I studied in modern times

Chapter 756: Elimination of Worship (2)

There are twenty-four regions in the Song Dynasty, and there are certainly more people who meet the qualifications to be prime ministers than just the ones Zhao Xu mentioned.

Not to mention anything else, among the six ministers in the court who meet the requirements, not a single one has been named.

But both palaces subconsciously accepted the candidates selected by Zhao Xu.

And they started judging the people named by Zhao Xu immediately.

"Mr. Han from Daming Prefecture was a minister in the late emperor's palace and was deeply trusted by the late emperor... He is also a state elder and is well versed in state affairs... If he is appointed as prime minister to assist in the administration, he will surely achieve something..." Empress Dowager Xiang said first.

The Empress Dowager, however, remembered the performance of Han Wei's youngest son, Han Zonghou, and was a little unhappy. She immediately criticized him: "Han Wei was the late emperor's minister in the palace and a national elder, but your brother, Duke Kangguo, has just retired as prime minister!"

"Be prepared for any event and be careful of any crooked situation. This is the law of our ancestors! Fathers and sons, brothers, uncles and nephews, uncles and nephews must never take over as prime ministers!"

This sentence not only excluded Han Wei from the candidates for prime minister.

Han Zhen in Hangzhou was also rejected.

Empress Dowager Xiang was naturally unwilling, and she did not dare to confront the Grand Empress Dowager, so she had to ask: "Then according to your opinion, who can be the prime minister?"

The Empress Dowager hesitated for a moment and said, "From what I have seen, the Left Prime Minister, Duke Shen, is already from a family of high rank."

"It would be better to choose a Right Prime Minister who is not a member of a noble family."

"Only in this way can we balance the inside and the outside..."

This was also very reasonable and plausible, and Empress Dowager Xiang could only agree: "Your Majesty is right!"

Zhao Xu also said: "Grandmother is right!"

This made the Empress Dowager happy.

These days, the frustration in my heart has been somewhat relieved.

He thought to himself, "If you don't obey my will, I will not let you do what you want!"

But it was this Empress Dowager who saw that the elders did not give her face.

So, he deliberately made excuses to make things difficult for them on this matter of being appointed as prime minister.

Her personality has always been like this, with a clear distinction between love and hate.

Thinking of this, the Empress Dowager said, "In this case, the right prime minister can only be chosen from Scholar Sun and Scholar Pu!"

"But, Mr. Sun has not been in good health!" The Empress Dowager sighed.

She had a very good impression of Sun Gu.

This old minister is cautious and low-key, and has a good reputation among officials.

It was just that he was in poor health. Starting from the eighth year of Yuanfeng, he spent two years recuperating in Beijing before he was barely able to work. He certainly could not adapt to the high-paced work pressure in the capital.

Moreover, Sun Gu had a very good relationship with Lu Gongzhu. If he were to be appointed prime minister, he would definitely cooperate sincerely with Lu Gongzhu, and might even create the most harmonious capital in the history of the Song Dynasty during the Yuanyou era.

A harmonious capital does not meet the needs of the Song Dynasty.

Since our ancestors, the capital has been a place where the big and small are controlled and different opinions are mixed.

The prime ministers must fight and argue with each other, only then can the emperor in the palace feel at ease.

"As for Scholar Pu..." The Grand Empress Dowager frowned. Even though she was in the palace, she was still aware of the illustrious reputation of Pu Zongmeng, the former ruler whose reputation was rife with scandals even in the officialdom of the Song Dynasty, where visiting prostitutes was considered a refined custom.

Seeing this, Zhao Xu said softly, "Mother, people's words may not be credible!"

"Why not summon the scholar to the capital to see him..."

"Observe his wisdom and stupidity, look at his ability, and then make a decision!"

Pu Zongmeng must have a terrible private life.

But the question is - is Pu Zongmeng the only scholar-official with a bad private life?
In his previous life, Zhao Xu had never dealt with Pu Zongmeng, and he didn't know what kind of person he was or his abilities.

