Two years ago, Kaifeng held a Lantern Festival, five days and five nights, very lively.

In the early morning of the next day, auspicious clouds floated in the sky above Bianliang, and a group of cranes flew around the Xuanhe Palace, contending and responding, and did not disperse for a long time.

Song Huizong was overjoyed when he saw it, and personally drew the famous "Crane Picture".

With this auspiciousness, the scale of last year's and this year's Lantern Festival is getting bigger and bigger.

The heavy snowstorm in winter almost froze all the beggars in the city to death, but it did not affect the prosperous picture of "Fengheng Yuda" at all.

Just look at the lights of the city tonight, and the appearance of rubbing shoulders, you can know how rich the Huanghuang Song Dynasty is!

Above the royal tower, Song Huizong was watching the lanterns.

He pointed to the Aoshan lantern with a height of 50 meters and a width of 500 meters, and said to the attendants on the left and right with a smile: "During the Han and Tang Dynasties, could there be a big lantern? ”

"There has never been," the eunuch Yang Jian flattered, "The wealth of this dynasty has never been seen in ancient times, and it all depends on the presence of the saint."

Yang Jian was just appointed as the envoy of the Changhua Army, the guardian army that was about to establish the emperor's travel, and he was also a eunuch with military power.

The eunuch Yang Qiu was not to be left behind, and hurriedly patted his ass and said: "The official family's cultural and martial arts have caught up with the ancient saint king, and it is Yao Shun of the world." ”

"Haha," Song Huizong said with a smile, "This is too much, I am still much worse than Yao Shun."

Yang Qiu said again: "Then it is not comparable to Tang Taizong." Although Tang Taizong's martial arts are high, they are not as good as the official family. When the Holy Dynasty Pingxi Xia and Yanyun are collected, the official martial arts will be world-famous, and Tang Taizong will not be able to compare. ”

Of course, Song Huizong could hear such an obvious sycophant, so he was joking with his servants: "You old talent, you actually said something pleasing to me, I won't reward you." ”

Yang Qiu bowed: "Share the worries of the saints, don't ask for rewards." ”

Song Huizong smiled even more happily, and continued to watch the lanterns with the royal family and palace people.

At the beginning of his succession, he humbly accepted advice, worked hard, reconciled party disputes, and was also a wise monarch.

This state lasted less than two years, and then he became impatient.

The old and new parties played out their brains, and they were often disobedient, putting Song Huizong in a dilemma. Cai Jing took advantage of the loophole to ascend to the throne and found out the emperor's thoughts, and the two monarchs and ministers began to clean the court.

No matter what the new party or the old party, as long as they contradict the emperor, they will all be beaten as traitors!

Moreover, even the sons and grandchildren of the "traitorous party" are not allowed to stay in the capital, let alone become officials in the imperial examination.

Due to the overwhelming criticism of the government and the opposition, Song Huizong and Cai Jing had to make superficial concessions, and even Cai Jing was demoted from the capital for a time.

Last year, Cai Jing reverted, summed up the experience of failure, and made two adjustments.

First, bribe the ministers with high-ranking officials. This has made the phenomenon of redundant officials even more serious, and there are hundreds of officials in the three provinces with more than five grades, and some even receive more than 10 salaries per person.

Second, Cai Jing's suggestions and suggestions were all secretly played to Song Huizong. Song Huizong bypassed the center and directly issued an edict to the relevant departments. The two monarchs and ministers joined forces to sabotage the governance process and completely control the court.

And the eunuch Yang Qiu unexpectedly became a big celebrity, almost becoming a "Bingbi eunuch" - he can imitate Song Huizong's handwriting!

Many imperial pen edicts were written by Yang Qiu, and Song Huizong had no idea about it.

A large number of nobles and close ministers followed Cai Jing's example and secretly gave gifts to Yang Qiu. Yang Qiu received the money, and dared to wholesale the imperial pen edict to help those noble and close ministers with their affairs.

This stunned Cai Jingjing, and the exclusive toilet he built became a public toilet?

Above the royal tower, a group of emperors laughed and ran, pointing at the lanterns under the city.

Zhao Fujin is eight years old this year, holding a lantern in his hand, and he jumped up: "Daddy, daddy, this is the lantern given to me by my mother!" Isn't it beautiful? ”

"It's beautiful, as beautiful as Fukin!"

Song Huizong had a doting smile on his face, this was his most beautiful daughter and his favorite daughter.

Hearing his father's praise, Zhao Fujin was even more happy, carrying the lantern in a circle, and running around those palace people.

