Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Great court meeting.

Li Hanzhang was sitting upright in the front row, holding a wat tablet and showing no expression on his face.

All impeachment memorials were retained by the emperor, and the reason was given: wait until the case is completed.

Another twenty days passed, and the case information that should have been kept confidential was transmitted to Luoyang one by one.

No telegraph was used, purely by water.

Yesterday, Ju Ming began to arrange job transfers in Huainan, which means that the officials involved in the case were officially dismissed.

Zhang Su's "power to manage Huainan Zuobu's political affairs" became the real "Huainan Zuobu political envoy". Another official named Cao Zhengbang was transferred to take over as the right chief envoy to Huainan.

Huainan's inspection envoys and capital commanders... were all replaced.

This kind of provincial-level third-division yamen chief official is not even qualified to be directly appointed by the Minister of Personnel. It must be nominated by the ministers, then submitted to the cabinet for a vote, and finally approved by the emperor.

Of course, the emperor can also appoint directly.

Zhu Ming's power at this time far exceeded that of Zhu Yuanzhang before the abolition of the prime minister system. This was the result of the emperor's centralization of power brought about by the cabinet system.

The newly appointed chief of Huainan's Third Division was divided among various factions!

During the official nomination and decision-making process, Li Hanzhang did not express any opinions from beginning to end. The emperor had given him all the details in advance and determined his punishment. How could Li Hanzhang react?

A big tree attracts wind and attracts public criticism. Li Hanzhang must give in.

"Do you have anything else important to report?"

"I have something to report!"

The first person to stand up was Xu Liangneng, the imperial censor. This person is already in his forties, but he has been a Jinshi official for less than ten years.

As a censor, he is not a "censor faction", but a complete "Jiangxi faction".

Historically, Xu Liangneng was an upright official and minister, and he was awarded the title of baron based entirely on his political performance.

But Xu Liangneng stood up with a wat tablet in hand and launched a fierce attack on Li Hanzhang: "Your Majesty, the so-called separation of families since the establishment of the county system is nothing more than the division of property and households. How can people who migrate cut off their incense? It is unfilial for Prime Minister Li to cut off his relationship with the Chuzhou Li family in order to establish a family for his descendants!"

"Knowing that your nephew is doing evil in your hometown and not correcting him is called unkindness. If you really can't correct him, you should report it to the court, otherwise it is disloyal. To sit back and watch the people in your hometown being preyed upon and remain indifferent is called unkind."

"How can such an unfilial, disloyal, and benevolent person hold the position of Prime Minister? If the Prime Minister is like this, won't officials all over the world follow suit?"

This set of attack words was so sharp that even as an emperor, Ju Ming could not help but sit upright.

The other officials also looked sideways.

Naturally, Li Hanzhang couldn't sit still, so he stood up and said, "It is in line with Zhou etiquette to move and separate families, and it is not unfilial. I have sent people back to my hometown many times to reprimand, hoping that my nephew can change his ways, and he is not unfaithful. As for being unfaithful and unkind, I am not unfilial." I really don’t dare to take this charge, it’s just hiding from each other.”

Xu Liangneng sneered: "If your people rebel, will you also hide from each other?"

Li Hanzhang said: "Your Majesty, if there is really a clan rebellion, I will definitely kill my relatives out of justice."

"Only you have relatives, but the people who are being fished have no relatives? Your Excellency, you are hiding from each other, where do you leave the people of Chuzhou?" Xu Liangneng said, "If you are an ordinary scholar, it is okay to hide from each other. But Your Excellency, As the prime minister of the dynasty, he should be responsible for serving the emperors Yao and Shun. The officials of Chuzhou were so cruel and cruel to the people, how could the emperor behave like Yao and Shun? "You are setting the emperor up for being unkind!"

Each hat is bigger than the last.

Another Jinshi named Gong Maoliang came out. This gentleman was only in his twenties. Historically, he had acted as the chief political officer and acted as the prime minister.

