At first, He Yu, the right minister of the Ministry of Rites, was still hesitating whether his visit would displease Prince Su Zhao Hongrun. After all, at this time, everyone in Prince Su's palace was busy preparing for the wedding.
Unexpectedly, when he saw His Highness Prince Su, His Highness Prince Su dropped the brush in his hand without hesitation and immediately stood up to greet him. He Yu was flattered by this courtesy - he thought
Because of the affairs between his son He Xinxian and Princess Yulong back then, His Royal Highness Prince Su has always been prejudiced against his family, He.
But having said that, although he didn't understand what was going on, He Yu would be satisfied as long as His Highness King Su in front of him didn't blame him for visiting at this time.
"His Royal Highness Prince Su, I am here because of..."
However, before He Yu could finish speaking, Zhao Hongrun interrupted seriously: "It's for the Song Dynasty rebels, right? Or is it because of the recent pressure from the restless nobles on the Ministry of Rites? ... It doesn't matter,
I, the King, will go with Mr. He to the Ministry of Rites."
With that said, Zhao Hongrun pulled He Yu's sleeve and walked out of the study.
From the beginning to the end, He Yu was dumbfounded and had no idea what was going on.
Only the clan guards in the study knew it well and shook their heads in confusion.
In this way, in a daze, He Yu, the right minister of the Ministry of Rites, brought Su Wang Zhao Hongrun to the main office of the Ministry of Rites, and met with Du You, the Minister of Rites.
At this time, Du You, the Minister of Rites, was giving instructions to several officials of the Ministry of Rites in the room of the Minister of Rites. Suddenly, he saw He Yu, the right servant, leading Su Wang Zhao Hongrun.
When you are so busy, you have to trouble His Royal Highness Prince Su to make a trip. Du is ashamed, ashamed."
After hearing this, Zhao Hongrun said with dignity and awe: "Du Shangshu's words are serious... How can the affairs of a small family be worth the affairs of the state? If there is anything that I can do for you, I will be obliged!"
Du You nodded secretly after hearing this: I have always heard that His Highness King Su is concerned about the safety of the country and the country. This statement is indeed true!
Thinking of this, Du You dismissed the officials of the Ministry of Rites in the Shangshu class room, invited Zhao Hongrun to sit on a chair in the class room, and asked solemnly: "Your Highness, King Su, I believe you have also heard that the Song Dynasty rebels
Song Yun, the leader of the army, rejected the offer of recruitment from my Ministry of Rites..."
"Hmm." Zhao Hongrun nodded and waited for Du You's next words.
Without letting Zhao Hongrun wait, Du Youdang continued: "After this matter spread, someone incited the Ministry of War to report to your Majesty to send troops to conquer the Song Dynasty."
"Oh..." Zhao Hongrun touched his chin, his eyes twinkling slightly.
He was a little embarrassed. After all, the "someones" Du You said were actually referring to some nobles in the Wei Kingdom who had some private armies because of the last war. Among these nobles, there were also Chengling King Zhao Shen and Anping King.
Hou Zhaotan and other nobles from the royal party.
This is no wonder. After all, Nangong Yao first rebelled against the Wei State and was later killed by his subordinate Huan Hu. This meant that the original agreement between the imperial court and Nangong Yao had lost its validity. In this case, Song County was in the eyes of the Wei nobles.
, like a piece of fresh fat, everyone wants to pounce on it and take a bite to make up for the financial losses during the war.
"Are they proposing to "conquer Song County on behalf of the imperial court"?" Zhao Hongrun asked calmly.
In fact, Zhao Hongrun had already heard the suggestion of Chengling King Zhao Shen and Anping Marquis Zhao Tan when they visited Prince Su's Mansion a few days ago.
It was not just the intention of Chengling King Zhao Shen, Anping Hou Zhao Tan and other nobles of the Suwang Party. In fact, the Yongwang Party, the Xiangwang Party and the Qingwang Party were all eyeing the fat piece of Song County.
