I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 32 The Six Thieves Have Already Seen the Second One
When entering the city of Bianjing, Zhao Zicheng witnessed with his own eyes a Taoist priest setting up an altar on the city wall to pray to God to stop the rain. As a result, he was surrounded and beaten by a large group of laborers who had returned from the court to control the flood.

Zhao Zicheng couldn't figure out the right and wrong of the matter for the time being, and could only wait for the truth to fly for a while and find out after the dust settled.

Fortunately, this excitement did not make people wait too long. People from the Imperial City Bureau arrived quickly, took simple measures, and reported the situation.

After Zhao Zicheng watched the excitement for a while, the officer sent by Zhu Zhen, who had come with him, politely urged him to hurry up and hand in his work: "Since we've already arrived in Bianjing, why don't you hand over the flower and stone tribute as soon as possible? Why are you still delaying?"

This extra is called Lu Jian, and he had no presence on the road for more than a month.

He was a foreman at the Yingfeng Bureau, and although he wasn't Zhu Jie's absolute confidant, he was merely a foreman who had worked under him for many years. Perhaps influenced by the Duan Ming embezzlement incident, Zhu Jie had grown wary of his smooth-talking subordinates, so he sought a relatively honest individual to temporarily oversee the transported property, and so he chose Lu Jian.

Because he was a foreman, he wasn't very good with words, and it was difficult for him to control Zhao Zicheng along the way. Basically, Zhao Zicheng had the final say. As long as Zhao Zicheng didn't have any evil thoughts about the property being transported, Lu Jian didn't bother to care about him.

But now that he had entered the city of Bianjing, he was anxious to complete his mission, and seeing that Zhao Zicheng was still procrastinating, he became a little impatient.

But Zhao Zi claimed to have his own reasons. He refuted the proposal, saying, "Sharpening the knife does not delay the chopping of wood. We entered the city early today, so we can clean up first and then report to the Supervisor of Works in time. Moreover, although we are transporting the flowers and stones, there are reasons for the delay, and Prime Minister Zhu also stated the reasons in his memorial.

But it's too late. The King of Hell is easy to deal with, but the little ghosts are difficult to deal with. It's very likely that someone will make things difficult for us. It will be beneficial for us to see the result of His Majesty's handling of Taoist Lin before reporting to him.

Your Majesty was bewitched by Taoism when you renovated Genyue. If we take advantage of the crucial moment when Taoism is being rectified, and report to the emperor, even if it's delayed, perhaps no one will dare to challenge us. And the merits we gain along the way can become our political achievements.

Everyone, please find a place to stay first, wash up, have lunch, and wait for news. Then, in the afternoon, go to the Supervisor of Works to report."

The steward Lu Jian couldn't argue with Zhao Zicheng, so he thought it made sense, so the group decided to find a place to stay and wait for news. After all, Lu Jian didn't want to be harassed by the steward when he was about to hand in his work.

The result of this matter did not make Zhao Zicheng wait long.

Within just an hour, Zhao Zicheng had just finished some chores when the emperor's decision on Lin Lingsu was posted to appease the people of Bianjing.

The gist of the Emperor's edict was, "The Emperor had no idea that Lin Lingsu had caused such widespread public outrage. He dared to deceive his superiors and subordinates, disregarding his own shortcomings in moral conduct and his fruitless efforts in wielding talismans. He even used flattering rhetoric to try to claim the concerted efforts of the military and civilians of the capital as his own. He is truly greedy for the work of others."

Therefore, effective immediately, he is dismissed from his position as a Daoist official, demoted to the rank of Taixu Doctor, and ordered to return to his hometown of Wenzhou for self-reflection. I hope the military and civilians of Bianjing will work together to overcome these difficult times.

Zhao Zicheng and his friends were quite moved after hearing the news.

Zhao Zicheng knew that Zhao Ji had been worshipping Taoism for more than a year or two, and that Lin Lingsu's downfall was not a sudden and catastrophic event. For many years before that, Lin Lingsu and his followers had committed countless evil deeds, which were too numerous to list.

