Promotion and fortune in Song Dynasty

After being shut down several times, Zheng Jian, who has not been assigned any duties yet and is at home, gradually understands the truth of his transfer back to Beijing.

——It seems to be favored, but it is actually neglected.

Although Zheng Jian figured this out, he couldn't understand it at all: Why did those people headed by Lu Ci get rewarded and rewarded for building a city in the same battlefield?

He asked himself, in the matter of building the city alone, he really seemed to be picking his teeth.

However, his achievements in sending people to the aboriginal people to appease the tens of thousands of aboriginal soldiers are real.

He only needs to pay the price of building a city and counting false titles, and he can get tens of thousands of foreign soldiers. Even in the eyes of merchants, this deal is a guaranteed profit, and it has become the reason why he was left out in the cold!

The more Zheng Jian thought about it, the angrier he became.

I'm afraid that the officials are too partial to the 'little master', Aiwu and Wuxia, no matter what Lu Ci does, they will agree with each other!

At this moment, a friend of Zheng Jian couldn't bear to reject his invitation again, so he came to Zheng's house on a holiday, and tried to comfort him.

Zheng Jian said indignantly: "I know that Lu Ci is in full swing, and I intended to avoid him. However, he was the envoy of his way under the imperial order, so he should have nothing to do with me. Am I stumbling everywhere?"

The 'old department' who opposed him everywhere was naturally referring to Wang Shao.

Seeing that he was on the edge of a corner for a while, his friend was very embarrassed and didn't know how to persuade him.

Zheng Jian looked at the slightly embarrassed opponent, and said sourly: "I am very grateful that you are willing to come to visit today, and I will not ask you to embarrass you."

At this time, Lu Ci was in a state of great glory. At that time, he wanted to avoid the edge for the time being and did not want to offend him. How could he expect friends who were not relatives or old friends to join him in launching the impeachment?

"You."

The friend sighed.

Given his friendship with the other party, how could he not hear Zheng Jian's resentment at the moment?

Before getting up to leave, he hesitated again and again, and still reminded him gently: "Have you ever thought that this matter may not be done thoroughly enough?"

The court officials who are often in Bianjing don't know much about the border affairs, so it is understandable that they made a wrong judgment after completely listening to his memorial.

But Zheng Jian has been serving as the chief envoy of the Fourth Route for more than half a year, how could he be so careless?

Officials will not hesitate to accept what Lu Ci said, or it can be attributed to the word "preference".

However, whether it is the chief executives in the political affairs hall or the court officials who discuss matters in the palace every day, there are many people who are not at peace with Lu Ci.

Even after they thought it over, they chose to agree with what Lu Ci and the others said—this is enough to prove that what Zheng Jian said seemed wonderful, but it was just a castle in the sky, and they didn't know the details of the border people.

Just build a city?

That's a waste of time and money, and it just adds to the variables!

Zheng Jian nodded absently.

Seeing that he didn't listen at all, his friend smiled helplessly, and didn't try to persuade him much, so he left and went home.

In the next few days, the front of Zheng's house was full of people, showing the coldness of the world and the warmth of human relationships.

Zheng Jian resented that Lu Ci's power was so powerful that no one dared to stand up to meet him, but he didn't know that there was already an undercurrent surging in Quezhong.

Even without Zheng Jian's share, the censors' memorials to impeach Wang Shao for privately dispatching troops without an edict have already piled up in the official case.

However, the little emperor brazenly used the omnipotent "drag" tactic--hmm, ah, but suppressed them all and left them alone for the time being.

Whether it is Lu Ci or Kou Zhun, even though they know that Wang Shao's actions are too impulsive, it can be seen that he is a rare general: he can accurately judge and grasp the opportunity of battle, and he has the ability to put himself at the mercy of the overall situation. The courage to be in a dangerous place, and the ability to make quick decisions.

To be honest, when Lu Ci was still in Qinzhou, he also went to a dangerous situation without a military order, and used a small number of soldiers to contain Xia Bing, and that's how he won that big victory.

What Wang Shao didn't know was that because of this strategic coincidence, even though Lu Ci and Kou Zhun were thousands of miles away at this time, they still had a tacit understanding and decided to join hands to keep him.

Regardless of whether Wang Shao's merits will outweigh his demerits or his demerits, whether he will be punished or rewarded, at this critical moment, the absence of this wise general cannot be tolerated.

When the general is outside, he is most afraid of the king's suspicion: the censor's ten thousand-character impeachment document can't stand up to the king's suspicion, which is fatal.

In the eyes of everyone, Lu Ci and Wang Shao can be regarded as having a friendship between superiors and subordinates and recommendations, so the credibility of their defense must be discounted.

For Kou Zhun, there is no such concern.

He resolutely retaliated against some officials who couldn't hold back the face-to-face attacks, and made the other party speechless with his sharp lips.

And whenever the officials were questioned more and couldn't help but have doubts, it was Kou Zhun who argued hard and stood up to defend Wang Shao.

