After the beginning of spring, Jiankang Mansion was still surrounded by joy, on the one hand, because the New Year had just passed, and the festive atmosphere was still there, and on the other hand, because at the end of last year, the Great Song Dynasty had achieved a perfect victory in the war against Western Xia.

In fact, this war against the Western Xia, whether it is the continuation of the time, scale or importance, compared with the Song-Jin War two years ago, is far inferior, even compared with the matter of the Western Xia, and even far inferior to the Great Song Dynasty in the fourth year of Yuanfeng (1181) The Great Song Dynasty Five-Way War against Xia, but for the Great Song Dynasty, this war still has an unusual significance, this is a rare initiative in the history of the Great Song Dynasty, fighting on the territory of other countries, and can win a big battle.

In the more than 200 years since the founding of the Great Song Dynasty, there have been hundreds of large and small wars, giving people the impression that there are always fewer victories and more defeats. It's just that the victory of the Song army was achieved most of the time when resisting the enemy's attack, and it was rare to take the initiative to attack and avoid the victory.

Occasionally, there were a few active attacks, but often at the beginning of the war, they were able to win one after another, and then after going deep into the enemy's territory, the division's veterans were tired, and the enemy seized the opportunity to counterattack successfully, resulting in a complete rout, the loss of troops and the dismantling of generals, and the fruits of the previous victories were all wasted with a defeat. The battle of the Liao in the Taizong period and the battle of the Xia in the Shenzong period were all like this.

Therefore, in the history of the Great Song Dynasty, only the victory of Wang Shao's exploration of the Xihe River in the fourth year of Xining (1171) and Yue Fei's Northern Expedition in the tenth year of Shaoxing (114o) can be compared with this victory in the battle against Western Xia. However, when Wang Shao opened up the Xihe River, the opponents he faced were actually only some Tibetan tribal leaders, so he was not to be afraid. And Yue Fei's Northern Expedition was to face the main force of the Jin army, although he achieved a series of huge military victories, but the end was because he was obstructed by Zhao Gou and Qin Hui, and finally fell short, and had to withdraw his troops and return, giving up all the victories.

And this time the victory over the Western Xia, although the results may not be as brilliant as those two times, but in the face of a great power in the West that the Great Song Dynasty had never defeated before, not only achieved a complete victory in the military, expanding the land for hundreds of miles, but also obtained a large amount of compensation from the Western Xia by general discussion and means, and received an annual tribute of 70,000 taels of silver and 8,000 horses, which can be said to be a good beginning and a good end. This is also something that has never happened since the founding of the Great Song Dynasty.

In fact, before the decision to start this war, although the Zhongshu Province and the Privy Council passed a resolution, it was still opposed by many officials in the court, even after Yang Yan won a great victory in the battle of the Yellow River, there were still many officials who thought that it was enough to defeat the Western Xia army, and it was better to stop it at the right time, so as not to cause accidents and add to the snake. There are even some officials who talk about "the saint should surrender without a fight, as long as the emperor can abide by the way of the saint and do not move the army, the foreign Yi will automatically come to surrender" and so on.

Although Zhao Chen ignored this and had always resolutely supported Yang Yan's battle, he was indeed under a lot of pressure, and now that he had finally won a complete victory, he was naturally in a very comfortable mood.

At this time, Yijing entered the fourth year of Jianxing (1174), and unconsciously, Zhao Chen was the emperor for three years, and after the restoration of the Great Song Dynasty, the capital Jiankang also went to the capital for more than two years.

In the past two years, Zhao Chen's implementation of the new law, but also achieved very significant results, except for Sichuan Xiangwu Road, other places of land, the inventory of households in other places have been basically completed, the verified land has almost doubled, so that the source of taxes for the imperial court has been greatly increased, while the burden of the peasants has been reduced, and there has been a certain accumulation in the treasury, which can be regarded as the national peace and security.

Now that he has achieved a huge military victory, for a while, the government and the opposition have been praising the emperor continuously, Emperor Qin, Han Wu is naturally not a problem, Tang Zong, Song Zu is also inferior, only Zhao Chen is described as the three emperors with virtue and the five emperors with high merit. also gave Zhao Chen countless honorific titles. Fortunately, Zhao Chen himself remained sober and did not get carried away, and issued three edicts in a row, strictly prohibiting officials at all levels from giving him the title of honorific again, which stopped this trend.

And for Yang Yan, who has made great contributions this time, there are also two completely different opinions, one is still the same as the original, thinking that Yang Yan is a clan, and it is not good for the court to be in charge of the army for a long time, or should he be exempted from military power and be idle, while the other is that Yang Yan should be rewarded for his great contributions to the country, and some people even suggested that the imperial court should use Yang Yan as a privy envoy.

According to Zhao Chen's heart, he also hopes that Yang Yan will be the privy envoy, because among the current prime ministers, there is only Chen Junqing, and the current privy envoy Han Yanzhi can naturally serve as the prime minister, just to make room for Yang Yan. However, it has not been announced, on the one hand, because Zhao Chen also knows that this decision will inevitably be opposed by the masses, so it is better not to make a rash decision before he is sure. On the other hand, Zhao Chen also wants to make a major adjustment to the current official candidates and systems, and does not want to make any moves before he thinks about it all.

