"What do you mean, Mr. Prime Minister?" Li Guangzheng asked.

"I don't have any other intention. Today I just want to take the liberty to ask you all, since ancient times, have kings employed people as willing to compromise as the officials?" Lu Haowen answered slowly. "After Yaoshan, with the power of the officials,

, it is obvious that we can form a team with young heroes to take the lead, and form a team that is more suitable for him, but why do we still need to use people like us? Can’t we use Lin Jingmo and Lin Jinglue? Can’t we use Hu Yin? Or retire.

One step is to simply make Zhang Shu the prime minister of the province. Who can stop him? Another step is to take a step back and use someone with deep qualifications to silence the world. Why not use Lu Yihao and Lu Jinglue who are even more irritated to him? But why you and me?

Why are you still so earnest in keeping Li Zhongcheng after Shaoxing?"

"Because..." After a period of silence, Zhao Ding raised his head for a moment and sighed. "Because the officials want to borrow the poise of us people."

"That's right." Lu Haowen nodded slightly, and then became serious. "But looking back, we have been ministers for more than a year, and there are some things that you and I are too cautious about... If nothing else, if Lu Yihao were here

Therefore, the peace talks to welcome the Second Saint that day would not have happened at all! The thing in Shaoxing would not have happened either! The so-called public opinion would blame him at most, Lu Yihao, because long before that, Lu Yihao had been able to remove those who had resigned in Shaoxing

Get those people out as early as possible! Everyone, no matter how small the turmoil is later, during the Shaoxing incident, letting the officials personally deal with the two saints and let the officials personally remove the seventy or eighty people is still what you and I call dereliction of duty.

!”

Prime Minister Zhao Ding's face was pale, and the other ministers, including Yushi Zhongcheng Li Guang, also had serious faces. Even Privy Councilor Zhang Jun was completely awe-inspiring. Because at this moment, someone finally questioned the ministers about the political trend in the previous few months.

There was accountability...but this accountability did not come from Zhao Guan's family, nor from the young officials and students after the Secret Pavilion incident, so it was not so formal and serious.

Moreover, Lu Haowen also effectively avoided possible political risks by including himself, a public minister who was not responsible for the incident, as an object of accountability and conducting self-examination in private.

But this is still a standard accountability exercise against the leadership.

At the same time, everyone present knew that the responsibility for this matter could not be borne by Lu Haowen, who did not care about general affairs.

The persons responsible are the four prime ministers plus a censor Zhongcheng who can be called half prime minister. They are accusing the four prime ministers and one Xian Tai for failing to successfully control risks, failing to demonstrate the responsibility and ability of the prime minister in political crises, and failing to safeguard

The political image of a good emperor.

This is their collective dereliction of duty.

"I..." Zhao Ding wanted to say something but didn't know what to say.

"The matter has passed. The official has taken up the responsibility of the people's speech and driven away those people personally. It is useless to talk more at this time. Besides, you and I know that this official never cares about this, and it is not you or me.

It can be restrained." Lu Haowen changed the subject, but remained serious. "But you and I have to learn from each other and gain wisdom. What we need to worry about now is what will happen in the future, otherwise there will be no talk of carrying on the past and forging ahead to assist the king in achieving great things...

Mr. Zhang?"

"Huh?" Zhang Jun was caught off guard and could only respond.

"After the war in Yaoshan, people were agitated. I heard that there were some rash remarks in Guanxi at that time. You and the others in Guanxi regarded the position as something in your pocket, but the officials placed Hu, Lin, Lu, Liu and others outside.

And put Mr. Zhao first, and you second...Are you dissatisfied?"

Zhang Jun was stunned... It was Lu Hao who asked this question?

But after being in a daze, Zhang Deyuan immediately woke up. The other party was asking condescendingly as a minister, and this place was at the junction of the harem and the front palace. There was no room for compromise between fairness and privacy.

Therefore, he immediately responded with a straight face: "This is absolutely not the case!"

"That's good." Lu Haowen remained serious. "I think it's great that the officials set up things like this. Because the officials themselves were thinking about the overall situation and were worried that the country would be kidnapped by the military. They ignored the people's livelihood in the south and rushed northward.