However, after ten years of studying abroad in modern times, when he returned to his youth, he heard the rumors and stories about Pu Zongmeng again.

A question kept lingering in Zhao Xu's mind: Why, among so many ministers in the Song Dynasty, only Pu Zongmeng's scandals and various stories were known to everyone? It was even to the point where it was enough to hinder his career!

You know, Pu Zongmeng’s background is not simple either.

He was the brother-in-law of Mr. Lianxi Zhou Dunyi.

She was also Su Che's relative-in-law - the wife of Su Che's eldest son Su Guo was Pu Zongmeng's daughter.

At the same time, Pu Zongmeng and Su Shi also had a very close relationship.

In other words, he has a lot of connections with the old party, especially the Shu party.

According to the unspoken rules of the Song Dynasty, although such private life issues can be used to make a fuss, they should not be pursued relentlessly.

Generally speaking, when a person leaves, his debts are paid off, especially for ministers at the prime minister level.

When he is on stage, just scold him.

Now that he has stepped down, we should still give him some respect and have a tacit understanding to stop attacking him.

Otherwise, you will expose my secrets today and I will open yours tomorrow, and we will sink into depravity together, talking about each other's personal morality and private life like crazy, and even finding faults in each other's children and nephews.

Then everyone should stop playing!

Except for a few people in the old and new parties who can stand the investigation, who else can stand the investigation? Who doesn't have a lot of dirty stuff under his butt?
Just like Shangguan Jun and Xianyu Qun who were demoted this year.

Before the investigation, he was a model gentleman, a famous figure in the world, and a clean-handed person.

A check...

Corruption, favoritism and fraud have all been uncovered.

Therefore, the matter of Pu Zongmeng is very strange and unreasonable.

Because Pu Zongmeng was treated like this, but other people in the New Party were indifferent.

Wang Gui and Cai Que turned a blind eye.

Zhang Dun and Li Qingchen said nothing.

Not only was Pu Zongmeng not rehabilitated, he was not supported, and there was not even any targeted retaliation.

This is so unreasonable!

It’s not the new party that Zhao Xu is familiar with at all!
What happened to the promise of revenge?

What about the group we promised to stick together?

Therefore, Zhao Xu now had to suspect that Pu Zongmeng was taken down by the New Party and the Old Party.

He has his reasons.

According to Zhao Xu's investigation, Pu Zongmeng is the most radical among the New Party ministers in terms of economics.

When Lu Huiqing demonstrated the real method of pushing hands, even Wang Anshi was shocked.

However, Pu Zongmeng said: Xiao Lu is still too conservative. He actually said that the implementation of the manual method should be temporarily suspended in the disaster-stricken areas.

But aren’t the victims of the disaster the children of our Great Song Dynasty?
How can we deprive these innocent children of the right to contribute to the Song Dynasty?

How is this helping them?

It's clearly harming them!

The hand-to-hand method should be implemented equally in all places, regardless of the severity of the disaster.

Let all the subjects in the world contribute their own strength to the revival of the Song Dynasty.

During the more than ten years that Pu Zongmeng has been in power, there have been more than one such remarks.

This radical approach to economic policy will naturally attract a lot of hatred for him.

However, it is not to the extent that the new and old parties will work together to get rid of him tacitly.

Zhao Xu felt that Pu Zongmeng must have violated some taboos and crossed the red line of both the new and old parties.

even……

Considering that Pu Zongmeng was dismissed from his position as Shangshu Zuo Cheng in the fourth year of Yuanfeng during the heyday of the New Party.

It is possible that Pu Zongmeng was killed by the New Party itself.

As for the reason, Zhao Xu roughly guessed it.

So when selecting the prime minister this time, Zhao Xu put Pu Zongmeng on the list.

The two palaces pondered for a moment, and after a long time, the Empress Dowager said, "Okay!"

"Mr. Pu has been away for several years. It is time for him to return to the court to report on his work and pay his respects to the emperor to clarify the distinction between the ruler and his subjects!"

