The cold came and the summer came and went, the autumn harvest and the winter hiding, and the people of the Song Kingdom spent another peaceful year.

This year, the wind and rain were smooth, there was no large-scale heavy rain and drought, no casualties caused by typhoons, no Zhurong wreaking havoc, no earth dragons turning over and people being displaced, and no border swordsmen.

Under the guidance of Yuhua Lane in Jinling, the commercial activities in the Gyeonggi area were extremely active, driving the trade volume of goods in the entire southeast region to increase by three percent, and radiating the whole country to drive the speed of commerce and trade.

This year, there was a centennial enrollment conference of Taiyi Academy in the cultivation world, and the Xuanhuang sects of all heaven and earth opened their doors one after another, recruiting several times as many disciples as usual, triggering a folk cultivation boom.

This year, the mortal world has the Enke National Examination and the Enke Provincial Examination, which has optimized the age structure of the national official team while promoting talents for the country, and has retired a number of officials over the age of 65, injecting fresh blood into the central and local officialdom.

Since then, the entire Song Kingdom has presented a scene of national peace and security, and the people are rich, and the Great Song Dynasty seems to have suddenly entered a prosperous era.

In December of that year, at the beginning of the lunar month, an official wrote a letter suggesting that the name of the year be changed to Tiansheng, which means that God blesses the saint and the country and the people, and since then the Song Emperor can be called the Holy Emperor, and the title will also be changed from the emperor to the saint.

This proposal was agreed by the vast majority of the courtiers, and the various factions in the DPRK and China were unprecedentedly united in agreeing to the resolution and seconding it one after another to promote the proposal.

Emperor Song, who usually takes it as his mission to surpass the previous emperors, unexpectedly vetoed this proposal, which puzzled the ministers, and all kinds of speculations came one after another.

Some people believe that the Song Emperor is considering taking the lead in claiming the holy position, which is not conducive to diplomatic relations, and that the Tang and Ming dynasties are both of Chinese and Miao descent, and the three kingdoms have been in power for a long time, and if the Song Emperor preemptively claims the holy name, it will cause dissatisfaction among the other two countries, and it is likely to destroy the harmonious political atmosphere established between the three countries for a long time.

Some people think that the Song Emperor considered that there were still unattached ethnic groups on the islands and reefs off the coast of the Song Kingdom, and that the existing territory had not yet exceeded the territory area at the beginning of the founding of the country, and that there was no move to seal the territory of the country.

Hou Xian, a scholar of the Ministry of Rites, quoted scriptures at a private party and speculated that the Song Emperor's move was to follow the ancient system, and he was willing to inherit the name of "Holy Monarch" only after the ministers had to resign three times, in order to show the noble character of the king who was cautious in his words and deeds.

Hou Xian was the oldest and most knowledgeable Confucian scholar among the officials above the third rank of the Song Dynasty, born in the 21-year-old champion, and served as an official in the court for 53 years, and was the head of the Qingliu in the court.

A nationwide plea for the Song Emperor to be crowned a "holy monarch" was launched silently, and this time not only all the courtiers joined the petition, but even the common people participated.

Officials and people from all villages, townships, counties, prefectures, provinces, and provinces signed a steady stream of blood letters to implore the Song Emperor to be crowned the Holy Emperor from every corner of the empire to Jinling, and for a time these blood books and brocade silk became an important transportation cargo of the Song State.

The Beijing officials are more active, and the members who are qualified to enter the court have a clear division of labor, and there is an independent yamen asking the emperor to be holy at the court meeting every day.

The Beijing officials who were not qualified to attend the court meeting were divided into several groups and wrote daily to implore the emperor to be consecrated.

Emperor Song was so disturbed that he left all the petitions in the middle and did not send them, and in just over a month, he could not put down these recitals in the cabinet treasury, and the province had to rent a large inventory to store them.

To everyone's surprise, Emperor Song's attitude of refusing to be a saint this time was very resolute, not to mention three requests and three resignations, and eighty invitations still did not agree.

The officials were confused, and they didn't understand what Emperor Song meant, so they asked the initiator Hou Xian Lao Shangshu one after another.

Hou Laoshangshu twisted his beard and said: "It seems that the emperor must record a lot in the history books this time, compared with the three requests and three resignations of the ancients, the emperor's hundred invitations and resignations are not more cautious, and it is truly unprecedented!"

"Oh~~!" Everyone suddenly realized that the good-faced Song Emperor wanted to make a hundred excuses that the ancient sages had not played, so as to fill in a heavy stroke in the history books!

The officials, who had been a little discouraged, suddenly found the direction and theoretical basis for moving forward, and the petition activities began even more violently.

However, all petitioning came to an abrupt end on December 19, the birthday of Emperor Zhao Jie of the Song Dynasty, which was called the Holy Birthday Day by the dynasty, and officials across the country were given a day off to celebrate.

However, none of the civil and military officials above the third rank in Jinling were on vacation, and at noon, except for the officials who were too sick to get out of bed, all the high-ranking officials in Beijing were concentrated in the front hall of the Funing Palace in the imperial city.

No one dared to raise their heads, no one dared to speak, and no one dared to pant loudly.

Emperor Song sat motionless on the dragon chair with a sinking face, he had been in this position for more than half an hour, he was waiting for the latest news to come, and the ministers who knelt on the ground were also waiting for news.

Soon after, Li Chunyu, the fourth eunuch in the palace, trotted in from outside the side hall and quietly handed over a yellow silk letter to Wang Jien, the head of the inner court.

Wang Jien took the letter and hurriedly looked at it, and immediately his face changed greatly, and beads of sweat the size of beans rolled down his forehead.

His mind was racing like lightning, thinking about how to keep Emperor Song from seeing this letter.

