Although Su Jin was unwilling, he had to keep his promise to hand over the human and physical evidence to Xia Zhu and Du Yan, and the fate of these witnesses and physical evidence was naturally conceivable, and they were all destroyed immediately.

Su Jin can't disclose this, one is because of Xia Siling, he can't ignore Xia Siling's feelings and send Xia Zhu to the guillotine with his own hands, and the other is that he also has the crime of concealing and covering up, in this matter, he can't say clearly, it is easy for people to think that they are using this matter to blackmail Du Yan and Xia Zhu to achieve a certain goal, in fact, this is not wronged Su Jin, he also thought so at the beginning.

As for the matter of the two envoys of Yan Yan and Huanqing, Su Jin had an intriguing conversation with Zhao Zhen after that morning.

……

The air in March is full of the breath of spring, there are already early spring flowers blooming in the palace, and the afternoon sun is quite warm and comfortable, Zhao Zhen uncharacteristically met Su Jin in the imperial garden of the back garden, and the two sat down on the bamboo chair next to the swing frame, and there was a celadon tea cup on the small bamboo table in front of them, and the fragrance of tea was faintly wafting out.

"It's another spring, counting, it's been twenty-two years since I ascended the throne, every March, I like to sit in the imperial garden in the afternoon, watching the palace maids play swings, fly kites, and bow, I used to play with them, but in recent years, I have lost my mood, am I old?"

Su Jin looked at the figures of the palace officials who were laughing and running in the spring in the distance, their graceful figures revealed the breath of youth in the sun, and they were looking at Zhao Zhen, their faces were pale and their eyebrows were deep, and they were indeed full of twilight, but they couldn't say it.

"Your Majesty is in full bloom in the Spring and Autumn Period, if the minister remembers correctly, Your Majesty Gui Geng should be thirty-five years old, and he is a person in the prime of life."

Zhao Zhen said with a smile: "Sure enough, if you don't mention me, I have forgotten that I am only in my thirties, Yan Xiang is sixty, Lu Xiang, who is not old last year, is also in his seventies, and Du Shumi is also fifty people, counting the ministers of the central government, but more than half of them are much older than me; Su Jin, how old are you this year? ”

Su Jin said: "The minister is nineteen, and his birthday will be twenty in October this year." ”

Zhao Zhen sighed: "You are almost twenty years old, I remember the first time I saw you, you were only sixteen years old, four years have passed in a blink of an eye, and the days have passed so fast." ”

Su Jin smiled: "Yes, the ministers have sons, and it is indeed a little unacceptable to be fast." ”

Zhao Zhen pondered: "At the age of twenty, there will be a table word, how about I give you a table word?" ”

Su Jin hurriedly said: "How dare you do this, how dare you let the emperor worry about such a trivial matter." ”

Zhao Zhen looked up at the white clouds in the sky and said: "You always have a very strange impression on me, I always feel that there is something indescribable about you, as if you are always unpredictable about some things, how about I give you a table name 'Zicong'?" ”

Su Jin was shocked in his heart, and smiled quietly: "Thank you for the emperor's words, but how can I give the emperor this feeling?" If the minister is stupid and reckless, how can he have the ability to predict the future? ”

Zhao Zhen looked at Su Jin and said: "Maybe it's my heart, maybe it's a coincidence, that year in Yingtianfu, you said that the grandfather entrusted the dream to you, and told you about the Taimiao testament, I felt this way at that time, I also believe in Buddhism, but I know very well in my heart that the so-called dream is not credible, if the people of the late world can dream to future generations, why did my beloved mother and father never dream of me, I have made hundreds of dreams, and none of them can correspond to reality, but you can learn from the dream that the testament on the Taimiao stone tablet, the narrative is not bad, Isn't it strange? ”

Su Jin didn't expect Zhao Zhen to still remember this matter, and he didn't expect Zhao Zhen to be able to look at the ghost theory so soberly, he thought that everyone was superstitious and ignorant in this era, but it turned out to be his own wishful thinking.

"Maybe it's really as the emperor said, it's just an exceptional coincidence, the world is so big, there are some things that are both ethereal but really happening, and the minister can't explain it, and the minister also wants to know why."

Zhao Zhen smiled and said: "That's right, there are no wonders in the world, and there is nothing that can't happen, but you really seem to have the ability to predict the future, such as the New Deal, you were the first to put forward the initiator of the Ten Evils, but you were resolutely unwilling to participate in the New Deal, on the contrary, you also dissuaded Fan Zhongyan Han Qi and others from implementing the New Deal, giving me the feeling that you seem to have expected that the New Deal will die and are unwilling to step into this quagmire, it turns out that the New Deal is indeed difficult to implement, And Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi and others have also become the people of Qianfu because of the New Deal, you tell me, how do you judge that the New Deal will eventually fail? ”

Su Jin's heart jumped, and he fixed his mind: "What the emperor said is too godly, it's not that the ministers don't want to participate in the new policy, but the ministers themselves feel that they can't play much role in it, Lord Fan and Lord Han are enough, they can't implement it, and it doesn't work for the ministers to follow and coax; It is true that the minister is not optimistic about the success of the New Deal, and that is not because there is anything wrong with the content of the New Deal, but because there are other reasons. ”

Zhao Zhen said: "What is the reason? ”

Su Jin shook his head and said, "The minister doesn't want to say it, the minister doesn't want to make the emperor unhappy." ”

Zhao Zhen pondered for a while and said, "You mean the reason is on me?" ”

