In the third year of Zhang Zhou Shaoming's reign, AD 948, on the seventh day of August, in the Kaifeng Mansion in Tokyo, the funeral of Zhang Xichong, the minister of law, was in progress.
Except for the emperor who was far away in Chang'an and did not come, the empress Cao Yanxi, the fourth son of the emperor and the empress' son Zhang Xianjing, etc. were all present.
Zhang Zhou's civil and military ministers, even the commander-in-chief from other places, sent many people thousands of miles to come.
Among them, Ma Zhaoyuan, the governor of Guilin Prefecture and the military supervisor of Guilin Prefecture, even sent his generals to make a special trip back from Lingnan at a speed of one hundred and fifty miles a day.
Although Zhang Xichong is not a Yuancong sect or a Donggui sect, the old man has won the respect of almost everyone with his character and talents.
To some extent, Zhang Yan was not a qualified feudal emperor.
Because he had no such education at all, the place where he emerged was also a remote place like Anxi, Beiting, and Hexi, which could not give him the experience of ruling the Central Plains dynasty.
His level is that of a later history enthusiast. After receiving a huge amount of knowledge, plus a large number of expert authors from the Internet, TV and movies, who have never been emperors themselves, they just summarize the gains and losses of emperors.
To put it bluntly, he is a keyboard warrior with some brains.
I have some knowledge, but maybe not much.
Therefore, on the surface, Zhang Yan is very able to listen to the opinions of his ministers, and his ability to do things in public should be better than Cao Mengde, and possibly even better than Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty.
In the current Zhang Zhou Dynasty, you can even call Zhang Xiang a fool in front of him. As long as you can say one, two, three, you will basically not be punished, and your suggestions will still be adopted.
Of course, if you can't tell, then the problem is very serious.
Generally speaking, Zhang Zhou's court atmosphere was very positive, and the emperor was able to accept advice humbly.
But Zhang Yan also had a big problem. He came from a later generation and was affected by the era of advanced information. As a result, his understanding of the position of the king was often very vague.
He accepts advice humbly, rewards loyalty, and has no problem with major policies.
But when it comes to every piece of national politics, there will always be some whimsical and too advanced ideas from later generations.
Many people have experienced this complex of contradictions in Zhang Yan.
This is why even in the court, many people believe that Zhang Yan is really the lower realm of gods and Buddhas.
Because it is difficult for a normal person to have such an extreme contrast between being far-sighted and blindly ignorant at the same time.
In the Zhang Dynasty, the civil servants had not yet recovered from the suppression they had suffered for a hundred or two hundred years. Most civil servants were in a state of being in a state of doing more than doing less, and making further remarks was worse than knowing how to fish.
Only Zhang Xichong could correct the obviously wrong decisions made by Zhang Xian one by one, and revise the too advanced programs and plans, even if Zhang Xian was angry.
And often it can make Zhang Yan realize these mistakes and correct them.
In terms of setting an example for officials, it was he, the minister, who always argued with reason whether facing the emperor, relatives, or military commanders from other towns, and would never tolerate any crime or crime. Even the emperor dared to confront him, thus establishing the This gives civil servants confidence and the confidence to be respected.
It can be said that Zhang Xichong is like a flag. As long as the civil servants in the world see that Zhang Xichong is still there and has not been killed or expelled by the emperor, they will know that they are still safe and dare to do something.
Zhang Xichong dared not be afraid of people at the level of military attache, commander-in-chief, ordinary officials dared to supervise the generals of a city or county, and police officers in prefectures and counties dared to stop ordinary soldiers from causing trouble.
It can be said that Zhang Zhou's ethos was different from that of the Liang, Tang, and Jin dynasties. Half of it was maintained by Zhang Zhi, and the other half was established by Zhang Xichong.
. . . .
At the funeral, Zhang Xianjing, who was almost five years old, could barely understand some things.
Born into such an imperial family, ranked fourth, and with the above brothers each having their own merits, Zhang Xianjing was destined to be severely beaten by his mother, Cao Yanxi, throughout his life.
The appearance of Zhang Xianjing even changed the temperament of Queen Cao Yanxi. She changed from the cunning girl who liked to pester Zhang Xian to a 'loving mother' who devoted her whole body and mind to her son.
Faced with this situation, Zhang Yan couldn't say anything. He was afraid that Nineteenth Niang would think too much, so he could only ask Cao Sanniang to take care of Zhang Xianjing from time to time and 'liberate' him from the high pressure of his mother for a while.
