"When the late emperor was still alive, he often thought that the difficulties of the Song Dynasty were not only due to foreign troubles in the Jin and Liao Dynasties, but also due to the traitors in the court."
During the Chinese New Year, the Song Dynasty had won one victory after another before the new year. It was supposed to be a happy and harmonious situation.
If Emperor Xiaoci Yuansheng had not come back.
He is now sitting on the main seat of the Daqing Hall, which should have been the emperor's position...well, he is also the emperor, at least he used to be.
The original Qin Prime Minister's party in the court had almost all been gathered up when the officials went north. Except for officials like Wan Qixi who had abandoned the secrets and turned to the bright side earlier, the others were either dead or in Taixue. Doing hard work.
And now, needless to say, Xin Ciying came out of the Ancestral Temple. I don’t know how many people were dissatisfied with Zhao Xiangxin, so many people excused themselves from the subsequent banquet. Now it seems that although there are many people in Daqing Hall, More than half of them were from the Qin Hui faction in the former court.
Qin Hui's faction is the peace faction and the surrender faction.
The current scene even made Liu Ziyu feel a little dazed... It seemed that nothing had changed, it was almost the same as the situation back then.
That's all. Not to mention that there were few examples of killing ministers in the Song Dynasty before Zhao Guan's family. Let's just say that there were intricate relationships behind these officials. Since the officials had not touched them before, they must have been concerned.
Now Emperor Xiaociyuan has invited them here, which will only make everyone feel disgusted at most. After all, these people have no official status and cannot make any waves.
But... the Yongjia County Prince's deception, disrespect and rebellion have been confirmed, but he has also become a guest at the first table of the new year. Isn't this messing around!
Liu Ziyu kept looking at Zhao Ding, but the latter seemed to be in trance, just sitting upright with his eyelids lowered, as if he had fallen asleep.
Zhao Huan was still talking about the hard life of him and his father above, but it was not a glorious thing. Liu Ziyu didn't want to hear it, but when he read the poem written by Emperor Huizong in Five Kingdoms City, I regained my composure a little,
"The west wind shakes the door all night long, and the lonely house in depression is dimly lit."
"Looking back three thousand miles from our home mountain, we can see no geese flying to the south."
"The late emperor... the unworthy son is back..."
Zhao Huan had already wiped the corners of his eyes with his sleeves. It was said that the king is worried about his ministers humiliating the king and humiliating their ministers to death. No matter how he escaped, Liu Ziyu couldn't help but think of his father who died for his country, and he became extremely sad for a while.
Even he was like this, let alone the rest of the ministers. Wang Ciweng and others were crying because they finally had a savior. They couldn't lift any of the wood or stones. Su Fu was crying because the country was there. After suffering, things are finally getting better now; different people have different ways of crying. For example, Wan Qixi, he also started howling originally, but seeing that Mr. Zhao was still sitting firm, he had to stop. I cried my own tears.
"Speaking of which, Ninth Brother ensures the survival of my country and the livelihood of the people south of the Huaihe River... Whether it is running a family or a country, I am not as good as him, I am far behind!"
"Now that he is not in Lin'an, I can have a drink with you for the time being. If he comes back, the throne will still be his after all."
Zhao Huan couldn't tell whether this was true or false. When the news came that the Jin people were going south, his father had been unable to survive for several years and gave way to him in December, dragging him with him. Together we became the kings of the country's subjugation. If you want to say that Emperor Xiaociyuan didn't have the slightest idea, that would definitely be a lie.
But his woman, his prince, and the sons he gave birth to in the Kingdom of Jin are all still in the north; and he has suffered the hardships of the Jin people and seen their methods. In the past fifteen years, he has written countless letters to His ninth brother, from orders to requests to begging, he didn't even receive a reply.
Whenever there were envoys from the Jin Dynasty coming south or north, or envoys from the Song Dynasty going north, Zhao Huan would go to see them full of hope, and then return to his cattle pen full of disappointment... Over and over again, year after year. , he almost gave up on that idea.
And now, he was sitting on the throne in the Imperial City of Song Dynasty. If all this was a dream, he really wished he would never wake up from this dream.