It was euphemistically called "conquering Song County on behalf of the imperial court". They raised their own money and food and raised an army, pretending to be thinking about the country and the country. But in fact, they just planned to go to Song County to pick peaches before the Wei army officially sent out troops to conquer.
Before leaving Song County, try to get as much benefit as possible.
If it had been a few years ago, Zhao Hongrun would have stood up at this time, angrily denounced those nobles with hatred, and exposed the hypocrisy of those people. But after this war, Zhao Hongrun once again had a crush on these nobles in the country.
changed.
It cannot be denied that the nobles in the Wei Kingdom are indeed very greedy on weekdays, and even for their own benefit, they will not hesitate to harm the interests of the court, deceive the subordinates, conceal the superiors, and line their own pockets. However, when the country is threatened by collapse, more than half of the nobles are still willing to pour money.
Use your family's wealth to help the country defend itself against foreign enemies.
It cannot be said that the civilians in the country made no contribution in this war, but in the final analysis, the contribution of the civilians in this war was indeed not as great as that of the nobles who controlled a large amount of resources.
Therefore, Zhao Hongrun privately felt that it was understandable that these nobles hoped to obtain some benefits from Song County to make up for their losses - after all, these people had indeed lost a lot of money for the country.
What's more important is that nobles from the royal suing party such as Anling Prince Zhao Shen and Anping Marquis Zhao Tan are also involved this time, which makes it even harder to stop Zhao Hongrun.
Therefore, when he was in the study room of Prince Su's Mansion, Zhao Hongrun had already made up his mind: as long as the nobles did not cause complaints in Song County and simply seized some minerals or plundered the wealth of Song Dynasty's wealthy families, he would
I would just turn a blind eye and stop targeting them.
After all, no matter how annoying the nobles of Wei are, they are still Wei people and have contributed to the country in the war. Compared with the wealthy families of Song County, they are still somewhat distant. - Zhao Hongrun can only comfort himself in this way.
.
However, Du You, the Minister of Rites, seemed to have guessed the dilemma in Zhao Hongrun's heart. He shook his head and said: "Your Majesty, King Su, the domestic nobles wish to conquer Song County on behalf of the imperial court. It is up to Your Majesty and Chui Gong Palace to judge, and it is not for me, the Ministry of Rites, to intervene...
It’s just, hey.”
Seeing that Du You looked strange and hesitated to speak, Zhao Hongrun felt puzzled and asked: "Du Shangshu, if you have anything to say, you might as well say it directly."
Seeing this, Du You pondered for a moment and said in a deep voice: "This matter begins with Song Yun's rejection of the recruitment offer from our Ministry of Rites... According to "Zheng Xi", an official of our Ministry of Rites, Song Yun, the leader of the rebels in Song Dynasty,
, The reason why I rejected the invitation from the Ministry of Rites was not because I disliked the imperial court’s grant, but because I hoped to get the promise of ‘making Song County autonomous’.”
"Make Song County autonomous?" Zhao Hongrun frowned.
Of course he understood what "Song County Autonomy" meant, that is, Song County recognized the ruling status of the Wei court and paid taxes according to Wei's tax standards, but Wei people were not allowed to serve as officials in Song County.
For example, Song County in a state of "autonomy" is like a vassal state without a king. Although it will obey the decrees issued by the court, the court cannot directly influence Song County.
I think this was the situation when Nangong Yao was in charge of Song County.
"Song Yun hopes to replace Nangong Yao's former position? This appetite is not small." Zhao Hongrun said with a half-smile.
He bets that the court will never allow it.
A Nangong Yao delayed the Wei State for more than ten years before it had the opportunity to annex Song County. If there is another Nangong Yao, will the Wei State have to wait for another ten years?
You must know that it was because of the early fall of the Song Dynasty that the Song people had strong anti-Wei sentiments. In addition, the Chu State held a grudge because Wei Emperor Zhao Yuansi cheated Xiong Tuo, the king of Yangcheng, and sent troops to the border between Song and Chu. This contributed to the " The imperial court allowed Song County to be autonomous.
