I studied in modern times

Chapter 758: Sending Envoys to Song

Shi Deyi was very efficient. The next day, he brought all the secrets of Zhao Xu's uncle to Zhao Xu's case.

Zhao Xu looked at this and his face suddenly turned gloomy.

Because the report sent by Shi Deyi was written very clearly.

The Zen Master Xiu Zai of Fayun Temple was a good friend of Zhao Xu, his good uncle.

Even the Fayun Temple itself was an imperially built temple by Zhang Dunli and his wife, who admired the monk Xiuzai's "profound Buddhist knowledge" and specially sought the permission of Zhao Xu's father, the emperor, who granted a plaque to build it.

Even the temple was built with the help of the "good uncle" who contributed money and effort.

Moreover, it is built next to the Daxiangguo Temple, where every inch of land is valuable!
After closing the report, Zhao Xu said coldly: "It seems that my uncle really wants to abandon me!"

Shi Deyi lowered his head and didn't even dare to breathe.

He already felt the murderous intent.

"Everyone knows!" The official's voice sounded in my ears.

Shi Deyi was quick-witted and immediately responded, "I'm here."

"Keep an eye on Fayun Temple as well, especially that monk Xiuzai!"

"The Investigation Department must keep a close eye on it!"

"Yes!" Shi Deyi said immediately, "Please rest assured, the Investigation Department will keep a close eye on the relevant people!"

……

After seeing Shi Deyi off, Zhao Xu leaned back on the cushion and muttered to himself, "Zhang Dunli..."

"You want to be a Seth-hei and an Aqina!"

"Don't blame me!"

So he stood up, called Feng Jing in, and asked, "Feng Jing, send someone to the Qingshou Palace to see if the Grand Mother and the Queen Mother are busy?"

"Yes!" Feng Jing took the order and left. A quarter of an hour later, the people he sent came back and reported that today the two Empresses in the Palace and the concubines in the palace went to the back garden to check the progress of the garden construction.

Zhao Xu was immediately delighted, and he said to Feng Jing, "Let's go to the back garden together to see the progress of the garden!"

Last year, Zhao Xu divided the first phase of the Bian Jing Academy money into five parts, and used them for education and building gardens for the two palaces respectively.

Today, this royal garden with a budget of 1.5 million strings of cash has passed the preliminary exploration and site selection stage.

Entering the preparation phase for construction.

Craftsmen from the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Construction have entered the back garden and started leveling the land and demolishing dilapidated buildings within the selected garden area.

The two palaces are naturally very concerned about this.

After all, this is where they will live in glory after they step down from the political arena and return to power.

The Empress Dowager, in particular, was very concerned about this matter. In the past March alone, she went to see it no less than five times.

Every time, he would bring the concubines from the Ren Temple to the back garden to see the garden that had not yet been built.

The concubines were also very patronizing and would flatter and praise her every time they went with her.

Especially Concubine Zhou Shufei, she was simply the best supporting actress to the Empress Dowager.

He always managed to perfectly pick up the Empress Dowager's words and then flatter her.

I can only say that she is indeed an expert in palace fighting in the Renmiao harem.

The more the Concubine Dowager did so, the more the Empress Dowager liked to go.

Just ten days into April, she had already visited the temple no less than three times.

Go almost whenever you have time!
……

After leaving the Funing Palace, Zhao Xu, accompanied by the Imperial Dragon Guards and eunuchs carrying imperial weapons, passed through the Yingyang Gate and entered the back garden.

Not long after, he found the two palaces in the pavilion on the north side of the Imperial Swamp, leading the concubines to look out at the garden construction site near the Gongchen Gate, the north gate of the imperial city.

Today is still a sunny day, but it is not hot in the palace. Instead, there is a gentle breeze, which makes people feel very comfortable.

Zhao Xu walked forward, and from a distance, the eunuch in charge of the ceremony began to sing a yes song, announcing his arrival to everyone.

