Chapter 213 Everyone is gone
Looking at these two bald avatars with strange expressions, Di Qing always felt that something was wrong.
But there is no evidence.
After all, Lu Sen had helped him twice before he left Bianjing City.
Now Di Qing has enemies everywhere, and the only two people in the court who can help him to block the rumors are Bao Longtu and Pang Taishi. But one of them was demoted and will leave Beijing soon, and the other claimed to be sick at home and did not attend the court, let alone take care of the court affairs.
I thought there was nothing I could do.
Unexpectedly, Lu Sen suddenly appeared.
Honestly speaking, the fact that Lu Sen came as a guest was enough to help Di Qing block a lot of rumors. Now he also personally made two sacred beasts for him to guard the gate, which made it clear that he was backing him up.
The biggest and most troublesome rumor about Di Qing was nothing more than the fact that the old dog had grown dragon horns, implying that he harbored evil intentions.
But when Lu Sen showed up and sent a sacred beast to guard the gate, there was no excuse for Di Qing to use the "strange vision" to blame him.
It is still a question whether the old dog with horns dares to appear in front of Master Lu, considering the things you have spread.
If they want to suppress Di Qing again now, they must have real evidence, but Di Qing really has no intention of rebelling, so how could he have evidence in the hands of others?
In this way, the trouble caused by the dog and the dragon can come to an end.
There are naturally quite a few smart people who can see clearly what is going on.
However, there are still most mediocre people in the world who can only see the surface and believe in superficial news.
Many people heard that Master Lu had given General Di two sacred beasts to guard the gate, so they all came.
The entrance to General Di's house, which had been deserted and quiet, suddenly became crowded with people.
The people in Bianjing City are all talkative and speak very fluently.
"Tsk, is this really the divine beast created by Master Lu? Why does it look a little strange to me? I feel like it's showing off to me."
"Did you see the square brick under the human face? Master Lu's square golden brick is unique in the world."
"These two sacred beasts should be divided into male and female. The left one is more respected. The one looking sideways to the left should be male, and the one looking to the right should be female."
"Although these two beasts don't look happy, they seem quite interesting. To be honest, in the past, when I passed by General Di's gate, I always felt a chill, but now looking at these two sacred beasts guarding the gate, I feel as if my heart is blossoming."
"I envy General Di for being protected by Master Lu."
"What are you still standing there for? Carve out the image of this sacred beast. Although we don't have Master Lu's square bricks, we can build one with blue bricks and then carve out the face and eyebrows of this sacred beast with stone balls. Even if it's not as strong as the original one, it should be able to suppress evil at least a little bit."
“That makes sense.”
"It doesn't have to be a stone statue, a paper painting should also work as a door god."
"Brother, you have an idea. Put two door gods, Shentu on the left and Yulei on the right, and put two sacred beasts below to ward off demons and ghosts... By the way, what are the names of these sacred beasts?"
The common door gods in the Northern Song Dynasty were Qin Shubao and Yuchi Jingde, two great generals of the early Tang Dynasty.
"It seems to be called something like Arrogant Beast?"
"This name is also good, it must be very domineering, this kind of name can really suppress evil."
In this way, people who had seen enough of the fun left, but more people came to see the new things.
The whole street became very crowded. If General Di’s mansion had not been majestic enough for the common people, they would not have dared to get close to the threshold. Otherwise, the crowd would have probably pushed the door open.
In addition, the rumors became more and more exaggerated.
Originally, in Lu Sen's words, these two "holy beasts" were only used to suppress evil spirits, but as the story spread, they also had other "special effects" such as safe travel, and protecting mother and child. Later, they also had other "special effects" such as increasing wealth.
In short, the two funny sphinxes with slanting eyes smiling, one on the left and one on the right, became known to the people of the entire Bianjing city in less than a day.
In the inner hall of Di Mansion, the general was leisurely drinking tea.
The panic and fear from the past few days have now disappeared.
The only point that the civil service class used to attack him was "rumors", but with Lu Sen backing him up, it was no longer possible to attack him with rumors about ghosts.
And the others could not find any 'points' to attack Di Qing.
If a general does not have military power, he will no longer have any "weaknesses".
Once a person has no worries, his mood will naturally be good.
While drinking tea and listening to the noisy voices outside, the old housekeeper came in and said with a smile: "My dear, the neighbors outside are copying those two arrogant beasts. I guess they want to get two door guards for their own homes when they return."
"It's a good idea indeed... Get ready, I have to go to court tomorrow." Di Qing smiled happily.
"My dear, you are not sick anymore?"
"I am cured."
Di Qing’s illness is actually quite serious, it’s a heart disease!
If you are not careful, you may get depression and die, but as long as you take the right medicine, there will be no problem.
"Then congratulations, sir." The old butler bowed with a smile.
