Lin'an's Song calendar April is still more than a month before entering the rainy season, when the temperature rises, and there are many sunny days. Zhao Zhizhuo ate breakfast and said to his wife, "Let's go out." ”

"I've already walked all over this Lin'an, where is there a good place to go out?" Mrs. Zhao asked. After saying that, she felt that she should tell her husband directly, that she was too lazy to move.

Sure enough, Zhao Zhizhuo didn't feel his wife's true emotions, and he smiled: "Let's go to Gusu and go to Qingqing." I've never been to Gusu in the spring. ”

"Now that San Lang is not in Lin'an, let's not toss." Speaking of this, Mrs. Zhao carried out her previous train of thought and said very bluntly, "Why do you think he must invite the whole family to Lin'an?" ”

Although Zhao Zhizhuo can't quite grasp his wife's mood and thoughts, this does not mean that he is stupid, after being reminded by his wife, Zhao Zhizhuo thought clearly that his third son Zhao Jiaren asked Zhao Zhizhuo and other family members to come to Lin'an The purpose is to let everyone see that Zhao Taiwei's family is in Lin'an, if Lin'an is not safe, he will definitely not do it.

Zhao Zhizhuo is not angry that he is being used as a safety sign. He still didn't understand his wife's lazy idea of going out at this time, but sighed to himself: "San Lang is really different as an official, everyone else is giving orders in the capital, and he just wants to go to the place." It is inevitable that people will have many thoughts. ”

If there was anything more uncomfortable than being forced to go out, Mrs. Zhao felt that listening to her husband babble about government politics was one of them. She chimed in: "I think the rice fish is good, or let's go to the market and have a look." "The government naturally has people who should do it, and what her son Zhao Jiaren is willing to do must not be to deliberately mess things up. In order to work, Zhao Jiaren has regarded his father and mother as a safety vane, and as a father and mother, at least shut up. The two of them are talking about Zhao Jiaren behind their backs.

"Hah! Now that we have just started planting rice, there are no rice flowers. Zhao Zhizhuo said with a smile.

"Don't talk nonsense, come with me to the vegetable market and see if there are any good fish." Mrs. Zhao was too lazy to entangle with her husband. Just don't talk about boring topics. At the strong request of his wife, Zhao Zhizhuo still gave in.

At this time, Zhang Shijie, the commander of the Great Song Imperial Forest Army, also had breakfast, and led the troops to drill according to the system. Five years ago, the forbidden army of the Great Song Dynasty used to have more than 300,000, and the imperial forest army stationed in the capital also had tens of thousands. In the course of the war, these regular armies were exhausted in battle after battle, or simply surrendered to the enemy.

The Royal Guards in the queue are basically over forty years old. Judging from the average life expectancy of the Great Song Dynasty, they are close to or have reached the age of burying their chests in loess. Compared with the previous number of tens of thousands of Royal Forest Army, the current Royal Forest Army only has more than 300 people left. Such a change made Zhang Shijie's heart sour.

sighed for only a few seconds, and Zhang Shijie, the commander of the Imperial Forest Army, had to get used to such a status quo, which was the price of his loyalty to the little emperor and the Empress Dowager Yang. Most of the Imperial Guards who fled to Fujian before only paid for their meals, and most of them chose to leave the Imperial Guards to join the team to recover their hometowns. After returning to Lin'an, he continued to live for more than half a year, and there was no military pay for this kind of food. Until half a year ago, the 300 or so people who were still reluctant to leave in such a situation could finally receive half of their previous salary.

Such an army does not have to expect them to do any terrible training, Zhang Shijie went to the Privy Council after the troops finished the exercise. The Imperial Forest Army was paid 25 salaries a month, and Zhang Shijie had to go to the Privy Council to do paperwork in this regard on the 20th. On two or three occasions, these official documents were handled late, and according to the 'financial discipline' established by Taiwei Zhao, the money was dragged until the fifth day of the next lunar month before entering the financial month, and it was not issued until the tenth day of the first lunar month, which caused rumors in the Imperial Forest Army.

When he arrived at the Privy Council, looking at this high-ranking and powerful Song Dynasty unit, Zhang Shijie also felt a lot in his heart. Prime Minister Zuo was absent from the capital for a long time, which was unique to the Great Song Dynasty. What's more, there is only one prime minister in the Great Song Dynasty now, and this prime minister asked Lin'an to sing the empty city plan. If it weren't for the fact that Prime Minister Zhao Jiaren's parents, wife, children and brothers were all in Lin'an, and they often appeared in front of people, everyone would definitely feel that Lin'an was so dangerous that Prime Minister Zuo of the Great Song Dynasty would not dare to stay. The surrender of President Lin'an was just over two years ago.

There was no buzz in the Privy Council. The Privy Council is the department that relies on the country's finances to operate, and those officials now have clear responsibilities, and they can do as much as they want. If you don't give them money, they will starve.

Based on this cognition, Zhang Shijie did not take the Privy Council seriously. Found the official in charge of money, he signed the document on official business, and when he was about to return to the palace, he heard someone call him, "Commander Zhang, I haven't seen you for a while." ”

Turning his head to look, he saw Li Tingzhi of the Privy Council greeting him in the courtyard. Zhang Shijie knew that Li Tingzhi was a general guarding Yangzhou, and he was an old minister like him, so he smiled and said: "Deputy Envoy Li, I haven't seen him for a while. ”

Li Tingzhi looked up at the sun, and then said, "It's noon, let's have a meal together." ”

"This ......" Zhang Shijie wanted to refuse. If it was according to the rules of the Imperial Forest Army in the past, it would be a big problem to make friends with outsiders casually. However, at this time, the more than 300 Royal Forest Army only used to protect the official family and the Queen Mother. After the surrender of Lin'an, all the royal family and clan of Lin'an were taken away by the Mongols. The palace was also completely emptied, and the palace maids and chamberlains were scattered. Now the sum of the palace maids who serve the queen mother and the official family is more than 20. These people lived in an empty palace, and three hundred forbidden troops were enough to protect them.

