Teng Zongliang's demotion was a heavy blow to Fan Zhongyan, from Zhao Zhen's eyes and tone, Fan Zhongyan obviously felt distrust, Fan Zhongyan knew that the emperor was doubting his own fairness, and his rectification of the rule of officials had offended many people.

When he and Han Qi inspected the state capitals that day, all the officials who had heard of it were mercilessly written off; Fu Bi, who was not very tough at that time, once said to himself: "Fan Gong, your hook can make this family cry." At that time, he also said solemnly: "Yanguo, if I don't let the families of these officials cry, it will cause the people all the way to cry." ”

This incident was regarded as a beautiful talk in the court at that time, and even Zhao Zhen praised his classic saying that "a family crying is better than crying all the way".

And now, his good friend is abusing public funds under his nose, although he doesn't know it, but Zhao Zhen doesn't think so, and other people who hate him to the bone don't think so, they will think that they are turning a blind eye to protect Teng Zijing.

It's nothing for the ministers to poke the backbone, Fan Zhongyan has expected such a day since the implementation of the new policy, and he has long been mentally prepared, but for Zhao Zhen's suspicion, Fan Zhongyan is absolutely difficult to accept, if he loses Zhao Zhen's trust, this new deal may be stillborn. However, the good news is that although Zhao Zhen is a little alienated from himself, Zhao Zhen still plays all the new deals, and there is no hesitation, which more or less makes Fan Zhongyan feel a little calm.

The days passed peacefully, the New Year of the fourth year of Qingli also passed lively, the first day after the annual vacation, Fan Zhongyan felt that Zhao Zhen's face was even more gloomy, the emperor is an amiable person at all times, rarely angry, and rarely gives people a look, but in the morning of the day, the emperor was kind to Yan Shu Du Yan and others, but he was cold to himself and Han Qi Fubi and others, which made Fan Zhongyan feel that something was wrong.

After the early dynasty, Zhao Zhen left Yan Shu and Du Yan to summon alone, which made Fan Zhongyan feel like a pins and needles, in recent months, it is his own privilege to summon alone Yan Shu Du Yan and others have rarely met the emperor alone, and every time they go down to the court, they leave the hall as if they run away, they don't want to say anything at all, and Zhao Zhen didn't communicate with them much, but on the first day of the new year, the morning dynasty left Yan Shu and Du Yan, but he was not among them, Fan Zhongyan felt an inexplicable panic.

In the Chongzheng Palace, Zhao Zhenci sat in Yan Shu and Du Yan, and warmly greeted the two of them how the New Year was, how the family was, Yan Shu and Du Yan were suddenly summoned for some reason, so they had to answer one by one and deal with them carefully.

After greetings, Zhao Zhen suddenly was silent and stared at Liang in a daze.

Yan Shu and Du Yan looked at each other, and Yan Shu couldn't bear it, and asked softly, "Does the emperor have anything to discuss with his ministers?" ”

Zhao Zhen looked back at Du Yan and Yan Shu and said, "I have been on the throne for twenty years. ”

Yan Shu and Du Yan looked at each other, not understanding why Zhao Zhen said this, Yan Shu nodded and said: "Twenty-two years, the emperor ascended the throne in the first year of Qianxing, and the second year of Mingdao pro-government, so far it has been exactly twenty-two years. ”

Zhao Zhen nodded slightly and said: "It's so fast, it's been twenty-two years in a flash, I was only thirteen years old when I ascended the throne, it was Lu Xiang and the Queen Mother who helped me at that time, and now Lu Xiang and the Queen Mother are gone, and time flies." ”

Zhao Zhen sighed for no reason, Yan Shu and Du Yan couldn't pick up the conversation, so they had to nod their heads and say yes.

"You are the old minister who has followed me for the longest time, you say, in the past 22 years, how have I deserved this emperor? Is there anything that insults the ancestors? ”

Yan Shu was shocked, got up and knelt down and said: "The emperor is the emperor of heaven, there are only a handful of ancient and modern emperors who are benevolent and merciful, and my Great Song Dynasty has become stronger and stronger in the past 22 years, and it is a prosperous country, how can the emperor insult the ancestors, even if the Taizu Taizong is alive, he will never criticize the emperor." ”

Du Yan also said: "Yan Xiang is right, my Great Song Dynasty is unprecedentedly strong, all of this is because the emperor governs the country well, and the emperor is the first saint in ancient and modern China and abroad." ”

Zhao Zhen smiled slightly and said: "I don't dare to be the first saint monarch in ancient and modern China and abroad, even compared to Emperor Taizu Taizong, I also think that I am not as talented as them. ”

Yan Shu said: "The emperor is the king of Shoucheng, Taizu Taizong is the founder of the country, there is no comparison between the two, Taizu Taizong opened up the territory and created a foundation is naturally unparalleled in ancient and modern times, but when it comes to governing the country and being strong, the emperor is the winner." ”

Zhao Zhen laughed silently, raised his two thick eyebrows and waved his hand: "Get up and sit down, I will talk to you casually, why do you need to be so solemn." ”

Yan Shu and Du Yan got up and returned to the chair to sit down, but as soon as their buttocks fell on the chair, they were so shocked by Zhao Zhen's next sentence that they knelt on the ground again.

