The melodious bells rang in Lin'an Imperial City, indicating the beginning of the court meeting.
The royal chariot and the phoenix chariot, which had been waiting in the harem for a while, slowly got up and headed towards Yanhe Hall.
Today is Xiao Chao Hui, also called Chang Chao. Its scale is between that of Da Chao Hui and Nei Yin Zuo Dui.
Recently, many people in the court have abandoned their official positions and fled, leaving too many vacant official positions. In this regard, Xie Daoqing has severely reprimanded them.
Today's small court meeting is to summon civil and military officials to adjust official positions.
After purging those cowardly and incompetent officials, it was time for the court to regroup and reverse the situation.
This heavy burden finally fell on the old woman Xie Daoqing.
Yijia arrived at Yanhe Hall.
The chamberlains helped the somewhat crazy Zhao Fu in first, while Xie Daoqing sat down behind the bead curtain.
However, after taking a few steps, she was stunned before the red-carpeted hall came into view.
"this……"
Before she came, she had imagined the worst in her mind. Even if half of the courtiers had escaped, she could still take it easy.
But the scene before her was unexpectedly beyond her expectations.
Who would have thought that a great country with redundant officials would one day only have this few people in court.
How little?
six people.
Xie Daoqing couldn't believe it and looked at it again with his eyes widened.
Wang Yao, Chen Yizhong, Xie Tang, Xie Zhi, Quan Yongjian, Xie Ge.
Except for these six people, the hall was empty and there was no one else around.
"The Song Dynasty is dead!"
With this thought popping up in his mind, Xie Daoqing almost collapsed to the ground.
She grabbed one of the chamberlains with her hands to support her body and murmured: "Did you escape? Did you escape?"
"Don't be alarmed, Queen Mother, slave..."
Xie Daoqing's ears were buzzing and he couldn't hear what the people around him were saying.
Until her nephew Xie Tang walked up and called her a few words.
"Queen Mother, Queen Mother."
"What should we do? Everyone has escaped, and the Song Dynasty is over."
"I haven't escaped, I haven't escaped yet." Xie Tang said: "It's the official who delivered the order who escaped. The courtiers didn't know there was a court meeting today. The prime ministers also came here at short notice..."
"Yes, ask your gentlemen what to do."
Xie Daoqing quickly looked into the palace, but only saw two prime ministers. As for the left prime minister, participating in politics, signing documents, etc., they were all gone.
"..."
Although the ministers have not yet arrived, today's court meeting finally discussed the adjustment of official positions.
"To the Queen Mother, the top priority is to choose the central committee. Since Zhang Jian has escaped, the court does not even have enough officials."
"What Wang Pingzhang said is absolutely true. Is there anyone who can choose?"
Wang Yao and Chen Yizhong looked at each other.
Chen Yizhong shook his head slightly.
Wang Yao then saluted and said, "Please allow me, the Queen Mother, to go back and make a plan."
~~
After leaving the palace and leaving the palace, Chen Yizhong returned home and found someone waiting in the front hall.
This person's name is Li Jue, also known as Yuanhui, and he was originally an official of the Jia Party.
"Eun-sang is back."
"Yuan Hui is here?" Chen Yizhong, who was quite dignified, said calmly: "Let's go in and talk."
"Thank you."
The guests and hosts sat down in the hall. Li Jue bowed and said, "Today I came here to harass Prime Minister En. It is true that I have been forced to the point of desperation."
Chen Yizhong closed his eyes and rested his mind, not knowing whether he was listening or not.
Li Jue said: "Ever since Jia Sidao was convicted, there have been people in the court who have been trying to step on me and wait for him to ascend to power. Yesterday, Sun Rongsou came forward again and wanted to exile us."
"I saw it." Chen Yizhong said.
"He compared me with Qian Daoyou, Wu Yi and others. It is true that those people are Jia Dang's confidants. I am just a Hanlin poet, serving the royal family. What does Jia Sidao's defeat in Lugang have to do with me?
