Early the next morning, a group of officials who went to Chui Gong Hall saw Yang Jian standing in front of Chui Gong Hall, announcing to a group of important officials of the court.
The official's family was ill, and today's court meeting was cancelled. Although the officials said nothing on the surface, in their hearts they were cursing at this foolish king who never came to the morning court.
Since you're not going to have a court meeting, why didn't you notify me in advance? This made me afraid to even sleep with Xin Na's concubine because I was too tired, for fear that I wouldn't be able to get out of bed the next day.
"Is the official really sick?" After the officials were almost gone, Cai Jing came closer and asked in a low voice.
Facing this Prime Minister Cai, who had already surrendered to the officials on the issue of the three ministers, he once again gained the favor of the officials.
Yang Jian could only look at Cai Jing with an expression of "Guess whether the official is sick or not?"
Cai Jing understood instantly, rubbed his brow helplessly, and then turned around and left.
When the official went to court yesterday, he had a pair of dark circles under his eyes. He stayed there for less than half an hour before announcing his withdrawal from the court. Today, he was even more blunt.
I don’t know whether the official is engaged in art in the harem or is flirting with some beloved concubine.
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Zhao Ji, an official who perfectly missed the morning meeting, didn't recover until the third day because he stayed up all night and got drunk.
At this moment, with a white towel wrapped around his head, he was sitting lazily in the pavilion, looking at the flowers and trees outside the pavilion, his face looking extremely solemn.
In the pavilion, there is a painting hanging, which is his masterpiece "Picture of Wintersweet and Mountain Birds".
But now there is only one poem on it, and the official Zhao Ji has specially left the other half.
After Xiao Gao enters the palace, he is going to have him copy his five-character quatrains on it and get his monogram seal on it.
As a perfect masterpiece, with a good story about master and apprentice, it must be filled with a sense of ritual.
Even though he drank a little too much yesterday, today he carefully recalled the scene he co-created with Xiao Gao yesterday.
He was still deeply shocked. Apart from God's will, Zhao Ji couldn't find a better explanation.
Afterwards, in those dreamlike scenes, his daughter Zhao Fujin appeared, and he wanted to lead Xiao Gao and his beloved daughter.
Zhao Ji couldn't tell whether he was speaking in a dream or communicating with his beloved disciple in reality.
But when I thought about it, it would be really nice if Xiao Gao, my beloved disciple who was close to my heart, could become my beloved son-in-law.
His beloved daughter Zhao Fujin is also very interested in painting. If she, a master of poetry, calligraphy and painting in the Song Dynasty, joins forces with her beloved disciple Xiao Gao, wouldn't it be a powerful alliance?
At this moment, I heard footsteps coming from outside the pavilion. When I raised my eyes, I saw Tong Guan walking quickly.
Zhao Ji then calmed down his thoughts and motioned for the other party to enter the pavilion to explain.
The tall and burly eunuch with a sparse beard bowed respectfully to Zhao Ji, then took out a scroll from his sleeve and presented it respectfully with both hands.
"My slave sent greetings to the official. I heard that the official was ill, so I specially found a prescription to soothe the nerves and replenish the energy, and dedicated it to the official..."
Official Zhao Ji smiled and signaled Yang Jian to accept the prescription.
"Okay, okay, you have your heart set on it. How are the preparations for the establishment of the General Staff Council going these days?"
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Wu Zhizhong was walking towards the depths of the palace together with Wang Siqing of Honglu Temple. Now the birthday of the Emperor of Liao Kingdom was getting closer and closer.
Last year, the emperor of the Liao Kingdom sent an envoy to celebrate the official's birthday, so now it is time to finalize the matter of sending an envoy to the Liao Kingdom.
When Wu Zhizhong and Wang Siqing arrived at the imperial garden, they heard chatter and laughter coming from the pavilion in the distance.
When he raised his eyes, he saw the powerful eunuch Tong Guan chatting happily with the officials.
Unexpectedly, Tong Guan would be here, which made Wu Zhizhong's face darken. He was not happy to deal with the powerful eunuch Tong Guan and the traitor Cai Jing.
But at this moment, the official also noticed the two of them. He raised his hand and pointed, and a young eunuch was flying towards them.
Wu Zhizhong could only rush towards the pavilion with Wang Siqing.
After Wu Zhizhong saluted the official, he straight away began to state that the birthday of the Emperor of Liao was not far away.
According to the etiquette between the Song Dynasty and the Liao Kingdom, the Song Dynasty should also send envoys to congratulate the emperor of Liao Kingdom on his birthday.
"... I, the Song Dynasty, should ask the officials to make it clear who I should be the envoy to celebrate Liao's birthday."
Originally, Tong Guan was watching with cold eyes. After all, the affairs between the Ministry of Rites and Honglu Temple had nothing to do with him, a powerful official with military power.
But now, when he heard that the Liao army was actually going to be used, Tong Guan, who had not sent out troops for two or three years, couldn't help but his eyes lit up when he made new achievements.
The official was stroking his short beard, rubbing his still somewhat numb mind, and mentally considering the candidates.
Then he saw Tong Guan, who was standing by, come and prostrate himself to the ground.
"I sincerely ask the officials to allow me to take charge of the affairs of the Liao Kingdom."
"Why is this?" Zhao Ji, an official, asked subconsciously.
"Guan family, I, the Song Dynasty, used troops in the land of Hehuang and made great achievements frequently. However, Xixia was weak and asked for help from the Liao Kingdom..."
As a result, the Liao Kingdom boasted at the beginning that it wanted to be the master of Xixia, help them conquer the Song Dynasty, and get back the occupied land and population.
But in the end, the Liao Kingdom broke its promise. Instead of resorting to such means to antagonize the Song Dynasty, it signed a series of trade treaties with the Song Dynasty.
"So, I think that there may be something going on within the Liao Kingdom that prevents them from exerting full pressure on me, the Song Dynasty."
"The Liao Kingdom has invaded and occupied the Sixteenth Prefecture of Youyan for many years. The emperors of the Song Dynasty are determined to recover, so I would like to ask the officials to allow me to go deep into the hinterland of the Liao Kingdom to explore the reality of the Liao Kingdom..."
Wu Zhizhong's face darkened when he heard this. The Song Dynasty was now in the imperial court. The affairs of the three departments had not yet been clarified, and the preparations of the General Staff Council had not yet been fully completed.
The troubles in Xixia have not yet been resolved, but this guy wants to find out the reality of the Liao Kingdom. Why, he thinks that the Song Dynasty, which has many shortcomings and has not yet completed its reforms, died fast enough, right?
But when he glanced out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the official family was actually moving, which made Wu Zhizhong's vision darken.
Fortunately, he was a resourceful and experienced person after all, so he stood up immediately.
"In the official family, I believe that when I go abroad in the Song Dynasty and Liao Dynasty, I will be envoys of officials from other dynasties."
"There has never been a precedent of using an internal official as an envoy. Once this precedent is set, the consequences will be unpredictable, so officials should be cautious."
The Wang Siqing also secretly despised Tong Guan, who had just jumped out to win the merit of being an envoy, and bowed to the official.
"I second the proposal and ask the officials to be careful."
(End of chapter)
