Chapter 401: It’s a fight or a harmony

When Qin Xianglian set out on the road to Bianjing again, Chen Yuan's wedding date was very close. During this period, the court was in full swing.

The smooth battle situation on the front line made the people feel much straighter, but many people in the court did not think so. When the battle situation was critical, everyone had the same idea. It was a consensus among everyone.

Now victory is in sight, and differences arise. Radical people hope to destroy Dangxiang directly and create a brilliant record that the Song Dynasty had never created before. While those conservatives hope to continue to uphold the virtue of "benevolence" and promise Li Yuanhao's peace, and both sides turn war into jade.

This kind of debate became more and more intense as Wu Hao was ordered to come to the Song Dynasty to seek peace, and the ministers almost started to quarrel when they met.

In fact, it is not just the so-called issue of virtue. The most important thing is that it affects the vital interests of some people!

Whether to fight or reconcile, Fan Zhongyan has a strong voice, and he now manages the northwest. However, at this time Fan Zhongyan submitted a memorial to Renzong - "Answer the Handwritten Decree and the Ten Things"!

The memorial proposed to rectify redundant officials and appoint talents. The memorial proposed to cut redundant officials and streamline the core content of the organization.

Fan Zhongyan had no command of war or peace, but this memorial caused a sudden change in the court!

Fan Zhongyan wants to reform, which is something everyone knows. He has mentioned this issue many times in public, but no one expected that he would choose to take action at this time!

"Answer the Handwritten Decree and Executing the Ten Things" is actually a declaration of reform. Once Renzong approved this memorial, it means that the reform of the Song Dynasty will take steps!

What does reform mean?

When Zhao Guangyi took over his brother's world, he was determined to make some achievements, but he was defeated repeatedly. Zhao Guangyi was not able to fight, but political struggle was a good piece of material. He immediately realized that he might not be able to build his prestige in the army. If he wanted to maintain his position, he could only rely on those scholars and officials to suppress the military meritorious class.

Zhao Guangyi formulated the system to support the literati and officials. Not only did the team of civil and military combinations left by Zhao Kuangyin were immediately replaced by him, but the generals lost their voice in the court, and even had to obey the command of the literati and officials when they were promoted or even in war!

Among the people, those literati and officials had a high status. They not only had private land, but also public land rewarded by the court.

The scholar-official class was very proud in the Song Dynasty. They never thought that Fan Zhongyan, who was also a scholar-official, would have stabbed him in his own people!

Clearly promoting and demoting will make those officials who are just living at a loss. Choosing a superior will break their iron rice bowl! Although the tribute and tribute can make it easier for talented people to stand out, what should these disciples and disciples of scholars and officials do?

Also, Fan Zhongyan actually proposed "equal public land", which is simply fatal! Public land was rewarded by the emperor to officials, as a supplementary income other than the salary of officials to ensure the integrity of the officials.

So there is no need to pay various taxes. Once the public and land is even, the small officials are happy, but the high officials in their court are unhappy!

Reform touched the interests of the literati class. If it were put in the past, these literati would not have taken such threats. The reason is very simple. The army of the Song Dynasty was not good and it was defeated repeatedly. Your emperor could only count on our fair tongue to protect your country.

The situation is different now. The Song Dynasty's army showed strong combat effectiveness in the battle against Dangxiang, Chen Shimei's raids were outstanding, and Fan Zhongyan also steadily had the upper hand in combat on the frontal battlefield.

With the return of Liu Ping and others, the truth of the Battle at Sanchuankou also emerged. Dangxiang's 40,000 army besieged 10,000 Song troops, occupying all the right time, place and people, and even fought for four hours, killing and injured more than 6,000 people. In the end, it was through Huang Hede's trick to achieve a decisive victory.

Who dares to say that the Song army cannot fight? Who dares to say that the only one who can protect the Song Dynasty is the only one of the literati and doctors?

Now, the emperor's new army is ready. After going to the battlefield, it will soon launch a decisive battle with Fan Zhongyan's troops against Li Yuanhao. If they win, it will be almost a foregone conclusion that the general will return to the court.

These scholars and officials are all wise. They know very well that their tongues are not as hard as those generals' steel swords. Therefore, they must stop the generals from coming back and must stop Fan Zhongyan from reforming!

Not all literati and officials were like this. In the court, Fu Bi and Han Qi strongly supported Fan Zhongyan's reform.

Especially for "mainstagrams" like Ouyang Xiu and Song Qi, who are in their thirties, they feel that their talents are perfectly competent for higher positions, but because there are some veteran qualifications who have no achievements in those positions, which makes them have to wait until those veteran qualifications can no longer move and cannot get on the court before they can get up. Among their officials of this level, the most people support Fan Zhongyan's reform!

Judging from the current situation, the focus of everything is on whether Renzong accepted Li Yuanhao's request for peace. As long as Renzong could accept Li Yuanhao's request for peace, there would be no need to fight the war, and those warriors would have no chance to prove themselves again!

