The primordial prince Zhao Huan wanted to ask for credit for his cousin, but when he looked up at the sullen father at the table, he was too frightened to speak.
Emperor Zhao Ji looked at the statue below with a dark face and couldn't bear it any longer. "Didn't you see the good news from the northwest yesterday? Do you want me to handle it myself by pretending to be deaf and dumb?"
After he finished speaking, he looked at the still silent ministers below, and directly named a minister in the first row on the right, "Cai You, you know the affairs of the Privy Council, please tell me."
The minister raised his head and saw that he was about forty years old. He was well-maintained and looked quite young. He was quite eye-catching among the old men with white hair and beards in front of the hall.
This person is Cai You, the eldest son of Cai Jing, the Grand Master of the State of Lu, who just became an official in April.
It was also Cai You who came to power, so Cai Jing, the grand master and prime minister of the East Palace, abdicated. One family and two prime ministers were the same in the same dynasty, and the father was in charge of the government and the son was in charge of the army. Who could see this? This Song Dynasty After all, his surname was still Zhao, not Cai. Therefore, amidst the opposition from both the government and the public, Cai Jing, who had only been resurrected for four months, once again took up his official position to make way for his son.
Although Cai You has not served in Bianjing in the past few years, he is still very familiar with the name of Wang Xiaosheng, who is "taboo to the imperial court." It would be bad if you accidentally shoot it on the horse's hooves.
He took a sneak peek at the emperor's face, trying to discern some clues. There was anger on his face, but he didn't know whether it was anger at Wang Zhi or anger at the courtiers' inaction.
The arrow was on the string and he had to shoot. All his thoughts were clarified in an instant. He no longer hesitated and went out to congratulate loudly: "I am so happy, Your Majesty. The troubles of Xixia have been stuck in my throat for more than a hundred years. Today, I will remove them all. The territory of the homeland of China is directly comparable to that of the Han and Tang Dynasties, which is really a great blessing for our dynasty."
"Your Majesty knows people well and uses them wisely. He conquered Yanyun in the north and restored Qin in the west. He unified China and fulfilled the wishes of his ancestors. His achievements are as good as those of the Wu and Tang sects of the Han Dynasty. He is truly the Holy Emperor reigning."
"This battle has been accomplished, and the first credit goes to Your Majesty."
Cai You said nothing, and the man sitting on the dragon throne finally showed his face. All the officials in the hall were dumbfounded. How could something be like this?
You said that most of the Yanyun Prefecture was bought by the emperor with money. Let's take his credit. The credit of Xixia is also given to the emperor... This is too shameless.
Who knows that the emperor had sent people several times to capture the boy from the Wang family and come to Bianjing to question him? He even said he wanted to kill him on the spot. He almost sent an army to suppress it, but in the end it was interrupted because of such and such things. It was over. Now that something has happened, you say all the credit goes to the emperor?
It is you, Cai You, who has to be responsible for this matter of knowing the Privy Council!
Cai You was overjoyed when he saw the joyful expression on Long Yan's face. It seemed that King Duan was very happy with his achievements and still liked to be praised. As long as he was flattered, what would he be unable to overcome?
Cai You got to know Zhao Ji when he was still King Duan. Cai You knew the emperor's character very well.
He wanted to show his merit for Wang Zhi. There is no doubt about this, because in recent years he has served as the deputy Xuanfu envoy of the Xuanfu Department of Hebei and Hedong Roads, responsible for rear protection and grain and grass mobilization. Wang Zhi's father, Wang Zhen, was his The first general under his command, they have been able to get along well with each other in civil and military affairs for several years, and they work well together. Wang Zhen is steady in his work and never greedy for credit. He has done great work in assisting him to stabilize the rear. This is why he was promoted to the rank of Privy Councilor as soon as he came back. The reason for Xifu.
