Chapter 325 The authorities are obsessed with it
"Your Majesty!" Zhang Guifen saluted.
Zhao Xing helped Zhang Guifen up and said with a smile, "You're not scared, are you?"
"How can I be so timid?" Zhang Guifen said coquettishly.
Zhao Xing helped Zhang Guifen sit down and said with a smile: "Yes, my queen is very courageous. I underestimated you."
Zhao Xing heard everything Zhang Guifen did and said outside the Daxiangguo Temple.
I have to say that Zhang Guifen did a great job as the queen.
Outside the Daxiangguo Temple, whenever she compromised and agreed to persuade Zhao Xing, Zhao Xing would become passive.
After chatting with Zhang Guifen for a while, Zhao Xing felt relieved to see that she was really not affected by this incident.
However, Zhao Xing had no intention of letting go of those who dared to block Zhang Guifen.
…………
Luoyang
The retired emperor and the empress dowager stood on the top of the city wall, looking at Luoyang.
"You know, Luoyang has recovered quite well in recent years. Although it is still far behind Bianliang, if we move the capital to Luoyang, it won't take long before it is not much worse than Bianliang." said the retired emperor.
"Your Majesty, do you really want to move the capital?" the Queen Mother asked in surprise.
Before coming to Luoyang, the emperor wanted to take this trip to make Zhao Xing give up.
But now, from what the retired emperor said, it seems that he has the idea of moving the capital.
"Since Fuer proposed to move the capital to Luoyang, it means he has some understanding of the situation in Luoyang. Do you think my comment is inappropriate and can dissuade him from doing so?" said the retired emperor.
"But the obstacles to moving the capital are too great. Even Emperor Taizu failed to do it. How can Fuer do it?"
Empress Dowager Cao shook her head and said, "In my opinion, it would be better for Your Majesty to leave a decree to stop Fu'er from having such thoughts."
"Emperor Taizu intends to move the capital, which means Luoyang is indeed more suitable as the capital. You also know about the unrest in Liao. If there were strategic passes around Shangjing, how could it be so passive?"
The Emperor paused and continued, "The Song Dynasty has no defenses in the north. I am also afraid that the Liao cavalry will march straight in in the future. If Bianjing is threatened, the whole country will be in turmoil!"
"But isn't the imperial court building the Great Wall in the north now?" said Queen Mother Cao.
"It's not that simple. The Great Wall was built along the mountains, but the nomadic peoples in the north often broke through it. Can a Great Wall built in the plains really be foolproof?" The emperor shook his head.
"Your Majesty has decided to move the capital?" asked Queen Mother Cao.
"Not yet. I am still a little hesitant." The retired emperor smiled bitterly and said, "I know the obstacles to moving the capital without even thinking about it. The ancestral temples and imperial tombs are all near Bianjing, so it is not that easy to move the capital."
Upon hearing this, Empress Dowager Cao did not say anything else. The harem was not allowed to interfere in state affairs, and the emperor emeritus was no longer in charge of state affairs, so there was nothing wrong with the couple chatting.
Just then, Eunuch Liu hurried over.
"Your Majesty, urgent news has arrived from Bianjing."
The emperor took it, opened it, took out the letter, opened it and began to read.
After reading the contents of the letter, the emperor frowned slightly.
"Your Majesty, what happened?" asked Queen Dowager Cao.
"Fu'er issued an order to execute several officials. The important officials in the court knelt outside the Longtu Pavilion and forced Fu'er to rescind his order." said the emperor.
"How could Fu'er be so reckless?" Empress Dowager Cao frowned and asked, "Your Majesty, are you going back to Bianjing?"
"Why should I return to Bian Jing?" The emperor put the letter away.
"Now all the officials are forcing Your Majesty to abdicate. If Your Majesty does not go back, Fuer may not be able to handle it." Empress Dowager Cao said.
"Fu'er is already eighteen years old and has now inherited the throne. He should have to deal with these things himself."
Seeing that Empress Dowager Cao was still worried, the Emperor smiled and said, "Don't worry, Fu'er handled it very well. The letter said that all the officials have left." "That's good." Empress Dowager Cao was relieved and asked, "What did those officials do wrong that Fu'er ordered them to be executed?"
The emperor recounted the incident, and Empress Dowager Cao frowned and said, "Fu'er is still young, why kill him?"
"No!" The emperor shook his head and said, "I think Fu'er did the right thing!"
Upon hearing this, Empress Dowager Cao looked at the retired emperor in surprise. When the retired emperor was in power, he had punished corrupt officials before, but he always chose to send them into exile.
During his decades in power, he only executed one civil servant.
"Isn't that weird?"
The emperor turned around and looked outside the city, with his hands behind his back, and said, "Those in power are confused, but those who are watching can see clearly. After I abdicated, I have been reflecting on what I have done over the years, and suddenly I feel that I have been too kind over the years. The court is short of money, and I thought that my frugality and setting an example would be useful. However, the court's lack of money has not improved at all."
"These officials enjoy high positions and generous salaries. The salaries of the fourth-rank officials are more than my monthly expenses, but they are still not satisfied."
"The method I used didn't work. Perhaps a more forceful method like Fu'er's would work."
When Empress Dowager Cao heard the retired emperor say this, she didn't say anything else.
…………
Bianjing
Zhao Xing didn't know how his father would react after he found out about this.
In addition to handling government affairs these days, he has been paying attention to news from the Liao Kingdom and Western Xia.
After learning that Western Xia had withdrawn its troops from the plateau, Zhao Xing was worried that Hehuang would not be in chaos before Western Xia pacified the plateau, so he sent a letter to Sheng Wei and Gu Tingye respectively.
The letter to Sheng Wei urged him to speed up and transport the weapons and armor to the northwest.
The letter to Gu Tingye allowed him and Wang Shao to act as they saw fit.
As a result, less than two days after the letter was sent, he received an urgent report from Gu Tingye.
Originally, Zhao Xing thought that this letter was a reply from Gu Tingye, but after carefully calculating the time, he realized that when Gu Tingye sent back the urgent report, he should not have received his letter yet.
After reading the urgent report, Zhao Xing was very surprised at Gu Tingye's decisiveness.
Zhao Xing did not care about Gu Tingye's self-willed behavior. In order to reassure Gu Tingye, he wrote another letter in his own hand and sent it to the northwest.
On the Liao side, Yelu Chongyuan and Yelu Yixin were fighting fiercely.
Because the Song Dynasty showed no signs of mobilizing troops, Yelu Yixin transferred a large number of troops from the border to stabilize the situation.
At this time, the number of troops on the Song-Liao border was less than 50,000. It would be easy for either the Song Dynasty or Yelu Chongyuan to attack these cities.
But Yelu Yixin was just gambling, betting that the Song Dynasty would not send troops.
As for Yelu Chongyuan, Yelu Yixin was not worried at all.
There was no benefit for Yelu Chongyuan to capture those cities, and he also had to divide his troops to defend against the Song Dynasty.
Yelu Yixin's bet was right, the Song Dynasty did not intend to send troops.
Even though there was civil unrest in Liao and its border forces were weak, Zhao Xing had no intention of sending troops to attack Liao.
Not only would capturing a few cities be meaningless to the Song Dynasty, it would also affect the civil strife in the Liao Kingdom.
The Song Dynasty no longer has enough strength to engage in a protracted war with the Liao Kingdom.
For Zhao Xing, the longer the Liao Kingdom was in chaos, the better. He should first occupy the Hehuang area and curb the development of Western Xia.
The correct thing to do is to accumulate strength and wait until the young emperor of Western Xia dies before starting to destroy Western Xia.
(End of this chapter)