Are there any prostitutes in the city?
This was an extremely absurd remark. Compared with it, Emperor Zhao's previous actions of questioning the integrity of Duke Yansheng and publicly mocking the incompetence of the head of the Meihua Han family, as well as his earlier frivolous words and deeds of taking money from both nobles and religious figures, all seemed insignificant.
However, what made these national elites who actually knew everything in the pavilion feel suffocated was that this light and absurd statement was as heavy as a mountain, making them breathless.
Now, how did prostitutes come about?
It's nothing more than a woman of her prime whose family went bankrupt. Otherwise, who would be willing to do it even if it was just to accompany drinking according to the law?
When Meng Yuanlao presented "Dongjing Menghualu" that day, he attracted ridicule from some students in the Imperial College. They said that the word "prostitute" was added to the names of several dishes, and they didn't know whether there was more salt or prostitutes in these dishes... The intention was to sarcastically show that the Jingkang disaster had already appeared during the prosperous and great period.
However, the current Tokyo is not the same as the Tokyo before Jingkang.
After the Jingkang Rebellion, until Zhao Jiu arrived in Tokyo in the spring of the third year of Jianyan, the population of Tokyo had been continuously migrating due to wars. It fell from over a million at its peak to less than 200,000 when including soldiers and their families. Even the entire Henan region was experiencing population outflow at that time.
In other words, everything in Tokyo at this time was, to a considerable extent, separated from what it was before Jing Kang. Many urban activities were quickly rebuilt within one or two years because of the return of the name of the old capital and the political center.
By the same token, it is impossible for prostitutes to suddenly appear in five or six years. If there are large numbers of prostitutes in Tokyo now, they can only be women of marriageable age whose families went bankrupt during the Jingkang Disaster, but it is caused by social corruption even earlier. Considering that the court immediately implemented measures such as land division, military farming, and land granting in the then devastated Henan after returning to Tokyo... I dare not say that 100% of them are caused by war, but it is almost certain that nine and a half out of ten are caused by war.
There is no way around it. In troubled times, faced with unrestrained force, women of marriageable age are simply a kind of human property.
This is the reason why the Second Saint used the women in the city to pay compensation. If there are large numbers of prostitutes in Tokyo now, the same logic must apply.
Therefore, if you want to know about the life of the righteous heroes, the most direct way is to ask the women who became prostitutes. They must have a lot of stories to tell.
However, after suddenly realizing it, I couldn't help feeling embarrassed and ashamed.
A thousand-year-old nobleman hid in Yangzhou for two years with a wooden sculpture of his ancestor on his back, and a family of three officials from four generations were treated well by the Jin people in Hebei for half a year. They were recognized as loyal ministers and should be rewarded without any reward. Even the daughters of the Zhao clan were given large houses when they were brought back, and even the two saints could live out their old age in temples and Taoist temples. Since the Jingkang period, millions of people have died, and their families have been reduced to dust, or even become prostitutes.
Is it magical?
Not at all, quite the opposite, this is very realistic.
Is it embarrassing?
Of course it is still embarrassing. Those who can come to the vicinity of this pavilion are all people who have personally experienced the Jingkang Change and the exile of the Jianyan period, and who also have some abilities and ideals.
One can even barely call him a time-tested person.
After these people wake up, they naturally feel extremely embarrassed.
"Officials!"
Just when the scene was extremely awkward, someone suddenly broke the silence. It was none other than Prime Minister Lu Haowen. He bowed without saying much, but his intention to stop the situation was obvious.
Lu Haowen's intervention made everyone feel relieved, and even made Yang Yizhong, who was extremely frightened, feel relieved... In fact, everyone wanted to stop it, but no one had the strength to do so.
Unexpectedly, Zhao Jiu, who took the initiative to provoke this matter, hesitated for a moment, but actually nodded slightly and gave up the idea on the spot: "I understand, so don't ask the prostitute."
Of course I understood... Even though Scholar Kobayashi was serving as the governor of Guanxi at the time, it did not prevent everyone, including Emperor Zhao who suddenly remembered this matter, from gradually understanding and figuring out everything during the previous silence.