"Ji'en, is there any news coming?Why don't you show it to me?" Emperor Song's cold voice came, and the chill that permeated it could freeze people's bone marrow.

Wang Jien hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, the news is here, there are small groups of cult believers in eastern Guangdong and southern Qiannan who are in rebellion, and at present, the governors of various provinces are making every effort to eliminate them, and they will be exterminated in a few days. The emperor doesn't have to take the trouble of scabies to heart. ”

Emperor Song stood up and sneered: "Hehe, the problem of scabies? I see that if I am not careful, I will be in danger of losing the country, right? ”

Wang Jien held Huang Aya's letter to Emperor Song with a bitter face, and Emperor Song took it and looked at it word by word, he looked at it very slowly, and his expression did not change much.

The ministers lying on the ground did not dare to look up at Emperor Song's face, only Wang Jien observed Emperor Song's every move with fear, for fear that the emperor would be furious.

Emperor Song suddenly laughed when he saw the end, the laughter became clearer and more refreshing, and he couldn't hear half of his anger, and the ministers didn't dare to look up at first, but then they heard that the emperor was really laughing, and couldn't help but look up.

Emperor Song suppressed his laughter and said, "Get up, don't you all want to know what is written in the letter?"

Everyone didn't dare to answer, and their eyes were focused on the left and right servants and Jiaping Zhangshi Ding Ruoqin and Wang Wei to see how these two responded.

As the head of the ministers, Ding Ruoqin, the left servant, naturally couldn't shrink back at this time, so he had to clear his throat and say, "Your Majesty, I don't know why you're laughing." ”

Emperor Song said: "Let's all be even, I'm tired after kneeling for so long, my anger has also disappeared, and then let's see how it ends." ”

Ding Ruoqin and Wang Wei glanced at each other, confirming that Emperor Song's anger had subsided, before they dared to get up, and the ministers followed them one after another.

Wang Wei was old and frail and kneeling for too long, he was dizzy and almost fell to the ground after getting up, but fortunately, Ding Ruoqin next to him helped him so that he didn't fall on the spot.

Emperor Song saw this scene on the dragon chair and said: "Give the left and right servants, six Shangshu, and important ministers over seventy years old to see the seats, there are many things to be agreed on today, and if there are still those who can't stand for a while, they can show to the guards or eunuchs on the side, and you can also watch the seats." ”

Emperor Song is really known for his benevolence, and he knew that he was sympathetic to his subordinates as soon as he got angry, which made the important ministers of the court grateful, and Wang Wei, who had just stood firm, knelt down again to thank him.

Emperor Song looked at Wang Wei who was trembling and helpless, and pointed at Li Chunyu, Li Chunyu immediately stepped forward and hugged the right servant, and said softly: "Lord Wang doesn't have to be so polite, don't let down the emperor's compassion." ”

The king said that the old man was in tears, and said loudly: "God bless the Great Song Dynasty, this benevolent monarch is really a blessing for our courtiers and the people!

The left servant on the side, Ding Ruoqin, was twelve years younger than Wang Wei, but he was the first assistant of the court, and when he saw the second assistant Wang Wei's coy posture, he frowned unconsciously, and said in his belly: "Wang Lao'er, you are seventy-one years old this year, and you are still working so hard to tie up with the emperor, do you still want to replace me one day?"

Of course, the king in the palace is not only a courtier who is grateful for the grace of the saint, all the courtiers thank Emperor Song for his benevolence in unison, and Ding Ruoqin is still the one who leads the thanks.

Emperor Song saw that everyone should be seated, and after standing up, he said, "Do you know why I resolutely refused to accept the title of Saint Monarch before?"

Everyone said in unison: "I don't know!"

Emperor Song got up and walked to the front of the stairs and said: "Because I know that I am not good enough, the unai has not yet clarified, the people can only eat and wear, the cult is turbulent, the spiritual realm is eyeing the tiger, and the great terror in the north is recovering, what reason do I Zhao Jie have to be holy under such a crisis?"

Emperor Song's voice became louder and louder, and every word and sentence reached the ears of every courtier, as if it sounded in the ears, directly knocking on the heart.

Some courtiers knew what he said, some courtiers didn't understand it, and some didn't hear it at all, but no matter what kind of courtiers they were, they felt that the emperor was a little alarmist.

Emperor Song took two steps in front of the steps, looked around at the ministers, and said, "I know that you don't believe me and think that I am alarmist, but the truth may be more serious than what I said.

As important ministers of the imperial court, you are protected by me and supported by the people of the world, but how many of you really care about the safety of the country? Let you manage the common people, but you have made yourself a common people, which makes me very disappointed. ”

Ding Ruoqin hurriedly got up and said: "The incompetence of the ministers has made the emperor suffer, please punish the emperor." ”

The ministers hurriedly got up and repeated: "The incompetence of the ministers has made the emperor suffer, please punish the emperor." ”

Emperor Song waved his hand and said: "You have made a lot of mistakes, but the root of the mistakes is not you, it is caused by the accumulation of bad government in the dynasty over the years, and it cannot be reversed by one person."

Therefore, if we do not change the official system from this moment on, enrich the people and strengthen the army, I am afraid that the vanity and prosperity of the Song State will not last for a few years and will collapse. ”

Although the ministers did not dare to refute, most of them were still unconvinced, thinking that the Song Emperor was too worried.

Emperor Song naturally knew the thoughts of the ministers and said: "Many of you must think that I am too worried, so I will tell you what was written in Huang Aya's letter just now!"

Just today, the followers of the White Lotus Cult in eastern Guangdong and the followers of the Wenxiang Cult in southern Qiannan launched a rebellion at the same time, and on my holy birthday, they put forward the slogan of 'purging the monarch and reforming the maladministration', and within half a day, the number of followers reached one million!"