Xinsi (18th) in April of the eighth year of Yuanfeng.
The sky is getting brighter, inside the imperial city, there is the Zichen Hall.
Zhao Xu was wearing Chu yellow uniforms and a small futou, sitting on the throne.
Following the closing of the door, Tongshi Shiren shouted.
Zhao Xu sat up straight.
The two palaces behind the curtain also sat in front of each other, maintaining dignity and uprightness as much as possible.
Because, it is not just the Xihe Road generals led by Li Xian who will enter the palace to worship later.
There are also four major Xibo leaders in Xihe Road, although they and their tribes have already surrendered to the Song Dynasty.
However, they still retain a lot of autonomy.
He even has his own weapons!
Therefore, the two palaces attach great importance to today's Hajj, and even took the risk to bring Zhao Xu to the palace.
Yes!
In the eyes of the two palaces, Zhao Xu should not appear on occasions like this.
What if those Tibetan generals from Xihe Road were so scary that they scared the officials?
The official family is still so small!
Ridiculous?
But this is the reality!
That is to say, the governors of the capital all said that when the new king came to the throne and the leaders of Xibo came to Beijing for the first time to meet the emperor, they would probably have troubles if they could not see him. They appealed to the two palaces again and again before they reluctantly agreed.
Even so, on the way to Zichen Palace this morning, Queen Mother Xiang was still very worried and repeatedly told Feng Jing to be careful and not to frighten Zhao Xu.
Soon, dense footsteps came from the imperial steps outside the palace.
Zhao Xu looked over and saw the military leader introducing Si and a group of generals to the outside of the palace.
A dozen generals wearing purple robes and military uniforms lined up at the entrance of the palace.
Then he bowed three times toward the palace.
A rich voice said respectfully outside the palace: "The envoy of Gyeongbokgung Palace, the deputy governor of the province who entered the palace, Wu Xinjun stayed behind, and Xihelanhui Road passed the plan to appease the envoy Xian Xian. I respectfully ask the Empress Dowager and the Emperor. May your Majesty the Queen Mother and the Emperor be blessed!"
The other generals behind Li Xian followed suit and said, "Blessings to the Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager, and the Emperor!"
The Empress Dowager behind the curtain said at this time: "Li Douzhi, please come into the palace to speak!"
"The Empress Dowager invites Li Xian and others to come to the palace for pilgrimage!"
Standing in the hall, the doorkeepers and ministers shouted orders to the outside world.
"Thank you, the Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager, and Your Majesty the Emperor for your kindness!" Li Xian's etiquette was still very strong, and he bowed again respectfully.
Then he stood up and led the generals into the side hall of Zichen Hall.
All the generals lowered their heads and followed Li Xian closely into the Zichen Hall.
Then he followed Li Xian and walked to the palace. With a plop, they all knelt down again, raised their hands and bowed again: "I will pay my respects to the Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager, and His Majesty the Emperor..."
Zhao Xu found on the throne that there were several people who were pretending to be fake.
He couldn't help but laugh, thinking of the several Tibetan generals he had met in his previous life, and they were mostly the same when they went to court for the first time.
Today's Tubo is no longer the super empire that it was in the early and mid-Tang Dynasty, which kicked the Tang Dynasty, punched Central Asia, and went to India to hunt grass and valleys when it had nothing to do.
Like the Tang Dynasty, it inevitably fell into the abyss after falling into civil strife.
While the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty was deposed at will by the eunuchs of Beiya, the Tubo Zanpu on the plateau also suffered a similar fate.
Up to now, even after Jiao Siluo's efforts, a Tibetan regime has been barely established in the Qingtang area.
However, the wealth, culture, and institutions of the Tubo Empire had been completely destroyed and could not be restored.
The so-called Qing Tang Tubo was just a loose alliance that was barely able to hold together for warmth under the call of the Zanpu bloodline.
Therefore, these Tibetan generals on Xihe Road are tribal leaders and nobles in the local area.
But they really have never seen the world.
Of course, it is not ruled out that these seemingly "simple" Tibetan people deliberately behaved like this in the Song Dynasty in order to lower the Song Dynasty's vigilance against them.
But it doesn’t matter!
In the face of absolute power, even the Turkic Khan back then could only dance for Li Shimin.
While Zhao Xu was thinking about it, the generals and ministers in the palace had already started to roll their names.
"The envoy of Gyeongbokgung Palace, the deputy governor of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the military governor of Wu Xin, the envoy of Xihe Lanhui Road to appease the system..."
"I'm here!"
"Introducing envoy and Rongzhou regiment training envoy Wen Yu!"
"I'm here!"
A veteran who was a head taller than Li Xian came out and bowed slightly.
Zhao Xu looked over intently and took a closer look at this fierce general who had broken the 700 to 50,000 mark under Lanzhou City.
Unlike what he had always imagined, this veteran's figure was not actually burly, and his beard and hair were also a little gray.
He doesn't look like a fierce general like Zhang Fei at all.
But just such a person was able to lead seven hundred light cavalry in a midnight raid at Lanzhou City's most critical moment, sweeping through thousands of troops and breaking through 50,000 in one battle!
Zhao Xu turned over the book Wang Wenyu placed in his hand and confessed.
Then he saw a prominent note.
"The general was recommended by Han Zhongxian?" Zhao Xu asked.
This was a divine development that even Zhao Xu had never thought of.
