Tokyo Bianliang, an important place for the imperial palace.

Today's Emperor of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Ji, the current official, can be regarded as the most talented and widely interested among all emperors from ancient times to the present.

He was good at painting and calligraphy, so many calligraphy and painting were passed down from generation to generation. The thin gold style he created became a major school of calligraphy in later generations. He was curious about the strange flowers and stones, so he sent court officials to search for such rare objects all over the world, and Daxing Huashi Gang. Now there is a huge stone named Gen Yue in the imperial garden. In order to send it into the palace, the court even smashed it to the city gate and the palace gate. The huge amount of money is beyond the imagination.

He even wanted to practice Taoism and live forever, so he was called the Emperor of Taoism. He even built the Wanshou Immortal Palace in the palace, which cost more than tens of millions. He spent several years of savings in the Song Dynasty just to satisfy Zhao Ji's unrealistic wishes. For this reason, he even spent a lot of time every day to enter the Immortal Palace to meditate in order to achieve the Immortal Tao as soon as possible.

It is the same today. Even though things are complicated in the court now and many ministers are still entangled in the case of Sun Tu in Qingzhou, Zhao Ji can still keep everything in mind. He is here calmly and listen to the Taoist priest Lin Lingsu who specially invited him from the fairy mountain to preach to him.

After these two guys who were neither king nor ministers had a mysterious answer, Zhao Ji showed a smile of enlightenment on his face, and after a while he said happily: "According to what Taoist Master said, my blessings, will the national fortune of the Song Dynasty prosper in the northeast?"

"This is not my view, but the enlightenment of the way of heaven. Your Majesty has been practicing for many years. His sincerity has moved God. Now it is time to guide you on the road to immortality." Lin Lingsu sat cross-legged on the cushion, his eyes closed and open, saying something difficult to distinguish between reality and reality: "The fortune of the Song Dynasty, the ambition of immortality is only in the northeast."

Zhao Ji believed this and nodded seriously: "I understand. I had intended to let Tong Guan go to sea next year, so I should have been on this matter." As he said that, he looked at the still gloomy sky outside, and he had slowly stood up: "It's not too late, and I still have mundane affairs to deal with, so I won't disturb the Taoist priest's practice."

Seeing the emperor getting up and leaving, Lin Lingsu had no intention of standing up and giving him respectfully. He was still sitting there half-closing his eyes, but just nodding his head slightly. Zhao Ji had long been used to the other party's sturdy attitude, so he immediately shook his sleeves and turned around and left the palace.

When he came out of the warm palace, a cold wind was already coming to his face. Fortunately, there were close eunuchs outside the hall. Seeing this, he quickly stepped forward to put on a cold cloak for him, and then he smiled with a flattering smile: "The saint looked at Hong Guanghuan today. He should have made great progress in his cultivation, right?"

"Your eyes are bright enough, and the knots of my heart over the past few days will be resolved. My Song Dynasty lasts for thousands of years, and my wish for immortality should be fulfilled." Zhao Ji was in a good mood at this time, and he smiled and said, "Everything should be in the northeast."

His words made Tong Guan, who was also waiting beside him, feel moved and took the opportunity to step forward and congratulate: "That's the time for me to come today. I want to congratulate the saint on his ambition to live and congratulate me on the prosperity of the Song Dynasty." This is also the greatest benefit of his origin as a eunuch. Other court officials, even Cai Jing, who is the prime minister, needs some regular procedures to report anything alone when he wants to see Zhao Ji.

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But Tong Guan didn't have to do so much, just take out the gold medal he gave me and enter the palace.

After pausing, he followed and said, "And the Northeast mentioned by Your Majesty has indeed given me a precursor. Now, the Qingzhou governor Sun Tu led his army to pacify the last thief mountain village Erlong Mountain. The world is expected to be peaceful and defeated!" As he spoke, Tong Guan had already knelt down solemnly, raised the good news high above his head with both hands and sent it to Zhao Ji.

Zhao Ji was stunned at first, and Tong Guan suddenly entered the palace and felt a little strange. The other party's words surprised him even more. After a while, he reached out to get the good news. He opened it and looked at it casually, and there was a little more joy on his face: "No, this is a good omen." But then, he frowned again: "I seem to have heard from many people mention this Sun Tu... By the way, many people in the court have impeached him recently, saying that he has a disobedient heart?" He is a real nobleman and forgot about it. In the past two months, officials in the court have had many disputes over Sun Tu, and they have hoarded hundreds of memorials related to it. As the emperor, Zhao Ji is still a little familiar with the name Sun Tu.

"A saint's clarification is just because he was misunderstood or framed. Sun Tu is a loyal saint and loyal to the Song Dynasty for more than a day or two. He has made many contributions to destroying thieves in Bianjing, Jiangzhou and other places before, so how could he have developed the unjust intention of becoming a despicable person?" Tong Guan immediately exonerated Sun Tu.

