Perhaps because many scholars came from far away to participate specifically, this year's Taixue political discussion was particularly lively and fulfilling, so much so that it lasted for two days in a row before it stopped.
It can only be said that the enthusiasm of scholars to participate in and discuss politics is still worthy of promotion and encouragement.
However, the fly in the ointment is that for some reason, the official family has been acting a little weak these days. Most of the time, they just sit there and let the officials interact with the scholars and imperial students... According to rumors, the official family should have occasionally contracted typhoid fever.
, feeling unwell, but some high-level sources revealed that Zhao Guan’s family has always had this kind of woodcarving temperament. Instead, last year, because there was a battle to fight, he kept tensing up and appeared energetic. But now that the battle is over, he suddenly let go and looked as natural as
As holy as a Buddha, but also a little sleepy.
No matter what happened, the lively twelfth lunar month passed quickly. Before the New Year's Day, the political discussions ended, the sale of national bonds was completed, the Cuju competition and the sumo wrestling competition also came to an end. After the banquet given by Zhao Guan's family, all the commanders returned to their respective jurisdictions to continue their official duties.
But as expected, as various political activities increased at the end of the year and a large number of political issues were put on the agenda, the contradiction between the provincial minister Zhao Ding and the privy councilor Zhang Jun became more and more obvious.
At this time, many people have realized the opposition and inappropriateness between these two people.
To put it bluntly, Zhao Ding is in his forties this year. He was born in the enemy-occupied area of Hedong. He has worked hard in the middle and lower classes for half his life. He is steady and conservative. Zhang Jun is in his early thirties and comes from a wealthy family in Shu.
To rush in...it is impossible for the two of them to get along.
As for talking about personal relationships, it would be ridiculous to talk about personal relationships at this point.
However, it is worth mentioning that Zhao Ding is the prime minister of the province, so his reputation is naturally higher. He is also familiar with general affairs and grassroots operations, and is good at uniting officials. In addition, under the confrontation between the north and the south, people's hearts naturally tend to be stable. This person should have
It's only right to rely on the general trend to easily suppress Zhang Jun... But in fact, this is not the case. After all, Zhang Deyuan is naturally closer to the officials, better at guessing his intentions, and can often win by surprise, and many people are also aware of this.
They gathered around him one after another and formed a certain force.
Therefore, the two of them have always been on equal footing, and no one is weaker than the other. This time it became fierce, and it was considered a battle between dragons and tigers.
However, this kind of fighting had just begun to get fierce, and was soon forced to temporarily suspend it, because with the arrival of Yuan Day, the seven-day holiday for the New Year also came... The seven-day holiday for the New Year began in the Tang Dynasty
It is an old rule, but it was the same virtue in the Song Dynasty in the previous years, so the Yuan Day holiday in the fifth year of Jianyan and the first restoration of the regular New Year rewards seem to be very iconic.
Back to the present, this day is the first day of the Lunar New Year. Of course, the Yuan Dynasty Dynasty in the morning did not follow the rules of the so-called Zhengdan Dynasty. It only allowed Zhao Guan's family to sit on it, and then the public minister Lu Haowen led the officials.
We bowed together, handed out a New Year's greeting list, and ended the conversation conveniently.
Immediately, the officials dispersed and the holiday officially began.
Among them, middle and low-level officials generally went to the old Shangshu Province opposite Xuande Building to receive New Year's rewards to celebrate the New Year. And of course, Zhao Ding, the Prime Minister of the capital, did not need to go to receive them in person, anyway, there were officials who delivered them in person.
In the past...but he still took the initiative to go there and take charge personally. He only felt relieved when he saw that the lower-level officials had properly received the rewards.
Not to mention this, after the affairs here in the old Shangshu Province were over, he personally brought some supplies and asked people to drive mule carts to the Imperial College, preparing to express condolences to a few Imperial College students who were too poor to return home.
However, he was a step late this time. Privy Councilor Zhang Jun and Zhang De were much faster than him and arrived here with supplies one step earlier.
In desperation, Zhang and Zhao could only join hands to have a good time, and then spent a while together in Taixue, and then said goodbye and returned to their respective homes.
