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

The next day, early in the morning.

During the morning court session, Zhao Zhen announced that he would restore the Taizu system and ordered the Imperial City Division to regain the power of arrest, investigation and trial.

The Imperial City Division during the Zhao Kuangyin period was still called the Wude Division, and it was only then that it was called the real Wude Division.

The Wude Division's inspectors at that time were basically composed of elite soldiers who had just pacified the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms by Zhao Kuangyin, so they had great authority and could arrest people just like the Jinyiwei of the Ming Dynasty.

But in the Zhao Guangyi era, the Wude Division was severely weakened. It only had the power of arrest and investigation, but no power of trial. After catching the criminal, even if the evidence was conclusive, it could only be transferred to the Dali Temple and Kaifeng Prefecture for trial.

Then in the Song Zhenzong period, the Wude Division, which was renamed the Imperial City Division, further declined. It even had no power of arrest, only the power of investigation. It completely changed from the emperor's knife to the emperor's ears, and it was a half-deaf ear, and its intelligence capabilities were declining day by day.

This is also why the Jinyiwei of the Ming Dynasty was famous in later generations, while the Imperial City Division of the Song Dynasty was little known.

After all, ears are not as famous as swords.

However, this is a thunderbolt for the civil service group.

Because it was the efforts of generations of civil servants to snatch the power of arrest and trial from the emperor, how could it be taken back by the emperor again?

So as soon as Zhao Zhen announced this order, it immediately caused an uproar, and all the civil servants stood up to oppose it.

Even Lü Yijian, Wang Zeng and others were shocked. They rarely stood in the same camp, leading the officials to come out and ask Zhao Zhen to withdraw his order and cancel the imperial edict just issued.

Their reason is nothing more than that now there are many talents in the world, and great sages are all over the Song territory. The government should use the children of saints to help the emperor govern the world, and should not use these despicable villains as minions and eyes.

There is also the idea that the holy emperor should be upright and should not do these sneaky things. Or the Imperial City Bureau stripped the bribes and made enemies with the people, so it must not be reused and should be abandoned.

Basically, it was to degrade the Imperial City Division to a lowly position, which was also the rhetoric used by civil officials in the Song Dynasty to degrade and impeach the Imperial City Division.

For example, Lü Yuqing, Wang Zongsi, Xu Xiufu and others in the era of Zhao Guangyi all used this method to take away the power of the Wudezu from Zhao Guangyi.

But Zhao Zhen remembered Zhao Jun's words (CPU), and remembered that this was a way to strengthen the imperial power. He gritted his teeth and insisted on this order, and bypassed the three provinces and directly gave the Imperial City Division authority, without the need for approval from the prime minister.

After all, the Imperial City Division did not belong to the bureaucracy, but was half-affiliated with the army, not under the jurisdiction of the bureaucracy, and the funds also came from the internal treasury. Therefore, as long as Zhao Zhen gave the order, the officials had no way to do anything.

So in the midst of opposition from the whole court, this order was still forcibly implemented.

After the court was dismissed, Lü Yijian, Wang Zeng, Wang Sui and other insiders guessed that it was probably Zhao Jun's idea, so they hurriedly asked to meet Zhao Zhen alone, and then brainwashed Zhao Zhen.

Zhao Zhen was annoyed and sent someone to invite Zhao Jun to come and talk to them.

At noon, the atmosphere in the Guanjia Hall was a little solemn. Except for Fan Zhongyan, the other three ministers, including Lü Yijian, Wang Zeng, Wang Sui, and Yan Shu were all there.

They sat on chairs, some drank tea, some closed their eyes, some looked at their noses and looked at their hearts, and none of them spoke.

The only thing they had in common was that their faces were as gloomy as water and their faces were not very good.

The breeze outside the hall was blowing gently, and it did not bring a trace of coolness to everyone at the time when the Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching.

After all, they were going to be deprived of power, and there might be a huge mountain of the Imperial City Division pressing on their heads in the future, and no one felt comfortable.

After about an hour, Zhao Jun came late.

It was not that he was difficult to find, and the Imperial City Division knew his location well. The main reason was that he went out of the city today to investigate the official fields, and he was a little far away outside the city.

When Zhao Jun stepped into the Guanjia Hall, he saw the appearance of everyone and suddenly felt familiar.

Isn't this the scene when everyone spoke freely in the Guanjia Hall before?

He couldn't help but laugh, and walked in leisurely and said, "Hello, everyone, you are all here."

He sat in the back seat with familiarity.

Since these people were plotting against him behind his back, he didn't need to give them face, and everyone should be equal.

Anyway, modern people have long been accustomed to not having imperial power and have received new-age education, so there is no need to kowtow to these people and be a slave.

