…

Yang Zaixing captured Fang Qifo alive.

This made Cai Shen win the first battle as soon as he went south.

Without saying anything, Cai immediately wrote a memorial to report the victory to the court.

After the good news was written, Cai Jian immediately sent people 600 miles to send them to Tokyo Bianliang City. Because Cai Jian went south too fast and made such a great contribution too fast, the Xuanfu Department did not go south in Daming Prefecture. In this way, Cai Jian's good news could only be sent to Tokyo Bianliang City.

Xiuzhou is only more than 1,800 miles away from Tokyo Bianliang City.

Three days later, on the 14th day of the first lunar month, the messenger came to the city of Bianliang, Tokyo.

The brightly lit Lantern Festival night was once the most beautiful night in Tokyo.

At this time of year, thousands of colorful lanterns on the Yu Street form a mountain of lanterns. The lanterns and fireworks are lit up, and the beautiful flowers are shining with golden and green colors. Singing and dancing, and the magical abilities are wonderful. Tourists gather in Yu Street to watch; the music is noisy, and the lights are endless within a hundred miles.

But compared with previous years, this year is much quieter. The golden pearls and glass tassels hanging in front of Jinglongmen Baolu Palace have not been hung this year.

It can be seen that Fang La gathered millions to seize the southeast and cut off the economic lifeline of the Northern Song Dynasty, which had a great impact on the Northern Song Dynasty.

actually--

The Fang La Uprising was one of the reasons for the deserted city of Bianliang in Tokyo, but it was not the only reason.

Just a few days ago, Deng Xunwu of the Privy Council passed away.

Although Zhao Ji didn't like the stubborn old man Deng Xunwu very much, he even wanted to dismiss the stubborn old man countless times.

But Deng Xunwu, an old minister of the three dynasties, really died, especially at this critical moment of internal and external troubles, which made Zhao Ji feel anxious!

Good fortune will never come alone.

God seemed to think that the prompts he gave Zhao Ji were not enough.

Several large apricot trees on the Apricot Grove of Yanfu Palace are blooming sparsely this year.

This situation has never happened before.

The concubines in the palace were chattering and talking in private, saying that this was not a good sign.

really!

At noon the day before yesterday, a solar eclipse suddenly occurred over Tokyo, and the bright white sun gradually became blue and black, and at the center of the sun, it seemed that a piece of gold was melted, and the golden solution was constantly boiling and surging, and the solution was lush and lush, as if a vast wave of water was rotating.

The eclipse continued until the evening before the sky returned to normal.

The ancients called this phenomenon "there is a fog every day", and fog means disaster and suffering.

Zhao Ji, who was worried about the Fang La Uprising, had another shadow on his heart because of this solar eclipse. In the eyes of the ancients, a solar eclipse appeared in the sky, which meant that the emperor was inappropriate, which was a warning from God to the emperor.

Zhao Ji quickly issued a "Self-blame edict": "The ruler is not virtuous and the government is uneven, which leads to the turmoil in the world. I admire the wisdom of the Three Lights and cannot govern and nurture all living beings. I am a fault. I hope to be virtuous and upright, speak out loud and strong, and to help me resolve my failure."

Zhao Ji hopes to use the "Sin of Sin" to eliminate doubts and uneasiness in people's hearts.

However, an unfortunate incident still came to Zhao Ji.

One night a few days ago, Zhao Ji's favorite concubine (A Concubine An) suddenly felt hot and chilled all over.

Zhao Ji urgently summoned the imperial doctor to inspect. The imperial doctor prescribed a prescription for typhoid fever, but the condition not only did not decrease but worsened.

The Imperial Hospital immediately organized an imperial doctor's consultation, but he still failed to achieve any results when he tried all kinds of methods.

Seeing that Concubine An was in a state of depressed spirit and had no choice but to eat, Zhao Ji was anxious but helpless.

Yesterday morning, Zhao Ji was discussing matters with Wang Fu in Chongzheng Palace, and suddenly there was news that Concubine An was critically ill.

Zhao Ji hurried to Huining Palace and saw Concubine An lying quietly on the bed with her eyes closed, her face pale and her breathing weakly.

Zhao Ji walked to the bed and gently held An Fei's hand.