Let's not talk about what kind of waves it would cause to call prostitutes into the palace, just talk about another thing... Are these women who suffered from war really just suffering from the war of the Jin army? They must be the relatives of innocent victims, but did all those innocent victims really die in the fight against the Jin army?
The anti-Jin volunteer army that Zong Ze's Tokyo Garrison gathered in Tokyo in the past was said to have a million soldiers, but the actual number of soldiers capable of fighting was over 100,000. They were the backbone of the country, and they rose earlier than Li Yanxian of Shanzhou. Could it be that they all had excellent military discipline?
Zhang Yu, who likes to pit common people against each other, has never fought against the Jin army? How many widows did he create? Yang Jin, the hornless sheep, first rebelled, then surrendered, and then rebelled again. He was a disaster all the way from the Yangtze River to the Yellow River. Among those who fought with him, there were at least a prime minister, a prefect of Kaifeng, a prince of Yan'an, and two deputy governors... He conquered cities along the way and gathered more than 100,000 people when he arrived at the Yellow River. Although it was a fictitious number and was coerced, how many widows did he create?
Han Shizhong and Zhang Jun's troops were also relied upon by the country at that time, but wouldn't these two troops cause war when they fought? In Jingou Town that day, Zhao Jiu really didn't want to ask Han Shizhong where the people in the town had gone, and now he couldn't ask.
What about Liu Guangshi’s subordinates?
What about Fan Qiong? Fan Qiong, who skinned people alive, was a legitimate official soldier. He was the first commander of the imperial army to control the city of Dongjing after the Jingkang Incident, and then he went all the way south to establish his own regime in Xiangyang.
There are some things that you really can't go into deeply... You suddenly wake up and shout out out of instinct and impulse, but you will soon be silent, and then you have to hide some things deep in your heart.
If I really call people in to question them, I'll ask one person, saying that her husband was killed by imperial troops, and then ask another person, saying that her father and brother were killed and abducted by the anti-Jin army...how can I explain this to them?
“But this matter cannot be left alone.”
In the nameless stone pavilion, which was still completely silent, Zhao Jiu's expression remained unchanged. He turned directly to the end of the last booklet, signed his name, and then turned his head to face Yang Yizhong. "I want to know the approximate number and distribution of prostitutes in Tokyo City, so I'll go ask them, right?"
Yang Yizhong finally admitted his agreement and fled away like the wind.
"This is how the matter will be handled for now... but we need to give an explanation to those people whose names we can't even find." Zhao Jiu closed the list and looked at the ministers in front of him expressionlessly. "How about making an anonymous monument to martyrs? Millions of people died, so there should be a monument."
"It's not appropriate now." Lu Hao asked again, which made Zhao Ding and Zhang Jun feel even more ashamed. "Your Majesty, it's only a few days away from the Mid-Autumn Festival. There's no time to make a big stele. If we make a small stele, it will be perfunctory. Besides, now is just a transition from defense to offense, to stabilize people's hearts, not the time for real memorial service. After the Northern Expedition, when we recover the two rivers, pacify Yanyun, and rebuild the Jin Ou, why not make a big stele?"
"There has to be one." Zhao Jiu nodded, then shook his head again. "But what Mr. Lu said makes sense. Let's first order a large, conspicuous blank tablet. The Ministry of Rites will arrange it, and it must be placed in the center!"
Zhai Ruowen, who already felt a slight dryness in his mouth, quickly responded.
"Let's leave it at that for today. We can talk about it in a few days if there is anything else!" After explaining this, Zhao Jiu waved his hand as if nothing had happened, meaning to dismiss everyone.
Lü Haowen and the rest bowed , and like Yang Yizhong, they left in a hurry without any delay.
