Chapter 1019: Palace change, Zhou Chen proclaims himself emperor
late at night!
Zhou Chen hugged Zhao Pan'er and lay on the bed. The two of them confided in each other how they had missed each other for the past three years.
"Your Majesty, now that the war is over, will you never leave the capital in the future?"
Zhou Chen sighed: "Even if I want to leave, I'm afraid many people won't be willing. Let alone leaving the capital, even if I leave the mansion now, I don't know how many pairs of eyes are staring at me."
Zhao Pan'er's voice was low: "It's all our fault. It's us who dragged you down."
Zhou Chen suddenly smiled and said: "My hope is that I am smart, and I can't hide anything from you. But it's not you who are dragging me down, it's me who is dragging you down. Originally, I could have ignored everything and asked nothing, but I
For my own selfish reasons, I have harmed you."
Zhao Pan'er covered Zhou Chen's mouth and said softly: "It's not your fault. How could the prince give up his ambitions for us? Being favored by the prince is already a blessing in Pan'er's life. Not only Pan'er, but also Pan'er,
Sister Hui and Sister Yinzhang also understand the prince and Brother Ye. In their eyes, you are the person they respect the most, so how can they complain."
Zhou Chen remained silent. He had always known that Zhao Pan'er was very smart. Now that she had been the mistress of the Hou Mansion for twenty years, she had gained perspective and experience, so she naturally saw things more clearly.
"Although I have been named a county king, you can still see the embarrassing situation I am in now. Pan'er, what do you think I should do?"
Zhao Pan'er didn't immediately, but just hugged her tighter.
"No matter what the prince does, I will support you, but the children are still young..."
She didn't finish speaking, but Zhou Chen already understood what she meant.
"Yes, the children are still young. They shouldn't be implicated by me. Even if it's not for ourselves or for the children, I have no choice."
At the end, his eyes burst out with astonishing murderous intent. He has lived for hundreds of years and has been on the battlefield for decades. If he continues to live a miserable life, how can he be worthy of himself and his own system's golden finger?
"The worst case scenario is death. Pan'er is satisfied to be able to accompany you until now."
Although Zhao Pan'er didn't say anything, he knew Zhou Chen well and knew that Zhou Chen would not be willing to compromise, so he immediately expressed his attitude.
Zhou Chen lowered his head and kissed her softly, and then separated after a long time.
"Don't underestimate your man."
He had already made up his mind, but with Zhao Pan'er's support, his confidence doubled and his ambition was high.
Zhou Chen's title of king caused shock in the government and the public, and hundreds of officials came to remonstrate with him. However, the common people, especially the people in Tokyo, cheered and were excited.
Since the founding of the Song Dynasty, it is not that there have been no kings with foreign surnames, but basically those kings with foreign surnames were posthumously granted the title of king in their prime. Even if they were only county princes, so far, there is only one Zhou Chen.
In fact, in terms of achievements, Zhou Chen destroyed Xixia, defeated the Liao Kingdom, and recovered the sixteen states of Yanyun. Such great achievements are definitely worthy of being crowned king.
But matters in the imperial court are not just based on merit. Anyway, as soon as the decree of making the king came out, it aroused the opposition of hundreds of officials and caused chaos in the government and the public.
At the great court meeting, when Zhou Chen went to court, he was targeted by countless civil servants. Many people impeached him. Some said that Zhou Chen disrespected the order, and some said that Zhou Chen did not respect the order and sent troops without permission, causing a war between the two countries.
A heinous crime...
These civil servants are indeed very talkative. Each one is more talkative than the other, and they talk nonsense. They don't mention a word about Zhou Chen's achievements, which is all a sin.
Good guy, Zhou Chen seems to have committed public outrage. Countless people have impeached and slandered him. Although some nobles and military attachés defended Zhou Chen, compared to the huge civil servant group, the nobles and military attachés really have the right to speak in the court.
It's more than one level lower.
Zhou Chen, on the other hand, stood there silently as if nothing had happened, allowing others to impeach and slander him without saying a word.
What else is there to say? The war is over and the time of reckoning has come. No matter what he says now, it will not help. The main thing is to see the attitude of the official Zhao Zhen.
Zhao Zhen was very excited, angrily denounced the ministers, tried his best to promote Zhou Chen, and spoke for Zhou Chen. In the end, he was so angry that he walked away and retreated directly from the court.
As soon as the court meeting was over, the officials left the hall.
Zhou Chen had obviously just been crowned king. According to normal circumstances, he should be in the limelight and everyone would be fawning over him.
But in fact, the scene that happened at the court meeting just now made him the target of public criticism. Except for some officials who were already close to him, the rest of the officials did not dare to approach him. Even the officials who wanted to be close to him could not get close to him at this time.
Don't dare to go there rashly.
When Zhou Chen saw this scene, he sneered in his heart. He knew very well that he had touched the interests of the civil servant group, so they united against him.
In fact, there are some of his people in the civil service group, but at times like this, they are less able to stand up.
