In the Song Dynasty, there was no law or order.

This morning, Zhao Jun finally met his students and attended his first class. At noon, he strolled around the village under the leadership of the village chief and the branch secretary, and talked with several villagers about the tea method of the Song Dynasty.

Zhao Jun has always been generous in teaching the villagers' desire to learn and ask questions, in order to show his knowledge.

After all, he is the only volunteer teacher in Nini Village Primary School now, and he will most likely be the principal in this village in the next two years. If his knowledge is not deep enough to make all the villagers admire him, how can he teach and educate people in the village?

So he knows everything and says everything.

In the afternoon, except Yan Shu who stayed in the back garden to continue to take care of Zhao Jun, the others went back. Some went back to handle government affairs, and some went back to discuss some things.

Fan Zhongyan left the palace in a sedan chair and went to his Fan Mansion in Daguan Lane, Liangmen, the outer city.

After leaving the palace, you will arrive at the inner city of Bianliang.

The Northern Song Dynasty had been peaceful for more than 30 years since the Battle of Chanzhou. Although there was some turmoil in the country, the economy was prosperous and the culture was flourishing. Bianliang had a population of more than one million, with connected markets and streets, three lakes, six rivers, and countless arch bridges and boats in the city.

The streets were crowded with people, with stalls in front of the markets on both sides, and walking in the streets and alleys. There were groups of merchants, common people, peddlers, and peddlers. You could even see exotic customs, such as Liao people, Dali people, Tibetans, Uighurs, Arabs, Persians, etc.

According to historical materials and unearthed records, the total population of Bianliang in the Northern Song Dynasty was more than 1.5 million, among which there were a large number of foreigners, such as Persians, later called Jews, who were said to have reached 100,000.

The streets along the way were extremely prosperous, with signs everywhere, crowds of people, and all kinds of hawking sounds. People from all over the world shuttled between the downtown areas, creating a prosperous scene.

"Cooked pancakes, fresh ones."

"Cold pancakes, come and have some cold pancakes, and some wonton."

"Sir, take a look at the spices from the Western Regions. There are also incense balls, which smell delicious when hung on your body."

Fan Zhongyan's sedan passed through all kinds of people, passed through several city gates, arch bridges, and rivers, and arrived at Daguan Lane. The lanes outside the city were much quieter, and servants stood at the door of Fan's house and watched at the street corner.

"My master is back."

When a servant saw Fan Zhongyan's sedan, he hurried over to greet him.

Before Fan Zhongyan's sedan came close, the sedan bearer said to him: "My master, the butler is coming."

"Yes."

Fan Zhongyan nodded.

The housekeeper came hurriedly, and the sedan chair did not stop. He reported to him outside the curtain of the sedan chair: "My lord, just now Mr. Fu came over and learned that you were not at home, so he went back. When he left, he told me to wait for you at the street corner and report to him as soon as you came back."

"Oh? Is Yanguo back?

Fan Zhongyan was reading in the sedan chair. When he heard this, he immediately put down the book in his hand and said to the housekeeper: "Send someone to Yongshu and Yanguo's house and ask them to come over. Just say that I have something to discuss with them."

"Yes, my lord. "

The housekeeper first welcomed Fan Zhongyan into the mansion, then called over several other servants, and hurried out of the mansion to report the news.

Who in the capital doesn't know that Fan Xiwen is fighting with the prime minister of the dynasty, Lu Yijian?

Some time ago, Fan Xiwen was demoted from the high position of Kaifeng Prefecture Governor to a small secretary and supervisor. For a time, many people wrote to impeach Fan.

As a result, just when everyone thought that the Lu Party was going to win a great victory, the lower-level backbone of the Lu Party was purged in the blink of an eye.

The situation changed so quickly that all officials could not react.

Now that Fu Bi, a general of the Fan Party, has come back, everyone knows that the two sides are likely to start party fighting again.

Therefore, many people are paying attention to watch Fu Bi's movements.

Soon, the servants of Fan's house went their separate ways and went to the residences of several important members of Fan's party to invite them.

When Fan Zhongyan returned home, he went to the backyard first, bathed and changed his clothes. After he washed off the dust on his body, he went straight to the central hall, asked someone to light a small stove, boiled water on it, and then began to make tea.

From the Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, tea gradually became popular. From the nobles to the peddlers, everyone loved to taste tea. Tea, like firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce and vinegar, has since become one of the necessities of life for the people.

