"It's okay to say that the Jin people don't value the two saints and nobles. How could the five counties of Jingdong be returned so easily?" After the messenger from the Jin Kingdom brought the peace terms, the discussion in Tokyo naturally went to a higher level.
.
"But I don't think so... According to me, the overall situation is clear now. The key lies on the front line of the Yellow River, such as northern Shaanxi and Jingdong. For us, we may still have to spend time. Even if we lose one or two times, we may lose, but sooner or later we will still
What can be captured, especially Jingdong, which is just a few hundred miles east of Tokyo, is an important place that must be captured no matter what. But to the Jin people, these two places are like chicken ribs and tasteless.
, it's a pity to abandon it. If we want to fight, it must be a big war. But if we fight across the river, I'm afraid it will be another Yaoshan battle. And if it's a small war, it's just in vain... Then it's better to be more generous and ask for a few years to show up.
Frank and stable, it just so happens that A Gu needs to stabilize his inner self even if he fights several sons."
"...What you said makes sense."
On this day, a group of imperial students were discussing downstairs in a new store outside Donghua Gate that had just opened for a few days. In the pavilion upstairs, Wang Shu, the Minister of the Ministry of War, was eating cold porridge to escape the summer heat. After listening for a long time, he just talked with
Chen Gongfu, who was sitting opposite the Imperial Academy's sacrificial wine, sneered: "It does make sense. Today's imperial students are not as knowledgeable as they used to be!"
The direct manager of the group of imperial students below, that is, the Imperial College Jiujiu Chen Gongfu, heard this and just shook his head: "Where is their own knowledge? They are just copying other people's words... The official sent the imperial newspaper to Hu Quan, and
After all, he took over the matter in a hurry, and he could only find assistants from the imperial students who copied the Di Bao. But with the momentum of the Di Bao now, even the Prime Minister would gradually declare his innocence in the Di Bao... so he couldn't help it.
The students know more inside information."
"That's true." Wang Shu nodded in approval.
While the two were talking, there was another loud talk downstairs.
"So, the conditions for this peace negotiation are not of much concern to the Jin people?"
"I don't think so. In my opinion, the five counties of Jingdong don't matter. On the contrary, the return of the two saints is a big obstacle to the Jin people."
"You talk in vain... The gold envoy Wu Linda was so casual when he came up. He could pay it back or not, and let the officials ask for it. Everyone knew about it, how could it become a hindrance?
"
"You are just talking empty words. The return of the Second Saints or not is of course irrelevant, but whether or not this matter is thrown out is an important issue... The Jin people have Qin Hui, and Han Fang is so knowledgeable about the country.
How come the insiders don’t know that as long as the two saints are revealed, the officials will have to hold back and ask for it no matter how depressed they are? And once this happens, whether the two saints will succeed or not will be a matter of fate for our court and the officials.
Big trouble, and if the official family is in trouble, wouldn't it be a huge profit for the Jin people..."
"Be careful!"
"Why should we be cautious? People are talking about this matter. They say that the Second Saint is coming back to seize the throne. There are also rumors that several ministers have placed officials under house arrest. We are not in the Imperial Academy, so why can't we say...
"
"Sure enough, I have some insights." When Wang Shu heard this, he couldn't help laughing.
"It's no wonder that they are ignorant about this matter." Chen Gongfu defended the students at this time. "Everyone in the meeting said that the Second Saint came back to compete for the throne, but the ministers were worried that the officials would do big things in turn, but ordinary
People think about it over and over, but they always feel that both sides are unreliable, and they don't know what the officials are thinking... Even you and me, aren't we just guessing?"
"That's true."
"Let's take it one step at a time!" Chen Gongfu shook his head again. "No matter what, what should come will come. Anyway, it will be in the next two months."
Hearing this, it was Wang Shu's turn to shake his head: "Yesterday, the capital summoned Wu Lin to pay tribute to Zanmo. You were not in front of him, but you didn't know that he agreed to everything. He just struggled with the money, but After being scolded by Mr. Zhang in person, he didn't mention it again, as if he had been prepared for it... According to my guess, Liu Yu in Jinan might have been captured by them, and the Second Saint was already on the way. It will take less than two months.”
"If this is the case, the Jin people are really harboring evil intentions." Chen Gongfu frowned even more. "Otherwise, why would he send them off one by one like this? Isn't it just that he deliberately wanted to cause chaos in the officials and the court? "
"It has become chaotic." Wang Shu sighed more and more. "Aren't the two queen mothers arriving in the next few days? The provincial government invited the officials to go to the riverside to welcome them. The officials did not pay attention at all and just stayed in the harem... ...I heard from people that even Concubine Pan made the suggestion and took the initiative to go to the riverside to greet her, but she was also embarrassed."