The generals in the palace were stunned for a moment, and then they realized that it was the young master sitting on the throne who was asking the question.
Wang Wenyu immediately respectfully replied: "Your Majesty, I have served as an inspection officer in Fuzhou. The Duke of Han and Wei recommended the court because of my bravery..."
Zhao Xu asked: "When did that happen?"
"I remember that it was the second year of Qingli... That year, I was only twenty years old... Now I am sixty-two years old..."
Zhao Xu nodded and sighed: "Han Wei Gong is the true prime minister!"
The two palaces behind the curtain also reacted at this time and took a look at the Gao Shen in hand.
This Song Dynasty general who has now been promoted to the official position of Yao County was really recommended to the court by Han Qi and Han Zhongxian back then!
So they all praised: "Mr. Han Wei, you have lived up to your loyalty!"
Zhao Xu closed his mouth and stopped talking.
Wang Wenyu in the palace bowed his body with great gratitude.
He knew very well that the young master's casual mention had linked him to the most famous prime minister of the dynasty, Duke Han Wei.
From now on, he can call himself a disciple of Duke Han and Wei without having to worry about being laughed at by others or attacked by scholar-bureaucrats.
And this is an amulet!
…
Hemen Tongshishe continued the roll call.
Zhao Xu stopped talking and just watched quietly, writing down the names of the generals one by one.
Li Hao - a general who participated in five Lanzhou battles and served as a border official who knew Lanzhou.
The first time, he was timid and didn't dare to let Wang Wenyu attack.
Later, he dared to take his men and take the initiative to cross the border to attack the gathering army of Western thieves.
Lu Ji - the fierce general who crossed the border last year and beheaded the Western bandit general.
Akmi - originally the leader of a small tribe in Xihe, after joining the army, he was promoted from a young envoy to the current Yao County of the Song Dynasty: he was appointed as the governor of Jiachang Prefecture with the imperial city!
There is also Qin Gui, the youngest general in the palace. He was the fifth general and deputy general of Xihe Road when he was less than thirty-five years old.
Last year, the Western bandits besieged Dingxi City. Encouraged by Qin Gui, the entire city, including men, women, children, old and young, as well as Han and Tibetan people, went up to the city wall to defend it.
In the end, the army of Western thieves was defeated, ensuring that the nail in Dingxi City was not lost!
And these people...
But in his previous life, he was implicated by Li Xian, who either left him idle or was simply demoted.
Fortunately, it doesn't happen anymore.
After the generals were called, the four chief leaders of Xibo came forward.
"Chen, Sizhong..."
"Chen, Chunzhong..."
Two men in their sixties, who had already raised some wealthy ministers in the Song Dynasty, bowed in worship.
These two are the only living grandsons of Jiao Si Luo and the only surviving direct bloodlines of Tubo Zanpu.
The others were either dead or killed!
Before they were given names, one of them was called Muzheng and the other was called Ba Zhenjiao.
Then, two stout old men stepped forward to salute.
"Chen Shun..."
"I promise..."
These two people are interesting.
To be precise, they should be Qiang people.
When King Shao of Xining moved away, these two people took the initiative to join the Song army after seeing the military might of the Song army. At that time, they caused a disturbance in the court.
Sima Guang firmly believed that these two people should not be accepted to surrender with hundreds of thousands of tribes and hundreds of miles of land.
It is believed that this is the same disaster as the Shangdang area in South Korea that Zhao Guo accepted during the Warring States Period.
Fortunately, Zhao Xu's father didn't listen to Sima Guang at all.
This is how Xihelanhui Road became today.
After they surrendered to the Song Dynasty, they took the initiative to petition the court to let them use Bao Zheng's surname Bao, because the ministers and others had long admired the reputation of Bao Gong in the Holy Dynasty and were willing to follow Bao Gong's virtues.
Zhao Xu's father was naturally good at what he did.
So, while the Bao family was sitting at home, they somehow found relatives on Xihe Road.
Moreover, there are quite a lot of people!
It is said that most of the tribe members later changed their surname to Bao.
As for the brothers Bao Shun and Bao Yue, I don't know if they were really influenced by Bao Gong's loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness after changing their surname to Bao.
Since returning to the Song Dynasty, he has never rebelled.
He also took the initiative to lead troops to participate in the Song Army's military operations on many occasions and made outstanding contributions to the Song Army's logistical support.
Zhao Xu's father had issued edicts and awards many times.
Zhao Xu looked at the four Xibo leaders who were saluting him in the palace, but he remembered yesterday, when the news of Li Xian's return to the court spread.
Xiang Zonghui and Gao Gongji immediately entered the palace, pretended to go to Baoci Palace and Kunning Palace to greet him, and finally ran to him mysteriously and asked him: Can an official family really have three guans?
After receiving confirmation from Zhao Xu, the two men left the palace with great gratitude.
But their expressions, especially Gao Gongji's after receiving Zhao Xu's assurance, were like monkeys who saw that the fruit on the tree was finally ripe.
Scratching my head and ears, eager to give it a try!
Last night, when Zhao Xu was about to go to bed, Feng Jing told him: The two national relatives seemed to have used tricks to invite all the leaders of Xibo to the villa in Tonglifang...
All I can say is that she is truly worthy of being a relative, with great abilities.
Li Xian had just returned to Beijing, and they had already figured out where were the people Li Xian brought back? He even found a way to invite him out!
What can these people discuss when they get together?
(End of chapter)