Song Huizong was in a happy mood, and when he saw that the city was bright, he couldn't help but be excited, and wrote two poems on the spot. Looking horizontally and vertically, he was not very satisfied, and said to the attendant: "Such a grand scene, when there are good words to harmonize, summon Wan Qi Yong, Chao Duan to go to the royal tower to fill in the words!" ”

"Official, Mr. Chao has died of illness." A eunuch reminded.

Song Huizong was stunned: "When did it happen?" ”

The eunuch said: "It snowed heavily for several days a while ago, and Mr. Chao fell ill and died. ”

"It's really unlucky," Song Huizong was affected by his mood and ordered, "Call Wan Qiyong and fill in the good words that are more festive." ”

After Cai Jing took control of the court, Su Xue was officially banned, and there was only one word school in the entire Huizong Dynasty: Dasheng Ci.

The creative characteristics of Dasheng lyricists are: praising the emperor, singing about peace, wind and snow, sighing life, the words are extremely exquisite, and the rhythm is particularly harmonious.

And Wan Qiyong and Chao Duanli are among the best.

The former was recommended by Zhou Bangyan, and the latter was recommended by Cai Jing, who had to accompany Song Huizong to compose lyrics and play music every month.

……

In the farther street, Cai Jing was also admiring the lanterns, followed by many cronies, one of whom was Liu Siming, the priest of the country.

A few months ago, Liu Siming was just a small thing. He helped Cai Jing impeach his political opponents, overthrew the right prime minister Zhang Shangying, and instantly took charge of Guozijian and Taixue.

Zhang Shangying, on the other hand, is one of the leaders of the New Party.

At this time, there was no old and new party struggle in the Great Song Dynasty, only a pure power struggle. The struggle between the new party and the new party is the most intense, because the old party is no longer in the climate.

"Taishi," Liu Siming bent down and said, "The word is close to the next, but it is written about this Lantern Festival." ”

Cai Jing smiled: "Come and listen." ”

Liu Siming immediately sang: "Thousands of trees bloom on the night of the east wind." More blows down, stars like rain. BMW carved car fragrance full of ......"

Cai Jing clapped his hands and praised: "Good words, but who made them?" ”

"Zhu Chenggong, the eight-line scholar of Lizhou Road," Liu Siming knocked on the side, "Kang Guogong and Lizhou proposed to study, and they both recommended this person to study in Taixue, and I don't know if I should approve it." ”

Cai Jing behaved quite generously: "The people who the Qian and Lu families have a crush on, they will give them some face." Let's record it first. ”

recorded first, that is, Zhu Ming can be given a student status, but it has to be slowly vacant, after all, the number of students is limited.

Because he was just ousted once, the current Cai Jing is both soft and hard, resolutely attacking political enemies with clear positions, and the rest is to win over if he can. For example, Lu You's father, strictly speaking, belongs to the children of the "party", and he doesn't even have the power to live in Bianliang, but Cai Jing allowed him to be a petty official in the capital.

"I also know this poem of Zhu Chenggong," Wang Hao said, "In just one month, it has been sung in Tokyo. The sentence 'talented people from generation to generation, each leading the way for hundreds of years', is full of pride of my generation. ”

Cai Jing laughed: "When you hear this, you know that it is crazy." ”

Feng Xizai hurriedly patted his ass: "Taishi's eyes are like torches, this person must be crazy." ”

Liu Siming, Wang Hao, and Feng Xizai are all upstarts promoted by Cai Jing.

Especially Wang Hao, who has only been admitted to the Jinshi for a few years, has become Cai Jing's absolute confidant because he helped Cai Jing regain his appearance and attacked the right prime minister Zhang Shangying. In less than two years, a school scholar was promoted to the middle of the imperial history like a rocket.

The group of people was chatting and watching the lanterns, but they saw a horse galloping, and the eunuch rode on the horse and shouted: "Dodge, dodge, where is Wan Qiyong?" Where is Wan Qianyong......"

Wan Qiyong was enjoying the lanterns with his family at the moment, and when the eunuch found him, his voice was already hoarse.

"Mr. Wan Qian, you make it easy for us to find. Come on the horse quickly, don't let the officials wait for a long time! The eunuch said anxiously.

Wan Qiyong had no choice but to leave his family and ride with the eunuch.

There was wine on the royal tower, and the emperor was drinking and enjoying the lanterns.

