Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 704
Fan Ning's official house is in the Privy Council. Although he is the highest position of the Privy Council, the daily affairs of the Privy Council are not under his control. Instead, the Privy Councilor or the Privy Councilor is in charge. His highest position is more of a symbol. Meaning, his current job is Hebei Xuanfu Envoy and Marshal of Zhengbei University, but he often stays in the capital now.

Although the Privy Council did not care about actual affairs, Fan Ning's official room was very large and spacious. It was a single courtyard, divided into two rooms inside and outside, and the various furnishings were very grand.

Fan Ning was sitting at the table reading a book, when a guard outside the door said: "Mr. Ouyang is here!"

It turned out to be his father-in-law who came. Fan Ning hurriedly got up and went out to greet him. Ouyang Xiu has poor eyesight, wears deep glasses, and walks cautiously.

"My son-in-law, I won't go in. You immediately follow me to Ci'an Palace. The Empress Dowager summoned Qixiang. Everyone has gone. Let me inform you."

"Father-in-law, are you submitting your resignation?"

"It should be that the officials went to see the queen mother, hey! We have gone too far in this matter."

Fan Ning said indifferently: "Although the Zhizhengtang is a little bit stronger in this matter, the root cause is the emperor, so it can be regarded as a lesson!"

Ouyang Xiu nodded, "Stop talking about that, hurry up and follow me, don't keep everyone waiting."

Fan Ning followed Ouyang Xiu out of the Privy Council, and the two of them each sat on an official sedan chair, and quickly left for Ci'an Palace.

In Ci'an Palace, the seven prime ministers gathered together, and the Empress Dowager Cao was still sitting in her seat, with a bamboo curtain in front of her.

"The seven ministers are invited here today, mainly to apologize to everyone for the reckless behavior of the grandson of the mourning family."

Empress Dowager Cao cut straight to the point, lowered her figure, and settled down in style. It was the emperor who made a mistake, and she came to apologize.

She continued: "It was too late for the first emperor to set up the emperor's grandson, and the first emperor did not teach him enough. When the first emperor passed away, he entrusted the Ai family to discipline the official family, but the Ai family was not in good health and neglected to discipline the official family. I don’t understand the truth, and I did the ridiculous thing today.”

Empress Dowager Cao has a needle in her mouth. Although she took all the responsibility, she pushed the late emperor to put pressure on her. At the same time, she also hinted at the important ministers. You are also responsible for the lack of education from the officials.

Everyone looked at each other, Fu Bi leaned forward and said: "Qi Queen Mother, we have no intention of putting pressure on the emperor, if there is room for negotiation, we will not take this step today."

After a while, Empress Dowager Cao asked, "Which step has the matter reached?"

"Empress Dowager, the emperor has issued a decree to restore the three provinces system this morning."

"Then where is this purpose now?"

"It is still in the Zhizheng Hall. This is an official decree. The Zhizheng Hall has no right to refute it. It can only promulgate it. But we cannot accept it. We can only ask the emperor to reorganize the Zhizheng Hall to promulgate it."

Empress Dowager Cao nodded, "Transfer this decree to Aijia! Aijia will abolish it. In addition, Aijia can guarantee that the newly promulgated three-provincial system will not abolish the Zhizhengtang voting system."

"The Queen Mother is wise!"

Empress Dowager Cao winked at the female officer next to her, and the female officer immediately returned everyone's resignation. Empress Dowager Cao said: "The emperor has promised Ai's family that there will be no next time. Please take back your resignation!"

Having reached this point, the Empress Dowager promised that the matter should be reconciled, and everyone no longer insisted on it, so they withdrew their resignations.

Everyone got up to leave immediately, Empress Dowager Cao said with a smile: "Fan Xianggong, please stay for a while!"

Fan Ning sat down again, and after everyone had gone, the Empress Dowager Cao said slowly, "I didn't expect that you would resign as well. Could it be that the great cause of conquering Liao Dynasty will be abandoned halfway?"

Fan Ning smiled slightly and said, "I just resigned from my position as a political advisor, but I'm still a privy envoy and the commander of Zhengliao. The Queen Mother doesn't have to worry."

Empress Dowager Cao showed a smile on her face, "It seems that the Ai family took the matter too seriously!"

This is of course a joke, and they are very clear in their hearts whether the matter is serious or not.

Empress Dowager Cao pondered for a while and said, "The Ai family has approved the first tranche of silver today, 200 million taels, and I hope it can be used properly according to your plan."

Fan Ning was overjoyed, and hurriedly said: "Thank you Empress Dowager for your concern and love for the Southern Continent!"

Empress Dowager Cao smiled and said: "The official's mood is probably not very good, you go to comfort him and persuade him not to be too eager for success!"

"The minister obeys the order!"