Without mentioning how Emperor Zhao felt after driving away the ministers, nor how Yang Yi Zhong would deal with such an assignment, it is only said that the ministers walked out of the stone pavilion a few dozen steps away and then split up again. The close ministers went to the wing rooms behind Jingfu Palace inside Yingyang Gate, not far from the fish pond in the harem... That was the official residence where they were on duty in the harem. Although they were avoiding the emperor at this time, as close ministers they had to wait for orders here after all; and the prime ministers and important ministers including Lu Haowen took advantage of the sunset to go out of Linhua Gate to the west, then turned south and slowly returned.
"Prince Lu is the real Prime Minister."
Along the way, no one spoke a word, but halfway through, when they were about to pass Yiyou Gate, Zhao Ding suddenly spoke with emotion, causing the people around him to be slightly startled. "If it wasn't for Prime Minister Lu just now, we would have been almost unable to move forward."
"That's true." Li Guang also sighed. He always liked to argue in such occasions, but just now he was in a state of exhaustion. He wanted to refute but couldn't, and he wanted to stop but couldn't, which made him feel ashamed.
"What truth, public or fake, sir, I was forced to do it..." Lu Haowen, the copyist, was walking in front. Hearing this, he just glanced back and turned back while walking and speaking slowly. "Just like the emperor, I was forced to this position. I have to do it even if I don't want to do it, and I have to say it even if I don't want to say it. But to be honest, if sir Zhao could have said it first, why would I say it again? Just as if we could have said it first, the emperor might not have to say that."
Zhao Ding was half embarrassed and half helpless: "Some things are really unexpected."
This is the absolute truth. In fact, looking at Emperor Zhao's reaction today, he suddenly thought of it. It was purely accidental, so Lu Haowen just shook his head slightly and continued to move forward.
But for some reason, when he arrived at Yiyou's door, he suddenly stopped, and then attracted everyone to stop.
"Mr. Zhao, how old are you this year?" Lu Haowen turned around and asked seriously.
"Forty-seven." Zhao Ding was alert, but he responded.
Lu Haowen nodded and looked at Zhang Jun again: "Where is Mr. Zhang?"
"Thirty-five." Zhang Jun was caught off guard.
"Mr. Liu?"
"Forty-nine." Liu Ji answered quickly.
"Mr. Chen."
"I am almost sixty years old." Chen Gui twirled his beard and sighed. "I am grateful to the government for its kindness. Only three years ago, I never thought I could be a prime minister."
Lu Haowen didn't bother to pay attention to Chen Gui, and just continued to ask: "Mr. Li?"
"Fifty-three." Li Guang did not dare to be negligent.
"I'm almost seventy." Lu Haowen nodded slightly and replied solemnly. "Among the ministers, except for Zhang Xianggong who is younger, the rest are quite stable, even Chen Shangshu and Zhai Shangshu are the same... But do you know how old the people in Guanxi are?"
Everyone looked at each other, except Zhang Jun who was alert, the others seemed to be thinking about something.
Hu Yin, Liu Ziyu, and Lin Jingmo, the exact ages of these three may not be clear at the moment, but they are definitely younger than Zhao Ding, and much younger.
"How old are the eight generals who actually hold military power?" Seeing that everyone understood, Lu Haowen continued to ask, and without waiting for everyone to answer, he directly revealed the answer. "Zhang Boying is the oldest, forty-five; Wang Zihua (Wang De) is second, forty-four; Han Liangchen is third, forty-two; the rest, from Qu Da onwards, are all under forty, and Yue Pengju is only twenty-nine..."
"But they are all outstanding people." Zhang Jun couldn't help but interrupt in defense.
"That's exactly what he said." Lu Haowen nodded slightly. "They are all outstanding people... and the key is that the official is only 25 years old."
"What do you mean, sir?" Li Guang asked seriously.
"I have no other intention. Today I just want to ask you, since ancient times, have kings been as willing to compromise as the emperor?" Lu Haowen answered slowly. "After Yaoshan, with the emperor's power, he could have formed a team of young heroes to take the lead, a team that is more suitable for his temper, but why did he still use us? Can't he use Lin Jingmo, Lin Jinglie? Can't he use Hu Yin? Or take a step back and let Zhang Shuxiang be the prime minister of the capital province. Who can stop him? Take another step back and use a person with rich experience, Lu Yihao, who is more suitable for his temper, to shut up the people of the world. But why is it you and me? Why did you want to keep Li Zhongcheng so earnestly even after Shaoxing?"
