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

If there is anything major happening in the court recently, it must be that the Zuosi, the Court of Examining Officials, the Ministry of Personnel, and the Three Classes Court dismissed dozens of middle and lower-level officials in the name of mediocrity.

But what is incredible is that this incident was investigated by Fan Zhongyan in a very high-profile manner, and the Imperial City Department fully cooperated.

Fan Zhongyan personally went to various government offices to supervise all officials, and severely punished the phenomenon of lazy and indolent politics. Many officials were the top or second in command in their own departments. They were not active at work and were also lazy in handling government affairs. Fan Zhongyan found an excuse to dismiss them.

This was obviously an act of exceeding one's duties, but the Censorate remained silent. The two big brothers of the Censorate, Yan Shu, the Chief Censor, and Jia Changchao, the Acting Chief Censor, accompanied Fan Zhongyan throughout the whole process and helped him clear the way.

You must know that these two are both members of the Lu Party, and many officials dismissed by Fan Zhongyan are also members of the Lu Party. Letting them support Fan Zhongyan, isn't this just tearing down their own platform?

So many officials came to their senses.

As the mortal enemy of the Lu Party, Prime Minister Lu would never allow Fan Zhongyan to do such a thing. Moreover, Fan Zhongyan himself did not have the power to dismiss officials. He did not even have any powerful position in the Ministry of Personnel and was not qualified to do these things.

But he was able to do this, which could only mean one thing - there was another big boss behind Fan Zhongyan.

Who?

Of course, it was the current emperor.

Apart from that official, who could use the Imperial City Department, who dared to make a move on Prime Minister Lu?

But after thinking through this, the officials in the capital were puzzled.

Two days ago, Fan Zhongyan impeached Lu Yijian and was dismissed. At that time, everyone thought that Lu Yijian was favored by the emperor. How come the wind direction of the court changed in just two days?

This changed too quickly.

Soon, some smart people understood the reason... His Majesty suppressed Fan Zhongyan on the surface, but in fact, he still gave them both fifty lashes. He probably used this as an excuse to weaken the strength of the Lu Party. Lu Yijian probably knew it, so he simply went with the flow and asked Yan Shu and Jia Changchao to cooperate with him.

For a while, they all sighed in their hearts that His Majesty's imperial mind was really unfathomable. Even though Lu Yijian had won the emperor's heart so much and accompanied His Majesty through the hardships, he still couldn't escape the fate of being liquidated in the end, and his later years were somewhat bleak.

Fortunately, although the Lu Party suffered a big blow, its strength and foundation were not damaged. Because most of the senior officials of the Lu Party were not dealt with, the high-level power was preserved, and Lu Xiang would not become isolated and helpless in the court. Therefore, this result might not be unacceptable to him.

The only difference is that the views of the court and the public on Lu Yijian and Fan Zhongyan soon changed again. The officials who had originally flattered Lu Yijian and impeached Fan Zhongyan in writing suddenly began to change their direction and began to write to praise Fan Zhongyan.

Officials in the imperial court have always been like this without a stance.

They will help whoever wins.

On May 3, the third year of Jingyou, Fan Zhongyan, who had been busy all day, sat in a sedan chair. In the early Northern Song Dynasty, officials mainly rode horses or carriages. But in the middle period, sedan chairs became popular because the Northern Song Dynasty lacked horses and had abundant human resources, so it was obviously more cost-effective to hire sedan chair bearers.

At this moment, the sedan chair left the Liang Gate of the inner city. It was still afternoon. People were coming and going in the streets. All kinds of vehicles were coming in and out of the wide roads. Shops were open with umbrellas and signs hanging outside. Voices with various accents from the east, south, west and north were spread throughout the market.

Fan Zhongyan sat in the sedan chair and closed his eyes to rest.

