I studied in modern times

Chapter 949: Queen Mother Xiang Wants to Speed ​​Up the Transfer of Power

The fifth day of the twelfth month of the second year of Yuanyou.

When Zhao Xu woke up, the world outside the Funing Palace was covered with white snow.

What a heavy snow!
This was the third heavy snowfall in Bianjing City after the winter solstice.

Zhao Xu, wearing a fur coat and boots made of sea otter skin, walked into the corridor of the Imperial Garden and looked at the Imperial Garden that was completely covered with snow.

He reached out and touched the snow that had piled up to the railings of the corridor.

The cold touch is transmitted to the brain through the fingers.

Tong Guan's figure appeared behind him.

"Everyone, Qian Xie, the acting governor of Kaifeng Prefecture, has just submitted a letter saying that it snowed and was cold in the capital last night, and more than ten old and weak people were unfortunate...but the number of people who have frozen in the counties within the prefecture has not yet been reported..."

Zhao Xu listened and closed his eyes.

This winter, there will be extremely cold weather.

This was something Zhao Xu had known for a long time, so he ordered the honeycomb coal workshops in Tianmafang and other charcoal yards to make emergency stockpiles three months in advance.

At the same time, coal was transported from various places to Beijing three months in advance.

With material preparations in place, once extremely cold weather occurs, the city of Bianjing and even the prefecture of Kaifeng will be prepared with sufficient supply of heating fuel.

however……

In the city of Bianjing, people still inevitably froze to death due to the extremely cold weather, especially the elderly, the weak and the lonely.

Up to now, the number of people who have died of freezing in Bianjing City this winter has reached nearly fifty.

As for the prefecture boundary?

At least multiply it by ten!

This made Zhao Xu very unhappy.

Because of Dong Zhongshu's theory of the correspondence between heaven and man, the people would blame all natural disasters on the emperor's misconduct.

Specifically at the national level, the emperor naturally cannot lose his moral integrity.

Therefore, it can only be that there are unjust cases in the world or there are treacherous officials in the country.

The previous method had been exhausted after the previous two heavy snowfalls.

The first time it snowed, there was a frost.

The officials then requested that all construction projects in the capital be stopped, and imperial censors were sent to the Kaifeng Prefecture's Silusi and the prisons under the left and right inspectors, as well as the counties within the prefecture, to release the prisoners.

Simply put, it means sending people to investigate the case.

Regardless of whether there is any truth or not, we will presume innocence and release all the prisoners with problems.

Empress Dowager Xiang naturally followed suit.

She even went a step further based on the request of the officials. On the 27th day of the eleventh month, she issued an edict to Kaifeng Prefecture: the snow and cold weather were unusually cold, and the people were suffering from the cold. They should be given more relief and money and grain. If there were no relatives to bury the dead, the government would bury them.

From this perspective, the people of Bian Jing are simply the sweethearts of Emperor Zhao.

The Zhao officials indeed treated the people of Bian Jing as their own elders.

But God doesn't give me any face at all.

The day after the edict was issued was November Bingzi (28).

Heavy snow fell again in Bianjing and the entire Kaifeng Prefecture. The deepest snow reached more than two feet and the temperature dropped sharply to more than ten degrees below zero.

No way!
Empress Dowager Xiang had no choice but to issue an edict, asking the officials to speed up the trial of the prisoners.

Anyone with problems in the files will be released first - the emperor issued an edict to use the snow and cold weather to speed up the release of prisoners.

As this political task was put forward, the prisons of the Left and Right Inspectors of Kaifeng Prefecture and the Records Office were emptied within a few days.

More than 80 percent of the prisoners were released.

Basically, all the remaining people in the prisons are criminals with irrefutable evidence.

If it were in modern times, this would be nonsense.

But in the medieval Song Dynasty, such judicial decisions were actually just.

Because, although the judicial system of the Song Dynasty was more enlightened and advanced than that of the Han and Tang Dynasties.

However, false and wrongful convictions still account for a considerable proportion.

Some of them were prisoners who were tortured into confessing under Miki.

All I can say is that God's original intention of sending heavy snow was bad, but it was executed well.

However, the world is material after all.

Nothing will change because of Empress Dowager Xiang's good deeds.

Last night, heavy snow fell in Bianjing again.

Although the weather was not as cold as after the previous two heavy snowfalls.

However, more than ten people were still frozen in the capital.

Zhao Xu turned around, looked at Tong Guan, and asked, "Does the Queen Mother know about this?"

"You should know, right?"

"Let's go!" Zhao Xu said, "Let's go to Baoci Palace to see our mother!"

He took Tong Guan with him, and under the protection of Yulongzhi, they walked along the corridor between Funing Hall and Baoci Palace and arrived at Baoci Palace.

When Zhao Xu arrived, Empress Dowager Xiang was accompanied by Wen Xunniang, standing on the steps in front of Baoci Palace, looking at the thick snow in the imperial city. "Mother!" Zhao Xu stepped forward to pay his respects and said, "I heard that more than ten people in the capital were frozen last night?"

