Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 642 Premonition
The emperor returned eastward from Bashu, inspecting the mountains and rivers along the way. He did not flee in panic because of the appearance of Western Xia troops in western Sichuan.

On this day, the emperor arrived in Ezhou. Li Dao and local civil and military officials welcomed him into the city and held a banquet to welcome him.

After the banquet, Zhao Yuan returned to the temporary palace. The maids and eunuchs helped him take off his outer robe. Just as he was about to take a bath, the chief eunuch Li came to the outside of the bathing palace on tiptoe and reported softly, "Your Majesty, a gold medal from Lin'an has been delivered urgently. It is the title conferred by the regent."

The regent added the seal, which meant that the regent received an urgent document and had no time to transcribe and organize it, and then form a separate memorial. So he just put another cover on the urgent memorial and hurriedly sent someone to submit it to the emperor.

Zhao Yuan was secretly shocked when he heard this. Did something big happen in Lin'an?
He didn't care about much at the moment and walked out of the bathing palace in his snow-white midfielder's uniform.

Eunuch Li hurriedly held up the urgent memorial. Zhao Yuan took it in his hand, walked quickly to the table, took the jade knife, opened the seal, and began to read it anxiously.

"Ha ha ha ha……"

Hearing the emperor's laughter, Eunuch Li, who had been holding his breath for a long time and was in a state of fear, finally breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile, "The emperor is so happy, what great joy is this?"

If the official looked unhappy, he would never dare to say anything.

But the emperor is very happy. If you don't ask any questions, to whom do you want him to express his joy?
That has to be done for fun.

Zhao Yuan clapped his hands and laughed, "We, the Song Dynasty, fought hard against the Jin army in Lianghuai. In a field battle at Lingbi, we killed more than 40,000 enemies, whose bodies filled the ditches and blood stained the Tuojiang River. We also captured more than 20,000 enemy soldiers alive. What a great victory! What a great victory!"

Zhao Yuan walked around happily, and Eunuch Li immediately offered her a series of flattering words.

Zhao Yuan didn't hear a word. Her heart was filled with joy, joy, and joy.

"Quick, summon Wei Liangchen, Chen Kangbo, Shen Xuzhong and other ministers who are accompanying the emperor to come and see him immediately."

These ministers accompanying the emperor were living in the temporary palace. Eunuch Li agreed and hurriedly rushed out.

Zhao Yuan did not even have time to take a bath. He hurriedly asked someone to bring him another robe and put it on. He then hurried to tell the empress dowager and the queen.

The child raised by Empress Dowager Wu was Zhao Yu, so she and the current emperor Zhao Yuan were not very close.

However, Zhao Yu and Zhao Yuan had a deep sibling relationship, and the current queen was a capable daughter-in-law. During the entire journey to Bashu to pay homage to the empress dowager, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law became closer and closer.

The mother and daughter were chatting in the harem when Zhao Yuan came rushing in. He told them the news of the great victory in Huaidong with great excitement, and then hurried off excitedly to meet the ministers.

The Queen didn't quite understand what the numbers Zhao Yuan said meant, but Empress Dowager Wu knew very well.

Empress Dowager Wu was the daughter of a general. When she entered the palace as a concubine, the Jin army was searching the mountains and seas, and Emperor Zhao Gou was running around in a miserable state.

At that time, Concubine Wu, who was only fourteen or fifteen years old, wore armor every day, wore a sword under her ribs, and stood beside Zhao Gou day and night as a personal guard.

Of course she understands military affairs.

When she heard that more than 40,000 Jin soldiers were killed and more than 20,000 were captured alive, Empress Dowager Wu couldn't help but gasp.

"Empress, the emperor just said that the commander of this war is our Song Dynasty's top scholar Yang Yuan?"

"Yes, mother, what's wrong?"

Queen Mother Wu nodded slowly: "How can Yunwen and Yunwu be so powerful? Could it be that he is really a star from heaven who has descended to earth?"

The queen was moved and asked, "Mother, did Yang Yuan fight well in this battle?"

