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

In the third year of Jingyou's reign, at the beginning of the morning on April 12, 1036 AD, before dawn, Emperor Zhao Zhen of the Song Dynasty went to court in high spirits.

In the Tang Dynasty, Beijing officials had to go to court every day, but in the Song Dynasty, there were so many officials in the capital that it was too troublesome to go to court every day, so certain system changes were made.

Except for the ministers of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the ministers of the Ministry of Public Affairs, ministers of the Ministry of Secretariat, and officials above Zhongcheng of the Yushi Province, there are no fixed rules for other officials to go to court. Anyone who has something to report often comes to court.

Therefore, according to past customs, Yan Shu, as the censor Zhongcheng, is responsible for monitoring the words and deeds of all officials and observing the affairs of the officials, and should be there every day.

But what is more surprising is that he is not here today. Only a few censors from the censor station are on duty, staring at the officials who walked into Chuigong Hall, meticulously looking for their mistakes.

The officials entered the palace one by one. Chao Zongqi, a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy and a bachelor of Longtuge, had a good relationship with Yan Shu. Seeing that Yan Shu was not here today, he was a little puzzled and said to Jia Chang, the admonishing doctor and censor Zhongcheng, "Old Jia, why didn't Uncle Yan Tong come today?" towards?"

Jia Changchao was also puzzled and said to Chao Zongcai: "Uncle Yan Tong has been mysterious these days and doesn't come to the Yushitai. As a result, I am in charge of everything at the Yushitai. Today he doesn't even come to court, nor does he come to the Yushitai." Know what he's up to."

"Xiangong Lu and the others have been mysterious recently." Guo Zhen, a member of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Justice, glanced at King Lu Yijian who was standing at the front of the officials in the distance and followed them, and said in a low voice: "Privy Council, Zhongshu Province, Dushitang and others They haven’t gone much, now it’s all Duke Li, Duke Wang, Duke Han, Duke Zhang and Duke Cheng who are dealing with official affairs.”

The names Zhang Gong and Li Gong Chenggong mentioned by Guo Zhen refer to Li Zhen, the Privy Councilor, Wang Deyong and Han Yi, the Privy Councilor, Zhang Dexiang, the Deputy Privy Councilor, and Cheng Lin, the Third Secretary Cheng Lin.

The three ministers and three ministers often concurrently serve as the chief officials of the Privy Council, Zhongshu Province, and the Metropolitan Affairs Hall, and are responsible for national government affairs. The deputies of the three ministers and three ministers belong to the second and third leaders of each political office, and are sometimes called deputy prime ministers. He is one of the most senior officials of the Song Dynasty. Now that the three phases and three parameters are gone, only these deputies can take care of it.

"Guo Yuanwai Lang!"

A censor on duty not far away glared at Guo Zhen. He had no choice but to close his mouth and stand obediently in the court column.

"Your Majesty has arrived."

Following the eunuch's shout, many officials from Zhongshu Sheng, Privy Council, Third Division, Menxia Sheng, Kaifeng Mansion, Senxing Yuan, etc. all bowed their hands and asked the official to do something.

There were no lights in ancient times. The ancients got up early and worked until dusk, and went to bed when the sun went down. Therefore, the courtiers also clocked in very early to go to work.

It's about 4:30 in the morning, and many people are drowsy and yawning. No wonder Ouyang Xiu wants to "recall that Chuzhou has had enough sleep."

There are golden dragons coiled around the pillars on both sides, and there are trays on the dragon claws. Candles are lit on the trays, at the entrance of the hall, under Zhao Zhen's dragon chair, and on the left and right walls, making the room brightly lit.

Normally, before going to court, Zhao Zhen would take a short rest in Wende Hall to cheer up, and then go to court.

But because I used to work hard on the great cause of my children and slept with my concubines, even if I went to bed early, my energy and energy were still very poor. I would often yawn all the time, and I would go to the back to catch up on my sleep after the court meeting.

However, today the official family of the Song Dynasty was rarely in high spirits. He was as excited as if he had been injected with chicken blood. He walked briskly to the dragon chair and sat down.

"See Your Majesty!"

The ministers bent down and bowed their hands in salute.

The court ministers would still address the Emperor of the Song Dynasty as His Majesty in formal occasions such as court meetings, and would only address the official family in private.

"My lords, please rise."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

After the daily etiquette was over, the eunuch Wang Shouzhong shouted: "Every official is doing something."

According to common practice, the prime minister and the officials should first report the major national events to be reported today, and then each yamen should report the matters within their own yamen.