Concubine An's face suddenly became rosy. She slowly opened her eyes and smiled: "Is the official family here?"

Zhao Ji nodded.

Concubine An moved slightly, held Zhao Ji's hand hard, and shed tears like a spring: "I was born in a cold and I have met the holy grace. Now I have enough wishes. Even if I die, I will have no regrets!"

Zhao Ji also cried silently.

"Although I am buried in my bones, my soul is still the only one around the official family. I hope that the official family will always remember the creatures in the world and put the country first. I cannot bear to leave, but my life is divided here. The official family should take care of the holy body and not miss it too much..."

Concubine An was still unsatisfied, but her voice stopped abruptly.

Zhao Ji held An Fei's body and sobbed.

Empress Zheng and the concubines stood beside each other and burst into tears.

Concubine An left like this, leaving behind three sons and one daughter for Zhao Ji.

Empress Zheng organized and arranged for the concubines in the harem to come to pay their respects, and the atmosphere was sad and sad.

Only Concubine Cui looked around and seemed not sad.

Zhao Ji saw it and was angry in his heart. He even suspected that Concubine Cui had killed Concubine An, so he demoted Concubine Cui to a commoner and sent him to the cold palace.

In short, as soon as the beginning of this year, there were constant bad news.

In such a general environment, how could the Northern Song Dynasty court still hold the Lantern Festival night as in previous years?

At this moment, Cai still sent people to send good news to Bianliang City in Tokyo.

Zhao Ji, who was mourning Concubine An, heard that Cai still had a great victory in Xiuzhou. The sadness in his heart was immediately wiped out and he hurried to the Chuigong Hall to find out.

actually--

What really concerns Zhao Ji is not the death of Deng Xunwu and An Fei.

The Northern Song Dynasty had a population of more than 100 million. What kind of ministers and beauties did Zhao Ji want?

The only thing that really concerns Zhao Ji was the Fang La riot, which gathered millions to occupy the economic lifeline of the Northern Song Dynasty.

This may overthrow the existence of their old Zhao family, and this is the most deadly thing.

Therefore, on the sixth day of the first lunar month, Zhao Ji came to the city gate in a light car and personally saw Tong Guan off.

At that time, Zhao Ji even held Tong Guan's hand tightly and said, "Tong Aiqing, everything about the Southeast will be handed over to you. When you have no choice, you can issue an order in my name."

Zhao Ji's words at that time were very clear, which was equivalent to granting Tong Guan the imperial power.

It can be seen from this that Zhao Ji attached great importance to the Fang La Uprising.

It can be said that since he learned that Fang La gathered millions of people to rebel, Zhao Ji had almost lost insomnia every night and was exhausted. Fang La riot disrupted his strategic deployment to send troops to revive Yanjing, and also destroyed his good mood, making him think countless times: "Why is it so good that the Song Dynasty suddenly rebelled everywhere?"

It is no exaggeration to say that Zhao Ji has been spending anxiety recently...

Zhao Ji even tolerated his pursuit of art and took the initiative to abolish Su, Hangfa Bureau and suspend the operation of Hua Shigang, dismissed the official positions of Zhu Jie and his son and brothers, and suspended the construction of Gen Yue, in an attempt to relax the fighting spirit of the rebel army and achieve the final victory in the Southeast Battle.

Therefore, when Zhao Ji learned that Cai Shen had won the first battle and had a big victory, he immediately came to Chuigong Hall and then rushed to Gao Qiu, who brought him good news: "Take the good news sent by Cai Shenqing to me!"

Gao Qiu immediately picked up the good news sent by Cai Jian in both hands and trotted to Zhao Ji.

Zhao Ji took the news and saw it, "...I arrived in Xiuzhou in the early morning of the tenth day of the first lunar month. I heard that the rebels, Marshal Fang Qifo, was leading 70,000 bandits to attack Xiuzhou City, the situation was critical. I immediately made a decision to send his general Yang Zaixing to lead two battalions of horse troops to Xiuzhou City for reinforcements. Then, at the suggestion of Liu Qi, the commander of Xingde Army, I sent his general Wang De, Yang Yizhong and others to lead a large army to Xiuzhou City for reinforcements. Wu

At that time, the five thousand army sent by me met with the 70,000 rebels who were attacking Xiuzhou City and won the battle. Later, with the assistance of Lord Chen and Xiuzhou soldiers, they wiped out the 70,000 rebels and captured the Nanlu Marshal Fang Qifo alive. In this battle, our Jinwu army killed more than 6,800 rebels, injured more than 17,300 rebels, captured more than 20,000 rebels, seized thousands of war horses and tens of thousands of soldiers..."

