The Song Dynasty took impeachment petitions very seriously, especially during the reign of Emperor Renzong, when most officials were upright. If a prime minister was impeached, even without substantial evidence, he would often submit a petition requesting his demotion and then resign.
This was almost an unwritten rule in the Song Dynasty. There were twenty-three prime ministers in the Renzong Dynasty, fifteen of whom were impeached and dismissed or resigned after being impeached. This shows how strict the rules were.
So when Lu Yijian was impeached in public, what he should have done at this time was to write a memorial to defend himself and then resign to the emperor to prove his innocence.
But Lu Yijian was a man with a strong desire for power. Although he had a debate with Fan Zhongyan in history, which triggered factional attacks that shocked the court and the country, he did not resign. Instead, he relied on the protection of Renzong and demoted Fan Zhongyan and all his supporters.
This action caused his reputation to plummet, and he was criticized by both the court and the public, so much so that later generations regarded him as a traitor.
In fact, Lu Yijian was not a bad person, he just had too much desire for power.
At this critical moment when Zhao Zhen was about to promote Fan Zhongyan to the position of Shaanxi Road Transport Envoy, Fan Zhongyan suddenly impeached the prime minister, shocking the entire court and catching Lu Yijian off guard.
He and Zhao Zhen looked at each other and could see the horror and hesitation in each other's eyes.
What now?
Can Fan Zhongyan still be appointed as the Transport Commissioner of Shaanxi Road?
Both of them questioned this matter in their hearts.
Fan Zhongyan was the acting governor of Kaifeng Prefecture and held the rank of fourth grade.
The position he was going to take up as the Shaanxi Road Transport Commissioner was of the third rank, which was a promotion.
Moreover, he was not promoted to a casual official or a nominal position, but an official, a powerful frontier governor.
As a result, before the appointment was made, Fan Zhongyan openly took the lead in impeaching the prime minister.
If he continued to promote Fan Zhongyan to the position of Shaanxi Road Transport Commissioner, would Lu Yijian still be able to do his job?
As soon as Fan Zhongyan impeached Lü Yijian, the court promoted him to the position of Transport Commissioner of Shaanxi Road. Not to mention the authority of Prime Minister Lü Yijian, this would undoubtedly set a precedent, making people mistakenly believe that impeaching a prime minister would lead to promotion.
The result was that Lu Yijian would inevitably be attacked by everyone, and countless impeachments would fly onto Zhao Zhen's desk like snowflakes, and Lu Yijian would have no choice but to step down in disgrace.
In other words, in order to complete the task of transferring Fan Zhongyan to the northwest as a transport envoy, Zhao Zhen must first get rid of Lu Yijian, who was with him all the way and had a relationship like master and disciple. How could Zhao Zhen accept this?
But if Lü Yijian was not dismissed, Fan Zhongyan would definitely not be able to go to Shaanxi. At least he had to be demoted as a punishment, and then he could find an excuse to transfer him to the northwest later.
What should I do about this?
"His Majesty!"
Lü Yijian, with his lust for power, naturally refused to sit idly by and wait for death. He immediately countered, "Fan Zhongyan is talking nonsense. I have never appointed people based on personal connections."
Fan Zhongyan said, "Your Majesty, Emperor Cheng of the Western Han Dynasty trusted Zhang Yu, which ultimately led to the Wang Mang Rebellion. Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty trusted Li Linfu, which led to the An Lushan Rebellion. I am afraid that there are Zhang Yu and Li Linfu in the court today. If Your Majesty cannot determine the order of promotion and demotion of court officials, then is this court the Prime Minister's court or yours?"
Heart-breaking words!
Lü Yijian's face paled, and he quickly retorted, "Ever since Duke Zhou established hundreds of officials, their duties have been defined, and they've divided the responsibilities of the empire. Each official has his own duties, led by the prime minister, and loyal to the emperor. The emperor cannot personally handle worldly affairs, and the prime minister and the officials are supposed to share his worries. If some scoundrels are too ambitious and overstep their authority to make decisions, the ritual system will collapse, and the world will be in chaos."
"Duke Zhou established the ceremonial system for all officials. If everyone in the world observes the ceremonial system, the world will be at peace. However, if the ministers are disrupting the government and not observing the ceremonial system, I, a humble official, will serve you with all my heart and soul, hoping that Your Majesty will restore order!"
Fan Zhongyan bowed to Zhao Zhen with a very serious expression.
All the officials immediately started talking about it.
Judging from the situation, Old Fan is planning to fight to the death with Lu Yijian.
Only Zhao Zhen's attendants were unable to step down, so they had no choice but to say, "Today's court meeting ends here. Lü Yijian and Fan Zhongyan, you will go to the left and right inner halls respectively. All the ministers and Tong Shugong, you will follow me to the back hall."
After saying this, he stood up and went to the back hall of Chuigong Hall.
Fan Zhongyan glanced at Lu Yijian, snorted coldly, and walked towards the left hall with a flick of his sleeves. Lu Yijian wiped the sweat from his forehead and went to the right hall.
At this moment, in the back hall, Yan Shu hurried over and said to Zhao Zhen, "Your Majesty, this morning I was discussing Fan Zhongyan's reforms with Zhao Jun. He mentioned that Fan Zhongyan had a bad temper and openly impeached the prime minister. I only just learned about the Hundred Officials Chart and hurried over, but it's too late."
Zhao Zhen said anxiously, "What's the point of saying this now? Fan Zhongyan has already impeached Prime Minister Lü. If I transfer him to the post of Transport Commissioner of Shaanxi Road, won't the world think I support him? By then, the impeachment papers against Prime Minister Lü will pile up all over my desk."
"this......"
Yan Shu hesitated for a moment and looked at Wang Zeng and others.
Wang Zeng acted as if it had nothing to do with him and ignored Yan Shu's gaze.
He and Cai Qi were in the same group, and both of them could not stand Lü Yijian's dominance in the court. Historically, in the fourth year of Jingyou, they had a party struggle, and eventually they fought to the death with Lü Yijian and the deputy prime minister Song Shou who supported Lü Yijian, and all of them were dismissed from their positions.
That's why he didn't care when Lu Yijian got into trouble.
As for Wang Sui and Sheng Du, they were almost mediocre officials. They basically did nothing. All the power was seized by Lu Yijian, Wang Zeng and their supporters Song Shou and Cai Qi, so they could not say anything.
Seeing this scene, Yan Shu became anxious.
In fact, Yan Shu was also a member of Lu Yijian's party. He and Lu Yijian had worked together for many years during the reign of Liu E, and they had a long-standing friendship. Moreover, he had angered Zhao Zhen before but was not completely dismissed, and now he was able to come back, all thanks to Lu Yijian's help.
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