But now, the people of Song Dynasty have gradually accepted the rule of Wei State subtly, and Chu State is no longer a powerful enemy that Wei State fears like a tiger. Under such circumstances, Song Yun still wants to make Song County autonomous. This is simply a fool's dream. ——Not to mention that the court would not allow it, not even the nobles in the Wei Kingdom would allow this to happen again.
Seeing that Zhao Hongrun seemed to have misunderstood, Du You shook his head and explained: "Your Highness has misunderstood. According to what "Zheng Xi" said, Song Yun did not want to replace Nangong Yao's former position...Song Yun personally promised that if the court allows Song County autonomy, he will disband the rebels and never show his face again.”
"..." Zhao Hongrun was stunned when he heard this, and looked at Du You in surprise.
He originally thought that Song Yun was greedy, but he didn't expect that Song Yun was a loyal man who served the public justice.
Unfortunately, in his opinion, even so, the court would still not agree to Song Yun's conditions.
"The imperial court has decided to send troops to Song County? Let the private soldiers of the nobles do the crusade on their behalf?" Zhao Hongrun asked.
Du You nodded.
Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun was puzzled and said: "In this case, why did Du Shangshu ask He Shilang to visit me?... I have no objection to this matter."
Glancing at Zhao Hongrun, Du You smiled bitterly and said, "The problem is not with Song Dynasty, but with... Weiguo."
"Huh?" Zhao Hongrun was stunned when he heard this, frowned and asked, "What's going on?"
After thinking for a moment, Du You lowered his voice and said: "The news I just received is that Wei Guo seems to have guessed that the imperial court will use troops in Song County. Therefore, someone made some remarks about me, the Wei Dynasty... In short, they are some unpleasant things." .”
"This man is so brave, who is he?" Zhao Hongrun asked in confusion.
Du You glanced at Zhao Hongrun and said in a low voice: "It's Young Master Wei...Yu."
Because that Wei Gong Ziyu is his cousin, the son of the sister of her biological mother Wei Ji.
"He... said those ugly words?" Zhao Hongrun asked with a frown.
Du You hesitated for a moment, then lowered his voice and said: "Wei Gong Ziyu released news in Wei State, saying that Wei Dynasty deliberately drove the Korean army to his Wei State during the war. After that, he pretended to send troops to reinforce him, but in fact he did not The garrison was at the back, sitting and watching the battle between Wei and Han, saying that the Wei Dynasty intended to annex the Wei Kingdom, so it drove the tigers to devour the wolves... He also said that after the Wei Dynasty captured Song County, he would be the next to defend the country, and now the Wei Dynasty If people are bewitched by it, everyone will be in danger..."
"Ah, it was caused by the King of Nanliang..."
Zhao Hongrun frowned deeply.
In fact, he had anticipated this incident earlier. After all, the Nanliang King Zhao Yuanzuo, Huzuo Hou Sun Mou, Yuanling Hou Feng Shu and their gang were indeed too unreasonable - the former intended to let the Korean army use the Wei State as a weapon to attack the Wei State. The breakthrough point was to buy time for Jiang Bi; while the latter, under the pretext of "supporting the Wei Kingdom", sat on the mountain and watched the tigers fight, and watched Wei Gong Ziyu lead 20,000 soldiers and civilians to fight fiercely with the Han general Sima Shang.
What are you doing! Thanks to Wei State, it is still a vassal state of Wei State.
In this situation, even if it were him, Zhao Hongrun, he would be furious.
After thinking about it, Zhao Hongrun asked Du You: "Master He said that your department wishes to say hello to me. Is this what he is referring to?"
Du You nodded and said in a deep voice: "If necessary, our Ministry of Rites advocates putting pressure on King Wei and asking Prince Wei to come to Daliang as a hostage."
"..."
Zhao Hongrun opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say.