Do you know that it starts with Meng Tong?

Zhao Zongquan had no choice. He had been in Yuzhou for more than [-] years, and his foundation in the court was too shallow. Not to mention Longtuge's bachelor, he was an official at the rank of minister, and Zhao Zongquan had not had much contact with him. There is no one to promote even if you promote yourself.

After picking and choosing, among the ministers who were qualified to join the cabinet, only Shen Weizhong was originally from Yuzhou and was somewhat related to Zhao Zongquan, so Zhao Zongquan had no choice but to choose him.

Although Shen Weizhong is qualified to join the cabinet, he is ranked very low among the candidates. If ranked by seniority, he will have to wait at least ten more years before he has the opportunity to join the cabinet as a bachelor.

Serving as the Five Envoys of Shanling is the best way for courtiers to mix their seniority and accumulate merit.

Zhao Zongquan asked Shen Weizhong to serve as the ceremonial envoy, which saved Shen Weizhong many years of hard work. When Shen Weizhong becomes a bachelor of Longtuge in the future, how can he not be grateful to Zhao Zongquan for his kindness today?Naturally, I want to repay you with all my heart.

After the envoy of etiquette, Zhao Zongquan recommended Wei Chen, the young master of Zhan Shifu and a lecturer of the Imperial Academy, as the envoy of Lubu, Shen Congxing, the Marquis of Yu, the prefect of the palace, as the envoy of honor guard, and Gu Tingye, a member of the Ministry of War, as the envoy of Qiao Daodun.

After hearing the candidates proposed by Zhao Zongquan, all the ministers in the palace also thought about it. It seems that the new officials have made up their minds to use this opportunity of appointing Shanling Five Envoys to cultivate their own confidants in the court. .

But this is what it should be. There are still three things to do when a new official takes office, let alone when a dignified king of a country takes over?Naturally, if you promote a few of your own people, things will go smoothly.

None of the ministers said anything, but Empress Cao, who had been promoted to the Empress Dowager, was a little unhappy.

The five envoys of Shanling only have five carrot pits in total. Except for the envoy of Shanling, who has long been determined to be the first assistant, Han Zhang, the other four envoys are all people who are favored or close to Zhao Zongquan. How can this be possible!

Empress Dowager Cao immediately raised objections and recommended Tian Dongsheng, the Minister of Rites, to be the envoy of etiquette, and Tang Mi, the prefect of Kaifeng, to be the envoy of Qiao Daodun.

Although Zhao Zongquan was a little dissatisfied with Empress Dowager Cao's move, after all, he had just ascended the throne and did not want to really fall out with Empress Dowager Cao, so he had to pretend to be magnanimous and give in, handing over the post of Qiao Daodun to Empress Dowager Cao's choice. Tang Mi, the prefect of Kaifeng.

Speaking of which, Zhao Zongquan was originally at fault.The other positions are just that. The Qiao Daodun Envoy is responsible for the transportation and logistics support from Kaifeng to the imperial mausoleum, and the general affairs involved are very complicated.

Gu Tingye had not been in office for a long time, and he had not yet been a people-friendly official. He lacked experience and was not suitable for this position at all.

Now that Empress Dowager Cao has proposed it, Zhao Zongquan naturally has no reason to push Gu Tingye to the position, so he has to choose Tang Mi, the more suitable prefect of Kaifeng, just to show his generosity and give Empress Dowager Cao face.

Not long after the death of the late emperor, the new emperor and the queen mother had a bad relationship because of the appointment of the five envoys of Shanling. Although on the surface they were a loving mother and a filial son, the ministers all saw the clues and secretly had their thoughts.

At this time, Han Zhang suddenly discovered that the Queen Mother and the new monarch had been arguing for a long time. Shen Weizhong's ceremonial envoy, Shen Congxing's ceremonial envoy, Gu Tingye's Qiao Daodun envoy, and the Queen Mother all had doubts. Only Wei Chen's Lu Bu envoy , the Queen Mother did not say a word, obviously she recognized Wei Chen's ability and character just like the new king.

Thinking of this, Han Zhang couldn't help but narrow his eyes slightly and thought to himself: "The struggle between the emperor and the empress has begun to take shape. This guy is having both sides. I don't know which side he will be on in the future..."