Not to mention what happened to Zhang Deyuan's return, only that it was already evening when Zhao Yuanzhen returned home, and he was quite old. He had worked hard for many days before the New Year's Day and was already exhausted. However, he was ready as soon as he returned home.
It was nice to take a bath and rest early... But since he did this, there were some things that he couldn't easily avoid.
"who?"
Zhao Ding, who was holding his son Zhao Fen's arm and getting out of the car, didn't hear clearly for a moment.
"Zhang Jun's nephew Zhang Zigai." Zhao Fen repeated in a low voice right in front of the car.
Zhao Ding stood upright and immediately frowned and twirled his beard: "I want to call Captain Zhang...but why is Zhang Zigai in the capital at this time and not going back with his uncle?"
"It is said that his uncle Zhang Taiwei asked for favor from the officials before he left a few days ago and sent him to the Imperial Banzhi." Zhao Fen corrected his mistakes if he made any mistakes. "He also said that now my father is the provincial minister.
It's better than before, so Captain Zhang didn't dare to disturb me easily when he was accompanying me in Beijing a few days ago, so as not to let me go in the fields and cause criticism, so I came now."
"He is still somewhat sober." Zhao Yuanzhen nodded. "Zhang Boying has many contacts with his father in Huaishang. He is not an ordinary warrior. If my father goes to wash his face, you will take Zhang Zigai to the back hall to meet him.
…”
Zhao Fen responded immediately.
After a while, Zhao Ding came to see Zhang Zigai in the back hall where Dilong had been burned. After the two parties exchanged some New Year gossip, Zhang Zigai was young and a martial artist after all, so he simply explained his purpose of coming.
"Uneasy?" Zhao Ding, who was sitting calmly in the first place, holding ginger tea, seemed puzzled. "Where are you uneasy? Who is uneasy? Why are you uneasy?"
"Ms. sir." Zhang Zigai spoke carefully. "To be honest with you, my uncle has become increasingly uneasy after seeing you a few days ago. I was also a little uneasy after I joined the company... My uncle is uneasy because he felt he had contributed to the previous battle at Yaoshan.
At least, I am uneasy because I came here to be a Banzhi, but I didn’t even get a cabinet post or a Xuanzansheren, so I was worried that I would be looked down upon.”
Zhao Ding put down his tea cup, frowned and sighed: "I can't blame your uncle for his military exploits. His jurisdiction is in the east, and Yao Mountain is in Guanxi. He can send Tian Shizhong and those three thousand long-axe soldiers there to the extreme.
Well, it’s not like I’m belittling myself. As for the fact that you don’t have the status of a Dewu Sheren, I told you that you may not believe it, but the fact is that in all likelihood, officials are too lazy to remember these red tapes, so they forgot about them...
The Provincial, Privy Council and other departments are not willing to interrupt and remind me about such a trivial matter because the imperial team is directly involved in the Imperial City Department, so as to save the embarrassment... According to me, if you ask me to deal with this matter, it is better to forget this or something.
I'd rather give up my life and serve as your royal servant."
Zhang Zigai opened his mouth, but he could only nod.
"Is that all?" Zhao Ding continued to ask after seeing this. "The friendship between your uncle and me as colleagues for many years is extraordinary. You don't have to hide it."
Zhang Zigai nodded, but spoke carefully: "To be honest with you, my uncle's uneasiness is not only due to his lack of military exploits. Before he left a few years ago, he talked to me at night. He said that he was on the Huai River on the 3rd and 4th.
In 2000, he built seven or eight large houses, bought thousands of acres of fertile land, married four or five concubines, and gave birth to three sons and one daughter. However, the official family has been poor since Nanyang to Tokyo... Yaoshan
Before, it could be said that he was living on his own merits, but after Yaoshan, he thought that the official family would be more demanding..."
"We must follow the old system." Zhao Ding casually answered for the other party. "I didn't say indulgence. I just said that according to the old system, repair the dilapidated harem, recruit hundreds of eunuchs, and accept hundreds of palace maids. No one will say anything.
Yes, some officials even tried to persuade the officials a long time ago, but the officials just turned a deaf ear and would rather use the money for the Cuju League than to organize the harem... Not only your uncle, we also feel that the officials are a little too hard-working."
Zhang Zigai nodded repeatedly: "I was shocked when I entered Ban Zhi... No wonder my uncle was uneasy."