Chen Gongfu didn’t know what to say.
But Wang Shu said again: "There is one more thing, which will probably be discussed at the Secret Pavilion meeting today. Yue Fei has sent a secret letter, but it is written publicly, and it means asking for a fight..."
"What's this?" Chen Gongfu didn't care. "Yue Fei is from Hebei. He came back in a hurry from suppressing bandits. He learned about the peace talks on the way and was not appeased by the officials, so he naturally submitted a letter in a hurry..."
"Han Shizhong, Wu Jie is already on the way." Wang Shu blurted out.
Chen Gongfu was silent for a moment, but still shook his head: "The Second Sage is coming, and the officials can't avoid it. When the time comes, the civil and military forces of the court will have to go to welcome it. Han and Wu are not as fashionable as Yue Fei in suppressing the rebellion, so they should come. , but you’re far away in Guanzhong, so you always have to shout in advance.”
"No matter what you say, it makes sense!" Wang Shu sneered again, but stood up directly. "Forget it! Let's go...it's almost time."
Chen Gongfu nodded slightly and stood up.
The two of them were both wearing purple robes and went downstairs together. However, they were so surprised that the seven or eight imperial students downstairs who had just returned from doing their residence reports stood up together, especially two of them, who probably said something about "profit" before. , 'I can't say', I simply jumped up in fright.
But fortunately, these two officials didn't pay any attention to these students. They just walked out of the restaurant and went to Donghua Gate, which in turn aroused the envy of this group of Tai students who had escaped from death... Although the Secret Pavilion encountered an encounter Despite the siege, the government and the public still saw that being able to participate in the secret chamber meeting was beyond the scope of ordinary officials.
In particular, this organizational form has the acquiescence of the Zhao Guan family in the harem... It is impossible to say that it will become a regular practice when encountering extraordinary situations in the future, and then give certain political status bonuses to the relevant participants.
In fact, after this incident, there has been a new theory among the people, saying that since the officials came to the throne, they have been intentionally or unintentionally weakening the authority of the internal control officials and the internal ministers, delegating power to the two governments, the six ministries, the nine temples, the five prisons, and the five prisons. This is to bribe everyone in the court to prepare for the restoration of the Two Saints in advance.
Of course, it's the same sentence, the premises are wrong, and the inference is naturally nonsense... It's just that the people believe it, or they like to talk about the absurd statement that the Second Saint will be reset when they return, so there are such rumors.
Turning back to the present, Wang and Chen left the newly re-opened main store and went directly to the palace city, entered Chongwenyuan, passed the capital hall, and went to the secret pavilion. Not long after, the other central officials arrived, but they were still the same.
It was Liu Ji who opened his mouth and presided over the meeting.
However, Xianggong Liu opened his mouth and everyone in the pavilion was stunned: "The two queen mothers were trapped on the north bank of the Yellow River by the Jin army. Who is going to pick them up?"
"Are the Jin people playing tricks on us?!" Wang Shu immediately became furious. "How dare you do such a thing?!"
Not only the concubine Wang, but also Li Guang, Liu Dazhong and others were also showing off, causing chaos in the secret pavilion for a while.
However, when they saw the chaos in the pavilion and came forward, Liu Ji, several ministers, Honglu Temple Minister Zhai Ruwen, and the Minister of Rites Zhu Shengfei, who were obviously aware of the situation, looked embarrassed...it was obvious that there was something inside.
After a while, Liu Ji finally had time to tell the truth.
It turns out that, as Chen Gongfu and Wang Shu discussed before, whether it was the Jin people who did it deliberately or the confusion caused by information channels, the Jin people released the prisoners in batches... The first was a few people from Yanjing.
The imperial concubines and noble daughters have all arrived in Yangzhou now; then a group of imperial concubines and noble daughters from Five Kingdoms City, as well as a group of younger clan children, are also on their way to Yangzhou at this time;
Then came a group of abducted ministers' families and children, who had just arrived a few days ago, and the court was discussing commendations and favors; but the current wave is mainly the queens and concubines of the Second Saint... Among them, the most important
Of course, the two most important ones were the two empress dowagers, Empress Dowager Zheng, who was the Supreme Daojun Emperor, and Empress Dowager Wei, the 'biological mother' of the official family in the harem.
However, happiness may have come too suddenly. These people could hardly believe it when they were sent south... Others, on the other hand, could only wait with bated breath, but there was something wrong with Queen Mother Wei. The Queen Mother did not
I don’t know whether she felt that she had something to rely on, or she was afraid of the experience in the Northern Kingdom to a certain extent, or maybe she was passive and had no basic political literacy. Anyway, she did something that left people speechless.