After waiting for more than two quarters of an hour, the impatient Ouyang Xiu had arrived first. Before he appeared, his voice came, "Xiwen, hahahaha, it's so refreshing."

Ouyang Xiu came in loudly, walked straight to Fan Zhongyan's desk, picked up a cup of boiling hot tea, and before Fan Zhongyan could stop him, he raised his head and drank a sip.

"Pooh, it's so hot. "

Ouyang Xiu stuck out his tongue, threw the cup on the table, and said happily: "It's great. I've been walking more energetically these days."

Fan Zhongyan said helplessly: "Okay, Uncle Yong, sit down first and wait for Yan Guo and others to come."

"What are you so happy about, Uncle Yong?"

Several people came in from outside the door, naturally Yu Jing, Yin Zhu, Cai Xiang and others. Among them, a man in his thirties with a thin face strode in and acted vigorously.

"You are here."

Ouyang Xiu saw everyone and the thin man, and laughed: "Yan Guo, you are finally back."

That man was Fu Bi.

Fan Dang is actually not very old. They are generally between thirty and forty years old. The reason why Fan Zhongyan is the leader is because Fan Zhongyan is the oldest in age and official position, and his status in the court is also relatively important.

But this does not mean that the Fan Party is all following Fan Zhongyan's lead. It can only be said that they are good friends with Fan Zhongyan and have the ambition to reform all the shortcomings of the Song Dynasty in one fell swoop.

Therefore, to put it simply, the so-called Fan Party is actually a group of young middle-level officials in the court who are determined to reform.

In the future, during the middle and later stages of Renzong's reign, they would also become the backbone of the prime ministers and assistants of Renzong's dynasty.

After Fu Bi came in, he ignored Ouyang Xiu. Instead, he cupped his hands to Fan Zhongyan who was sitting on the main seat and said, "Mr. Xiwen."

"Um."

Fan Zhongyan nodded and said, "Sit down."

Everyone took their seats.

Ouyang Xiu was the first to speak again: "Gong Xiwen, our victory this time has even been won by the Admonition Court. The next step is for the Admonition Court to gather together and write a letter to impeach Lu Yijian to see if he can stand down!"

"Well, Yan State now knows the Admonition Court and is in charge of the Admonition Officer. We can just use it to attack the Prime Minister!"

Cai Xiang also said.

"Isn't it too reckless? The officials just asked Xiwen to clean up some middle and lower-level officials of the Lu Party. Lu Yijian and Song Shou's status is as stable as Mount Tai. Obviously the officials do not want them to be dismissed as prime ministers."

Yu Jing hesitated and said, "If we insist on continuing to impeach Lu Yijian, I'm afraid it will make the officials angry."

"What are you afraid of?"

Ouyang Xiu was always bold, and he immediately said: "It is because the officials are too concerned about old friendships that they let Lu Yijian dominate the government. This man is already the powerful prime minister, and Li Si and Zhao Gao are no more than that. If he cannot be dismissed as prime minister, the Song Dynasty will be in danger!"

"Well, that makes sense. And who doesn't know that Yan Guo is on the same page as us? The officials put Yan Guo in charge of the Admonition Court, probably because they wanted to use us to contain Lu Yijian, just because Lu Yijian is an old minister after all."

Yin Zhu also said: "Yanguo, in a few days, you should impeach Lu Yijian immediately."

Everyone looked at Fu Bi. Now Fu Bi has grown into an important force that played a decisive role in defeating the Lu Party.

Historically, the Fan and Lu party dispute lasted for several months, and finally ended with Fan Zhongyan, Yu Jing, Yin Zhu, Ouyang Xiu, Cai Xiang and others being demoted from Bianliang, and Lu Yijian won a great victory.

But now it is completely different from what it was in history.

Because the Fan Party was not purged this time, the power of admonishers at the middle and lower levels of the Lu Party was dealt a devastating blow, and their right to speak in the court was greatly reduced.

The most important thing is that the Admonition Court in the Song Dynasty was very special. This institution was a public opinion organ and was responsible for collecting suggestions and comments from the court.

At that time, admonishment officers and censors were established in the imperial court, commonly known as Taijian. The censor is responsible for organizing various officials to collect opinions from the people; the admonishers discuss the gains and losses of governance for the emperor's reference, and sometimes correct the emperor's mistakes.

