This Song Dynasty is different

Chapter 31 Li Xian’s topic, the official’s choice
Everyone was watching the official squatting there being punched and kicked by the little girl. One of the servants wanted to go over, but was stopped by Zhang Ze.

"Give me back!" The little girl didn't have much strength, so she sat on the ground and howled.

"When the emperor cries, God will show mercy." Li Xian squatted beside Zhao Zhen and said, "I have donated countless things and sacrificed countless times. What did God give me? Did it give peace to the Song Dynasty and its people?"

The country was not peaceful and the people were safe, but the country was getting weaker and weaker, so much so that Zhao Zhen even had the idea of ​​​​reform.

"So, what are you asking for?"

Li Xian stood up and said, "I originally wanted to give you some money and food, but I wanted to let you experience it at least."

Marquis Dingyuan left.

The officials with red eyes found out the two officials in charge of this place. They wanted to kick them, but they couldn't bear it. In the end, they closed their eyes and asked for strict investigation.

Then came the disaster relief. Officials personally took charge, and the Third Division also solemnly brought food and clothes.

The refugees rejoiced and thanked God for having eyes.

Zhao Zhen asked the woman, "Isn't this the money and food given by the government? Why do you have to kneel down and thank God?"

The woman gritted her teeth and said: "The slave family fled from their hometown with the villagers. There were good and bad officials along the way. The good ones gave us some food, while the bad ones drove us away as thieves... Most of us died along the way! Noble man, you still feel that Should a slave kneel down and thank the government?"

Zhao Zhen turned around, his face flushed.

He stood there and murmured: "Who said last time that today is a prosperous age?"

No one answered him.

He went to Li's house.

Speak out your confusion.

"They even hate the government."

"Let me use an analogy. The Song Dynasty pays attention to contracts, right!" Li Xian said: "So, if the people pay taxes, what does the government need to pay as reciprocal compensation? Protection! I paid taxes and did work, then the government should pay They protect us according to the contract. But what are the officials doing?"

"Drinking wine, eating meat, reciting poems and writing lyrics." Zhao Zhen thought of the rumors he had heard that local officials had nothing to do and often took prostitutes on trips. At that time, he thought this was an elegant thing.At this moment, he couldn't help but have thoughts of murder.

"So, the government has broken the contract, and you still expect the people to be grateful to the government?" Li Xian said, "The people have fulfilled their duties, but the government has neglected their duties. What will happen if things continue like this?"

"Public resentment is stagnant." Zhao Zhen thought thoughtfully.

"You have read history and seen the rise and fall of dynasties, and you also know that the demise of dynasties comes from the corruption of officials and the people's livelihood. Do you know this process?"

"I would like to be taught." Zhao Zhen held his hands in a serious tone.

“Trust cannot be built in a day or two, but it can be destroyed overnight.”

The officials returned to the palace and spoke at the court meeting, hoping to stop the fasting ceremony.

Wang Qinruo was the first to stand up and object.

Yan Shu and others tried to dissuade him.

There were many people supporting the official family, and the two sides had a lively quarrel at the court meeting, which got so exciting that they even fought.

In the end, a compromise was reached.

"Lose most of it." A chamberlain brought the news.

Xinghua felt that Lang Jun had tried his best, but she found that Lang Jun was depressed.She asked Wang He.

"Lang Jun is a good man." Wang He looked at the boss with complicated eyes. He had been in the northwest for a long time and was used to seeing people killing people just to survive.There, survival is the biggest wish.As for others, as for my family, country and world, it is none of my business.

But the boss is crying for the homeless people.

——Li Xian quietly went to the refugee camp again. When he saw the refugees eating pancakes mixed with most of the grains and singing happily together, Wang He found that he was crying.

Not tears of happiness, but...

"This is my shame." Li Xian was drinking in the study.

Wang He was outside the door under the eaves, "Mr. Lang, this is the responsibility of the emperor and the prime minister, and has nothing to do with you."

"But God allowed me to see that scene."

Then the boss said something that puzzled Wang He, "Since God has let me come here and see this, he wants me to do something."

This was the first time Li Xian got drunk.

Wang He stayed outside.

"Dad! Don't leave! Dad..."

"Take me back, Mom, take me back..."

The stars in the sky were twinkling, and Wang He and the night merged together.

On the second day, Li Xian got up very early.

His morning exercise made Wang He look a little confused. After the exercise, Li Xian was sweating profusely, took a shower, and came out to have breakfast comfortably.

The Li family's breakfast is not complicated. Even if they are rich, they only have one more chicken per person.

The staple food is steamed cakes. With the vegetables available this season, I use them to make soup and add a few pieces of mutton. It’s very rich.

After breakfast, Li Xian took the initiative to enter the palace.

"Guan family, Marquis Dingyuan wants to see you."

Zhao Zhen argued with his ministers for a long time yesterday. Although he felt tired, he was so excited that he successfully achieved his goal for the first time, so he didn't sleep well at night.

Li Xian came in and saw that Zhao Zhen was still eating breakfast, so he waited for a while.

"You tell me." Zhao Zhen has to study later.

"Let's talk after you finish eating."

Zhao Zhen glanced at him and knew it was not a good thing.After he finished his breakfast, Li Xian sat down.

