Boyan was able to sit in a high position and survive many life crises safely, which showed that he was not a foolish person, and he quickly heard a different taste from the words of Liu Mengyan and Su Hetai. The current situation is no longer whether Jiangnan can be recovered, but when the Song army will start to fight, and his reckless behavior is likely to become the reason for the Southern Dynasty to start a war. What worries Boyan even more is that the Yangtze River has become the front yard of the Song court, and their warships are unimpeded on the river, but they are not ready to deal with war.

Boyan participated in almost all the battles of the Jin and Song dynasties, when the numerous cities became an obstacle to their footsteps, so they would be demolished every time they were captured to prevent them from becoming a rebel stronghold again. The Song Dynasty has always regarded the Jianghuai region as the frontier in order to increase its strategic depth. It is impossible for the current little emperor not to know, so at this time, his own Jiang defense is weak, and it is the best time to attack from any point of view.

The more I thought about Boyan, the more I felt that the situation was extremely unfavorable to my side, and after losing Jiangnan, the tax was equivalent to losing half of the money bag, and if Jianghuai lost again, it would be equivalent to making matters worse, and the imperial court would definitely fall into a financial crisis. From a military point of view, the Song court, which owned Jianghuai, could stabilize Jiangnan at the same time, and at the same time, it could also be used as a base for attacking the Central Plains, threatening the security of Dadu at all times. If the Central Plains is lost again, then Dayuan will be beaten back to the prototype and have to return to the grassland. In this way, peace talks are not just about buying time to consolidate domestic affairs, but about life and death.

As the first minister of the current Yuan court, Boyan should have the best understanding of the reality of this dynasty. The rebellion of the king of the Northwest Yuanzhi has not been quelled from beginning to end, and the rebellion has been repeated every year, which has caused continuous war in the northwest region, and has to deploy heavy troops to prevent accidents. However, the devastation of the continuous war has caused the economy of the northwest to collapse, which was previously completely supported by the financial endowments of the Central Plains and the northwest. Once the Central Plains is in turmoil again, it will be difficult for the northwest to fight again without support, and the kings of the outer sects will also be dissatisfied, and it is a foreseeable result to split again.

Then there is the political situation that followed Kublai Khan's death was more complicated, and although Zhenjin inherited the throne, it was not based on his prestige, but on the exchange of interests and mutual compromise between all parties. The military power it could control was limited to the part of the Xue Ti army and the Han army in the Central Plains inherited from the Great Khan, which led to its inability to subdue the kings with absolute strength, and its implementation of Han law also led to the dissatisfaction of those old ministers who stuck to their own traditions, and the direct consequence of all kinds of contradictions was the instability of the Khan's position.

Therefore, under the current situation, Zhenjin must retain most of its military strength to deal with internal disputes, and Boyan also suggested that the conquest of overseas feudal states should be stopped, and efforts should be focused on integrating internal forces and quelling the Jiangnan rebellion. But he never expected that the Song army would grow so strong in just one year, which was completely beyond his imagination, and it was almost unimaginable to recover Jiangnan in a short period of time. However, if you want to return to Jiangnan, it is necessary to mobilize the strength of the whole country, but it is like drinking water to quench your thirst, and letting it develop is no different from raising tigers.

Boyan thought for a long time, and it was obviously the best choice at present to temporarily reach peace with the Southern Dynasties and curb its development by means. He knew that it was very laborious for a country to maintain a large army, and the Song Dynasty implemented a conscription system, which was even more burdensome, requiring a huge amount of money to be consumed every year, especially in wartime. Therefore, by negotiating and forcing them to pay a large amount of tribute, they can achieve the goal of weakening their military power, while their own side can quickly recover their vitality and achieve a reversal of power with the help of the other party's financial resources.

However, the idea is there, but how to force the other party to submit has become a thorny problem for Boyan. He knows that in order to gain the right to speak in negotiations, military victory is the best weapon, but although his side still has good combat power, it needs to face the enemy more often and cannot fight with all its might. And the Song army has just won the victory, and both morale and combat effectiveness are at the peak. So it is not wise to go to war now and show off force.

The domestic political turmoil and the military defeat in the foreign war did not make Boyan have many cards in his hand, but it will inevitably lead to passivity everywhere in the negotiations. And he 'accidentally' offended the little emperor, so that he categorically refused to negotiate. Restarting negotiations has become a top priority, but he knows that now the little emperor is complacent, and it is not something that can be done by sending someone to say a few good words and apologize, but needs to pay some price......