But today Prime Minister Lu Yijian was the first to write a letter saying: "Your Majesty, Zhao Yuanhao has made things difficult for the envoys of the Celestial Dynasty and has a disobedient heart. It is also heard that he seems to be proclaiming emperor. Once he really proclaims himself emperor, he will definitely attack the Song Dynasty. Please let your Majesty decide.”

Zhao Zhen immediately responded to him and said: "How does Prime Minister Lu decide?"

Lu Yijian said: "Nowadays, the military preparations in the northwest are slack. Fan Yong, the envoy of the Shaanxi Road Transfer, does not know much about military affairs. Once a war breaks out, it will be extremely detrimental to our army. Therefore, your majesty please appoint a civil and military man who knows military affairs and can lead troops and calm the people." Officials rushed to the northwest to take up posts in order to rectify military affairs and deter Zhao Yuanhao from making any rash moves. "

"Um."

Zhao Zhen nodded, and according to his previous plan, he scanned the crowd of ministers and locked onto Fan Zhongyan's figure. He just opened his mouth and said the word "Fan".

Then Fan Zhongyan stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I have something to report!"

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Yan Shu got up very early this morning, earlier than the chickens.

In the Song Dynasty, there was no precedent for a prime minister to stay in the palace, so he had to go out and enter the palace at two or three in the morning.

In fact, if Zhao Jun was not blind and there were guards watching outside the door, according to the law, he would either be kicked out of the palace, or he would have been given to him as a eunuch.

At this time, Zhao Jun was temporarily blind and lost the concept of time. According to the three meals delivered by Yan Shu every day, he estimated that dinner would be at five or six o'clock, so he thought it was five or six o'clock and lay in bed and thought about it for an hour or two before going to sleep.

But what he didn't know was that the time he had to eat every time was four o'clock in the afternoon. According to the ancients, it was called feeding time. He would lie in bed for an hour or two before going to bed. Basically, he would get up at two or three in the middle of the night.

Around four o'clock in the morning, Yan Shu would bring him breakfast and then start talking. When the routine is over, an old doctor will come to give him an injection.

The old doctor was like a mute. He didn't say anything to him. If it weren't for the rough feeling on his hands, Zhao Jun wouldn't know how old he was.

He has lived this kind of life for five days, and his injuries are much better, but he still can't see anything in his eyes.

Zhao Jun almost lost his sense of time and looked very haggard.

"Crunch."

Hearing the sound of opening the door again today, Zhao Jun suddenly became energetic and said excitedly: "Uncle Lari."

Now he really wishes he could have someone to talk to.

"here I am."

Yan Shu came in with food.

Zhao Jun immediately said: "Uncle, I feel a lot better today. Can you take me for a walk in the village?"

Yan Shu said: "It's not urgent. The rain has lightened up recently, but it's still raining outside. Going out on a rainy day is not good for your health."

"But it's very uncomfortable to be stuck in the room, and it hurts my eyes."

"That's how you take care of your body. There's nothing anyone can do about it."

"Okay, what are you going to eat today?"

"It's still porridge, but with steamed buns and pork filling."

"That's a good feeling."

Zhao Jun was happy and finally had some meat to eat.

Fumbling with his hands to take the bowl and steamed buns handed over by Yan Shu, he said vaguely: "Is the party secretary okay yet?"

"You also said that he broke his waist after a fall. As the saying goes, it takes a hundred days to break the muscles and bones. Falling a waist is not something that can be cured in a day or two."

"That's true."

"By the way, yesterday you talked about Fan Zhongyan's reform. Keep talking."

Yan Shu took the opportunity to say.

"You like to hear it, then I will continue talking. Lao Fan is good at everything, but he is too upright."

Zhao Jun began to point out Jiang Shandao: "Didn't he say that in "Lingwu Fu" written by him? He died in peace but lived in silence. It is said that being too strong is easy to break. If you have a strong personality, it is easy to get into trouble."

"Well."

Yan Shu nodded in agreement, Fan Zhongyan is like this, he has a bad temper and can't be pulled back.

Zhao Jun continued: "As the saying goes, everything must be done in a method. Although Lao Fan and the others launched the Qingli New Deal for the country and the people, their approach was too tough. This is also related to Lao Fan's character. It would be better to be a little roundabout. a lot of."

"Not to mention anything else, it seems good to change the status quo of redundant officials by simply deposing them, suppressing luck, and promoting tribute. But the problem is that this will directly lead to at least 50% of officials losing their jobs, and These elimination lists need to be carried out by people who have lost their official positions, which is equivalent to cutting off one's own head with a knife. How is this possible? "

"So these three articles were resisted by almost 90% of the officials as soon as they came out. Those who were affected by the reduction of favor and strict grinding began to slander the New Deal, accusing Fan Zhongyan and others of being "cronies", which made Song Renzong suspicious, starting from the top leaders , Fan Zhongyan gradually lost his supporters."

