Chapter 338 Heavenly Sensation
Bianjing
As more and more money and grain were donated by officials and wealthy businessmen, and the disaster in Jiangzhou was brought under control, Zhao Xing's mood improved.
Although there were sporadic rebellions, they did not lead to major chaos because of the proper disaster relief efforts of Prime Minister Shen and the timely suppression of the rebellions by Cao Qin.
In this matter, the families of the concubines in the harem also helped a lot, so Zhao Xing naturally had to favor them one by one to show his gratitude.
After all, by doing this, they not only spent money, but also offended a lot of people.
While Zhao Xing was busy rewarding concubines in the harem, a happy event also happened in the palace. Li Yunchu went into labor and gave birth to a son for him.
This is Zhao Xing's second child and first son.
Although Zhao Xing was somewhat displeased with Li Yunchu because of her attitude, he still liked the child very much.
I take some time every day to go and have a look.
Perhaps it was because of the birth of the child, or perhaps it was because she had grown a lot after being neglected during this period of time. In any case, Li Yunchu no longer showed disdain to Zhao Xing like she did before.
The disaster was under control and he had a child, so Zhao Xing was in a very good mood.
But that day, a piece of news came and broke Zhao Xing's good mood.
"Your Majesty, a rumor has suddenly spread in Bianjing, saying that it is because Your Majesty has not cultivated virtue, and the heavens have felt it, so they have sent down disasters."
"Humph!" Zhao Xing sneered upon hearing this: "This is another example of the Heaven-Man Induction trick. I'm afraid it has something to do with some people in the court."
The idea of the correspondence between Heaven and man was proposed by Dong Zhongshu. It roughly means that there is a correspondence between Heaven and man, and that the strange phenomena in heaven and earth are Heaven's judgment on the monarch.
If the monarch is wise, heaven will bestow auspicious signs.
If a monarch is incompetent or lacks virtue, heaven will bring disaster upon him.
Some people say that Dong Zhongshu proposed the theory of the correspondence between heaven and man in order to consolidate royal power and restrict the monarch.
Let the will of heaven represent the will of the people to a certain extent. If the monarch is immoral, heaven will send down disaster warnings to restrict the monarch's behavior.
Regardless of whether Dong Zhongshu thought this way, his theory did have a great influence on later emperors.
Even a powerful person like Emperor Wu of Han and Emperor Taizong of Tang were forced to issue a self-criticism edict because of this theory.
Don’t they know that this theory is bullshit?
They knew it very well, but in order to fool the people, emperors of all dynasties would promote the idea that the king's power was granted by heaven and even call themselves the Son of Heaven.
In ancient times, it was a common legend that the emperor was born with strange visions in order to create mystery and legitimacy.
Therefore, even though the emperor knew that the so-called connection between heaven and man was nonsense, he had to accept it and did not dare to deny it.
In the later years of Emperor Wu of Han, natural disasters were frequent, and as a result, his ministers brought up the issue of the interaction between heaven and man, and he had to issue an edict of self-blame.
After Li Shimin ascended the throne after the Xuanwu Gate Incident, natural disasters continued. Not only was he forced to eat locusts raw, he also issued several self-criticism edicts, admitting that it was his own fault.
Now that this rumor has spread, I'm afraid it's also an attempt to force him to issue an edict of repentance and admit his mistakes.
However, these people were too timid to bring it up in the court, but instead they started to plan it among the people.
"Go, send someone to find Yin Hanzhang and ask him to wait for me at Longtu Pavilion." Zhao Xing ordered.
"Yes!" Sanshui responded and hurried away.
"Queen, I can't accompany you. You can go shopping by yourself." Zhao Xing looked at Zhang Guifen apologetically.
"State affairs are important, Your Majesty, just go and take care of them." Zhang Guifen said with a smile.
Zhang Guifen, the owner of Zhaoxinglou, kissed her on the face and said, "I'll go first."
"Yeah." Zhang Guifen smiled and nodded.
Zhao Xing left the Imperial Garden and came to Longtu Pavilion. He looked at the calligraphy for a while and then Yin Hanzhang arrived.
"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you!" Yin Hanzhang bowed.
