"Mr. Zhao, you have to take care of Hu Quan!"
In the Chongwen Academy, where the capital was located, Zhao Ding heard these words again, and this time the one who came to make the suggestion was the Minister of Personnel Liu Dazhong. "If this continues, I'm afraid that the party struggle will start again!"
Zhao Ding, who was handling official business, sighed inwardly upon hearing this, but on the surface he remained calm. He waved his hand to signal the Secretary Fan Zongyin, who was on official business, and other officials in the public office to temporarily leave, and then he spoke calmly, "Hu Quan has published a supplement without authorization again?"
"It doesn't matter if he publishes a supplement without permission, the key is the content!" Liu Dazhong was almost furious. "If he published a supplement to talk about the original practice, tell stories, record news, or even advertise the Cuju match, why would I do this?"
"What's the content?" Zhao Ding's expression remained unchanged. "Minister Liu, please sit down."
"My son happened to be on duty at the Imperial College today to copy the court bulletin. He ran out right after he finished copying and told me that Hu Quan had published an allusion about Duke Huan of Qi's virtue and evil today!" Liu Dazhong said with a wave of his sleeves. "Do you think he meant to fire half of the officials in the central government?"
After hearing this story, Zhao Yuanzhen also started to have a headache.
There is no other reason, this story is too famous. It says that Duke Huan of Qi came to a small town and saw that the place was in ruins. He was curious, but someone told him that the ruler of this place "respected good and hated evil", so it was destroyed. Duke Huan of Qi was puzzled. Why did the city become a ruin even though it "recognized good people and hated bad people"?
As a result, the locals continued to tell Duke Huan of Qi that this monarch recognized good people but could not use good people, hated bad people but could not drive them out, so his city became a ruin.
This story is so famous and ancient that it has become a standard story for everyone to use when they advise the monarch to impeach others. Coupled with the fact that Hu Quan himself had previously cursed those who advocated peace as spies, and the current situation, the intention is even more obvious.
"Minister Liu, please sit down." After a moment of headache, Zhao Ding still tried his best to maintain the demeanor of a prime minister.
Liu Dazhong sneered, finally found a chair and sat down casually, then waited for Zhao Ding to speak.
However, Liu Dazhong took office when Zhang Jun went south to supervise the army at Dongting Lake. He was recommended by Zhao Ding, and since he took office, he has almost obeyed Zhao Ding's orders. In fact, everyone knows that the two Shangshus, Liu Dazhong of the Ministry of Personnel and Hu Shijiang of the Ministry of War, plus Liu Ji, the deputy prime minister of the capital province, who cooperated very well, are the key support for Prime Minister Zhao to manage the government affairs of the country in the capital province.
Relatively speaking, the Minister of Rites Zhu Shengfei has a gentle temperament. Although he has always cooperated with the work of the capital province, he is recognized as Lu Yihao's man; the Minister of Revenue Lin Qi has been in office for three or four years, and he is from Li Gang's court; the Minister of Punishments Wang Shu should have been close to Zhao Ding, but unexpectedly he was very close to the Privy Council because of his particularly pro-war stance; as for the Minister of Works, it was Liang Yangzu who brought Zhang Jun, Tian Shizhong, and Yang Yizhong to protect the emperor, served as deputy marshal, supervised the tea and salt affairs in the southeast, and finally came to Beijing because the extraordinary official position was abolished after the Yaoshan War... This person has extremely strong political capital and comes from a famous family (his father is the prototype of Liang Zhongshu in Water Margin), but he has always been humble, and is an impartial and fair gentleman.
In short, after the court's Nanyang reform, with the six ministers becoming increasingly powerful, it was obvious that Minister Liu, who sat in such an important position, was naturally Zhao Ding's right-hand man. Therefore, Zhao Ding had no reason to hide his feelings when dealing with this man.
"Minister Liu, the government emphasizes 'practical achievements' and admires Wang Shu, and even makes Guanzi a prominent school of thought. We can't say there is anything wrong with Hu Quan publishing this. Besides, the fault of this matter is not with Hu Quan, but with the government." After thinking carefully, Zhao Ding finally spoke frankly.
"Prime Minister Zhao." Liu Dazhong also recovered his breath at this time, but shook his head repeatedly. "I understand what you said, but the emperor's intention is so straightforward that it is inevitable to make people suspicious. Hu Quan is simply instructed by the emperor!"
Zhao Ding finally sighed.
Speaking of which, there is no need to say much about Emperor Zhao's intentions. He is in favor of war and wants to march north! The attitude of this emperor has been very obvious from beginning to end... The imperial edict not to take the initiative to negotiate peace has not been revoked until now. He directly fabricated a letter from the north. He drove away the Jin people without giving any ministers a chance to speak after they came to the palace for an incense stick of time. Later, he just walked away in anger after "breaking the tassel". What else do you want?
"There is no government authorization. This was definitely done by Hu Quan on his own initiative. However, the government's ambiguous attitude and deliberate indulgence are not to be denied." Zhao Ding continued to ponder. "What I mean is, we need to find out the crux of the government's involvement in this matter..."
"Walls have no ears, just keep talking, sir." Liu Dazhong frowned slightly, but couldn't help but add another sentence. "If walls have ears, then you and the Minister of Personnel would have better quit!"
Zhao Ding ignored the other party's complaints and said slowly: "I think there are two problems. First, the emperor's determination to fight is unshakable. Seeing that half of the officials in the court are willing to negotiate peace, the monarch can't help but want to act on his own..."
"If we can gain the south of the Yellow River without fighting, welcome back the two saints, negotiate peace, and recuperate for a few years, wouldn't that be good?" Liu Dazhong shook his head helplessly. It was obvious that he had expressed his willingness to negotiate peace when the last division took place that day.
"In this matter, each has his own reasons... If we negotiate peace, everything will be fine, but how can we win the hearts of the people who survived in the two rivers? Even if we don't talk about the people who survived in the two rivers, how many people have escaped across the river? How can we explain it?"
"Isn't the government dedicated to meritorious service?" Liu Dazhong stamped his feet. "Why are you only talking about justice and not profit at this moment? How about taking a short break and then starting a large-scale northern expedition?"
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