On the eighth day of the fourth month of the sixth year of Xuanhe (1124 AD), in recent days, I have been familiar with the details of the specific affairs of the Imperial City Division and the various financial institutions under the current system of the Great Song Dynasty. After a comprehensive understanding, I have to admire the wisdom of the ancients, far more comprehensive than the West for hundreds of years has been a relatively comprehensive variety of state-owned and private financial institutions, they not only made great contributions to the prosperous commerce and trade of the Great Song Dynasty, but also played a very good role in promoting the development of the society at that time, but unfortunately with the extinction of the Song Dynasty, these valuable innovative wealth has not been inherited, and after a few hundred years, the West has just sprouted in this regard.

As soon as he arrived at the Imperial City Division today, he ordered someone to invite Liang Shicheng, who was known as a hidden appearance by the ministers of the imperial court, to come over, mainly to solve the matter of the exile of the two officials of the Imperial City Division. Although this matter is framed by Prime Minister Wang Hao and others, but with my current status as the prince, it is not good to go directly to Prime Minister Wang Huang, after all, Wang Huang once supported the third child and I intend to fight for the position of prince, but Wang Hao has great respect for Liang Shicheng, and treats Liang Shi like his father, called Mr. Enfu. Including Cai Jing's father and son, they are also very attentive to Liang Shicheng, how can this eunuch make so many important ministers in the court fearful, of course, this has to start with Liang Shicheng's career.

Liang Shicheng is a native of Kaifeng, Henan, who has been smart and cunning since he was a child, familiar with grammar, knows a little bit of writing, and began to belong to Jia Xiang's calligraphy bureau. After Jia Shen's death, Liang Shicheng was responsible for managing the Rui Si Dian's text library, responsible for going out to preach the edict (writing holy decrees and edicts to the emperor), and studying historical books in the Calligraphy and Art Bureau, which laid the foundation for being reused in the future.

At that time, the old man of Song Huizong paid attention to the matter of Liwen Furui, and Liang Shicheng was good at welcoming and being familiar with history, and he wanted to be favored. The old man Huizong of the Song Dynasty originally regarded him as an inferior slave, but because of this, he promoted him to a close minister, and all the emperor's edicts came from his hands, and he chose those petty officials who were good at calligraphy to practice imitating Huizong's font, mixed with the edict and promulgated, and the court officials could not distinguish the authenticity. Liang Shicheng is really unliterate, but he advertises himself and claims to be Su Shi's exiled son. Later, when the Su family was in trouble, Liang Shicheng often helped Su Shi's descendants in terms of money, and once told the governor of the house that as long as Su Shi's descendants came to the house, the money below 10,000 yuan could be withdrawn at any time without reporting. It can be seen that Liang Shicheng takes care of the Su family.

At that time, due to the partisan struggle in the imperial court, Su Shi's articles were banned, and his articles were destroyed among the people. Since then, Su Shi's article has slowly become popular. He took Hanmo as his own responsibility and recruited talented people from all over the world, and these celebrities were often tarnished by him. He put a lot of calligraphy and paintings in the hall, invited guests to visit, and if someone inscribed it to his own wishes, he secretly promoted him, and the consuls and attendants could also be promoted from there. In the pattern of emphasizing literature and light martial arts in the Song Dynasty, this kind of behavior did make many literati and scholars gather around Liang Shicheng at that time, so as to further make the old man Huizong of the Song Dynasty take a fancy to him and continue to add official positions and promote reuse, at most he also served as one hundred and ten official positions, so Jingshi regarded him as a "hidden phase".

In the second year of Xuanhe (1120), Wang Hao proposed a plan to capture the sixteen states of Yanyun, and Liang Shicheng opposed it at first, but finally agreed, and recommended Tan Zhi as the Xuanfu envoy. After pacifying Yanshan, he was promoted to Shaobao because of his merits. He even accepted bribes extensively, and someone sent him millions of dollars, so he asked this person to sing the calligraphy of the old man Huizong of the Song Dynasty in the name of letting him participate in the court test, and on the day of singing, he stood beside the emperor and whispered to control the rise and fall of someone. His subordinate official Chu Hong also has a reputation for meritorious service in the imperial examination, but he is still the same as he was at the beginning.

