Volume 4 Chapter 4: Coming and Going (Part 1)
In the high sky of September, Zhao Jiu personally went out of the city twenty miles to see off the Goryeo envoy Zheng Zhichang on his return to the east. He also held banquets along the way and asked civil and military officials to accompany him. Every time they traveled a mile, Emperor Zhao would personally raise a cup to toast, and he would also ask a minister who was famous for poetry and prose to compose poems and lyrics to see him off.
When they said goodbye for the last time, Emperor Zhao even held Scholar Zheng's hand and called him an international friend... "Ji" means between each other, which means that Scholar Zheng is worthy of being the weight of the two countries and maintaining friendship for the countries... Besides, Zheng Zhichang had already been intoxicated by all the previous courtesies, and when he received this title when they said goodbye for the last time, he burst into tears and kept calling for the emperor's grace.
It can be said that, apart from the fact that Emperor Zhao happened to have no poetic mood today, which was an extremely regrettable thing, Zheng Xueshi's mission after the situation between Song and Jin was settled was almost perfect.
After returning, he will be able to surpass Jin Fushi by seven or eight heads.
However, when the international friend Zheng Zhichang left accompanied by the envoy Wang Lun, Emperor Zhao turned around and had a rare dark look on his face... and many of the accompanying ministers were also very worried.
There was no other reason. Everyone knew what was going on. Zheng Zhichang had been drunk too much and had already left, but he actually came back and held the emperor's hand, saying that he was grateful for the emperor's kindness and that after returning to Goryeo, he must find out the situation of Wuguo City for the emperor, try his best to redeem the nobles and noble ladies of the Song Dynasty, and try his best to negotiate with the Jin people about the matter of the two saints...
Others may not know, but when Emperor Zhao entrusted his son to the care of Yiyoumen, he had already made his attitude towards Emperor Taishang Daojun clear. So although he could not say it openly, all the important officials knew Emperor Zhao's intentions:
The so-called Northern Hunting Two Saints, the attitude of the Emperor Zhao was not at all "give me a share" when facing the threat of the enemy. That was an open explanation. From the bottom of his heart, he obviously had resentment! It can be said that he was directly looking forward to the other party to quickly give him a "share".
Therefore, how could the official not be annoyed after hearing Zheng Zhichang's superfluous words?
However, it was just an episode after all. Zhao Jiu returned to the city in anger, and the situation gradually calmed down after two or three days. After all, life still had to go on. Then Zhao Ding from Huaishang and Liu Ji from Xiangyang arrived one after another, and so far, the prime ministers in the city were ready, which made the atmosphere more lively.
For example, as soon as Liu Ji arrived, he publicly wrote a letter, pointing out that the situation in Tokyo was different from before, and that the many assignments held by Chen Gui, the Co-director of the Privy Council and Minister of War and Prefect of Kaifeng, were also made during wartime, and should be abolished in imitation of the envoys and ministers in the south... At the same time, he also pointed out that Chen Gui had worked hard and made great contributions, and had never made any mistakes in his overall management of military industry and logistics, and that he should be dismissed from the inappropriate position of Co-director of the Privy Council and directly promoted to Deputy Privy Envoy.
Chen Gui was of course happy about this. He came from a Ming Dynasty law family and had even committed such misdeeds as robbing books from the homes of celebrities. He thought he had no hope of becoming a prime minister in this life and could only hang around like this. Now that he could become a prime minister with a legitimate title, he was happy to do anything.
And it wasn't just Chen Gui. Zhao Jiu also agreed almost immediately. Even the civil and military officials in the court had nothing to say... Because everyone knew without the official saying it that he didn't promote Chen Gui a long time ago only because he was worried that there would be too much resistance and it would seem too drastic, which would be embarrassing if obstacles arose.
In fact, the official had no fundamental reason to object to this matter. In fact, in the official's mind, Chen Gui had already been a prime minister, only lacking the official title.
Therefore, it was almost effortless and natural that as soon as Liu Ji, the deputy prime minister of the capital province, took office, he pushed his old subordinate Chen Gui, who had served for a short time but was unquestionable, to the position of deputy privy envoy.
That's not all. After being "promoted" to a regular position and giving up the posts of prefect of Kaifeng and minister of the Ministry of War, Chen Gui immediately recommended Yan Xiaozhong, the prefect of Nanyang Prefecture, as prefect of Kaifeng, who was immediately recognized by Zhao Jiu.
Now, many people began to look with admiration at Liu Ji, the former Jingxi Transport Commissioner and later Xiangyang Envoy... because both of Liu Ji's personnel suggestions were extremely clever.
