Chapter 582: Falsely Reporting Travel Expenses
Shunzhidi nodded and asked Fan Zhong to go to the Ministry of Rites to discuss making the engagement letter with gold foil and prepare the etiquette before going to Huaxi Village.
When she got home, Shunzhidi told her sisters that the emperor had changed his ways and wanted to do research on national history. Then she said indignantly that these people had hurt Yulin'er badly in the past, but they let him off so easily.
Ma Linger said with a smile: What else can we do?
Brother Yulin doesn't care, so the sister should be more generous. She is a woman who has been a mother and gave birth to two children. Now she is the ruler of the country. This little thing is not a big deal.
Shunzhidi blushed and complained to her shyly: Sister, what are you talking about? How is this matter related to giving birth?
These things are totally unrelated.
The Fire Phoenix laughed and said: Your sister Ma Ling, you are saying that it is difficult to have a baby, so what’s the point of issuing a letter of employment to the government?
After all, he was the emperor of the previous dynasty for decades. If he accepted the offer letter, he would be willing to work for Zhidi. We should be happy.
Shunzhidi was showing off and rubbed Ma Linger's shoulders and neck vigorously.
Fenghuang tactfully told her: This is governing a country, we can't be so petty.
When she heard that Zhidi also had to review the expenses of officials on business trips, she advised her not to do it and to let the deputy of the Office do it, which would not only be easier but also less troublesome.
Shunzhidi said seriously, "How can that be possible?"
Some officials were falsifying their travel expenses, so Feiyan ordered them to keep a close eye on them and not to waste a single penny.
Fire Phoenix smiled and nodded, saying: "When water is too clear, there will be no fish. What's the use of that little bit of silver ?" Let your sister Ma Ling's transportation department go down there to do a special investigation, and then let Lord Hua's Censorate arrest and punish the people and things found. That's it.
Governing a country is about governing its people. We don't need to be afraid of a small problem, and we can still get a glimpse of the whole picture.
Besides , who doesn't want to take advantage of a little bit and be more lenient? As long as it's not excessive, why should the ruler care about these trivial matters?
Shunzhidi slowed down her work, as if she was thinking about something.
Ma Linger said with a smile that the dirty and tiring work like auditing could be left to her, so how could our king be troubled by it? The king should quickly collect opinions and complete the important task of supporting agriculture and sericulture this year.
Shunzhidi continued to massage Ma Linger while saying that in order to do this job well, she had to go to Wenjiang to see for herself how Huluan's changes were going.
What can be implemented nationwide?
Phoenix nodded approvingly and said: That's right.
The next day, Shunzhidi personally went to Huaxi Villa in the west of the city to present the emperor with a letter of appointment as a special-grade historical researcher, thanking Zhao Shu for his willingness to come out and work for the New Song Dynasty, and ordered the establishment of a national history research office in the New Song Dynasty's Academic Affairs Department.
The emperor gladly accepted it and told Zhidi not to worry, he would be loyal to his duties and do his job well.
This is what we call Shunzhidi's joy. She went out happily to Wenjiang County.
After the ceremonies in the living room, the Empress Dowager saw that the Emperor actually accepted the letter of appointment issued by Shunzhidi. This was an announcement to the world: the royal family of the previous dynasty had completely withdrawn from the stage of history.
This matter will definitely be reported in the newspapers of the New Song Dynasty. Once everyone in the world knows about it, it will be tantamount to declaring that the Zhao Dynasty no longer exists. Then what is the difference between her, the Queen Mother of the Zhao family, and a sloppy old woman on the street?
The empress dowager was furious, her face flushed with anger, but she did not dare to come out and make trouble at the time. As soon as Shunzhidi left, she caught the emperor and scolded him.
This time the emperor straightened his back and yelled at her: Why are you howling? Do you still want to live your life?
The New Song Dynasty court is about to stop providing us with expenses. What should I do if I don’t come out to work?
Are they all going to starve to death on the streets like beggars?
