Song Gexing

Chapter 45 Lao Hei’s fighting power
Bao Zheng was a late bloomer. He was only admitted to Jinshi at the age of 29, and his ranking was not high. Wang Yaochen was four years younger than him, and Han Qi was nine years younger than him.

But he has an upright personality and is famous for his filial piety, so he has many good friends, especially Wen Yanbo, who is also the son and daughter of Bao Zheng.

As mentioned above, Bao Zhengming was good, and it was true. In the fifth year of Tiansheng's reign, the Jinshi Department was known as the Dragon and Tiger Ranking of the Northern Song Dynasty. There were as many as seven people who later became prime ministers.

Another Dragon and Tiger list in the Northern Song Dynasty was the Jinshi Division in the second year of Jiayou's reign. That list was full of stars. Three Su plus Zeng Gong, four of the eight great masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties accounted for it.

There are also two great masters who are famous throughout the ages, Cheng Hao and Zhang Zai, the founders of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, and Mr. Hengqu, who inherited the unique learning from the saints.

This luxurious lineup is praised by future generations as the best in the world, but the problem is that the relationship between the same subjects in this list is not as good as that in Tiansheng's fifth year.

Due to Wang Anshi's reform, almost everyone on the list in Jiayou's second year participated in it, and most of them were on the opposite side.

In Tiansheng's fifth year, most of the people on this list are good friends. Bao Zheng is so good at trolling people that he impeached more than 40 senior officials at one time, but only two of his colleagues were impeached by him.

Of course, this does not mean that Bao Zheng is showing favoritism, but that the classmates in this class have mostly positive energy and are united, which is rare.

If Renzong had delayed the reform a few years later, when this generation of officials truly took control of the power, the Qingli New Deal might not have ended so hastily.

Two days later, Bao Zheng completed the handover. He was appointed as the magistrate of Kaifeng Prefecture and concurrently served as the imperial censor in the palace. A memorial was issued on the spot.

"The minister impeached and sentenced Xia Song, who was responsible for Daming Mansion and Tongping Zhang. As an important foreign minister, he stayed in the capital after going to Beijing to report on his duties. This is actually an act of neglect..."

Zhao Zhen saw Lao Bao's stubbornness for the first time. Xia Song did have ulterior motives in staying in Beijing, but Song Dynasty did not violate the law, it just delayed it for a few days.

This problem can be prevaricated, such as physical illness, etc., and it is not a long delay. Generally, no one will talk about it, but Lao Bao not only said it, but also directly criticized him for negligence.

Wang Gongchen and others argued hard, but Lao Bao just grasped one sentence, "You have completed your work report, and there is no doctor to prove that you are sick, why are you still here?"

"Daming Mansion is an important town in the north. It is responsible for the headquarters position of resisting the Liao Kingdom. As the chief official is not here, where do you want to put the people of Hebei!"

Lao Bao came online and began to show his super-class trolling skills, which made everyone in Yushitai look stupid.

What they say makes sense. The reason why Daming Palace was promoted to Beijing was not to serve as a base camp to fight against the Liao Kingdom. Although Song and Liao had already sworn an alliance, it was just in case.

That day Xia Song wrote a letter to plead guilty and produced a doctor's certificate stating that he had been bedridden for several days.

The reason given by the doctor was that he was tired from guarding the frontier in the northwest, and after suddenly returning to Beijing to relax, he fell ill like a mountain. It was reasonable and well-founded and everyone thought that the matter could be over.

Unexpectedly, Bao Zheng immediately issued a memorial, saying that since Xia Song fell ill, Daming Mansion could not be without people for too long, and suggested that the court reconsider and replace the chief judge of Daming Mansion.

"I read the medical records and found it to be very reasonable. Xia Xianggong was the prime minister of Shaanxi Fourth Route Military Administration and sentenced to Hezhong Prefecture for many years. He has indeed worked hard and made great achievements. My emperor should be considerate of the meritorious minister and let him rest more. It is better to remove him from his position and let him relax and cultivate. He will be appointed after he recovers..."

A memorial was eloquent, as if he cared about others, but it was self-defeating to smoke Xia Song's seven orifices.

If the emperor's brain cramps and he agrees to his suggestion, then he will be retired early and he will be fighting for the chance to be the prime minister.

In desperation, he had to write again, saying that after these days of recovery, his illness was almost gone and he would be able to resume his duties soon.When things have reached this point, Xia Song no longer has any hope of competing for the throne. This is an unspoken rule in the officialdom of the Northern Song Dynasty. Once you take a step back, you will have to wait until later.

The reformists won a big victory, Zhang Dexiang resigned from office due to his fault, his letter of resignation was approved, and the position of prime minister fell to Yan Shu.

Yan Shu, who was in Yingtian Mansion, received the news at the same time as he also received letters from his son-in-law Fu Bi, student Ouyang Xiu and others. He also had a headache.

"New Deal! Alas..."

Yan Shu is indeed not opposed to change, but he does not support this change. In his opinion, the conditions for reform are not mature enough, and he is afraid of causing turmoil that will become uncontrollable.

In fact, there are many officials like him. During the Qingli period of the Northern Song Dynasty, in fact, many knowledgeable officials believed that reforms must be made, but they had different opinions on how to change.

Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi and others, including Bao Zheng, were radicals and even believed that the army must change. This can be seen from the memorials left in the Song Dynasty.

They even believed that the soldiers had to change this rule, which was tantamount to shaking Song Taizong's national policy of using civility to control military affairs. Therefore, even reformists such as Ouyang Xiu and others disagreed.

Ouyang Xiu, Wang Yaochen and others were moderate reformers who advocated starting with the administration of officials, punishing corrupt officials and then improving the land system and increasing the court's taxes.

There are more people like Yan Shu who want reform in their hearts and are hesitant about looking forward and backward, so they choose to wait and see during the Qingli New Deal.

Now that he is going to the central government to become prime minister, he not only has to face whether he supports the reform or not, but he also has to be prepared to be turned against by his son-in-law and students.

Once he chooses to object, based on his understanding of Fu Bi and Ouyang Xiu, they will never regard him as the face of their elders.

You can choose whether to support yourself or not, and the most important point is that the emperor supports the reform and supports Fan Zhongyan and others, which will pose a threat to his authority as prime minister.

Even if he supports it, the emperor will also value Fan Zhongyan and others more, which makes him very unwilling.

"What are daddy thinking about? I'm going to see my sister soon. Isn't daddy very happy?"

While Yan Shu was making plans alone, the little kid Yan Jidao jumped in and asked happily.

Yan Jidao, who was one year younger than Zhao Fang, was Yan Shu's old son, and he was as smart as Yan Shu when he was a child, so he was the most favored by him.

This father and son can be said to be the most well-read father and son in Chinese history. Yan Shu was a 14-year-old Jinshi and was known as a child prodigy, while his son Yan Jidao was also a 14-year-old Jinshi.

This was a unique example in the past 5000 years, but Yan Jidao was born at the wrong time. When he entered officialdom, it coincided with Wang Anshi's reform, but he was an opponent.

Therefore, his official career was bumpy, not as smooth as his father's. He rose to the position of prime minister all the way. He grew up in wealth and died in wealth, but he died in poverty.

Seeing his beloved son, Yan Shu smiled kindly, touched his little head and said with a smile: "Brother Qi misses your sister. Don't worry, we will see you soon. But are you ready? Your brother-in-law But it’s your test.”

(End of this chapter)