Chapter 318 The temple is called Renzong

When the news of Zhao Zhen's death came out, the whole country was shocked. People in Bianjing City wore mourning tributes, and white mourning flags were hung at the door of every house.

The benevolence of the late Emperor was known to all the world, and the people spontaneously went on strike in the streets and cried for several days.

Even beggars and children burned paper money and cried in front of the palace. The smoke spread so widely that there was no light in the sky above Bianjing City.

In the 50th year since the founding of the Zhou Dynasty, this was not the first time that an emperor had passed away, but the previous times combined were far less than the scene where the mountains and rivers were in pain and all the people mourned when Zhao Zhen died this time.

Wherever Zhao Zhen's obituary was delivered, there were loud cries and smoke filled the air. Even the Khitan emperor in the north couldn't help but shed tears and wail endlessly after hearing about it.

The Khitan emperor also ordered people to bury the clothes that Zhao Zhen had given him in the past as a burial mound. He paid homage every year and wrote poems to express his condolences.

In ancient times, mourning lasted for three years, but Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty created the system of "changing days to months" and changed the number of months of mourning to days, that is, mourning for 36 days replaced three years of mourning.

The funeral system of the Tianjia family in the Great Zhou Dynasty is also a system of "changing the sun with the moon". The 24th day after the death of the emperor is Daxiang (the second anniversary day).

Three days after Daxiang is the day of mourning, officials and people can take off their mourning clothes and resume normal life, and the court offices can operate in an orderly manner. Only the new emperor must continue to mourn in the inner court.

After the death of Gui, the Ministry of Rites began to prepare for the new king's enthronement ceremony.

Although the ministers had already begun to address the new monarch as "official" after reading out the imperial edict, a formal and grand enthronement ceremony was still needed to calm the hearts of the people.

The tenth year of the Great Zhou Dynasty, May [-]th.

At the Yin time of the day, Zhao Zongquan sent three ministers and ministers to offer sacrifices to heaven and earth, the ancestral temple, and Sheji respectively.

Zhao Zongquan himself came to the late Emperor's Zi Palace wearing mourning robes. He bowed five times and kowtowed three times to complete his order. Then he could take off his mourning robes and put on the most solemn crown of the emperor.

When the auspicious time comes, the bells and drums in the imperial city will be ringing, and the main entrance of Xuande Gate and the left and right gates will be opened.

Civil and military officials, each in court uniform, filed in from Xuande Gate and lined up in the square in front of Zichen Hall.

Zhao Zongquan, dressed in Gunmian robes, came out of the middle gate and came to the Zichen Hall to ascend his throne.

When Zhao Zongquan sat down on the throne, the Imperial City Secretary blew his whip nine times, and thousands of officials knelt down and bowed five times and kowtowed three times.

After the ceremony, Han Zhang, a scholar of Longtuge, presented the imperial edict for enthronement that had been drawn up. Zhao Zongquan looked at it symbolically, stamped it with the treasure of bearing the mandate, and handed the edict to Shen Weizhong, the left minister of the Ministry of Rites.

Shen Weizhong respectfully carried the edict to Xuandemen and read it on the Xuandemen tower.

The main contents of the edict are: amnesty for the whole world, changing the next year to the first year of public security, appointing five envoys to the mountains and mausoleums to handle the funeral of the late emperor, etc. These are the intended meanings of the imperial edicts that have always been enthroned, and there is no need to elaborate.

In addition, the edict also ennobled the former emperor's empress Cao as the empress dowager, the crown prince Shen as the empress, and the prince of Gaoyang County Zhao Ceying as Prince Huan.

The prince's biological father, Zhao Huan, the prince of Yanping County, was also posthumously named King Shu.

Han Zhang, a bachelor of Longtuge, was added to the Grand Master; Wen Yanchang, a bachelor of Longtuge, was added to Shaobao; Shen Congxing, the Marquis of the Front Division of the Palace, was granted the title of Marquis of Weibei by Shen Congxing, and the deputy commander of the Front Division of the Palace was added.

The rest of the civil and military officials were all promoted to the first rank of casual officials according to the principle of great ceremony and general rank.

Wei Chen also benefited from it. He had just been awarded the title of Silver Green Guanglu Doctor, and he was promoted to the Golden Purple Guanglu Doctor, the third grade.

