Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

When Li Qingzhao was summoned for the first time, it didn't attract much attention because it was her job.

But the second time he entered the palace to play mahjong, it seemed very unusual.

At least it is certain that she has an excellent relationship with the queen and concubine!

The quickest responder was Mrs. Wang, who came to visit with a noble gift and said "Sister A" or "Sister A" short.

Li Qingzhao treated her coldly throughout the whole process. It wasn't until Wang left that he said, "The gift is too expensive. Please take it back, Madam."

"We are all one family, how important are gifts?" Wang said with a smile.

Li Qingzhao said: "It's better to distinguish clearly."

The gifts were carried out directly by the servants, and the side door was quickly closed. Wang stood outside the door with a grim expression.

These cousins ​​had a good time playing together when they were young, but when they grew up, their relationship was extremely bad.

Historically, Li Qingzhao was imprisoned for a divorce lawsuit. He would rather ask his ex-husband Zhao Mingcheng's cousin Qi Chongli for help instead of dealing with Qin Hui and his wife. Moreover, Qi Chongli was Qin Hui’s political enemy!

When Li Qingzhao was in his sixties, he attended a gathering of married women and wrote an article to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival, hoping to send it to the harem to flatter the emperor and queen. At that time, Qin Hui's brother Qin Zi was in the Hanlin Academy and directly blocked Li Qingzhao's article. He only rewarded Li Qingzhao with money as a routine and did not allow the praise article to be seen by the emperor.

This can no longer be explained by the unfamiliar relationship, they are complete enemies!

Li Hao was sitting in the carriage and suddenly felt worried when he saw Mr. Wang walking away.

He entered the house and saw his sister, and said, "Ms. Wang is very scheming. It would be better not to offend my sister."

"I don't want to offend her, let alone accept her heavy gift," Li Qingzhao said. "Once I accept it, I don't know what will happen to me in the future."

Li Hao didn't say much anymore. He was an honest man who could be fooled.

Li Qingzhao asked: "Why do you have time to come to my place?"

Li Hao's expression was a little embarrassed, and he chose to tell the truth: "The DPRK and China are debating the matter of moral destiny, and the officials will not give an explanation. I heard that my sister was summoned twice, and my colleagues... my colleagues asked me to ask my sister to inquire."

"What's so good about Deyun?" Li Qingzhao asked puzzledly.

Li Hao said seriously: "The most important affairs of the country are military service and sacrifice. Destiny is related to sacrifice and must be determined. Otherwise, how will sacrifice be carried out in the future?"

Li Qingzhao said: "The officials have their own deep intentions, so it's better not to mix them up randomly."

"I'm not meddling in it randomly, but I just want to ask my sister to find out what the officials think about the fate of this dynasty." Li Hao said.

Li Qingzhao shook his head: "You cannot spy on the emperor."

In the beginning, good fortune was determined based on the mutual restraint of the five elements.

Later, a certain man gave in and changed his fortune to the mutual growth of the five elements.

According to the theory of the mutual generation of the five elements, the Song Dynasty was a fire virtue, and the Ming Dynasty should be a earth virtue now.

Due to the feudal superstition practiced by Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, the theory of moral luck has become very popular in the past twenty years.

Even the etiquette system reformed by Song Huizong focused on embodying the virtue of fire. The ritual of offering sacrifices to Lord Huodexing is actually higher than the ritual of offering sacrifices to Houtu!

Zhu Guoxiang and Ju Ming established the New Ming Dynasty. Although it belonged to Tu De by default, it was never officially recognized.

The ministers are very anxious. How to formulate a sacrificial system if the fate of the country is uncertain?

The father and son's idea is very simple, that is, to downplay the "Five Elements of Virtue Theory"!

In fact, this thing has been abandoned since the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty.

The Yuan Dynasty never officially recognized De Yun, but it was widely rumored that the Yuan Dynasty belonged to Shui De.

When Zhu Yuanzhang rebelled, in order to express his incompatibility with the Yuan Dynasty, he declared that he belonged to Huode. However, after the Ming Dynasty was officially established, Zhu Yuanzhang no longer mentioned the matter of virtue.

The fire virtues of the Ming Dynasty have since become folklore, and the official attitude is neither support nor opposition.

