Chapter 7 Seven Whitewashing Peace

With the release of Tianshu, the prelude has already begun, and the play has to continue. The next scene will naturally be a flood of congratulations, sacrifices, rewards, and of course, a flood of flattering articles.Several old masters of the imperial court, such as Chen Yaosou, Chen Pengnian, Ding Wei, Du Hao, etc., quoted scriptures and extensively developed the historical origin of auspiciousness, which caused a lot of discussion between the court and the public, and the city was full of storms inside and outside the court.Sun Shi, the waiter of Longtuge, seemed to be very clear-headed, and he still had the courage not to believe in evil. He said on the table: "Although I am stupid, I have read some ancient books and seen many things in the world. I have never listened to them." It is said that heaven can speak, so how can there be books?" The implication is that the heavenly books are fake.

Sun Shuang never thought that the person who listened to his report was a counterfeiter. Zhao Heng read Sun Shuang's memorabilia, but did not give any answer. The reason was that he was guilty. Whether he agreed or disagreed with Sun Shuang's opinion, he had no confidence. Keeping silent was his best choice. After some operations by the director, some people began to say "business". More than a thousand gentry and people from Yanzhou came to Beijing to ask Zhao Heng to enshrine Zen. Zhao Heng personally met them and expressed his gratitude for their kindness. He pretended to be modest and declined, saying that enshrining Zen is a big event and should be treated with caution. .Although he did not agree, he did not close the door.

Then, he ordered the relevant departments to treat these guests well, and before leaving, each of them gave a gift. The prime minister, Wang Dan, also followed the public opinion. He led more than 24,300 civil and military officials, generals of the army, local officials, leaders of ethnic minorities, monks, Taoists and other religious leaders, local celebrities, and elders. Fengchan Grand Ceremony, and was listed five times in a row. The momentum for requesting Zhao Heng to enshrine Zen is getting louder and louder, the voices of the government and the public are getting louder and louder, and the drama is getting more and more lively.

On the first day of April, a second heavenly book appeared in the palace, the content of which was the same as the previous one.The ministers invited Feng Chan again, this time Zhao Heng didn't refuse, and issued an edict to announce to the world that in October, he would go to Mount Tai to hold the Feng Chan Grand Ceremony. After Feng Chan's edict was issued, preparations began. Zhao Heng knew that when Mount Tai was enshrined in Zen, all the officials accompanied him, and the concubines and concubines in the harem all followed to join in the fun. The expenses for carriage and horses, board and lodging, rewards, etc. were a huge expense.He summoned Ding Wei, the third envoy, and asked him if there was any problem with the funds.Ding Wei is also a good player who adapts to the situation, and immediately patted his chest and said that there is no problem with the funding, it has been prepared a long time ago, and it can be called at any time.

With the funding secured, Zhao Heng felt more at ease. He decided to set up a preparatory committee for enshrining Zen, and issued an edict to the Imperial Academy and Taichang Temple to discuss in detail the etiquette related to enshrining Zen; As envoys, Feng Zheng and Chen Yaosou are envoys for the regular etiquette, and Ding Wei is in charge of finances.In this way, the preparatory committee headed by Zhao Heng himself was formally established. Several ministers of the preparatory committee performed their duties and were extremely busy. Wang Qinruo, in particular, was not only an envoy for the longitude system, but also a director of farce. Plan some new ideas to liven up the atmosphere.

The ceremony of enshrining Chan is under intense preparation. Not only the news of "auspiciousness" comes from all over the country, but sometimes a huge Ganoderma lucidum grows in the Taihang Mountains, and sometimes there are cranes flying in the Tianchi Lake of Changbai Mountain. The time for Feng Chan was getting closer and closer. In June, Zhao Heng ordered Wang Qinruo to go to Mount Tai as an outpost to make preparations for Feng Chan, and ordered him to continue collecting signs of auspiciousness. Of course, Wang Qinruo lived up to the holy hope. Not long after he arrived at Mount Tai, he sent back good news, saying that a black dragon appeared near Mount Tai, and the water of the Queen Mother's pool on Mount Tai turned purple.Not long afterward, another even more shocking news came, that a heavenly book also appeared on Mount Tai.

