Chapter 132: Set sail for the Southern Expedition, meeting Li Gang on the road

Although Prince Zhao Huan has a cowardly character, he is not stupid. When he heard his father's arrangement, he had some concerns:

My father asked the seventeen-year-old Su Wang Zhao Shu to temporarily serve as the procurator of the imperial city. Are you worried about me? The name is to ask Su Wang Zhao Shu to defend the palace and protect the prince, but in fact he is also monitoring the prince. Alas! My father is now

The Spring and Autumn Period is in its prime, and there are wise men and powerful warriors. How dare I have the slightest delusion?

Zhao Ji added: "Zhao Kai, king of Yun, and Zhao Gou, king of Kang, followed me on a tour to the southeast..."

"My sons and ministers obey my orders."

"My son, I thank my father."

Zhao Kai and Zhao Gou knelt down and thanked them.

Prince Zhao Huan looked at his third and ninth brothers and felt uncomfortable.

In recent days, in addition to seeing his father's great change in temperament and working hard to cure them, he also noticed that his father was particularly fond of Zhao Kai and Zhao Gou.

My father often took Zhao Kai and Xiao Zhao Gou with him, and even entrusted them with important responsibilities.

Zhao Huan heard that his father sent Zhao Kai to investigate and deal with the abuses in the arsenal, and that Xiao Zhao Gou and Yu Shi Cao Fu investigated and dealt with the corruption cases in the East-West Workshop and the Crossbow and Arrow Making Institute. Both the third and ninth brothers received their father's help.

Praise.

Zhao Huan felt uncomfortable, feeling that his father did not favor him as much as Zhao Kai in the past. Now his father not only favored Zhao Kai more, but also had a little Zhao Gou to compete with him...

Zhao Ji saw Prince Zhao Huan bowing his head in deep thought, as if he was very worried, so he said:

"There is an old saying that 'the most important thing for the country is to sacrifice and fight'!"

"Sacrifice is an auspicious ceremony among the five rites.

Tomorrow, the prince will go to the Ancestral Temple for me to offer sacrifices and pray for me to lead the troops on the southern tour."

After Prince Zhao Huan heard his father's appointment, he was immediately overjoyed. He knelt down and kowtowed, happily saying:

"I obey the decree. I am willing to kneel in front of my ancestors in the Imperial Ancestral Temple to pray for my father during his southern tour."

The reason why Prince Zhao Huan was worried about his position in the East Palace was that his father suddenly sent him to worship at the Ancestral Temple, which was equivalent to full affirmation of his position as crown prince.

Zhao Huan knew that the Ancestral Temple sacrifices had a very high status in the rituals. The Ancestral Temple was not equivalent to the emperor's family temple, but was attached to the 'national line'. The only major affairs of the country were sacrifice and military affairs.

Letting the sons and ministers go to the Imperial Ancestral Temple to offer sacrifices on behalf of their father is an affirmation of the crown prince's position in the East Palace. Even though the father is now very fond of his third brother, King Yun, Zhao Kai, and ninth brother, King Kang, Zhao Gou, this important event of going to the Imperial Ancestral Temple to offer sacrifices,

The fact that my father can be entrusted to this prince proves everything.

Zhao Ji looked at the sad-looking prince Zhao Huan, and he smiled slightly.

Zhao Ji's plan is to never alert the snake in advance before officially abolishing Zhao Huan, the cowardly prince who has a cowardly personality and is not suitable to be an emperor.

Entrusting the prince to go to the Ancestral Temple to offer sacrifices on my behalf not only frees me from the tedious process of offering sacrifices to the Ancestral Temple and concentrates on arranging military affairs in preparation for the southern expedition to Fangla, but also allows the prince to stay in the capital with peace of mind and oversee the country well.
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Of course, another point is that Zhao Ji considered that he could travel through the Northern Song Dynasty in this world, so are there really gods in the dark world?

Zhao Ji didn't dare to confirm or deny.