Queen Mother Wu shook her head: "It's not very good, it's too good. Just this one battle, and you can be called a famous general!"

The Queen was delighted: "That's great. The Emperor is in his prime, and Yang Yuan is also a young minister. The Emperor and his ministers get along well, and the Emperor is wise and his ministers are intelligent. This is a blessing for the country."

In front, Wei Liangchen, Chen Kangbo, Shen Xuzhong and other ministers accompanying the emperor rushed over. When they heard the good news, they were all happy and congratulated the emperor together.

Zhao Yuan's face was flushed with joy.

Since he ascended the throne, he has accomplished several major events, showing the demeanor of a leader who is about to revive the country.

As the ruler of the world, what else does he pursue? To be remembered forever.

Now that such good news has come, the young emperor, who has been on the throne for just over a year, is truly overjoyed.

However, in front of the ministers, he had to be calm and dignified, and not show his emotions.

So Zhao Yuan restrained his emotions and said calmly: "Regent asked me to make the decision on the reward.

Now I am still on my way back, and I cannot delay rewarding those who have made contributions. Yang Yuan is the chief contributor to the great victory of Lingbi. What do you think, my ministers, should I reward him?"

At that moment, all the ministers accompanying the emperor began to discuss the matter.

The ministers accompanying the emperor all shared the same political stance as the emperor and advocated a tough stance against Jin.

Yang Yuan's great victory laid the most solid foundation for their position, and they were generous in rewarding Yang Yuan.

This is why Zhao Yuan urgently summoned all the ministers accompanying him to discuss the matter.

If we reach an agreement with these ministers first, the resistance we encounter when we return to Lin'an will be much smaller.

Yang Yuan made great military achievements, but he was not a military general, so the best reward for him was to make up for it with his title.

The titles of nobility in the Song Dynasty were divided into twelve levels, from king, heir to king, prince of a county, duke of a state, duke of a county, founding duke of a county, founding duke of a county, founding marquis..., then earl, viscount, and baron.

Yang Yuan was now a founding marquis, so some people suggested that he be promoted to the title of founding county duke. However, others thought that it seemed inappropriate to promote him twice in a row since he had just been conferred the title of founding marquis at the beginning of the year, and it would be better to wait until after the New Year to confer the title, since the New Year was still more than two months away.

However, some people felt that for such a great achievement, only promoting him to a higher rank would discourage the hero, and suggested granting him the title of founding county duke.

Although the titles of nobility in the Song Dynasty were not very valuable, not only could they not be inherited after one generation, but also the title only meant an additional salary, the ministers were still relatively cautious.

It's not that they think Yang Yuan is unworthy of the title given his merits, but they think Yang Yuan is too young and his promotion frequency is too frequent. If he is promoted too frequently, what will other ministers think?
This was like putting Yang Yuan on the fire. In fact, they did it out of love for Yang Yuan and didn't want Yang Yuan to be in danger of being "the tallest tree in the forest".

However, as ministers, they would have such considerations. As the emperor, Zhao Yuan's ideas were certainly different from theirs, and it was impossible for him to have the same ideas as them.

Seeing that everyone was only discussing titles and were very cautious, Zhao Yuan became impatient after listening for a long time without getting any results.

Zhao Yuan then cleared his throat and interrupted everyone, saying, "Yang Yuan is a man of outstanding talent, both civil and military, but he is only placed in the position of censor, which does not allow him to fully display his talents. I think we can move him to a different position, what do you think?"

Upon hearing the emperor's indication of the direction, the ministers who had not yet come up with a plan for Yang Yuan's title immediately changed direction and began to discuss which government office Yang Yuan should serve in.

Only then did Zhao Yuan reveal a look of satisfaction.

Zhao Yuan's original plan was to train Yang Yuan to be a lone minister.

The Censorate is the end of Yang Yuan’s life.

Zhao Yuan planned to let Yang Yuan continue working in the Taijian system and eventually replace Zhu Zhuo as the chief official of the Taijian system.

