Tokyo Bianliang, the center of the imperial palace.

Today's Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty, today's official Zhao Ji can be regarded as the most versatile and widely interested person among all emperors throughout the ages.

He is good at Danqing calligraphy, so many paintings and calligraphy have been handed down, and the thin gold body created by him has become a major school of calligraphy in later generations; He was curious about the flowers and stones, so he sent the court officials to search for such rare things all over the world, and now there is a huge stone named Genyue in the imperial garden, in order to send it into the palace, the court even smashed open the gate of the city, and the huge amount of money is very imaginable.

He wants to cultivate immortality, so he is called the Daojun Emperor, and he also repairs the Wanshou Immortal Palace in the palace, which costs more than 10 million. The savings of the Great Song Dynasty for several years were only to satisfy Zhao Ji's unrealistic wishes, and for this reason, he would even spend a lot of time in the Immortal Palace every day to meditate, in order to attain the Immortal Dao as soon as possible.

Today, of course, it is the same, even if everything is complicated in the court and China, and how many courtiers are still entangled in the case of Sun Tu in Qingzhou, Zhao Ji can still keep everything in his mind, and calmly cultivate here, listening to the Taoist priest Lin Lingsu, who was specially invited back from the blessed land of Xianshan, to give him a lecture.

After the two guys who were not kings and non-ministers had a mysterious and mysterious answer, Zhao Ji showed a smile on his face that understood everything, and said happily after a while: "According to what the Taoist chief said, my well-being, my great Song Dynasty's national fortune should be prosperous in the Northeast?" ”

This is not a poor view, but a revelation from heaven. Your Majesty has been participating in the cultivation for many years, and his sincerity has moved the heavens, and now it is time to show you the path to eternal life. Lin Lingsu sat cross-legged on the futon, his eyes seemed to be closed, and he said something that was difficult to distinguish between fiction and reality: "The luck of the Great Song Dynasty, the ambition of immortality is only in the northeast." ”

Zhao Ji was convinced of this, and nodded: "I understand." I had intended to let Tong Guan go to sea next year, so I should have taken care of this matter. As he spoke, he glanced at the still gloomy sky outside, and he slowly got up: "It's not too early, I still have mundane affairs to deal with, so I won't disturb Daoist Qingxiu." ”

Seeing the Son of Heaven get up and leave, Lin Lingsu didn't mean to stand up and send him off, still the old god was sitting there with his eyes half-closed, just nodded slightly. Zhao Ji had long been accustomed to the other party's attitude of being so supportive, and when he flicked his sleeves, he turned around and walked out of this palace.

By the time he came out of the warm temple, a cold wind was blowing in his face. Fortunately, there have always been personal attendants waiting outside the hall, and when he saw this, he hurriedly stepped forward to put on a big hat for him to keep out the cold, and then said with a flattering smile: "The saint looks Hong Guangguang today, and his cultivation should have made great progress, right?" ”

"As long as your eyes are bright enough, the knot in your heart for many days will be solved once and for a while, my Great Song Dynasty will last for ten thousand years, and my wish for immortality should be fulfilled." Zhao Ji was in a good mood at this time, so he said with a smile: "Everything should be in the northeast." ”

When he said this, Tong Guan's heart, who was also waiting beside him, moved, and he took the opportunity to step forward and congratulate: "That slave and maid are really here to congratulate the saint on his immortal ambition and the prosperity of the Great Song Dynasty." This is also the biggest advantage of his background as a eunuch, other courtiers, even Cai Jing, who is the prime minister, also need some routine procedures if they want to see Zhao Ji and perform something alone, but he Tong Guan doesn't need so many things, and he directly takes out the gold medal given by Qin and enters the palace.

After a pause, he followed again: "And the Northeast Song Dynasty mentioned by Your Majesty has indeed had a harbinger, and now there is Qingzhou Governor Sun Tu leading the army to pacify the last thief Kou cottage in Erlong Mountain, and the world can be expected to inherit Pingke!" As he spoke, Tong Guan had already knelt down solemnly, held the good news high above his head with both hands, and sent it to Zhao Ji.

Zhao Ji was stunned at first, Tong Guan's sudden entry into the palace made him feel a little strange, and the other party's words surprised him even more, and only after a while did he reach out and take the good news, open it and look at it casually, but his face was a little more happy: "Yes, this is a good omen." But then, he frowned again: "This Sun Tuzhen seems to have heard a lot of people mention it...... By the way, haven't many people in the DPRK and China recently been impeaching him, saying that he has a heart of disobedience? "He is a real nobleman, he has forgotten things, in the past two months, there have been many disputes between officials in the court and China for Sun Tu, and hundreds of copies of the related notes have been hoarded, and Zhao Ji, as the emperor, is still only a little familiar with the name Sun Tu.

"The sage is only misunderstood, or framed. Sun Tu is a loyal saint, and he has been loyal to the Great Song Dynasty for a day or two, and he has repeatedly made meritorious contributions to destroy thieves in Bianjing, Jiangzhou and other places, so how can he have any disobedience? Tong Guan immediately excused Sun Tu.

