The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

Du Yan glanced at Su Jin, who had a bad expression, and walked forward slowly: "Your Majesty, the old minister thinks that Mr. Qian, Mr. Wang and others are worrying unreasonably, and they are also thinking about the Qing Dynasty of my Great Song Dynasty. Why not?"

Everyone knew this was the result. If Du Yan, Qian Mingyi and the others didn't wear a pair of underpants, it would be the sun coming out from the west.

"Does Du Aiqing mean to support the severe punishment of Fan Zhongyan and others?" Zhao Zhen asked.

Du Yan coughed and cupped his hands and said: "This... Although the old minister thinks that Lord Qian and Lord Wang are reasonable, he does not agree to severely punish Han Fan and others. Leniency."

"what?"[

"Duke, what are you talking about?"

Qian Mingyi, Wang Gongchen, and a group of officials who agreed were so surprised that a duck egg could be stuffed into their mouths. All the officials in the palace rolled their eyes again, and Du Yan was able to intercede for Fan Zhongyan and others. This is simply a big joke , If you don't hear it with your own eyes, who can believe it.

Most people don't believe Du Yan's words, they all agree that Du Yan is playing tricks, showing generosity on purpose, so as not to leave the name of adding insult to injury, and say it when the decision of Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi and others to be severely punished is basically finalized This kind of words is a cunning strategy.

Zhao Zhen was slightly surprised, and tilted his head and asked, "Oh? What Privy Du means is that I should punish Fan Zhongyan and others lightly? Didn't Privy Du keep writing that the crime of treacherous party disrupting the court can be forgiven? Why did he change his tune today? ?”

Du Yan's face turned red, and he complained in his heart that the emperor would reveal the matter that he wrote to demand severe punishment in public, and would not give him a way out, but at this moment, he didn't care about embarrassment, Su Jin's big eyes were staring at his every move, He didn't want to annoy Su Jin and let Su Jin make things out of hand.

"Your Majesty, I did advocate severely punishing traitorous party members, but I also feel that this matter is too important to make a hasty decision. Recently, I have been thinking hard day and night and sent people to secretly visit Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi and his party members, and have not found any harm. The big thing is that although Han Fan and others risked the world's disgrace to form cliques, they didn't have time to do anything that was really harmful to the court; they did make a lot of mistakes in implementing the New Deal However, the mistakes of the New Deal and the troubles of cronies are two different things. From the perspective of cronies alone, the harm has not yet been formed, and there is no conclusive evidence to say that they have other conspiracy theories. Our Great Song Dynasty, from the emperor to the bottom, upholds the principle of benevolence and forgiveness. Dao, in the absence of evidence, how can you punish severely by guessing, let alone take the torture and extort a confession according to Mr. Qian and Mr. Wang, and it would be a joke to spread the word."

Qian Mingyi looked straight at Du Yan, wanted to speak but didn't dare to speak, what happened to the boss today?Did you take the wrong medicine?

Zhao Zhen frowned and said: "What you said seems to make sense, but forming a party needs to cause harm, and this kind of behavior itself has already had a very bad impact. If you don't punish severely, you won't be condoning others to follow suit."

Du Yan calmly said: "Your Majesty, you don't have to worry. You won't be punished severely, but you can be severely punished. Take this as a warning and make everyone in the world be wary. Besides, if you talk about the original intentions of Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi and others, I can guarantee that they will be in the same category. The loss of heart, judging from the performance of these people in the past, they can still be called ministers who are loyal to the emperor and love the people. The reason for this change is that the ministers think that the promotion of the official position is too fast, and the emperor trusts him too much. due to expansion."

Zhao Zhen said displeased: "What you mean is my fault."

Du Yan realized that he had said the wrong thing, and hurriedly said: "Damn me, what I mean is that they don't know how to cherish the grace of the Holy One, and they didn't become more diligent and self-disciplined because of the trust of the emperor. On the contrary, they were arrogant and arrogant, so that they went astray."

Zhao Zhen said: "You guarantee that they are just going astray? How dare you guarantee?"

Du Yan said: "I dare to guarantee for them."

Zhao Zhen shouted: "Did you guarantee it?"

Du Yan muttered: "Chen...Chen..."

Su Jin stepped forward and said, "My minister also came to guarantee that if Fan Zhongyan and Han Qi and others were found to have ulterior motives in the future, I would like to sit down."

Zhao Zhen frowned and was about to reprimand Su Jin for getting his legs crossed, when Bao Zheng stepped out and said, "My subject, Bao Zheng, is also willing to guarantee that, just like Master Su, he is willing to sit down again in the future."

Du Yan took advantage of this moment to wink at Wang Gongchen and Qian Mingyi, and the two of them really believed that Du Yan really wanted to excuse Han Fan and the others. It is the obligation of being a younger brother.