"Actually, your uncle's behavior as an official must be known." Zhao Ding took the ginger tea again, but sighed softly. "A military general, if he is not greedy for money and lustful, he is really a breeze, and he is not like Yue Fei, who is also favored by those imperial officials.
Shi is keeping a close eye on it? As for the official family, it may be because there are still some loopholes in the imperial government's finances and they don't want to tell the truth, right? After the Dongting Lake rebellion is put down this year and we wait until summer, we will be more energetic.
, when the finances improve, we can just go and try to persuade them."
"That's all it can do." Zhang Zigai also sighed for a while. "I think about my uncle's emotion that day, it's difficult to be a military official. If you are greedy, you will feel uneasy. If you are not greedy, you will be afraid of suspicion from the officials... My husband...
"
Zhang Zigai kept talking, and when he wanted to say more, he saw Zhao Ding's face was expressionless and he kept sipping ginger tea. He suddenly realized in his heart, but he quickly stood up and said, "My lord, I'd like to take my leave today...
I'll come back in a few days to play with some of my brothers, but there's no need to disturb my husband."
Zhao Ding smiled at each other and allowed his son to send him away.
After a while, Zhang Fen came back and shook his head repeatedly: "Dad, this Taiwei is too shameless... Why don't you be greedy and worry about the officials becoming suspicious? I have never seen any officials doubting Taiwei Yue, right?"
Zhao Ding, who had abandoned Jiang Cha long ago, shook his head, but then nodded: "Zhang Boying's matter is a little special. His greed was secretly promised by the officials, and he got it in exchange for his military exploits on the Huaihe River that day. In addition,
Sending Tian Shizhong over this time is not a loss in the end... However, in the final analysis, his greed is hard to change! Otherwise, why would he be so dumped by Han Shizhong? And let people like Li Yanxian and Yue Fei catch up?
Now in the hearts of officials, he is probably not even comparable to Zhang Rong and Wu Jie, that is, he is better than Qu Duan."
Zhang Fen nodded heavily.
"Isn't it a big gift from him?" After saying this, Zhao Ding suddenly remembered something.
"No." Zhang Fen responded respectfully. "Dad, don't worry, the child has his own concerns."
Zhao Ding nodded heavily, then finally put aside all other matters and just went to take a shower without worries, preparing to enjoy the holiday.
Not to mention a restful night, the next day, the early morning of the second day of the Lunar New Year, the then-provincial prince rarely slept until midnight, but when he got up, he took a shower slowly and calmly, and only used some porridge.
, he asked his servants to seal the door and refuse guests, and then he went to the courtyard to sit under the warm sunshine of early spring, and asked his son to bring him the latest newspaper from the residence to read for him.
As the first new newspaper after the new year, it should have been issued yesterday evening and copied today, so there is nothing new to say.
And sure enough, as Zhang Fen kept reading, he only heard about the etiquette of court gatherings in the Yuan Dynasty, and about Lu Hao asking Lu Xianggong and bringing the four prime ministers to ask An Hai for the officials, and then he even talked about the province of Zhao Ding.
The Prime Minister and the privy envoy Zhang Jun went to Taixue to express condolences to the students, and finally listed a few New Year's greetings with good literary style. The so-called official journal of the government was over.
Next, I turned to the last two leisure magazines. The first one was naturally the "Journey to the West: Conquering Demons Miscellaneous Notes" that was reported from the palace and signed by Lan Qiao Tianren and had been serialized for two or three months.
Today's plot talks about Sun Monk's battle with the black bear spirit, but he was unable to defeat him, and then he wanted to point to Guanyin Temple to find Guanyin Bodhisattva's comment, but it stopped abruptly.
After reading, Zhang Fen was half unsatisfied and half angry. He couldn't help but get up: "Dad, you said that in order to make up stories, the officials couldn't win by force. How can the Monkey King and his equals not be able to win against a black bear?"
Refined?"
Zhao Ding was calm and calm, staring at his son and answering calmly: "First, the official never said that he made up this stuff; second, there is no conclusion whether it was written by Mrs. Wu or ghostwritten;
Third, I want to tell my father that it is wonderful that the Great Sage Qitian cannot defeat the black bear spirit... Otherwise, how can we invite Guanyin Bodhisattva to come over?"
