Although Su Jin was unwilling, he had to keep his promise and hand over the witness and material evidence to Xia Song and Du Yan. The fate of these witnesses and material evidence was naturally conceivable, and they were all destined to be destroyed immediately.
Su Jin couldn't disclose this. Firstly, it was because of Xia Siling that he couldn't personally send Xia Song to the guillotine regardless of Xia Siling's feelings. Secondly, he was also guilty of concealment. In this matter, he couldn't explain clearly. It was easy.
It made people think that he was using this matter to blackmail Du Yan and Xia Song to achieve a certain purpose. In fact, this was not an injustice to Su Jin. He thought so at the beginning.
As for the envoys from Yanyan and Huanqing, Su Jin had an intriguing conversation with Zhao Zhen after the morning court that day.
…
The air in March was full of the breath of spring. Early spring flowers were already blooming in the palace, and the afternoon sunshine was quite warm and comfortable. Uncharacteristically, Zhao Zhen met Su Jin in the imperial garden of the back garden, and the two of them sat on the swing.
I sat down on the bamboo chair beside the shelf. There was a celadon tea cup on the small bamboo table in front of me, and the faint fragrance of tea wafted out.[
"It's spring again. In total, I have been on the throne for twenty-two years. Every March, I like to sit in the imperial garden in the afternoon and watch the palace ladies playing swings, flying kites, and playing Cuju. I used to follow
They play together, but in recent years, I have lost my mood. Am I getting old?"
Su Jin looked at the figures of the female officials in the palace who were laughing and running in the spring light in the distance. Their graceful figures exuded the breath of youth in the sunshine. She looked at Zhao Zhen, whose face was pale and his eyebrows were deeply furrowed. His face was indeed full of twilight.
But I can't say this.
"Your Majesty is in the prime of life. If I remember correctly, Your Majesty Gui Geng should be thirty-five years old. He is in the prime of life."
Zhao Zhen smiled and said: "Sure enough, if you don't mention it, I have forgotten that I am only in my thirties, Prime Minister Yan is sixty, Prime Minister Lu, who died last year, was only in his seventies, and Privy Du is also fifty."
People, counting the ministers in the court, more than half of them are much older than me; Su Jin, how old are you this year?"
Su Jin said: "I am nineteen, and I will be twenty when I celebrate my birthday in October this year."
Zhao Zhen clicked his tongue and said, "You are almost twenty. I remember the first time I met you, you were only sixteen years old. Four years have passed in the blink of an eye. Life flies by so fast."
Su Jin smiled and said: "Yes, I have a son. It's indeed too fast to accept."
Zhao Zhen thought deeply: "You will have a cousin when you are twenty, how about I give you a cousin?"
Su Jin hurriedly said: "How dare you do this? How dare you let the emperor worry about such a trivial matter."
Zhao Zhen looked up at the white clouds in the sky and said: "You always give me a very strange impression. I always feel that there is something inexplicable about you. It seems that you are always unpredictable about some things. I will give you a name.
How about the nickname 'Zicong'?"
Su Jin was shocked, and calmly held his hands in his hands and said with a smile: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for giving me a cousin, but how could I give you such a feeling? I am so stupid, so how can I predict the unknown?"
Zhao Zhen looked at Su Jin and said: "Perhaps I am overthinking, or perhaps it is a coincidence. That year in Yingtian Mansion, you said that Grandpa Taizu entrusted you with a dream to tell you about the Taimiao's legacy. I felt this way at that time, and I also
I believe in Buddhism, but I know very well in my heart that the so-called theory of dream entrustment is not credible. If people in the past can entrust dreams to future generations, why have my beloved mother and father never entrusted me with dreams? I have made thousands of them
None of the dreams can correspond to reality, but you can learn from your dreams the instructions on the stone tablet in the Imperial Ancestral Temple and describe them word for word. Isn't it strange?"
Su Jin did not expect that Zhao Zhen would still remember this incident, nor did he expect that Zhao Zhen could look at the theory of ghosts so clearly. He thought that everyone in this era was superstitious and ignorant, but it turned out to be his own wishful thinking.
"Perhaps it is just as the emperor said, it is just an exceptional coincidence. There are no great wonders in the world. Some things are illusory but are real. I will explain this matter. I also want to know why."
Zhao Zhen smiled and said: "That's true. There are no great wonders in the world, and there is nothing that can't happen. However, you seem to have the ability to predict the unforeseen. For example, regarding the New Deal, you were the first to propose the ten disadvantages of the policy.
But you are resolutely unwilling to participate in the New Deal. On the contrary, you have discouraged Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi and others from implementing the New Deal. It seems to me that you have long expected that the New Deal will fail and are unwilling to step into this quagmire. Facts have proved that the New Deal is indeed difficult to implement.
OK, and Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi and others have also become the target of criticism because of the New Deal. Tell me, how do you judge that the New Deal will eventually fail?"
Su Jin's heart skipped a beat, and he calmed down and said: "What the emperor said to me is so impressive. It's not that I don't want to participate in the New Deal, but I feel that I can't play a big role in it. Master Fan and Master Han are enough to take the lead.
None of them can do it, and it won't work if I just follow it up and cajole you. I am indeed not optimistic about the success of the New Deal. That's not because there is anything wrong with the content of the New Deal, but because there are other reasons."
Zhao Zhen said: "What is the reason?"
Su Jin shook his head and said: "I don't want to say it, I don't want to make the emperor unhappy."
