Chapter 11 An emperor did not grow up

When Zhao Zhen came to the throne, he was only thirteen years old, still a child.The emperor didn't grow up, and he simply didn't have the ability to handle military affairs.Empress Dowager Liu became the first empress dowager to listen to politics behind a curtain in the Song Dynasty. Empress Dowager Liu's behind-the-scenes listening to politics started from a quarrel.When drafting the will, Prime Minister Ding Wei and Wang Zeng had a fierce quarrel over a word in the will. After Zhao Heng passed away, Empress Dowager Liu called Ding Wei and Wang Zeng into the palace to discuss the late emperor's edict, and said that under the order of Emperor Daxing, the empress would deal with important military affairs and assist the prince in governing.King Ming once entered the hall to draft the edict.

The king once drafted an imperial edict, and added the word "quan" in front of the word "discipline" in the sentence "the queen punishes the military and state affairs", which means "quan and" by The empress dowager handles the government. In order to please the Empress Dowager, Ding Wei read the imperial edict and said, "Just now, the Empress Dowager's decree clearly said 'discipline the military and state affairs', why did you add a word at random and change it to 'power to punish military and state affairs'? The word 'quan' must be delete."

Wang Zeng obviously came prepared, and said solemnly: "There has never been a precedent in our dynasty where the queen mother listens to the government. Now that the emperor is young and the queen mother is in the court, this is already a bad luck for the country; the word 'quan' is added to To show future generations, besides, adding or subtracting the content of the book is a matter of ministers' duty, which is also a ancestral franchise. As the chief assistant, don't you know this?" Ding said that seeing Wang Zeng used his ancestors to suppress him, he couldn't find the appropriate words to refute him.Wang Zeng seemed to be justified and refused to let others go, and continued to ask: "Are you trying to disturb the ancestor's family law?"

Wang Zeng said it outrightly, and Ding Wei didn't dare to insist on his opinion anymore. When the imperial edict was sent to the palace, although Empress Dowager Liu was a little dissatisfied, she was not angry. She felt that the king was one of her own, and she considered the issue very thoughtfully. After the edict was issued, Prince Zhao Zhen was enshrined in Zhao Heng's coffin as the emperor, who was Emperor Renzong. After Zhao Zhen came to the throne, he was buried in the Yongding Mausoleum of Emperor Zhao Heng, who was the first to examine Daxing, and honored the temple with the name Zhenzong.

Respect Empress Liu as Empress Dowager and Concubine Yang Shu as Empress Dowager. It was the first time in the Song Dynasty that the Queen Mother listened to the government behind a curtain. The Zhongshu and the Privy Council clashed again in the form of auxiliary government.In order to solve this problem, it was decided to bring together officials from the Zhongshu and Privy Council departments to collectively agree on the ritual system. Two different opinions were formed at the meeting. Wang once said that it would be like the empress dowager in the Eastern Han Dynasty who assisted the government. The emperor sat on the left side of the hall, and the queen mother was asked to sit on the right side and listen to the government with a curtain, and summoned the ministers once every five days.

Ding Wei, on the other hand, advocated that the emperor only had to meet with his ministers on the first and fifteenth days of each month, just to make a point of it. If there was a major event, the empress dowager would summon the ministers to resolve it, and the general eunuchs would just pass it on to the chief eunuch. up. Wang Zeng disagreed, saying that doing so was a way to bring disaster.Because the emperor and the queen mother do not discuss matters together, the eunuchs usually pass the orders, which can easily cause the eunuchs to cheat and manipulate the government. There are too many such lessons in history.

Ding Wei didn't think so, and the ministers were also discussing it. In the end, because the leaders of the two departments of the Zhongshu Ministry and the Privy Council disagreed, they did not reach a unified opinion. The meeting broke up without results. After the meeting adjourned, Ding Wei made another small move. Without waiting for the second reconsideration, he avoided Wang Zeng, and secretly negotiated with the eunuch Lei Yungong to secretly send a ritual system drawn up according to his opinion to the palace and hand it over to Wang Zeng. Queen Mother Liu. Lei Yungong is the leader of the eunuchs next to Zhao Heng, and he was favored for exposing Zhou Huaizheng.He has a very close relationship with Empress Liu and Ding Wei, and is the liaison between them.

