The autumn wind was rustling, the sun was setting, and in the evening, the Mingdao Palace in Weizhen County, Bozhou (Luyi in later generations) in the Huainan East Road of the Song Dynasty was a place where light and shadow intertwined and the air was refreshing and warm.
Not only that, at this moment, in this huge complex that has the attributes of a temple and a palace, fully armed soldiers and nobles in red and purple can be seen everywhere, and countless civil and military officials of the Song Dynasty are stationed here. Among them, the highest point, the hill behind the palace, is even more strictly guarded and well-ordered. From afar, you can actually see several three-flag dragon banners fluttering in the wind.
Anyone with a little common sense knows that this thing is called Jinwu Banner, which is used exclusively by the emperor. The dragon banner is here, which means that the Zhao Song government is also here.
Such a situation cannot be said to be rare. After all, the officials of the Song Dynasty have always had a tradition of devout Taoism. The previous official of the Song Dynasty was even known as the Emperor of Taoism. The Mingdao Palace where the Taoist temple is located was also built by Zhenzong. So it seems normal for the officials of the Song Dynasty to come here in person to offer sacrifices.
However, unlike the grand occasion when Emperor Zhenzong came here to worship the Taoist ancestor, at this moment, the atmosphere in this royal garden is inevitably solemn and serious... The number of fully armed generals and soldiers is too many, and the literati of the Song Dynasty who have always loved to show off their literary talent have no interest in sightseeing. Instead, they meet in groups of three or four to have a drink, and their expressions of worry are hard to conceal.
Of course it’s hard to hide!
Moreover, since the Jingkang period, the Jin army invaded the south, the two emperors went hunting in the north, and there were endless rebellions in various places. The Song Dynasty was in fact on the brink of life and death, and the worry of national destruction was by no means unfounded.
What is even more distressing is that at this critical moment, Emperor Zhao of the Song Dynasty, who had just ascended the throne for more than two months, also met with an unexpected disaster. The Zhao family has always valued Taoism, so a few days ago, when Emperor Zhao's ceremonial procession passed by here and headed south to Huaidian to prepare for the fight against the Jin Dynasty, they inevitably had to pay homage to Li Er, the Taoist ancestor of Mingdao Palace. However, after the young Emperor Zhao finished the worship, he actually fell headfirst into the Nine Dragon Well near Mingdao Palace while touring the garden scenery in front of hundreds of civil and military officials, and then fell into a coma for a while!
Of course, he just fainted. Emperor Zhao woke up after half a day, and the two prime ministers also visited him.
But the problem is that after waking up, Emperor Zhao, who was young and strong and could ride a horse for half a day and pull a stone five-bow, acted as usual, but did not continue to move south as planned. Recently, he only made a public appearance accompanied by Kang Lu, the chief escort of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and then took no action again.
You know, after the emperor ascended the throne in Nanjing (Shangqiu) two months ago, there was a fierce struggle in the court, and even a counselor and two students died because of it, and a prime minister was dismissed. Only then did the national policy of traveling south to Huaidian and then to Yangzhou be decided. Moreover, the empress dowager had already gone to Yangzhou in advance on this trip south, and there were many royal family members with her. Several financially capable ministers also went to Huaiyang and Jiangnan to raise money and food. The imperial generals and commanders also went to the surrounding areas to suppress the rebellion in order to stabilize the road. Even the chief guards of the Ministry of Internal Affairs went to the front to clear the way... But the most important and fundamental emperor and the civil and military officials of the court had just set off from Nanjing (Shangqiu) for only a hundred miles, and stopped in Bozhou. What was going on?
As a result, people walking here were in a panic for a while.
There are rumors that although the emperor was not hurt that day, his brain was damaged. He even forgot Concubine Pan and Kang Yaban, and might even have become Emperor Hui of Song. Therefore, the ministers of the East and West Palaces and Kang Yaban of the Ministry of Internal Affairs certainly did not dare to leave. There are also rumors that the emperor is a believer in Taoism after all, so after this incident, he actually suspected that falling into the well was a warning from the Taoist ancestor, advising him not to go south, so he changed his mind for a while, and instead wanted to stay in the Central Plains to fight against the Jin, so he lingered!
Not only that, for example, Kang Lu took the opportunity to imprison the emperor and planned to replace the emperor with a raccoon monster; another example is that the Taoist ancestor appeared in a dream and instructed the gods to come down to earth to help... All kinds of absurd statements became more and more bizarre as the emperor stayed in the Mingdao Palace in Bozhou.
All I can say is that thanks to the Jing Kang incident, this person is the only legitimate member of the royal family of the Song Dynasty, otherwise who knows what kind of trouble would have happened.
"Hello everyone for archery!"
Just as everyone was panicking, the rear hall, the highest point in the vortex, saw the emperor, as usual, bending his bow and shooting at the target under the dragon flag before sunset, shooting two barrels of arrows before stopping. Kang Lu, the chief guard of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who was waiting nearby, hurried forward to flatter and ask, "Are you going to have dinner with the guards today as well?"
"Why not?"
The so-called official was wearing a red round-necked shirt, and he was only about 20 years old, but he was tall and handsome, and he looked like a direct descendant of the Zhao family. He just smiled slightly when he heard the words, and seemed to be unconcerned. "Is there something wrong, sir?"
"What could possibly happen to me?" This official, who was about thirty years old, was the only chief eunuch in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. He had always been in charge of the confidential documents of the imperial palace, and was as important as the eunuchs in later times. He couldn't help but sigh when he heard this. "Just now, Madam Pan asked me to ask, saying that she hadn't seen the emperor for many days and missed him very much. I thought..."
Upon hearing this, Emperor Zhao smiled awkwardly while holding the bow in his hand. He did not answer but turned his head away.
"Besides, didn't everyone say they wanted to eat ice cream after their injuries?" Kang Lu saw this and quickly walked around to the other person, continuing to talk with his sleeves gathered. "This Madam Pan specially cooked for everyone today, so why not go and see the heir to the throne!"
"Yeah?"
The young official was slightly startled and hesitated for a moment, but soon he came to his senses and sighed. "Forget it. Just send me some ice cream. I'll share it with my classmate who's dining with me today..."
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