"Dismiss the dynasty."
"All officials respectfully send you off to your home."
After Wang Shougui shouted to disperse the dynasty, Prime Minister Chen Zhizhong led hundreds of officials to send him off respectfully, and then everyone walked out of Daqing Hall according to their rank.
Zhao Yang was almost the last one to walk out of the palace. As soon as he crossed the threshold, Wang Zhongzheng and others gathered around him, praising Zhao Yang's performance in the palace with excitement on their faces.
"Just now Yuan Wai Lang fought one against nine in the palace, leaving everyone on the ground speechless. It was truly wonderful!"
"It's so ridiculous that I almost fainted after being talked about by Yuanwailang..."
"The foreign minister came a step late and didn't see Qian Mingyi walking away quickly with his head lowered. His face looked like that of a dead mother-in-law..."
"Ha ha……"
"Ahem."
Seeing the nearby officials and several officials who had not gone far looking sideways, Zhao Yang pressed his hands and said: "Low-key, low-key."
After that, he glanced at the terrace outside the palace and saw the back of the palace's imperial censor Zhang Chen, who was walking alone in the distance. He hurriedly walked down the stone steps and called loudly: "Zhang Yu, Zhang Yushi, please Stay."
Zhang Chen, who was a hundred steps away, stopped when he heard the words, turned around and saw that it was Zhao Yang calling, so he waited quietly where he was.
Under the watchful eyes of all the court officials along the way, Zhao Yang quickly walked up to Zhang Chen, cupped his hands and said, "Just now..."
Before he could finish speaking, Zhang Chen raised his hand and interrupted with a serious look on his face: "Zhao Zhengyan, there is no need to thank you. Zhang has never thought of helping you, otherwise I would have impeached Qian Mingyi for forming a clique for personal gain from the beginning. Zhao Zhengyan did not need to go through several rounds of eloquence when he was introduced."
"Zhang Fuduan is so rude..." Wei Tao scolded with a look of displeasure. The Fuduan in his mouth was the honorific title given to the imperial censor in the palace.
Zhao Yang raised his hand to stop Wei Tao and said with a chuckle: "No matter the deeds or the intentions, Zhang Yushi helped me after all and vented my bad breath..."
Zhang Fan looked at Zhao Yang deeply, a slight smile appeared on his serious face for a while, he cupped his hands towards Zhao Yang, turned around and left.
Seeing him walking a few feet away, Bao Rong whispered: "Who is he, so arrogant..."
Zhao Yang chuckled and said: "If he wasn't arrogant, how could he rather beg the officials to allow him to serve as a local official than stay in the court and associate with some Taiwanese admonishers, 'seeing is unclean' and 'hearing is unclean'?" '?"
"That's true." Wang Ming nodded and echoed: "As a Taiwan official, it is really rare to report all officials in the Taiwan, including colleagues and superiors. I guess it will be difficult for him to return to Beijing in this life, or maybe He didn’t want to come back.”
Zhao Yang nodded slightly and said: "Zhongzheng, I will ask someone to ask Zhang Yushi when he will leave the capital. I will see him off during the introduction."
"yes."
Afterwards, Zhao Yang led everyone to Funing Hall.
When he arrived at Funing Hall, Zhao Zhen had not yet started eating, but it was obvious that he was impatient with the wait. After all, the day ended nearly an hour later than normal, and he was already hungry.
Seeing Zhao Yang walking into the palace, Zhao Zhen frowned and said, "Why so late?"
Not to mention apologizing, Zhao Yang didn't even salute. He sat down on the stool, looked at the breakfast on the table, and said casually: "Have a few words with Zhang Yu and Zhang Yushi."
"Zhang Chen?" Zhao Zhen was not surprised. There was a bit of surprise on his face. He nodded thoughtfully and sighed: "This is an upright man. He should be a good admonisher, but... it's a pity."
Zhao Yang blew the porridge in the bowl and said casually: "That's not necessarily the case. I feel that he is too upright. Although he is not as hateful as he hates evil, he still has a sense of... that he can't get rid of the sand in his eyes. This kind of person, unless the official family can give him We fully trust him and support him in taking drastic measures to rectify the atmosphere in the court and improve the administration of officials. Otherwise, sooner or later, he will be discouraged and take the initiative to resign, stay away from the capital, and stay out of sight."
