However, Gao Taotao can finally be completely liberated.

In the first month of the eighth year of Yuanyou, the Empress Dowager, who had been seriously ill since last year, finally couldn't support it, Gao Tao knew that time was running out, so he summoned his cronies and ministers Lu Dafang and Fan Chunren to enter, and instructed them: "After the death of the lonely, the official family (Zhezong) will not reuse you." You should have self-knowledge, take the initiative to retreat as soon as possible, and let the emperor use others to avoid disaster. ”

Gao Taotao still has some self-knowledge when he thinks so.

In the eighth year of Yuanfeng, when Song Shenzong died, Xiao Zhao Xu was only nine years old even if he was a virtual age. Therefore, at that time, Gao Tao listened to the government and temporarily took charge of the government for Zhao Xu, which was understandable.

However, this Gao Tao is as hypocritical as Sima Guang, she has repeatedly told the ministers that her temperament is relatively quiet, and she is helpless to listen to politics, but she does not relax the power in her hands at all.

Moreover, the right thing is like a poison yao with a fatal temptation, and it is difficult for anyone in front of it to resist its temptation, and Gao Tao is just a mortal old lady in the final analysis.

She is temporarily until she dies of illness. Originally, in the seventh year of Yuanyou, Zhao Xuxu was already sixteen years old, but Gao Taotao did not have the slightest idea of returning to Sun.

In later generations, Cixi hung the curtain to listen to the government, and only hung the curtain and sat behind Emperor Tongzhi and Emperor Guangxu to deal with political affairs. But when Gao Tao was in the last court, he had always been opposite to Xiao Zhao Xu, and those ministers only looked at the face of the Queen Mother, so that Xiao Zhao Xu could only see the back and buttocks of these ministers. Even when Liu E, the queen of Song Zhenzong, was in power, she would not treat Song Renzong like this.

In history, Liu E, who was commented by later generations as having the ability of a martial queen, but not the evil of a martial queen, is naturally not as famous as Gao Tao, who has a 'female middle Yao Shun', but the ability of the two people to govern is completely different.

During the period of listening to the government, Gao Taotao and her cronies and ministers did not consider Zhao Xu's own feelings at all, and they did not relax their ideological education of Xiao Zhao Xu at all.

Cheng Yi, Lü Gongshu, Fan Chunren, Su Song and Fan Zuyu invited by Sima Guang all served as Xiao Zhao Xu's ministers, and wanted to transform Xiao Zhao Xu into an emperor who always adhered to the laws of the ancestors of the Great Song Dynasty and knew the scriptures and righteousness through this kind of education that was close to brainwashing, especially so that Xiao Zhao Xu admired Song Renzong instead of the enterprising Song Shenzong.

This is unbearable for an emperor and a son, but Xiao Zhao Xu endured it.

For all aspects of Xiao Zhao Xu's life, Gao Taotao is very strict, and it can even be said that he does everything.

In order to avoid Zhao Xu's premature delay in women, Empress Dowager Gao sent twenty older and stable palace maids to take care of the little emperor's daily life and diet, which is understandable, after all, Xiao Zhao Xu is still young, and premature contact with women is not a good thing for his small body.

However, Gao Taotao went even further, she couldn't let Xiao Zhao Xu have any private space at all, since Song Shenzong died, she had been ordering Xiao Zhao Xu to sleep in her own attic at night, even if an emperor has not yet reached the age of rule, so restricting his freedom in life, even if Song Renzong is in this position, it is unbearable.

There is one thing that is particularly illustrative. In December of the fourth year of Yuanyou, there were rumors among the people that the palace was looking for nursing mothers everywhere. After this matter was known to the minister Liu Anshi, he immediately went to the chapter to warn Xiao Zhao Xu to respect himself. And another minister, Fan Zuyu, directly wrote to the Empress Dowager Gao, in which the rhetoric was extremely intense.

The reason why there are such rumors in the palace is because Song Shenzong has several young daughters who are not taken care of by their mothers, so they naturally need to find suitable nurses outside the palace to take care of them.

Gao Tao knew about this matter and told the courtiers the reason. However, she herself became suspicious, and after the harem, she carefully interrogated the palace maids she sent to Xiao Zhao Xu.

