The sixth year of Qingli came not long after this heavy rain.

This year's New Year's Pass is God's face, it snows in Hebei, but there is only one freezing rain in Henan.

Further south, Hubei, Hunan, Zhejiang and other regions are sunny and sunny, not to mention Guangdong, where the temperature can make people wear short sleeves.

This is also a clear proof that the climate is slowly warming after the third Xiaoice period has passed.

At least until the arrival of the fourth Xiaoice River period in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the Great Song Dynasty had a development period of three or four hundred years of wind and rain and no special catastrophes.

Not long after the rain stopped, the New Year arrived.

Although the rain has stopped recently, the weather is gray, even at noon during the day, it is cloudy, and it is not until the Chinese New Year's Eve that it clears up a little.

Emperor Zhao Zhen of the Great Song Dynasty held a grand sacrifice on the thirtieth day.

Originally, according to the usual practice, the arrangement of the Song Dynasty in the past few days of the New Year was that the whole country celebrated a few days before the New Year, and the streets and alleys were lit up to welcome the New Year.

Then, in the thirtieth year of the Chinese New Year's Eve, fireworks are set up in the city tower, and the people are happy, and the city is full of firecrackers, and the New Year is lively.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, it is a grand ancestor worship, including sacrificing heaven and earth, sacrificing ancestors and so on.

Zhao Jun has to participate every year over the years, following the emperor and civil and military officials to incense the ancestors of the Zhao family, which can be regarded as the descendants of the old Zhao family who have not lost this filial piety.

But this year is different, the sacrifice is changed to the thirtieth day, and the first day of the new year is a different arrangement.

There have also been rumors of the imperial court recently.

It was said that the steam train was finally officially passable, and the official family attached great importance to this matter, so they decided to go out of the palace to watch the ceremony in person on the first day of the first lunar month.

This news was known not only to the people inside and outside the country, but also to the envoys of other countries.

Because a few days ago, the officials of the imperial court and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had already informed them that they wanted to come to participate on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

The first day of the Lunar New Year itself is actually the time when all parties congratulate the Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty, and at the end of the sacrifice on the first day of the Lunar New Year every year, there are all parties to congratulate the Son of Heaven.

Unexpectedly, this year, the process was changed and he was directly involved in another matter, which also surprised many foreign envoys.

But they also have no power to change, they can only accept it.

As for the court, there were voices of opposition a few years ago.

It is not against the test run of the train, but against Zhao Zhen going out of the palace to watch the ceremony.

Many officials said that the Son of Heaven is the most important pillar of the country, and he needs to guard the palace to calm the world, and he must not leave the palace without authorization.

Zhao Zhen believed this set of rhetoric in history.

And he has not left the palace for more than forty years in his history, and he is firmly imprisoned in this deep-walled compound, unable to leave an inch.

But no one can stop him right now.

Because in the past, it was the bureaucrats headed by the prime minister who dissuaded them.

Now the prime minister has changed sides, and most of the senior bureaucrats below have been replaced by the prime minister's people.

Originally, the formation of gangs and factions, and the formation of the imperial court, which was divided into factions, sometimes became monolithic, and a few opposing voices naturally could not make any waves.

In this rolling torrent, the seventh year of Qingli arrived.

At four o'clock in the morning on the first day of the Lunar New Year of Qingli, Zhao Zhen got up early and began to dress up.

Don't think that the emperor doesn't take care of it well, in fact, as an emperor, he pays more attention to his image, so he must dress neatly and meticulously every day.

It takes about an hour just to comb your hair, wipe it clean, and put your hat on.

In fact, you don't need to be so troublesome.

It was only in the last early dynasty, the sky was still black in the early dynasty, candles were lit in the house, and the emperor could not see clearly when he looked up, so there was no need to freshen up every day.

What's more, today is the first day of the Lunar New Year, and there is no need to go to the morning court.

But today, Zhao Zhen deliberately took care of it, and the palace maids and the chamberlains went back and forth to make him clean.

Not only because he wanted to see the birth of the Great Song Steam Train with his own eyes, but also because this was the first time that Zhao Zhen had left the palace since he was born to see the outside world.

I have to say.

Sometimes being an emperor is also a sad thing.

Especially when the emperor is like Zhao Zhen, it is even more sad.

Historical records record that after he was born, he was ordered by his father Zhao Heng to leave from his biological mother, Concubine Li Chen, and handed over to Empress Liu to raise.

