Chapter 19 Nine Backyard Fires
Soon after the failure of the Qingli New Deal, Prime Minister Du Yan was also dismissed.The successor was Chen Zhizhong, Xia Song returned to the position of privy envoy, and Wen Yanbo was a political adviser.Originally, Zhao Zhen wanted Xia Song to be prime minister, but the admonishers and imperial envoys in the court repeatedly impeached him and opposed Xia Song's appointment as prime minister, so they were changed to be privy envoys.
Xia Song is a courtier. The biggest characteristic of this kind of person is that he can make troubles. In the eyes of this kind of person, power and fame are more important than anything else. Whoever harms his personal interests, whose reputation threatens his status, whoever just disappear.They only have themselves in their eyes, no court, no national interests.
There was a man named Wang Ze from Zhuozhou who lived in Beizhou due to hunger in his early years, sold himself as a slave, and made a living by shepherding sheep for his master.
Wang Ze is quick-witted and ambitious. Seeing that the folk customs of Beizhou advocate ghosts and illusions, he often spreads some rumors to confuse people's hearts and lead people to superstition. It was given to the soldiers and the people to read, threatening that there would be great chaos in the world, and only by joining the Xingmin Party could peace be kept.
The people of Beizhou and the soldiers in the barracks joined Wang Ze's Xingmin Party one after another without distinguishing between the real and the fake, and the Xingmin Party's momentum quickly became stronger.The state official Zhang Luan also joined the Xingmin Party, and made suggestions for the king. About New Year's Day in the eighth year of Qingli (1048), he burned down the floating bridge in Chanzhou and mobilized the crowd to riot.He also contacted the same party and wrote a letter to Jia Changchao who stayed behind in Beijing, asking him to act as an internal response and rise up together to rebel.
Although Jia Changchao did not reject the Xingmin Party, he did not dare to raise troops rashly to oppose the court, and ordered the messengers to be arrested.
Wang Ze learned that the person who sent the letter had been detained, worried that the conspiracy would be leaked, and decided to start the incident in advance, and the time was set for the winter solstice in the seventh year of Qingli (1047).
On the day of the winter solstice, Zhang Deyi, the magistrate of Beizhou, was visiting Tianqing Temple with his officials. Suddenly, the rebels led by Wang Ze rushed in. Zhang Deyi and his colleagues had nowhere to escape, and they were all captured alive.After the rebels captured the state official alive, they rushed to the treasury and demanded the key from Dong Yuanheng, the general judge, in order to seize the opportunity to rob the treasury.
Dong Yuanheng resolutely refused to give it, and scolded the thief sharply.The rebels killed Dong Yuanheng, smashed open the door of the warehouse, and looted all the property inside.Tian Bin, the commander of the soldiers and horses, led his troops to start a street battle with the rebels. Because he was outnumbered, he withdrew from the city and returned to Nanguan.
Ma Sui, the commander of Beijing, learned of Wang Ze's rebellion, so he hurriedly reported to Jia Changchao and asked to lead his troops to fight against the bandits.Jia Changchao thought that Wang Ze was just a rebel and could do nothing, so he wrote a letter and ordered Ma Sui to go to Beizhou to surrender.
After Ma Sui arrived in Beizhou, he tried his best to persuade him to surrender, but Wang was unmoved.In a rage, Ma Sui left his seat suddenly, rushed forward and grabbed Wang Ze by the throat, wanting to fight him desperately.
This is on someone else's territory, alone, with bare hands, can it be effective?Ma Sui had no choice but to die.
Some people said that this was Jia Changchao's killing with a borrowed knife.
After Wang Ze occupied Beizhou, he actually established the name of the country, called Anyang, changed the Yuan to become holy, and used the name of Buddha for banners and commands.There are buildings on all sides of Beizhou City, but Wang Ze actually changed the buildings into states, and each took a state name.Appointing several leaders among the disciples as Zhizhou, Beizhou seems to have really become an independent kingdom.
In order to prevent the people in the city from fleeing abroad, Wang Ze also established a five-five-five joint guarantee ban, that is, one person escapes from the city and escapes, and the other four are responsible for joint guarantee and beheaded together.
Wang Ze, just like an ignorant grass-headed king.
When Zhao Zhen learned of the civil uprising in Beizhou, he immediately appointed Ming Hao, the prefect of Kaifeng, as his envoy, and led his troops to fight against it.
Minghao led his troops straight to the city of Beizhou. Wang Wenqing, a citizen of the city, and others shot down silk scriptures from the city, willing to be the internal response.