He nodded to the Queen Mother: "Your Majesty is right!"

After Lu Huiqing, the only former governors of prefectures and counties who had not returned to Beijing to kowtow to her children before the emperor were the brothers Wang Anshi and Wang Anli of Jiangning, and this former governor. Empress Dowager Xiang naturally supported this proposal.

The righteousness between the ruler and his subjects is crucial!

So, the two palaces reached an agreement. After asking the Grand Empress Dowager for her opinion, Empress Dowager Xiang summoned Liang Congzheng, took out paper and pen, and asked Zhao Xu to write the recall document. Then she used the seal and immediately sent someone to surrender.

Because it is neither a removal nor a promotion.

Instead, the ministers were recalled to report on their work. Therefore, there was no need for the Hanlin scholars of the Academy of Scholars or the Zhongshu Sheren to draft the decree, and it could be sent out directly.

This is something that the ministers of the outer court cannot and should not interfere with.

This is the royal power!

After doing this, the two palaces continued to discuss the possibility of the person nominated by Zhao Xu being appointed as prime minister.

Then, the possibility of Zeng Bu becoming prime minister was ruled out.

This time, he denied it to the Queen Mother.

The reason for the veto was simple - the four prime ministers Han Wu, Han Liu, Cai and Zhang were not even qualified to be prime ministers. If Zeng Xueshi was appointed as prime minister, the court and the public would probably be dissatisfied.

Of course, the possibility of Zeng Bubai coming to power is still retained.

The Empress Dowager had no objection to this.

Therefore, based on the same reason, other people nominated by Zhao Xu were also excluded from the candidates for the right prime minister due to their qualifications.

Pu Zongmeng became the de facto only candidate to enter the preliminary selection for the position of Right Prime Minister.

After discussing this, both palaces discovered some problems.

If so, there is only one Pu Zongmeng to choose from.

So, in reality, the only option is Pu Zongmeng.

However, neither palace pointed out this matter, but chose to skip this issue.

He began to discuss with Zhao Xu the candidates for the Central Office and the Western Palace.

It’s easy to handle in Zhongsi!

Zhao Xu did not hide anything and directly appointed Zhao Xie's general.

The reason is simple - Mr. Zhao is old and will retire soon. He is now appointed as the Minister of Internal Affairs in preparation for future rewards.

What this meant was to let Zhao Xie go to the Censorate to gain promotion so that he could be rewarded when he retired.

Both palaces had no objection to this.

This was because after Fu Yaoyu was promoted to the two prefectures, the Central Office had not had a Chief Censor.

The reason why the two palaces, especially the Empress Dowager, have not appointed a new Chief Censor to take charge of the Censorate is entirely because the current situation in the court and the opposition has begun to impact and challenge the politics behind the curtain.

If the Censorate had a strong, young and ambitious Chief Censor, the current system of regency might be broken.

This is because, this person may very likely suddenly attack the draconian politics one day in the future, and demand that the power be returned to the emperor ahead of time in order to gain support and the credit of making decisions.

This was unacceptable to the Empress Dowager.

Therefore, using a meritorious official who was about to retire was completely in line with her wishes.

As for the candidate for the ruling party of Xifu?
With almost no discussion, the two palaces and Zhao Xu reached a consensus.

It is necessary to have a minister who has experience in leading troops and preferably has military merits.

This is the impact of the aftermath of An Tao's resignation.

The court could not afford to have another person be talked about, "Who can be the ruler? No, I don't have the ability, you know!"

The two palaces are particularly unwilling to bear the political accusation of appointing inappropriate people.

So, there is almost no doubt.

Fan Chuncui and Zhang Qie were included in the final list.

And Fan Chuncui, in fact, became the only choice.

Apart from the issue of qualifications, Fan Chuncui's greatest advantage was that he had been ordered by the previous emperor to supervise the case of the planting of E.

At the same time, last year, Fan Chuncui asked for an imperial decree for his biological mother. In the end, this grace was passed by the two palaces and Zhao Xu against all odds.