"Because..." After a moment of silence, Zhao Ding raised his head and said, "Because the government wants to borrow our respect."
"That's right." Lu Haowen nodded slightly, then became serious. "But thinking back, we have been prime ministers for more than a year, and there are some things that you and I are too cautious about... Let's not talk about anything else. If Lu Yihao was here, the peace talks and welcoming of the two saints would never have happened! The Shaoxing incident would not have happened! The so-called public opinion can only blame him, Lu Yihao, because long before that, Lu Yihao could have driven out those who resigned in Shaoxing! Everyone, no matter how small the turmoil was later, in the Shaoxing incident, letting the emperor personally deal with the two saints and letting the emperor personally dismiss those seventy or eighty people is still a dereliction of duty for you and me as a so-called cautious prime minister!"
Prime Minister Zhao Ding's face was pale, and the other ministers, including the Chief Censor Li Guang, also looked serious. Even the Privy Councilor Zhang Jun was completely solemn. Because at this moment, someone finally held the ministers accountable for the political trend of the previous few months... However, this accountability did not come from Emperor Zhao, nor from the young officials and students after the Secret Cabinet incident, so it was not so formal and serious.
Moreover, Lu Haowen effectively avoided possible political risks by including himself, a public minister who was not responsible for the incident, in the accountability pool and conducting self-examination in private.
But this is still a standard accountability exercise against the executive team.
At the same time, everyone present knew that the responsibility for this matter could not possibly be borne by Lu Haowen, who did not care about mundane affairs.
The persons responsible are the four ministers plus the Chief Censor, who can be called half-prime minister. The blame is placed on the four ministers and the chief censor for failing to successfully manage risks, for failing to demonstrate the responsibility and ability of a prime minister in a political crisis, and for failing to maintain the political image of the emperor.
This is their collective dereliction of duty.
"I..." Zhao Ding wanted to say something but didn't know what to say.
"It's over now. The emperor has already taken responsibility for the people's complaints and has personally driven those people away. There's no point in saying more now. Besides, you and I both know that the emperor never cares about these things, and it's not something you and I can control." Lu Haowen changed the subject, still serious. "But you and I must learn from our mistakes. What we should care about now is what to do in the future. Otherwise, how can we carry on the past and help the king accomplish great things... Prime Minister Zhang?"
"Huh?" Zhang Jun was caught off guard and could only respond.
"After the battle of Yaoshan, the public was agitated. I heard that Guanxi made some aggressive remarks at that time. You and the others in Guanxi thought that the position of prime minister was in your pocket, but the government arranged Hu, Lin, Lu, Liu and others outside, and put Prime Minister Zhao first, and you second... Are you dissatisfied?"
Zhang Jun was stunned... It was Lu Hao who asked this question?
But even though he was dazed, Zhang Deyuan immediately came to his senses. The other party was questioning him in a condescending manner as a prime minister, and this place was at the junction of the harem and the front palace. He had to be fair and impartial, and could not afford to make any mistakes.
Therefore, he immediately responded with a serious face: "Absolutely not!"
"That's good." Lu Haowen was still serious. "I think that the emperor's arrangement was remarkable. Because the emperor himself was thinking about the overall situation, worried that the country would be hijacked by the military, ignoring the livelihood of the people in the south, and rushing north, so that both the inside and the outside were lost... So he appointed the steady Prime Minister Zhao as the Prime Minister of the capital province, and the aggressive Prime Minister Zhang as the prime minister, in order to achieve a balance. However, no one expected that the officials in the court of the Song Dynasty naturally sought stability, and those who advocated peace gradually became more powerful and caused such trouble. At that time, it was indeed me and Prime Minister Zhao who were more responsible, because we, the steady prime ministers, should have stopped this trend from the beginning."