In the middle of the night, Wang Wenqing waited until the ropes were lowered from the city, and hundreds of officers and soldiers climbed up the city wall, but they were still discovered. Because the number of officers and soldiers was too small to outnumber them, they had to go back the same way.
The walls of Beizhou City are high and thick, easy to defend but difficult to attack. Ming Hao led the army to attack the city several times, but made no progress.After some discussion, it was decided to dig tunnels to attack the city.He chose the tunnel in the south of the city, but organized a feint attack in the north of the city to divert the attention of the bandits.
At this time, Wen Yanbo, the envoy of Xuanfu, suddenly arrived in Beizhou, and ordered Ming Hao to be the deputy envoy. After receiving the order, Ming Hao welcomed Wen Yanbo into the tent of the Chinese army.
After the two exchanged pleasantries for a while, they turned to the main topic and talked about military affairs. Wen Yanbo said that the memorials sent by Minghao to the capital were stuck in the middle, and they were not submitted to the imperial court. He asked him if he knew the reason.
Ming Hao thought about it, and tentatively said: "Could it be that Mistress Xia played tricks on it?"
Things happened exactly as Ming Hao expected. It turned out that Xia Song was jealous of Ming Hao and worried that he would make contributions in countering the rebellion in Beizhou.Wen Yanbo was quite dissatisfied with this matter, so he mentioned this matter to Ming Hao when he was an envoy to Hebei.
Wen Yanbo saw that Minghao guessed right, he couldn't help laughing, and said that he didn't have to worry about this problem in the future, because when he left Beijing, he had already heard about the emperor and had the right to play exclusively, and he would not be restricted by Xia Song in the future.The so-called right to play the book is to submit the book directly to the emperor without going through the Privy Council or the Ministry of Zhongshu.
Ten days later, the tunnel was dug, and Ming Hao led his army to attack Beizhou through the tunnel, broke through the city in one fell swoop, and captured Wang Ze and Zhizhou Zhang Deyi alive.
When the good news spread to the capital, Xia Song didn't believe it was true, so the imperial court ordered that the detainees be escorted to Beijing.
Wen Yanbo personally escorted Wang Ze to Beijing, handed it over to the two governments for interrogation and verification, and pushed him to Caishikou to behead him for public display.Wang Ze only had sixty-six days from the uprising to beheading for public display.
A farce is over, and there is a decree to reward meritorious service and be promoted to the throne.Wen Yanbo was awarded Tongping Zhangshi, and Minghao was a bachelor of Duanmingdian.Jia Changchao was also granted the title of Duke Anguo.
Yang Kai, a bachelor's attendant, wrote a letter saying that the thief was a subordinate of Jia Changchao. He did not send troops to attack him. It would be very light not to pursue his responsibility. How could he be rewarded for nothing?
Zhao Zhen didn't pay attention to Yang Kai's opinion.But Wen Yanbo recommended Minghao, saying that he could be of great use, and he was adopted, and ordered Minghao to be a political adviser.
In this eventful autumn, the smoke in the front yard had just subsided, and the backyard caught fire again.
In the eighth year of Qingli (1048), on the first lunar month, on the 15th night, there were two Lantern Festivals. Zhao Zhen wanted to hold a Lantern Festival in the capital again, but was strongly dissuaded by Empress Cao on the grounds that it would cost a lot of money.Three nights later, Zhao Zhen stayed overnight in the central palace. In the middle of the night, Zhao Zhen and the queen were suddenly awakened by a commotion. Empress Cao turned over immediately and got up.Zhao Zhen hurriedly put on his clothes and got up.
At this time, the sound of eaves tiles falling to the ground, objects falling to the ground, doors being pried open, curtains being pulled, shouts, and footsteps all came together, approaching the queen's bedroom from far away. .
Zhao Zhen looked panic-stricken, and wanted to go out of the palace to check the situation.Empress Cao grabbed Zhao Zhen and said that it was dangerous outside, so don't rush into danger.He also asked Zhao Zhen to pass the decree quickly, calling the guard Wang Shouzhong to immediately lead the troops into the palace to escort him.
Zhao Zhen immediately delivered an order, ordering the internal supervisor to call Wang Shouzhong to enter the palace as soon as possible to escort him.Empress Cao also ordered the eunuch to summon the guards in the palace to come to the palace as soon as possible to escort them.
