On the first day of March, the imperial report publishing the dialogue between Zhang Jun and Emperor Zhao was already on its way to all parts of the country. At the same time, the court imitated the famous court meeting during the Jing Kang period and directly and unquestionably approved Zhang Jun's package of plans by counting heads.

Back then, Emperor Taishang Yuansheng used this method to suppress the pro-war faction and changed the overall situation of the court to peace. There were more than a hundred participants in the head count, 70% of them were in favor of ceding the three towns of Taiyuan, Zhongshan and Hejian, and 30% were firmly opposed.

In the face of such a glaring comparison of numbers, the peace faction eventually broke free from the suppression of righteousness and instead overwhelmed the war faction. The Emperor Tai Shang Yuan Sheng was also able to withdraw from the matter, get rid of political responsibility, and directly negotiate peace.

However, unlike the original intention of Emperor Taishang Yuansheng to get rid of political responsibility, today Emperor Zhao and the radicals use this method to implement Zhang Deyuan's package plan, which is obviously a political suppression and demonstration... They want to use the unquestionable political voting results to deprive the moderate faction of any room for opposition.

Of course, even this does not mean that things will go smoothly, nor does it mean that the opponents will shut up.

It can only be said that after this vote, opponents within the court may shut up temporarily, but public opinion in the opposition will have no scruples. Moreover, if this political plan eventually causes problems, not only will opponents within the court speak again, but the scale of the opposition will also be even larger.

As for whether political plans will cause problems... We must know that political plans are just political plans after all. Even if a political plan looks good and sounds good, it is still likely to become bad in actual operation, or even bring disaster to the country and the people... What's more, the series of political plans proposed by Zhang Jun were full of controversy and certain idealized narratives from the beginning.

God knows what kind of troubles will arise when it comes to specific operations.

It is mid-March, spring is here, and the weather is getting warmer.

Just after the morning of this day, after shooting arrows at the martial arts school as usual, Emperor Zhao was sweating slightly, but he did not rush to the stone pavilion, but turned to rest at Xinggang, which was next to the city wall near the martial arts school. As soon as he climbed Xinggang and sat down in the thatched pavilion on the hill, Liu Yan led a team of imperial guards to pile dozens of secret letter boxes next to Emperor Zhao, and then someone immediately set up writing materials in the pavilion.

Zhao Jiu shook his head and smiled bitterly when he saw this: "I originally wanted to hide from these notes, but I didn't expect that I couldn't hide here either."

Liu Yan was of course embarrassed when he heard this, but he could only ask carefully: "I am afraid, should I put the secret letter back to the stone pavilion?"

"No need." Zhao Jiu shook his head and reached for a pen while gesturing to Liu Yan. "These are the rules I set... You'd better follow them."

Seeing the emperor's signal, many people including Yang Yi Zhong and Fan Zong Yin retreated a few steps together. Only Liu Yan immediately opened the secret letter box with his own hands and handed the secret letter to Emperor Zhao to read.

Emperor Zhao responded and issued instructions on the secret letters on the spot.

By the way, Zhao Jiu was always very particular when reviewing secret letters. In addition to responding to specific matters mentioned in the secret letters, he would usually ask about the well-being of these commanding officers and sometimes even correct typos for them.

But this time, Emperor Zhao was obviously a little impatient. He read one letter and replied with a few words, then read another one and replied with a few words again. He quickly replied to all the dozen secret letters.

Obviously full of perfunctory attitude.

After replying, Liu Yan put away the secret letter and left immediately, preparing to send it back as soon as possible according to the rules. Zhao Jiu watched him leave Xinggang, but shook his head and smiled bitterly again: "The secret letter is full of recommendations and praises. Wait, tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, they will submit a memorial to the Privy Council with the same words... Have you ever counted how many letters are about expanding the army?"

Everyone naturally knew that the emperor was complaining, and most of them smiled bitterly when they heard it... After all, Emperor Zhao was annoyed by these letters and memorials, so what would happen to them as the people who helped deal with the memorials?

However, at this moment, Ren Baozhong, the gatekeeper wearing a cotton cap, did not hesitate at all. He took a half step forward and bowed in front of the thatched pavilion:

"To let the emperor know, civil officials and military commanders, as well as the central government and local governments, have been submitting memorials regarding military expansion in the past ten days. Of course, I don't know about this, but the official memorials forwarded by the Privy Council and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which mentioned military expansion, totaled 227 since the first court session at the beginning of this month until last night..."

On Xinggang, everyone was stunned and silent for a moment, and no one knew whether they were shocked by the number or by the ambition of this old Dangxiang man.

Zhao Guanjia naturally knew that Ren Baozhong was an old man who had blossomed, but he had been an official for so many years, how could he not know? No matter what his motives were, as long as it really worked, it would be better than Fan Zongyin spending his time looking in the mirror, right? Just now when he was shooting arrows, that guy secretly took a mirror.

With this in mind, Emperor Zhao of course smiled at Ren Baozhong: "Ren Qing is thoughtful, but what are the origins of these 227 memorials? Can you break them down into categories?"

"Reporting to the emperor, the memorials say all kinds of things." Ren Baozhong still answered without thinking. "Often a memorial involves many aspects. I am not as good at Chinese as many scholars and officials. I can only roughly understand the meaning. I can't even understand the twists and turns in some people's words. It is really difficult to classify them specifically and help the emperor..."

Fan Zongyin, Lu Benzhong and others on the side immediately smiled when they heard the words, which was in sharp contrast to Yang Yizhong who had a blank expression on his face. Zhao Jiu was speechless for a moment... One can only say that these two Hanlin scholars really look wealthy and noble.

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!