"Fan Zhongyan's reforms will make those who are already officials lose their positions, make those who have entered the official position with grace lose their way to rise, and make those who were not good at school but were successful in the exam because of the low difficulty of the exam unable to succeed. In this way, he What is offended is not an interest group, but the world’s scholars, the entire class of scholar-bureaucrats, and their families.”

"Uncle Larri, you said that if you wanted to sell the fields in the village and not leave a penny to the villagers, but you wanted to use the money to build the village and develop it better, do you think the villagers would Do you agree?"

"of course not."

Yan Shu answered almost without thinking.

"That's right, you want to use the money from selling the land to build a village and make the villagers live a better life, but the villagers have formed an interest group and they only want money."

Zhao Jun shrugged: "The three-redundancy problem is like this, and there are more than one or two interest groups. If you want to change it, you have to go against the entire scholar-bureaucrat class. You can imagine how difficult it is."

Yan Shu frowned: "Didn't Fan Zhongyan know this would happen? Wouldn't he change his strategy?"

"He can't change it, he just has that temper."

Zhao Jun finished the porridge and added at the end: "Why else would he dare to go against Lu Yijian? As shown in the "Hundred Officials Picture", it directly put the powerful Lu Yijian in an embarrassing situation. You will be dismissed after four years."

""The Picture of Hundred Officials"?"

Yan Shu's face suddenly turned the color of pig liver, and his whole body suddenly became frightened.

"Yes, the "Hundred Officials Picture" depicts a map of the promotion of hundreds of officials. It says that they are all Lu Yijian's cronies. As a result, Fan Zhongyan was attacked by Lu's party and was eventually demoted to Raozhou."

Zhao Jun responded.

But Yan Shu obviously had no intention of listening anymore, so he ran away, braving the drizzle, and ran towards Chui Gong Hall.

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"Fan Qing, I was about to call you, but you came out on your own."

Zhao Zhen smiled and said: "I plan to let you"

"His Majesty!"

Fan Zhongyan interrupted him, presented a scroll in his hand, then held up the imperial hut and said, "Please show me this picture."

"oh?"

Zhao Zhen didn't know what Fan Zhongyan wanted to do. He was puzzled and said to the eunuch next to him: "Take it up."

The eunuch went to take the scroll, and the two eunuchs unfolded it one on the left and one on the right, and placed the content in the painting in front of Zhao Zhen.

I saw dozens of officials drawn in the scroll. The expressions, movements, and demeanor of each official were lifelike and quite vivid.

Zhao Zhen was puzzled and asked, "Mr. Fan, what is this?"

Fan Zhongyan bowed his hands and said, "Your Majesty, this is the "Officials' Promotion Order Chart", which shows the promotion order of officials in the current court. Since Lü Yijian has controlled the important task of appointing officials, he has appointed people based on personal connections and formed cliques for personal gain. Even the eunuchs in the harem have his eyes and ears. Anyone who goes against his will, even if he is the queen, will not escape dethronement."

When this sentence came out, not only Lü Yijian's face changed suddenly, but even Zhao Zhen was horrified.

However, Fan Zhongyan continued, saying, "Your Majesty should know the court's method of appointing officials, such as the details of punishment and reward, and the order of promotion and demotion. It is not appropriate to rely entirely on the prime minister."

Lü Yijian's hand holding the court tablet was shaking.

"Your Majesty!"

At this moment, a voice sounded outside the door, shouting, "Is Fan Zhongyan here today!"

When he entered the door, he saw a picture in front of Zhao Zhen, Fan Zhongyan standing in the middle to report on things, and Lü Yijian on the right with a sullen look on his face, and he knew that something was wrong.

Yan Shu sat down almost instinctively, muttering to himself: "It's over, it's over, I'm late, something terrible has happened!"

Brothers, regarding the issue of updates, it is currently scheduled to be one chapter after 12:00 am and one chapter at 11:00 am. They said that it is for the sake of the new book period to have good follow-up data, and it cannot be posted continuously. The number of words updated is at least 7,000 per day, and this is my own extra update, because the editor asked me to keep it at 5,000 words. Other books on the new book list also maintain 4,000-5,000 words, because the new book list is 200,000 words or 30 days will automatically be removed from the list, so the limit is to update 200,000 words within 30 days, about 6,000-7,000 words per day. But I don't plan to stay on the new book list for 30 days, so please rest assured, keep following the reading, and don't keep it. After I try to rush to Sanjiang, I will start to burst 10,000 words a day, everyone follow me.