Prime Minister

Chapter 549: Zeng Gong and Zhang Yu

After Chen Xiang took office as Zhijian Academy, repaired daily notes, and took charge of the Gou Guozi Prison, it really caused a sensation in the officialdom.

Because there were not many such appointments in the officialdom in the past.

After Wang Anshi returned to the court, he put forward two suggestions to the officials. One was to expand the enrollment of the Imperial College, and the other was to encourage local governments to build water conservancy projects.

Seems like a no-brainer move.

There is no objection to the expansion of the Imperial Academy's enrollment, after all, it is a very low difficulty matter.

As for issuing an edict to support local construction of water conservancy projects, it was also a verbal encouragement. The imperial court did not allocate a penny, but wrote a blank check, just hoping that the state and county officials would pay more attention.

Therefore, everyone can't see what Wang Anshi is trying to persuade the officials to do.

But Zhang Yue can see the subtleties through the advantages of the traversers.The expansion of Guozijian's enrollment is the first step in the reform of the imperial examination schools in the future. As for the construction of water conservancy, it will soon be transformed into the implementation of the Farmland Water Conservancy Law.

This is Wang Anshi's preliminary practice.

But through this incident, Zhang Yue gained the reputation of knowing people.

But the officials obeyed Wang Anshi's words, and everyone thought that it would be a matter of time for him to pay homage to the prime minister in the future.

All of a sudden, there was an endless stream of officials and scholars from Zhangyue who came to visit Wang Anshi in the capital, especially Wang Anshi's mansion.

Wang Anshi was on his way back to his residence that day, and he heard something in court today.

The officials asked Zeng Gongliang whether Wang Anshi could be the prime minister for Tang Jie and Tang Jie, the three envoys?

Of course, Zeng Gongliang expressed his support on the spot without saying a word.

As for Tang Jie, the third envoy, Tang Jie objected: "Wang Anshi must never be in charge!"

The official asked why?Is Wang Anshi not a prime minister for literature, or not for classics, or not for official affairs?
Tang Jie said, although Wang Anshi is very learned, he is old-fashioned. Although he likes to talk, he is pedantic. If you use such a person in power, there will be troubles in the world in the future. The political affairs in the court will change today and tomorrow.

If the system is easily changed, how can the common people trust it? This is a loss of public trust.

Wang Anshi didn't know about it, but after Tang Jie finished speaking, he went out of the hall and said in front of Zeng Gongliang and other officials: "If the Son of Heaven uses Wang Anshi as his chancellor, the world will be troubled in the future. Let me first say this." I said it earlier, so you all listen to me, and don't blame the unpredictable future."

After Wang Anshi returned to the mansion, his servant handed over a stack of invitations asking for an audience.

Wang Anshi didn't even glance at the posts of these officials who came to seek attachment, but asked, "Has Li Chengzhi come yet?"

Yu Hou, the gatekeeper, reported, "I'm already waiting in the hall."

Li Chengzhi is the son of the former Prime Minister Li Di. When the Mingzhou Judiciary joined the army, he had great political achievements and tried to implement the exemption law.

After Wang Anshi knew about him, he called him to Beijing to discuss with him the law of immunity.

After Wang Anshi met with Li Cheng, the two sat down and chatted about meeting the immunity law.

This immunity method was first proposed by Zhang Yue. After Han Jiang adopted it, he planned to implement it, but was blocked by Sima Guang in the court. Wang Anshi didn't say anything after knowing about it.

In fact, both Han Jiang and Sima Guang talked to him about the exemption law. Facing the opposing opinions of the two good friends, although Wang Anshi did not express his position on the spot, he was already inclined to support the exemption law from the bottom of his heart.

However, he didn't mention this matter, because the conditions are immature now, and he doesn't intend to follow Han Jiang's path, but wants to put forward his own ideas and opinions, so that he can fully control it in the future.

Therefore, he invited Li Chengzhi to discuss with him the details of the immunity law, and waited until the time was right to reveal everything to the officials.

