In order to defend Confucianism, he was willing to go to war with Western Xia.

overbearing!

This is so overbearing!

If Confucius and Mencius were still alive, they would probably burst into tears after hearing this.

This is definitely the most devout believer of Confucianism to me!

Since ancient times, there have been countless great Confucian thinkers, but no one has achieved this.

If Fu Bi or Sima Guang said this, no matter whether you agree or not, it would at least make people admire them.

But when these words came out of Zhang Fei's mouth, it was so overbearing that it was laughable.

In a trance, I seemed to be back to the time when Fang Yun’s case was being tried.

At that time, Zhang Fei kept talking about filial piety in the Criminal Court, and his words were very convincing.

...

...

Everyone was wondering how he could say these words with such confidence.

It can be seen that this guy has not changed at all!

Facing Zhang Fei's righteousness, Wen Yanbo did not feel ashamed at all. Instead, he had a strange feeling in his heart, as if his soul had been exchanged with Zhang Fei's.

The words Zhang Fei said sounded like what he said, and the words he said should have been said by Zhang Fei.

How come everything is reversed?

It was precisely because of this that Wen Yanbo was at a loss for words and didn't know how to respond.

Because he felt that every time he refuted Zhang Fei, he was slapping himself in the face.

How to survive in Shilin in the future.

Wen Yanbo had no choice but to change his strategy and said in a gentle voice: "Grand Judge, this is an external matter after all. The imperial court has no right to interfere."

Zhang Fei immediately shook his head and said, "I'm not asking about foreign affairs."

Wen Yanbo asked excitedly: "So what are you doing now?"

Zhang Fei explained: "I am concerned about the interests of my own people. Xixia sent people to negotiate, which is of course a foreign affair, but the reason for this is that the Xizhou imperial court decided to give those Xixia merchants protection based on legislative principles and legal laws, and the reasons are quite sufficient.

In addition to defending Confucianism, Xizhou's current finances are completely supported by merchants, not only merchants from our country, but also merchants from many tribes in the Western Regions, which saves the court a lot of money.

The merchants are willing to come to Xizhou to do business because the public security, procuratorial and judicial departments can defend their rights and interests. If Xizhou does not help, it will discourage the merchants. Who will be willing to come to Xizhou to do business? Xizhou’s finances may face collapse.

The Political Affairs Hall can certainly decide to return the person, but it cannot completely ignore the Xizhou decision without giving any reason or explanation. Just because Xixia sent someone to negotiate, and then immediately denied the Xizhou Imperial Court's decision, as the chief judge, don't I have the right to ask about it?"

Wen Yanbo said: "This is all to avoid conflict with Xixia. Does this need to be explained?"

Zhang Fei said: "So Duke Wen believes that as long as we avoid conflict with Xixia, anything can be compromised."

"I didn't say that." Wen Yanbo said immediately.

He is relatively strong in external affairs, but the domestic development is very good and they don't want to cause trouble. Even Wang Anshi is now focusing on domestic affairs.

Zhang Fei said, "Lord Wen, do you think that just a few merchants are the lesser of two evils than risking a war with Xixia?"

Wen Yanbo asked, “Is there a problem with this?”

Zhang Fei asked in return: "For the sake of a few businessmen, the interests of the Xihe region are damaged. Is this the lesser of two evils?

The Political Affairs Hall was too hasty in handling this matter and did not consider the interests of the border states at all. However, as the chief judge, I should support the Xihe Imperial Court."

Wang Anshi nodded and said, "What the Grand Judge said makes a lot of sense. Xizhou's prosperity lies in the protection of commerce. Xixia's actions are indeed destroying Xizhou's finances, and the Xizhou Imperial Court's protection of those merchants is indeed based on the rule of law."

Wen Yanbo looked at Wang Anshi depressedly and said, "Can't you wait until later to say this? Now we are talking about the power issue between the Council of State and the Imperial Court."

In fact, he has already made up his mind whether to return the money to the merchants, and he is now talking about the issue of power.

