No war in the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 31 The Four Heavenly Saints
Su Ze saluted Zhang Daocheng again and asked:

"Uncle Zhang, do you know who is the minister in the court who supports Empress Cao?"

Zhang Daocheng said:
"If anyone in the court is the most supportive of Empress Cao, it would naturally be Fan Jinglie."

Fan Jinglüe is Fan Zhongyan.

Su Ze thought about it and felt that this was a very natural thing.

In those days, Fan Zhongyan opposed Renzong's dethronement of Empress Guo. The reformists represented by Fan Zhongyan persuaded the emperor to appoint a crown prince as soon as possible and establish the foundation of the country as soon as possible. His starting point was naturally not selfish, but for the sake of stability in the court.

To put it bluntly, reformists like Fan Zhongyan needed a stable court, and the queen herself was part of the imperial power. Establishing a crown prince as soon as possible would be beneficial to national stability.

This is just like during the Wanli reign, when ministers requested the Emperor to appoint a crown prince as soon as possible, out of public interest in maintaining national stability.

Su Ze also believed that the reformists represented by Fan Zhongyan would not do such a thing to him.

Zhang Daocheng continued:
"Besides that, there's Lu Xianggong."

Su Ze was startled. Mr. Lu is the current Co-Minister of the Secretariat, that is, the Prime Minister Lu Yijian.

Speaking of Lü Yijian, Zhang Daocheng also became anxious. He stood up and paced back and forth, saying:
"I hope it's not Mr. Lu. If it really is Mr. Lu, Su Lang, you'll be in trouble."

Su Ze also nodded. Lu Yijian, the prime minister of the Northern Song Dynasty, was not very famous in history. He was not as famous as Kou Zhun before him, nor as famous as Wang Anshi later. However, this Prime Minister Lu was an experienced and unshakable figure in the political arena during the reign of Emperor Renzong. He was a real tough guy.

Lu Yijian, the leader of the conservative faction, has a deep foundation in the court. He is also extremely good at political struggles and has very ruthless tactics.

If it was really Lu Yijian who took action, Zhang Daocheng also began to worry about Su Ze's safety.

Zhang Daocheng said:
"Last year, the Four Heavenly Saints were all expelled from the court. It is said that this Prime Minister Lu was responsible. Su Lang, you'd better be careful."

Su Ze nodded. The Four Friends of Tiansheng were a political force formed with Zheng Jian, Ye Qingchen, Song Xiang, Song Qi and other ministers who passed the imperial examinations in the Tiansheng year as their backbone.

This force was independent of the reformists led by Fan Zhongyan, nor was it affiliated with the conservatives headed by Lu Yijian. It was a group of pragmatic technocrats.

During the Kangding period, that is, the year before last, among the Four Friends of Tiansheng, Song Xiang was the Vice-chancellor, Zheng Jian was the Deputy Envoy of the Privy Council, Ye Qingchen was the Envoy of the Three Departments, and Song Qi was the Director of the Tianzhang Pavilion. For a time, they were in the limelight and almost threatened the power of the conservatives.

Among them, Zheng Jian posed the greatest threat to the conservatives.

Zheng Jian was Fan Zhongyan's brother-in-law, but he passed the imperial examination many years later than Fan Zhongyan.

Before being promoted to the position of Deputy Privy Councilor, Zheng Jian once served as the acting magistrate of Kaifeng Prefecture. This was one of the most difficult jobs in the world, but he did it with great success and was praised by the people of Bianliang.

Zheng Jian's greatest political achievement during his tenure in Kaifeng Prefecture was his punishment of Feng Shiyuan, a minor official in Kaifeng Prefecture.

Although Feng Shiyuan was just a minor official in Kaifeng Prefecture, he colluded with the prime minister of the time, Lu Yijian, and used his connections in Kaifeng Prefecture to drive up housing prices in Bianjing City, helping many powerful children to speculate in real estate and make profits in Bianjing City. He even called himself Feng Bancheng after drinking, claiming that he could buy half of Bianjing City.