However, chicken babies have many disadvantages, but if the child has strong ability to withstand stress or matures early, it is indeed possible for the chicken to produce a genius, but the probability is very low.
But Zhang Xianjing seems to have this low probability. He can read and write like a little adult at the age of five, and he also shows a bit of precocious wisdom when it comes to government affairs.
For example, when Zhang Xichong and his disciples were welcoming him, Zhang Xianjing took out a piece of white silk cloth with eight characters written on it: "The country has lost its city, and the king has lost his mirror."
Zhang Xianjing puffed up his chest and handed the white silk cloth to Zhang Xichong's eldest son Zhang Yanshun with a sweet voice, "Everyone said these words, and I wrote the words. I hope my Zhang family will have a prosperous city again."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Yanshun and his family bowed down, trembling with excitement.
The person in front of him is very likely to be the next emperor. What are these eight words? This is the guarantee of their family's future wealth!
Cao Yanxi was also extremely satisfied with Zhang Xianjing's performance and simply asked him to read the edict on behalf of Zhongguan Angel.
In the imperial edict, Zhang Xichong was posthumously granted the title of Grand Tutor, Prince of Qinghe County, and was given the title of hero of Anbang and the founding of the country.
And from the two posthumous titles of Wenzhong and Wensu drafted by the ministers, Wenzhong was obviously much better.
And because Zhang Xichong's title is not hereditary and is not a military title according to law, he must be surrendered immediately.
However, Zhang Gao specifically allowed that the dukedom of Qinghe County would not begin until after three generations, and the dukedom of Qinghe County would be inherited by his eldest son Zhang Yanshun.
He also conferred the title of Marquis of Fan Yang, the second son of Zhang Xichong, Zhang Yanding, and appointed the brothers Zhang Yanshun and Zhang Yanding as commanders of the royal guards.
He also specially gave 300 households in Shiyi to Zhang Xichong's old wife, Zou family, as a pension for Zou family.
Not long after, before Queen Cao Yanxi and others returned to the palace, an angel came from Chang'an Mansion.
Zhang Xian once again consecrated Zhang Xichong's wife, Zou, as his wife of the State of Yan, and allowed Zhang Xichong to be buried as a prince. He also allowed the construction of a cemetery, a memorial hall, a stele pavilion, etc., and ordered the Ministry of Industry to select a site in Mang Mountain to build a cemetery.
This is to be buried with the imperial mausoleum!
Zhang Xichong's eldest son, Zhang Yanshun, and his second son, Zhang Yanding, once again knelt on the ground and knelt down to thank God. The surrounding officials were also shocked.
Because Zhang Zhou regarded Luoyang as his sacred capital, if Zhang Gao died, he would basically be buried in Mang Mountain.
But Mangshan had already buried twenty-four emperors from six generations since the Eastern Zhou Dynasty before this.
In terms of the size of the mountain, Mang Mountain is now more crowded than Kaifeng Prefecture in Tokyo, which has a dense population.
Zhang Zhou estimated that only the first two or three generations of emperors could be buried here, and subsequent kings would have to choose other places.
In this case, to squeeze out a place to bury the official Zhang Xichong, we still need to build a large-scale tomb in the cemetery.
For the Han people who attach great importance to posthumous affairs, this kind of kindness is even greater than being granted the title of Taifu or County Prince. It is no wonder that the Zhang brothers burst into tears immediately. They were indeed moved.
However, the next two imperial edicts that arrived at the scene made the courtiers feel not moved but surprised, even a little scared.
It turned out that Zhang Gao used the reason that Feng Dao and Pei Yuan traveled thousands of miles to recover Songzhou, which had been lost since the Ruizong period of the great dynasty, and made the foreign guests subdue, and dozens of chiefs, big and small, came to congratulate them.
The Jin Dynasty granted Pei Yuan, the Duke of Hedong County, the title of Duke of Zhao. Jingcheng Bo Fengdao was the Marquis of Yingzhou.
He also appointed Feng Dao, the Councilor for Political Affairs and the Minister of Rites, as the Minister of Records. Zuopushe, the Zhongshu, was also in charge of Zhangtai affairs of the Zhongshu Province.
The Lu Shangshu Shi was a little lower than the Shangshu Ling. The emperor dug it out from the pile of old papers, obviously to show Zhang Xichong's respected status. It is estimated that Feng Dao would not really become the Shangshu Ling until Zhang Xichong was buried.
