Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

At this time, among the civil servants of the Song Dynasty, Cai Jing ranked first and Liu Zhengfu ranked second.

Liu Zhengfu once attached himself to Cai Jing and helped Cai Jing return to the prime minister for the second time. He also helped Cai Jing overthrow Zhang Shangying.

However, Cai Jing once had a mortal enemy named Liu Kui, and Liu Zhengfu had a close personal relationship with Liu Kui, so there was a rift between the two.

Song Huizong deliberately promoted Liu Zhengfu, and his intention was very obvious, which was to make the two prime ministers fight!

"Father, the officials issued a decree today. From the Ministry of Rites to the Imperial College, all officials will be demoted and punished!" The second son, Liu Fumin, ran back happily to report the news.

Liu Fumin's position is Yougewaizhi, that is, the emperor's library clerk. He specializes in helping the emperor read and write, and can obtain information as soon as possible.

The eldest son Liu Zaomin, who is the minister of the Ministry of War, laughed when he heard this and said: "This is a great event. Although punishing those officials of the Ministry of Rites has not shaken Cai Jing's foundation, it means that the officials are becoming more and more dissatisfied with him. In time, Cai Jing will surely fall!"

But Liu Zhengfu sighed: "This is the official family and ministers, putting me on the fire to roast!"

Liu Zhengfu did not want to fight with Cai Jing. He always regarded himself as Cai Jing's party member. Inexplicably, the emperor pushed him to the forefront, and Cai Jing's opponents also came to rely on him, forcing him to play against Cai Jing.

This time the ministers impeached Cai Jing's accomplices, Liu Zhengfu did nothing, but Cai Jing's anger will definitely be unleashed on him.

"Oh, I'd better resign." Liu Zhengfu actually started to study ink, preparing to write a resignation letter and go home to retire.

Liu Zaomin was shocked: "Why is father like this?"

Liu Zhengfu said: "Cai Jing has no bottom line. I can't fight him. I am old and sick, and the best I can do is retire from office and return home. But you two brothers are afraid of his revenge! What happened to Liu Gongtou is not far away."

Liu Gonglu was Liu Kui, and Cai Jing attacked his brother. Thousands of people were implicated in the case, and dozens of people were executed (most of the dead were subordinate officials, but also Liu Kui's relatives).

"Father, don't worry. The palace has the support of the empress. Is Cai Jing more popular with the officials than the empress?" Liu Fumin said.

"You are confused. The Queen has not seen Zheng Juzhong for a long time!" Liu Zhengfu said.

Zheng Juzhong is related to Empress Zheng. In terms of seniority, he is Li Qingzhao's biological uncle. He used to be a member of Cai Jing's party. Now that the "clan sister" has become the queen, Zheng Juzhong's ambitions have also grown. Song Huizong took the opportunity to promote this person and asked Zheng Juzhong to contain Cai Jing's power.

Liu Zhengfu and Zheng Juzhong became the core of the "Anti-Cai Jing Alliance" inexplicably, but in fact it was all arranged by the emperor.

Empress Zheng obviously felt that something was wrong, so she forced her father to resign and stopped contacting her elder brother Zheng Juzhong.

Liu Zaomin was still reluctant to part with his glory and wealth, so he persuaded him in a roundabout way: "Father, if the officials ask you to fight Cai Jing, they will not allow you to resign."

Liu Zhengfu thought about it carefully, nodded and said: "That's right, the officials must take the initiative to let me go."

Therefore, Liu Zhengfu rewrote the admonishment letter.

Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty was very satisfied with his ambitions recently and planned to go to Mount Tai to enshrine him in Zen. However, the civil and military officials of the entire dynasty did not dare to dissuade him.

Liu Zhengfu has excellent literary talent and wrote thousands of words eloquently.

He knew Song Huizong's temper. Anyone who dared to dissuade him would definitely make him unhappy, especially after the remonstrance was successful!

This remonstrance will definitely succeed. All it takes is a little wake-up call, and Song Huizong, who wants to save face, will give up. Ever since Song Zhenzong's saucy maneuvers, Feng Chan Taishan has become a joke.

Liu Zhengfu only has one thought left now. The emperor should hate me and let me resign early and go back to my hometown.

