Fan Zhen and others continued to serve as the prime minister of the Great Song Dynasty after Zhao Kuangyin received Zen, and they must have been uneasy about them as ministers of the dead country.

So, I repeatedly resigned.

Song Taizu is well versed in officialdom, how can he do something that is tongue-in-cheek again. Therefore, these brothers have been resigning since Zhao Kuangyin came to power until the second year of Qiande (964 AD). Zhao Kuangyin looked at this posture, brother won't let you go again, I'm afraid you won't want to die. So under the request of Fan Zhen and Wei Renpu to "ask for retreat again", Zhao Kuangyin approved. Go back and enjoy your old age in peace.

Fan Zhen died in September of the same year after the dismissal of the prime minister, and Zhao Kuangyin posthumously presented the Zhongshu Order after his title of Lu Guogong. But Wang Pu's life is more legendary, he and Fan Zhen were both born in a family of eunuchs. They have one thing in common, and that is that they are teenagers and first.

Fan Zhen was born in 911 A.D., and in 933 A.D., he became a scholar. Ladies and gentlemen, you may wish to boldly imagine that at the age of only twenty-two, your social status is equivalent to that of the head of a county.

Let's go back to Wang Pu, his resume is more exciting than Fan Qian. This person was born in 922 A.D., and was the first of the Jiake Jinshi in the Qianyou period of the Later Han Dynasty, which is the champion Lang we are familiar with. Many people may be confused when they come here, what is the specific year of Qianyou. In the first month of 948 AD, the Later Han Dynasty granted amnesty, and Liu Zhiyuan, the ancestor of the Later Han Dynasty, changed the Yuan Qianyou, so 948 AD was the first year of Qianyou.

This master is also less than thirty years old before he entered the Shi and the first, and he is still the champion. As the first place in the exam, the natural starting point will be higher than that of the same students, and he will serve as a secretary. Until the third year of Guangshun (953 AD), this great god was already a great minister, and he worked all the way to the position of prime minister. I don't dare to write the plot of the novel like this, look at Fan Wenzheng in later generations, the group of people who are reluctant to be the prime minister, which one is not a person who was able to enter the political hall in his twilight years.

Wang Pu has served as the prime minister of two generations and four dynasties, and this time he and these brothers will be dismissed together, and Zhao Kuangyin will appoint him as the crown prince. Later, he was crowned the Duke of Qi, and died in August 982, and the court stopped for two days. A veteran of the Four Dynasties, whose last nickname is literature, is actually enough to see that the Northern Song Dynasty court still highly recognized the professional level and ability of this person. Wang Pu himself was also a famous historian at that time, so I think this nickname is well deserved.

When it comes to Zhao Kuangyin, Fan, and Wang, we are all familiar with it. Let's talk to you about the privy envoy Wei Renpu who was brought over by the history books.

This person is neither from a family of eunuchs, nor is he the kind of player who became famous in one fell swoop. He was the same age as Fan Zhen, and he entered the office at the end of the Later Jin Dynasty, and was appreciated by Guo Wei, Taizu of Zhou, because of his erudition and strong knowledge. From the current point of view, this guy is considered to be a minister of the dragon. After Guo Wei established the Northern Zhou regime, Wei Renpu's natural status rose, and he also went all the way to the position of prime minister. He was also the only one among the prime ministers of the Later Zhou Dynasty who opposed Zhao Kuangyin's seizure of power, but he had to bow his head under the roof.

In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty (960 AD), after Zhao Kuangyin came to power, he was immediately relieved of his official position as a privy envoy and entered the right servant. I have to say that Zhao Kuangyin is also clearly retaliating, Prime Minister Fan Qian, and Vice Minister Wang Pu did not move. You old Wei likes to be a bird, right, then I can only use you to stand up. Of course, after this incident, our old brother Wei is also a violent temper, and his resignation is the most fierce, basically every other day, he writes "I am old, my health is not good, and my body is not as good as a young man, so you can let me go back to my hometown to enjoy my old age." "Then can Zhao Kuangyin agree? If you want to go, your three brothers have to go together, what is it to just pick you up. So Zhao Kuangyin didn't mean to pay attention to him at all, and he never agreed to his resignation application. Wei Renpu didn't agree every time, okay, let's wait if we don't agree. Brother Wei waited for four years, and it was not until the second year of Qiande that Zhao Kuangyin approved the resignation of the three prime ministers together, and he really left the power center of the Northern Song Dynasty.

