The name of this little official who dared to raise objections in public was Wu Yuan.
Then why did Wu Yuan, as a minor editor and editor, clearly see that the emperor was interested in this plan, but dared to speak out to block it?
Could it be that he felt that the emperor's sword would be harmful to his head?
In fact, Wu Yuan had no worries about this at all before he spoke. Because he knew very well that even if his speech made Emperor Zhao Ma angry again, the other party would have nothing to do with him...!
Wu Yuan had such a weird idea. In other dynasties, it would be that old people eating arsenic would live longer! But in the Liang Song Dynasty, it would be too normal.
The fundamental reason why he dared to say and do this was because there had been an unwritten rule since the founding of the Song Dynasty.
What are the rules? That is, the emperor cannot kill ministers.
So why did the Song Dynasty have such ridiculous regulations? Shouldn't the emperor be supreme and take life and death for himself? This starts with the rebellion of Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin and Chen Qiao, who took away the land of the orphans and widowers of the Chai family and established the Song Dynasty.
When Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin first founded the country, he had no sense of security because martial men had been in power for a long time in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. Although he himself was the product of Wufu's chaos, he did not want to become the emperor who was deposed by the next Zhao Kuangyin.
So after weighing the pros and cons, Lao Zhao began to crazily suppress the general group in order to consolidate his imperial power.
First, he relieved the generals from their military power through "a cup of wine to release military power", and then gradually improved the status of civilian officials. He even told the people of the world that Zhao Song wanted to "share the world with the scholar-bureaucrats."
Zhao Kuangyin's operation was continued by subsequent emperors of the Song Dynasty. As a result, the Song army officers and soldiers were constantly suppressed by the civil service group and the imperial power. Joining the army even became a low-income profession in the late Northern Song Dynasty.
The proverb "A good man should not be a soldier, and a good iron should not be hammered with nails" was a true portrayal of the Song Dynasty in the late Northern Song Dynasty, and it did not change even until the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty. The descendants of the old Zhao family have carried out Zhao Kuangyin's ancestral precepts of emphasizing culture and restraining martial arts.
Therefore, in the later period of the Song Dynasty, the number of soldiers was mixed, and the combat effectiveness was low, which actually posed hidden dangers from the beginning of the founding of the country.
At that time, under the collective request of civil officials and with the intentional cooperation of Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin, the ancestral motto "Do not kill scholar-bureaucrats or people who write letters to express their opinions."
It is somewhat similar to the immunity of parliamentarians in some modern countries. Even if the ministers said something wrong, they were mostly criticized verbally. If the crime was serious, they would at most be sent to Lingnan to guard the border [today's Guangdong Province]. Because at that time, the Pearl River Plain in Guangdong had not yet been developed and was in a barbaric state.
So far, under a series of policies that favored scholar-bureaucrats, the Song Dynasty has become the era with the freest speech in history.
Compared with the four-class system of the Yuan Dynasty, the cruel and high-pressure emperors of the Ming Dynasty, the slavery and literary prison of the Qing Dynasty, the literati and officials of the Song Dynasty simply lived in paradise.
At the same time, the Song Dynasty was also the best period for officials' welfare. According to inquiries, the salary of officials of the same position in the Song Dynasty was five times that of the Han Dynasty, and 10 times that of the Qing Dynasty. Forget it in the Ming Dynasty, officials at that time could only starve to death if they expected salary...
Moreover, in addition to fixed salaries and wages, Song Dynasty officials also had many additional benefits; money for tea, wine, cooking materials, salary, horse feed, etc.; even the wages of the nannies and servants they hired were paid by the government. It basically covers most of the official’s food, clothing, housing and transportation expenses.
Finally, the Song Dynasty also established the earliest retirement pension system in history. When an official leaves office and is about to retire, the court will often give you a half-level promotion. After returning home, I can still receive a large monthly pension to spend my old age in peace.
Therefore, the life of a civil servant in the Song Dynasty was quite nourishing.
The end of the universe is the system, and the end of the system is the public examination. People in the Song Dynasty yearned for examination and compilation even more than modern people.
