Chapter 369 I Forgot
Inmyeong Palace
After listening to Zhang Guifen's story, Zhao Xing smiled and said, "No wonder my mother praised you to me, saying that it was my blessing to marry you."
If Zhang Guifen hadn't persuaded me, it wouldn't have been so easy for my mother to let it go.
"It is my blessing to marry Your Majesty."
Zhang Guifen smiled and said, "Mother is not an unreasonable person. I didn't have to persuade you much. Once I talked to you, you understood your majesty's difficulties."
"Mother is indeed reasonable, but you have also made contributions. If you were not pregnant, I would have rewarded you well." Zhao Xing said with a smile.
Zhang Guifen's face darkened when she heard this, and she said angrily, "Your Majesty, there are people here, what nonsense are you talking about?"
"Ha ha!"
Zhao Xing laughed and was about to say something when Sanshui hurried in holding a bamboo tube.
"Your Majesty, there is an urgent report from the northwest."
"Send it over quickly!"
Upon hearing this, Sanshui hurried forward and handed the bamboo tube to Zhao Xing.
Zhao Xing took the bamboo tube, opened it, took out a letter, unfolded it and began to read.
"it is good!"
After reading the urgent report, Zhao Xing happily exclaimed "good".
Zhang Guifen wanted to ask, but the harem was not allowed to interfere in government affairs, so she endured it.
"Sanshui, go and call a few ministers and envoys from the Privy Council to the Longtu Pavilion to discuss matters." Zhao Xing ordered.
Urgent news cannot be concealed. Instead of waiting for the officials to get wind of the news and take action, it is better to take control of the initiative yourself.
"Your Majesty, the palace gates are closed now." Sanshui reminded.
The palace gates could only be opened with Zhao Xing's order.
"I was so happy that I forgot the time. Let's wait until tomorrow morning when the palace gates are opened." Zhao Xing said.
After the palace gates were closed, opening them again would make too much noise.
There's no need to rush.
"Yes!"
Sanshui responded, and seeing that Zhao Xing had no other instructions, he bowed and left.
"Queen, do you know that Gu Tingye won a great victory in Hehuang? Thousands of people attacked the Qiang camp at night. Our side suffered hundreds of casualties, while the Qiang lost more than 20,000." Zhao Xing said with a smile.
He is now full of joy and needs someone to share it with.
"Your Majesty, has the Song Dynasty sent troops to Hehuang?" Zhang Guifen asked in surprise.
Although the harem is not allowed to interfere in government affairs, there is no reason for her not to know about things like war.
There was no news about this matter before, but Zhao Xing suddenly told her that the Song Dynasty soldiers had won a victory in Hehuang. How could she not be surprised?
"That's right!"
Zhao Xing smiled and said, "Taking Hehuang will not only help us expand our territory, but also give Song Dynasty a piece of land for horse breeding. Most importantly, it will help us limit the development of Western Xia."
"Congratulations, Your Majesty, congratulations, Your Majesty!" Zhang Guifen said with a smile.
She felt Zhao Xing's joy and was happy because of his happiness.
…………
It was rushed to the capital over a distance of 800 miles. How could such a big commotion be concealed from the civil and military officials in Bianliang?
The urgent news came from entering the city through the north gate, either from the north or from the northwest.
These two directions face the Liao Kingdom and the Western Xia respectively.
After hearing the news, the civil and military officials of Bianliang had all kinds of speculations in their minds. They changed into official uniforms and waited to be summoned by the palace.
However, they waited and waited, but were never summoned by the palace.
It also made these officials realize that this urgent report should be a good thing. The next day, officials from various departments came to the imperial city and started a new day of work.
Several ministers, the Privy Council, and the chief and deputy chiefs of the six ministries all received messages from the eunuchs saying that the emperor had summoned them.
As soon as they arrived at the government office, without even having time to drink tea, these officials rushed to Longtu Pavilion.
Others arrived at Longtu Pavilion one after another, but Zhao Xing had not arrived yet.
The officials could only wait in the side hall, gathering in groups of three or five and talking in low voices.