After the edict of enthronement was read out, Baiguanshan shouted long live. The brief but solemn enthronement ceremony came to an end. After that, the edict of enthronement would be sent to the Ministry of Rites, which would be issued to the world.

At the end of the ceremony, all the officials dispersed, but Wei Chen still had no time to relax. He was appointed as the Lu Book Envoy among the five envoys of Shanling, and he had to prepare for the funeral of the late emperor non-stop.

Due to the ancestral system, the Zhou emperor did not build mausoleums during his lifetime. Construction of imperial mausoleums could only begin after the emperor died.

The "Book of Rites? Kingship" also says, "The emperor was buried in the seventh month." That is to say, the emperor had to be buried seven months after his death.

Therefore, the time to build the mausoleum for the Emperor of the Zhou Dynasty was only seven months, and the construction period was very tight.

On the second day after the enthronement ceremony, Wei Chen, together with officials from Qin Tian Jian, rushed to Gongyi, Henan Province to conduct mausoleum surveys near the tombs of ancestors of all dynasties of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Wei Chen and his men wandered around in the ravines for more than half a month, until they were all disgraced, and then they chose a lucky place as the late emperor's final resting place.

Wei Chen took the map he had drawn and rushed back to Bianjing without stopping to report his orders to the new king.

After completing the exploration of the late emperor's tomb, Wei Chen participated in the discussion of the late emperor's temple name and posthumous title as a courtier of third rank or above (here refers to official rank).

The first thing to be decided was the posthumous title, which had sixteen characters in total, embodying heaven's Dharma, being extremely meritorious and virtuous, being wise, wise, wise and filial.

The posthumous title of the late Emperor Zhao Zhen is: Emperor of Body, Heaven, Dharma, Dao, Perfect Virtues, Saint, Wu, Ruizhe, Mingxiao.

In ancient times, when evaluating the merits and demerits of emperors, they only looked at their posthumous titles. However, since the Tang Dynasty, the system of posthumous titles has gradually become corrupted.

From two or three words with a connotation of praise to more than ten words full of flattery, it is not only smelly and long, but also has lost its original effect.

The only thing that can truly conclude the emperor's life's merits and demerits is his temple name.

Therefore, before the Tang Dynasty, emperors were mostly called by their posthumous titles, but after the Tang Dynasty, they were basically called by their temple names. For example, no one would call Li Shimin the great civil and military sage Emperor Guangxiao, but his temple name, Taizong of the Tang Dynasty.

Just one word in the temple name can praise or criticize the emperor for his whole life, so the word selection is extremely careful.

In order to agree on the name of the temple of the late emperor, the scene of ministers arguing endlessly and even getting into a war of words has happened more than once since the founding of the Zhou Dynasty.

However, when it came to Zhao Zhen, there was a rare difference between the government and the public. From the new monarch and the queen mother to the prime minister and ministers, they all agreed that the name of the former emperor's temple should be Renzong, which means a benevolent saint. .

When it came time to write the posthumous proposal for the late emperor, the ministers publicly recommended Wei Chen to write it, not only because Wei Chen was known as the literary emperor of the world and the author of the article on China, but also because Wei Chen had been deeply favored by the late emperor since he became an official.

Therefore, it can be said that it is most appropriate for Wei Chen to write this posthumous proposal.

Not long after, a scribe brought some paper and pen and placed them in front of Wei Chen.

Wei Chen sat in front of the table, polishing the ink himself and typing up the manuscript. However, he had been so full of literary thoughts in the past that he had no thoughts at all this time.

Wei Chen's mind kept replaying the scene where the late emperor nominated him as the number one scholar in the palace.

Thinking of the late emperor's great kindness to him during his lifetime, Wei Chen choked up and couldn't write for a long time. The officials around him couldn't help but be moved by the scene and quietly wiped away their tears.

After a while, under the urging of the chamberlain sent by Zhao Zongquan, Wei Chen regained his composure and started writing.

"The name of the temple in Guangdong has been around for a long time, but the sages and sages in its history are all known for their respect and virtue, or they have been passed down from generation to generation.

Isn't it possible that the great virtues of the benevolent saints were not fully recognized? Or was it that the great Confucian scholars at that time simply ignored the enlightenment of heaven and expected to be able to match the great temples?

The poem goes: The destiny of upholding heaven is in Mu's heart.This is what it is called.However, entrepreneurship is the ancestor of merit, and morality is the ancestral line, which is the great righteousness of respecting everyone.

