Add Bookmark | Recommend this book | Back to the book page | My bookshelf | Mobile Reading

Free Web Novel,Novel online - All in oicq.net -> Historic -> Chao s Water Margin

Text Chapter 38 Cai Jing wields power

Previous page        Return to Catalog        Next page

    Between Jinliangqiao Street and Liangmen Street in Tokyo is the famous Cai Xiangfu, and to the west is Jinliang Bridge, where Jinliang Xiaoyue, one of the eight scenic spots in Bianjing, is located.

    There were originally two very lively markets here, and Cai Jing's residence was only the larger of them. However, after Cai Jing became the Grand Master, the emperor, in order to show his favor, decreed that all the land on the left and right sides be awarded to Cai Jing.  He expanded his mansion.

    With a whim of the imperial edict, hundreds of residents living nearby became homeless and were driven out of their homes.

    It happened that Cai Jing was building Yanfu Palace for Zhao Ji, who was very happy with his achievements. All the skilled craftsmen in the world were recruited to Tokyo. Cai Jing appropriated a large part of them to repair his mansion. All the wood and stones used in the construction were donated by various places to build Yanfu Palace.  .

    The Song Dynasty ended the chaos of China's Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin felt that Kaifeng was undefeated. After unifying the world, he prepared to move the capital to Luoyang and Chang'an. However, he was opposed by Zhao Guangyi and other ministers, and finally gave up the idea of ??moving the capital.

    Because he did not regard Kaifeng as a long-term capital, Zhao Kuangyin did not build a large palace after the founding of the People's Republic of China. He only slightly renovated it on the basis of the original Bianzhou Prefecture. The palace area was only one-tenth of the Daming Palace of the Tang Dynasty, and the Yamen was large.  Some of them are located outside the palace, mixed with residential buildings, and gardens are also scattered inside and outside the city.

    Yanfu Palace is a relatively independent palace area outside the palace city. It is also a recreational place for the emperor and empress. It was not large in scale at first.

    Since the founding of the Song Dynasty, the two ethnic minority regimes of Liao and Xixia have been harassing the north from time to time. The military expenditures are huge, and a large amount of coins have to be transported every year.  Therefore, emperors of all dynasties were relatively diligent and thrifty and did not build palaces on a large scale.

    "But after Zhao Ji, who was very happy with his achievements, came to the throne, Cai Jing and other treacherous ministers plundered the world, and all the money in the world flowed to the national treasury.  Cai Jing reported to the emperor that the national treasury had a surplus of fifty million yuan, which was enough for music and entertainment and wealth for gifts.

    Zhao Ji suddenly discovered that the Song Dynasty was so "rich" under his governance, and the small palaces and gardens were naturally unable to satisfy him. So under the instigation of Cai Jing's treacherous ministers, Zhao Ji issued an order to mobilize the power of the whole country to build Yanfu Palace and Gen  Yue.

    Yanfu Palace was built under the supervision of various treacherous ministers. In order to please the emperor, various palaces competed with each other for extravagance and beauty, regardless of work and wealth.  The palaces, pavilions and pavilions are endless, the ponds are dug into the sea, and the springs are drawn into the lakes.  Bronze sculptures of birds and animals are in various shapes and forms, as well as famous trees and strange rocks.

    After the Yanfu Palace was built, the luxurious emperor Zhao Ji spent most of his time here.  After the Qiqiao Yanfu Palace was repaired, Zhao Ji became even more interested in Gen Yue and ordered the Suzhou-Hangzhou Manufacturing Bureau to contribute Huashi Gang, ten ships and one gang, and the people in the southeast would serve.

    Cai Jing and Zhu Meng, who was in charge of the Suzhou-Hangzhou Production Bureau, searched for flowers and stones under the guise of the emperor, but in fact most of them were embezzled by him.  Therefore, Cai Jing's mansion was beautifully built and even better than Yanfu Palace. When Zhao Ji saw it, he was jealous and said, "The palace of the gods in heaven is the home of the prime minister on earth."

    Cai Jing's life is even more luxurious and decadent, and he likes to gather people to feast and have fun.  Cai Bian, Cai Jing's younger brother, had different political views with him, so he once reported that he "feasted every day and lived a luxurious life." Zhao Ji, who also liked luxury, not only did not blame Cai Jing for this, but was very envious of his luxurious life.

