"What, discouraged?"

Fan Zhongyan saw Zhao Jun's loveless appearance, and said with a smile: "Wasn't it ambitious to change the Great Song Dynasty before?" ”

Zhao Jun only felt his scalp tingle now, and said, "This mess, I really feel disgusting." ”

"So you still think that I targeted Lu Yijian for what they were for?"

Fan Zhongyan shook his head and said: "Wang Zeng has been kind to me, I have no choice, I can only get Lu Yijian and them down first, fortunately, I still have a group of like-minded partners." ”

"You want to count on them to help you?"

Zhao Jun asked.

"Or else?"

Fan Zhongyan said: "At least you said, they are quite reliable in history. ”

"I don't think Fu Bi and Han Qi are reliable."

Zhao Jun frowned and said: "You really want to reform officialdom in history, and you are mainly targeting officialdom, but these two also have stains." ”

"There are stains on them, at least they can help me reform the path."

Fan Zhongyan sighed: "It was precisely because I had seen a lot of the darkness of this officialdom along the way that I made up my mind to carry out reforms. Although you say that I started in a few years, I don't know that I already have an idea. ”

"Do you still have the courage to reform now?"

Zhao Jun suddenly laughed and said, "Hahahaha, Fan Zhongyan, you still teach me yourself." Now they want to pull me in, you don't kill people, and when you really reform, the end will be no different from history. ”

Fan Zhongyan's face was gloomy, he had already thought of this result, Bao Zheng once said in "Bao Zheng's Recital" that the corrupt officials of the Great Song Dynasty were seven or eight out of ten.

You must know that there are more than 40,000 officials in the entire Great Song Dynasty, plus hundreds of thousands of officials, what is the concept of seven or eight out of ten?

It may even be said that it is less, but nine times out of ten it is about the same.

Bao Zheng understands the truth, how could Fan Zhongyan, as the predecessor of Kaifeng Mansion, not know?

Fan Zhongyan has risen from the local level step by step, and he knows everything about the current situation in the officialdom and the suffering of the local people.

But he can only guarantee that he will improve when he is in office, and he can't guarantee what he will become after he leaves.

At least he heard that one of the corrupt officials he impeached at the beginning was still transferred to the Suzhou Prefecture for general judgment.

"I naturally dare to kill someone, but I can't kill him before, don't you know that when I know what the pusher did, I really want to dismantle him."

But after a while, Fan Zhongyan still cheered up and said with fighting spirit: "But maybe not before, but now that you are here, there is still hope for everything." ”

"There's no hope, and I just feel a little hopeless right now."

Zhao Jun saw Fan Zhongyan's optimistic appearance, and he was actually happy, and said: "They use Yang Mou to pull me in, even the emperor is on their side, what do you want to do?" Or let's rebel. ”

"Don't talk nonsense."

Fan Zhongyan frowned, Zhao Jun could understand it before, after all, he was a college student who was not deeply involved in the world at that time, and he relied on learning a little history to guide the country.

But now that I have a preliminary understanding of the Great Song Dynasty, how can I still do this?

Zhao Jun shook his head and said, "I'm different from you, I actually don't care." If Yan Shu hadn't kidnapped me with morality, I really wouldn't have helped Zhao Zhen. If he wants to kill me, it's okay to commit suicide, I didn't like Da Song at the beginning, and now I'm even more disgusted. ”

"How can a young man open his mouth and shut up and die?"

Fan Zhongyan was speechless, and then persuaded with good words: "To be a man is still to have some ambition, although the Great Song Dynasty has many drawbacks and many difficulties in reform, it is not impossible to take on a new look, and it is still necessary to have its own ideals and momentum." ”

Zhao Jun glanced at him and said, "Do you also want to use me to help you reform?" ”

Fan Zhongyan understood his thoughts, but he was still a little angry and said, "I just reminded you to have more eyes, so you put this eye on me." If I wanted to take advantage of you, I wouldn't have pointed it out to you, anyway, even if you were admitted to the exam, wouldn't you help me reform in the future? It's just that at most, some ills can be eliminated, and the entire officialdom cannot be changed. ”

"I didn't actually doubt you."

Zhao Jun smiled: "I know very well who you are in history, except for marrying a young prostitute, there is almost no stain." Otherwise, why do you think I came to you instead of Lu Yijian's gang? ”

"Are you tempting me?"

Fan Zhongyan woke up, this kid is really smart enough, just wake him up, he can turn against the guest.

"It's not a temptation, it's just a test to see if you have the determination to reform. As I said before, reform is not a dinner party, it is about killing people and shedding blood, so if you want to succeed, you must give up illusions and be prepared to fight. ”

Zhao Jun shook his head and said, "Don't you want to cut the Kaifeng Mansion official you said before and avenge the people?" Don't you want to purge all those corrupt officials and corrupt officials, and give the Song Dynasty a sunny day? ”

"Yes."

