Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 475 89 The Servant Lying on the Incense Stove-3

A few days later, Zhuzhou and county schools held public discussions on offering sacrifices to wine, and successfully elected Chen Dong as the false prime minister.At the ceremony of accepting the throne, Chen Dong solemnly vowed that because the Holy Majesty was taken captive by Liao thieves, he would only take the phase for a while, and would never pretend to be the prime minister to usurp him. Hit it.In addition to impeachment, three years later, the counties will be elected by public discussion.The posthorse reported the mansion to the prefectures and counties of the Song Dynasty that had not yet been directly controlled by the Liao army.

Since ancient times, the intrigues among court officials, no matter how curious the people are, they have compiled countless legendary performances, and the secret history of the palace are nothing but selfish guesses.The imperial court always has to take care of the whole body. When the prime minister took office, he swore to the Tianmeng that he would not usurp it, which is unprecedented.As soon as this oath came out, there was an uproar again.Whether it is a local gentry or a commoner in the city, they are all talking about it.For ordinary people, a corner of the mysterious veil covered in the high temples has been lifted.But this is just a sneak peek. People's curiosity has not been satisfied, but it has aroused greater interest.Chen Dong used to have quite a reputation among Qingliu scholars, but now he is more popular, and he has confirmed his status as a prime minister.

After Chen Dong pretended to be the prime minister, he expanded the original military supply mansion into the prime minister's mansion accordingly, and appointed six ministers and important arms of Dali Temple Minister.Before the Son of Heaven was taken into captivity, Yue Fei, the Jiedu envoy who suppressed the emperor, was the highest-ranking general in the southeast region.According to the ancestral system of "using literature to control military affairs", Prime Minister Chen Dong suggested that he should be appointed as a privy envoy to the public discussion of offering wine to the county school.Because Yue Fei was leading his troops to conquer Jianghuai, this letter of appointment was sent to Huaixi non-stop.

Hou Huanyin, the appeasement envoy of Jingdong East Road, went to the Confucian Temple in Qufu to pay homage to Confucius after pretending to be the governor of political affairs. He vowed to expel the northern captives and restore the rule of the three generations. There are also many people offering sacrifices to Confucius.After the fall of northern states and counties, the Liao army forced the Song people to shave their hair and change clothes, which aroused the resentment among the people, and in turn brewed an extremely strong trend of restoring ancient rituals.Relying on offering sacrifices to Confucius, Hou Huanyin gained momentum in the Qingliu. Hou Huanyin immediately proposed that Jingdong should contact all states and counties, and carry out the strategy of "respecting the king and fighting against barbarians". It is not the emperor of Zhou who is respected, but the emperor of Song Dynasty who was captured by the Liao thieves.It was faintly able to compete with Chen Dong's momentum.

The business of the Prime Minister's Mansion in Ezhou has gradually become a climate, and the collection of money, food, soldiers and horses from Jingxiang, Jianghuai and other counties has gone smoothly.However, compared with what was needed to expel the northern captives, it was still not enough to make ends meet.Because the Baoyi Army was stationed in Ezhou, the supplement of food and salary was considered timely.The food and salaries of the townsmen heading east were intermittent.Suppressing the army made Yue Fei and his subordinates eat coarse meat, which won the hearts of the army.However, the farther you marched east, the more prefectures and counties were destroyed by the Liao army. Under the constant invasion of Khitan cavalry, the common people delayed their farming. The wealthy families could rely on the food stored in previous years, and the poor people could only live on wild vegetables. .The lack of food and salaries greatly reduced the speed of the town's army's march.After learning about the movement of the suppressing army, various departments of the Liao army began to respond. General Tie Muge led more than [-] cavalry, and coerced tens of thousands of Song troops who surrendered to Bianliang to march westward to compete with the suppressing army for Huaixi.

The rainy season in the south of the Yangtze River is gradually passing, and the weather is getting hotter every day.What happened in the Song Dynasty these days is quite dizzying.Often the freshness of one thing has not passed, and another more fresh thing attracts people's favor.People don't even have time to think about whether these changes are good or bad.In restaurants and teahouses, in street chats, and in villages, people often mention the emperor Zhao Ke, and more often it has become a symbol.The people in the north and south of the river have no time to think about what to do if they really welcome the Holy One back. They use various accents and various moods to say "Ezhou", "Prime Minister", "Oath of Alliance" everywhere, "Sacrifice to Confucius" these fashionable things.Some time ago, the rumors about the identity of Zhao Xingde's clan gradually faded away.

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In Dunhuang, Zhang Shanfu was relieved to see the news that Zhao Xingde had rejected the Minister of the Ministry of War.These days, he has been in a conflicted mood. The power of Ezhou has soared, which not only countered the Liao Kingdom, but also weakened the prestige of Xiangyang Song Court.On the one hand, Zhao De is Xia Guo's general, the higher his prestige and status in Ezhou, the more benefits he can fight for Xia Guo.But on the other hand, after all, Zhao Xingde was from the Song Dynasty in the Guandong. The higher his status in the Song Dynasty, the more he would inevitably lean towards the east.From the heart, Zhang Shanfu was even a little reluctant to let him go back to Kanto.

"It seems that this Zhao De is an honest man." Zhang Shanfu flipped through the secret report and said with a dark smile, "He said that no matter what, the ancestors should not be identified indiscriminately. It was changed 'indiscriminately'. This is a satire on Yelu Dashi." This is what the party said at a banquet with the county school, and it was reported by the detailed work of the Military Intelligence Department.Zhang Shanfu knew that Prime Minister Liu Yi paid special attention to this young general.He pulled out the secret report, put it together with the recent military report in the official letter, and ordered someone to send it to the prime minister's residence.

