And from then on, Zhao Jun also began to slowly build up his own power, brought Li Di in, secretly put pressure on Lu Yijian, and strike down Lu Yijian's arrogance.

The second term of office was in the sixth year of the Qingli period, which was October 1046 AD. Although Lü Yijian was not dead at that time, he was already terminally ill and unable to interfere in politics. Therefore, Xia Song, Zheng Jian and Du Yan were elected to the Political System Council.

Basically, the turning point began with the second term change. The Lü and Wang factions gradually withdrew from the historical stage due to age and illness, and Zhao Jun's Zhao faction began to dominate, dominating the Constitutional Court with no one to restrain it.

Now that we have reached the time for the third term change, it will obviously be another critical moment that will affect the structure of the Constitutional Yuan.

Because there will be a huge shortage of personnel in this Constitutional Council. First, Cai Qi and Song Shou will not be re-elected. Second, although Jiang Tang and Jia Changchao are from the same term as Fan Zhongyan and Yan Shu, that is, they entered during the first term change, they are not among the first eight people.

According to the ten-year limit, Zhao Zhen can only retain Fan Zhongyan and Yan Shu for another five years at most. Jiang Tang and Jia Changchao will not be re-elected this time. Taking into account the deaths of Li Di and Zhang Shixun, the vacancies will reach as many as six people.

So according to convention, Fan Zhongyan and Yan Shu, as prime ministers who were specially authorized by Zhao Zhen to be retained for an additional five-year term, should not have been allowed to recommend anyone. However, this time there were half fewer people, so Zhao Zhen specially granted them one nomination quota.

no way.

This is the only way to do it in special times. After all, according to the procedure, one can only enter the Constitutional Council by recommendation by the prime minister. Although this makes it easy for party forces to emerge, the voting system will be even more ridiculous. It would be more reliable to let the prime minister choose a suitable successor.

Upon hearing Zhao Jun's suggestion, Fan Zhongyan shook his head and said, "Fu Bi and Prime Minister Yan don't have a good relationship. Although Han Qi is related to Prime Minister Jia by marriage, the relationship is still distant. They won't help recommend him."

"Strange, I remember the historical feud between Fu Bi and Yan Shu stemmed from the early days of the Qingli New Deal, when opposition groups like Lü Yijian opposed the new policies. Yan Shu not only refused to help the reformists, but also openly and covertly defended the opposition, which infuriated Fu Bi. That's when he angrily called Yan Shu and Lü Yijian treacherous. Why is he still acting this way now that there's no such thing?"

Zhao Jun was very puzzled.

Fan Zhongyan said with a smile: "The ice three feet thick is not formed in one day, just like my uncle in his early years."

He said this with a slight hesitation.

Zhao Jun asked, "What happened in the early years?"

Fan Zhongyan smiled bitterly and said, "In his early years, I didn't contribute to Your Majesty's personal rule. Instead, I found an excuse to leave and avoid disaster. I also didn't oppose the Empress Dowager. In the eyes of many upright ministers, I was no different from a traitor."

"I see."

Zhao Jun suddenly understood.

This is a typical example of a fence-sitter who is caught between two sides.

Yan Shu was a man who was cautious and self-protective. He would not easily reveal his position during political turmoil.

But in the eyes of both factions, this behavior is incomplete support, which is equivalent to no support at all.

The earliest source of trouble was the period when Empress Dowager Zhangxian Liu E was in control of the government.

So a group of ministers such as Ding Wei supported Liu E in taking power and were very flattering to her.

Another group of ministers, led by Lu Yijian and Fan Zhongyan, demanded that Liu E give up power and return it to Zhao Zhen.

The two sides attacked each other and fought constantly in the court.

However, the power was again in the hands of Liu E, which led to the emperor's faction that was pro-Zhao Zhen being gradually demoted to local areas.

This includes Yan Shu.

However, Yan Shu was not demoted because he wrote a letter to ask Liu E to return power. Instead, he found an excuse, made some minor mistakes, and took the initiative to be demoted.

The reason is very simple.

As Zhao Zhen grew older, the possibility of him ruling the country personally became higher and higher. In order to make his position clear, he did not dare to directly target Liu E, so it was natural for him to do so.

So in fact, in the struggle with the Queen Mother's party, Yan Shu did not contribute at all and was completely ineffective.

Later, because of his demotion, he was identified as a member of the emperor's party and was promoted again.

This naturally caused dissatisfaction among many members of the emperor's party, and their reputation became much worse.

During the Qingli New Deal in history, Yan Shu continued to protect himself, but he openly and secretly helped the opposition such as Lu Yijian. The result is self-evident, and it made Fu Bi, Ouyang Xiu and others curse him.

Although he no longer secretly opposed the new policies as he had in history, after the establishment of the Political System Council, Lu Yijian still had considerable political struggles with Fan Zhongyan.

For example, during the first Qingli New Deal, Lü Yijian's son was involved and the Kaocheng system was almost abolished.

If Zhao Jun had not turned the tide, the administration would probably not have improved.

Among them, Yan Shu once again tried to protect himself. Fu Bi, Wen Yanbo, Ouyang Xiu and other people who supported Fan Zhongyan supported Fan Zhongyan while scolding Lu Yijian and were dissatisfied with Yan Shu's behavior.

Therefore, although Yan Shu is Fu Bi's father-in-law, to be honest, the relationship between the two is not very good, and Fu Bi would not use Yan Shu's connections to ask for a quota.

"I'm really overwhelmed by this matter now."

Fan Zhongyan spread his hands and said, "You know the situation this year. Six chancellors are leaving the Constitutional Council, so basically, if you recommend someone, you'll most likely be admitted. But I only have one spot. What can I do?"

"Why are you asking me about your business? Wait a minute."

Zhao Jun rolled his eyes and suddenly realized, "Okay, no wonder you've been sighing and groaning in front of me today, looking so sad. So you're planning to take advantage of me?"

Fan Zhongyan laughed and said, "Why, among the ministers now, is there anyone who has won the favor of Han Long?"

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