As soon as they entered the palace gate, the civil and military officials found that the warriors, chamberlains, and maids in the palace were already wearing linen and filial piety. Even the spears and halberds in the hands of the warriors were wrapped in white silk. A eunuch stood on a hill-like pile.
In front of the white clothes, mourners sang: "The emperor is buried in the sky, and all the civil and military officials go to the auspicious clothes and bring the filial piety into the palace.
The civil and military officials had already known the news of the emperor's death, so it did not cause any commotion. They walked over silently, took a set of white clothes to cover their official robes, and tied a white silk ribbon on their official hats, and walked silently one by one.
In the Golden Palace, many people were already weeping lowly.
In the Golden Palace, Zhao Guangyi stood under the throne wearing linen and mourning. On the left and right stood three prime ministers, Lu Duoxun, Lu Yuqing and Xue Juzheng, who were also wearing mourning clothes. They silently watched the civil and military officials filing in.
"My lords, last night... His Majesty died of a sudden illness and was buried in heaven." After Zhao Guangyi said in a deep voice, two lines of hot tears could not stop flowing down. All civil and military officials fell to the ground and burst into tears.
The Golden Palace was filled with howls, and all kinds of cries, thick, thin, high and low, converged into a strange sound.
Zhao Guangyi and the three prime ministers did not dare to accept the worship of the officials from the front, so they also retreated to one side to worship Haotao with them at the empty dragon chair on the imperial steps. After a while, Lu Yuqing and Xue Juzhengfang wiped their tears and stepped forward to offer help.
Zhao Guangyi burst into tears, and Lu Duoxun stepped forward and said loudly: "All officials should stop mourning and stand up."
When all the officials stood up one by one, Lu Duoxun said: "The late emperor worked hard and worked hard, but he finally fell ill and died of a sudden illness. The country cannot be left without a master for a day. I was shocked to hear that His Majesty passed away. Lu Duoxun was horrified and sad, but
He did not dare to forget his responsibilities as prime minister and was anxious for Prime Minister Lu and Prime Minister Xue to discuss the matter. The King of Jin, Zhao Guangyi, was intelligent and courteous, with noble character and noble virtues, and could be the master of the people. The ministers supported him, and asked the Empress for permission. It was decided that the King of Jin should be promoted to the throne.
I, the lord of the Song Dynasty! King Jin, please ascend your throne and let all the officials pay homage to the new king."
Zhao Guangyi kept crying and waved his hands to refuse. He was sobbing so hard that he couldn't speak. Lu Yuqing and Xue Juzheng forcibly helped him onto the dragon chair. They held his hands and knelt down in front of him. When the officials saw him, they were like a sickle.
The wheat under them all fell to the ground, and they said in unison: "I pray to you, long live my emperor, long live, long live the emperor."
"The Qing Dynasty's family... has a normal life."
Zhao Guangyi's choked voice echoed in the Golden Palace: "The late emperor passed away, the sky was torn apart, and the earth was torn apart. I...can't help myself in grief. Today, in the Imperial Palace, a mourning hall has been set up for the late emperor. I led hundreds of officials to pay homage to the late emperor and weep and watch over his soul.
We also discuss the name of the temple of the late emperor. State affairs cannot be neglected for a day. However, the late emperor is my brother and I am mourning the death of the late emperor. It is difficult to take care of the state affairs, so I will suspend the court for three days. After three days, I will return to the court to listen to the government. I hope that all your ministers will do their best.
Assist, extend the country and prosper the Song Dynasty."
He stood up and said again in a sob: "The late emperor has done a great job and deserves to be mourned by the country. Prime Minister Lu, who should be responsible for this matter?"
Lu Duoxun said respectfully: "All court gatherings, guests, good and bad ceremonial matters. All national ceremonies, suburban temples, sacrifices, court gatherings, banquets, scripture banquets, canonization, entering the calendar, entering the spring, passing on the system, and reporting successes.
When foreign officials come to pay homage, all tribes pay tribute, and when all officials and envoys return to pay their respects and give thanks, it should be hosted by...Honglu Temple."
At that time, the Ministry of Rites was mainly responsible for the imperial examinations, and Honglu Temple presided over all court ceremonies. Zhao Guangyi only said that Yang Hao had fled, but he still pretended not to know, so he said with tears: "In this case, Honglu Temple Minister
Where is it?"
He looked at the ministers with tears in his eyes, and heard a loud shout from the standing ministers: "The minister is here!"
An official dressed in filial piety limped out from the queue of civil servants, bowed to him from afar and said: "My lord, listen to your order!"
"ah!"
Zhao Guangyi was shocked, looking straight at Yang Hao as if he had seen a ghost.
If Yang Haohun didn't realize it, he bowed his head again and said loudly: "Please give me your Majesty's instructions."