…

"This Liu Zhengfu is so stupid!"

After reading the remonstrances and memorials, Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty was indeed very angry.

Although he was angry in his heart, he did not intend to let Liu Zhengfu go.

When Cai Jing resigned as prime minister for the second time, there was already a rift between the monarch and his ministers. Even Cai Jing's dismissal from the prime minister was arranged by Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty. He also used the Star Change incident to imply that Cai Jing had bad intentions for the country.

But Song Huizong couldn't do without Cai Jing. While he dismissed the prime minister, he gave him a house and was ready to use it again at any time.

You have to use it, Cai Jing is great at making money.

Then he promoted officials to check and balance Cai Jing. He promoted two officials in succession, but Cai Jing was responsible for them. Song Huizong decided to start from within, divide Cai's party and let them fight among themselves.

Liu Zhengfu is the key chess piece, and Zheng Juzhong is a reserve force.

"The official family, Academician Cai wants to see you." The chamberlain came to report.

Song Huizong immediately smiled: "Let him wait, I will go now."

This emperor is a master at playing with people's hearts. He is writing a very outrageous script: promote Cai You and make Cai Jing and Cai You's father and son fight!

Historically, Song Huizong succeeded.

The Cai family father and son were turned against each other, and Cai You repeatedly requested that his fourth brother be killed.

At first, Cai Jing might have been acting with his son so that the emperor could rest assured. But as the acting continued, the fake became real, and Cai You even forced his own father to resign from the prime ministership for the third time.

Song Huizong sat in his royal chariot and headed outside Xuyun Hall. Cai You had been waiting for a long time.

"Come up!" Song Huizong waved and shouted.

Cai You actually ran over, got on the imperial chariot with a smile, and rode in the same carriage with the emperor.

The monarch and his ministers went to the large construction site in the northeast corner, where the Shangqing Baolu Palace was being built. After it is completed, it will be used exclusively for Taoist rituals. The emperor will summon Taoist priests here in the future.

In addition to the Shangqing Baolu Palace in the imperial palace, many Taoist temples are being built simultaneously inside and outside Tokyo, some of which are directly converted from Buddhist temples.

He said that in this palace, since Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty came into power, the civil engineering work has not stopped.

Liu Hunkang, a Taoist priest who is good at Feng Shui, was standing on the construction site. When he saw the imperial chariot approaching, he quickly paid his respects.

Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty asked: "Can a real person gain anything?"

Liu Hunkang said: "Reporting to Your Majesty, Tokyo is located in a flat area, and the situation in the northeast of the imperial family is slightly lower. The Yin Qi is extremely strong, which is not conducive to the birth of a prince. It is necessary to raise the terrain and build palaces and gardens to suppress the Yin Qi."

"So that's it." Song Huizong finally understood why the previous emperors had so many princesses but so few princes, "so he demolished the palace in the northeast corner, raised the ground, and rebuilt the palace garden. After the Shangqing Dynasty was built, Then we built the Baolu Palace and called it... called Long Live Mountain."

Long Live Mountain, that is, Genyue, is the source of Huashi Gang's intensification.

Cai You quickly flattered: "The officials are wise. Once the terrain is changed and the Yin Qi is suppressed, our Song Dynasty will surely last forever!"

Song Huizong returned to the carriage and said to the attendant: "Let Liang Shicheng be responsible for supervising the construction of Wansui Mountain, and then send an order to Zhu Meng to transport more strange stones from the south of the Yangtze River."

"Yes!" The eunuch hurriedly ran to deliver the order.

Song Huizong added: "The real people are also coming to watch the theater together."

Liu Hunkang carefully got into the car and sat next to Song Huizong.

This old Taoist priest actually did not want to serve the emperor. He declined several conquests and was almost kidnapped to Tokyo by the eunuchs. During this period, he resigned many times and was rewarded each time. Song Huizong even wanted to call him "San Mao Zhenjun"!

Liu Hunkang was completely at peace. He did whatever the emperor asked him to do and never participated in court battles.

He thought nothing would happen, but he didn't know that what he just said would trigger a massive Fang La uprising.

Together, the king and his ministers took a carriage back to Xuyun Palace.