Therefore, when Zhao Xu arrived, the two palaces were already sitting in the pavilion waiting for him with smiles on their faces.

"I pay my respects to my Grand Mother and the Queen Mother!" Zhao Xu arrived at the pavilion and greeted them politely. Then he nodded and greeted the other concubines who surrounded the Grand Empress Dowager like stars surrounding the moon.

"I am in good health!"

"I am fine too!" The two palaces smiled and nodded.

"Greetings to the Emperor, may the Emperor be in good health!" The concubines all bowed slightly and saluted Zhao Xu.

"Why did Sixth Brother come to the back garden today?" he asked the Empress Dowager.

"My dear mother..." Zhao Xu walked forward and sat in front of her, saying, "I have nothing to do today, so I thought I would go to the back garden to see the garden built for my mother and my mother, and see if the people in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Works, and the Ministry of Construction are capable."

"Sixth brother is so thoughtful!" Empress Dowager Xiang said with relief.

At this time, the other concubines also said: "The emperor is really kind and filial!"

"Your Highness, Your Highness the Queen Mother, you will be blessed in the future!"

Concubine Zhou Shu even said to the Grand Empress Dowager: "At the beginning, Ci Sheng Guangxian told me that Your Majesty is a person born with blessings! So he often reminded me to serve Your Majesty well!"

"As expected, now it's not just me who has benefited from the Majesty's influence, but also my daughter and her husband, who have benefited from the Majesty's influence!"

"Some time ago, Baoshou sent someone to the palace to announce the good news that a baby boy had been born at home..."

As she spoke, Concubine Zhou Shu began to thank the Empress Dowager profusely.

When the Empress Dowager listened, her eyebrows blossomed with smiles.

At this time, Zhao Xu turned around and looked at the construction site under Gongchen Gate.

Inside the Gongchen Gate and outside the back garden, more than ten official buildings originally owned by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, including the Inner Wine Warehouse, Inner Tailoring Institute, Inner Vinegar Warehouse, and Inner Oil Warehouse, have been mostly demolished, leaving only a dozen official buildings still standing.

The progress of the project is extremely fast!
"Mother, Queen Mother, are you satisfied with the location of this garden?" Zhao Xu asked.

The Empress Dowager replied, "The place that the Emperor has chosen for me and the Empress Dowager is indeed excellent!"

"I have asked people to invite the eminent monks from the temples in Beijing, and they have all come to see it..."

"All the great monks and sages said that this place has excellent feng shui. It is not only good for health, but also for offspring!"

Empress Dowager Xiang also said, "Yes, after the several female Taoist priests I invited came to take a look, they all said that the terrain of Gongchen Gate is lower than that of the imperial city, which may be unfavorable for offspring. Now that it has been converted into a garden and the terrain has been raised, there will be more children!"

Zhao Xu smiled. The location of the garden he chose for the two palaces was naturally excellent.

Because this place is the area where Gen Yue was built after Zhao Ji came to power.

You can question Zhao Ji's ability to govern the country.

However, in terms of artistic cultivation and personal enjoyment, Zhao Ji is the undisputed king in these two fields!

Throughout the history, few emperors could compare to Emperor Daojun.

Of course, Zhao Xu was not as bored as Zhao Ji, who built large-scale projects and created wonders at all costs.

The garden he built for the two palaces was probably less than one-fifth of Zhao Ji's Gen Yue in scale, and could only be considered a youthful version of Gen Yue.

This was mainly because Zhao Xu was not as thick-skinned as Zhao Ji. He could not do what Zhao Ji did, which was to demolish all the houses outside the imperial city and drive the people out of the city in order to build a garden for himself.

Therefore, the garden he built for the two palaces could only be built in a small space, making the best use of the original space in the imperial city.

However, there is one thing about this garden that is consistent with Zhao Ji's Gen Yue - that is, after the old official residence is demolished, soil will be taken from Kaibao Temple and brought into the palace to raise the terrain in this area.