"Get up first and reply." Zhao Ji glanced at Tong Guan, then walked slowly along the paved road made of white marble, and said, "I remember, Sun Tu was once recommended by you to be an official. He has a close relationship with you, right?"

Tong Guan felt a little nervous, but soon said: "I did recommend it to the court because I cherish Sun Tu's talent. But since he has entered the court as an official, he is Your Majesty's minister. How dare I regard him as my personal personalities? Moreover, the merits mentioned by me have been recorded in the Ministry of War and other yamen, but there is no false statement. This time, although he acted too recklessly and killed many officials in Qingzhou City, it is understandable. The situation is really urgent, and it cannot shock the local slut. As for the intention of rebellion mentioned by some people in the court, it is completely a crime." When it comes to serious matters, he has become very serious, and even his title has changed.

Zhao Ji was silent for a while before saying, "According to what you said, all this he did in Qingzhou is not a mistake, but he made contributions to the court?"

"The merits and demerits are all subject to Your Majesty's Holy Tribunal." Tong Guan went with the flow: "But I think that if he really had such bad intentions, he would not have led his army to risk his life to pacify the local bandits several times. As far as I know, Sun Tu had led the army several times in this battle to pacify Erlongshan, and was even seriously injured. Only in this way can the entire army fight with all its might. With more than a thousand people, three mountain villages were drawn in two or three months to pacify Qingzhou's prefecture."

When he heard Sun Tu's performance in Qingzhou, Zhao Ji was not moved: "If he is really as you said, he is really a rare good general in this dynasty. But... Now all the ministers in the dynasty are trying to punish him. He really kills local officials regardless of the rules of the court. Such behaviors cannot be tolerated, and the precedent cannot be opened! Emperor Taizu once established a ancestral teaching, and in the end, our Song Dynasty will not be allowed to kill literati and officials.

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But he, a military officer, actually killed an official in the government, which really made me unable to explain to the subjects of the world and to the ancestors."

Although the emperor said the last few words seriously, Tong Guan still heard the hesitation and looseness in his tone, which was a great opportunity. He did not want to give up, so he said again: "Sage, I don't know if I should say something."

"We don't have to be so apart from each other. Just say anything. If you say something wrong, I won't blame you."

"I thought the ancestors of Emperor Taizu would certainly be wrong. But sometimes we have to distinguish the times to see if the scholars and officials threatened the long-term stability of our Song Dynasty court. Murong Yan and others have been in Qingzhou for many years, but have not been able to quell the local bandits. Is this really not enough? Then why did Sun Tu quickly quell the bandits in the Three Mountains in just half a year? If I were to say that, they clearly had ulterior motives, thinking of raising the bandits in the bandits, and even colluded with them. It is precisely because of this that Sun Tu used this intense method for our Song Dynasty and Qingzhou to stabilize the bandits in order to achieve a one-and-one effect.

"The sage clearly understands that the fate of our Song Dynasty can be in the northeast, and the entire Shandong region, including Qingzhou, is also in that direction. That must not be a slight difference."

This last sentence pointed to Zhao Ji's key points, which made him pause: "The benefits are in the Northeast... Is it the one who refers to him? Otherwise, why didn't God's revelation come early? When Sun Tu pacified the Qingzhou bandits, there was a sign?" For a moment, he really suspected that the immortality and national destiny predicted by God were on Sun Tu alone.

However, although Zhao Ji believed in these statements, as the emperor, he still maintained a hint of clarity: "What should those who impeach him in the court say?" Even if he is the current emperor, he must give everyone an acceptable reason to make such a decision. The emperor of the Song Dynasty is actually not too powerful, and it is far from being compared with those centralized emperors who can decide the world with just one word in the future.

After Tong Guan knew his intentions, he felt very relieved. As long as Zhao Ji was interested, Cai Jing, who had no previous statement, would naturally follow up. Once Master Cai made a statement, the direction of the stroke would naturally turn 180 degrees.

As for the statement, he was prepared: "Your Majesty, now that Sun Tu has made many military achievements, it would be fine if the court does not make any rewards, but now he has to be convicted of his previous incidents. It is really hard to convince him. It is fine for court officials, but what would they think about the military officers in the border towns? To say a bold saying, will Your Majesty be afraid of the coldness of the hearts of the soldiers in the world? If even Sun Tu made many military achievements like his, officials who have made great contributions to the world can be convicted by the court at will. According to the future, what motivation will the soldiers in the northwest and north have to fight for the country?

"Now that the literary and nobles are weak, our Song Dynasty has been weak for many years, but we will take back the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun, but we still need these soldiers to fight to the death. I hope the saints can understand the hearts of the soldiers in the world!"

Having said that, Zhao Ji was really moved. After pondering for a long time, he nodded and said, "You are right, the benefits are in the Northeast. I still have to rely on soldiers like Sun Tu to fight for the country and eliminate the decline of a hundred years. He really shouldn't be convicted..."

(End of this chapter)
Chapter completed!