Chapter 214: Centrifugal
At this time, the military officer who had been standing by and not speaking, the commander of the Imperial City Department, stepped out and clasped his fists and said, "Your Majesty, we have checked and found that the Yang family did not go out yesterday."
Empress Dowager Cao angrily slapped the handle of the chair, and then roared, "Since they didn't leave, could it be that the Yang family escaped with wings? Don't tell me these nonsense..."
At this moment, she suddenly remembered that the Yang family had a son-in-law named Lu Sen!
She immediately turned her gaze to Ouyang Xiu who had just spoken: "Councillor Ouyang, did you really see with your own eyes a divine object flying through the sky and leaving the city?"
Ouyang Xiu nodded heavily.
Now everyone understood that it was Lu Sen who helped the Yang family leave. As for how they left, who could have guessed whether it was some immortal method!
"The Yang family betrayed the court, should we..." An official stood up and made a suggestion, which seemed to mean that the Yang family should be made wanted criminals.
But Ouyang Xiu interrupted immediately and said, "Zhang Siyan, this is inappropriate and cannot be discussed. The Yang family may no longer have men. If Marshal Mu and Old Lady She are willing to resign, that would be great. If they are unwilling to resign and we force them to do so, how will the world view us? The court officials, a bunch of real men, force two women to fight against the tigers and wolves of the northwest, while we men eat and drink and watch the show from behind. How will the people of the world view us from now on? Have you ever thought about it!"
The officials felt their scalps tingling when they thought about the overwhelming public opinion if they really did this.
The Yang family has always had an excellent reputation. The fact that Xingqing Prefecture was lost and the whereabouts of the only son of the Yang family was unknown had long been widely known. They could be said to be a family of heroes and loyal martyrs.
There are only two widows left in the family. If others are unwilling to go to the battlefield, how can they bear the consequences if they are forced to do so?
At that moment, all the officials were saddened and discussed the matter. Then they thought that not only public opinion but also Master Lu’s wishes should be taken into consideration.
Originally, Master Lu looked down on the officials of the imperial court, and this incident made it even more so... Now even the Yang family has been taken away. If this happens again, Master Lu will probably be extremely angry and flee to the Khitan in the north. That would be a big problem.
They were talking without restraint, but they did not notice that Di Qing, who was standing behind the crowd, had a look of shock on his face, as if some of his ideas had been reversed.
Originally, they were thinking of relying on Lu Sen to cooperate with the Yang family to defend against the enemy outside Xi'an. But now, there is no one suitable to withstand this crisis.
Wait...it's not that!
Now, everyone's eyes fell on Di Qing.
The rumor that the old dog had dragon horns has been dispelled. He even came to court on his own and no longer claimed to be sick.
Queen Mother Cao turned her gaze over, her slightly plump face showing some expectation: "Mr. Di, it seems that the safety of our Song Dynasty depends entirely on you."
Di Qing had expected this to happen. When he heard that the two women of the Yang family had disappeared, he had not guessed the current situation.
Especially when listening to everyone's discussion just now, he felt a sense of relief as if he had finally figured it out.
He felt happy in his heart, but his face showed no expression. He slowly stood up, clasped his fists and said, "Your Majesty, I cannot take on this responsibility."
Now everyone was talking about it.
Ouyang Xiu, Yan Shu and others looked at Di Qing with serious expressions.
They suddenly understood that Di Qing now seemed to have figured it out and was no longer manipulated by the civil servants and the court.
It can be said that what Di Qing should be most grateful for to get to where he is today is the recognition and support of Grand Tutor Pang and the trust of Song Renzong Zhao Zhen.
Now that Grand Tutor Pang is claiming illness and not attending court, and Zhao Zhen has fallen asleep, Di Qing used to have enough awe for the court and the civil officials, but the secret oppression he has suffered during this period, and the endless malice hidden in the undercurrent of the court, have been rushing towards him, trying to swallow him up.
He could only respond passively out of gratitude to Master Pang and the late emperor.
But yesterday, Lu Sen only used two stone statues to break the so-called malicious intentions of these civil servants. Now, when he heard that Lu Sen had transferred the Yang family's people away, he realized that he had indeed done something wrong. In dealing with people, he was actually not as generous as the two women of the Yang family.
Women are not afraid of the imperial court. When they are bullied to the extreme, they turn around and leave without saying a word.
I'm a grown man, why not!
Di Qing was very smart, otherwise he would not have become a famous general, but he had a mental illness, so he never dared to implement his own "tactics" in the court.
The officialdom is like a battlefield, and the tactical skills on the battlefield can also be used in the officialdom.
After hearing that the Yang family had disappeared, Di Qing was shocked, and in less than an incense stick of time, his mentality had changed.