After a while, the palace guards, eunuchs, and maids all came.Empress Cao ordered these people to stand in two rows, took a pair of scissors in hand, and cut off a lock of everyone's hair, and said to these people: "The situation is urgent today, each of you must go forward bravely, fight to the death, and don't retreat. Finally, after the rebellion is put down, tomorrow will be rewarded with the sign of haircut."
Then ordered the people in the left row to guard the gate of the temple, and not to open the door unless they obeyed the decree; ordered the row in the right row to get buckets, kettles, basins and other water containers, fill them with water, and put them at the gate of the temple for later use.Everyone took orders and prepared to go separately.
After the arrangements were made, Empress Cao took Zhao Zhen's hand and said, "Let's go, my concubine will accompany His Majesty to supervise the battle."
Seeing that the queen was so calm, Zhao Zhen seemed to be comforted, and followed the queen to the gate of the palace.
As soon as they arrived at the gate of the hall, the sound of swords and howls came from outside the hall.Zhao Zhen was trembling with fright, and everyone felt flustered, but Empress Cao remained calm and calm, shouting loudly to everyone not to panic, the rescuers would be here soon, and instructed everyone to find wooden bars and miscellaneous items to hold the door of the palace to prevent anyone from breaking in. .
Suddenly, there was a bang, and the door of the temple trembled, and someone was hitting the door of the temple.Empress Cao stood in the middle of everyone and shouted to everyone to stand up. Everyone saw that the empress was by her side, and everyone was desperate.
Seeing that the door of the palace could not be knocked open, the people outside shouted, "Attack with fire."
Then some thieves raised torches and lit the surrounding curtains.When Empress Cao saw the fire, she immediately asked everyone to bring water to put out the fire.It wasn't until then that everyone knew the queen's intention to prepare water.
Everyone immediately picked up the water that had been prepared, you have a basin, I have a bucket, and poured them on the fire that had just ignited, and put out the fire in an instant.
When the two sides were at a stalemate, Wang Shouzhong led the troops to arrive, rushed forward, and captured all the thieves.After Wang Shouzhong captured the rebellious thieves, he immediately knocked on the door of the temple to greet Shengan, and reported that all the rebellious thieves had been captured.
Empress Cao asked loudly inside the door: "Who is the leader of the thieves, and how many people are there in total?"
Wang Shouzhong responded, saying that the leader of the thieves was Yan Xiu, a guard, and there were dozens of them in total.
Empress Cao ordered that all the captured thieves be handed over to the Ministry of Punishment for immediate execution!
Wang Shouzhong led the decree and escorted the rebellious thieves.
Empress Cao then ordered all the eunuchs to open the gate of the palace, clean the inside and outside, tidy up, and then go to rest, and tomorrow will be rewarded for their merits.
After hearing such warm words, everyone forgot all the panic and hard work just now, hurriedly packed up and went back to rest.
Zhao Zhen saw that Empress Cao's command was determined, and said happily: "Without this turmoil, how would I know that Qing has such a great talent? From this matter, I can see that Qing has four difficulties: don't be surprised when things change, and one is difficult." ;There are two difficulties in dealing with changes well; three difficulties in making decisions clearly; four difficulties in clearing things up quickly. If you are born as a man, you are a general!"
Empress Cao said modestly: "This is all thanks to His Majesty's blessing, and I don't have any credit for it."
After Zhao Zhen heard this, Longyan was delighted.
While Zhao Zhen was talking to the queen, all the concubines came one after another, and Zhang Meiren was the leader.After Zhang Meiren came in, she called out delicately: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty is frightened!"
"What?" Seeing that it was Zhang Meiren, Zhao Zhen jokingly said, "Are you here to escort?"
Zhang Meiren hurriedly knelt down and played: "The concubine's escort came late, a death penalty! A death penalty!"
All the concubines also knelt down behind Zhang Meiren, paying respects to the emperor and queen.
Zhao Zhen hugged Zhang Meiren, and called everyone to get up, and said that the thieves had been arrested and brought to justice, the matter was over, it was just a false alarm.
It turns out that this beautiful woman is clever, intelligent, and always good at flattering her. She is the most favored concubine in the harem.In front of Zhao Zhen, she has more face than anyone else, not to mention the concubines of the Sangong Sixth Court, even the former Empress Guo and the current Empress Cao, she is still three points inferior to her.Zhao Zhen's original intention was to make her a queen. At first, because Empress Dowager Zhuang Xianmingsu refused, and later because she knew that she had no virtue, she was still among the beauties.Although she is humble and insignificant in terms of fame, in reality she is extremely honorable, so when she came to pay her respects, Zhao Zhen treated her with extra courtesy.
