Chapter 11 Chapter 11 Lantern Festival Night

A month later, the news reached Kaifeng, Tokyo, and the Song Dynasty became a sea of ​​joy.At this time, no one thought that the death of Li Yuanhao was not necessarily a good thing for the Song Dynasty.As a reminder, a fed wolf no longer wants to bite people, and if a new one comes up, everything has to start all over again. The country immediately thought of celebrating, and Renzong ordered that the 15th Lantern Festival will be celebrated twice this year (this year is a leap year).But was disturbed by Empress Cao.She seemed to have a hunch that she didn't want the excessive prosperity and chaos in the capital at this time.

The woman's intuition was very accurate. Seven days later, a unique event in the history of the Northern Song Dynasty happened deep in the palace. That night, there were four people named Guan Yanxiu, Guo Kui, Wang Sheng, and Sun Li, all of whom were guards of the Chongzheng Hall in the palace.Without any reason, without any warning, there was a sudden riot.They crossed the palace wall with a clear goal and went straight to the emperor's bedroom. When they were almost at the gate, they encountered obstacles. It was some court ladies and eunuchs. They immediately went on a killing spree, drawing their knives and beating people.Note that the four stalwart warriors, holding sharp knives, failed to kill the person, which is "injuring the arm of the insider".Even more bizarre is what happened next.People were beheaded, there must have been screams and confusion, in fact, even the emperor's palace heard it, but no one outside the palace intervened!

Inside the palace, Empress Cao was inside by coincidence.She has her own bedroom and doesn't usually live here.At this time, she hugged her husband tightly and prevented him from coming out of the palace to check.As the granddaughter of Cao Bin, the number one soldier in the early Song Dynasty, she immediately sensed the danger of the incident.It's a pity that the people around him are like Renzong. They are peaceful children who grew up in the inner courtyard of the deep palace for nearly 100 years in the Song Dynasty. Although they know that there is murder in the world, they have never witnessed it with their own eyes.One eunuch actually said, don't be afraid, this is the wet nurse beating the little girl...

Empress Cao was in a hurry, and sternly reprimanded: "The rebels are killing people outside the palace, how dare you speak nonsense?!" She then gave two more decisive instructions, allowing the emperor to survive the most dangerous time of the night. First, go to fetch water immediately, and be careful of the rebels setting fire to the palace; second, everyone, come here, I will cut off your hair with my own hands, and I will reward you tomorrow, as a proof. These two instructions were very wise. After a while, there were flames outside the palace gate, and the curtains inside the gate were all set ablaze.This scene must have reminded Zhao Zhen of the palace fire 20 years ago, when he and Empress Dowager Liu narrowly escaped death, and a total of 8 halls in the palace were burned down!

The maids and eunuchs all tried their best to support it until the soldiers of the guards arrived. Three of the four rebels were shot dead on the spot. Wang Sheng fled to the north tower of the palace, where he hid for a whole day and was finally found.His fate was very simple, he was also killed on the spot, and even cut into pieces. The danger has passed, and what remains is a thick fog.First of all, the motive for committing the crime is unknown. Why did these four people kill Song Renzong? Was it at the instigation of others, or was it a personal grievance, or did they represent the suffering of the common people to avenge the ruling class?Neither is clear.

The second is the vigilance on the night of the incident and the subsequent investigation. First of all, these four assassins were not the guards of the palace, they suddenly launched an attack, crossed the palace wall, and killed the door of the emperor's bedroom. Excuse me, this road is all in the wilderness, and there is no one standing guard?It is necessary to accurately grasp the movement routes of all the guards in the palace and the time of changing guards, so that they can always lurk in front of the palace door.In addition, there was a full set of robbery drills including murder and arson. How much time did it take? The soldiers of the guards did not arrive until they were done. Why is it so slow?

The most terrible thing is that when they come, they will kill three people on the spot, leaving no one alive.The Wang Sheng who escaped was the last clue in the whole incident. It took a whole day. I believe that the relevant department had issued an order to investigate, but he was cut into pieces by knives! All signs indicated that someone deliberately turned this into a murder case, which could not be traced.The question arises, first, who is this person; second, whether or not to pursue it later, and how? About the first, it is really hard to say.I thought about it for a long time, and there are only two possibilities, and they all share one premise - this person must be inside the palace.

It's very simple. From the incident to the end, the whole process was in the inner courtyard of the palace. If someone could remotely control the incident outside the palace, the last witness could be hacked to death on the second day of the incident.Then there is no need for this person to send these four-member squads to assassinate the king.He could walk up to Renzong at any time and say go to hell. The emperor must die, because this man's power is too great! This is the first possibility. As for the second candidate, let’s not talk about it now, the following analysis will bring him to the surface a little bit.The first thing we want to show is the second, that is, whether to trace and how to trace.

