Chapter 399: The Secret Order from the Government
Zhao Feiyan told him: In fact, her father's secret decree had reached Ding Gong's hands a few days ago. Her father criticized the Chengdu Administration Office for holding a large number of troops and not thinking of going north to rescue the emperor but establishing their own court. This was truly a heinous crime and he should be punished by death.
He also ordered Ding Gong to try to rescue the emperor and make up for his crime with merit.
Ding Gong was at a loss for words, not knowing what to do. He secretly went to consult Li Gong, who, after reading the secret decree, felt ill and refused to attend the court.
So that's why Zhao Yulin finally understood why Li Zhongmian didn't come to the meeting. It seems that this official is very venomous. Just one letter made Li Zhongmian claim to be sick and not attend the meeting.
The two were still talking when they heard the guard outside the door shouting: Lord Cao is here to visit.
Zhao Yulin and Feiyan went out immediately to greet them.
Outside, Ma Ling'er, Yangjin, and Shunzhidi were all there. As soon as they entered the room, Lao Cao said he had something important to say to his brother without saying a word. The women immediately said goodbye.
Lao Cao quietly told him: Shunfengsi received a report that the old emperor had sent someone to look for Mr. Ding, and it was suspected that he brought a secret decree from the emperor.
Zhao Yulin nodded and asked Chu Yuxuan to invite Zhao Feiyan over.
He said Feiyan had just told him that the old emperor didn't know that the ruler of the New Song Dynasty had been changed, and wanted Lord Ding to lead an army to the north to rescue him.
Zhao Feiyan came in and told Lao Cao everything, and Lao Cao's expression changed immediately.
Zhao Yulin invited Lao Cao to have tea and told him not to worry. It has been more than a day since Lord Ding received the secret decree, and there has been no response, which shows that Lord Ding is open-minded and supports the proposition of our new Song Dynasty, and he will not have any ulterior motives.
The old emperor doesn't know that we have changed our ruler. If he knew that it was Cao Gong who was replaced, he would still send a secret decree to Cao Gong.
He asked Lao Cao to go back and have a good sleep, and invited Mr. Li to the Censorate to discuss the matter in person tomorrow morning.
Old Cao naturally understood what Zhao Yulin meant, and said goodbye and went back with some uneasiness.
After seeing Lao Cao off, all the women gathered around him. Zhao Yulin told them that the old official, Feiyan's father, had sent people to Chengdu to find Ding Gong.
He told everyone not to worry about anything else and to go back to their rooms to rest, then he helped Feiyan into the house.
Feiyan couldn't sleep with so much on her mind, so she got up, leaned on the couch and looked up at the starry sky.
Zhao Yulin leaned over, held the woman in his arms and counted the stars with her.
The little woman told him: Lord Ding listened to the messenger's report and learned that his father had suffered a lot in Mobei. The captured royal relatives were all suffering, and many of them died of freezing, starvation, and disease. The women were all living in darkness and humiliation.
Zhao Yulin had seen all of this in later history books and could imagine it. The Jin people were extremely cruel and dirty in dealing with the two captured Song emperors. They were not human at all. The Mongols came later and were definitely not much worse than the Jin people.
Zhao Yulin did not give a direct answer, but told Feiyan that Shunfengsi had already reported that his father was imprisoned on the shore of the North Sea where Su Wu grazed sheep. The Mongolian desert was thousands of miles away from our current border, and without strong enough cavalry, there was no way to rescue him.
He would definitely not ask the soldiers of the Shenwei Army to die in vain, as they were his brothers.
Feiyan said she had never thought so, but she just felt a little sad after learning the truth.
He held the little woman in his arms, looked out the window at the starry sky and said, "Sooner or later, our army will be able to defeat the Mongolian army, flatten the grassland and rescue all our loved ones."
In Yangjin's courtyard, Shunzhidi brought Huofenghuang to find her, who was also drinking tea. Not long after, Ma Ling also arrived. The women were a little surprised. Why did they gather together without any prior arrangement?
Shunzhidi said that whenever the previous emperor was still in power, both the old and new emperors would inevitably stir up bloody storms. Now Feiyan's father sent someone to talk to Ding Gong about something, and she was worried, so she pulled her sister Fenghuang over to discuss countermeasures.
Ma Linger also said expressionlessly that if this news spread, it would definitely cause unrest in the New Song Dynasty, so we must be careful. Now we have a big family, we must ensure peace and not let those with unreasonable thoughts ruin things.
Of course Yangjin knew what she meant. She was worried that someone would restore the monarchy and destroy the New Song Dynasty and the Zhao family she was protecting.
I told her not to worry, and not to be afraid, as Yulin was here.
She said that Yulin had adjusted the troop deployment in Chengdu long ago, with Guoan guarding Chengdu and Master Lu guarding Xuzhou, so that the rear was peaceful and the sisters could sleep peacefully.
The women whispered until late at night before they squeezed into Yangjin's bed and lay down.
Cao Youwen returned home and chatted with his wife in a restless mood. Mrs. Cao then learned that the emperor in Mobei had sent news. She knew the seriousness of the matter and told Cao that she should resign as the king and let the little princess Zhao Feiyan take the responsibility. The emperor would not destroy her daughter's kingdom, would he?
Lao Cao said that he had thought about it, but the princess had too little experience, how could she be worthy of it? Yulin Ge'er would think that he was making things difficult for him.
The old couple had no idea what to do and stayed in the yard until midnight before falling asleep.
Last night, Zhao Feiyan was stumped by the questions given by her father, so she caught Zhao Yulin and gave him all she could. At dawn, she still collapsed in his arms like a dough.
After breakfast, Zhao Yulin accompanied Feiyan directly to the Censorate.
