The Song Dynasty attached great importance to the impeachment of Shangshu, especially the officials in the Renzong period, most of whom were clear. If the prime minister is impeached, even if there is no substantive evidence, he often has to write a letter asking for demotion and then resign and leave.

This is almost an unwritten rule in the Song Dynasty, and there were 23 prime ministers in the Renzong Dynasty, of which 15 were impeached and removed from office or resigned by impeachment, which shows the strict rules.

So Lu Yijian was impeached in public, and what he should do at this time was to defend himself, and then ask the emperor to resign to prove his innocence.

But Lu Yijian is a person with a great desire for power, although he debated with Fan Zhongyan in history, which caused a sensation of friends from the government and the opposition, but he did not resign, but relied on the blessing of Renzong to demote Fan Zhongyan and all the people who supported him.

This behavior made his reputation take a sharp turn for the worse, and he was criticized by the government and the opposition, so that later generations regarded him as a traitor.

In fact, Lu Yijian is not bad, it's just that he has too much desire for power.

At this moment, at the critical juncture when Zhao Zhen was about to promote Fan Zhongyan to the operation of Shaanxi Road, Fan Zhongyan suddenly impeached the prime minister, which shocked the Manchu Dynasty and caught Lu Yijian off guard.

He and Zhao Zhen glanced at each other, and they could see the horror and hesitation in each other's eyes.

Now what?

Can Fan Zhongyan continue to be appointed as the Shaanxi Road transfer envoy?

Both of them put a question mark in their hearts about it.

Fan Zhongyan has the right to know Kaifeng Mansion, which is from the fourth grade.

And the Shaanxi Road transfer envoy he is going to serve as a positive third product, which belongs to promotion.

And it is not a loose official or a vacant promotion, but a ministry official, a high-ranking and powerful feudal official.

As a result, before the appointment was issued, Fan Zhongyan openly took the lead in impeaching the prime minister.

If you continue to push Fan Zhongyan to the position of Shaanxi Road transfer envoy, then Lu Yijian will not do it?

As soon as Fan Zhongyan impeached Lu Yijian, the imperial court promoted him to the Shaanxi Road transfer envoy, not mentioning the majesty of Prime Minister Lu Yijian, this alone will undoubtedly set a precedent, making people mistakenly think that impeaching the prime minister can be promoted.

The result is that Lu Yijian will inevitably be attacked by a group, and countless impeachments will fly to Zhao Zhen's desk like snowflakes, and Lu Yijian will only be the result of his disgraceful resignation.

In other words, if you want to complete the work arrangement of transferring Fan Zhongyan to the northwest as a transfer envoy, you must first kill Zhao Zhen's minister, or accompany him all the way, like Lu Yijian, who is like a master and apprentice, how can Zhao Zhen accept it?

But if he didn't stop Lu Yijian, then Fan Zhongyan would definitely not be able to go to Shaanxi. At the very least, he had to be demoted as a punishment first, and then he could find an excuse to transfer him to the northwest later.

What to do?

"Your Majesty!"

Lu Yijian's desire for power was so great, he naturally didn't want to sit still, and immediately fought back: "Fan Zhongyan is open-mouthed, talking nonsense, and the ministers are never nepotistic. ”

Fan Zhongyan said: "Your Majesty, Emperor Cheng of the Western Han Dynasty believed in Zhang Yu, and eventually brewed Wang Mang's rebellion. Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty believed in Li Linfu, and took Ling'an history as a disaster. If Your Majesty can't determine the order of the rise and fall of court officials, then whether this court is the prime minister's court or Your Majesty's court. ”

Heart-wrenching words!

Lu Yijian's face changed greatly, and he hurriedly retorted: "Since the Zhou Dynasty has set up hundreds of officials, delineated responsibilities, and divided the affairs of the world. Each of the hundred officials performs their duties, is led by the prime minister, and is loyal to the Son of Heaven. The Son of Heaven can't personally experience the affairs of the world, the prime minister and the hundred officials should share the worries of the Son of Heaven, if there is a small and good ambition, overstepping the office, and the etiquette system collapses, the world will be in chaos. ”

"The Duke of Zhou set up a hundred officials to set up a etiquette system, and everyone in the world will be safe if they abide by etiquette, but if the minister is chaotic and does not abide by the etiquette system, the minister must use his life to save his life, so that His Majesty can put the chaos right!"

