Zhao Dian pretended to be sick and did not mourn

Liuzheng fled from Beijing in fear of disaster

In the fifth year of Shaoxi, that is, in the midsummer of 1194 AD, Emperor Xiaozong, the most effective emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty, died of lung disease at the age of 68.

That morning, when the court was in power, Zuo Xiangliuzheng and the Privy Council envoy Zhao Ruyu jointly entered the court to report the unfortunate news to the emperor. In front of everyone's eyes, Zhao Dian calmly finished reading the recital, put it away, and then stood up, neither sad nor spoken, and walked towards the harem with an expressionless face.

Zhao Ruyu stepped forward and stopped: "Your Majesty, how to mourn, how to treat the funeral, you have an idea." ”

Zhao Dian didn't seem to hear it, still bowed his head and walked towards the harem, Zhao Ruyu looked anxious, stretched out his hand to stop, at this time, Zhao Dian said with a crying voice: "Zhao Aiqing, let go back, this is not where you came." With that, he withdrew and entered the palace.

Zhao Ruyu was extremely disappointed, tears rolled in his eyes, his own father died, but his son was fine, such behavior, not to mention the king of a country, even ordinary people, even birds and animals, will not be indifferent.

After the prince Jiawang found out, he entered the palace three times and cried to persuade him, but still did not express his position. For several days, the emperor did not go out of the palace to deal with political affairs, and the ministers could not even see the emperor's face.

And the news from the palace said that the emperor did not even believe that the emperor had passed away, thinking that it was a conspiracy, and sometimes, he was very scared and carried a weapon with him to defend himself. Sometimes, as usual, they drank and had fun, sang and danced.

It was the height of summer, the weather was hot, and the funeral could not be delayed, according to the suggestions of Xu Pingyang in Zuo Shilang and Wu Yufan, the Taifu Siqing, Zuo Xiangliuzheng had to ask the Empress Dowager Wu to come forward.

The Empress Dowager of Shousheng has now been renamed the Empress Dowager, although it is not as old as Xiaozong, but since Xiaozong entered the palace at the age of ten, he has watched Xiaozong grow up, and now Xiaozong has gone before her, and she is sad to cry when she wants to come.

After consultation and deliberation, she agreed to preside over the funeral, and asked the deacons to announce to the outside world: the emperor is ill, mourning in the north, sending Peng Zishou to Jinguo to report the funeral, and ordering Zhao Yantong, the secretary of the Ministry of Works, to go to Shanyin to run the mausoleum, and agreed on relevant matters.

As the saying goes, good things don't go out, but bad things spread thousands of miles. Although the imperial court strictly controls the rhetoric in the palace newspaper, the folk tabloids are spreading the little-known news of the inner palace, what the emperor died, but the current emperor does not mourn, drinks and has fun, what father mourns his son without asking, let an old queen mother who is nearly eighty years old clean up the mess, and so on. Because he is the emperor, the people did not dare to say many words, believing that if he was replaced by someone else, the subjects in the capital would drown him with spit.

Because the state funeral is to be held, the condolence envoys of various countries will also come, at that time, according to the etiquette must be in front of the Daxing Emperor Zigong Su curtain, to meet with foreign envoys, if the emperor Zhao Dian does not come forward, wouldn't it be an insult to the envoys, showing chaos outside?

These kinds of anxiety and contempt for many days have made the ministers feel like a boulder in their hearts, and there is a sentence like a fish in their throats, is such an emperor still worthy of commanding the people?

One day, Zuo Xiangliuzheng, Governor Chen Qida, and Privy Council Envoy Zhao Ruyu gathered in the Prime Minister's Department to discuss with the Privy Council's affairs Jing Yutang and the imperial historian Wu Bogang. Jing Yutang said bluntly, "Stay Prime Minister, if you want me to say, the emperor is capricious, that is, he has a sick brain, and he can't handle the government at all, so he should find a way to solve it completely."

"Brother Zhongyuan, you can't say that, how is the emperor, you can't talk nonsense as a courtier. What does it mean to completely solve it, I know you don't mean anything else, but if you spread it, it will be terrible. ”

"Liuxiang, I mean to say, since the emperor is ill, why don't we suggest that King Lijia be the crown prince and regent of the country."

