Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 595 The Strange Way
Before dawn the next day, Fan Ning went out to prepare to go to court. The light in the large carriage was dim, and Jian Meizi sat in the front row without saying a word. She was wearing a Taoist robe. There is no difference in appearance from back then, his eyes are still cold and indifferent, and he doesn't pay attention to Fan Ning.

Fan Ning has long been used to it, so he didn't take her seriously. On both sides of the carriage, there were several entourages on horseback. An orange lantern was hung on the shaft, with the words 'Shenzhi Zhengshi' written on one side and ' Fan' word.

Fan Ning looked out the window, if nothing unexpected happens, the emperor will receive him today, so how should he make arrangements in Hebei?

Fan Ning has only considered local strategies over the years, such as waterways, but he never thought that he would become the coach. For a while, his thoughts were a little confused and he needed to sort it out.

At this time, the carriage stopped, and Xuandemen arrived, and the carriage had to stop here, and then walked or took a sedan chair to the Daqing Palace Square.

When Fan Ning got off the carriage, Jian Meizi suddenly asked, "Do you need me to follow?"

"Need not!"

Fan Ning shook his head with a smile, "Go back first! Just come back when it's time for the next court."

Jianmeizi ignored him, as if she didn't hear anything, Fan Ning rolled his eyes, and walked quickly to the gate, he suddenly felt something, when he turned around, he saw Jianmeizi was a few steps away from him, not waiting for him When she opened her mouth, Jian Meizi said coldly, "If there really is an assassin, now is the easiest time to strike."

Fan Ning was right when he thought about it. The place where he got off the bus was still dozens of steps away from the city gate, and the general guards would not follow him. The officials walked to the city gate alone, which was indeed the easiest place to attack.

Fanning smiled and bowed to her, "Thank you very much!"

Fan Ning immediately got on a small sedan chair and headed towards the square of Daqing Palace
Today is just an ordinary middle-level court meeting. The participating officials are all from the fifth rank and above. There are not many officials, about two hundred people.

Fan Ning, most of the officials who participated in the court meeting, was not very familiar with him. Fan Ning didn't stay in the court for a long time, and only when he was in charge of Zuo Jianyuan. The rest of the time was either overseas or in Yingtian Mansion.

But almost all the officials knew him. When Fan Ning walked into the square, he immediately felt countless pairs of eyes with complex expressions, which contained contempt, jealousy, dissatisfaction, and expectations.

Indeed, it is no wonder that the pinnacle of the official career of officials is nothing more than worshiping the prime minister and joining the cabinet, holding the power of the prime minister and deciding the world's major affairs. This process is difficult to achieve without 30 years of struggle. Only one or two people out of tens of millions can reach the top. Fan Ning became the deputy prime minister at the age of 30, how could he not be envied and hated.

"Good son-in-law!"

Fan Ning suddenly heard someone calling him from behind, and when he turned around, it was his father-in-law Ouyang Xiu.

He hurriedly stepped forward to salute, "Father-in-law also came to court?"

Ouyang Xiu can be regarded as a turn of events. The two empress dowagers of Gao Cao admired him very much, and he gained power step by step. At the beginning of the year, he was conferred the title of Grand Master of Zheng San Zi Zheng Dian, but his eyesight is still very bad, and the article can only be seen when it is in front of his eyes. , when he was going out, he had to bring a little tea boy to lead him the way.

As for looking at people, he couldn't see their faces clearly from a few steps away, he could only see an outline, and then judge who this person was based on his feeling.

He was so impressed with his son-in-law Fanning that he recognized him right away.

Ouyang Xiu was very pleased that his son-in-law actually made an appointment with the Minister of Political Affairs, which really made him proud for several days. He smiled and asked, "When did you come back?"

"I just arrived at noon yesterday. I wanted to take a rest tomorrow to see my father-in-law."

"Tomorrow I happen to be at home, so you just come. Qian'er said that you still have a lot of dragon tea, so bring me a few catties by the way."

Fan Ning is ashamed, this father-in-law misses his own tea too!
At this time, the sound of the cloud board sounded, and an official on duty walked out of the hall, shouting loudly: "It's time, go up!"

Everyone walked up the steps one after another, and Fan Ning supported Ouyang Xiu up the steps. Normally, a little eunuch would help Ouyang Xiu to go up to the hall. Today, Fan Ning is here, so there is no need to bother the little eunuch.

When everyone went to the hall, Fu Bi waved to Fan Ning and signaled him to go over. Fan Ning walked up. Fu Bi said in a low voice, "I thought you wouldn't go to court today, so I didn't inform you. Today we mainly discuss the issue of war preparation. You can Feel free to speak."

"I see!"

Fu Bi whispered again: "Yesterday you persuaded the Queen Mother, and we are all very grateful."

"The rich man is too famous. In fact, the queen mother is also planning to give in. I'm at the right time, otherwise I won't have to talk about it."

Fu Bi did not deny Fan Ning's statement, and he also believed that the Queen Mother wanted to decentralize power, but only gave this favor to Fan Ning.

"You're right, anyway, this is a good start."

While the two were talking, the sound of drums sounded, and the official on duty shouted loudly: "The Son of Heaven is here!"

The court hall immediately fell silent, and for a moment sixteen guards walked in front, and eight maids came out with long-handled fans, surrounded by the young emperor Zhao Xu.

In name, Zhao Xu is already in power, and Empress Dowager Cao no longer listens to politics behind the curtain, but political affairs that really involve the authority of the Empress Dowager will not be discussed in the court.