The posthumous title of Emperor Daxing was Yi Tianxi, and he was named Emperor Renzong. "

Chapter 319: Taking charge of Zhan’s affairs

After the site of the late emperor's mausoleum was selected, the five Shanling envoys led thousands of imperial troops and tens of thousands of civilians who were recruited to build a large-scale construction project in Gongyi, Henan.

After more than half a year, the construction of the breast platform, sacred wall, corner tower, Shinto stone statue, imperial hall, lower palace and other buildings were completed one after another.

It was not until September of the tenth year of God's blessing that the majestic and solemn mausoleum of the late emperor was finally completed and named Yongzhao Mausoleum.

On September [-]th, the temporary burial place "Zigong" built in the palace to store the late emperor's coffin was demolished, and music, singing and dancing were banned in Bianjing for three days.

On September [-]th, the day of the funeral, the new emperor put on mourning clothes and led his ministers to perform a three-laying ceremony in front of the late emperor's palace and invite the deceased emperor's coffin to be carried by the spirit.

The new king supported the spirit chariot and cried on foot, all the way to the palace gate, and then stopped and returned to the palace.

The spirit driver, escorted by the five envoys from Shanling, set off for Yongzhao Mausoleum in Gongyi.

In addition to the royal family members and married county lords and princesses, there were also tens of thousands of honor guards accompanying them, and the momentum was very huge along the way.

Two days later, the spirit driver arrived at Yongzhao Mausoleum. On the auspicious day selected by the Qintian Supervisor, the report was reported to Bianjing. After receiving the approval of the new emperor, the late emperor's coffin was buried in the underground palace.

After the late emperor's coffin was buried, the five envoys from Shanling led the funeral procession back to Beijing and escorted the late emperor Yu's memorial tablet back to the capital.

The new emperor led his ministers to greet him outside the city of Bianjing, and performed the rituals of Jiuyu, the mourning ceremony, and the temple ceremony, and then promoted the former Emperor Yuzhu to the Ancestral Temple for enshrinement.

At this point, the late emperor's funeral, which lasted for more than seven months, came to an end. The whole country gradually got rid of the sadness of the late emperor Yan Jia and resumed daily life.

Wei Chen, as one of the five envoys of Shanling this time, performed his duties conscientiously and was highly praised by both the government and the public.

Relying on his meritorious service as the envoy of the Lu Bureau, Wei Chen was promoted from the Bachelor of Shi Lecture to the Bachelor of Shi Du, that is, Zhan Shi, the Young Master of Zhan Shi Mansion, and the Bachelor of Shi Du Han Lin, and there are a few more words at the end, in charge of the affairs of Zhan Shi Mansion.

Not long after the death of the late Emperor Yan, Liu Tingxi, the former Zhan Shifu of Zhan Shifu and a Hanlin scholar, wrote to the new emperor begging for his body.

After Liu Tingxi retired and returned to his hometown, Tao Yue, a bachelor at the Hanlin Academy, succeeded him and became the president of the Hanlin Academy.

However, the position of the person in charge of Zhan Shi's Mansion was always vacant. It was not until after the late emperor's funeral that Wei Chen took charge of Zhan Shi's Mansion as Shao Zhan Shi, relying on his merits as the Lu Secretary.

Since the imperial court appointed Wei Chen to take over Zhan Shifu, anyone with a discerning eye can see that the post of Zhan Shifu in Zhan Shifu that was vacant when Liu Tingxi resigned was obviously prepared for Wei Chen.

Now Wei Chen is actually the person in charge of Zhan Shi Mansion. As long as he accumulates a few more years of experience in the position of Young Master Zhan, he can be promoted to Chief Zhan and officially join the ranks of the third-rank officials of the imperial court. among.

However, Wei Chen was not in the mood to think about this at this time. Although he had gained a lot of credit in the past few months, he was either sitting in ashes in Gongyi or running around on the road. He was really exhausted.

Now that he can finally take off his responsibilities and rest for a few days, Wei Chen is already eager to return home and can't wait to go home and reunite with his family.

After Wei Chen said goodbye to his colleagues, he came out of Xuandemen and returned to Wei's house in Laoya Lane. It was almost noon.

Wei Chen had been busy outside for several months, while Ru Lan and Ming Lan were watching eagerly at home.