"
When Li Jue said this, he glanced at Chen Yizhong and continued speaking, but his voice was lowered.
"Sun Rongsou is not stupid, so why can he classify me as a member of the Jia Party? The reason is very simple, because he is Wang Yao's man, and I am a favored person to you."
Chen Yizhong finally opened his eyes.
Of course he understood such a simple truth, and he was just waiting for Li Jue to say "I am yours."
"Go back with peace of mind, Sun Rongsou can't harm you yet."
As Chen Yizhong spoke, he picked up the teacup and took a sip.
"Thank you so much for your kindness!" Li Jue couldn't help but be overjoyed...
~~
The next day is still Chang Dynasty.
Finally, more officials came, but not many officials wearing purple or crimson official uniforms were seen in the palace.
Xie Daoqing sat behind the bead curtain, his eyes were filled with green and blue.
Therefore, the top priority is to adjust official positions.
When he heard the sentence "I have my own memorial", Xie Daoqing sat upright.
However, she quickly froze again.
She did not expect that the next dispute in the court would be about whether a minor official named Li Jue should be dismissed.
"There are no powerful officials in this dynasty who are as fierce as Jia Sidao. Qian Shuoyou, Wu Yi, Li Jue, etc. have all attached themselves to Jia Sidao. If they are not punished now, how can they convince the public?!"
"Since the founding of the Song Dynasty, all previous emperors have treated their ministers favorably. Now Li Jue is summoned to the court and his sentence is suddenly increased. How can the court show its trust to others from now on?!"
"..."
Later, two important ministers, Wang Yao and Chen Yizhong, actually argued in person in the palace.
Xie Daoqing was completely confused.
She is an old woman, and she doesn't even know how much courage and skill it takes to restrain two ministers who have their own thoughts, let alone restrain them?
Still panicking, Wang Yao suddenly turned around and said: "Please ask the officials to remove the old minister from his official position!"
Xie Daoqing stood up suddenly and almost rushed out of the bead curtain.
She had seen a lot of ridiculous things these days, and she didn't expect that there would be even more ridiculous things every day.
She forced herself to calm down and was about to speak to persuade him to stay.
Chen Yizhong also raised his voice and said: "I asked the officials to remove me from my official position!"
Xie Daoqing's mind went blank.
The beaded curtain in front of her was swaying, and the stupid emperor was sitting there muttering to himself... She didn't know what evil she had done in her previous life to clean up such a mess.
"You... two gentlemen are leaving, how can we entrust the affairs of state to you?"
Xie Daoqing wanted to persuade him to stay, so he said half a sentence. Wang Yao and Chen Yizhong had already given in.
Liu Mengyan, who was at the forefront of the officials, raised his head, his eyes a little blank, and he didn't know what he was thinking just now.
Chen Yizhong said: "To the Queen Mother, Liu Mengyan can take charge of state affairs. Please make Liu Mengyan the prime minister."
"I second the proposal."
Xie Daoqing was about to cry but had no tears, but he still went out of his way to persuade Wang Yao and Chen Yizhong to stay.
But she couldn't think of any way, so she could only try to keep the bowl of water level.
So Wang Yao was still in charge of military matters, Chen Yizhong was the left prime minister, and Liu Mengyan was the right prime minister...
~~
That night.
Li Jue hurried to Chen Yizhong's house and said in panic: "Enxiang, I never thought that Enxiang could do this for me, I'm so grateful!"
Chen Yizhong waved his hand.
He did not want to resign because of Li Jue. Although party struggles in the Song Dynasty were fierce in the past, they were not so disgraceful.
As it is today, the truth is that I really don’t want to be this official.
The country is about to be destroyed. If you can take the power alone, you can try to mend the sky and see if you can turn the tide.
But what's the point of fighting for power with an old guy like Wang Yao?
Queen Mother Xie can't even see clearly. Can a scholar-bureaucrat really be as obedient as a domestic servant?
