When Li Di returned to Beijing, he was full of ambition, and even prepared to bring down Lu Yijian and realize his ambitions, but unfortunately no one expected him to come faster and go faster, in just a few months, Li Di was calculated by Lu Yijian, and shot himself in the foot, and the letter of appointment not only failed to convict Lu Yijian, but became evidence that he befriended Zhao Yuanyan.

Although Zhao Zhen trusts Li Di very much, but now this matter is conclusive evidence, and when the news came out, Li Di immediately became a laughing stock in the court, after all, he was calculated by Lu Yijian too ruthlessly, for which Li Di was also angry and seriously ill, and finally took the initiative to resign, Zhao Zhen considered that Li Di was also ridiculed for staying in the capital, so he temporarily dismissed him from his original position, but let him serve in Bozhou.

Li Di was also eager to leave the capital immediately at this time, so after receiving the appointment, he didn't care about his illness, and he didn't even notify others and left the capital with his family, and when Li Zhang learned the news, he couldn't help but sigh.

In fact, the reason why Li Di fell into such a fate is also to blame him for being too anxious, and he did not understand the meaning of Zhao Zhen calling him back to Beijing, if he concentrates on handling government affairs after returning to Beijing, and does not deliberately target Lu Yijian, Zhao Zhen will definitely entrust him with important tasks in the future, and even support him to become Lu Yijian's opponent in the court, after all, for the emperor, he also needs to balance the power in the hands of ministers.

However, although Li Di left, there must be someone in the court who can balance Lu Yijian, this is not that Zhao Zhen does not believe in Lu Yijian, but he can't let a minister monopolize power, which is also the way of the king, so Zhao Zhen quickly set his sights on another person, and this person's background is even greater than Li Di.

On this day, Li Zhang entered the palace again, and Zhao Zhen asked him to discuss the affairs of the northwest party, and when he came here, he found that Lu Yijian and others were also there, and after seeing Li Zhang come in, Zhao Zhen also transferred the information that had just been transmitted back from the northwest to Li Zhang.

Li Zhang looked at it and then knew that most of the original mobilized Xiang army had arrived in Xingzhou, and also started to Tuntian, and the effect was not bad, and Zhao Zhen also sent the cavalry led by Guo Zun to harass the party people who fled to Montenegro after the beginning of spring, spring is not only the season of farming, but also the season of nomadic grazing, especially many livestock are in estrus and multiplication in spring, if you miss the spring, the blow to the nomadic tribe is also extremely heavy.

In contrast, the Song army has no such restriction at all, and it is still fighting on the enemy's territory, they have no scruples, and they immediately run away after a period of burning, and when the party people react and want to intercept them, they have already run away.

"General Zhao really lived up to His Majesty's entrustment, as long as the cavalry was sent to the north in turn, maybe it won't take two years, and the party will be self-defeating!" Li Zhang couldn't help but say excitedly after reading this information.

"Your Majesty, my Great Song Dynasty has always been benevolent and righteous, and now I let the army burn, kill and loot the party members, will I betray the name of benevolence and righteousness of our Great Song Dynasty?" At this time, I saw that Song Shou, the governor of the political affairs, stepped forward and said, Song Shou is Lu Yijian's deputy, this person's biggest advantage is that he writes good articles, when Liu E was in power, he also spoke for Zhao Zhen many times, so after Liu E's death, he was quickly reused.

"Song participated in politics and said that it was wrong, and the sage had clouds, repaying grievances with straightforwardness and repaying virtue with virtue. When Zhao Zhen conquered Xiping Mansion, tens of thousands of rescue efforts were made, and the Han people who died in the hands of the party were countless. I saw that Li Zhang was the first to stand up against Song Shoudao at this time.

"Li Duwei is right, Song doesn't have to worry too much about these details when he participates in politics, my Song Dynasty sent troops to attack and harass the party, the main purpose is to weaken the strength of the party as much as possible, how can you weaken the other party without killing people or setting fire?" Lu Yijian also expressed support for Li Zhang at this time.

When other people saw Lu Yijian's statement, they also agreed with Li Zhang's words at this time, in fact, Song Shou still has some scholarly spirit, so he said such a thing, if it is placed in ordinary times, I am afraid that no one will bring it up at all, because everyone has acquiesced in what the Great Song army has done.

Song Shou saw that everyone was against him, and he didn't insist anymore, in fact, he had just taken office, so some things were not very familiar, and it was normal for mistakes to occur.

"Zhao Zhen did a really good job, the first time to send troops to harass the harassment achieved good results, in addition, the garrison of Huanqing and other roads also marched north, occupying the area south of the Great Wall, but Li Chengyu, who has been standing still recently, suddenly led his troops to retreat westward, and also attacked the city, I heard that Maoniu City has now been defeated, and also ordered the Tubo people in the city to be slaughtered, what do you think about this?" Zhao Zhen spoke again at this time.