The Song Dynasty implemented a policy of high salaries to maintain integrity. The monthly salary of officials was very exaggerated. An ordinary official of the sixth or seventh rank had several official titles such as Ji Luguan, Sanguan, Gongguan, Tiezhi and Chashi. The salary, allowances and subsidies added up to one month could equal the income of an ordinary family for a year or even several years.

In addition, Song Dynasty officials also basically did business legally, and they had a lot of shops and land under their control.

So there were indeed few high-level corrupt officials in the Song Dynasty. After all, if you convert it into later generations, you have a salary of hundreds of thousands of yuan a month plus the income from shops and land. If you take risks for a bribe of 500,000 yuan, the risk and cost of crime are too great. Once the corruption is investigated, it is really not worth it.

Therefore, there are basically no corrupt officials among those investigated. Only a few were found to have abused their power, and most of them were dismissed for doing nothing and having no political achievements.

The list was also carefully determined by Fan Zhongyan.

There are more than a hundred officials of the Lu Party? But most of the officials are officials without real power or unimportant positions. These people have little significance, and naturally there is no need to dismiss them.

He dismissed the Lu Party in important departments such as the Twenty-Four Departments, the Three Classes Court, and the Censorate, which belong to the composition of the middle and lower-level power institutions of the Lu Party.

Cutting these people off is a heavy blow to the middle and lower-level power of the Lu Party in Bianliang.

Therefore, this time it can be said that the party struggle won a great victory.

But Fan Zhongyan did not feel complacent about this victory.

Because he understood that the Lü Party could not be considered a political party formed around Lü Yijian from the beginning to the end, but should be considered an alliance formed by Lü Yijian and their common interests.

Just like the relationship between Fan Zhongyan and Ouyang Xiu, these people may not all obey Lü Yijian's orders, but if Fan Zhongyan wants to launch a reform, then they will definitely stick together with Lü Yijian and resist the development of the reform.

So it is not enough to just destroy some middle and lower-level officials with real power in Lü Yijian's faction. If we really want to carry out reforms without obstacles in the future, none of the people on the list mentioned by Zhao Jun can be spared.

Fan Zhongyan looked resolute and thought seriously.

The road to reform.

The task is arduous and the road is long.

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"The economy and culture of the Song Dynasty were indeed at the peak of all dynasties. Ouyang Xiu once said: "The foot soldiers wore clothes similar to those of scholars, and the farmers wore silk shoes", but its military weakness was also a fact."

"The economy and culture of the Ming Dynasty were not as good as those of the Song Dynasty, but the emperor guarded the country and the king died for the country. The last emperor Chongzhen was unwilling to move south until his death. He was incompetent. For this reason, the Ming Dynasty was also the most powerful dynasty since the Han and Tang Dynasties."

"To be honest, I have always believed that the Song Dynasty was an era with great plasticity. Although it had many problems, its science and technology and industrial and commercial development had reached the peak of the feudal dynasty. Trade, cultural development, sufficient labor force, and high productivity are all points that can be studied."

"For example, take navigation. The navigation technology of the Song Dynasty can be said to be the strongest in the world. Through the ocean, it can completely conquer Southeast Asia and the East. South Asia is very suitable for growing rice. It is easy to grow two or even three crops a year. Attracting domestic refugees to Southeast Asia to grow food and then transport it back to China will solve the labor and food problems, right? "

"The low food price has dealt a heavy blow to the landlord class. The Song Dynasty's "no land system and no suppression of mergers and acquisitions" made the land legally concentrated in the hands of landlords, promoted intensive land management, and gave rise to a large number of surplus labor. If food is cheap, labor will be unwilling to cultivate the land, and the landlord's land will be uncultivated. "

"In order to retain labor, landlords have to offer higher salaries and better conditions to attract young and strong people to help them cultivate. This further suppresses the profits of the landlord class, and the lives of the lower-class people will be better. Even if there are such things as unscrupulous landlords and capitalists, the general trend is still stable. . "