He was afraid, he had always been afraid... Otherwise, he wouldn't have been frightened by the Jin people back then, and he would have really left the city and gone to their camp.
Now, in addition to the Jin people, he is afraid of his younger brother, King Kang of the Song Dynasty.
Zhao Gou's unclear attitude... Maybe it was because he was a member of the Zhao family and was of the same lineage as Taizong. Zhao Huan always felt that he would treat him the same way he treated Li Yu.
Therefore, he listened to the words of the golden man and the words of the dwarf, just to survive.
"His Majesty!"
Among these guilty ministers, Wang Ciweng had the highest position. When he heard Zhao Huan's self-destruction, he immediately panicked... If you don't become the emperor, what will we do?
But he didn't dare to directly remonstrate. He just made a pitiful look and looked directly at the superior Emperor Xiaoci Yuansheng, the longing in his eyes almost bursting out.
Many people had the same reaction as Wang Ciweng. One shouted more sadly than the other, and one shouted more emotionally than the other. Being stared at by so many people, Zhao Huan subconsciously looked at Zhao Ding, who had a normal expression...
"Don't be like this, everyone. This is setting me up for injustice!"
"Prime Minister Zhao, please persuade them quickly, persuade them!"
Zhao Ding finally seemed to have come to his senses and bowed to him:
"You don't have to belittle yourself. Guan Jia is a saint who can understand right and wrong. The throne is not a piece of cake. Everything should be decided by you two."
His attitude was very clear. This is a matter of your Zhao family. Although his surname is Zhao, he is not the same ancestor as you. It is not good to say too much.
But for Zhao Huan, Liu Ziyu and Hu Quan, it was a big deal that Zhao Ding was not completely on the emperor's side.
Loyalty is not absolute, it is absolutely disloyal.
Liu Ziyu looked at Zhao Ding as if he were a stranger. He never imagined that the prime minister who was promoted by the official family would have such an attitude now!
Not to mention Hu Quan. If he hadn't thought that he was in the palace, he might have blown his beard and started scolding Zhao Ding.
Zhao Huan, on the other hand, glanced at Zhao Ding strangely. He didn't even expect that Zhao Ding had already disarmed him before he did anything...
Chaozi said that under Lao Jiu's heavy pressure, many people's dissatisfaction was covered up. As long as you relax a little, you can hear a lot of dissatisfaction.
I thought he was exaggerating before, but now, Zhao Huan finally believed it.
"In the past, I didn't listen to Li Boji's words, which caused a catastrophe. When I thought about it when I was in the north, I wanted to see him again... but I didn't expect that he was already dead. After all, I failed him."
Li Boji was Li Gang, a minister who had experienced ups and downs several times and had an unswerving ambition to resist the Jin Dynasty until his death. He died exactly one year before Qin Hui, and also the year before the emperor began to change his temper.
If he could see today, he doesn't know what it would be like.
And Zhao Huan has now begun to call himself "I"... Wang Ciweng and the others are naturally overjoyed. Although Hu Quan is not happy, he also knows that he is also qualified to call himself such a person.
Although he was dissatisfied, he still suppressed it.
"He is the pillar of the country and the great minister of the Song Dynasty. It is my fault that I failed to make good use of him and it has nothing to do with him."
This is bullshit and everyone knows it.
But Zhao Huan's ability to say this still makes people look at him with admiration.
Zhao Ding moved a little, straightened his body again, and returned to his previous appearance.
"So, I know that this Song Dynasty is not the Song Dynasty of the Zhao family, but the Song Dynasty of all the capable ministers and the people of the world."
"If the Song Dynasty wants to restore its past, the most indispensable thing is talents. Whether it is me or my ninth brother here, I believe we all think so."
"So... I invited the national scholars to Lin'an."
With that said, Zhao Huan nodded towards Wang Xie, who understood and immediately turned around and went out.
When I came back, Zhang Jun, the former right minister and Privy Council envoy who had organized the restoration of King Qin during the Miao and Liu rebellions and advocated the fight against the Jin Dynasty and managed Sichuan and Shaanxi to protect the southeast, and who later resigned because of Li Qiong's defection to the north, also came.
