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

What serious illness do I have?

Zhao Zhen opened his eyes wide. Although he could imagine that Zhao Jun might be very angry, was he so angry?

We spent time together day and night some time ago, and it’s obvious that our relationship between grandparent and grandson has deepened a lot.

How come it has only been twenty days since leaving the palace and it has turned out like this?

Sure enough, distance caused alienation. When they were together every day, the eldest grandson would not scold him very much. However, as soon as he left the palace, he immediately became alienated.

Zhao Zhen felt wronged and glanced at Wang Shouzhong. Wang Shouzhong was so frightened that he left the palace in panic and closed the door.

"Grandson, what's wrong?"

Zhao Zhen didn't dare to scold Zhao Jun. He couldn't scold or beat him. If you call someone, if Zhao Jun is annoyed and kills him or simply commits suicide, you will be in big trouble.

So now he feels that in front of Zhao Jun, he is not an ancestor, Zhao Jun is an ancestor, and sometimes there is really nothing he can do to him.

And Zhao Jun didn't have any scruples when he scolded Zhao Zhen.

The first is Zhao Jun's identity as a time traveler. Whether it is Zhao Zhen or the ministers, they all ask for it. This is the correct attitude. If he suddenly becomes cautious, he will make those people suspicious.

Therefore, without directly revealing that they do not intend to take the imperial examination route, as long as they still maintain this attitude, they can only treat themselves as ancestors.

Even if it is revealed, it doesn't matter. At most, it will only cause obstacles for oneself at every turn, and the two parties will enter into endless quarrels because of their different positions.

Then Zhao Jun can show off, he can choose to say nothing or do nothing to resist. Facing the threats of Xixia, Liao Kingdom, Yellow River and Jingkangshi, they will definitely be the ones who are anxious at that time.

Secondly, Zhao Zhen has this kind of personality. To say he is weak or incompetent is to praise him.

If he didn't act more forcefully, with Zhao Zhen's weak character, he would definitely still be fooled by the civil servants, and nothing would be accomplished in the end.

Therefore, he must become stronger in order to fight for the rights he deserves.

"What's wrong?"

Zhao Jun sneered: "You still have the nerve to ask me? I went to the outer city for more than ten days. I saw fights, petty thefts, robberies in the city, and even child thefts. We met a child thief. The first one gave him to the government officials, and the second one brought people here to take revenge on me. Do you think you are very proud? "

Zhao Zhen squirmed, and then sighed: "I can't do anything about Dasun Wuyou Cave. They are hiding in the sewers crisscrossing Bianliang. The government has surrounded and suppressed them countless times, but it is really impossible to completely eliminate them. "

"hehe."

Zhao Jun was amused and said with a smile: "Fan Zhongyan checked everything when he was the governor of Kaifeng Prefecture. They send hundreds of thousands of dollars to the officials of Kaifeng Prefecture every year. A promotion official named Han Yuan, You have protected them countless times, and Fan Zhongyan has impeached him, but you have been suppressed all the time. You are really a good emperor."

Zhao Zhen looked slightly embarrassed. In fact, not only Han Yuan, there were also upright censors in the officialdom. During his inspections, he found a large number of corrupt officials, but he suppressed them every time.

For example, unless the noise caused by Wang Kui, Sun Miao, Guo Chengyou and others is too big, ordinary corruption is not a big deal at all.

No wonder Fan Zhongyan's "Book of Governance" in history talks about corruption. Su Shi wrote "Determination of Obstructions and Hidden Strategies", saying that if people want to go to the government to redress their grievances or get things done, they must use money to clear the way, otherwise nothing will be done.

There are also Bao Zheng's "Bao Zheng's Proposal" and Wang Anshi's "A Letter to Concern", both of which talk about how corrupt and dark the officialdom is today, and how few truly upright officials there are.

Song Zhenzong and Song Renzong, father and son, played a large role in their continuous connivance with officials!