To make this garden higher than other areas of the imperial city! For this purpose, Zhao Xu directly approved 500,000 strings of cash for the cost of raising the garden!
no way!
Since Zhao Ji built the Gen Yue, he has had sons one after another, and most of them have grown up healthy!

This made Zhao Xu in modern times drool with envy after reading the records.

Nowadays, it’s natural to follow suit.

He accompanied the two palaces in the back garden for more than an hour, looked around the garden, summoned several eunuchs in charge of garden projects to question them, and rewarded the craftsmen who were working that day.

Zhao Xu returned to the Qingshou Palace surrounded by the two palaces and the concubines dowagers.

He also had dinner with the two palaces in the Qingshou Palace, and then he and Empress Dowager Xiang bid farewell to the Grand Empress Dowager.

After leaving Qingshou Palace, Zhao Xu accompanied Empress Dowager Xiang on the road back to Baoci Palace.

Along the way, Empress Dowager Xiang seemed to be hesitant to speak several times.

Zhao Xu saw this and realized something. When he arrived at Baoci Palace and helped the Queen Mother enter the inner chamber, he asked, "My Queen Mother was on the way. Do you have anything to tell me?"

The Queen Mother sighed and said, "It's nothing..."

"It's just that I always feel a little flustered..."

Zhao Xu looked at Empress Dowager Xiang and asked, "Why are you so nervous, mother?"

The Queen Mother shook her head: "Maybe I was wrong..."

She looked at Zhao Xu's little face and sighed in her heart.

No one knows a child better than his mother!
Although, she and the child have only been mother and son for two years.

But the mother and child are connected by heart!
In the past two years, Empress Dowager Xiang has been concerned about this child every day.

I am afraid of being too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter.

Especially last winter, when Zhao Xu lived in Baoci Palace, she sometimes had to get up three or five times a night to send people to check whether the child slept well and covered himself with a blanket.
Therefore, she was also the most sensitive to Zhao Xu's behavior.

Just like today, Zhao Xu, who usually seldom went to the back garden, suddenly went there today.

Moreover, it was chosen when she, the Grand Empress Dowager, and all the concubines were present.

Moreover, he kept talking to them and tried his best to make them happy.

This child is a thoughtful person with many ideas.

Now that such an abnormal behavior has suddenly occurred, the Queen Mother can't help but feel panic.

Zhao Xu listened, but served the Queen Mother to sit on the bed in the inner chamber, and said: "Although I was not born by you, I was raised by you, and I was protected by you personally..."

"Although the Queen Mother and I are not biological mother and son, we are better than biological mother and son!"

"I know!" Empress Dowager Xiang sighed, "That's why I worry about my sixth brother every day... I'm afraid that he won't eat or sleep well, and will hurt his body... I won't be able to go to Yongyu Mausoleum to meet the late emperor in the future!"

Zhao Xu lowered his head when he heard this: "Don't worry, mother. I will remember your teachings, eat on time, sleep on time, grow up early, and give you a few big fat grandchildren soon..."

When Empress Dowager Xiang heard this, she finally smiled. She reached out and touched Zhao Xu's head, saying, "Now, mother is waiting for Sixth Brother to give her more grandchildren... In this palace, watch the grandchildren grow up healthily... In the future, when you go to Yongyu Mausoleum and meet the late emperor, you will not feel ashamed!"

……

After leaving Baoci Palace, Zhao Xu sighed twice.

He could guess some of the words that the Empress Dowager Xiang did not say.

If it were an ordinary family, they would do it for the sake of Empress Dowager Xiang and the relationship between relatives.

Maybe Zhao Xu would spare Zhang Dunli this time.

But, he is the emperor, the Son of Heaven!
For the emperor, there are some things he can turn a blind eye to, but there are some things that he must take seriously, and if any signs of this are discovered, they must be nipped in the bud or killed!
Unfortunately, Zhang Dunli's case belongs to the latter.

