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

After returning to the Imperial City Division, Zhao Jun issued an order to let the police officers below cooperate with the Kaifeng Mansion to officially start the operation.

The next morning.

In the Chui Gong Hall, hundreds of officials went to court to play the duel.

Zhao Zhen sat on the dragon chair, overlooking the court officials below.

After the normal state affairs were handled, Qian Zhengwei, the minister of Dali Temple, wrote a letter requesting the three halls to join the province.

In recent days, the government and the public have been in a state of commotion because of Zhao Jun's affairs.

Originally, the official delegation of power to the Imperial City Division aroused extreme dissatisfaction among the bureaucrats and scholar-bureaucrats, who all opposed it.

But Zhao Jun handed over a large amount of incriminating evidence and quickly silenced everyone.

Mainly because the evidence is shocking.

Even what Fan Zhongyan found was just the tip of the iceberg, and there were more that had not been dug out, which showed how much filth was hidden inside.

After Zhao Jun used the evidence provided by Fan Zhongyan to arrest someone, he tortured him severely. Even Han Zong of the Han family was not spared. He was served with tiger stool and pepper water, and soon all the necessary measures were taken.

After the evidence was presented, the whole court was shocked, and no one dared to intercede for those people.

Moreover, the Imperial City Division has followed the lead and arrested several people involved, including Yang Ruoyun, the supervisory censor, and Liu Wencai, the supervisory censor.

We even found out that several officials and officials from the three divisions were involved in corruption, corruption, and perversion of the law, colluding with each other to harm the people. This fact makes people even more frightened. Check it on your own head.

But the officials supported the Imperial City Division to investigate Kaifeng Mansion, and Dali Temple could no longer sit still.

After all, the Imperial City Division has been too dazzling in recent times. As the highest judicial institution of the Song Dynasty, Dali Temple will become useless if this continues, so they must get involved.

"Officials, Dali Temple is in charge of prison trials. Now the Imperial City Division is ramping up criminal cases in Bianliang. It is said that there are some injustices among them. If only the Imperial City Division is allowed to try alone, it is inevitable that innocent people will be wronged. Therefore, I request you to contact Kaifeng The government and the Imperial City Department will review the case together.”

Qian Zhengwei wrote a letter saying.

Zhao Zhen thought about it and felt that the other party's reason was legitimate and difficult to refuse, so he said, "Then let's follow what Qian Qing said."

"I request that the Imperial City Department be abolished."

The right remonstrating official and Tongzhi Privy Councilor Wang Zong wrote: "Although the Imperial City Division has discovered a major case in Kaifeng Mansion, the official family cannot always use this villain as their eyes and ears. They should listen more to the words of the scholar-bureaucrats."

Zhao Zhen glanced at him and said calmly: "The Imperial City Division does not only monitor hundreds of officials, but also often uses it to stabilize places. I have great use, so don't mention this matter again."

Ma Jiliang, who was waiting to be made in Longtuge, wrote a letter: "Officials, after the new tea legal system, merchants often offered tea at low prices. They also drove up the price of tea in Bianliang, making the price of tea falsely high, making the people miserable, and they also asked the officials The family will close the market and stop the cross-exchange policy.”

Zhao Zhen knew that Ma Jiliang's family was a tea merchant, and the implementation of the new law had a great impact on tea merchants. After Li Shen strictly followed the new tea law, the number of people who opened tea this year was much higher than before.

The main reason is that tea leaves can only be obtained through the cross-fertilization method, and it is difficult for ordinary tea merchants to obtain tea leaves through other means. Therefore, they have to give in and buy grains and send them to the border in exchange for tea leaves, causing conflicts among fellow tea merchants. The Ma family is under a lot of pressure.

After all, the Ma family can use their power for personal gain and do not need to obtain tea through cross-referral methods, but ordinary businessmen cannot. Under involution competition, the Ma family's business will be greatly affected. Therefore, once the cross-citation method is stopped, ordinary merchants will not be able to get more tea, which will cause the price of tea to rise.

Other officials couldn't say anything because of Ma Jiliang's face. But Zhao Zhen now understands a lot of things, how could he still be deceived by the other party.

At that moment, he said coldly: "The cross-citation law is a national policy, and it needs to be used to supplement the food and grass for the border army. How can it be closed? This matter should continue, and the border army must not be short of food and grass."

"yes."

Ma Jiliang went back angrily. He didn't expect that the officials were so smart now and it was hard to fool them.

Then the courtier said something else.

When it was almost done, Zhao Zhen gave Lu Yijian a look.