Li Chengzhi didn't expect that he could be appreciated by Wang Anshi, and he was also surprised. After learning that the other party took a fancy to him for implementing the immunity law, the two hit it off.

After roughly finishing the chat, Li Chengzhi asked: "Nowadays, the government and the public are spreading rumors that the prince will pay homage to the prime minister. I wonder if it is true that the prince will be able to implement the exemption law at that time."

Wang Anshi shook his head and said: "It's still too early to change Zhang Zhang. The most urgent thing now is to change the custom and legislate it! Customs are people's hearts, and the rule of law lies in believing what is said. This is the reason why Shang Yang's daughter Yimu back then."

Li Chengzhi said: "However, when it comes to political reform, talents should be the first priority."

Wang Anshi asked: "That's right. I know from the world that there are any officials who have rich experience in serving as local officials, and at the same time have talented officials to recommend to this old man."

Li Chengzhi said with a smile: "There are so many people outside the prince's gate, isn't there anyone who looks up to him?"

Wang Anshi said without hesitation: "I don't even look at anyone who is a follower of power."

Li Chengzhi laughed loudly, and then said: "I have heard for a long time that the prince's eyes are higher than the top, and now I have seen it, but I just know one person that the prince wants me to recommend."

"Please tell me."

Li Chengzhi said: "This man's name is Zhang Dun, his character is thick, he is an official to the author Zuolang, and he is now known to Wujin County."

As soon as Wang Anshi heard it, he said: "This person is not good. It is said that he is a man of great incompetence. He is really unusable."

Wang Anshi had heard many rumors about Zhang Dun. For example, he was very handsome and many women admired him very much, so he had a lot of romantic affairs.

Li Chengzhi said with a smile: "Wouldn't the prince be a talented official? The Zhang Dun recommended by a certain one is really a talented official. As for those simple and unreliable behaviors, the prince will definitely like him if he chats with him when he meets. "

Wang Anshi said: "A few days ago, his father entrusted someone to tell me that he wanted me to recommend this person, but he has already rejected him face to face."

Seeing that Wang Anshi was unwilling to use it, Li Chengzhi gave up.

A few days later, Wang Anshi returned to the inner house and learned that his brother-in-law Wu Yi had come to visit his sister.

Wu Yi's grandfather, Wu Min, and father, Wu Rui, were both Jinshi. He was also known by Ouyang Xiu in his early years, and later followed Wang Anshi to Jinling and studied under him, and now he followed Wang Anshi back to Bianjing.

Wu Yi studied under Ouyang Xiu and Wang Anshi successively, and his reputation is not small. When he was in Jianghuai, many people wanted to worship him as his teacher.

This time, after Wang Anshi suggested that the Guozijian expand its enrollment by 900 people, Tai student Chen Dong and others jointly signed a petition to invite Wu Yi to be the teacher of the Guozijian.

The officials asked Wang Anshi what he meant, but Wang Anshi declined for him to avoid suspicion.

But Wu Yi didn't like being an official, so it didn't matter if he knew that Wang Anshi had declined the matter.

Wang Anshi and Wu Yi talked a few words, and Wu said that he wanted to cook some hometown dishes for his younger brother and left.

Wu Yi said to Wang Anshi: "Brother-in-law, I have recently accepted a disciple named Zhang Dun. This person is really talented, so I want to recommend it to my brother-in-law."

Wang Anshi was taken aback when he heard this, and thought to himself, although his brother-in-law was famous, Zhang Dun was also a dignified official, and he actually worshiped under his brother-in-law.

This person is also willing to risk his face like this.

……

After dinner, Wang Anshi talked about it with his wife.

Wu said with a smile: "That's not a beautiful thing."

Wang Anshi asked, "What a beautiful thing."

Wu sighed: "You are so busy with state affairs all day long that you have even forgotten about your daughter's lifelong affairs. I heard that Zhang Dun and Zhang Yue are blood brothers, and they adopted him later, so Zhang Zhi and Zhang Zhi are also blood uncles and nephews. "

"If he can get your appreciation, our daughter's lifelong event will be settled."