Now he has also seen that he saved the Song Dynasty in order to prevent the Mongols and the Qing Dynasty from enslaving the Han people, not for his own ancestors and these old social systems.

So if these people continue to block his way, he doesn't mind turning against them completely.

Seeing Zhao Jun's attitude, Zhao Zhen was a little helpless, and he said, "Grandson, look, you want to use the Imperial City Department, and all the officials in the court are against it, and my desk is full of letters."

"Use it as firewood, and treat their words as farts."

Zhao Jun said indifferently.

"Zhao Jun, you've gone too far this time!"

Song Shou lost his temper and couldn't help but scold him after hearing his words: "You don't know how harmful the Imperial City Bureau is. How can you give them the power to arrest people at will?"

"Yes."

Cai Qi also said: "These inspectors are unscrupulous and specialize in stealing and sneaking things, and then slander and spread rumors to the higher-ups to defame others. Do you know how many innocent people the Imperial City Bureau arrested during the reign of Taizu, and how many families were destroyed?"

Sheng Du shook his head: "Zhao Jun, you are too impulsive. You should think twice before doing some things."

Everyone looked at him.

Zhao Jun said with a smile: "Why are everyone so serious? So, I asked Prime Minister Lu a question. I want to know why the Song Dynasty wanted Sanyi to return to the river?"

Lu Yijian was named, he pondered for a while and said, "Didn't you say it was because the later governors wanted to stop the Liao army?"

"wrong."

Zhao Jun shook his head: "It is to make the people think that this can stop the Liao army. The leaders and the Liao army know that this will not stop them at all."

Everyone: "."

"You said how many innocent people were arrested by the Imperial City Division, but you don't know how many innocent people were harmed by those mediocre, bad and stupid officials? Sanyi returned to the river and harmed millions of people in Hebei. Corrupt officials all over the country It was rampant and harmed tens of millions of people in the Song Dynasty. Although the Imperial City Division had its disadvantages, the advantages must outweigh the disadvantages. "

Zhao Jun looked at them and said seriously: "I still say what I said, the interests of the country come first. As long as the interests of the country can be guaranteed, no matter what method is used, it is the right method."

"Is it right to wantonly monitor officials and slander and distort them?"

Wang Sui frowned.

"How could this not be correct? Power needs supervision, and national security needs to be guaranteed. And you said slander and distortion are slander and distortion? As a secret service agency, the Imperial City Division has the right to investigate all intelligence, and it must be spread across the country , even all over overseas.”

Zhao Jun insisted: "Because only in this way can we understand whether the officials are corrupt and whether they are bullying the people. In the fish and meat village. Only in this way can we understand the lives of the people and their thoughts. The most important thing is that Xixia knows how to find traitors. Knowing our intelligence, we have no spies in Xixia and Liao. Is this reasonable? "

"Then the Imperial City Division should not be allowed to arrest at will. Do you know how many people they will kill?"

"Yes, power does need supervision, but the censor and admonishment platform are enough. There is no need for the Imperial City Department! The existence of the Imperial City Department will only make the Song Dynasty more chaotic."

"If the Imperial City Division alone can solve all problems, then you said before that the Ming Dynasty had Jinyiwei, Dongchang, and Xichang, and they perished differently?"

"Yes, in my opinion, we should just send more censors to all parts of the country. The censors and admonishers will supervise all officials. This is enough."

Several people told each other word by word, but the core idea was still that they did not intend to give the Imperial City Division power.

This will have a huge impact on the original bureaucracy.

"hehe."

Zhao Jun sneered after hearing this and said, "Are you really interested in letting corrupt officials investigate corrupt officials and letting you supervise yourself?"

Wang Zeng said dissatisfied: "Zhao Jun, there are countless upright censors and admonishers in the court now. They have been performing their duties and impeaching illegal officials. How can they be said to be supervising themselves?"

"The case of Zhao Jian, the case of Cui Bai, the case of Miao Wen, and the case of Li Si"

Zhao Jun talked about more than a dozen major cases in one breath, and then said with a smile: "These are all old cases I saw in the Imperial City Division, and they are still the tip of the iceberg. There are more cases that have not been read yet, and the involved censors, The admonishment involves hundreds or even thousands of people from Kaifeng Prefecture, local magistrates, general magistrates, officials, and county magistrates."

He was talking about cases investigated in the early days of Zhen Zong's reign.

The co-governance of scholar-bureaucrats in the Song Dynasty was not like this from the beginning, but was a gradual process.

From Zhao Kuangyin's strict treatment of scholar-bureaucrats, to the early days of Zhao Guangyi and Zhao Heng, they were slightly looser, but still tight.

Therefore, Zhao Heng still did a lot of big things in the early days, such as investigating and punishing corrupt officials.

