"Well, it's best for King Huan to deal with it this way. The Empress Dowager is the widow of Renzong after all, so she should have some dignity. After what happened, I think the Empress Dowager, a woman in a deep palace, will also expose her again. Can't afford any trouble."
Thinking of Emperor Renzong, I chose Sheng Hong, Sheng Changbai's Jinshi, which brought the prosperity and status of the Sheng family to today. Sheng Changbai still preferred the Empress Dowager.
As long as the old widow did not cause trouble and kept her affection for Renzong in mind, Sheng Changbai was still willing to see the Empress Dowager have a decent old age.
For the new emperor, keeping the empress dowager would be a hundred benefits and no harm, except for the fact that his father's hatred could not be fully avenged.
After all, the father and son took over Renzong's empire. They really executed Renzong's widow. The father and son both couldn't shirk their responsibilities.
If Zhao Zongquan hadn't bullied people too hard, the old widow without a son would not have had any resistance and wanted to destroy Zhao Zongquan.
Keeping the Empress Dowager can still show that the new emperor knows how to be grateful.
It is still necessary to fully control the court and win over the old nobles in the court who Zhao Zongquan has never surrendered.
The new emperor's kindness to the empress dowager can also directly form a sharp contrast with Zhao Zongquan.
When father and son compare each other, the ministers will naturally know which one has better quality and is more worthy of sacrifice.
The difference in character was immediately apparent.
"King Huan has a groove in his chest, he can take into account the overall situation, he is broad-minded, and he is kind to others. He is indeed the image of a wise king in the prosperous times." Gu Tingye praised.
"Tell me, didn't you and King Huan fight with Xixia in the northwest? Why did you suddenly come back to Bianliang?"
Although Sheng Changbai had already made a rough guess, Gu Tingye could not explain it clearly.
"This matter is a long story. The late emperor didn't really want to punish me at the beginning..."
Gu Tingye's demotion was indeed a bitter trick played out by two people.
There are also the Queen Mother, old nobles, and opposition civil servants, when these foreign troubles exist.
It is true that Zhao Zongquan has not arrived yet to kill Gu Tingye.
"What about the military report? Did Xixia invade our country?" Sheng Changbai asked.
"It's half true and half false. There are indeed some bandits invading the border. But the bandits only plundered the people and did not attack the cities of Zhou Dynasty. There was no large-scale war between the two countries."
Xixia would engage in plunder from time to time, which was a common occurrence on the border.
When the losses are not large, border officials can report that the border is peaceful.
"Did you take the initiative to release the news that King Huan was defeated and that you died in battle?"
"Yes, it was the news we sent back deliberately and then spread."
Gu Tingye answered in the affirmative again. It can be said that today's mutiny came from Zhao Zongquan's active calculation.
"Okay, Gu Tingye is very good at hiding it. You haven't leaked anything. You don't even know how much your sister Rong misses you all day long."
At this point, Sheng Changbai stopped asking further questions.
It can be said that what happened this time was Zhao Zongquan's own initiative.
Lure the snake out of its hole and give your opponents a chance, hoping to fish out the growing number of opponents and catch them all.
What Zhao Zongquan didn't expect was that Zhao Zongquan himself was being tricked to death. This was a situation where he took the initiative to calculate and then got away with it.
The key to escape was that Zhao Zongquan had been controlled by Ma Hui for too long.
The reason is that the rebels led by Ma Hui invaded the imperial city and the Funing Palace more smoothly than expected.
The speed at which King Huan and Gu Tingye brought troops to help was also slower than expected.
The key to this is obviously that the imperial troops who originally guarded the imperial city were clearly able to draw water and their willingness to resist was not strong.
The most important reason must be related to the death of Zhang Guifen, the only daughter of the British father-in-law.
The lack of effort by these forbidden troops may be due to the British Duke's hint of connivance, or it may be because the British Duke, a military representative, showed his loyalty by giving away his daughters to Zhao Zongquan's brother-in-law, but he still ended up miserable, which made the soldiers feel the same.
Looking at the corpses of the soldiers in the imperial city, it can be seen that there were far fewer deaths this time than during King Yan's military remonstrance.
When the time comes for the soldiers to put their lives to the test, it will be clear which emperor is more popular.
"I have no choice but to do this. Sister Rong, is she okay?" Thinking of his daughter, Gu Tingye finally felt a little embarrassed. Gu Tingye couldn't say how well he took care of his daughter.
"Other than missing you as an old father, the child is fine."
"I'll go to court first, and after the next court, I'll take the child home?"
"Don't worry, if you want to take your child home, you must first have a home."
Gu Tingye may have forgotten that his mansion has been confiscated and has not been returned yet.
Since the Ningyuan Marquis Mansion did not welcome Gu Tingye back, Gu Tingye did not have a home in Bianliang.
