Great Song Dynasty Writer

Chapter 213 Court Factions
"What happened after the impeachment?"

"It's likely a lose-lose situation."

Zhao Bian sighed. He wouldn't normally talk about these things with others, but since the topic had come up and he was indeed feeling frustrated, he decided to vent.

“Fan Zhen disregarded public opinion and insisted on making secret proposals to rescue Chen Zhizhong, which misled the emperor and did not recommend establishing an heir immediately. Now the court has appointed Fan Zhen as the director of the Censorate. The Censorate is a place that upholds the law and the people are of different interests and cannot coexist. Therefore, I submitted a memorial to the emperor requesting a transfer, and Fan Zhen is also requesting a transfer.”

Lu Beigu was taken aback. He had just arrived in Kaifeng, and his teacher was already being transferred again?

"In the Song Dynasty, it was common for civil officials to be frequently transferred. You'll see later."

Zhao Bian saw through Lu Beigu's thoughts and said.

"Will they definitely be transferred out?" Consultant Lu Bei asked.

“Not necessarily,” Zhao Bian added. “Right now, both the Censorate and the Remonstrance Bureau are impeaching the Privy Councilor Wang Deyong. Wang Deyong is a sensible man; at this critical juncture, he can no longer remain in the position of Privy Councilor. He should step down soon. If the Vice Privy Councilor Wang Yaochen is promoted to Privy Councilor, then the position of Vice Privy Councilor will be vacant. And there are very few candidates who can succeed him as Vice Privy Councilor. Wang Zhongcheng is one of them. If Wang Zhongcheng is promoted to Vice Privy Councilor and Fan Shidao succeeds him as Censor-in-Chief, then I won’t have to leave.”

Zhao Bian's words are extremely dense with information, and contain many unspoken twists and turns.

After a moment's thought, Lu Beigu roughly understood.

Wang Deyong was the son of Wang Chao, a confidant of Emperor Taizong and a "famous general" during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong. Yes, he was the one who held a large army and was stationed in Hebei during the Battle of Chanyuan.

However, Wang Deyong was much braver than Wang Chao. He was a veteran general who had fought his way up in real battles and was extremely popular with his troops.

Lu Beigu had heard Lü Huiqing and the others talk about it on the way. The only reason Wang Deyong was promoted to Privy Councilor was that Emperor Renzong used him to openly suppress Di Qing and shut up the civil officials.

But Wang Deyong was different from Di Qing; he had long harbored the intention to retire.

Now it seems that Wang Deyong was already disheartened after experiencing the incident when the prime ministers bypassed him and Di Qing and held a closed-door meeting with the deputy privy councilor Wang Yaochen during Emperor Renzong's serious illness.

Although the Censorate and the Remonstrance Bureau had conflicts, these were internal conflicts. Once the interests of the civil service group as a whole were involved, they immediately united to impeach Wang Deyong.

Lu Beigu estimates that there are two reasons why Wang Deyong is still in the position of Privy Councilor: one is that Emperor Renzong cares about his reputation, and the other is that he is afraid of losing balance in the court.

— Wang Deyong and Di Qing were both promoted to the position of Privy Councilor by Emperor Renzong despite opposition. Now they have been impeached by civil officials. If they are both demoted immediately after being impeached, where will Emperor Renzong's face be?

Do not underestimate the significance of "face" in the imperial court. For Emperor Renzong, "face" meant authority. If authority was lost, it would be difficult to control the court.

If, as Zhao Bian predicted, Wang Yaochen, the deputy privy councilor, were to be promoted to privy councilor after Wang Deyong stepped down as privy councilor, the consequences for Emperor Renzong would likely be disastrous in many ways.

Lu Beigu frowned and pondered for a moment before saying, "Then the teacher will probably have to be transferred."

"What makes you say that?" Zhao Bian was somewhat surprised by Lu Beigu's quick reaction.