"Sure enough, your reputation as Renzong is really based on those people who blew it out to you. You can only be kind to the scholar-bureaucrats, but you are not kind to the common people or the country! I found that you are really mentally ill, don't you? You really think that Can you stabilize your empire forever by relying on those scholar-bureaucrats?”

Zhao Jun held back his anger and said: "Even if you want to consolidate the imperial power, it is not so consolidated. The power is not held in your own hands, but handed over to those civil servants. You think there are not many rebellions and uprisings in the Song Dynasty, right?"

"I"

Zhao Zhen opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but couldn't.

"I know you are weak and incompetent, but can you have some ambition? I have told you tens of thousands of times not to tilt your butt. You should be on the side of the people, not the side of the bureaucrats!"

Zhao Jun pointed at his chest and said with a look of hatred on his face: "Do you know how the Yuan Dynasty perished? Zhu Yuanzhang said that the Yuan Dynasty perished because of generosity. The generosity here does not mean being lenient to the common people, but lenient to the scholar-bureaucrats. Taxation , governance, and justice were all handed over to the scholar-bureaucrats, they could squeeze the people and cause the destruction of the Yuan Dynasty! "

Zhao Zhen said in astonishment: "Is this how the Yuan Dynasty perished?"

"What do you think?"

Zhao Jun said angrily: "Do you know how the scholar-bureaucrats in the Yuan Dynasty and the Manchu Qing Dynasty found reasons for them to claim their legitimacy and legitimacy? The Song Dynasty was destroyed. They just changed emperors and continued to dominate. The Zhao family If you die, you and I will be nothing, can you please wake up!"

Zhao Zhen was so scolded that he could only say with a smile: "But I have no choice. The world needs officials to govern. If these people are all dismissed, who will govern the people?"

"You are really hopeless. If you don't depose these people, they will only squeeze the people into rebellion."

Zhao Jun said coldly: "You don't naively think that just finding those yield-increasing crops and the industrial revolution can guarantee your eternal survival, right? Let me tell you, you are overthinking. The Qing Dynasty was already the pinnacle of feudal society, and productivity was sufficient. Feeding 400 million people, but finally perishing?”

"Do you believe that if I make cannons and flintlock guns, they can be stolen and sold to Xixia and Liao Kingdom after a while? Do you believe that even if high-yielding crops appear, the oppression of the people at the bottom will only be deeper."

"By then, the entire Song Dynasty will be even more chaotic. Let alone the Industrial Revolution, it will be impossible to stabilize your current empire."

"The key to maintaining power is balance. The civil servant group has now formed a scourge. Although they will not directly subvert your country, they will continue to harm your country. Let the Song Dynasty become rotten and smelly, and the external and internal forces will be slightly different. It exploded like a powder keg."

"You just have to be lucky that you met me when I fell in the back garden. If I had fallen somewhere else, I would definitely kill officials and rebel. Those officials who continue to oppress the people have killed no innocent person. How can you still Just put them up, you are really seriously ill!"

After the words ended, Zhao Zhen remained silent.

Why doesn't he know this?

In history, he also launched several reforms and issued some edicts to investigate and deal with corrupt officials.

For example, there were five articles in the Qingli New Deal that clarified official administration, which shows that Zhao Zhen also made great determination to rectify the officialdom at that time.

But in the end, it was nothing. The voice and wave of opposition were so great that he couldn't bear the pressure.

Now that he knew the reasons for the failure of the Qingli New Deal, Zhao Zhen actually still felt afraid. He was afraid that opposition from civil servants would come like a tide, that all officials in the Song Dynasty would be shut down, and that the country of the Song Dynasty would be destroyed in an instant. collapse.

So these days he is still suffering over and over again.

He wanted to insist on Fan Zhongyan's reforms, but also didn't want his reforms to cause too much noise, so he wanted to drag Zhao Jun into officialdom.

