Emperor Renzong of the Great Song Dynasty

The destruction of the Golden Buddha in Daxiangguo Temple caused an uproar in Bianliang City.

Daxiangguo Temple is the number one Buddhist temple in the world. Every year, millions of pilgrims come here from all over the country to worship Buddha, not to mention the monthly temple fairs and markets. Daxiangguo Temple is not so much a Buddhist temple as it is a A public activity place for Kaifeng citizens.

In such a much-anticipated Daxiangguo Temple, all the Buddha statues in the temple were taken away to make money, and rumors spread throughout the entire Kaifeng city overnight.

It is said that the monks of the Daxiangguo Temple were shameless at the Queen Mother's birthday banquet and offended the Queen Mother and were condemned.It is said that the monks of the Daxiangguo Temple had an affair with the Queen Mother, and were discovered by the emperor, who angered the entire temple.Others say that the Queen Mother was possessed by a Rakshasa ghost and vowed to destroy all Buddhas.

There are all kinds of things.

After being rumored to have an affair with a minister with white hair and chicken skin, he was also rumored to have an affair with a monk. Liu E was in Fengchen Palace, and could be blown out of his lungs by a bad-mouthed bastard thousands of miles away.

It's really unreasonable!Does Bengong look like such a hungry person!

Sure enough, there was a lot of gossip and wrongs in front of the widow's door, which made me angry.

And these rumors are all aimed at Bengong, didn't the little emperor and Kou Laoxi provoke the matter of destroying the Buddha together?

Liu E wronged Kou Zhun this time.

The conscience of heaven and earth, Kou Zhun has never been involved in the matter of destroying Buddha from the beginning to the end.

He really felt that the imperial court was very short of money and had thought about where to get some money to spend, but he had never thought of Buddha statues.

Kou Zhun doesn't believe in karma, and he doesn't think that the untimely death of San Wu Yizong has anything to do with the extermination of Buddhism.

In ancient times, emperors, generals, and ministers died young, and there were many who died without a whole body. How many people died because of the extermination of Buddha?

Emperor Wu of Liang worshiped Buddha so devoutly, but he was imprisoned by Hou Jing and died in his later years.If there is really a Buddha alive, why not give Emperor Wu of Liang a good death?

Kou Zhun never thought about the idea of ​​shooting a Buddha statue, he was simply afraid that Liu E would oppose him.

Although Kou Xianggong does not believe in Buddhism and karma, there are too many people in this world who believe in Buddhism and karma.

If he hastily brought up such an outrageous thing as destroying the Buddha and making money, Liu E would probably use the topic to get angry.

Kou Zhun would not do such a thing of giving people a handle.

Unexpectedly, this time it was Liu E and the little emperor who brought up the matter of destroying the Buddha.

That's right, in Kou Zhun's view, the matter of destroying the Buddha and casting money was entirely the queen mother's idea, and the little emperor was just pushed out by Liu E as a gunman.

After all, the little emperor is only less than 14 years old this year, and he is still a child.

What kind of mind can a child have?

Liu E thought it was Kou Zhun's idea to destroy the Buddha, and Kou Zhun thought it was Liu E's idea to destroy the Buddha.Although the two were not happy that the other had pushed the little emperor to make such a big deal, they both felt that destroying the Buddha was the best way to solve the money shortage so far, so they both went with the flow, "Let's go with the old man's wishes." .

From the beginning to the end, Zhao Yiyi was a pure and spotless white lotus in the hearts of both of them.

Alas, the little emperor is still too young to get married, so it is inevitable that he will be spoiled by others.

...Speaking of which, the little emperor will be 14 years old after the Chinese New Year. It seems, as if, the matter of becoming a queen can be brought up for discussion, right?

What kind of queen should I choose for the little emperor?

The matter of destroying the Buddha was carried out from the Daxiangguo Temple to the major palaces in Bianliang, and then from Bianliang City to all parts of the country under the rare cooperation between the Queen Mother and the Duke of Lai.

Although it encountered strong resistance from Buddhist believers and monks from all over the world, and there were some twists and turns, it still continued firmly.

After all, the Song Dynasty's decades of centralization and centralization were not done in vain.

The money, grain and army were firmly held in the hands of the central court. No matter how unwilling the monks and believers were, they could only grit their teeth and watch the government's Xiangjun drag the Buddha statue away.

The rumors about the Queen Mother were extinguished in the bud by Liu E who was furious.

It wasn't until the second half of Tiansheng's third year that everything was settled.

Most of the bronze Buddha statues in major Buddhist temples across the country were taken away and cast into copper coins, so it was difficult to make Buddha statues out of wood or pottery.Most of the minted copper coins were paid by the imperial court to merchants entering China to ease the shortage of food and grass on the border.

Solving the problem of businessmen entering the middle of the country, Bao Zheng should be able to let go of his hands and feet and do a lot in Jiangnan.

Zhao Yiyi looks forward to Bao Zheng's ability to solve the long-standing ills of Jiangnan's tea administration.

After all, this is related to the question of whether Kou Zhun's 30 new troops will eat meat or grass next year.

There is no news from Bao Zheng's side yet, but a small incident happened in Beijing.

The deputy privy envoy Yan Shu swung his wat board and knocked out his attendant's front teeth when he was accompanying him on a tour of Xingyuqing Palace.

Zhao Yiyi was also there at the time. To be honest, he was a little shocked.

As a time traveler, his impression of Yan Shu has always remained in the light sadness of "the flowers fall helplessly, and the swallows return like deja vu".When he found out that Yan Shu actually held the position of Deputy Privy Envoy, he didn't think much about it.

After all, how could a person who can write such gentle words have anything to do with violence?

Even if he saw the conspicuous 86 points of strength on Yan Shu's panel, Zhao Yiyi chose to turn a blind eye.

