He was not involved in what happened before, but seeing someone attacking Su Shi, of course he had to stand up and add fuel to the flames.
"General Zhongwu was the first reinforcement to go to the north. It is said that he has the most accurate grasp of the situation on the battlefield. During the battle, he was nowhere to be seen. It really shouldn't be." Privy Councilor Yan Shu also stood up at this moment.
.
Obviously, he has seen that there is always one person who will take the blame for this battle. But now, it seems that everyone has chosen Su Shi to take the blame, so as the Privy Councilor, of course he has to join in. This is also a way to shirk responsibility.
kind of performance.
"General Zhongwu is guilty of disobeying the emperor's orders, acting in private, and disregarding the overall situation." The next moment, Deputy Privy Envoy Zeng Gongliang stood up with a white jade tablet in his hand.
"I second the suggestion that General Zhongwu should be severely punished." Then, ministers came out one after another. People who didn't know it thought that the reason for this great defeat was entirely Su Shi's fault.
Within a short period of time, at least more than half of the civil and military officials in the court came forward, all demanding severe punishment for Su Shi.
They finally figured out that if such a big thing happened, it would be impossible if no one took the responsibility, and Su Shi was the best candidate.
"Haha, hahaha."
Just when the ministers were impeaching Su Shi, a burst of laughter suddenly came out, which attracted all the ministers to look at him sideways.
The people laughing were none other than Bao Zheng and Bao Xiren.
"Xiangong Bao, what are you doing? Are you aware of your sins by laughing so wildly in the court?"
Seeing Bao Zheng making such a mocking sound, the other husbands all scolded him.
"Huh? You are allowed to talk nonsense here, but I am not allowed to laugh here.
How many times?" Facing everyone's doubts, Bao Zheng responded without fear at all.
"Who is talking nonsense?" Wen Yanbo, the political advisor, shouted angrily.
"Isn't this nonsense? General Zhongwu is obviously still in Baozhou, which is far away from Xinzhou. May I ask, if he lost the battle there, what does it have to do with him? Isn't this nonsense?"
Just after saying this, Bao Zheng looked at Tongping Zhangshi and Privy Councilor Yan Shu and said: "If General Zhongwu is punished just because he was ordered to go to the northern border to support, then will the Privy Council be more careful?
Is there any responsibility? Should the defeat of Xinzhou also involve Bianliang City, which is thousands of miles away?"
Seeing Bao Zheng's attack, Yan Shu did not respond. Instead, he raised his head and looked towards the top of the hall, as if he was ignoring you.
In fact, Yan Shu also knew in his heart that this time the officials wanted to pass the blame to Su Shi, but they were taking it for granted.
Seeing that Yan Shu did not answer his question, Bao Zheng sneered again: "What? Are you guilty? Humph! Speaking of which, aren't you doing all this yourself?"
"Mr. Bao, be careful what you say." Prime Minister Jia Changchao spoke to remind Bao Zheng.
"Am I wrong?" Bao Zheng seemed to be completely relaxed and said without fear of the prime minister's power: "In the early days of the war, General Zhongwu won two battles and the situation was very good. But some people were afraid that he would make great contributions.
However, Wang Deyong was sent to the northern border, forcing General Zhongwu to leave Xinzhou and go far away to Baozhou."
"It's okay now. Wang De used one general to be incompetent and exhausted the three armies, causing the situation in the north to be so bad. Now we have to blame General Zhongwu. I say everyone should
Could you please be more decent?"
Bao Zheng's implication is that everyone is still shameless?
As soon as these words came out, many people in the court were blushing and thick-necked. Even Zhao Zhen, who was sitting in the Jinluan Hall, looked very ugly at this moment.
It was said that he had no objection to sending Wang Deyong to the north. He was also responsible in this matter.
"Okay, Xianggong Bao should say a few words less. In fact, we don't necessarily blame General Zhongwu. It's just that during the battle of Xinzhou, there was no trace of General Zhongwu. Everyone was anxious for a while, so what they said was a bit excessive." Pang
Ji stood up.
Started to be his good old friend.
Among everyone, the relationship between Pang Ji and Su Shi is still good. At least that's what everyone thinks.
But in fact, the relationship between the two is more of an interest, and they don't have much personal relationship.
Unlike Bao Zheng, he treated Su Shi as his nephew, and even more so as a hero and pillar of the country. Only then when he saw everyone bullying Su Shi did he stand up and speak out.
Bao Zheng was able to stand up and face the ministers without retreating. This was something Pang Ji did not expect.
In the court, it is easy to add icing on the cake, but it is difficult to provide help in times of need.
Especially in the absence of Su Shi, it is indeed an extremely rare thing for Bao Zheng to stand up and confront the officials.
Considering Su Shi's character, I am afraid that if he finds out about this in the future, he will definitely feel grateful to Bao Zheng.
Pang Ji's slippery temper prevented him from doing the same thing as Bao Zheng, but he could still smooth things over. He also wanted to let Su Shi know that he had contributed to this matter, even though he had sold it
Strength is not
a lot of.
