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Chapter 1009 Sudden changes in the situation, officials entrusted orphans

On the first early court after the new year, the official Zhao Heng also showed up to participate. After many days, all the officials saw Zhao Heng for the first time and shouted long live.

Standing among the officials, Zhou Chen looked up at Zhao Heng who was on the dragon chair. Although he was far away, his eyes were very good, and he could tell that Zhao Heng was in a very bad condition, his complexion was poor, and his body was weak. imaginary.

Sure enough, Zhao Heng couldn't bear it any longer before the meeting was halfway through, and then left the hall. After he left, all the officials were also worried and unable to discuss matters.

Of course, only a small number of officials were worried about Zhao Heng's health, and the vast majority of officials were full of anxiety and apprehension about the future.

The crown prince, Zhao Zhen, is only 12 years old. If something happens to Zhao Heng, who will control the court in the future?
Once the sky changes, how can we guarantee our current power, and even how can we go further and gain more voice? For those high-ranking officials, it needs careful consideration and careful calculation.

Standing in the crowd, Zhou Chen glanced at many people's faces from the corner of his eye, and found that some people were actually happy. He could recognize that these people belonged to the Queen's Party.

If the official family really fails, with the current power of Empress Liu Wan, facing a 12-year-old new monarch, she is indeed sure to listen to politics behind the curtain.

As long as the Queen gains power, they, who have always been rejected and looked down upon by the Queen's Party officials, can take advantage of the situation, so of course they should be happy.

On the contrary, Xiao Qinyan, the leader of the rear party, stood in the front row with a blank expression, not talking to anyone, just standing there quietly, not knowing what he was thinking.

After a while, the eunuchs came to announce the disbandment of the court, but the officials lingered, and after a long time, they walked out of the hall and left in small groups.

"Ziheng."

As soon as Zhou Chen walked out of the hall, he heard fourth uncle Meng Wei's call, and walked over quickly.

"Fourth Uncle."

"Let's go together, and I will take my carriage back home later."

"Yes."

Zhou Chen knew that his uncle must tell him what happened just now, so naturally he would not refuse.

Before leaving, Zhou Chen saw Xiao Qinyan winking at him again, and nodded secretly.

Zhou Chen asked Qin Yi to go back and inform, and then got into the carriage of fourth uncle Meng Wei.

Meng Wei is sitting on his chest. He is almost 50 years old, but he guards the Northwest Region all the year round, and he doesn't spend much time in Tokyo City.

He was born a military prodigy. He has guarded the border for decades and never failed. His reputation among the people may not be as great as Zhou Chen's, but his reputation in the imperial court is not comparable to Zhou Chen's. Not only his own prestige, Plus the bonus from the Meng clan, so it's normal for Zhou Chen not to be as good as him.

In the past year, there was no war on the northwest border, so he would have time to return to Tokyo City to report on his duties.

"Ziheng, you are often in front of the imperial court, so you should know more about the situation of the officials, right?"

Zhou Chen thought for a while, and then replied: "A year ago, the officials summoned me and asked about the crown prince and Mr. Xiao."

Meng Wei's expression changed, he already understood what Zhou Chen meant, and was silent for a long time.

"The prince is young, just in case, in case, the prince will definitely not be able to take charge of the government, when the time comes..."

He didn't go on, but Zhou Chen understood what he meant.

"Fourth Uncle, what do you think?"

Meng Wei glanced at Zhou Chen and said, "Our Meng family doesn't participate in this kind of thing."

Zhou Chen secretly rolled his eyes, but he knew that the prototype of the Meng family was the Cao family, and the future empress of Emperor Renzong came from the Cao family. Queen.

If the Meng family really had no idea about the power of the royal family, how could they let their own family's daughter become the queen.

"I heard that you are very close to Xiao Qinyan from the Houdang?"

Zhou Chen showed surprise: "Fourth Uncle, where did you hear the rumors?"

Every time he and Xiao Qinyan met at Xiao Qinyan's mansion, and there would be no one else, it was impossible for him to reveal it. If someone really found out, then there must be something wrong with Xiao Qinyan.

Meng Wei said in a deep voice: "Don't worry about where I heard it from, Ziheng, you have to understand that you belong to the honorable family, we need to do our best to maintain the orthodoxy, and the crown prince is the orthodox."

Zhou Chen's face remained unchanged: "Of course I know that. I really have nothing to do with the Queen's Party. As for the empress, she wanted to win me over, but I never agreed."

"Although the queen is a woman, she is also very cunning. I think I will go back to the border in the near future to prevent any changes. I am most worried about you. You have been too popular recently, and your actions are a bit too sharp. This is not a good thing."

"Fourth uncle is talking about Guo Fen?"

"Guo Fen is also from the honorable family after all, so there's no need for you to get so stiff with him."

"Don't worry, fourth uncle, I know what's going on."

"I will go back with me later, go back after eating."

"it is good."

Zhou Chen fully understood what Meng Wei meant. Meng Wei had been guarding the northwest border, and he would only have time to return to Bianjing City when there was no war.

