The morning court begins in noise and ends in silence.
After Zhao Zhen issued an edict to severely punish corrupt officials, officials who committed crimes, and officials who abused their power for personal gain, he left the court.
Before long, by noon, what happened in the morning had spread throughout the streets of Bianliang.
Today, Zhao Jun's reputation in official circles is very unpleasant, but in the hearts of the people, it is gradually spreading, and he even has the reputation of Zhao Qingtian.
Because Zhao Jun was well aware of the importance of public opinion warfare, he always grasped the weak spot every time he made a move. He first brought down the Kaifeng Prefecture through the evidence provided by Fan Zhongyan, and then continued to dig deeper and arrested the two Mas.
In the morning, while Han Yi was in court, he sent people directly to the Sansi Yamen, took away Han Zong who was on duty, and then quickly announced his guilt.
In the past, officials still maintained a superficial attitude, and scholars and officials also impeached each other, but they were often superficial and the crimes reported were as light as possible.
For example, when Han Qi impeached Wang Sui, Chen Yaozuo, Han Yi, Shi Zhongli and others, he made a big deal out of a small matter.
In fact, after Han Qi's investigation, they were found to have committed crimes including corruption and bribery, misusing public property for personal gain, and cheating in the imperial examinations, which allowed Chen Yaozuo's son and Han Yi's four sons to all pass the imperial examinations.
However, due to the court's reputation, Han Qi only hinted to Zhao Zhen about their favoritism and corruption. On the surface, he impeached them for being incompetent and having no political achievements.
Normally, the Song Dynasty was full of incompetent officials. If this charge was really applied, at least 10,000 redundant officials who did nothing at home and only knew how to collect salaries without being assigned would have to be dismissed.
But these people were impeached for being incompetent and were then dismissed by Zhao Zhen.
From this we can see that they were not actually incompetent, but had committed a crime, and it was just a matter of reputation for the court.
Zhao Jun took advantage of this and announced a large number of crimes, launched a public opinion offensive, and occupied the moral high ground. This also forced Zhao Zhen to purge the officialdom and rectify the administration in public opinion.
Under such circumstances, Han Zong was dismissed from his post, and Han Yuan, who was serving as the prefect in another place, was arrested by people from the Imperial City Department with an imperial decree. Han Yi himself was forced to write a letter of apology, and Zhao Zhen took the opportunity to remove him from his post as the co-director of the Privy Council and demoted him to the deputy envoy of the Yongning Army, a position without real power.
For a time, many officials in and out of the court were worried. Under such an attack of public opinion, no one dared to risk ruining their reputation to make excuses for those people, which resulted in fewer people in the court and the public who wanted to take back power from the emperor.
During the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang carried out the "Hu Weiyong Case" and killed more than 30,000 people. He dismissed the left and right prime ministers and abolished the Secretariat. The matter was handled by six departments. Later, the Palace and Cabinet Grand Secretaries were established to serve as advisors to the emperor, ending China's more than 2,000-year-old prime minister system, strengthening the autocratic imperial power, and consolidating his own imperial power.
This time, Zhao Zhen also used the "Kaifeng Prefecture Case" to kill more than 100 people and arrest more than 1,000 people. The subsequent arrests are still in progress, and it is expected that in the next few months, the Imperial City Bureau and Kaifeng Prefecture will continue to clean up the remaining criminals.
Although the situation did not escalate to the level of the "Hu Weiyong case", Zhao Zhen took the opportunity to obtain the power of arrest and trial, and changed his previous tolerance towards officials.
This was unprecedented in the reign of Song Renzong Zhao Zhen, who was known for his benevolence in history.
After the court session, the officials returned to their respective offices. Lü Yijian, along with the ministers Wang Zeng and Wang Sui, also returned to the government hall. However, everyone's expressions were mixed today, and the hall was completely silent.
Today was a great victory for the emperor, but a crushing defeat for the literati. The emperor strengthened the imperial power, but deprived the literati of their rights, leaving everyone feeling very uncomfortable.
Even though they had thought about this day since Zhao Jun arrived, they never expected it to come so soon or so suddenly.
"Prime Minister Lu!"
At this moment, Jia Changchao, the Right Counselor and Acting Chief Censor, appeared stealthily outside the government hall and poked his head in.
Lu Yijian thought for a moment, then stood up and walked over, asking in a low voice, "What's the matter?"
Jia Changchao asked, "Can I have a moment to talk?"
"Be careful with your words and be cautious when you are alone!"
Lu Yijian waved his hand, signaling him to go back.
Seeing his thoughtful behavior, Jia Changchao bowed and left.
These days, Lu Yijian and the other three ministers and three councilors have been staying at home and rarely interacting with other court officials and colleagues.
This was impossible in the past.
Therefore, senior officials such as Xia Song, Chen Yaozuo, Jia Changchao, Wang Gongchen, Zhang Dexiang, Chen Zhizhong, Liu Yuanyu, Wang Deyong, Han Yi, and Cheng Lin have also smelled something recently.
The reason why Han Yi did not allow Han Zong to join all the officials in submitting a memorial was that Lu Yijian and others behaved too abnormally, which allowed people like him to notice something.
As a result, the Shangguan family was furious in the court today and dismissed Han Yi. Han Yi felt disheartened, but also a little relieved.
I'm afraid that if his son Han Zong's wishes were followed, he would not only be dismissed, but his family would be exterminated.
What happened to the emperor that caused his temperament to change so drastically?
Jia Changchao and others were confused and wanted to come to the Council of State to test the waters, but they didn't expect that Lu Yijian and others still didn't want to talk to them in private, so he had no choice but to leave.
There were a few other people waiting outside. When they saw that Jia Changchao had returned empty-handed, they gathered together and chatted for a few minutes, sighed a few times, and then dispersed.
When Lü Yijian returned to the government hall, Wang Sui came over and asked worriedly, "Prime Minister Lü, what should we do?"
As soon as he said this, he started talking.
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