Zhao Xu's mood today is really gloomy. He never dreamed that he would encounter the embarrassing scene where all Zhizhengtang members handed in their resignations. He also went to consult his master in the East Palace, Han Zhi, a scholar of Longtuge University, and Han Zhi told him , He must stick to what he looks for.

Zhao Xu interpreted Han Zhi's insistence as toughness. After Zhizhengtang handed him the joint statement against the three-provincial system yesterday, he issued an edict forcefully this morning, trying to make Zhizhengtang succumb. Unexpectedly, Zhizhengtang The government was even tougher and responded to him with a collective resignation, which immediately made him panic and had to ask the emperor's grandmother for help, and was finally scolded by the emperor's grandmother.

It's not that Zhao Xu lost his courage, but that he didn't dare to continue to be tough. He knew very well that as long as he approved Qixiang's resignation, it would inevitably lead to a wave of resignations from the court officials. Far.

Zhao Xu finally realized that he had stabbed a hornet's nest, which made him very frustrated.

In the imperial study room, Zhao Xu paced back and forth with his hands behind his back. He had just received the news from the eunuch that Qi Xiang had withdrawn his resignation. His imperial edict was also abolished by the queen mother. This is a special power possessed by the empress dowager at a special moment. The empress dowager can not only abolish the imperial edict, but also the emperor.

At this time, an eunuch reported at the door, "Your Majesty, Fan Xianggong is asking to see you!"

"No!" Zhao Xu refused angrily.

The eunuch was stunned for a moment, turned around and was about to leave when Zhao Xu sighed, "Let him in!"

After all, he is the emperor, not a child, and he can calm down quickly, and he realizes that now is not the time to be angry.

Not long after, Fan Ning came in, bowed and saluted, "My minister sees Your Majesty!"

"Huh!" Zhao Xu couldn't help but snorted heavily, and when he saw Fan Ning, he felt angry again.

Fan Ning was amused, and continued: "The queen mother has already approved 200 million taels of silver, and I have come here to hand over the specific implementation plan to Your Majesty."

Zhao Xu was taken aback. He found Fu Bi's memorial from the table and asked, "Fu Xianggong has already submitted the report. Are you two different?"

"The principles are the same, except that Fu Xianggong's memorial is the implementation draft of the five-year plan, which is slightly lacking in details, while Weichen's report is about the specific use plan of the 200 million taels, which is more detailed than Fu Xianggong's draft. many."

After finishing speaking, Fan Ning put a memorial on Zhao Xuyu's case.

Zhao Xu returned to his seat and sat down, and said to Fan Ning, "Sit down!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

After Fan Ning sat down, Zhao Xu picked up Fan Ning's proposal and read it carefully.

In fact, this plan is a detailed dismantling of 200 million taels of silver, and the order of use, from now to August next year.

Although Zhao Xu was very interested, the real function of this report was to calm Zhao Xu down slowly.

After reading the report, the sullen look on Zhao Xu's face disappeared.

Zhao Xu pondered for a while, and said frankly: "I called you uncle back then, and it was you who pushed me to the position of emperor grandson, and my mother also asked me to listen to you before she died. My heart is really different from other ministers, so I just want to ask you a question, why do you submit your resignation letter like them to force me?"

Fan Ning said with a faint smile: "Although I and the other prime ministers both submitted my resignation, my motives are different from theirs. My resignation is a stick that will wake you up severely!"

Zhao Xu froze for a moment, the softest part of his heart was touched, and his nose felt inexplicably sore.

Zhao Xu got up quickly, walked to the window and looked at the sky to hide his excitement. After a while, Zhao Xu asked, "Can you tell me, what is wrong?"

Fan Ning said slowly: "The dispute between monarchy and ministerial power has been going on for a long time. Take the Tang system to be restored as an example. Wu Zetian increased the ministerial power in order to attack the imperial power. Tang Xuanzong established Jixian Hall in order to seize the imperial power. The academy used jute to write edicts to compete with the white hemp edicts of Zhongshu Province, and used Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong to obey the king's Xiangguo.

Tang Suzong did not hesitate to reuse eunuchs in order to counteract the power of the prime minister, which eventually led to the disaster of eunuchs in the late Tang Dynasty. From these three examples, what did your majesty see? "

Zhao Xu pondered for a moment and said, "Master, do you mean checks and balances?"

"Yes! Check and balance, there is no king who does not want to increase his power and suppress the power of the prime minister, but as long as it is not too much, it is generally the prime minister who gives up power. The specific method is to use checks and balances, but what method does His Majesty use? Depriving the prime minister of his right to vote is nothing like an emperor's art, where is the principle of checks and balances?"

Zhao Xu's face was hot, and he finally understood what was wrong with him?My idea was right, but the method was wrong, which led to the strong backlash from Zhizheng Hall.

After a moment of silence, Zhao Xu asked, "Then what should I do?"

(End of this chapter)