Life in the wilderness is hard, especially when everyone is waiting.

To be fair, Han Shizhong's marching speed was still very fast. On October 17, the troops finalized their strategy, and then galloped to various places in Jingdong to deliver military orders. Han Shizhong was not found until the 23rd.

There is a small episode here. It turns out that the commander of the left army of the imperial camp was suppressing a rebellion in Shanzhou (later Shan County, Shandong), which was only 300 miles away from the boundary ditch. However, he was extremely good at fighting, and he followed the orders given before departure. Soon after departure, he suppressed the rebellion and captured the bandits. However, he was summoned by his superior Liu Guangshi to help. By the time the messenger arrived, the rebellion here in Liu Guangshi had almost been suppressed by Han Shizhong.

However, after receiving the order, Han Shizhong did not neglect it at all. After congratulating Liu Guangshi, he directly led an army of 8,000 and turned back. On October 30, a fast horse came to report to the imperial court, saying that Commander Han had arrived at Mingdao Palace... and would reach the imperial court in two or three days.

However, even so, the officials in the imperial court could not help but feel bored... In the past, they could still discuss personnel appointments in various places and talk about local delegations and placements, but now the Huaixi bandits are blocking their way and the road is uneasy. After discussing the matters of Jingdong and Dongjing, there is really nothing to do.

So, the officials of the Song Dynasty began to use their traditional skills again, which was to attack each other.

A few days later, someone first impeached Yuwen Xuzhong, the Grand Secretary of the Zizheng Palace, for his mistakes during the Jingkang period... This was probably because this Grand Secretary had been gaining more and more favor and trust from the emperor recently, and there was a rumor that he was going to join the Western Palace (Privy Council), so everyone put themselves in Li Xianggong's shoes and be on guard for him;

Then, someone impeached Li Gang for being overly domineering and abusing his power to the point that he was trapped in the countryside... Not to mention this, with Li Boji's performance, I wonder how many people would want to share your majesty's worries!

However, these were just minor actions, because the serious censors had not taken any action. If they really wanted to touch people like the prime minister or the grand secretary, they would have to have the censor take direct action - according to the political tradition of the Song Dynasty, if the censor directly impeached the prime minister, the prime minister had to resign to prove his innocence.

At this time, the emperor can deal with it according to his own will, either keeping the prime minister and getting rid of the censor, or just go with the flow and dismiss the prime minister!

The same process was followed twice before when Li Gang was dismissed from his post as prime minister... And at this time, isn't the censorate under the direct control of the emperor?

On the evening of the first day of November, Chief Censor Zhang Jun, who had nothing to do, returned to his residence leisurely.

Although it was a residence, no matter how neat a temple in the wild was, how could it compare with the large royal palace like Mingdao Palace? So even though he was the Chief Censor, who had won the favor of the government at a young age and held great power, he was only assigned a quiet and elegant room in the temple, which didn't even have a living room. Even so, the neighbors on both sides were all scholars, ministers, and censors, and many of them had families... In this case, I'm afraid that any minister snoring at night would cause a dispute in the court.

In fact, it was because of his loud snoring that the scholar Xiao Han from the Ministry of Revenue was driven into a corner early by several other scholars who were bored.

Coming back to the present, Zhang Jun smelled a rare fragrance in the corridor before he entered the room. He shook his head and laughed. When he pushed the door open, he saw a pot of ginger and fermented black beans on the table in his room, and his two good friends were playing chess on the couch!

When one of the older men saw Zhang Jun coming, he immediately flipped the chessboard, stood up and said with a smile: "If Deyuan (Zhang Jun) hadn't come, Mingzhong and I would have starved to death in front of this pot of Jiang Shilang!"

Minister Jiang is another name for ginger.

It should be noted that even though the commodity economy was more developed in the Song Dynasty, it was impossible to cope with the weather. There were few vegetables in winter, and ginger and fermented black beans were a kind of jelly with ginger as the main ingredient. It could drive away the cold and add flavor. It was naturally a rare "fresh food" in winter, and it was also a top-grade food for drinking. In the past, every official in Tokyo had eaten this food. Over time, based on an allusion from the Five Dynasties, this food was given the nickname of Minister Jiang.

Zhang Jun was also happy to see the two, so he closed the door and sat down at the table without even saying hello. He first reached out and pinched a piece of meat jelly. After eating it, he excitedly said: "I didn't expect that there is also ginger and fermented black beans today. It's really rare!"

The two of them looked at each other, then sat down together. The younger one, Mingzhong, took out a pot of wine from somewhere, took the initiative to help set the table, and then poured wine for the two of them.

The three of them sat down, and the younger Mingzhong spoke seriously: "Brother Deyuan, you don't know, ever since the eunuch went to a distant market town to purchase that day and came back with a bucket of ginger and fermented black beans, there have been rumors in Yingzhou and Chenzhou that the emperor loves ginger and fermented black beans the most. So today, Chenzhou Governor Zhao Yuanxian came here to meet the emperor, and he brought several buckets with him. Many people got some! Just because Brother Yuanzhen has a large population, I gave my share to Brother Yuanzhen's sister-in-law, and then we all came to Brother Deyuan's place to eat the meat."

Hearing this, Zhang Jun shook his head and laughed: "Let's not talk about these things. The reputation of the emperor is really undeserved. It is quite like the stubborn prime minister who liked to eat venison."

After these words were spoken, the other two also shook their heads and laughed.

It is said that the eunuch in the imperial palace went out to buy something that day. By chance, he met a traveling merchant and bought a bucket of fermented black beans. What happened? The emperor only left one bowl for Concubine Pan that night, and gave the remaining half bucket to the trusted officers in front of the emperor, and the other half bucket to the important officials in the court. He did not eat a single bite... The place was small, and everyone knew about it in a short time. In the end, the emperor still liked to eat fermented black beans.

"Your Majesty is the Holy Son of Heaven!" After laughing, he drank the whole bottle, but Zhang Jun became serious and sighed. "Even wise rulers in ancient times might not be like this."

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