Moreover, Feng Dao is not as strong as Zhang Xichong, so the most valuable appointment is the one who is also in charge of Zhangtai affairs of Zhongshu Province.
In Zhang Zhou's Zhongshu Province, Luantai was in charge of the emperor's imperial army, and Zhangtai assisted the emperor in handling government affairs.
Zhangtai is equivalent to the emperor's secretarial team, similar to the original academic palace of the Ming Dynasty.
Naturally, such an important yamen cannot only have a few people, so after the emperor took some of them to Liangzhou Mansion in Chengtian, there were still quite a few Zhangtai officials who stayed in the court.
Feng Dao has the power to also take charge of Zhangtai's affairs. This is what can truly support his position as prime minister.
If Feng Dao was surprised, then Pei Yuan's appointment was enough to be called frightening.
Zhang Gao gave Pei Yuan the power of Jiajieyue and appointed him as the right servant of Zhongshu, the minister of Luantai, the commander of the imperial guard Ma Bu, and the governor of all prefectures and counties in Zhili.
The false ax gave Pei Yuan the power of life and death over ordinary officials.
The Minister of Luantai can manage the imperial army in Beijing.
The guards, Ma Bu, and the pro-army commanders can control the pro-army in Beijing and even the pro-army in the outer palace.
In charge of supervising the affairs of the prefectures and counties in Zhili, he took charge of the entire government affairs of Zhili.
All the ministers turned their attention to the Queen Cao Yanxi and the noble concubine Cao Yannai, and found that these two people had a calm expression on their faces. Everyone understood that this was the news passed by the emperor and the queen.
It seems that the emperor is asking Pei Yuan to do some very difficult things. Because Pei Yuan is just one step away from being able to control the life and death of the queen and the princes.
If you don't want to do something very dangerous, the emperor probably won't give you such power.
In the Zhang Dynasty military system, there are usually three pro-army troops stationed on guard duty. In the inner palace, it is customary for Xianshandu to be on guard duty, while in the outer palace, all pro-army troops take turns.
Now the capital of Hanshan is divided into four chambers on the left, inner, right and front. Each chamber has 3,000 people, controlled by Zhang Zhaozhong, Zhang Zhaojiu, Zhang Cheng and Zhang Zhaojie respectively. It is the emperor's last guarantee.
This time the emperor visited the west and took away Zhang Zhaozhong's left wing capital, Zhang Cheng's right wing capital, Zhang Zhaojie's front wing capital, and only Zhang Zhaojiu's inner wing capital of 3,000 people stayed in the inner palace.
This position was never permanent and was appointed temporarily by the emperor.
In terms of power and responsibilities, in addition to the guards in the inner palace, the outer palace, whether it is the capital of Shanshan or the close troops, must accept the leadership of this commander.
It can be said that the military power Pei Yuan controls at this moment is far superior to that of the Queen.
Of course, this is only on the surface. In reality, if Pei Yuan ordered an attack on the palace, he would probably give the order one second and be stabbed to death the next.
But this does not prevent everyone from looking at Pei Yuan in the wrong way. The military and political powers at home and abroad have grabbed hold of him, and even Feng Dao's affairs of recording Shangshu are just covering up for Pei Yuan.
Why did the power of the imperial court suddenly fall into the hands of this guy who had all the power in Hexi!
Looking at Pei Yuan's strange eyes that didn't look like a good person, all the ministers were horrified. This was a traitor!
Everyone thought of many people at once, such as Dong Zhuo, the Grand Master of Hexi, three generations of rebels against the Sima family, An Lushan in Hebei, An Chongjie of the Later Tang Dynasty, Yang Guangyuan, Jing Yanguang and others who covered the sky with one hand during the puppet Jin Dynasty.
Pei Yuan looked at everyone's expressions and couldn't help but sigh in his heart. He knew that this was not going to be easy.
The emperor was so powerful that he would be regarded as Sima Yi. If the emperor were weaker, someone might be plotting to sideline the Qing emperor.
However, you should not be cowardly at this time. The emperor will definitely come back after going to Hexi for a year at most. And if he wants to completely complete the reform of Buddhism in the Central Plains within this year, he must have great power and establish a unified government.
So he deliberately squinted his eyes to make himself look more sinister, which made the surrounding ministers feel terrified.
But in fact, Pei Yuan was a little confused. He didn't know if the emperor was angry with the local commanders sent by Yuancong.