But now the official family is seriously ill, and they can see things at any time. Zhao Heng's death will definitely cause turmoil in the court. If the prince succeeds, the young prince will not be able to govern himself, and it will inevitably cause suspicion and chaos in the world. At this time, other foreign countries are the easiest There is turmoil, so the border must be guarded to ensure that nothing happens.

The Meng family is indeed the first family in the Song Dynasty. In Meng Wei's generation alone, several brothers are above the third rank, and there are even two dukes. Among them, the fourth uncle and the eighth uncle guard two borders respectively.

In addition to them, the Meng family also has consorts, and the rest of the members hold positions in the court. They may not be of high rank, but many of them are in important departments.

These are only Meng's own clansmen, not counting the in-laws who married Meng.

Therefore, the Meng family can definitely be regarded as the first family in the Song Dynasty.

Back home, Zhao Paner saw that Zhou Chen was out of his mind, so he asked the reason when he was resting at night.

Zhou Chen didn't hide anything, and directly told her what happened today.

"Is the official's health really bad?"

Zhao Pan'er looked very surprised. She had met Zhao Heng once, and she had a very good impression, at least he was much more amiable than that queen.

She didn't expect that the official family, which was in good condition a few days ago, would become like this after this year.

"According to my observation, the deadline has come, just within one or two months, so don't spread this word."

"I know, so the fourth uncle came to you today because he wanted you to protect the crown prince?"

Zhou Chen frowned, and Zhao Pan'er reached out and pressed the acupoints for him.

"If I'm not mistaken, the fourth uncle and many people in the court are worried that if something happens to the official family and the crown prince is young, the empress will follow Lu Wu's example."

Zhao Pan'er's face was horrified: "No way?"

Zhou Chen sighed quietly: "Power is charming, before it happens, who can give a definite answer?"

In the official history, Empress Liu is a strange woman who has the talent of Lu Wu, but not the evil of Lu Wu, and Liu Wan in this world, to be honest, somewhat does not deserve the praise of Lu Wu's talent.

Zhao Pan'er leaned on Zhou Chen's shoulder: "We are husband and wife, no matter what happens, I will always support you."

Zhou Chen hugged Zhao Pan'er, with deep eyes, bowed his head and kissed lightly...

A few days later, Zhou Chen received the imperial decree from the palace, asking him to face the Holy Spirit. He didn't dare to delay, and immediately went to Zhao Heng's bedroom as quickly as possible.

When Zhou Chen entered the hall, Zhao Heng had already sat up with the help of his servant, his face was pale, but when he saw Zhou Chen, he smiled and waved to Zhou Chen.

"Zhou Qing, come."

"The minister sees the official family, long live long live long live long live."

Zhou Chen stopped in front of Zhao Heng, looked at Zhao Heng, and rested for a few days. Instead of getting better, Zhao Heng's condition became worse.

As the emperor and the lord of the world, all the doctors who treat him are famous doctors in the world, experts in medical skills, and there will be no shortage of rare medicinal materials.

But even so, Zhao Heng still couldn't recover, which showed that Zhao Heng's body was beyond cure, and the time limit had come.

Zhao Heng waved to Cui Neishi who was beside him. Cui Neishi bowed and retreated, leaving the hall. Immediately, only Zhou Chen and Zhao Heng were left in the hall.

"Zhou Qing..."

An hour later, Zhou Chen walked out of Zhao Heng's bedroom with a solemn expression.

"call!"

He let out a long breath, the conversation just now surprised him, as expected of an emperor who has been emperor for more than 20 years, Zhao Heng is really decisive at this time.

On the same day, Zhao Heng issued an imperial decree, conferring Zhou Chen the Crown Prince Tai Bao, the Champion General, and the Commander of the Palace Commander.

In this way, Zhou Chen directly became one of the most powerful officials in the court. Although the Crown Prince Taibao and the champion general are vacant positions, the Crown Prince Taibao is responsible for protecting and teaching the prince, and the prince is the future emperor, so the prince Although the Taibao has no real power, it represents the trust of the emperor.

At Zhou Chen's level, it is extremely difficult to improve a little bit, especially Zhou Chen is still so young.

But Zhao Heng's will directly reduced Zhou Chen's ten-year struggle, not to mention reaching the sky in one step, but it also directly entered the power center.

But in this way, Zhou Chen was also tied to the prince. Zhao Heng's move was basically to let him act as a bodyguard for the prince, or it could be said to find close ministers and assistant ministers for the prince.

Facing Zhao Heng's will, which is similar to Tuogu's will, Zhou Chen has no choice at all, but if he does so, he may offend the queen. After all, if Liu Wan wants to listen to the government behind the curtain, if the power is in hand, the crown prince will definitely be punished. She is in control.

The promotion to Zhou Chen's position was just a move by Zhao Heng. He quickly issued many orders, and all of them had great influence. Therefore, although Zhou Chen's promotion caused a shock and was opposed by some people, but soon They were also suppressed by Zhao Heng.