Empress Dowager Liu didn't realize that Ding Wei was trying to gain power, and thought he was loyal to her.After receiving the Ritual System handed over by Lei Yungong, he felt very satisfied after reading it, so he issued a hand order according to the privately drafted Ritual System, instructing the officials to follow it.In her letter she said: When Emperor Shuowang saw the ministers, if it was a major event, the Empress Dowager would call for a countermeasure, and the assistant ministers would decide it; Wang Zeng knew that Ding Wei was playing tricks again, and he said helplessly that the two palaces are not in the same place, and the power is in the hands of one eunuch, which will cause endless disasters!So he secretly guarded against Ding Wei's group of eunuchs and courtiers from disturbing the court.

When the ministers saw the Queen Mother's letter, they dared not object. Ding Wei is of course very proud to see that his plot has succeeded.He had already conspired with the eunuch leader Lei Yungong, so that no matter what happened in the future, it would have to go through the hands of the two of them, it was really convenient.Not to mention arrogating power for personal gain, it is possible to even defraud the little emperor and queen mother. Ding Wei felt a little overjoyed, the goal he had pursued for many years seemed to have been achieved.Lei Yungong is also domineering, and the arrogance of the two is particularly arrogant. Fortunately, the upright Wang Zeng served as a privy envoy, always monitoring every move of the eunuchs and courtiers. event.

Then, the royal family was added, and Taizong's eighth son, Jing Wang Yuanyan, was named King Ding.Yuan Yan has a strict temperament, fortitude is inviolable, and he is admirable inside and outside. He is called the Eight Great Kings, that is, the well-known "eight thousand years old" in novels and dramas.It is just a misrepresentation that Dezhao is called the Eight Great Kings in popular novels. At that time, there was a widely circulated saying that at the last moment before Zhao Heng died of illness, he pointed to his chest and stretched out three fingers to signal to the ministers who knocked on the couch to inquire about illness.Later, some people speculated that Zhao Heng wanted his younger brother Yuan Yan to be regent and assist Zhao Zhen.But Empress Liu sent someone to explain the matter to the ministers, saying that what the officials said was only that the illness could be relieved in three to five days, and there was no other intention.