At this point, he suddenly raised his head: "Ah, I said why I admire him...it turns out he has the same personality as me."
"Are you hinting at me?" Zhao Zhen said, dumbfounded: "If I can't give you my full trust, will you leave?"
"Then I must leave." Zhao Yang said without hesitation: "No matter what happens, I can still be a rich man, why should I stay in the court and suffer?"
"You're the only one who's still angry? Then I'm so angry that I've lost my life because of you?" Zhao Zhen was so angry that he raised his hand and tapped Zhao Yang gently on the back of his head.
Anyway, he didn't feel much pain. Zhao Yang didn't even bother to raise his head to complain about the pain and sipped the porridge in small sips.
After a while, after both of them had finished their breakfast, Zhao Zhen asked Zhao Yang again: "Now that Qian Mingyi has been demoted to a foreign post, are you happy?"
Zhao Yang said with an innocent face: "Please don't accuse me wrongly. I have never thought about using impeachment to demote him... I originally planned to wait for some time when I am free, and then ask someone to collect evidence to impeach him for dereliction of duty." Or something."
Zhao Zhen didn't believe this. After all, although Zhao Yang said today that one person had impeached ten Taiwanese remonstrators, he did not mention the specific charges. Everyone could see that this kid was seeking revenge, and this revenge could only make people angry at best. If those ten people made a fool of themselves in public, they would not be demoted or lose their official positions.
As this kid himself said, he disdains using this method to attack others and make them lose their official positions, unless the evidence is conclusive.
"Okay, no matter what, you have vented your anger, and you will be honest with me in the future. ...By the way, you said in the palace before that Xixia is nothing to be afraid of, seriously? Do you really have a strategy to deal with Xixia?"
Zhao Yang nodded and said, "I have some ideas. It shouldn't be a problem to deal with Xixia."
Zhao Zhen frowned and said, "Didn't you tell me earlier?"
"You didn't even ask me."
"You...I will be mad at you sooner or later." Zhao Zhen pointed at Zhao Yang angrily, then raised his fingers and said, "Tell me."
Zhao Yang looked around, moved his stool to Zhao Zhen, and said a few words to the latter.
The official frowned at first, then suddenly realized it, and finally showed a look of surprise, nodded and said: "Okay, let's stop talking about this first, wait until the Chui Gong Hall, and wait for the few princes to arrive to elaborate."
Later, when he came to Chui Gong Hall, Zhao Zhen sent Zhao Yang to the small hall on the west side to rest and sort out the strategy for Xixia. He was not in a hurry to send someone to invite the ministers of the Political Affairs Hall.
After all, the prime ministers and assistant ministers may still be eating in the palace cafeteria at this time, and have not yet returned to the Political Affairs Hall - a small hall next to the Daqing Hall, also known as the Capital Affairs Hall, where the prime ministers work.
As for the canteen, it is located in the small palace rooms on the left and right sides of Daqing Gate outside the terrace of Daqing Palace. One side of the palace room is reserved for officials of fifth rank and above; My own level dines in these two palaces.
Meals in the cafeteria are also customized by grade. Guanglu Temple is responsible for customizing them. Generally, they are breakfast after the morning meal and lunch at noon. The cost is deducted from the official's meal allowance - the "monthly meal money". You can choose by yourself. For dishes, if the settlement at the beginning of next month exceeds the limit, you will have to pay out of your own pocket.
As for dinner, the court didn't care.
The monthly meal money is also divided into grades, such as "50,000" for the prime minister, privy envoy, and Xuanhui envoy, "35,000" for those attending political affairs, and "25,000" for the deputy privy envoy.
By the way, Zhao Yang currently also has a monthly meal subsidy of "five thousand". As a rule, he can eat in the small palace room on the side of Daqing Gate after going to court in the morning. Or go to the cafeteria of Jianyuan according to your right words. Anyway, the yamen will settle the expenses on the third day of next month, and any excess payment will not be refunded.
Of course, he never went once.
When Zhao Yang stepped into the small hall on the west side of the Chui Gong Hall, the eunuch on duty in the hall saluted him and congratulated him with a smile: "Congratulations to the young man for getting his revenge."