With such a high welfare system for literati, it is not surprising that most literati after the Song Dynasty miss Zhao and Song.
"I'm envious too...hehe!"
Closer to home, besides Wu Yuan and his brother who supported him, there was another person who objected to Zhao Mao's plan. The political advisor named Qiao Xingjian also raised objections.
Although they are both opposed, he is different from the Wu Yuan brothers. One of his objections was selfish.
First, brothers Wu Yuan were his students. In ancient times, the teacher-student relationship was one of the most important ties in official circles. If the students objected, the mentors would naturally support them. This is a matter of position.
In the Southern Song Dynasty and even in the middle and late periods of most dynasties, party formation became a common trend in the court. No matter how big an official you are, as long as you stay in this big dye vat for one day, you will inevitably need to form cliques. Relatives, teachers and students, fellow villagers, classmates, in-laws, etc. will unknowingly weave a big network around you.
These networks are intertwined with each other and conflicts of interest are constant. On the one hand, it is related. People who want to do things can use their own network to do things more conveniently; if one person achieves enlightenment, chickens and dogs will ascend to heaven.
On the one hand, forming a party has made some people successful; but on the other hand, forming a party can also easily cause many things to go wrong. Such as this time.
Second, Qiao Xingjian regarded Prime Minister Zheng Qingzhi as his biggest political opponent. This matter was initially promoted by Zheng Qingzhi.
So as a political opponent, Qiao Xingjian will oppose anything Zheng Qingzhi approves of; Qiao Xingjian will definitely be restrained by anything Zheng Zhiqing tries his best to promote.
Vice versa; it means opposing for the sake of opposing and trying to undermine each other.
Does everyone feel familiar when seeing this place? Yes, does it have a bit of the Donglin Party atmosphere in the late Ming Dynasty?
But from the standpoint of Emperor Zhao Ma, he was quite unhappy!
During this period, Emperor Lizong of the Song Dynasty Zhao Ma had just escaped from the hands of the powerful minister Shi Miyuan, and it was the time when he wanted to make a difference and revive the Song Dynasty.
Because countless ancestors in history have pointed out the direction for him; Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, etc.; all of them opened up territories and achieved a prosperous age after defeating powerful officials, and their existences shine in the annals of history.
As a young emperor around 20 years old, he naturally has such great ambitions. Putting aside the expansion of territory, is it not too much to get back the land lost by our ancestors? There is still such a good opportunity for being blind.
But he didn't expect that his subordinates would pour cold water on him right away. And this has not happened once or twice. One scoop on the left, one on the right; as if specifically against him as the emperor, trying to extinguish his newly ignited passion. It made his heart feel so cold!
How can I bear this? However, due to the ancestral teachings, these opponents cannot be punished. He could only helplessly listen to the quarrels among the officials in the court, which made him even more upset.
After arguing for several days, Zhao Mao, who had strengthened his confidence under the moon yesterday, saw that there was still no result; so at the court meeting the next day, Zhao Mao, who could not bear it anymore, stood up on the spot and shouted:
"No need for further discussion, gentlemen! I have made my decision and will implement it according to the plan. If you have any opinions, keep it to yourself. If you continue to argue, go home and raise your children..."
Then he still felt dissatisfied. He accidentally saw Wu Yuan who first raised objections, and pointed at Wu Yuan's nose and cursed;
"Without a king or a father, Wu Yuan will be deprived of all his official positions." He pointed to the palace door and said in a cold voice;
"Fork out!"
The eunuch next to him heard this and quickly gave him a wink.
Soon two soldiers on duty ran in and dragged Wu Yuan away.
At this moment, Wu Yuan didn't look as high-spirited as before, scolding Fang Dao.
He just looked downcast and kept shouting that the emperor had violated the ancestral precepts and couldn't do this to him!
But the guards didn't want to listen to him. They dragged him to the palace gate and threw him into the street. Turned around and entered the palace gate.
The sound of the official being thrown out of the palace instantly attracted the attention of the surrounding crowd.
"Who is this? He was thrown out of the palace."
