choke element

The third year of Zhenyou in the Kingdom of Jin was also the eighth year of Jiading in the Song Dynasty.

Unlike the political turmoil of its strong neighbors in the north, after the somewhat absurd Northern Expedition during the Kaixi period, the Song Dynasty has been stable for eight full years.Compared with Da Jin, the people of Da Song are more comfortable after all.

However, although the devastation of the war has been reduced, the floods and droughts caused by the bad weather have not stopped.Moreover, the scale and destructive power of various disasters in recent years seem to be stronger than before every year.Just the Liangzhe Road on which the imperial court relied, from the Qingyuan period when the current emperor ascended the throne to the present, there have been only 21 years, but there have been [-] floods, [-] sea overflows, and [-] droughts.At the most tragic time, the victims were not given relief, and there was a terrible situation where wives ate their husbands' corpses, brothers ate their brothers' corpses, and even father and son ate their own corpses.

The current emperor of the Song Dynasty is a benevolent monarch who loves the people, and when talking about this situation, he is often depressed.A few days ago, news came out from the palace that the emperor was very worried when he thought that there would be no rain in the late spring of this year, and planned to issue an imperial edict to sin against his own virtue, so as to beg the heaven to have mercy on the people.In addition, it is also planned to arrange initiatives to pray for the removal of rain all over the country.

Those techniques, including drawing dragons to pray for rain, lizards to pray for rain, slaughtering geese to pray for rain, etc., are extremely absurd, and most people with insight do not believe it.But if we turn to Zhu Xi's talk about inspiring and kindness, and even Feng Rang's statement... the emperor is actually not guilty of virtue, and everyone understands this.So, is there something wrong with Zaizhi?

If the board is going to be hit on Shi Xiang, then Chao Gang will be in turmoil, let alone.

So the emperor can only spend his mind on these seemingly absurd rain prayer ceremonies.

On April [-]th, a group of servants walked slowly across the Royal Street surrounded by a warm sedan chair.The shape of the sedan chair is ordinary, and the decoration is not gorgeous, so on both sides of the Royal Street, especially in the area from Wansongling to Zhong'an Bridge, the common people who come and go are busy on their own, and no one pays attention to this sedan chair.

Lin'an was the home of the Song Dynasty, because the official capital of the country was always in Bianliang, so the city and palaces of Lin'an have not been fully expanded.Although the imperial street in the center of the city is spacious, there are too many shops on both sides. Many shops have moved the cooking stoves for steaming pastries and wine pods outside, occupying the edge of the imperial street. The sedan chairs inevitably walk slowly. .

When we got near the Drum Tower, the crowds became denser, and the servants yelled several times, but they couldn't clear the way.So the people in the sedan chair lifted the curtain of the sedan chair slightly and looked outside.

This man was about fifty years old, with a square face, thick eyebrows, and five long beards fluttering under his chin. His appearance was very majestic, and his eyes were somewhat sharp. He was Shi Miyuan, the powerful minister who controlled the Song Dynasty.

He was the one who led the killing of Han Yuzhou during the Kaixi period and pushed the Song Dynasty to pray for peace with the Jin Kingdom, so he had a bad reputation among ordinary soldiers and civilians. Earlier, some officers even colluded with each other to murder him.Several years have passed since that incident, but Shi Miyuan still has lingering fears. When traveling in private, he often uses a normal-sized sedan chair for safety reasons.

At this time, he looked outside, frowned immediately, and said in a deep voice, "What's going on? Why are there so many monks and nuns gathered outside?"

As soon as these words came out, the trusted butler next to the sedan chair suddenly smiled, but immediately suppressed it.

The servants all knew that the minister of history was extremely cautious, and he was exhausted in the balance of the court.

Starting last month, under the banner of praying for rain, the emperor summoned Taoists who claimed to possess mana many times, including Master Chongmiao from Dongxiao Palace, Daoist Zi Qingming from Taiyi Palace, and so on.Although Shi Miyuan didn't comment on this, he quietly sent people to enshrine the Buddhist hall, and publicly persuaded the emperor to decree the level of Jiangnan Buddhist temples, set up five mountains and ten Buddhist temples, and also released news to the outside world, saying that he was a Tiantong The reincarnation of monk Hongzhi Zhengjue.

I have been busy before and after, and in my bones, I just want to prevent some flaws in my family from being taken advantage of by the emperor.Seeing many monks and nuns now, Shi Xiang was subconsciously nervous again, wondering whether these Buddhists also responded to the emperor.

Actually not, he was too worried.

"Master Xiang, today is the Buddha's birthday, and the monasteries are asking for alms everywhere!"

"oh oh!"

Shi Miyuan laughed dumbfounded: "I actually forgot."

April [-]th is the Buddha's birthday, and there are Buddha bathing parties in all the temples.The monks and nuns put bronze Buddha statues in small basins, soaked them in sugar water, covered them with flower sheds, and then went to rich houses in various mansions in the city to pour water from bathing Buddhas on people with small ladles as a blessing.Of course, those who are watered by water have to give money immediately to show their respect for the Buddha.

This has been a custom in Lin'an City for decades.When Shi Miyuan's sedan chair passed the West Lake earlier, it bumped into the "Life Freeing Society", rich merchants from various places bid for the release of turtles, fish, snails and mussels.He also admired a few words at that time, but he forgot all of them in the blink of an eye.