"Yes!" Xiang nodded to the Empress Dowager and said, "I have issued an edict, ordering the Kaifeng Prefecture to search for the widows, the elderly, the weak and the poor in the various wards of the capital, and to give out 100,000 strings of money from the treasury, and to give them rice and charcoal per day according to the number of people!"

"No matter what, we must first stop the number of people being frozen, to prevent the tragedy that happened in the fifth year of Dazhong Xiangfu, when thousands of people were frozen overnight in the capital!"

Zhao Xu pursed his lips and said, "Don't worry, mother. There is no one like Chai Zongqing in the capital now!"

In the winter of the fifth year of Dazhong Xiangfu, Bianliang experienced extremely cold weather similar to the current one.

A large number of people froze to death.

However, the reason why the disaster was so serious was mostly due to a man-made disaster - Zhen Miao's brother-in-law Chai Zongqing took advantage of the natural disaster to monopolize the coal supply in Bian Jing, causing coal prices to soar and ordinary people could not afford to burn charcoal.

Empress Dowager Xiang listened and nodded, saying, "This is all thanks to Sixth Brother's kindness!"

"Otherwise, there would definitely be more than a few dozen people frozen in the capital this time..."

Tianmafang and other charcoal yards had stockpiled a large amount of honeycomb coal in advance.

As a result, under the attack of extremely cold weather this winter, the city of Bianjing experienced three consecutive extreme cold weather events in less than half a month.

But there are only a few dozen people suffering from frozen flesh, and most of them are elderly people over 60 years old.

Among these elderly people, half are widows or widowers.

Even if these people do not encounter such extremely cold weather, they will most likely not survive this winter.

If it happened during the Qing Dynasty, such things could even be used to celebrate funerals.

But the Song Dynasty couldn’t do that.

It’s not that the Zhao officials don’t want to, it’s that the literati and officials don’t want to do it!
The literati who were well-read in poetry and books had long since stopped believing in the idea of ​​communication between heaven and man.

But they were very interested in fooling the emperor into believing in the connection between heaven and man.

Therefore, every time a natural disaster occurred, they would use the theory of divine connection to scare Emperor Zhao.

Naturally, they couldn't fool Zhao Xu.

But Empress Dowager Xiang had been deeply deceived.

So, she looked at Zhao Xu and said, "Sixth Brother..."

"It's snowing and cold this time. Could it be that I am a woman, so God hates me?"

Zhao Xu raised his head and looked at Empress Dowager Xiang's serious expression.

He knew that Empress Dowager Xiang probably really believed it!

There is no way, this empress dowager was raised in a scholar-official family.

She received Confucian education in her boudoir.

At the same time, she herself is a very devout Buddhist.

With the two factors combined, she naturally has no immunity to the divine connection.

In addition, since the eighth year of Yuanfeng, the climate of the Song Dynasty has indeed been very chaotic.

In the winter of the eighth year of Yuanfeng, the Yellow River flooded and Daming Prefecture was in a state of emergency.

The following year, most of the north fell into drought.

Last winter was still a warm winter, and the imperial court even had to pray to God for snow. Even Zhao Xu had to go to Taoist temples and Buddhist temples to burn incense and pray for snow. This year it has directly entered the extremely cold realm, with heavy snow falling for free.

Therefore, Empress Dowager Xiang could not help but feel worried and naturally wondered - was it because God disliked women being in power that so there were so many disasters?

If I return power to my sixth brother, will there be peace and prosperity in the country from now on?

She has no desire for power and is quite superstitious.

Thinking of this, my desire to return to power became even stronger.

Seeing this, Zhao Xu quickly advised, "Why would the Queen Mother think this way?"

"Even when Yao and Shun were in power, they could not avoid floods and droughts. Even when Yu and Tang were in power, there were disasters!"

"Mother, the Holy Queen, God has already praised you, how can you not be happy?"

"Besides, I am still young and need your protection and support!"

Zhao Xu is now at a critical stage of growth and development.

Who would be willing to get up before dawn every day to attend court and risk damaging their body and health?
Empress Dowager Xiang looked at Zhao Xu's childish appearance, sighed, and said, "Sixth brother, there is no need to comfort me!"

"I am a woman!"

"Since ancient times, women have been in power, just like hens crowing at dawn!"

"Heaven hates him, and people forsake him!"

"How can God commend me?"

"Sixth brother, grow up quickly!" she said, but she no longer mentioned the matter of returning power.

But Zhao Xu knew that after this incident, Empress Dowager Xiang would inevitably speed up the transfer of power.

This is both her nature and her political wisdom.

Just like after Zhao Xu died in his previous life, she helped Zhao Ji come to power, and then quickly withdrew the curtain and returned the power to Zhao Ji.

As a result, the Xiang family was highly treated with courtesy and respect during the reign of Zhao Ji.

(End of this chapter)