Lu Ci also did not hesitate to use Qinzhou's private dispatch of troops as an inducement to play the emotional card with Zhao Zhen.

He said bluntly in the memorial that at the border, it is difficult to know the affairs of the temple, and it is impossible to refute himself in time.

If it weren't for the wise monarch, most of the border generals' energy would be wasted on guarding against the court officials' slander and frame-up, and they could only allocate a little or two to manage front-line affairs.

Zhao Zhen was a little dizzy by the little master's oblique boasting: he was very satisfied with the results of the battle reported by Wang Shao, and with the repeated foreshadowing of Lu Ci and Kou Zhun's two-pronged approach, he was very satisfied with Wang Shao's arbitrarily active soldiers. Whispering, it gradually turned into an understanding of 'the fighter plane cannot be delayed'.

Seeing that the turmoil of impeaching Wang Shao was going to be turned into a minor matter with the acquiescence of the officials, there was another turmoil in Beijing.

The reason was that Wang Ping and his son Wang Zhongfu were accused by Deng Wen procuratorate, and Dao had committed adultery with Wang Shiduan, the wife of Dali judge Wang Shiduan.

It is contemptible for an official to commit adultery, let alone a father and son having an affair with him?

As soon as this matter got out, it immediately became a huge scandal that was hotly discussed in the streets and alleys of central Beijing.

And the ones who learned about it earlier than the common people and started to work immediately were the censors who were in charge of impeachment.

The wave of impeachment against Wang Shao's private soldiers was quickly overshadowed by this rare scandal in a century. Zhao Zhen was secretly stunned, but also quietly relieved.

He immediately issued an edict ordering Dali Temple to investigate the matter, and within half a month the result came out—this staggering adultery case was actually true and not false.

Wang Zhongfu usually gives people the image of a bohemian, unrestrained and unrestrained prodigal, but it is still an eye-opener for many people to be so absurd.

According to the "Song Xingtong", those who rape married women should be imprisoned for two and a half years: Don't say that the incident is known to everyone, even if it is a secret report, for Zhao Zhen, who is reserved by nature, he must not be tolerated.

After Zhao Zhen couldn't hide his disgust and issued an edict to strip the father and son of their official status and send them to the fields, the vigorously tossing case should come to an end and become a little gossip for the common people after dinner.

Unexpectedly, a few days later, Wang, who was about to be imprisoned, confessed repeatedly that besides Wang and his son, there was also a great nobleman more than a year ago who had an affair with her.

——This 'great' nobleman is none other than Lu Ci.

Wang Yuan, who was in charge of pushing the case at Dali Temple, couldn't believe it.

In view of Lu Ci's good reputation for being unfeminine and clean-spirited for many years, he intuitively felt that this was a false accusation, so he did not announce it to the public, but conducted a rough investigation on his life experience first.

As a result, it was preliminarily found out that the Wang family was from Suizhou, and before marrying Shi Shiduan as his successor a year ago, she was actually a female envoy in the Lu family's Yizhuang!

Just during the period when he was conducting more investigations, whether the Western Army headed by Cao Wei or the Eastern Army headed by Lu Ci, they all sang triumphant songs and made great achievements repeatedly. Constantly, it also made Cao and Lu extremely popular.

If this is true, Lu Zhaofu, who is so famous, will be dragged off his horse by his own hands. This is a good time for him to make a name for himself!

Thinking of this, even though Wang Yuanli prided himself on being cautious, he couldn't hide his excitement.

Since it was found out that Mrs. Wang really had some contact with Lu Ci, then this confession may not be a random bit, but may be true.

Wang Yuan gained confidence and immediately sent someone to continue the investigation.

And he made a big move and needed to mobilize more manpower, so naturally he couldn't hide it from others.

The first to get the news was Wang Yuan's in-laws.

Through the mouths of Wang Yuan's in-laws, more friends soon learned of this huge "scandalous incident" of the "perfect man" who has always been the official's favorite.

It was passed on from ten to ten, and in less than half a day, even Zheng Jian, who was at home, knew it, let alone Yu Shitai, who had a keen sense of smell?

Not to mention the censor's gossip, there is no need to personally discuss the authenticity, let alone the news that the subject said it himself, and it has been passed on with a nose and eyes?

When Zhao Zhen read the memorial to the new situation that developed from the scandal that made him frown, his first reaction was to rub his eyes.

Even if the name and surname of the adulterer with the Wang family were replaced with anyone in this world, it would be much more credible than the word 'Lu Ci'.

It's ridiculous, how could Mrs. Wang have an affair with the young master!

If it weren't for the emptiness under his knees, he would have wished to be recruited as a son-in-law with such an elegant and modest gentleman as the little master—and he couldn't even think about who suffered the most?

Zhao Zhen couldn't help but slander: Why did those censors stop for a while after suffering a big loss, and became dishonest again so soon?

Regarding this extremely absurd impeachment memorial, he chose to ignore it without hesitation.