Fan Zuyu, he is a good friend who followed Sima Guang to edit the Zizhi Tongjian, this Liu Anshi is actually a student of Sima Guang.

Liu Anshi, a native of Wei County.

In the sixth year of Xining, Liu Anshi was the first, but he did not choose any official position. Instead, he followed Sima Guang to continue his studies.

During this period, Liu Anshi consulted on ways to do oneself wholeheartedly, and Sima Guang taught him to be honest, and repeatedly warned him that he should start by not talking nonsense.

Later, Liu Anshi was transferred to the judicial army of Zhaozhou, at that time, the Sihu of Zhaozhou was an official known for corruption, and Wu Shouli planned to investigate him, Liu Anshi was a judicial army, Wu Shouli would naturally ask Liu Anshi about this matter,

However, Liu Anshi said: "There is no such thing. Wu Shouli thus stopped. The world didn't know why Liu Anshi said this sentence at that time, but it was his words that allowed the corrupt Sihu to escape.

After that, Liu Anshi often felt unstable in his heart, and said in his heart: "That Sihu is indeed corrupt, but if I don't answer the words of the transfer envoy honestly, isn't this against the teachings of the teacher Sima Guang?" ”

Later, when Liu Anshi was reading Yangxiong's "Fa Yan", he read such a sentence "A gentleman avoids obstacles, and all principles are understood", and his mind was unraveled. In connection with the above sentence, water leads to the sea when it is avoided, so the general meaning of this sentence is that as a gentleman, avoiding obstacles, you can lead to the avenue.

Ghost truth, Liu Anshi did this just to justify his mistakes.

Liu Anshi and Fan Zuyu are worthy of being Sima Guang's students, and they took hearsay rumors to reprimand Xiao Zhaoxu. They never thought that when they put on the bullet seal, they would first check the authenticity of this matter.

Gao Tao is not only so strict with Xiao Zhao Xu, but also too strict with his biological mother, Concubine Zhu De, and even harsh. Concubine Zhu De was born poor, and after entering the palace, she gave birth to two princes and five princesses for Song Shenzong, thanks to Cai Dao's blessing, among the concubines in the palace, only the children she gave birth to survived. For Song Shenzong, who has repeatedly lost his prince, the merit is nothing more than this.

Concubine Zhu De has always been gentle and deferential, and she has special respect for Empress Dowager Gao and Empress Shenzong, and she has always been respectful in front of them. may be because she is Xiao Zhao Xu's biological mother, which threatens Gao Taotao's power and status, and she attracts Gao Taotao's jealousy. Of course, there are also ministers who are making waves in it.

For example, the punishment once wanted to win Zhao Xu's favor by respecting Concubine Zhu.

There is also a political struggle involved. And Xiao Zhao Xu and Concubine Zhu Defei are just the victims of it.

After saying this, a few days later, the Empress Dowager Gao Tao finally died.

For a time, the government and the opposition shook, and the world shook.

The ministers who listened to Gao Tao's last words, Fan Chunren, Su Song and Lu Dafang listened to Gao Tao's words and immediately wrote to ask for resignation.

However, although Zhao Xu is small, he is not completely ignorant of political affairs, and he did not agree to the resignation of the three prime ministers. Instead, he pressed the matter down, silently watching the conservative ministers do their best to run the high-spirited funeral.

It's not that Xiao Zhao Xu doesn't want to punish these bastards immediately, he is waiting for the opportunity, an excuse to completely eradicate all the conservative forces in Bianliang City. Moreover, the ministers he could trust were now demoted out of the capital, and none of them were by his side. rashly moved these Zaifu, in fact, it was also very detrimental to his own rule.

Cai Jinghe and Cai Bian brothers, during the Yuanyou period, did not escape the influence of conservative officials. In the second year of Yuanyou, Cai Jing and Zeng Bu, the two people who had rejected Sima Guang's recruitment, even if they resigned and returned to their hometowns, they were still accused by Wen Yanbo and Lu Gongzhu's subordinates and relegated to Lingnan.

And Cai Bian wanted to keep filial piety for Wang Anshi, who died in the first year of Yuanyou, so he delayed for a year to catch up with his brother, and was demoted to Hainan in the third year of Yuanyou to take over the position that Gao Zunyu had left after leaving.