The Queen Mother was completely speechless.
Oh my, she only has ten strings of money. Without the emperor's protection, she can only spend it frugally and eat thin porridge every day. This is something that Xie Wuhui has to apply to the Ministry of Rites to extend the payment time to maintain. Does she really have to go out on the street and beg for a living?
The emperor felt very proud and happy when he saw the empress dowager in a daze. He told the empress dowager not to worry, because from now on, whatever he ate would also be eaten by the empress dowager, and he would use his salary as a researcher to support the empress dowager.
The emperor's statement is very important and demonstrates his manly sense of responsibility.
He turned around and walked into the house with a smile on his face. As soon as he entered the house, the queen brought him some hot tea and told him joyfully that it was the Emei Snow Buds sent by Zhidi, and that each tea leaf had a delicate fragrance.
The emperor was happy. This life was not much different from being an emperor. He had everything he wanted. The only regret was that Kuang Sisi ignored him.
When Lin'an was captured by the Mongolian army, he abandoned Kuang Sisi and fled in order to save his life. However, he never expected that Zhao Yulin had already made arrangements and actually rescued Kuang Sisi to Shu, making her the real Lady Danfeng.
Today, after the emperor recovered his energy, he often recalled the passionate years between him and Kuang Sisi, and his heart was filled with longing again.
But what could he do? Madam Danfeng lived in the city and they had never had any contact.
This is not something that Zhao Yulin can accomplish with just one sentence.
At this moment, he had returned to Cuiping Mountain and was reading the military newspaper with Wu Yuqi.
The Shenwei Army in Taiyuan launched a campaign to recapture Yanmen Pass, which was a bold battle plan. At present, the Shenwei Army only occupied Bingzhou in Taiyuan, and Yanmen Pass was still hundreds of miles away.
Captain Liu Zheng of the Sixth Column proposed to the commander-in-chief Liu Qiangguang to attack Yanmen. He believed that although Shiling Pass, the first pass north of Bingzhou, was heavily guarded by the Mongolian army, it would be easy to take it down. The team could just go there, set up the catapults and launch a fierce attack to succeed.
Because the Mongolian army did not estimate the speed of the Shenwei Army's attack, the fortifications they built were very crude, and the city walls were still earth walls made of loess. The fortifications built in front of the pass could not withstand the attack of mortars, not to mention that we still have indestructible weapons such as the red cannon and iron barrel cannon.
Secondly, we cannot attack one fortress after another. If we do that, we will be like when King Cao left Hangu Pass and got stuck in a tough battle.
He proposed to lead a group of elite soldiers, equipped with a large number of mortars, to take a shortcut over the mountains and ridges to Yanmen Pass, and then attack the gate from the north in the opposite direction, which would surely make it easy to capture the pass.
This plan was indeed very risky. Li Shichang believed that it was no less risky than the plan taken by the Third Young Master to go to Guanzhong via Ziwu.
Liu Zheng asked them: The number and equipment of the Shenwei Army were far inferior to what they are now, why didn't they dare to take the risk? He was willing to sign a military order, lead 3,000 soldiers and horses, and give him 30 mortars to take Yanmen.
Gu Shan took off his hat and slammed it on the table and said, "Let's do it. The enemy is losing again and again and is in a state of panic. It is far different from when they attacked Guanzhong. Let's do it."
Liu Qiangguang also slammed the table and said: Let’s do it.
The brothers quickly refined the plan and launched a surprise attack on Yanmen.
The military report that Zhao Yulin saw was the victory report sent by Lai Chuanfang: the Shenwei Army won the frontal attack on Shiling Pass, succeeded in the surprise attack on Yanmen Pass, and was attacking Daizhou.
When the Mongolian army learned that Yanmen Pass had fallen, they fled, and those who did not have time to escape simply surrendered to the New Song Dynasty.
Haha, few words can convey a lot.
The Shenwei Army of Taiyuan Prefecture actually captured Yanmen. That's quite remarkable.