Zhao Zhen frowned and pondered for a while and said: "Are you saying that the reason lies with me?" [
Su Jin shook his head and said: "If I don't say anything, all this has passed, so it's okay not to mention it."
Zhao Zhen said: "Su Jin, I am meeting you in the imperial garden today because I hope that you and I can be as open and honest as friends. As the king of the world, although hundreds of officials surround me and the people look up to me, there are only those who can truly be called friends."
There is no one. I don’t want to live my whole life without someone who can tell the truth to me. It is very likely that the relationship between you and me will develop into a relationship more like a friend than a monarch. But I feel that in recent times, there have been many rifts between us.
You already don’t want to tell me clearly. Is this what people do once they enter officialdom?”
Su Jin smiled and said: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for looking at me differently. You are a monarch and your subjects are ministers. The sages have already established the Three Cardinal Principles and the Five Constitutions. How can we mess up the principles? The relationship between the Emperor and I will always be a monarch-minister relationship. We cannot be friends without talking to each other. It's not that I don't want to, but that I don't want to."
I can't do that."
Zhao Zhen nodded slightly and said, "Then I will order you to speak out what is in your heart in the name of the Emperor. Will you speak it?"
Su Jin said: "I can make up some false words to deceive you. I know people but not their hearts. Even if the emperor is the lord of the world, he can't guess what I really like in my heart."
Zhao Zhen sighed: "This is the tragedy of me. Sitting in the world, it is difficult to know my true heart. This is the tragedy of me."
Zhao Zhen said a few sad words in succession, his expression was lonely and desolate, and his eyes were empty as he looked at the shaking figures of the laughing palace maids in the distance.
Su Jin smiled and said: "Your Majesty, there is no need to be like this. None of this is important."
Zhao Zhen turned his head and smiled and said: "You're right, none of this is important. My mission is to make the Song Dynasty immortal and pass it on completely in my hands to the eternity. This is
What I really want to do."
Su Jindao: "The mission of the ministers is to assist the emperor to achieve this goal, and at the same time, to honor the ancestors and make contributions, and to leave a name next to the emperor's name in the history books. This is the whole purpose."
Zhao Zhen said with a smile: "You are telling the truth. Some people have confessed to me that they are not interested in fame and wealth, but only in the interests of my country. I know that is a lie. Guangzong's glory and leaving his name in the history books is also one of the purposes. I do not doubt their loyalty.
, but I don’t like their incompleteness or truth either.”
Su Jin said: "It's fine that the emperor understands, so why bother to say it out loud? Ministers are human beings, how can they not have human desires? This is not something to be ashamed of."
Zhao Zhen said: "That's right. Otherwise, why would the New Deal fail? It's because I took it for granted. I just wanted my ministers to serve the country with loyalty, but I didn't expect to harm their interests."
Su Jin nodded. Zhao Zhen was not confused. He understood the crux, but it was just a little late.
"I know that you came to the palace to see me because you wanted to resign as the envoy of Yanhuanqing Road?" Zhao Zhen sat up straight, picked up the green tea on the table and took a sip.
Su Jindao: "I have this intention. Please tell the truth. My ability is not enough to allow all the people from all walks of life to live and work in peace and contentment. Besides, the emperor's courage to put this courage on my shoulders is not a compliment to me, but to me...
...the punishment of the minister. The minister did make the emperor unable to come to power on certain matters, but the emperor did not have to punish the minister in this way. The emperor ordered the minister to die and the minister had to die. If the emperor was dissatisfied with the minister, he could just issue an imperial edict to dismiss him from office and confiscate his family. Also,
Why is this necessary?”
Zhao Zhen glared at Su Jin and said, "Is this how you see me? In your mind, what's the difference between me and those foolish kings from the previous dynasty?"
Su Jin hurriedly said: "I offended you first, and it is not the emperor's fault. The emperor is already very tolerant of me."
Zhao Zhen sighed: "This is why I just said that I feel that there is a rift between you and my monarch. No wonder you think this way. I might as well make it clear to you that the Yanhuan and Qing roads in the northwest will be handed over to you. I am indeed
With selfish intentions, the location of the gateway to the northwest is self-evident, and the northwest is unstable. The Song Dynasty cannot develop peacefully. I know you have a plan. For example, if you ask me for a piece of wasteland, you will be in the wasteland in the blink of an eye.
We have found a coal mine, and I also know that you are refining kerosene. I am afraid you have stored tens of thousands of barrels. I don’t want to ask you how you know there is coal there, nor do you know how you know about kerosene.
I know you will not answer the question of how to refine it; but I believe you will not sit back and watch the people of the Song Dynasty suffer and live in poverty."
Su Jin hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, please don't be suspicious. The reserve of kerosene is to prevent the invasion of Western bandits. The reason why I did not report it to the Emperor is because the kerosene is too expensive. If I reported it, it would seem to be forcing the imperial court."
The purchase was suspected; I dispersed the kerosene to the northwest states and deployed it without taking any money. You can hear about this, Mr. Di Qing, the magistrate of Yanzhou."
Zhao Zhen smiled and said: "No need to explain, I don't doubt you. If I doubt you, how can you still sit here and drink with me?"
Su Jin's heart was pounding. This matter was indeed dangerous. It seemed that Zhao Zhen's eyes and ears were everywhere. Maybe Baoshan's refining of kerosene had just begun, and Zhao Zhen got the news. Although he had no other intentions, this
Once someone makes a fuss about something, there is no way to argue with it; Su Jin secretly made up his mind to be more cautious in doing things in the future, and the people around him must be absolutely reliable, otherwise sooner or later he will end up inexplicably.[