Fan Zhongyan bowed to Zhao Zhen, his expression was extremely serious.

The officials immediately discussed.

Looking at this posture, Lao Fan is planning to fight hard with Lu Yijian.

Only Zhao Zhen couldn't get off the stage, so he had to say: "Today's court discussion is over here, Lu Yijian, Fan Zhongyan, you each go to the inner hall on the left and right, the prime ministers, the same uncle, you come to the apse with me." ”

So saying, he got up and went to the apse of the vertical arch hall.

Fan Zhongyan glanced at Lu Yijian, snorted coldly, brushed his sleeves and went to the left hall, while Lu Yijian wiped the sweat on his forehead and went to the right hall.

At this moment, in the apse, Yan Shu hurriedly came over and said to Zhao Zhen: "Your Majesty, this morning I talked to Zhao Jun about Fan Zhongyan's restructuring, he said that Fan Zhongyan had a temper like a cow, and he had openly impeached the prime minister. ”

Zhao Zhen said anxiously: "What's the use of talking about this now, Fan Zhongyan has already impeached Lu Xiang, if he is moved to the Shaanxi Road transfer envoy, won't it make the world think that I am supporting him?" When Lu Xiang is impeached, the slashers will be piled up on my table. ”

"This ......"

Yan Shu hesitated for a moment and looked at Wang Zeng and the others.

Wang Zeng didn't care about himself, and turned a blind eye to Yan Shu's eyes.

He and Cai Qi are in a group, and they can't get used to seeing Lu Yijian's power leaning towards the government and the opposition, and in the fourth year of history, Jing Yu had a party dispute, and finally fought with Lu Yijian and Song Shou, the deputy minister who supported Lu Yijian, and all of them were dismissed.

Therefore, when Lu Yijian suffered, he would not care.

As for Wang Sui and Sheng Du, they are almost first-class mediocre officials, basically do nothing, and the power is seized by Lu Yijian, Wang Zeng and their supporters Song Shou Cai Qi, and they can't say anything.

Seeing this scene, Yan Shu was anxious.

In fact, Yan Shu is also Lu Yijian's party, he and Lu Yijian have worked together for many years during Liu E's period, and they have long had a friendship, and they have not been beaten to the end when they angered Zhao Zhen before, and now they can come back, all thanks to Lu Yijian's help.

Therefore, Yan Shu has a very good relationship with Lu Yijian.

Even the "History of the Song Dynasty" recorded that Yan Shu's son-in-law Fu Bi once angrily scolded "Yan Shu is treacherous, and the party Lu Yijian deceives His Majesty", which shows that the two also belong to the relationship between friends.

Now that Lu Yijian is in trouble, Yan Shu can't help it.

He was very smart and had a flexible brain, and almost at this moment, he thought of an idea and said to Zhao Zhen: "Official, I have a way." ”

Zhao Zhen didn't want to lose Lu Yijian now, so he hurriedly asked, "What can I do with my uncle?" ”

"If you don't decide something, ask Zhao Jun!"

Yan Shu said.

"Zhao Jun? How to ask? Could it be that I want to promote Fan Zhongyan to be the transfer envoy of Shaanxi Road, and then he just happened to be on the "Hundred Officials", and I don't want Lu Gong to resign as prime minister? ”

Zhao Zhen laughed at himself, this is something that has never happened in history, what is the difference between that and Zhao Junming saying that he is now in the Song Dynasty?

Yan Shu said in a deep voice: "I see that Zhao Jun's evaluation of Lu Xiang is not bad, we will inform Fan Zhongyan of Zhao Jun's origin, and take him to Fan Zhongyan to listen to Zhao Jun's evaluation of this matter?" If Zhao Jun felt that Fan Zhongyan was wrong, Fan Zhongyan should also be careful to take it. ”

Wang Zeng couldn't help but say: "You also said before that Zhao Jun thinks Fan Zhongyan is a bull temper, even if Fan Zhongyan can accept Zhao Jun's opinion, he is now on the "Hundred Officials", can he still take it back?" ”

Yan Shu said: "The minister thinks that as long as Fan Zhongyan accepts it, he will be demoted first, and then Lu Xiang will recommend him as the Shaanxi Road transfer envoy. ”

Song Shou also said: "This is indeed the truth, only let Fan Zhongyan understand that he is wrong, let him take back the impeachment himself, even if he is demoted for a while, and let Lu Xiang promote him in the future, he can also block the mouth of the world." ”

Hearing this, Zhao Zhen was overjoyed and said: "Uncle Tong is worthy of being smart since he was a child, and he passed on Lu Yi Jian Fan Zhongyan. ”

"Pass on Lu Yi Jian Fan Zhongyan."

