I studied in modern times

Chapter 752: The Emperor and His Ministers (1)

In front of Zhao Xu, Lu Gongzhu was speechless for a moment, then he chose to bow and said: "I respectfully obey your command, and will work together with the ministers of the two ministries to assist Your Majesty!"

Zhao Xu smiled.

The Lu family of Shouzhou is a model of scholar-officials under the discipline of the imperial power of the Song Dynasty.

This has been the case since the time of Lu Mengzheng.

To the extent that the Lu family members are somewhat unlike the literati of the Song Dynasty!
Considering the overall situation and bearing humiliation for the country are ideas engraved in the bones of the Lu family.

Therefore, the Zhao officials of all generations liked the Lu family so much.

However, Lu Gongzhu still said what he wanted to say when he entered the palace: "Your Majesty, I heard that Your Majesty has issued an imperial edict to recall Yang Ji, the Minister of Baowen Pavilion and the Governor of Huangzhou, and Cui Taifu, the Minister of Chaosan and the Governor of Luzhou, back to the court?"

Zhao Xu restrained his smile and said, "It is true!"

He looked at Lu Gongzhu and asked, "Do you have any objections, sir?"

Of course Lu Gongzhu had objections!
But he cannot question or criticize directly.

Because, appointing ministers is the authority of the ruler.

According to the system, no one except the Censorate has the right to criticize or question.

What's more, Zhao Xu completed all the procedures.

The Zhongshu Sheren drafted the imperial edict, which was reviewed by the Jieshi Zhong and has now been issued.

Unless Zhao Xu takes it back himself, no one can stop him.

What's more, Zhao Xu also spoke in advance to block Lu Gongzhu's possible attack path - Husband, you must unite the court officials!

Therefore, Lu Gongzhu hesitated for a moment, organized his words, and then said, "Your Majesty has appointed a minister, and I have no doubts."

"But I'm afraid Your Majesty doesn't understand what Yang and Cui did in the past..."

Zhao Xu laughed and interrupted Lu Gongzhu's spell, saying: "To be honest with you, the reason why I recalled these two ministers is that since Prime Minister Fu was appointed as the Prime Minister, the central government has been vacant and the officials are short of people. Especially recently, Prime Minister An Youjian asked to resign... The country is increasingly short of people, so I remembered the autumn of the sixth year of Yuanfeng, when the emperor took me to the Jiying Hall and had a banquet with the ministers... At that time, the emperor pointed at the ministers and introduced them to me one by one..."

"At that time, the Emperor mentioned to me Yang Aiqing, the then Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, and Cui Aiqing, the then Minister of the Supreme Court..."

"My father said that these two ministers are loyal to the country and can serve the country!"

Lu Gongzhu was silent.

The late emperor...

In the eyes of the late emperor, Yang Ji and Cui Taifu were certainly loyal ministers, and they were certainly loyal to the country!

But the problem is that these two people are a little too loyal to the imperial power.

To the extent that they have lost the reserve and self-respect that scholars and officials should have.

Yang Ji might be a little better.

But Cui Taifu, in order to please the emperor, actually joined forces with the eunuchs!

He worked hand in hand with Shi Deyi's Investigation Department in the Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice to crack down on dissidents and train them into prisons.

Not only people from the old party have a very bad impression of this person.

The New Party also hates him!

Son of a bitch!
You betrayed the scholar-official class!
Therefore, as soon as the late emperor fell ill, Wang Gui, Han Zhen, Zhang Dun and others joined forces to send Cui Taifu out of the capital.

As far as Lu Gongzhu knew, Wang Gui had even planned to settle accounts with Cui Taifu after the funeral of the previous emperor was over.

They even planned to strip them of their numbness and place them in the administrative area of ​​Lingnan.

However, he didn't have time to do it, but because he offended the Empress Dowager, everyone pushed him down and he eventually died of anger!
Since his death, the imperial court has not posthumously awarded or conferred titles on him.

Even a posthumous title was not given to him.

He can be said to be the prime minister who was treated the worst after his death in the Song Dynasty.

It was because of this that Cui Taifu escaped disaster and was able to live freely in Luzhou until now.

After Lu Gongzhu came to power, he followed the principle of less trouble is worse than more. In addition, since Yang and Cui had not made any mistakes after they were informed, he did not chase them and beat them.