Zhou Chen's promotion was a huge happy event for the honorable family. After the decree was issued, people came to the mansion one after another to give gifts.

If you want to say the most uncomfortable, it is naturally Zhou Chen's previous boss, Guo Fen, the commander of the front hall.

"Master Zhou, congratulations."

Guo Fen tried his best to keep a smile on his face, but his smile permeated no matter how you looked at it.

But he couldn't help it. All the commanders in front of the palace were lost. Although he was transferred to Liangzhou Jiedushi, the Jiedushi in this period no longer had much military power. no problem.

So he seems to be mediocre, but he has actually been thrown into the cold palace, and he is no longer on the same level as Zhou Chen.

Although he was extremely unwilling, he could only accept his fate, take the initiative to show weakness, and did not want to continue to fight against Zhou Chen.

"Happy together."

Zhou Chen didn't push forward either. He and Guo Fen were actually just fighting for power, and they were also in the honorable line, so there was no deep hatred.

Now that his official position has been promoted, Guo Fen has taken the initiative to show weakness, so naturally he will not do anything to Guo Fen. Although the Xungui family is not all united, but in this situation, if he makes trouble again and takes revenge with victory, he will appear open-minded Narrow and dissatisfied.

Not long after, another major event happened. Zhao Heng actually dismissed Xiao Qinyan from the position of prime minister, and chose another Tian, ​​who was as famous as Xiao Qinyan, as the privy envoy, that is, to act as prime minister.

This was a major event that caused a sensation in the city of Tokyo. Compared with this event, Zhou Chen's official appointment had much less impact.

Zhou Chen was also very surprised when he learned about this. It seems that last time Zhao Heng asked Xiao Qinyan to himself, although he didn't give an answer, it seemed that Zhao Heng still didn't trust Xiao Qinyan that much.

Zhao Heng trusted Liu Wan, but he didn't trust Xiao Qinyan, so before the deadline, he removed Xiao Qinyan from the position of prime minister, and then promoted another Tian Wei, who had nothing to do with the Queen's Party, to be prime minister. The purpose was to balance In the court, there will be no situation where one family dominates.

Ever since, Xiao Qinyan was demoted again less than a year after he became prime minister, but although he was no longer prime minister, he still held a high position and was Minister of the Ministry of Punishment.

In less than a month after the new year, the court situation is very turbulent, there are ups and downs, and anyone with a discerning eye can see that something big is going to happen, so everyone is cautious and dare not take the lead.

Even those yamen in Tokyo city who often play and make troubles are all shrunk, and they dare not even go out the door of their homes during this time.

Today's Tokyo city can be described as jittery, even the common people have noticed something is wrong.

Fushanfang!
Today's duty is early, so Zhou Chen came to Zhang Haohao's place, because he won't stay overnight, so when he comes here, time is limited, and he will seize the time to get in touch with Zhang Haohao.

Rao Zhang has a good physique, but when facing Zhou Chen, he still feels weak.

"Recently, the outside is not very peaceful. If there is nothing important, you should not go out."

Hearing Zhou Chen's warning, Zhang Haohao showed doubts: "Is something big going to happen? I heard that a lot of things have happened in the court recently."

Zhou Chen stroked her catkin gently: "Don't ask too much, sometimes it's not a good thing to know too much, it's not that you are not allowed to go out, but just don't go out during this time."

"okay, I get it."

Zhang Haohao replied that although she didn't know what happened, but making Zhou Chen so careful meant that the matter must be serious, and she didn't want to cause Zhou Chen any trouble.

After having a good dinner with Zhang, Zhou Chen set off for the Hou Mansion, and then had dinner with Zhao Pan'er.

In the next period of time, Zhou Chen began to perform his duties as the Prince's Taibao, went to the East Palace, and met the Prince Zhao Zhen.

Zhao Zhen is the future Emperor Renzong, also known as the emperor of the Song Dynasty Kuanren Mingsheng.

But at this time, Zhao Zhen is only a 12-year-old child. Although he matures earlier than ordinary children, he is still very young.

Zhao Zhen treated Zhou Chen very enthusiastically, pulled Zhou Chen and said a lot, and in his tone, he admired Zhou Chen very much.

After getting along for a while, Zhou Chen really felt that Zhao Zhen, the prince, has a city mansion, but his personality is indeed simple, and his servant is also generous. From the perspective of personality alone, he can be regarded as a modest gentleman.

Just thinking about Zhao Zhen's future, the emperor is benevolent and the courtiers are strong, this is not a good thing.

Zhou Chen wanted to instill some advanced concepts in Zhao Zhen, and remind him a little bit, but unfortunately, there are always people around Zhao Zhen, and they are civil servants. Opportunity, so that even if he wanted to change Zhao Zhen, he didn't have that chance.

Another period of time passed, and on one day in late March of the first year of Qianxing, a major incident occurred, and the official family was seriously ill. Many officials with channels flocked to the palace.

As the commander of the Imperial Palace, Zhou Chen had the duty of guarding the palace, so he received the information immediately, and then rushed to the palace.

(End of this chapter)