Song Gexing

Chapter 54 The dispute between gentlemen in the Song Dynasty

Zhao Zhen now understood that Fan Zhongyan and others had not formed a party at all, but that he had been led astray by Yushitai's frame-up.

He couldn't help but look angrily at Wang Gongchen and others, and his anger disappeared after seeing his appearance.

He sighed helplessly and said: "Why do I want to implement the New Deal? You know very well in your heart. It has been 80 years since the founding of the Song Dynasty. The pressure of population reproduction is increasing day by day. If you remain unchanged, you will only be dragged into decline. Do you want your children and grandchildren to face this? To bring disaster to the country?"

"His Majesty!"

Now even Yan Shu knelt down, and all the officials present knelt down. This was unbelievable in the Song Dynasty, but the problem was that what the emperor said was too scary.

At this time, Zhao Fang felt something move in his heart. This was the second time that he used a gentleman to win over civil servants, and the effect was surprisingly good. It seemed that he had to find a way to use this method to arouse the shame of the entire Song Dynasty scholars.

Thinking of this, he said: "All the ministers here are scholars. Even the censor Qian Enyin became an official, and he also read the books of sages. I firmly believe this."

Everyone was feeling saddened by Zhao Zhen's words. Suddenly, when they heard his words, they all looked up at him in confusion.

Qian Mingyi blushed and wanted to refute but couldn't. He was the official of Enyin. He was the grandson of Qian Ju, the king of Wuyue, and the nephew of Qian Weiyan.

His elder brother Qian Yanyuan was an upright and loyal minister in the Northern Song Dynasty. He was a bit cunning but not shameless.

Zhao Fang also looked at everyone at this time, ignored Qian Mingyi's hesitation, and asked word by word: "Dare you ask, what are you reading, sage, sage, book, what, why, and what?"

Everyone was startled, with a thoughtful expression on their faces, even Zhao Zhen was no exception.

We are all scholars, and everyone naturally has their own reasons, but real scholars are different from ordinary people.

This is an era when Confucianism is in power. Although Confucian theory has become more and more complicated since Han Yu, and no conclusive great Confucian has yet appeared, the original intention of scholars is basically the same.

Zhao Fang looked at everyone silently, waiting until several people came to their senses, and then spoke again: "Confucius said to become benevolent, and Mencius said to obtain righteousness. To fulfill one's righteousness, benevolence is the most important thing. Why do you read the books of sages? Now and then. , I am so worthy!"

He silently said sorry to Wen Tianxiang in his heart. He was unwilling to plagiarize others, but now he had no choice but to use this poem to arouse the shame of the scholars of the Song Dynasty.

Sure enough, this poem was fatal to Confucian disciples, especially in the Northern Song Dynasty when the literary style was at its peak. The sentence "I have no shame" made everyone present change their expressions.

"Your Majesty, I apologize! I framed the new law officials for forming a clique because I was selfish and unwilling to change the law. Please punish me for the crime of death and use upright officials to govern the Qingming Dynasty."

Wang Gongchen couldn't hold on anymore at first. This Tiansheng who had defeated Ouyang Xiu for eight years was extremely ashamed of his original intention.

Wang Gongchen's family was poor in his youth, his father died young, and his widowed mother brought up four children, and he was the eldest son.

The poor life cultivated his perseverance, and he had the courage to anger the Liao Kingdom and force Renzong to expedition to the north.

But his ambition since he was a child was to study and become an official, so that the underprivileged people in the world will be happy, and stop being like himself, who only has free time to study after hard work.

When he was selected as the number one scholar by Renzong, he was still an honest gentleman. Because he guessed the questions before the exam and luckily guessed the exam questions, he solemnly declined the position of number one scholar.

Chinese people's love for guessing questions in exams is not unique to the 21st century. The same was true for the ancients. Wang Gongchen guessed it correctly, so he felt that he was incompetent and did not want to be the number one scholar.But after listening to his explanation, Renzong praised his honesty and simplicity, persuaded him that guessing questions in the exam was not cheating, and still voted him the top pick.

