Xu Xiantu came out of Lu Mansion and returned directly to Da Nei by carriage. He had Chen Qing's autographed letter to the emperor in his hand, and he did not dare to delay.
When I arrived at the Imperial Study Room, I happened to meet Li Guang reporting to the officials on the income from the salt tax. The salt tax was now the largest tax in the imperial court, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers relied on it for their military salaries and supplies.
However, the salt tax in the first half of this year actually dropped by 20% compared with the same period last year, which made Zhao Gou a little restless.
Zhao Gou was furious and said: "Immediately investigate the reason for me. If it is selling illegal salt, immediately arrest the salt dealers, behead them all, and confiscate their property to make up for the loss of salt tax!"
"Weichen will investigate the cause immediately!"
Li Guang also couldn't sit still anymore, got up and left.
Zhao Gou was upset and pacing in the room. Xu Xiantu advised: "Your Majesty, don't worry. As long as you find the cause and take measures to remedy the situation, the loss will not be too great."
Zhao Gou sighed and said: "This financial problem has made me exhausted mentally and physically. I can't eat well or sleep well all day long. When I sleep, I wonder where to get money from and when will I stop worrying about money."
"Your Majesty, Wei Chen thinks that Chen Qing's approach is right. He also has financial and tax constraints, so he conducts foreign trade as an official and merchant. It is said that he can obtain high profits. Wei Chen thinks that we can follow suit and open ports in Guangzhou and Mingzhou, and then
Charter a cargo ship to go to sea.”
Zhao Gou nodded, "This plan is not bad. Let's go back to the political hall to discuss and establish an official trade organization to carry out official and commercial trade. Not only overseas trade, but also internal trade must be vigorously promoted. I want to make a profit, and make a profit as soon as possible!"
"Wei Chen will keep an eye on this matter!"
Xu Xiantu took out a letter and placed it on Zhao Gou's imperial case, "Your Majesty, this is what Lu Yihao gave to Wei Chen just now. It is Chen Qing's personal letter to Your Majesty."
Zhao Gou was startled and quickly took the letter. The envelope was complete, sealed with lacquer, and showed no signs of being opened. "
He quickly took the bamboo knife, opened the envelope, took out the letter inside, and read it hastily. His face gradually became very ugly. He slapped the table and said angrily: "How dare you threaten me!"
After finally reading the letter, Zhao Gou sat helplessly behind the court case, staring at the letter in a daze.
Xu Xiantu also guessed that the content of the letter must be to use the late emperor to threaten the emperor. If the emperor dared to form an alliance with the Jin Kingdom, he would push the late emperor to ascend the throne and establish a new Song Dynasty.
In fact, Xu Xiantu thought too simply. Chen Qing not only threatened the late emperor to ascend to power, but also threatened to seize the entire Jinghu South Road and Jiangnan West Road.
Among them, the late emperor's ascendance was Zhao Gou's Achilles' heel, and it was the scene he feared most.
At this moment, Xu Xiantu faintly heard someone shouting, and Zhao Gou also heard it. He asked strangely: "Did Xu Aiqing hear something?"
"It seemed like someone was shouting!"
"I heard it too,"
Zhao Gou walked to the window and listened carefully. The sound came from the north, like someone shouting slogans.
He said anxiously to the eunuch: "Go and see, what happened?"
Before the eunuch could go out, a guard hurried over to report, "Your Majesty, a large-scale demonstration broke out among the students. More than 10,000 students gathered outside Donghua Gate, shouting slogans, and the crowd was furious."
Zhao Gou was stunned. The Taipei students were marching? He asked anxiously: "Why are they marching?"
"They are firmly opposed to Song and Jin joining forces to attack the Western Army!"
"Ah!" Zhao Gou was stunned for a moment.
The report on the front page of "Lin'an Beijing News" quickly spread. In fact, the matter has been circulating among the people, but there is no evidence, so it is just a rumor.
However, the article published in the newspaper was indeed very reliable. It confirmed that this incident existed and was true. The Song Army was about to form an alliance with the Jin Army to jointly destroy the Western Army, the main force resisting the Jin Dynasty.
This news undoubtedly caused an uproar in Lin'an. The government and the public were outraged. The Tai students broke out in bloody rages and quickly formed teams to hold demonstrations.
"Jingkang is still in disgrace and will never agree to an alliance between Song and Jin!"
"Oppose internal strife and demand a joint fight against gold!"
"Oppose peace talks!"
Tens of thousands of Tai students shouted together with great momentum.
