An Tao jumped out at this time and accused An Dun. There was nothing he could do about it.

From the perspective of the war situation, the situation on the northern front is precarious. Although the intelligence and news obtained are only fragments, we need to wait for sufficient battle reports before we can make a judgment.

However... the two cities that supported the core of the defense line were lost. This is an indisputable fact and cannot be taken away from the relationship.

If the crime is not pinned on Anton, then the Privy Council will have to swallow a bitter pill in the end.

But is this the fault of the Privy Council?

Ever since Zhang Dun took charge of the capital, he had always wanted to seek military command. In other words, Zhang Dun wanted to shoulder the responsibility of the prime minister and govern the government. Can Li Qingchen agree to this?

Not only would Li Qingchen not agree, but neither would An Tao!

It stands to reason that both Li Qingchen and An Tao were once members of the reform faction. The reason why their relationship with Zhang Dun became at odds and then became hostile was entirely due to Zhang Dun's desire to dominate the government. Of course, there is another reason.

After the rebellion, it stands to reason that Li Qingchen had the highest status. He was a bachelor of Hanlin Chengzhi during the Shenzong period and was one of the two giants of the Hanlin Academy. However, after the reformists finally succeeded in seizing the government, Li Qingchen wanted to give way to Cai Bian, a junior.

In the Song Dynasty, there were very few civil servants who went from being envoys to the capital to take charge of government affairs. What Wen Yanbo could not do, it was even more difficult for Li Qingchen.

This is because neither the court nor the emperor in the Song Dynasty wanted to see the emergence of political giants with huge influence in both military and political circles.

This is inconsistent with the dynasty's control of power.

It can be said that after Li Qingchen was driven to the Privy Council by Zhang Dun, he was cut off from the chance to become prime minister.

How could Li Qingchen endure this?

The situation is a bit like that of the three Zhao brothers. Zhao Kuangyin changed his mind and became the emperor. He had agreed to make his younger brother the emperor, but he could not choose his own son.

If we really do this, a palace coup will definitely be inevitable.

You became the emperor, and you agreed that I would be the eldest prince. In the blink of an eye, you were granted the title of king and it was over. Who could bear it?

His own son will turn against him.

What's more, the relationship between Li Qingchen and Zhang Dun is nothing more than allies.

In fact, all the important ministers of the reform faction have this idea, and the prime ministers take turns to do it, and this year they came to my house.

You've been working as Zhang Dun for two years and it's enough for you to enjoy it. It's time to change to someone else.

However, Zhang Dun became more and more addicted to being prime minister. After becoming prime minister, he never thought of giving others a chance.

As for An Tao, their relationship is even more complicated.

Anyway, An Dun is not An Tao's brother, he just has the same surname. An Tao's criticism of An Dun will only make Zhang Dun embarrassed, and that is enough.

Zhang Dun had a sullen face and stared at An Tao with threatening eyes. Unfortunately, the latter looked indifferent and didn't pay attention to the old man at all.

We are all old people, who is afraid of whom?

Besides, An Dun was Zhang Dun's trusted confidant at the border. It would be unreasonable for him not to bear any responsibility. As for the Privy Council, Li Qingchen and An Tao originally wanted to use Fan Chunchun to serve as the top military and political leader of Hebei and Hebei's pacification envoy.

Besides, this gentleman is not an ordinary person, he is Fan Zhongyan’s son.

The sons of the old Fan family were deeply trusted and favored by the royal family of the Song Dynasty. After becoming officials, they would usually go to the places where their father had fought. The specific position was the governor of Qingzhou. If he had outstanding ability, talent and learning, he would be appointed as the governor of Huanqing Road.

For official positions such as Xuanfu envoy, a bachelor of Tuzhi is added.

This is the favor given by the royal family to the Fan family, and no one can take it away.

Qingzhou is the border, and it is the most frequent war zone between the Song Dynasty and Xixia. Both Fan Chunren and Fan Chunren have served as officials here. And they are both good at handling border military operations.

But Andun couldn't do it. The job he was good at as a censor was, specifically, harming people.