Who would have thought that a moment of kindness back then would give these two worthless people a chance to turn things around!
Thinking of this, Lu Gongzhu felt so tired!

The official's voice continued in my ears: "I see that the court is short of people, so I remembered the imperial father's instructions..."

"So he ordered people to fetch the two ministers' official documents, and after looking at their resumes, he found that they were indeed capable ministers, so he issued an imperial decree to recall them..."

At this point, Zhao Xu looked at Lu Gongzhu like a good student and asked, "Sir, did I do something wrong?"

Lu Gongzhu swallowed his saliva.

No matter how he answered this question, it seemed wrong.

is it wrong?
Of course, Lu Gongzhu wanted to say that he was wrong.

But the Lu family served the Zhao family for several generations.

Little did they know that the minds of the Zhao officials were as small as the tip of a needle.

Today, this person is well-known both inside and outside the government for his love of holding grudges.

So he had no choice but to say: "Your Majesty is wise and wise..."

"However, what Your Majesty saw was only the official letter from the Ministry of Personnel..."

"The official announcement cannot really explain a minister's character, personal ethics and public morality..."

Zhao Xu nodded: "That's right!"

"Recently, I have often read the official documents of ministers kept in the Ministry of Personnel... especially those of famous ministers of the previous dynasty and those who have made contributions to the country..."

"For example, the record of the official certificate and deeds of Duke Lü Huimu (Lü Gongbi), the elder brother of the Prime Minister, who was posthumously awarded the title of Grand Commandant, Envoy of the Southern Court of Xuanhui, and Founding Duke of Dongping County, is very vague. At least, it is very different from what the Emperor Father told me about Duke Lü Huimu's deeds!"

"Duke Huimu devoted his life to the country and served it with all his heart and soul, until his death!"

"But his official announcement and biography omitted too many of Duke Huimu's achievements!"

As Lu Gongzhu listened, he felt a chill on his neck and alarm bells started ringing in his heart!

Because he could guess what the late emperor had said to this Majesty?
It must be related to the things that happened during the Xining Reform, when his elder brother was in the court and secretly cooperated with the late emperor.

For example...

When Wang Anshi wanted to force the market exchange law.

His eldest brother contacted gentlemen inside and outside the court and wanted to attack Wang Anshi in the court.

Everyone worked together and came up with an almost perfect solution.

then……

Then, Lu Jiawen stole his elder brother's manuscript and gave it to Wang Anshi, so that Wang Anshi could be prepared in advance and was able to perfectly resolve the offensive launched by his elder brother in the court and ensure the smooth implementation of the Market Exchange Law.

This matter is now known to everyone.

But there are two problems.

First: Why did his eldest brother put down on paper the countermeasures he and others had discussed, in black and white, clearly stating all the arrangements in every detail?

His eldest brother was the Privy Councilor at that time!

It's impossible that they don't even have a sense of confidentiality!
Second: Even if his elder brother wrote down everything, why didn't he protect it?

Instead, it should be placed in a place where anyone in the Lu family can access it.

Wasn't this done on purpose, to be stolen?
Don’t tell me, his elder brother doesn’t know who Lu Jiawen is?

At that time, Lu Jiawen was already a member of Wang Anshi's team.

Moreover, the Market Exchange Method was mainly promoted by Lu Jiawen.

These two questions, put together, point to one truth.

The truth is, his elder brother Lu Gongbi was in the court at that time and was ordered to serve as an opposition party.

It’s the same character as Wen Yanbo!

After Wen Yanbo quit, his elder brother Lu Gongbi took over.

The two of them were in the court to check and balance Wang Anshi's reform faction and prevent one party from dominating the country.

At the same time, it is also paving the way for reform.

This is a very skillful trick used by the Zhao officials to add sand.

Through this routine, the Zhao officials were able to control the government and make choices according to their needs.

And now the government brought up this past event again.

The implication of his words is actually obvious.

I know everything!

I know what's going on!

My husband, please respect yourself!
Very polite and tactful advice.

This put Lu Gongzhu in a difficult position.

Lu Gongzhu hesitated for a moment, but still mustered up his courage and continued, "Your Majesty is wise!"

"That is what I mean!"

"It is difficult to describe the merits and demerits of a minister in just a few hundred words..."

