As Ying Jieyan changed his mind, Zhao Bing had already understood their efforts. He used the central government's supervision and supervision system for local governments in history as an entry point to persuade him. Think about the two years since he took over Jiangnan, the military generals who had followed him were all promoted to high positions, and they were entrusted with important tasks in the name of strengthening Jiang defense, and the general led the military and political leadership, while the officials of the prefecture, like their aides, had greatly reduced their status.

In addition to rewarding merits, Zhao Bing made such a thing, but he had no other intention to suppress civil officials and elevate the status of military officials. But of course there were risks in doing so. They were in charge of tens of thousands of soldiers and occupied strategic locations. Over time, their status would not be difficult to be in harmony with those civil officials. Such a supervision system would be useless to them and be separated from the central supervision.

However, Zhao Bing did not fail to consider this risk. He has always kept the financial and personnel appointment power firmly in his hands. Without money or people, they would not even be able to rebel. In addition, he also monitored various departments through the Affairs Bureau and restrained Yu Hou, who was in charge of military and political affairs. Once there is any disturbance, he could find out in time and deal with it decisively. But he also knew that this was not a complete solution, and it was impossible to completely plug all loopholes, but it was the most effective method at present.

In order to stir up the muddy waters of the imperial court, Zhao Bing also used the method adopted by emperors of all dynasties - to appoint new people. He first divided several close confidants from the imperial office to various important places to serve important positions, and then placed a group of officials recruited and trained in Qiongzhou into the court and local governments to serve as grassroots officials, especially counties and townships. In order to break the monopoly of local forces and implement his own policies, as retired officers and soldiers moved to local governments to manage grassroots armed forces and powerful departments, he further strengthened his control of the local area.

While consolidating the local regime, Zhao Bing also infiltrated the court, using the Chen Yizhong's rebellion case to insert his confidant team into various departments, and promoted the brothers Jiang Qi and Chen Zeweng to the cabinet, strengthening his voice in the court. He also took the opportunity of transforming Lin'an City to suddenly promote Zhou Yi to a higher position, breaking the rules of employed people in the court, and warning those who are half-hearted. Zhou Yi did make great efforts, understand his intentions, gain a face for himself, and successfully opened up the situation, laying the foundation for his next move.

Now the two old men pointed out these two things openly and secretly, which gave Zhao Bing the feeling that his actions had already had differences with the cabinet ministers. The fact that Ying Jieyan and Liu Fu joined forces also showed that the situation was very serious. Of course, he did not think that the two were distracted by him. It was precisely because of his concern for him that he would remind him, but how to solve this problem gave him a headache!

Thinking through the whole story, Zhao Bing stood up and walked to the window. A cool autumn wind blew in, making him feel refreshed. At this time, the flowers in the flowerbed outside the window were still in full bloom, as if they showed their last fragrance before the arrival of winter. Looking up at the sky, the sky, which was always gloomy in summer, became clear with the arrival of autumn, which was in line with the old saying of the bright and refreshing autumn. Look at a pool of autumn water in the little West Lake, which rippled layers of ripples under the blowing of the wind, pushing the waves to the shore.

Zhao Bing looked at the autumn scenery outside the window and felt much better. He knew that the central government’s perfect supervision and supervision system for local governments was beneficial to maintain the unity of the country, the smooth flow of government orders, and the rectification of the administration. In terms of the supervision system itself, if this issue is to be developed from a vertical direction, it can become a special history. If it is developed from a horizontal direction, it also involves the central supervision system and the functions of the entire censorship. From the perspective of the local government, it involves the evolution of the entire local administrative system. It is necessary to understand not only history, but also the practical significance.

At the same time, its development history also tells us that in the process of implementation of the system, it will naturally be differentiated with interest relations. The purpose and effect of the system design often run in reverse. Therefore, it is important to formulate laws and systems, but how to implement them is even more important. The system must be constantly revised as the situation changes. However, Zhao Bing believes that in addition to the system, it is still a problem of people. After the changes in people's values, his attitude towards the system is not how to follow the design of the system, but how to exploit loopholes in the system, that is, the so-called policy above and countermeasures below.

Then any system has its own variations, and form and substance can be reversed, and going through form often becomes a concealment of corruption that violates the system. Therefore, strictly supervising the entire process of administration has become an indispensable condition for the implementation of the system. This is not only in history, but also in real life, there are too many lessons in this regard. Although there is no complete Song Dynasty law now, there are not many inheritance and issuance of edicts, but the effectiveness and implementation status are still a big problem.