It was Zhang Dun's wishful thinking that such a civilian official was assigned to Hebei Road to command tens of thousands of troops.

At this moment, An Tao's counterattack came at the right time.

But Zhang Dun also has difficulties. Fan Chunchun is currently on his way to be demoted. According to Cai Bian's idea, he has to go all the way south from the capital and be demoted to Qiongzhou. Now he is on Zhejiang Road, and there is still half the way to go. Why?

Maybe letting such a person come back. Not only does he come back, but he is also reused. Wouldn't this be a slap in the face?

Using Andun was something Zhangdun couldn't do.

On the northern line, there was another court minister, Xing Shu. Because he framed Li Kui, he was driven to Daming Prefecture as the prefect. He was also qualified to take charge of the military affairs of Hebei Road.

This guy is even more unreliable than An Dun. He has no courage and can only tell stories. He also has great literary talent and quick thinking, and has nothing to do with fighting.

At least An Dun can kill decisively. Although he is targeting conservatives, it can be seen that this person is more responsible than Xing Shu.

It is better to use Andun than to use Xingshu.

As for Fan Chun, it is absolutely impossible.

But Fan Chunren is really the most suitable candidate. Regardless of political differences, the people of the Fan family are all very outstanding in terms of ability. Fan Chunren and Fan Chunren were also important ministers in the court. And both of them have it.

Frontier army combat experience.

Especially Fan Chunchu, who has been in the northwest for many years.

Regardless of Zhang Kai's popularity in the northwest, he single-handedly protected the safety of the northwest of the Song Dynasty during the Yuanyou period and the past ten years. However, without Fan Chunyun's help, Zhang Kai would have been alone.

Seeing his benefactor being criticized, Lin Xi immediately stood up. Zhang Dun had chosen between him and An Dun in the beginning, and he finally chose An Dun, which made him breathe a sigh of relief. If he went to the Northern Line, he would even be better than An Dun.

Even worse than An Dun. At least An Dun knew that to save Zhending Mansion, he meant to save Hebei West Road and decisively abandon the dozen or so small towns around it.

This decisiveness is already much stronger than him.

Lin Xi is far behind. He is very good at writing articles, but unfortunately he has no fighting skills.

"An Tao's loss of Yanzhou and Zhuozhou was a great disadvantage to our Song Dynasty. But is it unfair to let Andun bear the blame completely? The battle selection is your Privy Council's business. If the battle is unfavorable, isn't it the responsibility of your Privy Council?

?”

How could An Tao admit it? He immediately jumped out and pointed at Lin Xi and cursed: "In addition to looking for evidence of people's rebellion in documents and letters, what else does An Dun have? Why should he be in charge of Hebei Road? Don't you have that in your heart?

Count. There are six generals in the Western Army and more than thirty generals. You can't move any of them. You can only let Wang Jin continue to lead the troops on Hebei Road. You shouldn't ask me why I can't mobilize the generals of the Imperial Army of the Song Dynasty. You should ask why.

Does the Metropolitan Government have to intervene?"

An Tao's fire was about to burn Zhang Dun.

Zhang Dun couldn't sit still and snorted coldly: "An Tao, you jumped out to take charge of me at this time. Do you think that the Western Army should not attack Xixia, but let Xixia recover and become a serious problem for our Song Dynasty?"

"Bah, can I not understand what you are thinking? Qiankun is arbitrary because he wants to be the powerful minister of the Song Dynasty."

"My heart is all for the Song Dynasty, you thief, I will fight with you!" Zhang Dun was furious.

"Come on, if I take a step back, I will not be raised by humans." An Tao said scornfully: "You dare to do it but don't dare to stop it. How can you say that you are dedicated to the Song Dynasty? This is Sima Zhao's intention, and everyone on the street knows it. Don't hide it. Yes, Fan Chun Chun is a remnant of the old party. Can you say this? Wang Jingzhou's reform, or did he copy Fan Chun Chun's reform policy from his father Fan Xiwen Gong? Bah, shameless thing. He is not a member of the old party. The 'remnants' of the imperial government are just a few words written in the past to say that Wang Jingzhou's reforms went too far. Our imperial court does not commit speech crimes. You guys, you guys, have turned to these stupid things and are despised by others. What? His son-in-law is hiding behind his back. You, an irrelevant person, do you want to be his filial son?"