"Oh, by the way, ask your embroiderer to embroider a male arrogant beast cloak tonight. I will hang it behind me when I go to court tomorrow."
When the old housekeeper heard this, he was immediately happy: "This is great, let the sacred beast protect you, I will go downstairs immediately and ask the embroiderer to work overnight."
Di Qing took another sip of tea happily.
The crowd outside the Di Mansion gradually dispersed until almost midnight. Di Qing went to bed early. He had not had a good sleep during this period.
When the cock crowed, Di Qing put on his court robes, and then the sleepy-eyed embroiderer came over with a cloak.
I have to say that the craftsmanship of the Di family embroiderer is quite good. The funny expression portrait painted on the back is surprisingly similar to the one outside, and is full of sarcastic magic.
Di Qing took a look and tied the cloak around his body without hesitation, saying with a smile, "Thank you for your hard work, embroiderer. You will get one tael of silver from the housekeeper later."
"Thank you very much for the money." The middle-aged embroiderer was very happy to hear this.
One tael of silver was enough to provide food for her family of five for more than half a year.
Then Di Qing looked at the old housekeeper and said, "Go to the market and ask a skilled craftsman to help make a few masks of the arrogant beast. They will most likely be used in future battles."
Di Qing is extremely handsome, although not as handsome as Lu Sen and Zhan Zhao, but like Bai Yutang, his face is relatively feminine.
Therefore, when Di Qing went to the battlefield, no enemy was afraid of him, so he could only wear a ferocious mask.
But now Di Qing has a better choice. He will wear the mask of the Aonioshou from now on, and the flags of the Di family army will also be replaced with those of the Aonioshou.
After the old guest Ai and the embroiderer left, Di Qing casually ate a few mouthfuls of white porridge to fill his stomach, and then went to the morning court.
He arrived outside the palace gate on time. Many court officials had already arrived. When they saw Di Qing, they all looked surprised.
The civil servants' expressions towards Di Qing were naturally not very friendly.
Although there were many military officers among the officials, they did not communicate with Di Qing.
But Di Qing didn't care and stood quietly by himself. The arrogant beast cloak he was wearing attracted countless eyes.
The officials were well-informed and knew that Di Qing had a crush on Lu Sen. They were jealous and envious.
Some people also think it is a great pity.
Di Qing could have been pressed to death, but he was able to turn over.
Not long after, the palace gate opened and officials filed into the imperial palace.
If Zhao Zhen were still alive, officials would usually wait for the emperor.
After all, Zhao Zhen's sleep quality was not very good, so he preferred to stay in bed, so he would go to court later.
But now there is a little boy about nine years old sitting on the dragon throne, wearing a dragon robe. The outfit looks quite intimidating, but his face is confused and he seems very helpless.
On the left side of the dragon throne sat a middle-aged woman, quite pretty.
All the officials greeted the young official, and the young official greeted them back, imitating the gestures and movements of his father that he remembered.
But Empress Dowager Cao, who was sitting next to her, did not even stand up or return the greeting.
The young official hadn't even mentioned going to court yet, but Empress Dowager Cao spoke first: "My Lords, the matter in the northwest cannot be delayed any longer. The Imperial City Office has received secret letters one after another. Now the Xixia people are getting closer and closer to Xi'an. If they break through Xi'an and go straight down the Yellow River, our Bianliang will be in danger."
"Didn't you order Marshal Mu to lead the troops to fight the enemy?"
"Marshal Mu said that the Yang family only had two weak women and it was difficult for them to hold the fort, so he wanted to ask Master Lu to help. He even asked the Prince of Runan and Grand Tutor Pang to sign a seal to invite Master Lu over."
"Marshal Yang and Master Lu should be able to stop the Xixia people."
All the officials discussed the matter and their worries were greatly reduced.
But at this moment, someone suddenly said, "You are too happy too early. Yesterday evening, I saw a divine creature flying in the sky and leaving Bianliang City. Who else can fly in the sky now, except Master Lu?"
He is Ouyang Xiu. When Bao Zheng and Master Pang were not in the court, he was the most famous.
His voice was full of energy and echoed throughout the entire hall, so everyone could hear it clearly.
Empress Dowager Cao's expression suddenly changed. She asked anxiously, "Master Ouyang, is what you said true?"
Ouyang Xiu nodded.
"What should we do?" Queen Mother Cao glanced around the hall and asked anxiously, "Master Lu is unwilling to get involved in this matter. Can the Yang family take on the important task of defending the country from the enemy?"
All officials were silent.
Ouyang Xiu clasped his fists and said, "Queen Mother, if the Yang family can only lead the wing troops, even if Marshal Mu has great abilities, he will not be able to stop the Xixia people. If she can be given 200,000 imperial troops, things should be very promising."
