In the Song Dynasty, there was no law or order.

The morning court started in a commotion and ended in silence.

After Zhao Zhen issued an edict to severely punish those corrupt officials, those who committed crimes and those who abused their power for personal gain, he left the court.

Not long after, by noon, the morning's events had spread throughout the streets of Bianliang.

Now Zhao Jun's reputation in the officialdom is very unpleasant, but in the hearts of the people, it has gradually spread, and even has the reputation of Zhao Qingtian.

Because Zhao Jun knew the importance of public opinion warfare, he always took advantage of the situation every time he made a move. He first brought down Kaifeng Prefecture through the evidence provided by Fan Zhongyan, and then continued to dig deeper and arrested the two horses.

And in the morning, while Han Yi was in court, he sent people directly to the Sansi Yamen, took away Han Zong who was on duty, and then quickly announced his evidence of guilt.

In the past, officials still maintained superficial efforts, and the literati also impeached each other, but they often remained superficial and reported the crimes as light as possible.

For example, when Han Qi impeached Wang Sui, Chen Yaozuo, Han Yi, Shi Zhongli and others, he just made a big deal out of a small matter.

In fact, after Han Qi's investigation, they were found to have committed crimes including corruption and bribery, as well as abuse of public property for personal gain, and cheating in the imperial examinations, which allowed Chen Yaozuo's son and Han Yi's four sons to all pass the imperial examinations.

However, due to the face of the court, Han Qi only hinted to Zhao Zhen about their cheating for personal gain, and openly impeached them for being incompetent and having no political achievements.

Normally, there were incompetent officials everywhere in the Song Dynasty. If this charge was really followed, at least more than 10,000 redundant officials who did nothing at home and only knew how to collect salaries but not be dispatched would have to be dismissed.

But these few people were impeached for being incompetent and then dismissed by Zhao Zhen.

From this, we can see that they were not actually mediocre, but had committed crimes, which only concerned the face of the court.

Zhao Jun took advantage of this point to announce a large number of crimes, launch a public opinion offensive, and occupy the moral high ground. It also forced Zhao Zhen to purge the officialdom and rectify the administration of officials in public opinion.

Under such circumstances, Han Zong was dismissed from his post, and Han Yuan, who was serving as the governor of another place, was arrested by the imperial city department with an imperial decree. Han Yi himself was forced to write a letter to apologize, and Zhao Zhen took the opportunity to remove him from the post of co-director of the Privy Council and dismissed him as the deputy envoy of the Yongning Army Jiedu without real power.

For a time, many officials in the court were sad. Under such an offensive of public opinion, no one dared to risk their reputation and make excuses for those people, which made the number of people who wanted to take back power from the emperor in the court and the public decreased.

In the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang killed more than 30,000 people through the "Hu Weiyong Case", dismissed the left and right prime ministers, abolished the Secretariat, and the affairs were handled by six departments. Later, the Palace University Scholars were set up to serve the emperor as consultants, ending China's more than 2,000-year-old prime minister system, strengthening the autocratic imperial power, and consolidating his own imperial power.

This time, Zhao Zhen also killed more than 100 people and arrested more than 1,000 people through the "Kaifeng Prefecture Case". At present, the follow-up personnel are still being arrested. It is expected that in the next few months, the Imperial City Department and Kaifeng Prefecture will continue to clean up the remnants.

Although the situation of this incident did not expand to the level of the "Hu Weiyong case", Zhao Zhen also took the opportunity to obtain the right to arrest and judge, and changed his previous tolerance of officials.

This is unprecedented in the reign of Song Renzong Zhao Zhen, who was known for his "benevolence" in history.

After the officials left the court, they returned to their own offices to work. Lu Yijian, Wang Zeng, Wang Sui and other ministers also returned to the Political Affairs Hall. But today everyone's face was different, and the Political Affairs Hall was so quiet that no one spoke.

Today is a great victory for the government, but it is a tragic defeat for the literati. The government strengthened the imperial power, but deprived the literati of their rights, which made everyone feel very uncomfortable.

Even though they had thought about this day after Zhao Jun came. But they didn't expect it to come so soon and so suddenly.

"Prime Minister Lu!"

At this moment, Jia Changchao, the Right Counselor and the Chief Censor, appeared outside the government hall and poked his head in.

After a brief thought, Lu Yijian stood up and asked in a low voice, "What's the matter?"

Jia Changchao asked, "Can I have a word with you?"

"Be careful with your words and be careful with yourself!"

Lu Yijian waved his hand, signaling him to go back.

Jia Changchao saw that he was thinking about something, so he bowed and left.

These days, Lu Yijian and the other three prime ministers and three assistants have been living in seclusion and rarely interacting with other court officials.

This would have been impossible in the past.

