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

There has been no change in the court in recent days.

The Political System Council has been established.

The imagined new official did not start his new job.

It seems that the new Political System Council is just like the previous Political Affairs Hall, and the prime minister has just moved to a new place to work.

The only difference is that the Political System Council has recently transferred some officials from various departments to the Council.

Then it is required that all departments submit data from recent years in a unified manner.

On September 16, the Political System Council had been established for more than ten days. On this day, in the Sansi Yamen.

The Sansi Yamen is located in the Duanli Gate of the Imperial Palace. From the Duanli Gate, you can see two rows of palaces on the left and right, and there are four more behind the four large palaces.

According to the "Dongjing Menghualu", this is the highest institution of the Song Dynasty, the office of the Privy Council, the Secretariat, the Dushitang, the Ministry of Personnel, and the Sansi Yamen.

The palace of the Sansi Yamen is very large, with dozens of large and small rooms densely packed inside, with various official documents and materials placed.

There are many officials in the main hall copying official documents.

As the financial center of the country, the Three Departments are responsible for the financial statistics of the entire Song Dynasty every day, from the official salary expenditure to the military expenditure, all of which are under their jurisdiction.

In addition to these, the rest of the land tax, tariffs, lijin, monopoly, household registration, land, etc. are all within the scope of the Three Departments.

By analogy, the Three Departments of the Song Dynasty are like the Ministry of Revenue in the Ming and Qing Dynasties and the Ministry of Finance and Civil Affairs in later generations.

Among them, the Three Departments are divided into Salt and Iron, Duzhi, and Hubu. The current Three Departments Envoy is Cheng Lin, known as the Minister of Accounts. The Deputy Envoys of the Three Departments are Liu Yuanyu, Deputy Envoy of Salt and Money, Xia Song, Deputy Envoy of Duzhi, and Yan Shu, Deputy Envoy of Hubu.

In terms of status, the Minister of Accounts of the Three Departments is second only to the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, and Prime Minister. His political status is basically maintained between the third and second ranks, and he is one of the highest-level officials in the Song Dynasty.

The current Sansi Yamen is the headquarters.

As a huge organization, the Sansi has more than 20 subordinate offices including the Dumokansi, Duzhujuezhishousi, Jushousi, Duliqiansi, Dupingyousi, Kaichaisi, Yasi Jurisdiction Officer, Goudanggongshi, Sansi Tuikangongshi, Goudanggesi Officials, etc.

There is even a standing army in it, which is responsible for the transportation management of food, fodder, and materials for the imperial army, etc., called the Mabujun Grain and Material Court Officer and Goudang Mabujun Special Gousi Officer.

Therefore, in terms of authority, the Sansi has great power.

At this moment, in the Sansi Yamen, hundreds of officials are doing their own jobs, transcribing and managing the official documents reported from all over the country today. Some lower-level officials can handle them, and those who cannot handle them will be reported to the deputy envoy or the official historian for review.

In terms of workload, unless they are like Zhu Yuanzhang, who is meticulous, the emperors and officials in ancient times don’t have to be too tired. Small matters are basically handled by the people below, and only major matters are decided by them.

Cheng Lin was reading official documents in the exclusive office in the backyard of the Third Division. Liu Yuanyu went in to hand over a relatively important document. When he came out, he happened to meet Xia Song, and the two chatted in the corridor.

It was late autumn, and the autumn wind was bleak, blowing the branches and leaves in the courtyard rustling, and many yellow leaves fell.

The corridor was quiet, because it was connected to Cheng Lin's office, and no one else came and went.

Liu Yuanyu saw Xia Song coming towards him with a few documents in his hand, and said: "Mr. Ziqiao, why do you go to deliver documents to Mr. Cheng in person? Just let others do this."

Xia Song looked at the bruises on Liu Yuanyu's face, which were caused by Wu Yu's beating some time ago, and smiled and said: "Didn't Mr. Zizheng go in person?"

"I"

Liu Yuanyu was speechless for a moment. He went to find Cheng Lin for something else.

But it seems that Xia Song went to find Cheng Lin to discuss something.

After a moment of hesitation, he whispered, "Master Ziqiao is also going to talk to Master Cheng about the Political System Council."

"That's not the case."

Xia Song looked around and said, "It's just that Master Tong has been less in the past few days. Some of the official affairs of their Ministry of Revenue are now handed over to me, so I still have to ask Master Cheng's opinion on some major matters."

Liu Yuanyu sneered, "Now Yan Tongshu is the alternate co-director of the Political System Council, which is equivalent to the deputy prime minister. We say it better outside as the deputy prime minister, but how can the deputy prime minister compare to the deputy prime minister? If we go one step further, won't we be able to control all officials in the world?"

He meant something.

Some time ago, the government suddenly announced the establishment of the Political System Council, and a mysterious and unknown Imperial City Director was appointed as the director of the Council, controlling all officials in the world and handling all government affairs except military affairs, comparable to the prime minister in ancient times.

This is difficult for many officials to accept.