Zhao Yang was stunned for a moment, smiled and nodded, then looked at Wang Zhongzheng, who knowingly took out a bunch of money from his arms and sent him away.
After the eunuch left with a lot of thanks, Zhao Yang asked in surprise: "It took just one meal to spread the word?"
Wang Zhongzheng smiled and said: "The news spreads fastest in the Imperial Palace and the Imperial Palace, so there is no need for a meal. I guess when Yuanwailang arrived at Funing Hall, the news of Qian Mingyi's demotion had already spread in the palace. ”
Zhao Yang nodded, sat down on the chair behind the desk, put his hands on the pillow and crossed his legs on the table, and asked casually: "Qian Mingyi was demoted this time, does it count as a heavy punishment?"
"It's not a big deal." Wang Zhongzheng explained: "Zhizhou means the right to know the affairs of a certain military state. The rank is variable, ranging from third to seventh ranks. However, Qian Mingyi was demoted to the fifth rank and transferred to other places. Even if the officials dealt with it leniently, If he does not lower his rank, he will be a Zhizhou magistrate of the fifth rank. If he wants to return to Beijing in the future, the state road official will transfer to the imperial court official in Beijing. As a rule, he will have to lower his rank by one rank. In other words, it is equivalent to being demoted from the fifth rank to On the sixth level, it has dropped four levels. Taking Mokan's first move as a maximum of two levels, it will take at least six years to return to the previous level."
"Six years, that's not enough..." Zhao Yang clicked his tongue.
"This is not the most important thing." Wang Ming added with a smirk: "It is not possible to transfer from a state road official to a Beijing court official if you want to. If he wants to come back after three years, either the official will still remember him, or No matter what kind of recommendation is made by someone in the court, it must be approved by the officials and several ministers in the political affairs hall, and there will be no objections from the platform. Just like Fan Xianggong, if it were not for Yuan Wailang's efforts to promote it, Fan Xianggong would never have thought that he would be able to serve in just three years. Returning to Beijing... The same is true for Qian Mingyi. Normally, he will have the opportunity to return to Beijing after his three-year term, but... Yuanwailang can also prevent him from returning to Beijing in his life."
The rest of the people nodded in agreement. In their opinion, it was not difficult to do this based on the official's favor for the young man.
"That's not the case."
Zhao Yang crossed his legs and smiled: "Three years or six years, it can be said to be a big lesson."
Wei Tao smiled and said: "Yuanwailang is still kind-hearted. ...By the way, when he leaves Beijing, shall we see him off?"
Zhao Yang smiled and shook his head and said: "Forget it, leave some room, don't force people to become angry and fight with us..."
"Just him?"
Wang Zhongzheng and others dismissed it.
Later, everyone talked about Gao Ruona again, and felt sorry that the officials did not punish Gao Ruona.
Zhao Yang didn't think it was anything, he shook his head and said: "Gao Ruona can be regarded as an accomplice at most. If he is punished, the other seven Taijian will also be punished. The implication is too great... Furthermore, this guy's performance in the palace today It’s pretty good, and I’m pretty familiar with the Liao strategy. I guess it’s a little bit more popular with the officials. Even I’m a little surprised. It seems like this guy is quite capable…”
"At least I got rid of that right-hand admonition doctor..." Wei Tao said regretfully.
"Yes." Several people nodded.
While everyone was talking, an eunuch hurriedly walked into the palace and saw Zhao Yang sitting on a chair with his hands on the pillow and his feet on the table. He was slightly startled, then turned a blind eye and bowed to the ground and said: "Xiao Lang Sir, some of my husbands have arrived, and the one with the highest official rank has come to call the young man."
"Thank you."
Zhao Yang recognized this person as the eunuch beside Wang Shougui, so he got up and followed him to the side hall of Chuigong Hall.
As soon as he entered the hall, Zhao Yang saw Chen Zhizhong, Wen Yanbo, Pang Ji, Song Xiang, and Gao Ruona sitting on stools. Next to them was Zeng Gongliang, who was studying daily life notes, but Ye Qingchen was not there, probably because The Sansi Yamen has been very busy recently.
"Several gentlemen..."
