It turns out that according to the rules of the Song Dynasty, the emperor's birthday was his birthday, and each emperor's birthday had a unique name.
But what’s interesting is that when these words were spoken, everyone present was stunned, and then no one knew what was going on, but they had to look at Fan Zongyin, the Secretary of the Central Secretariat who often accompanied the emperor.
However, after Fan Zongyin thought about it, he broke out in a sweat and was speechless for a moment.
Seeing this, Chen Gongfu, the Imperial College's chief priest who had not spoken a word, blurted out, "I do know about this... The new Christmas is named Tianshen Festival, which should be on May 21st... The reason why you don't know is that there were four Tianshen Festivals before and after the emperor ascended the throne, but only one was celebrated, which was not long after he ascended the throne in the first year of Jianyan, and it was the Christmas. Even Fan Sheren didn't rush to Nanjing until after the Tianshen Festival, so he didn't know. But during the Tiansheng Festival, which was the birthday of Empress Dowager Yuanyou, there were regular holidays and rewards for four years."
In the Qingfeng Tower, the high-ranking officials of the imperial court, who had become much more financially comfortable due to the supplementary salary, were silent for a moment, not knowing how to respond to each other. Even Li Guang, the Chief Censor and the most powerful official in the court and a close friend of Chen Gongfu, pinched his beard and remained silent for a moment.
"You have been talking for a long time, but I just kept silent. It's not because I think what you said is not good or right." In silence, Chen Gongfu also continued to sigh. "On the contrary, as a Southeast Asian, I have always known that the Northern Expedition is indeed costly and laborious, and I also know that there will be many difficulties in the Northern Expedition. I also know that the emperor is indeed willful and biased towards military officers, but so what? There is always someone who leads by example. It is said that the court now values military officers over civil officials, and I think so too. It is certainly wrong to spend 80% of the money and food on the imperial camp! But now you and I have both received our salaries and are drinking in the Qingfeng Tower, while the emperor is still chewing sheep's heads in the fish pond of the harem. How can he have the face to impeach such things?"
Everyone knew that Chen Gongfu was Li Guang's best friend, the chief academic officer of the Imperial College, and had rich experience, so they did not dare to refute easily and had to go to see Li Guang and Liu Dazhong.
"Let me say one more thing." Just as Li Guang was about to speak, Chen Gongfu poured himself a glass of wine and drank it all, then turned coldly to his old friend. "Do you think that the ministers are all useless? Even if Zhang Jun and Chen Gui flatter the emperor, Zhao Yuanzhen (Zhao Ding) and Liu Zhifu (Liu Ji), both of whom are serious ministers, have any moral or political problems? And why didn't they refute Ma Zheng and Xixia's arguments today? In my opinion, the emperor was angry and wanted to avoid the edge for a while, but Qu Duan's 'the emperor doesn't eat tens of thousands of sheep now' hit the mark, leaving Zhao Xianggong and Liu Xianggong speechless!"
Many people, including Li Guang and Liu Dazhong, expressed their feelings in response.
"Mr. Fan." Chen Gongfu looked at Fan Zongyin again.
"Chen Jijiu." Fan Zongyin quickly bowed.
"You are a famous young talent in the court. You are plump and fair, with no blemishes on your face. You put on powder every day when you go out. Every time you go to the palace to attend court, you take a bronze mirror in your sleeve and look at yourself several times in private. Everyone calls you Sanzhao Sheren..."
Fan Zongyin was extremely embarrassed.
"Moreover, like me, you have been accompanying the emperor since the first year of Jianyan. Since Nanyang, you have been considered a close minister to the emperor... Then I have a question for you today. The emperor is also famous for his dignified appearance. Does he spend as much effort on dressing up as you do? And do you dare to submit a memorial to impeach the emperor for being vain and extravagant?"
Fan Zongyin became more speechless.
But after Chen Gongfu finished speaking, he simply stood up from the table, bowed to everyone, and shocked everyone in the room to stand up.
Chen Gongfu also stood up calmly and said: "At least half of the people present here today are my old friends. We should have a good chat. Even if we come to drink new wine and taste new apricots in the future, I will have no reason to refuse... But I also have something to say to you from the bottom of my heart."
The rest of the people looked at each other, most of them were at a loss.
"Since the Jingkang period, I have been with the emperor for four years. From the panic in Huaishang to the establishment of Nanyang, and then to the restoration of the old capital, I have witnessed the country's rejuvenation. I have long had a preconception in my heart, that is, the country cannot be safe without the current emperor!" Chen Gongfu continued proudly. "The current emperor is determined to fight the north with the safety of the nine provinces and the two rivers in mind. Although we have some distracting thoughts, we know that if we cannot change the emperor's mind on such a major matter, we should do our job and do some practical things... I also advise you to deal with the matter at hand. If the emperor is not doing well and the military officials are domineering, we should advise them and impeach them, but don't try to shake the overall situation, let alone use any evil means to provoke party disputes! Otherwise, it will not only harm the country and the people, but also seek death!"
After saying that, Chen Gongfu turned around and left, leaving many people stunned for a moment.
After a long while, Li Guang finally sighed with a wry smile: "This Chen Guozuo (Chen Gongfu) character is still so wanton... It seems that we are all acting out of selfish motives."
Liu Dazhong also shook his head: "In fact, he has been talking about this for a long time, doesn't it mean that the government is determined to do what it wants and can't be stopped?"
"Son of Heaven! Son of Heaven!" Someone else sighed and shook his head. "No wonder the emperor was so angry yesterday and no one dared to speak..."
"Then should we push Wang Butang and Hu Quan to impeach Qu Duan together?" someone else asked.
"Qu Duan is rude and disobedient, so he should still be impeached. However, as the Chief Censor, I don't need to rely on the help of others!" Li Guang made the decision in one word.
Many people nodded to each other, but no one responded.
April 8th is Buddha's Birthday.
In Tokyo, nine of the ten major temples were celebrating and performing "Mulian Saves His Mother" on a large scale. At the same time, Emperor Zhao watched a newly staged "Legend of the White Snake" in Gyeongbokgung Palace.
In the following days, this new play quickly became popular in Tokyo, but it caused strong dissatisfaction among the monks because it seriously affected the Buddha's Bathing Festival rituals.
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