The morning light shone on the palace wall, the palace door slowly opened, and the dusty eunuch rushed back to the palace.
Xie Daoqing was sitting in front of the bronze mirror being dressed by the palace maid. Hearing that the messenger who had gone to Wenzhou to summon Chen Yizhong had returned, he hurriedly summoned him.
Quan Jiu, who had come to greet her early, saw her and thought for a moment, then said: "Queen Mother, from what I have seen, I am afraid that the Left Prime Minister will not return to the court."
"How did you know that the messenger hadn't arrived yet? How could he dare not come when he was summoned by official orders?"
Xie Daoqing didn't believe it, so he urged Gong'e to put the phoenix crown on her and prepare to go to the front hall to summon Chen Yizhong.
After a while, the messenger arrived. Before he could salute, Xie Daoqing asked, "Is the Prime Minister Zuo coming to Lin'an?"
The eunuch immediately became embarrassed and knelt on the ground and said: "I told the Queen Mother, but the left prime minister still refused to come."
Xie Daoqing couldn't help but be anxious and asked hurriedly: "Why?"
"The Prime Minister Zuo said that he heard that someone in the capital was impeaching him, counting dozens of his faults, and slandering him with the words 'I am afraid that more than one Jia Sidao will harm the country'. He said that he was frightened and did not dare to serve in the government.
.”
"This memorial was handed over only a few days ago. How did he know about it?"
"I don't know. I tried to persuade the left prime minister, but he still refused to return to the court."
Seeing that Xie Daoqing was overwhelmed with anxiety, Quanjiu reminded him in a low voice: "The left prime minister wants him to fight for power with Wang Pingzhang if he doesn't want to return to the court."
Xie Daoqing then thought that Xie Tang had been persuading her to remove Wang Yao, and finally made her decision.
"Go and summon the left minister again and tell him that the court has dismissed Wang Yao and the officials who impeached him, and ask him to return to the court immediately."
Having said that, he immediately issued another decree.
After seeing this, Quan Jiu shook his head secretly, thinking that if he did this so directly, it seemed that Chen Yizhong was threatening the court. He must not be willing to come, not to mention that he left to escape for his life in the first place.
She waited for everyone in the palace to follow the order and left, and then she reminded: "These scholar-officials care most about their reputation. Now that he has made excuses not to return to the court, instead of calling him with orders again and again, the queen mother might as well write to his mother."
Then, if he dares to refuse again and gets a reputation of being unfilial, it will be difficult to silence everyone; secondly, we will give him a step down..."
~~
"After all, it's a woman's opinion."
When Liu Mengyan heard that Empress Dowager Xie sent someone to summon Chen Yizhong again, he whispered to Wen Yunsun: "Chen Yizhong is unwilling to return to the court, so he reluctantly summoned him. What's the use of Ji?"
Wen Yunsun already felt that there was an impetuous atmosphere in Lin'an's officialdom nowadays.
Just like today, Liu Mengyan easily dared to comment on the Queen Mother... as if he was waiting for the death of Song Dynasty.
"Isn't it appropriate for the Right Prime Minister to discuss the Queen Mother?"
"But Song Rui also thinks that Chen Yizhong should not be summoned again?"
"The country's affairs are difficult, and it is not easy for anyone to take charge."
This was on the way to Ouchi for discussion. There were officials accompanying him, but few dared to approach the two champions.
Liu Mengyan asked again: "Does Song Rui know about the "Book of Obedience" from the north?"
Wen Yunsun nodded and sighed slightly.
He originally looked down upon Li Xia's new court, but when Li Xia set a threshold for the officials of this new court, his opinion changed somewhat.
Not all Song ministers can surrender, only the recognized ones can.
He secretly thought that he should belong to this part.
"You only need to look at those officials to know." Liu Mengyan said again, "Not long ago, it was like stagnant water without waves, but now they are all panic-stricken, like a stone that stirs up a thousand waves. This newspaper has a great impact on the officialdom of Lin'an
, far beyond what you and I thought.”
"It can be seen that there were many people who were originally prepared to surrender, but now that their plans have come to nothing, they are inevitably uneasy."
"It can also be seen that there are too many officials in the imperial court, and there are quite a few people who are sitting on the corpses and eating nothing."
~~
Xie Daoqing sat down behind the bead curtain.