But don't let him down with a big stick. If any foreign commander from Yuancong really thinks that there is something wrong with the emperor and wants to come to the capital to come to Qingjun's side, it will be in trouble.
Most of these Yuan Cong came from Hexi, and their families were basically devout Buddhist believers. Although they believed in the Six Dharma Sect on the surface, who knew secretly.
. . . .
Compared with Pei Yuan's fear, Zhang Gao was calm and calm.
He went to Hexi and took away half of the total number of pro-army and forbidden troops. He also recruited heroes from all over Shu to build five or six pro-army and forbidden troops.
Since he raised his army, Zhang Yan has been unparalleled in the army. He is not afraid of Pei Yuan's manipulation in the court. No matter how big the chaos is, he can calm it down.
Zhang Yan even hoped that Pei Yuan would use more drastic methods to stimulate those restless people who were hiding in advance, and then deal with them together.
Before going to Liangzhou, Zhang Gao specially summoned Zhang Xiaobao.
This kid originally gave up on himself after he injured his leg. He went to Shuzhong just because he wanted to use his life to cause an earth-shattering event.
Unexpectedly, the journey along the way and the experience in Shu made him feel much calmer, and he gradually began to accept that he was a lame.
After he heard from his brother Zhang Cheng that Zhang Xi planned to attack the Dali Kingdom, and that he also wanted to seal the eldest son Zhang Xiancun to the Dali Kingdom to be the king in the future, he was very moved and wanted to continue to go to Shu to perform meritorious service for Zhang Xi.
So Zhang Gao deliberately summoned Zhang Xiaobao to Weiyang Palace on Longshou Plain, and asked him to dine with him along with Zhang Xiancun, Zhang Xianyu, and Zhang Liechao, enjoying the treatment only the emperor's nephew could have.
Zhang Xiaobao is also not very formal. When his family was first allocated land and resettled in Minqin County, Liangzhou, the land deed was still sealed by the emperor himself.
In addition, his brother Zhang Cheng has always been a guard beside the emperor, so he has never had any sense of distance from the emperor.
"Little Leopard, what do you think of the word fly?"
Zhang Xiaobao was gnawing on a big leg of lamb. When he heard the emperor's question, he didn't answer. Instead, he was stunned for a moment, nodded, and then continued to gnaw.
"Okay! Then you will be called Zhang Fei from now on!" Zhang Gao laughed in a wicked way.
Only then did Zhang Xiaobao understand what the emperor was laughing at. He also put down the leg of lamb and said to Zhang Hao seriously.
"Your Majesty inspires my ministers with the loyalty and courage of Marquis Huan of Ji Han, and I will never disappoint His Majesty's expectations."
"He is my good son!" Zhang Hao praised loudly, and then asked: "How old are you this year? Isn't he married yet?"
Zhang Xiaobao, oh no, should be called Zhang Fei now, he shook his head.
"I am twenty-two years old this year. Doesn't the saint want to be my matchmaker?"
With that said, Zhang Fei patted his lame leg and said, "This leg is not worthy of a noble lady."
Zhang Hao glared and said, "I am a warrior worthy of a heavenly being."
"Li Congye, is your Jiannanchun warmed yet? Bring it over as soon as it's warmed."
In the distance, a middle-aged fat man heard Zhang Yan shouting and immediately ran over, hurriedly apologizing as he ran.
This person is clearly Meng Chang's elder brother and Li Keyong's grandson, Meng Yiye, who is now named Li Congye.
"I heard that your eldest daughter, 28-year-old Hua, also knows how to read and be polite?" Zhang Yan asked.
Li Congye's eyes lit up. Could it be that the saint fell in love with his daughter?
"Not only is he knowledgeable and courteous, Jiao Niang is also good at female craftsmanship. His embroidery is better than the best female craftsmen in Sichuan."
"That's good!" Zhang Hao laughed, pointed at Li Congye and said to Zhang Fei: "Do you have anything valuable on you? Take it out to pay homage to you, Lao Taishan."
Li Congye was very disappointed and looked at Zhang Fei's lame leg.
But before his eyes settled, he felt an invisible terrifying pressure coming from above his head. When he raised his head, he saw that it was Zhang Yan who was glaring at him with a half-smile.
Li Congye immediately shook his head and took out a piece of gold inlaid with jade from his waist.
"It is my honor for my little daughter to marry a saint's loyal warrior. If you take this jade, we will be your husband-in-law."
After saying that, he put gold and jade into Zhang Fei's hand.
(End of chapter)