According to Wang Qinruo's report, a carpenter named Dong Zuo at the foot of Mount Tai found yellow silk with characters on it in the north of Liquan Pavilion. The envoy (the official in charge of guarding the imperial city) Wang Juzheng, Wang Juzheng saw the emperor's name on it, so he immediately notified Wang Qinruo, and Wang Qinruo sent people to the capital day and night. After Zhao Heng got the news, he came to the Chongzheng Hall and announced to everyone in the hall: "I had a dream on the night of May 17th, in which the gods told me that there would be a 'Book of Heaven' coming to Mount Tai next month. I secretly told Wang Qinruo that when he arrived at Mount Tai, if there were any omens of auspiciousness, he would report to me immediately. Wang Qinruo first reported that there was a Liquan spring in Mount Tai, and a blue dragon appeared in Xishan Mountain. Today, he really got a book from heaven, which is in line with my dream omen.”

In fact, Zhao Heng knew best what was going on in the Heavenly Book. As the king of a country, he was able to collude with his courtiers to blatantly forge without heartbeat. It seemed that Zhao Heng was really crazy. A lunatic emperor is whimsical, and a few flattering courtiers carry the sedan chair, and the fake show is really done. Zhao Heng greeted the "Book of Heaven" again with great violence. Prime Minister Wang Dan led the officials to bow down and greet him, and sent the Book of Heaven to the main hall of Hanfang Garden. Zhao Heng also bowed down pretendingly, but still ordered Chen Yaosou, who knew the Privy Council affairs, to open the seal and read it out in public.All the officials pricked up their ears and listened respectfully, only to hear Chen Yaosou say:

You worship filial piety, educate the people and make good fortune.Xierjiarui is known by Li Shuxian.Keep the word secretly, understand my meaning well.Guozuo Yanyong, life calendar ya years old. The other words in the "Book of Heaven" are all foils, and the main content is one thing: understand my meaning well, and prepare to go to Mount Tai to enshrine Zen.In order to create the sanctity of Feng Chan, Zhao Heng spared no expense. There are no roads in the world, and when there are many people walking, it becomes a road.A lie is a lie. If you tell the same lie a thousand times, it becomes the truth.Although the words are a bit harsh, the truth is often the same. With the successive arrival of the "Book of Heaven" and the vigorous propaganda of the court, the Song Dynasty has fallen into frenzy and confusion. The ministers unanimously agreed to give Zhao Heng the honorary title, and the proposed honorary title is "Chongwen Guangwuyi Tianzun Daobaoying" Chapter Gan Sheng Ming Ren Filial Emperor".

Zhao Heng was very beautiful in his heart, and he felt a little ecstatic. Things have progressed to this point, and it can no longer be described as "absurd", because Zhao Heng, one of the planners and directors of this big drama, has been fascinated and often suffers from hysteria, thinking that everything in the scriptures is true. The most difficult thing to deceive is not to deceive others, but to deceive yourself. Zhao Heng successfully deceived himself. Frenzy and confusion are terrifying. Some people fish in troubled waters under such circumstances, reporting all kinds of auspiciousness, such as Zhicao, Yudan, Jiahe, Ruimu, and so on.Of course, those officials who offered auspiciousness did not search for these things themselves, but they gave full play to their imaginations. Anyway, the higher ups are good at collecting these materials, and no one is looking for their credibility. You can also get a considerable reward for the intelligence, such a good thing, anyone is willing to do it.