"I don't know much about court affairs, but I think that everything comes down to human affairs. It's impossible for both of the Grand Secretaries to be from the fifth year of the Tiansheng era, is it?" Zhao Bian's hand holding the teacup stopped in mid-air.

If Wang Yaochen, the Vice Privy Councilor, is promoted to Privy Councilor, Wang Chou, the Vice Censor-in-Chief, is promoted to Vice Privy Councilor, and Fan Shidao, the Attendant Censor, is promoted to Vice Censor-in-Chief, then Zhao Bian will definitely be promoted to Attendant Censor.

However, if the premise is not met, then Zhao Bian's transfer to another post is inevitable.

Zhao Bian had already figured this out in his mind, but he was surprised that Lu Beigu could react so quickly.

"You see things very clearly." Zhao Bian took a sip of tea and praised, "At such a young age, you can see through the fog of the court. It's rare for your teacher to test you. Who do you think will succeed as the Privy Councilor?"

"It's either Song Xiang or Jia Changchao."

It's no secret that Song Xiang, as the leader of the small circle in the second year of the Tiansheng era, was at odds with Wen Yanbo, Han Qi, Wang Yaochen, Bao Zheng, and others from the small circle in the fifth year of the Tiansheng era. Zhao Bian had already made this clear to Lu Beigu.

Jia Changchao was an ally of Chen Zhizhong and a protégé of Lü Yijian. He inherited the mantle of the powerful minister Lü Yijian and was a staunch conservative in the court factions.

"The emperor's heart is unfathomable."

Zhao Bian did not offer his own guess, but simply sighed, "When one is in the imperial court, one is always not in control of one's own destiny."

However, whether Song Xiang or Jia Changchao served as Privy Councilor, the outcome was actually unimportant to Zhao Bian. He had to safeguard the interests of the Censorate and fulfill his duties as a censor, so he was fully prepared for the upcoming transfer.

Lu Beigu also fell silent for a moment.

This visit to Zhao Bian was very fruitful.

Although Zeng Gong, Lü Huiqing, and others knew some important figures and were aware of things happening in the imperial court, they were, after all, scholars who had not yet entered officialdom and were outsiders, so much of the information they had was vague.

As the third-ranking official in the Censorate, Zhao Bian, being an insider caught in the vortex of court politics, provided extremely accurate information.

Through this conversation, Lu Beigu finally managed to roughly understand the main factions in the imperial court at this point in time, the first year of the Jiayou era.

The first faction was centered around a small circle formed in the fifth year of the Tiansheng era. Its main members were Chancellor Wen Yanbo, Vice Privy Councilor Wang Yaochen, Prefect of Xiangzhou Han Qi, Prefect of Jiangning Bao Zheng, and Chancellor Fu Bi. These were remnants of the Qingli New Policies faction who had risen again after years of dormancy. This faction was currently the most powerful force in the imperial court.

The second faction was centered around a small circle formed in the second year of the Tiansheng era. Its main members were former prime minister Song Xiang and Chengdu prefect Song Qi. They rose to power much earlier than the group formed in the fifth year of the Tiansheng era. During the Kangding era, Song Xiang was already a prime minister, while Zheng Jian was the deputy privy councilor and Ye Qingchen was the commissioner of the three departments. Unfortunately, they were no match for the conservative bigwig Lü Yijian. After losing power, Zheng Jian and Ye Qingchen passed away one after another, and this faction never rose again.

The third was the conservative faction centered around Jia Changchao. The conservative faction had always been an indispensable force in the court during the reign of Emperor Renzong. They all opposed the Qingli Reforms. After the downfall of Lü Yijian and Xia Song, Chen Zhizhong, Jia Changchao, Wang Gongchen and others became the representatives of this faction.

As for the faction of imperial concubines previously formed by Wen Yanbo, Liu Hang, and Zhang Yaozuo, it has completely collapsed with the passing of Consort Zhang.

Besides these three major factions, other factions within the imperial court, such as the highly cohesive Censorate and the centrists represented by technocrats like Zhang Fangping, also had their own space to survive.

(End of this chapter)