The next day, early morning.
Before the political meeting in Chuigong Hall began, the emperor and his ministers of the Song Dynasty gathered in the back garden.
Recently, in order to take care of the ministers to clock in early every day and come to Zhao Jun to attend classes, Zhao Zhen even ordered that the opening time of Gongchen Gate be advanced by half an hour.
The ministers walked slowly to the back garden, yawning. Lu Yijian was not young anymore, 59 years old this year, and his legs and feet were not very good. Zhao Zhen even had someone waiting outside the Gongchen Gate, waiting for him to arrive and then come in in a sedan chair.
Everyone stood at the beginning of the class, but Zhao Jun sometimes talked for an hour or two, so Zhao Zhen prepared a few more stools in the room for everyone to sit on.
However, because they were afraid that Zhao Zhen would pick up a stool and hit them, the other ministers refused. Only Lu Yijian felt uncomfortable standing for so long every day, so he thanked the emperor for his favor and sat down to listen to the lecture.
It was just before dawn when Yan Shu was standing outside the Guanjia Hall with breakfast. Fan Zhongyan arrived earlier than anyone else, but Lu Yijian came late. The guards put the sedan chair at the door, and Lu Yijian slowly got off and bowed to everyone.
After everyone returned the greetings, Fan Zhongyan glanced at him and said, "Prime Minister Lu, you are a little late today."
Lü Yijian smiled and said, "I am indeed getting older, and my energy is not as good as before. Your Majesty has shown me the grace to allow an old minister like me to walk less and stand for an hour or two less. This is a great favor from heaven."
Although he said this, he was undoubtedly highlighting his unique position in Zhao Zhen's mind.
Wang Zeng's face twitched slightly.
Fan Zhongyan snorted.
"Your Majesty has arrived."
Just then, the eunuch shouted.
Everyone hurriedly looked to the west and saw Zhao Zhen coming hurriedly.
Now Zhao Zhen lives in the back garden. Although he is close, he is always the last to arrive.
It’s not that he is lazy, but he has been tossing and turning in bed these days and can’t sleep, his mind full of the fact that the Song Dynasty is about to perish.
Sometimes I would grit my teeth and talk in my sleep, muttering things like "You are the idiot" and "You are the stupid donkey" and I wouldn't fall asleep until midnight.
This made the eunuch Wang Shouzhong who was guarding outside the door very puzzled. He wondered who had offended the emperor, as he was cursing in a dream.
Zhao Zhen came over, sleepy-eyed. Everyone bowed and saluted. He raised his hands and said, "Stand up, let's go."
"yes."
Yan Shu responded and went into the room in the east where Zhao Jun slept.
“Crack!”
When the door opened, Zhao Jun got up immediately.
Now he can't do anything every day. He is blind and covered with wounds. He lies in bed for 23 hours out of 24 hours and has never even left the door. Naturally, he can only sleep.
So he was in much better spirits than Zhao Zhen and others. Every day he looked forward to Yan Shu and Fan Zhongyan coming to accompany him, so that he wouldn't be so bored even if they just talked for a while.
"Uncle Lari, what delicious food are you having today?"
There was a hint of joy in Zhao Jun's tone. Now that he was familiar with Yan Shu, he didn't have to worry too much about what he said.
Yan Shu said with a smile: "I killed a chicken to give you some nourishment."
Zhao Jun said happily, "There's chicken to eat? That's great. Thank you, Uncle Lari. How much is the chicken? I'll give it to you when the time comes."
"It doesn't cost money. Doesn't the government provide subsidies?"
Yan Shu replied.
Zhao Jun nodded repeatedly and sighed, "The country is still the best."
"I'm here too."
Fan Zhongyan gave a reminder.
"Is Uncle Nima here too?"
"Yes, my injury hasn't healed yet, but now that I can get out of bed, I came over to chat with you."
"That's great. It won't be so boring if I have someone to accompany me."
"How do you feel now?"
"Much better. The wounds on my body are mostly external, and they should be almost healed. The only thing is the wound on my head, which still hurts a little."
"It takes a hundred days to heal a broken bone, so you need to rest well."
"Thank you, Uncle Nima."
Zhao Jun thanked him politely. He was not very familiar with Fan Zhongyan yet, and he felt that Fan Zhongyan was a bit of a nitpicker and difficult to deal with, so he tried to be polite.
Fan Zhongyan was completely unaware that Zhao Jun had already regarded him as a nagging idiot. Seeing that Zhao Jun was in high spirits, he immediately asked, "By the way, I want to ask, does Fan Zhongyan really need to reform? Didn't you say he sacrificed a lot for reform? Wouldn't it be better if he didn't reform?"
"yes."
Zhao Jun took a bite of chicken and continued, "Old Fan sacrificed a lot for the sake of reform. He opposed Lü Yijian and was banished to Raozhou, where his wife even died of illness."
Fan Zhongyan's face darkened for a moment. He had heard about this matter yesterday. Fortunately, he was not demoted.
"But Old Fan is shameless. He's fifty years old, and after his wife died, he actually married a fifteen-year-old prostitute. Alas, this is the bad thing about ancient times. They were only fourteen or fifteen years old. How could he do that to her?"
Zhao Jun beat his chest and stamped his feet in grief. The evil old society turned people into ghosts.
Our new China is still the best. You dare to marry a 15-year-old? Punishment, Zhang San is not as arrogant as you, you can spend the rest of your life in prison.
Married a young prostitute?
Fan Zhongyan's face suddenly became embarrassed, but Zhao Zhen and others behind him were laughing secretly. It was rare to see Fan Zhongyan, who always looked like a gentleman, being humiliated.
Especially Zhao Zhen, who had been scolded by Zhao Jun before, now finally has someone to scold him with.
"Let's first talk about why Fan Zhongyan was determined to reform."
Fan Zhongyan quickly changed the subject.
Zhao Jun sipped his chicken soup, pinched a chicken leg, and took a bite. "If Fan Zhongyan carried out reforms, it was naturally to save the Song Dynasty. Without reforms, the Song Dynasty would have perished. And didn't Fan Zhongyan's reforms fail? From the failure of Fan Zhongyan's Qingli New Deal in 1045 to the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty in 1127, only a few years passed. Wasn't it the Three Redundancies that led to the destruction? So Fan Zhongyan wanted to save the decadent Song Dynasty, but unfortunately, he couldn't do it."
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
