In the early morning a few days after the Taixue Shangshe University Examination was released, the white fog in the Taixue bamboo forest had not yet dissipated, and Pei Xuezheng, the Guozi Supervisor, hurriedly found Zhao Xingde, who was practicing the bow, "Your Majesty has a decree to order Zhao Xingde, the supervisor of Taixue, to go to the Mingguang Hall of the White Jade Palace to meet him." ”

"It's finally here!" To have the opportunity to meet the emperor of the current dynasty, to defend Li Ruobing's grievances, Chen said the benefits, Zhao Xingde suppressed the excitement in his heart, hurriedly packed his bags, and in the envious eyes of many princes, he took the horse cart brought by the eunuch to the White Jade Palace, passed through the heavy guards, bathed and changed clothes, and was taken by the eunuch to a side hall to wait for the emperor to summon him.

There are still many officials waiting for the emperor to be summoned in the side hall, some have gray hair, some are in their prime, wearing various official uniforms, and they are sitting in danger with their eyes and noses, and they see that the eunuch has brought in Zhao Xingde, who is wearing an ordinary half-old Confucian robe, and many people have a surprised look in their eyes, but they are just bound by etiquette and law, and they do not inquire about his origin one after another. When a few people saw that he was young, they thought that he was a folk warlock summoned by the official family, and their faces showed disdain.

It was a great blessing to be summoned by the official family, and Zhao Xingde thought the same thing at first, but when he saw more than a dozen officials waiting in the side hall, he felt that he was very wrong. The Great Song Dynasty is the largest country in the world, with a population of more than 60 million and tens of thousands of officials.

Just looked at the eunuch who was entertaining the waiting officials next to him and didn't look at himself, and he didn't even have an embroidered pier that sat down and waited, so he knew what his status was in the eyes of the officials. If he had followed his indifferent and humble way of dealing with the world in the past, this would have been waiting, but today is different.

"Ahh ”

Although his voice was soft, the words were sonorous, and the eunuch in charge of the affairs did not agree, nor did he agree. Since he was on duty in the side hall of this White Jade Palace, he arranged seats for the waiting officials, one according to the rules of the grade, and the other according to his own likes and dislikes, and like low-grade officials, or even people like Zhao Xingde, who did not even have an official position, actually dared to take the initiative to ask for a seat, which was the first time in the world.

Playing right in front of the emperor, even the prime minister has no seat, this is the rule set by Emperor Taizu. However, there is no custom rule for officials to have seats when they are waiting for Hou Mianjun. After all, the eunuchs are just the emperor's domestic slaves, and if the courtiers take advantage of this to attack, the officials will only kill a scapegoat depending on the mood.

The face of the eunuch in charge changed a few times, and under the gaze of a group of waiting officials, he finally instructed the little eunuch next to him to move an embroidered pier for Zhao Zhenru to sit on, Zhao Xingde thanked him, and sat down comfortably.

Since the Han Dynasty Zhang Rang and other ten permanent servants were in turmoil, the disaster of eunuchs in the Tang Dynasty has developed to its peak, so the court's precaution against eunuchs is far greater than before. The civil officials claimed that the scholars and the emperor ruled the world together, and they also had a kind of resistance and antipathy to the eunuchs in their bones. However, today's institute reuses Liang Shizhong, Tong Guan and other eunuchs, holding authority in their hands, and they are favored by the Son of Heaven. Even Prime Minister Cai Jing didn't want to be easily offended, and even many middle and low-level eunuchs were arrogant, which made the civil officials who were not eunuchs feel even stronger.

At this moment, I saw Zhao Xingde acting like this. There was a hint of friendship in the eyes of several officials waiting for Zhao Xingde. When Liang Shizhong, the eunuch who was in charge of drafting the edict for the emperor and known as the "hidden phase", learned of this, he warned his henchmen: "The future is terrible, and you should avoid it." ”

After a stick of incense, Zhao Xingde and all the officials respectfully waited for the emperor's summons, but none of the officials were not introduced by the roll call, and everyone was in good spirits. The dry air in the hall was filled with the fragrance of fat powder and flowers, and an hour had passed, and the cool breeze was blowing, and Zhao Xingde felt a little drowsy.

In the vertical arch hall of the White Jade Palace, the left and right attendants were all retreated, and the Banzhi guards only stood outside the hall. Emperor Zhao Youzheng was discussing with his ministers. Prime Minister Cai Jing, Governor Zhao Zhifu, Privy Envoy Wang Fu, Privy Deputy Envoy Li Bangyan, Commander of the Guards Infantry Commander Tong Guan, and Imperial City Commander Shen Yun were present, all of whom were Zhao You's most trusted henchmen.

"The Khitan envoy Yelu Dashi is very rude, and often speaks of disrespect to my dynasty, the Liao State has been recruiting barbarians as its vassals for decades, and, in the land of the sixteen states in front of the mountain and behind the mountain, the original Han generals are constantly replaced by Khitan soldiers and horses in the northern courtyard, if I don't go north to Youyan, I am afraid that soon after, they will enter the north of the Kou River." Shen Yun, the official of the Imperial City Division, said that his face was always flat in front of other officials and subordinates, making people not know the depth of his joy and anger, but this face looked "wooden and honest" in front of Zhao You, Yelu Dashi was quite a city government, except for refusing to bow down at the Dragon Boat Festival ceremony and disobeying Zhao You, there was no drastic action in plain life, but it came to Shen Yun's mouth. The more Yelu Dashi was described as full of reverse bones, the more he followed Zhao You's wishes.