Gu Tingye: "..."
The process of today's court meeting is very familiar. I just experienced something like this more than two years ago.
Also because they had just experienced something like this, there were not many changes in the personnel in the court.
Today's various rituals went smoothly.
The first thing was for the ministers to mourn Zhao Zongquan. Then, in front of Zhao Zongquan's body, King Huan could quickly take over the throne.
The first is to announce the death of Zhao Zongquan and read out Zhao Zongquan's "edict".
The content of the edict is still the same. One is to summarize the emperor's achievements and announce the successor. The last one is to entrust the posthumous affairs.
The things behind his death are the piles of wives, concubines, children, and his own mausoleum left behind by the emperor.
Although Zhao Zongquan did not leave anything like this, he still issued this "edict" after all parties recognized King Huan's succession.
With such an additional edict, King Huan could succeed to the throne, change his name, and avoid many doubts.
If the new emperor upholds righteousness, he will be able to stabilize the restless clan.
The second thing is to mourn Zhao Zongquan who has moved into Qishu Palace and arrange for King Huan to succeed him before his death.
Then we returned to the Zichen Hall where the imperial court held important ceremonies, and hundreds of officials formally paid homage to the new emperor.
At this point, Zhao Jiying truly sat on the throne, and it was the new emperor's turn to speak.
After the new emperor came to power, he first took care of Zhao Zongquan's funeral affairs, appointed Han Zhang as the mausoleum envoy, and built an imperial mausoleum for Zhao Zongquan.
Before Han Zhang even started building the tomb for Zhao Zongquan's father, King Xianshu, he had to start building the tomb for Zhao Zongquan first. It was somewhat ironic.
Arrange the courtiers and ceremonial officials to organize the funeral for the old emperor, survey the mausoleum, write the name of the mausoleum, mourning memorial, posthumous memorial and discuss posthumous titles.
Finally, the current Queen Mother is canonized as the Queen Mother, and the current Queen Shen is canonized as the Queen Mother.
Zhao Zongquan's other heirs, the new emperor's younger brothers and sisters, even if they are still in their infancy, are still titled princes for boys and princesses for girls.
The main theme of this incident is a son's filial piety to Lao Tzu, and the new emperor's gratitude to the late emperor, giving him the legacy he left behind and the rewards he deserves.
It means that the new emperor did treat the family left by the former emperor well.
Once everything has been arranged, this great dynasty is over.
Although a lot of things happened from yesterday to today. The army united with the harem to rebel, which involved a lot of rogue parties and rebels. There were many things that needed to be dealt with.
But these matters do not need to be discussed in the dynasty where the new emperor succeeds to the throne.
There is no need for trial now. We only need to arrest people and confiscate their homes and control them first. The new emperor can just send troops to do it.
At this time, there is no rush to reward the meritorious ministers and soldiers who have succeeded the new emperor.
When the new emperor actually holds a coronation ceremony, it won't be too late to give out generous rewards.
Many important officials in the court stayed behind to hold small meetings with the new emperor to discuss various matters.
Sheng Changbai's level is still not close to him.
After the next court, I was supposed to go to work at Yushitai, but I thought that I had been busy all night yesterday, so there was no need to put myself so hard.
After taking a leave of absence at Yushitai, Sheng Changbai went home directly.
"Changbai, what happened? I heard the funeral bell ringing twenty-seven times. This is a national mourning. Who went there?"
Sheng Changbai had just returned home and wanted to tell Wang Ruofu that he was safe, but Wang Ruofu had already asked anxiously.
At this time, Sheng Changbai remembered that everyone in the palace knew that the emperor was gone.
But people outside the imperial city still don’t know anything.
Outside the imperial city, their understanding of the situation is still based on the fact that the imperial army entered the city last night.
"The official family has gone, and now King Huan has succeeded..."
Sheng Changbai explained to Wang Ruofu and Ru Lan.
"Old lady, why are you here? I was thinking of going to greet you later."
It was also thinking that last night, everyone was crowded in Wei Ruixuan. The environment was not as good as usual, and it was impossible to have a good rest because of the fear. He went back to his own hospital to rest after dawn, which was why Sheng Changbai didn't look for the old lady immediately.
Unexpectedly, halfway through the story, the old lady, Hai Chaoyun, and Chang Feng also arrived at Wei Ruixuan one after another.
"No need to be polite, please continue talking, what happened in the imperial city yesterday?" The old lady waved her hand and said, being in a family of officials, she cannot care less about these important events in the court.
"It was King Huan and Gu Tingye who came back with their troops to rescue the driver..."
Depending on the situation, it would definitely be impossible not to satisfy the curiosity of these people, so Sheng Changbai picked out a few and said some of what he could say to these people.