She looked around and felt that every official's eyes showed anxiety, as if they were thinking about whether they could serve as officials in the new dynasty.
This caused her great uneasiness.
It was a newspaper from the north that reminded her that so many people under her rule were waiting to surrender.
There were only two people in the palace who looked the calmest.
Liu Mengyan has always been so lonely and unconcerned with the world.
Wen Yunsun stood at the back, but he stood out even more, with a majestic appearance, beautiful eyebrows and long eyes, a fearless face and a firm demeanor.
He is worthy of being the champion.
"..."
After reading out the decree of Wang Yao's dismissal at the Chang Dynasty, he summoned several important ministers to the inner hall to report it.
Xie Daoqing first looked at Wen Yunsun and said: "Wen Qing led troops to help, his loyalty is commendable. Why hasn't the Privy Council drafted a charter to promote Wen Qing?"
Liu Mengyan was too lazy to take up the mess left by Wang Yao, and responded: "We still need to discuss it with the left prime minister."
It's a bit ridiculous, but Xie Daoqing has no idea, so Suizhen waited for Chen Yizhong to return to the court before arranging an official position for Wen Yunsun.
It was a bit embarrassing, so the emperor and his ministers were silent for a while.
At this time, the enemy troops had reached the mouth of the canal and were pushing towards Lin'an. Only Zhang Shijie was still struggling to support him, waiting for reinforcements... But the temple didn't know what to discuss.
Finally, Wen Yunsun spoke first.
"To the Queen Mother, the country's affairs are urgent now, and I have this report."
"Wen Qing, do you have any good suggestions? Please tell me quickly."
"In view of the chaos of the Five Dynasties, the Song Dynasty cut down vassal towns and built counties and towns. Although it was enough to correct the disadvantages for a while, the national power was also weakened. Therefore, when the enemy reaches a state, it will destroy a state, and when it reaches a county, it will destroy a county.
The land in the Central Plains is sinking, how can I regret it? Now it is appropriate to divide the world into four towns, and establish a governor to rule among them..."
Wen Yunsun finally saw the root cause of the Song Dynasty's suppression of generals and their weakening.
But today, Xie Daoqing is impatient to listen to him talk about these complicated and difficult things.
"After hearing that what you said is true, the Privy Council will discuss a charter."
After such perfunctory words, Xie Daoqing was still prepared to wait for Chen Yizhong to come back to negotiate peace.
~~
Mountain.
This place is still within Zhenjiang Prefecture, located more than fifty miles southeast of Jiaoshan Mountain.
If some generals of the Song Army were defeated and fled, they might have fled to Guangdong, Guangxi, and Fujian. Even when Zhang Shijie was defeated, they could still hold on to the next pass.
Lushan Mountain is one of the few mountains with dangerous terrain in the south of the Yangtze River, and it has the appearance of being the key to the Yangtze River.
There is also a military stronghold where Han Shizhong was stationed on the mountain, and Zhang Shijie hoped to defend half of the country like Han Shizhong, but failed.
Messages for help were sent one after another, but the court never responded whether it would send reinforcements, and there was no order for him to hold on or retreat.
After waiting and waiting, the envoy finally arrived.
"I promoted Zhang Shijie to be the Commander-in-Chief of the Four Wings of the Dragon God Guard. His remaining duties remain as before. Jia Erke served the country loyally and kept his word. I am so proud of him."
"My emperor is so kind and I am so grateful that I shed tears of gratitude."
Zhang Shijie was promoted again, but his mood was very complicated.
What good is it for the country to be defeated but still granted official status, with rewards and punishments mixed up?
But at this time, he could not refuse it, so he had to accept the official position.
"May I ask if the imperial court has any other instructions?"
"What else do I need to show you? General Zhang will have full command of the war."
Zhang Shijie was stunned and said: "This is a national war. If His Majesty does not fight it personally, there should be a Prime Minister to supervise the army. How can I, as a military general, take full command of it?"
"I understand General Zhang's intention. I will wait for my reply to the court and wait for the decree."
"We are facing a formidable enemy, please hurry up."
Zhang Shijie was anxious. After seeing off the messenger, he boarded the beacon tower again, looked up at the Yangtze River, and sighed.
The Tang army was not in a hurry to attack and prepared in an orderly manner, but did not give the Song army any chance to win.
"General, a messenger has arrived."
"Didn't you just leave?"