Wan Qiyong panted and ran upstairs: "The minister will meet the official family and the mother!" ”

Song Huizong smiled and said, "Sit down, I'm waiting for your words." The pen, ink, paper, and inkstones are all set, and a poem is written to celebrate the Lantern Festival. ”

Wan Qiyong was thinking all the way, sat down at the moment and breathed calmly, and wrote:

"Drunken Penglai": Zhengbo Pan Yinhan, leaking copper kettle, Shangyuan Jiazhi. Candles and silver lamps, like stars. The bright moon is chasing people, the dark dust follows the horse, and the five tombs are noble. The temples provoke the dark clouds, the skirt drags the Xiangshui, who is beautiful. ”

"To the south of Jinque, to the north of Caishan, to the ground, Luo Qi, the song of the boiling sky. The six songs are open, with 3,000 pearls and emeralds. The □ of Dile is deep, the phoenix furnace is smoking, and the face of Shun is saluted. It was peaceful, the monarchs and ministers were feasting, and the people were drunk. ”

Song Huizong saw it, and immediately clapped his hands and exclaimed: "It's so peaceful, the monarchs and ministers are feasting, and the people are drunk', which really responds to today's prosperous scene!" ”

Wan Qiyong arched his hand and said: "When the saint is in the court, the world is naturally too peaceful and happy." Your Majesty loves the people, how can all the people not sing praises in unison? ”

"Wan Qi Xianqing knows me," Song Huizong said with a smile, "Since I ascended the throne, I have been determined to innovate and advocate new laws, in order to make the people of Li rich." Love Qing and drink with me! ”

Empress Zheng personally poured wine for Wan Qianyong, and Wan Qiyong hurriedly confessed and drank a glass carefully.

Glancing at the new poem, Empress Zheng was a little worried.

She was born as a palace maid, and her family has long since declined, and she belongs to the chess pieces that the Empress Dowager placed next to Song Huizong. Because she was born beautiful, well-behaved and sensible, and could also help the emperor deal with the chapters, Queen Wang died of illness, and she was promoted to queen.

This is a virtuous queen with a lot of means, due to the emptiness of the treasury, even her queen's crown dress is made of the old crown dress of the concubine, just to save a little money.

When she was a concubine, Zheng Juzhong, a new science and technology jinshi, claimed to be her brother. Although this relative turned around, she still recognized it and cooperated internally and externally to consolidate her position.

Now, Zheng Juzhong and Cai Jing are together, and the court is up and down, and the sky is angry and resentful.

Empress Zheng felt that this was the way to take trouble, and she had already thought of a plan, that is, to blast her father and clan brothers out of the court on the grounds that her relatives were not allowed to interfere in politics! (Historically, this saved the lives of the whole clan, and she persuaded Jin Bing not to arrest her own family because there was no one in the Zheng family as an official.) ）

What does it mean to be peaceful, the monarchs and ministers are feasting, and the people are drunk?

Empress Zheng, who has suffered a lot among the people since she was a child, knows very well what is going on at the bottom of the Great Song Dynasty. And the emperor in front of him, as well as his royal lyricist, are here to praise the prosperous times.

If Song Huizong died at this moment, Empress Zheng would take the little emperor to listen to the government, maybe it would be a different scene.

Song Huizong tasted the poem repeatedly, and the more he looked at it, the more he liked it, and said: "A song is not a drink, it is lively today, and I love to fill in another poem to help the fun." ”

Wan Qiyong thought hard for a long time, and had no clue for the time being, so he had to give up his hand and say: "The official family is a good hand at filling in the words, and the ministers dare not be perfunctory." To use a mediocre word will only tarnish the eyes of the saints. ”

Song Huizong didn't force it, but just sighed: "Qing and Chao Duanli, in the past, accompanied me around, and the word one person complements each other." It's a pity that he died, and he didn't survive the heavy snow. I don't know when another person will be able to fill in. ”

Suddenly, a close eunuch said: "Official, the word Bianliang has been singing recently, and it is also written about the Lantern Festival. ”

"Oh, come and listen." Song Huizong was quite interested.

Song Huizong likes art, and the waiters around him are also talented, and the eunuch immediately chanted "Qingyu Case: Yuan Xi".

Song Huizong heard this, and immediately praised: "What a good talent, who is this person?" ”

Wan Qianyong said: "The minister has also heard that it was made by Zhu Chenggong, the son of Lizhou Lushi. ”

Song Huizong immediately said to Yang Qiu: "You come to write the edict on your behalf, and summon Zhu Chenggong, the son of Lizhou Lushi, to enter Dasheng Mansion!" ”

Dasheng Mansion is an institution specially set up by Huizong of the Song Dynasty to collect, organize and create lyrics and music.

Once he entered the Dasheng Mansion, and he had no fame, he had to write lyrics for the emperor in this life.

Zhu Ming came only when his brain was in water, and he must find a reason to shirk it.

(End of chapter)