Seeing that Di Qing did not seem to have the will to lead the troops to fight the enemy, Empress Dowager Cao became anxious and asked, "In the Song Dynasty today, who else in the world can be called a famous general except General Di? You don't have to be modest anymore. If the southwest wing troops are not enough, we can transfer another 200,000 troops from the east wing to you."
Di Qing shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, it's not that I don't want to fight on the battlefield, but we can't defeat the Xixia people with just the garrison troops."
How could Di Qing not know the combat strength of the Xiang Army?
Why did it take him several years to quell the war in the southwest? It was because the garrison troops were not very useful. He had to train for a while before going to the battlefield, and then train while fighting.
Even so, the casualty rate was extremely high, almost all the veterans were defeated, and the new reinforcements had no combat effectiveness at all.
The Baiyue barbarians in the southwest were essentially a group of multiple tribes fighting in coordination, and in fact were a group of scattered sand, yet they were able to fight like this.
Not to mention fighting against the Xixia people, whose entire nation is a soldier, we would definitely be chopped up like pigs by the Xixia people.
There was no chance to train the troops at all, as the enemy army directly pressed forward in full force.
Empress Cao was, after all, a daughter of a general. She sighed and said, "Then I can dispatch 100,000 imperial guards to help General Di take him away. Is that okay?"
Di Qing still shook his head: "At least 200,000, with enough food and fodder, and supervisors who will not disrupt my deployment."
As soon as these words were spoken, all the officials began to talk about it.
An old censor stepped out and pointed at Di Qing's nose and cursed: "This is not decent. If the military supervisor has no command authority, what will happen if you, General Di, want to lead the troops back to Bianjing?"
Back then, Emperor Shizong of Later Zhou, Chai Rong, trusted Zhao Yiyi so much that he almost gave up all his military forces to him. Everyone knows what happened in the end.
So this is what the censor was alluding to.
As a result of the attack on Western Xia the year before, they were tricked by Wang Jiefu and a large number of capable soldiers died in vain, resulting in a lack of combat power in the northwest.
If we can defend Xingqing Prefecture and recuperate for a few years, we will be able to rebuild our fighting strength.
After all, soldiers need to be recruited and trained.
This all takes time.
But who knew that Sima Guang would go there and set up another trap for Xingqing Prefecture. Now there is a big hole in the northwest, and all kinds of snakes, dogs, rats and wolves can come in from there.
If you want to block it, you cannot do so without sufficient troops.
However, the only ones capable of fighting now are the imperial guards, and their number is only about 250,000. If 200,000 were given to Di Qing, as long as he had a bit of the ambition of Emperor Taizong of Song, he would be able to wear the imperial robe again.
Therefore, all the officials in the court agreed with the censor's accusations this time and felt that he was right.
Di Qing used to think so too. In order to avoid suspicion, he would even lower his posture to the point of being humble. However, this time was different. Di Qing had completed the psychological change process just a short incense stick away.
Facing the censor's accusation, Di Qing said calmly: "Li Siyan, you are right . I can leave the imperial guards behind, but I cannot guarantee that I can keep the enemy out of Xi'an. I will obey the imperial court's orders. At worst, I will die on the battlefield and sacrifice my life for my country."
"You!" Li Siyan's eyes widened.
Di Qing's words sounded heroic, but the whole thing only meant one thing: we don't have enough people to win the battle. It doesn't matter if I die, but it is estimated that the Western Xia people will be at the gates of Bianjing by then.
This already has a threatening tone and is completely unlike Di Qing's usual character.
In the past, he could only endure being bullied by civil servants.
Han Qi dared to point at his nose and scold him, and he could kill his trusted and beloved generals without hesitation.
But now, although Di Qing's face showed humility, his words were full of arrogance.
"General Di does not dare to take on such a heavy responsibility. Who among you ministers dares to take on this heavy responsibility?" Queen Mother Cao looked around at all the ministers.
No one stood up, and no one spoke. Except for Di Qing, everyone lowered their heads.
Empress Dowager Cao frowned, and had no choice but to look at Di Qing again and asked, "General Di, who do you think is capable of commanding the troops?"
"There are so many civil officials in this hall, all of whom are well-versed in military books. I think any one of them, picked at random, would be much better than me."
What does it mean to kill someone and destroy their heart? What does it mean to kick someone when he is down?
This is... Di Qing looked at the civil servants around him glaring at him, and when he looked over, all the civil servants turned their eyes away, as if they were afraid that Di Qing would "point" at them.
Suddenly, I felt a sense of satisfaction that I had never experienced before, spreading throughout my body.
Is it so comfortable to be rude to others?
So this is what Master Lu felt when he cursed all the court officials as trash?
Then he smiled, looked at the little boy on the dragon throne, and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, it's time to invite Master Pang to the court. Now the court needs someone who can calm the situation."
Empress Dowager Cao's face suddenly changed.
