Sima Guang was surrounded all the way, across Zhouqiao and to Yujie Street.
On the Imperial Street, he met the Empress Dowager's envoy who came to comfort him.
Then came the Empress Dowager's envoy, who also brought the Empress Dowager's edict to express her personal condolences.
At the end, the emperor's messenger came with integrity.
In the crowd of countless people, the emperor's envoy brought a copybook written by the emperor himself.
And handed it over to Sima Guang in public.
When Sima Guang received the handwritten letter from the emperor, his hands were shaking.
Because, on that thin piece of Yuan Shu paper, eight characters were written neatly in Guange regular script.
The Song Dynasty, the teacher protects the people!
This moved Sima Guang more than any words, any encouragement, or any condolences.
The teacher protects all the people, which is the origin of Zuo Zhuan. In the fourteenth year of Duke Xiang: The great uncle of the past, blessed me, the late king, and the Zhou Dynasty, the teacher protects the people.
The emperor is indeed studying the Spring and Autumn Period.
And, I understand!
Sima Guang further thought about the various legends about the current young master.
"Your Majesty, you are encouraging me with the teachings of sages!"
Sima Guang suddenly felt full of strength and motivation.
Sima Guang had never felt this kind of feeling of being trusted, expected, and even vaguely dependent on him.
But it is also something that Sima Guang has been looking for all his life, but has always been unable to get!
In the early years of Xining, the first time Emperor Daxing met Wang Jiefu...
Treat him as a teacher, give him all his trust, and give him all his power!
Now, is it my turn?
Deep in Sima Guang's heart, a slight trace of satisfaction arose.
"Your Majesty has high hopes..." Sima Guang expressed his position in public: "How dare I refuse to serve and be loyal to him?!"
The people watching were even more cheering.
The emperor sent an envoy to comfort Sima Xianggong, and also gave him a handwritten imperial letter saying: Gu Gong Song Dynasty, the teacher protects all the people!
If this Sima Xianggong cannot enter the court and become the prime minister.
Who can do it?
…
at dusk.
Sima Guang's first petition after entering the capital was sent to the two palaces through the Tongjian Department.
After reading it, Empress Dowager Xiang specially brought Sima Guang's letter to Funing Hall and showed it to Zhao Xu.
Zhao Xu held it in his hand, looked at it once, then raised his head to look at the Queen Mother and said: "Mother, the guardian chosen by my father for my son is indeed outstanding in culture and every word is exquisite!"
He nodded with satisfaction to the Queen Mother.
Zhao Xu thought about Sima Guang's words.
I have to admit that Sima Guang's writing is as sharp and sharp as his calligraphy.
At least, there is no problem in fooling the Queen Mother and Queen Mother Xiang.
The entire letter is only a few hundred words long, but from the beginning to the end, every word adheres closely to political correctness, leaving no loopholes or opportunities for people.
More importantly, Sima Guang's petition does not seem to say a word that the new law is wrong, nor does it say that Xining and Yuanfeng did something wrong.
But every word denounces the new law, and every sentence denies everything that has happened since the reform.
He is indeed worthy of being Sima Guang, who has cultivated Zizhi Tongjian!
It is indeed worthy of being the Red Flag of the old party that even Wang Anshi is afraid of.
In Zhao Xu's eyes, this petition was the same as Wang Anshi's "Notes on Nothing Happened in This Dynasty for a Hundred Years".
This is a declaration of war against the new law and everything that has happened since Xining.
Why?
Because Sima Guang required wide open channels of speech!
After the Xining and Yuanfeng reforms, especially since Yuanfeng, Zhao Xu's father Emperor Qiankun ruled dictatorially.
From the local to the central government, a lot of complaints and grievances have accumulated.
As soon as the words were revealed, all the states and counties in the world were boiling.
Countless people will seize this opportunity to create obstacles for the new law and the new party.
Not to mention that the new law originally had a lot of problems.
Even if there are no problems, problems can be created.
Now, let’s see how Zhang Dun, Li Qingchen, and Zhang Hong in the capital hall respond?
Zhao Xu is looking forward to this.
Empress Dowager Xiang was full of surprise: "Can my son understand Sima Gong's letter?"
Zhao Xu nodded and replied: "I can probably understand..."
"Mr. Sima is requesting that people speak more openly so that they can set the record straight!"
Queen Mother Xiang was immediately overjoyed.
This kid is actually so smart!
So, she asked tentatively: "What do my sons think?"