At this point, Lu Haowen just stared at Zhang Jun and replied slowly: "Now, whether they advocate peace or defense, they have all been removed. The people have scolded them, and the ministers have been cleared. The key positions that have been replaced are mostly young officials who supported the war during the previous turmoil..."
At this point, Li Guang couldn't help but glance at his best friend Chen Gongfu in the crowd, but the latter just listened with a serious expression and his hands down.
"As the saying goes, it's different times." Lu Haowen continued to look at Zhang Jun sternly. "Prime Minister Zhang, I mainly want to tell you today that you are the leader of the pro-war faction. If you think that you have succeeded and will ignore the country's livelihood and allow those young people to collude with the generals and make a fuss in the military, you will actually make the same mistake as Prime Minister Zhao and I did before... You just got the direction wrong and ruined the emperor's efforts!"
Zhang Jun smiled bitterly and could only spread his hands: "Prime Minister Lu, what you said makes a lot of sense, but I didn't do anything, right?"
"It will be too late when things come to light." Lu Haowen sighed solemnly. "Some things have to be said sooner or later, so it's better to say them earlier... Mr. Zhang!"
"I'm here!" Zhang Jun responded helplessly.
"You must remember that you are a prime minister, and you are not even one of the top three ministers in the country. You should consider the overall situation of the country, understand the emperor's wishes, resolve conflicts, and balance yin and yang to ensure the smooth operation of the country. Only then can you think about achievements and reputation. In other words, as long as you do your job well, how can you miss out on your honor if the country achieves success in the future? The emperor has entrusted the country to you, just like the recent discussion of force and speed in the original school. Suddenly, there is an acceleration somewhere, which may be positive, may be crooked, may be backward, or may be forward. What you should do is not to wait for this speed to rise, but to apply a counterforce to offset it."
Zhang Jun listened for a while and had no way to refute it. However, he was still young and could not help but said, "Prime Minister Lu... How come your words today are so different from what you said on Bagong Mountain? Is it you who has changed, or is it the emperor?"
Lu Haowen looked at him deeply and shook his head. "If you say change, who hasn't changed after such a long time? But as for what you and I are talking about, the emperor has not changed, and I have not changed either. It's just that the situation has changed and the position has changed! At that time, the country was in danger, and the emperor wanted to fight to the death. But I experienced the Jingkang incident and was disheartened. Moreover, Li Gang, the prime minister, was entrusted with the care of my descendants in Yangzhou, so of course I would have said those inappropriate words. Now that the country has stabilized the overall situation, the emperor is determined to march north and reorganize the nine provinces, and I have also experienced Bagongshan and Nanyang, and the matter of entrusting the orphan to this door last year. Staying in the court at this age is nothing more than helping the emperor to stabilize his pace... Of course I will blame myself for my dereliction of duty in the past few months! But Prime Minister Zhang, I could entrust you with the Neo-Confucian manuscripts in the past, but I don't know if you can remember the original principles I just said today?"
Zhang Deyuan was speechless and could only nod his head in agreement, saying that he would study the most recent chapters of the original school when he returned.
After Lü Haowen had taught the two powerful ministers a lesson, he turned around and continued to walk away, and everyone hurriedly followed him. When he left Yiyou Gate, the minister did not intend to go to Chongwenyuan, Dutang, or Mige, which were further south, but went directly to Donghua Gate and left the palace alone.
Just like that, let’s not talk about what the ministers were thinking when they returned, let’s just talk about here in the palace. At three o’clock in the night, a candle was lit as usual in Gyeongbokgung Palace, but Emperor Zhao, who was alone in the empty room, did not go to bed early. She just lay on the couch, listening to the chirping of insects outside and waiting for others.
Yang Yizhong returned with great difficulty, knowing that he could not escape this, but he still came to report cautiously.
"What's the matter?" Zhao Jiu blurted out when he saw Yang Yizhong coming in, without waiting for the other party to greet.
"Reporting to the emperor," Yang Yizhong replied earnestly. "If we want to investigate this matter thoroughly, it will take ten days or half a month, and by then the Mid-Autumn Festival will have long passed. And if we want to identify the relatives of the righteous people, we may have to wait until after the postponed talent selection ceremony."
