Emperor Renzong of the Great Song Dynasty

Li Shi said: "This..."

After all, she was also from an official family, after thinking about it, she said: "Master Fan is Zhao Wenxiang, according to Pin Yi, it should be..."

Fan Zhongyan said: "From the second grade."

Li Shi said: "Then I will wrong you for the time being, and then I will pretend to be a family member of Fan Xiang, and wear second-rank clothes. As for etiquette, the Eighth Sage King and Princess Di have always cherished their subjects, and they must not be born with the etiquette of Fan Xiang's family. Just make a show and just pass by. After the empress and Princess Di recognize each other, there will be no such thing as etiquette."

After Di Niangniang recognized Concubine Li, she had no time to cry.Besides, Concubine Li, as the emperor's biological mother, a decent queen mother, naturally has no reason to salute Princess Di.

Concubine Li was still weeping bitterly, Shi Shi warmly comforted her, Concubine Li finally stopped her voice, and said sadly: "Bengong...Bengong..."

She is the empress dowager, the emperor's birth mother, and she actually has to wear the clothes of a second-rank official wife, and even salutes the princess!

Mrs. Li persuaded: "Your Majesty, it's just a sudden thing, just bear with it and it will pass."

As long as you see Concubine Di, you can ask her to help prove Concubine Li's identity.

To be able to recognize the emperor's mother and son, the suffering at the moment is nothing.

Concubine Li closed her eyes: "It has to be like this!"

Her hands trembled, trying to calm down the turbulent mood.

Mrs. Li helped Concubine Li back to the inner room, Fan Zhongyan said to Bao Zheng: "Xiren, I don't know if I should say something or not."

Bao Zheng said: "Fan Xiang, but it's okay to say."

Fan Zhongyan said: "After Concubine Li met the official family, how will you treat her?"

Bao Zheng was slightly taken aback: "What?"

Fan Zhongyan said: "You brought your empress back to Bianliang, so you naturally have your own ideas. Or rather, how do you want this matter to end?"

Bao Zheng said categorically: "Naturally, we want the officials to recognize their mother, the queen mother returns to power, and the traitors are punished."

Fan Zhongyan sighed slightly: "Sure enough."

He said to Bao Zheng: "Xi Ren, this matter will never be easy."

Bao Zheng said: "What's so difficult? Concubine Li will recognize Concubine Di. At that time, Concubine Di will testify for her. The official family has recognized her biological mother, and the enemy will not be allowed to go unpunished."

Fan Zhongyan said: "Who is the enemy you mentioned?"

Bao Zheng said: "Of course it is the current empress dowager who framed Concubine Li to the current stage and almost killed the officials."

Fan Zhongyan smiled wryly: "So, it will be difficult."

Bao Zheng said: "It's not difficult. As long as the officials know the truth, it's just a thought to deal with Empress Liu."

Today's Empress Liu is no longer the regent queen mother who listened to politics behind the curtain and held great power.If the emperor wants to deal with her, all he needs is an imperial decree.

Fan Zhongyan said softly: "What if the officials don't want to deal with Empress Liu?"

Bao Zheng was surprised: "Why don't you want to?"

Empress Liu almost killed the official family, and caused the official family's mother and child to be separated for 17 years!

Fan Zhongyan thought to himself, Empress Liu is nominally the emperor's aunt, how could the emperor dispose of her with great fanfare?If he did so, it would be tantamount to declaring the emperor's unfilial piety to the whole world.

And the emperor could not explain this behavior.

How are you going to explain it to the world?

It is said that your aunt is actually a femme fatale woman who persecuted the concubines and concubines of the late emperor. Your royal family is not as respectful and harmonious as advertised, but internal fighting. What kind of benevolence, filial piety, etiquette and righteousness are all pretending to be seen by the whole world?

Although this is a fact, this fact must not be exposed to the eyes of the whole world.

Fan Zhongyan said: "The word filial piety is too great. After all, Empress Liu has the grace of nurturing the officials. Even if the officials know the truth, at most, Empress Liu will invite her to go to Yuqing Palace to attend Zen and worship Buddha. There can be no more punishments. gone."

