The legend of the king of crossing

Chapter 29 Jia Sidao's Inner World

At night, Lin'an began to have snowflakes again. The snowflakes were not big, scattered sparsely on the ground, and then turned into snow water, flowing on the ground.

Except for Jia Sidao's worm boat, there are no other boats on the West Lake.

Lanterns were still hanging high on the worm boat, brightly lit in this quiet and dark night. What was quite different from usual was that there was no singing, dancing, or drinking on the boat.Looking from a distance, it seems to be a lifeless ghost ship parked in the lake.

In the room in the middle of the big boat sat Jia Sidao and a middle-aged scholar in his 40s wearing a light blue gown. murderous.

The middle-aged literati was Li Tingzhi, the envoy of the Yangzhou government who came to Beijing to report on his duties.

Li Tingzhi is both civil and military. He was once a Jinshi, and was appreciated by Meng Gong. He served as a councilor in his account and was in charge of confidential writing. It seems that, in order to thank Meng Gong for his kindness, Li Tingzhi personally escorted Meng Gong's coffin to be buried in Xingguo (now Jiangxi).Later, Jia Sidao guarded Jinghu and appointed Li Tingzhi as the counselor of the department.Five years ago, Li Tingzhi was recommended by Jia Sidao to be in charge of the Lianghuai system, and served as the Yangzhou system envoy and concurrently the Minister of the Ministry of War.

Meng Gong is kind to Li Tingzhi, and Jia Sidao is kind to Li Tingzhi.

Li Tingzhi came to Beijing to report on his work every day, and after reporting to the Ministry of Officials, he first went to Jia's mansion.

The two sat opposite each other at a wine table.

Jia Sidao personally filled Li Tingzhi's glass of wine and said, "Xiangfu (Li Tingzhi's character), since we parted five years ago, you and I have aged a lot."

Li Tingzhi raised his glass and said: "Master Xiang, since the Marshal left, if he hadn't been supported by Master Xiangfu, Xiangfu is still in Bai Dingbu's body. This glass of wine is a respect for the promotion of Master Xiangfu first, and the first is to respect."

Jia Sidao also gulped it down, and said: "Xiangfu, you don't have to be so polite. To tell you the truth, I have been with you for so many years, so that I can completely relax. On weekdays, this big ship is very lively. , the miasma, only you Xiangfu came today, it will be so clean."

Li Tingzhi picked up the jug, filled Jia Sidao with wine and said, "Master Xiangfu, you praise Xiangfu too much."

Jia Sidao gulped it down again and said, "It's not flattery, Xiangfu, you are qualified, it's just the two of us tonight, you don't have to be humble, come and do it."

"Yes, Mr. Xiang."

"Brother Xiangfu, don't call me Mr. Xiangfu tonight. I am six years older than you. The old man asks me to be older. Just call me Brother Xian, just like when you were listening to orders under the tent of the commander-in-chief." .”

"Okay, Brother Xian, then Xiangfu would rather obey orders than to be respectful."

"Well, it's been nearly 20 years. When we were under the tent of the commander-in-chief, you and I were all high-spirited. Alas, the time is so fast, it passed by in a flash. Brother, drink and eat."

"Brother Xian, please."

Both of them can drink well, one cup after another.

"Brother, in the past five years, you have always found various excuses, but you just don't want to go to Beijing to report on your work. Why do you suddenly want to go to Beijing this year?"

"Brother Xian, the new emperor has just ascended the throne this year, so Yu Li should also come to see His Majesty, this is one of them."

"There's another one?"

"The second is that I came here specifically to talk to you, Senior Brother Xian."

"Haha, it's rare, if you have anything to say, just say it."

"Then forgive Xiangfu for speaking bluntly. Brother Xian, now that our Song Dynasty is facing internal and external troubles, the Mongols have long wanted to destroy me. Although their cavalry cannot be said to be invincible, they are far better than our army. Three years ago Liu We have surrendered the enemy, and most of the central Sichuan has been lost, and the Yangtze River, which our dynasty relies on, has also lost a section of the upper reaches. However, our dynasty is not incapable of fighting. Brother Xian, in the past 20 years, alas, it's just...it's just that Brother Xian became Jia Xiangye... He's no longer the respectable and admirable Jia Shixian." Li Tingzhi said hesitantly.

After Jia Sidao listened, he didn't speak. He only drank three glasses of wine in succession before he sighed and said, "Brother, I understand what you mean. Back then when Wu Qian and Ding Daquan were the left and right prime ministers, the late emperor Zong was dissatisfied with all their measures, so he named me as a young Fu and called me into the court. I was ambitious at the time, hoping to make a difference and become a famous official of a generation. It's frightening, there are traps everywhere. Sometimes Yan, Ma, Ding, and Dong colluded internally and externally to gain power. The first emperor was indecisive, he didn't trust people, wanted to get rid of them but didn't order them directly, so he took me as his own. Spear, after piercing Wu, Ding and others, I was forbidden to have eunuchs intervene in politics and foreign relatives to exercise power, so I offended many ministers in the court and people in the harem. You know that I am from Commander Meng Gong, and there are many factions of generals in the court. Although the commander has made great achievements repeatedly, he has made many generals unhappy, and I am also young and energetic, and I can't tolerate people who are disrespectful to the commander, so These generals also opposed me. Five years ago, the national treasury was empty, and a large amount of land was concentrated in the hands of the landlords. The first emperor ordered me to implement the public land law, using the term to limit the price of buying the excess land in the hands of the big landlords, abolishing and buying, and renting it as grain. Military pay to enrich the national treasury. Narrow-mouthed and wide-bottomed dendrobiums were promulgated throughout the country to reduce the super-exploitation of the poor. These measures were originally beneficial to the national economy and the people’s livelihood, but they caused dissatisfaction among the bureaucratic landlords. He hated me even more."

Jia Sidao paused for a moment, seemed to recall a lot of the past, drank another glass of wine and continued: "At this time, I can only follow the late emperor closely, I know that only the late emperor can protect me well, and the late emperor also Gradually, you can’t do without me, and you continue to give me power, such as the young master, the young teacher, the history of the Privy Council, the prime minister, and so on.”

"Then Senior Brother Xian should use the power in his hands to speak more before the emperor, and rejuvenate our dynasty."

"Brother Xiangfu, you don't understand what it means to be with the emperor like a tiger. The late emperor gave me so much power, but he didn't trust me again."

"Why is this?"

"In his later years, the first emperor not only became more indecisive, but also became suspicious. After the Mongol Kublai Khan withdrew to the north, the first emperor thought that it was like when Emperor Gaozong was in the past, and ruled by rowing the river. no interest."

"The first emperor is like this, brother Xian should give more persuasion."

"Brother, I'm not talking about you. Although you are talented in both civil and military affairs, you don't understand the heart of an emperor. The way to be a minister is to try to understand the heart of a king, so that you can be invincible. From ancient times to the present, how many emperors Like the former emperor Taizong, he was able to tolerate Wei Zheng's remonstrance. Oh, come on, let's continue drinking."

Li Tingzhi has been defending against the enemy all year round, how did he know that the court is so complicated, when he was thinking about it, he heard Jia Sidao continue to say: "Xiangfu, do you know Wushisan?"

"Of course I know."

"People are subject to change. This kind of power is like smoking five stone powder. It's addictive."