The first court meeting after the New Year was less impassioned arguing than in the past, and more dull, and after reporting the accumulated events during this time, everyone waited anxiously for the emperor to speak, but he just sat quietly on the throne and glanced at the ministers, and no one dared to look at him wherever he looked.

"I mean to use the Taishi, the Taifu as the governor of the governor's affairs, and the left and right ministers of Shangshu Province and the Privy Council envoys to enter the political hall to discuss state affairs, and all the ministers can have objections!" After a while, Zhao Ta said in a deep voice.

"Your Majesty, your majesty, the ministers obey the order!" Everyone listened to the chorus, and everyone understood that the emperor added Zhongshumen Lower Province, which was equivalent to concentrating the power of Shangshu Province in the political hall to become the highest authority in the Great Song Dynasty, but it also dispersed the power into the hands of five people, so that they could not exercise their power, but the political affairs hall became the emperor's office, and the imperial power was not weakened but strengthened, but what they cared about at the moment was who could top the vacancy.

"Well, I want to use Shangshu Zuocheng Xu Jingheng as the Taifu to enter the political affairs hall, the Privy Council made Zhao Ren reappointed Shangshu Zuocheng, and the Privy Council Deputy Zhao Yong was promoted to the Privy Council; The right minister Chen Gongbo was reappointed as the middle of the imperial history, and Chen Yu, the secretary of the ministry, was the right minister of Shangshu Province; Zhao Yi, the squire of the Ministry of War, is the deputy envoy of the Privy Council, Zhao Zhong, the secretary of the Privy Council, concurrently serves as the envoy of the Gyeonggi Road Town, and Lei Zhenshan, the deputy commander of the Guards, is promoted to the commander of the Guards. Seeing that the ministers agreed, Zhao Ta announced some candidates.

As soon as the emperor......'s words fell, the palace was like a beehive that had suddenly turned over, causing a commotion, and this list made people think about it. Zhao Ren can be said to have always been the emperor's right-hand man, in charge of military power, but now he has been transferred to Shangshu Province. Although it is a flat tone. It is of great significance, indicating that the emperor has become wary of the scholars. And Zhao Zhong has always been the leader of the emperor's pro-army. At this moment, he was sent to take charge of the Gyeonggi Forbidden Army, which also wanted to strengthen his power. It seems that the previous actions were too reckless. But fortunately, the sergeants in the political hall still accounted for the majority.

"Your Majesty, the ministers obey the order!" Chen Gongbo went out of the class first.

"The ministers have no objections!" It stands to reason that Xu Jingheng was promoted, and the left minister should be succeeded by Chen Gongbo and become the prime minister, but he was intercepted by Zhao Ren halfway, and he was transferred to the imperial history instead of rising but surrendering, which should be the most dissatisfied. But he, who has always been known for his outspokenness, actually agreed, and the bitter master was silent, so everyone had nothing to say. Qi claimed to be the Tao.

The seats of the ministers are all seated, and the rest should be to adjust the officials of the ministries, but the emperor did not say anything again, so everyone waited for a long time with their ears in vain, and waited for a rediscussion.

Three days later, the matter had a result, and the Ministry of Officials and the Examiner Academy gave Zhao Nai a leap to the rank of Shangshu in the matter. This person is an old minister of the Three Dynasties, a Jinshi in the Chongning period, once served as Luoyang Ling, Kaifeng Shicao, and the emperor was retained as the prefect of Quanzhou after he ascended the throne. Because of his meritorious service in governing the locality, he was transferred to Beijing to serve in the Ministry of Officials, and he knew how to use people well, was not afraid of the powerful, and had a good official reputation. It is said that the emperor personally recommended him as a candidate for the secretary of the ministry.

The head of the household was taken over by Hu Quan, a young man who had just turned forty, and the head of the Ministry of Works was also a young man Zheng Qiao. And the servant Yu Shi is younger, only thirty years old Li Mengbo. He was the first time after the emperor succeeded to the throne that he opened a science and exploration flower, and after studying in Taixue for a year, he went to work in the local area. Starting from a criminal Cao, in the past seven or eight years, he has successively served as the deputy envoy of the county, the county, the state capital, and the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Road, and he has been promoted almost every year, which is a special case in this dynasty......

After finishing the adjustment of officials, it entered February, and Zhao Ta's most headache time came. In the Song Dynasty system, from February to May every year, from August to the winter solstice, a sutra feast was held every single day, and the lecturer took turns to flow into the attendant to lecture and read, which was called spring lecture and autumn lecture. There are two main aspects of holding sutra feasts: one is to 'taste the scriptures' to explore the subtle meanings in the scriptures, and the other is to 'use the past to prove the present', that is, to learn from the history and learn the lessons of the previous dynasties.

Zhao Tan has not liked the scriptures since he was a child, he would rather review the chapter than participate in this scripture banquet, but there are system regulations, the emperor, the six books and the imperial history of the Cheng and the courtiers and relatives with titles must participate, not allowed to be absent at will, he also has to sit in front of him as a benchmark, so every time the banquet is like a punishment, he can't wait to drag the lecturer down to them to comment on the story.

In fact, the focus of this lecture is not good, the focus of the sutra feast is to give full play to the essence of the scriptures, pointing out the historical precepts, but to boil down to the reality, in order to use the past for the present, this is not good, it is a taboo, but it is also required that the lecturer must complete this task, if only according to the rules and sentences perfunctory blame or to flattery with words, it is undoubtedly a dereliction of duty, in the past several lecturers have been dismissed by the emperor for this, resulting in the intermittent feast is difficult to continue.