"Since I'm waiting for you here today, I don't want to ask such detailed questions. There must be some rough data, right?" Zhao Jiu, who was wearing a robe, stood with his hands folded under the candlelight. "I just want some rough conditions and rough proportions... These can be easily asked, right?"
"Yes." Yang Yizhong knew it was inevitable, so he stepped forward to report it. "So that the emperor knows that according to the law, all prostitutes must be registered with the government. From what I have found, there are 578 people registered with the government, most of whom were newly added last year or this year. This is a huge difference compared to the nearly 10,000 people on the list before Jing Kang."
"If the difference is not much, I might as well jump into the well again."
Yang Yizhong pretended not to hear this, and continued to stand in the shadow in front of the couch and introduce: "In fact, as far as I know, in addition to the official list, there are some private prostitutes in the night market and restaurants in the east of the city, and in the Caihe area in the south of the city. The specific ratio is different from the official list. I asked several subordinates to come forward, in the name of investigating Jin spies, and asked 20 to 30 store managers with dark faces. They roughly averaged out and said that in the prosperous areas in the east of the city, it should be less than one to one, that is, each store has at least ten people, and as many as twenty or thirty, depending on the size of the business of the store; in the market in the south of the city, it is difficult to count, but it is generally recognized that there are more... It is about one to two or three compared with the official list."
"Is it to evade taxes? The south of the city is poorer?"
"yes!"
"About two thousand in total?"
"yes……"
"Why do I feel that it's a little too little?" Zhao Jiu was puzzled. "With frequent wars, there are more than a million or tens of millions of people who have left their homes. Tokyo is also the largest city in the world..."
"The emperor." Yang Yizhong looked at him seriously. "I have asked around, and most of them were sold directly to wealthy families. The emperor once ordered a redemption in Henan and Lianghuai areas... However, many were sold south of the Huai River, so this number is really hard to find out. As for the capital, I have heard some other words from some people, saying that the emperor prefers simplicity and hates the past entertainment of the Emperor Taishang Daojun, so the people below dare not easily seek pleasure. When the wealthy families come back, most of them just buy maids from other places to avoid being seen. When they have banquets, they order takeout or invite famous chefs to have banquets in their private homes."
Zhao Jiu came to his senses and asked again, "Among these two thousand people, what percentage of them were bankrupted by the Jin army?"
“…”
"Why don't you speak?"
"I'm afraid the government won't believe me if I tell you."
“…”
"I first asked 20 or 30 store managers to ask, and the highest ratio was only 41, and the lowest was only 11. On average, it was only 81. Later, I went to Caihe Night Market overnight and asked 20 or 30 hotel managers, and they all said the same thing." Yang Yizhong said seriously. "Your Majesty... Before the third year of Jianyan, local soldiers and bandits were more harmful than the Jin people. After the third year of Jianyan, the Jin people's harm was mostly caused by refugees in Hebei, but the government received and resettled many people at various ferry crossings on the Yellow River. On the contrary, refugees in Jingdong were more scattered, and they could only be regarded as the harm of Liu Yu and Li Cheng."
Zhao Jiu had already believed it in his heart, and even felt that it was as he expected, but he remained silent. After a long while, he spoke, but seemed to have skipped over the matter: "Zhengfu..."
"I am here."
"Do you remember what we said in private on Mount Bagong?"
Yang Yi was panicked and bowed his head in a solemn manner: "I don't know what you meant by that."
"If the Jin people cross the river, please put an end to those words for me... I have even forgotten what I said."
"I have forgotten it too." Yang Yizhong gritted his teeth and spoke carefully. This was not something he should remember. At least he couldn't say the words he still remembered.
"There is another sentence... I said it to Liu Guangshi, you should remember it?" Zhao Jiu continued to ask. "I would rather the country perish..."
"Of course I remember this."
"As for the Shaoxing incident, I could have been more tactful, but why did I still act so decisively even though I knew it would stir up public opinion?" Zhao Jiu lay on the couch, thinking. "There are more than one or two of these things. Tell me... why did I say those inappropriate words and do those inappropriate things?"