Moreover, Gong Maoliang is not from any faction, at least for the time being, he does not have a clear faction identity.

He actually stood up to stir up the trouble: "Yang Xu, the former chief envoy to the left in Huainan, sat back and watched the officials under his rule embezzled money, violated the law, and harmed the people, but he never reported it to the court for investigation and punishment. Whoever nominated Yang Xu to be transferred to Huainan should also be held accountable It is a crime of negligence in recommendation!”

These words almost made Ju Ming laugh, and he remembered the name of the young censor on the spot.

A few years ago, Yang Shu was transferred to Huainan as the left-wing political envoy. I am afraid that it was Li Hanzhang's political opponents who set him up. Gong Maoliang was very stubborn and directly brought this matter up, instantly offending a lot of important officials.

Zhu Ming glanced at the members of the cabinet and found that they were all staring at each other and sitting in the court without saying a word.

It was obvious that these important ministers were very cautious and did not want to make any statements, leaving it to the middle and lower-level officials to lead the charge.

One after another, a few more mid-level officials started taunting Prime Minister Li Hanzhang.

Several direct descendants of Li Hanzhang also came forward, but because they were in the wrong, they were gradually silenced by the defense.

Finally, a direct descendant of Li Hanzhang named Cui Henian turned his gun and dragged Zhang Guangdao into the water: "Guo Xiong, the commander of the Huainan capital, is the former minister of Zhang Shangshu of the Ministry of War. This person was transferred to Huainan and was nominated by Zhang Shangshu. He should also be investigated and recommended. A crime of negligence!"

Zhang Guangdao stood up and came out of the queue: "I don't know the person, and I ask your Majesty to punish him."

Ju Ming asked: "How should I be punished?"

No one answered.

Civil servants from various factions planned to attack Li Hanzhang, but they were unwilling to involve Zhang Guangdao.

Ju Ming asked by name: "Liang Yi, please tell me."

Liang Yi stood up bravely: "Just three months' salary."

Ju Ming glanced at the other ministers, and after waiting for a long time no one spoke, he added: "A fine of three months' salary, and a reduction of one level of military service."

"I accept the punishment!" Zhang Guangdao held up the wat board and returned and sat down.

Ju Ming added: "The cabinet ministers who agree to remove the Prime Minister will come out. If more than half of them agree to remove the Prime Minister, I will remove the Prime Minister."

Liang Yi had just stepped out to answer questions, and now he was standing there waiting. He found that no important ministers supported his resignation, so he quickly went back and sat down.

The minions attacked for a long time, but the important ministers in the cabinet gave up.

This time they only fought tentatively and launched a non-aligned siege on the Prime Minister. Without knowing the emperor's attitude, no one dared to really show their sword.

Suddenly, Chen Dong stood up.

Everyone was surprised, and some even looked happy.

Chen Dong said: "I do not agree with the removal of the Prime Minister."

"Then why did you stand up?" Zhu Ming asked.

Chen Dong said: "I would like to ask you to restore the Liucha system of the former Song Dynasty."

When these words came out, all the ministers were shocked and looked at Chen Dong in astonishment.

Chen Dong continued: "Although the Supervisory Yuan of the imperial dynasty can also supervise the officials of the imperial court, it does not have full-time supervisors. Especially the imperial officials, each one has a high position and power. If the six-inspection system is not restored, I am afraid there will be no censorship. Dare to pick up important ministers."

The Song Dynasty inherited the Tang system.

There were two types of censors in the Tang Dynasty: "Ten patrols and inspections" and "Six divisions".

Patrolling ten roads means going to the local area to inspect.

The six divisions of the branch are to inspect the six divisions of Shangshu Province. It developed into the Song Dynasty and directly became all the institutions that patrolled the capital.

Once the six-inspection system is restored, the power of the Inspectorate will increase sharply. But officials who were born as censors of Zuodu may not be able to serve as prime ministers in the future.

