From April 20 to 24 of the Song calendar in the third year of the Republic, according to the records of the operation of the Anti-Rape Committee, Li Tingzhi visited the officials from Jinshi intensively in a few days. Follow? Dream?. On the 25th, Li Tingzhi's wife and some other wives brought a lot of gifts to the palace to meet the Empress Dowager Yang.

Empress Dowager Yang didn't expect so many people to come to see her, and she was really at a loss at first. In the eyes of Cheng, who was mixed into the meeting team, Empress Dowager Yang's reserved behavior reflected the dignity of the Empress Dowager very well. As Zhu Huan's wife, Cheng's heart is thinking about her son's future. Zhao Taiwei's door can't go through, Wu Qian's door can't go through, and now that he can come to see Empress Dowager Yang, Cheng will come without hesitation.

Purely in terms of area, the Lin'an Palace is not small, and five points of Cheng's shock are due to the grandeur of the palace, and the other five points are the depression in the palace. After being robbed by the Mongols, the palace can probably be described as a house with four walls. Many of these buildings are made of wood and are severely infested.

In such a situation, the women brought gifts that also made Empress Dowager Yang smile. For so long, she was surrounded, protected, and imprisoned by men, except for the palace maids who were close to her. Even though they are free from the threat of war, they live in loneliness. At this time, there was such a large group of women shushing together, even if they were completely unfamiliar with these people, and even most of them didn't know each other, Empress Dowager Yang felt so comfortable in her heart.

Seeing that the reserved Queen Mother finally smiled, Cheng wondered if the Queen Mother could remember herself. The people above always have many privileges, just like the privileges that Cheng had when she met her husband Zhu Huan. Zhu Huan can punish, drive away, and kill those he doesn't like, and Zhu Huan can promote and reward those he likes. Cheng is not interested in the principle of rise and fall and the rule of abolition, she fully understands her husband Zhu Huan's method of coping with joys, sorrows, and sorrows according to distant relatives, and sincerely accepts it.

If the Queen Mother said something, Mrs. Zhao probably had to listen. Even if the Queen Mother can't provoke the powerful Zhao Taiwei for the time being, at least at other times she can take care of it a little. Cheng believes this is entirely possible. At this moment, Cheng heard the Queen Mother say: "But I don't know when I will be able to talk to everyone so affectionately next time." ”

Hearing this, Cheng felt that the Queen Mother was quite pitiful for a while, and at the same time felt a huge opportunity. Then Cheng saw Li Tingzhi's wife and said: "Queen Mother, I heard that there were rules in the palace in the past, and for a few days every month, the palace welcomed the wife to come and chat with the Queen Mother. I don't know what the rules are now. ”

Empress Dowager Yang knew this rule, but when she was in the palace, she was Concubine Yang Shu, and it was not her turn to speak at all in the affairs of the palace. When she became the queen mother, she began to be under the threat of war, and everything was decided by outsiders. At this time, hearing Li Tingzhi's wife talk about the old system in the palace, Empress Dowager Yang naturally moved her mind. She didn't want to see only a few familiar palace maids, her more and more naughty son. And those forbidden armies. If you are with these women, you can at least communicate about a lot of things in your life.

After sending away these women, Empress Dowager Yang invited Zhang Shijie on the same day. Zhang Shijie sat in the living room where a group of women had stayed, and felt that the smell of many participating perfumes floated in the air. Empress Dowager Yang, who had been silent for several years, had a lot of blush on her face at this time, as if a beautiful stone statue carved out of marble suddenly came to life.

"Commander Zhang, I don't know if you can write to tell Taiwei Zhao that I want more money and things." Because of her shyness, Empress Dowager Yang's face turned even redder when she spoke.

Zhang Shijie was a little stunned, and couldn't help asking: "Why didn't the Queen Mother write the letter herself?" ”

After saying that, he understood that it was indeed inappropriate. If the Queen Mother writes a letter, Mrs. Zhao agrees, if Mrs. Zhao does not agree, and the hard ones will come back, how will the Queen Mother speak in the future?

"But I don't know what to tell Mrs. Zhao?" Zhang Shijie continued to ask. As far as Taiwei Zhao is now slamming the door, it is so easy to increase the supply for no reason. There is no justifiable reason, and Taiwei Zhao probably won't give money.

Empress Dowager Yang told Zhang Shijie about the women who came to visit. Zhang Shijie, as the commander of the Imperial Forest Army, of course knows this. But after all, he is an old man, and he used to be a military general, until he heard Empress Dowager Yang say: "Since everyone has brought gifts, if the palace does not reward things, it is unreasonable." Zhang Shijie suddenly realized.

As the saying goes, there is no indecency, and Zhang Shijie thinks this reason is very reliable. Looking at the Empress Dowager Yang, who was fully activated, Zhang Shijie agreed to write the letter. Because he was full of emotions and had good reasons, Zhang Shijie wrote the letter bit by bit. After reading it twice, it was loaded, and the envelope was filled with the uterine note. After finishing these, Zhang Shijie recalled chatting with Li Tingzhi, and combined with the current situation, he completely felt where Taiwei Zhao's power was.

The surrender of Lin'an was not only the surrender of the emperor and the empress dowager at that time, but also the core of Lin'an's power that was wiped out by the Mongols. What's even worse is that the finances of the Great Song Dynasty completely collapsed. The land is still there, and the people are there, but the Great Song Dynasty is simply unable to collect money and grain, and it is unable to levy the army. They became scattered individuals, barely fleeing for their lives in the face of hundreds of thousands of Mongol troops.