The recent floods in Bianjing and the fruitless Taoist prayers and flattery were just a fuse. There are many details and twists that Zhao Zicheng and others cannot see for the time being.

After all, the emperor just needed to take out a chess piece to appease the people's anger at this special moment.

After all, there were so many forced laborers who had just been forcibly conscripted by the imperial court and were risking their lives to block the Yellow River from bursting.

Given the productivity of the Song Dynasty, the task of blocking the Yellow River when it burst its banks was extremely dangerous. It is unknown how many people died during the entire process.

These people are now meritorious people. They have just saved the city of Bianjing. They were excited and clashed with the Taoist priests. The emperor must capture the Taoist priests to appease the people of the city.

Fortunately, Zhao Zicheng did not have to see the truth clearly. For him, the temporary suppression of Taoism by the emperor was an opportunity. He could use this incident as a black box to his advantage.

No need to worry about the inner workings of the black box.

This could be considered as destiny helping him. The delay in the delivery of flowers and stones coincided with the time when the emperor was disparaging Taoism and was likely to relax the priority of repairing Gen Yue.

……

After finding out the details, Zhao Zicheng, Yang Zhi and Lu Jian quickly split into two groups.

Lu Jian went to help Zhu Jie with the gift delivery.

Zhao Zicheng and Yang Zhi went straight to the office of the Chief of Works.

The construction of the Emperor's Genyue, and even earlier, the Mingtang, were all major projects under the supervision of the Chief Construction Supervisor. Naturally, the transportation of the flower and stone tribute to the capital would also be inspected by the Chief Construction Supervisor.

Yang Zhi was once an officer in the Palace Marshal's Office and was quite familiar with the situation in Bianliang.

Zhao Zicheng also studied at the Imperial College in Bian Jing for two and a half years. Since he inherited all the memories of the original owner of the physical body, he was familiar with finding places.

The two soon arrived at the Jiangzuojian Yamen, east of the northern city, to find someone to sign for the delivery. When the Jiangzuojian Yamen heard that the replacement flower and stone consignment had arrived, they seemed to be trying to make things difficult for him, even scolding him, "Why is it a full month late? The other nine ships carrying the same consignment arrived a month ago!"

But Zhao Zicheng explained it in a neither humble nor arrogant manner, and the other party did not make any further attacks. They just signed the acceptance document and instructed them:

"Have the boat sail through the moat, around the northeast gate, and then to the Genyue construction site for delivery. It's such a large rockery, and we have to haul it back to the government office!"

Zhao Zicheng didn't bother with these troublesome little devils, and he and Yang Zhi took the boat carrying the rockery and rare trees, walked through the moat into the Jinglong River, and finally unloaded the goods inside the Jinglong Gate.

Inside Jinglong Gate is the construction site of Genyue.

When Zhao Zicheng and his party arrived, the Genyue construction site was bustling with activity. Not only were there a large number of craftsmen and laborers working, but there were also large groups of imperial guards and people from the Imperial City Administration patrolling to maintain order.

"Looking at this scene, it seems that an important official has come to inspect the progress?" Yang Zhi guessed this when he saw a large group of people walking around on the construction site from afar, with tight security.

Zhao Zicheng also thought it made sense: "It's possible. Perhaps Lin Lingsu's case has an impact on Genyue, so important officials from the court came to personally inspect the progress of the project. If His Majesty asks about it, they will have a response."

After arriving at the construction site, according to the original convention, at least one general supervisor was required to come out and inspect the rockery and other items transported by the flower and stone gang.

However, it seemed that all the senior officials of the Ministry of Works had gone to accompany the inspection, and in the end only a chief clerk named Jia Dan came to inspect it.

For today's inspection, Zhu Jie's supervisor Lu Jian gave Zhao Zicheng several hundred taels of gold in advance. This was also Zhu Jie's order, allowing him to make arrangements for today's matter.