"Since the beginning of the First Emperor, all kinds of fraud have been prevalent in order to build the emperor's authority. Before birth, the mother dreamed of a red sun in her arms, or after birth, the fragrance lingered around the beam for three days, or the mother met a dragon in the fields... about dragons. I have a great appetite, or I draw my sword and kill the white snake, or I have all kinds of strange phenomena.”

Zhao Zhen had a headache, "Brother Guoan, what do you want to say?"

"What I want to say is that all of this is to create authority." Li Xian said sarcastically: "The more people lack something, the more they like to make up for it. If they lack self-confidence, they create gods. If they lack prestige, they make lies... …I don’t care about any of this, it’s none of my business.”

"Most of the Zhaijiao has been cut off."

"But when the next emperor feels that they lack authority and confidence, they will still fall back on this method and use the blood and sweat of the people to make lies."

Li Xian looked at Zhao Zhen with bright eyes, "The only way is to cut it off! Starting from this generation, we will completely cut off the Zhaijiao and the heavenly books."

The Song Dynasty pays attention to an ancestral rule. Zhao Zhen will also become an ancestor in the future, and the rules he left behind will also become the ancestral rules.

Zhao Zhen lowered his eyes.

Zhang Ze said in a low voice: "Master Marquis, the official family had a dispute with the officials yesterday and most of them were reduced. If it is completely cut off, the reputation of the late emperor will be..."

To completely cut it off is to declare: All these things the late emperor made are fake!
Filial piety is extremely powerful at this time.

Li Xian smiled bitterly, stood up and nodded, "I understand."

When the emperor integrated family and state, family affairs became state affairs.The emperor's filial piety also became a state matter.

Zhao Zhen looked up and watched Li Xian striding out, but hesitated to speak.

"Am I too timid?"

Zhang Ze lowered his head, "The officials have been decisive enough."

How could Zhao Zhen dare to cut back on the Zhaijiao ceremony?
"Everyone talks about filial piety. The emperor should take the lead in setting an example and set an example for the world. In this way, if children and grandchildren respect their fathers and ancestors, the small family will be stable. Only when thousands of small families are stable can the stability of the Song Dynasty be achieved. Mr. Sun said, don't We must underestimate the words of the sages, and governing the country must start from those details."

"But Brother Guoan is different. He always scorns human nature and questions Confucianism in governing the country."

"Is filial piety wrong?"

Zhao Zhen fell into deep thought.

"The emperor is selfless, am I wrong?"

"But if we cut off the fasting ceremony, what the late emperor did back then will become a laughing stock."

Zhang Ze lowered his head.

Zhao Zhen raised his head, "Fooling the people's hearts... all the scholar-bureaucrats know that they are fooling the people's hearts. Only the late emperor deceived himself, thinking that he was really loved by God..."

"What should I do?" Zhao Zhen covered his head and frowned in pain.

"Official!" Zhang Ze was horrified.

"Whose fault?" Zhao Zhen shook his head. "Filial piety is right, but are the people at fault? The people are not at fault. If an emperor restarts large-scale fasting in the future...how can the people be blamed?"

Zhao Zhen raised his head, "On the one hand, it is to protect the face of the late emperor, and on the other hand, it is to bring vitality to the people. This is the question that Brother Guoan asked me! Which side should I choose?"

Li Xian walked slowly in the palace.

Most of the maids and maids carrying supplies in the palace were missing, and it looked a little deserted.

He saw Jingxian in front of him.

"Does my Taoist family have any grudge against Dingyuan Marquis?" Jingxian asked calmly.

"No." Li Xian shook his head. He had a good impression of Taoism.

"Then, Marquis Dingyuan will take action to destroy our Taoist family..."

"Wait a minute." Li Xian stopped him and said with a smile, "Do you think you are a Taoist?"

"Pin Dao is the leader in the Bianjing Taoist lineage!" Jingxian said calmly.

"In my opinion, the real Taoist is not in the palace." Li Xian said sarcastically: "The king just said a word and he came running like crazy. What do you want? Wealth! The real Taoist is in the mountains, in the busy city, in the In the smoke of fireworks, in the Tao Ran Wang Ji, but not in the wealth!"

Jingxian was furious, "How dare you slander my Taoist lineage despite your ignorance?"

"Don't use tiger skin as a banner. No one can stop you from seeking wealth, but there is one thing: don't harm the world."

"Zhai Jiao can communicate with heaven, and heaven sends blessings..."

"Shut up!" Li Xian stopped him and said coldly: "During the late emperor's time, there were no such things as fasting and feasting? But the sky is still angry and people are angry, and there are endless floods and droughts. Where were you waiting at that time?"

Jingxian's blocked eyes turned red, revealing a ferocious look, "Dingyuan Marquis, don't be complacent. The rules set by the late emperor are the ancestral rules. Don't think that you can just be on good terms with the officials. Change all this. Pindao is willing to bet that within three years at most, the scale of Zhaijiao will be expanded again. Our Taoist lineage will flourish!"

Li Xian looked at him and said, "I won't be able to do anything like this again if I am to do something that harms the country and the people."

"Idiot! Do you think you are a god?" Jingxian turned around and glanced at several Taoists. They all looked at each other and laughed.

"Hahahaha!"

Amidst the laughter, someone was running in the distance.

Then, a chamberlain appeared from behind and blocked the way of those chamberlains carrying supplies.

The crowd stopped.

Jingxian turned around.

The chamberlain shouted:

"Your Majesty has ordered that from today onwards, fasting and feasting will be suspended. This will be a permanent rule!"

……

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(End of this chapter)