This seems to be a joke. Such a big event happened, and it was the first close rebellion since the founding of the Song Dynasty in a hundred years. Could it be possible not to pursue it?The answer is yes.Xia Song stood up, and his principle was "do not grow vines, and make those who oppose it uneasy." That is to say, don't make things bigger and irritate those who have ulterior motives. This is really a joke in the world, to take care of the emotions of the conspirators, for fear that they will be in a hurry!That is to say, to keep them until the emperor is successfully killed?

Shen Zhizheng Shi Ding Du was so angry that he couldn't laugh or cry, and gave him 16 words: "There has been a change in the guard, and it has something to do with the country. This is tolerable, which one is not tolerable!" Very powerful, righteous and stern, it should be said that his anger Quite rightly, the leader's safety is above all else, this is the most basic criterion. But it was such a miracle, such a simple reason, that he and Xia Song had been arguing from early morning to noon, and it turned out that he failed. The emperor agreed with Xia Song, and the case was handled within a small area, and the imperial servant (in the palace) and the eunuchs were fully responsible.In other words, outside the palace, all courtiers have neither the right to participate nor the right to speak, and can only know an official answer.This made the entire officialdom collectively depressed, especially Yushitai and Zhijianyuan. They couldn't figure out why the emperor would agree with Xia Song?