Liu Yi is reporting to His Majesty Chen Xuan in the Linquan Palace that the Huguo Mansion has agreed to bid for foreign mining rights.

"Thanks to Zhao Xingde for coming up with this idea, the imperial treasury doesn't need to work hard, and there is a lot of income for nothing." Chen Xuan praised, raised his eyes and said, "The prime minister came here in person, is it possible that he is planning to transfer him back to the prime minister's mansion? "He shook his head and sighed, "Managing Dongmian is inseparable from him. There is only one such person." Once in a lifetime opportunity.

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All kinds of news spread to Xiangyang one after another, and there were many discussions among the people.Although Chen Dong, Zhao Xingde, Huang Jian and others all had great prestige in Qingliu, it was unprecedented for prefecture and county officials to recommend Mu Shou and then the prime minister.For many people, it is better to see Mingjun in front of them than to pin their hopes on this.Especially after the Liao army changed to a long-term siege strategy and concentrated on building fortresses and training naval forces, the fighting outside Xiangyang City calmed down instead, giving people the illusion that the situation has stabilized and ZTE is in sight.

In the eyes of some people, Zhao Ke fell into the hands of the Liao army, no different from a dead man.After all, Zhao Qi is of the blood of the former emperor, and with the support of Cai Jing and other veterans, the three major camps of the imperial army, it seems that he has become orthodox.Therefore, following Zhao Qi to be a "minister of the dragon" has become a choice that some people flock to.Since Zhao Qi proclaimed himself emperor for more than a month, there has been an endless stream of fleeing officials and gentry from all over the country.Xiangyang City already has the momentum of the Bianliang court.However, there were too many monks and too little porridge. Even though Zhao Qi had the heart to accept sages, Xiangyang could not compare with Bianliang, which collected all the wealth and gifts of the world.Many scholars who rushed to seek official positions stayed in Xiangyang City, discussing Ezhou affairs every day without incident, and most of them took a disdainful and mocking tone, otherwise they would be easily mistaken for the accomplices of the rebellious ministers, and everyone would laugh at them , and even jail time.

The big words "Taibaiju" are written on the wine banner. In this magnificent inn, there are many officials and gentry who have avoided living in Xiangyang.If there is nothing to do on weekdays, they will make friends as brothers and sisters, and then order two pots of tea and a plate of fruit to pass the day.

"If Chen Shaoyang is Cao Cao." Guan Rui said sullenly, "Does Hou Huanyin want to be Wang Mang?"

He originally spent a lot of money to get in touch with Grand Master Cai, but unfortunately there were too many people related to Grand Master Cai and too few official positions, so he had to be ranked behind.The bottom of his robe was worn out, but he didn't change it in time because of the chaos of the war. He remembered that because of the obstruction of Chen Dong and Zhao Xingde, the southeastern states and counties refused to accept the new emperor, and they publicly discussed the election of the local government. Mu Shou, the lucrative official positions in the imperial court have also decreased a lot out of thin air.Therefore, thinking of Chen and Zhao, Guan Rui's teeth itch with hatred, and wished he could immediately become the Ministry of Punishment and convict the two chiefs as treason.

Wu Hefu who was beside him sneered and said, "Zhao Yuanzhi just stole his name to deceive the world, and the treaty of the Baoyi Army group of thieves is nothing more than that. Chen Shaoyang is the official of the imperial court, and he walked with him and believed in Huang Zhoushan's vain words." Said, it's ridiculous to say that you have the audacity to say that you are the prime minister without mentioning it, but you still make some oath. What is famous all over the world, they are just two crazy people!"

Hearing him scolding happily, everyone laughed loudly together, and someone shouted even louder: "Add another plate of fruit." "Another jug ​​of wine!" "Hurry up—"

Over the past few days, the number of customers in the store has more than doubled compared to the original one, and the waiters are too busy, so the boss hired a few escaped people. Of course, there is no salary, but they are allowed to live. In the woodshed behind the shop, they eat porridge twice a day. These people are unavoidably clumsy. Not only do they have to be reprimanded by customers, but they are also bullied by the waiters.

Fan Changheng silently lowered his head, hiding the humiliation in his eyes, and ran back and forth between the tea and wine tables.He is not considered poor in the village, but his family background is not very good. He originally wanted to come to Xiangyang to find an opportunity to become an official, but what he never expected was that the price of goods in Xiangyang city was so high that he could not imagine it. Just as he was about to go back home At the same time, he fell into the trap of another liar, and finally had to work as a lowly servant in this "Taibaiju" inn to make a living.

Every day, I listened to these in-house guests calling each other brothers in person, and discussing duplicitously behind their backs.Fan Changheng knew that there was a man surnamed Tian who used to be the magistrate of the prefecture, who was greedy for a lot of money. He was impeached and dismissed from office, so he was full of contempt for this man surnamed Tian.He also knew that there was a man surnamed Wen who was illiterate, but he was the best at making money. A few days ago, he became Mr. Liu's adoptive son.He also knew that several people were liars who were around the rich, and they specifically claimed that they had connections to go to official careers to lure people into the bait. These people were the ones who cheated him of the last money.Thinking of this, Fan Changheng wished to eat their meat.

However, now all these people are riding on his head, not only that, but also shit, shit.

"The people who gain power in this world are either robbers or thieves." He thought silently.