I served as an admonisher in the Song Dynasty

Chapter 338 The battle over posthumous titles! Don’t I, the emperor, have no respect for face?
The third day of September.

The second day after Xia Chang passed away.

The final memorial, "Three Thoughts on Government Affairs", was also passed to various Yamen officials through Zhongshu.

This memorial is obviously aimed at the Reform Department and Tai Jian.

If it was not Xia Song's final memorial, Su Hao would have to refute it.

This kind of worry is completely unfounded.

Su Liang guessed that some officials would make a fuss about this memorial.

Some mediocre officials like to do such intrigues instead of doing serious business.

They don't understand at all.

Fan Zhongyan, Su Liang, Wang Anshi, Sima Guang and others did not care about power, fame and fortune at all.

The reason is: Xia Song was diligent and promising, governed the territory well, never forgot to submit memorials even when he was confused, and died of illness on the desk in the official office. He was indeed a model scholar-official.

The reason why the officials objected was that Xia Song was not worthy.

Just like Mount Tai enshrines Zen.

Except for several of Xia Song's close associates, everyone opposed giving Xia Song the posthumous title of "Wenzheng".

Therefore, all the officials spoke out against it.

Two days later.

……

……

Zhao Zhen was also a little confused.

The more important reason why he gave this posthumous title was to thank Xia Song for his enlightenment.

Some officials said that the posthumous title should be drawn up by the Taichang Liyuan and the Examination Department, and it is illegal for officials to decide privately.

on the surface.

Day two.

After the late emperor passed away, the lofty status of Taishan Fengchan suddenly dropped a lot in the hearts of the people.

Since Zhao Zhen took charge, this was the first time that more than 90% of the officials in the court opposed his imperial edict.

Actually.

Some officials said that Wenzheng was a good example of a scholar-bureaucrat, but Xia Song made mistakes in running the family. During the period of Ding You, he secretly returned to Beijing in an attempt to enjoy himself. His reputation among the people was very poor. If Wenzheng is given the posthumous title, officials will definitely use it as his posthumous title in the future. shame.

Taiwan's remonstrators launched a more violent attack.

immediately.

If Xia Song had known that this scene would happen after his death, he would probably die in silence.

Su Liang even said: "Xia Song is known throughout the world for his extravagant extravagance and endless amassing. Officials must not put their personal favors above the official tools of their posthumous titles."

They all protested.

Before Tai Jian could give his words, the officials of the Pavilion and the Academy could not sit still.

He thought about it carefully and gradually understood the reason for the objections of the officials.

Opposition memorials were like snowflakes.

Many officials cannot understand this realm in their lifetime.

The posthumous title "Wenzheng" is extremely noble in the hearts of scholar-bureaucrats and is the lifelong pursuit of every scholar-bureaucrat.

The posthumous title has not yet been decided by the ceremony officials of Taichang Liyuan.

As soon as this edict came out.

Xia Anqi, the son of Xia Song, presented Xia Song's career (life story) to Taichang Liyuan and handed it over to the ceremony officials to discuss his posthumous title.

Zhao Zhen suddenly issued an edict to give Xia Song the posthumous title Wenzheng.

Ouyang Xiu said bluntly: "Giving Xia Song the most beautiful posthumous title of Wenzheng, what kind of posthumous title should I use to treat the good people in the world?" "

If Xia Song gets this posthumous title, it will undoubtedly reduce the value of this posthumous title.

Tang Jie also said: "If Xia Song can be given the posthumous title of Wenzheng, then half of the officials in the whole dynasty can be given the same posthumous title with him in the future."

He didn't expect so many people to oppose it.

Some officials said that Xia Song was good at using power, seeking fame and reputation, raising hundreds of concubines, and his family had millions of wealth, so he was not worthy of any good posthumous title.

……

In less than a day, the imperial desks in Chui Gong Hall were piled high.

At the moment, Zhao Zhen's biggest character flaw is that he attaches too much importance to emotions.

Instead of explaining, like a chicken talking to a duck, the best way to deal with it is to ignore it.

They want the Song Dynasty to be prosperous and the country to be peaceful and peaceful.

Zhao Zhen had no choice but to withdraw his order and leave it to Taichang Liyuan to continue drafting.

However, Zhao Zhen made a request that the word "文" must be retained.

Wenzheng is the first posthumous title for scholar-officials, while Wen is the highest posthumous title awarded to civil servants.

Later, there are Cheng, Zhong, Duan, Ding, Su, Yi, Yi, Jing, Jie, An, Zhuang, etc., all of which are beautiful posthumous titles.

soon.

Taichang Liyuan formulated a posthumous title: Wenwen.

