Xia County, Shaanzhou

Xia County was called Anyi in ancient times. Legend has it that it was the capital of the Dayu era and the capital of the Xia Dynasty established by Xia Qi. It is known as the "First Capital of China" and is actually one of the birthplaces of the Han people.

The economic center of the Song Dynasty gradually moved to the Kaifeng Prefecture area. After gradually moving south, Xia County gradually became deserted. At the same time, Xia County and even Shaanzhou became the battleground between Song and Xia. The land was barren, the population was sparse, and the economy was backward.

However, there is one place in Xia County that is well-known to the people of Xia County and even the entire Song Dynasty, and that is the cemetery of Sima Guang, the late Prime Minister of the Song Dynasty.

In the first year of Yuanyou, Sima Guang died of illness and was buried here. He was posthumously given the title of Taishi, Wen Guogong, with the posthumous title Wenzheng.

The Song Dynasty court was grateful for Sima Guang's achievements. In order to commend Sima Guang for his great achievements, Emperor Zhezong of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Xu, ordered Su Shi, a scholar in the Imperial Academy, to write a Shinto inscription. The name of the Shinto stele was "The Stele of Loyalty and Pure Virtue", which was written by Zhao Xu himself.

The "Stele of Loyalty and Pure Virtue" is about three feet high and is divided into three parts: the head, the body, and the base. The size of the forehead, the height of the body, the size of the base, and the preciousness of the stones all complement each other perfectly.

Above the "Stele of Loyalty and Pure Virtue" is a stone-carved couplet. The glorious virtue flows down the Sushui River, and the Qing Zhong spreads across Emei. It is a majestic and majestic place, with the momentum of looking up to the mountains.

Every time during the Qingming Festival or major festivals, people in Xia County spontaneously come here to worship Sima Guang and pray for Sima Guang's spirit in the sky to bless him with good weather.

This day was the Qingming Festival, and Sima Guang had no heirs, so Sima Guang's brother Sima Dan adopted his son Sima Kang to Sima Guang.

During the Qingming Festival, Sima Kang and the descendants and nephews of the Sima family came here with some sacrifices to worship Sima Guang and his father and brother.

There were many ordinary people in Xia County who also worshiped Sima Guang.

While everyone was making sacrifices, there was suddenly a rapid sound of horse hoofbeats in the distance. The sound of hoofbeats was getting closer and closer. Everyone quickly looked back and saw a group of hundreds of people galloping over on horseback. Among them were officials and some. Yamen servants, soldiers.

"Xianggong Zhou, what are you...?" Sima Kang once served as an official in the imperial court, so he knew the leader was Zhou Zhi, the imperial censor.

Zhou Zhi turned over and dismounted, looked at Sima Kang and others coldly, waved his hand and ordered: "Come here, destroy the stone tablet for me."

When Sima Kang heard this, he was immediately shocked and asked repeatedly: "Xiangong Zhou, what do you mean by this? Why do you do such a thing that goes against the laws of nature and human ethics?"

"Violating the laws of nature and human ethics?" Zhou Zhi heard this and sneered: "Your Majesty has an edict. Sima Guang falsely accused the late emperor. He has abolished all his laws and should be punished. I am just acting in accordance with the edict."

"What are you still doing?" Zhou Zhi then shouted to his subordinates: "Why don't you take action quickly?"

When the officials and soldiers heard this, they pushed away the people who were offering sacrifices and smashed the tall stone monument with hammers, hammers, ropes and other objects.

After a loud noise, the stone tablet fell down with a crash, and dust rose several feet high. Although the people offering sacrifices around them were indignant in their hearts, they did not dare to stop them, and they all dodged away one after another.

Zhou Zhi holds the imperial edict, and if he blocks it, he will commit the crime of disobeying the imperial edict, which is a capital crime.

"Cut out his words and cover them up in the ground, in order to annihilate the party." Zhou Zhi then said coldly.

After Zhou Zhi's men received the order, they chiseled out Su Shi's inscription on the stele, quickly dug a large pit, and pushed the fragments of the stele into the pit.

In the blink of an eye, the neat and quiet cemetery turned into a noisy, noisy, gravel, dirt

It covered the entire cemetery and was in a mess.