At that moment, the eunuch Wang Shouzhong went out and called Lu Yijian and Fan Zhongyan, who were in the inner hall on the left and right, to the apse.

In the apse, Zhao Zhen sat on the dragon chair, and several people below were standing.

Although Fan Zhongyan didn't understand why the emperor wanted him to talk in detail in the inner hall, he was not afraid to continue to confront Lu Yijian, and came in awe-inspiring and saluted: "Your Majesty." ”

Zhao Zhen looked at him seriously, and suddenly sighed: "Xiwen Gong, you and Lu Xiang are both my humerus, so why bother fighting?" ”

Fan Zhongyan held his head high and said: "The minister doesn't want to fight, but to attack the traitorous minister, in case the traitor misleads the country!" ”

"Then let me ask you, how is Lu Xiang a traitor?"

Zhao Zhen asked rhetorically.

Fan Zhongyan replied: "Lu Yi Jianquan leans towards the government and the opposition, and appoints cronyism, this is a traitor!" ”

Zhao Zhen thought for a while and said: "Xiwen Gong, if you say, I mean that if, if there is a person a thousand years later, who knows our history and knows the end of all of you and me, will you believe what he says?" ”

"Your Majesty, this matter is ridiculous." Fan Zhongyan shook his head firmly and said, "The minister will never believe it." ”

"But there is indeed such a person, who was found in the back garden of the palace a few days ago, and I don't know how to come to the Great Song Dynasty from a thousand years later."

Yan Shu said: "He told me in the morning that Fan Zhongyan is good at everything, but he is stubborn, with hundreds of official pictures, which makes him embarrassed and degraded, and he once wrote "Lingwu Fu", which has a sentence "Rather die in silence, not live in silence", I learned about this and hurriedly came to the Vertical Arch Palace, but it turned out to be a step too late. ”

"Lingwu Fu"?

Fan Zhongyan was confused, he naturally didn't know that this was something he wrote after he was demoted to Raozhou next year, but the sentence in it "Rather die in silence, live in silence" is indeed a sentence that he can write, which makes him very moved.

"This matter was only known to me and several prime ministers before, do you know that I originally planned to appoint you as the Shaanxi Road Transit Envoy, all because that person said that Zhao Yuanhao would soon launch a rebellion, and now the Shaanxi Road Transit Envoy Fan Yong is not familiar with the military, and his command is inappropriate, resulting in a fiasco in the Battle of Sanchuankou."

Zhao Zhen looked at him and said seriously: "After that, I sent Xia Zhu as the pacification envoy of Shaanxi Jingluo, and Han Qi and you as the deputy envoy, but because you had a dispute with Han Qi, it caused the defeat of Haoshuichuan. The man said that Han Qi did not understand military affairs, nor did he understand the situation of the Northwest Frontier Army, so he took the liberty of ordering his soldiers to attack, causing a great defeat. Only you know the root cause of the local problem, so you took a firm hold and defended against Zhao Yuanhao's attack. ”

"Therefore, Your Majesty is ready to eliminate the invisibility before the incident causes trouble, and appoint you as the transfer envoy of the Shaanxi Road, in charge of the military and civil affairs in the northwest, so that the defeat of Sanchuankou and Haoshuichuan and the Dingchuan Village behind it has never happened."

Lu Yijian added the last sentence, and the old man's face did not fluctuate at all, but his tone was full of reproach.

If it weren't for Fan Zhongyan's hundred official diagrams, would he be so embarrassed?

Fan Zhongyan was silent for a long time and asked, "Your Majesty, the minister still thinks that this matter is ridiculous and untrustworthy. The minister thought that this might be someone swaggering and deceiving, or an internal response sent by the enemy country. ”

Zhao Zhen waved his hand, feeling a little tired, and motioned to Yan Shu: "Tell him everything that happened." ”

"Yes."

Yan Shu began to tell Fan Zhongyan about Zhao Jun's origins, including all his belongings.