Although Cai Jing in the late Northern Song Dynasty and Qin Hui in the early Southern Song Dynasty had both achieved great power, they did not rise to power from the beginning.

They all flattered their superiors, then rose step by step, excluded dissidents, suppressed political enemies, and finally cultivated a group of corrupt officials who supported them, so that they could monopolize power.

Zhao Jun was completely different. He was parachuted in and had no foundation in the officialdom.

If it were not for the power of Zhao Zhen and the three prime ministers, I am afraid that the civil and military officials in the court would not support him. Even if he was forced to be appointed by the Zhongshumenxia, ​​he would be nothing more than a commander without troops.

So many people were dissatisfied with the leadership of the Zhengzhiyuan.

After all, even the three prime ministers had political enemies, not to mention this boss who suddenly appeared. How could those ambitious officials accept this?

Xia Song heard Liu Yuanyu's words and said noncommittally: "No matter what, this political institution is established by the government. Many ministers also agree and support it. Can we change anything? I heard that Wu Yudu was transferred. The Constitutional Yuan is establishing a new department called the Statistics Department, and the Constitutional Yuan is recruiting many officials. "

"snort."

Mentioning Wu Yu, Liu Yuanyu snorted coldly and said: "How can an official be so unfair? Wu Yu beat his colleagues in Chui Gong Hall, despised His Majesty Long Wei, and was only fined three months' salary, and now he is transferred out of Taichang Liyuan. It’s really lawless.”

Xia Song smiled and said: "Who wants people to have good local political achievements? The Constitutional Yuan has obtained the list of officials from all over the world from the Ministry of Personnel. They have outstanding local political achievements and hold idle positions. Most of them have been transferred now. I don't know what their plans are. How to arrange these people, but I guess it will not be too bad, maybe they will be promoted. "

Hearing that Wu Yu might be promoted, Liu Yuanyu became even more angry. He walked up and down the corridor irritably, then frowned and said, "Are we just watching like this without doing anything? This Constitutional Yuan is too ridiculous. The official family should be removed, how can there be such a place? "

"Who knows what the officials are thinking. Maybe it was Zhao Jun or Lu Yijian who confused the officials."

Xia Song whispered.

Now that there are only two of us here, we are not afraid of being known by outsiders.

And he is different from Liu Yuanyu. Liu Yuanyu was a corrupt official in history. History books record: "Yuanyu was greedy in nature, sold forbidden things to his best, and fought for power with others, which was despised by current commentators."

Because Liu Yuanyu secretly sold prohibited items and was prone to fighting for power and profit, his character was relatively poor and he was not popular among his colleagues.

On the other hand, Xia Song was listed as a traitor in history books, but at that time he always had a clean reputation.

People at the time commented that he had "outstanding literary talent, extraordinary talents, and a true prime minister!" Even Fan Zhongyan recommended him. Later, Fan Zhongyan even wrote to thank him for "the talent of the mountains and the wilderness, and the recommendation of a deputy hero."

At least before the conflict broke out between Qingli's New Deal and Fan Zhongyan's New Party, Xia Song had always maintained a low-key, pragmatic, talented and virtuous persona.

Unlike Liu Yuanyu, his reputation in official circles is relatively poor.

Therefore, even if the content of today's conversation is spread, the world will probably believe him but not Liu Yuanyu.

Hearing Xia Song's words, Liu Yuanyu took it seriously and said: "It must be Zhao Jun who colluded with Lu Yijian and others to deceive the officials. I want to make another report and ask the officials to depose the political system Yuan and the Imperial City Department. I must not let Xiao Xiaoxiao. To bring trouble to the court."

Xia Song hurriedly said: "This must not be the case. Now that the officials have been deceived by them, they must believe them and not you. If we continue to report at this time, wouldn't it make the officials unhappy?"

"What does Yizi Qiao Gong mean?"

Liu Yuanyu asked hurriedly: "Does Mr. Qiao have any good ideas?"

"Well"

Xia Song began to think deeply.

Logically speaking, there is no conflict between him and Zhao Jun, there is no need to go against Zhao Jun.

The problem is that he and Lu Yijian are political enemies.

In the early years when Liu E came to the court, Lu Yijian supported Zhao Zhen's pro-government, while Xia Song was a person of Empress Dowager Liu and supported Empress Dowager Liu in taking power.

Therefore, Lu Yijian repeatedly impeached Xia Song and wanted to dismiss him from office.

Xia Song always remembered this.

In addition, Xia Song is a person with a strong desire for power and has always coveted the position of prime minister. If Lu Yijian and others are not defeated, he will not be able to get ahead.

Now the political enemy Lu Yijian is not only a very popular minister, he is even more exaggerated than before. After supporting Zhao Jun to take charge of the Political Yuan, he actually became the second person in the Political Yuan, with the power to control all officials.

This is outrageous.

While Xia Song was envious and resentful, he was also thinking about how to bring down Lu Yijian and Zhao Jun. Although he did not seek the status of the President of the Constitutional Academy, it would be extremely important if he could maintain an equal relationship with Tong Zhongshu. Good thing.