Seeing that the emperor and empress were safe and the chaos had subsided, everyone said a few clichés, then withdrew one by one and went back to the palace.
The next day, Zhao Zhen really gave a big red envelope to each of the guards, eunuchs, and court ladies who had contributed to escorting them last night as a reward.Then he issued an edict to thoroughly investigate the truth of the chaos in the palace last night.
Some people think that Yang Huaimin, the vice president, is the most suspect.Ding Du, a political adviser, thought that the changes in the palace guards were related to the country, so please hand over Yang Huaimin to the Ministry of Punishment for interrogation.
The privy envoy Xia Song had a long-standing connection with Yang Huaimin and wanted to protect Yang Huaimin. If he was handed over to the Ministry of Punishment for interrogation, he would be punished according to the law and there was no room for maneuver.He then said that this matter was related to the secrets of the palace, and that it was not suitable for a public trial, and that it could be interrogated by the imperial envoys and eunuchs in the palace.
Ding Du accused Xia Song of being lawless, and the two quarreled in front of Zhao Zhen.
Zhao Zhen calmed down the matter, saying that there is no need to quarrel about this matter, internal and external interrogation is the same, as long as the judgment is impartial.He also ordered imperial envoys and eunuchs to interrogate in the palace.Obviously, he still prefers Xia Song.
Seeing that the emperor had spoken, Ding Du couldn't argue anymore.
Xia Song immediately took care of everything, and arranged everything for Yang Huaimin. During the interrogation, he couldn't get any adverse evidence against Yang Huaimin, so he only demoted Yang Huaimin and continued to serve as an internal envoy.Such a shocking case ended hastily.
Xia Song sheltered Yang Huaimin, and then went to please Zhang Meiren in order to curry favor with the palace.Invite Zhao Zhen to say that Zhang Meiren has the credit for escorting her and should be honored.
When Zhao Zhen heard the music, he fell in love with him, and immediately made Zhang Meiren a noble concubine.
Xia Song thought to himself, this chapter will be accurate if it is played, it shows the emperor's preference for Concubine Zhang, if he can take advantage of this incident to push Empress Cao down and help Concubine Zhang upright, his internal support in the palace will be even greater up.
Xia Song is a person who does whatever it takes to achieve his personal goals.Immediately instructed Zhijian Yuan Wang Zhi to teach him to play this way.
Wang Zhi is Xia Song's lackey, he always acts according to Xia Song's wink, Xia Song told him to go east, he would never dare to go west.According to Xia Song's instruction, he edited this chapter overnight, saying that the incident of the guards started in front of the Queen's Pavilion, and it was hard to guarantee that there were no other evils. Please ask the Holy Majesty to investigate thoroughly to clear up the chaos.
Wang Zhi's words seemed to be reasonable and reasonable, but they were extremely sinister and evil. In fact, they were insinuating that Empress Cao had something to do with this matter and could not be separated from it.
Although Zhao Zhen is the son of heaven, he has no claims, he doesn't even believe what he saw with his own eyes that night, he actually believed Wang Zhi's words, and became suspicious of Empress Cao, thinking that Empress Cao was colluding with the old guards to plot something wrong.The more he thought about it, the more doubtful he was, so he called the imperial envoy He Shan into the palace and ordered him to investigate this matter in detail.
He Yanzuo replied: "This is a bandit's treacherous conspiracy to seduce Sheng Cong. Your Majesty must investigate! The queen's benevolence and wisdom have always been known both inside and outside. The incident happened the day before yesterday, and the queen guarded the pavilion in person to guard against the thief. How can she fight with the thief?" What about the accomplices? Your Majesty was here to see it in person, so what is there to be suspicious about?"
After Zhao Zhen heard this, he immediately realized what he said, and thought He Shan's words made sense, so he put the matter aside.But the love for Concubine Zhang Gui is even better than before.
Although Zhao Zhen loved Concubine Zhang very much, under the background that the scholar-bureaucrats and the emperor ruled the world together, the emperor's decisions were sometimes restricted by courtiers.For example, Concubine Zhang Guifei wanted to find a vacant position as Xuanhui envoy for her uncle Zhang Yaozuo, but she gave up because of the fierce attack by the Taiwan admonisher.
One day, Zhao Zhen was preparing to go to court. Concubine Zhang Guifei sent Zhao Zhen to the gate of the palace, pulled Zhao Zhen and said, "Don't forget the Xuanhui envoy today!"
