Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 12 Five New Deals
Chai Zongxun immediately discussed with Empress Dowager Fu for a long time the measures that should be taken when going to court tomorrow. It was not until late at night that they were fully decided.

On December 1, the sixth year of Xiande, after having completely controlled the situation in Bianjing and the palace, as soon as the hour passed, Chai Zongxun accompanied Empress Dowager Fu to the Chui Gong Hall outside the palace to attend court.

The capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty was Bianliang, which was called Bianjing.

The palace has been run by successive dynasties for more than fifty years. It occupies a large area of ​​more than 50 square meters, with carved beams and painted buildings, majestic palaces and extremely brilliant construction.

The layout of the palace is divided into three parts: the rear garden, the inner court, and the outer court.

At this time, Chai Zongxun had more than 2 servants in the palace, including more than eunuchs, more than maids, craftsmen, and two armies, the Front Division of the Forbidden Army Palace and the Imperial Guards Division, totaling about people.

When the two of them entered the palace, surrounded by eunuchs, palace maids and imperial guards, hundreds of court ministers were already waiting in the palace, divided into left and right civil and military groups, following the practice of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties.

After the ceremony, the 7-year-old Emperor Chai Zongxun sat on the golden throne, while the Queen Mother Fu sat behind the curtain behind Chai Zongxun to listen to the government.

Han Tong received instructions from Chai Zongxun that he was physically strong, but he was also injured in court this morning.

Li Fu, the general manager of the palace, first read out the imperial edict to kill Zhao Kuangyin and his party. He said that Zhao Kuangyin entered the palace late at night with sharp weapons and wanted to assassinate Emperor Chai Zongxun. He listed six major crimes against Zhao Kuangyin:
Article 1: Conspiracy to assassinate the emperor and commit evil acts.

Article 2: Forming cliques for personal gain and manipulating the "Ten Brothers of the Righteous Society".

Article 3: Bribing the hearts of the Imperial Guard can be punished.

Article 4: Colluding with the ministers of the DPRK and the Central Government, and forming a party with the Deputy Prime Minister Wang Pu, which corresponds internally and externally, is a heinous crime.

Article 5: Spreading rumors in the capital makes people feel uneasy.

Article 6: Attack the late emperor's national policy of accumulating people's strength and developing the economy, and use it to win over Buddhists.

All the ministers in the palace were shocked when they heard this.

The seven-year-old emperor Chai Zongxun killed the general Zhao Kuangyin in the Xingwu Palace without making a move.

Fan Zhi and other ministers thought it was the Queen Mother's trick, but they did not expect that the Queen Mother Fu, who had not shown much publicity in the past few months and did not speak much in the court, turned out to be a scheming and powerful character, much like her husband Zhou Shizong's wise and heroic style.

No wonder Zhou Shizong ordered the Empress Dowager Fu to attend the court behind the curtain before his death.

All the civil and military officials in the dynasty, except Han Tong and the consort Zhang Yongde, knew that it was the young emperor Chai Zongxun's method, and they all believed that it was the Queen Mother Fu who was strategizing and controlling the overall situation.

After Li Fu finished reading the imperial edict, Empress Dowager Fu lightly opened her lips and said:

"Zhao Ni has committed a heinous crime, and now he has been executed. This is a blessing to the country.

Zhang Yongde, the commander of the Guards and the Pro-Army Division, and Li Chongjin, the commander of the Guide Army, made outstanding contributions in suppressing the rebellion. Zhang Yongde was specially named the Marquis of Jizhou and Li Chongjin was named the Marquis of Huaizhou.

The family members moved to the capital.

When Zhao Ni rebelled this time, Han Tong fought tooth and nail to protect the safety of His Majesty and the palace. He lost his arm in a bloody battle with Zhao Ni. His merits were also very high. He was promoted to the rank of inspection officer in front of the palace and was granted the title of Marquis of Baoguo.

The second prime minister, Wang Pu, secretly colluded with Zhao Ni and was immediately dismissed from office and imprisoned as a crime! "

When the Imperial Guards standing around the Chui Gong Hall heard this, two Imperial Guards immediately stepped forward and pulled out Wang Pu, who was standing in the second row of the civil service queue. They reached out to knock off his crown, took off his official uniform and pulled him out. He held on.

Wang Pu had a panicked expression on his face, his body was almost limp, and he kept shouting:
"Queen Mother, I am wronged! I have never participated in Zhao Ni's conspiracy to usurp the throne!"

