Chapter eight hundred and twenty first: generous gift
Chapter 821: Gift
Yang Zhen stroked his beard and pondered, and finally said, "The King of Pingxi will not falsely spread good news, this good news must be true."
Yang Zhen's words were quite unreasonable, but he decided, and the King of Pingxi had no such bad record in the past, which was also recognized by the court. When he was in Quanzhou, he had such a misunderstanding, but it was not clarified later.
The adults in the ministry were no longer interested in office at this time. Even Yang Zhen’s rigid face smiled and ordered the clerk: “Hurry up, come and have a tea, and then ask someone to inform the ministry, temple, Privy Council, and the Third Department. Zhao Lushi, please bother you to go to the East Palace and report the good news to the prince. This is a great joy, and you must make a big noise.”
Everyone agreed, and a few young Shulingshi also ran to the nearby Secretariat and reported the good news from the Secretariat.
In fact, everyone knows that this Yang clan is so full of fanfare, not only to celebrate the merits, but the real intention is to appease the hearts. Since the Jurchens' iron hooves get closer, the rumors in the entire Bianjing cannot be suppressed. In addition, the emperor leaves nothing and the prince has vigorously advocated peace. Those who are the emperor and the governor are all weak. Who else has confidence in the Song Dynasty? Therefore, countless families flee south in Bianjing. Even some court officials have already arranged a way out for their relatives. Not only that, the usually prosperous market has gradually become depressed. Many unscrupulous merchants took the opportunity to raise prices and spread rumors first, saying that the Qijin Mansion had been broken by the Jurchens, which caused the people to hoard food and the rice prices to rise day by day.
Although the three provinces and six ministries tried their best to support this situation, the Jingzhao Mansion also tried its best to maintain it, but the people's hearts could not be suppressed by rushing. If this continues, the Jurchens will not come yet, and the entire Bianjing will be over.
Now this great victory is undoubtedly a shot of heart-warming agent for Bianjing. Fifty thousand iron cavalry are destroyed, and they are captured by Jinzhou, Dading Prefecture, and where is Jinzhou? Where is Dading Prefecture? They are all the rear of the Jurchens. Isn’t it enough to feel at ease?
After a while, Quartz came in a sedan chair. The Secretariat was not far from the Secretariat and arrived in a few steps. However, the Secretariat got out of the sedan chair and ran in with his legs and hit a clerk. With a whistle, he almost fell to death. The clerk was also startled and hurriedly wanted to help him. Quartz covered his forehead and said, "It's okay, it's okay, do your business."
Then he stumbled in.
"Shangzhi, is the news of the Good News real? Is it the news or is it true? Where is the Good News?" As soon as he entered the door, Quartz directly called Yang Zhen and asked.
At this time, Yang was really tidying up his clothes and dusting the body. When he saw that it was Quartz coming, he smiled bitterly: "Of course I dare not have any falsehood. I am about to enter the palace to report to the Empress Dowager. If it weren't for the fact that, how could he dare to come to the palace to report to the palace?"
Quartz's breathing speeded up and his face turned red, "With this great victory, the Jurchens will no longer dare to look south."
Although his words were exaggerated, the combat power shown by the Song army was enough to make the Jurchens feel fearful. This battle could be regarded as a way to preserve Bianjing and suppress the situation.
Yang Zhenxi said: "Your Majesty doesn't need to say much. You might as well go to the palace to meet the empress dowager with me, so that the empress dowager will be happy."
Quartz nodded repeatedly and said, "I'll go with Shangzhi."
The two of them went out of the door and got into the sedan chair. When they arrived outside the palace, they asked someone to report, and went in directly. The palace vanguard wanted to stop him. Yang Zhen struded with his head raised and said, "There is a great victory in Zhongjing."
His insidious scream first made the palace vanguard confused. Then, he also woke up. Is the great victory of Zhongjing, a great victory of the navy? This is great news. No wonder these two adults were so disobedient, so they let them in and reported the military officers of the imperial guards. The news was very fast with the rapidity of these palace vanguards and the history of the books and the history of the mentors. In just half an hour, they spread throughout the corners of Bianjing like wings.
So the whole of Bianjing suddenly became lively. It is said that in less than an hour, the wine sold in major restaurants was more than the usual ten days and half a month. The shop selling firecrackers was even more squeezed out. Scholars who didn't usually go out looked gloomy at this time appeared on the street and invited friends to celebrate everywhere in a voluptuous manner.