Later, even if Liu E died of illness, after he succeeded to the throne, he never left the palace.

It is also a little sad that an emperor has spent decades in that small palace, never going out to see the outside world, and only hearing about the lives of the common people from other people's mouths.

Of course.

From the standpoint of future generations, there is no need to feel pity for an emperor with fine clothes and fine food.

It's just that for Zhao Zhen himself, he thinks that today is an extremely important day, whether it is going out of the city or the importance of the train to the Great Song Dynasty.

"The officials, the officials have arrived."

At the beginning of the morning, that is, at about seven o'clock in the morning, when the sky was just dawning, Wang Shouzhong came over to report to Zhao Zhen.

At this time, Zhao Zhen had just freshened up and dressed up, and changed into a grand fiery red dragon robe.

In addition to him, Queen Cao also wore a hibiscus crown, a phoenix hairpin, a step hairpin, and a queen dress with large sleeves and skirts.

"Let's go."

Zhao Zhen heard Wang Shouzhong's words, took a deep breath, and walked out of the newly renovated dormitory in the back garden with Empress Cao.

It had been raining for the past few days, and the ground was dry, except that the dew in the grass in the back garden in the morning was still a little wet.

The husband and wife left the back garden and came to the Daqing Hall of the front palace, which has always been a place for celebrations and meetings with foreign guests in the Song Dynasty.

But now the large square in front of the originally wide Daqing Hall is missing a small half, because after Zhao Jun expanded various departments, he needed to arrange some official offices.

He saw that the school field in front of the Daqing Hall was quite wide, so he occupied part of it as the official residence of the rest of the departments.

However, the school field in front of the Daqing Hall was originally large, and dozens of acres of vacant land had to be set aside in order to show off its magnificence, but now even if it is partially occupied, it can still hold ceremonies.

It's just that today it is not held here, with Zhao Zhen appearing in the Daqing Palace, hundreds of officials and many envoys saluted, and then Zhao Zhen gave an order - out of the palace!

The officials and envoys followed the order, left from the Daqing Gate to the south, and then went out of the Xuande Gate.

Outside the Xuande Gate is the wide royal street.

At this moment, the street has long been cleared, a huge carriage is placed at the gate of the palace, all kinds of umbrella covers, palace cards are held high, and thousands of guards open the way left and right.

Zhao Zhen and Empress Cao boarded the carriage, and the guards on the left and right sides of the horse protected the carriage from the third floor and the outer three layers.

"The official family is out of the palace."

"That's the official's honor guard."

"It's majestic."

Pedestrians on both sides of the street have been almost squeezed to the edge of the shop.

But that didn't stop them from craneing their necks to see.

If it was the Song Zhenzong period, the people would still have the opportunity to see what the emperor looked like when he left the palace.

After all, Zhao Heng has also been out of the palace several times, such as going to Lanzhou to "drive the royal expedition", and going to Shandong to "Mount Tai Feng Zen".

However, Zhao Zhen has never been out of the palace since he succeeded to the throne for twenty-four years, and even when he did not succeed to the throne and was still the prince, he never left the palace.

The people of Bianliang haven't known what the emperor looks like for decades, and they all want to see it.

But unfortunately it was too far away, and I vaguely saw two men in red robes boarding the carriage, and then disappeared.

"Have you seen the appearance of the official family?"

"I didn't look at it."

"Also, what kind of god is the official? How can you see it? ”

"Over the years, the official family has been strategizing in the palace, and the world has been governed in an orderly manner, which is really a saint from heaven."

"Isn't it? Now that our Great Song Dynasty is prosperous, even the Liao State and the Western Thieves dare not underestimate us, but they don't know when they will be able to take revenge on Lanzhou. ”

The people were talking.

The people at the feet of the Son of Heaven are different from the people in ordinary counties, counties, and townships.

Even before the newspapers appeared, the gossip was all over the market, and all kinds of things in the government and the opposition were very well disseminated.

After tea and dinner, the people dared to talk about anything, and they dared to talk about anything.

Even after the sound of the candle shadow axe, there were still rumors among the people that Zhao Guangyi killed Zhao Kuangyin, so that Zhao Guangyi asked Wu Deshu to find out the news, and arrested everywhere in an attempt to shut up the people of the world.

