bookrebus Chapter 113 Cai Jing: I'm up here!
Chapter 113 Cai Jing: I'm up here!
The second year of the Yuanfu era of the Northern Song Dynasty (1099 AD)
Emperor Zhezong of Song, Zhao Xu, coughed incessantly. His face turned pale, and he was filled with uncontrollable panic. Even though he did not want to face his death, he knew that Heaven had given him little time.
First, he had to choose a successor who could support the Northern Song Dynasty and be a qualified ruler. That brat Zhao Ji shouldn't even think about messing with the Northern Song Dynasty!
Secondly, I don't know if Miss Lin has any special medicine. If he has a choice, he will try to stay alive first!
Thinking of this, Zhao Xu stared intently at Lin Ke on the screen.
Lin Ke: Achoo! Is some bastard trying to ambush me?!
……
Lin Ke didn't think much of it and quickly put it out of her mind. She continued, "Although Emperor Zhezong hesitated, this matter also alarmed the inner palace. Zhao Xu's stepmother, Empress Dowager Xiang, who was the one who chose that brat Emperor Huizong as emperor, rushed to Zhezong's side. Even Zhao Xu's own birth mother did the same."
"After all, no one in the world would dare to treat their grandmother like that. As a mother, the Dowager Consort naturally did not want her son to defy the world and be cursed by everyone, especially since her son was the emperor."
"So the edict was eventually withdrawn and reportedly burned. However, Zhao Xu gave up, but Zhang Dun and Cai Bian refused to give up and drafted another edict to depose the empress and submitted it to Emperor Zhezong."
"Actually, at this point, I really want to say that you should all just shut up. In the end, no one will benefit. You'd be better off focusing on reforms!"
A Ming Dynasty soldier: "Hearing this, the New Party won't have a good ending either!"
A scion of a prominent family in the Tang Dynasty: It's probably because Emperor Zhezong of Song died young that he couldn't even protect him anymore!
A well-known gossip enthusiast from the Han Dynasty commented: "With this kind of dedication to his career, he'd definitely achieve great things!"
……
"Emperor Zhezong of Song, Zhao Xu, was much more vehement in his response than before. He even threw down the imperial edict and roared: 'Are you trying to make me lose face in front of my grandfather?'"
"Zhang Dun and Cai Bian were finally relieved, but in a sense, there were no winners in this Tongwenguan prison case."
"As for Emperor Zhezong, he passed away in February of the third year of Yuanfu. Zhang Dun, Zeng Bu, and others in the New Party did not have good endings, and their families were even implicated."
"Liu Zhi, An Tao, Fan Zuyu, Liu Anshi, and others from the old party were all exiled. Some of them survived, while others died immediately."
Emperor Zhezong of Northern Song Dynasty, Zhao Xu: ...
A Tang Dynasty official exclaimed: "Good heavens, wouldn't you call this a case of wiping out the whole group in a fight between the two sides?!"
An old farmer from the Ming Dynasty: They're all just bored! They love to bully people for no reason!
……
During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty
Liu Che was speechless. What kind of mess was this? A perfectly good court had been turned into a chaotic mess by factional strife!
Damn it, you can't even laugh at others, because the Han Dynasty was also ruined by a bunch of eunuchs!
What exactly happened?! How did the Eastern Han Dynasty fall apart?!
Ahhhh, when will it be our Han's turn?!
……
Back to the live stream
Lin Ke sighed, "And Cai Jing, Wu Juhou and others rose rapidly during this period. You know what kind of people these are, cruel officials! Cai Bian didn't suffer as much because his brother was Cai Jing."
"Subsequently, Emperor Zhezong's sudden death and Emperor Huizong's ascension to the throne further empowered Cai Jing. His attitude towards the court's factions was: 'Let me tell you, there are no new or old parties. Anyone who opposes me is a member of the Yuanyou faction and must be purged!'"
"Thus, Zhang Dun and others, who were clearly key members of the New Party, were engraved on the monument of the Yuanyou Party members."
"I wonder what the Yuan You ministers and the New Party members like Zhang Dun, who were previously at odds with each other, think now?"
Yuan You Minister/New Party Backbone: Damn, this is a bit disgusting!
……
"I've finished talking about the factional struggles in the Northern Song Dynasty, but I think the highlight of the Northern Song civil officials was during the reign of Emperor Renzong. Although they still argued, it was not like the reign of Emperor Zhezong, where you frame me and I frame you."
"Later generations have a saying—the Eight Great Masters of Tang and Song, among whom Ouyang Xiu, Su Xun, Su Shi, Su Zhe, Wang Anshi, and Zeng Gong of the Song Dynasty were all active during the reign of Emperor Renzong."
"It can be said that Emperor Renzong of Song, Zhao Zhen, was the ideal man for the civil officials of the Song Dynasty."
"That's why I feel that the relationship between the emperor and his ministers was quite good back then, so how did it turn out like this later on? Isn't that a bit of a pity?"
People from all dynasties felt sorry when they heard this. Everything was fine, but one or two people messed things up, and it was the common people who suffered the most!
During the reign of Emperor Renzong of the Northern Song Dynasty
When Zhao Zhen saw Miss Lin praising him so much, his face suddenly turned red. He glanced at the court officials below and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that no one was paying attention to him.
Actually, Emperor Renzong was overthinking things. His civil officials were all thinking about how to slow down the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty!
Who cares what His Majesty is thinking!
……