Zhao Jun asked back.

Lao Fan looked at him, and the two of them just stared at each other, and two seconds later they both burst into laughter.

"Yes, I am Fan Zhongyan, the man in history who said, 'I worry about the world before I worry about myself, and I enjoy the world after I enjoy myself.' But sometimes, I also feel very tired."

Fan Zhongyan sighed, spread his hands and said, "I thought Lü Yijian and the others would understand me, but who knows?"

"There's nothing we can do. He's been caught after all, and he's a poor parent, and he wants to protect his son. Ask yourself, if your sons Fan Chunyou and Fan Chunren were in danger of being exiled, would you be anxious?"

Zhao Jun asked.

"If they break the law knowingly, I will kill them myself!"

Fan Zhongyan gritted his teeth and said.

The Fan family's family rules were relatively strict, although Fan Chunren was one of the core members of the conservative faction in Wang Anshi's later reforms.

However, he had noble character, was easy-going, loyal and forgiving. Apart from supporting Sima Guang in ceding the four territories of the Song Dynasty to the Western Xia, he did not have any major moral stains. This had a lot to do with Fan Zhongyan's strict family education.

"Just because your family has strict rules doesn't mean everyone is like you."

Zhao Jun shrugged and said, "Even a tiger wouldn't eat its own cubs. Lü Yijian and Sheng Du simply made the same mistake every father might make. Legally, I oppose them. But from their perspective, I can't blame them. Let's consider what happened to Lü Gongchuo a lesson for Lü Yijian."

"What are you going to do with it?"

Fan Zhongyan asked.

Zhao Jun thought for a moment and said, "I haven't made up my mind yet. I'll talk to Li Di about it later."

Lü Gongchuo certainly cannot be forgiven lightly. Although the law cannot be applied retroactively, existing laws must be enforced. Lü Gongchuo's crime is minor, while Lü Gongbi, Sheng Shenfu, and Zhang Yuxi are guilty of serious crimes. This is clearly putting the cart before the horse and must be corrected.

After all, the concept of "laws not being retroactive" is a concept proposed by later generations. In ancient times, let alone the concept of "laws not being retroactive", even if something is strictly stipulated by the law, it must be changed if the emperor orders it to be changed.

For example, during the reign of Zhao Kuangyin, many officials were killed for corruption and lawlessness, but there were also officials who did more serious things, and corruption and lawlessness were considered minor offenses.

Wang Jixun was a cruel man. He allowed his men to plunder the capital at will. He killed more than a hundred maids with his own hands and ate their meat. However, he was always protected by Zhao Kuangyin until Zhao Guangyi came to power and executed him.

Therefore, in ancient times, discussing the law without retroactively referring to the past was something that was not accepted or understood by the world.

In many of the things Zhao Jun did, he tried his best to follow things that the ancients could understand. For example, the new policies he discussed with Fan Zhongyan were basically successful examples of feudal dynasty reforms in history.

He still had many dragon-slaying techniques, but he didn't dare to use them at all.

But even so, the resistance was already quite great, which shows how difficult it was to carry out reforms in the Song Dynasty.

"Um."

Fan Zhongyan responded, then asked, "Will there be any other new policies implemented next?"

"Of course, this must be implemented without any effort."

Zhao Jun answered without hesitation, "But I've also thought about it. If the performance evaluation system is strictly enforced for a long time, it will really have a huge impact on the enthusiasm of officials. So I think we can change our thinking."

"What idea?"

“Increase incentives.”

"A reward?"

Fan Zhongyan thought about it and realized that there were indeed only punishment measures but no reward measures.

If a person does a good job, it is what he should do. However, if he does a poor job and fails to complete the task on time, he may be punished. If there are further mistakes, he may be punished and demoted. The most serious case is dismissal.

At present, there has been no incompetent official in the Song Dynasty who was dismissed for failing to complete the tasks of the Performance Evaluation System. Most of those who were dismissed were corrupt officials who were caught under the Performance Evaluation System.

However, if such strict enforcement continues for a long time, officials may become lazy, and it is not impossible that a situation will occur in which one-third of officials are unqualified, as happened in the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, establishing reward measures may indeed help to increase the enthusiasm of officials.

"Yes."

Zhao Jun nodded and said, "There are actually two types of officials: those at the top whose words are final, and those at the bottom whose words are final. Officials in the middle often play a role in communication, but they are prone to causing trouble. They can turn a good policy into a bad one, leading to adverse consequences."

"Um."

Fan Zhongyan pondered over Zhao Jun's words, and nodded in agreement after a moment. He had a deep understanding of this point.

For example, if he wants to implement a policy, but this policy will hinder the interests of middle-level officials, then these officials will suppress the lowest-level executive officials.

They can use hints, guidance, and even oppression to make the officials below go in the wrong direction.

Wang Anshi's reform is a typical example.

At that point, the officials who passed the information along could shift the blame onto lower-level executive officials. Since there are too many lower-level executive officials, it would be difficult to bring the matter to a close if the law doesn't hold everyone accountable.

You can't just dismiss all the county magistrates, county chancellors, and county lieutenants from all over the Song Dynasty, right?

This is the current state of officialdom reform: it is passed down and implemented layer by layer. However, if there is a problem in the middle link, the entire implementation process will be distorted.

"The problem really comes down to bureaucracy."

Zhao Jun continued, "These officials are arrogant, self-inflated, act like 'masters,' do their jobs perfunctorily, are inconsistent in their words and deeds, selectively enforce policies, and deceive their superiors and subordinates. They are the worst kind of people."

"Isn't the performance evaluation system designed to solve this problem?"

Fan Zhongyan said.

"But relying solely on the supervision and punishment of the performance evaluation system is definitely not enough. We also need to reward officials to increase their enthusiasm."

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!