To be specific, on the one hand, it took the emperor's wishes into consideration... because everyone knew that both Chen Gui and Yan Xiaozhong were the people favored by the emperor; on the other hand, it used Nanyang, the secondary capital during this special period, to lay the foundation for Prime Minister Liu.
You must know that Liu Ji, Chen Gui and Yan Xiaozhong were all pillars of the court when it was exiled to Nanyang. Moreover, they were all native officials from the area around Nanyang who rose to prominence in the same batch after the imperial court moved to Nanyang. They came together and naturally formed a so-called Nanyang faction.
It can only be said that Prime Minister Liu Ji, if he did not make a move, would have made a stunning debut. He completed his layout in Tokyo quickly before Zhao Ding and Zhang Jun, who were more favored by everyone, made their move, and laid a solid foundation for himself.
But that was where the talk ended. A night later, early the next morning, Zhao Ding and Zhang Jun, who had reacted, almost simultaneously proposed their respective candidates for the Minister of War. Zhao Ding recommended Hu Shijiang, the prefect of Zhenjiang Prefecture. Apparently, Hu Shijiang had work contact with Zhao Ding, who had long served in Huainan, due to issues concerning the transportation of materials and finances. According to Prime Minister Zhao, Hu Shijiang was extremely good at military logistics. Zhang Jun recommended Lü Zhi, the prefect of Jiangning Prefecture. The reason was that after the great victory at Yaoshan, Lü Zhi had sent a booklet he had written to the Privy Council. It was a comprehensive national strategy, covering everything from how to quell the Dongting Lake rebellion to how to manage the entire south and how to destroy the Jin Kingdom step by step. It was written in a vivid and colorful manner, and Zhang Jun, who had just taken over the Privy Council, believed that Lü Zhi was a genius.
In response to this, Zhao Jiu immediately made a decision and appointed Hu Shijiang as the Minister of War.
Zhao Ding breathed a sigh of relief with satisfaction, and Zhang Jun immediately recommended Lu Zhi again as the vacant position of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. This time Zhao Jiu did not veto and immediately agreed, and Zhang Jun also breathed a sigh of relief.
Moreover, after the three new prime ministers gathered, they immediately started to make a fuss about personnel matters. It was indeed a fierce struggle, but there were not too many waves in the court and in and outside the capital... Of course, this lack of waves does not mean that everyone knew who Hu Shijiang and Lu Zhi were early on, nor that everyone was not surprised by Liu Ji's preemptive action, but that everyone had anticipated that the new prime ministers would recommend and use their own people, and they all knew that there would be such a personnel storm.
As I said, personnel is politics and politics is personnel. You, Emperor Zhao, are the Son of Heaven. After your great victory at Mount Yao and your unrivaled power, you still have to employ your trusted figures such as Zhao Ding, Zhang Jun and Liu Ji as prime ministers. On the other hand, the prime ministers, who are the heads of all officials and have the power to participate in the government, also have to employ people themselves. Why don't you, Emperor Zhao, respect the personnel power of these prime ministers?
Especially the important personnel proposals put forward by the prime minister who has just taken office or left office during special periods... If all these things are rejected, then what is the point of this prime minister being in office?
Don't forget that when Li Gang was in the southeast, he still recommended Li Guang and Lin Qi to the court as important ministers; Lu Haowen was so lukewarm at that time , but he still appointed Fan Zongyin and others after he arrived in Nanyang; Lu Yihao once traveled alone to the southeast, but before leaving, he still recommended Zhu Shengfei as the Minister of Rites; after Xu Jingheng chose to give in, he still cut off Lu Yihao's future... Don't treat the prime ministers as freeloaders!
The prime minister is the prime minister, the highest-level leader of the literati of this era. He is the top leader who shares a certain amount of supreme power with Emperor Zhao through the method of political consultation.
If you give someone this position, you must give them corresponding political power, otherwise the political ecology will be destroyed.
Therefore, after the Prime Minister Zhao Ding and the Privy Councilor Zhang Jun competed for the candidate for the Minister of War, Zhao Jiu must of course respect the Prime Minister's first personnel proposal, and on this premise, he also tried his best to respect the Privy Councilor's power to discuss politics.
This is what a wise ruler is!
"Who's back?" The new Kaifeng prefect and the Minister of War had not yet arrived, and they were still accompanied by Prime Minister Chen Gui. Zhao Jiu, who was watching the ceramic gunpowder jar experiment at Daxiangguo Temple, looked up in surprise. "Zheng what? It can't be that Zheng Zhichang is back again, right?"
