Brother Zhang was locked up.
Strictly speaking, he was under house arrest, and he was still under house arrest by the princess. He never expected that even though the princess had no memory of Miss Jin, her personality would still be so strong and domineering.
Anyway, the name is to let him have a good environment to study, but in fact it is to catch him and cook for him.
But what can be done? This is no one else. Even Brother Zhang can only hold his nose and admit it, so he starts the cycle of reading, cooking and eating every day.
Fortunately, because the capital has just been moved here, the rules have not yet been fully established, and the entire system management is still relatively chaotic. Otherwise, if there is a healthy man living in the palace, Zhao Zhen will not be allowed to be spit by the civil and military officials of the dynasty. Flooded?
In fact, he himself knew that it was wrong, but he couldn't bear to see his daughter like that, so he turned a blind eye, didn't ask, didn't inquire, didn't meet, and sent Brother Zhang to her. Just plug it into a small courtyard next to the princess's bedroom.
What? Are you worried about two young girls and a boy sneaking around? It's not like Zhao Zhen has never been young. How could he not know that some things are simply unstoppable? When he was still asking Zhao to benefit before he became the emperor, Yan Shu, who was then the crown prince Zuo Shuzi, was still 26 or 7 years old. Taking him out to wander around the land of fireworks, there was nothing he could do if something happened, and besides, the idiot didn't seem like the kind of person who would sneak around. Although he felt that he was somewhat incompetent, Zhao Zhen was willing to turn a blind eye. Closing one eye showed that he was quite optimistic about this fool's character.
For a while after that, Zhao Zhen would always take a walk there at night, but basically every time he went there, he would see his daughter coming to the door. Sometimes he would secretly stand under the window and listen for a long time. That fool cherished his words like gold, but it was his daughter who was asking questions, which was really embarrassing.
"Guan, please don't be angry. Ronger is lonely in the palace and her brothers and sisters rarely interact with each other. Now she can meet a young talented man of similar age, she will naturally be happy."
The person who spoke was Zhao Rong's mother, the Zhou family. She was originally a noble concubine. Later, because of Empress Cao's ordination, the Zhou family was named queen. The following year, she gave birth to Zhao Rong, Zhao Zhen's old son.
"Then the palace maid is by my side. Of course I'm not worried. I'm worried about that fool..." Zhao Zhen flicked his sleeves and said, "Oh, don't let it become a bad relationship if one of them is intentional and the other is not. Ronger's body and bones It’s just bad…”
"Guan Jia, if that child is really a fool as you said, a fool who is not even afraid of death, then you don't think that a palace wall can keep him, right?"
Zhao Zhen raised his head: "Huh?"
"It seems like wishful thinking, but in fact it's just mutual love. A clear mind and no suspicion."
"Hahaha, it has to be you, I really can't tell."
Zhao Zhen suddenly felt very good: "It will be Jia Ke in a few days. I don't know if that idiot can do it."
"Whether he succeeds or not, it is the child's destiny. It doesn't matter whether he succeeds or not. Rong'er has a weak body but a strong temperament. If she really marries him casually, even if he is a talented man who is famous all over the world, if she doesn't like it, she won't I'm afraid she will end up depressed in a few years. If she really meets someone she likes, what can she do even if he is a farmer in the mountains? She is a woman and cannot carry the country of the Song Dynasty, so it is better to let her live happily. .”
Zhao Zhen clasped his hands behind his back and sighed: "I wish my mother had been like you back then. I... am really not the material to be an emperor. The Song Dynasty was completely defeated in my hands. I feel extremely ashamed to say that."
"Guan Jia, you are good enough. To withdraw from the Central Plains in order to prevent the people from being massacred, the people have their own sense of proportion."
After hearing this, Zhao Zhen just smiled bitterly. He indeed took the initiative to withdraw from the Central Plains, and before withdrawing, he wrote a letter to the Liao State to tell the world that his retreat from the Song Dynasty was not out of fear but because he did not want the people of the Central Plains to live in ruins and suffer. It is unspeakable. I hope that the Liao Kingdom will treat the people of the Central Plains well and not impose excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes.
The Liao Kingdom actually did quite well. After all, it was a country that was seriously fighting for unification. It was not just a barbarian. After taking over the Central Plains, it did not continue to expand but began to recuperate and settle down with the Song Dynasty for fifty years. The peace treaty was called the Xinchan Alliance. Liao was the elder brother and Song was the younger brother. They were not allowed to use swords for fifty years.