Wang Anshi suddenly realized this. He and Wen Yanbo were in the same camp, at least on the surface. So he tried to make amends and continued, "In other words, in the future, we in the Political Affairs Hall will still have to consult the Grand Court President on any foreign affairs?"

"Of course not."

Zhang Fei said: "I just hope that the Political Affairs Hall will fully consider the decision of the Xizhou Imperial Court, and the consequences this matter will bring to Xizhou and even the country, and make a reasonable explanation for it. I think this request is not excessive."

Fu Bi and Zhao Yan were also thoughtful.

They gradually felt that what Zhang Fei said made sense. The Xizhou royal court did this based on Confucianism and was also to defend the interests of Xizhou.

But the Council of State Affairs thought that this was just a trivial matter and did not think it through. They directly ordered the merchants to be returned, which indirectly denied the decision of the Xizhou Imperial Court. Even if you were the main decision maker, you still have to give an explanation to the Imperial Court.

If something goes wrong in Xizhou, who will be responsible for it?

Wen Yanbo also noticed the change in everyone's expressions and glanced at Wang Anshi again.

Wang Anshi understood and nodded, saying, "Okay, this is something we haven't considered carefully. We will study the situation in Xizhou carefully and see how to deal with it."

Zhang Fei cupped his hands and said, "I'm really sorry for causing trouble to you all."

After Zhang Fei left, the prime ministers were left looking at each other in bewilderment.

The atmosphere was a little awkward.

Wang Anshi could not help but sigh: "It seems that what those people outside said is true!"

Wen Yanbo asked, "What do you mean?"

Wang Anshi said: "Even with the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs, it is becoming increasingly difficult to be an official."

These words expressed the thoughts of everyone present.

Who could have imagined that the Chief Judge could set up a checkpoint here.

This will inevitably make them think more, as they didn't need to consider so much before.

Little did they know that this had all been planned long ago. If it weren't for the decision of the Xizhou Imperial Court, it would have been difficult for Zhang Fei to intervene.

Having said that, if there hadn't been the judgment of the Xizhou Imperial Court, this would not have happened.

Sima Guang suddenly asked, "Duke Wen, how do you plan to deal with this matter?"

Wen Yanbo stroked his beard and said, "I need to think about this again."

Palace.

As soon as Wang Anshi returned home, Lu Huiqing arrived immediately. In fact, everyone was very concerned about this matter, not because of this incident, but because in everyone's view, this was a showdown between the Council of State and the Supreme Imperial Court.

"Master, what you mean is that Zhang San really blocked the order of the Political Affairs Hall?"

Lu Huiqing said in shock.

Wang Anshi laughed and said, "Now you have to call him Grand Court President."

Lu Huiqing was stunned for a moment, then said awkwardly, "I will pay attention to this, but does he really have such great power?"

Wang Anshi waved his hand and said, "Actually, this is secondary. It's just that the boy raised the banner of Confucianism, which makes Duke Wen very embarrassed. If the Council of State Affairs can't find a suitable reason to return the merchant to the Queen Mother of Western Xia, then from the perspective of Confucianism, he will become an accomplice of the Queen Mother of Western Xia."

Lu Huiqing was very puzzled and said: "But that is Xixia's problem, what does it have to do with us?"

Wang Anshi said: "Confucianism is in your heart, not in Xixia. At least you have to take this into consideration. That's why I estimate that Duke Wen will not return the merchants."

Lu Huiqing frowned and said, "Zhang San just took office as the chief judge and just dealt with the taxation issue, but he reacted so quickly to this matter and seemed to know a lot about it. Moreover, he just came back from Xizhou not long ago."

Wang Anshi nodded and said, "I also have doubts about this. What is even more puzzling is that the emperor has let the Council of State take care of it this time, and has not even spoken his mind."

The master and the disciple looked at each other tacitly.