Fan Zhongyan gritted his teeth and said, "I dream of it." ”

"The darkness of the Great Song Dynasty that I see now is the tip of the iceberg, and you have seen countless times more than me, but you still have the will to reform, which means that I have not seen the wrong person, and the history books have not written the wrong person."

Zhao Jun said: "Since you have an idea, then I can only ask you, is it that the nine cows can't pull you back, will you definitely persevere?" ”

"That's nature."

Fan Zhongyan looked at Zhao Jun and said, "Do you have any ideas?" ”

"Yes."

Zhao Jun said in a deep voice: "Since I have promised to come out to help, in order for the Han people not to be enslaved by the Mengyuan Manchu Qing, I will definitely choose to continue." But now that we have a clear understanding of the reality, we must find the right way. ”

"What's the solution?"

"Zhao Zhen is a good person at best, not a good emperor, you used to be right, you must get out of Lu Yijian's stubborn conservative interest groups, and replace the upper power with your own people, so that you can do a lot of things."

"Do you want to depose Lu Yijian and support us to ascend?"

"It can be understood that way."

"I'm afraid that's not enough, I've done this in my history and now, but has it succeeded? It's not that I have to wait for Lu Yijian and Wang Zeng to fight before it's my turn. And even if I go up, if I want to kill someone, the official side will still not let go. ”

Fan Zhongyan suddenly felt a little tired, because he found that he was also a little idealistic.

After learning that the reason why his reform failed in history was the lack of support from the officials, he always hoped that Zhao Jun would be able to move the officials and support him from beginning to end.

But now I found out, even if the official family is moved, what can I do? If you don't kill anyone, it's still just a change of law by Wang Anshi.

You must know that the content of Wang Anshi's changes is definitely not bad.

But when it comes to the bottom, it becomes like that, doesn't it mean that the low-level officials are rotten to the roots?

If we don't kill a large number of deterrent officialdom and keep these people to continue to plague the country, then no matter what kind of reform it is, the lower-level officials will have nothing to fear, and the implementation will never be in place.

Even if these officials are replaced, it is useless, the fundamental reason is that the officials are too tolerant of them, even if they are corrupt and bent on people's lives, it will not affect their continued promotion and wealth, but will only make them more unscrupulous.

So he initially hoped that if Zhao Jun could be on his side, the situation would be much better.

I found out after chatting with Zhao Jun.

Myself.

Seems to be thinking too much.

As long as the official family is weak, then Da Song can't do anything.

"You can't kill people."

Zhao Jun's face obviously showed a look of struggle, but thinking of what he had seen and heard these days, he gritted his teeth and said: "I'll kill him, Zhao Zhen's kind of goods, you have to force him, you can't do this person, you can only force me, because you are Zhao Zhen's subordinate, an official who is prostrate at his feet, I am not, if I don't accept it, I will be his father!" ”

Fan Zhongyan was shocked: "Have you ever killed someone?" ”

"I haven't killed it."

Zhao Jun shook his head: "But I may not be able to help killing people in the future, just what I have seen in the past few days will make me almost angry in the future, it is normal for people to kill people when they are extremely angry." If I see with my own eyes a certain official oppressing the people and destroying the people, I will definitely not suppress my anger and hack him to death with a knife! ”

"You don't have to get the consent of the government."

Fan Zhongyan was visibly hesitant.

Zhao Jun had already thought about it and said, "Anyway, I'm not afraid of death, now I have a big plan, do you want to hear it?" I also have a book that you can read, and you should show it to your friends. ”

"What book?"

"Quotes from the great man."

"The Great Anthology?"

"Yes."

"I've often heard you talk about it, and I've always admired it."

"I hope this book helps you."

Zhao Jun decided to go back and sort out the "Anthology", and then handed the notebook to Fan Zhongyan.

It's not that he doesn't want to transcribe, but the "Anthology" has a total of more than 1.5 million words, and if it is copied, it will be the year of the monkey.

"Hmm."

Fan Zhongyan answered, and then said, "What are your plans?" ”

"Let's analyze the problem first."

Zhao Jun said: "What is the problem we are facing now? ”

Fan Zhongyan said in a deep voice: "Internal and external troubles, the Liao Kingdom of Western Xia is eyeing the tiger, corrupt officials and corrupt officials are rampant, and the local people are struggling to make a living. ”

"Nope."

Zhao Jun shook his head: "You didn't grasp the point. ”

"What is it?"

"Remember when I told you about the reasons for your failures in history?"

"I don't get the support of the government."

"Why doesn't he support you?"