This year, Zhao Ta changed his normal behavior and personally appointed Yang Shi, Hu Anguo, Zhou Xingji and other Confucians as the main speakers, and asked them to take turns to give speeches. Several great Confucian scholars are naturally good at speaking, and he is not like in previous years who only listened but did not speak, but actively spoke, took the lead in reviewing the gains and losses of the dynasty, and did not shy away from it, and had the courage to point out the mistakes of the ancestors, especially the harm of the party struggle after the Divine Sect.

This year, several lecturers also took Confucius's 'inner sage and outer king' as the main content of the preaching, and its theme and ideology reflected the direct unity of morality and politics. He advocated that Confucianism all talked about morality and politics, and believed that politics could only have a correct direction if it was guided by morality; Morality can only have a universal impact if it is implemented in politics. Politics without moral guidance is hegemony and tyranny, and such politics is unpopular and cannot be sustained.

It is required that politicians should first come from moralists, and rulers can only become the beloved saints of the world if they first devote themselves to the way of saints and become "benevolent". What does it take to be a moralist? According to Confucius's words, one must achieve 'benevolence' and 'propriety', and achieve inner sage, in order to become a qualified ruler. The inner saint is the premise and foundation of the outer king, and the outer king is the natural extension and inevitable result of the inner saint. Self-cultivation can naturally govern others, and to govern others, we must first cultivate ourselves. Only the unity of morality and politics can complete the transformation from an "inner saint" to an "outer king".

In fact, all of you here have learned this, and now the repetition of the old tune is not only to deepen the memory, but also to use it to rectify the official style, unify the thinking, and avoid the recurrence of the tragedy of party struggle. Of course, loyalty to the monarch and patriotism should also be emphasized repeatedly, so that they always remember to be a loyal minister for the country and the people. Don't fight with yourself without eggs, and 'fight with the emperor', there are strong enemies outside the country that have not been destroyed, and the most important thing is to enrich the country and strengthen the army......

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The emperor in the middle of the court began to rectify the wind, and the Western Expeditionary Army was not idle. After Gao Zhong captured the North Court, Zhao Li, who had defeated the Western Liao army, also led his troops to rendezvous. After a year of joy, the two divided their troops to take Tingzhou and Yizhou, and took all the northern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains into their hands, and when the ice and snow melted a little in April, Gao Zhong led the army across the Tianshan Mountains to take Gaochang.

The Uighurs of Gaochang were named after the city of Gaochang and became powerful because of the city. With the important geographical location of the Silk Road, this city became a hub connecting the Central Plains, Central Asia and Europe, and was the window to foreign countries in the northwest region at that time, and developed into the most prosperous city and commodity trading place in the west. After many years of operation by the Uighurs, Gaochang became the political and cultural center of the northwest region. Merchants from Persia and other places brought alfalfa, grapes, spices, pepper, precious stones, and horses to the city of Gaochang, and took silk, porcelain, and tea from the Central Plains from here.

Wealth did not bring peace to Gaochang, but attracted countless people to covet it, so for hundreds of years of war, Gaochang people built a city to resist invasion, after a hundred years of expansion, renovation became a fortified city in the Western Regions. The Western Expeditionary Army set up camp in Wuli outside the city, and the news of the arrival of the Song army had already reached the city.

Gao Chong and Zhao Li personally went to the city to reconnoiter after camping, and the two of them were not uninformed, but they were still shocked by the majesty and majesty of Gaochang City. The whole city presents an irregular square, the circumference is as long as 12 miles, the city is more than five zhang high, and the thickness is more than four zhang, all of which are built of rammed earth. According to the captured locals, each layer of rammed earth was only three inches thick, and it was so dense and strong that it could not be penetrated by knives and guns. In order to enhance the firmness of the city walls, a small amount of adobe was mixed between each layer of rammed earth. What's even more incredible is that the city gates are all made of steel, and the Bianjing City Gate is just a wooden gate with only a layer of iron.

The layout of the city is similar to that of the capital city in the Central Plains, and it is divided into three parts: the outer field, the inner city and the palace city, the inner city is located in the middle of the city, and the palace city is located in the north of the inner city. As the capital, the population of the city is tens of thousands, and half of the country is concentrated, and the grain and grass reserves must be sufficient, and the use of them will be held for a long time. Moreover, the buildings in the city are tall, the streets are vertical and horizontal, and the terrain is complicated, even if the city is breached, if there is a street battle, it will inevitably be a fierce battle.

The two of them couldn't help but feel heavy after visiting the city and returning to the camp, the artillery they carried on this expedition were light artillery, and the Gaochang City was deep in trenches, and the weakest city gate was iron, which brought them great difficulty in attacking the city. What is even more worrying is that the daily consumption of grain and grass by the army is astronomical, and now it is unrealistic for them to travel thousands of miles away from the country and rely on domestic supplies alone. Although the Western Xia side has sent troops, it is fighting fiercely with the Western Liao army in the area of the Qaidam River, and the two sides have won and lost each other, and the baggage team transporting grain and grass is blocked in the Liangzhou area and cannot reach it for a while.

If it is not difficult for the Western Expeditionary Army to simply capture Gaochang City, but if there is a shortage of troops due to heavy casualties, it will not be able to divide the troops to defend it, and it is likely that it will be captured but unable to defend it, so the offensive strategy must be adjusted...... (To be continued......)