"Have you heard the rumors among the people?" Zhao Xing said indifferently.
"Your Majesty, I have heard about it. These rumors seem to have spread in Bianliang overnight. I am arranging people to investigate!" Yin Hanzhang said hurriedly.
"You didn't notice anything before this?" Zhao Xing said with some dissatisfaction: "I asked you to bribe the servants in the officials' homes, how did it go?" This matter was inseparable from those officials. He had asked Yin Hanzhang to bribe the servants in some officials' homes a long time ago, but he didn't notice anything before. Naturally, he felt dissatisfied.
"Your Majesty, many officials' families have bribed some people, but these people are not in high positions and can only provide limited information. I failed to detect it in advance, and I hope Your Majesty will punish me!" Yin Hanzhang knelt down on one knee.
"Alright, now is not the time to ask for accusations. Find out who is behind this as soon as possible. Also..." Zhao Xing gave instructions in a low voice for a while, then said, "Do you understand?"
He also knew that personal servants were usually loyal servants who had been slaves for generations, and such people were difficult to bribe.
If you are not careful, the other party will find out.
Besides, no one except confidants can access the secrets, so it is normal that they cannot notice it.
"I understand!" Yin Hanzhang replied.
"Go ahead." Zhao Xing waved his hand.
"I resign!"
Watching Yin Hanzhang leave, Zhao Xing sneered, "You are still a little naive to try this on me."
"Your Majesty, urgent news from the northwest."
At this time, Sanshui walked in, bowed, and stepped forward to deliver an urgent report.
Zhao Xing took it, opened it and started reading. After a long time, he put the urgent report down and began to think deeply.
He had not expected the change in the situation in the Hehuang area.
Given the current situation, if we want to send troops, I'm afraid it won't be easy for the court to approve it.
Although he could suppress the opposition and send troops, the news of the dispatch would be impossible to conceal.
The Song Dynasty must have spies arranged by the Western Xia. Once the Western Xia knows about it in advance, they will definitely send troops to intervene.
After thinking for a while, Zhao Xing decided to execute first and report later.
The power to mobilize troops is controlled by the Privy Council. If you want to mobilize troops from the western suburbs camp, you must inform the Privy Council.
However, he did not plan to transfer troops from the western suburbs camp. There were already a lot of troops in the northwest, and there were nearly 50,000 troops from the three armies guarding Hehuang.
In addition, some troops can be mobilized from the British Kingdom in the north to provide support.
As long as they are commanded properly, these troops will have no problem taking over Hehuang while the country is in turmoil.
Food and fodder can also be directly drawn from the north. After all, a lot of food and fodder were stored there when the Great Wall was built.
The distance between the two sides is actually closer than in Bian Jing, and the efficiency is higher.
By the time the Hehuang area was conquered, it was too late for the court officials to oppose it.
As for Wang Shao's plan to surrender, Zhao Xing was somewhat hesitant.
He didn't remember how Wang Shao opened up the Xihe border in history, but he knew that Wang Shao seemed to have tried to persuade the Qiang people to surrender, and he was indeed successful.
However, the Qiang people often rebelled, which shows that they cannot be trusted.
After pondering for a long time, Zhao Xing decided to agree to Wang Shao's surrender.
Occupying Hehuang cannot just involve killing people, otherwise what is the point of just occupying the territory?
Are we going to relocate the people there?
Not to mention how high the cost of relocating the people is, there are not many people in the northern and northwestern borders. If they are relocated, these places will be empty.
However, those who are not of our race must have different hearts. Even if the Qiang people surrender, we cannot trust them.
The reason why Zhao Xing agreed was that he was planning to send the Qiang soldiers to the northern border after their surrender and have them commanded by the Duke of Ying.
Then he transferred the troops in the hands of the Duke of Ying to Hehuang to defend against Western Xia.
In this way, the Qiang people might not dare to rebel easily.
When we launch an attack on the Liao Kingdom in the future, these people will be the best cannon fodder.
After figuring this out, Zhao Xing personally drafted two edicts, stamped them with the imperial seal, and asked Sanshui to arrange people to send them to the northwest and north.
(End of this chapter)