Some people say that the Zhao family gained power by bullying orphans and widowed mothers, and that they themselves were not in the right position, so they placed more emphasis on civil servants.

This statement is basically a labeled stereotype derived from reading an excerpt of an event in a textbook. It is an isolated view of history.

Chinese history is a complete history of social development. The Chinese people attach great importance to historical records and the collection of historical materials.

Why?

Because the Chinese have understood from a long time ago that historical materials are important documents for the continuation of civilization. Historical materials provide many pitfalls. The improvement of future generations, whether it is people's livelihood, politics or military, requires reference to historical materials.

Therefore, Chinese history is a rigorous history of social evolution, which is interconnected through successive dynasties.

Seeing the history of Song Dynasty in isolation is incomplete.

After the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the royal family relied on powerful families to govern the country.

But as time went by, the aristocratic families expanded and became rigid, completely blocking the upward channels for the poor men.

In a sense, the Anshi Rebellion was actually a class struggle, a war against the monopoly of aristocratic families launched by poor scholars in the frontier areas.

The Anshi Rebellion broke out in 755 AD, An Lushan died in 757, but the Anshi Rebellion lasted for eight years.

If this rebellion was just An Lushan's personal ambition, it would naturally collapse quickly with An Lushan's death.

But the real reason behind it is the concentrated outbreak of class conflicts.

After that, the era of feudal separatist rule ushered in.

Until the end of the Tang Dynasty, Huang Chao, a frustrated scholar from a poor family, killed all the thousand-year-old nobles with five surnames and seven looks on the Yellow River. The structure of ancient Chinese society suddenly broke down.

The nobles of the aristocratic families who have inherited knowledge for thousands of years are gone.

There is a vacuum in the high ground of social power, morality and public opinion.

As a result, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms entered the most bloody and brutal troubled times.

After almost every generation of Central Plains emperors came to power quickly, they wanted to restore the glory of the Tang Dynasty and unify the world.

However, none of them could solve a problem: how to govern the world without the nobles?

Frequent coups and wars wore away everyone's patience. In troubled times, the emperors were unable to find new systems to replace the destroyed old ones.

Until Zhao Kuangyin appeared.

Song Taizu can be included in that person's list, not only because he created the Song Dynasty.

He re-created a new social structure after the disintegration of the old system that had decayed and disappeared.

This social structure enables literati to govern the country.

This sentence sounds simple, but behind it requires a lot of work, the introduction of a large number of unprecedented new policies, and a comprehensive consideration of a series of complex factors including people's livelihood, economy, military, and politics.

In the past era, the literati's voice in the empire was very low.

In the Song Dynasty, if you were an ordinary peasant student, as long as you could read, you could take exams in the palace of today's emperor and jump over the Dragon Gate.

The prime ministers of the Song Dynasty basically came from poor families.

We can simply call this system: the rule of the literati elite.

What was the effect of the literati-elite governance that first came to the stage in the Song Dynasty?

Fertile farmland increased from 295 million acres in the early Song Dynasty to about 750 million acres in the late Northern Song Dynasty.

However, after any system comes out, it is easy to go to extremes without reference from predecessors.

It was on such a pioneering system that the Song Dynasty reached the extreme of prosperity and decline of military power.

Of course, Song Taizong Zhao Guangyi was the catalyst in this process. He placed too much emphasis on literature and suppressed military generals.

This is the context of history.

By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was an established rule for scholars to govern the country, so the Ming and Qing Dynasties could basically last for nearly three hundred years without large-scale civil strife.

Even later generations still used scholars to govern the country.

In the industrial age, the rising powers of the world were basically based on the concept of elite governance by scholars, and politicians were all graduates of prestigious universities.

Only by clarifying this point can we make objective rectifications to the current internal governance of the Song Dynasty, so as to avoid going from one extreme to the other.

This is the true meaning of history.

Going back to Zhao Ning's arrangement in the court at this moment, this arrangement was not made out of random words.

Zhao Ding is a constructive talent, and this kind of talent is the most valuable.

Qin Hui is a destructive talent. There are actually many such talents, but there are very few who can achieve Qin Hui's level.

Therefore, Qin Hui needs to take action to rectify this large-scale officialdom.

To truly solve the redundancy of officials and overstaffing, a new system is needed.

This kind of constructive work is the most difficult.

The so-called "Regulations on Elimination of Redundant Officials in the Song Dynasty" and "Regulations on the Performance Appraisal of Jingkang Officials" are all related to the New Deal.

For example, many redundant officials should either get out or work as town supervisors.

That means spreading the dishes out and straightening out the bureaucracy from overcrowding.

As for this case, it undoubtedly accelerated the large-scale construction of the Audit Court and the Military Governor's Office in the Song Dynasty.

There was silence in the hall, and the officials were too frightened to speak.

Zhao Guanjia looked around and said: "Xi Gong, Liu Guangshi, behead them!"

Still silence.

The dispute over whether Zhang Jun or Xigong was responsible for the Battle of Chang'an has undoubtedly come to an end.

Xi Gong escaped without permission, Liu Guangshi abandoned the city and fled, he should die!

People before the Song Dynasty were too kind to this kind of people.

In official history, Liu Paopao is famous for escaping from battle but surviving to the end.

There were even some officials who returned to the Song Dynasty and continued to serve as officials after surrendering to the enemy.

These are all nonsense.

In Zhao Ning's case, everyone should go to the Lord of Hell to reflect.

This bloody storm is not over yet, because Qin Hui will bring out countless officials involved in this case. According to the current situation, no one can imagine how many people will die.

In short, this major case from central administration to local military administration will have a huge impact on the Jingkang New Deal.

On that day, the Zhang family in the capital was sealed, and the Zhou family of Zhou Shu was sealed.

The person who was in the clouds one day suddenly became a death row prisoner.

Newspapers such as "Tokyo Daily", "Jingshi Express", "Jingkang Gossip" and so on began to rush to publish.

From the Dongfu, the Privy Council, the Military and Political Council, to the Six Ministries and Twenty-four Departments, the Gyeonggi Road Transportation Department, the Penal and Prison Department, the Changping Department, and then to the Kaifeng Mansion Yamen, many officials were busy.

It can be said that the beginning of the five years of Jingkang was blood red.

Just when the major case in Tokyo broke out and Shaanxi was conducting a serious investigation, early in the morning on the 16th of the first lunar month, an inconspicuous incident occurred in the northern part of Huizhou, the border between the Song Dynasty and Xixia.

But it was this small incident that subsequently triggered a major international dispute, resulting in the death of countless people. It also affected the subsequent international trends and the fate of countless families, and changed the trade pattern between Song and Xia.

Groups of caravans transporting large amounts of goods are heading south to the Huizhou Forbidden City.

According to the rules, after these goods enter the sales market, they must be strictly inspected by officials from the Song Dynasty. Only after they are confirmed to be correct can they be allowed to pass customs and be sold.

At this moment, a group of people suddenly appeared in front.

This group of people had obviously been in ambush for a long time. They moved quickly and fiercely. Judging from their clothes, they seemed to be from the Song Dynasty, and everyone was holding a knife.

In the wind and snow, screams were heard, and the businessmen dropped their goods and ran away.
Chapter completed!