The rise of the late Song Dynasty reigns supreme

Chapter 417 Not the end, but the beginning

"Ninth brother, what did Captain Gao mean by what he said earlier?"

"Only he himself knows!"

Zhao Yougong and Zhao Gou looked at the back of Gao Qiu leaving, and Zhao Yougong remembered what Gao Qiu said to Zhao Gou after he was detained: "In the future, the Great Song Dynasty must be ruled by you, which is really good! If you 20 years earlier, perhaps I would not have taken this path!"

It's not that Zhao Gou and Zhao Yougong didn't know the meaning of this sentence, even if they knew it, they wouldn't say it.After all, this sentence contains too many meanings, which makes people think about it.If it is heard by someone with a heart, I am afraid that it will cause trouble to the upper body, so I can't reveal it even in words.

Gao Qiu was arrested, and Zhao Gou immediately ordered a search of Taiwei's mansion.Gao Lian did not hide his belongings, and told him in detail that Zhao Gou took out ten large boxes of gold from the Taiwei's mansion, fifteen boxes of silver, and three boxes of jewelry and jade. It is estimated that the total amount of greedy property exceeds tens of millions.

Gao Qiu was the Taiwei of the current dynasty, ranking first among military officials. Except for Zhao Gou, who had the vain title of Generalissimo of the World's Army and Horses, Gao Qiu held the highest position among military officials.When Gao Lian served as the Taiwei, it was only a few years ago, and he had already collected tens of millions of bribes. If he calculated carefully, he might have reached 2000 million taels, which was a full one-eighth of the national treasury's annual income.

In this suppression operation, the biggest official was Gao Qiu Gao Taiwei, and his embezzled money was half of the sum of all the people in front of him.After this operation, the silver in the treasury of the Song Dynasty was abundant, and the mansions of corrupt officials were searched without any omissions. If all the antique calligraphy and paintings were counted, it was exactly a quarter of the silver in the treasury.

During Song Huizong's tenure, he was extravagant, so that the national treasury was seriously short.This time, Zhao Gou made such a large-scale search to make up for this loophole, because he knew that there would be a big war in the near future.If the treasury is insufficient in silver, the Song Dynasty will lose before the war begins.

In history, the Northern Song Dynasty fought with the Kingdom of Jin and was defeated many times. On the one hand, the Northern Song Dynasty emphasized culture and suppressed military affairs too seriously, and the emperors in the late Northern Song Dynasty were too fatuous and incompetent. No money is allocated to soldiers on the battlefield.

If the two armies confront each other, there is not enough military supplies, and the battle has already been lost before the official start of the war.Even if it is a battle, it is exhausted and powerless, and it is at the mercy of others.Therefore, Zhao Gou's first-hand preparations have been made, not only to remove all the treacherous ministers in the court, but also to refill the deficient treasury.

"What? Master Taiwei has been arrested!" Prince Zhao Huan heard that Gao Qiu was arrested, he was dumbstruck, at a loss, and sat limply on the chair, his body was weak and his face was pale, "This... what should I do? What? How about doing it?"

Zhao Huan checked the news and said that Zhao Gou led a group of people to the Taiwei's mansion. He was worried and ordered his servants to follow him to have a look.Sure enough, when Gao Qiu was sent to prison, his subordinates hurriedly reported the news to Prince Zhao Huan.

When he heard the news, he was shocked. He didn't expect that the last trump card also fell, and it still fell in Zhao Gou's hands.Now Gao Qiu's downfall, the forces in the court headed by him have basically been uprooted by Zhao Gou, there is no hidden danger, and Prince Zhao Huan has really become a loner.

Now Zhao Huan has no influence other than the title of Prince.Even the power of his mother's queen was pulled out at the same time, which was a good thing Zhao Gou did.Zhao Huan hated Zhao Gou very much. If it wasn't for him, he wouldn't have nothing, and if it wasn't for him, he wouldn't be worried about losing his crown prince.

At this moment, Zhao Huan was out of his mind, panicked, and thought of something again. After thinking about it again and again, he decided to go to the palace immediately, visit the queen mother, report the situation to her, and then let him intercede.Because Zhao Huan himself was greedy for silver taels, but it was not a lot, and there were several million taels.

Prince Zhao Huan didn't know whether Gao Qiu had confessed himself, if he was confessed too, then it would really be over.Based on Song Huizong's love for Zhao Gou, I am afraid that he, the prince, will really be abolished, because there are already excuses.In order to keep his crown prince, Zhao Huan could only ask his mother to come forward.

"His Royal Highness, where are you going?"

Zhao Huan looked back, only to see a beautiful figure, that person was his first wife, also the Crown Princess Zhu Lian.Although Zhao Huan was flustered, the moment he saw his wife, his heart was extremely calm, and finally he let Zhu Lian enter the palace together.

On the way, Zhao Huan didn't hide anything and told everything, Zhu Lian said without saying a word, "His Royal Highness is confused!"

"I can't do anything about it!" said by his wife, Zhao Huan didn't have any rebuttal, and he also had unavoidable difficulties.

Zhu Lian was a well-known lady, and her father, Zhu Bocai, was an official to Wukang Army Jiedushi.Although she met Zhao Gou once, Zhao Gou was still young at that time, but she had heard of his prestige even though she lived in the East Palace.In addition, even his father praised Zhao Gou, which shows that Zhao Gou is indeed outstanding.

"Although I don't understand state affairs, and I don't know the difficulties of His Royal Highness, I know that the ninth brother is definitely not that kind of cruel person, and I won't really compete with you for the position of the crown prince. If there is a fight, I'm afraid I have already started, Crown Prince Your Highness, you are confused!"

Where Zhao Huan dared to refute, he could only nod in agreement.Zhu Lian looks delicate and soft, but he is soft on the outside and strong on the inside. His father is also a Jiedu envoy, so he can be regarded as a descendant of a famous family.Zhu Lian sees some things more clearly than Zhao Huan, just because she is an outsider and not in the game.

Now that the matter has come to this point, he can only choose to enter the palace and ask his mother to intercede, so as to avoid his own life.

Zhao Huan is the eldest son of Song Huizong. His biological mother has long since passed away, and his mother is Empress Xiansu, that is, Zheng's sister who is in love with Webster.Zhao Huan knew about Zheng's relationship with Webster's, and Zhao Gou was a filial person. As long as Webster stepped forward, the major issue would be resolved, and the trivial matter would be eliminated.

At the same time, Zhao Gou, Zhao Yougong and others also entered the palace, and the purpose of entering the palace was different from that of Prince Zhao Huan.Zhao Gou entered the palace to report the results of this operation, and submitted all the dirty money and the list of officials who confessed to be lenient to Song Huizong.

"What a group of good ministers!..." Song Huizong looked at those officials who confessed, and recorded the whole process of their corruption and bribery, because there are only a few officials recorded on the record, and there are only 10,000+ taels, and more than half of the ministers in the court participated .

After Zhao Ji finished reading, there was a wry smile on his face. He knew it all the time, but he didn't dare to believe it or accept it.

Now he has to accept that the administration of officials in the Song Dynasty is really a mess.However, Song Huizong himself knew that this incident was more or less related to him, and he may bear a greater responsibility.If he hadn't let himself go, such a thing would not have happened.

Now that the Song Dynasty has undergone three rectifications by Zhao Gou, the administration of officials has finally become clear.Although it is still hidden in the dark, Zhao Gou does not intend to continue to pursue it, because the next thing is more important.So, what seems to be the end is actually the real beginning.

(End of this chapter)