The sound of firecrackers outside the palace was constantly coming into the palace. Although Jingtai Palace was deep in the palace garden, the size of the Song Dynasty's palace was not very large, so I heard such a big noise. The Empress Dowager was taking a nap in the afternoon. At this time, there was such a loud noise outside. Jingde outside was startled and quickly found an eunuch to ask, "The eunuch didn't know what was wrong. This season is neither a festival nor a day for the release of the results, nor who was eating and setting off firecrackers."
Jingde had no choice but to be afraid of frightening the empress dowager. At this moment, a voice came from the empress dowager's bedroom: "Jingde..."
After hearing this, Jingde rolled into the bedroom and saw that the empress dowager had woken up. At this time, she was sitting in front of the makeup mirror and asked the eunuch to comb her hair and tie her hair.
The Empress Dowager was awakened by the sound and seemed to be in a bad mood. She said coldly: "Jingde, what is the sound outside? It's noisy, like a war, why don't you ask someone to ask?"
Jingde hurriedly said, "I don't know either. I'll go and ask the palace vanguard."
The Empress Dowager thought for a while and said, "Forget it, I can't say which rich family got married. The Ai family remembered that the year the emperor had just ascended the throne, and there was also someone in the inner city who got married. It is said that the family who got married was still a Shangshu, right? The noise was so big, more grand than the royal family."
Jingde thought to himself that at this time, Bianjing is in danger, and which family is full of food and has nothing to do to get married. Besides, the entire Bianjing who can make this scene will not exceed twenty families, and I have never heard of any family members who want to get married. However, the Queen Mother guessed so much that he couldn't refute it, but he just smiled awkwardly: "These people are so bold. They are so usurping the Vietnamese, they are actually richer than the royal family."
The queen mother smiled faintly at the bronze mirror, her eyes fell on the white hair between her temples, and then she looked depressed and said, "Let them go, even the emperor doesn't care, what is the Ai family?"
As he was speaking, an eunuch hurried in and said, "You two, Mr. Yang Zhen and Shi Ying, are asking for a meeting."
The Empress Dowager pursed her lips and said, "Tell them to wait, the Ai family wants to comb their hair."
"Yes..." The eunuch withdrew, but after a while, Yang Zhen's voice came from outside: "My minister Yang Zhen has met the Empress Dowager."
The empress dowager looked at the bronze mirror and pulled her down, thinking to herself, she was so unruly and came to the harem before she could even get in. Why are she so arrogant? What the people outside said is indeed correct. Yang is really irritable and doesn't look like a prime minister.
He said to Jingdenu: "Let them wait outside."
Jingde whispered: "Mr. Yang is so anxious. Could something big happen? Will it be related to the voices outside?"
After hearing what Jingde said, the Empress Dowager became nervous and said in her heart that the Jurchens had come to kill him. At this time, she didn't have the intention to comb her hair, so she asked the eunuch who combed her hair to tie her hair directly, without even inserting her pearls and phoenix hairpins, and she stood up, trying her best to be dignified and said, "Please ask the two lords to come into the palace to speak."
As she said, she walked directly from her bedroom through the inner corridor to the main palace, sat on the couch behind the curtain, and placed the gauze tent. She saw Yang Zhen and Quarine come in together, and bowed to her head and bowed: "I have met the Queen Mother. How can the Queen Mother be?"
The Empress Dowager said lightly: "Get up and talk, what happened? What made Yang Aiqing and Shi Aiqing so anxious?"
Yang Zhen said: "Menxia Province just received a good news from the navy. His Highness Pingxi King led the navy to defeat Jinzhou, advance westward, and seized the Dading Prefecture, annihilated more than 50,000 to 60,000, and defeated the Jin people!"
This news was like a thunder in the sunny day. The Queen Mother was stunned at first, then said in a trembling voice: "You say it again."
Quartz said: "The Navy won a great victory and defeated the Jin Kingdom."
The empress dowager had already stood up and dragged her long silk skirt. When the eunuch beside the curtain saw that the empress dowager was about to come out, she immediately rolled up the curtain and hooked it with a silver hook. The empress dowager came out from behind the gauze tent and looked at Yang Zhen and said, "Is it true?"
