"What, are you discouraged?"
Fan Zhongyan saw Zhao Jun's helpless look and said with a smile: "Didn't you have great ambitions before and want to change the Song Dynasty?"
Zhao Jun only felt his scalp numb now and said, "I feel really sick about this mess."
"So why did you think I targeted Lu Yijian and the others before?"
Fan Zhongyan shook his head and said: "Wang Zeng was kind to me. I have no choice but to take down Lu Yijian and the others first. Fortunately, I still have a group of like-minded partners."
"You want to rely on them to help you?"
Zhao Jun asked.
"if not?"
Fan Zhongyan said: "At least Qian said that historically they are quite reliable."
"I don't think Fu Bi and Han Qi are reliable."
Zhao Jun frowned and said: "You really wanted to reform the officialdom in history, and you mainly targeted the officialdom, but there are also stains on these two things."
"If there are stains, there are stains. At least they can help me reform my path."
Fan Zhongyan sighed: "It was along the way that I saw a lot of the darkness of officialdom, so I made up my mind to carry out reforms. Although you said that I only started it after a few years, you didn't know that I had already had the idea."
"Do you still have the courage to reform now?"
Zhao Jun suddenly laughed and said: "Hahahaha, Fan Zhongyan, you are preaching to me. They are trying to drag me in now. If you don't kill people, when you really reform, the end will be no different from what happened in history."
Fan Zhongyan looked sad. He had already thought of this result. Bao Zheng once said in "Bao Zheng's Memorial" that most of the officials in the Song Dynasty were corrupt.
You have to know that there were more than 40,000 officials in the entire Song Dynasty, plus hundreds of thousands of staff. What is the concept of 70% to 80%?
You might even say it’s less, but nine times out of ten it’s about the same.
What Bao Zheng understands, how could Fan Zhongyan, a senior in Kaifeng Mansion, not know it?
Fan Zhongyan rose up from the local level step by step. He knew everything about the current situation of official circles and the suffering of local people.
But he can only guarantee certain improvements while he is in office, but cannot guarantee what will happen after he leaves.
At least he heard that one of the corrupt officials he impeached was later transferred to Suzhou Prefecture as a general judge.
"Of course I dare to kill people, but I couldn't do it before. You don't know that when I found out what that official had done, I really wanted to cut him into pieces."
But after a while, Fan Zhongyan still cheered up and said with fighting spirit: "But it might not have been possible before, but now that you are here, there is still hope for everything."
"There is no hope, I just feel a little hopeless now."
Seeing Fan Zhongyan's optimistic look, Zhao Jun actually became happy and said, "They are trying to pull me in with their conspiracy. Even the emperor is on their side. What do you want to do? How about we go rebel."
"Don't talk nonsense."
Fan Zhongyan frowned. In the past, it was understandable that Zhao Jun was speaking unobtrusively. After all, he was a college student with little experience in the world at that time, and he relied on learning some history to guide his country.
But now that we have a preliminary understanding of the Song Dynasty, how can we still be like 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 wouldn't necessarily have helped Zhao Zhen. He could have killed me, or even committed suicide. I wouldn't have done it in the first place. I liked the Song Dynasty, but now I hate it even more."
"Why do young people die if they open their mouths and shut up?"
Fan Zhongyan was speechless, and then he persuaded him kindly: "You still need to have some ambition to be a human being. Although the Song Dynasty had many shortcomings and many difficulties in reform, it could not be replaced by a new look. You still need to have your own ideals and motivation."
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 be more careful, so you put this on me. If I want to take advantage of you, I won't point this out to you, anyway, just forget it If you pass the imperial examination, why don't you help me reform in the future? It can only eliminate some ills at most, but it can't change the entire officialdom."
"I actually didn't doubt you."
Zhao Jun smiled and said: "I know very well who you are in history. Apart from marrying a young prostitute, you have almost no stain. Otherwise, why do you think I came to you instead of Lu Yijian and his gang?"
"Are you testing me?"
Fan Zhongyan came to his senses and realized that this kid was indeed smart enough. As soon as he woke him up, he could become the guest.
"It's not a test, it's just a test to see if you have the determination to reform. I have said before that reform is not about treating guests to a meal, it is about killing people and bleeding. So if you want to succeed, you must give up your illusions and prepare to fight."