It wasn’t because he was talking nonsense in front of Empress Dowager Xiang.

In this case, he is at most a big mouth.

At most, Zhao Xu would be punished, like Guo Xianqing, and be sent to the Imperial Academy.

However, the problems exposed by Zhang Dunli now are very serious!

He has an affair with a monk who spreads political rumors.

Moreover, he was willing to act as a mouthpiece for the monk.

what is this?
He is spreading prophecies and trying to disrupt the government with rumors!
All emperors, unless they are puppets, will never turn a blind eye to such matters.

If any signs are found, they must be strangled or beaten to death!
What's more, Zhao Xu now suspects that he may have other thoughts.

Once this suspicion is confirmed, Zhang Dunli will be charged with an additional crime - plotting evil, or even conspiracy and treason!

Just like the case of Zhao Shiju back then!
That’s why Zhao Xu said that he is Saishei and Aqina!
……

Mingzhou Port.

A ship from Japan slowly approached the shore.

A monk in robes appeared on the deck.

As he appeared, he immediately attracted the attention of many officials from the Maritime Customs.

"A Japanese monk?"

"Are you here in the Song Dynasty to seek Dharma again?"

Since the Japanese monk Chengxun came to Song Dynasty to seek Buddhist teachings more than ten years ago, legends about Japanese monks have been circulating in the Liangzhe area.

The main reason is that Chengxun’s Buddhist practice is indeed very profound.

He left many stories and legends among the people of the Song Dynasty.

So, officials came forward to welcome another eminent monk from Japan.

This is not because they have a strong desire to spread the Dharma.

It is indeed the grace of the current emperor - all the heads of the maritime trade who can attract ships and unload goods, and whose cumulative value reaches 50,000 strings of cash, 100,000 strings of cash, or 200,000 strings of cash, will be promoted to official positions!

As long as the officials of the Maritime Customs were able to attract investment of 50,000 or 100,000 strings of cash, they would be granted official status.

And he is a civil servant!
Although, most of them were just minor officials of low rank - only those who reached 200,000 strings of cash or more were allowed to be appointed as the Selected Personnel and Judges and the Lieutenants.

In the Song Dynasty society where officialdom is the most important thing, this is really great.

But this still made the petty officials in the local customs offices nervous.

Whenever there is an opportunity, they will do their best to recruit merchants in order to reach the quota for official appointment as soon as possible.

Therefore, in Mingzhou, there were already brave people who volunteered to follow the merchants from Southeast Asia and even India and the Arab world, and followed these merchants' ships to embark on a long journey to distant foreign lands, just to gain an official position.

The Mingzhou government was very supportive of this.

Anyone who is willing to go will be given an official certificate to prove his or her official status as long as he or she applies.

When the ship was at a steady position and the officials were about to approach, the monk took the lead and sang the Buddhist name to the officials who were approaching: "Amitabha!"

As soon as he opened his mouth, he spoke in the pure and authentic style of the Central Plains.

"The Japanese envoy to the Song Dynasty, the abbot of Enryaku-ji Temple on Mount Hiei, Yorien, is here to attend the court of the Song Dynasty at the order of the Japanese ruler!"

It was during the Xining period that the Japanese monk Yorien, a disciple of Chengxun, followed Chengxun to the Song Dynasty to seek Buddhist teachings. After Chengxun passed away in the fourth year of Yuanfeng, Chengxun brought his relics and belongings back to his country.

Back then, he did not just return as a disciple of Chengxun.

At the same time, he was also a special envoy of the Song Dynasty. The things he brought back included a handwritten letter from the Emperor of the Song Dynasty to the King of Japan and imperial items.

This time, he was sent as an envoy by the King of Japan to the Song Dynasty. He set out from Japan, traveled a long sea route, and along the island chain of the Ryukyu Islands, he finally arrived in Mingzhou.

(End of this chapter)