Xuyun Hall was the place where the emperor watched plays, and next door was Jiying Hall where the imperial examinations were held.

The three of them watched the play for a while, and Liang Shicheng also came to discuss with the emperor how to build Long Live Mountain.

After watching a performance, Cai You suddenly said: "Guan family, my acting skills have been greatly improved recently, and I might be able to make you smile."

"Go and change your clothes." Song Huizong said.

Liang Shicheng said: "It's the same for officials and ministers."

Song Huizong said: "You go too."

So, a bachelor from the Xuanhe Palace and a senior eunuch from the palace went together to put on makeup and change clothes.

Not long after, they ran back and made Song Huizong laugh before they even started acting.

I saw that the great eunuch Liang Shicheng had a beard, was wearing ill-fitting costumes and armor, and his helmet was deliberately tilted, which looked very funny at first glance.

Cai You, on the other hand, wore shorts and shorts, and applied makeup and powder to look like a woman.

The two of them sang, chanted, and beat each other, and the performance was lively.

Liang Shicheng is dull and eloquent. He acts like a fool when he plays the general, but is fooled around by the woman played by Cai You.

Song Huizong looked at it and laughed so hard that he held his stomach.

If Su Dongpo knew better, he would probably kick the coffin boards flying and beat Liang Shicheng until he could no longer take care of himself.

Because Liang Shicheng is proficient in poetry and calligraphy, likes to be arty, and claims to be Su Shi's illegitimate son...

Yang Qiu, who often imitated the emperor's handwriting and sent out edicts, was actually Liang Shicheng's subordinate. Liang Shicheng is deliberately training eunuchs to imitate and practice Song Huizong's calligraphy. In the future, more and more people will be able to forge the emperor's handwriting, and his "hidden appearance" will become more and more worthy of his name.

The monarch and his ministers were having fun for a while, and the sky gradually darkened.

Cai You, Liang Shicheng and Liu Hunkang, seeing that the emperor had no intention of staying overnight, resigned from the palace one after another.

Song Huizong also stood up and left. He caught a glimpse of Fu Dexiang, who was in charge of the opera troupe, and immediately called him over to ask: "What kind of Eighth Route Army scholar..."

"Zhu Chenggong." Fu Dexiang said.

"Yes, his name is Zhu Chenggong," Song Huizong said. "He resigned from the imperial examination. Let's see if this person came to Tokyo to take the examination."

Fu Dexiang received the emperor's order and immediately went out of the palace to inquire in person.

He thought it would be difficult, so he went to a random inn and only asked a few scholars to find out that Zhu Chenggong had arrived in Beijing.

This fellow inquired about the situation carefully and hurried back to report. He was also jealous of Zhu Ming for not giving him face, adding fuel to the fire and slandering him: "Guan family, Zhu Chenggong has arrived in Tokyo, and he and Chen Yuan, Chen Guan's nephew, are promoting evil talk and strange theories by the Cai River. Kaifeng Mansion Yin, Guozi Siye, and Guozi Jiancheng went to stop it, but Zhu Chenggong actually incited the scholars and humiliated the Kaifeng Prefecture Yin. This man has many disobedient remarks, but he claims to be the heir of the new learning. He has ulterior motives and does not know what he wants."

Song Huizong was not angry after hearing this, but felt very interesting.

The governor of Kaifeng was a member of Zhu Meng, and he was also very close to Cai Jing. Guozi Siye and Guozi Jiancheng are Cai Jing's best confidants.

A scholar who was taking the examination offended Cai Jing and Zhu Mengquan when he first came to Tokyo.

Song Huizong felt that this person could be promoted, just like throwing stones into a latrine, the situation would be unique. Over time, Cai Jing and Zhu Meng could be disgusted enough.

This emperor deliberately retained several old trolls specifically to impeach Cai Jing.

He decided to train Ju Ming as a public speaker and create a young troll with strong firepower.

The more he thought about it, the more interesting it became. The next day, Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty called the deputy prime minister Hou Meng and said: "There is a candidate named Zhu Ming who is successful in the examination. Please give some suggestions. If he fails, recommend him to the Imperial Academy."

Song Huizong still doesn't know that someone had already recommended Zhu Ming to the Imperial Academy.