Lu Yijian agreed, went out and bowed his hands to Zhao Zhen and said: "In the official family, there are many shortcomings in the Song Dynasty, which are all caused by excessive decentralization of power. The Political Affairs Hall, the Sansi Yamen, and the Privy Council all do their own things. The government orders cannot be unified, which has caused the whole country to Government affairs in various places are in chaos, and legal systems, government orders, and military affairs are all loose."

"oh?"

Zhao Zhen pretended not to know: "What should we do?"

"I would like to ask that a new department be established to coordinate all departments in the Song Dynasty so that everyone can work together as one."

Lu Yijian said calmly.

When these words came out, all the officials were shocked and looked at Lu Yijian in disbelief.

The Song Dynasty has always had a separation of three powers. Administrative power, military power, and financial power were all separated. Not only these three powers, but also judicial power also belonged to the separation of three powers.

Local yamen are responsible for arresting people. Trials of ordinary cases are basically handed over to the local county yamen, state yamen and the Criminal Division, the highest judicial body in the province. Murder or other serious crimes must be reported to the Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple, which will ultimately be reviewed by Dali Temple.

In other words, the situation of judicial power in the Song Dynasty was that the local yamen, the Criminal Division, the Criminal Department, and the Dali Temple were independent, and they exchanged the powers of review, arrest, trial, and verification respectively.

Each of the four departments has some functions of the police station, court and Supervisory Yuan, so as to superpose power and check each other.

In the Song Dynasty, where decentralization of power was so serious, it was because the emperor needed to strengthen his imperial power.

Although the scholar-official class held most of the power, it could not threaten the imperial power because it was internally divided and could not be unified.

Therefore, the emperor of the Song Dynasty was most worried about the unified power of the scholar-bureaucrat class.

For example, in the Tang Dynasty, which was similar to most systems of the Song Dynasty, the prime minister had relatively great power. The Song Dynasty learned from the lessons of the Tang Dynasty, divided the power of the prime minister, and strengthened the imperial autocratic power.

Now Lu Yijian is asking for the establishment of a new department. Isn't it the same as the prime minister system of the Tang Dynasty?

Could it be that Prime Minister Lu wants to restore the Tang system?

Then the officials must not be angry?

Thinking of this, officials from Lu Yijian's group were worried.

But officials from other factions secretly rejoiced and gloated over the misfortune.

There are even many censors and admonishers who are eager to try.

Once the officials refused, they immediately attacked in groups, impeaching Lu Yijian for deceiving the emperor and having evil intentions.

"Yeah, it's accurate!"

Zhao Zhen agreed without hesitation, as if he was afraid that Lu Yijian would regret it if he was delayed for a second.

"Officials, ministers impeach."

Almost at the moment Zhao Zhen agreed, a censor came out.

But as soon as he opened his mouth, he suddenly felt something was wrong. Then he raised his head and looked at Zhao Zhen with a surprised look on his face and said, "Wait a minute. Official, is my ear broken? What did the official say just now?"

"I said it will be played accurately!"

Zhao Zhen repeated it again, and then said: "From now on, the Constitutional Yuan was established, located above the Political Affairs Hall, the Third Sisi Mansion, and the Privy Council, to coordinate all affairs of the Song Dynasty."

"How can the officials play this accurately?"

"Didn't the Constitutional Yuan restore the Tang Dynasty system?"

"If anyone knew the Constitutional Yuan, their power would be the same as that of the prime minister."

All the officials below were immediately shocked, and they were all extremely shocked.

The newly established Constitutional Yuan coordinated all affairs across the country, which was similar to the system of the Tang Dynasty. It was even more powerful than the prime ministers of the Tang Dynasty, and comparable to the prime ministers of the Han Dynasty.

Isn’t this decentralizing imperial power?

How could the officials agree?

At that moment, someone immediately stood up and said: "Officials, you must not do this. In the Tang Dynasty, the prime minister was removed from the political hall, which caused the country to be in chaos. Li Linfu, Yang Guozhong, Lu Qi and others were all working to bring trouble to the government. We must not let the prime minister monopolize power."

"There is no difference between the Constitutional Yuan and the Political Affairs Hall, and they even have more power. How is this different from the prime ministers in ancient times? If there is a traitor, wouldn't it be harmful to the country of the Song Dynasty?"

"That's nonsense. Since taking office, Prime Minister Lu has been working hard and forgetting to eat and sleep. How can he not be a member of the Constitutional Yuan?"