The Song Dynasty inherited the Tang system, but the admonishment officer system between the Song and Tang Dynasties was different. In the Tang Dynasty, the admonishment officers belonged to the province of Menxia, ​​that is, they were governed by the prime minister and were the mouthpiece of the prime minister. Therefore, the admonition officers in the Tang Dynasty became the power of the prime minister.

In the Song Dynasty, the imperial court divided the admonishment officers into the left and right admonishing officials, the left and right admonishing officials, and the left and right admonishing officials, and established an admonishing court. The admonishing officers were no longer under the management and recommendation of the prime minister, but were promoted directly by the emperor.

This resulted in the Admonition Yuan being very powerful. It could discuss the appointment of officials and various political affairs, put forward opinions, and regulate and admonish the government for deficiencies.

The admonishment officials in the admonishment court had a habit of telling everything they knew and what they said was not a crime. They often disagreed with the prime minister's opinions. From then on, the admonishment court became an important tool for the emperor to supervise court officials.

Now that Fu Bi has been transferred back to Bianliang, he is in charge of the admonishment court. Although he is in charge of the admonition office in Kaifeng Prefecture, he is only a sixth-grade official. There is a lot of energy in everything.

After transferring a general from the Fan Party to the important position of the Admonition Court, everyone speculated that the officials obviously intended to suppress the power of the prime minister, so they decided to start an uprising immediately and use Fu Bi's energy to launch an attack on Lu Yijian.

But after hearing what everyone said, Fu Bi did not respond immediately. Instead, he looked at Fan Zhongyan and said, "Mr. Fan, what do you think?"

Fan Zhongyan pondered for a moment and then asked: "Yan Guo, what do you think?"

"I think the official's behavior this time is very strange."

Fu Bi said: "Although it seems that many of Lu Yijian's disciples and former officials have been eliminated, they are all from the middle and lower levels, such as the censor Han Du, the admonishers Gao Ruona, Liu Jie, etc., and the foundation has not been damaged. And even if they were eliminated, Except for me, the Taiwan admonishment officials who took office are not on good terms with us. This is not a sign that the officials want to take action against Lu Yijian. "

"It seems so."

Being reminded by Fu Bi, Yu Jing frowned and said: "If the officials really want Lu Yijian to be dismissed as prime minister, we can all go to the Yushitai and admonish the officials' courtyard, and when the time comes, we will attack in groups. No matter how thick-skinned Lu Yijian is, we should do it ourselves." Forget it, why is Yan Guo back? "

Fan Zhongyan chuckled and shook his head: "This is not surprising. Officials have always had such a swinging temperament, if not..."

Ouyang Xiu wondered: "If not what?"

"nothing."

Fan Zhongyan waved his hand.

He knew very well that if it weren't for Zhao Jun, he would have been demoted to Raozhou by now.

That official was always so hesitant.

Zhao Jun said that in history, the dispute between Fan and Lu lasted for several months, and the officials could not make up their minds, but in the end, Lu Yijian's status in the officials' hearts was higher, and Fan Dang was demoted from the capital.

But now the appearance of Zhao Jun has made the officials realize that he is very important, which means that Fan Zhongyan's status in the hearts of the officials has been greatly improved.

Because of this, the government wanted to treat Fan Zhongyan equally. It neither dismissed Fan’s party on a large scale nor directly dismissed Lu Yijian. Instead, it only targeted the lower and middle-level grassroots of Lu’s party and brought Fu Bi back to appease Fan Zhongyan’s emotions.

But the problem is that in Fan Zhongyan’s mind, Lu Yijian is a powerful minister who is a disaster to the country and the people. The two sides have different interests and positions. How can Fan Zhongyan give up so easily?

So this fight has to continue.

Fu Bi said: "The emperor is wavering and obviously unwilling to remove Lu Yijian. Even if we impeach him, it may not be useful."

Ouyang Xiu said anxiously: "I don't believe that Lu Yijian is so thick-skinned that he has the nerve to stay in the position of prime minister after being impeached all the time."

"Uncle Yong, don't be so impatient. You will suffer a great loss in the future."

Fan Zhongyan frowned and said: "If we force the emperor to make a choice now, we may not be able to get it well. We must plan before we act."

"What does Xiwen have in mind?"

Cai Xiang asked.

"You forgot."

Fan Zhongyan looked around and smiled slightly: "There is a master behind me!"

Recommended books, Fengqi Mingchu, author Luo Xiaoming.