Because everyone was a little bit at a loss as to what to do next... According to the rules of the banquet, there should be singing and dancing, acrobatics, and sumo at the imperial banquet. When there are mostly civil officials, there should naturally be poetry. When there are mostly military generals, there should naturally be noise and noise like yesterday.
Judging from the scale of today's banquet, there should be nothing missing.
But to be honest, Emperor Zhao's "Qingyu'an" surpassed all the Lantern Festival poems in the past and present. The civil officials wanted to show off their literary talent, but who wouldn't feel guilty? The seven generals were so troubled yesterday, but they have already behaved themselves today. Who dares to do anything to the group of commanders and leaders below?
As for acrobatics, singing and dancing, and sumo...who has seen them since the Jing Kang period?
Could it be that we have to wait for Wang De, the Grand Commandant, to get drunk and invite Mrs. Liang from the Grand Commandant Han's family to come over and dance? Then, regardless of success or failure, singing, dancing and sumo will always be seen?
Of course, Emperor Zhao is not such a stingy person. Since he has prepared such a grand banquet, he naturally has some programs to offer.
"The government has issued an oral order. There is a lack of dancing and music in the army. We should use sumo wrestling to entertain the troops." Seeing the right opportunity, the guard Feng Yi suddenly stepped forward and announced loudly.
There were exclamations in the reviewing stands for a while, and then almost everyone was excited.
In the Song Dynasty, sumo was a popular sport for all ages, not only among the common people, but also among scholars, nobles and the royal family. In its heyday, almost every imperial banquet or state banquet had a professional royal sumo performance. As the saying goes, what the superiors like, the subordinates will show their appreciation. Before the Jingkang period, it had developed to the point where almost every family of nobles, wealthy families, and even civil officials kept sumo wrestlers. When attending banquets, there would be a row of sumo wrestlers standing behind them, ready to fight at any time to win face for the host.
However, among them, the most outstanding are definitely the sumo wrestlers raised by the royal family.
Back to the present, today we are reviewing the three armies. Civil and military officials have gathered in the barracks. Is there any more suitable entertainment than a sumo performance by the Zhao Song royal family?
So, when this was said, almost everyone was looking forward to it, ready to see what level of sumo wrestlers the government had gathered in Tokyo during this period of time.
The reviewing stand, which was made of rammed earth, had some steps in it to facilitate the review, thus naturally forming a viewing platform that everyone could use without having to stand up. As Feng Yi spoke, hundreds of imperial guards in armor quickly rushed up to the flat ground in front of the reviewing stand and roughly surrounded an area.
Everyone became more and more excited, because this was the posture of sumo in front of the emperor. In the past, when the royal family held sumo, there would be outer soldiers with flags and drums, and then the onlookers might even be allowed to place bets on the spot, and the winner would not only get money, but might also be rewarded with an official position, and the loser would not have to worry, because the government would pay for the loser.
However, only a moment later, all the civil and military officials present changed color, because Yang Yizhong, the emperor's confidant who had disappeared at some point, suddenly appeared, and brought a group of special "sumo wrestlers" with him personally... At first, some people thought they had seen it wrong, but when General Yang, who no one dared to underestimate, came on stage to pay his respects and report, everyone had no doubts anymore, and some of the generals from the Tokyo Garrison were even a little panicked.
"Officials!"
Yang Yizhong bowed his head. "The traitor Zhang Yu and his thirty officers have been brought here."
The entire military camp was still in a state of noise all around, and the spring breeze was blowing gently along the Bian River, making a whistling sound. However, the reviewing stand where the emperor was sitting had already been completely silent. Several officials frowned slightly and looked at each other in thought, but since Emperor Zhao had not explained the whole story, they were in no hurry to advise.
But it is conceivable that if Emperor Zhao really wanted to do something bloody and humiliating on the spot without any reason, such as forcing Zhang Yu and his subordinates to fight each other for fun instead of executing them according to the law, then not only them, but all the civil and civil officials here would definitely come out to protest!
Moreover, doesn't the emperor know that Zhang Yu was from the Tokyo Garrison? Even if he died, he died. But making a fuss about it in such an occasion would only make the officials of the Tokyo Garrison suspicious?
During the reorganization, there should be no additional incentives given to these military leaders who came from bandit backgrounds.
"Bring the people up." After the military parade, Emperor Zhao, who had changed into his bright red uniform, had a calm expression on his face, but responded directly.
Yang Yi Zhong turned around and waved his hand, and soldiers pulled dozens of people tied to a long rope onto the stage. The leader was none other than Zhang Yu, the former commander of the Tokyo Garrison.
When Zhang met the stage, he was filthy and in a mess, no longer as majestic as before, but he still forced himself to remain calm, looking up and saying nothing... In fact, he knew in his heart that if there was a chance to survive, he would definitely kneel down and beg for his life by relying on the favors of his many old colleagues and old friends in the Tokyo Liaison Office on the stage.
However, isn't the guilt of the battle in Nanyang obvious? Doesn't everyone, including himself, know that today is doomed to end badly?
Although he was a government soldier, he purged the anti-Jin civil and military officials in the city, opened the city and surrendered to the Jin, which directly destroyed the Wuhe defense line; after surrendering to the Jin, he coerced the soldiers and civilians in the city and drove them to besiege the secondary capital where the Song Dynasty government was located, and repeatedly engaged in head-on battles with the government troops in Nanyang; after his defeat, he fled westward in embarrassment, but encountered a mutiny and was defeated by Zhai Chong of Xiping, and all his troops were wiped out... After all these battles, he had no possibility of survival.
I just don’t know how he died!
"Are you Zhang Yu?" Zhao Jiu asked calmly. "The one who drove the people of Nanyang City to fill the ditch and then built the tunnel?"
Zhang Yu glanced at the young official in a red robe sitting in the seat and said nothing.
"You and your subordinates are guilty of crimes that cannot be forgiven, but today's military review and reward ceremony may give you a chance." Zhao Jiu ignored the other party's unreasonableness, and ignored the countless "honest ministers" on his left who raised their eyebrows and prepared to step out, but continued to talk to himself. "I heard that you forced the soldiers and civilians to serve as soldiers in your army. When the soldiers and civilians refused, you forced them to fight each other to decide life and death, and then the dead abandoned the land and the living became soldiers... Today I will give him a taste of his own medicine!"
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