More and more people came from all directions to participate in the Tai students' demonstrations. The number reached hundreds of thousands, blocking the two inner main entrances of Donghua Gate and Hening Gate. There was also a lot of discussion in the court.
, especially the middle and low-level officials, almost all sided with the imperial students and the common people, and opposed the alliance between the imperial court and the Jin Kingdom to attack the Western Army.
This is the power of public opinion. Under the pressure of public opinion, Zhao Gou held an impromptu small court meeting in the side hall of Daqing Palace in the afternoon. More than 40 civil and military officials attended the court meeting.
A vote was held at the court meeting. Except for Qin Hui and Zhu Shengfei who abstained, the other 42 officials unanimously voted to raise their hands to oppose the joint attack between the imperial court and the Jin Kingdom on the Sichuan-Shaanxi Army.
Under the pressure of strong public opinion between the government and the opposition, Zhao Gou had to publicly promise that he would only accept the armistice between Song and Jin, but opposed the joint attack between Song and Jin on the Sichuan-Shaanxi Army.
Zhao Gou immediately sent Li Guang and Xu Xiantu to appease the imperial students and the people. The imperial court had accepted their demands and would never form an alliance with the Jin State, let alone attack the Sichuan-Shaanxi Army with the Jin State, and persuaded them to disperse.
In the evening, the parade, which lasted only half a day, was a complete victory, and the Tai students and common people began to disperse one after another.
Since the parade and gathering was relatively short, the Tai students and the common people had not had time to attack the Jin Guo Pavilion, so the Jin Guo Pavilion narrowly escaped. If the rally continued until tomorrow morning, then the Jin Guo Pavilion would definitely be occupied by angry Tai students tonight.
impact.
However, although the Jin Guoguan was safe and sound, Wan Yanchang was so angry that he almost went crazy. He persisted for half a month, constantly increasing the chips to seduce the emperor Zhao Gou. Seeing that Zhao Gou was about to compromise, he was interrupted by a newspaper and a parade.
Completely intercepted.
In the lobby, Wan Yanchang sat in the main seat with a gloomy face. Just now, Qin Hui and deputy negotiator Wei Liangchen came to inform the Emperor of the Song Dynasty Zhao Gou's final decision and did not accept the idea of joining forces with the Jin Kingdom to annihilate the Sichuan-Shaanxi Army.
It is recommended that only the signing of a long-term armistice agreement be accepted.
The above decision has been officially issued by the Emperor and cannot be changed.
Xiao Yi, deputy negotiator of the Kingdom of Jin, whispered: "Just now, Mr. Qin told me alone that Emperor Zhao Gou received a personal letter from Chen Qing this morning, and he was stunned on the spot."
Wan Yanchang was startled, "Is the news true?"
"It must be true. It is Kangshun, Prime Minister of Qin, the eunuch in the imperial study. The letter written by Chen Qing was delivered to the emperor by Xu Xiantu."
"boom!"
Wan Yanchang punched the table and gritted his teeth and said, "I see, I said Zhao Gou was about to be convinced, so why did he suddenly change his mind? Chen Qing's letter is the key."
At this time, Wan Yanchang's eyes fell on the "Lin'an Beijing News" on the table, and he said angrily: "There is also this newspaper that adds fuel to the flames. If it weren't for it, how could there have been large-scale demonstrations? This is what Chen Qing'an inserted in Lin'an
A sharp sword!"
"Marshal, I heard that this newspaper office is located in Sanqiao and is using Chen Qing's old residence."
Wan Yanchang could not do anything to defeat the Song Dynasty, nor could he do anything to defeat Chen Qing. All his anger was concentrated on this newspaper.
"Tell Li Qingzhou to come see me!"
Li Qingzhou was originally the commander of the palace guards of the puppet Qi emperor Liu Yu. After Liu Yu was deposed, many puppet Qi palace guards with high martial arts skills, including Li Qingzhou, were recruited by Wan Yanchang to imitate Chen Qing's internal guards and formed
A Han internal guard of more than 300 people was formed, specializing in inspecting the intelligence points of the Western Army and Han officials who wanted to betray the Jin Dynasty. They were rampant in Hebei states and had great power.
This time Wan Yanchang came to Lin'an. In addition to the 300 Jurchen cavalry escorts, he also brought more than 30 internal guards, led by Li Qingzhou.
Not long after, a tall man in his thirties walked into the lobby, knelt down on one knee, cupped his fists and said, "Please give me your orders, Marshal!"
Wan Yanchang said coldly: "I give you a task. Tonight, you will bloodbath the newspaper office of "Lin'an Beijing News". No chickens or dogs will be spared!"