Emperor Renzong of the Great Song Dynasty

Di Qing's eyesight was better than Kou Zhun's. At this time, not only could he see clearly the queen mother's canopy, but she could also see clearly the queen mother herself sitting under the canopy.

The Empress Dowager was ill before they left Beijing, and she was quite seriously ill. Even such a big happy event as the emperor's wedding didn't make the Empress Dowager's condition a little better.

The emperor has grown up, and the queen mother is also old. It is normal to have such a disease. Didn't the former emperor just fall ill and die peacefully in the end?

But what I didn't expect was that the Queen Mother's illness would recover one day.

The emperor is indeed a filial son, it is really rare for filial piety to touch the heavens.

At this time, the Queen Mother not only recovered from her illness, but also looked healthy and full.

Looking from a distance, Di Qing saw that the flowers woven with golden threads on the Empress Dowager's court dress danced with bright golden light under the scorching sun at the turn of spring and summer.

He nodded: "It is indeed the Queen Mother."

Kou Zhun nodded: "As expected, the Empress Dowager has recovered from her illness."

Sure enough, the emperor came in a bad way, and it seemed that he was going to attack him, and he even did not hesitate to bring out the peerless magic weapon of the empress dowager.

It's just that the queen mother is not a puppet at the mercy of others. Isn't the emperor afraid of raising tigers?

It's not that he hasn't experienced the horror of the queen mother dominating the government, why did he dare to let the queen mother return to the previous dynasty?

...There must be something that he overlooked.

There must be something crucial...

He suppressed the messy thoughts in his heart and drove forward.

The emperor wanted to review the victorious troops on the tower of the city gate, so he cleared the open space of about ten hectares outside the city gate one day in advance, and no one else was allowed to approach. He also arranged for a team of guards in black to patrol , in case someone with trouble breaks into the arena, disturbs the holy driver, and destroys the ceremony.

These black-clothed guards are embroidered with the word "police" on the front and back, and their calves are tightly wrapped with cloth strips. Unrelated people who approached immediately blew their whistles: "The holy driver is here, avoid!"

"What are the police?"

When did such a group of people appear in Bianliang City?

Di Qing whispered from the side: "It's a group of yamen servants newly trained by Mr. Yin Fan of Kaifeng, who specialize in maintaining law and order in the capital."

Kou Zhun glanced at him: "You really know a lot."

Di Qing kept silent.

He and Lai Guogong left Beijing at the same time, and if Lai Guogong didn't know about it, he shouldn't know about it.

But the emperor regards him as a confidant, and often communicates with him. He basically knows all the big and small changes in Bianliang city.

For example, the police who are patrolling, for example, the concrete paved on the square they are about to step on...

"What's that?"

Kou Zhun pointed to the ground under his feet.

At this time, they had already set foot on the road leading to the inside of the square from the country road, and the police came to escort them.

They only need to follow to the front of the imperial court, hold a symbolic captive offering ceremony, hand over Li Yuanhao to the Imperial City Secretary directly under the emperor or any institution, and then accept the official position and property rewarded by the emperor. After entering the capital, crossing the capital mightily, and enjoying the welcome of all the people in the capital, you can return to the Forbidden Army camp and completely end the nearly two-year-long war in a foreign land.

The square where the military parade will be held is also exceptionally different.

Unlike the loess roads that can be seen everywhere, this square is white and hard, and the horseshoes will make a crisp sound when they step on it.

Kou Zhun murmured: "Has there ever been a stone with such a texture? Even if there is, where did you find such a large and flat stone slab?"

That's right, Di Qing thought to himself, if he hadn't read about cement in the emperor's letter, he would have thought that this snow-white, hard ground was made of regular square stones of half an acre in size of.

Looking closely, the ground is not exactly seamless, there is a gap every half a meter.It is rainy in spring and summer, and the vegetation is exuberant. There are green grasses poking out from the gaps, adding a touch of playful color to the snow-white concrete floor.

In order to wait for the slow-moving tens of thousands of walking troops behind them, and to hold down the troops to prevent a stampede, the horses of Kou Zhun and Di Qing marched extremely slowly, seeing that there were still many roads away from the city gate where the emperor was. At a distance, Di Qing whispered to Kou Zhun with confidence: "This is something that a businessman from Bianliang has figured out. It is called cement. It is fired with lime, mixed with water and gravel, and sand is made into clay. It can be molded arbitrarily. After solidification, it becomes a hard stone. Last year, the country was flooded, and it was because of this cement that the dykes and dams all over the country could be completed within one winter."

After hearing this, Kou Zhun smiled and said, "I'm really ignorant, I haven't even heard of such good things."

He said again: "If this thing is really so miraculous, the Ministry of Households will not have to worry about it. Every year, the dam will be allocated for repair. This businessman can be regarded as a meritorious service to the country. How will the government reward him? "

Di Qing said: "The official rewarded him to continue to set up a factory near the Forbidden Army barracks."

"Isn't that the next door to Yan Shu?" Kou Zhun said casually, "How is Yan Shu's school doing?"

Di Qing said: "Very good."

