"The barbarians who invaded our borders are truly overestimating their own strength. I believe that Heaven and Man have not yet disapproved of Song's virtue. Your Majesty will surely be blessed by Heaven."

"Although Fan Xiwen has made some minor contributions, he cannot be compared with Your Majesty."

These people either attributed the credit to the emperor or to God, but they refused to mention any great contribution made by Fan Zhongyan.

Because in addition to suppressing Fan Zhongyan, there were also some people who were jealous of him.

For example, Cheng Lin, Zhang Dexiang, Jia Changchao and other guys, they made Fan Zhongyan's eyes red and he was so jealous that he almost turned unrecognizable.

However, no matter how the officials belittled him, Zhao Zhen had to give Fan Zhongyan affirmation, otherwise it would disappoint his ministers.

Zhao Zhen then said, "Lord Fan has made great contributions to the country. This is beyond doubt. When you return to the capital, you must be given a high position. Appoint him as Grand Secretary of the Longtu Pavilion, Minister of Military and State Affairs, and grant him the title of Duke of Chu!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Fan Zhongyan was overjoyed. Historically, he was only the Vice Prime Minister, but now he was directly promoted to Prime Minister.

But it's actually useless.

Because the current prime minister positions such as Canzhi Zhengshi, Tongzhongshumenxia Pingzhangshi, Pingzhang Jun Guozhongshi, and Pingzhang Jun Guoshi, which have been passed down from the Tang Dynasty, are basically empty positions.

The real position is still the director of the Political System Yuan, or the associate director or alternate associate director of the Political System Yuan. Even the alternate associate director is not qualified to participate in important court affairs.

Zhao Jun said, "Your Majesty, the Constitutional Council was established to enable Your Majesty to better govern the country, strengthen the centralization of power, and promote policies that benefit the nation. Therefore, I advocate for a permanent, five-year term for the Constitutional Council. Now that Prime Minister Wang has passed away, I believe a new term is in order."

Zhao Zhen said: "Permission granted!"

"Then please nominate someone. The nominee will officially join the Constitutional Council as a co-governor!"

"Permission granted!"

"I nominate Fan Zhongyan, Li Di, and Li Zi!"

Zhao Jun said immediately.

Li Di could hardly suppress the smile on his face.

The personnel of the Constitutional Yuan are fixed, and the term of office is changed every five years, which is a rule set in advance.

Therefore, no matter how the officials of the Censorate impeached the people of the Constitution Council, unless they could find evidence of illegal activities, the prime minister of the Constitution Council would remain unmoved based on mere hearsay.

It has actually been more than four years since the establishment of the Constitutional Yuan in September of the third year of Jingyou. The term of office should not be changed until September next year.

However, with Wang Sui's death and Fan Zhongyan's great contributions, his formal entry into the Political System Council was a foregone conclusion, so an early change of term was also a matter of course.

Zhao Jun naturally wanted to appoint his own people to the Constitutional Council. After all, although Lao Fan was a good person, he had his own opinions. For example, the two sides had differences in the peace talks between Liao and Song. Therefore, the two could only be considered allies, not friends.

Li Di had completely surrendered to him and become his younger brother, so he had to protect him. Li Zi was a great admirer of Zhao Jun's business reforms and supported his decisions, so he naturally had to mention them as well.

Lü Yijian immediately said, "I nominate Yan Shu, Cheng Lin, and Zhang Dexiang."

Song Shou said, "I nominate Chen Zhizhong and Jia Changchao."

Cai Qi looked at Wang Zeng, who said in a deep voice, "I nominate Song Xiang and Zheng Jian."

Lü Yijian smiled and said, "According to the regulations, nominations must be selected from among the candidate Observation Co-governors, and Song Xiang is no longer one of them."

Wang Zeng looked at Lu Yijian angrily, this old bastard.

Under the current court system reform, the ministers of all important departments directly under the Constitutional Court must be given the title of alternate supervisor to highlight the importance of these departments in the court.

For example, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, the Ministry of Police, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Taxation, and the traditional six ministries of Rites, Personnel, Military, Justice, Households, and Works.

Song Xiang was previously the Right Counselor. As the head of the Censorate, which was equivalent to that department in later generations, he naturally held a high position and great power. Therefore, like the head of the Censorate, the Chief Censor, he also had the title of alternate observer.

With this title, one's rank is basically the second rank, and one is also qualified to enter the Constitutional Council.

However, the Censorate was always at odds with Lu Yijian, and would impeach the Constitutional Council or Lu Yijian's subordinates for no reason.

The year before last, Han Qi also impeached Chen Yaozuo, Shi Zhongli, and Wang Sui for occupying their positions without doing anything. Although Wang Sui was not demoted because he joined the Council of Political Affairs, Chen Yaozuo was dismissed as the governor of Huaikang Army and the judge of Zhengzhou, which made Lu Yijian lose another right-hand man.

Song Xiang was Wang Zeng's younger brother, so naturally he chased after Lu Yijian and beat him up, which made Lu Yijian very annoyed. So last year, Lu Yijian took advantage of Song Xiang's jealousy of Fan Zhongyan and framed him and transferred him to Yangzhou.

The incident started when Fan Zhongyan had corresponded with Western Xia many times in the first half of last year. Naturally, the letters had to be reported to the court. At that time, Zhao Jun was traveling around the world, and Wang Zeng and Cai Qi were both sick. The situation was not very good, so Lu Yijian successfully seized power in the Constitutional Council, making him the only one in power.

Upon seeing this, Song Xiang frantically impeached Lu Yijian.

Lü Yijian then deliberately read Fan Zhongyan's letter to the Western Xia in front of Song Xiang, saying, "How could an important official guarding the border communicate with a rebellious enemy?" He also said, "The memorial says so, so who knows what he actually said to Yuan Hao?"

When Song Xiang heard that the matter was of great importance, he reported Fan Zhongyan to the court the next day.

Zhao Zhen was very angry at the time, and Lu Yijian immediately added fuel to the fire, saying, "It is wrong to write a letter privately, but to say that Fan Zhongyan has two hearts towards the emperor is absolutely wrong."

As a result, Song Xiang was labeled as a villain who was jealous of others' talents and fabricated rumors to slander others. He was soon expelled from the capital and became the governor of Yangzhou Prefecture.

It’s no wonder that Lu Yijian is a very bad guy. He is actually an expert in political struggle.

Zhao Jun had also been plotted against by him.

In history, Li Di and Wang Zeng both suffered at the hands of this old man.

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