Meishan Su family, Su Yun is the most virtuous

Chapter 299 People always have to say goodbye!
Nine moon days.

Zhao Xu suddenly came to his senses, and then summoned the ministers to come and appointed Prince Zhao Yong as the Crown Prince, changing his name to Zhao Xu.

He then immediately asked about the war in the northwest, and the ministers argued in front of Zhao Xu again, especially Sima Guang's sharp attack on Su Yun.

Zhao Xu was silent for a while, then said: "I just want to ask everyone, if there is a chance to take back my homeland, should I resort to force?"

Sima Guang was about to speak eloquently, but Zhao Xu stopped him and said, "Well, I don't think I can take care of these things anymore. You can discuss it with the Queen Mother Gao and the Crown Prince. Now everyone go first. I want to talk to the Crown Prince."

The eyes of all the ministers suddenly turned red. Zhao Xu meant that he was already on his deathbed. For such a big matter, even if he had an idea, he would not be able to take care of it after his death, so he simply ignored it.

So this is a farewell.

All the ministers left the bedroom, leaving only Crown Prince Zhao Xu and Empress Dowager Gao.

Zhao Xu smiled and said, "Mother, please go out as well. I have something to say to Xu'er."

With tears in her eyes, Empress Dowager Gao looked at Zhao Xu deeply, then turned and left. Only Zhao Xu and Zhao Xu were left in the bedroom.

Zhao Xu waved his hand and said, "Xu'er, don't be afraid, come here."

Zhao Xu quickly rushed over a few steps, came to Zhao Xu's bed and sat down, holding his father's skinny hand, and couldn't help but burst into tears.

But I heard my father say: "Don't cry yet, these are insignificant things, listen carefully to what daddy says."

Zhao Xu quickly wiped away his tears and said, "I'm not afraid, I'm listening."

Zhao Xu nodded and said, "Dad has been on the throne for more than ten years and has worked hard to realize the revival of the dynasty, but Dad is incompetent, and even now, he is still in a half-dead state.

After I die, according to my mother's consistent attitude, he will definitely let Wen Yanbo, Sima Guang and other old party members take charge of government affairs. By then, all the new laws will no longer be able to be relied upon. Alas! "

Zhao Xu sighed.

Zhao Xu said quickly: "I will definitely follow my father's footsteps and continue to uphold the new law. Even if the Queen Mother wants to change it, I will definitely fight them to the end!"

Zhao Xu was pleased to hear this and said, "Xu'er is Daddy's good child, but when I'm gone, before you come of age, you must listen to your grandmother and the ministers' opinions. You don't have to worry about anything! Do you understand?"

Zhao Xu was surprised and asked, "Then all the new laws will be abolished?"

Zhao Xu nodded and said, "Let's talk about it when you come of age. Your foundation is too shallow now. If you force them, haha, I'm afraid you won't be able to sit firmly on the throne. Remember to protect yourself, protect yourself!"

Zhao Xu said with tears in his eyes: "Then father, who can I rely on?"

Zhao Xu said slowly: "You can rely on your grandmother, Wen Yanbo, Sima Guang and others, but the premise is that you don't mention new laws again. Remember, before you take power, you must not mention new laws!"

Zhao Xu nodded with tears in his eyes and said, "I'll remember it."

Zhao Xu held Zhao Xu's little hand tightly. Zhao Xu felt a little pain in his hand. Then he saw the dying look on his father's face. He knew that his father was going to die. He was about to cry. However, he saw his father grit his teeth suddenly, and then squeezed out words from between his teeth.

"...Xu'er, you...must remember that the person you can really rely on is Su Yun Su Juzheng! If anyone says something bad about him, it means someone wants to harm him. You must protect him, protect him! He will help you take back the homeland of Xixia, the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun, and let the Song Dynasty regain the legacy of the Han and Tang Dynasties!"

Zhao Xu was shocked and asked anxiously, "What should I do?"

Zhao Xu was about to take his last breath at this time, but he squeezed out two words from his throat.

"...Emperor, Master!"

After he finished speaking, Zhao Xu tilted his head and let out a long breath, like a sigh, and then his chest stopped moving.

Seeing this, Zhao Xu burst into tears.

The ministers waiting outside rushed in and saw Zhao Xu lying on the dragon bed with his head tilted. They quickly called for the imperial doctors to come in. Several imperial doctors examined him nervously, discussed with each other, and then said sadly to Empress Dowager Gao and the ministers, "The emperor... has passed away!"

Suddenly, there was a deafening cry in the bedroom.

……

northwest.

The Fuyan Road Army was stuck on the Fuyan Road, refusing to retreat even a single step, and remained unmoved despite attacks from the Western Xia army from the flank.

The Fuyan Road army was stuck in place, which made the Western Xia army dare not advance deeper into the Hedong Road and Huanqing Road armies.

Because the combat effectiveness displayed by the Fuyan Road Army was truly amazing, especially the nearly 10,000 Jingsai Army, who appeared and disappeared between the various fortresses like ghosts. Wherever the Jingsai Army went, the Western Xia Army retreated. After a long time, the Western Xia Army was afraid of the Jingsai Army like a ghost, and did not dare to go all out when attacking the city, for fear of being ripped off by the Jingsai Army.

As a result, the war was still deadlocked for a full month, even though Yanzhou fell and the armies of Huanqing and Hedong retreated. At this time, the Fuyan army was exhausted, but the Xixia army, which had been trapped in the five states of Dingnan for several months, was also in trouble.

In addition, as the autumn wind blows, the temperature difference between morning and night in the northwest is extremely large. Even though the Xixia people are accustomed to the bitter cold, it is difficult to endure under such circumstances.