After Zhao Kuangyin sent these three away, he suddenly found that his center lacked a full-time official, and there was no prime minister in the inner hall. At this time, our half of the Analects of Zhao Pu "Zhao Xuexue" began to officially appear on the stage of history.

Zhao Kuangyin's worship of Zhao Pu was three days after the removal of the former trio, and at this time, there must have been smart friends who found out the problem. Why was Zhao Pu appointed as prime minister only three days later, shouldn't the emperor do whatever he wanted? Then I'll tell you it's not.

After sending away Fan Zhen and the three of them, Zhao Kuangyin found that he had no way to appoint Zhao Pu as the prime minister. Any edict issued by the emperor and the like needs to be countersigned by the prime minister before it can take effect, otherwise, without the countersignature of the prime minister, the officials directly appointed by the emperor are called "oblique officials". According to Mr. Qian Mu's explanation: "All orders of the emperor must be stamped with the seal under the door of the Chinese book under the edict." "It is not difficult for us to see that if the edict issued by the emperor is not sealed, then it is an illegal order and is not recognized by the lower-level authorities.

At this time, Zhao Kuangyin really regretted his intestines. Then he sent someone to summon Zhao Pu and said, "I am the secretary of the secretary, but what? "It means that the prime ministers are not all appointed by the emperor, I will sign it for you, you can hurry up and pack it up and do the work. Zhao Pu refused without hesitation for a second, so how did our Zhao scholar respond: "This has a position, not an emperor's position." "Roughly translated, if I accept your signature, then I won't become an oblique official, so what do later people think of me? I have to find a prime minister to sign my name!

Okay, this time I stumped our Song Taizu, and my cronies on weekdays didn't give me face at a critical time. However, Zhao Pu's approach is also excusable, after all, no one wants to be infamous for centuries. Song Taizu had no choice, so he had to call the Hanlin Bachelor to undertake Tao Gu. Roughly speaking, Lao Tao, you sit in the position of the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and now I want to worship Zhao Pu as the prime minister, but the rules and regulations must be signed by the prime minister, you go and turn the book for me to see if there is any solution. Later, Tao Gu went back to search the history books and found that there was really such a thing. reported to Zhao Kuangyin: "In the Manna Revolution of the ninth year of Tang Taihe, Prime Minister Li Xun was killed after plotting to kill the eunuch in power, and there was no prime minister for a few days after Li Xun's death. Tang Wenzong asked Shangshu's left servant to shoot Hu Chu to act as prime minister and countersign the book. ”

Shang Shufu shot belonged to the ranks of prime ministers in the early Tang Dynasty, but after Li Zhi ascended the throne, restrictions were added, and then he was slowly kicked out of the prime minister's echelon. Zhao Kuangyin felt very reasonable after hearing this, and at this time, another Hanlin scholar, Dou Yi, came out to oppose this matter. He believes that the change of manna is a sign of the decline of the prosperous world, and this behavior is also a helpless move to convince the public, and I am afraid that Zhao Pu is not very willing to accept the appointment. Zhao Kuangyin looked at Dou Yi and said Don't be angry, it must still be a little. Since you have overturned Tao Gu's proposal, why don't you come up with a statement that satisfies my Lao Zhao today, be careful of your ass. looked at Dou Yi and asked, "If you don't use Shang Shufu to countersign, who should countersign?" ”

Dou Yi put forward his own idea, Zhao Kuangyin's younger brother Ren Kaifeng Mansion Yin, Tongping Zhangshi. Zhao Kuangyin reacted when he heard this, yes, Tongping Zhangshi, although his younger brother does not exercise power, he is also the prime minister in name. Then Zhao Kuangyin asked his younger brother Zhao Kuangyi to countersign the document as Tongping Zhangshi, and finally completed the procedure in compliance and legality in the appointment of Zhao Pu as prime minister. On the one hand, this trivial incident shows that Lao Zhao had little experience as emperor for the first time, and dismissed all three prime ministers at once. When I wanted to promote other prime ministers, I found that I couldn't be arbitrary in the company's rules and regulations. Therefore, following the previous rules and system is Lao Zhao's attitude towards the prime minister's countersigning power. He did not use the power of the emperor to break this rule of law, in fact, this also laid the foundation for the later rule of the world with scholars.

Later, Zhao Kuangyin had many deeds, large and small, which proved that he was a qualified emperor who abided by the system and abided by etiquette.

In such a troubled era, perhaps Zhao Kuangyin himself did not expect that his empire would last for three hundred and nineteen years.