Once he entered the officialdom, people from all directions would flock to him, wanting to curry favor with him. Countless people gave away fields, money, expensive calligraphy, paintings, jewelry, and women. These things were not illegal in the Song Dynasty.

Anyway, Li Laofan's reform will be after the war with Xixia, and it will take a few years. By then, Zhao Jun will always be adapted to the officialdom, and he will be embarrassed if he wants to kill the officialdom again.

But it is obvious that Zhao Jun is still full of passion now. After seeing the tip of the iceberg, he is full of resentment and comes to his door to point at him and scold him.

After a while, Zhao Zhen slowly said: "It's not that I don't understand these principles, it's just..."

"Just what?"

"But if we arrest, imprison, and kill officials on a large scale, do you know how much turmoil it will cause?"

"hehe."

Zhao Jun sneered: "In the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang killed tens of thousands of people at a time. Can you guess what impact it had? In fact, as long as you are ruthless, you won't be able to do things. If you can't do it, I'll do it for you."

"what you up to?"

Zhao Zhen's eyes widened. He was most afraid that Zhao Jun would do something too outrageous.

"I want the Imperial City Division, and I want the Imperial City Division to be spread throughout the Song Dynasty, like the royal guards in the Ming Dynasty. The power of the bureaucrats and scholar-bureaucrats is already too great, which seriously threatens your imperial power. No matter how stupid you are, you should strengthen your power and You must have certain judicial and judicial power in your own hands, otherwise the civil servants will not be afraid of you, they will just treat you like a fool! "

Zhao Jun said calmly: "Although they can't directly overthrow your empire, when they squeeze the people to the point of being unbearable, they will be the direct driving force behind your empire's downfall. If you can't rein in the situation in time, at least let them restrain themselves, even if you are defeated. After destroying Xixia and Liao, the fate of all dynasties was the fate of the Song Dynasty.”

During the Song Dynasty, the emperor always had only one way to deal with civil servants, which was to remove them, transfer them to officials without real power, or demote them to Lingnan.

Civil servants are not monolithic. There are many idealistic officials, such as Fan Zhongyan, Wang Anshi and others, who all want to make a difference and reform the system.

Therefore, internal fighting within the civil service group, coupled with the emperor's power to dismiss officials, can create such a delicate balance.

The civil service group is not as threatening to the imperial power as the aristocratic family groups in the Jin Dynasty. However, in order to make up for the civil service group and to allow the civil service group to suppress forces such as Wu Xun, generals, relatives, eunuchs, etc., the civil service group can only be given unlimited other powers. , such as committing crimes without death, taking bribes and bending the law at will, bullying the people, etc.

The result of this was that the military officers, generals, relatives, and eunuchs were suppressed and submissive, but the people suffered. Seventy-eight out of ten officials in the world are corrupt and bend the law, land annexation is serious, the people at the bottom are in dire straits, and finally, uprisings and rebellions continue.

Therefore, Zhao Jun has been instilling in Zhao Zhen the idea that the civil servant group must be suppressed.

But Zhao Zhen was still hesitant and said hesitantly: "If it's like Jin Yiwei, I'm afraid the officials of the Manchu Dynasty will object again."

"They are opposed because you are strengthening the imperial power and threatening them. Moreover, the Imperial City Division is originally a pawn of the imperial power, bypassing the civil service system and making them feel afraid."

Zhao Jun looked at him indifferently and said: "Do you know how the American empire, the world's hegemon in later generations, controlled the world? They have several spy agencies, collecting intelligence all over the world, intervening in and controlling the world's disputes. Any political system can only have the power to control the world. Only with your own intelligence and special agencies can you gather the central power instead of sitting in the palace and knowing nothing."

"this"

Zhao Zhen looked troubled.

"I find it really hard to talk to you. You are hesitant and hesitant. With your attitude, I really want to give up, you know?"

Zhao Jun was really convinced.

