Fan Zhongyan ignored him and instead bowed to Zhao Zhen, saying, "I'm sure your Majesty is already aware of what Zhao Jun has said. Without reform, the Song Dynasty will be in imminent danger. Lü Yijian opposes reform simply because he belongs to the conservative interest group Zhao Jun mentioned. Does your Majesty intend to watch the Song Dynasty wither away under the evils of these three redundancies?"

"you!"

Lu Yijian was furious, and Fan Zhongyan used the tactic of standing on the moral high ground again.

Zhao Zhen frowned.

Fan Zhongyan was a minister whom he valued and also a reformist minister appointed by Zhao Jun, but he seemed to be too rash in his actions.

Didn’t Zhao Jun say before that this matter needed to be slowed down?

"Your Majesty, the issue of redundant officials still needs long-term consideration. The Song Dynasty simply has too many officials, and the number is increasing year by year. If such a big change is made all at once and so many officials are dismissed, the country may not be able to bear it."

"Yes, Your Majesty, it's a good thing that Fan Xiwen is willing to eliminate the malpractices, but we can't rush into it. We should wait until Zhao Jun's eyesight recovers."

"I also think it's worth considering again."

The three ministers and three advisers, including Wang Zeng and Cai Qi who were at odds with Lu Yijian, all stood on his side, which was rare, and opposed the immediate reform of redundant officials.

It's not that they are rebelling, but they do have considerations of their positions and interests, as well as concerns about the consequences of the issue of redundant officials.

During the reign of Emperor Renzong of the Northern Song Dynasty, the number of officials reached over 40,000, twice that of the Tang Dynasty. Considering that the Tang Dynasty's peak area was over 12 million square kilometers, while the Song Dynasty only had 2.8 million square kilometers, you can understand how serious the redundancy of officials in the Song Dynasty was.

And this is just the officials, not counting the clerks. A county has only four official positions: the county magistrate, the county clerk, the chief clerk, and the county lieutenant. The number of clerks required is at least ten times that of officials.

Although these people were hired by officials, most of them were subsidized by the Song Dynasty court. Otherwise, how could they be supported with the officials' meager salaries?

If reforms were really carried out according to Fan Zhongyan's New Policies of the Qingli Period, it would not only affect the interests of the 40,000 officials, but also the interests of more than 400,000 to 500,000 officials throughout the world. The combined impact of these interest groups would be no less than the problem of reforming redundant soldiers.

Therefore, even if the system really needs to be reformed, we cannot start immediately. Instead, we hope to wait until Zhao Jun's eyes recover, and then discuss it with him to see if he has any ideas.

Seeing that everyone was against it, Zhao Zhen looked at Fan Zhongyan helplessly and said, "Mr. Fan, let's wait until Zhao Jun's eyesight recovers."

"Officials..."

Fan Zhongyan wanted to say something, but seeing Zhao Zhen's helpless face, he could only sigh and sit back in his seat.

This world is always full of helplessness. Although people know that the problem is serious, they find it difficult to find a solution.

In fact, Fan Zhongyan had no choice but to reform the civil service system.

Because among the three redundancies, redundant soldiers are the bottom line of imperial power, and no one dares to risk his life to touch this bomb.

What is redundancy?

In fact, it is the unnecessary expenses caused by redundant officials and soldiers.

For example, the money that the imperial court took away from tea merchants through loopholes in the Jiaoyin Law was a kind of redundant expense.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg.

In addition to the tea merchants, there were also unnecessary expenses for the garrison troops, the imperial guards, and the border troops, the empty salaries of the troops, the money spent on recruiting people, and the expenses caused by corruption among the generals.

There are also officials' subsidies, official land, silk, food, rewards, ice and charcoal, spices, public money, coupons, etc., which are also redundant expenses in addition to basic salaries.

It can be said that the redundancy was actually the result of merchants, officials, and the military working together to suck blood from the Song Dynasty court.

In order to solve the problem of redundant expenses, we must solve the problem of redundant officials and soldiers, but Fan Zhongyan cannot touch the bomb of redundant soldiers, so can he only cut off the redundant officials?

But now Zhao Zhen obviously has no way to deal with the redundant officials for the time being, and it seems that he can only wait for Zhao Jun's eyes to recover.

But what if there is no way to help after Zhao Jun’s eyes recover?

After all, he is just a man of theory but not theory. Does the future of the entire Song Dynasty depend on a young man with no experience at all?

"The three redundancies are too serious to be ignored. If we are not careful, the country could be in great danger."

Seeing Fan Zhongyan's actions had subsided, Lü Yijian breathed a sigh of relief and said, "This matter should be put on hold for now, and we can discuss it again after Zhao Jun's eyes have healed. If we put the Three Redundancies issue aside, should our next plan be to strengthen the country?"

"Develop industry?"

Zhao Zhen asked hurriedly, "But we only heard Zhao Jun talk about what is needed to develop industry, but we don't know how to develop it specifically."

"Forehead......"

Lu Yijian was in a dilemma.

Wang Zeng also said helplessly: "Then let's wait for Zhao Jun."

Zhao Zhen complained, "Why do we have to wait for him for everything? Without him, the Song Dynasty will not survive."

"Sir, there's nothing we can do. Didn't Zhao Jun say that? If we want an industrial revolution, we need a large number of engineering talents, as well as oil and rubber. We all need Zhao Jun's help."

Wang Sui smiled bitterly and said, "Let's not talk about whether oil and rubber can be found. Even if they can be found, what about the talent? So we can only wait for Zhao Jun. We need Zhao Jun to help us establish a scientific system..."

"Okay, what's next?"

Zhao Zhen had no choice but to say, "Zhao Jun said that Zhao Yuanhao is about to rebel and establish a country. This time we should be able to make the decision ourselves. We don't need Zhao Jun anymore."

"Let's stick to our previous plan and let Fan Xiwen go."

Lu Yijian glanced at Fan Zhongyan and thought that if this guy could stay away from the court, he could live a few more years.

"But Zhao Jun said that even if Fan Qing went, at most he wouldn't suffer a major defeat. Am I just going to watch Zhao Yuanhao establish the Western Xia Kingdom?"

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