"Reporting to the emperor, of course it is not Zheng Zhichang, but Zheng Yinian, the son of the former prime minister Zheng Juzhong, who is the son-in-law of the prime minister Wang Gui and the cousin of the Empress Dowager Ningde (Empress Zheng)..." Yang Yizhong hurriedly explained the origin of the man he just mentioned. "During the Jingkang period, many sons of aristocratic officials were abducted. Zheng Yinian, who is both a son of an aristocratic family and a relative of the empress, is one of them."
Zhao Jiu nodded, thinking: "How did he come back?"
"According to him, after the victory at Yaoshan, the Jin people had two frontiers, one in the direction of the Pseudo-Qi and the other in the area around Yan'an, which were unstable, so the Jin people lured the sons of the northern noble families to surrender and let them serve as officials in the Pseudo-Qi." Yang Yizhong explained nonstop. "And this man claimed to have accepted an official position in name only, but when he was about to cross the river when he went south, he directly imitated the other fleeing Han officials and went to the river to find Zhang Taiwei's troops... Zhang Taiwei's troops also met him on the old Yellow River course east of Damingfu, with only one servant by his side."
In the distance, the "ceramic grenade" continued to pop, and Zhao Jiu stared at it in a daze, obviously not paying attention to the new weapon, but he did not give any instructions to Yang Yizhong.
After a long while, just when Chen Gui was about to speak helplessly, the official smiled and turned back: "Did he bring back anything or words?"
"Your Majesty, please understand." Yang Yizhong answered with a stiff face. "He brought the handwritten documents of the two emperors and the handwritten document of Empress Dowager Ningde..."
"This can't be fake, right?" Zhao Jiu laughed even harder. "Many old officials should recognize this..."
Yang Yizhong also became more and more nervous, and could only be very careful: "The handwriting of the Emperor Taishang Daojun is easy to imitate, but the documents of Empress Dowager Ningde and Yuan Sheng are extremely difficult to forge..."
Zhao Jiu nodded, and suddenly looked at Yang Yizhong seriously: "What did my father and brother say?"
Yang Yi's heart shuddered suddenly, and he could only force himself to answer: "The general idea is similar, but there are three meanings... One is to congratulate the emperor on his victory; the second is to talk about the suffering in the north; the third is to say that I just want to live in a side palace."
Zhao Jiu nodded and continued to ask seriously: "Does the Privy Council and the provincial government know about it?"
"yes."
"My lords, and Prime Minister Lu, what do you think?" Zhao Jiu asked without delay.
"Time is short, I am not sure about this." Yang Yi Zhong said helplessly, but then he looked at Chen Gui, the prime minister, who was sitting beside him.
Chen Gui stood up and was about to speak, but Emperor Zhao didn't even look at Chen Gui and sighed: "You should know without asking, fathers are kind and sons are filial, brothers are friendly and younger brothers are respectful... Any prime minister who has any dignity would not say anything else, and it's difficult for them too!"
Chen Gui, who didn't have time to speak, lowered his head with a look of grievance.
"That's good." Zhao Jiu laughed and stood up. "I won't make it difficult for the ministers. Let's talk about it in the palace tomorrow... Quickly summon the Imperial Censor Wanqi Xie to the palace to wait." At this point, the official Zhao looked at Chen Gui again. "Mr. Chen, keep an eye on this grenade. It's a good thing. Don't get involved with anything else."
Chen Gui was almost relieved.
Just like that, Emperor Zhao said goodbye to Chen Gui and walked out of Xiangguo Temple. His face immediately darkened. When the imperial guards surrounded him and rode back to the palace, in front of Wanqi Xie, Yang Yizhong, Liu Yan , Emperor Zhao Song was unwilling to even hide his feelings. He gritted his teeth in the overly empty wasteland shooting range of the harem:
"I know what's going on with my eyes closed!"
"That bullshit escaped! He was clearly released by the north to explore the way!"
"So what if there is a letter? With a knife at their neck, how dare they not write? On the other hand, if the Jin people hadn't asked them to write, where would they have the paper and pen and the energy to write these carefully?"
"They first pressure us with the principle of righteousness between the emperor and his subjects, and then offer us the lands of northern Shaanxi and eastern Beijing as bait, and then place hostages in the north, and then they want to negotiate peace, right? I want to negotiate peace with them at this time?!"
Yang Yi Zhong and others looked at each other, not knowing what to say, and Wan Qi Xie's face turned even paler.
