two young officials, and they all thought in their hearts that this was not idle. If you come to a banquet, go to the banquet. Are you really not afraid of getting into trouble by talking nonsense?
They thought it would be best if Zhao Tong didn't hear them in the car, so they could hurry over and forget it, but before they could finish thinking, Zhao Tong spoke, and they couldn't help but feel miserable in their hearts.
Several people did not dare to stop. After reining in the horses, Zhao Tong leaned directly out of the car.
"Your Majesty, what is this..." The young eunuch didn't expect Zhao Tong to get out of the car, so he asked in a low voice with a look of fear on his face.
"Who are these two people?" Zhao Tong looked at the two young officials standing next to the carriage.
"They should be going to the palace for a banquet..." The young eunuch looked at the two people and couldn't help but cursed in his heart. These two people looked like they were not court officials. They might be subordinate officials of some department. You said you are officials of the same department. , got involved in court matters, just came to eat, and dared to speak so brazenly about impeaching the prince, you really don’t know what the level is!
The two young officials naturally recognized the carriage in the palace, but they didn't know why the carriage suddenly stopped and someone got out of the carriage.
Zhao Tong looked the two of them up and down, and suddenly sneered: "What were you two talking about just now?"
(End of chapter)
