Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 709 The Su Brothers
"I haven't seen Zizhan for several years, why are the two Kunzhong here?" Fan Ning asked the Su brothers to sit down by the window on the second floor.

In the past ten years, Su Shi spent most of his time as an official in the local area, and he didn't have much contact with Fan Ning, but Su Zhe and Fan Ning had a good personal relationship. When Fan Ning was in charge of the East Palace, he transferred Su Zhe to the East Palace, making Su Zhe Zhe was appreciated by Zhao Xu.

Su Zhe poured Fan Ning tea for his elder brother, and said to Fan Ning, "My elder brother was deposed as a Hangzhou judge because he wrote to the emperor against Wang Anshi's reform the year before last."

Su Shi waved his hand, "Ziyou, it was my own request to go to Hangzhou to serve as the general judge, and it is also Ouyang Xianggong's love for me, not to mention demotion."

After Su Shi said this, he continued to drink tea. Seeing that Su Shi was in a low mood, Fan Ning smiled and said: "I always think that going to a local office is a kind of accumulation of wealth. You only know it when you get in touch with the people at the bottom. They only know how to govern the world after thinking about it, does Zizhan agree with me?"

Su Shi sighed and said: "I'm not saying that it's not good to go to the local government. To be honest, I feel very satisfied as an official in the local government and solve the problems of the people, but there are some things that make people deeply injustice."

"For example, can Zizhan talk about something?"

Su Shi hesitated for a moment, not knowing whether he should say it or not. Su Zhe next to him said, "Let me speak for my elder brother! Back then there were as many officials who opposed the Green Crop Law, and there were countless high-ranking officials. I was demoted because of the reform, except for my elder brother. I heard that Wang Anshi even sued my elder brother in front of the emperor. I don’t know why, but he has always regarded our brother as a thorn in his side, and he can’t wait to get rid of it as soon as possible.”

Fan Ning took a sip of hot tea and smiled slightly: "This is because your brothers are so famous! Especially Zizhan's poems are deeply loved by scholars. You oppose the reform and have a great influence. Wang Anshi targeted you. It means that he is very afraid, or rather, he is very afraid of the people behind you."

The Su brothers looked at each other, and Su Shi couldn't help asking: "The person behind me, what does this mean?"

Fan Ning shook his head secretly. The Su brothers were still too immature in politics. He said slowly: "In the first year of Xining, when you returned from a filial piety for your father, did Sima Guang invite your brothers to a family dinner? An article was published in the express, praising your brother's filial piety, there must be such a thing!"

Su Zhe nodded, "It's true!"

Fan Ning took a sip of tea, and then said slowly: "Maybe none of you are aware of its impact, but what do you think Wang Anshi will think when he reads this article?"

The Su brothers looked at each other, and Su Shi said in shock, "He thought we were Sima Guang's people?"

"Not only does he think so, almost everyone who reads the newspaper thinks so."

Su Shi suddenly realized that the confusion that had been lingering in his heart for several years was solved at this moment. Su Shi was a little lost, staring at the teacup absently,

Su Zhe asked: "I still don't understand, why does an article have such a big association?"

"That's a good question. It's just an article. How does it prove that you are Sima Guang's people?"

Fan Ning said with a half-smile, "Ding You's return to his hometown is something every official must do after his parents passed away. The next day it was published in the newspaper praising filial piety, and anyone with a discerning eye knows that this article has been prepared long ago, otherwise the "Express" would have had no time to typeset it, and if something goes wrong, it will be a monster, what do you think?"

Su Shi heaved a long sigh, "If it wasn't for Mr. Fan's reminder, I would still be ignorant."

Su Zhe was silent for a moment and said: "It's no wonder that my teacher has been lukewarm to us these past few years. It turned out to be the reason. I'm going to explain this matter to my teacher in the afternoon. Although we oppose the reform, we are definitely not instigated by others, let alone anything. Factional struggles, we have nothing to do with Sima Guang."

"You are coming back to Beijing this time to meet my father-in-law!"

Su Shi nodded, and said frankly to Fan Ning: "Ziyou was demoted from Beijing last year, and served as an official in the Henan government. Last month, he was changed to Professor Chenzhou. This is a bit deceitful. This matter."

Fan Ning knew that Su Zhe's demotion had something to do with Lu Huiqing's relegation to the Southern Continent. Last year, Lu Huiqing was demoted as the first prefect of the new Qi Prefecture in the Southern Continent. Wang Anshi lost his right-hand man. Zhe was demoted to be an official in the Henan government. Ouyang Xiu told Fan Ning about this, but Fan Ning was too busy with the Liao war to take care of Su Zhe's affairs.

Speaking of which, Su Zhe should belong to Fan Ning, Fan Ning had recommended him to enter the East Palace, and now Su Zhe was appointed as the eighth-rank professor Chen Zhou, which really shocked Fan Ning.

Fan Ning pondered for a while, and said to Su Zhe: "Yang Ying is currently the governor of Yingzhou. He is too busy. He has told me several times. Ziyou will work hard and take up this important task!"