The top leaders of Western Xia also had the intention to retreat at this time, but they were a little anxious as they saw that the Song Dynasty had no plans for peace talks.

At this moment, news suddenly came from the Song Dynasty: The emperor of the Song Dynasty passed away!
The Xixia people were immediately overjoyed.

Xixia also had a clear understanding of the Song Dynasty's attitude towards the war. Among all the civil and military officials in the court, except for Zhao Xu, the Song Dynasty official, the Vice Prime Minister Zhang Dun and the Minister of State Affairs Su Yun were the most staunch advocates of war. Most of the other ministers did not agree with the war.

The power of Vice-Minister Zhang Dun and Junior Prime Minister Su Yun was not very strong; the key lay in the Song Dynasty's Emperor Zhao Xu.

Now that the Emperor of the Song Dynasty has suddenly passed away, the Vice Ministers Zhang Dun and Su Yun will be unable to handle the situation on their own. The Song Dynasty court should come to negotiate soon!

Sure enough, the Xixia court's prediction was correct. The Song court did start contacting the Xixia envoys in the Song Dynasty and requested another round of peace talks.

The Xixia court was overjoyed and immediately authorized the Xixia delegation to negotiate with the Song Dynasty.

This time, the conditions of the Western Xia delegation became extremely harsh.

First of all, it was an issue of the status of both sides. Western Xia proposed that the status of the Song and Xia countries must change. The leader of Western Xia should ascend the throne and become emperor, and they could become brother countries with the Song Dynasty.

The second issue is the annual tribute, which will have to be quadrupled from the original amount, and the expenses for the annual festivals will also have to be quadrupled.

In addition, the Song Dynasty must not prevent Daxia's blue and white salt from entering the northwest for sale.

As for the previous captives, they demanded that the Song Dynasty release them unconditionally.

As for territorial claims, the borders will be redivided according to the actual occupation of the two countries.

This request put the people in charge of negotiations in the Song Dynasty in a difficult position, and this request was fed back to Empress Dowager Gao.

Empress Dowager Gao quickly summoned Wen Yanbo, Sima Guang and others to discuss the matter.

Wen Yanbo was somewhat hesitant about this, believing that the status and territorial issues between the two countries were not issues that could be negotiated, but apart from this issue, everything else could be discussed.

Sima Guang was much more resolute. He believed that the status quo between the two countries should be maintained. However, the disputed territories were originally seized during the Five-Way War against Xia and the Battle of Mizhi. They originally belonged to Western Xia. If returning them could stop the war, then there would be nothing wrong with it.

As for the other conditions, except for the annual tribute, which can still be negotiated, the rest can all be agreed to.

After the news of Empress Dowager Gao's discussion with Sima Guang and Wen Yanbo spread, people of insight were immediately outraged, especially Zhang Dun, who directly accused Sima Guang of treason at the court meeting, and the two sides started arguing again.

Empress Dowager Gao was already very dissatisfied with the reformists like Zhang Dun. Seeing Zhang Dun act like this, she immediately wanted to drive him out of the court. So, at the instruction of Empress Dowager Gao, the censor impeached Zhang Dun for making wrong decisions in the northwest war, which led to such a deterioration of the situation, and suggested that the court demote Zhang Dun.

So Empress Dowager Gao, together with Wang Gui, Zhang Xu, Sima Guang and others, demoted Zhang Dun to a local position.

Cai Que did speak up for Zhang Dun, but he was ultimately powerless against the general trend and could only watch Zhang Dun being demoted from the court and appointed as the governor of Ruzhou.

Afterwards, Empress Dowager Gao recalled her old party members such as Lu Gongzhu and Fan Chunren, and also sent an appointment to Su Shi, reinstating him as the prefect of Dengzhou as Chaofenglang, which meant that the court was going to re-employ Su Shi.

When Cai Que saw so many members of the old party returning to the court, he knew that the New Law Party had come to an end, so he quickly requested to be appointed to an external post.

However, Empress Dowager Gao rejected his request, saying that Cai Que needed to serve as the envoy to the late emperor's mausoleum and could not be posted outside the capital at this time.

Later, the censors Liu Zhi and Wang Yansou impeached him one after another, saying that when he was serving as the envoy to his brother's mausoleum, he did not stay overnight the night before the hearse was set off, and did not attend on the way. After returning, he did not apologize.

Later, he was impeached for unjust, false and wrongful cases and harsh policies during the Xining and Yuanfeng years, and that Cai Que was involved from beginning to end, so he should be strictly investigated.

At the end of September, Cai Que was dismissed from his position as a scholar of Guanwen Hall and governor of Chenzhou for various crimes.

At this point, Cai Que and Zhang Dun were both banished from the court. Subsequently, Han Zhen, a representative of a great northern aristocratic family, was appointed as the right prime minister. Han Zhen's two nephews were appointed as ministers, and Sima Guang was appointed as the vice-chancellor.

Wang Gui's situation was not much better. After Zhao Xu ascended the throne, he conferred titles on court officials, promoted Wang Gui to the rank of Jinzi Guanglu Dafu, conferred him the title of Duke of Qi, and removed him from his position as prime minister. Not long after, Wang Gui died.

Zhang Xu did not have a good ending either. He was impeached by the censors and demoted to a scholar in the Zizhi Palace and the governor of Zhengzhou.

The Chief Censor Li Ding was also impeached and subsequently demoted to the governor of Qingzhou. Liu Zhi took over as the Chief Censor.

None of the new law ministers, such as He Zhengchen, escaped and were demoted one by one.

These new-law ministers were impeached and demoted, and the old-party ministers returned, all within a short period of ten days or half a month, and the court quickly changed its face!
(End of this chapter)