The next morning, Zhao Guangyi took the stamens, surrounded by the senior members of the fourth grade and above, and drove the construction site at the foot of the hill outside the east city. Here, martial law has been imposed on the forbidden army, and all the senior generals of the forbidden army and the middle and high-level officials of the three divisions attended the groundbreaking ceremony.

Zhao Guangyi and Hua Rui dug the first hoe with a hoe in a decent manner, and suddenly, the drums sounded in unison, officially announcing the start of Jinmingchi.

However, the ministers of the DPRK and China secretly shook their heads one by one and sighed. Zhao Guangyi was stunned, and told Leng Yi a few words that he must work hard all night, strive to complete the project as soon as possible, and must not delay the construction period, and in front of all the ministers and the middle and senior Jiang generals of the forbidden army, he reiterated the privilege of granting Leng Yi the prelude of first cutting and then dismissing and demoting. He also affirmed in public the punishment of Li Jilong and others by Leng Yi yesterday.

After the groundbreaking ceremony, Zhao Guangyi asked hundreds of civil and military officials to accompany him to the palace test. The palace examination was held in the lecture hall.

The civil and military officials followed Zhao Guangyi back to the capital to hold the palace examination, and there were a total of 38 people who participated in the palace examination this time. They are the best in all subjects. The fragrance of flowers is impressively among them.

Their seating was arranged on either side of the steps outside the main hall. The civil and military officials stood in the main hall. Zhao Guangyi sat on the golden dragon chair, next to the Queen of Flowers. Leng Yi is a fourth-rank official and wants to go to the court, so he stands with Wenchen.

Zhao Guangyi said: "Take the opportunity of today's palace test. I have something to tell you. It's just because the matter is urgent, so I don't have time to discuss it with you. ”

Xue Juzheng stepped forward, bowed down and said, "What the official family said, but the matter of sending troops to the Northern Expedition?" ”

"Exactly! The day after tomorrow, I want to drive the expedition in person and go out to the Northern Han Dynasty! ”

It is no secret that Zhao Guangyi wants to send troops to the Northern Expedition, and he has been preparing for this for many years, but Zhao Guangyi has no doubt about when he sends troops, but now he has used a lot of money and manpower to build the huge Jinming Pond, and he chose this time to send troops to the Northern Expedition, and the ministers of the DPRK and China suddenly buzzed like a hornet that blew up the nest.

Xue Juzheng suddenly raised his voice: "Official! Weichen thought that this matter still needs to be done cautiously, and now a large amount of military funds have been used for Jin Mingchi, and almost all the forbidden troops have been requisitioned and 400,000 people, and they really can't send troops to the Northern Expedition, otherwise they will definitely be defeated. ”

Since someone opened his mouth and shot the first shot, the people behind followed one after another, but it is one thing to discuss the following, and it is another thing to come out to openly oppose it, so most ministers are still muttering and discussing.

Zhao Guangyi glanced at the ministers who were in a hurry in the field: "Ladies and gentlemen, what do you think?" ”

Zhao Guangyi openly solicited opinions, and the ministers immediately stopped talking. After all, it still takes a certain amount of courage to directly and openly oppose the emperor's opinion.

In the end, there is still boldness, Shen Lun and Cao Bin stepped out of the ranks and agreed with Xue Juzheng's words. Cao Bin squinted at the privy envoy Chu Zhaofu, only to see him bow his head and say nothing, and couldn't help glaring at him impatiently, but Chu Zhaofu was like a stone.