Before Yang Yizhong could speak, the official gave the answer in a soliloquy: "In the final analysis, it is because I feel that some things must be done, and some things are simply intolerable, so no matter what the price is, as for words, it is just on the surface... For example, if I surrender to the Jin people and suffer that kind of humiliation, I cannot tolerate it, so I would rather die; if I keep people like Liu Guangshi, Fan Qiong, and Du Chong for the sake of the security of the throne, I cannot tolerate it; and the time in Shaoxing, whether it was asking me to show some good face to the two saints, or asking me to agree to negotiate peace and stop this breath, I couldn't tolerate it from the beginning... Today's matter is roughly the same! Yang Yizhong, since the third year of Jianyan, how many maids have you had in your family since you settled in Tokyo?"
Yang Yizhong raised his head in panic and blurted out: "More than thirty... I will die!"
"No need to die a thousand times, not even once." Zhao Jiu sneered. "Otherwise I will kill all the civil and military officials in the court... Even after the two queen dowagers came back, didn't they recruit many new palace servants? I'm just asking. Besides, I just read some legal documents. Our dynasty is much more open-minded than the Tang Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, the nobles and the common people were not allowed to marry each other, and slaves were like cattle and horses. In our dynasty, they are only allowed to be hired. Although slaves are discriminated against, they are good citizens in the law... This is the great glory of our dynasty! I feel proud! But I also think that such a good law cannot be reversed because of war... Otherwise, how can we talk about the succession of the Song Dynasty? Don't worry, there is no life-and-death sword in this matter."
Yang Yizhong breathed a sigh of relief and was about to express his opinion again, but he saw the official throw his coat on the couch, get into the quilt, and then turn over with his back facing him: "Let's do it, I'm tired, go out."
Yang Yizhong was in a daze and quickly said goodbye. When he left the back hall of Gyeongbokgung Palace and came to the courtyard, he was distracted by the starry sky. He seemed to be used to such provocative words today.
As time passed, the Mid-Autumn Festival finally arrived. Early in the morning, Emperor Zhao bid farewell to the two empress dowagers, raised the Jinwu banner, and led all the ministers, nobles, famous scholars, students of the Imperial College, students of the martial arts school, and hundreds of monks and Taoists who had hurriedly gathered there. They marched out of the city to the west in full ceremonial uniforms and arrived at Yuetai, not far from the city, before noon.
Citizens from all over the city rushed out, and this time, having learned from the lessons of the last military parade, they divided the city into different areas early on.
The government officials, civil and military officials, nobles and famous scholars naturally stayed on the Yuetai, while the hundreds of monks and Taoists were divided into two, with the Taoists on the left and the monks on the right, spreading out layer by layer from both sides of the Yuetai. The Taoists on the left were known as the Three Pure Ones' Array of Conferred Gods and Free and Easy Life; while the monks on the right were known as the Buddha's Array of Rebirth into Paradise.
On the other hand, the area opposite Yuetai was divided into zones early on, with an area set aside for viewing the ceremony. Hundreds of Taixue students and martial arts students were stationed in different places to guide the people who were viewing the ceremony, and together with the officials of Kaifeng Prefecture and some soldiers, they maintained order, allowing tens of thousands of people to view the ceremony together. Those who refused to obey were directly expelled to the Yuetai camp diagonally opposite and detained… In the words of the Taixue students themselves, who spoke nicely, these Taixue students and martial arts students were a bit like the officials of the Han Dynasty, which was not bad.
Of course, some of the students were also tasked with writing articles for the court newspaper, so I won’t go into details.
However, by noon, the so-called auspicious time had arrived, and although the onlookers had returned to their respective areas as agreed, they were still somewhat restless and confused... For no other reason, they had not yet seen the so-called altar, tablets, and incense burners.
"Let's get started!" When Zhao Jiu saw Prime Minister Chen Gui coming out to ask questions, he just sat on the stage and nodded casually.
