Meishan Su family, Su Yun is the most virtuous

Chapter 167 Right Censor!
Chongzheng Hall.

Sun Sigong hurried in.

Zhao Xu dismissed his attendants.

Sun Sigong said, "Sir, we have interrogated the storytellers all night, but they all said that a stranger bribed them with a large amount of money, but they don't know who is behind the stranger, so this clue is broken."

Zhao Xu nodded and said, "These people spread rumors. Send them to Kaifeng Prefecture and exile them a thousand miles away."

Sun Sigong quickly agreed.

Zhao Xu asked, "Is there anyone who has doubts?"

Sun Sigong leaned in closer and whispered, "The children suspect two people. One is Wang Xianggong, He Shilang and others who have a grudge against the Meishan Su family. The other is Cheng Men's disciples."

Zhao Xu raised his eyebrows and said, "Chengmen disciples... well, the Annotations to the Mencius contradicts the foundation of Luoxue and is suspected of undermining the foundation of Luoxue. It is very likely that Chengmen disciples want to throw dirty water on the Annotations to the Mencius because of this."

Sun Sigong said: "Your Majesty, should we interrogate the disciples of Chengmen..."

Zhao Xu shook his head and said, "This is an academic dispute. Without solid evidence, the court should not get too involved. Otherwise, it will be suspected of suppressing the school of thought and solemnizing the academic atmosphere. The Qin Emperor and Han Wudi made the same mistake before us, so I dare not do it."

Both Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Wu of Han were great military achievers, but one burned books and buried scholars alive, while the other promoted Confucianism alone, and both were criticized a lot.

Sun Sigong quickly said, "Yes, then the old slave will ask the children to withdraw immediately."

Zhao Xu thought for a moment and said, "There is no need to withdraw. Just keep the troops in place."

Sun Sigong responded with "yes" again.

Zhao Xu asked, "How is Su Yun doing?"

Sun Sigong said quickly, "Mr. Su has already started writing, and he is writing very quickly. It seems that he has a plan in mind."

Zhao Xu was delighted when he heard this and said, "That's good. If you have completed the annotations for a certain book, you can show it to me first."

Sun Sigong responded with "yes" again.

Zhao Xu said with concern: "In daily life, all kinds of supplies must be taken care of carefully, and Su Yun should not be distracted by other things."

Sun Sigong nodded and said, "Please rest assured, sir. The people I sent are palace servants, and they will naturally take good care of Mrs. Su."

After saying this, Sun Sigong observed Zhao Xu's expression and saw that the emperor was lost in thought. Just as he was about to quietly leave, Zhao Xu suddenly said, "The next appointment is to go to the second government office. Transfer Su Che, the proofreader of the Ministry of Secrets, to be the Right Censor."

Sun Sigong was secretly surprised when he heard this, but then he understood and quickly responded with a yes.

An imperial edict was delivered from the palace to the Council of State Affairs.

After reading it, Wang Gui frowned slightly but quickly signed and stamped his name, worthy of being the Minister of the Three Edicts.

However, this is also implied in the question. The appointment of censors is the power of the government. Although the imperial edict needs to go through the two ministries, even the prime minister dare not interfere in this appointment. This is a tacit understanding between the monarch and his subjects.

The process of this imperial edict was extremely fast. On the third day after Su Yun entered Chongshu Academy, Su Che received a new appointment and was transferred from the proofreader of the Secretariat to the Right Censor.

After the Yuanfeng reform, the Right Censor was no longer a mere salaried official rank, but a real censor. However, after the reform, the Censorate was abolished and the Right Censor was under the jurisdiction of the Secretariat.

Su Che received a transfer order from the Ministry of Personnel, and he had mixed feelings. His brother Su Shi asked him to take care of Su Yun, but he didn't expect that he didn't take good care of Su Yun, but Su Yun took good care of him.

He was supposed to spend four or five years in exile, but he returned because of Su Yun.

When he first arrived in Bianjing City, Su Yun picked him up and dropped him off, and also bought him a house as his place to stay.

Now, because of Su Yun, he was transferred from an idle position to the position of Right Censor.

The Right Censor was not an idle official. Although this position was only of the seventh rank, censors had always been of low rank but great power. Once he became the Right Censor, he would be considered a powerful figure in the court.

You Sijian was an official position in the Northern Song Dynasty. It was established in the first year of Duangong of Emperor Taizong of the Northern Song Dynasty. It was changed from You Buque. It was mainly responsible for admonition and satire, and its rank was seventh.

During the Northern Song Dynasty, the duties of the Right Censor included supervising and advising the court's policies and decisions to ensure the rationality and feasibility of the policies.

Well, to put it in words that everyone can understand, the Right Censor is equivalent to the Ombudsman and policy advisor in later generations.

That is to say, although Su Che's rank is low now, he actually has the power to supervise policies and even stop them.

As for why the emperor gave me the position of Right Censor, it was because I was in the Secretariat.

After the restructuring, the Secretariat had an affiliated relationship with Chongwenyuan.

Because Su Yun was in seclusion in Chongwenyuan writing a book and he was in the Secretariat, if the news got out, there would inevitably be suspicion that he was ghostwriting.

So the government simply transferred himself out of the Secretariat and appointed him to another position.

However, after being transferred out of the Secretariat, there were still many idle positions that could be appointed to, but the government gave him the key position of Right Censor.

What does it mean?
One is to reward merit.

Su Yun wrote "Collected Commentaries on Mencius", which added a strong touch to the emperor's cultural governance. Originally, the emperor should have rewarded Su Yun handsomely, but Su Yun was still a commoner and could not be rewarded with anything.