Su Jin shook his head and said, "Don't say it, it's all over, don't mention it." ”

Zhao Zhen said: "Su Jin, I met you in the Imperial Garden today, I hope that you and I can be as open and honest as friends, as the king of the world, although hundreds of officials surround the people to look up, but there is no one who can really be called a friend, I don't want to be without a person who can tell me the truth in my life; It is very likely that you and I will develop a relationship between you and me that are more friends than kings and ministers, but I feel that recently, there has been a rift between us, and you are no longer willing to tell me many things. ”

Su Jin smiled and said: "Thank you for the emperor's different eyes, the king is the monarch and the minister is the minister, and the sages have set the three outlines and five constants, how can you mess up the outline?" The relationship between me and the emperor will always be that of a monarch and a minister, and we can't become friends who talk about everything, not because the minister doesn't want to, but because the minister can't. ”

Zhao Zhen nodded slightly and said, "Then I will order you to say what is in your heart in the name of the emperor, will you say it?" ”

Su Jin said: "The minister can make up some false words to deceive you, knowing the face but not the heart, even if the emperor is the lord of the world, he can't guess what I really like in my heart." ”

Zhao Zhen sighed: "This is the sad part of me, sitting in the world, it is difficult to know my heart, this is the sad place of me." ”

Zhao Zhen said two sad words in a row, his expression was lonely and gloomy, and his eyes were empty looking at the swaying figures of the palace maids who were laughing in the distance.

Su Jin said with a smile: "The emperor doesn't have to be like this, none of this is important." ”

Zhao Zhen turned his head and smiled: "That's right, none of this matters, my mission is to make my Great Song Dynasty forever, and pass it on in my hands completely, and wear it until thousands of years, this is what I really want to do." ”

Su Jindao: "The mission of the ministers is to assist the emperor to achieve this goal, and at the same time, he can also glorify the ancestors and make contributions, and leave a thin name next to the emperor's name in the history books, which is the whole purpose." ”

Zhao Zhen said with a smile: "You can be regarded as telling the truth, someone confessed to me that he was not for fame and fortune but only for the sake of my country, I knew that it was a lie, and leaving a name in the history books of the glorious ancestors is also one of the purposes, I don't doubt their loyalty, but I don't like their untruthfulness." ”

Su Jin said: "It's good that the emperor understands, why bother to say it, the courtiers are human beings, and it is not a shame to have no desires." ”

Zhao Zhen said: "That's right, otherwise why would the new deal fail, I just took it for granted, I just wanted the courtiers to serve the country loyally, but I didn't expect to hurt their interests." ”

Su Jin nodded, Zhao Zhen was not confused, he understood the crux of the problem, but it was a little late.

"I know, when you entered the palace to see me, you wanted to resign from the position of the road envoy of the two roads of Yanyan and Huanqing, right?" Zhao Zhen sat up straight, picked up the green tea on the desk and took a sip.

Su Jin said: "The minister has this intention, the minister will tell the truth, the minister's ability is not enough to let the people from all walks of life live and work in peace and contentment, and the emperor put this courage on the minister's shoulders is not a praise for the minister, but a ...... Punishment for the courtiers. The minister does not let the emperor come to power in some things, but the emperor does not have to punish the minister like this, the king tells the minister to die, the minister has to die, if the emperor is dissatisfied with the minister, he can be dismissed from his post by a holy decree and take care of it, so why should it be so? ”

Zhao Zhen glared at Su Jin and said, "That's how you see me?" In your heart, how am I different from those faint kings of the previous dynasties? ”

Su Jin hurriedly said: "The minister's offense is first, it is not the emperor's fault, the emperor is already very tolerant of the minister." ”

Zhao Zhen sighed: "This is what I just said that I feel that there is a gap between you and my monarchs and ministers, no wonder you think so, I might as well make it clear to you, the two roads of Yanyan and Huanqing in the northwest will be handed over to you, I am indeed selfish, the northwest gateway land, its location is self-evident, and the northwest is unstable and my Great Song Dynasty cannot develop safely, I know that you have a set, for example, I asked me for a piece of wasteland, and in a blink of an eye, I found a coal mine on the wasteland, I also know that you are refining oil, I am afraid that there are tens of thousands of barrels of storage, I don't want to ask how you know there's coal, or how you know how you know how to refine oil, I know you won't answer; But I believe that you will not sit idly by and watch the people of the Great Song Dynasty suffer and be displaced. ”

Su Jin hurriedly said: "The emperor must not be suspicious, the reserve of fire oil is prepared to prevent the invasion of Western thieves, and the reason why the minister did not report it to the emperor is because the fire oil is too expensive, if I report it, it seems that I will be forced to purchase it from the court; The ministers scattered the fire oil in the northwest states and deployed a penny, which you can hear about the governor of Yanzhou, Lord Di Qing. ”

Zhao Zhen smiled and said, "You don't have to explain, I don't doubt you, if I doubt you, can you still sit here and drink with me?" ”

Su Jin's heart was pounding, this matter is indeed dangerous, it seems that Zhao Zhen's ears and eyes are everywhere, maybe the matter of Baoshan's refining of fire oil has just begun, Zhao Zhen got the news, although he has no other intentions, but once this matter is made an article, it will be indefensible; Su Jin secretly made up his mind that he must be cautious and cautious in doing things in the future, and the people around him must be absolutely reliable, otherwise sooner or later he will be inexplicably finished.