In order to achieve this, the two old rivals Pang Ji and Xia Su stood on the same front this time to fight against the reform faction composed of Fu Bi, Han Qi, Fan Zhongyan and others.

War means opening a path for reform, and harmony means continuing to maintain the status quo.

Chen Yuan supported war and reform. But what he said was too light! Although the prince-in-law is in charge of the position of the Fangsi, he could only stand at the end of his left hand when he was in court.

Lu Yijian has already expressed his attitude to Chen Yuan, and he is out of the matter in this struggle.

Chen Yuan was very curious. Lao Lu was not a person who was willing to be ordinary. What's more, in Chen Yuan's opinion, this was the best opportunity for Lu Yijian to stab Pang Ji. Renzong supported reform, which was what they all knew. To support reform, he had to suppress those conservative figures. If Lao Lutian made the fire, it would be natural to let Renzong use Pang Ji to attack. Pang Ji was too arrogant on weekdays, so it would not be difficult to catch his braid.

Why did Lu Yijian miss this opportunity?

Chen Yuan asked this question, but Lu Yijian did not say it. Lao Lu just advised Chen Yuan to be low-key and not too ostentatious.

Chen Yuan did not listen to what Lu Yijian said. Although the Song Dynasty did not have successful reforms in history, Fan Zhongyan's new policy lasted for only two years. After the front-line troops were defeated repeatedly, Renzong completely lost confidence in the army, and strengthening the army became a failed game that Renzong played on a whim.

But that's because there was no one named Chen Yuan in the Song Dynasty. At least the current situation in the border is very favorable. The party that is about to take the initiative to attack is the Song Dynasty!

Chen Yuan has no way out, so he cannot choose to be low-key. He has already invested a lot of money in the Dangxiang community. How can he not fight at this time? What's more, if he can participate in formulating a country's national policy, he thinks he will make no less money than winning a battle.

As long as the policies of the Song Dynasty were tilted towards merchants, not to mention anything else, they would give merchants some social status and give them some political capital when going out to negotiate business, which is better than anything else.

For this goal, Chen Yuan worked hard to beat Fan Zhongyan.

Similarly, the merchants behind him were also working hard to beat Chen Yuan. They spread news among the people through various channels, spreading the benefits of the reform widely, which undoubtedly added some strength to Fan Zhongyan!

Chen Yuan's villa also became a place where those who advocate reform often gather. Ouyang Xiu, Cai Xiang, Wang Su, Yu Jing, Shi Jie, these people became regular guests. Chen Yuan left them a private room every night and asked them to bring other officials to persuade those officials to support the reform during the banquet.

Except for the money you need to pay for yourself, all the expenses are made of wine and food.

Ouyang Xiu's attitude towards Chen Yuan is now quite kind. Building a humble house for students and building a charity village for hungry people has made Ouyang Xiu look at Chen Yuan with admiration. Now this businessman with a stinky smell actually supports his teacher's reforms, and Ouyang Xiu can no longer find a reason to be hostile to this merchant.

"Brother Chen, I'm here to bother you again!" Ouyang Xiu said it was to bother you, but walked in with a smile on his face, just as casual as he walked into the Hero Tower.

Chen Yuan was thinking of reading a letter. The letter was written by Hu Yan Ruizhu. He hadn't received her message for a long time. He was really worried about it.

Seeing Ouyang Xiu come in, he hurriedly put away the letter, got up and fisted: "What are you talking about Lord Ouyang? How many people are coming today?"

Ouyang Xiu thought for a while and said, "It may be six, or seven. Please clean up the room for us, just keep the wine and food as they were yesterday, and don't waste too much."

Chen Yuan nodded: "I have always kept the room, but Lord Ouyang, if you want to convince everyone this day, how much verbalism will it take?"

Ouyang Xiu glanced at him: "Brother Chen feels sorry for the money for wine and food?"

Chen Yuan smiled: "That's not, but I have a solution. You see, Lord Ouyang, it's feasible. I think it's better to spend more money and arrange a debate, so that those who oppose the reform can stand up and make a clear statement with us, and arrange more people to listen to each other. What do you think, Brother Ouyang thinks?"

After hearing this, Ouyang Xiu said, "I had this idea for a long time, but it would delay your business. I was afraid that you would not agree, so I didn't say it."

Chen Yuan thought to himself that Ouyang Xiu did not understand the way of management at all. Such a debate about national policy would inevitably cause a sensation. As long as the people from both sides were worth enough, it would definitely be much better than the effect of advertising himself!

But he said righteously: "Brother Ouyang, don't think about me like this. Although I, Chen Shimei, are a few years younger than you, I can still clearly distinguish between the business and the national policy."

After hearing this, Ouyang Xiu said, "Shimei, I blame you wrongly. I'm not here to accompany you for my brother!"

As he said a long bow, Chen Yuan hurriedly stepped forward and helped him up: "Brother Ouyang is not here? That's it. Brother, I don't have any other skills. Brother Ouyang is responsible for the organizer. Brother, please help you to set up a place. How about it?"
Chapter completed!