Faced with all kinds of chaos, Ouyang Bian did not say a word. He did what the daily negotiating officials should do without saying a word, and honestly recorded these things, sorted them into books, either deposited them into archives, or sent them to the history museum.

Although he always appears by the emperor, he seems to disappear into the court.

People gradually forgot that there was an economic genius in the court who had a bank with a property of 100 million yuan, and also that of the supervisory censor who could get a Beijing official to step down every month.

It was not until April of the second year of Zhiping that Zhao Shu issued an order to decree the ritual officials and officials above the board to discuss the ceremony of worshipping King Pu in detail, and Ouyang Bian made a speech!

It is a convention to discuss the specifications of the ceremonial ceremony of the old prince.

Every time the new emperor was in power, he would celebrate with all the people, and all officials of the court would be promoted according to the rules. Ouyang Bian was promoted to another level at that time.

Moreover, the kindness was everywhere, and the late kings of the royal family also gave them gifts.

According to convention, King Pu would just give the gift according to the specifications of the late princes of the royal family.

However, after all, King Pu Anyi was the biological father of Emperor Yingzong Zhao Shu, and the Secretariat believed that the specifications of his gifts should be different from those of the kings.

So, what title should be awarded?

What should be called in the book of the gift?

This is a crucial event in the Confucian political system that governs the country with filial piety.

In order to be cautious, Han Qi and other prime ministers of the Secretariat requested to issue the matter to the relevant departments responsible for etiquette for discussion and seek appropriate solutions.

Zhao Shu instructed him to discuss the ceremony after the 2nd anniversary of Renzong's death.

Now that the Great Sutra Ceremony has been held in this way, it is time to discuss this issue.

From the perspective of traditional etiquette and law, that is, from the basis of the country's governance, since Zhao Shu had inherited Renzong, he and King Pu were no longer father and son, but only monarch and ministers.

Then you just need to be named Emperor Bao directly, and there is no need to discuss anything more.

Now that Zhao Shu has issued a detailed edict, Zhao Shu is obviously reluctant to abide by this etiquette, otherwise he would not have issued a detailed edict.

Therefore, after the edict was issued, the ministers waited and did not dare to make the first move.

Only Sima Guang, the Censorate, advocated that he clearly opposed this edict.

Sima Guang advocated the reign of King Pu as a high-ranking country. His three concubines were: the wife of Qiao State Wang (the wife of King Pu), the wife of Xiang State Han (the successor wife of King Pu), and the Jun Ren (the biological mother of Emperor Yingzong) of Xianyou County and were named the Grand Lady.

This proposal was responded to by Hanlin Bachelor Wang Gui and others.

Based on Sima Guang's memorial, they believed that King Pu Yu Renzong was his brother, Emperor Yingzong should call King Pu the emperor's uncle, and the title of the book was not called directly.

Ouyang Bian deeply recognized Sima Guang's claim.

In Ouyang Bian's opinion, although Zhao Zhen was not heart-to-heart about Zhao Shu, it was not bad either, but this was not a question of whether he or not.

The Song Dynasty ruled the country according to law. This law was the law of law and the law of etiquette. In the etiquette, the stepson was the law, and the son of etiquette. This was not determined by the bloodline, but by etiquette.

Since the Song Dynasty governed the country with this law, then Zhao Shu, as the monarch, should follow it. Otherwise, if you take the lead in destroying etiquette and law, you will have a very bad start.

Now that you, Zhao Shu, have become emperor and have control over power, you want to break up the bridge and posthumously named your own father as the emperor. So where do you want to?

In Ouyang Bian's opinion, the most unforgivable thing is actually Zhao Shu doing this, which is to tear up the contract he signed.

That's right, it's just that there is no contract spirit.

This is what makes Ouyang Bian angry.

But it is unknown whether Zhao Zhen has always cared for Ouyang Bian that he has a profound motivation to maintain this contract.

At least Ouyang Bian himself didn't know, but Ouyang Bian spoke.

People’s speeches are written by memorials, and Ouyang Bian’s speeches are also written by me.

The difference is that people wrote memorials, while Ouyang Bian spoke directly into a book.

The title of the book is "The Spirit of the Law".

This book is not unrelated to the spirit of Montesquieu's theory of law in later generations, at least it has been used to learn from some concepts, but most of it is Ouyang Bian's thoughts on the logic of governing the country in the Song Dynasty.

