Brother Song Taizu

Chapter 42 Criticism
"Wang Yansheng is dead?"

Zhao Guangmei was confused when she heard the news, and even felt a little confused for a moment.

Yang Ye seemed to be chatting and said: "Didn't the three kings attend the court meeting today?"

"No, I don't want to go to court. There are too many rules and I feel uncomfortable. Besides, although I have the right to participate in and discuss politics in my current position, I only have the right to participate in and discuss politics. But with my status, I really want to participate in and discuss things. , there is no need to attend any court meeting, just say no to my elder brother, what happened?"

He still knew Wang Yansheng. Historically, he was the one who killed Han Tong. Because of his own existence, he was spared the reprimand from Zhao Kuangyin.

He himself knew that he blackmailed officials, but the punishment he received in history was just being demoted to another place. Zhao Kuangyin was extremely soft-hearted towards his own people. Wang Yansheng truly suffered the most serious punishment in history. The punishment is just "not to be punished for life".

It was Zhao Kuangyin who punished him by not being able to be a military governor in his life.

But the problem is that Wang Yansheng didn't have the merit to be a Jiedushi in the first place. Anyone can be that thing.

"How did you die? This doesn't seem like something my elder brother did."

"It is said that the second king produced his ironclad evidence at the court. Originally, the officials wanted him to be removed from office and exiled. However, the second king refused to obey and insisted on it. He even took off his official hat and said that if the official If he refused to be severely punished, he, the governor of Kaifeng, would quit his job. Seeing this, the ministers also reconsidered. When Wang Yansheng saw this, he couldn't bear the embarrassment for the officials and hit his head on a pillar, knocking himself to death."

"Sigh~"

Zhao Guangmei took a breath after hearing this.

"My second brother is so ruthless that he has actually learned how to force a crowd into the palace?"

Of course, with Zhao Kuangyin's character, he actually did not accept this trick. He was not the later emperors of the Song Dynasty, but what Wang Yansheng committed this time was indeed too unreasonable.

No matter which dynasty or generation, it is completely unjustifiable for a mid-level military officer in charge of public security to dare to blackmail the prime minister of the current dynasty. Isn't the prime minister of the previous dynasty not the prime minister?Zhao Kuangyin also gave him a high-ranking position like Sikong.

To be honest, it was Zhao Guangmei who suggested Zhao Guangyi to manage the military discipline issues in Kaifeng at the beginning. In fact, the original intention was to let him offend people. If he didn't care about this kind of thing, he would offend the civilian officials. If he did, he would definitely offend the officers and soldiers of the Forbidden Army. I didn't think it would happen for so long. The news was that he was afraid of the complicated relationship behind it and didn't dare to care about it. He didn't expect that he was so weak that he could cause such a big deal.

This is deliberately raising fish.

But he asked Yang Ye: "What do you think my second brother did in this matter?"

"it is good!"

Yang Ye actually said without any hesitation: "Wang Yansheng is an officer who is responsible for the peace of the people, and he is so arrogant that he goes to the prime minister's house to ask for bribes, let alone facing ordinary people? Although this man is wearing an official attire, on the surface he is Soldiers, in fact, are really bandits!"

Then Zhao Guangmei said quickly: "Speak down, speak down, are you a tiger? This is the Privy Council, and there are not many civil servants up and down, they are all warriors."

Unexpectedly, Yang Ye was stunned: "This is a right! Isn't the Privy Council a place that does not follow justice? Wang Yansheng's crimes should be killed, no matter which dynasty or generation he committed. Do the three kings think that the two kings should be killed?" Did you do something wrong?" Zhao Guangmei curled her lips and said: "Wrong or right, it depends on your stance. Of course I think there is nothing wrong with what the second brother did, but you can't think so. You will still be in the Forbidden Army in the future. Damn you, you are a fallen general. Your lack of foundation is your biggest weakness. Now someone is attacking one of your own people in the Forbidden Army. No matter how much you dislike him, the most you can do is say nothing. Applauding loudly is not to attract hatred for yourself. Well, at least keep your voice down."