Zhao Taiwei was able to rebuild the imperial court so quickly and recapture Jiangnan. It relied on Taiwei Zhao to provide stable and continuous money, food and materials, and relied on these to form an army and make weapons. And defeated the Mongol army.

Until now, the palace has not been able to return to its previous state, and the official family and the queen mother are still poor. Zhang Shijie originally thought that as long as the official family and the queen mother existed, the power would naturally belong to them. And the reality told Zhang Shijie, 'Is there a kind of Tianzi Ning?' The strong and the strong do it! 'If you have the name of the Son of Heaven but don't have the strength to cooperate, you have to ask for funding from others even in return.

After the letter was sent, Zhang Shijie continued to live every day, and at the same time expected that Zhao Taiwei would be magnanimous and agree to such a trivial request.

Zhu Huan's wife, Cheng, did not know about the activities of the Queen Mother, and after she returned home, she told her husband Zhu Huan about the desolation in the imperial city. Although there is such a large open space, it is like a desolate ruin. In the past, court meetings were held in the imperial city, and the entry and exit of a large number of officials made this place a veritable center of the Great Song Dynasty. Now there are hundreds of people guarding the imperial city, and the comfort level is not as good as Zhu Huan's family.

Listening to his wife describe the situation in the imperial city, Zhu Huan's heart was also churning. He was very puzzled as to why Zhao Jiaren had not been in Lin'an, and from which point of view, the independent Prime Minister Zuo had to stay in Lin'an to govern. However, the reality is not like this, Zhao Jiaren is always running outside. Now even the imperial city is like this, Zhu Huan has to think that Zhao Jiaren is actually a person who deceives the world and steals his name. Maybe he didn't have real strength at all, and it was all luck to scare the Mongols away. If it weren't for that, why didn't Zhao Jiaren go to the west until now!

Thinking of this, Zhu Huan also made up his mind. Even the officials and queen mothers in the imperial city are so poor, and he, Zhu Huan, will not have a future if he follows Zhao Jiaren. Now he has a very important thing in his hands, that is, the so-called 'plan for the west'. Xia Gui, the governor of the two Huai Metropolitan in Anqing, didn't know the reality of Zhao Jiaren's internal weakness, so he might as well sell this thing now.

In the past, because Zhu Huan opened a big mouth, he asked for a thousand taels of gold. Now Zhu Huan decided to close the deal as soon as possible, even if the money is not much, how many can be earned.

Hu Weixiao was contacted, and Zhu Huan asked him to determine how much money the Mongols were willing to pay. Hu Weixiao listened to this question and couldn't help but answer: "I have already asked, and the Mongols are only willing to pay a hundred taels of silver." ”

"Is this a beggar?" Zhu Huan said angrily. The difference between a hundred taels of silver and a thousand taels of gold is too much. One hundred taels of silver is only three hundred copper coins, and three hundred copper coins are enough for what!

After scolding a few words out of thin air, Zhu Huan's eyes rolled, and then he said coldly to Hu Weixiao: "You won't swallow money in it!" ”

Hearing this question, Hu Weixiao couldn't help but lower his head. In fact, the Mongols paid 300 taels, and Hu Weixiao felt that he took such a big risk in the middle, and the credit was actually greater than Zhu Huan's. Hu Weixiao himself is not as greedy as Zhu Huan, he thinks he can earn two hundred taels, so he is ready to go back to his hometown. This matter was exposed by Zhu Huan, and Hu Weixiao panicked in his heart.

Seeing Hu Weixiao's reaction, Zhu Huan angrily went up and slapped Hu Weixiao on the head, and he said angrily: "Are you crazy?" You want to make money, and you have to do it. The Mongols also don't see rabbits or eagles. Do you think they are easy to deceive, or am I easy to deceive? ”

After the facts were exposed, Hu Weixiao said with a sad face: "General Zhu, then what do you want?" ”

Zhu Huan had already made a decision, and he said coldly: "You asked the Mongolian you contacted to meet with me, and I will tell him face to face." If you have hard work, you will be given twenty-fifty percent of your hard-earned money. ”

Hu Weixiao was even more reluctant when he heard that the price was too far from what he expected. That expression made Zhu Huan angry and wanted to fight again. This time, Hu Weixiao didn't let Zhu Huan beat, he slapped Zhu Huan's arm away with one palm, and said angrily: "The surname Zhu, you and I are grasshoppers on the same rope." I can't run away from you, and I can't run away from me. If you do it to me again, at most I'll be the first to do it. We'll be done together. Zhao Taiwei can say that if he had lost his way earlier, he would have confessed and been lenient. ”

Zhu Huan didn't expect Hu Weixiao to dare to threaten him in turn, as if the world was about to collapse. He was furious and threw himself at Hu Weixiao. Unexpectedly, Hu Weixiao was younger than Zhu Huan, and low-level officials worked more, and after the two fought, Zhu Huan found that he was inferior to Hu Weixiao in terms of strength and agility. After a moment of fighting, Zhu Huan was unexpectedly pressed down, and Hu Weixiao punched down without a head and face. So Zhu Huan could only cover his face with his arms.

"If you fight again, I'll sue you!" At a disadvantage, Zhu Huan shouted.

This time it was Hu Weixiao's turn to shake and stop his fist.