Seeing that the official family frowned, Zhao Zhifu, the governor of the political affairs, said: "Although the Liao people are reckless, among the Liao people, the Khitan people originally did not account for the majority, and there are many other tribes in the country in addition to the Khitan people. In recent years, the Khitans have become more brutal and unkind, and the barbarians in their country have long been dissatisfied, but they are forced by the Khitans to accumulate power and dare not raise troops to rebel. Recently, an envoy from the Wanyan Department of the Jurchen tribe in eastern Liaodong came to the capital, hoping that our dynasty would come to its aid by sea to its grain and grass armor soldiers, and the Jurchen tribe was willing to form an alliance with our dynasty to resist the Liao and strangle the back of the Khitans for our dynasty. ”

After Zhao Zhifu finished speaking, he inadvertently glanced at Prime Minister Cai Jing, although the two of them competed with each other in the court, but they both belonged to the new party, and they were the same in promoting the Northern Expedition of the Great Song Dynasty to recover Youyan, and recently the Wanyan tribe in the hinterland of Liao Kingdom wanted to get assistance from the Great Song Dynasty, Zhao Zhifu and Cai Jing also had temptations and communications on different occasions. At this time, Cai Jing was silent, neither expressing support nor opposition.

"Oh? Is there such a thing? Zhao Youdun was interested, he had never forgotten his talents, closed his eyes slightly and thought for a moment, and asked: "The Ryukyu and Japanese envoys said that there were barbarians who claimed to be Jurchens who crossed the sea in small boats, wandered along the coast, looted goods, robbed men and women as slaves, and many coastal residents were killed and injured. The Goryeo envoy also told that the Jurchen tribe had crossed the Yalu River many times to loot grain and grass. The Jurchen tribes that caused these three vassals to be unbearable were the same thing as what the prime minister said? ”

"Is this it?" Prime Minister Zhao Zhifu's face showed embarrassment, he knew that the barbarians in the north were all tigers and wolves, but he didn't expect the Jurchen Ministry to grab the heads of the few respectful vassals of the Great Song Dynasty, such as Ryukyu, Japan, and Goryeo, he didn't dare to defend the Wanyan tribe, so he had to say: "As Wei Chen saw when he was young when he went to the Liao Kingdom, there are many Jurchen tribes, and this Wanyan tribe is just one of them. ”

Zhao You snorted dissatisfied.

At this time, Prime Minister Cai Jing opened his slightly closed eyes and said slowly: "Your Majesty, the so-called Dihu barbarians are all human-faced and beast-hearted, which is well known. Although Zhao Xiang was temporarily negligent about the bad deeds of Wanyanbu, his intention was to use razing to defeat raze, which was still desirable. If the Jurchen tribe is not brave and brutal, it is not enough to be the enemy of the Liao. ”

"Then in Cai's opinion, how should this matter be handled?" To Prime Minister Cai Jing, Emperor Zhao You also maintained a bit of politeness.

"In the opinion of the old minister, the Khitan and the Jurchen are both Diyi, although our dynasty supports some Jurchen armaments, grain and grass, but we must prevent this Jurchen clan from sitting big, so that the tiger devours the wolf, and the hungry tiger is still greedy enough, which harms our dynasty itself." Cai Jing said slowly, "Today's plan, to aid the Jurchens with grain and grass ordnance, but also to use grain and grass ordnance to control the Jurchens, whenever the Jurchen tribe and the Khitan compete to gain the upper hand, our dynasty will cut off the supply, so that it can not take advantage of the victory to grow." On the contrary, we will double the help, so that we can sit back and watch these two Diyi attack each other and consume their vitality. The Jurchen tribe is in the Tokyo Road of the Liao State, if the war continues to expand, and the Liao Dynasty is tired of dealing with the northeast direction, it will inevitably lead to the emptiness of Youyan in Nanjing Road. ”

When Cai Jing said this, Zhao You praised: "Cai Xiang is really a strategy for the country. He asked again, "Sun Tzu said in the Art of War, a hundred thousand troops are out, and the daily cost is a thousand gold." If I want to go north to the Hidden Swallow, how much food do I need to prepare? ”

Li Bangyan, the privy deputy envoy, saw Zhao You's intentions, and said: "Your Majesty has nothing to worry about the matter of money and food, the imperial court has banned an army of 830,000, although the cost of raising troops in peacetime is as high as more than 70 million, but because they are all recruits, even if they don't fight, the food and grass they need, and the rewards at four times cannot be broken, and the war will cost some ordnance at most." He paused, saw Zhao You nodding slightly, put his mind at ease, and said with a smile: "The imperial court raises soldiers for a thousand days, if it doesn't fight, it will be a redundant army that wastes money and food." ”

Li Bangyan's tone was quite frivolous, and Zhao Zhifu's brows frowned slightly, but he knew that the official family always wanted to create a prosperous situation, and he had already intended to go on the Northern Expedition to the West, and then bumped into the Khitan envoy who disobeyed the official family, and he was afraid that he wanted to punish the Khitans, but the official family has always acted slightly and lightly, and Zhao Zhifu reminded him: "The cost of Hebei's military nutrition and garrison is now more than 20 million yuan, and if the two countries exchange troops, Hebei's military expenditure will only be more than doubled." ”

However, increasing the military expenditure of 20 million is still within the scope of Zhao You's heart, and the money and grain spent on building the White Jade Palace alone is more than that, although the three envoys often say that they can't make ends meet, but in the land of wealth in the southeast, only one more tax is needed, and the money and grain will come out. So, Zhao You groaned and asked the privy envoy Wang Fu: "Since the Khitan people often have bad intentions, if Wang Shi preemptively strikes and goes north to Youyan, can the camp in Hebei be worthy of a battle?" ”