No war in the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 40: Along the River During the Qingming Festival (More Updates, Please Vote!)

Dengwen Drum is located on the edge of the imperial city. It is a large drum with a diameter of two meters and a drumhead made of cowhide. When it is struck, the sound of the drum can be heard in the Chuigong Hall in the imperial city.

Su Ze held the drumstick and beat the Dengwen Drum with all his strength with both hands. Soon the gate of the Dengwen Drum Court next to the Dengwen Drum opened wide, and Zhang Yaozuo, who was in official uniform and was in charge of the Dengwen Drum case, came out with his men.

Since the Dengwen Drum Academy was established during the Jingde reign of Emperor Zhenzong, it has experienced a glorious period.

Zhenzong believed in auspicious signs. In order to offer sacrifices to the gods on Mount Tai, he even allowed the people to offer auspicious signs, and would give generous rewards whenever an auspicious sign was presented.

The ministers in the court at that time naturally did not want Zhenzong to continue to reward in this way, so they often withheld reports of auspicious signs from local areas.

Therefore, Emperor Zhenzong established the Dengwen Guyuan, where matters concerning court politics, military secrets, public and private interests, requests for rewards, appeals for grievances, and contributions of extraordinary skills, if they could not be reported to the emperor through proper channels, could be reported directly to the emperor through the Dengwen Guyuan.

During the Jingde period, the Dengwen drum was often sounded.

After the current emperor ascended the throne, he gradually abandoned the local custom of promoting auspicious income, and Dengwengu gradually became a place for scholars and people to complain about their grievances.

Later, Kaifeng Prefecture also set up a drum for appealing to justice, and the people in the capital area basically went to Kaifeng Prefecture to appeal to justice.

Dengwen Drum Hall gradually became a symbolic institution.

Zhang Yaozuo pretended not to know Su Ze and said to him:

"Who dares to strike the drum to report the incident?"

Su Ze put down his drumstick, saluted Zhang Yaozuo, then raised the scroll and memorial in his hands and said to Zhang Yaozuo:
"I, Su Ze, a commoner, present to the Emperor the painting 'Along the River During the Qingming Festival'. It depicts the splendor of Bianjing and celebrates the prosperity of the Great Song Dynasty!"

According to the script that had been rehearsed long ago, Zhang Yaozuo ordered his subordinates to walk over and slowly open the scroll in Su Ze's hand.

A picture scroll depicting the daily life of the people in Bianjing City slowly unfolded, and the officials following Zhang Yaozuo exclaimed in amazement.

This is naturally the scroll that A Yuan gave to Su Ze. Since he copied Fan Zhongyan's famous quotes anyway, Su Ze simply named this scroll "Along the River During the Qingming Festival".

Zhang Yaozuo said to Su Ze:

"Su Ze, do you have any achievements?"

Su Ze shook his head and said:

"I am just a commoner."

Zhang Yaozuo said:
"The government has issued an imperial decree that the people who offer auspicious gifts must first be detained in the Dengwen Drum Courtyard to verify their authenticity. Come, please invite Su Ze into the courtyard."

Then Zhang Yaozuo ordered the clerk to put away the scroll, and personally took the memorial from Su Ze, and immediately turned around and walked into the palace.

Su Ze calmly followed the officials into the Dengwen Drum Courtyard. None of the officials dared to make things difficult for Su Ze. They just served him tea and snacks and waited for the palace's decision.

The emperors of Zhao Song all loved talents and had a high level of appreciation for calligraphy and painting.

If Su Ze presented such a scroll, he would definitely be rewarded by the emperor. If the emperor was pleased, he might even be appointed as an attendant in the Painting Academy.

The Painting Academy Assistant Zhao was just like the Chess Assistant Zhao who played chess with the emperor. Although he did not have an official rank, he could still become a close minister to the emperor. Naturally, these officials of the Dengwen Drum Academy would not treat Su Ze as a criminal.

But Su Ze was not relieved, because Zhang Yaozuo still had to go through another hurdle to enter the palace.