Now, apart from a few border troops, the only ones who still have combat effectiveness are the imperial guards.
It is impossible to move the border troops, so we can only let the wing troops and the imperial guards go into battle.
Empress Cao's face was full of reluctance: "But the imperial guards guarding the capital only have 230,000 soldiers. If we give 200,000 imperial guards to the Yang family, how can we guarantee the safety of Bianliang?"
"If we can keep the enemy out of Xi'an, Bianliang will not suffer from the disaster of war." Ouyang Xiu sighed and said, "Empress Dowager, this matter should be jointly formulated by us, the Secretariat, and the Emperor. You just need to watch quietly."
"I am watching you right now." Empress Dowager Cao knew what Ouyang Xiu meant, but she didn't give him any face, nor was she afraid of this group of literati officials: "The enemy army is about to arrive at the city, but you literati still haven't come up with a solution. How can I watch and listen at ease?"
After hearing this, all the scholars and officials felt unhappy, but they had no way to refute it.
Seeing that all the officials were scared, Empress Dowager Cao sighed and said, "Then I will draft another decree to the Yang family and ask Marshal Mu to send troops in the near future. I will take a step back and allocate 100,000 imperial guards to her so that she can go to war quickly."
At that moment, a yellow cloth edict was written in the hands of Empress Dowager Cao, and then a eunuch led a dozen guards to the Yang family.
In feudal times, the speed of information dissemination was very slow. Even in the same city, it took a certain amount of time to notify individuals.
Empress Dowager Cao suppressed her uneasiness and talked with other officials about people's livelihood and politics. After chatting for a while, she looked at Di Qing and asked, "General Di, what is the name of the cloak you are wearing?"
Di Qing stood up, saluted, and turned his back to Queen Mother Cao to show a funny expression, then turned back and said, "Queen Mother, the beast engraved on this cloak is the sacred beast of Master Lu, which has the ability to drive away evil spirits and protect the house. I thought I was full of evil spirits, so I asked the embroiderer to make these cloaks overnight to suppress the arrogant beast."
When these words were spoken, the civil servants all sighed.
General Wu's expression did not seem very friendly.
"Where is the old dog with dragon horns in General Di's family?" Empress Dowager Xi said with a smile, her eyes slightly opened.
"They beat him to death and cooked him into dog meat and ate it."
"General Di is really generous." Queen Mother Cao smiled happily.
Di Qing smiled pretentiously and said, "No matter how magical it is, a dog is still a dog. It can't turn into a dragon, let alone a dragon."
Queen Mother Cao nodded with satisfaction.
She personally had no ill feelings towards Di Qing; after all, she was also from a military family.
The ones who really wanted Di Qing to die were still the civil servants.
Originally, she thought that Di Qing would be seriously injured this time. If he didn't die, he would at least be badly injured, for example, he would be sent to Lianguan to be a guerrilla cavalry.
But no one expected that Di Qing actually had someone to help him.
Since Di Qing is fine, there is no need to pay too much attention to it. Anyway, unless there is a big battle to be fought in the future, Di Qing will probably never get the complete tiger talisman in his lifetime. After all, the rumor about a dragon giving birth to a dog's head is too serious and sensitive.
The civil officials were a little unhappy to see Di Qing escape danger.
The young official seemed to understand nothing and was counting his fingers for fun.
Empress Dowager Cao was just about to continue talking with the civil officials when, at this moment, an eunuch rushed in from outside, ran to the dragon throne, and knelt down with a thud.
"Sir, Queen Mother, something terrible has happened."
"What's wrong? Why are you making such a fuss?" Queen Mother Cao was a little displeased.
"Everyone in the Yang family is gone. There is not even a ghost in the entire Yang family."
"What!" Queen Mother Cao stood up in fear: "They escaped?"
The civil and military officials were in an uproar.
"How is it possible? The Yang family is a loyal family. How can Marshal Mu be so ignorant of the overall situation?"
"Marshal Mu was born a female bandit, so it's normal that she doesn't know the general situation. Doesn't Old Lady She understand how critical the situation of our Song Dynasty is right now?"
"How could this happen? These two women are bringing shame to the Yang family."
"The reputation that three generations of men in the Yang family have worked so hard to earn is about to be ruined by two women."
The entire court was frightened. In desperation, all kinds of things were said. Some people's words were even unpleasant to the ear, and they did not sound like scholars at all.
Di Qing looked at the people around him and felt the anxious and fearful atmosphere in the air. He wanted to laugh.
Empress Dowager Cao finally came to her senses at this time: "Who were the imperial guards guarding the city yesterday and last night? Although the Yang family is in a bad state, there are still 30 to 40 people. Such a large group is leaving the city, and the target is so obvious, why didn't they stop them?"