He actually knew that Zhao Zhen in history was this kind of person, he looked forward and backward, and didn't have much courage.

Just reading the history books, I thought it was nothing, but now that I really show this person, I can make people angry to death.

No wonder Fan Zhongyan, Shi Jie, Di Qing and others died in depression.

Zhao Zhen had no choice but to smile again.

His attitude made people even more angry. Zhao Jun asked: "Let me ask you, what is your surname? What is my surname?"

"Our surname is Zhao, and you are a descendant of the Zhao family."

Zhao Zhen said involuntarily.

"That's it. Now that I've come to Da Song, I'm helping you instead of those people outside. They will harm you, will I harm you?"

"And our surname is Zhao. Blood is thicker than water. But the problem is that I don't even have the status of a clan in the Song Dynasty. Unless I rebel, there is no legal reason to inherit the throne."

"I am your descendant. Am I going to rebel against you and threaten your imperial power?"

"The power of the Imperial City Secretary and myself is originally dependent on you. I cannot pose any threat to you, so I must not be able to harm you."

Zhao Jun spread his hands and said: "It is right to strengthen the imperial power. You need to understand what the people are doing and what the officials are doing. Even the Imperial City Department can penetrate into Xixia and Liao Kingdoms. Only in this way can we, the Great Song Dynasty, be stable. The kingdom of the Zhao family!”

"Strengthening the imperial power?"

Zhao Zhen murmured to himself.

Because Zhao Jun seems to be right.

The emperor of the Song Dynasty had an almost pathological control over imperial power, and he would never let it go if he could find an opportunity to strengthen his imperial power.

During the Zhao Kuangyin period, the civil service group would never be so angry.

In history, Zhao Zhen also tried to strengthen the imperial power, such as frequent phase changes and supporting the reforms of Fan Zhongyan and others, but basically failed.

The bureaucratic gentry group still has the upper hand.

Therefore, Zhao Zhen actually wanted to gather the imperial power all the time, but his weak character and poor health in the middle and later stages of his career only caused the imperial power to disperse, and the bureaucratic scholar-bureaucrat class became more unscrupulous.

Now Zhao Jun's proposal to strengthen the imperial power is actually more in line with Zhao Zhen's wishes.

And the most important thing is that these words obviously pulled Zhao Zhen and Zhao Jun into one camp, and then pulled the civil service group into another camp.

Zhao Jun told Zhao Zhen that the civil servant group seemed to be helping you rule the country, but in fact it was corroding your country. When the people couldn't stand it anymore and launched a large-scale uprising, the Song Dynasty would be destroyed even if no foreign enemies invaded.

Therefore, only by strengthening the imperial power, restricting the civil servant group and alleviating the increasingly acute class contradictions, can we suppress the increasing civil unrest and maintain the rule of the Song Dynasty.

In other words, in addition to the threats of Xixia, Liao, Yellow River and Jingkang shame, Zhao Jun added another one to him. The unscrupulous civil servant group would cause the threat of continuous uprisings by the people, further deepening Zhao Zhen's sense of crisis.

"Yes, strengthen the imperial power."

Zhao Jun said coldly: "If you don't want to be imprisoned by them, you must give me power. If you can't even do this, how can I help you carry out reforms. And let me tell you the truth, I may I can't suppress my anger. If I meet the kind of official who I can't bear, I will kill someone. So you can either give me the Imperial City Division and let me kill people in a legitimate manner, or you can give me nothing and I will leave the Song Dynasty directly. , if you see corrupt officials oppressing the people on the road, get angry and kill them with a knife, and then go up the mountain to become a bandit, then don't blame me! "

Zhao Zhen was so angry that he couldn't say anything, so he could only say: "I depend on you, I depend on you."

"Also, I want the power to appoint the entire Imperial City Department, and I have the final say on all matters big and small. No matter how loud the opposition from the civil service group is, you will suppress it, just like you protect them. If you dare to go back on your word in the future , then I will really hit you, or you will kill me, or I will rebel, and I won’t say it a third time!”