"Some people attacked me and said that I formed a partisanship."

"Why is he afraid that you have a friend?"

"This"

Fan Zhongyan's eyes widened, and then he said, "Because the official family wants to maintain their rule. ”

"Yes."

Zhao Jun said coldly: "Zhao Zhen doesn't want to change, but he cares more about his rule!" If it threatens his rule, he will not agree. ”

"In other words, everything you said before was in vain? Even if there is a reform in the future, and there is a situation where both the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty oppose it, will he still choose not to support me anymore? ”

Fan Zhongyan couldn't believe it.

"You see, you said before that I was naïve, you are as naïve, and you don't see that the essence of the matter does not lie in the Manchu Dynasty's civil and military affairs, but in Zhao Zhen."

Zhao Jun laughed, maybe Fan Zhongyan couldn't see it, but he could only hope for Zhao Zhen.

Because in the Great Song Dynasty, Zhao Zhen still has the power to say everything.

It's just that Zhao Zhen is afraid.

He feared that the cake of the scholar class would cause a counterattack by the scholar class, causing social turmoil and thus shaking his rule.

Therefore, he can only make compromises with the scholar class and retreat step by step, resulting in the wanton behavior of the scholar class today.

"In the end, it's not a waste."

Fan Zhongyan found that he had thought too much before, chatting and chatting, he was as desperate as Zhao Jun.

"Not yet."

Zhao Jun shook his head and said: "Now that we have figured out what Zhao Zhen is afraid of, then in fact, many things can be solved, and there are two things we have to do now." ”

Fan Zhongyan asked, "Which two?" ”

"First, I will go to all parts of the country to conduct an in-depth investigation and understand the situation of the Great Song Dynasty, write an analysis report, and publish it in the future to find more like-minded partners."

Zhao Jun raised two fingers: "The second is that you must go to the northwest to defeat Li Yuanhao, and then the Liao State will provoke, if Li Yuanhao has been greatly injured by you, you can win him over, and then go to Hebei to fight with the Liao army." Now the Liao State is also worried about internal and external troubles, as long as the Liao State is defeated, the external troubles of the Great Song Dynasty will be calmed down in at least 20 years, and Zhao Zhen will be able to give Zhao Zhen more confidence to reform. ”

Actually, he didn't say anything.

That is, he does not plan to pin his hopes on Zhao Zhen like Fan Zhongyan.

Because after he figured out a lot of things, he already realized that Zhao Zhen was actually a timid paper tiger.

Zhao Zhen was afraid of the Liao State and the Western Xia, so in the face of the Liao State and the Western Xia, he could only sign the humiliating "Qingli Peace Conference" and the "Chongxi Increase".

Zhao Zhen was afraid of the civilian clique, so in the face of the civilian clique's gains, he could only choose to tolerate it, and increase the power of the civilian clique without restriction in addition to military power.

But he'll never figure it out.

Forbearance will only be exchanged for insatiable greed.

Therefore, after Zhao Jun recognized the reality, his mentality also changed.

At first, he was naïve enough to think that after he entered the officialdom and held great power, he could carry out reforms.

Only now did I find out that it was all fake.

The great man said that power comes out of the barrel of a gun. He decided to give up his illusions about Zhao Zhen and officially began the struggle.

And the first step in the struggle is to have great power in your hands, including power and military power.

Fan Zhongyan can get a certain amount of military power, but Fan Zhongyan is not credible.

Because Fan Zhongyan is now cooperating with him, it is clear that he only hopes to change the order of officialdom, and at most investigate a large number of corrupt officials and corrupt officials, causing the civil official group to suffer from injuries and bones, but will not completely rejuvenate the civilian official group.

In order to achieve a new effect, it is necessary to reduce the power of the civil bureaucracy, strengthen the supervision of the civilian bureaucracy, and bring most of the local power except for the power of governance to the central government.

They are not allowed to be qualified for corruption, they are not allowed to abuse their power in business, most of their welfare is cut off, and they are forced to do what they are supposed to do.

Doing so is tantamount to breaking down the entire bureaucracy and creating a new bureaucracy.

Fan Zhongyan himself was a person under the original order system, and he may have the courage to kill those officials who plagued the people, but he definitely did not have the courage to completely break a bureaucratic system.

Because he is essentially a bureaucrat under the imperial power, unlike Zhao Jun, he did not put his position under the imperial power.

So now Zhao Jun has figured it out.

If you want to achieve your goals, you can't always rely on others to give you power, but you have to fight for power.

Zhao Zhen can't be trusted, so he forces him to compromise with himself step by step.

Anyway, Zhao Zhen has already tolerated the Western Xia, the Liao State and the civil official group without restrictions, so what's the harm in adding one more of himself?

(End of chapter)