    After the renovation of Prime Minister Cai¡¯s Mansion, the street in front of it was also widened, but the vendors who used to make a living on the street were also driven away.  Firstly, it is to keep things clean and show the dignity of the prime minister, and secondly, it also prevents someone from ambushing and assassinating.  Cai Jing has been in power for more than ten years, and he has ruined the lives of both former dignitaries and ordinary people. Therefore, every year, people risk their lives to assassinate him. Unfortunately, Cai Jing is cautious and always has guards when he goes out, so no one has succeeded.  .

    Compared with the deserted Liangmen Street, Yunlu Street is very prosperous. There are hawkers selling hawkers along the street. Specialties from the 400 military states and even exotic treasures from overseas countries are transported here for sale. Many  Pedestrians were attracted to stop.

    Suddenly a chicken jumped in front of a chicken, and pedestrians avoided them on the road.

    As soon as the people in the capital saw it, they all ran away to both sides. Before some people who came to Beijing from other places could react, they saw a group of forbidden soldiers approaching with one person in their arms. From time to time, the horsewhip fell on the heads of pedestrians who could not avoid it, beating them and making them run away with their heads in their hands. This  Only then did he realize what was going on, and he quickly followed suit and hid on both sides. Those who couldn't dodge would have to be whipped twice.

    The little Liuzi who sells duck pears went to the pancake stall nearby and said, "Look, Gao Qiu, the Taiwei of the Palace Commander's Mansion, has also gone to the Prime Minister's Mansion. It seems that there will be another big banquet in Prime Minister Cai's Mansion today. I don't know how many more will be there today?"  The quails are going to suffer. I heard that Guo Si sends hundreds of quails to Prime Minister Cai's house every day. The prime minister only wants the quail tongues to make soup, and Guo Si takes the rest away. However, this guy has been given an advantage over the past few years.  I have bought several houses in the city. If I can send Yali to the prime minister's house, I will have no worries about food and clothing."

    The man selling cooking cakes glanced at Xiaoliu and said, "If you want to deliver something to Prime Minister Cai's Mansion, you must first show respect to the general managers. You must first collect enough money."Let¡¯s talk about it later.  If not, you should just sell your pears on the street.  Sir, how many cakes do you want?  "

    "If I had dozens of strings, my grandson would go to him to suffer."

    Xiaoliu said angrily, seeing that there were customers, he also went to the street to hawk.

    The military attaches rode horses and the civil servants rode in sedans. Although the modes of travel were different, the same thing was that they were surrounded by many people and horses, and everything they passed was the same.

    Today, Yunlu Street has just returned to some calm, and then there is another burst of chaos.

    Across the street, Prime Minister Cai's Mansion had a different scene. Cai Jing, Tong Guan, Gao Qiu and others who arrived first were sitting on the banquet, drinking fine wine. As soon as the wine glass in his hand was empty, the beautiful concubine beside him enthusiastically filled it.

    Several beauties in the middle were dancing gracefully, their gauze almost transparent, sometimes flying like colorful butterflies, sometimes like willows swaying, with waves of breasts and buttocks. Several ministers in the hall who were over sixty years old were full of enthusiasm.

    Gao Qiu looked at one of the plump beauties with gleaming eyes, and said with a smile: "The Grand Master is really a fairy. It is a pleasure to have such a beauties waiting for you."

    Cai Jing was already over seventy years old at this time. Although he had long been powerless, his hobby of collecting beauties did not stop. There were many beauties in the house, and officials from all over the country fell in love with them and paid filial piety to them from time to time.

    With so many young women serving Cai Jing, an old man in his 60s, there are naturally many who can't bear the loneliness and will inevitably attract bees and butterflies. Therefore, there are constant scandals in Cai Jing's house, causing Cai Jing, who has the power in the world, some headaches.

    Very few ordinary officials would dare to take ideas from these beauties, but Gao Qiu, who was very favored by the emperor, was not one of them.

    Gao Qiu was born as a helper in the market. He was good at playing, singing, dancing, stabbing, spearing, and playing sumo wrestling. It is precisely the work of these idle disciples that Gao Qiu likes. Therefore, Gao Qiu's holy family has not declined for decades.  , from being a helper in the market to becoming the Taiwei of the Palace Commander's Palace.