Chen Gui received the oral order and just passed it down, saying that he would fire a signal cannon as a salute, so that no one would be surprised. The order was passed down from the platform to the people... The people just laughed, thinking that they had heard all kinds of noises from fireworks and Jin army artillery, so how could they be in chaos? Moreover, dozens of artillery were placed in the wilderness southwest of Yuetai, and they could see them at a glance, so how could they be surprised?
Unfortunately, the imperial court was slow to act. They only fired a few dozen stone cannons. They repeated this move dozens of times and waited for a long time before a flag was waved under the artillery carriage in response. Then, many people, including some important civil and military officials, became impatient.
But soon, a cannon suddenly fired, and when the projectile fell into the wilderness, the ground suddenly exploded with a loud sound, like a thunderclap, which was really a thunderbolt in the clear sky, shaking the wilderness. On the nearby Yuetai, many officials, dignitaries, monks, and Taoists almost stood up in shock. Only the naked eye could see that it was the movement of the cannon, and everyone knew that the court was making gunpowder bags, so although they were surprised by the power of the projectiles made of gunpowder bags, they were just stunned.
The people watching the ceremony on the opposite side were the same. They were all startled by the noise of the artillery and lost their minds for a moment.
After the artillery fired eighteen times in a row, everyone was still in a daze when they heard the sound of horse hooves, and soldiers and horses came out of the Yuetai camp... Everyone was once again suspicious... Wasn't it a memorial service? Why was there another military parade?
But soon, shouts and cheers were heard from the viewing area.
It turned out that these soldiers were marching forward in a line, none of them holding weapons. Instead, they were showing off some broken equipment in their hands. There was no doubt that these were the equipment captured from the Jin army... and the first soldiers from the imperial camp all held helmets with marks of knives and axes. They went to the pile of monks on one side of Yuetai, threw their helmets down, and turned away.
In a moment, a small hill of worn helmets was piled up in an increasingly crazy atmosphere. It was as terrifying as the Jingguan Temple, and also as shocking and crazy as the Jingguan Temple.
Of course, it was somewhat surprising that this formed a sharp contrast with the bald heads of the hundreds of monks nearby... but to be honest, it was not intentional.
Just like that, behind the armor were broken weapons, flags propped up on wooden frames, torn armor and military uniforms. Four small hills were soon piled up on both sides of the Yuetai as the cavalry flowed continuously.
On the other side of the mountain, the people of Tokyo were already in an uproar, with loud noises rumbling around. It was impossible to calm them down out of thin air. In the middle of the hill and on the terrace, the monks and Taoists were already stunned. Even the civil and military officials who knew about this had not thought that the visual effect would be so shocking.
After this incident, anyone who was present at the scene, after seeing the things hastily delivered by the various departments of the Imperial Camp, would only admit one fact, that is, the Jin people could indeed win the battle!
The panic and insecurity during the Jingkang period will completely disappear.
As for why they were able to win the battle, of course it was because of the government... of course it was because of those righteous men who sacrificed their lives for the country... After the four hills were piled up, the imperial army continued to circulate in and out of the Yuetai camp. This time, they were fully armed, with each team of a hundred people escorting a tablet to offer sacrifices on Yuetai.
The first one is a huge tablet without any words on it.
After that are the tablets of the so-called righteous citizens of a certain city/town/village, which start with the name of a certain town... This is a bit against the etiquette, because since ancient times, no one has gathered people to set up tablets and offer sacrifices to unknown people.
What's more, these tablets actually appeared before those famous ministers and heroes who had already been rewarded, and were placed in the first place in the middle with the nameless tablet at the head.
Although they may not understand what psychological suggestion is, everyone understands that such an arrangement represents the government and the court telling the people of the world that this country can survive, we can survive, we can defeat the Jin people several times, and we can hold sacrifices here after the autumn harvest, all thanks to these unknown people!
They have made the greatest contribution!
Of course, some people may not be convinced.
There were only four small hills standing on both sides, and no one dared to question it... Emperor Zhao, who had already stood solemnly under the dragon banner, did not allow anyone to question it.