As for the Qing Dynasty, Qianlong directly said that De Yun was nonsense.

From the sacrificial systems of the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, we know that they did not engage in "moral luck".

In the early morning, Li Qingzhao went to work by donkey cart.

After working until meal time, colleagues gathered together and actually talked about the theory of De Lun.

Li Qingzhao asked curiously: "How come everyone suddenly pays attention to this matter?"

Li Congxun explained: "Mao Kui, the transfer envoy to Fujian in the old Song Dynasty, was recalled to the capital for his meritorious service in offering soil. However, he was only awarded the title of Hanlin bachelor and was not given any actual assignments. Mao Kui wanted to gain the attention of the emperor and applied for five official titles in a row. Determining the destiny of the Ming Dynasty. He also deliberately sought innovation and change, saying that the Five Elements should be in harmony with each other when giving way, and the destruction of the Song Dynasty by the Ming Dynasty would be caused by the mutual restraint of the Five Elements. The virtue of the new Ming Dynasty should be the virtue of water."

"The ministers in the DPRK started arguing over this," Zhang Zeduan said with a smile. "Most of the officials denounced Mao Kui's grandstanding and believed that the Ming Dynasty must be a Tu De. However, they also took the opportunity to discuss the theory of De Yun and asked the officials to bring De Yun to China as soon as possible. Set."

Li Tang also said happily: "The court is very lively. The ministers proposed to worship Lord Tu De Xing, but some people said that Hou Tu should be the main sacrifice."

"Some people say that Lord Taibai Xing should be worshipped." Zhao Guang said.

Li Qingzhao was also amused: "What does this have to do with Mr. Taibai Xing?"

Li Tang whispered: "The officials and the prince raised troops in Yangzhou, where was the ancient dojo of Taibaijinxing. Zhao Ji, the emperor of the old Song Dynasty, once asked the emperor to promote Taibaijinxing's dojo. Therefore, there is a popular rumor among the people that the official family is Taibaijinxing's dojo. Reborn in the mortal world."

"Isn't Taibai Jinxing a woman?" Li Qingzhao asked.

Li Tang said: "How can gods be divided into men and women?"

Zhao Guang said: "So some ministers suggested that our new Ming Dynasty should belong to Jin De. They also said that the rise of the Jin Kingdom was to seize Jin De, and Ming Dynasty should establish Jin De early to seize luck."

All this nonsense?

Li Qingzhao was speechless for a while.

"What kind of destiny does Li Daizhao think should be determined?" Li Tang asked.

Li Qingzhao thought for a while and said: "Song Dynasty is fire virtue, Ming Dynasty is earth virtue, this is the proper meaning. Since the official family is still undecided, it probably has a deeper meaning."

Zhang Zeduan said: "The ministers also think the same way, thinking that the officials have other deep intentions. Those who propose water virtue and gold virtue just want to try their luck to cater to the emperor."

Li Congxun smiled and said: "Especially about Jin De, the folk rumors are getting more and more bizarre. Some fortune tellers claim that the official is handsome and kind, and he is a boy and a girl. He must be the reincarnation of Taibai Venus. The country should not only fix Jin De, but also add the title of Bai The emperor’s divine name.”

According to the popular saying at the time, Taibai Jinxing was the daughter of Emperor Bai!

If Zhu Guoxiang is the reincarnation of Taibai Jinxing, then the father is more valuable than the daughter, and the White Emperor should also be promoted to a sacrificial level.

Even the position of God Haotian should be given to Emperor Bai.

The Art Academy was also a place for the emperor to relax. Zhu Guoxiang was so noisy that his head hurt, so he left a pile of memorials in silence and walked to the Art Academy to take some time off.

When everyone came to see him, Zhu Guoxiang said, "Li Daizhao, please stay here and you can go and do your own business."

Li Tang looked at the emperor, then at Li Qingzhao, and quickly bowed and resigned.

The other officials also left with a somewhat surprised expression.

Li Qingzhao saw Zhu Guoxiang sitting there with his eyes closed and concentrating, and without saying anything to disturb him, he quietly took the guqin and played it.

It wasn't until Zhu Guoxiang was lying down half asleep that Li Qingzhao waved to the eunuch and took a thin blanket to cover the emperor.