"However, some people say that I am not qualified, and they will plot to make me abdicate, saying that I am not suitable to be the emperor."

"This ...... This...... Whoever dares to talk nonsense like this, the emperor should not listen to hearsay, how can such words be heard. Yan Shu kowtowed and said urgently.

Zhao Zhen sneered: "Hearsay? It would be nice if I heard it, but here is a letter that was given to me yesterday, so let's both read it. ”

Yan Shu was surprised, Du Yan was delighted, Yan Shu was so shocked that someone dared to write such a letter in private, Du Yan was overjoyed, the letter finally arrived in Zhao Zhen's hands smoothly, and it was inconvenient for him to come forward after thinking about it, so he asked Huang Peisheng to help transfer the letter to the palace, and it was successfully handed over to Zhao Zhen.

"Take a look, take a look, there was an extra letter in Huang Peisheng's residence yesterday, Huang Peisheng was so frightened when he read this letter, he handed it to me overnight, I only knew that I was like this in the eyes of everyone, I didn't sleep all night, and I just summoned you two today to show you what this letter says."

Yan Shu trembled and pulled up the letterhead, took out the letter inside and unfolded it, just looking at the first sentence of his head, Yan Shu hurriedly kowtowed: "The emperor forgives the sin, the emperor forgives the sin." The old minister didn't know about it, although Fu Bi was the old minister's son-in-law, but the minister really didn't know what he was thinking......"

Zhao Zhen waved his hand and said: "Look at it, he is him and you are you, you don't have to be afraid." ”

Yan Shu rubbed his eyes, unfolded the letter and looked at it: "Brother Yan Guo, the manuscript of the poem has been read, the younger brother is high and has eight buckets to learn and be rich and five cars, and he has the knowledge of the country and the world, the old man is ashamed of himself, this rhyme and a song are given, and the old brother should not laugh." ”

“…… The younger brother and Fan Gonghan publicly promoted the new policy, so that the traitors and evil in the DPRK and China fled, and the people supported it, which is really an immortal achievement. …… There was frustration in the younger brother's reply, saying that the Jingshi had repeatedly committed traitors in a vain attempt to stifle the new policy, and said that because of Teng Zijing's matter, the emperor seemed to be suspicious of you and others, and he was afraid that the new policy would not be successful; The old man is here to comfort the elder brother, those who do great things must have great difficulties, and easy things are feasible for everyone in the world, how can you let the elder brother carry this burden? The emperor was suspicious because he was deceived by the villain, and the trip of the three was for the sake of my great Song Dynasty and ancient foundation. ”

“…… The king of the sages should be the first in the world, and the king of Yao Shun also has a precedent of giving up his high position to let the sages, and today's saints can be called Ming Jun, but if it is unfavorable to the ancestral society, why not follow the example of the ancient sages and choose to stand, but it is beneficial to me in the Great Song Dynasty, and the three gentlemen have come forward to do it, which is to live up to the grace of the emperor and the people......"

The letter sprinkled with hundreds of words, in addition to singing praises for Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi, and Fu Bi, vaguely expressed dissatisfaction with Zhao Zhen in the letter, and implicitly encouraged and instigated Fu Bi to join Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi and others to abolish Zhao Zhen and choose another Ming Jun to support him, which was an out-and-out letter of conspiracy to rebel.

Yan Shu's legs and feet were weak, and he collapsed on the ground, muttering, "How is it possible? How can it be? Although Yan Guo is stupid, he will never be so stupid as to be so stupid, and there must be something hidden in this. ”

Zhao Zhen sighed and said: "Look at whose handwriting it is, this person has written a lot of poems recently, mostly poems about the government, I know that he and Fu Bi are very close, but I didn't expect to talk about this matter in private, I am very heartbroken." ”

Du Yan said slowly: "Your Majesty, there is a signature of Guozijian directly talking about Shi Jie's letter at the back of this letter, this font...... It is indeed Shi Jie's font, his words are unique, very different from others, I really didn't expect that Shi Jie's old man dared to be so rebellious, this rich man is also bold, and he conspired with others to rebel, the emperor asked for an order, and the minister immediately arrested the two people for questioning, dug out the same party, and severely punished. ”

Yan Shu's eyes were straight, he had no idea in his heart, his mind was full of thinking that this thing was impossible, and he thought, if Fubi was unlucky, he was afraid that his father-in-law would not have a good life; The crime of rebellion is punished by the nine clans, the Fubi family is naturally not guaranteed, and they can't escape the implication, now the sky is going to fall, whether this kind of thing is there or not, it is a royal taboo, and I can't tell it clearly.

(PS: In order to oppose the new policy, Xia Zhu asked the maid in his family to copy Shi Jie's handwriting and forged a letter to Fu Bi, in which he hinted at the abolition of Zhao Zhen; This matter is a historical fact, if you are interested, you can go to verify, in order to prevent the party from getting to the bottom of the matter, this explanation is hereby made, of course, the content of the letter is the little brother's nonsense. ）