Zhao Ding was silent for a moment, but continued: "Let's not talk about this for now... Let's continue with what I said just now. Second, the emperor seems to be reluctant to welcome the two saints back..."
"It's not that it seems to be true, but it is beyond doubt." Liu Dazhong became serious again when he heard this. "And I think this matter is even more difficult to say. Sir, I was away from home before and I didn't quite believe the rumors. Today I know that the royal family is so suspicious!"
"The government may not be suspicious. In my opinion, it is full of resentment," Zhao Ding answered seriously.
"Be it suspicion or hatred, it's hard to explain, and neither the superiors can explain it, nor the subordinates." Liu Dazhong said helplessly. "We say suspicion, but the emperor says hatred. We say hatred, but the emperor is suspicious... Mr. Zhao, the key is not here. The key is that there are some things that everyone knows, but why does the emperor have to do this? Can't the peace talks be turned around a little? Can't the two saints' affairs be covered up a little? The consequence of not keeping a sense of propriety and directly revealing it is that now there is suspicion inside and outside, and the dignity is completely lost!"
Zhao Ding also nodded slightly.
In fact, this is the problem, and it is also the fundamental reason why the court atmosphere was weird within a few days after the Jin envoy left that day - Emperor Zhao's behavior has clearly touched upon the foundation of Confucian society, which is basically the Three Bonds and Five Constant Virtues.
The patriarchal social system created by Confucianism, regardless of whether it is good or bad, is indeed a stable and useful thing. Over the years, everyone has adapted to using it to maintain social stability... When Wang Anshi was carrying out the reform, he and Sima Guang argued over the Dengzhou Ayun case for decades. Was it because they were idle? It was related to the foundation of Confucian ethics!
Now, Emperor Zhao not only challenges the ethical issue himself, but also pushes such an ethical contradiction onto these bureaucrats... You say that the emperor is the leader of the ministers, and the father is the leader of the sons, but who is your emperor and father now? What should you do if your emperor and father make a huge mistake that violates ethics? Oppose? Then what is the difference between you and the emperor? Acquiesce or agree? Isn't that helping the emperor to violate the moral principles?
But if Emperor Zhao was more secretive and pretended to be more serious, wouldn't he be able to get away with it? Why did he have to embarrass everyone?
It should be understood that no matter what, the Battle of Yaoshan had a huge impact. Whether it was the situation between the two countries or the internal military, politics, personnel, and authority of the rulers of both sides, there were drastic changes.
After that battle, everyone who was interested understood that Emperor Zhao already had the power to overturn the table in the internal political situation of the Song Dynasty, but the problem was that as the prime minister, wasn't your main historical mission to prevent this emperor from overturning the table?
Don't forget, this is not the first time that Emperor Zhao has tried to use the low-end ethical jokes of the Two Saints. He did it last time after returning to the old capital, but was beaten back by Lu Haowen on the spot... Do you, Zhao Ding, have the guts to cry back this time?
"Minister Liu, I think we have to make a choice between the two things." Zhao Ding nodded and finally spoke frankly.
"My lord, what you mean is... to give up one and gain the other?" Liu Dazhong immediately realized.
"That's right." Zhao Ding finally said his response. "What I mean is that we should jointly write a petition, and the capital, the Privy Council, the six ministries and nine ministers... everyone in the palace that day should sign together to request a plan for the Northern Expedition to show that we are selfless and non-partisan. But please also be polite in the matter of the two saints!"
Liu Dazhong was silent for a moment.
"Minister Liu, the peace talks are unlikely to be carried out with the government's position, and the resistance to this is greater than you think... There are two things you may not know. The Minister Wang (Wang Shu) of the Ministry of Justice came down from the palace that day and told me that Hu Quan's words made him feel relieved. And Zhang Shuxiang just wrote a note, asking the provincial government to hand over the matter of the imperial reports to the Privy Council on the grounds that Hu Quan was an editor of the Privy Council and the imperial reports were related to military affairs."
Liu Dazhong looked up in astonishment: "Is this really a party struggle?"
"There's no point in arguing!" Zhao Ding said solemnly. "I've already said it, the government's intention is clear! And since I, Zhao Ding, am the Prime Minister of the capital, I will not allow any more factional disputes in the court!"
Liu Dazhong sighed for a moment, but finally nodded: "In this case, we must find someone to talk to the emperor."
"No need." Zhao Ding said seriously again. "First, we can't control the emperor after all; second, the emperor may appear frivolous and stubborn, but he is actually very wise and must understand what we mean."
"Well!" Liu Dazhong thought for a long time and finally stood up. "In that case, I will contact colleagues in various provinces for you..."
Zhao Ding finally felt a little relieved.
However, while Prime Minister Zhao was working hard to maintain the unity of the court, Emperor Zhao, who had caused everyone to be disunited, had no awareness of the situation. On the contrary, he had been in high spirits these days and had been dealing with martial arts matters.
As mentioned before, Emperor Zhao was an unlearned man. He had no idea that the Zhao Song Dynasty had always had martial arts. He thought he was innovating the system... In fact, martial arts had existed since the Renzong Dynasty. It was modeled after the Imperial Academy, where students were admitted and taught, and combined with the military examination system, it was very advanced. It just didn't have the kind of high-level martial arts that Emperor Zhao expected that could interfere with the promotion of military commanders.
Not only that, as the saying goes, every failure makes you wiser, Emperor Zhao carefully asked the gossiper Yang Yi Zhong and found out that the Zhao Song Dynasty actually had nursing homes, shelters for the disabled, a medical promotion bureau, and a cemetery system.
However, all systems are good systems, but the actual implementation varies greatly.
For example, the highest martial arts school under the Imperial College only had one professor all year round, and like the Imperial College before Cai Jing's reform, it only provided training for the imperial examinations.
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