"Li Chengyu and Li Yuanhao are both tigers and wolves, but he was defeated by Li Yuanhao, and he contacted our Great Song Dynasty in desperation, hoping to use the hand of our Great Song Dynasty to contain Li Yuanhao, and now that Li Yuanhao is defeated, he must also be afraid, and he is unwilling to surrender to my Great Song Dynasty, so he can only flee west!" When Lu Yijian heard this, he immediately made his judgment out.

Li Zhang also nodded secretly when he heard this, his opinion was almost exactly the same as Lu Yijian, Li Chengyu had contacted the Great Song Dynasty before, and even showed the intention of taking refuge, but this kind of refuge was actually only nominal, the most important military power was still in his hands, and the Great Song Dynasty did not have much influence on him.

However, now that Li Yuanhao has been defeated, the Great Song Dynasty has also occupied the territory south of the Great Wall, so that the sphere of influence of the Great Song and Li Chengyu has a junction, and if Li Chengyu defects to the Great Song Dynasty, he must hand over the military power, if he does not hand it over, the Great Song Dynasty will not tolerate the existence of another party armed force by his side, so he can only flee westward.

"I think the same way, but what do you think about what to do with Li Chengyu?" Zhao Zhen nodded at this time, and then asked again, although Li Chengyu was disabled by Li Yuanhao, but after two years of rest, there are now tens of thousands of soldiers who can fight, and the population is tens of thousands, this force is not big, and it is not small, after all, Li Jiqian relied on a small group of party members to rise, so no one is sure whether Li Chengyu will become the second Li Jiqian in the future?

"Your Majesty, I think I can get in touch with him, he has always been close to my Great Song Dynasty, and my Great Song Dynasty has also given him a lot of support before, this time Li Chengyu sent troops to capture his Cat Niu City, he must also hold a grudge, and in recent years, his strength has grown rapidly, as long as he is given a little support, he may not be Li Chengyu's opponent!" Lu Yijian spoke again at the moment.

Lu Yijian's suggestion was also supported by other ministers, in fact, the Tubo people led by the Tubo people have always been oppressed by the party members, for which he has always been close to the Great Song Dynasty, relying on the support of the Great Song Dynasty to resist the party members, and has also achieved some results before, but this time Li Chengyu sent troops too suddenly, and he was unprepared, so he lost the military town of Maoniucheng.

Zhao Zhen didn't know much about it, and he also asked Lu Yijian about it, and then he knew that the other party was not a small Tubo tribe as he imagined, but a Tubo tribal alliance that was not weak, and the reason why Lu Yijian wanted to use it to deal with Li Chengyu was also to weaken the strength of Tubo Guyo.

After discussing the matter of Li Chengyu, Zhao Zhen took out a few things related to the northwest, and everyone expressed their opinions, Li Zhang did not express many opinions, mainly when Zhao Zhen asked him, he would open his mouth to say a few words.

However, at the end of the discussion, Zhao Zhen suddenly glanced at Lu Yijian and the others, and then spoke again: "The third envoy Xue Kui is seriously ill and has been unable to go to the court recently, although I have allowed him to handle official business at home, but his health is not as good as before, so he has also resigned several times, I pity him for his old age, and have allowed him to retire, but when he leaves, who should take his place?" ”

As soon as Zhao Zhen's words came out, all the ministers below showed a look of indecision, Xue Kui is not only the third envoy, but also serves as the governor of the political affairs, and Song Shou is the deputy prime minister, his position is now vacant, and the court still doesn't know how many people want to take this opportunity to take the throne?

"Your Majesty, the minister recommends someone to replace Xue Jixiang!" At this moment, I saw Song Shou step forward again and speak, but Lu Yijian next to him saw Song Shou frowning slightly, and his face seemed to be a little displeased, after all, he was the prime minister, and the candidate to replace Xue Kui was so important, so naturally he had to speak first, but Song Shou was in front of him.

"Who does Song Qing want to recommend?" Zhao Zhen asked with a smile at this time.

"Your Majesty, the minister recommends the scholar of Zhaowenguan University, and the current Zhangde Army Festival Envoy Wang Zeng!" I saw Song Shou take a step forward and speak, but as soon as Wang Zeng's name came out, everyone's eyes in the hall focused on Lu Yijian, and Lu Yijian's face also flashed a trace of unnaturalness, but then he was calm.

Compared with Li Di, Wang Zeng's background is too big, he is a talented man born in Sanyuan and the first, and he is also a proud disciple of a generation of virtuous minister Wang Dan, when Ding said that the power was tilted towards the government and the opposition, but he was still beaten down by Wang Zeng, and later Wang Qinruo was also suppressed by Wang Zeng, and when Wang Zeng was the prime minister, Lu Yijian was just a rising star.

In addition, the reason why Wang Zeng was demoted was because he resolutely crowded Zhao Zhen, which was degraded out of the capital by Liu E, it can be said that Wang Zeng was an out-and-out imperial party, in contrast, Lu Yijian seemed a little wavering, trying not to offend Liu E, otherwise he would not be appointed as the prime minister by Liu E.

It can be said that in terms of qualifications, merits, trust, etc., Lu Yijian was defeated in the face of Wang Zeng, if Wang Zeng returned to Beijing, would he, the prime minister, really be able to sit firmly?