Therefore, Xia Song, Chen Yaozuo, Jia Changchao, Wang Gongchen, Zhang Dexiang, Chen Zhizhong, Liu Yuanyu, Wang Deyong, Han Yi, Cheng Lin and other senior officials have also smelled something recently.

The reason why Han Yi did not allow Han Zong to join the officials of the Manchu court to make a memorial was that Lu Yijian and others behaved too abnormally, which made people like him see some clues.

As a result, the Guan family was furious in the court today and dismissed Han Yi, which made Han Yi feel frustrated and fortunate.

If his son Han Zong had followed his will, he would not only be dismissed, but his family would have been confiscated and his clan would have been exterminated.

What happened to the Guan family that caused him to change his temperament so drastically?

Jia Changchao and others were confused and wanted to come to the government hall to test the waters, but they didn't expect that Lu Yijian and others still didn't want to talk to them privately, so he had no choice but to leave.

There were still a few people waiting outside. Seeing that Jia Changchao had returned without success, these people gathered together to chat for a few words, sighed a few times, and then dispersed.

When Lu Yijian returned to the government hall, Wang Sui came over and asked worriedly: "Prime Minister Lu, what should we do?"

As soon as he spoke, the conversation started.

Sheng Du and Song Shou also came over and looked at Lu Yijian with worried eyes.

Lu Yijian used to have a eloquent style in the political affairs hall. In the past, Wang Zeng and him bickered and opposed each other. Cai Qi and Song Shou each supported one side, and Wang followed Sheng Du to watch the play.

But now that I encountered a big problem, I finally turned to Lu Yijian to make the decision.

In the final analysis, in the past, they were mostly based on different positions, and most of the debates were about different opinions on some local governance arrangements.

But now we are approaching the stage of life and death for the entire bureaucratic class, and the situation is different. Naturally, they can only want to find someone who can make decisions to take the lead.

Why didn't Lu Yijian know what they were thinking? He pointed at himself mockingly and said, "I'm a conservative interest group. Why don't you ask me?"

Wang Sui smiled awkwardly, showing his old teeth.

During the time when Zhao Jun's eyesight was not good, he not only scolded the bureaucrats and scholar-bureaucrats of the Song Dynasty, but also the fatuous emperors of the Song Dynasty.

They have now become the conservative interest group that Fan Zhongyan talks about, and they have become the opposite of Zhao Jun.

"No matter what, it's up to Prime Minister Lu to make the decision on this matter."

Sheng Du stepped forward and said: "Under Zhao Jun's instigation, the officials became increasingly harsh and acted like a solemn court. Although this may not be a bad thing, it may not be a blessing for the Song Dynasty."

He said it more tactfully, but everyone understood what he meant.

Lu Yijian sighed: "There are some things that others can say and do, but we can't. This is the sorrow of Zhizai."

"Yes, if you say it, you will be alienated from the officials. If you do it, you will be on the same level as the officials. Because the officials cannot let the Song Dynasty perish, and we cannot let the Song Dynasty perish."

Song Shou shook his head.

"Everyone understands these principles, but the scholar-bureaucrats cannot be destroyed in our hands."

Wang Sui spread his hands and said: "Besides, Zhao Jun advocates force and advocates suppressing scholar-bureaucrats and improving the status of warriors. Are you worried that he may reform military law and restore the Han and Tang military systems in the near future?"

After saying this, everyone fell into silence again, because this was still the rebellion of scholar-bureaucrats.

The abnormal policy of suppressing military force and emphasizing civility in the Song Dynasty originated from the over-indulgence of the warriors of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. After the Song Dynasty was established and the literati gained power, they spared no effort to suppress them, which made the military men of the Song Dynasty humble to the core.

But Zhao Jun is an advocate of force and advocates restoring the martial spirit of the Han people.

Now that his eyesight has recovered, he is gaining power step by step and is already suppressing the scholar-bureaucrats. What should he do if he uses military men again?

No one spoke, and no one continued.

Lu Yijian sat back on his desk, lowered his head and read the official document, but couldn't read it.

Looking around, he saw that Wang Zeng was also upset and threw his pen aside.

Everyone is not in the mood to work.

The official's attitude changed drastically today, which made everyone feel a sense of crisis.

The current status of the scholar-bureaucrats was achieved through three dynasties. However, the appearance of Zhao Jun now made the officials have other thoughts.

Seeing that if this continues step by step, they scholar-bureaucrats will be doomed. Who will still be in the mood to work?

"well!"

Lu Yijian suddenly let out a long sigh, looked around and said, "I have a way, which can be delayed but not stopped. Do you want to hear it?"

"Oh? Prime Minister Lu really has a plan?"

Wang Sui and others immediately became energetic and stood up from their respective positions to walk in front of Lu Yijian.