He was the youngest prime minister of the Song Dynasty after Kou Zhun, and he was also the minister who dismissed Li Gang with Huang Qianshan. At the same time, he was also a minority who advocated resistance to the Jin Dynasty... Naturally, he was dismissed from office that year. Although he knew Qin Hui's character, he He was even more worried about his old rival Zhao Ding gaining power, so he acquiesced to the emperor's appointment of Qin Hui as prime minister.
This is a complex person, and he cannot be evaluated casually in terms of loyalty and treachery. According to Liu Bang's previous thoughts, this person should be the kind of person who puts his own interests first.
Some talent, but not much.
Even the bottom line is not that high... For example, after learning that the officials in Fujian were recalled to Lin'an by the emperor, Zhang Jun waited for a long time, but in the end he only waited for the news that the emperor had appointed Zhao Ding as prime minister.
This was almost a devastating blow to this 'young man' who had been prime minister in his early thirties and was only in his early forties now.
He felt even more frustrated than the emperor demoting him.
But at this time, he received a solicitation from Emperor Xiaoci Yuansheng... Zhang Jun, like Hu Quan, had always been with Zhao Guan's family. He had always only heard of the two northern emperors by their names. No one was seen.
And now...
He boarded the ship without any hesitation. Zhao Huan was Wang Ciweng's only hope, but for Zhang Jun, it was not the same.
After saluting the emperor above him, the first thing Zhang Jun did when he came to this palace was to stand in front of Zhao Ding.
"I really didn't expect that we would meet again in Lin'an... Mr. Zhao, may I ask... what night is it?"
Zhao Ding raised his eyes and looked at him, but did not answer his words.
This obvious show of weakness made Zhao Huan even more happy, and he even became a little excited.
"Ninth brother is on the Northern Expedition at the front, and we must make mistakes in the rear."
"Mr. Zhao has worked hard and achieved great results. Now that Mr. Deyuan is assisting you, I can share a lot of your burdens."
"Everyone should work together to protect the country and the country."
Many people would definitely agree with this statement, but no one expected that the first one to agree would be Mr. Zhao Ding and Prime Minister Zhao.
He stood up again and said: "I was promoted by Your Majesty and served as the left and right servants of Zhongshu. However, it was because the official family was short of people, so it was a helpless move."
"Deyuan is Wang Zuo's talent. If he can come, I will naturally agree."
"Hey..." Zhao Huan couldn't tell clearly which side Zhao Ding was on, and he didn't want to offend him too much at this time, so he just said:
"The appointment of Ninth Brother naturally has its own reasons... Although Deyuan has the ability to be a prime minister, he still has to distinguish priorities. How can he think about it from the position of Prime Minister Zhao."
"In my opinion, it is better to let him do political affairs. This way, neither Deyuan nor Prime Minister Zhao will be treated badly."
The left and right pushers were the nominal prime ministers, while the political advisors were the de facto deputy prime ministers. There were three powers in the Song Dynasty: the military power belonged to the Privy Council of the Three Yamen, the financial power belonged to the three divisions and household departments, and the administrative power belonged to the Councilor of the Zhongshu Province. Knowing about political affairs, if the prime minister is away, the deputy prime minister can also exercise the powers of the prime minister.
This request is already too much. As long as Zhao Ding does not agree, Zhao Huan has no choice, at least not now.
Unless he breaks out, but he doesn't have the courage or the strength.
But Zhao Ding didn't even hesitate and said directly:
"You are wise."
After saying that, it turned into an old clock again.
Hu Quan couldn't bear it anymore and stood up... He frowned and stared at Zhao Ding for a long time, and finally...
"Hoo~te!"
In one breath, he spat towards Zhao Ding.
This was really indecent, but it happened so fast that no one could react.
Hu Quan looked at Zhao Huan above him, cupped his hands, and turned around and walked out without even saying a word.
Wang Xie wanted to stop him, but he pushed him away:
"Why, do you want to slap me too?!"
This person is not just a simple official like Lin'an Prefecture Yin, he is the real God of Wealth of the Song Dynasty, and the person he just offended was the prime minister of the dynasty.