If you have many blog posts, you can call them articles, and if you are smart and wise, you can call them contributions.

Xia Song has extraordinary literary talent and sagacity, which sounds appropriate. And it’s also a beautiful posthumous title.

Zhao Zhen originally wanted to agree, but as soon as the posthumous title came out, he was rejected by Wang Zhu, who knew the imperial edict.

The reason is that Zhao Tiao, the great ancestor of the founding emperor of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin, was posthumously named Emperor of Documents.

Officials cannot have the same posthumous title as the emperor.

Zhao Zhen was helpless.

I had to ask the etiquette officials to think again.

And this moment.

After Xia Anqi, the son of Xia Song, learned that all officials in the dynasty opposed giving his father the posthumous title Wenzheng, he did not dare to express any opinions at all.

Xia Song has been in court for many years and has always had a temperament that would not suffer losses.

But his son is much weaker.

He knew very well that his father's reputation was not good, and that the ministers and admonishers at that time did not like him, so he did not dare to make any demands.

Xia Song's words to "cry more, make more noise, and talk more about political achievements" have long been forgotten.

Two days later.

Taichang Liyuan came up with another posthumous title: Wenzhuang.

Zhuang means brave and mighty, which is in line with Xia Song's status as Privy Councilor.

This time, there are still some naysayers.

In particular, Ouyang Xiu and Tang Jie believed that Xia Song was not worthy of a beautiful posthumous title at all, so they could just give him an ordinary posthumous title.

This time, Zhao Zhen was a little angry and directly refuted Tang Jie and Ouyang Xiu.

In the Chui Gong Hall, he yelled: "You are trying to break the law with your Taiwan admonishment. You are really lawless!"

Xia Song's "Three Thoughts on Government Affairs" still played some invisible role.

Zhao Zhen also feels that the current Taiwan remonstrance is too strong.

At last.

Under the persuasion of Wen Yanbo, Fu Bi and Fan Zhongyan, Tang Jie and Ouyang Xiucai no longer objected.

This posthumous debate has come to an end.

……

Followed by.

Zeng Gongliang, the deputy privy envoy, was promoted to the privy envoy, and Liang Shi, the direct bachelor of the privy council, became the deputy privy envoy.

Xia Song died of illness.

Next, many officials in the Privy Council will have their positions changed.

at the same time.

When Zhao Zhen held an internal meeting with the ministers of the two governments and three departments, he said a few words of complaint.

Zhao Zhen believes that the current Taiwanese admonishment officials are too aggressive and too harsh, and their methods of admonishment are too barbaric.

He hoped that the prime ministers of the two governments could urge the admonishing officials in Taiwan to change their admonishing habits and soften their methods.

Wen Yanbo, Fu Bi and other ministers all looked troubled.

Tang Jie, Ouyang Xiu, Fan Zhen and other Taiwanese admonishers all had bad tempers and strong tempers.

It is simply unrealistic to ask them to change their habit of admonishing.

At last.

Song Xiang proposed a feasible way.

A new good-tempered Taiwan admonishment officer was added to change the Taiwan admonishment atmosphere.

After Zhao Zhen discussed with all the ministers,

It was decided to transfer the household judge, Dr. Taichang, and Zhijixianyuan Han Jiang to the supervisory censorship.

Han Jiang was a Jinshi in the same year as Su Liang and Wang Anshi, but he is older, now forty years old.

He has a gentle personality, is elegant and polite, and is also a chronic person.

This is the candidate that Zhao Zhen is very satisfied with.

Just when Zhao Zhen thought that Han Jiang would change some of the culture of Taiwan's admonishment, Han Jiang's first memorial as Taiwan's admonishment officer was submitted to the emperor.

Han Jiang reported to the court that it was extremely inappropriate for the official family to appoint Xia Anqi, the son of Xia Song, as the official of the banquet through internal approval.

First, the imperial edict skipped two offices, which was procedurally inappropriate.

Secondly, Xia Anqi had no academic knowledge and did not meet the standards of a Jingyan official at all.

He asked Zhao Zhen to remove him from his position as an attendant and replace him with a virtuous person.

When Zhao Zhen saw this memorial, he almost died of anger.

Jingyan officials have a noble status and are idle officials with high salaries.

He did this as a favor to Xia Song.

The whole court knows this.

Unexpectedly, Han Jiang was the first to raise objections.

Zhao Zhen originally made Han Jiangzhong and Taiwan's admonishers have a fierce temper, but he didn't expect that Han Jiang would stop coming to Taiwan as soon as he was appointed as Taiwan's admonisher.

"Alas! Don't I, the emperor, have no respect for face?" Zhao Zhen said helplessly.

(End of this chapter)