"The most troublesome thing is the lack of pioneering spirit in the Song Dynasty. Although our country is known as the Celestial Empire and is rich in products. But in fact, the precious metals gold, silver and copper needed in ancient times were still very scarce. The birth of Jiaozi was due to the economic prosperity and the shortage of coins, so paper currency transactions began to appear. "

"However, Jiaozi can only be issued for bulk goods and particularly reputable businesses. For ordinary people, copper coins are definitely more valuable. So if you want a more prosperous economy, you should actively explore and occupy more places. "

"For example, Japan is rich in silver mines. I remember there is an Iwami silver mine there, which accounted for one-third of the world's silver production in the 17th century. There are also many copper and gold mines. If Japan is occupied and a large number of immigrants are in, it will definitely be richer. "

"And India and Southeast Asia, obviously It is close, shipping is also developed, more immigrants, the expansion of the Maritime Silk Road, and Southeast Asia becomes the back garden of the Song Dynasty. The economic and agricultural levels will naturally be improved. "

"It's just that the military aspect is a bit of a headache. The emperor of the Song Dynasty has too much control over the military power. The soldiers don't know the generals, and the generals don't know the soldiers. It's probably very difficult to improve this problem."

"Maybe we can only start with weapons and equipment, such as firearms. Didn't the Song Dynasty invent the prototype of the musket, the fire lance? Their steel production was also the world's first at the time. If they had musket technology, they could rely on handmade guns, ammunition and artillery to deal with nomadic peoples. "

"Of course, these are all nonsense. After all, I'm just a history student, and I wasn't born in the Song Dynasty. I can only understand their real situation and specific development level through history books. I don't know much about them. "

"So if you want to hear how the Song Dynasty should be strong and how it should develop, I'll talk nonsense and talk casually. You just listen for fun. "

Zhao Jun sat on the edge of the bed, one foot on the bed, one foot on the ground, holding a rice plate in his hand, talking eloquently.

Today Yan Shu came again to ask how to make the Song Dynasty grow stronger.

Although this question is very strange, because they are now in New China, not in the Song Dynasty, asking how the Song Dynasty should grow stronger seems to be meaningless?

But anyway, he is idle, so he just talks nonsense, no matter whether what he proposes is reliable or not, just talk nonsense. After all, he is not really in the Song Dynasty. Can talking nonsense in New China still affect the Song Dynasty a thousand years ago?

Yan Shu wrote down all the things he said. Today Zhao Zhen and his friends are not here, and the emperor and ministers of the Song Dynasty cannot stay in the back garden every day, so he needs him to record and report to Zhao Zhen.

Speaking of which, Zhao Jun has been in the Song Dynasty for more than ten days. His injuries have improved a lot, and he can get out of bed and walk around. These two days Yan Shu also took him for a stroll in the corridor outside.

It's just that Zhao What Jun certainly could not have imagined was that he was really in the Song Dynasty now, and because of his appearance, the history of the Song Dynasty had already shifted briefly.

In May of the third year of Jingyou, the lower and middle levels of the Lü Party suffered a heavy blow. Although Fan Zhongyan was demoted, he was not transferred out of Bianliang.

Even with Fan Zhongyan's recommendation, another pioneer of the reformists was transferred back to the capital.

Fu Bi, the Tongpan of Jiangzhou, who was Yan Shu's son-in-law, was appointed as the prosecutor of Kaifeng Prefecture and became one of the censors in the Jianyuan, replacing the vacancy of the Lü Party who was previously dismissed.

Obviously.

With the indirect help of Zhao Jun, the Emperor of the Song Dynasty has made up his mind to support the Qingli New Deal to the end. At present, he has begun to lay out in advance and promote reformist officials to pave the way for the new deal in the future.

Even if these old people of the Lü Party knew that it would harm their own interests, they had to give in to the interests of the country and keep silent.

Zhao Jun, who has only been here for more than ten days, has already begun to change the political arena of the Song Dynasty invisibly.