Zhao Zhen smiled and said, "Don't worry! Don't worry!"
In the court hall, Zhao Zhen was preparing to issue an edict to appoint Zhang Yaozuo, Bao Zheng stood up and spoke out, stating the reasons why Zhang Yaozuo should not be appointed. He was so excited that his saliva splashed on Zhao Zhen's face.Zhao Zhen had to take back his order.
After returning to the palace, Concubine Zhang went up to meet her, and wanted to say something nice for her uncle, but Zhao Zhen said impatiently: "Today, when Bao Zheng went to the palace, his saliva splashed all over my face, you just know Xuanhui envoy, don't you know that Bao Zheng is an admonisher?"
In a blink of an eye, in October of the third year of Huangyou (1051), Zhao Zhen paid homage to Zhang Yaozuo Xuanhui envoy and knew Heyang.
Tang Jie said to the same official: "This is what the Holy Majesty wants to do for him as Xuanhui envoy, but it's just under the name of Heyang. We live in the way of words, so we must advise."
The same officials were timid and did not dare to stand out, so Tang Jie went to the chapter alone to protest, saying that his relatives could not prejudge the government.
Knowing Tang Jie's loyalty, Zhao Zhen couldn't refuse the remonstrance, so he had to summon him, and told him face to face that this draft came from Zhongshu, and it wasn't entirely his decision.
At this time, Wen Yanbo was the prime minister. Tang Jie impeached Wen Yanbo, saying that he won the position of prime minister by offering Shu brocade and transportation to the palace. Please remove Wen Yanbo and replace him with Fubi.
Zhao Zhen was furious, threw Tang Jie's memorial to the ground, and threatened that if you were stubborn, I would demote you to Yuanzhou.
Tang Jie was not timid. He picked up the memorial and read it again. After reading it, he played again: "The reason why I admonish Your Majesty is because of loyalty and anger. Even if I put the minister under the frying pan, I will not escape. Why worry about relegation?" Woolen cloth?"
Seeing that he still wanted to remonstrate, Zhao Zhen summoned the consul and said: "As an admonisher, Tang Jie is his duty to discuss matters, but he falsely said that Wen Yanbo was sent from a concubine to the prime minister. What is this? As for who will be the prime minister, it is even more important It's beyond his authority to interfere, but he actually recommended Fu Bi, didn't he exceed his authority?"
At that time Wen Yanbo was standing next to Zhao Zhen, Tang Jie pointed to Wen Yanbo and asked, "Wen Yanbo! You should introspect yourself! If you want to do this, don't hide it!"
Wen Yanbo immediately knelt down and said: "The minister is really incompetent, and I would like to retreat and give way to the virtuous."
Zhao Zhen was furious and ordered Tang Jie to get out of the hall.
Cai Xiang, Xiu's living note, immediately stepped forward to rescue Tang Jie, saying that Tang Jie was really crazy, but accepting advice is a virtue of the master, and asked for leniency on Tang Jie.Zhao Zhen refused to listen, and demoted Tang Jie as Chunzhou Biejia.
Zhongcheng Wang Juzheng played immediately, saying that even though Tang Jie offended His Majesty, he still begged His Majesty to give him a lighter sentence and should not be punished so severely.
Zhao Zhen seemed to have realized something, so he moved to Yingzhou instead of Tang Jie.
Not long after, Zhao Zhen visited and learned that Concubine Zhang's father, Zhang Yaofeng, had been a guest of Wen Yanbo's father Wen Jie's family. When Concubine Zhang was not selected, she recognized Wen Yanbo as her uncle. During his tenure in Yizhou, he once offered the famous lantern brocade in Sichuan to the palace, which won the favor of Concubine Zhang.The impeachment of Wen Yanbo by Jie Jie in the former Tang Dynasty is indeed a fact, not a lie.Zhao Zhen regretted wronging Tang Jie, so he dismissed Wen Yanbo's position and went out to Xuzhou.
Later, someone wrote a poem chanting the matter, and there was a sentence that "no one enters the lantern brocade, and the courtiers are remembered in the pink palace".Whether it is true or not, no one has investigated. Perhaps, the brocade was donated by Mrs. Wen, and Wen Yanbo didn't even know it beforehand.
After Wen Yanbo was dismissed, the privy envoy Xia Song also died at this time. Zhao Zhen appointed Pang Ji as Tongping Zhangshi, Gao Ruona as privy envoy, Liang Shi as political advisor, and Di Qing as deputy privy envoy.