Zhao Xu thought about it seriously, then looked at the Queen Mother and said, "I think Mr. Sima is right!"
"It is beneficial to open up the world's public discourse and let people from all over the world talk about world affairs!"
"My father once taught me: as a politician, you should let people speak!"
Zhao Xu knew that after so many years of implementation of the new law, the accumulated grievances and complaints should be released through a channel.
It is better to clear it than to block it.
And, these things are appropriate to do now.
You can't do it after Zhao Xu grows up, right?
A son does not say anything about his father's faults. If he denies his father, he denies Zhao Xu himself.
Now, it would be nice to borrow the hands of the old party to do this.
If it is done well, it is the emperor’s sage who governs from the top of his head.
If you do something wrong, you will get into trouble.
That means traitorous parties harm the country, and villains mess up the government.
I want to bring order to the chaos!
So, it's a win-win! Zhao Xu won twice!
Empress Dowager Xiang immediately became happy and hugged Zhao Xu: "My son will be Yao and Shun in the future!"
She has already thought about it.
When the sixth brother turns fourteen, he will be old enough to manage politics.
So he took his aunt and retreated to the back garden together, handing over the power of the country to his sixth brother.
With Sixth Brother's intelligence, he must be able to handle national affairs well by then.
Zhao Xu gently closed his eyes in the Empress Dowager's arms.
Ten years of studying abroad in modern times not only allowed him to complete his fascination with Confucianism.
It also allowed him to break away from all the constraints and restrictions of Confucian ideology.
It also jumped out of the information cocoon of the old and new parties.
He is no longer that young emperor who can act on his own initiative.
He is no longer the young emperor who is obsessed with right and wrong.
When he was studying at Imperial University, Zhao Xu had already been taught clearly by society that only children care about right and wrong, while adults only care about success or failure.
…
Sima Guang's entry into Beijing caused ripples throughout Bianjing and beyond.
The first ones to bear the brunt of the new law were naturally the Municipal Affairs Bureau, Tiju Bianhe Embankment Department, Miscellaneous Purchase Department and other government offices where the new law was implemented.
However, the smart people in Bianjing City widened their eyes and observed the development of the situation.
Many people are keenly aware that a new reshuffle is approaching.
Just like the Xining Reform, this time, all we have to do is bravely step on the wave of the times.
Then, another group of trend-setters will emerge.
And those who are brave have already begun to take action.
After meeting Sima Guang and being comforted by the two palaces and the emperor. Early the next morning, a memorial was sent to the official office of the Tongjian Department.
After reading the contents of the memorial and the signature of the memorial, the people from the Tongjian Department did not dare to neglect and immediately sent it to the two palaces.
The Empress Dowager and Empress Dowager Xiang were overjoyed after reading the memorial.
Empress Dowager Xiang even took the memorial to Zhao Xu and showed it to him.
After reading the memorial, Zhao Xu started laughing in his heart.
However, he was still very calm on the surface.
Calm like a fisherman holding a fishing rod and sitting on the bank of the river fishing.
As we all know, fishermen can catch anything except fish.
The same goes for Zhao Xu.
He didn't even think that he could catch such a big fish by just writing a copybook yesterday.
Moreover, the fish takes the initiative to bite the hook!
Zhao Xu promised that he didn't even make a move to lift the rod. The fish just swung its tail and jumped into Zhao Xu's fish protection.
"What a good fish!" Zhao Xu said in his heart.
He looked at the name signed on the memorial: Li Ding, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs.
A new law general, even a disciple of Wang Anshi!
At first, Wang Anshi offended a lot of people in order to protect him.
However, now when the new law is facing turmoil, it is this disciple of Wang Anshi who made a fatal blow to the new law!
But what does this have to do with Zhao Xu?
The fish was bitten by him, and he insisted on jumping into Zhao Xu's fish protection.
…
This morning, in the Funing Hall, Empress Dowager Xiang held the memorial and carefully taught Zhao Xu sentence by sentence.
Naturally, this is the result of Zhao Xu's performance.
He deliberately pretended not to understand, and also deliberately asked some questions that belonged to children.
Queen Mother Xiang is very patient. Of course, this is also related to the fact that Zhao Xu always gives timely feedback.
No matter what the matter is, Zhao Xu only needs to give the Queen Mother a lesson, and Zhao Xu will understand it after "thinking about it a little" and asking at most one more time.
So, although I taught the Queen Mother sentence by sentence.