"Father, the child is unfilial." Sima Kang saw all this in pain, his heart was cut by a knife, and he knelt down in front of Sima Guang's tomb and sobbed softly.

Sima Kang knew very well that Zhou Zhi was a famous official under Zhang Chun, the current Dazai of the imperial court, and a member of the Yuanfeng Party. Sima Guang and others were currently designated by the imperial court as members of the Yuanyou Party, and Sima Guang was a member of the Yuanyou Party. leader.

The purpose of the imperial court's move was to tell the people all over the world that the imperial court would continue to implement Wang Anshi's new law and expel all Yuanyou Party members from the Kaifeng Prefecture court.

Since the day of Wang Anshi's political reform, the two sides have been at odds with each other.

It's simply too much. Sima Kang said angrily in his heart. The deceased is the most important. No matter how wrong Sima Guang is or if he disagrees with their political views, he will not destroy the monument in public and humiliate the deceased Sima Guang in public, right?

After Zhou Zhi was satisfied and left with his men, a drizzle began to fall in the sky. Sima Kang and others knelt down in the muddy cemetery and cried until they couldn't stop crying. It was an extremely desolate scene.

........

Kaifeng Mansion, the capital of the Song Dynasty

The Tokyo Imperial Palace of the Northern Song Dynasty was commonly known as the Ouchi Palace. Its predecessor was the Yamen Office of Xuanwu Jiedushi of the Tang Dynasty, and its scale was relatively small.

The Later Liang Dynasty made Kaifeng the capital, and changed the government office to Jianchang Palace. During the Later Jin Dynasty, it was renamed Daning Palace. Shizong of the Later Zhou Dynasty carried out some repairs, but no large-scale reconstruction was carried out until Taizu of the Song Dynasty began to expand in the third year of Jianlong. In four years, Daning Palace was built into the most magnificent palace of the Song Dynasty in the world, commonly known as Daning Palace.

Although the Song Palace is not as good as the Afang Palace and Xianyang Palace of Qin, the Changle Palace and Weiyang Palace of Han Dynasty, the Daming Palace and Luoyang Palace of Tang Dynasty, it still has five steps to one floor and ten steps to one pavilion; the corridors are narrow and the eaves are high. Pecking; each holding on to the terrain, fighting each other.

There are seventy-five palaces in the imperial palace city. The larger palaces are called Daqing Hall, Zichen Hall, Chui Gong Hall, and Wende Hall. Among them, Wende Hall is where the emperor went to the front and where he retreated. A place to stay and rest.

At this time, Zuo of the Song Dynasty was discussing the officials, Shangshu Zuopushe and his servant Zhang Dun, and Zhongshu Sheren, who were involved in political affairs. Shangshu Zuocheng Cai Bian was walking on the royal road to the Wende Palace together with his hut, and went to see the Emperor of the Song Dynasty. Zhao Xu.

"Mr. Zhang, are you happy?" Cai Bian saw Zhang Dun's face beaming with joy and contentment, so he asked as he walked.

"My son recently got another son, and I got another grandson." Zhang Dun replied with a smile.

Pull him down, Cai Bian secretly felt funny in his heart. Currently, Zhang Dun is the sole prime minister and wields great power, using Emperor Zhao Xu to attack dissidents and promote his cronies.

At this time, the case of Empress Meng suddenly came out, and Zhang Dun even planned to take advantage of this matter to unite the party and defeat the different parties. Of course, he was very unhappy.

Cai Bian and Zhang Dun were both members of the Yuanfeng Party, so they certainly understood what Zhang Dun was thinking.

However, although Cai Bian disagreed in his heart, there was nothing unusual on the surface, so he congratulated him respectfully: "I congratulate Mr. Zhang on your grandson."

"We are happy together, we are happy together." Zhang Dun said with a smile: "I will invite Mr. Cai to our house for a wedding drink someday."

"Yuandu dares to disobey Zhang Gong's order?" Cai Bian raised his hands and said.

"Yancheng has a reputation as a virtuous person and his articles are outstanding. Can he help the secretary do business?" Cai Bian then asked.