And now he had to write the Annotations to the Four Books, so the government promoted him to make Su Yun more motivated to appease him. Secondly, in the current situation, as Su Yun's uncle, if he still held an idle position, it would be like someone had spread rumors and made trouble before, but he had no power at all, so others would naturally act recklessly.

But now as the Right Censor, holding the powerful tool of supervising officials, anyone who wants to deal with Su Yun again will have to think carefully!

You know, although there is a difference between censors and imperial censors, in the Tang Dynasty and early Song Dynasty, censors were only responsible for admonishing the emperor and could not supervise the officials.

But now the functions of the Censors have gradually become confused. The Censors can advise the emperor, and the Censors can also supervise the officials.

Therefore, I got the position of Right Censor entirely because of Su Yun.

Although Su Che was delighted to have another platform to display his talents, he always felt a little ashamed to receive favor from Su Yun again.

Other nephews had to rely on the influence of their uncles, but as an uncle, not only could he not benefit Su Yun, he also often benefited from Su Yun.

Alas, when I think about it, I feel so ashamed. However, when I think about it at midnight, I can't help but feel fortunate and happy.

Hehe, I have a good nephew, but you don’t!

……

There were light footsteps outside the door, followed by the sound of something being placed.

Su Yun put down the pen and rubbed his wrist. It was really painful to write with a brush.

After writing for the whole morning, my wrists were so sore that I simply got up and opened the door. I saw Lao Ding placing hot tea and a lunch box on the table at the door.

Su Yun smiled and said, "Bring it in."

Lao Ding quickly brought in the lunch box and hot tea. Seeing that the desk was covered with books, he quickly said, "I will first move the table outside in to use as a dining table. I will find a special dining table for you later."

Su Yun nodded and said, "Okay, thank you for your hard work."

Old Ding laughed and said, "It is my honor to serve Master Su. It is not hard work. Master, let me serve you dinner, shall I?"

Su Yun waved his hands quickly and said with a smile: "No, no, I'll do it myself."

Old Ding smiled, brought the table in, wiped it clean, and then took the food out of the food boxes one by one and put them away, saying, "Everyone, these are freshly cooked. I was afraid that you would not be able to put down your pen for a while, so I covered them for you and put them in the food boxes. They can keep the residual temperature for an hour, but you don't need to do that now. Eat them while they are hot."

Su Yunzi was not polite either, he sat down and started to eat, Lao Ding was waiting beside him, he said softly: "Mr. Su was transferred to the position of Right Censor today, congratulations."

Su Yun raised his head and looked at Lao Ding.

Old Ding looked humble and said, "The emperor said that Ju Zheng should just focus on writing and he will take care of the rest for you."

Hearing this, Su Yun bowed his hands towards the north and said, "Your Majesty, I am deeply grateful for your kindness. I will work harder to complete the book as soon as possible."

Lao Ding smiled and nodded, then quietly left.

Su Yun continued to eat, a smile appearing on his face as he ate.

The government is indeed thoughtful.

However, Wang Gui and He Zhengchen must be making a big fuss, right?
Su Che, this old angry young man, let him be the Right Censor, hehe.

Su Yun quickly put the matter aside. At this moment, his mind was completely focused on the collection of annotations on the Four Books. Time was tight and the task was heavy. He still wanted to complete the work as soon as possible. It was not because he wanted to take the imperial examination, but because he was too eager to slap himself in the face.

As the saying goes, it is never too late for a gentleman to take revenge. In Su Yun's opinion, this is too long. A gentleman should take revenge by slapping someone in the face. It is a pity that this work cannot be completed in one go, but the sooner it can be completed, the better.

However, during dinner the next day, Lao Ding brought him a shocking news.

On the first day Su Che took office as the Right Censor, he pointed his cannons at Li Ding, the person most feared by all the officials in the court.

Li Ding was the head of the Censorate as a Hanlin scholar. After the system was reformed and the Censorate was abolished, Li Ding served as the Chief Censor for the second time.

Li Ding, who returned to the post of Chief Censor, was even more arrogant. Recently, he impeached Wen Yanbo, a veteran of three dynasties, and attacked Sima Guang remotely, making all officials in the court tremble in fear.

However, Su Che was not afraid at all and aimed his first shot at Li Ding.

Su Che impeached Li Ding for three crimes, one of which was that he did not mourn for his biological mother, Qiu, which was unfilial;

The second crime was forming a clique to advance rashly. During the time when he served as censor together with Shu Tan and He Zhengchen, he fabricated many charges and caused many upright gentlemen to be demoted. This was a treacherous act.
The third crime is that as an imperial censor, he turned a blind eye to illegal activities, which is a dereliction of duty.

After hearing this, Su Yun smiled and gave Su Zhe a thumbs up in his heart.

Although this kind of impeachment naturally could not affect Li Ding, the issue of mourning had already been decided during the Xining period. Wang Anshi did not hesitate to demote several censors who impeached Li Ding in order to protect him. Now that the situation has changed, it would be of little use to impeach him for this crime again.

As for forming a clique and the like, if it were a crime, wouldn't it mean that Zhao Xu's decision-making at the time was also problematic? So it is impossible to use this to convict people.

As for the issue of turning a blind eye to illegal activities, Su Che did not mention what the illegal activities were and just left it vaguely, so it is impossible to convict him.

But this impeachment shows Su Che's attitude: I am not afraid of you!

Being able to bravely launch a charge under Li Ding’s arrogance, this is courage!
(End of this chapter)