Having said that, after Shi Wenbin left, Zhao Jiu, who had done such a ridiculous thing, did not stop his intention of holding this imperial meeting. On the contrary, after lying in the imperial tent for a whole day and letting his thoughts wander for who knows how many times, he was now preparing to get down to business.
In fact, when the sun was setting, following the personal order of Emperor Zhao, several eunuchs brought out several chairs and benches, arranged seats in the curtain in front of the imperial tent, and invited all the important officials and close ministers to take their seats.
Even Zhao Jiu, who was already wearing a round-necked red robe, returned to the tent and put on the hard-winged fu hat that Lu Xianggong had been dreaming of, and sat on a throne with his back facing the door of the imperial tent... Of course, at this point, based on the political literacy and sensitivity of a Song Dynasty official, Lu Xianggong had no time to care about whether to wear a fu hat or not.
As expected, after Emperor Zhao sat down, the long list of official names he spoke made the atmosphere even more solemn:
"The Prime Minister of the East Palace (Lü Haowen), the Prime Minister of the West Palace (Wang Boyan), the Minister of the Ministry of Justice (Zhang Jun), the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Camp (Wang Yuan), the Chief Eunuch of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Lan Gui), as well as several Secretaries of the Secretariat, the Gatekeepers (Hu Yin, Yang Yizhong), and this Scholar Lin (Lin Jingmo) who has just entered the Jade Hall (Hanlin Academy)... The most important thing is that there is me, the Emperor of the Song Dynasty. Prime Minister Lu?"
"I'm here." Lu Haowen, who was sitting in the first seat on the left, stood up immediately.
"Mr. Lu, I was an ordinary prince half a year ago, and I fell into a well half a year ago..." Zhao Jiu was in a trance when he said this. He didn't expect that he had been here for half a year. "In short, no matter what the reason is, I am still a little confused about the official system and titles of the Song Dynasty. But no matter how confused I am, I know that now that we are gathered together, we are still a proper center, right?"
"Your Majesty is right." Lü Haowen dared not neglect it, and immediately responded with a serious face. "The Song Dynasty inherited the Tang system. Although there are many discussions about reforming the system, the basic principles of governance have never changed. The emperor is in the center to issue orders, and the prime ministers discuss politics in front of the emperor. Although there are vacancies and separations in various places today, the two eastern and western prefectures and the key places in the Forbidden City all have official officials accompanying the emperor. Therefore, this place in front of the imperial tent is the official center anyway, and it can naturally issue orders..."
At this point, Lu Haowen became more serious, but he couldn't help but pause before continuing: "But your Majesty, Li Xianggong (Li Gang) and Xu Dasan (Xu Jingheng) are not here after all. If there is a serious government order, why not wait for a while? Even if you can't wait for Li Xianggong, Xu Dasan and Zhang Shumi (Zhang Que) are in Huaidong and Huainan, and you can summon them quickly!"
When these words were spoken, the surrounding officials either sneered or felt helpless.
Among them, others were fine, except Lin Jingmo, the former governor of Shouzhou and current Hanlin scholar who had just skipped the qualification of Transport Envoy and was admitted to the Hanlin Academy as an exception and is now full of ambition and complacency. He was almost despised to the point of disdain.
Scholar Kobayashi, who had only experienced some of the emperor's operations, saw it particularly clearly... The emperor obviously wanted a central government without so many powerful ministers, and a chief civil official like you, Minister Lu, who was as incompetent as he was, and who could do things according to his wishes. Don't you think this is ridiculous?
Moreover, as the only successful Prime Minister of the East Palace at this time, the Prime Minister of the West Palace has committed a serious crime. He should have been in power and position, but he ended up in such a situation. Don't you, Lu Haowen, feel ashamed?
In fact, considering the emperor's willful behavior these days, all the civil officials in this center today should feel ashamed of themselves!
However, when Scholar Xiaolin thought of this, he was suddenly startled, because he suddenly realized that since he was also here, and he had not stopped the official from crossing the river to send ducks and spitting today, did that mean that he was also quite shameful? It seemed that he had not even grabbed the job of writing documents just now! He was a serious Yutang scholar!
"It's too late."
Just when Xiaolin was feeling mixed emotions, Zhao Jiu listened attentively with a blank expression, but rejected the suggestion directly, and continued to speak. "My opinion may be understood by others, but you all have been by my side all along, so I'm afraid you already understand..."
The civil and military officials present were silent and unresponsive.
"My original intention was to stop the Jin army here, boost the morale of the people, and then go to Nanyang or Yangzhou to stabilize the situation, issue orders, rebuild the situation, and re-establish the country!"
Zhao Jiu couldn't help but raise his voice when he saw this. "However, in the past few days on Bagong Mountain, I have seen people like Liu Guangshi who are afraid of the enemy like a tiger, and they have taken the initiative to guess my intentions and falsely accused me of being as shameless and afraid of death as him; the morale of the troops in Bagong Mountain and Xiacai City is turbulent, and there are actually many soldiers who think that I, the emperor, and the central government are all people who can only flee; and today, Jin Wushu came to bully me, as if he thought I was my weak and bullied brother... How can I tolerate this?"
When Lu Haowen and the others heard the last two sentences, their eyelids jumped. It was fine for others, but Lu Xianggong couldn't avoid it anyway, so he could only bite the bullet and ask again: "What do you think, the emperor?"
"Immediately issue an imperial edict and announce it to the world!" Zhao Jiu, sitting in the imperial chair, remained expressionless and motionless. "No need to wait to go to Nanyang or Yangzhou, and no need to wait for Li Xianggong, Xu Dacan and others. Right here on Bagong Mountain, I will announce my intention to the world!"
"May I ask what the emperor's intention is?" Amidst the silence, Lu Haowen continued to ask with gritted teeth.
"First, it is clear that the Song and Jin are enemies and are at war! Since the war has begun, we should call on all parts of the world to defend the country and resist the war! As the saying goes, no matter how old or young, no matter where you are, anyone who considers himself a Song person should fight for his country when he encounters the Jin people!"
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