Chapter 353 Accident

Emperor Zhao led all the officials out of Yuetai, not because Wang De had made great contributions and deserved extra courtesy... but because the Zhao Song Dynasty had the tradition of holding military parades in the western suburbs in late spring and early summer.

Specifically, every year in late spring, the Emperor of Zhao Song would go out of the west gate, take advantage of the rising water level to review the navy at Jinming Lake, and then review the troops at the banquet hall between Qionglin Garden and Jinming Lake. Throughout the process, the troops would also perform so-called competitions and performances.

Of course, thanks to the management of General Gao Qiu and the personal preference of Emperor Taishang Daojun, during the Fenghengyu era, this event basically became a talent show. Soldiers often had to dress up as lions, tigers, ghosts and gods to enter the arena. Those who were fighting had to perform routines in pairs, those who were in formation had to wear flowers and dance, and those who were archers had to use people holding five plates as targets.

There is even a dramatic performance, which is a routine of a fight between a village husband and a village wife. It is said that in the end the village woman must be carried to the end by the village husband to be authentic.

In addition, young palace maids, under the leadership of the nobles in the harem, had to dress in men's clothes, put on armor, mount horses, and cover themselves with colorful cloaks to engage in horse battles with the imperial cavalry. Their movements had to be coordinated and their faces had to be pretty... You don't need to ask to know that the palace maids would definitely win in the end.

In essence, these things are no different from the Indian military parade, or even worse, because there are no motorcycles. But in any case, there is no way they can have any real military atmosphere... Of course, then again, this is the way the times are, and ordinary people like it. If they were replaced with a more solemn military train, it would be a lot less interesting.

As for Zhao Jiu's decision to come out this time, it was after careful consideration for a long time.

Moreover, since he fell ill last year, he has learned his lesson and no longer interfered in state affairs. Instead, he further pushed the general affairs to the capital and the Privy Council, only paying attention to personnel, the military, and intelligence work. At the same time, he turned his attention back to his own specific advantages... that is, to do those strange and tricky things, and make some flashy and flashy things.

First came the hot air balloon, then the Zhao temperature system, then the monocular telescope ground out of crystal, and then after dealing with the court's personnel issues, they chose to prepare for this military parade.

It was called a military parade, but in fact it was a military competition held by the entire army after learning about the previous "precedent" from a memorial in early March.

In fact, those who returned with Wang De this time included the left army and the rear army of the imperial camp, as well as some meritorious soldiers of Li Yanxian's central army, while some elite soldiers of the front army, the right army of the imperial camp, and even the navy had arrived in advance.

Everything is ready, except for Emperor Zhao's dragon banner.

However, on this day, Emperor Zhao's dragon banner and the left and right white yak banners and black yak banners displayed as trophies did not go to Qionglin Garden or Jinming Lake, but directly arrived at Yuetai, the back half of which had been converted into a sacrificial temple.

Over there, Emperor Zhao first received Wang De and his troops who had returned from the rotation battle. Then he did not rush to start the so-called "military review". Instead, he started doing work that he had not done for a long time. The emperor sat on the throne in the center of Yuetai, before the temple, and personally watched the officials of the Ministry of Revenue distribute rewards to the troops who had participated in this rotation battle.

Silks of different grades, strings of brand new copper coins, white silver, and the smallest but always the most eye-catching gold ingots were poured out from the boxes, sparkling together in the early summer sun. Whenever someone was called forward, officers and clerks would carefully weigh them and distribute them to the soldiers according to the written measurement.

This is what is called 'deciding now'...old fashioned, but very practical.

The rewards were distributed one after another, which was very time-consuming, and Emperor Zhao sat there solemnly. Although many of the prime ministers and important officials were also seated, so he was not tired, the atmosphere was still a little dull.

In particular, for some unknown reason, Emperor Zhao looked more and more serious, and his brows furrowed more and more tightly as he looked at the dwindling wealth and belongings... At first glance, one might have thought that he was feeling sorry for these rewards!

"Excuse me, may I ask if the emperor feels sorry for these rewards?"

Suddenly, not far from Emperor Zhao, a senior official in a purple robe stood up and spoke, which sounded extremely harsh amid the shouts of rewards from a little further away.

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and found that it was the new Left Vice Minister of Works Gou Longruyuan, and they were surprised for a moment.

Frankly speaking, even Zhao Jiu was a little stunned in his heart, because he did not have a deep impression of this person, and the few impressions he had seemed very contradictory... On the one hand, this person was able to stick to his position in the Quanzhou Fan Temple case, and seemed to be an upright minister, but he might also be opportunistic; on the other hand, this person's original surname was Gou, but he changed it to Gou Long after Jianyan. Although it was natural to avoid taboos in this day and age, he took the initiative to avoid taboos to the extent of changing his surname, which inevitably made him seem loyal but also a little flattering.

Apart from this, it was probably because this person had a clean background, had been in the prefectures and counties for more than ten years, and had great experience, so when he was introduced into the court by Zhang Jun, who was also from Sichuan, no one could object.

When Zhao Jiu thought of this, he also had a hint of testing intention, but his expression did not change at all, and his body did not move at all. He just frowned and responded:

"Yes! What can we do?"

"In that case, please allow me to congratulate you!" After saying that, without any hesitation, Gou Longruyuan stood up from his seat and bowed in front of all the ministers. "The emperor loves the people so much. If the Northern Expedition succeeds and the two rivers are recovered, there will be real hope."

The ministers were increasingly stunned.

Even Zhao Jiu could not help but ask seriously after a moment of silence: "What is the reason for Gou Longqing's words?"

"Reporting to the emperor, there is no reason, I just think of others!" Gou Longruyuan raised his head and said solemnly. "When I was in Quanzhou, every time I collected taxes, I saw the people paying every penny, and I was always worried that the central government would waste the blood and sweat of the people in the south of the Yangtze River, and I was also very serious... Today, seeing that the emperor is so solemn, I know that the people in the south of the Yangtze River have not worked in vain."

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