Ye Di, whose courtesy name was Yancheng, was a Jinshi in the sixth year of Xining and a doctor of Taixue. He had always been attached to Cai Bian, so Cai Bian wanted to recommend Ye Di to be the secretary of the Ministry of Affairs.

"If you write two small words, they will be damaged and cannot be used." Zhang Dun glanced at Cai Bian and said, "This is the way to go."

One sentence, but three or two sentences have no meaning."

Although the official position of the Secretary Ministry is not high, it is extremely important. It is responsible for the affairs of the Secretary, and is also in charge of books. To put it simply, whether it is the emperor's edict or the minister's memorial, it must go through the Secretary Ministry. Therefore, almost all secretaries are in charge of the Ministry. They are the confidants of those in power.

Of course, Zhang Dun would not give up such an important position to others.

Cai Bian was furious when he heard this. No matter how much he said that he was also the deputy prime minister of the Song Dynasty, Zhang Dun didn't give him any face and dismissed it on the spot.

However, there was still nothing unusual on Cai Bian's surface, so he quickly said: "What Zhang Gong said is true. Let's just let this matter go."

The two of them talked along the way, as close as brothers, and soon arrived outside the Wende Hall. After the palace official informed them, the two entered the Wende Hall and saw Emperor Song who was lying on a soft chair. Zhao Xu.

At this time, Zhao Xu was talking in a low voice with Zeng Bu, the minister of the Privy Council.

Zhao Xu was leaning on the soft chair, his face was a little dark, and his body was extremely thin. It was April and the weather was extremely cool, but there was a layer of fine sweat stains on Zhao Xu's forehead, which was visible to the naked eye.

Zhao Xu has been frail and sick since he was a child. His figure at the age of twenty is not much different from that of a fifteen or sixteen year old, and he is extremely frail.

Zhang Dun glanced at Zeng Bu with disgust, and whispered to the imperial physician waiting on the side: "Will your Majesty eat today?"

Before Zhao Xu came to power, the Empress Dowager Gao had been listening behind the curtain and controlling the government. It was not until the Empress Dowager Gao died of illness that Zhao Xu truly became the Emperor of the Song Dynasty.

Empress Dowager Gao re-employed members of the Yuanyou Party and Sima Guang, and drove out all the Yuanfeng Party members. Zhang Dun, Cai Bian and others were sent to other places to serve as officials. They were demoted again and again, far away from the central government, until Zhao Xu took charge and Zhang Dun , Cai Bian and other talents returned to the court and were reused.

Therefore, the health of Song Emperor Zhao Xu is too important to Zhang Dun, Cai Bian and others. If anything happens to Zhao Xu, who knows what will happen to the Song Dynasty?

Previously, Zhao Xu's health suddenly became worse and worse, which made Zhang Dun, Cai Bian and others worried.

Zhang Dun was a straight man and said whatever he thought in his mind, without even realizing that his words were extremely rude.

The imperial doctor looked at Zhao Xu timidly and remained silent.

"Just tell the truth." Zhao Xu said softly.

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty... I will only have a small bowl of gruel today." The imperial doctor replied honestly.

"Useless trash." Zhang Dun snorted and said to Zhao Xu: "Your Majesty's holy body is related to thousands of subjects in the world, and to the country, the country, and the country. I ask your majesty to take care of the dragon body."

"I agree with Zhang Dun." Cai Bian also said with his hands in hand.

"I'm fine." Zhao Xu nodded slightly and said, "I feel much better today than in the past few days. That's all, I won't mention this matter today. How is the investigation of the voodoo case going on with the Qing family?"

Queen Meng had an adoptive mother, Yan, who was a believer in voodoo. Seeing that Meng was not favored by the emperor, she only doted on Jieyu Liu, so she ordered people to use maple wood from the south to build a prayer temple for Meng, and found some Donkey colts, charming snake mist, kowtow insects and other objects were brought to the palace by the Meng family in an attempt to regain the emperor's favor. The Yan family even ordered people to draw a portrait of Liu Jieyu, prick her with needles, and curse her. Die early.

Unexpectedly, this matter was noticed by Liu Jieyu, so Liu Jieyu went to Zhao Xu and cried. Zhao Xu was furious after hearing this and ordered people to investigate the matter thoroughly.
Chapter completed!