Zhao Yang bowed his hands and saluted, then nodded to Wen Yanbo and Gao Ruona with a subtle expression: "Ms. Wen, Mr. Gao."
Everyone could see that he was deliberately treating people differently: those who were friendly to him, and those who were unfriendly.
Chen Zhizhong, Pang Ji, and Song Xiang returned the favor with smiles, and at the same time glanced at Wen Yanbo and Gao Ruona with subtle expressions.
Compared with Gao Ruona, whose face was expressionless and motionless, like a wooden sculpture, as if he was breaking a jar, Wen Yanbo's expression was obviously more complicated, with a slight frown and said nothing.
Zhao Yang did not provoke too much. After saluting the official, he greeted Zeng Gongliang: "Old Zeng, are you on duty again today? Are you the only one in the court who is practicing daily life?"
Zeng Gongliang said with a strange expression: "As usual, we have to replace people today, but that colleague suddenly felt unwell..."
Zhao Yang grinned and said, "Feeling unwell suddenly? Is it Wu Shi or Wang Zhi? It's Wu Shi, right?"
"It's Yang Wei and Yang Zhijian."
"Oh..." Zhao Yang nodded suddenly: "I forgot about him."
"Okay." Zhao Zhen interrupted angrily: "I invited some of my husbands to come here, not to see you show off. Please tell me your sure-fire way to deal with Xixia, and ask some of your husbands to comment. One or two.”
These words made several ministers in the palace stunned: a sure-fire way to win?
Looking at Song Xiang, Pang Ji smiled and cupped his hands and said, "Then I have to listen carefully."
Zhao Yang returned the favor with his hand, and after glancing at Wen Yanbo and Gao Ruona, he smiled and said: "My sure-fire way to win is to strike more with fewer strikes, attack the weak with strength, and never go into battle until we see victory... This is the strongest method of war. .”
ah? That's it?
The smiles on Chen Zhizhong, Pang Ji, and Song Xiang's faces froze, and they hesitated to speak. From the side, Wen Yanbo frowned, while Gao Ruona opened his eyes and glanced at Zhao Yang, but did not speak.
There was an eerie silence in the entire temple.
Zhao Yang looked at Gao Ruona and then at Wen Yanbo: "Xiangong Gao has nothing to say? Where is Xianggong Wen?"
"Hmph." Gao Ruona snorted lightly, with a sneer on his face, as if to say: Do you think I will be fooled?
Thinking about it, Gao Ruona didn't know Zhao Yang's abilities before, but after experiencing today's morning court and seeing Zhao Yang refuting seven Taiwanese remonstrances one by one, and even debating the Song and Liao strategies with him, how could he believe that Zhao Yang only had this? A bit more capable?
The same is true for Wen Yanbo, who is more calm than Gao Ruona.
Seeing Zhao Yang deliberately teasing Wen Yanbo and Gao Ruona, Zhao Zhen scolded angrily: "Don't try to be mysterious! National affairs are not a joke."
"All right."
Zhao Yang had no choice but to give up his original plan and said with a straight face: "Sun Tzu said, know yourself and the enemy, and you can fight a hundred battles without danger. To formulate a strategy, you must not only know your own strengths and weaknesses, but also understand the other's strengths and weaknesses. Use your own strengths to attack the other's weaknesses, and use your own strengths to attack the other's weaknesses. The shortcomings offset the other's strengths... Comparing the Song and Xia countries, the advantage of the Song Dynasty is that it has a vast territory and a large number of people, as well as many soldiers, money, and food. Its size is several times that of Xixia; its disadvantage is that its army is not strong in combat. It can only defend the war and is not good at attacking. I will not go into the details of the reasons. The officials and all the princes are also aware of it. However, the Xia Kingdom is just the opposite. It is not as big as the Song Dynasty, with less land, not many people, not many soldiers, and not enough money and food. It is not as good as the Song Dynasty. Therefore, in the strategy against Xia, we should make full use of the Song Dynasty's physical advantage and force Xixia and Song Dynasty to compete with each other for money and food consumption, instead of blindly seeking victory on the battlefield, let alone expecting a quick victory!"
"..."
Some of the husbands looked at each other, or looked at each other thoughtfully.