As a result, in the end, the government and the opposition were angry and resentful, and hundreds of officials attacked one after another, forcing Zhao Guangyi to take back the authority of Wu Deshu.

Now Zhao Zhen's image is no longer the puppet emperor of Empress Dowager Liu as it was at the beginning.

From the beginning, he vigorously supported Zhao Jun's decisiveness, so that the people thought that Zhao Zhen was a good emperor who had the determination and perseverance to carry out reforms.

Later, after Zhao Zhen invented fertilizer, cement, glass, hybrid broad beans and other messy things, the tuyere was different, some people said that he was not doing his job, some people said that he was for the country and the people, anyway, everyone was different.

In recent years, with the support of Zhao Zhen, Fan Zhongyan has celebrated the new policy five times, and his reputation has soared to the extreme.

In particular, Zhao Jun and Fan Zhongyan often put their political achievements on Zhao Zhen's head, and the result is that the people of the world are all grateful to Dai De, and the people's evaluation of Zhao Zhen can be said to be endless, and there are people in many places who have set up shrines for him.

In the final analysis, the people have rods and scales in their hearts. Fan Zhongyan's reforms over the years may not necessarily benefit everyone in the world, but they will certainly benefit most of the people in the world.

Most of them were able to feel the changes in their lives.

In the past, taxes were severe, and life was poor. Now taxes are reduced and life is thriving. It's not necessarily rich, it's always much better than starving to death before.

Therefore, most people see this change in their hearts.

Just as it was in later generations.

Serving the people is never an empty word. It's not for those who are officials to serve tea and water to the people, and send warmth.

Instead, you need to show enough courage and wisdom to change and benefit!

Make a real difference in the lives of ordinary people.

If you do that, your prestige will increase, and your name will be remembered by the people.

Just as the great man and the chief designer were visionary.

Now.

Under the gaze of the people, Zhao Zhen and his wife slowly drove south.

The hundred officials also had their own carriages, and thousands of guards formed a huge convoy and left Bianliang City in a mighty manner.

In the royal car, Zhao Zhen curiously pulled the curtain of the car and looked out.

Empress Cao wanted to stop it.

Because the emperor had to maintain his majesty, it would not look good if the people saw him sneaking open the curtains and peeping out half of his face.

But thinking that the official family had never been out of the palace and couldn't bear to do this, he didn't say anything.

After a while, Zhao Zhen took the initiative to lower the curtain and said, "I didn't expect this scene in the city,"

"Is the official family feeling a little disappointed?"

Empress Cao asked.

"No, I am pleased with the changes in the Great Song Dynasty today."

Zhao Zhen shook his head.

Just because he's been in the palace for a long time doesn't mean he doesn't know anything.

In fact, just like Zhang Zeduan, there are also painters in the palace who will draw scenes outside the palace to show him.

But now Bianliang is changing too fast with each passing day, and sometimes even standing in the palace, you can see the cement high-rise buildings outside the palace and the new buildings that are constantly being built.

This is completely different from the Bianliang in his impression.

Empress Cao rarely praised and said: "This is because the official family benefits the people." ”

"Yes, throughout history, there have been several emperors who have had the courage of me."

Zhao Zhen didn't push the credit.

Because he really doesn't need to push the work.

There are emperors who are willing to delegate power and hold real power, such as Liu Chan.

But Liu Chan did not succeed after all.

And he succeeded.

And in the future, it is very likely that there will be no one before and no one will come after.

This is enough to leave a name in history and be praised by the world.

After all, if there were other emperors, Zhao Jun would definitely not be as comfortable as he is now.

The convoy slowly left Bianliang City.

There was already a huge team behind him at this time.

In addition to the civil and military officials and the royal forest guards, there are also envoys from all over the world and guests from all over the world.

Then there is Bianliang to watch the lively people.

Huhulala, I'm afraid that tens of thousands of people, like a surging ocean, came to the outskirts of Nancheng.

Grandstands had already been set up in the suburbs by this time, and a fence had been put around the train station.

After Zhao Zhen's motorcade arrived, it was guided to the stands, and the officials arrived on the stage one after another, looking at the station not far away.

At this time, a brand-new steam train has been installed in the station, and its appearance is composed of silver-black steel, like a hideous beast, which makes people only feel stunned and shocked.

No one thought about how this steel beast was born, what it was doing there, only that it seemed to have an abyssal maw that seemed to devour everyone.