…………

"Your Majesty, the secretary of the Mengyuan Rite Department, the deputy envoy of the prayer and the deputy envoy Liumengyan, cross the river again to ask for an audience!" Ten days after the termination of the peace talks, Xu Zongren went to Yanxiang Garden to meet the little emperor.

"What is he doing again?" Zhao Hao has been a little busy recently, and the matter of changing the guard of the navy has begun, and he not only has to review the plan, but also meet with the generals of various armies to assign tasks. It is said that the rainy season is not a good time to adjust the precautions, because the river water is swelling and the flow speed increases, which will inevitably lead to difficulties in tracing the river and going upstream. But he considered that after the rainy season, there would be a dry season, and that it would be a little late to prepare for war and then mobilize the army. This was a critical period, and he was naturally not very happy.

"Your Majesty, he is still here to negotiate peace!" Xu Zongren said.

"Hmph, I ruined my master, he wants to talk about it again as if he has nothing to do, no way!" Zhao Hao snorted coldly and said, "If you send it away, just say that I am not available!" ”

"Your Majesty was angry, and Liu Mengyan said that Boyan regretted his reckless behavior very much, and sent him across the river to make amends, and sent some gifts, hoping to restart the peace talks!" Xu Zongren saw that the little emperor's anger had not subsided, and said with a smile.

"Phew, Boyan's husband is a weasel to give New Year's greetings to chickens, what kind intentions can be pressed, and there may be something bad in it!" Zhao Yu sighed.

"Your Majesty, in recent days, the navy has been mobilized, and the warships on the river have been coming and going, and the minister thinks that Boyan must have misunderstood that our dynasty is mobilizing troops to prepare for war, so he is in a hurry to resume peace negotiations, which is indeed ill-intentioned. Liumengyan is also a side-knocking inquiry, wanting to inquire about the news. Xu Zongren still said with a smile.

"Fear may not be, vigilance is real!" Zhao Yu shook his head and said. Thinking that Boyan was a man with a keen eye and had commanded a large army to fight in the east and west, he would not be frightened because of this little thing, but found that the situation was unfavorable to his side, so he was willing to put down his shelf and apologize and then talk about the front edge, but secretly he adjusted his deployment and prepared for confrontation.

"Your Majesty is right, but the conditions they put forward this time are really hard to refuse!" Xu Zongren said with a wry smile. In fact, when discussing this matter, they had already expected that Meng Yuan would make trouble, and they also set a countermeasure to respond, but their response this time exceeded their expectations.

"Oh, what did they give?" Zhao Hao seemed to be a little interested.

"Your Majesty, they promised that if they can restart the peace talks, they will return the coffin of the old queen mother to our court!" Xu Zongren replied.

"This ...... It's hard to refuse. Zhao Yu was stunned, and only a wry smile remained on his face. secretly scolded Boyan in his heart for being cunning, and he took the return of Empress Dowager Xie's coffin as a condition for restarting the peace negotiation, and immediately put himself in a very embarrassing situation.

Everyone knows that the value of a dead person is simply insignificant compared to state affairs, but if this matter is weighed on the scale of morality, you can't help but give in, not to mention that this is the Empress Dowager. If Zhao Hao agrees, the signal revealed is that he can give up the weakness of national interests for the sake of family affection, which will inevitably be taken advantage of; If you refuse, you will have to be scolded to death by the people, at least the hat of filial piety is taken off. So he knew that he had to jump into it knowing that it was a pit, and he had to jump into it happily, but there were hundreds of dead and living relatives behind him, who could sneak out at any time to threaten and tempt him.

"Your Majesty is on board?" Xu Zongren saw that the little emperor's face changed several times in a row, and he couldn't figure out his attitude for a while, so he asked carefully.

"Yes, tell Liu Mengyan that as long as the Empress Dowager's coffin is returned safely, the resumption of peace can be considered!" Zhao Yu nodded solemnly and said, I am not allowed to do this, even if the knife is on the neck, I will agree!

"The minister obeys the order, and the minister retires!" Xu Zongren said.

"Xu Shangshu stays for a while, I still have something to ask!" Zhao Yu said goodbye.

"Your Majesty, please speak, the minister will know everything!" Xu Zongren said.

"Excuse me, this is not a business matter, I just have some unclear things to ask for!" Zhao Yu raised his hand and asked him to excuse himself. Then he moved to the back hall, changed into civilian clothes, sat down again, and had tea served.

"Your Majesty, please!"

"Xu Shangshu, in the past, I wanted to make some changes to the imperial examination system, and the new science and technology jinshi entered the country to supervise the way of becoming an official, knew how to deal with government affairs, and then began to learn the procedures and details of doing things from the officials. This matter is in Qiongzhou, and we have also implemented it, but why are there courtiers writing now, thinking that it is so inappropriate, I can't understand it, and I also ask Xu Shangshu to give advice! Zhao Hao asked.