If I, a time traveler, appeared in the Ancestral Temple, facing the tablets of the ancestors of the Song Dynasty, if there really were gods in this world, I would be killed by Taizu, Taizong, or the original owner of my body who had passed away.

If his father, Emperor Song Shenzong, or his brother, Emperor Song Zhezong, noticed something was wrong with his soul, then it would not be fun.

Of course, this possibility is very slim. After all, if the Ancestral Temple is really effective and can protect the country of the Song Dynasty, then there will be no shame of Jingkang.

However, the time traveler Zhao Ji will not take any risks. If you don’t want to go to the Ancestral Temple, just don’t go. Anyway, I am the emperor now, and I have the final say, no one can control it.

In the Daqing Palace, Zhao Ji arranged to inspect the southeast. After the prince took charge of the country, he even announced: "Retreat from the court."

A group of ministers left the hall, and Zhao Ji left Prince Zhao Huan and Prince Su Zhao Shu behind.

Zhao Ji looked at the two princes standing respectfully below. He wrote three imperial edicts in a row and asked the eunuchs to seal them.

The first two imperial edicts have been sealed, and the seals are written "Li Gang will open the seal after entering the court" and "Zong Ze will open the seal after entering the court".

When Prince Zhao Huan received these two secret decrees from his father, he already felt faintly in his heart:

The emperor may have to entrust Li Gang and Zongze, who were demoted from the capital, with important responsibilities after they are recalled to the capital...

Zhao Huan was suspicious in his heart. Even before Li Gang and Zongze were demoted from the capital, they were not high-ranking officials! Do they still bother their father to write secret edicts like this?

Nowadays, my father’s behavior is really becoming more and more incomprehensible.

However, the cowardly prince Zhao Huan did not dare to ask his father any more questions.

After Zhao Ji saw that Prince Zhao Huan had taken over these two secret decrees, he asked Zhao Huan to step back and prepare for fasting before going to the Ancestral Temple to offer sacrifices tomorrow...

Zhao Ji looked at his fifth son Su Wang Zhao Shu, who was seventeen years old this year, and said: "This sealed imperial edict is handed over to you, Shu'er. Only if there is a mutiny in the capital can you open this imperial edict. This imperial edict has a special license."

You have the right to deploy troops to quell rebellion.

If nothing happens in the capital, you are not allowed to open this edict and read it.

After I return to Beijing, I will return this imperial edict to me intact."

Zhao Shu, who was handsome and heroic, kowtowed to receive the order and said: "My son, I obey the order, and I, my son, must bear in mind the holy will of my father."

Zhao Shu is very smart. He can guess some of the contents of this imperial edict. It should be to prevent the prince from conspiring to become emperor when he is supervising the country.

It is estimated that in this imperial edict, my father wrote that in the event that time comes, he gave me, King Su, who is temporarily in charge of the imperial city's procuratorate, the power to mobilize troops to quell the rebellion.

Zhao Shu took over the sealed imperial edict and felt that the edict was as heavy as a thousand pieces.

After Zhao Shu paid homage, he followed his father's order and left the hall...

After Zhao Ji made arrangements for the capital, he thought about who he would take with him in the southern expedition to Fangla:

Yang Zhi of Moutuogang Pastoral Station and the hundreds of well-trained cavalry under him must bring...

The officers and soldiers of the Imperial City Division are going to take away a large part of the elite...

Liang Shicheng, who is known as the hidden figure, must be brought along,

Although I did not execute Liang Shicheng as requested by the imperial students, I brought the eunuch Liang Shicheng, who was somewhat used to it, by my side. Did Liang Shicheng cause any trouble?

As for Zhang Bangchang, I have already asked him in front of the court officials to prepare for his southern tour with me tomorrow

Also, Liu Yu, who may threaten my empire in the future, like Shi Jingtang, "recognizes thieves as his father", I have already sent an imperial edict in advance to pick him up in Hangzhou City when I patrol the southeast.