The promotion and appointment and dismissal of the censors cannot be interfered with by the prime minister. It is equivalent to a prosecutorial system independent of the imperial court system, which will become the sharpest knife in his hand.

The ability and courage that Yang Yuan had previously demonstrated are also very consistent with this positioning.

But now Zhao Yuan can't bear to do so.

If Yang Yuan only had the ability and qualities of not fearing the powerful, hating evil and being courageous and resolute, it would be quite appropriate for him to work steadily in the Censorate until he became the Chief Censor and supervise all officials for him.

Now it seems that Yang Yuan is clearly a talent capable of becoming a prime minister.

Then, Yang Yuan cannot be allowed to continue working in the Censorate.

The Censorate was responsible for supervising all officials, and naturally its stance was somewhat antagonistic to that of all civil and military officials.

Yang Yuan has worked in the Censorate for too long, which will create many political enemies for him.

In the history of the Song Dynasty, many censors eventually became prime ministers, such as Wang Anshi, Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi, Fu Bi, Zhang Fangping, Ouyang Xiu, Bao Zheng, etc.

However, these people only worked in the position of censor for one or two years at most, and then were transferred away. It was equivalent to just gilding the position of censor with a layer of gold of fair law enforcement.

Anyone the imperial court intends to train to be a consul will not be allowed to serve in the position of censor for too long, as he will offend too many people if he does so.

Yang Yuan was a man who liked to take on responsibilities. He had only been in the Censorate for a year, but the entire Ministry of Personnel was ruined by him. If he was allowed to continue working, the label of a judicial officer would be too deep to be washed away.

Therefore, Zhao Yuan intended to transfer him away.

At this time, a strange scene appeared. Although the ministers accompanying the emperor praised Yang Yuan highly, most of them avoided their own government offices when they recommended him.

If Yang Yuan is too outstanding, he will appear dull.

Moreover, Yang Yuan was very good at stirring up trouble. They and Yang Yuan shared the same political stance. When Yang Yuan was stirring up trouble outside, they were delighted to see him doing so. They were also willing to cheer for Yang Yuan and express their support.

But if they arranged Yang Yuan to work in their own yamen... they would still be a little bothered.

After listening to the ministers' wild discussions, Zhao Yuan coughed lightly and pointed out the direction for them again.

"What do you think of the position of Imperial Counselor in the Ministry of Personnel?"

Shen Xuzhong and the others were stunned for a moment before they came to their senses.

The emperor... is he going to start training Yang Ziyue to become a prime minister?

……

Li Dao served the emperor back to the palace and found a temporary residence outside the palace provided for the emperor.

This place is close, so if anything happens to the emperor, he can be there the first time.

Although Li Dao is a military general, he is really a smart and clever man who is good at handling things.

His vision was quite accurate, so he was able to turn misfortunes into blessings and his career was very successful.

As soon as the urgent news came in, such as Lin'an Gold Medal Express and the Regent's additional seal, he knew about it at the first time.

As the commander-in-chief of all the troops in Ezhou, Li Dao was of course aware of the successive attacks launched by Western Xia and the Jin Kingdom on the border with the Song Dynasty.

He thought something big had happened in the court, so he quickly put on his armor and rushed to the gate of the palace to wait for orders.

As a result, he did not wait for an audience with the emperor, but only heard the news of a great victory in Huaidong and a great victory in Yang Yuan.

Only then did Li Dao realize that it was the imperial court reporting a great victory, and he returned to his temporary residence with peace of mind.

His fourth son Li Fengnian took off his father's armor. Li Dao suddenly put his hand on his chest with a painful expression, as if he couldn't breathe.

Li Fengnian was shocked and hurriedly supported Li Dao: "Father, what's wrong with you? Are you feeling uncomfortable?"

Li Dao was supported by him and sat down on the chair. He then pounded his chest hard and said with great sorrow: "I gave birth to a daughter too late!"

Li Dao looked at Li Fengnian with hatred and said, "It would be great if you and Xiao Wu (Li Fengniang) switched places and asked me to give birth to Xiao Wu first.

I have lost a good son-in-law, and my heart aches for him..."

(End of this chapter)