It was the eighth year of Xuanhe in the Song Dynasty, early December.
The middle of winter has arrived, and there has just been a heavy snowfall in Guanzhong. Looking around now, all we can see is a vast expanse of white. Although there is a saying that auspicious snow heralds a good harvest, Zhao Shuxiang, who rode a rogue horse with a few followers on a cold day and entered Tongguan from the west, saw no sign of auspicious snow or a good harvest... Some are just endless desolation as far as the eye can see!
The closer he got to Chang'an City, the destination of this trip, the colder Zhao Shuxiang's heart became!
Zongze said it nicely. The officials knew his merits and would be rewarded heavily for recruiting him to the capital... But within two days, Zongze used several general orders and a stack of official photos to deprive Zhao Shuxiang of his military power.
The 7,000 soldiers and generals that Zhao Shuxiang finally managed to pull together surrendered to Zongze's banner without looking back. Zhao Shuxiang suddenly became a bare-bones soldier - he had no loyalty! The generals who led the troops were all "good brothers" who had escaped death together on the battlefield of Wuzhanghe. When they occupied Kaifeng Mansion, they had agreed to conquer the world and share wealth.
But when the official photos of the Chang'an imperial court were brought to them by Zongze, all these unloyal brothers took refuge one by one... none of them still thought about him as the "big king". !
That's all... When disaster strikes, let's all fly away!
But the problem is that when Zhao Shuxiang met his grandnephew Zhao Bushi in Guangwu Mountain, the latter asked if he wanted to write a memorial for apologizing for proclaiming himself king without authorization? He can help ghostwrite, or he can help beg the officials for mercy...
As soon as Zhao Shuxiang heard this, he knew that someone had already reported him! Zongze wouldn't do that, he was already a highly respected minister, so why would he do something that only a traitorous minister would do? Wang De and Wang Shan would not do this - Zhao Shuxiang was the emperor's closest relative no matter what! How could they, two outsiders, expose his crimes?
Those who are likely to do this are probably Zhao Shuxiang's old subordinates in Kaifeng Mansion - they have to clean themselves up and make it clear to the court that they do not approve of Zhao Shuxiang being the king, but they call him the king because they have no other choice. , I don’t admit it in my heart...
Thinking of this, Zhao Shuxiang sighed: "A man should die in battle, how can he die at the hands of a villain?"
"Uncle, what are you talking about? What do you mean by the Chinese New Year? It's unlucky!"
The person who called Zhao Shuxiang uncle was a middle-aged man in his thirties, a white-faced scholar, wearing a thick purple shirt and a warm-looking mink hat, riding beside Zhao Shuxiang.
This man is a descendant of Taizong, a descendant of the legendary "Eight Wise Kings" Zhao Yuanyan. He is of the same generation as "Bu" and his name is not tested. He is the same generation as Zhao Kai - if Zhao Kai is not the prince, he must also be based on If someone from Taizong's lineage was named, it would be "Zhao Bumou".
Zhao Bushi was much older than Zhao Kai, but they both won Jinshi in the sixth year of Xuanhe. They were on the same list, and they were from the same clan, so their relationship was pretty good. Otherwise, Zhao Kai would not have allowed him to take up the task of knowing about Xiangzhou affairs after Han Xiaozhou left the post.
However, Zhao Bushi did not work in Zhixiangzhou for too long before he received an imperial edict asking him to go to Chang'an to report on his duties. After receiving the edict, Zhao Bushi arranged the state affairs and immediately set out on the road. When passing Guangwu Mountain, he met the down-and-out Zhao Shuxiang.
Zhao Bushi and Zhao Shuxiang also knew each other, and they also knew that he claimed to be king without permission in Kaifeng Mansion... Others walked around Zhao Shuxiang, but Zhao Bushi was quite assertive, not only did he not hide, He looked at Zhao Shuxiang and took the initiative to invite him to accompany him, offering him kind words and comfort along the way.
Although good words have been said all the way, Zhao Bushi cannot be Zhao Kai's boss after all... He is not the "Eight Wise King", and he doesn't have any golden trump cards in his hand. Even if he does, he would not dare to defeat Zhao Kai!
So now when I comfort Zhao Shuxiang, I don't have any confidence in my heart.
Uncle Zhao smiled a few times at Qian: "That's right... It's the Chinese New Year, what do you mean by death? The official recruited me to join the court, maybe it will be of great use?"
Nowadays, officials imitate Li Tang everywhere, and even compare themselves to Tang Taizong! If he were Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, then you and I would be like Li Daozong, Li Xiaogong, and Li Xiaoji! "
Zhao Bushi quickly followed Zhao Shuxiang and said: "Yes, yes, back then, Li Yuan could conquer the world. In addition to the support of Guan Long, he also had a group of his nephews and brothers... Otherwise, how could he control his unruly behavior? The unruly Guan Longxungui?"
"That's right!" Zhao Shuxiang said with a smile, "Nowadays, anyone who comes to the golden thief's surname is Wanyan! The one who holds the Shang Fang Ling hammer among the western thief is Qian Shun's brother Cha Ge... Here we are. Why can't we, the Song Dynasty, let our close relatives control the army?"
While the two were discussing good things, there was a rapid sound of horse hooves in front of them. The two hurriedly looked up and saw a group of knights running towards them, led by a red recognition flag.
Zhao Shuxiang had a good eye. He stood up on the stirrups, put up an awning with his hands, and looked forward... It was still too far away to see clearly. When the group of knights in front got closer, Zhao Shuxiang finally saw clearly that there were three big characters tattooed on the big flag - Dai Wangzhi!