"It's good enough," Kou Zhun said, "Whenever he teaches two champions, the official will be restored to his original position just around the corner."

Di Qing was silent.

The land of more than ten hectares is not big or small, even if we slow down, the effort will be gone in a while.

The horses of Kou Zhun and Di Qing stopped at the place closest to the city gate, and tens of thousands of troops lined up behind them.

Fortunately, these soldiers are new troops who have been trained for a long time, and they have gone to the battlefield to hone their skills. Otherwise, it is easy to form a bad formation even after this march.

Even so, after the team stood still on the square, Di Qing also spent a quarter of an hour maintaining the formation in all directions, so that the emperor and the queen mother would look decent from a high place.

He has also inspected the army on the high platform, and he knows that the unobstructed view from the high place is amazing.A little crookedness that doesn't make much sense on the flat ground is extremely eye-catching from a high place.

At this time, not only the emperor and the queen mother were on the high platform, but also all the Beijing officials above the fifth rank, and everyone with a name and surname came today.

This is the first time they have appeared in Bianliang City after they returned from victory. They cannot make any mistakes, and they must show their best appearance.

After finishing the team, a long and high-spirited drum sounded from the city gate.

Di Qing understood and knew that this was the signal to start the ceremony, so he also gestured to Li Yuanhao's prison car from a distance. After everyone at the city gate saw the face of the traitor and traitor, they were led away by a man dressed as an eunuch. They probably entered the city through the corner gate, and then they were imprisoned in the dark dungeon.

After seeing clearly that the eunuch was Eunuch Liu who was beside the emperor, Di Qing looked away, dismounted with Kou Zhun, and headed towards the city gate to listen to the oracle of the award.

It was none other than the emperor's confidant, Kaifeng Yin Fan Zhongyan, who delivered the decree for them.

Wearing court uniform, Fan Zhongyan read the emperor's imperial edict in front of tens of thousands of people. The general idea was that the emperor was very satisfied with the results of this expedition. Each of the outstanding soldiers was rewarded with gold, silver and silk, and received a hero medal issued by the emperor. If the sacrificed soldiers had family members alive, each family would be rewarded with 100 taels of gold.

After rewarding the soldiers, the next step is to reward the officers.All officers are rewarded with one year's salary and promoted to a higher rank.

Because of his meritorious service in capturing the false emperor, Di Qing was awarded the title of Jiedu envoy of Yingzhou and rewarded him with gold and silver property.

Kou Zhun, the privy envoy, rewarded a mansion with a certain amount of gold and silver, but it will not be granted again, because it already has the title of duke.

……

After the award was over, the emperor, empress dowager, and all civil and military officials walked down the city gate and returned to the city by car.

Di Qing and Kou Zhun stood in place and watched them off.

Kou Zhun looked at the empress dowager's chariot and said softly, "It's really unexpected."

The emperor actually pulled the queen mother back to the front desk, and it seemed that he was planning to attack him.

Di Qing said: "Yes."

The emperor actually only appointed him as the Jiedu Envoy of Yizhou.It is true that warriors cannot take up high-ranking official positions, but the emperor is not someone who cares about this.

Kou Zhun said, "But it's also within reason."

After all, the emperor is the emperor and can monopolize the power, who wants to share power with his courtiers.

Is it too unwise to just pull the queen mother out?

Di Qing nodded: "Indeed."

He captured the false emperor alive, and the emperor would never send him away with just one Jiedu envoy.

I remembered what the emperor said before he left Beijing——

When you come back from Xixia, I will make you a privy envoy.

Privy envoy.

He looked at Kou Zhun.

Isn't the privy envoy of the dynasty right in front of you?

Kou Zhun withdrew his gaze from looking at the Queen Mother's car, and looked at Di Qing: "Are you going to parade in the city?"

Di Qing said with a smile: "I can't take the imperial examination, so it's not bad to try Jinshi's hairpin flowers parading through the streets this time."

Kou Zhun smiled: "I'll accompany you."

He got on the horse, and Di Qing followed, and suddenly heard him say: "Are you really Niang Niang's nephew?"

Di Qing firmly grasped the rein: "Indeed."

Kou Zhun said: "Zhuojing is somewhat related to the royal family, you know that?"

Di Qing said: "I know."

Kou Zhun said: "The Eighth Prince doesn't like to make friends with officials, but Zhuo Jing and the Eighth Princess have never broken contact in the early years. How come I never heard that the Eighth Prince has such a nephew of Zhilan Yushu?"

Di Qing has an outstanding appearance, and is the most handsome man in the world's aesthetics. Logically speaking, whoever has such a junior would want to show it off every day.

However, Concubine Di had never mentioned Di Qing in front of outsiders before, until one day, suddenly, the emperor sent this cousin to the Forbidden Army barracks.

Di Qing said: "My family is poor and I don't like autumn wind."

Kou Zhun smiled: "The Di family is a big family...forget it."

He clamped his horse's belly: "Let's go to the city."

"Ah, that's right," he turned his head and said with a smile, "Be careful when you enter the city. If you look like this, don't be eaten alive by those big girls and little wives."