It was also his honesty that was valued and used by Renzong. Otherwise, how could he be a high-ranking official like Yushi Zhongcheng, who had been a Jinshi for eight years, would not have enough qualifications.

The Yushitai in the Song Dynasty was not under the jurisdiction of the three provinces and the second government, but directly under the jurisdiction of the emperor. It seemed to be half a level lower than the second government, but in fact it had great power.

Moreover, the highest official of Yushitai, Yushi Dafu, is basically not appointed. In other words, Yushi Zhongcheng is actually the highest official of Yushitai.

Like the Jiedushi, the imperial censorship became a false position in the Song Dynasty. They were all named by a certain meritorious minister and did not participate in the daily affairs of the censorship station.

Now the phrase "I have no shame" reminded him of the past, and he couldn't face his own heart anymore. He couldn't be a gentleman if he couldn't be innocent.

The other people at Yushitai were stunned when they saw him begging for forgiveness in shame, and then they also apologized one after another. The dignity of the Song Dynasty people was clearly reflected here.

Zhao Fang looked at them and couldn't help but sigh, no wonder the Renzong Dynasty was praised by history books as the pinnacle of culture.

Even those educated trolls in later generations, no matter how they slander the weak Song Dynasty, still have to admit that the culture of Zhao and Song Dynasties reached the pinnacle of China. Of course, forget the trolls who have no bottom line.

In just two days, the wind direction in Bianjing City changed drastically. Wen Tianxiang's deadly poem spread all over Bianjing City.

"No, I, Emperor Song, will succeed Hua Xia Zhengshuo and we should move forward bravely. How can we allow people who are like flies and dogs to seek personal gain? Let's go! Go and petition!"

With a loud roar, the imperial student could no longer hold back his blood and rushed onto the streets towards the imperial city.

The common people were surprised, but when they heard the Tai students explain the benefits of the reform along the way, many people woke up like a dream. It turned out that the imperial court was implementing the New Deal for everyone's benefit.

Those people who were deceived by interest groups and originally made irresponsible remarks about the reform became even more angry after realizing that they had been deceived. A torrent gathered and could no longer be stopped.

After learning the news, Zhao Fang rushed to the newspaper office immediately and wrote an article with the title "Heaven moves vigorously, a gentleman strives for self-improvement", and asked the newspaper office to work overtime to publish and distribute it to the world.

"The writing style of the king of Wei is sharp. Every poem and every article can make all gentlemen and gentlemen work hard, and the hearts of the people will be destroyed like fire."

Fan Zhongyan sighed after reading the newspaper, but Ouyang Xiu frowned and hesitated for a long time before saying: "Brother Xiwen is wrong. Between the lines of King Wei's words, there is a strong meaning of advocating equal emphasis on civil and military affairs. Look at this sentence."

Fan Zhongyan looked down and laughed and said: "A country will be destroyed by its weakness, and a single country will be destroyed by its strength. This is a good saying! What does Uncle Yong think is wrong?"

"The next sentence, I mean the next sentence, Liu Han spread his troops, the Xiongnu jumped north, sealed the wolf as a cub, and his reputation lasted forever! If someone offends a strong man, he will be killed no matter how far away. Chen Tang's contribution is unparalleled throughout the ages!"

"Look at this sentence, Li Tang surrendered to the Turks, he was shameful and unyielding, and he washed away his humiliation in one battle! Look, which of these sentences talks about the way of enlightenment?"

Fan Zhongyan looked at the excited Ouyang Xiu quietly and asked lightly: "Uncle Yong studied history, didn't he dance for the prosperous Han and Tang Dynasties?"

Ouyang Xiu was stunned, and a sigh came to his ears: "Wang Junkuang can distinguish between new laws and private interests, can't Uncle Yong not be able to distinguish that the dispute between civil and military affairs is actually the private interests of literati?"

(End of this chapter)