"Who is Dai Wangzhi?" Zhao Shuxiang asked.
Zhao Bushi, who was standing next to him, said: "It should be the original His Highness King Shen... When I left Xiangzhou, I heard that the officials wanted to change the title for His Highness King Shen."
It was very common for princes in the Song Dynasty to change their titles. Zhao Kai was first named Prince of Gaomi County, then Prince Jia, and then Prince Yun.
"Then we have to dismount and greet you!" As Zhao Shuxiang spoke, he got off the horse, straightened his clothes, and stood respectfully, like a primary school student who had made a mistake...
Zhao Bushi sighed, got off his horse, stood next to Uncle Zhao, and waited for the cavalry in front to approach. After a while, I saw Zhao Zhi and a boy of sixteen or seventeen coming together.
Zhao Bushi didn't recognize who the young man was for a moment? Zhao Shuxiang, who was standing next to him, shouted, "Isn't that Prince Pingyang? It turns out he escaped too!"
This young man is Zhao Ji's eighteenth son Zhao Zhen. He also escaped from the pursuit of the Jin that day. However, in order to escape for his life, he rushed into the Wuzhang River on horseback. While swimming across the river, his horse was shot to death by a Jin man.
So he had no choice but to walk back to Kaifeng Mansion. By the time he arrived, Kaifeng Mansion had been abandoned. He had no choice but to continue wandering. He hung out for several months before running to Shaanzhou under the control of Zhao Kai. After being informed about the Shaanzhou incident, Li Xiaozhong took him in and sent someone to Chang'an Mansion... He arrived only a few days earlier than Zhao Shuxiang and Zhao Bushi.
Today, they followed Zhao Kai's order and came out of Lingquan Palace to greet Zhao Shuxiang and Zhao Bushi.
However, Zhao Shuxiang and Zhao Bushi really couldn't imagine that two kings would come so far to greet them - one of them was the prefect and the other was a "sanitation guard", so why should they alarm the king? So before the two kings could dismount, they bowed to him first.
"Your Majesty Zhao Shuxiang, your Majesty Zhao Bucha, I would like to pay my respects..."
Before the two of them finished speaking, Zhao Zhi quickly waved his hand: "Don't bow, don't bow... I can't bear it anymore!"
Can't afford it?
What does this mean?
Seeing Zhao Bushi and Zhao Shuxiang staying there, Zhao Zhen immediately explained: "The official family is going to make you two kings!"
Become a king?
How can it be?
Zhao Shuxiang and Zhao Bushi didn't believe it... They were both far away and not qualified to be crowned kings.
Zhao Zhi said: "The officials have said that the world of the Zhao family is Zhao Jiabao... If our Zhao family men don't step forward, sooner or later the world will have to be taken away from us!"
"Yes, yes, yes..." Uncle Zhao nodded vigorously, "That's what I think! I have to protect the Zhao family's world!"
Zhao Bushi couldn't believe it, so he asked Zhao Zhi and Zhao Zhen: "Two great kings, do the officials want the clan to lead the army? This is..."
Zhao Zhi smiled and said: "Today is a troubled time! Where can we use the methods of the peaceful and prosperous times? Our Zhao family abides by the rules and does not lead troops, but the sons and sons of the Wanyan family are all on the battlefield!"
yes!
There are a long list of shortcomings of the clan leading troops, but... the Wanyan family, the Jin family, and later the Aixinjueluo family, don't always go out in groups when they go out to kill people. Yes, no one follows this rule!
Who was killed in the end?
Zhao Zhen added: "The officials have said that we will not use civil society to control military affairs now... So all our Zhao brothers who can lead troops must come out to lead troops! Our own people are always more reliable than outsiders, right? So The rest of us will have to lead troops to fight in the future, and we will all have to act alone!"
In an era where "the king controls the military", there is no reason to imprison the clan, otherwise it would be to seek death...and he would die very quickly!
In the midst of the struggle for hegemony in troubled times, the one who can laugh at the end is the regime of Yijun Yuwu (including Emperor Ama, Regent Wang Yuwu)!
Therefore, no matter how many benefits there are to using civil society to control military affairs, as long as you think that these are troubled times, you must resolutely abandon it!
Although Zhao Kai's character is immature, he is prone to simplifying complex issues - for example, when he was in Kaifeng Fucheng earlier, he felt that he could not stay in Kaifeng Fucheng any longer, otherwise he would become a cuckold, so he simply went ahead!
We need to gather our close friends to discuss this matter slowly and come up with a perfect plan.
Later, when he ascended the throne in Taiyuan, he was just as reckless and did not consider "slowly becoming king" at all, because he knew that Zhao Huan would definitely not be able to do it. If he was not the emperor, no one in the Song Dynasty would be able to be the emperor in this troubled time.
So he continued to be reckless!
After becoming the emperor, he did not engage in politics properly, but "pasted and copied" Li Yuan's route on how to conquer the world. High school students in the 21st century don’t know anything else, but they don’t know how to speculate on homework? After entering Chang'an, he continued to speculate in the industry and played with Guan Longxungui's tricks.
And Guan Long Xungui and the clan's leadership of troops and power are matched, at least when they conquer the world!
So Zhao Shuxiang and Zhao Buqian had good luck!
Now in the clan, it seems that those who can be commander-in-chief and generals are Zhao Bushi and Zhao Shuxiang. Of course they must be reused!
As for whether they will rebel and seize Zhao Kai's throne in the future, there is no need to think about it now... If you think about this kind of thing too much, you can only trust those useless civil servants and wait to become the cuckold king!
