Even after Wang Gongchen, the impeached criminal, was demoted, Song Renzong still favored him. Less than a month after Zhao impeached Wang Gongchen, Song Renzong wanted to assign him another important position, which aroused strong dissatisfaction among the censors and was abandoned.
There are also people like Wang Kui, Sun Mian, and Guo Chengyou. The situation during the entire Renzong Dynasty was just like Journey to the West. Those with backgrounds had basically no problems, while those without backgrounds, if they were Jinshi or above, would be demoted at most. As for the confiscation of property and extermination of the clan, that was impossible.
So Zhao Jun was not at all confident about Zhao Zhen.
Even though he had told Zhao Zhen many times about the end of the Song Dynasty and had warned him many times, he was afraid that his old illness would relapse and that he would be easily fooled and listen to the lies of those people in the court, which would drag him down.
"Yes, yes, yes."
When Zhao Zhen heard what Zhao Jun said, he nodded repeatedly in agreement.
Zhao Jun continued, "Brother, I am your descendant, and I am telling you this for your sake. I can only remind you not to forget the Jingkang Shame."
"I will naturally keep these in mind."
When Zhao Zhen heard Zhao Jun mention this, he suddenly became much more serious.
Zhao Jun shook his head and said, "It's not just the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty. After Emperor Huizong abdicated, those civil officials ignored the city's citizens' desire to resist and actually forced Emperor Qinzong to go out and negotiate with the Jin people. Tell me, do those civil officials care about you as the emperor?"
"There's actually such a thing?"
Zhao Zhen was shocked.
Zhao Jun said, "I haven't told you in detail before, but I remember telling you that Emperor Qinzong of Song went out of the city to negotiate with the Jin army camp, but was detained."
"yes."
Zhao Zhen thought that Zhao Jun had indeed said this to him.
"The Jin army reached the city of Bianliang and demanded that the emperor personally go to the Jin army to negotiate peace."
Zhao Jun said, "Those scholars and officials were frightened and only wanted to negotiate peace and send the Jin army away as soon as possible. They kept urging the emperor to negotiate. The first time he went, he returned safely, but the second time he was detained. After that, the Jin army broke into Bianliang, plundered wantonly, and abducted the two emperors Huizong and Qinzong. This is what happened."
Zhao Zhen's face turned very ugly.
No emperor would look very happy after finding out that he had been betrayed by the literati.
"Also, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the gentry of Jiangnan colluded with court officials to prevent the emperor from collecting taxes in Jiangnan. Furthermore, the gentry of Jiangnan also united to resist tax arrears. As a result, the tax revenue of the richest southern region in the late Ming Dynasty could not be collected. The court was left with no money to spend, and was eventually destroyed by the peasant army."
Zhao Jun continued, "The most interesting thing is that Emperor Chongzhen hoped that the court officials would donate money to help the country overcome its difficulties. The ministers all cried poor, and Chongzhen only raised 200,000 taels of silver. When the rebel Li Zicheng entered Beijing, he extorted over 70 million taels of silver from the homes of these ministers. Isn't it quite ironic?"
"The gentry of the Song Dynasty should be different from those of the Ming Dynasty."
Zhao Zhen forced a smile.
"They all share the same character. It's human nature to seek good fortune and avoid danger. After the Song Dynasty fell, they became the cornerstone of the Mongols' rule. After the Mongols' fall, they served the Ming Dynasty again. Zhu Yuanzhang knew their character, so he slaughtered them. Unfortunately, Zhu could only preserve the early Ming Dynasty, not the end, so they later became gentry of the Qing Dynasty."
Zhao Jun said, "In fact, there are many patriots among the gentry who are willing to sacrifice their lives and blood for the country and donate all their property. But you must remember, brother, there will always be individuals who betray their class, but there will never be a class that betrays its class. If the system does not change and productivity does not change, history will become a cycle of reincarnation."
"I understand."
Zhao Zhen took a deep breath.
Historically, he was a criminal who protected the scholar-official class and allowed them to do whatever they wanted.
But now Zhao Jun has already instilled a lot of things in him, and he also knows that the Song Dynasty is about to perish. If he continues to protect the literati as he did in history, he will not be an emperor, but a fool.
Ultimately, he shielded those people in order to maintain stability. But now that he realized shielding these people couldn't maintain stability, he naturally had to use other methods.
Zhao Jun nodded and said, "Brother, it's good that you understand these principles. Bianliang is the capital of the Song Dynasty. It will be the central area for my future science, technology, education, and development. We must maintain stability here. If this place is in chaos and those people are holding us back, how can the Song Dynasty remain strong? Therefore, we must eliminate those who need to be eliminated, and we must show no mercy."
"That"
Zhao Zhen hesitated for a moment and asked, "What are your plans?"
"Of course, we continue to dig deeper."
Zhao Jun said without hesitation: "There are several high-ranking officials in the court who are the umbrellas behind those people. I will get to the bottom of it."
"But now the Censorate and the Court of Remonstration are at the same level."
"I don't really want to bother with them. Let Cao Xiu take Ping'er over there and tell them to shut up."
"All right."
Zhao Zhen was also helpless, Ping'er could indeed make everyone shut up.
"That's it for now."
Zhao Jun stood up, glanced at Zhao Zhen, and said, "I'm going back to the Imperial City Division first. There are still many people to interrogate and many tortures to use."
"That daughter of the clan."
"I'll get her out."
"Grandson, I entrust the Song Dynasty to you."
Zhao Zhen said seriously.
"Um."
Zhao Jun just nodded, bowed to Zhao Zhen, and left Chongde Hall.
After dealing with Zhao Zhen, Lu Yijian and others, he had to go back and deal with those who were captured.
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