At the beginning, Song Shou disobeyed the old witch Liu E and was demoted to the prefect of Yingtian Prefecture. It was after Liu E's death, when Lu Yijian supported Zhao Zhen to rule the country, that he recommended him to Zhao Zhen. Only then did he return to the court and was reused to become the deputy prime minister.
It is precisely because of this kindness that Song Shou has always supported him.
Otherwise, with the current system of the Song Dynasty, unless he was the sole prime minister, Lu Yijian would not be able to dominate the court and make all the members of the Lu party obey his orders.
But now Lu Yijian is the leader of the Lu Party after all. The Fan Party has been making a lot of trouble recently, and many of their middle and lower-level forces have been eliminated.
At this critical juncture, Lu Yijian closed the door to visitors. Every day, except for staying in the palace until the afternoon, he did not talk to anyone, which made other senior leaders of the Lu Party very worried.
Could it be that the government really intends to allow Fan Zhongyan and others to purge them?
"I know what they're worried about."
Lu Yijian put down his chopsticks and tapped the table lightly with his right index finger. He then said in a deep voice, "But you should understand what is most important right now. By comparison, even if Xia Song and Jia Chang were all driven out of the court, it wouldn't be as serious as this."
Song Shou understood what he meant and frowned, saying, "Of course I understand this, but Fan Xiwen is stubborn and as stubborn as a stone in a toilet. He has tried to kill us time and time again."
"The government really mistrusted this man. Fan Xiwen's low character is disgusting. When we should all be united, he is bent on stirring up factional disputes. It's truly despicable."
Thinking of this, Lu Yijian couldn't help but get angry.
The word "pattern" existed in the Song Dynasty. In Lu Yijian's mind, Fan Zhongyan's pattern was really low. With Zhao Jun around, he actually wanted to use Zhao Jun to engage in party struggles instead of enriching the country with Zhao Jun's help, which really made him angry.
But he also understood that perhaps in Fan Zhongyan's heart, he was a completely different person.
After all, Lu Yijian has indeed been somewhat arbitrary and tyrannical in recent years. During his three terms as prime minister and three times as a councilor, Wang Zeng was very dissatisfied many times because he monopolized power. Zhao Jun said that this was the reason why he would be dismissed from his position as prime minister next year.
But this was not the reason why Fan Zhongyan repeatedly criticized him.
Because both Lü Yijian and Fan Zhongyan were well aware that under the current system of the Song Dynasty, no matter how powerful the prime minister was, he could not threaten the imperial power. Fan Zhongyan impeached Lü Yijian for controlling the government and disrupting the government, which was nothing more than finding a high-sounding excuse.
Ultimately, this fight is a struggle of positions and interests. First, the Lu Party holds high positions, while the Fan Party is mostly composed of young talents. If they want to get to the top, they must take out the gold coins of these old guys.
Second, the members of Fan’s party were basically all new policy reformers, and Fan Zhongyan’s main focus was on reforming the problem of redundant officials.
The Lü Party was composed mostly of scions from aristocratic families. The Fan Party was planning to launch reforms to address the problem of redundant officials, and the Lü Party was naturally the biggest obstacle standing in their way. Therefore, Fan Zhongyan's intention in targeting Lü Yijian was self-evident.
A dispute over positions was inevitable, but what made Lu Yijian angry was that Fan Zhongyan cleverly used Zhao Jun as a tool in the party struggle, making him the target of public criticism.
And Lu Yijian was too passive.
Zhao Jun said that Fan Zhongyan was the initiator of the future Qingli New Deal, and that the Qingli New Deal was the correct path that the Song Dynasty should take under its current situation. So in the eyes of the government, Fan Zhongyan became a good minister for governing the country.
Instead, it was Lu Yijian who became the culprit who blocked the new policy. In the eyes of the emperor, Fan Zhongyan's weight increased greatly and his status also rose steadily.
In this way, Fan Zhongyan only needs to rely on his identity as a reform minister to remain invincible.
He could continue to suppress the Lu Party, standing on the moral high ground, saying that they were a conservative interest group, just as they were portrayed in later movies, novels, and TV dramas, turning the Lu Party into villains and treacherous ministers.
What should Lu Yijian do about this?
It's hard to refute any objection.
So Lu Yijian is feeling very troubled now.
Fan Zhongyan will not give up. He only needs to make good use of his identity as a pioneer of reform, and sooner or later he will bring himself down.
Song Shou said, "If Fan Xiwen continues to make such a fuss, it will probably not be good for anyone."
"Fan Zhongyan, relying on the few compliments he received from that person, no longer took anyone seriously and spent the whole day making up stories about us in front of that person."
Lu Yijian looked unhappy.
Song Shou frowned and said, "If you say that many of the censors and imperial censors under the prime minister have been purged, then there should be many under the other people's command as well. Countless people have used the power of the censorate to impeach him. But if we try to force him now, we won't be able to do anything. The emperor will never give in."
Lu Yijian pondered for a moment and said, "Do you have any ideas?"
"Forehead."
Song Shou paused for a moment, then smiled bitterly and said, "If I had a way, I wouldn't come to my husband."
"For the sake of the emperor and the Song Dynasty, I didn't want to take action against Fan Zhongyan after learning that he would be useful to the country in the future."
Lu Yijian stroked his beard, narrowed his eyes slightly, and said softly, "But if he still doesn't know how to advance or retreat, and doesn't know how to restrain himself, I will find a way to teach him a lesson."
"oh?"
Song Shou was surprised and asked, "Could it be that Lu Gong has a plan?"
Lu Yijian said, "Since the obvious method doesn't work, I can only use other means. Let's wait and see. If Fan Xiwen gives up, I will be tolerant. If he still insists on making things difficult for me, I will have no choice but to resort to this last resort."
Song Shou asked, "Please tell me, Lord Lu, so that we can be mentally prepared."
Lu Yijian asked, "Do you know why I have cut off all contact and refused visitors during this period?"
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