After just a little calculation, Wang Xie got out of the way and allowed him to walk out of the Daqing Hall.
Such behavior would have been regarded as a great contempt for the emperor above, but perhaps because he had stayed in the Kingdom of Jin for a long time, Zhao Huan actually tolerated it.
Mainly, Zhao Ding endured it.
He took the handkerchief handed to him by the chamberlain and gently wiped away the saliva on his clothes without even the slightest hint of temper.
Zhao Huan laughed, quickly changed the topic, and the music started playing again.
After the song was over, he said the second thing today:
"Prince Yongjia...although he did some things that were against the rules, he is the son of King Yi, and King Yi has done meritorious service to his ninth brother and to me, the Great Song Dynasty, so..."
"If the ninth brother is not here, then I will be the master! You are also a member of the Zhao family after all. You do not know the rules and have done something wrong. I will cut the supply fee in half. You are not allowed to leave Shanyin without reporting!"
"You must take this as a warning and never do it again, do you understand?!"
Zhao Shicheng had already realized that the reason he made such a fuss was just to make a wedding dress for others.
Now that he was able to survive, he was lucky, and he also kept his title. There was no reason for him not to obey. Even though he was deeply unwilling to do so, he still complied.
However, I don’t know whether this prince is really stupid or cute. At this time, he actually made a request to the emperor:
"Your Majesty clearly knows that I did something wrong... After my father passed away, the princess also left me. This life has less worries."
"If we can get married again, I will go back to live my life with peace of mind. If Your Majesty doesn't call me, I will never come again."
As he said this, he actually added a bit of innocence to himself. If someone who didn't know about it saw it, they might really think that treason was a big deal.
Zhao Huan was a little angry that he didn't know how to praise him, but he also thought that what he said did make some sense.
It is not difficult at all to deal with him, but there is no benefit at all from dealing with him.
As long as he is alive, it seems that Lao Jiu wants to deal with people when he comes back, so he has to think more carefully.
King Yi gave birth to so many sons, and they have spread all over the country. There are at least three to five hundred in this lineage, not to mention one thousand, plus their respective marriage partners, and the members of the Zhao family clan. of other people watching...
He didn't do anything. At most, he overstepped a bit. This man was a real rebel. If Lao Jiu wanted to deal with him, he must deal with him first.
Naturally, everyone can see clearly what is right and wrong when he shows kindness like this.
After all, Emperor Huizong personally appointed the prince. Although Zhao Huan had not been emperor for a long time, he had been the prince for much longer.
He may not have that ability to deal with the Jin people, but using the brains of people like Chaoli, he is not that simple.
So, he opened his mouth and asked:
"From your tone, it sounds like you already have someone in mind?"
Zhao Shicheng didn't catch the emperor, but it would be good to catch a beauty. He had never forgotten the jewel in the Taichang Temple Shaoqing's family.
"I dare not hide it from you. The young lady from Tang Shaoqing's family in Taichang Temple... has been attracted by her since we met her. If I can marry her..."
Emperor Xiaociyuan of the Yongjia County Dynasty bowed deeply:
"Your Majesty's great kindness will be unforgettable."
Tang Hong never expected that he, a person who had always been invisible, would actually be called out.
But this kind of roll call is not a good thing, it is clearly a huge disaster!
This man has rebelled, and wants to take his own young lady as his wife... What if the official comes back and insists on holding him accountable? !
Thinking of this, Tang Shaoqing quickly refused:
"My little girl has not yet reached the age of hairpins. I'm afraid I won't be able to accept the prince's kindness."
Unexpectedly, Zhao Shicheng had already found out clearly:
"Why is Tang Shaoqing prevaricating like this? Tang Wan was born in the first month of the year, and the day when she will give birth to hairpins will come in ten days. Could it be that this king can't even wait for these ten days?"
Zhao Huan smiled and said: "You have found out clearly."
After saying that, he said to Tang Hong:
"He hasn't remarried for many years, and he doesn't have an abrupt temper. Now that he's spoken, what's wrong with me being a matchmaker today?"