"Thanks to you, my father, mother, brothers and sisters are fine."
Even though Sheng Changbai had tried his best to describe it in an understatement, Hai Chaoyun was still frightened when he heard that the Hai family had been brought into the imperial city.
"Changbai, since Gu Tingye has returned to Bianliang, he still needs to send someone over to inform Sister Rong." The old lady said.
"Gu Tingye led the troops to arrest the rebels. After he is done, he should come to see Sister Rong." Sheng Changbai replied.
"Changbai, you followed King Huan's soldiers and horses into the imperial city to rescue them this time. Do you think you have made a great contribution?"
Wang Ruofu's focus was different from that of Hai Chaoyun and the old lady. There was no one who needed attention. The first thing Wang Ruofu noticed was Sheng Changbai's meritorious service.
It cannot be said that there is no one who Wang Ruofu pays attention to. The person Wang Ruofu pays most attention to is Sheng Changbai.
"It's not a great achievement, but the late emperor still suffered a disaster. I just tried my best."
Sheng Changbai responded that it was not appropriate for Wang Ruofu to show off when the credit was not yet determined.
The next twenty-seven days belong to the new emperor's filial piety period. Ordinary people observe filial piety to their father for twenty-seven months.
During the three autumns, which is commonly known as the three years of observing filial piety, the emperor observed filial piety with the sun and the moon, which is twenty-seven days.
After the filial piety period, it is the new emperor's coronation ceremony.
Although this matter belongs to Sheng Changbai's internal affairs, this time the late emperor Bintian and the new emperor succeeded to the throne.
Things for the etiquette officials were much easier than last time.
In the past, it was because no emperor had died in the Zhou Dynasty for decades, there were no veterans familiar with rituals in the court, and the Zhou Dynasty did not form customary etiquette.
A large number of ancient books need to be consulted, so Li Guan and Sheng Changbai are very busy.
Now, in handling the matters between Zhao Zongquan and the new emperor, the etiquette officer has both experience and rules to follow. It can be said that it is easy.
After the new emperor ascended the throne, as usual, he extended a general amnesty to the whole country, granted additional envoys, granted military titles, and rewarded all ministers.
These were the practices of the Great Zhou Dynasty. After the new emperor succeeded to the throne, he could not be any different from Zhao Zongquan.
"The enthronement ceremony is finally over. Changbai, you can take a break and think about your future." Sheng Hong said to Sheng Changbai.
After finishing the new emperor's enthronement ceremony, Sheng Changbai's reward was about to come, and it was time to consider how to pursue an official career.
"My mind has not changed. I still want to take up a post in Bianzhou."
Although the emperor changed, Sheng Changbai still did not want to change his plan.
If he wanted to carry out the Northern Expedition, Sheng Changbai would personally serve in Bianzhou. It was necessary to have a personal understanding of Xixia and Liao.
"Changbai, the new emperor is different from the previous emperor. The new emperor is not prepared to fight for the title of King Xian Shu, and he is quite filial to the Empress Dowager. Without the etiquette dispute, you, the censor, do not need to hide from the capital. Why?
You still insist on going to Bianzhou. Even if you want to serve abroad, where is not better than Bianzhou?" Sheng Hong advised Sheng Changbai.
Although the new emperor has not been on the throne for a long time, there are still some new things.
The entire court is much more harmonious. Compared with the previous internal friction in the court, it is now much more efficient.
Xin Di and Zhao Zongquan have completely different styles of doing things. Xin Di is much more pragmatic than Zhao Zongquan and doesn't mind at all those false reputations.
The first is the new emperor, who doesn't care whether King Xianshu respects him as emperor or not, or whether he can call King Xianshu the emperor's grandfather.
It stopped immediately. The previous discussion on the title of King Xianshu also eliminated Han Zhang's position as the envoy to the mountain tomb of King Xianshu.
Everything about King Xianshu has been restored to its original state. He no longer has any honorific title, and the tomb of King Xianshu is no longer built according to any imperial standards.
Another is that the new emperor respected the empress dowager and lived in harmony with each other, without further fighting.
Of course, Zhao Zongquan laid the foundation for the new emperor to live peacefully with the Empress Dowager.
Because Zhao Zongquan used his body as bait to lure the snake out of its hole, the Empress Dowager was still exposed in the rebellion case.
Since he participated in the rebellion and was caught with evidence, even if the new emperor spared the life of the Empress Dowager.
But it is impossible for the old widow to control any rights.
Not to mention listening to politics behind the curtain and competing with the emperor as before.
Zhao Zongquan's contribution was not small, but the new emperor's role was equally great. It was the new emperor who took the initiative to treat the old widow well, caring for and respecting the old widow as his own grandmother.
Only then did the party that was originally close to the Queen Mother return to the new emperor.