Li Qingchen hid behind An Tao, feeling very proud as he watched Old Man An draw his sword and kill everyone.

Fortunately, An Tao was by his side. When it came to quarreling, no one in the court could compare to An Tao and Liu Anshi.

Unfortunately, Liu Anshi was persecuted by Cai Bian and has now been demoted from the capital.

Only An Tao was his close comrade-in-arms, and his combat prowess was astonishing.

Zhang Dun gasped angrily. There was no way he could really fight An Tao. The two civil servants were about the same age. Together they were more than 130 years old. No matter how strong they were when they were young, they were already very old. , the combat effectiveness is almost the same.

If we really take action, if An Tao fails to stir up trouble in the court, Zhang Dun may not be able to get away with it.

But if you lose the fight, it will be even more embarrassing.

Seeing the excitement and excitement, Cai Bian was also worried. Li Qingchen and An Tao wanted to use Fan Chunchun at first. In fact, Zhang Dun wanted to agree, but he didn't agree.

The reason is very simple. On the one hand, Fan is solely his fault and he cannot afford to lose this person.

In addition, Cai Bian is also a talented person who is as intelligent as anyone. Can he not see the thoughts of Li Qingchen and An Tao?

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Even if Cai Bian has never heard this sentence, he cannot let this possibility happen.

Fan is purely a conservative, and Li Qingchen and An Tao want to win over each other, which shows that these two people want to increase their strength. If Fan purely serves on the northern front (which is very possible), wouldn't it benefit Li Qingchen and An Tao? ?

The biggest opportunity for Cai Bian to clean up the court is that when officials who enter the court in the future are about to take sides, they will choose the more powerful Metropolitan Office instead of the Privy Council with little future. He is killing three birds with one stone. , to clear the name of his father-in-law Wang Anshi; to take revenge; and the last one is to cultivate power for Zhang Dun.

Because Cai Bian also saw that Zeng Bu and several others had their own agendas. If Zhang Dun wanted to rely on them to govern, he would be increasingly constrained by all parties. It would be better not to destroy or establish, create a power vacuum, and cultivate people and creations for his own camp. Chance.

The biggest reason for preventing Li Qingchen and An Tao from recruiting fringe conservative officials was to control their power.

These two are from the reform faction, and Zhang Dun is now carrying the banner of the reform faction. Even if these two people fight against Zhang Dun, they will not be able to make waves. But if they are allowed to join forces with the conservatives, it will not be good for the reform faction. It's simply a disaster.

Emperor Zhao Xi was sitting on the dragon chair, his eyes were distracted. He didn't understand why his ministers were still biting each other when they were already in a hurry.

Interesting?

The key point is that if the foundation of the Song Dynasty's society was damaged, he would be blamed for it.

It is unquestionable common sense that the emperor bears the greatest responsibility.

It's like a king who has subjugated his country. Even if his country's subjugation really has nothing to do with them, he still has to bear the label of a foolish king.

If the Song Dynasty died tomorrow, Zhao Xu would be the biggest fool in the world. This is so unreasonable!

At this time, Cai Bian suddenly pointed at Li Kui and wanted to change the target. We can't let An Tao, a man who has killed a thousand swords, slander his father-in-law Wang Anshi, right?

"Your Majesty, I once saw a document written by Li Tianzhang to the Metropolitan Council. There is a passage in it, 'Without assistance to defend the city, with assistance to attack'. The Metropolitan Council asked the Privy Council at that time if there were any reinforcements. I can

I remember that Privy Li and An Tongzhi said at the time, no. The generals at the front agreed that Yanzhou and Zhuozhou should be abandoned, An Tao, why are you so entangled here?"

Seeing the fire burning down his body, Li Kui lamented in his heart.
To be continued...