Zhao Jun's saliva almost sprayed onto Zhao Zhen's face.

"Yes Yes Yes."

Zhao Zhen hesitated and said: "It's just that the treasury is empty now, and the internal funds and Jiaozipu's money must be used to prepare for the war in the northwest. If you want to set up the Imperial City Division all over the country, it will cost countless coins. ”

"I will figure out the money matters myself. I only have one request, and that is that you don't have to worry about what I do. If you dare to help those civil servants to interfere in my affairs, I will come over and fight with you!"

Zhao Jun said viciously.

He found that Zhao Zhen was really a cheap person. This kind of person couldn't survive without a few beatings. If he didn't give him harsh words and give up the blame, he would definitely side with the civil service group and cheat him.

"Then I will appoint you as the Imperial City Secretary. All matters of the Imperial City Department, including the appointment of the Imperial City Envoy, will be under your jurisdiction."

Zhao Zhen was forced to have no choice but to agree.

Fortunately, the Imperial City Department is an organization independent of the bureaucracy and is not under the jurisdiction of the bureaucracy. The Imperial City envoy does not need to take the imperial examination, so this appointment basically only requires the emperor's order, and does not even require going to the three provincial government affairs desks.

Just like Chuan Ming must first control Jinyiwei and Dongchang who are outside the bureaucracy, only if they are not within the system will they not be restrained.

Zhao Jun continued: "Also, if I go to the local area, I will ask for the mobilization of troops from various places. Now there are uprisings all over the Song Dynasty. If you want to protect my safety, I must have certain military power."

Zhao Zhen asked: "Do you have to go somewhere? Why not just stay in Bianliang?"

"hehe."

Zhao Jun sneered and said: "The filth we saw in Bianliang is just the tip of the iceberg. I don't know how much there is in the area. I must do in-depth research, otherwise I will hide in a deep palace like you and never leave the door. What? If you don’t do anything and don’t understand anything, the Song Dynasty will be over sooner or later. It’s because all our Zhao family ancestors are as cowardly as you that they sent me here to save the Song Dynasty. If you don’t trust me anymore, then I’ll just leave.”

"Yes Yes."

Zhao Zhen did not dare to reply and nodded in agreement.

Although military power is the lifeblood of the Emperor of the Song Dynasty, the good news is that the main troops of the Forbidden Army are stationed in Bianliang. The local troops only have 400,000 Xiangjun, the Eighteenth Route of the Song Dynasty, and more than 200 state capitals. On average, each route has more than 20,000 troops. people, more than a thousand in each state.

And in fact, the Xiang troops are mainly distributed in places such as Hebei Road and Fengxiang Road, that is, in the northwest and north areas bordering the Xixia and Liao Kingdoms. There are very few Xiang troops in the hinterland, with basically no more than a thousand people in each state.

So this request is actually not too much.

"Give your orders. Tell Cao Xiu and Wang Shouzhong that my words will be yours from now on. If your orders conflict with mine, then my orders will prevail."

Zhao Jun rubbed his temples, feeling a little tired.

I used to think that it was impossible to govern the country well with the scholar-bureaucrats like Lu Yijian, Wang Zeng, Wang Sui, Song Shou, Cai Qi, and Sheng Du.

Only now did I discover that Zhao Zhen was also an insect, and a big one at that. He hid in the ground like an ostrich and never looked up to see how the Song Dynasty was riddled with holes and devastation under the governance of his so-called scholar-bureaucrats.

"Then are you still taking the imperial examination?"

Zhao Zhen hesitated for a moment, then turned around and asked, "If you don't want to participate, that's okay."

Zhao Jun was stunned for a moment, then suddenly laughed: "It's okay, I will participate."

He found that although Zhao Zhen didn't look like a human being most of the time.

But occasionally, there is a time to be human.