Zhao Jun said with a grin, "We finally had a national hero named Yue Fei, who led the Yue Family Army to a resounding victory in the Northern Expedition, but he was ultimately killed by his own destruction of the city wall. I think just a bronze statue of Qin Hui and his wife at the entrance of the Yue Fei Temple isn't enough. Wanyan Gou should also be included."
Who is Wanyan Gou?
Who is Yue Fei?
Who the hell is Qin Hui?
Fan Zhongyan was completely confused.
But now was not the time to ask, he could only bury his doubts in his heart and continue watching.
Yan Shu insisted, "I still like Song Renzong very much. Just tell me about Lü Yijian and Fan Zhongyan. Was Lü Yijian a loyal minister or a traitor?"
"From the perspective of image, he is a traitor."
As soon as these words were spoken, Zhao Zhen, Lu Yijian, and Song Shou, including Yan Shu, all changed their expressions suddenly.
"But that's because of changes in movies, novels, and TV series, which have tarnished Lü Yijian's image."
"The main reason is that Fan Zhongyan is so famous. He is a great poet who cares about his country and his people, and he is also a loyal minister. People think that anyone who opposes Fan Zhongyan must be a traitor."
"In fact, they look at things too superficially, thinking everything is black or white. We who study history need to be more objective and not blindly follow others."
"Judging from Lü Yijian's deeds, he was already a well-known honest and capable minister during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song. He was talented, knowledgeable, prudent, and diligent, and he also did a good job in local governance."
"After Emperor Zhenzong of Song died, Lü Yijian became prime minister. In his struggle with Empress Dowager Liu E, he stood firmly on the side of Emperor Renzong of Song, Zhao Zhen, safeguarding Zhao Zhen's imperial status and consolidating the monarchy. He was undoubtedly a loyal minister."
"After Renzong took power, he actively made many requests to Renzong that only a wise ruler could fulfill. I have forgotten the specifics, but they were all loyal advice. Overall, Lü Yijian was still Zhao Zhen's most trusted minister."
"If it weren't for Old Fan's plan to embarrass Lü Yijian with the "Map of Officials," and the subsequent internal fighting between the Wang Zeng and Cai Qi factions on the one hand, and Lü Yijian and Song Shou's factions on the other, which led to the dismissal of all four of them, I guess Zhao Zhen would have been reluctant to let go of Lü Yijian."
After the last sentence was spoken, it was not Yan Shu, Lu Yijian and Song Shou whose faces changed drastically, but Fan Zhongyan, Wang Zeng and Cai Qi.
Especially Wang Zeng and Cai Qi, they only then realized that their future dismissal from their positions as prime ministers was related to Lu Yijian and Song Shou.
The two looked at each other and could see the horror in each other's eyes.
Fan Zhongyan was a stubborn and impatient person. He immediately lost his temper and said, "You are talking nonsense! Lü Yijian has great power in the government and appoints people based on personal connections. How can he be a loyal minister?"
"who?"
Zhao Jun asked almost in surprise when he heard the new voice.
Zhao Zhen was so angry that his blood pressure rose again.
It’s even more infuriating than Zhao Jun calling him a fool.
We had agreed to tell Fan Zhongyan not to say anything, but ended up ruining everything.
Yan Shu was quick-witted and quickly said, "This is the village party secretary, Granima. His back is feeling a little better today, so he came to see Teacher Zhao."
"So it's Uncle Nima. Judging from your name, you must be Tibetan. But we are in a Tibetan autonomous county under the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, so it's normal for Yi and Tibetan people to live together."
Zhao Jun didn't hear anything unusual, because Yan Shu had already seen his acceptance letter for teaching and knew that he was going to teach in the Tibetan Autonomous County of Daliangshan, so he had an idea and added the role of the Tibetan village party secretary.
In addition, judging from the accent, Fan Zhongyan was from Guanzhong, and his Mandarin was rather stiff. Moreover, he did not listen carefully to the voice just now, so he could not tell the specific accent from that voice alone.
But he heard the other party's rebuttal, so Zhao Jun said: "Uncle Nima seems to have a different opinion, but you don't know one thing."