As a result, both internal and external losses were lost... That's why the steady Prime Minister Zhao was appointed as the prime minister of the province, and the enterprising Mr. Zhang was appointed as the prime minister, in order to balance. However, no one expected that the officials in the Song Dynasty court naturally wanted to

Steady, the Prime Minister gradually became more powerful and powerful, so that it caused such troubles. At that time, Mr. Zhao and I were more responsible, because Mr. Zhao and I should have stopped this trend from the beginning.

"

At this point, Lu Haowen just stared at Zhang Jun and responded slowly: "But now, whether the leader or the guardian, all have been removed, the people have scolded them, the ministers have been cleared, and all the people who have been added have been cleared."

Most of the key dispatches are young officials who took a stand during the previous turmoil..."

At this point, in the crowd, Li Guang couldn't help but glance at his close friend Chen Gongfu, but the latter just looked serious and listened with his hands tied.

"As the saying goes, this moment is the same as that moment." Lu Haowen continued to face Zhang Jun sternly. "Ms. Zhang, what I mainly want to tell you today is that if you, the leader of the main war faction, think that you can get a plan, you will no longer care about the livelihood of the country and do whatever you want.

When those young people got together with the generals and started making noise in the military, they actually made the same mistake as Mr. Zhao and I did before... but they went in the opposite direction and dumped all the hard work of the officials.

That’s all!”

Zhang Jun smiled bitterly for a moment and could only spread his hands: "Mr. Lu, what you said is very reasonable, but I didn't do anything, right?"

"It will be too late when things come to light." Lu Haowen sighed sternly. "Some things have to be said sooner or later, it's better to say them earlier... Mr. Zhang!"

"Here he is!" Zhang Jun responded helplessly.

"You must remember that you are the prime minister, and you cannot count the top three important ministers in the country. In everything you do, you should consider the overall situation of the country, empathize with the emperor's heart, resolve conflicts below, and adjust the yin and yang to ensure the stable operation of the country.

, and then you can think about what achievements and fame you will achieve. In other words, as long as you take care of your responsibilities properly, the country will achieve success in the future, how can it be possible that you will be deprived of an honor? The emperor entrusts the country to you, just as before.

The forces and speeds recently discussed in school are generally the same. Suddenly, there is an acceleration somewhere. It may be positive, it may be skewed, it may be backwards, it may be forwards. What you should do is not to wait for the speed to increase.

When it gets up, it exerts a counterforce to offset it."

Zhang Jun listened for a long time, unable to argue for a while, but he was still young after all, but he couldn't help but said: "Xiangong Lu... How come your words today are so different from those on Bagong Mountain? Is it because you have changed, or is it you?

Has the official family changed?"

Lu Haowen took a deep look at the other party and shook his head: "If we talk about changes, who hasn't changed after such a long time? But as far as what you and I said, the official family has not changed, and I have not changed either, but the current situation has changed.

, the position has changed! At that time, the country was in crisis, and the officials wanted to fight to the death. However, I experienced the Jingkang incident and was disheartened. Moreover, Li Gang and Li Gongxiang were entrusting their queen in Yangzhou. Of course, they would have made such rude remarks. Now the country is stable.

With the overall situation in mind, the official family is determined to expedition to the north and reorganize Kyushu, and I have also experienced Bagong Mountain, Nanyang, and the incident of being orphaned here last year. So far, staying in the court at such an age is nothing more than helping the official family.

Just keep your pace...Of course I will blame myself for my dereliction of duty in the past few months! Mr. Zhang, I could entrust you with Neo-Confucian manuscripts in the past, but I wonder if you can remember the original principles of Neo-Confucianism I just said today?"

Zhang Deyuan was speechless and could only bow his head and say yes, saying that he would definitely study the latest chapters of Yuan Xue when he got back.

However, Lu Haowen taught the two powerful ministers a lesson, but turned around and continued walking away. Everyone hurriedly followed. When he left Yiyoumen, the minister did not go to Chongwenyuan, Capital Hall, and Secret Pavilion further south.

What do you mean? Instead, he turned directly to Donghua Gate and left the palace alone.

In this way, let’s not talk about what the prime ministers were thinking about when they returned home, but here in the palace, at the third watch of the night, a candle was lit in Gyeongbokgung Palace as usual, but the Zhao family, who was alone in the empty room, rarely went to bed early.