He had already made a decision in his heart, so he didn't care about being slandered by these civil servants. He firmly believed that political power comes from the barrel of a gun. Civil servants are important, but there are countless scholars in the world. As long as he can conquer the country, it cannot be without the service of scholars.
In the following period, Zhou Chen was continuously impeached by hundreds of officials, and all kinds of charges came out.
Even old things that happened many years ago, such as Zhou Chen marrying a prostitute, deporting himself from the country for a prostitute, etc. Such things that are not worthy of being brought to the forefront have become reasons to criticize Zhou Chen.
As for other crimes committed during the war, they were even more unpardonable, as if Zhou Chen was the sinner of the Song Dynasty, and not killing him would not be enough to vent the public's anger.
Zhou Chen had long known how powerful the civil servants of the Song Dynasty were, and confusing right and wrong was their specialty.
But to achieve this level still shocked his heart. With such a court and such officials, the Northern Song Dynasty was really lucky to be able to persist for so many years.
Of course, there were also some high-ranking civil servants who spoke for Zhou Chen, such as Fan Xiwen, Fan Xianggong, Han Xianggong, etc.
But it is a pity that they do not have enough say, and it is impossible to shake Zhao Zhen's determination.
The stalemate lasted for a month. Zhou Chen stayed in the palace during this time, and later did not even go to the morning court.
In the end, Zhao Zhen couldn't resist the wishes of hundreds of officials and had to make a compromise. He removed Zhou Chen's title from Prince Changping and changed it to Duke of Yu.
However, the civil servant group did not stop impeachment and remonstrating. Another month passed, and Zhao Zhen had no choice but to issue an order to remove Zhou Chen from the title of Duke of Yu and reduce him to the title of Duke of Kaiguo County.
In two months, he was demoted from the county king to the founding county magistrate, three levels in a row, which caused a huge shock around the city of Tokyo, especially among the noble family and the military attache group, and made countless people dissatisfied.
It's a pity that compared to the civil service group and the official family, the nobility and military attache groups are still not qualified.
Zhou Chen set a record for the title of king since the founding of the Song Dynasty, and now he has broken the record of generals and titles since the Song Dynasty.
After being demoted twice in a row, everyone in the court could see that the officials were determined to target Zhou Chen.
In addition to demoting Zhou Chen, Zhao Zhen and the new prime minister began to negotiate peace talks with the Liao Kingdom.
That's right, from the moment he targeted Zhou Chen, he was no longer preparing to go to war with the Liao Kingdom. Now the Liao Kingdom's strength has been greatly damaged and it is impossible to recover every few decades. Therefore, peace talks with the Liao Kingdom now are a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Chance.
When Zhou Chen went from being the king of the county to being the Duke of the founding county, he did not make any mistakes and allowed Zhao Zhen to decline.
Although many people were surprised by Zhou Chen's inaction, they were not too surprised. After all, in an era like this, the king's authority was still very great.
If you want me to die, I have to die!
Even in a dynasty like the Song Dynasty, this sentence can be applied, but the literati in the Song Dynasty rarely punished people with death, and more often sent people to confiscate their families.
Although Zhou Chen had a high status, he was not the chief minister of the dynasty after all. Zhao Zhen was determined to demote Zhou Chen, and Zhou Chen really could not resist.
But all these are just their self-righteous thoughts.
The second year of Qingli, the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival.
This night was destined to be an unforgettable night for the people of Tokyo, because it was from this night that the world changed hands.
The lights of the Marquis Mansion are bright tonight. Yes, in a short period of time, Zhou Chen has changed from the founding county magistrate to a marquis.
Step by step test, it was destined that if Zhou Chen did not resist, death would be waiting for him, so today, he stood up to resist.
In the main hall, Zhou Chen was standing in the middle wearing battle armor, with several people also wearing armor kneeling in front of him.
"Your Majesty, everything is ready. As long as the Lord gives the order, the Palace Front Division, the Horse Army Division, and the Infantry Division will immediately surrender to the Lord. By then, the palace will be under the Lord's control.
"
Zhou Chen nodded and asked again: "Where is the Privy Council?"
The military power of the imperial court was in the hands of the Privy Council, which was also the highest leadership department of the Song Dynasty and had great powers.
"We have sent people to watch over the Privy Council. We will never let the princes of the Privy Council interfere with the Lord's plan."
"very good."
Zhou Chen's eyes flashed with light, and then he shouted in a low voice: "Lei Jiu."
Lei Jiu suddenly walked out of the darkness.
"Owner."
"I have made an agreement with the three generals. When the time comes, even if we don't see the signal, we will attack the city at the appointed time. Yongtai Gate, Chaoyang Gate, and Xuanhua Gate will definitely be able to reach the inner city and control it by then."
Zhou Chen nodded with satisfaction. Long before he came back, he had made an agreement with several loyal generals under his command that he would send people to contact them when the time came. Once he needed it, he would immediately find a way to lead troops to Beijing.
To be continued...