This depth was something Ouyang Bian had never had before. When he was a daily negotiator for more than a year, Ouyang Bian had already had an in-depth understanding of the logic of governing the country in the Song Dynasty, so his speech was also extremely profound.

In his book "The Spirit of the Law", Ouyang Bian deeply analyzed the connotation of the rule of law in the Song Dynasty.

He analyzed in an easy-to-understand manner what the so-called law is, why the Dharma of the Song Dynasty was so different from the laws of the Han and Tang Dynasties, and how the laws of the Song Dynasty maintained the operation of this huge empire.

The logic of what this article is, why and how to do it was clearly analyzed by Ouyang Bian.

In this way, most people no longer need to think about why Zhao Shu wanted to respect Zhao Yunrang as Huangkao. It doesn't matter.

What’s important is that if Zhao Shu does this, then he will first violate etiquette and law, and secondly, violate the law.

If an emperor violates both etiquette and law.

So, is he still qualified to be the emperor of the empire?

Although the Song Dynasty published so many legal provisions and claimed to be a country of etiquette, it did not achieve much in this essential exploration.

Ouyang Bian used the logic of later generations to analyze things in depth, showing the essence of etiquette and law to the literati and officials of the Song Dynasty.

Ouyang Bian doesn’t need to accuse Zhao Shu of saying why you are so unfilial, how can you betray Renzong, how can you violate your identity, etc.

Ouyang Bian just told everyone in a calm and almost cold word.

——Rites and law are the foundation of the rule of the Song Dynasty. If these two things are lost, everything will collapse.

You, Zhao Shu, can naturally choose to violate etiquette and law. However, since you are the emperor and are the object of support for etiquette and law, if you are the first to violate etiquette and law, then your legal foundation as the emperor will collapse, and you can consider the consequences yourself.

...

Political Court.

Prime Minister Han Qi, second prime minister Gong Liang, assistant to political affairs Ouyang Xiu and Zhao Gui sat silently.

They all had a book on their hands, and they could see the title of the book at a closer look, which read "The Spirit of the Law".

Han Qi pointed at the book with a wry smile and said to Ouyang Xiu: "Why don't you stop your son a little?"

Ouyang Xiu smiled bitterly and shook his head: "I didn't ask what he was going to do, and he never spoke very much.

Look at him, from the second year of Jiayou to now, he only wrote to impeach him when he was the censor of the censor.

Even so, I strictly submit only one memorial every month, so I refuse to accept it if I have too many.

How could I know that he would suddenly write this book at this time and hand it over it directly!"

Han Qi sighed and said, "Everyone has read this book, see if there are any loopholes to get rid of. It's best to beat him up in one fell swoop."

Ouyang Xiu glared: "Why do you want to beat him up?"

Han Qi said: "Didn't we agree to maintain the majesty of the official family and stand on the side of the official family!"

Ouyang Xiu shook his head: "Yes, we agreed, but after reading this book, I changed my attention.

Ji Mo is right, etiquette and law are the foundation of the country. We cannot destroy the foundation for the sake of the monarch's temporary pleasure. This is really not worth the loss!"

Han Qi said angrily: "I think you are protecting your youngest son and do not care about national affairs at all!"

Ouyang Xiu stood up suddenly: "Mr. Han, how could I be such a person? If Han Xiang doesn't believe me, I will submit my resignation in a while. How could I be a person who only cares about myself?"

"Don't be anxious, don't be anxious! Talk well!" Xu Gongliang quickly comforted him.

Ouyang Xiu brushed his sleeves and said, "Look at what Mr. Han said!"

Han Qi snorted.

Zhao Jiao said: "The most important thing now is how to refute the views here.

If we cannot refute this view, our proposal is a clear violation of etiquette and law. When we impeach with the censors, we will all be left with the title."

Xu Gongliang smiled bitterly and said, "How to refute this? Ji Mo's arguments are linked one by one, and the logic is so rigorous that it is like seamless.

If you have to forcefully refute it, it is just a slander. It is a problem that everyone can see. I am afraid that if the refutation is not possible, it will become a joke!”

For a moment, the few people fell silent.

Han Qi's tone eased and said to Ouyang Xiu: "Brother Yong, you must have a way to refute it, right?"

All of them looked at Ouyang Xiu.
Chapter completed!