And if Zhao Zhen actually wants to fight, he can still fight. His 800,000 troops have hardly moved much. It is precisely because there was a severe drought in the past few years. The past two years have been better. If there is another military disaster, the people may not be able to survive. , so he moved his capital and retreated to the south of the Yangtze River, using the Yangtze River as the boundary to divide the north and the south.
No matter how many people scolded him, Zhao Zhen's move allowed at least eight million people on both sides of Song and Liao to survive. Because of this incident, the historians of both Song and Liao gave him temple names in advance, either Renzong or Dezong. Now it seems that Renzong is basically stable, and even the emperors of Liao Kingdom did not have this kind of treatment.
In this way, Brother Zhang was locked up to study until September. The autumn examination finally came. Brother Zhang, who had not been out of the palace for two or three months, was almost pushed into the examination room.
After walking around the scene, the candidates began to enter the tent one after another to take the exam. Because it took a long time, they all had to bring their own water and dry food. Brother Zhang had a big bag of palace snacks in his bag. Although he made it himself, It is indeed more luxurious than others.
The examiner was Ouyang Xiu. He started walking around the examination room after the candidates entered the room. When he walked in front of Brother Zhang, he stopped for a moment, looked up at Brother Zhang and then looked at his examination paper. He continued walking forward as if nothing was wrong.
Sometimes, the emperor's will must be understood by oneself. A few months ago, the government gave him a blank imperial edict. After receiving the edict, he paid attention to it, and naturally he knew that there was a person like Brother Zhang. .
But how to give grades after that is a question for the university. First of all, it must not be too low. If the grades are given under the passing line, the emperor will be unhappy. This is not a good thing. Is it okay to give it too high? That's not impossible, but the problem is that he himself has to have the ability, because these contestants will have to take the palace examination later, and the essays in the palace examination must be published to show off. If he is nonsense, it will lose the royal majesty and the imperial examination. Credibility.
So if this person is a idiot, he must be given a score that is neither high nor low. If he is a genius, he must be given a score that is neither low nor high, because the prince-in-law cannot participate in politics. If he is given a sky-high score, It won't be justified at that time, so the right amount is just like the right amount when cooking, it is not set in stone.
When Ouyang Xiu came over to take a look, he actually came to read his handwriting. Being able to remember things at a glance may be a fantasy to others, but to Ouyang Xiu, it is just like playing. After all, this is Ouyang Xiu.
After the grueling exam, it was now the grading stage. In order to prevent other examiners from brushing off the people appointed by the emperor, Ouyang Xiu personally performed the first round of grading. After seeing Brother Zhang's paper, he frowned. He got excited because the things on his paper were too bizarre.
In fact, for him, it no longer mattered what he wrote, but Ouyang Xiu couldn't even believe his eyes, because what was written above was actually a strategy to seize the throne.
As a veteran who has been in official circles all his life, Ouyang Xiu is an absolute conservative, but at the same time he is also a staunch legalist. The biggest problem in the Song Dynasty now is that this unification cannot be achieved. Although the Song and Liao Dynasties established a fifty-year treaty , but if this continues, it may not even take fifty years, and the unification of the Song Dynasty will be gone.
But the problem is that a series of solutions are now given here. Although the writing is weird, if you think about it carefully, it can make people amazed.
However, after reading the entire article, Ouyang Xiu broke out in a cold sweat, because this is not a policy argument at all, it is simply a national policy. People will not discuss it with you, so they just write "I guarantee you will do it this way." Ouyang Xiu said slightly. After thinking about it, I found that this is possible.
But the problem is that this article can be called a national policy. If others see it and use it first, even if the emperor doesn't kill people, he will have to hang himself on the beam of his home.
So he stopped talking nonsense, stuffed the thing into his arms, said hello to several other examiners and left, then went straight to the palace.
At this moment, Zhao Zhen is sitting in the study playing with birds. This bird is the canary that the fool secretly caught with Rong'er in the imperial garden a few days ago. It is quite beautiful. He can't put it down these days. And just when he was immersed in a moment of leisure time in the autumn afternoon, a notice came from outside, saying that Ouyang Xiu was here.
Zhao Zhen looked suspicious: "What is he here for?"
"Master Ouyang refuses to say anything. He has to meet with the official to tell the truth."
"Okay, these scholars have a lot of problems." Zhao Zhen waved his hand with a smile: "Go and let him in."