"Ah!" Zhao Guangyi's eyes flashed with panic for a moment, and then he said: "Honglu Temple is responsible for the state funeral etiquette. As the minister of Honglu Temple, Yang Qing must take responsibility and preside over the affairs of the late emperor."
"I...obey your order..."
Yang Hao received the order loudly and raised his head. When their eyes met, a cluster of fire suddenly flashed in Zhao Guangyi's eyes. However, Yang Hao's eyes were clear and his expression was natural and there was nothing strange about him. Zhao Guangyi couldn't help but hesitate for a while.
In the Chui Gong Hall, Yang Hao discussed the funeral etiquette with the three prime ministers, and with Zhao Guangyi's consent, the three prime ministers left and led the officials to pay homage to the late emperor's soul.
Zhao Guangyi sat behind the imperial desk and looked at Yang Hao standing in front of him. He didn't know what to say for a moment. Yang Hao also stood there, looking at Zhao Guangyi calmly. The two looked at each other for a long time, and Zhao Guangyi suddenly said: "I...
...I heard that Yang Qing went to Nanya last night?"
"Yes, I have been there. The official was busy dredging the river at that time, and he did not return until late, so I resigned."
"oh……"
Zhao Guangyi picked up the cup of tea in front of him and took a sip, with a heart-stopping smile on his face: "I thought Yang Qing had something big going on, so I asked Yu Xi to look for you after I got back, but Yu Xi arrived at the house.
, but I saw it was empty. I was really surprised, because there were two water leaks in the city, and I was busy arranging it. Later, I heard that the late emperor passed away, and everything was in chaos. I couldn't take care of Yang Qing for the moment. Is there anything going on in Yang Qing's house? "
"No!"
Yang Hao's smile was also very strange: "I am so young, I have already been an official in Dahonglu, ranked among the nine ministers, and a very popular minister. I always feel grateful for the upbringing of my loving mother. It is a pity that my loving mother died early and I can't support her as much as I can."
Filial piety, this is my biggest regret. Therefore...yesterday I asked my family to go to Bazhou in the North to pay homage to my mother's tomb on my behalf. Since I sent my family out of the city, I didn't come back until midnight, so I probably didn't run into Mr. Cheng."
Zhao Guangyi raised his brows slightly and said calmly: "This is strange. I remember that when I asked Cheng Dexuan to look for Yang Qing, it was already three o'clock in the morning. Why didn't I see Yang Qing?"
Yang Hao said without changing his expression: "I remember very clearly that at 1:00 p.m., I returned home. After returning home, I ate a bowl of supper, took a bath, and slept until dawn, then rushed to the court. If
Mr. Cheng indeed came here after I returned to the government. I know the truth. The official family is busy with many things, so I think I forgot the time."
Zhao Guangyi's pupils shrank slightly and he said with a smile: "You will be back at the eleventh hour?"
Yang Hao said categorically: "It's absolutely true. I returned home at the very moment and never left again."
Zhao Guangyi stared at him for a long time, then turned and smiled: "In that case, I must have remembered it wrong. The death of the late emperor is the most important thing at the moment. As a great emperor, you should do your best to bury the late emperor in glory.
Go ahead and go to the mourning hall to take care of you and take good care of it."
"I obey." Yang Hao bowed his head and retreated.
Wang Jien flashed to Zhao Guangyi's side. Zhao Guangyi waved his hand and blocked what Wang Jien wanted to say. Wang Jien raised his hand fiercely and slowly withdrew his hand that was about to strike.
"Is Cao Bin willing to sign an official document with Chu Zhaofu to stop the Northern Expedition and send the King of Wei back to Beijing?"
"yes!"
Wang Jien's waist naturally bent down: "At dawn, Privy Councilor Cao finally signed and sealed the seal. General Chu has ordered an eight hundred mile expedited message to be sent to the Northern Expeditionary Army."
Zhao Guangyi breathed a sigh of relief and said: "This matter is the most important thing at the moment. The army must be willing to stop, and the King of Wei must be willing to come back, then the country... can be considered stable. You go to the mourning hall and take a look.
Let’s see how the officials react, but if there is any abnormality, report it to me immediately.”
"I obey," Wang Jien agreed, but did not move.
Zhao Guangyi smiled slightly and said: "I will never forget your hard work and great achievements. Now I still rely on you for big and small things in the palace. I appoint you as the envoy of the palace and garden, responsible for the affairs of the six palaces. After the death of the late emperor, I will obey you."
According to the late emperor's will, Aiqing will be responsible for the mausoleum affairs where the stone horse is buried."
The palace envoy is responsible for all matters in the harem, which is the most noble official position among internal officials. Being in charge of projects has always been a fat job. Even those who are not too greedy can still make a lot of money and make money. Wang Jien expresses his gratitude.
, but did not show excessive joy.
