Bianliang City seems to be calm on the surface, the afterglow of the festival has not yet dissipated, and the colorful lights on the streets are still brilliant, but all this cannot dispel the haze in people's hearts, especially for Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi, Ouyang Xiu and others, the situation that was originally completely controlled has now become uncontrollable.

The two major events that appeared one after another were like two slaps on the stick, which made them dizzy and overwhelmed.

Guozijian directly said that the so-called rebellion letter written by Shi Jie to Fu Bi was sent to Zhao Zhen, and at the same time, Qian Mingyi, an official who had always expressed his support for the reform of the law, suddenly became troubled, and said that Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi and others had recruited court officials to form friends in a vain attempt to control the government and disrupt the government; Echoing Qian Mingyi, Yushitai Wang Gongchen, Liang Jian and others suddenly claimed that they were persecuted by Fan Zhongyan and others because of Teng Zijing's demotion and all of them proposed to return to old age.

For a while, there was a great uproar in the court, and some of the officials were supporters of the reform, and at the beginning of the reform, they also expressed their support for the new policy, but at this time, they couldn't help but feel worried; Before the facts are investigated, casual speech is likely to be classified as a partisan, so a large number of officials began to consciously or unconsciously alienate the new coup faction; And many officials who were originally opposed to the new policy naturally added fuel to the fire at this moment, fearing that the world would not be chaotic, and they went up to the fold to echo it, and some even demanded the immediate removal of Fan Zhongyan and Han Qi from their posts.

Similarly, for Shi Jie's instigation of Fu Bi to rebel against the establishment of a new king, everyone also spared no effort to fall into the ground, although everyone understands in their hearts that this kind of thing is false nine times out of ten, but at this time, who cares if he is true or false? The interests of the officials have been greatly harmed by the new policy, and some officials' sons, nephews, and brothers have been deposed one after another, and the tuntian fields have also been drastically reduced.

Zhao Zhen's heart actually didn't believe that Fu Bi would rebel, but he still decided to take the Guozijian to talk directly about Shi Jie, in Zhao Zhen's opinion, no matter whether there is another hidden story, he must show an attitude, that is, his position is unshakable, as long as there is the slightest sign in his mind, he will give a merciless blow; If Fu Bi is indeed wronged this time, before clarifying the facts, he still has to make a cautious and right posture, so that the officials know their attitude towards similar incidents.

As for Qian Mingyi's performance of Fan Zhongyan and Han Qi's formation of a party to control the government for personal gain, Zhao Zhen is also extremely vigilant. On the one hand, he pinned his hopes on the new deal to make the Great Song Dynasty politically harmonious, on the other hand, he held a wavering attitude of waiting for the opportunity to advance and retreat, Zhao Zhen of course knew that Fan Zhongyan and others had offended a lot of officials because of the new policy, and it was inevitable that they would be attacked, but on the other hand, he warned himself that Fu Bi was suspected of rebellion and Fan Zhongyan handed over the two things of friends, how terrible the consequences were.

If it is said that seven points of Fu Bi's rebellion are false, but if Fan Zhongyan really forms a party, then this kind of authenticity will suddenly increase to seventy or eighty percent, because once Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi, Ouyang Xiu and others are involved, once these people exert their strength, their throne is really not so secure, and even a little precarious.

Therefore, the crux of the problem is not whether Fu Bi really wants to rebel, but whether Fan Zhongyan is really secretly ganging up for personal gain.

Zhao Zhen didn't plan to go around the bend, in the morning of the nineteenth day of the first month, in response to Qian Mingyi's twists and turns, Zhao Zhen bluntly launched a big discussion in the court.

"Ladies and gentlemen, after the year, something happened inside and outside the court that made me unhappy, and the Qing family must have heard about it, and talked about the abolition of Shi Jie and Fu Bi's private message, I feel that the truth of the matter is unknown before I can't jump to conclusions, I have ordered the three yamen of the Imperial History Department of Dali Temple to jointly investigate this matter thoroughly, and the various rumors I have heard recently please respect your identity, and don't disturb people's hearts with false rumors."

The ministers stood solemnly with their hands down, no one dared to talk nonsense on this matter, and it was possible to excuse him as a member of the same party, let alone falling into the ground, the emperor meant that he himself didn't believe it very much, and jumping out to suppress it would lead to fire.

"But there is another thing I feel that it is quite necessary to listen to everyone's opinions, I heard that in all dynasties and dynasties, there are people who have formed friends with bad intentions, and the counselor Qian Mingyi gave me a recital, bluntly saying that some of you here have formed friends privately, and the accused person is a loyal gentleman in my mind, I really don't understand, forming a party is a villain's business, and there are also parties and private interests among gentlemen? Don't you hear that the friendship between gentlemen is as light as water, did I see the wrong person, or did I hear the wrong thing? ”

The ministers were even more silent, Qian Mingyi's performance was actually no secret, and everyone knew that the gentleman in Zhao Zhen's mouth was Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi and others, this matter seemed to be quite valued by the emperor, and there must be a good show to watch today.