……

Zhao Ji also wrote down the list of people who would accompany the emperor to conquer personally and asked the eunuchs to pass the order...

……

The second day, south of Bianliang (Kaifeng), Tokyo,

The water transport terminal in Bianhe River has been put under martial law in advance. The soldiers are wearing helmets and armor, and the military flags are flapping in the wind.

Today, all civilian ships and government water transport vessels on the Bianhe River south of Kaifeng City in Bianliang, Tokyo, are suspended from navigation.

In the Song Dynasty, water transportation in Kaifeng City, Bianliang, Tokyo, was divided into four routes:

Water transport all the way: millet from Huainan enters the Huai River from the south of the Yangtze River, and then enters the Beijing via the Bian River;

The Second Water Transport Road: Millet from Shaanxi to Western China turns from the Yellow River near Sanmenxia to Bianshui River and reaches Beijing;

The third road of water transportation: millet from Shaanxi to the north, turns from Huimin River to Cai River, enters Bianshui River and reaches Beijing;

The fourth route of water transportation: millet from Beijing to the east, from the land of Qilu to the Wuzhang River to Beijing.

The above four rivers are collectively called the four canals of water transport. Among them, the grain from Huai-Bian from the Southeast Sixth Road accounts for the main part of the food for the millions of people in Bianliang, Tokyo.

In addition to grain, the canal transports other materials northward every year, such as gold, silver, money, silk, tea and other necessities for military and civilian life, in very large quantities.

Gold, silver, incense, rhinoceros, elephants, and groceries from Guangnan were transported by land to Qianzhou, and then transported to the capital by water. These items from the south accounted for a large proportion of similar materials supplied to the capital from all over the country at that time.

The huge amounts of food, money, silk and other materials transported from the south to the north via the canal are not only used to support the hundreds of thousands of forbidden troops stationed in Bianjing and pay the monthly salary of officials, but also part of them are transported to Hebei, Hedong and Shaanxi.

Meet the needs of border defense.

The three roads of Hebei, Hedong and Shaanxi in the Northern Song Dynasty were bordered by the Liao Kingdom in the north and the Xia Kingdom in the west. During the border disputes, heavy troops were stationed in these three places in the Northern Song Dynasty.

However, the food and wages needed for the heavy troops in the border areas could not be met by local taxes, so the Song Dynasty had to transfer some of the materials transported north through the canal to these three routes.

Grains from the Jianghuai River are not only used for military rations in Hebei, Hedong, and Shaanxi, but also often provide relief for famines in Shandong, Hebei and other places.

Therefore, Zhao Ji was afraid that if Fangla's uprising became serious, it would definitely affect the grain transportation along the Yangtze and Huaihe lines in the southeast, which would shake the foundation of the Song Dynasty's rule.

Of course, since Zhao Ji's original owner Song Huizong built Genyue, in order to collect rare flowers, famous trees and stones from the south of the Yangtze River, Zhu Meng of the Southeast Enshrinement Bureau, in order to please Zhao Guan's family, built a water transport channel from Huai River to Bian River to Beijing.

On the boat, there was a large fleet - Huashi Gang, which did not carry corn but cloth, silk, money and grain, and carried exotic flowers, famous trees and stones.

At this time, the thirty large ships parked at the Bianhe River Pier had already carried the 3,000 elite soldiers and horses who accompanied the emperor on this expedition according to the imperial edict of Zhao Guan's family. There were also ships specially used to load money, silk, grain, grass and other military supplies.

Twenty huge canoes.

Zhao Ji's chariot has arrived at the water transport terminal of Bianhe River. The officers and soldiers who have boarded the ship in advance are all on the deck, kneeling and kowtowing to Zhao Guan's family, shouting long live...

Zhao Ji sighed in his heart when he saw this scene.

Legend has it that Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty went to Yangzhou to see that short-lived flash in the pan.

I am going to the south of the Yangtze River now, but it is to quell the Fangla Uprising in the Song Dynasty.
To be continued...