Wen Yanbo eventually withdrew the decree, but did not refuse to return the merchants. Instead, he ordered someone to investigate and find out what exactly happened.

This is actually a compromise.

The ministers were extremely shocked by this.

This was not a big deal. After all, the target was Western Xia, and they were not too afraid of Western Xia. They were just surprised that they were actually stopped by the Grand President.

Is the power of the chief judge so great?

If the tax issue was the first spark, they were still unwilling to accept it, because in that incident, they were the party in the wrong and they were the ones making trouble, but this second spark really intimidated them completely.

It actually forced the Political Affairs Hall to make concessions.

What is this concept!

This is outrageous!

Based on this confrontation, everyone knows that the deceased scholars and officials in the Jianghuai region can really be put to rest, and there is nothing to discuss.

In foreign affairs, the Grand Court President can force the Council of State to make concessions. If he supports the Commissioner of Taxation, it will only take a few minutes. What can they do?

But they did not know yet that Wen Yanbo actually gave in because of Confucianism, not because of Zhang Fei's coercion.

There is no doubt that Wen Yanbo was very unhappy.

Legislative Council.

"Sima Junshi, is it so difficult to deal with five court presidents?"

Wen Yanbo glared at Sima Guang with his beard puffed out.

According to the design, they could check and balance the Grand President, but due to staff vacancies, Zhang Fei had the final say.

Sima Guang bowed and said, "I hope Lord Wen will forgive me. There are not many vacancies for the chief judges in this place, let alone the chief judges of the second-level imperial court. If we want to arrange it, at least Fan

Chunren and his men were transferred back, but what about the local areas?"

"you."

Wen Yanbo gritted his teeth and said, "You are really stubborn."

If you cooperate with Sima Guang, you will really be anxious to death.

"hehe!"

Fu Bi saw that Wen Yanbo was about to explode, so he quickly stepped out to smooth things over: "Alright, alright, now that things have come to this, don't take your anger out on Junshi."

Wen Yanbo said angrily, "I really didn't expect that brat would want to use me to establish his authority. This is really outrageous."

Sima Guang was startled, frowned and asked: "Duke Wen thinks this is a conspiracy?"

Wen Yanbo snorted, "I think this is most likely something the government and Zhang San had discussed. I decided to send someone over to investigate this matter and see what they are up to."

Sima Guang said worriedly: "That is to say, they are planning to send troops to Xixia."

Fu Bi waved his hand and said, "This alone is not enough to prove that we should send troops to Xixia. Maybe they want to weaken Xixia through this."

Wen Yanbo said: "If it is just to weaken Xixia, why does the government hide this intention? We will not object to this."

Fu Bi nodded.

Speak of Cao Cao, here comes Cao Cao.

An official suddenly came to report that the chief judge wanted to see him.

All three of them were very surprised.

After a while, Zhang Fei walked in.

"Duke Wen and Scholar Sima are also here, Zhang San!"

“No thanks!”

Wen Yanbo raised his hand and said, "I can't bear it! If the Grand Court President needs it, I and Minister Sima can step aside first."

"I dare not, I dare not."

Zhang Fei said: "It happens that both of you are here, we can discuss it together."

What's the matter? Sima Guang was overwhelmed by what he heard. Can't you take a break?

Fu Bi was also very curious and said, "Please take a seat, Grand Master."

"Thank you very much."

After Zhang Fei sat down, Fu Bi asked politely, "I wonder what the president is visiting the Legislative Council for?"

Zhang Fei said, "It's because of the Xizhou incident. When I was inspecting Xizhou, not only President Lu and his men, but even Envoy Wang mentioned to me the issue of the identities of the people of Xizhou."

"identity?"

"right."

Zhang Fei said: "They are now registered as temporary residents of Xizhou, not registered residents of the Song Dynasty. If they want to enter the Central Plains, they have to go to the police station to apply for relocation. This situation has caused the imperial court to be at a loss when hearing some cases."

Sima Guang suddenly asked, "Aren't there many Tubo and Dangxiang people in Xizhou?"