Therefore, don’t think that everything will be fine if you have a law. The actual implementation is very different from person, time, and place. Because the system is dead and people live. In the minds of some people, the system is for people to see, and there are hidden rules for doing things. And relying solely on the system to govern people has its limitations. The most fundamental thing is to manage officials well, correct the social atmosphere, and suppress evil in concepts.

Zhao Bing sighed with Ying Jieyan and felt deeply after sorting it out, but he also gained a different understanding. He knew very well that the establishment of a country's system is inseparable from the culture, ruling thoughts and social changes of this era.

After the transformation of the Tang and Song dynasties, a scholar-official and bureaucratic class quickly rose. The elites among them believed that they were the actual responsibilities of the world's safety and the people's interests and diseases. They called for the emperor to "rule the world with the scholar-officials", showing a self-conscious consciousness that was very different from the scholars of the previous generations. That is, in terms of Neo-Confucianism emphasizes the "way of the inner sage and the outer king", it aims to study things, seek knowledge, sincerity, correct the heart, and cultivate themselves, and ultimately fall on the "outer king" of managing the family, governing the country, and pacifying the world.

Therefore, the culture of the Song Dynasty was essentially a world-oriented culture, which focused on practice, emphasized the world, and fundamentally focused on how the people survived and developed, and how the country was peaceful and strong, reflecting the world-being sentiment of "taking the world as one's own responsibility". Fan Zhongyan's famous saying "Being worried about the world before worrying about the world, and then being happy about the world", and Zhang Zai's call for "establishing a mind for the world, establishing a destiny for the living people, inheriting unique knowledge for the past sages, and opening peace for all ages" are all classic expressions of this concept and sentiment.

Since the late Tang and Five Dynasties, loyalty, righteousness, integrity and shame have been wiped out. During the reconstruction of New Confucianism, we spared no effort to commend reputation and integrity. By the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, we had "Chinese and foreign gentry recommended to be famous and integrity as the highest". We urged outstanding scholars and officials to "not be ungrateful and seek progress in vain", and consciously believed that "punishment is a temporary honor and disgrace, and their power is in the current monarch; the name is a great honor and disgrace for all generations, and their power is in the Qing Dynasty", and regarded the evaluation of the current and future generations as high as rewards and punishments, and the eternal value beyond life.

Of course, there are deep social changes in the development of the independent personality of the literati and officials of the Song Dynasty, but the policy protection and ideological orientation of the supreme ruler cannot be ignored. Especially for the censors who assume the function of power supervision, most of the monarchs of the Song Dynasty claimed to be "respecting the censors" and "not guilty of the slander", "using the power to attack and cultivate their courage to speak." It was precisely because the supreme rulers could "tolerate the slander and cultivate the strong spirit of the ministers" that prompted the literati and officials to "be less afraid of being lighter, and the upper and lower levels of people were more and more prosperous", so that they could discuss politics relatively fully and realize their political ambitions.

Looking at the Song Dynasty system, the improvement of its top-level design and the progress of the ruling thought were complementary, mutually promoted, and developed simultaneously. The rulers' thoughts had reached the consensus that "the laws of the world should be shared with the world. If there is a minister to guard it, it will be killed. Even if the emperor cannot get it, the great duke of the world will be established." While establishing and valuing civil officials and suppressing the basic national policy of military generals, the founders made special decisions to not kill scholars and officials and speak out and act as a system guarantee that later monarchs must abide by.

This kind of political tolerance was unprecedented in the Chinese imperial era, so the Song Dynasty government was the most enlightened and tolerant among all Chinese dynasties. As a political legacy with far-reaching influence, it was inherited by future generations. Until the imperial era before modern times, except for the dynasty's revolution, there was never a chaotic situation of overturning the imperial power and local separatist forces. It is no exaggeration to say that its benefits were passed down by later generations.

There is no absolute thing in the world, and there will be no perfect system. Naturally, the legacy left by the Song Dynasty also has negative factors, and the pros and cons often lead to vines and gullies. But according to Zhao Bing's experience, the Song Dynasty was not such a wonderful golden age in the eyes of later generations, nor was it such a 'weak Song', but more of the choice of the times.

It is undeniable that the Song Dynasty did show new momentum in the political, economic, social and cultural fields, but the social changes during the Tang and Song dynasties did not break away from the framework of monarchy and landlord economy. Misleading readers often deviate from the major premise and do not distinguish between time and time. Those who over-beautify the Song Dynasty used a generalized cognitive misinterpretation, but some extremely beautified equate the Song Dynasty politics with the current Chinese model. Absolutely, universalize and consistently, and then serve as a supporting basis for excessive exaggeration. The result will inevitably violate historical facts.

