Seeing Zhao Jun's despair, Fan Zhongyan laughed and said, "Didn't you have great ambitions before, to change the Song Dynasty?"
Zhao Jun felt his scalp tingling and said, "This mess really makes me feel sick."
"So why did you think I targeted Lu Yijian and the others before?"
Fan Zhongyan shook his head and said, "Wang Zeng has done me a favor. I have no choice but to take down Lu Yijian and the others first. Fortunately, I have a group of like-minded partners."
"You want to rely on them to help you?"
Zhao Jun asked.
"What else?"
Fan Zhongyan said: "At least you said that they were reliable in history."
"I don't think Fu Bi and Han Qi are reliable."
Zhao Jun frowned and said, "You did want to reform the officialdom in history, and your main target was the officialdom, but these two also have stains."
"Even if there are stains, at least they can help me reform my path."
Fan Zhongyan sighed and said, "It was precisely because I had witnessed so much darkness in the officialdom along the way that I decided to reform. Although you said I would start a few years later, you didn't know that I had the idea long ago."
"Do you still have the courage to reform now?"
Zhao Jun suddenly burst into laughter and said, "Hahahaha, Fan Zhongyan, you're still trying to lecture me. They're trying to drag me into this now. If you don't kill people, when you really start to reform, your fate will be no different from what happened in history."
Fan Zhongyan's face was gloomy. He had already thought of this result. Bao Zheng once said in "Bao Zheng's Memorials" that seven or eight out of ten officials in the Song Dynasty were corrupt.
You have to know that there are more than 40,000 officials in the entire Song Dynasty, plus hundreds of thousands of clerks. What does it mean that seven or eight out of ten people are employed?
It may even be said that it is too little, but nine out of ten is about the same.
How could Fan Zhongyan, a senior official in Kaifeng Prefecture, not know the truth that Bao Zheng understood?
Fan Zhongyan rose step by step from the local level, and he knew everything about the current situation in the officialdom and the sufferings endured by the local people.
But he can only guarantee that there will be certain improvements while he is in office, and he cannot guarantee what will happen after he leaves.
At least he heard that a corrupt official he had impeached was later transferred to the position of Tongpan of Suzhou Prefecture.
"Of course I dare to kill someone, but I just couldn't do it before. You don't know that when I found out what that magistrate had done, I really wanted to cut him into pieces."
But after a moment, Fan Zhongyan cheered up and said with fighting spirit: "It may not have been possible before, but now that you are here, there is still hope."
"There's no hope. I just feel a little hopeless right now."
Seeing Fan Zhongyan's optimistic look, Zhao Jun actually laughed out loud and said, "They are using an open conspiracy to drag me into this. Even the emperor is on their side. What do you want to do? Why don't we rebel?"
"Don't say that."
Fan Zhongyan frowned. It was understandable that Zhao Jun was outspoken in the past. After all, he was just a college student at that time who had little experience in the world and relied on his knowledge of history to make decisions.
But now that I have a certain basic understanding of the Song Dynasty, how can this still happen?
Zhao Jun shook his head and said, "I'm different from you. I don't really care. If Yan Shu hadn't used moral coercion against me, I really wouldn't have supported Zhao Zhen. He can kill me if he wants, or even commit suicide. I didn't like the Song Dynasty from the beginning, and now I hate it even more."
"Why do young people keep talking about death?"
Fan Zhongyan was speechless, then he advised kindly: "People should have some ambition. Although the Song Dynasty has many shortcomings and reforms are difficult, it is not impossible to make a new beginning. We still need to have our own ideals and drive."
Zhao Jun glanced at him and said, "Do you also want to use me to help you reform?"
Fan Zhongyan understood his thoughts, but was still a little angry. "I just reminded you to be more careful, and you took that out on me. If I wanted to use you, I wouldn't have told you all this. After all, even if you pass the imperial examination, won't you help me with reforms later? You can only eliminate some malpractices at best, but you can't change the entire bureaucracy."
"I didn't actually doubt you."
Zhao Jun laughed and said, "I know exactly who you are in history. Aside from marrying a young prostitute, you have almost no blemishes. Otherwise, why do you think I came to you instead of looking for Lu Yijian and his gang?"
"Are you testing me?"
Fan Zhongyan came to his senses and realized that this kid was indeed smart. As soon as he was awakened, he was able to turn the tables.
"It's not a temptation, it's just a test to see if you're truly committed to reform. I've said before that reform isn't a dinner party; it's about killing and bloodshed. So if you want to succeed, you must give up your illusions and prepare for struggle."
Zhao Jun shook his head and said, "Don't you want to have that Kaifeng prefectural magistrate you mentioned beheaded to redress the people's grievances? Don't you want to purge all those corrupt officials and restore peace and prosperity to the Song Dynasty?"
"think."
Fan Zhongyan gritted his teeth and said, "I dream about it."
"The darkness of the Song Dynasty that I see now is just the tip of the iceberg. You have seen countless times more than I have, yet you still have the will to reform. This proves that I was right in judging you, and history books haven't written about you wrongly."
Zhao Jun said, "Since you have such an idea, I can only ask you, if nothing can stop you, will you persist?"
"That's natural."
Fan Zhongyan looked at Zhao Jun and asked, "Do you have any ideas?"
"yes."
Zhao Jun said in a deep voice, "Since I have already agreed to come out to help, in order to prevent the Han people from being enslaved by the Mongols and the Qing Dynasty, I will definitely choose to continue. But now that I have recognized the reality, I must find a suitable method."
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