Yang Zhen did not dare to empress dowager, but still knelt down on the ground and said, "It is true that the good news was written by His Highness Pingxi King, with three thousand words. Everything is said clearly. If it is false to spread the good news, how could it be said so carefully? Besides, His Highness Pingxi King is a gentleman among men, and would not do such a thing that is wrong."
When Shen Aoruo was here, he heard Yang Zhen’s evaluation of him as a gentleman among men, most of them would cry.
The empress dowager didn't care about Yang Zhen's words. The haze that had been pressing on her heart over the past few months was swept away by Yang Zhen's confident words. She couldn't help but murmur: "Excellent achievements, aren't they?"
Quartz thought for a while: "This battle has protected the capital and left our great Song Zong community no longer in danger of overthrow. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a great achievement."
The Empress Dowager said excitedly: "The Ai family finally has a good son-in-law. Good, very good. This is the pillar of the country and the pillar of the sky. The country is in full swing. There will always be loyal and capable ministers. Do the Eastern Palace know about this?"
Yang Zhen said: "I have already asked someone to tell me."
The Empress Dowager said happily: "The Ai family is a wife family. You men's affairs do not understand, but the Ai family knows that even if our Song Dynasty country is preserved in this battle, the soldiers in front of us are fighting fiercely. The King of Pingxi is suffering from the weather and frost, and they all work hard. I immediately ordered the Eastern Palace to come in, and I would like to ask someone to go to Quanzhou to inform the emperor. Now the Ai family will be the master. Such a great contribution should be given, so the Ai family will wait for the Eastern Palace to come in here and discuss the reward with him."
The Empress Dowager's words were a bit incoherent, but Yang Zhen and Shi Ying understood that the Empress Dowager wanted to reward him, and it seemed that he wanted to give him a lot. In fact, it was understandable. The Empress Dowager's most distressed was King Jin. King Jin had no descendants, only one daughter, Princess Qinghe. Princess Qinghe married Shen Ao. In this way, Shen Ao is the direct lineage of King Jin. Now the King of Pingxi has made extraordinary achievements, and is justified.
Those who are obedient should also give generous gifts. Besides, when Emperor Taizu was there, he promised to restore Youyun to become king. In other words, whoever can recover Youyun can be promoted to king, no matter whether you are Amao or Agou, your surname is Zhang or your surname is Wang. Now, King Pingxi has taken Jinzhou all the way to defeat Dading, which is equivalent to taking down Zhongjing Road. Although Zhongjing Road is not Youyun, it is even deeper than Youyun. If you don’t give a reward, it is really unreasonable.
But then again, Chen Ao is now the prince's honor, the regent of the Western Xia, the navy and the martial arts school, it is not an exaggeration to say that he is in control of half of the world's troops. When he reaches his level, he has no way to rise. If he rises again, he will reach the ceiling.
Now the empress dowager suddenly said that he would give me a generous gift and discuss it with the prince himself, which made Yang Zhen and Shi Ying a little confused. The implication of this sentence was that the empress dowager wanted to ask the prince for reward, but what should he give? If he only gave gold and silk, it would be a joke. Although everyone doesn’t know how much property the King of Pingxi is, there are still hundreds of millions of yuan. How much can the royal family give? At most, it is only one million yuan. This little money still requires labor to come forward in person?
As for rewarding beautiful women, it is even more nonsense. Even if the prince wants to give it to him, the empress dowager must turn off his head.
Not to mention the official position, the King of Pingxi has already held several ministries. If you ask him to serve as an official again, it will only be considered aggrieved him. A dignified prince and a minister of the Shangshu were originally insulted, so you can't leave your disciples to this prince.
The only possibility is the title, but the emperor is above the prince, which seems to be inappropriate.
After thinking about it, Yang Zhen became more and more confused. What is the Queen Mother doing? What is the purpose?
Quartz's eyes were low and a trace of suspicion flashed. He glanced at Yang Zhen, and then realized that Yang Zhen was also looking at him with a puzzled look. Quartz couldn't help but smile bitterly, saying in his heart, I want to ask you, you want to ask me about it.
The Empress Dowager realized that she had lost her composure a little, so she calmed down and turned back into the curtain, asked someone to remove the curtain, sit on the couch, and drink a sip of tea, and finally said, "Jingde, go and invite the prince."
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Chapter completed!