Zhao Jun shook his head and said: "Don't you want to cut off the Kaifeng government official you mentioned before and avenge the people? Don't you want to eliminate all those corrupt officials and give the Song Dynasty a bright and sunny day?"
"think."
Fan Zhongyan gritted his teeth and said, "I can't even dream of it."
"The darkness of the Song Dynasty that I see now is just 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 did not read the wrong person, and the history books did not write the wrong person."
Zhao Jun said: "Since you have an idea, I can only ask you, if nine cows can't pull you back, will you definitely stick to it?"
"That's natural."
Fan Zhongyan looked at Zhao Jun and said, "Do you have any ideas?"
"yes."
Zhao Jun said in a deep voice: "Since I have agreed to help, in order to prevent the Han people from being enslaved by the Mongolian, Yuan, Manchu and Qing Dynasties, I will definitely choose to continue. But now that I have clearly recognized the reality, I must find a suitable method."
"any solution?"
"Zhao Zhen is at best a good person, not a good emperor. You were right before. You must get rid of the stubborn conservative interest groups like Lu Yijian and replace those in power with your own people before you can do a lot of things."
"Do you want to depose Lu Yijian and support us in ascending the throne?"
"That's understandable."
"I'm afraid these are not enough. I have done this all the time in history, but is it successful? I don't have to wait for Lu Yijian and Wang Zeng to fight before it is my turn. And even if I go up and want to kill someone, the official The family still won’t 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 reforms failed in history was the lack of official support, he had always hoped that Zhao Jun could persuade the officials to support him from beginning to end.
But now I realize that even if I persuade the officials, what will happen? Not killing people is still just Wang Anshi's reform.
You must know that the content of Wang Anshi's reform is definitely not bad.
But it happened to be like that when we got down there. Doesn't it mean that the lower-level officials are rotten to the core?
If a large number of people are not killed to shock the officialdom, but these people are still left to continue to harm the country, then no matter what kind of reform it is, the lower-level officials will be emboldened and the implementation will never be in place.
Even if these officials are replaced, it will be useless. The fundamental reason is that the officials are too lenient towards them. Even if they take bribes, bend the law and kill people, 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.
But after chatting with Zhao Jun, I found out.
Own.
Seems like overthinking.
As long as the officials were weak, the Song Dynasty could not do anything.
"You can't kill."
Zhao Jun's face clearly showed a look of struggle, but thinking of what he had seen and heard these days, he gritted his teeth and said, "I'm here to kill him. For someone like Zhao Zhen, you must force him. You can't do this, so just I can only force you, because you are Zhao Zhen’s subordinate, an official crawling at his feet, and I am not. If I don’t accept it, I will be his father!”
Fan Zhongyan was shocked and said: "Have you ever killed anyone?"
"Never killed."
Zhao Jun shook his head: "But I may not be able to help killing people in the future. The things I have seen in the past few days will make me angry to death. It is normal for people to kill people when they are extremely angry. If I saw it with my own eyes When an official oppresses the people and destroys their families, I will not suppress my anger and chop him to death with a knife!"
"But without the official's consent."
Fan Zhongyan obviously hesitated.
Zhao Jun had already thought about it and said: "I'm not afraid of death anyway. 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?"
"Quotations of that great man."
"'Anthology of the Great'?"
"Yes."
"I've often heard you talk about it and I've always admired you."
"I hope this book helps you."
Zhao Jun decided to go back and sort out the "Selected Works" and then handed the notebook to Fan Zhongyan.
It's not that he doesn't want to copy it, but the "Selected Works" has a total of more than 1.5 million words. If it were copied, it would take years and months.
"Um."
Fan Zhongyan responded, 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: "There are internal and external troubles. The Western Xia and Liao Kingdoms are watching eagerly. Corrupt officials are rampant, and the local people are living in dire straits."
"No."
Zhao Jun shook his head: "You missed the point."
"What is it?"
"Remember what I said about the reasons for your failure in history?"
"There is no official support."
"Why doesn't he support you?"
"Some people criticize me and say I am a clique."
"Why is he worried about you having cronies?"
"this"
Fan Zhongyan opened his eyes wide, and then said: "Because the officials want to maintain their own rule."
"Yes."