But she didn't feel tired at all.
On the contrary, Queen Mother Xiang has a great sense of accomplishment! The pride in my heart is beyond words!
"Brother Six, do you understand?" asked the Queen Mother as she put down the memorial.
"I generally understand it!"
"Then, Brother Six, tell the Queen Mother what this memorial is about?" asked the Queen Mother, holding back her excitement.
"You probably know that what this memorial is talking about is that an official named Wu Juhou on the East and West Road of Beijing seemed to have done a lot of wrong things when he implemented something called the Ma Bao Law in the local area and made the people suffer. Therefore, The person who wrote the letter asked the Queen Mother and the Mother-in-law to send people to investigate the local situation..." Zhao Xu said, then looked into the eyes of the Queen Mother and asked: "Empress Mother, are you right?"
"My son will definitely become the Holy Emperor!" Empress Dowager Xiang hugged Zhao Xu proudly.
The eight-year-old sixth brother actually understood the contents of a minister's letter under her guidance.
Moreover, these contents are directly related to state affairs and political affairs!
Of course, in order to make sure that Zhao Xu really understood what was mentioned in the memorial, Empress Dowager Xiang asked: "Sixth brother, tell the queen mother, what is the method of protecting horses? What did Wu Juhou do?"
Zhao Xu thought for a moment, and then in a childish voice, he carefully repeated the horse protection method taught to him by the Queen Mother.
Then he recited in full what Wu Juhou had done on the East and West Road in Beijing as told to him by the Queen Mother.
Finally, he looked at Queen Mother Xiang: "Mother, did you say something wrong?"
Queen Mother Xiang's eyes are almost blooming.
She held Zhao Xu's hand and said to Zhao Xu: "Let's go, Sixth Brother, my mother will take you to see your mother-in-law. You must tell your mother-in-law this good news!"
Yes.
Although Sixth Brother is young, he is very smart, and everyone in the government and the public knows about it.
However, Empress Dowager Xiang did not allow anyone to know that under her education and guidance, the officials understood what the ministers wrote about state affairs!
Therefore, Queen Mother Xiang not only wanted to tell the Queen Mother.
You have to tell the courtiers.
Even at the next ceremony to commemorate Emperor Daxing, she would go to Emperor Daxing's Zi Palace to pay homage to the spirit of Emperor Daxing.
This isn't just for show.
It is also to tell the world that the official sage is smart and handsome!
This blocks the possibility that when Sixth Brother grows up, Baoci Palace will be unwilling to return to power!
Empress Dowager Xiang remembered very clearly that when she was in the boudoir, her father and brother taught her the stories of the imperial dynasty, focusing on the various aspects of the Su Dynasty of Zhang Xianming.
However, Zhang Xianmingsu failed to return to Zhengren Temple in time, which almost led to the annihilation of the Liu family, which was still fresh in the memory of the Empress Dowager Xiang.
Today, she and her sixth brother have a deep mother-son relationship.
When Sixth Brother grows up, he will never treat Xiang Jia badly.
Even if she is a hundred years from now, the Xiang clan will still be respected and loved by Sixth Brother.
Just like the Yang family of Empress Dowager Yang in Baoqing during the Renmiao period.
The Yang family's wealth and grace back then were unparalleled in the world!
It's not because Renmiao has no children, otherwise at this moment, the Yang family would still be one of the top foreign relatives in the country!
It’s enough to rest with the country!
Thinking of this, Queen Mother Xiang had one more thing on her mind.
She remembered the story of the time when Ci Shengguang offered sacrifice to the Empress Dowager in confinement.
I also thought of the adopted daughters Zhang Xianming Su raised.
The Queen Mother and Mother-in-Law were the sons of the emperor, and they selected virtuous, chaste, and benevolent daughters to be kept in prison and taught them the affairs of the palace from an early age.
This is a matter for the Queen Mother and the Queen Mother.
Especially, considering the difficult past of the emperors and heirs of the Song Dynasty.
Queen Mother Xiang knew that this matter must be put on the agenda.
After the mourning period for Emperor Daxing passes, the Cao family and the Gao family can choose some daughters to enter the palace.
With this in mind, Empress Dowager Xiang took Zhao Xu out of the Funing Palace. Surrounded and protected by Yu Longzhi, they followed her all the way to Baoci Palace.
Sima Guang submitted a letter today. I will post it at the end of the article. If you are interested, you can move here.
(End of chapter)