……

When the two palaces and Zhao Xu were discussing the candidates for prime minister in the palace.

Jingdong Road, Caozhou, in the county government of Jiyin County (approximately northwest of Cao County, Heze City, Shandong Province today).

The angel from Bian Jing was reading the contents of the imperial edict in a rhythmic manner.

"Imperial edict to Li Jie: For master craftsmen, one must use Lu Ban's men. For the work of various craftsmen, one should choose ministers with ingenuity. Moreover, you are the son of a famous minister and the descendant of a loyal and good person. Yes, I hereby authorize you to be the Supervisor of Works!"

Li Jie, who is only thirty years old this year, looked confused as he led his wife and children to face the direction of Bianjing respectfully, bowed his head and thanked the emperor again: "I respectfully thank the emperor for his extraordinary grace!"

He never thought that a man of obscure reputation, who had no knowledge of classics at all and who had only relied on his father and uncle Fan's help to become a small selected official, would actually receive an imperial edict to remove him from office!
Moreover, among the nine temples and five academies, he has the most money, money and power, and the real power of the Chief of Works has always been used only by noble and famous officials!
The most important thing is that this assignment is completely to his liking!
It was a position tailor-made for him.

As long as you do the job, you will definitely achieve results!
This is like a dream!
He even wanted to pinch his thigh!

Prevent yourself from dreaming!

The messenger who came to deliver the imperial edict smiled, handed the imperial edict to Li Jie, and then said softly: "Li Jiancheng, please stand up!"

Li Jie stood up in a daze, then carefully approached him, stuffed a golden melon seed into his mouth, and asked, "May I ask the angel..."

"What is this, your subordinate?"

"Chapter Li, do you want to ask why?" the eunuch said with a smile.

Li Jie nodded like a chick pecking at rice.

"God's will is like a prison!" the eunuch whispered, "We, the eunuchs, are only following orders to pass on the emperor's will!"

Li Jie took a breath of cold air!
The emperor personally eliminated it!

Many officials in the imperial court may not even get it once in their lifetime!
Moreover, generally speaking, if the emperor personally removes someone, it means that Jian is in the emperor's heart.

It is equivalent to jumping out of the Three Realms and not being within the Five Elements.

Because those who were removed by the emperor himself, generally speaking, were not disliked by the emperor.

Therefore, from now on, the official’s removal or appointment would at least be done through the channel of walking through the court.

Moreover, generally speaking, before the hall was enthroned, one had to ask for permission from the emperor.

In the officialdom of the Song Dynasty, Tangchu was praised as a divine power.

When the emperor personally removes a person, it means reshaping a person's bones, blood and flesh, allowing him to become a saint and ascend to heaven in one step.

But the problem is...

"What virtue and ability do I have to deserve to be personally removed by the government?"

He was just a small, insignificant person, not even a tribute scholar. He had basically cut himself off from the mainstream officialdom. All he could do for his whole life was wrestle with others in the quagmire of personnel selection, a small selector and an official with imperial favor.

Forget about the good reputation of Shilin!

I'm afraid it will only bring bad reputation!
Because he doesn't love the meaning of the scriptures at all and can't understand them.

He only loves the work of building bridges and Lu Ban's techniques.

Because of this hobby, I have been ridiculed and mocked by others since I was a child.

But now...

The emperor sent down his gracious decree and personally selected him from among the candidates.

and……

Li Jie looked at the words on the imperial edict.

"For master craftsmen, one must employ men of Lu Ban's caliber; for the work of various craftsmen, one must select ministers with ingenuity and skill..."

Tears began to well up in his eyes.

A scholar dies for a confidant!

What's more, for Li Jie personally, the current emperor has chosen him this time.

It was Duke Mu of Qin who pulled Baili Xi out of the market, and it was King Wu Ding who employed Fu Yue among the builders.

Grace is higher than the sky!

It will take a lifetime to repay you!
,

(End of this chapter)