Meishan Su family, Su Yun is the most virtuous

Chapter 337: Insects are not enough for planning!

Empress Dowager Gao was excited and was about to agree to Su Yun's proposal when Liu Zhi said, "Your Majesty, I have a memorial to make."

Empress Dowager Gao suppressed her excitement and said, "Prince Liu, please speak."

Liu Zhi looked at Su Yun and said, "I heard that the Ministry of Works is competing with the people for profits and has built a shopping mall with thousands of shops in it to specialize in the management of people's livelihood. The tens of millions of taels of money are the people's blood and sweat!

Moreover, I have heard that Su Yun used the shares of Qingming Shanghe Garden to make friends with ministers in the court and expel dissidents. Now he controls tens of millions of strings of funds in the Ministry of Works and is rich enough to rival a country!
I have heard that a weak trunk and strong branches is not a blessing for the country. I naturally believe that Minister Su is not a man with ulterior motives, but when a person reaches a certain level, he cannot control it, just like Taizu back then..."

All the civil and military officials in the court showed shock on their faces. They had not expected that Liu Zhi would attack Su Yun in this way during the morning court session. This was no different from directly accusing Su Yun of rebellion!

"How dare you!" Someone in the court suddenly shouted angrily. Everyone looked at the person who spoke, and it turned out to be Hanlin scholar Su Shi.

Su Shi was furious and shouted, "Liu Zhi! What are you trying to do? Su Yun just wants to manage the river for the court. Even if you have different political opinions, you shouldn't accuse my nephew of rebellion!"

Su Shi turned to Empress Dowager Gao and said, "Empress Dowager, please beat Liu Zhi! Su Yun is the Minister of Six Ministries, and he works diligently for the court without any selfish motives. He built the Qingming Shanghe Garden for river management and worked hard for the revival of the Song Dynasty!

Liu Zhi, Liang Tao and even Wang Yansou and others came from prominent families in Hebei. They had always worked together to advance and retreat and to punish dissidents. Previously, the three of them jointly attacked Cheng Zhengshu and drove him out of Bianliang. Now they were going to repeat the same trick and murder Su Yun!

Queen Mother, if we allow these three people to stay in the court, the factional struggle will intensify and the country will be ruined. Please make a decision as soon as possible!"

Su Shi's speech also shocked all the civil and military officials in the court.

Empress Dowager Gao seemed even more confused and helpless.

How come the political struggle suddenly became so intense?
Empress Dowager Gao looked at Lu Gongzhu and others in confusion, and saw that Lu Gongzhu, Han Zhen, Lu Dafang, Fan Chunren and others all had livid faces. Then she looked at Su Yun, who was also standing there with a look of surprise on his face. His expression was one of both surprise and disheartenment.

However, Empress Dowager Gao could not care about so many things at this time. If this matter was not resolved properly, the court would be in danger.

Empress Dowager Gao was indeed known as the female Yao and Shun. She made a decision in an instant and said, "This matter is of great importance. Let's adjourn the morning court session. Prime Minister Lu and other ministers, please go to Chongzheng Hall to discuss this matter!"

After saying this, Empress Dowager Gao stood up, took Zhao Xu's hand and left.

Lu Gongzhu hurriedly shouted, "Except for the prime minister, all other officials must return to the detention hall. No one is allowed to walk around or gather together. If anyone violates this order, they will be punished!"

Afterwards, Lu Gongzhu called a few ministers and hurried to Chongzheng Hall.

Su Yun looked coldly at Liang Tao, Liu Zhi and others, then looked at his uncle Su Shi who was looking at him with concern, nodded, and then walked out of the hall.

Liu Zhi looked at Su Yun's back, then looked at Liang Tao helplessly and said, "Why are you doing this? This time, all our plans will fail!"

Liang Tao was also somewhat helpless, and said: "This kid doesn't know when to advance or retreat. If he knew what was good for him, why would he do this? He wants to control the river, but he doesn't come to consult with us, the big families in Hebei, but insists on doing it himself. Today I just want to remind him, but I didn't expect that he actually wants to get rid of us and do it alone. How can this work!"

Wang Yansou shook his head and said, "It's already come to this, there's no point in saying more. It all depends on what the Queen Mother and the gentlemen say. But I think things are not going well. This Su Dapao is also outspoken. No one will be in any good situation after he yells at us like that!"

The three of them smiled bitterly at each other, and then left Chongzheng Hall.

What happened in the court spread out at lightning speed, immediately causing a lot of controversy, and the situation of the Shu Luoshuo faction struggle became known to everyone.

Many people were shocked by the wealth of the Ministry of Works. Against the backdrop of the court abolishing the new law, all financial resources being cut off, all departments tightening their budgets and the national treasury being depleted, how could the Ministry of Works be so rich?
There is no wall that is impenetrable. Soon the development history of the Ministry of Works was dug out by many people. Many people then discovered that it had only been a few months since the Ministry of Works resumed its functions. In just a few months, under the management of the Minister of Works Su Yun, it had accumulated huge wealth and gathered a huge number of talents!
Many people admired Su Yun's ability, but more people were jealous: his Ministry of Industry was so rich, and he had the best food and drinks, while those of us in our department only had half of the budget of previous years, and we didn't know if we could get our salaries by the end of the year. How could the Ministry of Industry just eat all the food?
With this mentality, comments on the Ministry of Works and Su Yun became unfair. Many people were dominated by this mentality, and many people privately suggested: Let the Ministry of Works take out the money. People are starving to death, and they still have to use the money to control the river and do things that waste people's money. Isn't that putting the cart before the horse?