    Although Cai Jing held a high and powerful position, he knew that many ministers and ministers had been ruined by the emperor's favored ministers from ancient times to the present. Therefore, he was careful to make friends with the emperor's favored ministers Gao Qiu and close ministers Yang Jian. He smiled and said:  "Lieutenant Gao has chosen someone else. He can just take it away later."

    It was obvious that this was not the first time Gao Qiu had done this, so he was not polite. He cupped his hands and said with a smile, "Then I will be disrespectful."

    While everyone was talking and laughing, several more people arrived one after another.

    At this time, there were already several dancing beauties in the hall. When Cai Jing saw that everyone had arrived, he waved the dancing girls in the hall to get out.

    After watching the last woman retreat, Gao Qiu put away his confused expression and said, "The Grand Master summoned us. Why?"

    Cai Jing looked around and saw that the guests present included not only the emperor's favorites and close ministers such as Tong Guan, Gao Qiu, Yang Jian, Liang Shicheng, and Wang Fu, but also party members in the court such as Song Qiaonian and Hu Shiwen. It could be said to be a small court, with only the hall  When the two parties reach an agreement, all matters in the court can be decided.

    Although Master Liang was known as the "Hidden Prime Minister", and there were Gao Qiu, Wang Fu and other party members who were vaguely competing with him, the struggle among them was only about power and wealth, but they were consistent with the outside world.  Especially on the issue of suppressing the Qingliu in the DPRK, everyone has always worked together.

    Inviting everyone here today is just a small matter, and I don¡¯t think anyone will oppose him because of it.

    How many people have been so powerful in the past dynasties? Cai Jingzhi stroked his long beard with satisfaction, and then said: "Last time, the Liangshan grass bandits robbed my birth plan and looted Yuncheng County. Dongping Prefecture's Xiang army sent troops to suppress the arrest but failed.  , but the Liangshan bandits took advantage of the situation and robbed the city, and all the money and food in the treasury were looted. I invite you here to discuss how to deal with it. "

    Hu Shiwen and Cai Jing were related by marriage. After Cai Jing became prime minister, he rose through the ranks and became the Minister of Household Affairs, in charge of taxation and other financial matters. Hearing this, he frowned and said, "Dongping Mansion had just collected the Qi Xia tax, and before it could be transferred, it was looted by the Liangshan bandits."  It¡¯s empty. Now that the treasury is empty, it¡¯s hard to fill this gap.¡±

    After the birthday card was robbed, Tong Guan came up with the idea to ask Dongping Mansion to send troops to annihilate it. After Dongping Mansion was breached, he also read the distress document sent to the Privy Council by the nearby state government immediately, but he just pretended not to know and saw Cai Jing point it out.  , said awkwardly: "Our family originally thought that Dong Ping was a man of great martial arts and could easily hunt down bandits, but we didn't expect that he would fall down and collude with the Liangshan thieves to rob the Dongping Mansion."

    Although Cai Jing complained that Tong Guan didn't know how to judge people, he also knew that this was not the time to hold people responsible. He shook his head and said: "I don't mean to blame the Prime Minister, but the situation is serious now, so I invite everyone to brainstorm and come up with a good plan.  It would be better to destroy the Liangshan bandits.¡±

    Gao Qiu was in charge of the Forbidden Army. After learning about Tong Guan's plan, he knew that the matter was going to fail. It turned out to be as expected, but he didn't expect that the Liangshan bandits took advantage of the situation to break into the Dongping Mansion and looted a lot of property.  Smell this timeHe said: "It's okay for the Xiang army to do some miscellaneous tasks, but how can we expect them to go into battle to kill the bandits. In my opinion, the imperial army must be mobilized to wipe out the Liangshan grass bandits."

    Naturally, Tong Guan didn't want to admit that he made a mistake last time. Hearing this, he said: "Everyone knows that the Forbidden Army has strong combat effectiveness, but the Forbidden Army on Jingdong East Road is all in Qingzhou, and the ground in Qingzhou is not peaceful. The prefect there is Concubine Murong's brother. If he is transferred  If there is a ban on the army from there, who will be able to bear the consequences if something goes wrong in Qingzhou?"

    Tong Guan was originally a eunuch, but because of the emperor's favor, he became the first military attache. He was Gao Qiu's immediate superior.

