Inside the Guanjia Hall, the atmosphere fell into silence.
The rain had stopped long ago.
It was around three or four in the morning, close to the time for the morning court session.
It was pitch black outside, and the back garden was covered with dense bamboo shadows. The breeze blew the rice seedlings in front of the temple, making a rustling sound.
No one spoke in the hall.
As usual, after listening to Zhao Jun, they would come here and stay for a while.
Sometimes it was to discuss the future direction, sometimes it was to think about ways to solve the problem, and sometimes... Zhao Zhen wanted to smash things to vent his anger.
But today, the atmosphere was different from usual where people could speak freely, and it became very heavy because the government was in a bad mood.
"His Majesty."
Lü Yijian spoke first, "I accuse Fan Zhongyan of harboring ulterior motives and deliberately leading Zhao Jun to frame me."
Fan Zhongyan sneered, "Do I have ulterior motives? Didn't you hear what Zhao Jun said? If we want to save the Song Dynasty, we must carry out reforms. By obstructing reforms, aren't you harming the Song Dynasty?"
Lu Yijian immediately said, "I did not stop the reform!"
At least not now.
"Yes, you are not blocking the reform now, that's because I haven't started the reform yet."
Fan Zhongyan immediately said, "The emperor trusts you so much, yet you want to destroy the Song Dynasty. Lü Yijian, you are the greatest traitor in the court!"
"You're talking nonsense! What does this have to do with me?"
Lu Yijian was furious.
Fan Zhongyan retorted, "This is what Zhao Jun said. Is it true?"
"His Majesty....."
Lu Yijian was very anxious and was about to explain.
“That’s enough!”
Zhao Zhen slammed his hands on the table, staring at them with bloodshot eyes. "My Great Song Dynasty has been ruined by a bunch of you idiots. In another ninety-one years, the Great Song Dynasty will be destroyed. Even the princesses and daughters of the royal family have been humiliated by the enemy, and yet you are still scheming against each other. Does anyone take me seriously?"
Everyone suddenly shrank their necks unconsciously.
Renzong's temper was always gentle and he almost never got angry. But today, not only was he angry, he even insulted them as trash, which was much more terrifying than Zhao Jun's constant calling them trash.
Because Zhao Jun was a person from later generations, he didn't know his current situation. Secondly, he looked at things from the perspective of people from later generations, so he had a higher opinion of himself. From a God's perspective, it was understandable that he was not able to evaluate them.
But Zhao Zhen himself was the historical figure in Zhao Jun's mouth, and Zhao Jun also blamed him for the failure of the Qingli New Deal. Therefore, logically speaking, Zhao Zhen should have accepted it humbly and had no right to lose his temper.
But the official got angry.
Those present were all veterans who had been in the political arena for many years, so how could they not hear it?
This showed Zhao Zhen's strong dissatisfaction with their factional struggles.
According to Zhao Jun, it was precisely because of the factional struggles during the reign of Emperor Renzong that the Qingli New Deal failed, which indirectly led to the failure of Wang Anshi's reforms, and the three redundancies problem remained unresolved, ultimately leading to the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty.
The Song Dynasty is about to fall.
How could Zhao Zhen not be furious?
After a long pause, Fan Zhongyan said in a deep voice, "Your Majesty has heard it too. If the Song Dynasty is to last, the three redundancies must be resolved. And to eradicate the three redundancies, we must first rectify the administration of officials. There is nothing wrong with my reforms. The problem is that some villains are secretly obstructing the new policies."
Although he didn't mention any names, it was no different from naming them. Lü Yijian's face flushed red, and he wanted to refute, but Zhao Jun's name was the first on the list, so his rebuttal was ultimately powerless.
"Prime Minister Lu."
Zhao Zhen turned his head and looked at Lü Yijian, saying to him, "You've often told me about the drawbacks of the three redundant things, but why are you so confused when it comes to important matters?"
Lu Yijian moved his lips twice, wanting to say something, but there was something stuck in his throat and he couldn't speak.
Fan Zhongyan sneered, "Didn't Zhao Jun say that? Prime Minister Lu has countless disciples and followers in the court, and countless powerful figures among his followers. If he supports the new policies, wouldn't that wipe out all of his own faction?"
Wang Zeng took the opportunity to add insult to injury, saying, "You can't blame Prime Minister Lu for this. He just happened to be in charge of the Secretariat for the past two years, overseeing the 24 departments. All personnel changes and appointments in the 24 departments were handled by Prime Minister Lu. The officials he selected were naturally virtuous. But if he were to dismiss them en masse, wouldn't that be a waste of Prime Minister Lu's efforts in selecting pillars of state? It's understandable that he would have some resistance."
The two of them sang in unison, causing the atmosphere in the hall to become tense.
Lu Yijian glared at Wang Zeng, and Wang Zeng also glared at him. The power struggle between the two will not start next year.
Even when the two served as prime ministers, there had been open and covert struggles. It was only the next year that Wang Zeng could no longer tolerate it and finally broke out with the Lü Party.
If we don’t take advantage of this opportunity now, when will we?
Zhao Zhen's face was indeed very ugly. Although Lu Yijian was indeed his mentor in life, he naturally valued the latter more than the Song Dynasty. So if Lu Yijian became an obstacle on the road to reform, perhaps he could give him up.
After a moment's silence, Lü Yijian bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I naturally support the new policies. However, as the saying goes, things have their priorities. As Zhao Jun said, Wang Anshi and Su Shi were both renowned ministers throughout history, and neither of them were treacherous, yet they ultimately fell out. This shows that the new policies won't fail simply because of my opposition. Instead, we should proceed step by step and find solutions to the problems."
"Official administration is the solution to problems."
Fan Zhongyan said, "Zhao Jun also said that the court officials are now numerous, several times the number of the Tang and Ming dynasties, and the court's salaries are dozens of times higher than those of the Tang and Ming dynasties. If the harm of redundant officials cannot be eliminated, the Jingkang Humiliation will happen again, and the Song Dynasty will be in danger."
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