Sure enough, the next moment, Emperor Zhao, who had finished venting his anger, turned around and said, "Mr. Wanqi, I want you to be the Minister of the Dali Temple. Can you share my worries?"
"I don't know how the emperor wants me to share his worries?" Wanqi Xie's face was pale and his legs were even shaking.
"Of course, we should cut off the fire from under the cauldron. We should not let Zheng Yinian make trouble in the first place..." Zhao Jiu stared at the other person coldly. "In my opinion, this person must be a spy of the Jin army! He was sent by Nianhan! If you become the Minister of the Dali Temple, can you help me get a conclusion?"
Wanqi Xie pursed his lips and said nothing.
"Why don't you speak?" Zhao Jiu was indignant. "I employ you for your loyalty, isn't it?"
"Your Majesty, I want to be loyal to you, so I don't want to confuse right and wrong..." Wanqi Xie bowed his hands and said earnestly. "Zheng Yinian was abducted. The only worry is that he accepted the position of the pseudo-Qi, but he escaped before he arrived in the pseudo-Qi territory. Moreover, he was in the north, so it makes sense that he didn't know that your Majesty issued various orders on Huai River... Your Majesty, anyone with a little common sense can see that this person did not violate your laws! On the contrary, he is a loyal person!"
"They did it on purpose!" Zhao Jiu was furious. "They picked this person to test the waters!"
"Your Majesty, even if you have such doubts, how can you say it out loud?" Wanqi Xie became more earnest. "After all, no one in the north knows if there are any truly loyal ministers and filial sons who are working hard for the Marquis..."
"Of course I know I can't say it directly, so I want you to prove that he is a Jin spy." Zhao Jiu simply tore off the last layer of face.
"Your Majesty." Wan Qi Xie knelt down with a plop. "Your Majesty has been very kind to me. If you really want me to do this, I am willing to share your worries. But even so, I have to remind you first... Even if this person is really a spy for the Jin people, it is impossible to find the head and tail of him in such a short time after several years of separation between the north and the south!"
Zhao Jiu stared at the other party, impatient for a moment, and stamped his feet slightly to remind him: "This matter can always be 'groundless'!"
Wanqi Xie kowtowed heavily to the ground, then raised his head and said solemnly: "Your Majesty! Between the emperor and his subjects, we can have false accusations. But how can we convince the world if we have false accusations? And how can we deal with people like Mr. Wang and Mr. Zhang? They died for their country, did they do it to watch you use false accusations to fool the world in the afterlife?"
Zhao Jiu was stunned and stared at the person in front of him for a long time without saying a word.
Wan Qi Xie kowtowed again, as if he had made up his mind. He even took off his hat and continued to advise: "Your Majesty! Extraordinary times lead to extraordinary things, but aren't extraordinary things for the sake of the country to avoid extraordinary times?"
"I have been trying to advise you before. Now that the country is gradually returning to order, why can't you continue to be upright? The matter of the Korean envoys is fine, but what do you think about the personnel disputes among the ministers?"
"First, let Prime Minister Liu recommend Prime Minister Chen, and then let Prime Minister Chen recommend Yan Dayin... What is the purpose? You must know that all the ministers in the world are ministers of the government, why do you have to plot against the ministers like this? The result is only to cause tension between Prime Minister Zhao and Prime Minister Zhang, and the wind of factional strife suddenly arises!"
"Your Majesty! The battle at Yaoshan was the most intense battle since the founding of the Song Dynasty, and it was also a battle for the re-establishment of the country! Your Majesty gritted his teeth and won the battle, telling the world that you are the backbone of the Song Dynasty and the pillar of the Song Dynasty... In this situation, if you say you are not arrogant or anxious, it would make you look hypocritical and like a demon... But as a minister, seeing what you have done over the years, how can you not have more expectations?"
"I am sorry to be so presumptuous, but what I said today is from my heart, and I have no intention of being rebellious... If the emperor wants me to do something false, I will do it myself. However, I can be someone who is false, but I really don't want to see the emperor do something false!"
"Your Majesty, times have changed!" At the end of his words, Wanqi Xie put on the hard-winged fu hat, which had actually become a little crooked when he kowtowed at the beginning, and bowed his head again, but said no more words.
The people around, such as Yang Yizhong, Liu Yan, Lan Gui and others, had already been stunned. Liu Yan even seemed to be on the verge of tears, but Zhao Jiu was still staring at this person in a daze and still unable to speak.
I was actually given a political and moral education by Wanqi Xie! And the depth of the education seemed to be even deeper than that of Lu Haowen before!
And it seems to sound quite reasonable?!