Literati, it's normal to have a higher force value.I didn't look at other people's Wenquxing, so the force value is still one hundred.

Until Yan Shu swung his arm in front of him and knocked out someone else's front tooth.

Zhao Yiyi was shocked, and felt that Yan Shu must have resentment in his heart.

When Kou Zhun and Liu E hurt each other before, one time, Liu E's people attacked Kou Zhun, saying, Mr. Lai, you have been so many officials and shouldered such a big responsibility, are you tired?Why don't you take off a few burdens and let everyone share the burden for you?

The separation of officials is the separation of powers, and of course Kou Zhun can't do it, so he said, the greater the ability, the greater the responsibility. In front of so many officials, I am willing and proud to do several loyalty to the Song Dynasty by myself.

Liu E's people also said, Mr. Kou, as a scholar of Zhaowenguan, you are the head of civil servants, and you are also a privy envoy in charge of the imperial army. Isn't this appropriate?

Collusion between civil and military forces has always been a taboo in the Song Dynasty, and it is actually quite taboo for powers on both sides like Kou Zhun to be unwilling to let go.

Kou Zhun couldn't blatantly call out that Lao Tzu wanted to become a general, but he could only say, I can't help it, it's not that I hold on to the position of privy envoy, it's true that besides me, there is no one else in the imperial court today Can take up this responsibility!

Liu E said at this time, whoever said that there is no one in the court, there is a candidate in this palace who is qualified for the post of privy envoy.

Kou Zhun said that if the candidate recommended by the Empress Dowager is really qualified, the old man is willing to abdicate and make way for the virtuous.

Liu E smiled slightly: "This person is exactly..."

Yan Shu, who was the Deputy Envoy of the Privy Council at the time, tiptoed quietly.

Isn't it obvious that the privy envoy has stepped down, shouldn't he be the deputy privy envoy?

"This person is Huainan Jiedu envoy Zhang Qi!"

Yan Shu's smile froze on his face.

How is this going!

Why not let him, the Deputy Privy Envoy, be directly promoted to Privy Envoy?

Also, who is Zhang Qi, what virtue and ability does he have, can he serve as this privy envoy?

Zhang Qi is an old friend of the Empress Dowager Liu E.

Liu E is an orphan girl in Shu. She first married Gong Mei, a silversmith, and then was recommended to enter the palace of the third prince Zhao Heng, where she was much loved.

The recommender is Zhang Qi.

Zhao Heng has true love for Liu E, and he doesn't care about her humble background or her unknown origin, but his father Song Taizong does.

Hearing that his precious son was hanging out with such a woman, Song Taizong was furious and ordered Liu E to be expelled from the palace.

Zhao Heng was reluctant to drive Liu E away, so he sent Liu E to Zhang Qi's home and entrusted Zhang Qi to take care of him.

Zhang Qi was sincere and fearful, and served Liu E very wholeheartedly.In order to avoid suspicion, he even bought another house in the city, completely giving up his home to Liu E.

Later, Liu E returned to Zhao Heng's side and rose step by step from beauty to queen. Now that Zhao Heng passed away, Liu E became the regent queen mother again.

Liu E never forgot Zhang Qi's kindness in recommendation and protection.

She is a person who knows how to repay her kindness. Now that she is in power, she can't wrong her benefactor.

Zhang Qi was a military officer, and Liu E had long wanted to promote him as a privy envoy.

It's just that the Khitan invaded before, and the frontline battle was tight, so she could only let Kou Zhun be in front of the privy envoy first, thinking about replacing Kou Zhun with Zhang Qi when the war was over.

As a result, after Kou Zhun came back, he had to train the new army again, and took over the position of the privy envoy.

Liu E couldn't sit still.

She didn't have to let Zhang Qi be the privy envoy, and there was not only one way to repay her benefactor, but Kou Zhun's behavior of love for power and position made her very unhappy.

This palace is the queen mother who is behind the curtain to listen to the government. What kind of thing is your surname Kou!

As a result, Yan Shu was not happy about the quarrel between the two sides.

Who is Zhang Qi?Why did he come to be a privy envoy?

Where do you put me, Yan Shu?

So Yan Shu came forward generously: "Queen Mother, absolutely not!"

Kou Zhun was thinking about how to refute Liu E's choice, when Yan Shu came out to speak.

Of course it's good to have someone speak for him, Kou Zhun is happy to retreat to the second line and save his mouth.

As a result, the more Kou Zhun listened, the more he felt something was wrong.

The reason why Yan Shu said that Zhang Qi should not be a privy envoy is simple: it does not comply with the regulations.

Back then, when Emperor Taizong appointed the laws of the dynasty, in order to prevent officials from colluding with each other, he formulated a set of regulations, which strictly stipulated the methods of official promotion, and required the prime minister to be appointed and dismissed in full accordance with this set of regulations. official.

If you do not follow the rules, you are doing favoritism and breaking the law.

As for the promotion of Zhang Qi to be a privy envoy, it would be impossible according to this set of regulations.

Yan Shu tried to refute the queen mother's decision to appoint Zhang Qi as the privy envoy on this ground.

But Yan Shu forgot that Kou Zhun was also there at this time.

Kou Zhun hated this regulation that stipulated how to promote officials.

Too rigid, too ignorant of flexibility, without any courage to eclectic talent.

Appointing and dismissing officials according to this regulation will only select batch after batch of talents who are good at following the rules.

When he was prime minister, the appointment and removal of officials never followed the rules.

Even talking about his own path to promotion was not in accordance with the rules at all.

This is also the reason why when Liu E named Zhang Qi, he was thinking of other ways to refute Liu E, but did not directly raise this rule.

Kou Zhun's face darkened when he heard Yan Shu say "not following the rules".