As for the three-foot white silk, a glass of poisonous wine...

The emperor may choose to give the empress dowager his death, but as his courtiers, they must never have such an idea.

Bao Zheng frowned: "This..."

Reluctantly said: "Although it is extremely unfair to Concubine Li, it is still a kind of comfort."

Fan Zhongyan continued: "Let's talk about Concubine Li."

He weighed his words carefully and said: "Xiren, it's not that I want to pour cold water on you. Concubine Li, it's very likely that she can't return to court as the Queen Mother."

Bao Zheng said: "Why?"

Fan Zhongyan said: "This matter involves too much. If you want the Empress Dowager Li to return to court, you must announce the official family's life experience and tell the whole world that the official family is not the son of the Eight Sage Kings, but the former emperor and Li Concubine. son."

Bao Zheng said: "That's the truth."

Fan Zhongyan shook his head: "If this happened at any other time, there is still a possibility. But the situation is too special now. The eight wise kings are admonishing the previous court, and the officials are very annoying. At this time, you Bao Yushi suddenly Stand up and say that the official family is not the biological son of the Eight Sage Kings, and you found Li Concubine who cheated her death out of the palace from the people, and the official family is actually the prince of the late emperor. Do you know what others will say?"

Bao Zheng said: "I am not afraid of people's words."

Fan Zhongyan sighed: "Of course I know that you are not afraid of people's words, but the officials have to care about these things. I was promoted by the officials, and the two of us got closer. In the eyes of others, you are a close minister of the officials. You Helping the Empress Dowager to return to court, others may not say anything about you, but they will definitely say that this is a trap set up by the officials to get rid of the eight sage kings. ——Xi Ren, we are courtiers, the master is worried about the humiliation of the minister, the master will die if the minister is humiliated."

Bao Zheng said: "Are the officials going to abandon their biological mother for some gossip?"

Fan Zhongyan said: "The official family will not abandon their own mother. The official family will recognize Concubine Li, but they may not make her the queen mother."

Bao Zheng said: "If you don't want to be the Queen Mother, then what will you do?"

Fan Zhongyan said: "It depends on what the officials want."

He thought, maybe the official family will recognize Concubine Li as a nurse and make her the wife of the county.

Although the wife of the county country cannot be compared with the queen mother, she is not a low status.

Although being the emperor's wet nurse is not as honorable as the emperor's biological mother, but...

That's all there is to it.

Bao Zheng was silent for a long time, and said: "I understand. But let's see how the officials will judge."

Fan Zhongyan said: "It's good that you understand. I know you are straightforward, but in this matter, if you can be flexible, please be flexible."

Bao Zheng said: "I will save my time as an official."

Fan Zhongyan got up: "I'm done talking, and I'm going back too."

He said to Bao Zheng: "I'll go back and discuss with Zhuo Jing what name I should use to visit Princess Di. Within three to five days, once I have a letter of approval, I will send someone to tell you."

Bao Zheng said: "Respectfully send off Fan Xiang."

Fan Zhongyan nodded and sighed again.

Bao Zheng returned to the inner house, and Zhan Zhao was standing on the roof looking into the distance. Seeing him coming, he quickly jumped down: "My lord! Today the Bai Yutang smashed so many tiles in our house, should we go find him?" Master pay some money?"

Bao Zheng forced a smile: "Senior Xia is not rich, so why make things difficult for others."

Zhan Zhao said: "His master is not rich, but his brother is a rich man. How about I write a letter and send it to Yangzhou to inform his brother?"

Bao Zheng said: "It's up to you, but I think that Young Master Bai's temper seems to be very violent, you go to his brother to complain, and later he hates you, what should I do if he comes to find you bad luck every day?"

Zhan Zhao wanted to say it, so he came. Could it be that the master was afraid that he would fail? Seeing that Bao Zheng's face seemed to be in a bad mood, he asked him, "What's the matter, what did Master Fan tell you?"

Bao Zheng shook his head: "It's no big deal."