Zhang Shijie finally nodded and responded: "It's bothered." ”

Li Tingzhi said with a smile: "What bother, I'm poor anyway, and I can't ask for anything delicious." ”

The two did not go out to eat, but ate in the canteen of the Privy Council and went to Li Tingzhi's house near the Privy Council. took out the internal rum that he was reluctant to drink during the New Year, and asked his wife to cook the soup, and Li Tingzhi was eating and drinking with Zhang Shijie.

Both of them were dissatisfied with Zhao Jiaren, and Li Tingzhi said that Zhao Jiaren completely looked down on the Privy Council. "Captain Zhao gathered his militia in Yangzhou and put our Privy Council here. I have also proposed the restoration of the forbidden army several times, but Captain Zhao is completely inappropriate. It looks like the closing of our Privy Council is only a matter of time before it closes. ”

Zhang Shijie laughed dryly, picked up the wine glass and took a sip. No matter how bleak the reality is, the rum still tastes good.

The Imperial Forest Army of the Great Song Dynasty was only a part of the forbidden army and belonged to the regular army. The surrender of Lin'an announced the complete collapse of the regular army of the Great Song Dynasty, and when Zhao Taiwei raised an army to counterattack, it relied on the 'militia group' under Zhao Taiwei. After Zhao Taiwei led the imperial court back to Lin'an, there were less than 3,000 forbidden troops left, which were completely the remnants of the past. Zhang Shijie, the commander of the Imperial Forest Army, is the commander of some of these residues, and the rest of the residues are now under the command of the Privy Council.

The armies that can still fight now, except for the local army in Sichuan, are all Zhao Taiwei's private soldiers. Zhao Taiwei became a privy envoy, and this army was the army of the imperial court, and if Zhao Taiwei was not a privy envoy, those armies would be Zhao Taiwei's army.

The deliciousness of rum made Zhang Shijie feel a little drunk, and the depression in his heart was also released because of this feeling. He spat out the wine and said mockingly: "I used to just hear that the minister and the minister covered the sky with one hand, and I thought that Jia Nidao was already in power, but now I know where Jia Nidao can be regarded as a minister." If there is no official family and the queen mother, Jia seems to be nothing. But if there is no Taiwei Zhao at the moment, the official family and the queen mother are nothing. Hehe, this is the minister. ”

Hearing this, Li Tingzhi's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly asked, "Then have the Queen Mother and the official family ever thought about letting the Queen Mother come to the court?" ”

"The Queen Mother is in court?" Zhang Shijie asked a little puzzled.

Li Tingzhi, who was born in Jinshi, couldn't help but explain to Zhang Shijie, a former Mongolian, that there was also a young official family ascending the throne in the history of the Great Song Dynasty. The Empress Dowager exercised the power of the emperor at this time.

After such an explanation, Zhang Shijie somewhat understood. Empress Dowager Yang's appearance appeared in Zhang Shijie's heart, it was a beautiful woman. At the time of the collapse of the country, the Empress Dowager Yang was able to embark on the journey with the little emperor, and this insistence made Zhang Shijie have an indescribable concern and respect for the Empress Dowager Yang.

Zhao Taiwei only has respect for the Empress Dowager Yang based on the system, and in other parts, Zhao Taiwei ignores the Empress Dowager Yang. Zhang Shijie could see that all of Taiwei Zhao's thoughts were on military politics, and since Empress Dowager Yang did not show the slightest political or military talent, of course Taiwei Zhao would not be moved. If Empress Dowager Yang is allowed to participate in politics, will it have a bad impact on the situation?

Li Tingzhi understood Zhang Shijie's silence as something else, and he laughed dryly, "Hehe, but Taiwei Zhao has not been in Lin'an now, even if I want the Queen Mother to come to the court, I can't afford to hold a court meeting." ”

For civil officials, this is undoubtedly somewhat tolerable and intolerable. However, Zhang Shijie is a soldier, and the Empress Dowager's arrival in the dynasty is of no help to the military, and in the orders of Taiwei Zhao and the orders of the Empress Dowager Yang, Zhang Shijie will undoubtedly believe in Taiwei Zhao's orders more. Zhang Shijie's biggest knot now lies in his own future.

Now the life and death of the official family and the queen mother no longer determine the fate of the Great Song Dynasty, their life and death only determine whether the status of Zhao Taiwei, the Zhao family, is the minister of power or the official family. Zhang Shijie even felt that even the Mongols were afraid to protect the life and death of the Great Song official family and the Queen Mother, at least the Mongols would not want to move the Great Song official family and the Queen Mother until they solved Zhao Jiaren.

Zhang Shijie knew that if he was willing to defect to Taiwei Zhao, Taiwei Zhao should accept him. It's just that every time he sees Empress Dowager Yang's soft beauty, Zhang Shijie feels unbearable. But Zhang Shijie's patience is almost to the limit.

Before becoming the Imperial Forest Army, Zhang Shijie was on the front line of the war against the Mongols. Even if there are victories and defeats, Zhang Shijie can be regarded as a qualified general. Those Imperial Forest Army hope that they can live in the position of gatekeeper for the official family for the rest of their lives, and being a watchdog has never been Zhang Shijie's wish.

Holding the wine glass, Zhang Shijie was silent.