The struggle of the reborn prince

The historical lessons left by foreign relatives in the Han Dynasty are painful enough, and the lessons of Yang Guozhong alone in the Tang Dynasty are enough to shock the deaf and chilling! Lessons.The emperors, including their wives, couldn't help but feel that the lessons left by their relatives' dictatorship are too profound and painful! It is inevitable that they will have lingering fears in their hearts.Therefore, preventing and restricting the dictatorship of foreign relatives in terms of system and family law became the inevitable political choice of the successor dynasty.

The Song Dynasty accepted the lessons of foreign relatives interfering in politics that caused national turmoil and even national subjugation. Since the founding of the country, strict regulations have been formulated to avoid the phenomenon of foreign relatives interfering in politics.

It means that they can be appointed officials, and they are not too small, but they are just vain positions such as generals and generals, that is, they receive high salaries and have no real power. Of course, they have no chance to participate in politics.And if you have not made any serious mistakes after death, you will often be posthumously awarded honors such as Taibao, Jiedushi, and Zhongshuling to coax the dead and comfort the living.It is not uncommon for foreign relatives to be high-ranking officials, but most of them who can truly reach the ruling and prime minister level are not directly related to the empress dowager, empress, and emperor's favorite concubine.

But these systems can't stop the women in the harem from going upwards. The most brilliant and glorious women in the inner court are of course those who are lucky enough to win the throne of the queen and protect it with all their scheming and means.If the emperor dies, his son will be able to inherit the great power, and he will be promoted to the empress dowager, and he will still be able to support his life and die.But to achieve this goal, in addition to relying on one's own beauty, scheming and luck, it is undoubtedly necessary to find political helpers.But apart from my own father and brother, where can I find more caring political helpers than them?

According to human nature, she most likely wants to praise and praise her father and brother vigorously, and persuade and encourage the emperor to reward her father and brother with good jobs; Outsiders are at ease and loyal to themselves.But in the Song Dynasty, this situation often didn't work, especially Zhao Tun, a latecomer.He hates nepotism terribly...

The emperor had few concubines, but Zhu Shuzhen didn't feel relaxed at all.Because her sisters are not simple characters, they are not only smart and wise.Comparing with them, Zhu Shuzhen feels that she is an ugly duckling because she is considerate and has a very strong family background.She also wanted to recruit beautiful women and select some concubines from them to divert the emperor's favor from them, but the emperor was not good at this and repeatedly rejected her suggestion.

After several noble concubines gave birth to princes one after another, Zhu Shuzhen had an unpleasant quarrel with the emperor because of the establishment of the crown prince, which caused her son to be unable to become the prince for a long time, which made her feel that the crisis was approaching.In order to consolidate their position.Of course Zhu Shuzhen thought of her father and brother, but no matter how much she tried to insinuate for so many years, the emperor was only willing to give them a little salary, not a real job.

Some time ago, because of the Western Expedition to Gaochang and the knotting of the Western Liao Dynasty, the emperor frequently went to and from the imperial concubine Yu Liyan's bedroom, and of course he could not avoid staying there overnight.This made Zhu Shuzhen even more uneasy. In order to consolidate the newly acquired lands in the Western Regions and Northwest, the emperor would definitely favor Yu Liyan even more.To show my sincerity, as time goes on, it will inevitably make the relationship deeper, and it is possible to abolish the queen or establish a son without saving.

Just when Zhu Shuzhen was anxious, she first heard about the emperor's abdication.Immediately panicked.If the emperor ceases to be the emperor, her queen will also disappear, let alone her son will become the emperor in the future.Just to be on the safe side, she immediately contacted her natal brother in Beijing.Let them investigate whether this happened, but did not ask the emperor for confirmation.And this matter has been circulating in the market for some days.Of course, it is easy to 'confirm' the abdication.After Zhu Shuzhen learned the 'truth', she immediately wanted to go to Sheng Sheng to dissuade her.But he was stopped by his brother.

Uncle Zhu Bao analyzed the current situation for his younger sister. The emperor has always followed his word, so you must not try to persuade him. Otherwise, it will be counterproductive, because the emperor reprimands and neglects his political affairs, and his relationship with the emperor will become even worse. Nervous, we must find another way, it is best not to let the emperor know.The siblings pondered for a long time, and Zhu Bao came up with an idea for her, that is to take the matter to a higher level and let the world know about it, so as to use the power of public opinion to force the emperor to take back the idea of ​​abdicating.

It is impossible for the empress to go out of the palace to handle this matter personally, so the task of making things bigger naturally fell on Zhu Bao's head, but this also took on a hard job for him, the question is what channel to go through and who to do it with this matter.It is said that Zhu's father also became an official through the imperial examination. Although Zhu Bao's literary talent almost passed the examination, he was later granted a Jinshi background, so he should be classified as a scholar.The emperor's abdication is related to the interests of the majority of scholars. It should be the right way to ask them for help, but it doesn't work for the Zhu family and his son.