After Yuan Yan heard about this incident, he realized that he had become an obstacle to Empress Liu's power. In order to avoid the cruel political persecution of Empress Liu, he immediately closed the door to thank guests and stopped participating in the affairs of the court until Empress Liu passed away and Zhao Zhen came to power. However, rumors are not true after all.The actual situation is that when Zhao Heng was critically ill, the only thing he was worried about was his young son, for fear that the throne would fall into the hands of others.He summoned the ministers in the bedroom for the last time. On behalf of the civil and military officials, Prime Minister Ding Wei made a solemn promise in front of Zhao Heng. The crown prince is smart and wise, and he is ready to inherit the throne.What's more, the queen is in the middle to decide the military and state affairs, the world is peaceful, and the four sides are obedient. If the ministers have any objections, they will endanger the country and the country and are the sinners of the court.This is actually a promise to Zhao Heng that he will do his best to assist the new emperor, and will never allow the desire to abolish the establishment.Zhao Heng could no longer speak at this time, so he could only nod his head to express his satisfaction. In fact, in Zhao Heng's later years, Empress Liu became more and more powerful, basically controlling the government, and with the support of Prime Minister Ding Wei and others, Zhao Heng's worries were not unreasonable.When Zhao Heng was dying, he left a will, ordering "the Empress Dowager to punish the military and state affairs", which is equivalent to allowing Empress Liu to hold the highest power. Then he ordered Ding Wei to be Situ, who also served as the left servant of Zhongshangshu; Feng Zheng was Sikong, who also served as the right servant of Zhongshangshu;The three of them became friends and continued to disturb Chao Gang, among which Ding Wei was the most rampant. When Zhao Heng was dying, he once told Empress Liu that only Kou Zhun and Li Di could be entrusted with important matters.Empress Liu only vaguely agreed at that time.After listening to the government behind the curtain, Empress Dowager Liu held a grudge against Li Di for admonishing Zhao Heng not to make her his successor, and Ding Wei also had a grudge against Kou Zhun for saying that he was a courtier in front of Zhao Heng, so not only did she not According to Zhao Heng's last order, Kou Zhun and Li Di were reused. Instead, they conspired with Ding Wei to frame them as cronies, and demoted Kou Zhun as Leizhou Sihu to join the army, and Li Di as Deputy Envoy of Hengzhou regiment training.Even Cao Wei was relegated to Laizhou. Wang Zeng really couldn't see it anymore, and said to Ding Wei that the crime is light and the punishment is heavy, should he think again. Twirling his beard, Ding said with a smile, "Master Juding, I'm afraid I won't be spared either!" It turned out that Kou Zhun lived in Wang Zeng's house when he was in Beijing, so Ding Wei called him the master of residence.In fact, it is implying that Wang Zeng, if he continues to guarantee Kou Zhun, I am afraid that he will also be involved. When Wang Zeng saw Ding Wei say such words, he suppressed his anger and stopped arguing. Although many people in the DPRK complained for Kou Zhun and Li Di, the facts cannot be undone.The people in the capital also complained about Kou Zhun, so they got angry with Ding Wei and made up four slang sentences: If you want peace in the world, you must pull out your eyes.If you want to win the world, it is better to call Kou Lao. Ding Wei was not afraid of people's words, he was afraid that the two would make a comeback, so he used another trick, bought the eunuch who passed the decree, and asked him to hang a kit with a sword in front of the horse, and deliberately let the sword be exposed, resulting in The formation of decree bestowing death. Li Di was a simple gentleman. When he saw this posture, he thought it was the death of the Holy Spirit. He really didn't want to live. Fortunately, his son and his staff rushed to rescue him, so he didn't die unjustly. Kou Zhun was having a banquet with the county officials in the Daozhou yamen, when he suddenly heard a report from the yamen servants, saying that the envoys of the imperial court had arrived, and the horses hung their kits and their swords were exposed, and they were hanging their swords to demonstrate, and the situation might not be good.The county magistrate couldn't help but turn pale with shock, but Kou Zhun was very calm, and clearly asked the eunuch who delivered the decree to issue a death edict. The eunuch was dumbfounded, how could he have such an edict?Kou Zhun sneered, knelt down to accept the demotion edict, and went drinking with colleagues and officials, and the banquet ended at night. After the eunuch who passed the decree left, Kou Zhun went to Leizhou. Ding Wei squeezed out Kou Zhun and Li Di, two thorns in his eyes, and relied on his alliance with Empress Dowager Liu to stabilize his position in the court. He colluded with eunuchs, controlled the court, eliminated dissidents, framed Zhongliang, and did whatever he wanted. In fact, the alliance between Ding Wei and Empress Dowager Liu was very fragile, and what happened afterwards proved this point. After Zhao Heng's death, the mausoleum has not yet been built, and the body has not been buried yet.Empress Dowager Liu ordered Ding Wei and Shanling envoy, and Lei Yungong as the capital supervisor, to jointly organize Zhao Heng's funeral. The