"this……"
Tang Hong still wanted to speak, but he saw the old man Wang Xie staring at him with his big eyes, and he waved his sleeves helplessly.
"I will go back and ask my daughter what she wants."
"On matters of marriage, parents can make the final decision... Since Tang Shaoqing has no objection, it will be decided as such."
Zhao Huan stood up and greeted everyone:
"Everyone raises their glasses together and should bear witness to this happy event!"
It was Zhao Ding who took the lead. He was the first to bless Tang Hong, who did not feel happy:
"Congratulations to Tang Shaoqing."
Zhao Huan was extremely happy. He had never been so happy in the past fifteen years.
…
Xin Ciying was tied up... He was drinking alone in Sibei Tower, but saw several soldiers under Wang Xie coming to ask for money... The shop owner Wang Xiaoer, relying on his status as a relative of the emperor, refused to give it, and was The group was beaten.
He knew the relationship between the emperor and this family. Even if he didn't know, as the governor of Lin'an, he couldn't leave this kind of thing alone. Although all his officers had been killed by Zhao Shicheng, at this time, he still stood out.
If he doesn't stand up, then he is no longer Xin Ciying.
So he was tied up, and the dignified governor of Lin'an was tied up and paraded through the streets by a few big soldiers, killing chickens to scare monkeys... This kind of thing has never been heard of in a hundred years.
Most of the people didn't know his identity, but they couldn't bear to see him at such an old age.
But I couldn't bear to go back. I heard that the emperor from the north was back, but the Zhao Guan family didn't even have any news.
No one knows what the Song Dynasty will be like or which direction it will take.
…
Lu You was also tied up. Ever since he met Zhao Shicheng that day, he knew that something big had happened, so he stopped thinking about going home for the New Year.
But if he didn't go back, he would have no money, and there wouldn't be much livelihood to do during the Chinese New Year in Lin'an City. He had no other choice, so he went to live in the Guan Temple... The old man who served here was named Zhou. My ancestor told me that the last time Qin Hui wanted to destroy the temple, he saw this student and took him in.
At the same time, he was given a place in front of the temple to write letters and read letters for others to earn some pocket money.
Everything was fine at first, but until the Chinese New Year, Emperor Xiaoci Yuansheng came back again, and Lu You thought everything was fine.
But he never thought that the same few bad guys would see this newly built Guan Wang Temple. Later, the emperor threatened him, and Qin Hui spent a lot of money to repair it. Even Guan Wang's body was painted A layer of genuine gold dust.
Those soldiers knew about this from somewhere and insisted on scraping the gold with knives. Lu You and Old Man Zhou were tied up and hung on the beam in front of the temple wherever they were willing to let go.
Old man Zhou was old and couldn't stand this kind of stimulation. In addition, he was tortured by those people. The next day, the first day of the new year, he died next to Lu You... If If Tang Wan hadn't come looking for him, he would probably have starved to death there.
"Lu You..."
Knowing that he was in a bad mood, Tang Wan felt even more sad.
But she didn't dare to show every bit of sadness.
"This hairpin is too valuable, I want to return it to you."
She seemed to have made a big decision, but Lu You was a little dull. He just looked at the body of old man Zhou lying in front of him without even turning his head.
Sighing softly, she didn't wake him up after all, but just put the hairpin next to him.
She was indeed sad, but what was even more sad was that at this time, she could do nothing. Not only could she not make Lu You feel more relaxed, but...
Lovers may not always end up getting married, but Tang Wan felt as if her heart was constantly twitching, and she almost fainted from the pain.
In Lin'an City, everyone saw a girl crying.
…
Fohai felt his heart tightening, but he didn't know what had happened.
He has been chanting the Buddha's name for many years, and his mind has become as calm as water. This kind of reaction is almost extremely rare for him.
"Daoji?"
He seemed to have seen his disciple, but it was clearly the statue of Sakyamuni in front of him, but Fohai assured that he indeed saw Daoji's face on the face of the Buddha statue.
Weird...
The monk didn't know what this meant, but he always felt that something had happened to his beloved disciple.
(End of chapter)