Pang Ji stood up, followed by Wu Guogong Miao Jizong, and Tongping Zhangshi Li Yonghe also stood up and stated that the defeat of Xinzhou had nothing to do with General Zhongwu, and Su Shi should not be blamed for this defeat.
on the head.
This is not a meeting between the princes, but a small court meeting where all the courtiers of the fourth rank and above are present. These people who have interests in Su Shi are all here. Of course, they cannot watch Su Shi suffer because of this.
If he watched things happen without saying a word, then given Su Shi's character and knowing these things, he would inevitably find them unhappy.
Several people spoke for Su Shi in succession. After Bao Zheng looked at it, he also retreated to the court. He was not yet capable of fighting with all the princes. He only stood up to say something fair for Su Shi. No one else
As long as things are fine, he can't change anything else.
Suddenly so many people spoke for Su Shi. After Wen Yanbo, Zhao Yunrang and others looked at each other, they shook their heads and chose to give up.
Since Su Shi couldn't do anything, he could only focus on other people. In short, someone was responsible for the defeat of Xinzhou. It didn't matter who it was, as long as it had nothing to do with them.
Huang Gaoyi was the person recommended by Zhao Yun, so nothing could happen to him.
Everyone made the decision to recommend Wang Deyong to go to the north. I think he still looked unhappy at the beginning, but everyone promised to keep him safe, so this person cannot bear the responsibility.
After much deliberation, only General Wang Xin was left.
"Your Majesty, as the commander of the Hebei Route Army, Wang Xin holds military power, but he has caused the situation in the northern border to deteriorate, and he bears unshirkable responsibility. In the battle of Xinzhou, he failed to grasp
We took the opportunity to join up with the reinforcements led by General Huang in time, giving the foreign tribesmen the opportunity to defeat them one by one, which should be punished as a serious crime."
It was Wen Yanbo who spoke again and put the big hat on Wang Xin.
As representatives of the compromise faction, Wen Yanbo and the war faction such as Wang Xin have always been at odds.
In the past, people like Wang Xin were needed to guard the border, which was not easy to offend. But now, the defeat of Xinzhou is an opportunity, an opportunity to severely damage the main fighting faction.
As soon as Wen Yanbo stood up, other courtiers saw the opportunity, and they all started to add insult to injury. It didn't take long for Wang Xin to become the target of public criticism. He was criticized for being completely bruised. It seemed that all the crimes were caused by him alone.
Zhao Zhen, who was sitting on the dragon throne, finally understood that Wen Yanbo and others were taking the opportunity to attack the military generals.
But so what if you know?
It is a fact that Xinzhou was defeated. As the emperor, he needs to give everyone an explanation.
If it is not his fault or the fault of his ministers, then someone will always have to admit his mistake. And this candidate was decided on Wang Xin.
Wang Xin, unlike Su Shi, does not have as many interests in the court, and there is no outstanding person like Bao Zheng who is willing to stand up for him. In this case, if you want to pick the weak persimmon, then choose him.
"Wang Xin is guilty. Let's record it first and punish him after the battle." Zhao Zhen settled the matter with one sentence.
The ministers couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief. As long as they were not punished, it had nothing to do with them as to who would be unlucky.
After Zhao Zhen finished speaking, his eyes fell on the ministers again and said: "The defeat of Xinzhou has completely made the west of the northern border fall into the hands of foreigners. Sirs, what should we do next?
Whether it’s war or peace, let’s discuss a charter.”
After saying these words, Zhao Zhen's eyes first fell fiercely on Wen Yanbo.
He knew that this person was a compromiser, but now that the war had just been defeated, even if he wanted to negotiate, he would have to pay a huge price, which Zhao Zhen did not want to see.
In other words, peace talks are possible, but now is not a good time.
Wen Yanbo originally wanted to speak, and he thought this was his opportunity.
If the problem cannot be solved through war but can be solved through negotiation, then he has made a great contribution.
But when he saw Zhao Zhen's cold gaze, he immediately stopped talking, and the legs that he originally wanted to move forward stopped in an instant.
The official is not happy. If he steps forward at this time, he is afraid that Long Yan will be furious. This is not a fun thing.
Wen Yanbo is good at observing words and emotions, and when he sees something is wrong, he immediately shuts up.
Many courtiers saw this scene, but any smart person would know that now is not the time for peace talks.
Even if they couldn't talk, they could only fight. In an instant, Yan Shu, as the Privy Councilor, felt tremendous pressure.
As the highest institution in charge of a country's military, the Privy Council cannot retreat at this time. "Your Majesty, I think we should continue to fight. After all, Xinzhou is the land of our Song Dynasty. It has not been lost now. We cannot give up. We must do it now."
The best thing is to continue to send more reinforcements."
"Where are the reinforcements coming?" Zhao Zhen asked aloud, but there was no anger in his voice, which proved that Yan Shu's words still reached his heart.
"Your Majesty, you can mobilize the Western Army to go there. Didn't we capture someone before?"
Qian Xixia is a prisoner? We can use this to negotiate with Xixia. As long as the situation in the Western Territory is stable, we can dispatch the Western Army to join the battle in the Northern Territory. Only in this way can we save the war situation."
ps: Thanks to Ji Ping'an for the reward and red envelope to Da Song, a special chapter will be added.