Does he like being assassinated, or is there some other reason? Let me talk about the results of the investigation first, and say that the investigators are still very responsible.On the premise that all clues have been cut off, they will have a blanket punishment, and everyone is guilty! The personnel list of the Imperial City Division is the list of dereliction of duty, and they were all exiled.At this time, the problem focused on one person, Yang Jingzong, the chief of the guard who was on duty at night in the Imperial City Division.This is the person who directly neglected his duties in the case, and it is said that he should be dealt with severely and severely to make an example.But the emperor couldn't bear it. Because he was the "little lady" of Zhao Zhen back then, and the father and brother of Concubine Yang. Renzong's heart was both soft and nostalgic. In order to punish him, he personally came forward to have a round-robin PK with the outsiders of Yushitai.To put it simply, from the censor Zhongcheng to the ordinary censor, they first aimed their guns at Yang Jingzong, and then cut down the great eunuch Yang Huaimin in the palace.In any case, at least one group must be caught and severely punished, so that it can have a slight deterrent effect. You are right, it is consistent with Ding Du's previous opinion.But amazingly, the emperor still didn't like it.Zhao Zhen seems to be a masochist, just wanting to show a smile to the traitor who assassinated him.The conversation between him and Yushi He Tan is very interesting and full of imagination. He Tan quoted the classics and said what the ancient emperors should be like, and what the current emperor should be like. He said a lot of theories, and the final conclusion must be listened to. The emperor only replied to him: "In ancient times, admonishers kowtowed and smashed their heads, can you?" When the critical moment comes, let's hit it!Becoming famous and becoming famous is just a headache, what a lucrative business.It's a pity that He Tan became more fun, and he suddenly knew how to think about the emperor again.He said that in ancient times, it was because of the faint king. Now that I have knocked, what would you be?So I don't knock.You have to understand, whether I knock or not, it's for your own good. That's the end of the conversation. Funny answers can only have funny results.The emperor and Yushitai each took half a step back, and the two brothers surnamed Yang were demoted by one level, and the punishment was over.At the same time, the only imperial palace assassination case in the history of the Northern Song Dynasty came to an end. That's the official record of the incident.We can see that for the victim Renzong Zhao Zhen, he did not show even the slightest attitude of anger, panic, and investigation. On the contrary, he kept covering the lid, as if he was afraid of being seen. What is he afraid of? An interesting fact that sheds some light on the truth.That's Xia Song's ending.In the process of investigating the case, the fuzzy theory put forward by this person was very close to that of the emperor.Then he tried his best to stand against the crowd and stood with the emperor.That was the question of who contributed the most to the assassination of Ye Ye. From then on, a woman in the palace stepped onto the stage. In fact, this woman has already been affecting the situation in the Song Dynasty.When it comes to her, it's best to connect with two people at this time.One is Xia Song and the other is Wen Yanbo.They are at two extremes in historical evaluation, but they have one thing in common, that is, they all please this woman. Her surname is Zhang, her family background is very low, and her fate is very bitter.Her father was a local official who died early, and she and her mother were veritable orphans and widows.The pressure of life made them walk into the singing and dancing hall, and it can be said that they have reached the bottom that cannot be lowered.At this moment, fate showed the most unexpected smile to them. The place where they performed their performances was very prominent. It was not an ordinary singing house, Goulan, but the home of Princess Wei, the youngest daughter of Song Taizong Zhao Guangyi.One day, Zhao Zhen went to visit his aunt. During the feast, he was singing and dancing, and he immediately fell in love with this beautiful and intelligent little girl.So she became Wei Zifu in Song Dynasty. Simply put, before the assassination, her status in the palace was very ordinary, just a beauty.But the actual influence (note, not power) has long far exceeded that of the queen.A small detail, the reason Wen Yanbo took the initiative to apply to attack Beizhou was because Zhang Meiren quietly handed out a sentence - the emperor is very troubled, whoever can put down the rebellion will be the prime minister. Later, Master Wen took the initiative to invite Ying. At this time, after the crime happened, she was grandly introduced to the whole country by the emperor—it was her, and only her, who saved me that night. This makes people not understand, it is said in the official history that Empress Cao solved the crisis by herself, why did Zhang Meiren appear all of a sudden?The emperor didn't care, he emphasized at this time and later on various occasions that she was the only one who was always by my side in danger that night.Only she, my beauty, is especially rare because she was not there at the time, and she took the initiative to run into danger and find me. A friend in adversity sees the truth, very touching! After saying this, Xia Song immediately knew the direction to go.He said 8 words very knowledgeably. "Pay attention to the etiquette of respecting differences." The other ministers and ministers who were present at the time were silent, and those who understood did not speak, and those who did not understand quickly turned to the book.At this time, I would like to introduce the ranking of the officialdom, the prime minister Chen Zhizhong, the second minister Wen Yanbo, the privy envoys Xia Song and Wang Yiyong, the political advisers Song Xiang and Ding Du, the privy envoys Pang Ji and Gao Ruona.They are all familiar people. The key lies in the prime minister.Chen Zhizhong really didn't understand what Xia Song was talking about. He temporarily consulted the Hanlin Bachelor, the highest literati in the empire, and realized that this was to promote Zhang Meiren.The scholar reminded him that there was an example of this kind of thing before. The emperor of the Han Dynasty took his concubine to hunt, and a bear rushed out suddenly. It was a Jieyu surnamed Feng who stood up in front of the emperor and saved it. The emperor dies.How does Zhang Meiren's contribution compare to that now?If you agree, but there is a queen around but respecting beauties, this kind of indecent infamy will fall on you in the future. Chen Zhizhong thought over and over again, and decided not to wade into this muddy water, Xia Song, tell yourself, I didn't hear anything.The events of the day ended like this, Zhang Meiren still had to wait for her promotion, until half a year later, she finally soared into the sky, from the penultimate rank four beauty to the first rank first rank imperial concubine. During this period, the emperor's contribution was the greatest, followed by Xia Song.He was the first to propose.But the reward for him was to be demoted from the capital to become an official in Henan Mansion.As for the reason, it was because there was no cloud in the sky in Kaifeng city, and there were five earthquakes in a row.Xia Song is responsible, who made him a recognized traitor? Xia Song, who always followed the leader's footsteps, was kicked out, and Wen Yanbo, who did not say a word, stood firm. Thinking of Zhang Meiren as his noble person, he kept silent at the most critical moment. Why? The answer lies in the emperor.Of course, Renzong was not insane, and the only explanation for Xia Song's consistent performance in the two incidents was that he was involved too deeply.If you know too many secrets, there will be side effects.There must be a limit to flattering. The leader treats you well, but you should not be too kind to the leader. You are a subordinate plus an outsider, and you must always keep this in mind. Back to the point, the person who has been suppressing the process of solving the case, and even ordered the killing of the last witness the next day, can surface.Only the emperor himself. If it can be successfully suppressed, if there is another expert, the subsequent Song Dynasty will have endless troubles, and that person will definitely have a second and third action.But the later Renzong Dynasty was very peaceful, and no accidents happened inside or outside the emperor's palace. This incident has passed, and we cannot see the so-called truth and behind the scenes.All the information has been evaporated, and all we can feel is Song Renzong and Zhao Zhen's calm principles and generous temperament.Facing the assassination, he did not lose his mind, and did not adopt a high-pressure policy like 99% of the emperors of all generations. It was both revenge and a warning, and this kind of thing must never happen again! He tolerated everything, and stable development was higher than venting.