For example, in the Zhao Jian case, more than 70 officials were involved. A large number of censors, admonishers, and judges of the Kaifeng Prefecture were dismissed, and a few were even killed.

But in the late Zhao Heng and Zhao Zhen periods, the attitude towards officials became very relaxed, and even edicts were issued to openly exempt corrupt officials from their crimes.

Zhao Zhen, in particular, used to make a show of demoting criminal officials, but then he stopped pretending. Even if the evidence was conclusive, he would always cover it up. Unless the government and the opposition made too much noise, they would generally let it go.

From this we can see why in historical materials, there are still many records of corrupt officials being investigated and punished during the Zhao Guangyi and Zhao Heng periods, but there are much fewer records during the Zhao Zhen period.

It's not because there are fewer corrupt officials, but because these corrupt officials are no longer investigated or protected by the emperor, and they are not treated as corrupt officials at all.

Therefore, when the officials of the Renzong Dynasty oppressed the people, and in the fish and meat village, it became the norm to use punishment to kill, exterminate families, and humiliate the people at will.

It is no wonder that when there are not so many detailed records in historical materials, upright people such as Fan Zhongyan, Su Shi, and Bao Zheng lamented that there are so many corrupt, traitorous, and evil officials in the world.

After Zhao Jun finished speaking, he continued with a smile: "These are nothing. Guess what I learned when I went to investigate Zhitian outside the city this time? Guess how many people, including you, in Zhitian Huangzhuang, worked for You work like cows and horses, but you don’t even have enough to eat all year round?”

"this"

Everyone looked at each other. King Lu Yijian Zeng and others thought for a moment, then reorganized their words and prepared to fight back.

But Zhao Jun no longer gave him a chance and shouted: "The high-sounding reasons you all have are just that you are afraid that there is an Imperial City Secretary above you who can investigate and deal with corrupt officials at will. But you don't know that if you really care about this country, you will do it for this country." If a country is good, it must have some special functional departments that play special roles.”

"Do you know that the United States, the most powerful country in the future, has more than a dozen intelligence agencies such as the CIA, Bureau of Investigation, Intelligence Bureau, Security Bureau, etc.? Do you know that our country will also have its own intelligence agencies in the future? Even the most influential countries in the world , all have their own intelligence departments!”

"Intelligence departments are not only internal, but also external. They can investigate everything and eliminate any unstable factors. Internally, they monitor officials and understand the sufferings of the people. Externally, they spy on military intelligence, understand the movements of enemy countries, and even stir up trouble within enemy countries."

"Even future generations of powerful countries, whose productivity and technology are more than a thousand years ahead of yours, will need a large number of intelligence agencies to maintain their existence. Even our country, China, also needs a national security department. Why do you think it's not possible? Don't you think so? Your abilities surpass those of all the powerful nations of later generations? Or do you think you surpass the wisdom of future generations?”

"In the final analysis, you are actually selfish and want your group to take more power and be more unscrupulous. You don't want to have a pair of eyes staring at your head and a pair of ears listening around you. Many officials seem to be The deputy grand duke has a selfless and upright official face, but he does more extreme things secretly than anyone else."

"Do you know what Han Yuan, the current magistrate of Mizhou, did when he was an official in Kaifeng Prefecture? And do you know what Wang Yiwen, the magistrate of Xiuzhou, did when he was a supervisory censor? Don't tell me It’s not an exception, it’s the norm in officialdom.”

"To be honest, Lu Yijian and Wang Zeng, you guys have left a good reputation in the history books. Don't force me to scold you. Please get your butts out of your bureaucratic system and stand in the interests of the people. Think about it from the perspective of the country, think about it from the perspective of the country, don’t do it for your own selfish desires, okay?”

At the end of the sentence, Zhao Jun almost shouted, and his saliva almost splashed on everyone's faces.

Although he had read a little about the history of the Song Dynasty before, he didn't know much about it and only knew the superficial situation. Therefore, when faced with the deception of these old foxes, he didn't think much at all and just believed it.

As a result, it has been more than 20 days since his eyes regained sight. When he really understood the situation, the information placed in the Imperial City Department and the information Fan Zhongyan gave him could make people dumbfounded.

Although there is nothing new under the sun, as long as Zhao Jun doesn't care about those things, and only thinks about having sex, having fun every day in Goulan, brothels, and toilets in the inner city, and not looking at the sufferings of the world, then all these things will be ignored. See it, pretend it didn't happen.

Even further, Zhao Jun only cares about himself and does not care what the Song Dynasty has become. If he chooses to join in the same trap with these people, he can completely ignore his conscience and only care about his promotion and wealth.

But the problem is that Zhao Jun has his own ideals, and he is not interested in the Song Dynasty, a country that is poor and weak and has never been tough. All he is interested in is making the Chinese nation great again and preventing the Han people from being enslaved by foreigners.

