Chapter 25 9. Cleverly "taking the blame" for superiors

Not long after Wen Yanbo paid homage to the Prime Minister, an incident happened, and a group of admonishing officials attacked him, criticizing him verbally and in writing.Concubine Zhang Guifei's uncle, Zhang Yaozuo, originally had a low position and was unknown, but suddenly he was promoted several levels within a few days and was appointed as Xuanhui Envoy, Jiedu Envoy, Jingling Palace Envoy, and Group Shepherd System Envoy.Concubine Zhang "rectified" Wen Yanbo, a doer, and wanted to take the opportunity to provide some benefits to her uncle. Anyway, who is the country's treatment?As soon as the wind blew on Concubine Zhang Gui's pillow, Song Renzong agreed in a daze, and when the appointment was announced, the crowd was excited.

The first to attack was Tang Jie, the royal servant in the palace. He had a blaster temper, and he would fight to the death with anyone he caught.It is not easy for an admonisher to do this job, and it is easy to be pissed off when he catches up with a pinch of salt into the fire. Later, Tang Jie was pissed off because he prevented Wang Anshi from reforming.Tang Jie understands the truth of being alone, but when an admonisher encounters something, he rarely fights alone, and usually fights in groups.As soon as Tang Jie took the lead, a group of admonishers followed, such as Wu Kui, Chen Xu and others, strongly condemning Song Renzong.The imperial court suddenly became a vegetable market, and the yelling was endless.

Song Renzong pretended to comfort a few words, who doesn't have a few poor relatives!It's human nature to help others, is this a thing?In the eyes of the censor and admonisher, this matter violated the political system. Because Zhang Yaozuo was a relative of the emperor, he was promoted to a noble position, so why didn't the court say anything about the officials who went deep into the grassroots and made outstanding achievements?Very unfair.The censor who debated the most excitedly was Bao Zheng. "Quwei Old News" records: "Bao Zheng begged for the right, but made a big statement that he couldn't do it. He repeated hundreds of words, vomited anger, and spat on the emperor's face." Bao Zheng raised his voice. Confronting the emperor, Song Renzong retreated step by step, but Bao Zheng was too sharp, so the matter was dropped.Concubine Zhang Guifei heard that Bao Zheng had committed Yan Qiezhi's crime, so she thought it was a success, so she went to thank the official's family.Unexpectedly, Song Renzong wiped his face with his sleeve and said, "Bao Zheng spit on my face, you know that Xuanhui envoy is Xuanhui envoy, don't you know that Bao Zheng is the censor?"

At that time, Song Renzong was pissed off by Bao Zheng. He looked left and right and sent a signal for help to the officials. A group of ministers held their wats and kept silent, lowering their heads and pretending not to see.At the critical moment, Wen Yanbo stepped forward to help and said a few words in support of Song Renzong.To support the emperor is to support Concubine Zhang, and to support Concubine Zhang is to support oneself.Wen Yanbo could not be more clear about this chain of interests, but after all, he is a newcomer and has not yet figured out the general environment of the central government, so he suffered a disadvantage.

Supervisory officials in the Song Dynasty included admonishers and censors, and admonishers such as Gishizhong, Advise Dafu, Zhengyan, Buque, Sijian, etc., were dedicated to giving opinions to the emperor.The censor is the one who pickets all the officials. The original picket target was the emperor, but because of the admonition officer, the picket target was changed to the prime minister.Wen Yanbo is just like that if he doesn't say a word. Now that he speaks, come on, come along!Tang Jie took out a bullet to impeach Wen Yanbo, accusing him of accommodating traitors, turning a blind eye to Zhang Yaozuo's incident, and seriously suspecting that his motives for worshiping the prime minister were improper.After rigorous reasoning and speculation, Tang Jie believed that Wen Yanbo had given gifts to Concubine Zhang Gui through the eunuchs, and became prime minister through the back door. Therefore, Wen Yanbo spoke out in defense of the Zhang Yaozuo incident. His purpose was not pure, and he wanted to take the opportunity to win him over. Concubine Zhang used this to consolidate her position in the court.It is suggested that Wen Yanbo be removed from the position of prime minister and Fu Bi should be appointed.

Song Renzong thought that this matter was done strictly, but he didn't expect that everyone below knew about it.Tang Jie was obviously making trouble out of no reason, the Zhang Yaozuo incident has already been accepted by you, why did you drag Wen Yanbo in by the way?Song Renzong made a decisive decision, and Tang Jie was demoted.Tang Jie said bluntly, if you say demote, you will be demoted, so why be afraid of it?It seems that this effect is what he wants.Tang Jie became famous because of this, and he was called "True Censor".Wen Yanbo stood up to the officials, but there was a lot of trouble in the end, and everyone in the officialdom knew about it.Faced with huge pressure from public opinion, Wen Yanbo resigned, Zhang Yaozuo's benefits were all annulled, and Tang Jie was demoted to Yingzhou to pass the sentence. This matter was successfully concluded, and the interests of all parties in the court returned to the balance point.

After several years of operation, Wen Yanbo's established profit chain was instantly destroyed by the admonisher.He suffered the most in this incident. Not only did he lose his face, but everyone knew the gossip, and he might say something ugly behind it.Wen Yanbo was at a disadvantage because he was not familiar with the general environment of the court's officialdom, and his rapid promotion put him in the position of being the target of public criticism.As the head of all officials, Wen Yanbo didn't seem to have a good idea how to balance the interests of all parties.The strangeness of the environment has brought about tragedy, one foot deep and one foot shallow, and one foot may step on an official mine.

Mr. Bo Yang mentioned that the Song Dynasty was a paradise for scholar-bureaucrats, and wrote: "This is a good system for the scholar-bureaucrats whose main knowledge is writing articles. Any progressive reforms and things they don't know. The purpose is not to put his opinions into practice, but to hope that his articles will leave a good impression on the emperor's mind. Therefore, no matter how small and boring Everything will cause fierce debate." The conclusion can be said to be bloody and straight to the hearts of the people.This kind of boring bickering, the most famous one is the "Pu Yi" dispute that happened in the Yingzong Dynasty.

Song Renzong had no children, so he fostered Zhao Zongshi (Zhao Shu), the son of King Pu Zhao Yunrang, in the palace.Zhao Shu ascended the throne as Song Yingzong, how should he call his biological father?Han Qi, Ouyang Xiu, etc. are called fathers according to the order of human relations.According to the patriarchal system, Sima Guang, Lu Huo, Fan Chunren, etc., the emperor was inherited from a non-direct lineal branch. In order to determine the legitimacy of the throne, the biological father should be called "Emperor Uncle".We quarreled for 18 months.The great etiquette dispute during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty in later generations was similar to it, which lasted longer and had a greater impact, which shows the lofty status of morality in the hearts of the Chinese people. The "Pu Yi" dispute exposed the common faults of civil officials and scholar-bureaucrats in the Song Dynasty, which can be roughly summarized into five characteristics. These five common faults of civil officials ran through the Song Dynasty for 319 years, and they were also the official environment of the Song Dynasty:

1. Principles, no methods; 2. Emphasis on face, less on pragmatism; 3. Do not investigate and make random comments; Four, good fame, inaction; Five, good slander, little evidence. But Wen Yanbo needn't be depressed. Wang Fuzhi's "On the Song Dynasty" commented that Song Renzong "has no ambition", saying that he lacks courage, but he is a good person.Wen Yanbo made the emperor a scapegoat once, and the emperor knew it well, and he would be on the throne again in a short time.Because you have won face for the superior, the superior will definitely find an opportunity to give you face.