Wang Anshi shook his head and said, "This is what I hate the most in my life. If Zhang Dun is really a man of unreasonable conduct, how can I recommend him to the officials. This is not to let the officials value me."

Wu said: "It doesn't matter if the officials look at each other, maybe they like it."

Wang Anshi couldn't help hesitating after hearing this.

At the moment Zhang Yu is sighing at home.

Zhang Dun failed the two examinations for the post, and was obstructed by Zhizhi Wang Tao once.

The other time was impeached by Yushi Lu Jing and Jiang Zhiqi.

That's right, Zhang Yu has not been in the pavilion since he was an official, but he doesn't care, but as the fifth Jinshi of Zhang Dun, it is a great shame not to enter the pavilion.

All of this was recommended by Ouyang Xiu.

Even so, Zhang Yu still felt unwilling.

This time Wang Anshi returned to the court, and now even a blind person can see that Wang Anshi is about to be of great use.

So Zhang Yu wanted to follow Wang Anshi's footsteps and asked him to recommend Zhang Dun for a post in the library.

It happened that Zhang Yun, the uncle of Zhang Dun's wife, had a personal relationship with Wang Anshi, so he entrusted Zhang Yun to introduce Zhang Dun to Wang Anshi.Unexpectedly, Wang Anshi refused without mercy.

Later, I inquired about Li Chengzhi and recommended it to Wang Anshi.Li Chengzhi and Zhang's family were neither close nor old, but he appreciated Zhang Dun very much, so he recommended him to Wang Anshi.

But I heard that Wang Anshi refused again, and said, "Dun can't do anything." '

Zhang Yu was so angry that he almost vomited blood. Could it be that Zhang Dun has been unable to get ahead?
Zhang Yu looked at the harmonious scene between Yang's family and Zhang Dun's wife and children in the inner courtyard, and felt that he was really sorry for them.

At this moment, a servant from the mansion hurried into the house and said, "Master, an outsider came and said that he was holding a post from a scholar of the Hanlin Academy. He asked Mr. Da Lang to come over to talk to him."

Hanlin Bachelor, which Hanlin Bachelor?
Zhang Yu picked up the post and looked at it, and was overjoyed... Isn't this Wang Anshi who is now being appreciated by officials?
Overjoyed, Zhang Yu hurriedly took the post to Zhang Dun, and said in a trembling voice, "Brother Dun, Brother Dun..."

……

And this time.

In front of Zhangfu's gate, a young man was following beside Zeng Gong, the curator of the pavilion.

Zeng Gong has been proofreading books in the Wen Pavilion in the past few years, such as "Warring States Policy", "Shuo Yuan", "New Preface", "Liang Shu", "Chen Shu", "Tang Ling", "Li Taibai Collection", "Bao Rong Poetry Collection" and "Biography of Women" and other ancient books are proofread by him.

As for Zhang's mansion, he also came here often. Although he didn't marry his younger sister to Zhang Yue, Zeng Gong always regarded Zhang Yue as his brother-in-law in his heart.

This young man's appearance was somewhat similar to Zeng Gong's, and he was honest and honest.

Zeng Gong said to the young man: "Zhang Duzhi is top-notch in terms of talent and character. You must not neglect him when you see him!"

The young man said respectfully, "Don't worry, brother."

The young man was very strange, he had just come to Beijing to serve as an official, but why didn't his elder brother ask him to meet his in-law Wang Anshi, who is currently a Hanlin scholar, but instead came to see Zhang Yue?
The young man didn't know that Ouyang Xiu and Wang Anshi had disagreed about Xue Xiang's matter at the beginning, and the two gradually stopped dating.But Zeng Gong always followed his mentor Ouyang Xiu.

As for these years, Zeng Gong and Wang Anshi have gradually become at odds with each other in political views. At the beginning, they talked about their best friends, but now they are getting farther and farther apart.

(End of this chapter)