This is because the status of the Zhu family changed after becoming a queen, and in the eyes of the world, the relatives entered the political circle and climbed to high positions of power through the nepotism concluded by the women in the family.For ordinary people, especially for those scholar-bureaucrats who rely on their morality and talent and have a somewhat lofty posture, it is not only unfair, but also arouses their envy, and even contempt and contempt.In history, scholars always failed in the political struggle and power competition with their relatives.Failure is always frustrating, even heart-wrenching, which naturally makes scholars exclude their relatives from their circle, even if they were once scholars.

The foreign relatives also tend to have psychological changes with the change of status and identity. From their point of view, everyone has a strong desire for power and political ambitions. No one is indifferent to this special marriage in his family; Who doesn't make full use of this marriage, and regards it as a stepping stone and a ladder to a high official career.The differences in ideas made them themselves unaware of and appreciative of the indifference and exclusion of scholars, so they must be full of guard, jealousy, and even hostility towards scholar-official officials.

The two sides did not agree with each other, and they were already estranged from each other. Coupled with the irreconcilable conflicts, Zhu Bao could not use the strength of the scholars who were closest to him but also the farthest to complete this matter.But let him mobilize the people to dissuade the emperor from abdicating, let alone whether he has the ability, the status of the uncle makes him unable to let go of his dignity to deal with the untouchables, and this road is also blocked.

Officials in the Song Dynasty have a long tradition of doing business. Although the previous dynasties had imposed strict restrictions, the effect was not great.Later, Zhao Tun and others took advantage of the opportunity to rectify the administration of officials and severely rectified it before restraining themselves.But this ban does not restrict those idle officials, after all, everyone has to eat.Zhu Bao had nothing to do these years, and the Zhu Mansion used the name of the head of the country and the uncle of the country to do some business.And the emperor did not interfere too much with their "self-reliance". Over the years, the Zhu family has really earned a lot of money, and at the same time has accumulated some contacts in the business circles of Gyeonggi. on familiar groups.

The Song Dynasty’s policy of not suppressing industry and commerce created a hundred years of prosperity. After Zhao Tong succeeded to the throne, he introduced a series of policies to encourage industry and commerce, and actively expanded overseas trade, so that commerce developed rapidly again, bringing generous taxes to the country. one of the most beneficiary groups.Therefore, they hope that this state will continue, and the premise is that the emperor cannot be changed. The rumors of abdication have already made them feel uneasy, and now when the uncle Chaoguo came out to confirm it, they panicked and worried that their interests would be damaged. .

Zhu Baoli took advantage of the fear of the merchants and secretly signaled through the channels he controlled that the merchants must find a way to prevent the emperor from abdicating.Facts have proved that his trick is very effective, and the merchants reacted quickly. Everyone decided to gather together to keep warm to deal with this sudden crisis. Various guilds issued initiatives to their subordinates, calling on everyone to dissuade the emperor from abdicating, and they became The earliest movers of the storm...

"Your Majesty, there are various indications that the business world is involved in the turmoil, and it was Zhu Guozhu who planned and instigated it behind the scenes. His intention was to prevent His Majesty from abdicating, and he did not find any other intentions!" Li Jun concluded the whole story. road.

"Well, I got it! How deeply is the empress involved?" Zhao Tun listened to Jianxi and Li Jun's report quietly, his face was normal, but his heart was not calm.Er Qiu is just a servant, and Zhu Bao is also an uncle with no power, neither of them is considered a big man.But one made up such a lie in order to change the dynasty and become a powerful minister, and the other also wanted to maintain his status and gain real power at the same time.But it was just these two little people who caused chaos in Song Dynasty, which shows how powerful the temptation of power is.

"Your Majesty, the strength of the Zhu family is limited, and the queen can't get more support from the outside world. According to my subordinates, after the business community signed a joint letter, the situation is no longer under their control, and there are other people who are contributing to the flames. Presumably The empress is eager to protect the lord, so she did these stupid things!" Li Jun looked at the emperor and said carefully, the matter involved the emperor's housework, so he didn't dare to say more.

"Hehe, although the circumstances are justifiable, she cannot escape the blame, and I also have an unshirkable responsibility!" Zhao Tun said with a wry smile, and he could hear Li Jun's empress making excuses in order not to embarrass him too much. The meaning, but the development of the matter to this point has a great relationship with her.And neither I, as the emperor nor my husband, was responsible for not discovering the abnormality. Perhaps it was because of my neglect that I felt a strong anxiety, and thus overreacted... (to be continued...)