Cao Bin raised his head and looked at the stamen: "Queen Mother, as the first emperor and empress, you can't sit back and watch the official family take such a risk." ”

Zhao Guangyi glared at him very unhappily: "Cao Qing, the matter of the Northern Expedition has nothing to do with Empress Hua Rui, it is my decision. If you have any opinions, please feel free to ask me. ”

Lu Duosun stepped out of the ranks, bowed down and said: "Weichen thinks that the Northern Expedition is a grand cause set by the first emperor, and the official family is now just realizing the unfulfilled will of the first emperor. As long as you follow the established battle plan of the official family, you will be able to break through the momentum and go straight to Beijing! ”

Cao Bin said angrily: "My elite forbidden army of the Great Song Dynasty is digging soil and building a lake at the Jinmingchi construction site, what army will be used to go straight to Beijing?" You sycophant, you can only slap the sycophants indiscriminately, ignoring the safety of the official family and the Great Song Sheji! ”

"Why don't I care about it, don't we still have hundreds of thousands of van troops, the official family can fight habitually, invincible, invincible. Which official led the troops to defeat? You said! ”

In fact, Zhao Guangyi led the troops to eat a lot of defeats, but above the court, who dared to say this matter to his face, Cao Bin was not a straw bag, he naturally knew that it was powerful, and glared and said: "If you don't lose the battle before, you can't guarantee that you won't defeat the battle in the future......!" As soon as he said this, he felt that it was inappropriate, so he quickly changed his words and said, "I am talking about not fighting unprepared battles." The victories of the officials in the past were all carefully organized and planned, and they were all prepared. ”

"I'm going to be prepared this time. I have been preparing for more than ten years, and I have to prepare for it, so I have to wait until the Year of the Monkey? ”

"Are you fucking blind or deaf?" Cao Bin was so angry that he burst into a foul mouth, "Don't you know that the military funds prepared by the first emperor and hundreds of thousands of forbidden troops were invested in the construction of Jinmingchi......?" ”

Zhao Guangyi said with a gloomy face: "Cao Qing, if you have something to say, this is the court, not the vegetable market!" ”

Cao Bin's swarthy face turned red: "I'm sorry, official, Weichen was in a hurry and said something wrong." However, the official family, if you want to repair Jin Mingchi, then this battle really can't be fought, let alone the royal conquest. ”

Zhao Guangyi ignored him and glanced at everyone: "Who else agrees with Lu Aiqing's words?" ”

You can know his attitude from Zhao Guangyi's words, he called Cao Bin as Qing and Lu Duoxun as Aiqing, obviously biased towards him. There was no shortage of people in the court who saw the wind and steered the rudder, and immediately several ministers came out to bow down to agree with Lu Duoxun's words, of course, they inevitably praised Zhao Guangyi's ability to lead the troops to fight on the battlefield, and Zhao Guangyi nodded and smiled frequently.

However, at this moment, the founding of the Great Song Dynasty has only been less than 20 years, many of them are people with combat experience, and there are not many ministers who are purely from the study, and how old these ministers are have experienced the difficult process of Zhao Kuangyin's founding of the country, knowing that fighting is not writing and painting, but to move seriously, once the calculation is miscalculated, there will be thousands of soldiers who will die, and if they don't get it right, the country will be ruined.

Zhao Guangyi's face became more and more ugly, but he still looked at the ministers patiently. His gaze fell on the face of the privy envoy.

The privy envoy Chu Zhaofu did not speak, lowered his head, and did not look at Emperor Zhao Guangyi. Cao Bin was arguing with Lu Duoxun and the others, who agreed with him, and found that Zhao Guangyi's eyes were looking at Chu Zhaofu, and he also came to his senses, yes, Chu Zhaofu is a privy envoy, speaking of which, his opinion on whether to send troops is the most important, and Chu Zhaofu has always been with them in the matter of inquiring about the death of Daji Beauty. Immediately said loudly: "Lord Chu, you are a privy envoy, you should tell me your opinion!" ”

Zhao Guangyi also said lightly: "Exactly, Chu Qing, what do you think of the Northern Expedition to the Northern Han Dynasty that I decided?" ”