Once he was full from sleep, Zhu Guoxiang stretched and sat up.

Li Qingzhao asked: "The officials are still worried about their moral destiny?"

Zhu Guoxiang shook his head: "I just didn't expect that the first time a Ming official refuted the imperial edict was because of the theory of virtue and luck. It's really ridiculous!"

To refute is when the emperor or prime minister's order is rejected by officials with the authority to refute it because it does not comply with the established system.

At that time, Wang Anshi carried out the political reform and wanted to control the Yushitai, so he recommended his student Li Ding to be the admonisher.

Song Shenzong issued an appointment edict, but it was rejected seven times by officials. He changed several organizations and dismissed three officials, but still could not pass the personnel appointment.

Because it's against the rules!

Moreover, the student recommended by Wang Anshi had a particularly bad reputation - he concealed the news of his concubine's death and refused to mourn.

That was not only Li Ding's concubine, but also his biological mother.

After being exposed, Li Ding actually said that he didn't know who was his biological mother and that he was not worried because he had doubts about the blood relationship.

Not to mention in ancient times, even in modern times, if you don't recognize your biological mother or mourn, you will be stabbed in the back.

Wang Anshi promotes people like this to control his speech. It would be strange if the ministers don't refute him!

By the way, Su Shi's Wutai Poetry Case was also led by Li Ding.

When Ju Ming was in Tokyo, he killed so many dignitaries and officials of the old Song Dynasty that no one dared to refute any outrageous decree no matter how outrageous it was.

And just yesterday, Zhu Guoxiang issued a decree, ordering that there should be no more talk about the country's destiny, and the new dynasty will not determine the country's destiny. This order was returned intact!

Zhu Guoxiang was furious, not to mention the cabinet's rejection, but his change to the Tongzhengyuan was also rejected.

Zhu Guoxiang recruited his student Liang Yi. The relationship between the two was not only that of king and minister, master and disciple, but also similar to that of an adopted father and adopted son.

Liang Yi said with a sad face: "The official family was rejected by the Sixth Section. Although I am in charge of the Tongzhengyuan, the Sixth Section has the power to refute. I ordered them to pass, but they are not obedient. The only way is to remove them."

At that moment, Zhu Guoxiang finally realized that he had no dignity.

Even in the six subjects, you dare not give the emperor face!

If his son was in Beijing, those guys would definitely have softer bones.

After listening to this, Li Qingzhao persuaded: "I am afraid that the officials, the cabinet and the six departments did not deliberately offend the emperor. But moral destiny is a major matter, and they must abide by the rules. Otherwise, if there is a disaster in the future, these officials will be impeached by everyone. "

"I know." Zhu Guoxiang's helplessness lies here. He knows that the officials who rejected the imperial edict did nothing wrong.

The moral destiny of the new dynasty is no longer certain. This is an unprecedented event.

No one in the cabinet or the six departments dared to take the blame.

They must reject this order, firstly, they can gain the reputation of directly admonishing the emperor, and secondly, they can be exempted from liability if any disaster occurs in the future.

Zhu Guoxiang misses his son a little. Only when his son is in Beijing can he push this matter forward.

This bad emperor can do whatever he likes, but Zhu Guoxiang doesn't want to be angered anymore.

Zhu Guoxiang asked: "Do you think we should determine our destiny?"

Li Qingzhao replied: "I am just a technical officer of the Hanlin Academy of Painting and cannot discuss political affairs."

"This matter will be dealt with when the prince returns to Beijing. I will not take care of it anymore. It doesn't matter if you just say it." Zhu Guoxiang said.

Li Qingzhao said: "It's better... not to change. All dynasties have good fortune, and the Ming Dynasty can just follow the trend. There is no need to make trouble with the ministers."

Zhu Guoxiang shook his head firmly: "The people are the foundation of the country. This is an established national policy. From now on, the Ming Dynasty will only care about the people's livelihood, not the destiny of the country. If the people live well, the Ming Dynasty will have virtue. If the people find it difficult to survive, the Ming Dynasty will lose its virtue, and the national destiny will also be ruined. It’s time to end it.”

Li Qingzhao did not answer anymore, but looked at the emperor. The official really cares about the people!