"I don't know! But it must not be fun, otherwise..."
"Let me see, yo! Isn't this Mr. Wu?
Weren't you still reciting poems and composing poems with our Liu family in Anxiang Pavilion yesterday? Why are you in such a mess after not seeing each other for a day? "
At this time, a man dressed as a turtle in gray clothes squeezed in from the crowd and said in surprise.
"Wow~"
Mr. Turtle's words directly detonated the scene, and the people watching were talking about it. Some people even secretly spat at Wu Yuan.
Wu Yuan just felt that he was living in hell. He quickly pushed away the crowd, randomly found a direction with few people, covered his face and fled. I accidentally ran in the direction of Anxiang Building where I was yesterday.
The crowd behind them was even more excited!
"Bah, a dog can't change its habit of eating shit! Just after being taught a lesson by the emperor, he went to find the kiln sister again."
"It's true, these scholars are too shameless..." someone echoed.
Only the turtle man rolled his eyes, quickly got out of the crowd, and took a shortcut towards Anxiang Tower. He was planning to report the news to everyone Liu in advance.
As if he thought of something good, Mr. Turtle's eyes seemed to be filled with money along the way.
.......
This time, Zhao Ming decided against all opinions and decided to send his troops into Luo. After regaining the three capitals, he directly dismissed the courtiers and retreated from the court.
Although the strategy was set, Zhao Mao still had to get the support of one person in order to implement it. Who is so capable?
The envoy of Jinghu system was appointed by Shi Songzhi.
Speaking of Shi Songzhi, you may not be familiar with it, but his uncle is Shi Miyuan, a famous and powerful minister in the Lizong Dynasty. In other words, Shi Song came to power in the early stage by borrowing Shi Miyuan's power. .
But this Shi Songzhi is different from his uncle Shi Miyuan. This person is relatively controversial in history.
He still has some talents. He passed the Jinshi examination in the 13th year of Jiading. After receiving the news, Shi Miyuan happily asked his nephew where he wanted to be an official, and he made arrangements for it.
But what people never expected was that Shi Songzhi did not choose to be an official in Lin'an or some prosperous city, but chose an unexpected place. That's a major military town,
Xiangyang.
Open the map and you will know how important Xiangyang and Fancheng, as important places in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, were in the Southern Song Dynasty.
This shows the viciousness of Shi Song's vision.
After careful consideration, Shi Miyuan agreed to his nephew's request and sent him to Xiangyang.
The shrewd Shi Songzhi had long understood Xiangyang's position in the Song Dynasty's future wars. Therefore, after he arrived in Xiangyang, he began to actively prepare for war and build cities. Build Xiangyang City like a copper wall and an iron wall. This will also allow the Song Dynasty to continue to benefit from this in the future Song-Mongolian wars.
In addition, this Shi Songzhi also did a big thing around Xiangyang, farming.
He summoned the refugees and common people to tidy up some swamps and saline-alkali lands near Xiangyang; they should cultivate the soil and irrigate it. Then grow food on these wastelands. After several years of continuous efforts, he was able to turn Xiangfan, a major military town, into a large granary.
There is quite a sight of the 359th Brigade of our army reclaiming Nanniwan. Now, the food income of Xiangfan land can not only meet its own needs locally, but also support other neighboring armies. Even in the Battle of Caizhou in Song and Mongolia, the 300,000 stones of military rations carried by Zhang Han and others were provided by Shi Songzhi. I have to say that he is indeed a capable minister and official.
Not only did he make the land of Xiangfan prosperous, but he was also good at making camps. Not only did he get along with the officials in the DPRK, but he also relied on Shi Miyuan's connections to continuously get promoted in the past few years.
From the first general magistrate of Xiangyang Prefecture to the transshipment magistrate in the west of Beijing, he then moved to the right to be the assistant minister of the Ministry of Punishment, and now he is the envoy of the Jingxiang War Zone.
By the first year of Duanping, he had become the military commander and chief executive of the entire middle reaches of the Yangtze River in the Southern Song Dynasty. A veritable military and political leader, his importance is self-evident.