, just lying on the couch, listening to the insects chirping outside and waiting for others.

Yang Yizhong returned hard and knew that he could not escape this situation, but he was careful to retaliate.

"How?" Zhao Jiu blurted out when he saw Yang Yizhong coming in, without waiting for the other party to salute.

"Report back to the official." Yang Yizhong replied sincerely. "If you want to find out clearly about this matter, it will take ten days and a half. However, the Mid-Autumn Festival has already passed. And if you want to clearly identify the relatives of the volunteers, you may have to wait until this day.

Maybe there will be a talent promotion ceremony after the postponement."

"Since I'm waiting for you today, I don't want to ask such detailed questions. There are always some rough data, right?" Zhao Jiu, who was wearing a robe, faced each other under the candlelight. "I only want some rough information, and

Just a rough ratio... these can always be easily asked, right?"

"Yes." Yang Yizhong knew it was unavoidable, so he went forward and reported it directly. "So that the officials will know that according to the law, all prostitutes must be registered as officials. However, according to my investigation, there are 570 people who have been registered as officials.

Eighteen people, most of them were from last year, and there are new ones added this year. Compared with the roster of nearly 10,000 people before Jingkang, there is a huge difference."

"If it's not the same, I might as well jump back into the well again."

Yang Yizhong pretended not to hear these words, and just continued to stand in the shadow in front of the couch and introduce: "But in fact, as far as I know, in addition to the official register, the night market in the east of the city, where restaurants gather, and the Cai River area in the south of the city,

There are some private prostitutes who are not registered in the official list. The specific ratio is different from the official registration ratio. I asked several subordinates to come forward and, in the name of checking the Jin people's spies, they questioned twenty or thirty main store managers separately with a dark face. They were about evenly divided.

To put it bluntly, in the prosperous place in the east of the city, the number should be less than one to one, that is, there are as few as ten people in each store, as many as twenty or thirty, depending on the size of the business of the main store; while in the south of the city, there are no

It’s a good statistic, but it’s generally acknowledged that there are a bit too many... about one to two or three compared to official status.”

"Is it to evade taxes? The south of the city is poorer?"

"yes!"

"The total number is about two thousand?"

"yes……"

"Why do I think it's a little less?" Zhao Jiu was a little puzzled. "Wars are frequent, and there are more than millions or tens of millions of people who have left their homes. Tokyo is the largest city in the world..."

"The official family." Yang Yizhong said seriously. "I have asked, and most of them were sold directly to the homes of wealthy families. The official family also ordered to redeem them once in Henan and Lianghuai areas... However, many

They are all sold south of the Huaihe River, so this number is really difficult to find out clearly. As for the capital, I also heard some other words from some people, saying that the official family was still simple, and the evil emperor Taojun used to play in the past.

The people below do not dare to have fun easily. When wealthy families come back, they usually just buy maids from other places to avoid being seen. When they have a banquet, they order takeout or hire a famous chef to have a banquet in a private house.

happy."

After Zhao Jiu came to his senses, his heart moved slightly, but he asked again: "What is the proportion of these two thousand people who were indeed bankrupted by the Jinren's war?"

"..."

"Why don't you speak?"

"I'm afraid the officials won't believe me if I tell you."

"..."

"I first asked twenty or thirty store stewards. Among them, the highest ratio was only four to one, and the lowest ratio was only eleven. On average, it was only eighty one. Later, I asked

I went to Caihe Night Market that night and asked twenty or thirty hotel stewards, and they all found the same thing." Yang Yizhong answered seriously. "The official family...Three years ago in Jianyan, the local army and bandits did more harm than the Jin people.

Three years after the Yan Dynasty, most of the disasters caused by the Jin people were the refugees in Hebei, but the government took over and resettled them at various crossings of the Yellow River. On the contrary, the refugees in Jingdong were more scattered, and the refugees in Jingdong could only be regarded as belonging to Liu Yu and Li Cheng.

Disaster."

Zhao Jiu had already believed it in his heart, and even felt that it was indeed the case, but he remained silent on his face. He spoke after a long while, but seemed to have directly passed over the matter: "Zhengfu..."
To be continued...