Empress Dowager Fu and Chai Zongxun both watched with cold eyes as Wang Pu was dragged out of the palace by two imperial guards. Among the ministers of the court, many who had close contacts with Zhao Kuangyin felt trembling and fearful.

All the ministers in the court were shocked when they saw that Empress Dowager Fu had used the power of the party to punish Zhao Kuangyin and took down the second prime minister Wang Pu as soon as she came to court today. No one dared to speak out against it, for fear of harming themselves.

Empress Dowager Fu was quite satisfied when she saw the reactions of the ministers under Yuqi. She paused and continued:
"Although your Majesty is young, he has made great progress after receiving a dream from the Emperor a few months ago. I will leave it to the emperor to announce the subsequent administration."

Both the civil and military officials in the court thought that the Queen Mother intended to cultivate the prestige of the young emperor Chai Zongxun in front of the ministers, so they handed over the Queen Mother's will to the emperor Chai Zongxun and listened attentively.

Chai Zongxun had been waiting for his mother's words for a long time, and he immediately said solemnly:

“Zhao Ni’s crime was extremely heinous, but the fact that we, the Great Zhou Dynasty, allowed this thief to secretly carry out ghost-land tricks is proof that there are flaws in the imperial court’s institutional structure.

His father was a wise and powerful man. During the six years of his reign, he conquered foreign lands in the south and north, opened up new territories and expanded his territory; he also rectified agriculture and commerce at home and developed the economy.

He could have unified the world and created a prosperous age in the near future! It is a pity that he died so young, which makes our great Zhou people extremely sad!

Now that I have succeeded my father to the throne, do I dare not to work hard and fulfill my father's grand plan and legacy? "

When all the ministers listened carefully, they all felt that the little emperor's majesty had increased sharply today, and his words were clear and coherent. I don't know whether it was because of the power of killing Zhao Kuangyin, or because the little emperor had indeed matured a lot.

Prime Minister Fan Zhi came out of the squad and said:

"Your Majesty killed Zhao Ni in a calm manner, and his heroic spirit has been revealed. In the future, he will definitely inherit our great Zhou Dynasty and become a wise king.

I am willing to do my best to assist Your Majesty. "

Chai Zongxun nodded and said:
"Fan Xiang is the chief minister of my father, Emperor Tuogu, and he has always been loyal to our royal family of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

My mother and I have been discussing for a few days and have come up with some major political plans. Now I will tell you, all my dear friends, please take a look. "

Seeing that all the ministers in the palace were listening attentively, Chai Zongxun knew that although he was young, his prestige had greatly increased after killing Zhao Kuangyin's party, and he couldn't help but feel satisfied.

Chai Zongxun continued: "It has been several years since the world was at peace during the Great Zhou Dynasty, and many talented people have been left behind by the people. Since the late emperor re-introduced the imperial examination, they have become highly regarded by scholars all over the world.

I have observed the current downward trend and decided to implement the following measures:

One: Upgrading the imperial examination from one subject every five years to one subject every three years to facilitate talents from all over the world to enter the imperial court and serve me and the country.

In order to deal with today's world of conflicts among many countries, I propose to conduct martial arts examinations, which are subdivided into two assessments: martial arts and art of war.

Second: The candidate for the vacated secondary prime minister shall be selected by the ministers of the DPRK and the Central Government through a consensus to elect a talented and knowledgeable person who is highly respected by the public.

Third: Our Forbidden Army of the Great Zhou Dynasty has fought in all directions for several years, and has achieved great results through hard work. I have decided to increase the monthly salary of all the Forbidden Army and the sergeants of the Returned Army from the current eight hundred wen to one or two and a half denarii. The officers' salaries will be increased accordingly.

Fourth: I am still young, and I intend to adjust my father's national policy of "developing the world in ten years, nourishing the people in ten years, and bringing peace in ten years" to "nurturing the people in ten years, developing the world in ten years, and bringing peace in ten years." .

Fifth: Now that the world has been in conflict for a long time and the people are tired, developing the economy and increasing tax revenue for the state treasury should be the top priority.

To this end, I have considered three measures to boost the economy.

The first one: encourage people to cultivate and cultivate land across the country, promote water conservancy, and reduce land rent from 40% to 30%.

The second item: Ban the checkpoints between states and counties, vigorously promote commercial development, lift curfews in some states and counties, and set up "night markets".

The third item: Use the imperial employment system to replace corvee service, hide wealth among the people, encourage people to do business, and increase the tax base. "

(End of this chapter)