judge, Xing Zhonghe, said to Lei Yungong, "The place a hundred steps above the mountain mausoleum is really a good crypt. Judging by the laws of geography, it must be suitable for descendants, just like the tomb of King Qin in Ruzhou, but there are stones under it, and there may be water. .” Lei Yungong said: "The first emperor only had one heir. If you can make the descendants have many descendants like the Qin King's tomb, why not change the originally selected crypt and move it up a hundred steps?" Xing Zhonghe said that the mountain mausoleum is a major matter, and it will take a long time to re-survey and report for approval, and I am afraid it will not be in time for the funeral in July. Lei Yungong asked Xing Zhonghe to change the original construction plan first, and move the cemetery up a hundred steps, and he himself went to report to the Queen Mother. Lei Yungong was a villain with aspirations and arrogance. No one dared to disobey him. Xing Zhonghe had no choice but to follow his opinion. Without official approval from the court, he changed the original construction plan without authorization and moved the location of the cemetery upwards. A hundred steps. Lei Yungong hurried back to the capital and told Empress Dowager Liu about rebuilding the mausoleum.Empress Dowager Liu said in surprise: "This is a very important matter, how can it be easily changed?" Lei Yungong said flatteringly that it is a great thing to make the late emperor suitable for his descendants, and there is nothing wrong with it. Empress Dowager Liu did not express her opinion on the spot, and asked Lei Yungong to discuss with Shanling Envoy Ding Wei before making a decision.After leaving the palace, Lei Yungong found Ding Wei and told him about changing the location of Zhenzong's tomb. Ding Wei was trying to curry favor with Lei Yungong, so he quickly praised: "The governor said yes, of course it is possible." Lei Yungong went to the palace again to play the Queen Mother Liu, saying that Ding Wei, the envoy of Shanling, also agreed to change the location of the tomb. Empress Dowager Liu approved it. Lei Yungong ordered supervisor Xia Shou'en to lead tens of thousands of workers to start digging the mountain. For the first two days, all they dug out were some rocks. On the third day, a spring was suddenly dug out, and the clear spring water gushed from the ground. It popped up, and the crypt suddenly turned into a big pond. Xia Shouen saw it and knew that this place could no longer be used as a crypt.Because no one would choose a cemetery in a large pond, let alone the emperor's mausoleum?He ordered to stop work immediately, and quickly reported to Lei Yungong, asking him to make a decision. Lei Yungong immediately consulted with Ding Wei, saying that the tomb was dug on the spring, and the crypt turned into a big pond, and the Louzi was enlarged. Ding Wei wanted to protect Lei Yungong, he was a little hesitant, and did not report the matter to the Queen Mother in time.Ding Wei is also treacherous and confused for a while, can such a big matter be muddled through? It happened that Mao Changda came back from the construction site of the mausoleum. Seeing that Ding Wei had not reported the water leakage of the tomb foundation to the Queen Mother, he directly informed the Queen Mother Liu about the water leakage of the tomb foundation. Empress Dowager Liu immediately summoned Ding Wei and asked him why the tomb was permeable and not played.Ding said that he could no longer hide it, so he asked the Queen Mother to send someone to investigate and re-select the site. Empress Dowager Liu sent people to investigate, and the people who sent them came back and said that the original cemetery was the best.Empress Dowager Liu was worried, so she ordered Wang Zeng to go there in person. The king was once a loyal minister, and he was always dissatisfied with Ding Wei's actions of controlling the government, framing Zhongliang, and disturbing the government. Way to knock him down.He has been waiting for the opportunity to get rid of this treacherous minister. The fox finally showed its tail, Wang Zeng's chance came.He was ordered to go to the cemetery, and when he came back, he asked to see the queen mother alone, and ruthlessly read Ding Wei's book in front of the queen mother Liu.He told the Queen Mother that after he was ordered to investigate the mountain mausoleum, he found that the location of the mausoleum crypt originally selected was very good and could not be changed. It can't be used as a cemetery at all.He accused Ding Wei of harboring evil intentions and instructing Lei Yungong to move the late emperor's tomb into the Jedi, with sinister intentions. Empress Dowager Liu was furious when she heard this, and immediately summoned Feng Zheng, ordering him to immediately arrest Nadingwei, Lei Yungong and others who changed the blueprint of the late emperor's tomb, and hand them over to Dali Temple for punishment. After Feng Zheng heard the order, he was stunned. He wanted to protect Ding Wei, so he couldn't help hesitating.Empress Dowager Liu scolded angrily: "Why are you so hesitant! Do you also want to conspire with Ding Wei?" Feng Zheng's mind turned quickly, and he quickly said: "How dare I conspire with Ding Wei? I just thought that the emperor first inherited the great rule, and the late emperor has not yet entered the soil. Now that the ministers are punished, they are afraid of shaking the world, so I hesitated a little. Find a more lenient solution.” Empress Dowager Liu's anger subsided a little, so she asked Feng Zheng to arrest Lei