"Oh my God, what is this?"

"What a big beast, is it a year beast?"

"Why is there such a thing here?"

Not to mention the people of Bianliang, even the civil and military officials were stunned and looked at its existence in surprise.

Steam trains, although not particularly secretive, are confined to a small circle.

The three places of the Constitutional Academy, the Ministry of Industry, and the Institute of Physics.

Even the workers who laid the railroad tracks did not know what the railroads were for.

So for the vast majority of people, it is the first time to see its existence.

It was undoubtedly a huge shock.

The emissaries widened their eyes even more, not knowing what this thing was.

For a while, whether it was in the stands, or the people watching the excitement left and right, there was a lot of discussion, and the voices of discussion were endless.

At this moment, Su Shunyuan, the waiter of the Ministry of Works, ran over and reported to Zhao Zhen: "Your Majesty, the train has been tested and can officially depart." ”

Zhao Zhen had long wanted to see the train pass with his own eyes, so he immediately said: "Let's go!" ”

"Yes!"

Su Shunyuan raised the small flag in his hand.

Seeing this, the flag bearer from a distance also waved a small flag, and then the driver whistled and waved the flag: "Go!" ”

"Let's go!"

Officials from the Faculty of Physics, who were in charge of driving the train, began shoveling coal and burning fires.

Now that the train has just been put into trial operation, it is not even officially allowed to buy tickets, so naturally there is no Ministry of Railways and train drivers.

Including the on-site command and dispatch are all from the Ministry of Engineering, and the train departures are all done by scholars and officials from the School of Physics who study steam engines.

Among them, Su Song is now the departure driver, and he is sounding the whistle again.

"Woooooooo

As the fire in the boiler burned brighter and brighter, after more than ten minutes, steaming white smoke came out of the chimney.

"What's that weird sound?"

"It's still smoking."

"It's horrible."

Many of the onlookers were shocked, similar to the situation when trains first appeared in the public eye during the Qing Dynasty.

At that time, people also did not know what this monster was, and even the highest ruling class, Galeries Lafayette, thought that it was very terrible and would damage the dragon veins of the Qing Dynasty, so they did not allow the use of steam locomotives, but chose horse-drawn trains.

At this time, when the steam in the boiler finally reached a certain pressure, Su Song opened the engine valve, and the wheels below suddenly began to turn slowly, moving slowly towards the front.

At this time, the onlookers were shocked, and some even retreated one after another, thinking that the monster had been resurrected and was going to start eating people everywhere.

Even the Liao envoy with a shaved Mediterranean head and two pigtails on both sides was so frightened that his face was pale. The envoys of the other countries around him were no better, and they all watched all this with shocked eyes.

"What the hell is this, did Song Guo create a huge monster?"

"You must report it to Your Majesty, and report it immediately."

"We have to tell the lord as soon as possible that the power of the Great Song Dynasty can no longer be stopped."

The envoys of the Liao State and the Western Xia all whispered in private.

The Goryeo envoy came to Zhao Zhen's stage with great courage, and said: "Jin Zuoren, a minor minister of the lower country, has seen His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty. ”

"What is the matter with the messenger?"

Zhao Zhen asked.

Jin Zuoren hurriedly said: "Xiao Chen wants to ask what this is?" ”

Zhao Zhen laughed and stood up from the chair, raised his hands weakly, looked at the train rolling forward in the distance of steaming white smoke below, and said excitedly: "This is my big Song heavy weapon, the steam train!" This thing can travel thousands of miles a day, and it can travel back and forth between Bianliang and Weishi in an hour! ”

"This is a divine object, long live the Great Song Dynasty! Long live His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty! ”

When Jin Zuoren heard this, he was even more excited than others, and he also raised his hands high and knelt down to Zhao Zhen in submission.

Everyone knows that now Goryeo has re-allied itself with the Great Song Dynasty.

As long as the Great Song Dynasty became more prosperous, then Goryeo would be as stable as Mount Tai in the face of the threat of the Liao State.

The envoys of the rest of the countries below have their own colors.

Especially the envoys of the Western Xia and Liao states.

His face was already pale.

And after Jin Zuoren's words, all the officials shouted in unison: "Long live the Great Song Dynasty!" Long live the official family! ”

For a time, the mountains roared and the tsunami was spectacular!

(End of chapter)

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