    Gao Qiu relied on the emperor's favor and the support of Liang Shicheng, but he looked down upon Tong Guan who was weighing on him. He did not hesitate to slap him in the face and said: "Although the Jingdong Forbidden Army is not suitable for mobilization, only half of the world's Forbidden Army is stationed in various places."  There is still half of the road in Gyeonggi. However, the Gyeonggi area is peaceful. We can dispatch a forbidden army from the Gyeonggi area to wipe out the Liangshan grass bandits."

    Cai Jing nodded and said: "What Lieutenant Gao said is true. If the imperial army is mobilized to go on an expedition, why worry about the grass bandits in Shuibo being immortal? But I don't know where the troops and horses can be used?"

    Gao Qiu thought for a while and said: "Last year I inspected the Imperial Guards in various states in Gyeonggi Province. I remembered that the Imperial Guards in Ru Prefecture had strong soldiers and horses. Hu Yanzhuo, the commander of Ru Prefecture, was a direct descendant of the founding general Hu Yanzan. He used two bronze whips and had the courage of ten thousand people. If you transfer  If he has troops and horses to attack Liangshan, he will definitely succeed."

    After Gao Qiu took charge of the Forbidden Army, he occupied the land in the military camp to build a private residence. The Forbidden Army in Beijing also became his long-term workers and built a private residence for him.  Those who have no skills can only spend money to hire craftsmen to serve on their behalf.  Those who are rich can spend money to eliminate disasters, so they don't need to practice anymore; those who have no money can only find a job to make money and hire craftsmen, and they can't care about practicing.  Within a few years, military discipline was weakened and military and political affairs were not repaired.

    In order to cope with the emperor's review, Gao Qiu came up with another set of tricks. When the emperor reviewed, the imperial troops lined up in four colorful boats, with various military dramas on them, such as big flags, lions and leopards, swords, barbaric cards, gods and ghosts, and Zaju.  such as.  Two more boats were lined up, both of them were enjoying themselves.  There are many kinds of playing and playing, which is quite lively.  Zhao Ji was very satisfied after seeing it, so Gao Qiu was firmly in a high position.

    Of course, as Gao Qiu, who is in charge of the national imperial army, he will not just be satisfied with exploiting the imperial army in the capital. Therefore, he has the official duty of inspecting the imperial army in various states in Gyeonggi every year. Gao Qiu also takes the opportunity to accept bribes wantonly. Those who are sensible can continue to serve the country. Those who are not sensible can continue to serve the country.  Young people have to go home without work. This will test whether the generals everywhere have "great wisdom" and whether they want to be honest officials or continue to serve the country.  Without great wisdom, Gao Qiu would naturally not be able to let him live in a state of insignificance.

    In the early Song Dynasty, there were a series of strict regulations for the selection of the Forbidden Army, and the salary of the Forbidden Army was much higher than that of the Xiang Army.  But after Gao Qiu came to power, these regulations were in vain. Anyone with a qualified height could be converted into a forbidden army by giving some silver coins.

    At that time, Tong Guan was confused by the seemingly tall and burly Forbidden Army, and chose several thousand Forbidden Army as his own soldiers to fight against Xixia. Only when he went to the battlefield did he realize that they were all silver-like wax gun tips that could not be reused, and almost killed him. Therefore,  He was very worried about the Forbidden Army. Later, when Fang La was pacified, he also called in the northwest frontier army.

    Cai Jing naturally knew something about the Forbidden Army. Seeing that the one recommended by Gao Qiu was not the Forbidden Army in the capital, he nodded with satisfaction and said: "I have heard about the reputation of General Hu's family many times, so I would like to ask the Taiwei to recruit this person to see me."

    (Thanks to Hao Gao Zhongyuan for the tip. If you have a favorite Liangshan hero or Fang La, Tian Hu, Liao Kingdom, or Northern Song Dynasty general, you can leave a message. It will appear without affecting the main plot. Readers who tip have the right to participate in deciding the supporting characters and characters of this book.  Side plot, because your rewards are the motivation for the book to continue moving forward)
Didn't finish reading? Add this book to your favoritesI'm a member and bookmarked this chapterCopy the address of this book and recommend it to your friends for pointsChapter error? Click here to report