As expected, when Zhang Yaozuo was about to reach the Chuigong Hall, an official in a cyan robe stood before him. While Dengwen Guyuan could theoretically reach the emperor directly, according to Song Dynasty regulations, all official documents submitted to the emperor had to be reviewed by the Yintaisi before being presented to the emperor's desk.

Therefore, the low-ranking official position of the Yintaisi became a very important position in the politics of the Song Dynasty. In theory, the Yintaisi was a subordinate of the Zhongshumenxia, ​​that is, an official of the Zhengshitang.

The current Director of the Silver Bureau is named Lu Hui. He was recommended by Lu Yijian to take this position and is an important member of Lu Yijian's party.

It was precisely because he controlled the Yintaisi that Lu Yijian was able to have such a firm grip on the court. No matter whether it was memorials from censors or local officials, they had to be summarized by the Yintaisi and sent to the emperor. Lu Yijian would also know who had written to say bad things about him.

The Yintaisi even had certain powers to seal and return these memorials, which meant returning them and not sending them directly to the emperor.

Zhang Yaozuo was Zhang Xiuyuan's uncle. As a member of the Lu Party who supported Empress Cao, Lu Hui certainly did not want Zhang Yaozuo to get too close to the emperor.

As soon as the drum for reporting was sounded, the Yintai Division sent people to inquire about the situation. They heard that a scholar named Su Ze had presented the auspicious sign. The first thing Lu Hui thought of was that Zhang Yaozuo had colluded with Su Ze to fabricate the auspicious sign to win favor.

That's why Lu Hui stood in front of Zhang Yaozuo. He said with a forced smile:

"Zhang Dengwen, please hand the things over to me. I will forward them to the government as per regulations."

Zhang Yaozuo hugged the scroll and memorial tightly in his hands. Naturally, he refused and said directly, "This is the official business of the Dengwen Drum Court, so it's better not to bother Yintai."

Lu Hui naturally disagreed and stood in front of Zhang Yaozuo, emphasizing that the documents presented to the government must go through the Yintai Division.

Just as the two were arguing, Zhang Maoze, the eunuch beside Song Renzong and the head of the Imperial Pharmacy, appeared in front of them.

Eunuchs are called inner servants.

Emperor Taizu of Song learned the lesson of the domineering eunuchs in the Tang Dynasty and greatly restricted the power of eunuchs. Therefore, there were no eunuchs with extremely powerful powers in the entire Song Dynasty.

But this does not mean that eunuchs in the Song Dynasty had little power.

Although the Imperial Pharmacy sounds like an institution responsible for the emperor's medicine, it is actually an administrative agency of the inner court. Its jurisdiction covers everything from the emperor's food, clothing, housing and transportation to the royal property and the deployment of the palace guards. Its power is no less than that of the Imperial Household Department in the Ming Dynasty.

Zhang Maoze is the most favored eunuch around the emperor. His appearance here naturally represents the emperor's will.

Sure enough, Zhang Maoze interrupted their argument and asked Zhang Yaozuo to follow him into the Chuigong Hall.

After failing to intercept, Lu Hui felt a bad premonition in his heart.

But on second thought, the current emperor is different from Zhenzong, and he is not very interested in things like offering auspicious signs. If Zhang Yaozuo were to gain the emperor's favor in this way, he would probably soon face a barrage of impeachments from the censors.

Thinking about it this way, it seems that Zhang Yaozuo is actually cutting himself off from the literati, so let him be.

In the Imperial Examination Hall, Lu Yijian, who was in charge of the imperial examination, was also attracted by the drum sound, but he quickly turned his attention to the Ministry of Rites examination.

The deputy examiner Ouyang Xiu beside him also glanced in the direction of the imperial palace and urged the examinees to enter the examination room quickly.

Su Ze was sitting in the Dengwen Drum Courtyard, looking calm and relaxed. Since Zhang Yaozuo hadn't come back for such a long time, the matter should be settled.

Zhang Yaozuo, holding "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" and the memorial written by Su Ze, walked into the Chuigong Hall where Zhao Zhen lived.

　Please vote and read on!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)