They all knew that the government summoned them at this time because of the urgent report from yesterday, and they were all curious about the content of the report.
"His Majesty summons all the gentlemen to enter the palace!"
After waiting for about a cup of tea, a eunuch walked into the side hall and said.
The officials quickly stopped chatting, straightened their official uniforms, lined up, and headed to the main hall.
After a while, they came to the main hall, bowed and said, "Your Majesty, we greet you!"
"I love you all!"
Zhao Xing waved his hand and said with a smile: "Yesterday I received a letter of victory from the northwest!"
"Your Majesty, has the Western Xia invaded the border?" Han Zhang asked.
"No!" Zhao Xing smiled and said, "My dear ministers, you must have heard that the Tibetans and Qiangs in Hehuang have been fighting, right?
The Hehuang Tubo were defeated by the Qiang people and asked the Song Dynasty for help. Gu Tingye, the commander of the Wuxiong Army, and Wang Shao, the military supervisor, felt that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so they agreed to the Hehuang Tubo's request for help and led their troops into Hehuang to help the Hehuang Tubo.
Gu Tingye led a thousand men to attack the camp, and defeated more than 100,000 Qiang soldiers and horses. He lost hundreds of men, and the Qiang lost more than 20,000 men. The results were remarkable! "
"Your Majesty, when Hehuang asked for help, Commander Gu did not report it and instead sent troops on his own. This is a serious crime!" Hu Zhongyan said.
Han Zhang stepped out and said, "Minister Hu is wrong. A general is not bound to obey the orders of his sovereign when he is away from home.
The Qinzhou area was able to maintain stability because the Hehuang Tubo and Qiang peoples were located ahead of each other.
Once Hehuang is unified, it will be very disadvantageous to the Song Dynasty. The opportunity for war is fleeting. Commander Gu Du did not have time to report. What's wrong with that?"
"Although I am not familiar with military affairs, I feel that what you said is very polite. If so, Commander Gu is naturally not guilty!"
Hu Zhongyan said: "But the victory report arrived in Beijing yesterday, why haven't we received the report about the request for help from Hehuang Tubo and the report about his private dispatch of troops yet?
Sending troops without permission can be said to be to avoid delaying the opportunity to fight, but sending troops without permission and not reporting it does not make sense! "
Hu Zhongyan could naturally see that Zhao Xing was involved in this matter.
However, whether it was Hehuang Tubo asking for help or Gu Tingye sending troops, this was considered urgent news and should be reported to Bian Jing at an express speed of 800 miles.
In terms of time, the news of Tubo's request for help and Gu Tingye's dispatch of troops should have arrived first, and the victory report should have arrived later.
He seized on this point and requested that Gu Tingye be punished.
"What Minister Hu said makes sense. Your Majesty, please severely punish Gu Tingye!"
Except for Han Zhang, all the officials in the hall echoed in unison.
This includes some reformist officials.
Even though Han Zhang tried to stop them with his eyes, they ignored him.
No one present was a fool. Everyone could see that Zhao Xing must have known about this matter in advance, or even that Zhao Xing had secretly instructed it.
They could tolerate Zhao Xing killing civil officials, but they could not tolerate Zhao Xing employing military generals.
Since ancient times, civil officials and military officials have looked down on each other. As civil officials, they have already suppressed the military generals, and no one wants the military generals to climb over them.
They still have ways to avoid killing civil servants. The worst that can happen is just not to be greedy.
However, reusing military generals will affect their rights.
When Zhao Xing saw this scene, he sneered in his heart. He originally wanted to avoid the main issue, but these people kept insisting on it.
"Gu Tingye sent someone to deliver the secret report to the capital, and I already knew about it a long time ago." Zhao Xing said indifferently.
"I would like to ask Your Majesty, since You have known this for a long time, why didn't you tell us? Does Your Majesty suspect us?" Hu Zhongyan bowed.
"I forgot." Zhao Xing said.
Zhao Xing's somewhat shameless answer left everyone speechless.
(End of this chapter)