In order to enshrine the heavenly scriptures, Zhao Heng ordered the construction of Yuqing Zhaoying Palace, and asked to build a high-standard palace to show respect for the gods.Zhi Zhi Gao Wang Zeng and Du Yu Hou Changmin wrote letters to dissuade them, saying that the investment cost is too high. If it is necessary to build, they suggest reducing the scale and not being too extravagant.But their memorials fell like stones into the sea, and Zhao Heng threw them into the wastebasket without even looking at them. At the beginning of October in the first year of Xiangfu (1008), Fengchan's team set off in a mighty way.The Heavenly Book was carried on jade scorpions, escorted by special personnel, and walked at the forefront of the procession.Zhao Heng, wearing a celestial crown and a crimson gauze robe, followed closely behind Tianshu in a car.During the march of the brigade, the prefectures and counties along the way greeted them and sent them out. The common people wanted to have a glimpse of the emperor's face, and they stood by the post road to look around, and the world was shaken. After seventeen days of trekking, Feng Chan's team finally arrived at Mount Tai. Wang Qinruo had already brought the accompanying officials to greet Shengjia by the side of the road, and presented more than 38,000 Ganoderma lucidum plants again. Zhao Heng was very excited to see so many auspicious things, and praised Wang Qinruo in front of all civil and military officials. The brigade stopped at the foot of the mountain, and Zhao Heng fasted for three days. Of course, all the ministers can only follow the vegetarian diet in these few days.On the 24th, Zhao Heng and his officials got up early and started to head towards the peak of Mount Tai. When they reached the steep and difficult place, Zhao Heng could only get off the sedan chair and walk up the mountain on foot.The accompanying people were all exhausted, only Zhao Heng was full of energy and didn't feel sleepy at all. When he reached the top of the mountain, he also happily visited the Yunu Spring and the inscriptions on Mount Tai granted by Tang Gaozong and Tang Xuanzong. The next day, the ceremony of enshrining Zen was officially held on the top of the mountain. Zhao Heng was dressed in a luxurious dress and worshiped Haotian God, left Chen Tianshu, and accompanied by Taizu and Taizong's spiritual throne.Then he ordered the officials to worship the five emperors and all the gods at the foot of Mount Tai.After the ceremony was completed, Prime Minister Wang Dan personally sealed the jade book, the gold box and jade box, and put them into the stone box prepared in advance.The Fengchan Grand Ceremony was successfully completed. After the ceremony of enshrining Chan, Zhao Heng came to Shouchang Hall to accept the congratulations from all the officials. As long as the words of praise that can be thought of are all used.After reading the congratulatory speech, the officials in charge of etiquette issued an order, and all the civil and military officials on the mountain and the people watching the fun shouted long live in unison, and the cheers shook the valley. Zhao Heng issued an edict to amnesty the world, civil and military officials, promotion and salary increase, feasting on the people all over the world, eating and drinking for three days; changing Qianfeng County where Mount Tai is located to Fengfu County, feasting all officials in Muqing Palace, The door gave a banquet to the elders of Mount Tai. On the second day of the Fengchan Grand Ceremony, Zhao Heng held the "Zen Dizhi" ceremony on the nearby Sheshou Mountain, and the process was roughly the same as Fengtaishan.However, this time there were more people watching. The more people the better, Zhao Heng wanted this excitement. On the way back, Zhao Heng led all the civil and military officials to detour to Qufu, Shandong to worship the Confucius Temple. In the Confucius Temple, Zhao Heng worshiped the sage Confucius devoutly, posthumously posthumously posthumously the Xuansheng King Wenxuan, and paid homage to seventy-two disciples with his officials.Then, with concubines and civil and military officials, visited Konglin and returned with all his heart. In November, the Fengchan team returned to Beijing, and Zhao Heng came to the Chaoyuan Hall to receive the honorary title of "Emperor Chongwen, Guangwuyi, Tianzun, Daobao, Yingzhang, Shengming, Mingren and Filial Piety".The Fengchan Grand Ceremony has come to an end. The officials wanted to cater to Zhao Heng, offering praises and playing Fu Rui.Ding Wei, the envoy of the third division, presented "The Auspicious Picture of Fengchan" and "The Record of Fengchan with Dazhong Xiangfu"; Yan Shu, the school manager of Jixian, presented "Ode to the River Qing".When Zhao Heng saw it, he was overjoyed, so he wrote "Fengtian Shelter" himself, and announced it to the officials, who sang praises again. After the Eastern Seal, someone proposed the Western Seal.Just at this time, floods occurred in Xuzhou and Yanzhou, droughts occurred in the