Li Yan searched the fields in Jingdong and Jingxi, and everywhere he went, he was flying and domineering, and the supervisors and county guards did not dare to resist him. Someone said to the old man Song Huizong that Liang Shicheng was right next to the emperor and said sharply: Although the status of the emperor's servants is low, the order is also above the princes, can this be regarded as a mistake? The speaker was frightened and stopped talking.

But there is one thing that is very rare, that is, he supports my position as the crown prince very much, and resolutely opposes Wang Huang's backing to support the third child to become the crown prince. This is related to the fact that he was born as a eunuch (eunuch), Liang Shicheng himself is not a professional class, he can be promoted step by step from a small chamberlain (eunuch) to the inspector Taifu, worship Taiwei, Kaifu Yi and the three divisions, and move to Huainan Jiedu envoy. It all stems from the old man Huizong of the Song Dynasty's favor for the literati and his trust in the eunuchs. Liang Shicheng understands that all the glory and wealth today come from the grace of the imperial power, and he attaches great importance to the legitimacy and continuity of the imperial power.

After a while, I saw an honest-looking, seemingly harmless eunuch who entered the lobby and knelt down and said: Xiaguan Liang Shicheng greets the prince. I stared at him and took a closer look, judging from the appearance, he is definitely not a scumbag, and things are often so unexpected, people who are not familiar with him think he is a loyal person, but in fact he is very treacherous, and because he is good at observing words and feelings, he has won the favor of the old man Song Huizong. Based on my understanding of him and supporting me so much, I said: Mrs. Liang, please get up, please take a seat. I ordered someone to serve tea, and then I said to him: Mrs. Liang has been doing well recently, and this prince suddenly summoned him today, will it disturb Mrs. Liang? Let's find out what his attitude is towards me, after all, now is a very moment for me, if I say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing, let these traitors add fuel and vinegar to the old man, I'm afraid it will be bad for me.

Hearing me say this, Mrs. Liang was obviously surprised and shocked, and after being stunned for a moment, he bowed his head and bowed his hand and replied: "Qi Qi Prince, the old minister entrusted the prince Hongfu, and his body is still quite tough, today the prince summoned the old minister to make the old minister excited, and the old minister is willing to saddle the horse for the prince, and he dare not disturb the prince. Seeing him say this, I felt a lot more at ease, so I signaled to retreat left and right, and when there were only two of us left in the hall, I said to Liang Shicheng under the hall: Call Mrs. Liang to come today, one is to thank Mrs. Liang for his support to the prince for so many years, and the other is about the fact that there are currently two officials in the Imperial City Division who have been exiled to the deserted land by the imperial court for three thousand miles on trumped-up charges because of the southeast matter, and Mrs. Liang should know that the prince has just been promoted to the Imperial City Division not long ago, and the subordinates in this division have been wronged by this prince and cannot help but ask, After all, everyone in the Imperial City Division is looking at Prince Ben, can Mrs. Liang understand?

Liang Shicheng will immediately bend his hand when he hears me say this: the old minister understands what the prince means, and the old minister has also heard of this, this is the fault of the prime minister Wang Hao and others, the old minister has time to talk to Wang Huang, this is a trivial matter, please rest assured that the prince will hand it over to the old minister, and the old minister will recall the two official affairs of the Imperial City Division as soon as possible and let the official reinstate him. Hearing him say this, I nodded with satisfaction, thinking that it was no wonder that it was called a hidden phase, and this matter was the right person. Then he instructed: Mrs. Liang is really fast-talking, and the prince is very relieved. At this time, the imperial court was in an eventful season, and the hundred-year-old border peace was suddenly broken by the Jin people's Jin Ge Iron Horse. After saying that, he let out a long sigh.

