For the first time in the new year, the prime minister went crazy by taking advantage of an incident on the Shangyuan Festival.

This matter has a lot to do with Liu Yong.

Here's the thing.

On the night of the Shangyuan Festival, dragons were dancing on the street. Liu Yong's clerk Li Wenyuan went to a restaurant. I made an appointment with someone in a private room.

The right prime minister's clerk was next door to the private room at this time, and he clearly heard the conversation between Li Wenyuan and the person he had made an appointment. The content of the conversation was about buying and selling official positions.

Specifically, the man bid 10,000 yuan to buy a seat in the county. And Li Wenyuan agreed on the spot, and said that Prime Minister Zuo would definitely go through the entry procedures for him. And the appointment of officials below the state capital is Liu Yong's responsibility.

The right prime minister's document immediately arrested Li Wenyuan and reported it to the right prime minister. The right prime minister said it in the first morning after the year. said that Liu Yong, as a dignified left prime minister of the Song Dynasty, actually did this kind of selling official business.

When the ministers heard this, they began to talk in calamity. And Emperor Lizong also frowned.

Liu Yong was smiling.

"Liu Aiqing, is there such a thing?" Emperor Lizong asked.

"Back to the saint, may I ask the saint, can only 10,000 ministers see it in their eyes?" Liu Yonggong replied.

Emperor Lizong nodded, thinking: It must be the person named Li Wenyuan who is hiding Liu Yong's official position.

At this time, the right prime minister spoke again, only to hear him say: "Saint, 10,000 guan is not much, but this year there are exactly 50 magistrates who have returned to their hometowns, and each magistrate has 10,000 guans, and those 50 are 5 million guan." That's not a small number. ”

Indeed, this year is the time for a group of county magistrates to retire, and there will be a new batch of tops. People like those have the opportunity to start their careers. There are probably hundreds of people registered each year, and this is a good opportunity for them to enter politics. In the past, in order to get the position of this little magistrate, he had to fight for the head of the blood. Then the catariness here is inevitable.

Therefore, there will be a situation of buying and selling officials. The criminal law of the Great Song Dynasty still dealt with the punishment of buying and selling officials. In the most serious case, they will be dismissed from their posts and rushed to the army.

Almost every term of Prime Minister Zuo has been affected by this, because although the right to appoint is in the hands of Prime Minister Zuo, the right to nominate is in the state capital of each county. That is to say, the officials of the state government provide candidates for Prime Minister Zuo, and about five or six people will be elected in each county, and then Prime Minister Zuo will choose a suitable candidate among these five or six people according to his resume.

As a result, many people began to do whatever it took to get the position of magistrate. One of the most effective tricks is to pay for it.

In times of chaos, a magistrate's seat can be fried to 50,000 yuan.

But not now, now the law is so strict that no one dares to test the fire. However, every time the county post is changed, it is inevitable that there will be a situation of selling officials.

And this time, the situation of buying and selling officials happened to Liu Yong.

But Liu Yong is not worried. Because he didn't do anything like that.

"Well, the number that the right prime minister said is indeed very large. Five million guan. But this money is not a big number for me Liu Yong. My sauce shop also earns more than this every year. I can't defy the law at all. Liu Yong said.

"Prime Minister Zuo, this is what my people have heard. Moreover, Li Wenyuan and the person who bought the official should be caught red-handed. After a brief interrogation by the old man, the two of them also confessed. Li Wenyuan also said, this is arranged by Prime Minister Zuo! It won't be fake! The right prime minister said.

"Fake? Of course, there is a fake. Liu Yong said.

"Oh? Since Prime Minister Zuo thinks it is fake, then ask the saint to come up and interrogate Li Wenyuan and the others in person. Right Cheng said to Emperor Lizong.

Emperor Lizong saw Liu Yong's calm expression, and he didn't believe that Liu Yong would do such a thing. But in order to clarify the problem and also to clear Liu Yong's innocence, Emperor Lizong had to agree to the suggestion of the right prime minister.

Before the issue of the early dynasty was discussed, the issue of Liu Yong's selling of official positions was first pulled out. It's a lot of fun, too. And all the ministers are skeptical.

What the hell is going on, we will know when Li Wenyuan and the official sponsor come.

"Okay, the right prime minister will let them enter the palace, and I will ask for clarification in person." Emperor Lizong said.

"It's holy." The right prime minister went out of the palace and asked a little eunuch to pass on Li Wenyuan and that person.

It didn't take long for it to come.

The two of them trembled to the palace and knelt down to kowtow to Emperor Lizong.

"You two report your names." Emperor Lizong said.

"The villain Li Wenyuan is Prime Minister Zuo's paperwork." Li Wenyuan replied.

"The villain Zhang Qiang, the Qianzhou people." The lifter replied.

Emperor Lizong nodded, and then asked, "Tell me, what's going on with you?" ”

The two looked at each other, then knelt down and kowtowed together, shouting in unison: "The villain should die, the villain should die." ”

"Something to say." The right prime minister on the side ordered.

"Yes."

The two men replied in unison.

"That's the villain, let's talk about it first." The man who called himself Zhang Qiang said, "The villain is from Fengyuan County, Qianzhou. Just because the villain failed to enter the list last year, and this year he caught up with the magistrate of Fengyuan County to return to his hometown, and the villain wanted to sit in the seat of the magistrate. And the magistrate of Qianzhou also reported the villain's name to Prime Minister Zuo. There were six people in total. The villain was not sure of winning, so he came to Lin'an Mansion in person, ready to make Qian sit on the seat of the magistrate. ”

Therefore, the villain inquired about Li Wenyuan, the clerk of Prime Minister Zuo, and Li Wenyuan said that Prime Minister Zuo is now selling the fifty-six county seats that have been shorted. The villain didn't say a word and wanted to take the money. Originally, the villain prepared 3,000 guan, but Li Wenyuan said that someone had 8,000 guan, so the villain had to bid 10,000 guan. And Li Wenyuan agreed, he said, Prime Minister Zuo will definitely do it for me. That's it. The villain's words are finished. ”

The man who called himself Zhang Qiang separated his head three times after speaking, and then knelt on the ground, not daring to look up.

Emperor Lizong nodded.

Then, Li Wenyuan began to speak.

"The villain Li Wenyuan is Prime Minister Zuo's clerk and is responsible for handling some official affairs for Prime Minister Zuo. What Zhang Qiang said just now is right, and the villain will not repeat it here. The villain will talk about how Prime Minister Zuo let the villain sell his official position! ”

This Li Wenyuan paused as he spoke.

At this time, the entire court was silent, and they all wanted to hear how this very beloved Prime Minister Zuo made money by selling his official position.

"You say, if you tell a lie, I will put you to death." Emperor Lizong said sharply, as a warning to Li Wenyuan, so that he would not dare to have the courage to lie.