Qian Mingyi stepped forward boldly and said: "This... I played the emperor's speech. After listening to Du Shumi's words, I suddenly realized that I was biased. I thought about it just now, and I also felt that Han Fan and others were controlled by too fast expansion of power. I can't help myself, so there won't be any real conspiracy, I retract the memorial just now." [

Zhao Zhen said angrily: "You have changed quite quickly. Just now it was black and white in a blink of an eye. Do you have any ideas? National affairs are like child's play. It is really unreasonable."

Qian Mingyi hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed: "The emperor appeases his anger. Knowing the mistakes can make a big difference. I also realize the mistakes and correct them immediately. I don't want to make mistakes to the end."

Zhao Zhen said angrily: "You are right, that's all, get up, and discuss it after thinking about it in the future. I don't want to hear these contradictory words again."

Qian Mingyi wiped his sweat and kowtowed to thank him and retreated. He glanced at Du Yan resentfully like a resentful woman, and said in his heart: Boss, you almost hurt me. If you don't explain it to me afterwards, I won't obey.

Du Yan gave him a relieved look, leaned over and played again: "Your Majesty, I boldly suggest that the punishment of Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi and others should be light or slow. It caused great panic, but the New Deal needs to be abolished immediately, this matter is unpopular, and it is necessary for Han Fan and others to implement it, and the fallacies caused during the New Deal need to be corrected one by one, so as to calm people's hearts with the anger of the people."

Zhao Zhen sighed and said: "What you said is also reasonable. I also think that Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi and others will not be so corrupted all at once. After all, these people were once my heroes in the Song Dynasty. Han Qi and Fan Zhongyan tried their best to resist the western thieves in the northwest Years of hard work and great achievements; Fu Bi has been with me for many years, and he is honest and cautious. Ouyang Xiu has been in charge of Yushitai for several years. They made a big mistake, and I am extremely saddened."

Yan Shu hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, don't worry, real gold is not afraid of fire, and a truly virtuous minister can naturally withstand the invasion and test of wind and rain. Although these people have talents and abilities, they may not be able to take on important responsibilities. Cherishing talents means that if they have a little insight, they should learn from the painful experience and make amends, which is also good for them.”

Zhao Zhen nodded and said: "It's true, you can only see the sharpness through hard work, so I will follow the advice of the ministers and deal with these people lightly. Huang Peisheng, draw up an order."

Huang Peisheng quickly picked up a pen and paper to record, Zhao Zhen frowned, looked at the beams of the main hall, and said slowly: "Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi, Fu Bi, Ouyang Xiu and others, disregarding Shengen's favor and forming cliques, taking advantage of the implementation of the New Deal , exclude dissidents, and criticize the courtiers; the new policy was originally a policy of strengthening the country, and it was condemned by all the husbands. I am extremely regretful and disappointed; He is a minister of meritorious service, so he will be punished lightly as requested by the ministers."

The ministers pricked up their ears and did not dare to say a word, listening carefully to the fate of the four people.

"Fan Zhongyan is the head of the crony party, but he refuses to admit the faction of forming a party. He falsely said that he is 'invincible', which only aroused public outrage. He was relegated to be the county magistrate of Bin County, Jingxi Road, Han Qi was relegated to the position of Deputy Privy Envoy, he was demoted to know Yangzhou Prefecture, he was relegated to Fu Bi's position as Deputy Privy Envoy, he was demoted to Yunzhou, and he was relegated to Ouyang Xiuyu. The position of Shi Zhongcheng was demoted to Chuzhou, Huainan Road, and the rest of the party members were all dismissed and demoted to minor officials after verification. "

As soon as Zhao Zhen's words fell, there was a sound of gasping in the hall. Some of them did not expect to be so cheap, Fan Zhongyan and others, and some did not expect to be sentenced so severely. These four people were relegated to thousands of miles away. Everywhere, even cronies are a chance to meet again; and Fan Zhongyan has plummeted from being a second-rank official in the dynasty, and was directly demoted to be the county magistrate of Bin County.

As for Han Qi and Fu Bi, they were much luckier. First, they were Fan Zhongyan's right-hand men, and their responsibilities were slightly lighter. But following Zhanguang, although the two were demoted, they at least kept their positions as state officials.

Ouyang Xiu was the luckiest one. He wrote that "On the Clique" and openly advocated the crime of cronyism. He should have been punished more severely, but for some reason he managed to keep the post of governor of Chuzhou. For the sake of Su Jin's face, it is still a relatively light punishment.

As soon as the punishment result came out, Su Jin let out a long sigh of relief. Finally, there was no major mistake. After the four of them were released from prison, although they could only hang out in the state capital outside the capital, they might never have the opportunity to join the center, but at the very least, Bao's life is still alive, and he has lived up to his painstaking efforts in the past few days and even turned his face with Zhao Zhen.