Traitor ministers also need connections, especially if they serve in the Xifu and are in charge of a group of military generals. How can they convince the public without any favors? Who will help those subordinates if their own sons are not to help them?
But it also depends on how you help. Directly expressing your merits for Wang Zhi is not necessarily a good thing. After all, this kid has always been a thorn in His Majesty's heart.
But it's different when the credit is transferred to His Majesty. It depends on whether you, the emperor, admit it. If you do, then you have to acknowledge Wang Zhi's contribution as well. It doesn't hurt if you don't. Anyway, you have made a statement. .
Wang Zhi, who was far away in the northwest, could never have imagined that the people who escorted him during his smooth journey were actually treacherous ministers, each one more treacherous than the last.
But yes, what Wang Erlang has been doing in the past few years has been to steal the country and benefit the enemy. If the traitors in the court were not in power, it is hard to say whether it would have been possible.
"Then how should we deal with this matter according to your wishes?" Zhao Ji still asked relentlessly.
Cai You, who already understood the emperor's thoughts, spoke openly, "Your Majesty, I believe that this is an unparalleled achievement. I should reward the meritorious ministers and erect a monument to express your Majesty's merits and set an example for future generations. In addition, your Highness, the Crown Prince, can On behalf of the emperor, the emperor went out of the city to greet the heroes and the Dangxiang Li family. Then he could make Dangxiang Li a free official and stay in Bianjing. Later, the imperial court should send officials and troops to Xixia as soon as possible to complete the reception as soon as possible, educate the people of Xixia, and integrate the two countries into one. , regardless of each other.”
Zhao Ji nodded with a satisfied expression, and then asked the ministers, "Do you have any objections?"
The ministers looked at each other and shook their heads in silence.
"Okay, since all the ministers have no objections, let's follow what Cai Qing said."
Then Zhao Ji looked at Cai You again, "Cai Qing."
Cai You bowed and saluted, "I'm here."
"You will supervise the entire process."
"I accept your order!"
"By the way, you said you want to give a big reward to the meritorious deeds. How to give this big reward?"
Zhao Ji still asked the question that Cai You tried his best to avoid. He didn't even mention the person's name for fear of mentioning it.
However, he also thought that the emperor would ask him this question, so he also thought of a way to respond, "Your Majesty, the matter of awarding rewards is the responsibility of the East Palace, and I dare not exceed my authority."
After Cai You finished speaking, he immediately returned to the queue and closed his eyes to rest. He didn't give the emperor a chance to ask further questions. If he said something wrong and didn't agree with the emperor, then all the previous words would be in vain. The good guys had already done it themselves, and the bad guys would have done it themselves. Leave it to others to do.
Several deacons and ministers of Dongfu glanced at each other, and they all had a headache. However, His Majesty has already looked at several people. What should you do?
You have to take the credit. That eunuch Tong Guan was granted the title of county king because he bought several states in Yanyun. He was the only living king with a different surname to be granted the title since the founding of the Song Dynasty. This Wang Zhi directly conquered the whole country of Xixia. Okay, do you still need to ask which one deserves more credit? That's not even the slightest bit worse. Judging from merit alone, it's more than enough to be the heir king.
But if you want to directly follow the existing example to make the county king, will the emperor agree?
I'm afraid even the mice in the palace know clearly what Wang Zhi is in His Majesty's heart.
If this is the title of Duke of Yan, it seems too low. If nothing else, Cai You is the newly made Duke of Yan. What credit do you think this thing has? He didn't fight a single battle, he just sat in the rear. , in the end, after the Liao Kingdom was destroyed, he went to Yan Yun to show his face, and he was granted the title of Duke. You want the person who destroyed the Xixia Kingdom to be granted the title of Duke? Doesn't it cost money to be the spit of the common people?
