The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

Ouyang Xiu is still waiting to speak up to argue, but Fan Zhongyan's heart is like a mirror, he knows that the purpose of Zhao Zhen summoning the officials tonight is to refute this article, the tone has already been set, if Ouyang Xiu continues to argue, things will get out of hand.

At this moment, Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi and others suddenly became disheartened, especially the few people who had gone to Qinzhou to ask Su Jin to co-chair the new policy reform. At this time, they couldn't help but think of what Su Jin said that day.

At the beginning, Su Jin said: "To overthrow those who oppose the reform for the sake of the reform, this move seems to be suspected of being partisan and attacking dissidents. Although several adults are upright and completely for the sake of the Song Dynasty, some people will definitely make a fuss about it. , the emperor will inevitably not be affected."

At that time, I thought it was Su Jin's prevarication words, but now it seems that Su Jin's original words were good words. Today's incident is not so much that Ouyang Xiu's cronyism caused trouble, it is better to say that someone secretly stirred up trouble and forced him to Ouyang Xiu wrote this article angrily.

Ouyang Xiu was also confused, and when he wrote this article, he was admitting that there were cronies in the court, and that what Wang Gongchen, Qian Mingyi and others had said was true, and the intention in the article to refute the cronies would become even more so. The death certificate of the party. [

"Lord Ouyang, don't talk about it." Fan Zhongyan said softly: "The emperor is right. On this matter, maybe... maybe my perception is wrong."

Ouyang Xiu let out a long sigh and had to shut his mouth. He regretted it. He should not have set foot on the boat of the New Deal, and he should not have written this article on a whim, and he should not have overestimated the trust and determination of the emperor. He had almost figured it out, but only now did he realize that the emperor's thoughts were like a sea, and he hadn't grasped the meaning at all.

Zhao Zhen said quietly: "Ouyang Xiu, for what purpose did you write this crony theory, and who was instigated by you, this matter must be made clear. If you say that you don't understand the dangers of cronyism, I will never believe it; and since you know it There must be a motive in it, I hope you can be honest, and after you go back, write a memorial to clarify this matter within three days."

Ouyang Xiu kowtowed and said, "I obey the order!"

Zhao Zhen shifted his eyes to the ministers, and said coldly: "As for today's affairs, all the love ministers also want to express their opinions. Starting from today, for three consecutive days, they will not discuss other affairs at the morning court, but only talk about crony affairs. , this matter must have a result, otherwise why talk about other matters.”

The ministers said: "The minister waits to obey the order!"

Zhao Zhen stood up, sighed with relief and said with his hands behind his back: "My lords, please go back, I'm tired too, let's see you tomorrow morning."

After everyone respectfully sent Zhao Zhen's exhausted figure to disappear in the side hall, they all quietly exited.

Ouyang Xiu was full of strength, if it wasn't for Han Qi Fubi pulling him up, he wouldn't even be able to stand up.

The group of officials dispersed, Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi, Fu Bi, Ouyang Xiu and others were the last ones, they left the main hall, the cold wind outside made all four of them shiver, looked up at the sky, the last quarter moon fell in the western sky In the middle of the night, there was a faint light. Although the night wind was cold, the hearts of the four people were colder than the north wind on this cold night, and they were all frozen.

After tonight, the fate of the four will take a turn for the worse. In a few days, there will be a flood of criticism on Zhao Zhen's desk. Naturally, the official position will not be guaranteed, and the half-finished New Deal will die prematurely, and even their lives will be in danger.

Although the emperor didn't say who the cronies are and how to deal with the cronies in the court tonight, anyone with a heart knows in their hearts that this is just Zhao Zhen's usual method. He doesn't want to get a reputation for turning his back on him. He needs to listen to the opinions of his ministers , to act with the help of the courtiers who jumped out.

The four of them walked outside the palace in silent words, Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi and Fubi didn't say anything to blame Ouyang Xiu for being reckless, in fact, they were together every day, they were de facto cronies, Ouyang Xiu was just telling the truth, Ouyang Xiu was wrong The mistake was that he was too naive to write an article to defend these people.

The four of them came out of the palace, found a tavern that was open all night, ordered a few small dishes, warmed two pots of wine and sat around to relieve their worries.