"Yan Xiang, what is your opinion on this matter? Recently, I heard that you are not in good health, and you have been recuperating for a few days, are you feeling better now? Zhao Zhen began to ask by name.

Yan Shu covered his chest and coughed, and said in a deep voice with a tired face on his face: "Thank you for the emperor's concern, the old minister suffered from the wind and cold, and now he is much better." ”

Zhao Zhen nodded and said: "Don't take some things too seriously, I still have judgment, and besides, even if others are wrong, they will not forgive you, you don't have to worry too much, the court needs you, you can't collapse." ”

Everyone understood the meaning of Zhao Zhen's words, Zhao Zhen was reassuring Yan Shu: Even if Fubi's rebellion is true, I believe that it has nothing to do with you, as long as you don't do anything, it won't involve you, you can do it with confidence, don't be afraid.

Of course, Yan Shu understood, his face glowed with a little light, and he thanked him: "Emperor Xie is magnanimous, and the old minister is ashamed; The emperor said that the matter of the friend, the old minister has heard a little, in this matter, the attitude of the old minister is consistent, there have been many troubles between the friends of the past dynasties, Taizu Taizong and the first emperor have asked me to take the later people of the Great Song Dynasty as a mirror to prevent the source of this man-made disaster, so the old minister believes that if there are friends with the party, they must be severely reprimanded and ordered to dissolve, otherwise they will be severely punished; We must not lay the cause for the disturbance of the DPRK. ”

Zhao Zhen nodded slightly, Yan Shu's words said to his heart, if there are really friends in the court, he will never be soft, and there is no reason to talk about this point.

"Your Majesty, the old minister seconded the proposal, what Yan Xiang said is a good word, the emperor must not allow the young people to form a party in the court to persecute dissidents, my Song Dynasty is clear, how can I make a party disaster like the Li Tang Dynasty." Du Yan couldn't wait, and took the initiative to express his opinion without waiting for Zhao Zhen to ask.

Zhao Zhen nodded slightly, his eyes turned to Fan Zhongyan who was standing on the left, the opinions of everyone in front of him were foils, Zhao Zhen really seemed to hear what Fan Zhongyan was going to say, if today's court was a big drama, Fan Zhongyan was the real protagonist.

"Fan Aiqing, what do you think about this matter?" Zhao Zhen looked at Fan Zhongyan with anticipation, he still trusts Fan Zhongyan Zhao Zhen, this person has no bad deeds in his life, whether he is an official or a person, he is praised by everyone, Zhao Zhen expects Qian Mingyi's performance to be a false accusation, and also hopes that Fan Zhongyan can defend himself and tell himself that he is not a party.

Fan Zhongyan leaned forward to salute, the hair exposed outside the official hat was even more gray under the black head, since the beginning of the new deal, the pressure on Fan Zhongyan was huge, although his anxiety could not be seen on the outside, but his hair was whiter and more white than before, and the wrinkles on his face were thicker, the whole person was like a weathered old man, but his rickety body did not have a sense of decadence, and still gave people an unyielding power infection.

"Your Majesty." Fan Zhongyan spoke hoarsely: "Whether there are friends in the court, the ministers dare not make a rash assertion; But the minister thinks that even if there is a friend, there is no need to care too much, when the minister fights against the West thieves in the northwest, there are also soldiers who push and exclude others, and the brave soldiers always like to make friends together, and those who are greedy for life and afraid of death will also gather together to say some negative words. ”

Zhao Zhen frowned, Fan Zhongyan neither denied nor admitted, but came to be ambiguous, this kind of answer seemed reasonable, but it was definitely not what Zhao Zhen wanted. 、

"Fan Aiqing, according to what you said, there will naturally be 'people in groups' in the court, but then the friends will definitely exist, right?"

Fan Zhongyan said slowly: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the key to the problem is not whether the friends party exists, but if it really exists, what is the purpose of their party; If there are friends in the court, it is nothing more than the distinction between good and evil. If the party is a traitor, it will be a great harm to the community, and if the party is loyal, it will be good for the community, then what is the fault? Your Majesty only needs to observe with your heart and distinguish between loyalty and treachery, you can eliminate the worries of your friends, and you can only be loyal to treachery. ”

Zhao Zhen was deeply disappointed, although what Fan Zhongyan said was not unreasonable, but in Zhao Zhen's view, this is just to defend the fact that he formed a party, Fan Zhongyan refused to directly admit to forming a party, but threw out such a set of rhetoric, which is obviously contrary to He Zhaozhen's bottom line, as the supreme ruler, he must not allow officials to hug each other and get angry, that is a great damage to his authority, many emperors were deposed, and the government was seized by a group of so-called loyal ministers who formed a group of friends.

Zhao Zhen would never allow such a thing to happen, even Fan Zhongyan.