"Third Young Master, you are right. It's not that I don't understand this truth, but I think that position and status are not as important as the justice of the country. If people like Wang Yansheng are not killed, it will not be enough to anger the people. If such people can Forgive me, but there is no military discipline left in the Forbidden Army."

Zhao Guangmei thought to herself that the imperial army in the early Song Dynasty had no military discipline to speak of.

"Don't the three great kings think that the second great king has done something very satisfying?"

"I don't know if it is very satisfying. I only know that Enke's exam questions will definitely become more difficult this year. Alas, I'd better read my book carefully."

Yang Ye was stunned when he heard this. He was stunned for a long time and didn't understand what the death of Wang Yansheng had to do with Zhao Guangmei's imperial examination.

As the saying goes, if you have books, you will be long, if you don’t have books, you will be short. In a blink of an eye, it is May, and the day of the first enke since the founding of the Song Dynasty has finally arrived. Zhao Kuangyin attaches great importance to this and specially ordered the two prime ministers Fan Zhi and Wang Pu to personally Get involved and always ask personally about progress and charter.

In the early Song Dynasty, if you wanted to take the imperial examination, you had to get a letter of recommendation from the local government. So Zhao Guangmei naturally found Zhao Guangyi, and openly obtained the recommendation qualification from Kaifeng Prefecture as a candidate in Kaifeng. As for the previous provincial examination, he naturally could not go. After taking the exam, he squeezed out one of the four recommended places in Kaifeng Mansion.

This was originally a normal thing. The imperial examination system in the Five Dynasties and the early Song Dynasty was actually not perfect. In many places, it could almost be described as hasty. Those who participated in the imperial examination did not necessarily need to test the merits of the examiners first, but could take the path of "public recommendation" , even the imperial examination itself is just a bonus for people with "public respect". The imperial examination that later generations are familiar with is basically the path set by the brothers Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Guangyi, and in this time and space, these two brothers have not yet decided on the path.

So Zhao Guangmei didn't take the examination simply because he disliked it as a waste of time and meaningless to him. However, somehow, among the large number of candidates in this session, there were gradually some who were not good for him. the sound of.

It seemed very strange.

On this day, in the loft of a certain restaurant in the capital, someone suddenly heard someone drunkenly saying:

"The three great kings are the nobles of Tianhuang, and they have contributed greatly to the destruction of the Northern Han Dynasty. Now they are in high power, Jing Zhaoyin, and they are also the deputy prime ministers of the dynasty (private ministers), but they come to compete with us. How can it be reasonable?"

"Yeah, that's all for others, especially Brother Li Lianfang. He has suffered through ten years of poverty. He is our No. 4 in Kaifeng City. With his ability, if he can participate, he will probably be in high school. , in the end, his place was snatched away by the three kings, alas~, it’s a pity, it’s a pity.”

"If you ask me, what the three kings are doing is simply nonsense! For him, the imperial examination is just a game, but for us, it is ten years of hard work and a life-long ambition. The three kings are just because I came to compete for a spot after playing, and ruined the future of a classmate. It’s really... it’s really... ugh~"

But I saw another person drinking at the side saying quietly: "I hope...he won't grab another Jinshi spot."

Upon hearing this, the students at the same table fell into silence almost at the same time.

You must know that in the Five Dynasties and the early Song Dynasty, the number of people admitted to Jinshi was very small. At the least, there might only be ten or eight. If another one was taken away for nothing, there is no doubt that everyone will be under pressure from competition. That's big.

Of course, everyone didn't know that what they were saying was almost pure complaining, without any value, but it happened to be overheard by the two examiners Fan Zhi and Wang Pu who were having a meal and talking in the private room next door. go.

(End of this chapter)