After a while, Ouyang Xiu hurriedly came to the study. After a simple salute, he handed the policy paper to Zhao Zhen. When Zhao Zhen just untied it, he looked at Ouyang Xiu up and down. His eyes were quite reproachful. He had told him to let him do it before. Deal with it as appropriate, why did he just bring it over? This makes people know, does the emperor have no face?
But when Zhao Zhen saw the content above, his hands trembled and the cup fell to the ground. He looked at it roughly before, but now he looked at it carefully three times.
"Is this possible?"
Zhao Zhen raised his head and asked Ouyang Xiu. Ouyang Xiu just thought for a moment and nodded: "It's feasible."
"Go and summon them all."
After a while, a bunch of people crowded into this small room, all of them were important officials in the court, including Han Qi, Ouyang Xiu, Fu Bi and others. They were all amazed after circulating the test paper.
After it was Han Qi's turn to read it, he frowned and said, "This method is feasible, but my strategy seems to teach people how to do things, but it messes up the rules."
After hearing this, Zhao Zhen laughed loudly: "You don't know something. This kid is a fool. He is extremely upright and would rather bend than bend. I scared him to death a few days ago, but he stood firm and motionless. It is very polite to write like this." "
"Well...since the officials recognize it, I have nothing to say. It's just that this method still needs to be demonstrated and it will take some time." After Han Qi finished speaking, he was ready to put the things in his arms.
Ouyang Xiu didn't want to do it this time: "Master Han... Hey, Master Han, this is a student's test paper. You took it, what should I do?"
Han Qi glanced at Ouyang Xiu and then at Zhao Zhen, and then took out the paper: "It's okay to give it to you. If others see it and leak it out, does Mr. Ouyang plan to go to Lingnan to eat lychees or to Leizhou to eat crabs?"
Ouyang Xiu clicked his tongue: "If it leaks out to Master Han, then Master Han loves sweets so much, he must be going to eat lychees."
Seeing the tit-for-tat confrontation between the two, Zhao Zhen waved his hand: "You, you and you, the three of you stay here and rewrite a copy for him, and let Han Qi take this one."
The three people Zhao Zhen pointed out were Han Qi, Ouyang Xiu and historian Sima Guang. The three people looked at each other, but there was nothing they could do. The emperor had already spoken, so the three important ministers and the super-big writer squatted at the desk and started writing a fake article for Brother Zhang.
Since ancient times, Wen Wu was the first and Wu Wu was the second. When I wrote this, the differences were huge. The youngest of the three, Sima Guang, was already almost fifty, and the oldest, Ouyang Xiu, was already sixty. They almost didn't fight. stand up. It can be seen from this that all the people with strong martial virtues in the Song Dynasty held pens!
At this moment, Brother Zhang was squatting in a small courtyard drying lotus root starch, and it was Zhao Rong who was swinging on the small swing next to him. Zhao Rong spent her private money to buy this small house and borrowed it from Brother Zhang to live in. Previously, she said she wanted him to live in the palace to prepare for the exam. Now that the exam is over, it would be rude to stay here any longer, so he just moved here today.
"Idiot, how did you do on the exam?"
"Your father might kill me to silence me."
"Bah, bah, bah... why do you talk nonsense all day long?" Zhao Rong pointed at Brother Zhang and said, "Don't say it next time!"
At this time, Brother Zhang took off a piece of lotus root powder and crushed it into pieces. He made a bowl and put it in it and dissolved it with water. He then slowly added boiling water and freshly brewed osmanthus honey. He made a fragrant bowl and handed it to Zhao Rong.
"I can't say anything specific. Anyway, that's it."
Zhao Rong took the bowl and ate it slowly, then looked up at Brother Zhang: "When the time comes, you will be the county magistrate, and I will also go to play. What do you think I should be? Would it be better to be a catcher?"
"Isn't it good to be a princess?"
"No, I'm going to be bored to death. I've lived in the palace for more than ten years! It's so boring. You also know that royal relatives are not close to each other. My eldest brother is almost forty, and the other brothers My elder sister has also started a family and opened a mansion, so I just spent the whole day in the palace looking at flowers and fish, and it has long been meaningless."
Brother Zhang was about to speak but was interrupted by Zhao Rong: "Don't say it! I say it! It's no use trying to persuade me this time. I'm going out to play. Besides, you've traveled hundreds of miles and I won't be able to eat." Yes, I was starved to death when you came back."
"Didn't I see that you eat well? You were not hungry during my exam yesterday."
"No matter what, I will definitely starve to death if you are not here." Zhao Rong was unusually insistent: "That's it!"
(End of chapter)
