Unlike the Ming and Qing dynasties in later generations, important officials in Beijing had to participate in a large-scale court meeting almost every day, the great court meeting of the Great Song Dynasty was only held on the fifteenth day of the lunar New Year, and as long as there was no important matter, there was often a small-scale court meeting in three days, and the participants were all the chief officials of the important yamen such as the political affairs hall, the Privy Council, and the six ministries.

The scale of this court meeting in the Chongzheng Hall today is not too large, only about 20 important courtiers participated, which made the Chongzheng Palace, which covers a large area, seem a little empty, and the voice of the dialogue between the monarchs and ministers can still echo in the entire space from time to time.

In fact, the day before yesterday, a grand court meeting was held in the Daqing Hall where officials above the seventh rank in Beijing could listen to the government, and there was no need to be so eager today. However, the heavy rain in Tokyo has caused trouble recently, and the monarchs and ministers are uneasy, so they will take the opportunity to discuss countermeasures.

But what surprised Zhao Ji, the current official, was that he had just raised his head, and the Ministry of Industry had already stepped forward to Chen Zuo, saying that the water level of the Bianhe River in the city had dropped significantly, and even if it rained heavily in the second half of the month, it would not be a threat. This made him surprised, but also wondered: "How can it suddenly get better?" Could it be that the downstream floodgates have been opened to discharge the floodwater? ”

"Back to Your Majesty, it is not the downstream flood discharge, but the culvert gate in the city has been ordered to be opened, and the water stored in the Bianhe River has been channeled into the ground."

"Oh? Is there such a thing? Zhao Ji suddenly became interested, and just wanted to ask for details, but he saw Du Zhiyuan in the imperial history walking out of the minister's class and said: "Your Majesty, the minister wants to participate in the relevant people of Kaifeng Mansion and other people who are reckless and disturb the stability of Tokyo." ”

Under Zhao Ji's somewhat surprised gaze, Du Zhongcheng took out the impeachment notes written by many imperial histories of the Imperial History Observatory and held them high to the top, and then told all the changes that happened in Tokyo yesterday, and finally said with a stern expression: "The people of Kaifeng Mansion ignore the order of the capital and disturb the lives of the people, and the crime is unforgivable." What is especially odious is that he didn't care about the safety of the capital, and rashly asked the street division to open the floodgates, so that the water of the Bianhe River could enter the city. The minister thinks that this kind of practice is really a great rebellion, and he must be severely punished to set an example! ”

Zhao Ji finally knew the ins and outs of the matter, and his face looked a little gloomy. Because in his opinion, these courtiers rashly leading water into the sluice gate without being sure at all are irresponsible to the city of Tokyo, and they are not responsible for themselves, the son of heaven, and this crime is really not small.

At this time, Han Zhi, who happened to participate in this court meeting, also followed: "Your Majesty, as far as the minister knows, the one who led and ordered the almost catastrophe this time was Sun Tu, a nine-rank military attache of Kaifeng Mansion, who is now the head of the yadu. What this person has done is really lawless and unsightly, and he should be severely punished. "He already had a grudge against Sun Tu, so naturally he couldn't let go of such an opportunity.

With these two taking the lead, several other officials also stepped forward to participate in Kaifeng Mansion, and by the way, they pushed more charges on Sun Tu. It is said that he is reckless and bold, but he is really not an official, and he should be immediately stripped of his official position, and then he will be severely punished by the Criminal Department.

Zhao Ji listened to the ministers impeaching the entire Kaifeng Mansion in this way, and he also thought a little, feeling that it was time to rectify this yamen who was running errands in front of him, otherwise if someone did anything out of the ordinary in the future, it would be impossible to remedy the disaster. As for the person Sun Tu that they often mentioned, although he had some impressions, he didn't think about it too carefully, after all, a nine-rank official, and a military attaché, dared to turn Tokyo City upside down, and he really should be punished heavily, thinking that those who came after him should learn from him.

As a privy envoy, Tong Guan stood in the middle of the courtiers' class, coldly watching those civil officials constantly attacking Kaifeng Mansion and Sun Tu, but his heart was not for a while.

He has been in the court for many years, he can see how ugly these civil officials are, it was just a trivial matter, except for the people who were slightly frightened, it did not cause any consequences, but solved the flood situation, but they were good, they actually attacked Sun Tu on the basis of being the master of his own hands, and they were about to shout and shout to kill.

And this is the sorrow of being a military attache in the court today. Because they are often inferior to civil officials, and most of the merits must be shared by civil officials, and as long as they commit some mistakes, they will be grabbed by civil officials, and after being impeached and knocked down, they will be stepped on a few times until they are gone.

In fact, if this matter is put on an ordinary civil official, not to mention that it will have almost no impact, even if there is really a trouble, at most he will be demoted out of the capital and released as an official, and it is impossible to really convict him of a serious crime. But when it fell on Sun Tu, the charge became extremely heavy, with his identity, I am afraid that once he seizes the official position and is thrown into the criminal department, this little life may not be saved.

It's really chilling!

Tong Guan sneered in his heart, knowing that he had to come forward to protect Sun Tu, and it was time to teach these arrogant civil officials a lesson. At that moment, he took advantage of the fact that everyone had said almost everything, waiting for Zhao Ji to make a decision, and stepped out: "Your Majesty, the minister has something to do." In private, he called Zhao Ji a saint and claimed to be an old slave, but when he came to the court, he didn't dare to call him so.