Only then did Chu Zhaofu slowly step out of the ranks, looked at Cao Bin and the others, and then looked at the emperor Zhao Guangyi in the Jinluan Palace, bowed down and saluted: "Weichen thinks that the sixteen states of Yanyun are assigned to the Liao Dynasty, which is a great shame for us. Rather than sit and wait for the attack, it is better to take the initiative to attack, first break its minions of the Northern Han Dynasty, knock on the mountain and shock the tiger, and then wait for the opportunity to go on the Northern Expedition. This is the last wish of the first emperor, and there is nothing wrong with the official family's move. ”

Zhao Guangyi's face finally opened up rarely. Cao Bin and the others had a change of color on their faces. Cao Bin said angrily: "Chu Zhaofu! Did you take the wrong medicine? What nonsense! The official family led the army to attack Da Liao, isn't that self-defeating! ”

Chu Zhaofu still said slowly: "What Lord Lu said before, the official family and soldiers are beyond your ability to perceive. We only need to obey the orders of the officials, and we will be unstoppable! ”

"However, now the forbidden army is building Jinming Pond, and the military budget is ......."

"That's it!" Zhao Guangyi interrupted him very annoyingly, "It's those few sentences that you turn over and over, and my ears are calloused when I hear it." You also take a break and let others talk! - Zhao Qing, what do you think? Zhao Guangyi looked at the former prime minister Zhao Pu.

In the era of Zhao Kuangyin, Zhao Pu was the prime minister, and he was quite valued by Zhao Kuangyin. However, Zhao Pu did not deal with Zhao Guangyi, who was the governor of Kaifeng at the time. Although he served as the recorder and witness of the Jingui Covenant, he had a lot of complaints about Empress Dowager Du's passing of the throne to Zhao Guangyi. has also been saying bad things about Zhao Guangyi in front of Zhao Kuangyin, and the two have been fighting openly and secretly. After Zhao Guangyi ascended the throne, Zhao Pu knew bad things. Sure enough, his post as prime minister was dismissed by Zhao Guangyi, leaving only the false name of a crown prince and no real power. If it weren't for the fact that after ascending the throne, out of the sake of stability, an old minister like Zhao Pu would have been needed to decorate the façade, Zhao Guangyi would have expelled Zhao Pu from the court a long time ago, and even killed him soon. Zhao Pu has always known that he is powerful, and he does not dare to make any mistakes in his words.

Now, when he heard Zhao Guangyi point out that he wanted him to speak, he couldn't help but twitch slightly, if, he had already thought about it in his heart, knew how he should answer, and hurriedly stepped forward and said: "Weichen thinks that the Northern Expedition is the last wish of the first emperor, and there is nothing wrong with the official family complying with it, as for how to march and fight, when to send troops, Weichen does not understand military affairs, and does not dare to say anything, but the official family leads the troops to fight, it is indeed invincible, and the official family is not likely to be cautious, so it must have been made in the chest, and we don't need to worry too much." ”

Zhao Guangyi didn't expect Zhao Pu to favor him, so he stroked his beard and nodded at him. Glancing at the ministers: "Ladies and gentlemen, is there anything new to say?" Don't say what I said before, I've heard it clearly. ”

Xue Juzheng bowed down and said: "Official, it is indeed too dangerous to send troops at this moment, please think twice about it!" ”

Lu Duosun also bowed down and said: "The great cause of dominating the world cannot be delayed again and again!" ”

In the midst of the noise, the official in charge of the palace examination outside the main hall hurriedly came in and arched his hand: "Back to the official's house, the candidates have already handed in their papers." ”

"Oh, report the exam papers!"

The examiner presented the exam paper to Wang Jien, who walked up with both hands in his hands and placed it on top of Emperor Zhao Guangyi's dragon case.

Zhao Guangyi glanced at it, couldn't help but light up his eyes, picked it up, read it carefully, couldn't help but stand up with joy, and said, "Call this candidate to the hall!" ”

In a moment, the first candidate to hand in the paper stepped into the main hall.