The two went in and saw Lao Cao and Li Gong had already arrived.
Luo Mingqiu confirmed in public: the eunuch Liu Gonggong who delivered the imperial edict was an old man from the Imperial City Bureau, and the handwriting on the sheepskin secret edict he sent was indeed written by the emperor himself.
Zhao Yulin waved his hand, motioning Luo Mingqiu to go out and rest, and asked Eunuch Liu to explain the situation.
The eunuch first saluted Zhao Feiyan, and then in a duck voice scolded Zhao Yulin for not being loyal to the Song Dynasty and rescuing the emperor as a son-in-law, but instigating Sichuan and Shu to abandon the Lin'an court and establish the so-called New Song Dynasty, which was a great treason.
Zhao Yulin immediately told him to stop talking nonsense.
He said: This is Chengdu, not the Lin'an court. If you mention being loyal to the emperor and saving the lord again, he will drag you out and behead you.
The fellow actually raised his neck and said with a righteous look: "Come and take my head."
Haha, it’s all Mag’s fault. He’s a eunuch, but he still has some backbone.
Zhao Yulin glared at him and asked: Are you really not afraid of death?
Even if he was not afraid of death, there was no need to give up his life in such a confused way. Eunuch Liu walked thousands of miles to Chengdu despite the hardships and difficulties. Was he just going to die?
This guy is a stubborn person. What's the point of asking him?
No, so what?
Zhao Yulin laughed and said: "Yes, drag him out and bury him immediately. No, just tell us what we saw in Mobei and don't mention anything else."
Then he called out slowly: "Yuxuan, go to the back garden and dig a hole. Eunuch Liu is very thin, so dig a small hole, but just deep enough."
Everyone knew that he would kill people if he said so, without hesitation, and they were immediately shocked.
Mr. Li quickly waved his hands and said: Eunuch Liu, just tell us the facts, my dear, please be patient.
Seeing that the situation was too awkward, Lao Cao asked Eunuch Liu to quickly tell him about the government's situation, as this was what everyone wanted to hear the most.
Eunuch Liu's feet were already trembling.
He evaded the pursuit of the Mongolian secret guards and arrived in Shu with great difficulty. He thought he was safe and could be regarded as a close associate of the emperor. However, he never expected to meet Zhao Yulin, who would kill him if he did not do anything right.
After he calmed down, he gave a detailed account of the tragic experiences of the captured Song people under the persuasion of everyone. Before he finished speaking, he was already in tears, crying for Cao Youwen to send troops to rescue them.
Zhao Yulin asked Chu Yuxuan to come in and change the tea. After Eunuch Liu calmed down, he reminded him not to reveal his identity and not to leak any information about the Song people in Mobei. Then he asked Luo Mingqiu to send him to Kuang Sisi's Danfeng Garden to stay.
Mr. Ding sighed and said that life as an official was very hard.
The emperor has been imprisoned in Mobei for five years. It is too cold there and supplies are extremely scarce. We have made him suffer.
Zhao Yulin said that the officials were not suffering, they were free, and were even crowned kings, with wine and beauties. It was the royal women and the innocent women in Lin'an who were subjected to humiliation and suffered.
As Zhao Feiyan listened, she began to sob again.
Lao Cao said irritably, "Let's not talk about those bad things. What should we do now?"
I just asked this.
The sudden trouble caused by this eunuch had already made them panic, and they all looked to Zhao Yulin for decision.
He stood up and walked to Mr. Ding, took the secret decree and lit it on the oil lamp. After burning the secret decree, he said, "Let's just pretend that Eunuch Liu had never come back. Let's continue to do everything as usual and continue to do our job well."
Mr. Li said how could this be possible, as Eunuch Liu had clearly brought back a secret decree.
Zhao Yulin asked, "Did Lord Li forget? We are now the New Song Kingdom, not the Great Song."
We are now a republic of the New Song Dynasty, and there is no king.
Everyone then realized that the official edict had nothing to do with this place.
Lao Cao hesitated for a moment and said: This is reasonable, but the emperor and so many Song people are still imprisoned by the Mongols.
Zhao Yulin said: We have to unite as one, work hard, and prepare for war to rescue all our compatriots, not just the officials, or just the royal family, but all our Han compatriots.
Seeing that everyone looked tired, he felt tired too, so he suggested to Lao Cao that they disperse and leave it like that for the time being.
Lao Cao had no better idea, so he told them to disperse.
As soon as they returned to the government office, Gao Jia came to report: the county magistrate of Daojiang County was entangled with the Zhang family who were building the street, and urged the bank to lend money to the Zhang family. After Shunfengsi verified the facts, it had not yet arrested the thief, but he hanged himself out of fear of punishment.
Alas, one problem after another arises. How could this guy's mental quality be so poor that he could not stand such a little pressure and wanted to hang himself?
Zhao Yulin asked whether it had been confirmed that the county magistrate was guilty?
Gao Jia said that Wu Dazongguan of Shunfengsi only wrote that this person was involved in bank loans, and it was he who wrote the note asking the bank to lend money to Zhang's family in Qijie. However, when the county magistrate's house was searched, no stolen silver or stolen goods were found. Instead, several leaders of Yongkang Army accepted a large amount of money and property from Zhang's family.
The county magistrate and the chief clerk of Daojiang County confessed that the superiors of the Yongkang Army had long been interfering in the affairs of Daojiang County.
Especially during the annual maintenance of Dujiangyan, they always had to interfere, and the county magistrate almost became a puppet. This time, the Zhang family started the street on the recommendation of their superiors, and it can be said that they were the ones who arranged it all.
It seems that the county magistrate's loan to the Zhang family was probably due to pressure from his superiors in the Yongkang Army.