Specifically, on her way back south, she first collected some jewelry from the accompanying concubines that the Jin people had returned when they came, and gave rewards or bribes to the Jin Army soldiers who escorted them, just so that they could hurry up in the hot summer.
Crossing the river... This actually doesn't matter, it's even completely understandable.
But the key point is that after handing over the last bit of jewelry, she was still a little worried, but she actually borrowed two thousand taels of gold from the leading Jin Army general and continued to reward and bribe him.
Because Empress Dowager Wei had a special status and had promised to borrow two thousand and pay back three thousand when she crossed the river, Meng An was naturally happy.
But when they came to the river, where did Zhang Rong get the three thousand taels of gold? Not only Zhang Rong, but also Quan Bangyan, the ambassador who had just returned from Ding You, didn't have the money. And he didn't dare to give it to him even if he had the money.
As a result, the Jin general held the two empress dowagers directly in Xiao Wu Xun without saying anything, and directly jumped towards the Yellow River, scolding the Song people for not counting their words.
"Even if you have money, you can't give it to me!" Wang Shu was furious after hearing this. "I want to see who dares to give this money?!"
All the prime ministers looked at each other and had nothing to say... This matter is not about three thousand taels of gold at all, but a matter of the country's basic position of insisting on not paying any price in this negotiation. After working hard for so long, and
Against the pressure of the non-violent and non-cooperative attitude of the government, the pressure of the army, and the pressure of the people, how can you dare to show any weakness in the scene?
And after finally working out an equal peace treaty that ranked first in the history of the Song Dynasty, who would have thought that Empress Dowager Wei and three thousand taels of gold would appear?
But it has to be said on the other hand that it was Empress Dowager Wei who did the trick after all, and it was quite excusable, so it was hard to blame anyone.
"What do the officials say?" Li Guang also had a splitting headache. "It concerns the Queen Mother, so he should reply, right?"
"The official said, please ask the Ministry of Rites to handle it according to the system." Liu Ji said helplessly. "But if he needs money, he has saved it for four or five years, but he only has a few thousand taels of gold, and he cannot afford three thousand taels of gold...
If he is forced to pay, according to the rules of repaying a mother's debt, he will naturally not be able to refuse, but please give him a few days of grace and let him go to a relative's house to borrow money."
How ridiculous!
After hearing this, all the officials present had almost the same mentality...and this absurdity not only refers to the official's attitude towards the biological mother and the weird attitude towards everyone, but what is even more ridiculous is that everyone present knows that this official
What he said turned out to be the truth.
In the harem, unless there is a national debt or the abbot borrows it, there really will be no cash of three thousand taels of gold!
Then, everyone instinctively looked at Zhu Shengfei, the Minister of Rites.
Zhu Shengfei's face remained unchanged, but his back was already covered with sweat... In other words, the official said the word "Minister of Rites", but he couldn't even find someone to blame, and he had been slipping up many times before.
Qiu, pushed big things up to the prime ministers, and pushed down small things to Honglu Temple. It was obviously the Ministry of Rites that was doing this seriously, but it didn't get involved in anything.
But the result of such inappropriate behavior is that no one is willing to help him now.
"The Ministry of Rites should go to Huazhou in person." After staring at it for a while, Prime Minister Zhao Ding simply gave the order.
Zhu Shengfei had no choice but to respond, but he still refused: "Can you please tell me frankly that the Jin people are cruel and rude? If the two empress dowagers forcefully demand these three thousand gold, what will happen to the lower officials?"
"You are the Minister of Rites, so you have your own explanation." Zhang Jun, the Prime Minister, couldn't stand it anymore, but he prevaricated before the others.
In desperation, Zhu Shengfei could only hand over his hands and face Zhai Ruwen, the Qing of Honglu Temple behind him: "Qing Zhai, can you inform the Jin envoy first?"
Zhai Ruwen had been troubled by Zhu Shengfei these days, and he was too lazy to respond when he heard the words: "Zhu Shangshu, informing the Jin envoy is not exposing his own shortcomings? How is it different from begging the Jin? The face that he had worked hard to build in the past two months has been lost in one day.
All!"
Zhu Shengfei was completely helpless.
At this time, the concubine Wang on the side rolled up his sleeves and said: "If the Ministry of Rites is not willing to go, the Ministry of Punishments can go, and it will not cause the country to lose any dignity... There is nothing to hesitate about. If you don't have money, just don't allow it! Have a drink with me.
The matter of the soup was made clear in Nanjing as early as that year, so why are you hesitant now?! Is it just because she is the biological mother of an official?!"