"This is a long story, but the officials and officials are not on the same path, but on different paths. On that day, the situation in Qiongzhou may have been urgent and the scope of impact was limited, so no one expressed any objections, but this is no longer the case. Xu Zongren listened and explained, "In the hundreds of years since the Warring States period, when the first emperor was called emperor and entered the Han Dynasty, the system of taking law as teaching and officials as teachers was adopted, that is, the emperor ruled the people through grammar officials, and these officials who were proficient in laws and regulations assumed the responsibility of handling state affairs. ”

"After the Han Dynasty, the local tycoons became increasingly powerful, and it was difficult to sustain the country by officials. After the Han Dynasty, Confucianism became increasingly important, and the status of the scholar class was increasing day by day, gradually replacing Haoqiang, and began to enter the official career, usurping the power of the chief, that is, the official. The status of the original grammar officials gradually declined, and they became subordinate officials at all levels of government, and were no longer the role of monopolizing power in the Qin system. ”

This is the origin of 'the saint does not govern the civil affairs but the people's hearts', and since then the division between the civil and the people's hearts, scholars and scholars have become the beginning of a clear distinction. Since then, Gaomen Hua valve has the glory of the world; The surname is Hanren, there is no way to enter, and the disadvantages of the election are extreme! Zhao Yu thought about it.

"Your Majesty is exactly what you say." Xu Zongren nodded and said, "Because the master of the people can't use it to gather things, he has to use cold people." When people are cold, they are happy, and Xuan Liqin is easy to drive, and he is gradually relied on by the emperor unconsciously. The complexity of civil affairs, those high-ranking families disdain, so they entrusted the poor scholars to take care of it, and because of their humble background, the road to high-ranking officials was basically cut off, and gradually formed an atmosphere that the officials were more respectful and the officials were more humble. ”

"During the reign of Emperor Wu of Liang in the Southern Dynasty, the official system of nine products since the Wei and Jin dynasties was further divided into more detailed, and a total of eighteen classes of nine products were reordered above six grades, also known as eighteen classes in Liunei; Below the seventh grade are the seven classes outside the stream, almost all of which are subordinate officials at all levels of government, all of which are held by Hanmen scholars, so that officials and officials have become two classes. At the beginning of the Sui and Tang dynasties, the Tang officials were divided into internal and external officials, and they could be promoted from the outside officials to the internal officials after the examination, but the entry still needed to be assessed by the Ministry of Officials. However, the status of the officials was still low, so that the scholars refused to serve as the heads of the three provinces of the eighth and ninth rank officials in the stream, just because they had the name of the officials, and the scholars were ashamed of their ranks. ”

Zhao Yu gradually understood in his heart when he heard this, in ancient China, those who govern people were called officials, and the officials were called officials, and together they were called "officials". To put it simply, it is the officials who are responsible and the officials who do practical things, which is a bit similar to the division of civil servants into leadership and non-leadership positions today. Therefore, many people in modern times, including himself, think that the "official" is a whole, but in fact, this is an illusion.

When most modern Chinese discuss the salary of civil servants, they like to mention Song and Ming the most, and the left hand is Song Gao's salary and honesty, and Bao Longtu has an annual salary of tens of millions; The right hand is clear that he has no money to live, and the sea pen holder can't afford to buy meat to eat. The actual problem is that the Great Song Dynasty was tolerant of scholars, referring to officials; And Ming Taizu's salary is harsh, and he is still an official. What does their salary system have to do with ordinary civil servants who earn two or three thousand yuan a month today? In fact, those who can be compared to them are only the small officials of the Song and Ming dynasties.

The inversion of the identity of officials is also due to the continuous change of the political system, the Warring States period to the Qin and the early Western Han Dynasty formed the 'imperial power-scribe' relationship model system, due to the rise of local forces collapsed, replaced by the family gate, at the same time the emergence of two classes of scholars. However, this change has not been confirmed by institutionalized regulations, but the ideological preparation of officials and officials has been completed. By the time of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the implementation of the nine-product Zhongzheng system, the system of generals and scholars was divided into two distinct classes.

The implementation of the imperial examination system in the Sui and Tang dynasties broke the family gate valve system, not only did not eliminate the boundary between officials and officials, but strengthened the boundary between the two. That is to say, the court no longer recognizes you as an "official", and the separation of officials and officials has been officially completed.

Zhao Yu also realized that his policy of electing officials was not a small change, but touched on the official system formed since the Tang Dynasty and infringed on the interests of scholars......