Bianjing City, Wende Hall of the Imperial Palace:
Zhao Guangyi, the Emperor of the Song Dynasty, is sitting on the Dragon Throne. Although the old emperor, who is nearly sixty years old, is still supporting himself and preventing his ministers from seeing his weakness, the number of court meetings has decreased and the time of court meetings has decreased. The shortening of his life still made some people realize that the old emperor's health was deteriorating.
The eunuch of Xiaohuangmen on the side was holding the edict that Zhao Guangyi had pondered and revised all night, and recited in a low voice to the civil and military ministers of His Highness: "I am the destiny of Haotian, and I received the artifact from Taizu, dozens of times. I have not dared to slack off in the past years. I do not indulge in wine and debauchery, and hate luxury. I dare not neglect the daily court meeting, for fear of damaging the order entrusted to me by Taizu. Fortunately, all the ministers and workers have bowed and assisted me. For decades, the people have been happy and the court has been clear and clear. I am very happy. Comfort. However, since last year, there has been turmoil in the middle of Shu. The rebels have threatened the people and started rebellion. They have broken down dozens of cities. The sky in the southwest has collapsed, and people have been devastated. This is all caused by my unclear knowledge of people and improper employment. Officials in the middle of Shu exploit the people and impose excessive taxes. , the imperial court set up a "buying service" in Shu to buy low and sell high to compete with the people for profit, which caused the people to cut off their livelihood and go astray under the temptation of the bandits. Today I deeply regret my sins and am determined to correct the chaos, punish the abuses and support them. In order to calm the people's hearts, I hope that the people of the world will work together with me and watch my words and deeds to reflect my future actions."
After hearing this, all the civil and military ministers of the Highness were dumbfounded and looked at each other, unable to believe their ears; the emperor in front of him cared about face very much. In order to surpass the achievements of his brother Zhao Kuangyin, he did not hesitate to waste people and money to launch the Northern Expedition to Yanyun twice. Although both ended in The defeat ended, but he also recovered the land of the Northern Han Dynasty. He also used clever means to force the Wuyue and Zhangquan areas to return to the control of the imperial court, which could be regarded as completing the unfinished business of Taizu Zhao Kuangyin. It is a taboo for the emperor to say that the failure of the two Northern Expeditions to Yanyun was only brushed off by the public opinion of the court. However, when the Northern Han Dynasty, Wuyue and Zhangquan were recovered, they praised the emperor's wisdom and prowess.
The emperor, who is now very old, actually issued the "Edict of Sin", which was beyond the expectations of his ministers. At that time, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty went on a military rampage, which almost led to the destruction of the Western Han Dynasty. He finally came to his senses and issued the "Edict of Sin" to correct the chaos and adjust domestic and foreign policies, which finally turned the Western Han Dynasty into peace. In the dynasties that have lasted for thousands of years, only a few emperors have issued "edicts to sin against oneself." Because in the eyes of the world, no emperor is willing to lower his face and issue a "criminal edict" to admit his mistakes in governance and let future generations criticize him unless he has to.
"Guan family, why are you like this! The chaos in Shu has been basically put down. The army to quell Shu is heading north and will reach Baozhou in less than ten days. Thanks to our quick suppression of the Shu rebellion, the Liao people have lost the upper hand. In addition, our reinforcements are on the way, so the Liao people must not dare to risk going south easily..." Lu Duan, the servant of the family and the secretary of the Ministry of War, dragged his fat body and went out to make a speech. His face was full of eagerness. After all, , the emperor issued an edict to blame himself, and the ministers were ashamed, because this will be written into the history books of future generations.
The other courtiers also echoed after hearing the words, and the harmony continued for a while.
Zhao Guangyi also sighed in his heart when he saw this, but after receiving the memorial from Zhang Yong, the new governor of Shuzhong yesterday, Zhao Guangyi had to make the decision to issue a "sinful edict" after careful consideration. The conclusion in Zhang Yong's memorial that "It is easy to be a thief in a plain mountain, but it is difficult to be a thief in a peaceful heart" deeply touched him. It is better to draw fuel from the bottom of the cauldron than to stop the boiling. Zhang Yong admonished Zhao Guangyi in his memorial that the main reason for the turmoil in Shu was because of the imperial court. Harsh government and the exploitation of local officials led to the fact that only by changing the government's governance strategy could the root causes of unrest be completely eliminated.
"Sigh... My dear friends, don't say anything more. I have made up my mind. The imperial court has indeed imposed more exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes in Shu in recent years than in other states. Most of the officials in Shu are mediocre and harmful to the people. Although I have been deceived by it, I still cannot escape the blame. I still have the fault of "unrecognizing people and employing people inappropriately". Now that the banditry in Shu has calmed down, the next priority is to stabilize the people's hearts. It will be difficult to recover from the accumulated malaise in Shu. Under such circumstances, if we want to bring order to the chaos, we need to use strong medicine to be effective. Let’s start with me. All my dear friends should work together to help me manage this beautiful country..." Zhao Guangyi sighed, He said slowly and with a heavy expression.
The emperor's "Edict of Sin" accompanied the troops marching south and spread throughout the country. After hearing the news, the literati praised the emperor's courage to admit his mistakes and criticized the bandits in Shu. It is in vain to follow the general ethics.
At the same time that Zhao Guangyi issued the edict of sin, a military horse galloped towards Bianjing carrying the messenger. Along with the messengers, the news spread all the way: under the encirclement and suppression by officers and soldiers and a group of martial arts people, the remaining forces of the Sichuan rebels were all killed in Qingcheng Mountain yesterday, including several bandit leaders who were on the wanted list. As a result, the officials and people in various places along the way rushed to tell each other, which also marked the complete success of the suppression of the rebellion in Sichuan.
Different from the joyful mood of the officials and people everywhere, in a wine shop in Xiangyang City, a middle-aged man wearing a bamboo hat and dark clothes heard a fat man at the wine table next to him introducing to his companions After the battle in Shu, the wine glass he raised stopped in mid-air. After being in a daze for a while, he concentrated his energy and listened carefully to the fat man's talk.
If Yang Yunfan were here, he would definitely recognize this middle-aged man wearing a hat and dark clothes at a glance. This person is Huo Ji, the third leader of the Kowloon Society.
Huo Ji followed Chu Lihan's order and left the booming rebel army at that time. He went to the Liao Kingdom alone to discuss with the Liao people a plan to attack the Song Dynasty from the north and the south. However, he did not expect that due to the wars in the north and south of the Song Dynasty, during the special period, various checkpoints would be blocked. He also intensified the interrogation of passers-by. Huo Ji kept his whereabouts secret, often traveling day and night through inaccessible narrow passes and dangerous roads to avoid interrogation. As a result, he was delayed for a lot of time, and he only made it to Xiangyang City, which was a short distance away. The Liao Kingdom still has nearly half of its journey, and the further north it goes, the more stringent the interrogation will be.
Unexpectedly, the interrogations in various places have been relaxed in the past few days, and there is a vague intention to give up the interrogations and let the news from the south flow freely. Huo Ji, who was a little confused, came to a wine shop in Xiangyang City to inquire about the information, but did not want to get it here. He received the bad news that the city of Chengdu was captured by officers and soldiers and the uprising failed.
After hearing the obese man's detailed account of the Qingcheng Mountain battle, the listeners at the table next to him gathered around with great interest and kept toasting. After the obese man drank a glass of wine, he touched it with his sleeve. Touching the corner of his mouth, he continued to talk with great energy. Huo Ji unconsciously leaned closer and listened.