As he said, the others wanted him to be the concubine, but no matter what, it was not the job of the Ministry of Punishment, right?
Therefore, after going around and around, Zhu Shengfei had no choice but to nod his head, but he publicly put forward a condition: "I will leave shortly, but before leaving, I have something I need to make a promise to all my husbands..."
Zhao Ding and others frowned together, feeling that this guy was going too far.
Unexpectedly, Zhu Shengfei sighed, but shook his head in the secret pavilion and said: "I have no other request, I just want you to agree to this, then I will resign and live in leisure."
Everyone was startled and a little stunned.
By the way, it is true that the peace negotiations these days have made everyone want to die, but the official decentralization of power and the feeling of a group of people manipulating national affairs in the secret cabinet is really unstoppable. I really can’t stop it.
Several people were thinking of resigning and returning home. So for a while, these people didn't know whether he really felt aggrieved, or whether he was taking advantage of retreat to bargain with the officials.
After pausing for a moment, Zhao Ding frowned helplessly: "Zhu Shangshu, you are a dignified minister, and your resignation must be approved by the officials."
"Of course this lower official knows." Zhu Shengfei responded calmly. "The official side is naturally the official side. The lower official will have an official document to explain, but I need your approval first. Allow me to report this matter like Da Zongzheng did.
It’s okay if you don’t come to the secret pavilion to take care of things.”
Just as he was about to speak, he saw the Prime Minister Zhang Jun speak first and wave his sleeves directly: "We have no objection, but how about asking the Ministry of Rites to welcome the Queen Mother back first?"
Zhu Shengfei was relieved.
But once this matter was settled, all other matters seemed to be insignificant... Of course, it only didn't matter in theory. Yue Fei's Zhazi, Han Shizhong, Wu Jie's departure, and the government's self-destructive attitude, how could it be indifferent?
But as the saying goes, if you have too many debts, you don’t have to worry; if you have too many lice, you don’t have to worry about being bitten. You even endured the last riot, so what else can you not tolerate?
In this way, the Secret Pavilion meeting ended in a hurry that day, and nothing else was mentioned except that Zhu Shengfei went to Huazhou to meet Quan Bangyan, and Zhang Rong went to pick up the Queen Mother. Unexpectedly, everything went smoothly there. It was incredible... Zhu Shengfei was the Minister of Rites.
When the Lord arrived there, he gritted his teeth and conveyed the central government's clear and unmistakable attitude, which was that he would not give even one tael of money. As soon as his attitude was revealed, a commander of the Marching Division of Daming Prefecture who was hiding somewhere appeared on the opposite side.
Gao Jingshan, the whip hit the face of the accompanying Bohai Ji Meng'an, who honestly let him go without even daring to ask for his money.
The two queen mothers crossed the river... and everything went smoothly, just like in a dream.
Since the two Queen Mothers had crossed the river, the distance from Huazhou to Tokyo was only a little. However, on the third day, Queen Mother Zheng and Queen Mother Wei returned to Tokyo city under the escort of Zhu Shengfei and Quan Bangyan.
The official claimed to be ill, and said that he missed the queen mothers too much. He was afraid that he would faint from tears when they saw each other and lose his dignity, so he did not come to greet them.
But except for the fact that the official family did not arrive, there was no problem with the rest of the etiquette. From the prime minister level down to Lu Gong, the ministers led hundreds of civil and military officials out of the city ten miles to greet them. Then the two noble concubines Pan and Wu came forward. With the help of the ministers, they came to the city gate.
Officially picked up the two Queen Mothers Luan Jia.
As for how the two queen mothers met and greeted the famous husbands in the north one by one during this period, praising them as being like Zhuge Wuhou; how could they not meet Han Shizhong, who was the most famous in the north?
Yang Yizhong; in the end, how the two noble concubines and the two empress dowagers held each other's arms and cried at the city gate, causing the onlookers to cry together when they remembered the past of Jingkang... Various episodes are not worth mentioning.
In the afternoon, the group finally wiped away their tears and returned to the palace. However, they went directly to Gyeongbokgung Palace and watched "The Legend of White Snake" first. Then, they visited Master Fahe, the host of the Bianliang Branch of Shaolin Temple, and the host of Wuyue Temple.
Religious people were waiting here, leading a group of monks and Taoist priests to pray for the two empress dowagers and save them from disasters... They worked until evening, and finally held a banquet at Gyeongbokgung Palace, which was not only to welcome the two empress dowagers and the other imperial concubines, but also to entertain them.
All officials, civil and military, held a solemn celebration ceremony for the return of the Queen Mother.