As he read, the big stone in Zhao Ji's heart finally slowly dropped. His depression for many days was wiped out. He said as he walked, "Five thousand wins 70,000, that fifty thousand can win 700,000, and one hundred thousand can win 1.4 million. Even if Fang La's rebel can grow to 2 million, the 150,000 army I sent can easily wipe it out!"

Gao Qiu smiled and said, "The account is not settled in this way by the official family. After all, not everyone is as capable as Cai. However, judging from the combat power shown by Fang La's rebels, it should not be difficult to wipe out."

Zhao Ji smiled and said, "Yes, not everyone is still as capable as Cai, and Cai is still my champion."

Seeing Zhao Ji's long face, Gao Qiu took the opportunity to say, "The official family, this first victory is extremely critical. The official family has been busy with Concubine An's funeral these two days, and may not have noticed that the Shang Yuan Festival is here."

The most grand festival in the Northern Song Dynasty was the Shangyuan Festival, which is the Lantern Festival.

There is a reason why the Northern Song Dynasty attached so much importance to the Lantern Festival:

First of all, it was because of the importance of the Northern Song Dynasty royal family - Zhao Kuangyin took the lead in ordering to extend the time of the Shangyuan Festival (Five days in total from the 14th to the 18th of the first lunar month). Zhao Guangyi was also known as "I am happy with Shangyuan". Later, the royal family of the Song Dynasty would go to Xuande Gate in the imperial city to watch the lanterns and have fun with the people. Zhao Ji also has a song "Manting the Courtyard: Huanyu Qingyi", which fully describes the grand scene of "Lantern Festival Traveling in Yuyu". In the joy, the candles and dragons shine, and the algae are peaceful and peaceful."

Another reason is that the Song Dynasty was known as the "eve of modern times". Its economic vitality and prosperity were similar to Western Europe before the post-Renaventure Industrial Revolution. The Song Dynasty developed greatly, and the "walls collapsed" in the city. Entering the era of citizens, the residents in the city began to have developed nightlife. The Lantern Festival was actually very in line with the living needs of urban residents.

Therefore, people in the Song Dynasty like to celebrate the Lantern Festival very much. Not only is the Lantern Festival lantern watching in the capital Tokyo Bianliang City, which is very magnificent, but all cities across the country also have lanterns and carnivals from the five nights of the first lunar month to the eighteenth of the first lunar month.

After Gao Qiu reminded him, Zhao Ji remembered that it was the Lantern Festival. He asked: "What day is the first day of the first lunar month?"

Gao Qiu replied: "The first fourteenth day of the first lunar month."

Zhao Ji said in surprise: "It's all fourteen, why is there no one..."

Speaking of this, Zhao Ji already understood why no one was preparing to celebrate the festival. It was because of Fang La's uprising, solar eclipse, Deng Xunwu and An Fei's sudden death. Because of the recent bad luck of the Northern Song Dynasty, everyone was living in worries and they were not interested in celebrating the festival.

Seeing that Zhao Ji understood, Gao Qiu said, "That's why I said that this victory came too timely. He can boost our Song Dynasty's morale that has been extremely depressed. The government can also order people to hold the Spring Festival on the grounds of this victory to give the people confidence."

When Zhao Ji heard this, he said, "Yes, the people cannot think that the Song Dynasty has stopped in the past. We must let the people know that the rule of the Song Dynasty will surely last forever!"

Zhao Ji immediately passed the order: "Play the victory on the front line, and follow the Ministry of Rites to immediately carry out the Shangyuan Festival and tell Cai Chong that he would do the big things for me to do, and that I would have fun with the people tonight!"

Gao Qiu flattered: "The official family is wise!"

After hesitating for a moment, Gao Qiu said again: "Officials, Cai is still making such a great contribution at this critical moment, and he must be rewarded with great rewards."

...
Chapter completed!