Zhang Fei nodded and said, "It is precisely because of this that the local household registration has become very troublesome. If Xizhou is closed, there is no need to issue temporary household registration, but Xizhou is completely open to the outside world."

Fu Bi frowned slightly, and looked at Wen Yanbo and Sima Guang, and saw that they also looked embarrassed. In a sense, Xizhou had broken the market system. There were too many outsiders, and the household registration was indeed difficult to operate.

"I wonder what the Grand Judge thinks?" Fu Bi asked.

Zhang Fei said: "This is what I thought. It just so happens that Envoy Wang is planning to collect a residence tax locally. Those who currently have temporary household registration can all be converted to my Great Song household registration.

Those who do not have temporary household registration can be granted household registration in the Great Song Dynasty as long as they have lived in Xizhou for five consecutive years and paid five years of residence tax, or have made military achievements. "

“That won’t work.”

Wen Yanbo said: "Those who are not of our race must have different hearts. They are just happy to do business in Xizhou, but they are not loyal to our Song Dynasty. Moreover, can you guarantee that there are no spies from the enemy country among them?"

Sima Guang also nodded and said, "Tang Taizong made this mistake back then, bringing the Hu people into the Central Plains, which resulted in a disaster. We must not make this mistake again."

They are more conservative about this kind of thing.

Zhang Fei said: "There must be a lot of spies in Xizhou. Envoy Wang Xuanfu himself admitted this. But I have talked to the person in charge of the Security Department. They are sure that they can catch all these spies, even if they have obtained my Song Dynasty household registration."

Fu Bi nodded slightly.

The Taxation Commissioner is so powerful that they dare not question this point, and now they can indeed carry out precise strikes.

Zhang Fei added: "As for the saying that those who are not of our race must have different hearts, if Duke Wen and Sima Xueshi had been to Xizhou, they would not say so, because they stayed in Xizhou not entirely for livelihood considerations, but more for the recognition of the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs. Otherwise, they could join Xixia or Zuo Silu, and would not assist our army in fighting Zuo Silu. Moreover, if we do not give them status, they will not be loyal to our Song Dynasty.

And we cannot migrate farmers from the Central Plains there, because there is not much fertile land there, and the existing land has been occupied. We need to rely on them to defend the Xihe area. If they have no identity, what reason do they have to protect Xizhou?

In fact, many Tibetans and Dangxiang people have joined the Royal Police.”

Fu Bi was still thinking and saying nothing.

This is indeed a very tricky problem.

Wen Yanbo said, "If we don't agree to do this, what will the chief judge do?"

Zhang Fei said, "To be honest with you, Lord Wen, this matter has actually become very urgent. Someone will definitely appeal against this matter, and it will definitely reach the highest imperial court. For matters like this, I will of course seek your advice, and I will follow your advice."

What I meant was that, although the household registration issue is a matter of national policy, if someone appeals to the imperial court, I would be able to intervene, and that would spark discussion within the court, so it would be better for us to discuss it now.

Wen Yanbo felt that there was something fishy in these words, and said, "The Grand Court President is hinting that we have not discussed the matter of the Xixia merchants with you."

"Of course not."

Zhang Fei quickly denied it, but then added: "But I think we should discuss more with each other to avoid misunderstandings."

"The president is right."

Fu Bi nodded and said, "But this is a serious matter. We have to consider it carefully and report it to the government."

Zhang Fei nodded and said, "I am only here to discuss this matter with you today."

After Zhang Fei left, Fu Bi said, "Perhaps our guess is correct. The matter of the Xixia merchants is not that simple."

Sima Guang asked worriedly, "What should we do then?"

Fu Bi sighed, "There are no clear regulations in the interim law. If the matter really reaches the Supreme Court, even if Zhang San discusses it with us, we will be forced to legislate on it. If it really comes to that, we don't really have much choice."

Wen Yanbo nodded and said, "If we legislate based on his suggestion, we will be preparing for external expansion."