Ouyang Xiu glanced at Di Qing, then turned and said, "Your Majesty, I second your proposal. It is time to invite Grand Tutor Pang to the court."
Empress Dowager Cao was gritting her teeth, but she didn't know what to say.
There are many forces in the court, and their interests and demands are different.
Although the civil officials were extremely united in targeting the military generals, they were also afraid that the empress dowager would seize power.
Not to mention female emperors like Wu Zhao, the incident involving Empress Dowager Liu E alone was enough to make civil officials alert.
They don't want another Empress Dowager Liu to appear.
The little boy sitting on the dragon chair looked left and right, then looked back at Queen Mother Cao and asked timidly, "Mother, should I invite Master Pang to the court?"
Empress Dowager Cao smiled with difficulty: "This matter is up to the emperor to decide."
"Then please ask Grand Tutor Pang to come to the court." The little boy showed an innocent smile: "My father once told me that if I am unclear about something, I can ask Grand Tutor Pang, and if I am undecided, I can ask Bao Longtu."
Empress Dowager Cao's smile became even more forced.
Lu Sen had no idea what was happening in the court. He flew out of Bianjing City with Pang Meir and soon caught up with the Yang family.
Mu Guiying and others also walked along the bank of the Bian River as he said.
Lu Sen moored a large square wooden boat by the river and accommodated more than 30 members of the Yang family on it.
Except for the two widows of the Yang family, the rest were servants or family guards.
These people can not only ride horses to kill enemies, but also drive cars and sail boats.
The big wooden boat sailed steadily under their operation.
Old Lady She stood at the stern, looking towards the direction of Bianliang, her face full of reluctance.
Mu Guiying advised, "Old lady, don't be sad. That place is a sad place. It's better not to stay there."
"Have you collected the spirit tablets of our ancestors and children?"
Mu Guiying nodded.
All the spirit tablets in the ancestral temple on the low hill were taken back and carefully placed in several boxes.
As for the corpses… few of the men in the Yang family and the women who went to the war were able to return home for burial.
Almost all of them were dressed in formal attire.
The old lady sighed, "After Hangzhou is settled, we have to send someone to Xingqing Prefecture to look for Wen Guang. We can't say that we need to see his body, but at least we have to confirm whether he is still alive." At this point, even the old lady who was used to seeing life and death, her eyes turned red, "If Wen Guang is gone, our Yang family will be extinct."
Mu Guiying looked even more lost and sad. After all, Yang Wenguang was born after she carried her baby for ten months. Even if she was a heroine, when it came to being a mother, she was no different from an ordinary woman.
She knew very well that saying missing was actually a euphemism for someone's death and their body could not be found.
Lu Sen listened for a while and was a little worried about the two elders. Seeing them so sad, he interrupted and said, "Old lady, mother-in-law, don't be too sad. If we really can't find Wen Guang, when Jin Hua and I have our first baby boy, we'll give him the surname Yang."
Hearing this, the two widows turned around immediately, their faces full of shock, especially Old Lady She, who looked even more surprised: "Sen'er, are you serious?"
"There's no need to lie to please the two elders." Lu Sen smiled and said, "I'm a cultivator, and I don't take blood inheritance very seriously."
Lu Sen really didn't care about this. Even if the surname was Yang, wasn't it still his own child? Besides, Lu Sen himself took his mother's surname, so this was very natural to him.
"Good, good, good!" Old Lady She was so happy that her mouth almost opened wide: "Sen'er, from now on, the Yang family will follow your lead."
Old Lady She was very knowledgeable about the ways of the world. She understood that if Lu Sen was willing to adopt a child with Jinhua, then the Yang and Lu families would be a family for at least the next three generations.
This "following the leader" means that they are one family and also express gratitude.
Lu Sen then said, "It will probably take several more years for Jinhua to get pregnant."
Old Lady She nodded repeatedly: "I understand that Jinhua is not worthy of you. Don't worry, when I arrive in Hangzhou, I will definitely urge Jinhua to improve herself."
Lu Sen really didn’t mean that!
And if Yang Jinhua wants to make rapid progress, she needs to practice the dual cultivation method more.
Encourage Jinhua to be more intimate with you?
Hmm...it seems quite interesting.
Lu Sen likes to see Jinhua being shy but having to take the initiative to ask for sex the most.
In addition, if you don’t come to Bianjing City, you really won’t know that the officials in the court are becoming more and more useless. They suppress loyal and capable ministers like Di Qing and force women to go to the front line.
It is better not to have such a court.
If I could change... wait, speaking of the crown prince, it seems that there is another one in Hangzhou.
Zhao Zongshi, Zhao Shu, was also Emperor Yingzong of Song in history.
Then the Yang family also came to Hangzhou... and the Prince of Runan... seemed to be making some progress.