The Privy Council made Zhao Ruyu immediately approve. He said: "The emperor is sick and does not mourn his relatives, and King Jia is old, and he is upright and participates in major events, so he can avoid the current suspicion." ”

Everyone unanimously applauded. Lao Tzu is sick, and his son succeeds to the throne, isn't it very good, anyway, sooner or later it will be passed on to him.

Liuzheng reported to the emperor: The deacons unanimously suggested that King Lijia should be the prince, and the emperor should handle government affairs when necessary.

The emperor heard the fire, Jianchu? Why set up a prince? I have been in power for less than five years, and this kid can't bear it anymore and wants to grab power, but no.

Liuzheng hurriedly explained that it was not what King Jia meant, but that the ministers saw that His Majesty was too tired, and the dragon body was not safe.

Zhao Dian was annoyed and ashamed, and he didn't abdicate!

The emperor ,------ still want to persuade him.

I don't want to hear it, so you step down for me.

A few days later, Liuzheng came again, or to talk about the establishment of the reserve, he had been prepared to be killed, but unexpectedly, the emperor Zhao Dian did not get angry, just smiled and replied two words: "Very good."

When Liuzheng heard this, he was overjoyed, and hurriedly rushed back to the capital, summoned the chief executive, and notified him to hurry up to prepare the document for the canonization of the crown prince. In less than an hour, the documents were ready, and he entered the palace again to meet him, presented the canonization documents, and asked the emperor to sign, and the emperor put a pen to sign "according to the permission", plus the jade seal.

Holding the documents signed and approved by the emperor, he was in a good mood and his steps were particularly powerful, three steps and two steps, and walked into the Hanlin Academy to let the Hanlin Bachelor and the Zhizhi Decree formally draft the edict of the Prince.

After a while, the draft of the edict was prepared, he revised a few words, ordered it to be copied again, and sent someone to the inner palace to let the emperor look at it again, no opinion, and after the ceremony, the prince became the crown prince. On the way back to the ministry, even he couldn't believe that things were going so smoothly and so quickly.

That night, he was on duty in the ministry, and Ye Zhengzhi, the ruler, sent a letter to the emperor. Eight words were written on it: "It's been a long time, and I want to retire." ”

After reading the imperial book, Liuzheng had no idea, so he immediately asked the Hanlin Academy to stop, and the edict should not be handed over for the time being, and the emperor changed his mind.

There are two groups of people in this dynasty who are responsible for drafting the holy decree, one is called the Hanlin Bachelor, and the other is the Zhongshu Sheren, that is, the Hanlin Scholar knows the system, and the Zhongshu Sheren knows the system.

Liuzheng thought to himself, what does the emperor mean by this, "very good", it is to agree to build a reserve, "I want to retire", I want to directly Zen the throne. Is it the former, or is it the latter? According to his original idea, since the emperor was not sick and could not mourn, it was appropriate to appoint the crown prince to supervise the country. In this case, even if there is no choice but to carry out internal meditation, the title of the crown prince has been established, and it is logical to ascend the throne. Now that the emperor suddenly wants to abdicate and meditate, there is one less important link in the establishment of the reserve, and it is unknown whether he has other intentions.

After thinking about it for a long time, I was still uneasy. The next day, he asked Zhao Ruyu to discuss. Zhao Ruyu thought for a while, put forward his own opinion, according to the current emperor's physical condition, obviously not suitable for the king, since there are these two holy decrees, why not push the boat down the river, in the name of the empress dowager, announced the throne of the prince Jiawang.

Liuzheng disagreed, his concern was: Before the edict was issued, he directly carried out internal meditation, and the emperor himself did not come forward, which was a deviant act that did not conform to the etiquette system, and it was smooth and the emperor acquiesced, if it didn't work, it would be a big crime.

When Zhao Ruyu heard it, it made sense, so he said: "Since this is the case, then ask again to see what the emperor's opinion is."

An hour later, the person who sent the questioner came back, and it was the emperor's imperial note again, but this time it was sixteen words: dedication to duty, dedication to the country, speculation in vain, what do you want.

After looking at it, Liuzheng's face turned pale and he was flustered. He handed over the imperial document to Zhao Ruyu and left without saying a word.

Zhao Ruyu saw that the emperor had changed again, not only did he not know how to meditate, he didn't even mention the establishment of the reserve, but also accused the minister of vain about the holy will. It's like a basin of cold water coming down from the head, and the whole body is cold.