Just when Zhao Zongji followed Chen Ke's suggestion and used family affection to further consolidate his relationship with Zhao Zhen. In the meantime, Han Qi also returned to Zhongshu Province to take a look at Wu Kui, who finally got his wish and became a political advisor.
, then entered the prime minister’s duty room.
Wu Kui knew that this was Han Xianggong's plan to start a small business, so he went back to his room to soak his ass, and hurried to Han Qi to report it.
"I heard," Han Qi said with a dark face, "They want to ask for a crown prince again?"
"This..." Wu Kuiqian smiled and said, "Where to start?"
With a 'pop' sound, Han Qi patted the table, which made Wu Kui shrink his neck in fright, and quickly said truthfully: "The day before yesterday, the king of Runan County did find his subordinates and asked me to write a memorial to ask for the crown prince to be established within this year..." Zhao Yunrang died.
, Zhao Zongyi inherited his title.
"I said, don't mention this matter again within a year..." Han Qi's voice was like gold and stone, which frightened Wu Kui.
Wu Kui hurriedly said: "My subordinates were afraid that there would be a quarrel between the husband and the prince, so they did not dare to report it immediately. I thought of persuading them before talking..."
"Hmph..." Han Qi knew that he was a bit stubborn, but he didn't point it out: "Can you persuade me?"
"It seems impossible..." Wu Kui said with some difficulty: "The brothers seem to have made up their minds..."
"It seems that they look down on the old man." Han Qi said coldly.
"My husband, please don't misunderstand me." Wu Kui's heart thumped. Although he always had the intention of 'replacing him sooner or later', he understood this husband's abilities better than anyone else. He knew that without Han Qi's support, it would be difficult for Zhao Zongshi to have the last laugh.
. hurriedly spoke for Zongshi, "Actually, their mood is not difficult to understand. A suburban welcoming ceremony made people pour cold water on their heads. Everyone discovered in panic that it turned out that the prince's reserve position was not a sure thing, but there was a big problem - how many officials in the family?
After ten years of being emperor, how could he favor another prince before establishing a crown prince? So it is understandable that they were afraid and took some drastic actions..."
"Didn't I say that the sky won't fall?" Han Qi's expression softened a little.
"But my husband didn't tell me the truth..." Wu Kui smiled bitterly and said, "Don't talk about them, even I can't help but feel worried."
"What are you worried about?"
"I am assuming that the officials are not willing to let go of their authority, so they support Zhao Zongji to counter the prince, so that all the officials will not go to please the new master early and neglect his old master." Wu Kui lowered his voice and said: "There is another way.
Perhaps, what is even more serious is that the official’s favorite candidate is Zhao Zongji..."
"It seems that you are not stupid enough yet." Han Qi sighed, and said without losing his tough guy character: "Needless to say, I am fully responsible for the current situation. If I hadn't lost my cool and used the general trend to force the emperor, the official family would have
You would not praise Zhao Zongji like this."
"Is the official's promotion of Zhao Zongji just a backlash against my husband?" Wu Kui asked in surprise.
"Otherwise, how can we explain it?" Han Qi slowly closed his eyes and said, "I have been dealing with officials for thirty years. I think I understand his character. This emperor has been adhering to the principle of 'no fault is merit' for decades.
. He can’t help but know that Zongshi’s heir is calm and everything goes smoothly. If someone else replaces his heir, it will inevitably lead to turbulence and overt and covert fighting. That’s why I boldly used the power to force him, thinking that even if he is unhappy, he will eventually be able to succeed.
I will put the overall situation first.”
"Of course, there is a price to pay for the following pressure. But what I thought at that time was to risk my life to finalize the reserve for His Highness." Han Qi said as he took out a memorial from the drawer and pushed it to
In front of Wu Kui: "I wrote this when I came back that day. I hope it can calm the anger of the officials."
When Wu Kui saw it, it turned out to be a memorial letter to an official. He couldn't help being shocked and said: "My lord, I absolutely cannot do this! We can't live without you!"
"I'm afraid His Highness doesn't think so anymore," Han Qi sighed: "I'm already the Prime Minister, what else do I want to do? It's just for the foundation of the country and the friendship with King Pu that I decided to serve His Highness
Loyalty, who knows, but it turns out to be sentimental..."
Seeing that Han Qi was really hurt, Wu Kui hurriedly patted his chest and said, "I'll go tell His Highness and let him know your husband's painstaking efforts!"
"No need." Han Qi shook his head and sneered: "Your Highness's group of brothers are donkeys. If you don't touch your nose, you won't know how high the sky is."
"What your husband said..." Wu Kui asked: "Then we will ignore them and let them go to Shu?"
"Can I stop you?" Han Qi still sneered.
Wu Kui thought about it, shook his head and said: "It's difficult, but it depends on the person. I'll try my best to persuade you."
"If you want to waste your saliva, go ahead." Han Qi said calmly: "Tell them, if you can't wait, you will die, and if you can't wait, you will die."
"Yes." Wu Kui bowed and stepped back.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In fact, Han Qi's resignation was just superficial. He knew that Zhao Zhen would not agree. Because no one could guarantee that without Han Qi's checks and balances, Wen Yanbo would become the second Han Qi.
But if Han Qi and Wen Yanbo leave, what will happen to this country?
Han Qi was sure of this, so he asked to resign and said he was ill at home to appease Zhao Zhen's anger. Because the emperor was indeed kind-hearted and virtuous, and he was not born to hold grudges. No matter how big the grudge was, how many years he had lived.
I basically forgot about it after a month...