That's why he went to understand deeply, to see the darkness of the Song Dynasty, and to dig into wherever there was a problem.

However, it doesn’t matter if you don’t look at it, you will be shocked when you look at it.

The pile of information Guang Fan Zhongyan gave was outrageous. Who would have thought that the entire Kaifeng Mansion would most likely be black. Looking at the pile of files from the Imperial City Department, it is even more exaggerated. There are many relatives of the emperor in them.

The most frightening thing is that these are just the tip of the iceberg. The Imperial City Division has also been corrupted. It is common for insiders to buy and sell information. More things are hidden and never see the light of day.

Therefore, during the questioning of these people today, Zhao Jun became more and more angry as he spoke, so he simply opened up these crimes, tore off their hypocritical masks, cut open these scholar-officials from the inside out, and exposed their evil hearts. On the bright side.

At this moment, hearing Zhao Jun's question, everyone looked at each other in silence.

The unspoken rule of the officialdom in the Song Dynasty was basically that I was greedy for my gold and silver, and you did your bad things, and there was a tacit understanding between each other. On the surface, you were good to me, and everyone was good to each other. It was rare for things to break out.

Now that Zhao Jun is tearing apart the bloody reality like this, he is already severely slapping the faces of these scholar-bureaucrats who clamored that the Holy Emperor should "rule from the top".

To put it bluntly, these people are actually not corrupt officials. Anyway, the historical records do not say that they are traitors.

But nowadays, in addition to the emperor's military power and the power to appoint and remove senior officials, bureaucrats and scholar-bureaucrats have almost seized all ownership rights.

In this way, the officialdom is only supported by a few people with good family backgrounds or honest people, and seven out of ten of the others are corrupt officials. How can we continue to do this?

So Zhao Jun told a lot of truth.

truth.

That's the hardest thing to say.

"Why, you're not talking anymore? To be honest, I don't know if I don't investigate. If we continue to investigate further, I believe that your faces will look very ugly."

Zhao Jun sneered and said: "You can neither be greedy nor take, but that doesn't mean others can't. I haven't done anything wrong, so why should I be afraid of being investigated? What I want to do is not to kill the entire officialdom, but the current situation does need to be rectified, otherwise even if Can you survive the Jingkang Disgrace? Do you have the confidence to survive the rise of the Meng Yuan Dynasty while the government continues to force the people to rebel? "

"Then what are you going to do next?"

Lu Yijian's face was as dark as water, and he finally asked.

Zhao Jun said without hesitation: "Reform is not only about the officialdom, but also about the outside world. I am ready to follow the example of later generations of great sages and devote myself to the officialdom to understand its shortcomings. At the same time, I will support the officials to strengthen the functions of the Imperial City Division and spread the Imperial City Division throughout the country. All over the country and even abroad.”

"Okay, if that's the case, then you should work hard for the imperial examination."

"Well, the Autumn Examination will be here in a few days. I hope you can focus on your studies first."

"Read more books to increase your wisdom."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they heard that Zhao Jun did not intend to give up the idea of ​​entering the officialdom.

Because before Zhao Jun recovered, they already felt that Zhao Jun was very murderous. They were afraid that Zhao Jun would kill people once he gained power after recovering, so they wanted to bring him in.

One is to slow down the speed of his grasping power, and the other is to hope that the system will assimilate him. Even if reforms are implemented in the future, they will be more gentle and not kill all corrupt officials at every turn.

What they didn't know was that Zhao Jun was actually a keyboard warrior at the time, and he didn't know that he was in the Song Dynasty. It's just that now that he has really arrived in the Song Dynasty and seen this dark corner, he really wants to kill people.

So although the result is the same, the process is different. If they had chosen a gentler way and fully supported his ideas, perhaps Zhao Jun would not be so angry and fight against them now.

"Alas."

Yan Shu sighed and stood up, saying: "Now the officialdom really needs to be rectified. Civil unrest is everywhere, and seeking change is not a bad thing. I just hope that you can grasp the right measure, if the Imperial City Department becomes a knife, I am afraid it will hurt many innocent people."

"Okay, I know."

Zhao Jun said: "You know the situation of the Song Dynasty as well as I do. If you can sincerely support me in reform and stop pointing fingers at me, the future of the Song Dynasty will be much brighter. I hope you can also recognize some things and stop sitting on your butt crookedly."

Everyone has stood up, looked at each other, and bowed to Zhao Zhen and said: "Your Majesty, we will take our leave."

This time Zhao Jun has completely taken the power of the Imperial City Department.

Although only the three ministers and the three counselors agreed reluctantly, the officials below are expected to make a fuss, but as long as Zhao Zhen and Lu Yijian remain silent, the officials below will make a fuss, and it will be useless.