Thinking of this, Xia Song whispered: "I'm afraid this matter will not be easy to handle. Now that the officials trust them, direct impeachment may not be effective. In my opinion, we should act according to the situation."

"Play it by ear?"

Liu Yuanyu wondered: "How to act according to the situation?"

Xia Song said: "I don't know who this Zhao Jun is, nor his background. Now he has a great reputation in Bianliang. It will be difficult for him to be removed from office due to impeachment. Moreover, the Constitutional Yuan has now restrained all officials. , If they disobey the orders of the Constitutional Yuan, they may be given a handle and the officials may be unhappy.”

"this"

Liu Yuanyu sighed: "Yes, I went to see Mr. Cheng this time because I also wanted to ask. This time, the Constitutional Yuan came down with a document and asked us to sort out the counts of the past few years and send them to the Constitutional Yuan. Can we refuse? , on the grounds that the Third Division always only obeys the officials, they don’t listen to what they do.”

"Then what did Mr. Cheng say?"

Xia Song asked.

"Mr. Cheng is cautious and doesn't want to do this. He has already asked us to sort out the count."

Liu Yuanyu shrugged.

Xia Song thought about it and said, "Well, Mr. Cheng doesn't want to be such a bad person even if he wants to. Now that the Constitutional Yuan is newly established, he may want to establish his authority. In fact, there is no need for us to come forward. We can just wait and see what happens."

Liu Yuanyu said fiercely: "I just can't swallow this breath. This Zhao Jun is just a kid with a yellow mouth, how can he be in a high position?"

"What Zi Zhenggong thinks is also what most of our colleagues think."

Xia Song smiled and then said, "In that case, I have an idea."

"oh?"

Liu Yuanyu asked hurriedly: "Mr. Zi Qiao, tell me quickly."

Xia Song came up with an idea like a dog-headed military strategist: "The Political System Council will not do anything big this year. It will probably check the counts of various departments first, browse the amounts of previous years, and start implementing some new policies next year. What do you think should be done if the counts are wrong, chaotic, mixed up, and the policies are bad?"

"What do you mean?"

Liu Yuanyu's eyes widened immediately.

Xia Song smiled and said: "People always make mistakes. You can't blame the people of the three departments for not sorting them out, right?"

Liu Yuanyu immediately understood and nodded with a smile: "Mr. Ziqiao has a good plan."

He then bowed and said: "I still have some things to do in the Salt and Money Department, so I won't bother Mr. Ziqiao. I will host a banquet for you tomorrow."

"Okay, okay."

Xia Song nodded.

Liu Yuanyu left happily.

Looking at his back as he left, Xia Song narrowed his eyes.

Historically, his way of dealing with the New Party was to frame people. He first framed Fan Zhongyan and his party as a clique, and then asked the maid to imitate Shi Jie's notes and spread rumors that Fu Bi was planning a rebellion.

Although this was risky, it did make him successful, which was enough to show that Xia Song was a person who was good at using conspiracies and tricks.

Or it could be said that the scholar-officials at that time still cared more about their reputations, and it was Xia Song who found a breakthrough.

This was related to the fact that Xia Song was not an orthodox literati.

Compared with the uprightness of some scholar-officials in the Song Dynasty, Xia Song could indeed do whatever it took to achieve his goals.

And the current situation is that he can't achieve his goal by framing Zhao Jun for rebellion.

After all, he can be said to have no idea about Zhao Jun, and he is the boss of the Imperial City Division, and he is much better than him in intelligence work.

It would be good if Zhao Jun didn't frame him, how could he be framed by him?

So he had to think of another way.

Since he wanted to bring down Zhao Jun and Lu Yijian and others and destroy this suddenly emerging Political System Institute, what better way was there than to have a big problem with the administration of the Political System Institute?

As long as there is a problem with the policy of the Constitutional Council, it will bring disaster to the country and the people, and all the officials will rise up to attack. Even if the government trusts Zhao Jun and Lu Yijian, it will be hesitant.

If he attacks again at that time, I am afraid that Zhao Jun, Lu Yijian and other political enemies will be dismissed soon, and then his chances of taking over will naturally be very high.

Therefore, in the face of these political enemies, he must make a move behind the scenes.

However, from the perspective of luring Liu Yuanyu, it is actually a bit stupid.

After all, only submitting wrong and chaotic statistics may not cause too much trouble to the Constitutional Council.

The smart way is to hide first, wait and see, and wait for the Constitutional Council to issue policies in the future, and then secretly sabotage.

But Xia Song still helped Liu Yuanyu with ideas.

The main purpose is to see how the Constitutional Council will deal with it and test the ability of Zhao Jun.

Anyway, he just mentioned this matter casually. Even if something happens in the future, the government and the Constitutional Council want to punish Liu Yuanyu. Given Liu Yuanyu's character among the officials, no one will believe it.

At that time, he would distance himself from Liu Yuanyu and say that Liu Yuanyu had a grudge against him and was just trying to get close to him.

So it was just a casual move to see how the other party would react.