"You get up and talk back first." Zhao Ji glanced at Tong Guan, and then walked slowly along the road paved with white marble, and said: "I remember, that Sun Tu was recommended by you to become an official, and he has a lot to do with you, right?" ”

Tong Guan's heart tightened slightly, but he quickly said: "The minister did recommend Sun Tu's talent to the court because he cherished Sun Tu's talent, but since he has entered the court as an official, he is His Majesty's courtier, how dare the minister regard him as his own private again." Moreover, the credits mentioned by the minister before are recorded in the military department and other yamen, but there is no half-truth. And this time, although he acted too recklessly and killed many officials in Qingzhou City, it was also excusable, the situation was really urgent, otherwise he could not deter the local Xiaoxiao, as for the rebellious intentions mentioned by some people in the court, it was completely a crime of desire. When it came to business, he had become very solemn, and even his title had changed.

Zhao Ji was silent for a while, and then said: "According to what you say, what he did in Qingzhou is not a fault, but a meritorious service to the imperial court?" ”

"Whether it is merit or fault, it is all in Your Majesty's holy judgment." Tong Guan came to push the boat: "Danchen thinks that if he really has such bad intentions, he will not lead the army to risk his life several times to pacify the local thieves." As far as the minister knows, Sun Tu also took the lead several times in the battle of pacifying Erlongshan, and even suffered a lot of injuries because of this, which can inspire the whole army to fight with all its strength, and with more than 1,000 people, he pulled out three cottages in a row in two or three months to pacify Qingzhou and a mansion. ”

Hearing him talk about Sun Tu's performance in the Qingzhou campaign, Zhao Ji was also moved: "If he is really as you say, he is really a rare good general in this dynasty." It's just that...... Now that the ministers in the court are raging, they all want to punish him for his crimes, and he really ignores the rules of the court to kill local officials. Emperor Taizu had set up an ancestral training at the beginning, and in the end of the Great Song Dynasty, I was not allowed to kill scholars and doctors, but he actually killed an official of a government with a military attaché, which really made me unable to explain to the subjects of the world and to the ancestors and ancestors. ”

Although the emperor's last few words were very serious, Tong Guan still heard the hesitation and looseness in his tone, and this was a perfect opportunity. He didn't want to give up, so he said, "Sage, there is a sentence that I don't know if a slave or maid should say. ”

"There is no need to be so divided between you and me, just say anything, and I won't blame you for saying something wrong."

"Of course, the slave maid thought that Emperor Taizu's ancestral teachings would not be wrong. But sometimes it is necessary to divide the time to see if those scholars threaten the long-term peace and stability of our Great Song Dynasty. Murong Yanchao and the others have been in Qingzhou for many years, but they have not been able to pacify the local bandits, is this really their ability not enough? Then why did Sun Tu only go to Qingzhou for half a year, and he was able to quickly pacify the Three Mountain Bandits? If you let the slaves and maids say, they obviously have other intentions, thinking that they are self-respecting, and even colluding with thieves. It is precisely because of this that Sun Tu will use this drastic method to achieve the effect of once and for all for the stability of Qingzhou.

"Sage Mingjian, the national fortune of my Great Song Dynasty can be in the northeast, and the entire territory of Shandong, including Qingzhou, is also on that side, so there must not be the slightest difference."

This last sentence was pointed at Zhao Ji's vital point, which made his steps pause: "The benefits are in the northeast...... Is that what he is? Otherwise, why didn't the revelation of heaven come earlier, but there was an omen after Sun Tu pacified the bandits in Qingzhou? For a moment, he really suspected that the immortality and national fortune foreshadowed by God were on Sun Tu alone.

However, although Zhao Ji firmly believes in these statements, as the Son of Heaven, he still maintains a trace of clarity: "What should those who impeached him in the court say?" "Even if he is the current emperor, he has to give everyone an acceptable reason for making such a decision. Today's Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty is actually not too big, far from being compared with the centralized emperors of later generations who can decide the affairs of the world with one word.

After Tong Guan knew his intentions, his heart suddenly settled. As long as Zhao Ji is interested, Cai Jing, who has not expressed anything before, will naturally follow, and once Cai Taishi expresses his attitude, a 180-degree turn will naturally occur in the direction of the wind.

As for the statement, he had already prepared: "Your Majesty, now that Sun Tu has made many military exploits, it is just that the court does not reward him, and now he has to be convicted because of the previous incident, which is really unconvincing." The courtiers are just that, but what about the military attaches in the border towns, what will they think? Say a bold word, isn't Your Majesty afraid of chilling the hearts of the world's soldiers? If even officials like Sun Tu who have repeatedly made military exploits and made great contributions to the world can be convicted by the imperial court at will, according to the future, what motivation will those soldiers in the northwest and north have to fight for the country?

"Now that the civil and noble martial arts are light, my Great Song Dynasty has been weak for many years, but then we have to take back the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun, but we still need these soldiers to fight to the death, and I hope that the saint can understand the hearts of the soldiers in the world!"

Speaking of which, Zhao Ji was really moved, and after pondering for a long time, he nodded and said: "What you said is right, the benefits are in the Northeast, and I still have to count on soldiers like Sun Tu to fight for the country and sweep away the decline of a century." He really shouldn't have been convicted......"