Yungong and others first. Feng Zheng withdrew according to the order, and immediately sent soldiers to arrest Lei Yungong, Xing Zhonghe and others. The emperor's mausoleum is related to the ancestral temple and the state system. There is a problem with the mausoleum, which is a shocking case.The case is serious, the situation is not complicated, and the trial of the case is just a formality.After the first trial, Lei Yungong and Xing Zhonghe were sentenced to death: death by stick and confiscation of property. Ding Wei's good luck is probably coming to an end. While he was secretly thanking himself for avoiding a catastrophe by changing the mausoleum construction plan, another crime broke out again. When the Ministry of Punishment searched Lei Yungong's family property, they actually copied the secret letter that Ding Wei entrusted Lei Yungong to order craftsmen in Houyuan to make gold wine vessels, and the letter that Lei Yungong asked Ding Wei to recommend the administration of the Imperial City Division and the Third Division Yamen.After the confiscators copied these letters, they sent them directly to the palace. Empress Dowager Liu was furious when she saw these evidences. She immediately summoned Wang Zeng and gave him the correspondence between Ding Wei and Lei Yungong. After Wang Zeng read the letter, he sighed and said to himself: "I often hear the discussions of the officials, saying that Ding Wei colluded with the eunuchs, worked in collusion with each other, and disturbed the court. I still don't believe it. I read these letters today. Sure enough, what he said is true." He paused for a while, and then said: "The foreign ministers colluded with the eunuchs, worked in collusion, brought disaster to Xiaoqiang, and disaster to the country and the people! Ding Wei regarded all the officials as nothing, and played with the Queen Mother in the palm of his hand, insulting the emperor, insulting Queen Mother!" After listening to Wang Zeng's words, Empress Dowager Liu said decisively, "Ding Wei is really a traitor. If he is upright and loyal, how can he be willing to make friends with eunuchs and do such illegal things? If he doesn't deal with it immediately, how can he clean up the imperial court? " The next day, the emperor came to the court, and the queen mother listened to the government behind the curtain. She only heard the queen mother say to the officials behind the curtain: "Ding said that as a prime minister, he colluded with eunuchs, and his personality is extremely despicable. He used to play with Lei Yungong in the middle palace. It is said that it has been discussed with the ministers, so the palace has all agreed, and now it is proved that it is all done by him alone. Running the tomb of the late emperor and changing the construction plan of the tomb without authorization, if it is not for the privy envoy Wang who went to inspect I understand, I almost missed a major event. Such a rebellious minister and traitor are truly unpunished!" Empress Dowager Liu's oral order sent a strong signal to the ministers that Ding Wei was going to be in trouble. Feng Zheng, Cao Lili and others used to be Ding Wei's iron buddies. At this time, they were worried that Ding Wei's case would implicate them, so they immediately stood up and drew a clear line with Ding Wei. It was decided by Ding Wei and Lei Yungong, but they told the officials that it was the palace's decision, and the officials couldn't tell whether it was the palace's opinion or their own decision. What we say, we obey.Fortunately, Empress Dowager Shengming realized that Ding Wei was doing something wrong. This is the happiness of the community! Ren Zhongzheng still wanted to protect Ding Wei, so he stood up and said: "Although Ding Wei is guilty, but he is entrusted with the heavy responsibility of the late emperor, so he still has to ask for meritorious deeds according to the law." Wang Zeng sneered, and retorted: "Ding is really loyal, so he shouldn't offend the ancestral temple. Can such a person still make meritorious deeds?" Wang Zeng pressed every step of the way, determined to pull Ding Wei, a traitor, from the position of prime minister.The next result was that the Empress Dowager passed down an oral order, ordering Shusheren to dismiss Ding Wei from the position of prime minister, demote him to Prince Shaobao, and drive him to Luoyang, Xijing.Ren Zhongzheng was not spared either. He was expelled from the capital and went out to know Yunzhou. The promotion king Zeng Tongping Zhang Shi, Lu Yijian and Lu Zongdao participated in political affairs, and Qian Weiyan served as a privy envoy. Lv Yijian is Lv Mengzheng's nephew. In the past, Zhao Heng granted Dai Sifen, and lived in Lv Mengzheng's home when he visited Luoyang twice. At that time, he asked Lv Mengzheng whether any of his sons could be of great use.Lu Mengzheng replied that his sons were mediocre, but his nephew Lu Yijian was a prime minister.After Zhao Heng returned to Beijing, he summoned Lu Yijian to Beijing as an official until he was promoted to know Kaifeng Prefecture, which was quite political. Qian Weiyan was the son of Qian Chu, king of Wuyue. He was erudite and capable of writing. He was as famous as Yang Yi and Liu Yun. Lu Zongdao used to be right-handed, upright and selfless, and Zhao Heng often called him Lu Zhi. Wang Zeng immediately asked the queen mother to help the new king and listen to the government behind the curtain every day, and the queen mother agreed.Since then, the imperial court has entered the period when Empress Dowager Liu listened to politics behind a curtain.