These discussions were probably not much different from the discussions between Empress Dowager Gao and other ministers such as Lu Gongzhu in the Chongzheng Hall.

Su Yun had no idea what they discussed specifically, and it was probably a secret, but the subsequent treatment of Su Yun, the Ministry of Works, and even Liu Zhi and others was also revealed.

Liu Zhi and Liang Tao were exiled to prefectures and counties because they falsely accused the Minister of Works Su Yun, and this trend should not be allowed to continue. On the other hand, Su Yun was promoted from Minister of Works to Deputy Privy Councilor, which was considered to be entering the ranks of prime ministers.

Afterwards, many matters of the Ministry of Works had nothing to do with Su Yun anymore.

Nearly 10 million strings of cash from the Ministry of Works were taken over by the Ministry of Revenue, Ahui and others were expelled from the Ministry of Works, and the Qingming Shanghe Garden was also taken over by the Nei Treasury.

Su Yun didn't say anything. He just packed up his things and went straight to the Privy Council.

Su Yun had never thought that he had not been promoted to the position of Deputy Privy Councilor after winning a battle in the northwest before, but he was promoted this time. It was really ridiculous, and it made Su Yun thoroughly understand a truth: "Insects cannot be consulted!"

Su Yun didn't know what Lu Gongzhu and others were thinking, but as long as he worked back from the results, he would know what these people really thought.

Haha, they are just eyeing the tens of millions of dollars and the Qingming Shanghe Park with unlimited potential. They want more!
The Empress Dowager Gao might have done it for money, but more importantly, it was probably for some shameful motives:
Su Yun, you are so capable of making trouble. The money in your Ministry of Industry is more than that in the national treasury. What are you going to do? If you dare to amass wealth now, you will dare to support scholars in the future!

Liu Zhi is right. You may not have any bad intentions, but don’t your subordinates have such intentions?
So, take it!

As for why he was the Deputy Privy Councilor, haha, after the Yuanfeng reform, the Privy Council no longer held as much power as before.

Although it still maintained its core position in military decision-making and was still in charge of the "military register and tiger talisman", responsible for military dispatch, border defense strategy and military generals' assessment, after the reform, the Privy Council's official documents had to be coordinated with the three provinces, and border defense and military affairs were handled directly by the Privy Council, but matters involving administrative coordination had to be issued to the six ministries through the Shangshu Dusheng for execution.

For example, the Privy Council's decision on military supply allocation had to be made in coordination with the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War. The Ministry of War had already resumed some of its functions (such as the selection of military officers), and although it was still under the control of the Privy Council, the relationship between the two was complex, forming a pattern of "the Privy Council making decisions and the Ministry of War executing them."

In other words, although the current Deputy Privy Councilor is still a prime minister, his say is much less than before the Yuanfeng reform!

Moreover, in the Privy Council, there are not only several deputy envoys, but there is also a Privy Councilor above them. Compared with being the chief official in the Ministry of Works, it seems like a promotion, but in fact the degree of freedom is much less.

In the Ministry of Works, Su Yun could plan major events such as controlling the Yellow River and revitalizing the north, but as a deputy envoy in the Privy Council, he could forget about this idea.

This also shows that Empress Dowager Gao and others were wary of him.

Su Yun had completely given up this time, and he was fully aware that it was absolutely impossible to accomplish great things within the system of the Song Dynasty, because there would always be people holding you back, and the people in the upper echelons were always on guard against you!
For example, this time, he just wanted to control the river and revitalize the economy of the north, but the Shuo Party immediately jumped out to stop him. The Empress Dowager Gao and the ministers immediately snatched away the Ministry of Works and sent himself to the Privy Council. It seemed that he was promoted, but in fact he was embedded in the Privy Council and could not move!
"A bunch of insects!"

Su Yun shook his head.

Su Yun finally understood why Cai Jing wanted to build the Yuanyou Party Monument, because these old party members were so irritating.

Although Wang Anshi's reforms were radical in some ways, the Song Dynasty had reached a point where it had no choice but to reform. The reformists were at least trying to find a way to resolve the current predicament.

And what is the old party doing?
Holding you back!

Sima Guang, in particular, did not care whether the new laws were good or bad, and was determined to abolish them all. As for the Western Xia and Liao Kingdoms, he was always tolerant and even ceded land in exchange for peace. Ha, such a person was actually given the posthumous title of Wenzheng!
When people in later generations talked about this group of conservatives, they always praised their outstanding morals and their behavior as gentlemen. However, when we look through their resumes, we can find that apart from party struggles, they really didn't do anything outstanding.

On the contrary, the treacherous prime minister Zhang Dun made achievements that were rarely seen in the Song Dynasty. Don’t you think it’s ironic?

Originally, Su Yun still had some expectations, thinking about uniting the majority of people and even giving them shares in the shop, but he didn't expect them to be so greedy.

Ah.

Okay, okay, if that’s the case, that’s just fine, I won’t have any psychological burden in the future.

This incident finally made Su Yun completely disappointed in the rulers and ministers of the Song Dynasty, and completely eliminated all his hopes!

He finally understood one thing: if he wanted to save the world, he couldn't rely on these people!
(End of this chapter)