rivers and Huaihe Rivers, wind disasters occurred in Wuwei, and fires occurred in Jinling. Disasters from various places were reported to the capital one after another. After the report comes, if you want to turn it into auspicious, I'm afraid it won't work.Due to the successive disasters, the imperial court had to suspend the conferring of Zen on Mount Hua. In the second year, when the old matter was brought up, the officials came up to the table and asked the emperor to offer sacrifices to the Houtu.This time, Zhao Heng didn't pretend to refuse like Taishan Fengchan, and immediately made a decision to offer sacrifices to Houtu in February of the next year. The Houtu Temple is located in Fenyin, Hezhong Prefecture, and the worship of Houtu must go to Fenyin. Legend has it that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty found a big tripod in Fenyin. He was also a person who liked the magic of immortals, so he welcomed the tripod to Chang'an. On the road, there appeared auspicious "Heavenly Signs" and yellow clouds shrouded the tripod. A deer also came, and Emperor Wu personally shot and killed the deer to offer sacrifices to the cauldron, which made this event even more magical.Because the tripod was not only a utensil for cooking food at that time, but also had a strong symbolic meaning.Since Dayu cast the Jiuding, the word "aspiration" has the meaning of seeking the world.Deer is not just an animal, and the meaning of the word "chasing the deer" is also related to the world.For this reason, Emperor Wu built Houtu Temple in Fenyin and offered sacrifices in person.Because Fenyin is to the west of Kaifeng, Tokyo, it is called Xisi Fenyin. In the twinkling of an eye, the end of winter and spring came, and the time to worship Fenyin in the west was approaching, and the ministers of the court and the central government were busy again.Just at this time, a drought occurred in Gyeonggi, and the crops were dried into dry firewood in the field. Seeing that there was no food harvest, the price of rice in the market skyrocketed. Or consider how to provide disaster relief. After Zhao Heng read Sun Shi's memorial, he threw it into the wastebasket.He went further and further down the path of deceit and whitewashing the peace, and it was unstoppable.Nian Zai Sun Shi was a loyal minister, so he didn't care about his aggressive words.The plan of offering sacrifices to Fenyin in the west is still going on as usual. In spring, on an auspicious day, Zhao Heng took all the civil and military officials and concubines to Hezhong Mansion to offer sacrifices to Houtu, and then went to Bozhou to pay a visit to the Taiqing Palace to hold the ceremony of canonizing Lao Tzu.The scale of the two actions is very large, no less than Taishan Fengchan. Zhao Heng not only directed a counterfeiting campaign, but also directed a god-making campaign.He frequently summoned the hermits Li Du, Liu Xun, Zheng Yin, and Li Ning to meet him. Li Du was unwilling to meet him, saying that his legs and feet were inconvenient, so he didn't come. Although Zheng Yin and Li Ning came, they returned after a vegetarian meal. He lived in seclusion in the mountains, but Liu Xun was willing to be an official, and Zhao Heng appointed him as a judge of Dali. After Liu Xun became an official, he searched everywhere for people from Taoism to come down to become officials. It's a pity that most of these reclusive masters are not interested in fame.However, it is difficult to calculate the manpower and financial resources consumed by such tossing and tossing. No matter how rich the country is, it can't afford such poverty. According to records, it cost more than 8.3 million guan from the treasury to seal Mount Tai in the east, and another 1.2 million guan to enshrine Fenyin in the west.In addition, the cost of sacrifices in various places cannot be counted, and the addition is an astronomical figure.As a result of the tossing, not only the wealth accumulated during the Xianping and Jingde years was exhausted, but even the wealth accumulated by Taizu Zhao Kuangyin and Taizong Zhao Jiong was wiped out. Zhao Heng is fully capable of being an emperor who inherits the past and ushers in the future. He inherits the country and wealth created by the previous two generations of monarchs, eliminates the wars on the northern and western borders, and ushers in a rare era of peace. It is not difficult for the national power of the Song Dynasty to become stronger, and the great unification that Taizong once had is completely possible. It's a pity that Zhao Heng is not the master of wise decision-making. Although there was prosperity in the Xianping and Jingde years in the early days, his cowardice in character eventually affected his political actions. Infinite hidden dangers.Since then, the Song Dynasty was poor and weak, and Zhao Heng could not escape the responsibility of the instigator. Zhao Heng put government affairs aside and devoted all his energy to the god-making movement. In order to make his god-making plan go smoothly, he