Liang Shicheng immediately understood: Thank you for the prince's praise, if the prince uses the place of the old minister, please show it, and the old minister will be the prince before and after the saddle. The old minister has no other specialty, all these years under the care of the emperor, but with the ministers in the court have intersection, if the prince does not dislike the old minister eunuch body, the old minister is willing to do all kinds of difficult things for the prince. This old guy is very polite, even Cai Jing's father and son have to pat you on the back, Tong Guan, Tan Zhi, Li Yan and other eunuchs respect him even more, not to mention that his prime minister Wang Huang treats him like a father, not to mention the many ministers under the other sects and the officials at all levels who have been reported by him. But for his loyalty, I also look at his words and deeds, first look at the results of his handling of this matter, and then look at it specifically, thinking of this, I said to Liang Shicheng: Mrs. Liang's kindness, this prince knows in his heart, and he may have to trouble Taifu a lot at that time. Liang Shicheng immediately saluted and once again expressed his full support.

For Liang Shicheng, it is a matter of time before I inherit the throne, and if he can receive the favor of the supreme ruler for the second time, it is definitely a dream in his heart, and now that he has such a good opportunity, of course he will not give up. After all, as eunuchs, all their rights and honors come from the royal family, and once they lose this big tree, they are nothing, they are not as good as a commoner, let alone power, glory, wealth, and food.

Seeing Liang Shicheng so obedient, I was also a lot more relieved at the moment. Sighing that the supreme imperial power of feudal society is really good, and it can instantly make a big man who stomp his feet on the earthquake bow down to Chen Chen, at this moment, in order to make better use of Liang Shicheng's hidden ability, I then tested him and said: Liang Taifu, I have always ruled the world with literature, but now in the face of the northern Jin people, the prince of the whole dynasty feels that he lacks a kind of masculinity of a military general, I don't know what kind of high opinion Liang Taiwei has? Obviously, he was telling him that the so-called literati and scholars such as the imperial court had brought the atmosphere of the entire court to ruin, and there was no other way to face the Jin people except to negotiate peace and pay tribute. Liang Shicheng can certainly understand what I mean.

He replied: The prince said this very well, this is the established policy since the opening of the Taizu dynasty, due to the historical conditions at that time (the five dynasties and ten countries often have generals mutiny), the imperial court to implement a glass of wine to release military power, strong cadres and weak branches, and the policy of using literature to control the military is conducive to the situation at that time, and now this time and that time, after a hundred years of governance of our dynasty, the internal has basically stabilized, but the external form has changed, the destruction of the brotherly country of the Great Liao State has led to the border situation to be tense again, and just now the prince said, At this time, the old minister thought it was appropriate to strengthen military affairs and attach importance to military generals.

Liang Shicheng's attitude, I have the bottom in my heart, his support is very important to me at present, especially for the later preparations for the construction of the Great Song Dynasty, vigorously develop ordnance and other affairs, although as a monarch, but if the thinking is not consistent with the ministers below, without the support and cooperation of the ministers, it is not possible to form a single heart, many things are often thunder and rain, like the previous new and old party struggle is a good example, Wang Anshi's good restructuring measures, due to the obstruction of the ministers and the inaction of grassroots officials, led to the final defeat.

I said: Mrs. Liang is realistic, it is rare, there is Mrs. Lao today, and the East Palace will send someone to inform Mrs. Lao if there is something in the future. Liang Shicheng said with trepidation: "Prince, the old minister really can't afford to work hard, the prince can send someone to tell him if he has something, and the old minister must go all out." I nodded with a smile to show recognition and friendliness, and Liang Shicheng immediately said: The old minister will retire first, and the prince will be blessed. I nodded again.

With the opening of the front door of the lobby, Liang Shicheng slowly disappeared from my field of vision, and I still felt very satisfied and smooth with today's summons and Liang Shicheng's attitude. The next step is to plan for a new step......