"Now that the Song Dynasty is suffering from internal and external troubles, it needs Prime Minister Lu to make arbitrary decisions!"

"Haha, Fan Xiwen is right. Lu Yijian is a traitor. In the past, he only promoted his disciples and made everyone in the dynasty his disciples. Now he actually deceives the officials and wants to seize power. What is his motive?"

"Du Yan, what do you mean?"

"What do I mean? You know it!"

The officials below were in a quarrel, with various parties fighting and yelling at each other.

Although Lu Dang has considerable influence in the court, he cannot cover the sky with one hand after all, and there are many political enemies within. Therefore, Lu Yijian's suggestion was quickly criticized by hundreds of officials. Even if Lu Dang defended it, he could not stop Youyou from speaking out.

"Ding ding ding ding!"

Wang Shouzhong struck the copper bell, and the crisp sound resounded throughout the Chui Gong Hall.

The officials slowly became quiet.

"alright."

Zhao Zhen said in a deep voice: "Everyone is arguing endlessly in the court. How is it unbecoming?"

Du Yan, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, said: "In the official family, setting up the prime minister's affairs will cause harm and must not be established again!"

"The affairs of the Constitutional Yuan are settled through discussion between me and all of you. It is for the purpose of coordinating major national affairs, so you don't have to quarrel."

Zhao Zhen looked around at the crowd and said, "I have made up my mind."

"I second the proposal!"

"I second the proposal!"

"I second the proposal!"

Wang Zeng, Wang Sui, Song Shou, Cai Qi, Sheng Du and even Yan Shu and Fan Zhongyan all stood up and agreed.

This made the officials even more dumbfounded.

Because Wang Zeng and Lu Yijian had always been at odds, Wang Sui and Sheng Du were not members of the Lu Party, and Fan Zhongyan was a sworn enemy of Lu Yijian.

Why did they all suddenly stand up to support Lu Yijian today? What happened?

In the court hall, Chen Yaozuo, Jia Changchao, Wang Gongchen, Zhang Dexiang, Chen Zhizhong, Liu Yuanyu, Li Shen, Wang Deyong, Cheng Lin and other senior officials from the three departments, the Privy Council, the Yushitai, and the Sixth Ministry looked at each other.

In fact, they are not necessarily in a group with the prime minister, and some of them are political enemies with them, but at this moment, they all look at each other, and they can see the doubts in each other's eyes.

These people are not stupid. As senior officials at this time, some of them will continue to serve as prime ministers or deputy prime ministers in the next few years. They must all be old foxes with a keen sense of smell.

The officials and the princes have been unusual in recent months, something they have noticed for a long time.

There are some things they also hope to be able to ask, but Lu Yijian and the others are closed behind closed doors, and even if they occasionally meet, they won't tell them anything when they ask them, which makes them very worried.

Now that I see the current situation, I am even more puzzled. Therefore, no one spoke, remained silent, and watched what happened.

He saw Zhao Zhen nodding his head and said: "The imperial edict is that from today onwards, a political institution will be established. There will be one person in the Zhiyuan, who will be above the prime ministers. There will be six Tongzhi, who will be compared to the Prime Minister, and two candidates who will be Tongzhi. Than the deputy prime minister.”

"The six prime ministers, Lu Yijian, Wang Zeng, Wang Sui, Song Shou, Cai Qi and Sheng Du, served as Tongzhi Zhiyuan and served as subordinates of Pingzhangshi and participated in political affairs. Yan Shu served as alternate Tongzhi Zhiyuan and the Minister of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Household Affairs. The deputy envoy of the third department, Fan Zhongyan, is the alternate magistrate of the Constitutional Yuan and the judge of Kaifeng Mansion! "

"As for Zhiyuan."

Zhao Zhen paused and looked around. He saw that everyone stretched their necks to look at him.

Some were surprised, some were puzzled, some were ecstatic, and some were looking forward to it.

Because none of them thought that the person in charge of the Political System Council was not Lü Yijian, but someone else.

If even Lü Yijian and the other ministers could not take charge of the Political System Council, does that mean that the controller of the Political System Council will be selected from the following people?

For a moment, many of the ministers, deputy ministers, prime ministers, and deputy prime ministers below were excited.

After all, the three officials and the privy envoys were already officials second only to the prime minister and the assistant minister. If there was no prime minister in the Political System Council, who else could there be besides them?

"Zhao Jun, the head of the Imperial City Department, was conferred the title of Duke of Song, led the Political System Council, and commanded the national government!"

Zhao Zhen said calmly.

In an instant, the officials below were in an uproar again.