I saw that although she was wearing a scholar's green shirt, she was petite, with clear eyebrows, bright eyes, pink face, and red lips. The ministers couldn't help but look at each other. Their eyes have fallen on the construction of the Jinmingchi and the Northern Expedition of the official family, and they don't care too much about the imperial examination, so many people don't know that among the candidates for the palace examination today, there is a young woman who is fifteen or sixteen years younger, and she is the first to hand in the palace examination today, and they can't help but look at each other.

This woman is naturally Leng Yi who took care of Hua Wuxiang, the miracle doctor who broke through and entered the palace test.

When Hua Wuxiang heard that the emperor had summoned her, she was apprehensive, but she still had the courage to come in, picked up her robe and knelt down, and said crisply: "Student Hua Wuxiang, knock on the official family, and wish my emperor a long life!" ”

Zhao Guangyi was even more happy and said, "Hua Qing is exempt from courtesy. ”

"Xie Guan's family!"

Hua Wuxiang got up and stood sideways to the side.

Zhao Guangyi said: "Huaqing, you read the poems you made in the hall to all the adults." ”

Hua Wuxiang was a little surprised, she didn't expect that the official family would let her recite her palace test in front of a hundred and ten ministers. This poem was written by Leng Yi to her last night to recite it, and when she saw the topic this morning, she knew that it was very pertinent, and she was even more happy, and others were thinking about it in panic, but she finished writing it overnight. Now the official family asked her to recite it in public, but she didn't know whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. I could only agree to it.

She is already familiar with this poem, and she doesn't need to pick up the test paper and read it again, she took a step forward, turned around, hugged her fists and arched her hands: "Late life is clumsy, see and teach all adults, and I hope to give advice." ”

These ministers are all old in the officialdom, and they know that since the official family has made it clear that she is allowed to recite poems, she must have fallen into the heart of the official, and it is not strange that this son will rise to the top in the future. Therefore, everyone gave her face, smiled and bowed down, and didn't even dare to say it.

Hua Wuxiang held her hands behind her back, and recited aloud in a crisp voice:

Angry hair rushed to the crown, and the rain rested at the railing.

Raise your eyes, look up to the sky and roar, strong and fierce.

Fifteen fame, dust and earth, eight thousand miles of clouds and moons.

Don't wait for the young man's head to be white, empty and sad.

Yan Yun is ashamed, still snowing; When the courtiers hate, when will they be destroyed!

Driving a long car to break through the lack of Helan Mountain.

Zhuang is hungry for Hulu meat, laughing and thirsty for Xiongnu blood.

To clean up the old mountains and rivers from the beginning, towards the sky!

This is the famous poem "Man Jianghong" by Yue Fei, a famous general in the Southern Song Dynasty. Leng Yi knew that the official Zhao Guangyi was going to go on a Northern Expedition, and with this as the title, he thought of this poem, but there were two obvious inconsistencies, one of which was the "thirty" in the dust and soil of thirty merits, and the author Hua Wuxiang was only fifteen, so it was changed. And "Jing Kang's shame" is even more inconsistent, and it was changed to Yan Yun's shame.

The so-called "Yan Yun shame" is actually not the direct shame of the Great Song Dynasty. Decades ago, there was a civil strife in the Tang Dynasty, and Shi Jingjiao, the envoy of Hedong Jiedu, asked Liao Taizong to support the attack on the Later Tang Dynasty on the condition that he proclaimed himself Emperor Er and ceded the sixteen states of Yanyun. Liao Taizong then assisted Shi Jingjiao in defeating the Later Tang Dynasty, cut off the sixteen states of Yanyun, and opened the gateway to the Central Plains. Because this place has always belonged to the Central Plains country in history, after the Great Song Dynasty unified the Central Plains, it regarded this as its own shame and vowed to recapture it.

This poem just hit Zhao Guangyi's mind, and it also gave him the name of sending troops, and he couldn't help but be overjoyed when he saw it, so he asked Hua Wuxiang to recite it in public.

(To be continued)