As for political heritage, its institutional design certainly ensures the centralization of the monarch and eliminates division and separatism, but it is always "prevent things and regulates them". In military affairs, each of them governs independently, lacks coordination and difficulty in coordination, and is seriously weakening the combat effectiveness of the army. In administration, many political careers, excessive officials, and inefficiency are common. Therefore, when the strong enemy is approaching, the current situation is chaotic, lack of vitality and short-term response is inevitable.

As for spiritual heritage, the new Confucianism, as the core of spiritual culture, has indeed injected many new elements into the times. However, with the pressure of the external environment and the strengthening of internal autocracy, since the Responsibility of the Sect, Neo-Confucianism has been respected as the mainstream of Song studies and promoted to an official school. The compatible spirit of the founding period has gradually disappeared. Doctrines such as "preserving the laws of nature and destroying human desires" and "starving to death is small, losing integrity is big", and finally becoming the spiritual shackles of the autocratic empires of the Ming and Qing dynasties to control bureaucrats and tame the people.

The scholars, officials and bureaucrats of the Song Dynasty did enjoy a certain degree of freedom of speech, which was compared with other autocratic dynasties, but even the Song Dynasty was limited to a period of healthy operation of the political ecology. After the southward transition, the political ecology deteriorated significantly. Qin Hui, under the default of Emperor Gaozong of Song, repeatedly launched literary inquisitions to kill the opposition; Han Tuozhou used "pseudo-learning and rebellion against the party" to conquer political enemies, and strictly prohibited Taoism and Taoism schools, which are well-known. Regardless of the premise and time, it is obvious that it is a big mistake to fully determine that the Song Dynasty was "no ideological forbidden zones" and "an era without literary inquisitions".

New Confucianism has indeed achieved the merit of gravitation with the hearts of the people, and a group of elites such as Fan Zhongyan, Bao Zheng, Wen Tianxiang appeared. The elites had the power of role models, but the style of scholars always interacted with the style of politics. Under the good political style, during the Qingli and Jiayou period, the style of scholars was relatively cheered up, and their ethics were naturally high. Once the political situation was dirty, although there were still a few scholars and officials who were not surrendered, when Qin Hui, Han Tuozhou, Shi Miyuan and Jia Sidao ruled, the style of scholars was defeated and their politeness was ruined. How could there be a moral integrity? And these powerful ministers and those who gathered their subordinates were all literati and officials? It can be seen that the general assertion that the Song Dynasty was the "gentleman era" is undoubtedly a misunderstanding.

Some people say that there was a dispute between the new and old parties during the period of Emperor Shenzong of Song Dynasty and Emperor Zhezong of Song Dynasty as "the reform party with Wang Anshi as the idol and the conservative party with Sima Guang as the idol took turns to govern", which was used to prove that the Song Dynasty had "had a republic factor". This statement confuses the rotation of two parties in the ancient imperial system and the rotation of two parties in the modern sense of the two parties. The crux of the difference in one word is aimed at erasing the essential differences between democratic republic and monarchical autocracy.

Both Emperor Xiaozong of Song and Emperor Lizong of Song succeeded the throne with their subordinate clans. Some people misinterpreted it as the political "openness of 'everyone can be the emperor'". Looking at the dynasties of China, the power-changing practice of supporting the ruler because of the monarch's extinction, is not unique to the Song Dynasty. If it is beautified into the concept of "openness of imperial power" in the Song Dynasty, it is incredible. Don't you see that the imperial power is still privately granted and received by the descendants of the Zhao emperors. Where can you talk about "opening of imperial power"?

Some people interpreted the relative constraints of the Song Dynasty on imperial power and its decision-making procedures as "the imperial power has become a symbol of the highest public power." Little did they know that this relative constraint in the Song Dynasty must ultimately be based on the premise that the emperor consciously accepted checks and balances of power. This also determines that the Song Dynasty emperor, who represented imperial power, could not completely become a monarch in the same way as the modern constitutional system, so there is no saying that the Song Dynasty "used the system to ensure that the state's public power belongs to the whole society to the greatest extent."

Therefore, the Song Dynasty made great progress in political civilization, but all its progress was relative and operated under an autocratic regime; the emperor was still the highest decision-maker of the country, and all top-level designs under the ancestral family law served the monarchical autocratic centralization. It was a lack of basis for the state power of the Song Dynasty and it also violated historical facts.
Chapter completed!