Zhan Zhao shrugged: "Forget it. I just got a jar of good wine, Gongsun is not here, do you want to drink it together?"

Bao Zheng said: "Forget it, the matter has not been resolved yet, so it is better not to cause trouble by drinking. After sending the Queen Mother back to court and bringing Gongsun back, the three of us will get drunk and rest."

Zhan Zhao said in a low voice, "It's just to drink while he's not around. If Gongsun is around, can the two of us drink better than him?"

Although Gongsun Ce is silent, he seems to be a weak scholar, but in fact, he can drink very well. Zhan Zhao drank with him a few times, and every time the others were drunk, Gongsun Ce was still sharp and sober. very.

Zhan Zhao's original intention of drinking with him was to get him drunk, so that he could make fun of his drunkenness when he turned around, but in the end he got drunk several times instead.

As time passed, he didn't dare to drink with Gongsun Ce anymore.

Bao Zheng said: "You stay here to protect your mother, I will go to the study to write something."

Zhan Zhao asked, "What to write?"

Bao Zheng said: "A memorial to the officials."

At noon the next day, Zhao Yiyi met Xia Yuqi, who had entered the palace to file a complaint, while eating.

Anyway, he wanted to meet people at meal times, and eating was considered working time, so Zhao Yiyi didn't ask Liu En to make rice balls for him, and set up a table of normal meals, and chatted with Xia Yuqi while eating.

Eating dumplings by himself is called hard work and simplicity, and entertaining guests and making them eat dumplings is called political showmanship.

Although he hasn't shown off in the past ten years, Xia Yuqi is his own, so there is no need to show off in front of him.

In the Song Dynasty, mutton was delicious in the court, and the emperor's imperial meal was also a slew of mutton dishes, such as mutton soup, roasted mutton, stewed mutton, and steamed mutton, and a table was full.

A gentleman pays attention to food, but Zhao Yiyi doesn't want to be a gentleman. His time is very precious, so he drank a few mouthfuls of soup, ate half a bread, and asked Xia Yuqi: "Senior Xia, why did you enter the palace this time?" ? Is there any progress in the research?"

Xia Yuqi put down his chopsticks, and said with grief and indignation: "Officials, Principal Yan is really deceiving people too much!"

Zhao Yiyi hurriedly said, "What's wrong with Principal Yan?"

Xia Yuqi said: "I just asked him for some ordinary things, but he kept pushing, saying that the school had no money and asked me to check their account books. It's just a few catties of firewood and iron sand, how much is it worth..."

While he was complaining, Zhao Yiyi ate a few more mouthfuls of food, and roughly understood that Xia Yuqi asked Yan Shu to ask for tens of thousands of catties of iron sand, firewood, and charcoal, but Yan Shu couldn't afford it, so he made trouble with him.

He calculated in his heart, tens of thousands of catties... For ordinary people, this is a huge sum.But for the king of a country, he can still get tens of thousands of catties of iron sand and firewood.

He swallowed a mouthful of mutton: "Principal Yan's funds should be a little tight. There are tens of thousands of mouths in their school, and it is really difficult to feed them. How about this, when you finish the thing at hand, I will set up a research project for you." It is the same level as Qingbei University, so go directly to Jiang Ping to apply for the research fund. This time, I will allocate some money to you from the internal funds." He turned to Liu En and asked, "How much money do we have left?"

Liu Endao: "It's not to the point where I can't eat."

Zhao Yiyi nodded: "I will allocate a sum of money to you from the inside, if it is not enough, let Liu En take care of it."

He also asked: "Money can't be saved, you can buy what you need. I am not a person who is stingy with money. I only hope that the old man Xia can really make things that are useful to the country..."

He didn't care how much research funds Xia Yuqi spent, he only cared whether Xia Yuqi could make what he wanted.

Xia Yuqi hurriedly said: "Don't worry, the officials. It will be September this year at the latest."

He lowered his voice: "By September this year at the latest, the big boat I've transformed will be able to launch. No sails, no trackers, just burn some coal and sail. The wind and the current will not affect the speed."