Who would have known that Brother Zhao Zongshi was so stimulated by Zhao Zongji's rapid rise that he ignored his constraints and mobilized officials to appeal to them to abide by their promise and establish a throne this year!
However, no one dared to propose a specific name. The reason is very simple. It is the responsibility of ministers to appoint a prince and make the country a heir apparent. But if you dare to support someone, it is overstepping the mark! The scholar-bureaucrats in the Song Dynasty had to erect memorial arches, even if
As strong as Han Qi, even if he risked his life, he would only dare to say, "please order the king of Qingling County to judge Kaifeng Mansion", but dare not directly say, "please make the king of Qingling County the crown prince", let alone others.
But once the officials decide to appoint a prince, the situation will be completely different. Because although the ministers cannot directly say who to appoint, they can say who is bad. The scholar-bureaucrats can even scold the emperor, so it is not a problem for a mere prospective prince. If Zhao Zhen
The prince to be established is unpopular, how can you establish his prestige? So Zhao Zhen had to consider the opinions of all officials... This is why Zhao Zongshi and Han Qi have always been full of confidence.
But if it is delayed for a year, who knows what will happen to people's hearts with the intensity of Zhao Zhen's praise of Zhao Zongji? How many people will switch to Zhao Zongji's disciples? Therefore, the Zhao Zongshi brothers are absolutely unwilling to delay this year!
After a group of his brothers tried their best to lobby and coerce him, seventy or eighty officials finally agreed to submit another letter asking them to establish a prince this year as promised.
However, just submitting a letter is not enough, because the officials can just wait and see if it lasts for a few days and celebrate the New Year!
In order to prevent this phenomenon from happening, the officials met at the General Affairs Department of Yintai and submitted the memorial. Hu Zongyu, who was in charge of the Tianzhang Pavilion, said to everyone: "The national guardian is the permanent foundation of the country. Over the years, countless people have written letters asking for the establishment of a prince.
, the reserve position is still vacant to this day, what is it? His intention is not firm, and he cannot fight hard! Today we cannot just submit a letter to settle the matter, we must fight to the end, and we will not give up until the official order comes out!"
When everyone heard this, they took it seriously and sighed: "I only hate that my officials are so humble and can't resist directly!" During the struggle, young officials have always served as death squads. Senior officials will not express their stance easily, and this time is no exception.
"You don't have to be discouraged!" Hu Zongyu said loudly: "We still have the drum to listen to, so we don't have to worry about not being able to reach heaven to listen!"
Everyone was excited when they heard this, yes, how could they forget this!
So they went together to the Dengwen Drum Courtyard located at the palace gate.
However, as they walked along, they were not as solemn and solemn as "the wind rustled and the water was cold". Instead, they all seemed a little excited. This is not because the officials of the Song Dynasty were particularly brave, but because the Dengwen drums of the Song Dynasty were not as sacred as those of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Infringement. The Qing Dynasty stipulated that only cases involving "military affairs, great corruption, great evil, strange injustices and extraordinary misfortunes" can be beaten with drums. Moreover, those who beat the drums of the first court, regardless of the reason, must be thirty years old, so although the drums are also
It's on, but it's clearly just a decoration.
In the Song Dynasty, there was no restriction on beating this drum. Back then, someone beat the drum and knocked out Song Zhenzong because he lost a pig. Later, when a noble lady wanted a divorce, she also beat the drum and knocked out Song Zhenzong... Again
Later, Zhao Zhen was really annoyed, so he set up a Dengwen Drum Courtyard, where officials were arranged to be on duty. Those who played the drums would first ask about the reasons, and ordinary cases would be transferred to Kaifeng Mansion. More serious cases would be presented on their behalf.
But that drum is always there. If you really want to beat it, just go ahead and beat it!
Finally, there were thirty-three officials who arrived at Dengwen Drum Courtyard. Seeing this formation, one of the chief admonishers of the Drum Courtyard, Wang Fu, hurriedly greeted them and said, "Why are you here?"
The morale of the officials had reached its peak, and they loudly said: "Of course I am here to play drums, why don't we go to a restaurant?"
"What a coincidence," Wang Sijian said with a bitter smile: "The drum can't be beaten today..."
"What?" A group of young officials stared and said, "Can you stop me?"
"How dare I lower my rank..." Wang Fuzhi explained: "It's really because the drum broke..."
"Ah..." Everyone couldn't help but said dumbfounded: "How is that possible?"
"That drum was made during the Qingli period. It has been there for a long time and has experienced many cold and heat. As a result, the skin was cracked the day before yesterday..." Wang Fuzhi explained in a soft voice: "It has been sent to the Ministry of Industry to replace the drum skin. It will be ready in a few days.
Send it back."
"We want to do great things today, how can we be hindered by a drum skin?" The officials asked: "Isn't there a spare one?"
"This drum won't break down after several years, so why should I have a spare one?" Wang Fuzhi shook his head and said, "Besides, it doesn't have to be played. If you have anything to do, you can write a note and the lower official will send it in."
"Don't we know how to write it ourselves?" the officials said in despair.
"Then just wait for two more days and it will be fine soon." Wang Fuzhi said.
All the officials looked at each other: "Then let's wait for two days?"
Hu Zongyu, the leader, was also ordered by Zhao Zonghui to beat the Dengwen drum as soon as he came out of the Yintai Department. However, he did not give any instructions as to what to do if the drum broke.
Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Hu Zongyue did not dare to make any decisions, so he could only be discouraged and said: "Then let's go back first..."
"I'm sorry to see you off so far." Wang Fuzhi said politely.