Zhao Xu was in a good mood today, and his face was radiant. Yesterday afternoon, the queen mother made two decrees in a row, giving up the military power and transferring the power of the treasury. At the same time, she pardoned Liu Kan's crime, which really excited Zhao Xu all night.

Of course, he also knew that the delegation of power by the Empress Dowager yesterday was the result of Fan Ning's hard work. At this time, he was full of gratitude to Fan Ning.

Zhao Xu sat down on the dragon couch, and all the ministers bowed and saluted together, "See Your Majesty!"

"My love, no courtesy!"

Zhao Xu took a deep look at Fan Ning, and said, "The following will read the Queen Mother's order!"

The supervisor on duty stepped up to Dan Bi, and began to read aloud the will, which was the will of the Empress Dowager to decentralize power yesterday, which needs to be publicly announced in the court.

After reading the decree of the supervisor in the duty hall, he said again: "The following will proceed to today's court meeting, please ask the military supervisor to describe the current situation of ordnance combat readiness to the court meeting!"

Although Fu Bi said that Fan Ning can speak freely in the court meeting, Fan Ning has never made a statement. If he is an irrelevant official, it’s okay to talk about it, but now he is about to replace Han Qi as Hebei Xuanfu envoy. Before communicating in advance, he couldn't easily express his opinion.

Many times, when others think highly of you, it is not because you have said some profound remarks, but because you have kept silent, making people unable to understand your details.

The court was over, and the officials went back one after another. An eunuch kept Fan Ning, the emperor summoned him, and Ouyang Xiu left with the others.

Zhao Xu's imperial study is still Yanyong Xiandi's imperial study, which is located behind Ziwei hall, and even the layout of the court room has not changed.

Fan Ning waited at the door, and after a while, the eunuch came out and said, "The official announces that Mr. Fan is here!"

Fan Ning walked into the imperial study room quickly. The layout of the imperial study room was exactly the same as that of Zhao Zhen back then, giving Fan Ning an illusion, as if Emperor Renzong was sitting on it.

Fan Ning put away his thoughts, and hurriedly stepped forward to bow and salute, "My minister sees Your Majesty!"

Zhao Xu smiled slightly and said, "One year flies so fast, Fan Aiqing, we meet again."

"It really passed quickly. Congratulations to Your Majesty for taking power."

Zhao Xu sighed slightly and said, "I'm still a little young, and I don't have enough experience and experience. I really need to be guided by the Queen Mother for a few more years. In the general direction, and the Queen Mother is in charge, I will make fewer mistakes."

"But yesterday, the Queen Mother has officially handed over the military power and foreign financial power to His Majesty. Especially when Song and Liao are on the verge of war, she believes that His Majesty needs to concentrate financial and military resources to fully respond to the challenges and opportunities of the Song Dynasty."

Zhao Xu glanced at Fan Ning gratefully, pondered for a while and said, "You also think it's an opportunity?"

"Yes! Wei Chen thinks this is not only a challenge, but also an opportunity."

Zhao Xu took out a report and said with a smile: "This is the Ping Liao policy written by Fan Aiqing to the emperor's grandfather. I have a question, and I would like to discuss it with you again."

Fan Ning was ashamed. This report was written before the establishment of Kunzhou. It was at least ten years ago. He had forgotten many contents, but Zhao Xu still kept it. He was a little embarrassed and said: "A lot of things are changing. This report should be overhauled."

Zhao Xu shook his head, "I don't think so, Ai Qing has great foresight, such as the decline of the Liao Kingdom, such as the navy can play a key role, if the army wants to implement changes, such as defeating the Liao army with a battle of national power, etc., it is completely different from today The situation is consistent, but there are some places I don't understand."

"What doesn't your majesty understand?"

"For example, the deceitful way, strange way and kingly way mentioned in the report. I understand what kingly way means, but what do deceitful way and strange way mean?"

Fan Ning said with a slight smile: "The strange way refers to the water army. It wanders outside the battlefield, but can enter the battlefield at any time, but its trajectory is bizarre. It appears in Yanzhou in the morning and kills Liaodong in the evening. It is hard to guard against. This is a strange way." In other words, what it does is to make a one-hit kill at a critical moment, thereby changing the entire situation of the battle.”

Zhao Xu nodded, "What about trickery?"

"Deception is a way of alienation. For example, we can pay a lot of money to buy the traitor Yelu Yixin who is in charge of the power of the Liao Kingdom. We can even promise him Danzhou and Koryo to build a country. Of course, we can give him Danzhou first and let his son rule Danzhou. The common people in Zhouzhou have tasted the sweetness, and then tell him that when he fulfills his promise, Song Jun can help him overthrow Koryo and establish his country.

This is one, and the second is to provoke civil strife in Liao. For example, the Jurchens are quite brave now. We can implement countermeasures, provoke a war between the Jurchens and the Liao Kingdom, and use the bravery of the Jurchens to weaken the strength of the Liao army. . "

The current Jurchens are still relatively weak, Wanyan Aguda has just been born, and the Jurchens are far from the opponents of the Liao army. Fan Ning just wants to use the Liao Kingdom to destroy the Jurchens to avoid future troubles.

As for Yelu Yixin, together with Zhang Xiaojie, he became the chief culprit in the decline of the Liao Kingdom. He had been in power for 14 years. He was jealous of the virtuous and able, and almost slaughtered the talents of the Liao Kingdom. At the same time, he had an affair with the Song Dynasty. After being killed, Emperor Tianzuo Yelu Yanxi hated them so much that he dragged them out of the coffin and whipped their corpses.

How can such 'outstanding talents' not be put to good use!

(End of this chapter)