Ouyang Xiu drank the strong wine in his glass in one gulp, and said in a hoarse voice: "Brother Xiwen, Brother Zhigui, and Brother Yanguo, I, Ouyang Xiu, have implicated the three adults because of my careless actions. But I, Ouyang Xiu, am determined to take responsibility for today's matter. Where is the emperor?" I'm going to ask myself, the three adults must not admit to the faction, so as not to be implicated too much."

Fan Zhongyan smiled wryly and said: "Uncle Yong, you are still too naive. How can you handle this matter alone? The emperor's criticism of your article is not only aimed at you, but at all of us. In the end, the emperor It’s because I’m suspicious of me. In fact, even without your article, this kind of thing will happen sooner or later; you don’t have to blame yourself. It's going to fall by the wayside."

Fu Bi sighed: "It really made Su Jin talk. The difficulty of the new policy is so difficult to reach the sky. I thought the emperor had made up his mind, but now it seems that everything is in vain."

Han Qi said: "How should I deal with it now? Do I need to confess my heart to the emperor again? Even if we are suspected of forming a party, we have never done anything harmful to the government. Does the emperor take this seriously?"

Fan Zhongyan shook his head and said: "We don't have to do anything now. The more we confess, the more we will turn black. Let's wait and see what happens, and wait for the divine will to rule. Tomorrow morning, I will resign from office and stay in Beijing to wait. There must be no more nonsense about things; the old man is also tired, I hope that the Holy Grace will be sympathetic and let the old man return to the countryside, and I will be very grateful to be a fisherman, woodcutter and farmer from now on.” [

Han Qi said anxiously: "How can Mr. Fan think this way? Is the New Deal gone? Is there no need to fight in the name of a crony? People will say that we fled in fear of crime if we resigned in such an unclear manner."

Fan Zhongyan patted Han Qi on the shoulder and said, "Han Shuai, why don't you take these things lightly? At our age, do you still care about achievements and reputations? It's enough to be ashamed of your heart and ashamed of the world." However, it is a pity that Mr. Ouyang and Mr. Fu are young and powerful, but Mr. Fu is the son-in-law of Yan Xiang. If you do your best, I think Master Ouyang should immediately send someone to tell Su Jin the whole story and ask him for help."

Han Qi stared blankly and said, "I beg him? This kid is not authentic, what are you begging him for?"

Fan Zhongyan shook his head and said: "Han Shuaimo is prejudiced against him. We should admire his vision at this time. When you went to Qinzhou, he also advised that the new policy needs to be implemented slowly. At that time, I ignored it. I thought that the emperor would support you and that you all worked together, that this matter would be promising, but in fact, our judgments were all wrong. Su Jin refused to come out to preside over the new deal, and tried to persuade us that he had already done what he should do, but we It's a little bit self-willed."

Everyone said that what Fan Zhongyan said was the truth. Su Jinzao predicted that there would be great resistance. Since the implementation of the New Deal, all kinds of slanderous and false accusations have never stopped, and many people died unexpectedly. All of this is caused by someone behind the scenes Manipulation, and the emperor finally, as Su Jin said, couldn't stand the impeachment and slander all day long, and began to suspect everyone. Now that things have come to such a point, it cannot but be said that he and others failed to see this clearly.

Ouyang Xiu said: "I won't beg him. These few times when he came back to the capital, I treated him very politely, and never picked him up for a banquet, but every time he came back, he would bring some specialties from the Northwest to me. At home, Mr. Han even threw his presents on the street, humiliating him, how could I have the face to beg him at this time."

Fan Zhongyan said: "I'm begging him, if he is a small-hearted person, then we can assume that we have misjudged the person, besides, if I wait for the humiliation first, even if I am treated coldly by him, it will be evened out, which is fine. "

Fu Bi said softly: "Su Jindang is not this kind of person, and I offended him too, but this time he was framed for treason, didn't he try his best to clear me of the crime, and I feel ashamed to say that I didn’t have time to thank him. Sometimes I wonder, have we all become a little unreasonable? After the promulgation of the New Deal, I often feel that people around me seem to have become strangers. Now it seems that it has become like yourself, not others."

The four of you had a drink and I had a drink, and the wine became more and more worrying. They drank until dawn, and they were all drunk. Then they were helped by their servants into the car and went back to the house.

Fan Zhongyan returned to the mansion and did not fall asleep, but immediately wrote a letter with his own handwriting and ordered it to be sent to Su Jin in Qinzhou, but what he didn't know was that before he wrote this letter, someone's letter was already being delivered. On the way to Qinzhou, it was Bao Zheng's letter.