Renzong did not believe this letter, but he hesitated. Renzong could also consider the difficulty of reform when initiating Fan Zhongyan, so he had special trust in Fan. But some people accused Fan Zh
Renzong did not believe this letter, but he hesitated. Renzong could also consider the difficulty of reform when initiating Fan Zhongyan, so he had special trust in Fan. But some people accused Fan Zhongyan and others of secretly forming a party, and that changed. The most sensitive political pain point in the Northern Song Dynasty was party smuggling. In September of the third year after Song Taizu seized power, he wrote a letter based on the many troubles caused by the partisanship between Niu and Li in the Tang Dynasty: It is strictly forbidden to call the examiner a teacher or a disciple, and he is not allowed to call himself a disciple. The most timid thing about the rulers of the Song Dynasty was that ministers united into factions or cronies, which developed into a centrifugal force for the imperial power. They want to fully apply the principle of mutual restraint to bureaucratic interpersonal relationships. After Taizu, Tang Taizong, Zhenzong, and Renzong all showed a resolute attitude in this regard and never gave in. Renzong issued edicts many times instructing court officials to avoid close followers. So this has actually become family law and the bottom line since the early Song Dynasty. After receiving a small report of accusations of party establishment, Renzong wanted to hear Fan Zhongyan's statement. One day in April of the fourth anniversary, Renzong asked: In the past, villains were mostly cronies. Can gentlemen also form factions? The humble Fan Zhongyan actually replied: When I was at the border, I saw people who could fight and fight together, calling themselves the Party, and cowardly people also called themselves the Party. The same goes for good and evil in the courtroom. As long as your Majesty observes carefully, you can see the difference between loyalty and treachery. If we form a party to do good, what harm will it do to the country? Renzong was very dissatisfied with this answer. Unexpectedly, when the factional disputes in the court were in full swing and Fan Zhongyan was gradually losing the trust of Renzong, 37-year-old Ouyang Xiu simply wrote a political treatise on cronyism, submitted it to Renzong, and circulated it among the court officials. Ouyang Xiu's article not only did not avoid the issue of factions, but admitted that everyone was indeed forming a political party. There are fake friends formed by villains who share interests, and there are true friends formed by like-minded gentlemen. Ouyang Xiu proposed that as an emperor, one must distinguish between the party of gentlemen and the party of villains, remove the false friends of villains, and use the true friends of gentlemen. This is tantamount to announcing to Renzong that we have formed a small group, and it is also a challenge to Renzong's American family law and bottom line. From the time when the emperor was in the Northern Song Dynasty, a time of deep taboos and anxiety, the Qingli New Deal so confidently declared that nepotism was tantamount to suicide. Ouyang Xiu's articles are well written, but his political acumen is really lacking. Sure enough, as soon as this article appeared, the political situation took a turn for the worse. Opposition groups they will never admit they are cronies. This article became a decisive turning point in Li Qing's New Deal. For Song Renzong, this was an extremely sensitive and serious political issue. Coupled with the constant criticism from the opposition groups, Renzong made up his mind to expel Fan Zhongyan from the central government in order to maintain the emperor's autocratic rule. In June of this year, Song Renzong appointed Fan Zhongyan as the governor of Shaanxi and Jin Dynasties, and Fan Zhongyan was forced to leave the capital.In the first month of the fifth year of the Qing Dynasty, Renzong dismissed Fan Zhongyan from his political position and demoted him to Bin County, Shaanxi Province as the leader; he fired Fu Bi Later, he served as envoy and was demoted to Yuncheng, Shandong; he dismissed Han's deputy and was demoted to Yangzhou, Jiangsu; he removed Du Yan, who actively supported the reform, as prime minister and demoted him to Yanzhou, Shandong, on the grounds that Du Yan supported his cronies; then, he found The reason was to fire Du Yan's son-in-law Su Shunqin, a great writer who supported the New Deal, and demote him to the people forever; Ouyang Xiu was demoted to Chuzhou, Anhui. Soon after, most of the New Deal measures were discontinued, and remained a failure for more than a year. Political system reform is very difficult, and implementers must grasp key points and compromise. After all, partial success of reform is much better than miscarriage of reform. More than 20 years later, another political reformer of the Song Dynasty, Wang Anshi, would launch political reforms in the United States.