At this time, Zhao Jiu and Zhao Guanjia, who had been "too concerned about her and fearful of crying and fainting as soon as they met", finally came forward.
Let us also say that people such as Empress Dowager Zheng, Princess Wang, and Princess Qiao were all capable of becoming female protagonists in Zhao Ji's terrifying harem.
Along the way, how could he accidentally ask about the new customs and customs here? Even Empress Dowager Wei was a lot more careful after experiencing the incident on the river.
In addition, all the officials are here at this time, so naturally everything is in order, and both parties have done nothing to lose their dignity... Empress Dowager Zheng did not even dare to let the official kneel down to salute, so she had already asked the two noble ladies to do so.
The concubine supported her, for fear that the official would 'faint from crying'; while Queen Mother Wei wanted to come forward and talk, but after several years apart, she felt that almost nothing about her was the same as before except her appearance, and she was a little timid.
.
So, the banquet finally started as usual.
However, it is a big banquet, because the palace is really simple, and there is no formal etiquette. There are just a few queen mothers, the noble concubines are sitting on top, and the officials, the two noble concubines, and other miscellaneous clan members who have returned this time are sitting on one side.
, several senior officials were sitting opposite, but the low-level civil and military officials dismissed them early... This posture was really like a family banquet after the arrival of a female elder who was not taboo in an ordinary official family.
However, what is interesting is that as soon as the banquet started, the perfunctory process disappeared. Up and down, left and right, no one, male or female, moved their chopsticks or bowls. They all just looked at the official thoughtfully.
However, the official had nothing to say and just sat sideways in the seat. The situation was really embarrassing.
Finally, after a long pause, Empress Dowager Zheng had a mission, and she had to speak no matter how difficult it was, so she reluctantly gritted her teeth and said: "The officials... set off from Five Kingdoms City a few months ago. The two supreme emperors are not aware of the peace talks yet, but
Clinging to the shaft of the carriage, he repeatedly conveyed his words to the officials, asking them not to forget the letter sent by Zheng Yi Nian. In fact, only an envoy from Taiyi Palace would be enough to settle down... The officials did not know that your eldest brother was almost crying in front of the carriage at that time.
He fainted and was whipped by the golden man. We had no choice but to swear on the spot that if we didn't rescue him, we would all be blind."
Zhao Jiu was stunned and nodded, but said nothing.
Seeing this situation, both men and women, both civil and military, felt their scalps numb and their hearts cold, but they really didn't know how to continue. Empress Dowager Zheng tried her best to think of words, but unexpectedly, she couldn't help but burst into tears as soon as she opened her mouth again.
After all, Empress Dowager Zheng is the Empress Dowager. When she returns this time, she no longer has any worries. She just thinks about the wind and snow in the north. On the other hand, the other noble concubines and concubines also think of the wind and snow in the north and can't help but burst into tears, but they dare not say more.
Crying, for fear of offending the official family, their son would not be able to come back, and would not be able to provide for him in old age.
The scene froze for a moment.
After a while, when Lu Haowen and Zhao Ding had no choice but to stand up and prepare to respond, Queen Mother Wei was the most confident and couldn't help but put on a happy face for a moment to reconcile the situation: "Brother Ninth is so wronged.
After some... On the way here, I heard someone say that you always only light one candle in the palace. I thought it was a rumor, but now there is a banquet in Gyeongbokgung Palace. As expected, there is only one candlestick standing on the table.
With a candle, the food you eat is still pork, chicken, and fish, but it can't compare to your father's time, when he held a banquet at night, which was almost as long as daytime, and one meal cost a hundred sheep."
As soon as these words came out, the scene became a bit cold and scary.
Not to mention the several prime ministers, ministers, and ministers, there were people sighing slightly in the dusk. Even empress dowager Zheng and other politically educated people knew that empress dowager Wei had said something wrong.
However, after all, it was Empress Dowager Wei, the biological mother of this body. After Zhao Jiu paused for a moment, he finally leaned forward and said with a smile: "The Empress Dowager is right, if the night is not almost like day, a feast of a hundred
Sheep, how could he be the king of subjugation? He even took his whole family to the Five Kingdoms City? And if I didn’t feel it was a waste to light a candle, why would I start anew and become the king of ZTE?"
"The official family is simple." In the silence, it was Empress Dowager Zheng who in turn spoke up for the pale Empress Dowager Wei. "That's why it can achieve great things."
"It's not simplicity." Zhao Jiu put away his smile and sighed in response. "It's that every time you go against Cao, things can happen!"
This time, even Empress Dowager Zheng turned pale, but Empress Dowager Wei's political literacy was really poor. After she recovered, she still didn't understand.