Zhao Guangyi said again: "You are decent in your work, knowledgeable in literature and martial arts, and you always do some errands to serve others. You are overqualified for your talents. After I ascend the throne, I will always send troops to the north to expand the territory. Well... I will let you go after the late emperor's mausoleum is completed.
I am a foreign official who is temporarily serving as the governor of Hebei Province. He will follow me to conquer the world in the future, but he must achieve military exploits and his future is limitless."
Wang Jien was moved and knelt down. He was overjoyed and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty. I obey your order. Your Majesty has worked hard all night. Please rest your body. I will leave."
Foreign officials and internal officials are completely different officials. Although internal officials also have good grades and a very high salary, at the end of the day, they are just the head eunuchs who serve the emperor and his concubines, but foreign ministers... that is what they are.
He opened a government office and built a palace, and he was one of the parents. When he met the emperor, he only said that he was a minister and did not have to kneel down unless he was receiving a big gift. How could he be compared to a 'slave' in the palace who did not differentiate between men and women?
Wang Jien was elated and stepped back with ease.
There was silence in the hall, Zhao Guangyi frowned, and said to himself in surprise: "It's strange, what does he rely on? He actually came back under my nose?"
After hesitating for a long time, Zhao Guangyi gritted his teeth and smiled: "Do you think I can't touch you in public? I don't believe it. You dare to talk nonsense in front of hundreds of officials. Hum, the days are long, we will see!"
At this time, the chamberlain announced that Song Qi and Jia Yan came in. These people were Zhao Guangyi's confidants in the latent residence. As soon as Zhao Guangyi got the throne, he gave them the badges to enter and leave the palace. All his current team members are still in the south.
Yamen, before officially enthroning the throne, it was difficult for these confidants to be appointed as officials in the court, so they had to communicate in this way.
As soon as they saw Zhao Guangyi, Song Qi and Jia Yan bowed and said, "I see your majesty. Congratulations to your majesty for being honored with the great honor."
Zhao Guangyi's face was full of joy and he left his seat to help them up. Song Qi followed closely and said: "Guan family, Cheng Dexuan is dead."
Zhao Guangyi was shocked and lost his voice: "Yu Xi is dead? How did he die?"
Song Qi told the story about the discovery of Cheng Dexuan's dead body. Zhao Guangyi's face was uncertain. Song Qi said again: "In the official family, who would assassinate a court official in the middle of the night for no reason? Yu Xi went to hunt down Yang Hao, Yi Chen
From what we can see, there is no doubt that the murderer must be Yang Hao. I am afraid that Yang Hao has escaped at this time. Wouldn't it be ridiculous that one of the nine dignitaries suddenly disappeared? The officials can issue an express decree and put him on the wanted list in the world. As long as his whereabouts are found, I will
He has his own means to make him do it without anyone noticing..."
Zhao Guangyi said gloomily: "There is no need to look for him, Yang Hao is in the palace now."
Song Qi was shocked and lost her voice: "What?"
Zhao Guangyi said a little irritably: "He appeared under my nose in a big way, and I couldn't do anything to him for a moment. Don't worry about him. Since he dares to come back, I am not afraid of him escaping. Now that I have ascended the throne, There are so many things to take care of, how can I spend my time with him?"
Jia Yan said: "What your Majesty said is that the official family is the supreme leader in the world. How can little Yang Hao be worthy of it?"
Zhao Guangyi said: "The top priority is to stabilize the throne, consolidate the imperial power, and stabilize the people of the world. I have something to discuss with you, so come and sit down."
Song Qi and Jia Yan hurriedly said: "How can there be a seat for ministers in front of the official family?"
Zhao Guangyi smiled and still asked people to move to Jindun. The two sat down with great gratitude, and the three of them started to discuss.
"The expeditionary army is stationed where it is, and the generals in the army need to be appeased. When an official ascends the throne, a general amnesty will be granted to the world, and the ministers will also give rewards. The generals of the Northern Expedition may wish to reward them first, and from the party level down, all important generals will be rewarded. Give him a reward to put his mind at ease."
"I don't have to worry about this. Today, according to Cao Bin's decree, the three armies are ordered to stop and not advance. It is just a test. Since Cao Bin understands the current affairs and the privy ministers and deputy envoys are willing to obey my orders, the Imperial Guards in the capital are under my control. But with the On this point, the party must think twice before taking action."
"The officials have sent people to Luoyang overnight. There can't be any trouble with Prime Minister Zhao. The emperor's third brother and many royal residences are also under close surveillance. In addition, there are family members of many Northern Expedition generals such as Dang Jin. These people are also being watched every move, and they are unable to fly."
"good!"
"The food and fodder transporting the Northern Expedition army has been cut off. When King Wei receives the imperial edict, the army will know the news."
"good."
"Right now, we need to grant amnesty to the world, issue an edict to the people of the world, and the new emperor will ascend the throne. We also need to determine the year..."