Zhao Yulin happily picked up the tea bowl and drank tea.
Liu Zheng and Liu Qiangguang agreed that they would have five days to lead their troops to attack Yanmen Pass through a shortcut together with Li Shichang. The two of them set out with 5,000 people and arrived at the foot of Yanmen Pass on time on the evening of the fourth day. At this time, the Shenwei Army had already begun to attack Shiling Pass. He asked Li Shichang to lead the main force to launch a feint attack on the front, and he led two hundred brothers to climb up from the east side of Yanmen Pass to launch a surprise attack and seize the pass. The two sides agreed to attack at dawn.
After Shiling Pass was attacked, the garrison commander indeed came to ask for help. When the scouts were cut off and fled into the pass, the soldiers guarding the pass immediately panicked and quickly drove their troops to the southeast gate.
The commander guarding the pass was none other than Guiyou's third son Hehu. He was very cunning and knew the power of the Shenwei Army's artillery fire. When he learned that tens of thousands of Shenwei Army were attacking Shiling Pass, he immediately realized that the loss of Shiling was only a matter of time. How could a mere earthen city wall withstand the fierce artillery fire of the Shenwei Army?
The scout told him again that there were no less than 5,000 enemy troops outside the pass. This guy became even more panicked, thinking that the real intention of the Shenwei Army was not to capture Shiling Pass, but to seize Yanmen Pass to block the retreat of the Mongolian army.
The Shenwei Army did not even need to capture Yanmen. They could stop the fleeing Mongolian army in front of the pass and block the valley entrance from which they could launch a rescue attack. The Mongolian troops defending the surrounding areas would be isolated and helpless and would be defeated and surrender one by one.
There is also a piece of gossip: his father ascended to heaven, and Kuoduan went to the royal court without telling him. This is very disadvantageous to him. The most important thing right now is to find the Empress Lemazhen and get the most rights and interests for himself in the empire.
This guy is in a dilemma, what should I do?
Should we still defend Yanmen?
He started thinking about this problem as soon as it got dark. On the one hand, he dispatched troops to guard the pass, and on the other hand, he asked his personal guards and the concubine to pack up the gold and silver jewelry.
At dawn, the Shenwei Army launched a direct attack in front of the pass. Dense mortar shells hit the pass and fell into the inside of the pass. The Mongolian army panicked when they heard the rumbling sound of the artillery, and immediately opened the door and fled with the Mongolian troops. It happened that Liu Zheng led the suicide squad to climb up the city wall, and five mortars bombarded the inside of the pass from the northeast hillside, and every bomb hit the target.
Hehu stopped pretending and started galloping away, shouting loudly.
Seeing that their commander had fled, the Han army inside the pass had no desire to fight anymore and quickly collapsed.
In this way, the Shenwei Army quickly captured Yanmen and closed an important channel for the Mongolian army to escape to the north.
After reading the military report, Zhao Feiyan was overjoyed. She laughed and asked Zhao Yulin to accompany the sisters across the river to have a good firewood chicken to celebrate, because it would be embarrassing to show up in public after a while.
The family quickly went out and crossed the river.
In Jinguan City, Chengdu, Shunzhidi was already hosting a banquet to celebrate the great victory at Yanmen Pass.
When Shunfeng Division received the first victory report, Huo Fenghuang advised Shunzhidi not to rush and wait until more detailed military reports confirmed the results before announcing it.
Because Yanmen Pass is the number one pass in the world, such a battle result must be treated with caution.
Shunzhidi said excitedly: The series of victories at the front should be rewarded for the Shenwei Army.
Ma Linger said with a smile that our sister, as the king, wanted to do something for the Shenwei Army, so why not give the soldiers a 10% increase in their allowances, and the Transportation Department could come up with the money.
This was exactly what Shunzhidi wanted to do, and the little woman nodded happily.
Fire Phoenix told her: The New Year is coming, and we should make everyone happy.
Zhidi asked her what to do?
Do we need to raise salaries for all officials?