Zhao Jun said coldly: "It's not that Zhao Zhen doesn't want to change, but he cares more about his own rule! Once his rule is threatened, 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 the civil and military forces of the dynasty are opposed to it, he will still choose not to support me anymore?"
Fan Zhongyan couldn't believe it.
"Look, you said I was naive before. You are just as naive. You didn't see that the essence of the matter lies not with the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty, but with Zhao Zhen."
Zhao Jun laughed. Maybe Fan Zhongyan couldn't see it, but he could only place his hope on Zhao Zhen.
Because in the Song Dynasty, Zhao Zhen still had the power to speak out.
It’s just that Zhao Zhen is afraid.
He was afraid that touching the cake of the scholar-official class would cause a counterattack by the scholar-official class, causing social instability and thus shaking his rule.
Therefore, he could only compromise with the scholar-official class and give in step by step, resulting in the wanton behavior of the scholar-official class today.
"In the end, it's not all in vain."
Fan Zhongyan found that he had thought too much before, and while chatting, he was as desperate as Zhao Jun.
"not yet."
Zhao Jun shook his head and said: "Now that we understand what Zhao Zhen is afraid of, many things can actually be solved. There are two things we have to do now."
Fan Zhongyan asked: "Which two pieces?"
"First, I will travel to various parts of the country to conduct in-depth investigations and understand the situation in the Song Dynasty, write an analysis report, and publish it in the future to find more like-minded partners."
Zhao Jun raised two fingers: "Second, you must go to the northwest and defeat Li Yuanhao. Then the Liao Kingdom will come to provoke you. If Li Yuanhao has been severely injured by you, you can win over Zusiluo to contain him, and then go to Hebei and fight with Li Yuanhao. The Liao army is at war. Now the Liao Kingdom is also suffering from internal and external troubles. As long as the Liao Kingdom is defeated, the Song Dynasty's foreign troubles will be quelled within at least twenty years, which will give Zhao Zhen more confidence to reform."
In fact, he didn't say anything.
That is, he does not intend to place his hopes on Zhao Zhen like Fan Zhongyan.
Because after he figured out many things, he realized that Zhao Zhen was actually a paper tiger as timid as a mouse.
Zhao Zhen was afraid of Liao and Xixia, so he could only sign the humiliating "Qingli Peace Agreement" and "Chongxi Increasing Coins" when facing Liao and Xixia.
Zhao Zhen was afraid of the civil service group, so when faced with the advancement of the civil service group, he could only choose to tolerate it. In addition to military power, he would increase the power of the civil service group without limit.
But he would never figure it out.
Tolerance will only lead to greed.
Therefore, after Zhao Jun recognized the reality, his mentality also changed.
At first, he naively thought that after he entered the officialdom and gained power, he could carry out reforms.
Only now did I find out they were all fake.
A great man once said that political power comes from the barrel of a gun. He decided to give up his illusions about Zhao Zhen and officially began to fight.
The first step in the struggle is to have great power in your hands, including executive power and military power.
Fan Zhongyan can obtain certain military power, but Fan Zhongyan cannot be trusted.
Because Fan Zhongyan is now cooperating with him, he has made it clear that he only hopes to change the order of the officialdom. At most, he will investigate a large number of corrupt officials, which will cause the civil service group to be damaged, but will not completely renew the civil service group.
To achieve a completely new effect, it is necessary to reduce the power of the civil service group, strengthen supervision of the civil service group, and transfer most local powers except governance to the central government.
They are not allowed to have the qualifications for corruption, they are not allowed to abuse their power in business, most of their benefits are cut off, and they are forced to do what they should do.
Doing so would be tantamount to breaking up the entire bureaucracy and creating a new bureaucracy.
Fan Zhongyan himself was a person under the original order system. Maybe he had the courage to kill those officials who harmed the people, but he definitely did not have the courage to completely break a bureaucratic system.
Because he was essentially a bureaucrat under the imperial power. Unlike Zhao Jun, he did not place himself under the imperial power.
So now Zhao Jun finally figured it out.
If you want to achieve your goals, you cannot always rely on others to give you power, but you must fight for power yourself.
If Zhao Zhen is not trustworthy, then force him to compromise with himself step by step.
Anyway, Zhao Zhen has already shown unlimited tolerance to Xixia, Liao and the civil service group, so what's the harm in adding one more person of his own?
(End of chapter)