Chen Dong suddenly came out and said this, which meant that he completely gave up his qualifications to be prime minister in exchange for the Supervisory Council having more power to inspect officials in Beijing!

At the same time, Chen Dong was also expressing his position to the emperor: officials of the "Yu Shi Faction" do not collude with any faction, and they are all die-hard imperialists.

Wei Liangchen sighed in his heart. He still wanted to be prime minister in the future, but now he probably has no hope.

Ju Ming asked: "Who opposes the restoration of Liucha?"

No one objected.

Anyone who objects is someone who has something up his sleeve - if you are innocent, are you still afraid that the censor will come to investigate?

Ju Ming smiled and nodded: "Since there is no objection, then restore the six-inspection system and establish a 'six-inspection department' in the Supervisory Office."

Then he said: "I also made a mistake, and I will correct it from today on. From now on, those who have served as Minister of the Ministry of Personnel or Yushi of Zuodu will not be allowed to serve as prime minister, and they will be promoted to deputy prime minister at most."

The reason why Li Hanzhang was besieged by various factions this time was that he became the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Prime Minister. The two combined to make his power grow too large.

Ju Ming's reform of the official promotion system is tantamount to giving an explanation to officials from various factions.

Removing the Prime Minister, certainly not.

Because no replacement can be found, no matter who is chosen to succeed him as prime minister, he will not be able to convince the public, which will lead to even more chaotic factional fighting.

Officials from various factions divided up the positions in Huainan Province, which could be regarded as a serious blow to Li Hanzhang's faction, and completely drove Li Hanzhang's disciples and former officials out of Huainan Province.

Ju Ming finally announced: "Prime Minister Li Hanzhang has neglected his employment, is not strict with his subordinates, and allows his tribesmen to behave wildly without retribution. He will cut off all his promotions and titles and keep him on probation for the time being. If he does it again, he will be removed from the post of Prime Minister!"

"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"

All the ministers shouted in unison, already satisfied.

Li Hanzhang also stood up to receive the punishment, acting tremblingly.

The meeting dispersed.

Huan Guo was speechless, this time he was just lying down.

Of course he also has his own small circle, and after becoming a cabinet minister, more and more officials came closer to him. Just as he was beginning to flourish, the system was suddenly changed. Those who had been ministers of the Ministry of Personnel were not allowed to be prime ministers again.

It's so pitiful that he had not been a minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs for a long time before, but he was so disastrous that he lost his qualifications as prime minister.

The culprit is Chen Dong, and Huan Guo is now very dissatisfied with Chen Dong!

Wei Liangchen and Chen Dong left together, and when they left the hall, they couldn't help but sigh: "Brother, why is this necessary? Everyone was originally besieging Prime Minister Li, and now that you are like this, everyone hates you."

Chen Dongxiao asked: "Brother Xian is also complaining about me, right? I ruined my career."

"I'm a little unhappy." Wei Liangchen said honestly.

Chen Dong said: "The officials are happy."

Wei Liangchen was startled when he heard this, as if he had just met him today, and looked at Chen Dong carefully.

Chen Dong has always been known for being upright and upright, but this time he was extremely smart. While offending countless officials, he completely became the emperor's most trusted confidant.

He saw that the emperor did not want to remove the prime minister, he also saw that the emperor wanted to picket the central ministers, and he also saw that the emperor hated the alliance between various civil servant factions. So he took the initiative to take over everything the emperor wanted to do, and transferred the dissatisfaction of the officials towards the emperor to himself.

Give up the qualifications of prime minister, offend all the officials in the dynasty, in exchange for a golden body!

If Chen Dong dies of illness in the future, he will probably get the posthumous title of "Wenzhong".

Chen Dong put his hands behind his hands and sighed: "Being an official is the same as being a human being. I am most afraid of thinking too much and asking for too much. I have no other abilities, so I am very mediocre. I only know four words: be strong without desire!"

Wei Liangchen bowed and said, "Thank you for your teaching, brother."