"If Your Majesty does not give up, I beg to introduce the past of these two ministers to Your Majesty to help Your Majesty make a decision!"

Seeing that Lu Gongzhu insisted, Zhao Xu pursed his lips slightly, exhaled, and said, "Then please, my lord, tell me..."

Lu Gongzhu also breathed a sigh of relief, and then began to evaluate the personal morality of Yang Ji and Cui Taifu according to the standards of the literati.

Yes, it’s just personal morality!
Because, in terms of public morality, from the perspective of the literati, these two people are indeed lacking.

But the problem is that this is the view of the literati.

The emperor is different.

Lu Gongzhu knew very well that if he really laid out all the deeds and evidence of Yang Ji and Cui Taifu when they were in the court.

So……

I'm afraid the young master will only say: "Ahhh...my husband is right!"

But looking back, they would still make various excuses to allow the already effective edict to continue the procedure.

This is the basic operation of Emperor Zhao.

On this matter, the officials just need to turn a deaf ear and dumb.

Even if the ministers put in ten, a hundred, or a thousand times the effort, it would be difficult to make amends.

Especially considering that there are still two palaces in the palace.

And judging by their performance in the past two years, the two palaces actually also like to use loyal dogs of the imperial power like Yang and Cui.

Especially the Empress Dowager!
They are already a little hungry and have no choice but to eat!
Therefore, Lu Gongzhu could only choose to attack the personal morality of Yang and Cui.

Fortunately, the butts of these two loyal dogs of imperial power are not clean at all.

And Lu Gongzhu's eloquence was amazing, and he described the private actions of these two people vividly.

Such things as embezzling public funds, writing notes for relatives to do business, and even favoring his concubine by giving favors to her relatives.

Zhao Xu listened, squinting his eyes, thinking: "Is this also called a matter?"

What kind of character did the literati and officials of the Song Dynasty have?
Among the whole court, including the prime ministers and ministers, who is not greedy and who doesn’t take things?

Fu Bi and Fu Zheng were famous all over the world. Their Fu Garden in Luoyang was bigger, more magnificent and more luxurious than Zhao Xu's Qionglin Garden outside the city of Bianjing.

Legend has it that if visitors enter Fu Garden without a guide, they will get lost in the garden.

A certain Grand Tutor named Wen once hosted a banquet in the snow in Chengdu, and he spent a month's salary of a commander of the imperial guards on one meal.

He also made the imperial guards stand guard for him in the snowy weather, which made the imperial guards so angry that they cut down his pavilion and used the brims as firewood.

The guests present were all trembling with fear.

The Grand Tutor did not dare to say a single harsh word at that time.

I will wait until I am back in the city and safe before settling the score.

Also, there is this husband who is now in front of Zhao Xu, passionately discussing other people's private morality.

Could it be that the countless fertile fields of the Lu family in Shouzhou and the gold, silver and treasures piled up in the treasury fell from the sky?
It can't be that all the Lu family members are gentlemen and upright people, so they are moved by the family's money and work day and night in the Lu family's warehouse to contribute to the Lu family?

Throughout the entire Song Dynasty, Zhao Xu could confirm that there were only four and a half people who never engaged in corruption or took bribes.

One is Wang Anshi, one is Sima Guang, one is Zhang Dun, one is Fu Yaoyu, and half of them is Cheng Yi, the Taoist scholar - Cheng Yi did not have any specific assignment, so he can only be counted as half.

other people……

Well, we can’t just generalize.

All I can say is that more than 90 percent of them are greedy and take advantage of others.

Moreover, most of these people are not only greedy and greedy.

The way he eats is very ugly.

Many people even want to push all four of their hooves into the trough, like wild boars, and eat up all the good things within their sight.

This is also the reason why Zhao Xu wanted to buy out the pawnshop that had absorbed the pawnshop - the official economy in feudal society could not have made any other contribution except being inefficient and wasteful and supporting a bunch of corrupt bureaucrats.

In comparison, privatized pawnshops may have various problems.

But they are certainly vibrant.

Sometimes, it can even be too energetic!

However, Zhao Xu is very good at disguise.

Although he complained in his heart, on the surface, he pretended to be serious and solemn.

He nodded from time to time, showing his approval of Lu Gongzhu's introduction.

(End of this chapter)