Even his old enemy Wang Zeng cast his gaze over, wanting to hear what he had to say.

Lu Yijian smiled bitterly and shook his head: "It's not really a trick, it's just about getting things back to their normal state."

"What method does Prime Minister Lu have, please tell me?"

Wang Sui urged.

Lu Yijian looked around. The political hall was heavily guarded, and the imperial guards in front of the hall were waiting outside the door.

Originally, there were some lower-level officials waiting to be dispatched in the political hall, such as Kongmu, Li, Hu, Bingli, Xing and other five rooms to check and make corrections. Now they have all been driven out, leaving only a few clever little eunuchs. Serve.

Seeing his appearance, Song Shou said knowingly to the young eunuch not far away: "You guys, please go out first."

"yes."

The young eunuchs withdrew.

Although it is a bit outrageous to conspire in the political hall, in fact they all know that some things cannot be hidden from the officials.

Zhao Jun had analyzed the political system of the Song Dynasty so clearly to the officials. The officials had long known what the scholar-bureaucrats hoped to gain and what they were afraid of losing.

How could the officials not know about these casual complaints?

Maybe it was just for the officials to hear.

However, the current conspiracy involves Zhao Jun, and many things are not convenient for outsiders to hear, so it is natural to proceed with caution.

After everyone had gone out and only a few prime ministers were left in the room, Lu Yijian whispered a few words.

"There is already a barrier between us and the officials. If the officials want to ensure that the Song Dynasty will not be destroyed, then they will definitely turn to Zhao Jun."

"So if we want to ensure that the scholar-bureaucrats do not perish, we can't just think about integrating Zhao Jun into the scholar-bureaucrats, but we need the scholar-bureaucrats to try their best to get closer to Zhao Jun and let the scholar-bureaucrats become weapons in Zhao Jun's reform hands."

"As Zhao Jun said, no matter what policy is, it is inseparable from the administration of officials. Reforming the administration of officials is not a bad thing. Even if our students and former officials will suffer, the government is soft-hearted. If we get close to the government and Zhao Jun, it may be possible for our descendants to benefit from the government."

"Maybe we were wrong from the beginning. The Song Dynasty is no longer the same as before. Since there is a bright future, we cannot block this road. That would be like a mantis trying to stop a chariot. Maybe it will work if we change the way."

"I plan to advise the government to set up a department in the Song Dynasty to coordinate the country. Zhao Jun will be in charge of planning, and we will assist him. He Plan the future development of the Song Dynasty and coordinate the construction of industry, commerce, law and other aspects. "

"People's energy is limited. Can Zhao Jun manage the affairs of the world by coordinating national affairs?"

"What's more, once he enters the officialdom, he will have to deal with all officials. As long as the method is appropriate, at least the literati will be safe for 20 years."

After Lu Yijian finished speaking, he looked around and said, "Even after a few years, the Qingli New Deal may be fine. At most, a large number of incompetent officials and corrupt officials will be dismissed. This is not a bad thing for our Song Dynasty, nor does it damage the foundation of the literati."

After hearing this, everyone suddenly became thoughtful.

They understood what Lu Yijian meant.

The way they chose before was actually half-confrontation.

They hoped to pull Zhao Jun into their camp and turn him into a literati, so as to prevent him from killing the literati.

But Zhao Jun obviously had no such intention. Even if he took the imperial examination, who knew if this was a means to fool them?

At least he did not follow their arrangements step by step, nor did he follow their instructions honestly, but kept fooling the emperor, asking the emperor to bypass the officialdom and give him other powers.

So what can Lü Yijian and others do?

No way.

Unless Zhao Jun is assassinated.

But this is tantamount to a complete break between the entire scholar-official class and the government.

Given the importance the government attaches to Zhao Jun now, if such a thing really happens, I am afraid that Song Renzong will become Ming Taizu by then.

So Lü Yijian and others dare not gamble, nor dare to really turn a life-and-death situation with Zhao Jun and the emperor.

Moreover, they have been with Zhao Jun for so many days and know that Zhao Jun is a person who is soft and not hard. There is really no need for both sides to fight to the death.

So.

Since Zhao Jun can't integrate with them.

Why can't they integrate with Zhao Jun?

If you can't beat him, then join him!

As long as you have a good relationship with Zhao Jun and establish a deep friendship, many things can be said.

For many things, they can also influence Zhao Jun by themselves.

Even if I am gone in the future, for their sake, I can't ignore the descendants of my old friend.

Isn't this a kind of human relationship?

The only difference is that they were a little arrogant before.

Even if Zhao Jun is a later generation, they hope that Zhao Jun will be their successor, not above them.

But compared to their own interests.

Sometimes, lowering your posture is not a bad thing.

For a while, everyone's thoughts suddenly became clear.

When the thought of joining Zhao came up, the world was wide open!