He also gathered bad people and even colluded with the scum in the imperial guards to forcibly purchase the properties of ordinary people. Several acting governors of Kaifeng Prefecture were unable to do anything about him.

However, Zheng Jian was shrewd, decisive, and fond of surprise. He arrested Feng Shiyuan on charges of possessing banned books, and using Feng Shiyuan as a leverage point, he rounded up the sons of powerful officials in the court. Using Feng Shiyuan as leverage, Zheng Jian arrested Lü Yijian's sons, Lü Gongchuo and Lü Gongbi, impeached Lü Yijian, and implicated a dozen conservative officials, including the then-Chief Censor Kong Daofu and the then-Tianzhang Pavilion Assistant Minister Pang Ji.

However, at that time, the reformists led by Fan Zhongyan had just been suppressed by Renzong. If Lu Yijian was dismissed, Zheng Jian's faction would become the dominant force.

Renzong, who was well versed in the art of checks and balances, did not punish Lu Yijian, and even comforted him. Even his two sons, Lu Gongchuo and Lu Gongbi, who had committed crimes, were pardoned. The case was finally closed with Feng Shiyuan being exiled to Hainan.

Relying on his merits as the acting governor of Kaifeng Prefecture, Zheng Jian was promoted to the position of vice-chancellor, and the Four Tiansheng Friends even suppressed the conservatives for a time.

It's a pity that ginger is still spicy.

The Four Friends of Tiansheng suddenly became rich, and they were all people with outstanding literary talent, so they often gathered together to drink and write poetry.

After Zheng Jian was promoted to Deputy Privy Councilor, Song Xiang to Vice Prime Minister, Ye Qingchen to Three Departments Envoy, and Song Qi to Tianzhang Pavilion Supervisor, the four of them still met frequently, which aroused Renzong's suspicion.

Logically speaking, the Privy Councilor who is in charge of military affairs and the Vice Prime Minister who is in charge of government affairs should not interact with each other privately in order to avoid suspicion.

Not to mention that the Sansishi was the Prime Minister, in charge of the country's finances.

Song Qi, the Tianzhang Pavilion Attendant, was a close minister to the emperor and was responsible for drafting imperial edicts.

These four people often gathered together and called themselves the Four Heavenly Friends, which offended Renzong.

Su Ze knew that this was also an ancestral problem of the Zhao Song Emperor, that is, he was afraid that his ministers would form factions.

Lü Yijian, this old venomous snake, provoked conflicts between Zheng Jian and the reformists led by Fan Zhongyan, triggering confrontation between them and the reformists.

Finally, Lu Yijian wrote a letter accusing the four of forming a clique. Song Renzong expelled all four from the court and appointed them to officials in other prefectures and counties. He even warned the ministers in an imperial edict not to form cliques and to take this as a warning.

At this point, Lu Yijian, through his understanding of the emperor's will, completely destroyed the group of the Four Heavenly Saints and took control of the court.

Su Ze thought about it and felt that the mastermind behind the attack on him might be Lu Yijian.

He remembered that Wang Anshi once said that the censors wanted to impeach Song Qi, the then judge of the Tianzhang Pavilion, who was one of the Four Friends of Tianzhang.

This means that the Four Friends of Tiansheng must be killed. This Imperial College corruption case may not be entirely aimed at Su Ze. Lu Yijian just suppressed himself while suppressing his political enemies.

This Mr. Lu is really good at it!
Although most of them are just guesses, one thread has been sorted out. Su Ze is already 50% sure that the person who wants to deal with him behind the scenes this time is this Prime Minister Lu.

Even he might not be the target of Prime Minister Lu. What Prime Minister Lu really wanted to deal with were his former political enemies, the Four Friends of Tiansheng. He wanted to use the Imperial College case to completely criticize and denounce Song Qi, the former head of the Imperial College. In the words of the game, he was just AOEed by the aftermath, which was like killing rabbits while robbing grass.

When Su Ze thought of this, a trace of resentment surged in his heart, but then he thought again, in which era are the powerful and wealthy not like this?

At this moment, there was a noise outside the study.

"The master of the house is meeting guests, young lady, you can't go in!"

(End of this chapter)