"What's up?"
Fan Zhongyan asked subconsciously.
"Wang Zeng and Lü Yijian disagreed and argued repeatedly. In the fourth year of Jingyou, Wang Zeng could no longer tolerate it and accused Lü Yijian of "accepting bribes to buy favors." Lü Yijian requested to answer before Renzong, but when Renzong asked Wang Zeng's reasons, Wang Zeng gave in. This shows that Lü Yijian was an extremely honest official, at least not a corrupt official."
Zhao Jun said, "He also protected the rights and interests of Song Renzong and taught him to rule the country like a wise ruler. He did not betray the interests of the country like those foolish and treacherous ministers of the Southern Song Dynasty and killed his own generals. All signs show that Lü Yijian was indeed a loyal and good official."
"So if Lü Yijian is a good official, doesn't that mean Fan Zhongyan is a traitor?"
Fan Zhongyan sneered.
Zhao Jun felt that his tone was a bit stiff, and his thinking was a bit black and white. Could he be a fan of Lao Fan?
This Nini Village is really weird. The village chief is a fan of Zhao Guangyi, the god of war on a donkey cart, and the village party secretary is a fan of Fan Zhongyan. Why do they all like such a rubbish dynasty like Dasong?
"You can't say that. Lü Yijian was a good official, Wang Zeng was also a good official, and Fan Zhongyan was even better. They just had different standpoints."
Zhao Jun explained, "Because Lü Yijian was favored by Zhao Zhen, he was somewhat arbitrary and made decisions that displeased Wang Zeng and Fan Zhongyan. But in the final analysis, they were all doing it for the good of the country."
"Yes, yes, they are all doing this for the good of the country."
Yan Shu smoothed things over.
Zhao Jun smiled again and said, "Uncle Nima has reached a dead end. His temper is a bit like Fan Zhongyan's, too obsessed with right and wrong. In this world, people and things are not black and white, and there is no absolute good or evil. Don't saints make mistakes sometimes?"
"Precisely because of its complexity and chaos, it requires more layers of interpretation and a two-pronged understanding, just like Wang Anshi and Su Shi, both of whom are among the Eight Great Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties."
"Wang Anshi wanted to reform the Song Dynasty, which had been plagued by poverty and weakness due to the "three redundant" problems. Does this mean that he was a loyal official, just like Fan Zhongyan? He learned from Fan Zhongyan's mistakes and, unlike Fan Zhongyan, he no longer focused on reforming the civil service. Instead, he wanted to reform the economy, the military, and agriculture."
"While he didn't cut officials, he actually created some new departments to increase bureaucracy. The problem was that his reforms were too radical, and the policies he proposed were difficult to implement perfectly. While the upper echelons had good intentions, they became distorted at the lower levels. The result was a heavier burden on the people, exacerbating national unrest and severe internal friction."
"Su Shi himself was a reformist. He found Wang Anshi's policies inappropriate and vehemently opposed them. Wang Anshi is a renowned and illustrious official, and so is Su Shi. Does this make him a traitor simply because he opposed Wang Anshi? This is clearly irrational."
"Furthermore, Sima Guang, who wrote the Zizhi Tongjian, was also an opponent of Wang Anshi. Although after Wang Anshi's downfall, he was extremely paranoid and tried to erase all of Wang Anshi's achievements, even wanting to give the land Wang Anshi had conquered during his time as a conqueror to the Western Xia, which was utterly foolish. However, after his death, his family had no remaining wealth, demonstrating his integrity. Can Zi Rishu call him a traitor?"
After hearing these words, Fan Zhongyan didn't know how to refute them.
Because he didn't know Wang Anshi, Su Shi and Sima Guang.
Wang Anshi was only fifteen years old this year, and it would take five years until the second year of the Qingli period for him to pass the imperial examination and become a Jinshi.
Sima Guang was already nineteen years old, but he would not enter the officialdom until next year.
As for Su Shi?
Just born this year.
So how could Fan Zhongyan tell Zhao Jun what a group of future people would be like?
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