Zhao Jun reprimanded all the officials in the morning court, and after returning to Chongzheng Hall, he slammed the table and scolded Lu Yijian and Sheng Du and others, and only then did he manage to calm the incident.

This also allowed many people to see his political stance and understand that Zhao Jun also supported the New Deal reforms.

For a time, he was envied by many officials.

But sometimes there is no way out. Reform is something that people hate. No matter how good a system is, if it harms the interests of the majority, the possibility of success is very small.

But if it’s difficult, why don’t you do it?

The saying "A righteous man has many supporters, while an unrighteous man has few" is not meant to be used this way.

Because "Tao" as truth is sometimes not in the hands of the majority, but in the hands of a few.

If officials who take bribes, abuse their power, are corrupt and incompetent are considered to be the Tao, wouldn't that be ridiculous?

So no matter what, no matter how difficult it is, you have to grit your teeth and keep doing it.

At least the ten years of reforms by Zhang Juzheng were successful, and later the reforms by Yongzheng were also successful. History has proven that the new policies work, so we must persist in them.

The only problem that needs to be worried about is that even if the reforms of Zhang Juzheng and Yongzheng were successful, their policies would soon end after their leaders died.

But this can be compensated as Zhao Jun is only 28 years old this year.

Firstly, he is still young and has enough time to train a successor.

Secondly, and most importantly, if all goes well, there will be at least a few decades in the future when political strongmen will implement policies with an iron fist.

Otherwise, if he traveled through time, he would be very old and would only have a few years to live. He really didn't want to go through all this trouble.

And another thing is that the new policy was presided over by Fan Zhongyan.

The firepower Zhao Jun attracts is actually not as great as that of Lao Fan. Even if people are targeting him, it is Lao Fan. What does it have to do with him as a supporter?

Even if the officials became so evil that they hired someone to assassinate the officials in charge, it would be Fan Zhongyan who would be killed.

It was Old Fan who was sent to die and take the blame, and it was enough for him to help and provide support behind the scenes.

Even though Lao Fan was brutally murdered by conservative interest groups and evil forces, Zhao Jun could only avenge him with tears, and then train Wang Anshi to continue his work.

Zhao Jun naturally would not shift the blame and shirk responsibility like Chongzhen did, but he needed someone to help him take the lead so that he could do other things.

Otherwise, if you spend all day arguing with these officials about trivial matters and engaging in intrigue, you won't be able to do other things to revitalize the country.

At noon, Zhao Jun went home to sleep.

At 3 p.m., Zhao Jun, who had rested for more than two hours, got up and prepared to go to the Constitutional Council to check the situation.

But before he could go out, Jiang Dalang said that Fan Zhongyan was waiting at the door.

He first asked someone to call Fan Zhongyan in.

Zhao Jun's house was just an ordinary residence, but its advantage was that it was very close to the imperial palace, and Xihuamen was right outside the street.

The disadvantages are also obvious. It is not big enough. It only has a front yard, a front hall, a courtyard, and then a backyard like a courtyard house.

In the backyard, apart from the master bedroom where Zhao Jun and his wife lived, there were two side rooms on the left and right.

One room was occupied by the two maids brought by Cao Miaoxin, the other room was occupied by the three Japanese maids sent by Song Cai, and the study was behind the master bedroom.

These three Japanese maids were quite diligent. They cleaned the yard, made tea and cleaned the house every day.

Instead, the maid was bossy and ordered them around, acting more like the master than Cao Miaoxin.

I originally thought that these Japanese noble ladies would not be able to bear this injustice, but unexpectedly, they were quite happy. They often knelt to greet the host and hostess, and they were not angry even though the maids had higher status than them.

Later I learned that although they were Japanese aristocratic ladies, the status of women in Japan was low, so aristocratic ladies were only slightly better than common women.

Secondly, the Japanese people particularly admire the Song Dynasty. In their eyes, the Japanese are naturally shorter than the Song people. They feel proud to be able to live in the Song Dynasty for a long time and do not feel ashamed at all.

So even though I lived like a servant, I felt it was much better than living in Japan.

"Your house is too small. With your current status, you should at least have a larger courtyard."

Fan Zhongyan stepped into the front yard and saw that although there were two towering apricot trees in the yard, the total area was probably less than three or four hundred square meters, which seemed quite cramped to someone who was used to living in a large courtyard.

Zhao Jun smiled and said, "Smallness has its advantages. It gives you a sense of home. No matter how big the house is, it's useless. In the end, life ends up in a coffin."

"Your words are quite profound."

Fan Zhongyan smiled.

“That’s called the philosophy of life.”

Zhao Jun led Fan Zhongyan into the front hall.

The maid made the tea and a servant girl brought it up.

After the two sat down, Zhao Jun asked, "Are you leaving get off work so early? Aren't you going to work until Youshi?"

"I don't want to see Lu Yijian's bitter and vengeful face."

Fan Zhongyan took a sip of the tea and praised it, saying, "This tea is well brewed."

"Being prime minister and resigning early is a bit incompetent."

Zhao Jun laughed.

"Actually, I want to ask you, what should we do now?"

Fan Zhongyan put down his teacup and smiled bitterly, "There's already so much opposition to the performance evaluation system alone, what's next?"

“It’s hard to be an official.”

Zhao Jun shook his head. "The performance evaluation system is already the mildest. It doesn't cost them their lives, it's just to make sure they do their job well, yet they're still making excuses."

"You should say that reform is difficult, but being an official is not."

Fan Zhongyan retorted, "If I hadn't encountered this unfortunate situation, the two achievements of defeating the Western Xia and the Liao would have been enough for me to rest on my laurels for the rest of my life."

"Are you still Fan Zhongyan?"

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