Liu Yuanyu shouted, "Zhao Jun! You are rebelling. I am not wrong. The Salt and Iron Bureau is short-staffed. What right do you have to dismiss us? What right do you have?"
"The establishment of the Political System Council is the emperor's intention to revitalize the Song Dynasty and strengthen it. The orders of the Political System Council are the emperor's orders."
Zhao Jun bowed towards the palace and said, "The Emperor has said that the Constitutional Council must reform its malpractices and rectify the court, making the Song Dynasty's officialdom more transparent and efficient. This is not about procrastinating when asked to do a small task. What use is there for someone like you?"
His voice was like thunder, and he spoke directly while standing in the yard. There were many officials from the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Finance watching outside. He wanted to let his voice spread and formally establish the authority of the Constitutional Council!
The Salt and Iron Bureau is being used as a sacrifice today!
For a moment, the courtyard was completely silent. Only the other officials of the Salt and Iron Department cried out in pain, "This is all caused by Deputy Envoy Liu. It's none of our business."
"We are just following orders. Why do you want to sack us? This is unfair!"
"There's nothing unfair about it."
Song Shou stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the officials below and said, "The Constitutional Court has given you chances, sending you several times to tell you to complete the counting as soon as possible. What happened? If only one person had come to the Constitutional Court and told you that Liu Yuanyu was interfering, this wouldn't have happened. Did you do that?"
Everyone was stunned for a moment.
They really didn't think of tipping off the Constitutional Council. Firstly, this was a taboo in the officialdom. Secondly, the county magistrate was not as good as the current one. Liu Yuanyu was their immediate superior. In addition, the existence of the Constitutional Council and Zhao Jun was not welcomed by the officialdom, so naturally no one would help him.
Everyone treated this as a joke, wondering how the Constitutional Yuan would handle Liu Yuanyu's disobedience. In their view, even if there were any investigations, they would only target Liu Yuanyu, and it had nothing to do with them.
Unexpectedly, the Constitutional Yuan was too powerful and directly dismissed all officials, making them a laughing stock. This was something that no one present had expected.
The officials from the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Finance outside were relieved for a moment, as their superiors were Yan Shu and Xia Song.
Yan Shu was the deputy director of the Political System Council and concurrently served as the deputy envoy of the Ministry of Revenue. Although Xia Shuo had set a trap for Liu Yuanyu to follow, he himself would not foolishly follow it. He was very practical and capable in his work, and did not act out of line at all. Therefore, the two of them ensured the safety of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Finance.
But the Salt and Iron Bureau was in a terrible situation. The Constitutional Council actually requested an imperial edict to directly dismiss all officials. This was something that the other officials had never expected.
"Who is making such a commotion in my Third Division?"
At this moment, a voice suddenly came from outside the door. Many officials made way and an official in a purple robe walked in.
That person was none other than Cheng Lin, the envoy of the Three Departments. Seeing Zhao Jun, Lu Yijian, and the others, Cheng Lin sneered and said, "Prime Minister Lu, you're now in the Political Affairs Council instead of the Council of State. You seem much more powerful now, even intervening in the affairs of the Three Departments."
Lü Yijian smiled and stroked his beard, saying, "The Political System Council controls all officials. All government affairs will be managed by the Political System Council from now on. The emperor has given us this power, so naturally we must live up to his trust!"
"snort!"
Cheng Lin said, "Then you shouldn't be so brazen in arresting people at will in my Third Division."
Lu Yijian still maintained his smile and said, "Who told you we were going to arrest people? We were just trying to get rid of them."
"You want to drive them away today, but are you going to drive me away tomorrow?"
Cheng Lin was very unhappy.
He and Lu Yijian were also political enemies. Now that Lu Yijian was targeting his three divisions, he was naturally unhappy.
Unexpectedly, Lü Yijian took the imperial edict from Zhao Jun and said to him with a smile, "No need for tomorrow. The emperor says that you, Cheng Lin, are guilty of not governing your subordinates strictly. You will be fined one year's salary and ordered to reflect on your mistakes at home for ten days. During this period, your three offices will be managed by Yan Tongshu."
"I"
Cheng Lin was choked at that time. He didn't expect that even he would be punished. He opened his eyes wide for a moment and was speechless.
"Drive them out!"
Zhao Jun was too lazy to care about Cheng Lin. Li Di was about to be recalled. If Li Di was obedient, he wouldn't mind replacing him with another one of the Three Officials. Anyway, Zhao Zhen was probably happy to have Li Di back.
Because the current Political System Council is still mainly headed by Lu Yijian, although Zhao Jun is the head of the council, his ability to handle ancient government affairs is still not as good as theirs, so Lu Yijian is often in charge.
Lu Yijian would have one more political enemy and one more person to restrain Zhao Jun. I believe Zhao Zhen would not refuse.
Following Zhao Jun's order, the guards of the Palace Front Department stripped off the official uniforms and hats of the officials of the Salt and Iron Department and drove them out of the palace. Many officials looked pale and cried for their parents, and some even began to curse Liu Yuanyu.
Everyone has a comparative mind.
My boss was trying to cause trouble and ended up hurting me.
In contrast, their superiors were so smart and worked diligently on the tasks of the Constitutional Council without any shirking, so the Constitutional Council did not do anything to them.
It’s all Liu Yuanyu’s fault!
For a time, Liu Yuanyu was like a rat crossing the street, and some people even reported his corruption and abuse of power to Zhao Jun, hoping to get leniency.
Zhao Jun was not anxious about this issue.
Liu Yuanyu's reputation in the officialdom was already bad. Historical records show that he was greedy and sold contraband. Zhao Jun planned to ask the Imperial City Administration to investigate thoroughly.
If an official is lazy, disobeys orders from his superiors, and is also a corrupt official, it will not be as simple as dismissal, but he will be sent to jail.
This also means that the days when the literati enjoyed a noble status will be gone forever.
Before Liu Yuanyu was taken away, he only left behind one sentence: "Xia Song, you will not die well! Xia Song, I will not let you go even if I become a ghost! The magistrate, Lu Xiang, I did this all because of Xia Song's orders!"
"oh?"
Zhao Jun's gaze swept across the many officials present and stopped on Xia Song.
Xia Song's expression remained calm. He simply bowed to Zhao Jun and said, "Minister, I have a feud with Liu Yuanyu. This is something many people know. I think this is a frame-up against me."
"hehe."
Zhao Jun smiled, said nothing, and left the Sansi with his hands behind his back.
After he left.
Xia Song's back was already soaked with sweat.
Unexpectedly, the Constitutional Yuan actually had such great power that it could dismiss more than one hundred officials from the Three Departments.
If I could enter the Political System Council and become a co-director, why would I need to be the prime minister?
Isn’t this much better than being a prime minister?
(End of this chapter)
2015
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