However, the censors finally managed to catch such a decent outbreak, so they were willing to let it go: early the next morning, there were so many memorials to impeach Lu Ci in the imperial court, and some court officials who had long wanted to find a chance to attack Lu Ci even came out. Respond and support the censors who charged forward.

Among them, the one who jumps up and down and behaves the most actively is of course Zheng Jian, who thinks he has been framed by Lu Ci's slander.

Zheng Jian was full of hatred for Lu Ci, so he had to make full use of this opportunity.

The officials obviously trusted Lu Ci very much, and had no intention of sending anyone to refute this clearly credible confession, but chose to protect it without thinking.

Adding new hatred to old hatred, Zheng Jian directly attacked the officials. Using this as an excuse, he scolded the officials who were "partially obedient" and "unfair".

After gaining a good reputation of "speaking out and advising", he made persistent efforts. First, he pulled out Wang Shao, who sent troops privately, and then pulled out Di Qing and others who were only supposed to guard the security, but led troops around for a long time. Withholding the notoriety of being a "small group" and being Lu Ci's "clique", and then carrying out slander with falsehoods and falsehoods, and finally categorically saying that if he and his cronies are not transferred from the road, there will be endless disasters .

The author has something to say: After Zheng Jian's role is completely over, the cause and effect of Shuiluo City in history will be listed.

The note here first lists the original appearance of this adultery case in history:

"Song Xingtong" "The adulterers will be imprisoned for one and a half years; those who have a husband will be imprisoned for two years." Those are only lynchings in private places, not state punishments.

There is also "Jianlin rape": it means that government officials commit adultery with women within the jurisdiction, and the punishment is more severe. Female, apprentice for two and a half years."

In 1081, the fourth year of Emperor Shenzong Yuanfeng of Song Dynasty (this was used by me more than 50 years in advance), Wang Ping and his son Wang Zhongfu were accused of adultery with Wang Shiduan, the wife of Dali judge Wang Shiduan, and were later found to be true.Song Shenzong pardoned his punishment at first, but Wang Zhongfu's behavior did not restrain himself at all, which aroused the anger of the censor, so under the insistence of impeachment by the censor, Shenzong finally removed him from office.

After this incident, a person involved in the case claimed that Wang Zhongduan, the son of Prime Minister Wang Gui, also had an affair with the Wang family.This matter is very complicated, so let me explain it in a simple and complicated way: the superior of Wang Yuan, the chancellor of Dali Temple who presided over the case of Wang Pong, is Zhu Mingzhi, the Shaoqing of Dali; There was a suspicion, so he took this opportunity to play it out, suggesting that his subordinate Wang Yuan would settle the matter.

Zhu Mingzhi was very scheming: he first hinted at Wang Yuan and asked Wang Yuan to fabricate and collect some testimonies about Wang Zhongduan's involvement in the case, and Zhu Mingzhi himself reported to the emperor; Said, "The emperor was very angry when he heard about this incident, and demanded a thorough investigation and severe punishment." He asked his wife to immediately tell his cousin (that is, Wang Fang, the son of Wang Anli), and Wang Fang passed the matter on to Lian Hengfu.Lian Hengfu is waiting for the Ministry of Officials to arrange work, hoping to be recommended by Shu Yu from the Court of Admonishment, and immediately spread the matter to the other party to gain favor, and Shu Quan also launched an impeachment for this as Zhu Mingzhi wished.

After Wang Zhongduan learned of the incident, he immediately wrote a private prosecution, demanding to find out the truth and change his innocence, so Song Shenzong ordered Dali Temple to continue investigating the case, and sent his servant Feng Zongdao to supervise the impeachment.

During this period, another in-law of Zhu Mingzhi, Cai Jing, also tipped him off that Prime Minister Wang Gui had become suspicious, and asked them to be careful.

In the end, the truth came to light. The so-called adultery of Wang Zhongduan was nothing more than a man named Xu Gui who tried to avoid crimes in the Wang Piao case. The so-called evidence in Wang Yuan's hands was also purely fabricated. Punishments such as suspension and demotion were carried out.

Although the truth of this false accusation of adultery finally came to light, it can be seen that the officialdom of the Song Dynasty had extremely low tolerance for officials committing adultery.In history, Ouyang Xiu was falsely accused of adultery twice. Once, Ouyang Xiu’s younger sister’s stepdaughter, Zhang, accused Ouyang Xiu of having an affair with others. find out the truth;

Another time, Ouyang Xiu was rumored by his wife's cousin Xue Liangru to have an affair with his daughter-in-law Wu. Even if the truth was finally found out, Ouyang Xiu was still embarrassed.

However, when Ouyang Xiu served as an admonisher, he also impeached an official named Du Zeng for having an affair with his sister-in-law's maid and giving birth to an illegitimate child.After being demoted, Du Zeng committed suicide in shame on the way to his post. ("Knowing the Song Dynasty: The History of the Song Dynasty Written to My Daughter" p378-385)