In fact, Zhao Chen's idea has been around for a long time, and the current officials and systems of the imperial court are basically following the old system during the filial piety period, Zhao Chen is not very satisfied with this, but he also knows that it is not easy to change the official system, and he has just succeeded to the throne, and there is no minister who can be particularly trusted and capable, so he can only use the old system for the time being. Therefore, after Liang Kejia and Hong Shi were dismissed by the Hunan Road people's mutiny, Zhao Chen did not appoint a new prime minister and participate in politics, but just wanted to find an opportunity to completely reform the official system.

And after more than two years in power, Zhao Chen also knew a lot about the ministers in the court, and successfully accompanied a group of capable young ministers, and the successful implementation of the new law, and now the major military victory over the Western Xia, also made Zhao Chen's throne as stable as a rock, it can be said that all aspects of the conditions are mature. Therefore, Zhao Chen hoped to take advantage of this time to deal with Yang Yan's problem together. However, the stakes are very high, these things are only in Zhao Chen's mind, and they are not mentioned to others.

But at this day at the court meeting, Shangshu Zuo Pu shot the same Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhang, and Chen Junqing submitted his resignation to the imperial court and asked for Zhishi.

Zhao Chen felt very surprised by this order, although Chen Junqing was over seventy years old, he had always been in good health, and there was no shortage of elderly prime ministers in the Great Song Dynasty, such as Wen Yanbo, the famous minister of the Shenzong and Zhezong eras, and Cai Jing, the minister of power in the Huizong era, were all nearly eighty years old, still serving as the prime minister and in charge of the government. Although Zhao Chen intends to adjust the ruling minister, he has never thought of moving Chen Junqing, and in his plan, he also hopes that Chen Junqing will continue to serve as prime minister, and at least two or three years later, he will find someone to replace him. Therefore, after Zhao Chen received his resignation, he immediately retained it in the palace and returned his resignation to Chen Junqing.

It turned out that although Chen Junqing did not strongly oppose the promotion of the new law and the use of troops in the Western Xia, he had considerable reservations. But in the past two years, seeing that the implementation of the new law has been relatively smooth, and the use of troops against the Western Xia has also achieved a perfect victory, the problems that he feared have not been born, and seeing that although the emperor is young, he is smart and wise, and his behavior is resolute and not arbitrary, bold and innovative and can humbly accept advice, and he does have the quality of a generation of Ming Jun, and the rest of the ministers such as Han Yanzhi, Zhao Ruyu, and Liu Heng are also loyal and virtuous, so they are also very relieved.

And now he is not young, although his body is still quite tough, but he is busy with the government every day, and he also feels a little powerless, and he feels that compared with young people, his thoughts and actions are also a little unable to keep up. Chen Junqing is not a person who covets power, so he decided to resign from the position of prime minister and let the young man do it. However, seeing that the emperor said to keep him, he couldn't refuse in front of the palace, so he had to withdraw his resignation, but he didn't say anything about whether to pay attention again.

According to etiquette, if the imperial court shows respect for a minister, it should be three resignations and three rejections for his resignation, so Zhao Chen knows that although Chen Junqing has withdrawn his resignation, it does not mean that he will no longer ask for Zhishi. But now Zhao Chen doesn't have a good way to keep Chen Junqing, so he has to do this first, and then see the steps.

After the dispersal of the dynasty, Zhao Chen did not return to the palace first, but went to Cining Palace to ask the Empress Dowager Zhou for peace. It happened that Zhao Qianru came to the palace to visit the Empress Dowager Zhou, although their mother, son, sister and brother can meet from time to time, but it is rare to get together alone like this, so Zhao Chen stayed in Cining Palace for dinner, and there was no need for the palace maid to serve, only their mother, son, sister and brother.

Zhao Chen greeted his two little nephews again, and then apologized a little and said: "My sister just gave birth, but I sent my brother-in-law to go out to fight, and I can't accompany my sister at home, and I can't even go home for the New Year, which is really a little uneasy." ”

Zhao Qianru said with a smile: "The court has a big matter, so naturally we have to take care of the overall situation first and then the small family, didn't this battle also be won?" It's worth it! And I'm doing well in the house, and with two children, it's much easier to fight. ”

At this time, the Empress Dowager Zhou smiled and said: "Guanjia, this time to defeat the Western Xia, your brother-in-law has made a great contribution, I heard that now many people are asking for the title of your brother-in-law again, you are here to talk about it, how you plan to reward your brother-in-law." ”

Zhao Chen's heart moved, he knew that his mother and sister were very politically sighted and knowledgeable people, but because of their status, under normal circumstances, if they didn't take the initiative to ask, they rarely expressed their opinions. Now I am thinking about reforming the bureaucracy and adjusting officials, but there is a shortage of people around me who can discuss, so it is better to listen to their opinions. So he said: "Mother, sister, to tell the truth, I plan to let my brother-in-law serve as a privy envoy." ”

Empress Dowager Zhou and Zhao Qianru glanced at each other, and their faces showed a worried look. Zhao Chen saw it in his eyes, was stunned, and said, "Mother, sister, do you think it's inappropriate?" ”

Empress Dowager Zhou nodded and said, "It's really a little inappropriate, official, have you thought about it?" ”