"Isn't this...fixing the year name...a little early? The year name should be calculated from the year after the death of the late emperor..."
"There are still more than half a year left, and the nights are long and there are many dreams. If we decide on it as soon as possible, the reign name, emperor's title, and prince will all be decided on earlier. Once our status is correct, the world will be settled."
"……good!"
Yang Hao left Chui Gong Hall and limped straight to the mourning hall.
This confrontation between him and Zhao Guangyi was about risking death and resurrecting his life. Has Cheng Dexuan been to the Yang family? Yes! Is he in the house? No!
But he just insisted that he was at home in front of Zhao Guangyi, so why should Zhao Guangyi tolerate him? The new emperor kept arguing with a courtier about where he went last night? He was not a wife who was alone in an empty bed, full of resentment. , why do you have to compare with that?
Anyway, Yang Hao knew that he would never let him go. He acted like a dead pig and was not afraid of boiling water. On the contrary, Zhao Guangyi was wary and couldn't figure out what trump card he had. Therefore, he was suspicious and did not dare to easily He's done it. He is one of the nine ministers. What crime does Zhao Guangyi dare to kill him in public? If he wants to do it secretly... He is Da Honglu. He has been organizing the funeral of the late emperor all day long. I'm afraid the emperor has not seen as many officials as him in the past few days. , who can do anything to hang around in front of people all day long? Besides, he has to spend most of his time in the palace these days. Zhao Guangyi would never dare to let him die in the palace, which would add some unsavory condiments to his ascension to the throne.
As for outside the palace... before he went to court in the morning, he had already secretly met Zhu'er and got in touch with Jisi Hall's hidden stake in Bianliang. The heroes of the Bianhe Gang secretly helped, and Jisi Hall was everywhere.
The potential power of the three religions and nine streams has been arranged carefully in the past few days. As soon as he leaves the palace, he will be like a fish entering the lake and no one will be able to find his trace.
The main hall where the mourning hall was set up was completely white.
Zhao Kuangyin's coffin is at the end of the hall, with an incense table and spiritual tablets placed in front of it. Civil and military officials worshiped in sequence, and under the guidance of the etiquette officials, they cried and offered sacrifices to the late emperor.
Yang Hao was ranked among the Nine Ministers, and his status was second only to the three prime ministers, so he went straight to the front, knelt down behind the three prime ministers, worshiped, and then stood up and walked aside. All the officials of Honglu Temple gathered around him.
Jiao Haitao and others each reported on the matters they were responsible for, and Yang Hao gave some instructions and arrangements. The officials of each department immediately went down separately to take care of the matters at hand.
Yang Hao knelt down at the side and in front, avoiding the sequence of civil and military officials, so that the officials of Honglu Temple could ask him for instructions at any time and arrange various funeral rituals.
While Yang Hao was crying, he looked around and saw that all the officials in front of the coffin had different expressions. It was obvious that many people were unprepared for Zhao Kuangyin's sudden death. They were in a hurry to encounter such a big change and were inevitably a little confused. Cao Bin, Tian Zhongjin, etc.
The officials looked even more serious, but no one dared to look around or accept the offer.
The new king has been worshiped. They are the officials of the Song Dynasty, they are the people of the Zhao family who support the country, and they are the people of the Zhao family who are in charge of the country. What else can they do except accept the reality?
Yang Hao turned his attention to the coffin. The ones kneeling in front of the coffin were naturally the children of Empress Song and Zhao Kuangyin. Empress Song was filial, especially young. She was about 20 people, beautiful as a flower, but her eyes were like crying.
Like a peach, she was crying so hard that her voice was hoarse. She couldn't raise her voice, but kept wiping away her tears.
Yang Hao couldn't help but feel pity when he saw it. Suddenly, he noticed two eyes staring at him, and his heart couldn't help but tremble. He quickly fell down, and as the officials started to cry loudly, he covered his face with his sleeves while wiping away tears.
, looked at that gaze quietly, and was startled by this look.
He thought it was Zhao Guangyi's eyes and ears that were paying attention to his every move. Unexpectedly, when he raised his head and met those eyes, he was secretly surprised. That person was actually Princess Yongqing. She was dressed in white linen clothes and had black hair.
She was also wrapped in white silk, her delicate face was stained with tears, her nose was red from crying, but her tearful eyes were staring at him momentarily.
As soon as she caught his gaze, Princess Yongqing immediately turned slightly sideways, bowed down as the singer shouted, and moved her mouth hard in front of her. Yang Hao looked in front of her, and couldn't help but feel confused.
Princess Qing pursed her lips again, and Yang Hao thought blankly: "The one kneeling in front of her is Empress Song. What does she want to see for herself? Could it be...that futon is not comfortable for her to kneel on, and she wants me to change it to another one."