For him, whether he worships Buddha or believes in faith, they are just tools after all.

Shi Miyuan put down the sedan chair curtain, feeling that his family had made a slip of the tongue for a while, and the servants might take it lightly, so he felt a little angry.He also understood that these stupid people didn't understand why he lost his composure.

A few days ago, news came from Huaidong, Huaixi and other places at the same time, saying that the political situation of the Dajin Kingdom was turned upside down. A strong minister named Guo Ning raised his troops and defeated the army horses of Dajin from all walks of life, controlling the court of Zhongdu in one fell swoop. , put the emperor in the palm.

As soon as the news reached Xingzai, it aroused the reactions of many boring civil servants.It is obviously nothing to do with the Song Dynasty, and it is clear that the Kingdom of Jin itself is the enemy of the Song Dynasty, and it is these people who are constantly criticizing Shi Miyuan's détente policy; but when the Kingdom of Jin came out with powerful officials, these people danced for a long time , wrote an article full of colorful articles angrily denouncing such unauthorized use of power, Wei Ling's rebellion, and tried to coerce the great politics of the temple, so that Song Dynasty could respond to the coup d'état of Jin.

Simply ridiculous.

What they care about is the war or peace between Song and Jin?How will Guo Ning's fierceness affect Da Song?Where is the order of monarchs and ministers of the Kingdom of Jin?

Most of the captives in the north have not been cured of their wildness, and they fight with each other and can only win with strength. Isn't that normal?

They were clearly denouncing Guo Ning of the Kingdom of Jin, but they were actually referring to Shi Miyuan of the Great Song Dynasty.Every word and every word they say is scolding me!These idiots just feel uncomfortable seeing me standing above all the officials!
In Shi Miyuan's view, Guo Ning's usurpation of power was nothing more than a trivial matter.

According to many courtiers, this kind of mercenary conquest tycoon is indeed a threat. If his power continues to expand, it is uncertain when he will become a threat to the Song Dynasty, just like the old story of the Jin Dynasty and the Liao Dynasty.

But from another perspective, Dajin is the most powerful country in the world, and the Jurchens were said to be invincible back then. How powerful is it?In recent years, they have fought against the Hei Tartars in the north, so they don't care about trouble with Song Dynasty.Compared with Da Jin, Guo Ning is just a man who started from the grass and has no roots.What can those men really do?

It has been almost a hundred years since Emperor Gaozong traveled south.In the long hundred years, no Han son rose up to destroy the Kingdom of Jin, and those reformed people would only deceive the imperial court all day long, causing the imperial court to send troops to the north.It shows that there are no heroes in the Central Plains.This Guo Ning suddenly gained power for a while, and when the commanders in the frontier of Dajin realized it, wouldn't they be destroyed in a flash?

This kind of matter is not worth discussing in court at all.However, the guards in Huaidong and Huaixi made a fuss, but Ding Can and Hou Zhongxin were talking nonsense all day long in order to cover up their futility in their missions!

Shi Miyuan has been thinking about how to be in line with the ethos of the officials in the court denouncing powerful officials, but also not to go to war and really burn the fire on himself.After thinking for several days, there was no result. Even Xuan Zang, Xue Ji and others couldn't come up with a good solution.

But seeing monks and nuns begging for money on the street at this moment, he suddenly thought of a brilliant idea.

In the final analysis, although there were people in the court who spoke out righteously and scolded the powerful officials of the Northern Kingdom, there were many people in the court who made money through private business with the North.Shi Miyuan has always been clear about this.In the past two years, a large amount of materials have been flowing to the north, so that the price of food in Ningshao and other places has become expensive. How could it be possible to hide it from the Zaizhi?This was originally out of the tacit approval of the high-level!
Now that the court is raging, let those who denounce the powerful ministers come forward to rectify the market and maritime trade.Temporarily blocking the grain trade at sea is in line with their proposition, and it also happens to suppress Guo Ning's power.And this kind of action will inevitably cause dissatisfaction among many people who rely on the sea trade. At present, the dog bites the dog in the court, and both sides are crazy, and the ego is dual-purpose, and it is appropriate to advance and retreat!

Shi Miyuan suddenly became happy, and then he thought again, this kind of matter cannot be completely left to the officials in the court.The officials talked about it, and it was unreliable to do things, and there had to be a fine person to go about it in detail, so that this matter could be done smoothly, and the trend in the court was also safely sent away.

He suddenly thought of someone, so he knocked on the car window.

The head servant hastily leaned over: "What is Xiangye's order?"

"In Chuzhou, there is a county magistrate named Jia She who is very familiar with the market and sea trade. In the past few days, documents from the border area have been sent frequently, talking about the turmoil in the north, and he is one of them."

As the only prime minister in the current dynasty, but he is very fond of the small officials in the local area, this is really the skill of a powerful minister.The chief servant said respectfully: "There is such a person. His document also said that the best way to suppress the expansion of the strong officials in the north is the grain. If he manages it, he can keep the grain outflow as smooth as possible. , so that there will be no troubles. It’s just that to do these things well, it will take three thousand guan.”

Interesting, what this person saw was the same as mine.

Shi Miyuan said casually: "Give him three thousand guan! Let him keep an eye on it for me!"