On the other side, after discussing with Fu Bi and others, Zhang Fei rushed to find Wang Anshi without stopping.

Although the imperial court can intervene based on lawsuits filed by the people, it can only form an opinion. In the end, it still depends on political decisions, which also require the support of some ministers in the court.

After Wang Anshi learned about this, he became even more certain of what he was thinking: You are going to cause trouble!

"It seems that you have gained a lot from this trip!" Wang Anshi asked tentatively.

Zhang Fei smiled and said, "I learned from the last lesson. Last year, when I inspected the area, I said that everything was fine, but no one believed me. This time, I specifically found something to report, so that people won't accuse me of not putting in enough effort."

"Yeah?"

Wang Anshi smiled slightly and said, "But you have just taken office, and you are so aggressive. Aren't you afraid of causing resentment among other officials?"

Zhang Fei said: "Compared to disgust, I am more afraid of being ignored."

Wang Anshi laughed, "This is not like you before."

Zhang Fei said: "I wasn't the chief judge before."

Wang Anshi nodded and said, "Regarding the household registration issue, I definitely support you, but I guess there are still many opponents in the court. You have to convince Duke Wen first."

Zhang Fei said: "I have already discussed it with them."

Wang Anshi asked, "What do they say?"

Zhang Fei said: "They said they would consider it, but I also hinted to them that if they are worried, we can let the Supreme Court take the lead in this matter."

Wang Anshi asked curiously, "How do you do it?"

Zhang Fei said: "If the people of Xizhou appeal, I can force the court to legislate on this matter through a judgment, because the current temporary law has very vague provisions on this aspect, or even no provisions at all. In this way, I can ask the Legislative Council to legislate based on this specific situation."

Wang Anshi asked, "Will they agree?"

Zhang Fei said: "This kind of thing cannot be said out loud. Once it is said out loud, it will be difficult for them to object, because once they object, Xihe may be in trouble. At this time, Wang Xueshi can also put pressure on them in the court."

Wang Anshi nodded and said, "I understand."

He certainly supported it, but as for his political achievements, he certainly hoped that Xihe would be better, and destroying Western Xia was also his political ideal. He was very happy to see Zhang Fei causing trouble.

The Imperial Palace.

"Ha ha!"

Zhao Xu smiled happily and said, "I didn't expect that the Supreme Imperial Court, without even setting up tables and chairs, could actually stop the decree of the Political Affairs Hall."

Zhang Fei hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, you are too kind. In fact, I just used Duke Wen's methods to force him to make concessions. It has nothing to do with the power of the Grand Court President."

Zhao Xu said: "Now everyone in the court is talking about you,

The authority of the court president was not discussed at all."

Zhang Fei smiled and said, "That's because I haven't started promoting it yet."

Zhao Xu asked: "When do you plan to promote it?"

Zhang Fei said: "Duke Wen should send someone to investigate this matter. If they send someone to publicize this matter, it will be more effective."

"I see."

Zhao Xu nodded and said, "Oh, right! There's news from Xihe. Not long after you left, Xixia sent a troop to invade Xihe, intending to intimidate Xizhou, but was repelled by our army. There's also news from Yanzhou that the Queen Mother of Xixia has ordered a temporary closure of all trade with our country."

Zhang Fei laughed and said, "I didn't expect the Queen Mother of Xixia to be so impatient. What the enemy least wants to see is that we do more. Aren't they going to close the market?

Then we encourage trade with Xixia. Your Majesty can secretly order the governors of the northern border states to allow them to trade salt with Xixia. The salt profits will be used to support our army's infiltration of Xixia. In this way, the northern line can also be started, but this is earlier than I thought."

Zhao Xu laughed and said, "I didn't expect this trick to work so well. In the blink of an eye, the Queen Mother of Western Xia is facing internal and external troubles."

Zhang Fei said: "Besides, she can't afford to lose. She will definitely continue to put pressure on us, and things will only get worse and worse."