Because the rockery had been damaged at several corners by collisions during Yang Zhi's first shipwreck, Zhu Jie later restored it using accelerated water erosion. Zhu Jie was also concerned that the supervisor of construction might have a skilled technician who could spot the flaws, so he granted a small sum of money to silence them.

The Chief Clerk of the Ministry of Works, Jia Dan, was indeed an engineer by trade and very knowledgeable. He scanned the area carefully, gazing at a few points before frowning and lowering his voice to shout:

"How dare you! This is a tribute to His Majesty, how could it be damaged?"

Yang Zhi was not good at dealing with civil servants, and after being yelled at like that, he suddenly felt guilty and short of breath.

Zhao Zicheng knew that the other party was just trying to extort a bribe. If they really wanted to make a big fuss, they would definitely shout loudly instead of lowering their voices like this.

Zhao Zi said he could only slip a few gold cakes from his sleeves and then carefully deal with the situation:

"Master Jia is truly conscientious and responsible, but this rockery is indeed naturally formed this way. Besides, Lord Zhu has already contacted Lord Liang and Master Liu, and they are all aware of the situation. Why should Master Jia embarrass them all?"

The Liang Xianggong he mentioned was naturally the eunuch Liang Shicheng, who is now known as the "Hidden Prime Minister".

During the reign of Zhao Ji, there were now four top ministers.
The head of the outer court civil affairs was naturally the Grand Tutor Cai Jing, followed by the Chief Censor and the Junior Prime Minister Wang Fu.

The eunuchs in the inner court were headed by Tong Guan, who was in charge of military power, followed by Liang Shicheng, who was in charge of internal affairs.

The emperor began to repair Genyue in 1117. Liang Shicheng was in charge of the overall resource allocation and progress supervision of the entire project, and the specific tasks were handed over to officials at all levels of the Ministry of Works.

Among the four powerful ministers, Cai Jing and Tong Guan initially enjoyed a good relationship, but in recent years, friction has arisen as they vie for influence. Cai Jing is often referred to as "the public minister" and Tong Guan as "the old minister." Liang Shicheng and Wang Fu, on the other hand, have always enjoyed a close relationship, frequently exchanging information and forming alliances.

This is public information and everyone knows it.

Zhao Zi said that by bringing up Liang Shicheng and the chief architect Liu Geng, he was also hinting to Jia Dan to stop while he was ahead.

Jia Dan received several large gold cakes and did not insist any more. He just glanced at Zhao Zicheng again and signed for them. "I trust you this time, but you must be careful next time."

He knew in his heart that these rockeries were well-preserved, and no one except a highly professional technician like himself would be able to spot the flaws. Once they were built into the yard and the old-fashioned areas were covered with soil and decorated with flowers and trees, how could they be seen?
Jia Dan usually didn't have the opportunity to make a fortune, as he was only a clerk, and it wasn't his turn to inspect the works on ordinary days. If it weren't for an important official inspecting today, and Liu Geng, the master carpenter, was away accompanying the guests, then Liu Geng would personally inspect the works on such occasions.

For Jia Dan, power only comes a few times, and if he doesn't seize it, it will expire and become worthless.

Zhao Zicheng saw that the other party had stopped while he was ahead, and also knew that this person was easy to talk to, so he took the opportunity to ask, "I wonder who is inspecting today? Please let me know clearly."

Jia Dan curled his lips, covered his face with his sleeves in a pretentious manner, and whispered, "You are lucky that I am willing to cover up for you. If I had exposed this matter today, you would all be in big trouble.

I'm not afraid of scaring you by telling you this, but the ones who just passed by were none other than Liang Xianggong and his entourage! They'll definitely come over to check out the situation here soon, so be careful! Otherwise, leave quickly!"

Zhao Zicheng was suddenly moved. He actually met Liang Shicheng, one of the six thieves here.

(End of this chapter)