Bai Shizhong, the prime minister of the East Prefecture, saw that he could not escape, so he had no choice but to go out and say, "Your Majesty, judging from the good news, the first contribution to the restoration of summer must be made by Wang Zhi, the Marquis of Langya County. However, this person did not obey the orders and raised an army privately. He also made a big mistake, but These mistakes are also for the purpose of recovering Xixia. If I think that the mistakes are worthy of merit, I can order him to disband the army and grant him the title of Duke to show God's favor."
As soon as these words came out, there was a small discussion in the court. Sure enough, he was still the Duke of the country. The prime ministers and assistants of the Dongfu were all the emperor's confidants. Naturally, they knew that Zhao Ji would not agree to grant the title of king to that boy Wang Zhi.
Bai Shizhong, a veteran minister who entered the Dongfu to participate in the governance in the sixth year of Zhenghe, survived one after another of his colleagues in the Dongfu. In the end, he was the only one left among the prime ministers of the Dongfu who were his contemporaries, and he finally became the emperor. The position of prime minister is truly one person is inferior to ten thousand people.
When it comes to guessing, he considers himself the second best and no one dares to admit he is the first. He is a master of self-defense. He is obviously taking credit from others, and he shamelessly said that he will not take away his credit. He is talking to Wang Zhi. Same.
Sure enough, after listening to Bai Shizhong's words, the emperor who was seated nodded slightly with an expression of approval. Before he could say anything, a person jumped out from the audience. It was Li Gang, the Taichang Shaoqing who was famous for his uprightness and courage to remonstrate with both the government and the public. .
"Your Majesty, I do not agree with Mr. Bai's statement. The Marquis of Langya County worked hard to regain Xixia in three years without any help from the court, and did not waste a single soldier. What a great contribution he made. All the virtuous people in the past dynasties have done so. The court did not hesitate to award rewards to those who achieved great achievements in the northwest, and many of them were granted the title of duke. Why did the Marquis of Langya achieve such great achievements and only get the title of duke? Where would the sages of the past dynasties be placed in that way?"
"As for him not obeying orders and recruiting troops privately, Your Majesty, you will not accept the orders of the foreign king. If there is an emergency, you can act more appropriately. Moreover, the soldiers recruited by Langya County Marquis have not asked the court for a share of food and salary. They are completely self-sufficient. Self-sufficient, and I heard that those soldiers were only the guards of the Xixia Chamber of Commerce, recruited collectively by the tribes of Xixia, not the private soldiers of Langya Commandery and Marquis, how can we be convicted for this?"
"With such cover-up of merits and unfair rewards and punishments, wouldn't the imperial court set its own tongue on the world? In the long run, the imperial court's credibility will be destroyed. How can millions of soldiers serve the imperial court with peace of mind?"
The more righteous Li Gang's words were, the uglier Zhao Ji's face became.
For Zhao Ji, he didn't want to erase Wang Zhi's contribution, and it was now well known throughout the city that he couldn't erase it even if he wanted to, so he simply accepted it and acknowledged it openly, but the premise was that the court had to take the credit for it. One share, the credit of the imperial court is naturally the credit of his emperor.
During his reign as emperor, the Song Dynasty first established the Longyou Protectorate, then took over the subjects of the Dali Kingdom, and then recovered Yanyun, and now it has taken over the entire Xixia territory. The Song Dynasty has the largest territory, which is comparable to the Han Dynasty. As talented and strategic as the Tang Dynasty, who among the emperors from the beginning of the Song Dynasty to the present could be as good as him?
The glory of history is today. How can we not recognize Wang Zhi’s contribution? These are all his contributions and must be recognized.
But you bitch actually said that the imperial court did not give any help to the northwest. What are you talking about? What do you want to express? You are like a dog. If I had known better, I should not have called you back.
Zhao Ji was so angry that he held back his words and asked word by word, "How should I reward you according to your words?"
Li Gang ignored the emperor's expression, raised his wat, and said neither humble nor arrogantly: "I think that the Marquis of Langya County has made great contributions to the present day, so he should be named the County King!"