specially promoted a few people who were most active and experienced in the god-making movement to important positions . In August of the fifth year of Dazhongxiang and others (1012), Zhao Heng built the Lingguan Temple to worship the Five Sacred Mountains, and promoted Wang Qinruo, Ding Wei, Lin Te, Chen Pengnian, and Liu Chenggui. Wang Qinruo was one of the initiators of the counterfeiting campaign, and he planned the auspicious signs and the book from heaven.He was promoted to Privy Councilor. Ding Wei has been in charge of finances since the time when Mount Tai was enshrined in Zen, provided strong logistical support for Zhao Heng, and promoted him to be a political adviser. Lin Te was Ding Wei's deputy when he was the third envoy. When Ding Wei was promoted, the position of the third envoy was given to him. These three colluded with each other, and mixed with Chen Pengnian, the deputy envoy of Longitude System, and Liu Chenggui, the servant. Chen Pengnian was originally a talented man, but it is a pity that he was talented but not virtuous. He followed Wang Qinruo and Ding Wei successively, and made great efforts in the production of "Book of Heaven". No matter how absurd things are in his hands, they can be described vividly and well-founded. People at that time gave him the nickname "Nine-tailed Wild Fox". Liu Chenggui is a different kind. He is a eunuch with a special status and can contact Zhao Heng at any time.Regarding the matter of the Book of Heaven, the other participants are all planners, and he is the out-and-out implementer, because most of the things about the Book of Heaven are reported by the Imperial City Secretary, and Liu Chenggui is precisely the Imperial City Envoy. The five of them worked together and poured ecstasy soup on Zhao Heng all day long, making Zhao Heng feel as if he was sitting in a mist, as if possessed by a demon.Be obedient to them.The ministers of the court called the five people "five ghosts", and the five ghosts were in power, and there was no peace up and down. Hearing the absurdity of the five ghosts, Zhao Heng built a large-scale construction project, ordered to build Jingling Palace and Taiji Temple in Shouqiu to worship the Holy Patriarch and the Virgin; Why did the Holy Patriarch and the Holy Mother appear out of thin air?This has to start with a report by Liu Chenggui. According to Liu Chenggui, there was a man named Wang Jie in Tingzhou who met a Taoist in Nankang, who claimed to be Zhao Mingxuanlang, that is, Siming Zhenjun, and gave him alchemy and a small plutonium sword, and suddenly disappeared. . Soon after, Zhao Heng dreamed that a man of God conveyed to him the order of the Jade Emperor, saying that he ordered his ancestor Zhao Xuanlang to teach him the heavenly scriptures.The next day, I also dreamed that the god-man passed down his ancestor's order to set up six seats to the west of his god's throne.Zhao Heng was building a dojo in Yan'en Hall. At the fifth watch, he suddenly felt a strange fragrance filled the room, and saw a yellow light all over the hall. The ancestor Zhao Xuanlang actually came.Zhao Heng paid homage to His Highness. Then six people came to see Zhao Xuanlang and took their seats.Zhao Xuanlang ordered Zhao Heng to say: "I am one of the nine human emperors, the ancestor of the Zhao family; I was reborn as Emperor Xuanyuan; in the later Tang Dynasty, the Zhao family returned to the king, and it has been a hundred years now. May your descendants take good care of the common people, Don't be lazy about the ambitions of the ancestors." After speaking, everyone left their seats and went to the sky on the clouds. From then on, Zhao Heng called his first grandfather as the Holy Ancestor, and his first grandmother as the Holy Mother. Queen of the Great Sage".In the imperial court, whenever the imperial court discusses, they just talk about the gods and the holiness, and they talk about it vividly, leaving the suffering of all the people in the world behind and never mentioning it.He also engraved the Heavenly Book on jade and stored it in Zhaoying Palace of Yuqing, and named Wang Dan as the envoy of Zhaoying Palace of Yuqing, in charge of all sacrificial affairs in Zhaoying Palace of Yuqing. Although Wang Dan knew that these were all absurd things, they were a waste of time and money, they were of no benefit to the country, and they caused great harm, but he also charged the hush money, which was already related to this matter, so he could only pretend to be deaf. Dumb, Ren Zhaoheng and Wang Qinruo played tricks. After the signing of the Chanyuan Alliance, the country was relatively stable, and it was a good time to sort out internal affairs and develop production. However, Zhao Heng focused his energy on such things as pretending to be gods and ghosts, enshrining the east and worshiping the west, which not only consumed a lot of manpower , Material resources, financial resources, and no time to govern the government, accumulated many social problems, leaving huge hidden dangers for future generations.