At present, Pingzhou, Yingzhou, Shuozhou, Fengzhou, Dongshengzhou and the original hometown of Xixia are all under military control and have not yet been handed over to the imperial court. Fan Ning, as Marshal of the North, has the right to directly appoint.

But being an official over there is not a good job. The old place of Xixia will be closed for three years because of the epidemic. Fengzhou is the Hetao area. It is currently a military city. There are no people, so there are no local officials.

Pingzhou, Yingzhou, and Shuozhou were more dangerous because they were the front lines, and most officials were reluctant to go, otherwise the threshold of Fan Ning's residence would have been broken long ago.

Su Zhe was an ambitious person. He didn't want to waste his time in Chenzhou. He was overjoyed and saluted quickly, "Thank you, Mr. Fan, for the arrangement. I'm willing to go to Yingzhou."

Su Shi was a little worried, he hesitated and asked: "Will Yingzhou and the Liao army break out of war?"

Fan Ning smiled slightly and said, "Don't worry! The Song Army has [-] troops in Yingzhou, and General Yang personally sits in Yingzhou. The Liao Kingdom has already shown signs of abandoning Datong Mansion. On the contrary, Pingzhou is more dangerous, especially in the Liaoxi Corridor. It was assigned to Pingzhou, and that is where the Liao Kingdom is eyeing."

Fan Ning said to Su Shi again: "You still have to visit my father-in-law in the afternoon. He is your mentor and has been thinking about you all the time. He may be retiring. Before he retires, you can help Zizhan again!"

After bidding farewell to the Su brothers, Fan Ning also returned to his residence. He only arrived in the capital last night. He will rest for a day today and enter the court tomorrow.

Fan Ning returned to the mansion and sat down in his study. He was still thinking about the Su brothers. Although Fan Ning helped Su Zhe, he didn't want to interfere too much with Su Shi's life trajectory. Many of Su Shi's famous poems are He wrote it when he was frustrated. If his official career went well, I am afraid that he would be obsessed with power instead of focusing on mountains and rivers.

For example, Su Shi's new appointment has come down, and he will be the governor of Mizhou. If he is transferred to the court at this time, then the poem "Jiangchengzi. Mizhou Hunting" may no longer exist.

The poems that have survived forever are all painstakingly condensed. Su Shi's official career was not going well in his life, so he left so many great works.

At this time the door opened, and his wife Ouyang Qian came in with a pot of tea. Ouyang Qian has been married to Fan Ning for more than ten years. She is three years older than Fan Ning, but she is well maintained. She looks 27 or [-] years old. It's just that her figure is slightly plump, and she has a more mature charm.

"This tea has just been brewed, husband, drink it while it's hot, don't let it cool down."

Ouyang Qian poured a cup of tea for her husband, and Fan Ning picked up the cup of tea and said with a smile: "Just now I met the Su brothers in Qingfeng Tea House, they are going to visit your father in the afternoon."

Ouyang Qian sat beside her husband and said softly: "I went to visit my mother a few days ago, and he told me about the Su brothers, saying that the two brothers have the same temper, and they are too upright, so they suffer repeated setbacks. Husband, can you help me?" Let them help as much as possible! Su Zhe, in particular, is upright and capable, and he always speaks out about things he doesn't like, so he offended many people."

"How is your father? Is he really going to retire?"

Ouyang Qian nodded, "Daddy is 65 years old, and he is not in good health. Now that he is busy with government affairs, he really can't bear it. I also advise him to retire and take a good rest for a few years."

Fan Ning pondered for a while and said: "Your father told me before that he wanted to resign as prime minister. Weng and son-in-law are both prime ministers, and they would be discussed by others. Later, he asked the queen mother to resign, but the queen mother did not approve, so now he simply resigns as prime minister. There is no reason for the Empress Dowager to stop him if he retires for physical reasons."

Only now did Ouyang Qian know the reason why her father wanted to retire. It turned out that it was for her husband. She thought about it and said, "It's good for him to retire, as he will have more time to do what he likes."

"I thought about it the same way, so I didn't persuade him. After all, his eyesight is too bad, and he needs help when he walks with glasses. He might as well take care of himself at home. With us here, there will be no problems in life."

"By the way, Xiaolian is going to get married in a few days and sent me an invitation card. What should I do if I don't want to go?"

Ouyang Lian is Ouyang Qian's half-sister and the youngest sister, but she is not married for the first time, but her second marriage. Ouyang Qian doesn't like this marriage. The key is that the younger sister divorced because she thought her ex-husband's family was poor , which made Ouyang very dissatisfied.

"If you don't want to go, don't go. I guess she didn't expect you to go. She just wanted a gift for you."

"Then give her a gift and seal her 100 taels of silver."

Fan Ning shook his head and smiled and said, "Aqian, I know you don't like her, but you have to show your father face, she is also your father's daughter after all, so you can give it as the congratulatory gift when she got married for the first time! Seal her 1000 Let the steward deliver the two silver coins, and you don't want to go there yourself."

(End of this chapter)