Thinking of this, a servant hurried over.
"Ms. sir."
"What's the matter?"
"Wang Yao moved out of the Prime Minister's Mansion and rented a house to live in. He said that he would give the Prime Minister's Mansion to the Prime Minister."
"Ah."
Chen Yizhong sneered and said to himself: "If you beat me, I will give you the power of the Song Dynasty..."
~~
All night long, Xie Daoqing slept lightly.
One moment she dreamed of Li Ni rushing into Lin'an and digging Zhao Yun's grave, and the next moment she dreamed of the courtiers escaping.
Suddenly waking up, she remembered that she had comforted Wang Yao and Chen Yizhong with kind words.
I just hope that they can focus on national affairs next.
"Today we will summon all the ministers to Xuan De Hall to perform a duet."
Xie Daoqing was so worried that he even lost his appetite for breakfast and wished he could go to Xuande Hall early to wait.
However, the first thing she waited for was Chen Yizhong's resignation.
"What did the Left Prime Minister say?"
"He said... Wang Pingzhang is like this. If he doesn't say goodbye, how can he explain the ridicule of the people in the world?"
There were no foreign ministers around at this time, and Xie Daoqing finally cried.
She wiped her tears with a handkerchief and asked, "Where is the Prime Minister?"
"The Left Prime Minister has left the city and said he would return to Wenzhou."
"Why are you still standing there?! Why don't you send someone to chase him quickly?!"
"Slave, go right away."
Xie Daoqing didn't know what to do, so he quickly drove to the Xuande Hall. When he arrived, he took a look, but saw no one.
"Where is Wang Pingzhang?"
"Queen Mother, Wang Pingzhang is known to have military intelligence and will come later."
"Where's the Right Chancellor?"
"I don't know where your right minister has gone."
Xie Daoqing said in shock: "Escaped again?"
"Don't worry, Queen Mother. I went to the Prime Minister's Mansion to check. I guess he didn't run away, but he was away due to some personal matters."
~~
"My lord, the Queen Mother has sent someone to summon you again."
"Go back and tell the messenger that you didn't find me."
"We have sent people to the house three times. Maybe there is some important national matter."
"busy."
Liu Mengyan uttered one word impatiently and drove his servant away.
He was sitting in the private room of Fengle Building at this time. Looking out from the window, he could see the West Lake.
He had already drank five pots of tea, and he had been sitting there from morning to afternoon.
Finally, a small boat moored slowly by the West Lake, with flags hanging on the boat. The picture was exactly what Liu Mengyan had been looking for.
He quickly descended from Fengle Tower and boarded the boat.
"Boatman, go to Longting Lake."
"Okay!"
This is Lin'an, there is only West Lake, not Longting Lake. But the boat still floats slowly towards the center of the lake.
"Congratulations to the number one scholar, he is finally ranked as the prime minister."
The boatman was wearing short brown clothes and looked dark, like a vulgar man.
Liu Mengyan was very polite to him, calling him "Sir".
"Sir, you are joking."
"What did the young man who left just now want to do with you?"
"Thank you, Queen Mother, for calling me. There seems to be something urgent."
"You're not going?"
Liu Mengyan said: "Of course it is more important to meet Mr."
"How about helping me with something?"
"Don't say one thing, sir, he means hundreds of things. As long as I can do it, I will never frown."
"Jia Sidao has a cat named Yutu."
Liu Mengyan listened attentively and asked: "Lu You's poem "Should we still give a name and call him Less Tutu?"
"yes."
"Is this a cat that looks like a tiger?"
"No, it's a lion cat. It's all white with snow-white eyes and blue eyes. It's an old cat. It used to be raised in Geling Villa, but now I don't know where it is."
Liu Mengyan listened more carefully, and at the end, he saluted solemnly.
"Don't worry, sir. Even if I search all over Lin'an, I will definitely handle this matter for you."
"Then I'll leave it to the 'Right Prime Minister'."