In the Guanjia Hall, as in the past, after the morning court session, both the emperor and the prime minister would go back to rest for a while before starting today's government affairs.
The prime minister went to the Council of State to handle government affairs, while the emperor had more freedom. The diligent ones would go to the Yanhe Hall to review memorials. However, during the reign of Emperor Zhao Zhen, it was changed to the Chongde Hall.
Therefore, at this time, the three prime ministers, including the three ministers, could not be in the Guanjia Hall in the back garden, and this was not a place they could come to in the past.
But at this moment, these ministers of the Song Dynasty were holding a meeting that could change the future of the Song Dynasty in the Guanjia Palace, an originally inconspicuous palace where only agricultural activities were performed every year.
Zhao Zhen sat on the armchair above the Guanjia Hall. Since this was not a formal court meeting, he asked Wang Shouzhong to move a few chairs below and the ministers sat on his left and right.
At this moment, Fan Zhongyan also walked in and saluted Zhao Zhen and said, "Your Majesty."
Zhao Zhen asked, "Where is Zhao Jun?"
"I'm probably tired, so I'm going to take a nap now."
Fan Zhongyan replied.
"Um."
Zhao Zhen nodded and said, "Mr. Fan, you've arrived just in time. Let's sit down and chat."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
Fan Zhongyan sat on the lowest chair.
Although he dared to challenge the prime minister, he was only a secretary and a junior supervisor, the lowest official position, so he could only sit at the last seat.
After he sat down, Zhao Zhen looked around at everyone and said, "Zhao Jun has been in the Song Dynasty for over a month. The imperial physician said that his condition will recover in ten days to half a month at the fastest, or another month at the slowest. I guess we won't be able to hide it when he opens his eyes."
"At least we can be sure that everything he said during the time he was blind was true..."
Lu Yijian hesitated slightly.
Because he suddenly remembered that during this period of time, Zhao Jun had often scolded Zhao Zhen's family. After scolding Zhao Zhen himself, he scolded his grandfather, and the swear words he used became more and more unpleasant.
If all the words are true, then doesn't that mean Zhao Zhen is a fool, a stupid donkey, an old pervert and a scumbag?
So Lu Yijian suddenly regretted why he took up this matter.
Fortunately, Zhao Zhen didn't think too much about it at the time. He nodded and said, "Yes, that's right. Now that we know a lot about the future, what do you think we should do now if we want the Song Dynasty to become stronger and change the Jingkang Shame?"
Upon hearing this, Fan Zhongyan perked up and immediately said, "Government, of course, should rectify the country's customs and eliminate ills and abuses. In the past, the Qin State was in trouble, and it was Shang Yang's reforms that made the Qin State strong and eventually unified the world. Temporary trends require only temporary laws. If we don't seek to adapt and stubbornly cling to the laws of our ancestors, how can we expect to last long?"
"Um."
Everyone nodded after hearing this, as this was something everyone knew.
Zhao Zhen looked at his future reform leader and asked hopefully, "Mr. Fan, where do you think we should start?"
Fan Zhongyan thought for a moment and said, "The Song Dynasty has been ill for too long. As Zhao Jun said, almost all of the surplus in the national treasury was used for military expenses, and the troops we were able to support were completely incompetent. The subsequent repeated defeats by the Western Xia clearly demonstrated the shortcomings of the system."
"Hmm."
Zhao Zhen pondered for a moment.
Lu Yijian frowned and asked sternly, "You still want to reform the military system?"
As soon as these words were spoken, Fan Zhongyan's face changed drastically.
The military system of the Song Dynasty was left by the brothers Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Guangyi. Except for the border troops and local garrison troops stationed in various states, the main troops were concentrated in Bianliang, which was the imperial guards.
At the beginning, the number of imperial guards was not large, but by the time of Emperor Renzong of Song, the number of imperial guards had grown to more than 800,000.
Because there were too many uprisings in the Northern Song Dynasty, the imperial court recruited people to surrender, and all those who surrendered were stuffed into the imperial guards. As a result, the personnel became increasingly bloated, and the number of soldiers and horses increased dramatically.
The Song Dynasty was rich, so it would be a good thing if it could train these 800,000 imperial guards into elite troops.
After all, in addition to being responsible for the security of Bianliang, the imperial guards also had to fight on the border. If so many people were used well, it would not be a problem to defeat the Western Xia and Liao.
However, the emperor of the Song Dynasty was not confident in handing over the army to the generals, so the training of the imperial guards was usually done by the coaches, that is, Lin Chong and his gang, and the generals were not given military power.
Only when war broke out would the emperor ask the Privy Council to mobilize troops and then send generals to lead these soldiers to the border. As a result, a situation occurred where "the soldiers did not know their generals, and the generals did not know their soldiers", which seriously endangered the combat effectiveness of the imperial guards.
But the benefits of doing so are also obvious, that is, the military power is completely in the hands of the emperor, completely eliminating the possibility of generals overthrowing the regime as in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.
Therefore, if the military system is reformed, it will touch the bottom line of imperial power.
No matter how foolish Fan Zhongyan was, he knew that there were things he could say and things he couldn't, so he quickly denied it, "Of course not. I think you all know better than anyone the harm of the three redundant positions. Zhao Jun also said that if we forcefully remove them, it would be tantamount to ruining the country. Therefore, we urgently need to take a slow approach and focus on the redundant officials first."
"hehe."
Lu Yijian immediately retorted, "Didn't you hear what Zhao Jun said? If we want to reform the civil service, it means asking all the officials to fire themselves first. Who would agree to that? Didn't Zhao Jun tell you how many people would oppose your Qingli New Deal in the future? How many people would rise up against you?"
Fan Zhongyan's temper flared up, and he immediately retorted, "So what? I'm never afraid. Zhao Jun said that civil service reform is imperative. Since this direction is correct, I will continue to move forward even if it means my death."
Lü Yijian sneered, "How many lives do you have left to fight against all the officials in the world? Do you know how much government affairs will be delayed if all the officials in the prefectures and provinces are dismissed because of you? If over 3,000 officials and 20,000 clerks in Bianliang were to stop working, Bianliang would be in chaos within a day."
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