"That's what dad taught you." Zhang Fen woke up and smiled. Just as he was about to lower his head and read again, he suddenly remembered something and smiled beside his own father. "But, what's going on in the palace?
, this pen name again, really makes people suspicious... Dad doesn’t know that since the publication of "Journey to the West: Conquering Demons", monks and Taoist priests in Tokyo have been arguing all day long. The monks said that this story is about worshiping Buddhism and suppressing demons.
Tao, the Taoist priest tells the story to worship Taoism and restrain Buddhism...but I don’t know what dad thinks?"
"The official family is the ancestor of Taoism, and the emperor scraped off the gold dust from the Buddha's body to pay for the military. How can he worship Buddhism and Taoism?" Zhao Ding lay in the seat, closed his eyes and sneered. "This story was originally circulated, but the officials borrowed it.
It’s okay to give an interpretation, but if I have to give an explanation, it seems to be mocking the Supreme Taojun and Emperor’s old misfortunes..."
Zhang Fen was deep in thought, but suddenly realized, and was speechless for a moment... As a father, he was not allowed to speak directly as a son, so how could it come into his own mouth and instead he was 'deduced' by officials one by one?
Of course, he is his biological father after all, so Zhang Fen couldn’t say much. He just continued to sigh: “Speaking of which, there are many storytellers in this dynasty. In the past, some stories were told, and the storytellers used them to make jokes, and then the officials
The noble man listened again, but he didn't expect that now the officials would make up the jokes and then the storytellers would read them to the people of the world?"
"This is an intention of the officials to carefully manage the residence newspaper." Zhao Ding closed his eyes and spoke, his tone softened, but he seemed to be a little sleepy. "His meaning was conveyed directly to the provincial capital and the Privy Council...
But what else is there? Read the title first."
Zhang Fen hurriedly looked through it, but immediately reported the topics of several remaining articles published in leisure magazines: "Mr. Qingshan (Huan Guo) is talking about his 'qi' again..."
"It's useless, no need to read it again."
"Yes... there is a miscellaneous article written by Lu Benzhong, the eldest son of Duke Lu, talking about the Jiangxi School of Poetry..."
"Let him go. He's very old, but his future has been ruined by some accident, so he can only do these things all day long... I'm not interested today, forget it."
"There is one more article..." Zhang Fen suddenly stopped speaking.
"What else is there?" Zhao Ding still closed his eyes and looked increasingly sleepy.
"There is also a short article signed by Mr. Lu, which talks about the principles of heaven." Zhang Fen became a little more serious. "The article is very short."
Zhao Ding had no choice but to open his eyes with all his strength, and then sat up with obvious tiredness: "The Lu family's education is mostly mixed with Buddhism and Confucianism, and it may not have the 'qi' of Huan State, but after all, it is Pingzhang.
The military and state affairs are important matters, and when you are a minister, you must deal with them with caution... Please think about it carefully."
"Yes." Zhang Fen immediately stood up straight and began to read loudly. "The principles of heaven are the basis, and Tai Chi was first formed. Tai Chi suddenly gave birth to yin and yang, and then the origin of heaven emerged. The origin of heaven inherited the principles of heaven, and then became all things.
, Man is the spirit of all things, and his life is unstable. Therefore, he should follow human desires and argue the laws of nature. If he wants to argue the laws of nature, he should understand all things. If he wants to understand all things, he should learn and practice them and practice them in order to achieve morality and perfect morality.
If you live your life in the right way, you will be a saint."
As soon as he said this, Zhao Ding's eyes were already flashing, and he was shocked.
By the way, how could Mr. Zhao not know this? With Lu Haowen’s current status, in the newspaper directly controlled by the government, in such a window period when neither the government nor the public could speak out, he came up with such a thing... It is going to shake things up.
mean?
But so what if you know?
In the current situation, who can shake the alliance between the official family and Lu Xianggong? Not to mention that this thing sounds vaguely reasonable... at least it is more smooth than Huan Guo's 'qi'... Even if it doesn't make sense, it doesn't work.
Do you agree?
As soon as he thought about this, Zhao Dingfu lay down again with his head up, but his eyes were bright and he was no longer tired.