"It's the messenger from the north."
"not see."
Zhang Shijie refused simply.
Then I heard another report.
"General, here is the former Huaidong Zhizhi envoy Li Tingzhi's command of Dutong Miao Zaicheng."
"Is it Brother Miao?"
Zhang Shijie was slightly surprised.
Birds of a feather flock together, and people divide into groups. In the early years of the Battle of Ezhou, he fought together with Li Tingzhi, and also formed a close friendship with Miao Zaicheng.
At this moment, I changed my mind and thought, considering the loyalty of Li Tingzhi and Miao Zaicheng, they may not really surrender. Maybe they are pretending to surrender, and it is possible for them to contact me now.
"There is still wine and meat in the army? Bring it over."
"Here."
In fact, there was not much food and wine in the army anymore, so Zhang Shijie was still willing to entertain Miao Zaicheng so warmly because he had high hopes for Miao Zaicheng.
After thirty years of drinking.
Miao Zaicheng wiped his mouth and prepared to speak.
Zhang Shijie spoke first: "Brother Miao, I just hope you won't let me down."
"What hope does General Zhang hold?" Miao Zaicheng said loudly: "Isn't it General Zhang's hope to recover the Central Plains, recover the Sixteen Yanyun Prefectures, and bring peace to the world?!"
Zhang Shijie was silent.
After a while, he asked: "Didn't Li Tingzhi ask you to come?"
"When we retreated to Pukou Ferry, the arrogant Zhao Shu took away the ships, and I was captured. I originally wanted to be martyred, but later I saw that the commander-in-chief had also submitted, so I submitted. Now that the commander-in-chief is in charge of Yangzhou, I was transferred to the army.
I was hit, but I didn’t leave it alone. Oh, at that time Xianggong came to persuade me. He said that the Holy Emperor is not a foreign enemy now, and the world belongs to Li and Tang, so there is no reason to die for justice."
"Li Xia is Song Chen..."
"If you want to say this, Emperor Taizu of the Song Dynasty was still a minister of the Later Zhou Dynasty. At least my Majesty did not bully the orphans and widows. Instead, he snatched the Central Plains from the Meng Yuan and then took advantage of the trend to conquer the south and unify the four seas. Isn't that orthodox enough?!"
Zhang Shijie has nothing to say.
Miao Zaicheng was not polite. He swept away the meat on the eucalyptus, picked up the wine and drank again. After the wine and meat were finished, he patted his belly and said: "General Zhang, I have a letter from you here.
Zhang Liulang of Baozhou gave it to you. He said that when he drove you south, it was because Meng Yuan could not tolerate your righteousness. Now that Emperor Shengming has been born, he can tolerate you..."
"I won't look at it, you take it back."
"That's strange." Miao Zaicheng said: "Although my words are not as elegant as Deng Xianggong's, my truth is very clear. What else do you have to say? I didn't see you being such a mother-in-law when you rebelled against the Song Dynasty.
.”
"The imperial court has treated me with great kindness. I cannot let the imperial court down."
"Ha, a man should seek peace for the people of the world. You only think about your own kindness, you are a coward!"
"Miao Zaicheng!" Zhang Shijie yelled angrily, "I treat you kindly, don't give me a slap in the face! Now if I show you my righteousness and teach you to betray Li Tingzhi, will you be willing?"
Miao Zaicheng laughed and said: "Okay, I understand, but if you don't submit today, you will have to submit to Song Ting'en sooner or later. This is the case with my commander..."
Zhang Shijie was furious and shouted: "Here comes someone! Fork him out!"
"Get out of the way. I can walk on my own. It's time to eat and drink enough."
After Miao Zaicheng left, Zhang Shijie was still angry and depressed.
However, an aide came forward and warned carefully: "The general is a hero, but he must be careful to fall into the hands of this traitor."
"I didn't listen to his nonsense."
"Although the general's heart is as solid as stone, if news of today's incident reaches the imperial court, the imperial court will inevitably doubt the general again."
"How are you doing?"
"General, why don't you seize Miao Zaicheng, cut off his tongue, and behead him on Mount Lu to show your loyalty to the Song Dynasty?"
Zhang Shijie recalled what Miao Zaicheng said and shook his head.
"The Northern Army is not a foreigner. Loyalty to the Song Dynasty is my personal matter, so why force it on him?"