Zhao Ji glanced at him a little strangely: "What's the matter with Tong Shumi?" It's better to settle the matter first and then discuss it, but it's not too late. ”

"Back to Your Majesty, what the minister wants to play has a lot to do with the incident that happened in Tokyo yesterday. All the colleagues kept saying how the Kaifeng Mansion acted recklessly, but obviously did not mention one point, that is, why they would make such a disproportionate move. ”

"Isn't it because of the thief? It's just a few thieves, and even if you get it, it won't be a credit......" Han Zhi replied with some disapproval. It's just that as soon as he spoke, he was swept away by Tong Guan, just this glance made his back cold, and his face changed, and the other party's aura completely suppressed this grandson of Han Qi.

After scaring Han Zhi away with just one look, Tong Guan bowed down and said: "Your Majesty, that Sun Tu was originally recommended by the minister to the imperial court, so when he made such a big incident, the minister immediately asked him to be taken into the palace for questioning, as long as he really did it for no reason, the minister will definitely be the first to play impeachment and will not tolerate it." ”

"Well, Tong Shumi has always been loyal to the country, and I still believe it." Zhao Ji nodded, and then he understood a little: "So, what else is there in this?" ”

"Exactly. According to Nasun Tu's report, he has been doing his best to track down a gang of thieves in Tokyo who specialize in abducting women and children, known as Pink Swallows. Yu Xianggong also knows this. Tong Guan said and glanced at Yu Shen opposite.

Yu Shen was named, so he also walked out in response, and saluted: "Your Majesty does have this matter, and the original minister also ordered the Kaifeng Mansion to strictly investigate to the end, and the thieves must not be allowed to go unpunished." ”

The two of them explained to the Son of Heaven that the antecedents of the incident were all on the spot, and they did not tell the story of Yu Shen's granddaughter being taken captive by the people of Pink Swallow, so it seemed that Yu Shen cared about the stability of the capital.

Zhao Ji really nodded at him with satisfaction: "Yu Qing is really attentive, and I am very relieved." So what's next? ”

Tong Guan said again: "These days, Sun Tu led the Yamen to go through several hardships and hardships, and he really caught a lot of thieves and main leaders of the pink swallows. As a result, under some investigation, he discovered an extremely terrible situation, once these leaders of the Pink Swallow fell into the hands of the government, they often preferred to die rather than give in, and committed suicide by taking poison. Your Majesty, the sins they have committed are not light, but they are not worthy of death. ”

At this time, not only Zhao Ji, but even some other courtiers showed curious looks. And Tong Guan took the opportunity to glance at everyone and continued: "So they kept an eye on the identities of the captured thieves, and found that they were all from similar backgrounds, and they were all from the south of the Yangtze River and Zhejiang. ”

After a pause, his tone became more and more solemn: "And after that, he also found that some of the vehicles used by the thieves actually still had the marks of the Qian clan of the original Wu Yue Kingdom. Just when he found out about this place, he felt that someone wanted to do something rebellious in Tokyo City and was preparing to take thieves in the whole city, those thieves who were pink swallows actually knew the movements of Kaifeng Mansion in advance, and suddenly escaped from the hiding place and got into the underground ditch, trying to escape the encirclement and suppression of the imperial court.

"That Sun Tu is also young and vigorous, coupled with meritorious service, after perceiving the weakness of the underground ditch, he immediately ordered someone to open the gate and release the water, flooding the thieves. In this way, there is the so-called misdeeds of today's colleagues, but he also captured many important thieves of the Pink Swallow.

Moreover, according to those people's confessions, their behind-the-scenes leaders have long colluded with many officials in the DPRK and China to try to prevent him from continuing to investigate the case in depth. The minister didn't know who these people were, and he didn't dare to say what their intentions were. However, the minister believes that what Sun Tu and the Kaifeng Mansion did was just a matter of urgency, and it could not be regarded as a lawless and arbitrary! ”

After saying these words, the face of the Son of Heaven suddenly changed greatly, the original anger had been replaced by a few traces of suspicion, and his eyes were even more on the officials who had impeached Sun Tu just now. And those officials were even more nervous, wanting to say something, but they didn't know how to open their mouths for a while.

How did things suddenly turn so dramatically? Also, why is this matter related to King Qian's Mansion? Is what Tong Guan said true or false?

After being silent for a while, Du Zhiyuan took the lead in speaking: "Your Majesty, it is unknown how much of what Tong Shumi said is true. The Qian clan has always followed the rules since they returned to my Great Song Dynasty, and the ministers really can't believe that they dare to do such a big rebellion. ”

Before Zhao Ji could speak, Tong Guan had already answered: "What Du Zhongcheng said is not unreasonable, so the official has already sent someone to the Qian Mansion to inquire." In addition, Kaifeng Mansion has also sent people to search the property under the name of the Qian family, I think at this time, there should be a result. ”

As soon as he finished speaking, a small yellow door guarding outside walked into the hall, knelt on the ground and played: "Your Majesty, today there is Yin Han Changzhou of Kaifeng Mansion who is asking to see him outside the palace, saying that there is something important to play!" ”