Zhao Yuanzhen was not thinking about some natural principle, but he suddenly realized that he didn't seem to understand the official's mind at all.
However, as a provincial minister and the actual person in charge of government affairs, he has no idea that he has the absolute authoritative official thoughts above his head; or in other words, he clearly does not understand the fundamental intentions of the officials, but he still acts as a dignified minister of the provinces.
...This itself is a very ridiculous thing.
"Dad, I really don't want to go..."
Just when Mr. Zhao Ding and Mr. Zhao were lost in thought like many others, in an area in the west of the city where dignitaries gathered, in a garden that was too large, a skinny boy about sixteen or seventeen years old was looking at him with a sad face.
He asked a middle-aged man in plain clothes with an upright appearance and grace to beg for mercy. "I'm not a student!"
"Kneel down!"
The middle-aged man in plain clothes, who had just finished copying the newspaper, was holding a piece of paper in his hand. Hearing the words, he immediately turned around and made a show of his face.
The young man was startled and immediately knelt down.
"You all go down." The middle-aged man in plain clothes turned his head, and when he faced the servants around him, he became friendly again. With that upright face, it really made people feel good.
The surrounding servants did not dare to neglect and retreated one after another.
As soon as they left, this middle-aged man in plain clothes, the head of the Pearl Wu family, Wu, one of the two heads of state at that time, came closer. He just looked at his son kneeling in front of him with his hands behind his back coldly: "Wu
beneficial!"
"Here!" Wu Yi, who was only sixteen years old, actually shivered on the ground on the spot.
"You are a concubine, and your family fortune and future have nothing to do with you, but who made your sister a concubine? So, whether you are willing or not, the future of our Wu family will only be on your head in the future.
Come on... none of your brothers can fight with each other!" Wu Jin rarely sighed. "Otherwise, do you think I am willing to take care of you? After eleven or twelve years, I suddenly force you to do this and that?"
"Dad." Wu Yi, who was on the ground, burst into tears for a moment, as if he, like his sister, had suffered a lot in study in the past few years. "It's not that I don't want to work hard, but I'm really not good at studying... and I
I have studied arithmetic for several years and finally learned how to manage accounts, but this is useless..."
"I'm telling you." Wu Jin became more and more impatient when he saw the other party crying. "This matter can't be done by you, me, or even your sister... Who makes us relatives? There are no relatives in the official family at the moment.
As a close relative, as a foreign relative, there are some things that you really have no control over!"
Wu Yi on the ground held back tears for a moment, but was still in a daze.
"I'm telling you." Seeing this, Wu Guozhang became more and more sincere, and his words became sincere. "If the official is a person who is different from what he looks like on the outside, and is generous on the outside and taboo on the inside, let alone doing business, studying, settling accounts, you are like this
All your life, you can only worship Taoism and Buddhism, and be a 'god among the gods', and leave your brothers to manage the family business on your behalf, so you can't interfere."
"If the official is a romantic figure like the Supreme Taojun Emperor, you can only be a romantic helper in this life, writing obscene lyrics, composing romantic poems, playing Cuju and chess, just like the little brother Yi of Daming Palace in the past.
There is also the kind of officer Gao Taiwei who used to be in front of the officials in the past...it was very convenient to accompany the officials to visit the brothels."
"And if the official is a man of great talent and strategy but employs people casually, you will be afraid of death, but you will also have to eat to be strong, and then you will wear clothes, dance with swords and guns all day long, pretending to be Wei Qing of the official, and then
Before going into battle, grit your teeth again, follow Huo Qubing's example and die suddenly, and die before leaving the army. This will be good for the country and the family."
"But now, the officials have neither asked you to die, nor asked you to help with prostitution. They just asked us to find ways to support Lu Xianggong's "principles". When it comes to you, they just ask you to become a member of the Imperial Academy.
Mr. Mengchang who throws away money... When you see someone who is willing to learn to observe objects according to the principles, you have to praise and praise him!" Wu Jin finally felt a little stubborn. "How can you just listen to such a simple thing?
Don’t you understand? Who really asked you to go to Taixue to study? Read, read, and get a doctorate? What’s the use? Letting you go to Taixue is to make you cool!"