I served as an admonisher in the Song Dynasty

Chapter 523: Liao or Song? The mysterious wise old man and the prefect who pretended to be sick
About a quarter of an hour later.

When Wang Anshi and his entourage brought 50,000 strings of cash to the provincial government office, Gu Yue, the magistrate of Hangzhou, was already waiting at the door.

Wang Anshi made such a big fuss in front of Kong Fanglou.

There's no way he didn't know.

Gu Yue smiled and said, "Manager An is so righteous that I admire him very much. Please come in! Please come in!"

Gu Yue has always advocated that Jiangnan businessmen purchase government bonds.

However, since the imperial court advocated "voluntary and can't be forced", he could not force it.

Now Wang Anshi made two consecutive purchases, with a total amount of up to 80,000 strings of cash, playing a very exemplary leading role.

He was naturally happy.

A moment later, Wang Anshi and Gu Yue signed the contract.

Gu Yue said, "Manager An, according to the court contract, if you regret it within three days, the money can be refunded, but after three days, it cannot be refunded."

Wang Anshi nodded and took out a document from his arms.

"Gu Tongpan, in the past three days, I have been threatened many times by Tao Yiren, the owner of Tao's Jewelry Store, because I bought national debt. In addition, I encountered a situation where my cargo ship was almost burned, I was almost killed by falling objects from high altitude, and no one dared to collect a shipload of medicinal materials. It is likely that this person was responsible. Please, Gu Tongpan, do me justice!"

Written by document.

It was the dangers Wang Anshi had experienced in the past three days and all the conversations Tao Yiren had with him.

Gu Yue's face was gloomy, and he said to the yamen runner beside him: "Summon Tao Yiren, the owner of Tao's Jewelry Store, to the yamen!"

Then, Gu Yue looked at Wang Anshi and made a gesture for him to sit down.

The two of them sat down separately.

Gu Yue said: "Manager An, this is your first time in Jiangnan, so you may not know much about Jiangnan commerce."

"I am also unhappy that Jiangnan Trading Company refused to buy national bonds, but I dare not force it. At present, in the whole of Jiangnan, seven out of ten people may work for the merchants of Jiangnan Trading Company. If Jiangnan Trading Company is unstable, the lives of all Jiangnan people will be unstable."

"Jiangnan's tax revenue is very dependent on Jiangnan Trading Company, which cannot be moved. Jiangnan Trading Company's refusal to purchase national bonds is essentially a sign of distrust of the court. In this regard, I still need to work hard, but they are not at fault. The court advocates voluntary participation."

"I suggest that this matter be handled lightly. If Tao Yiren really wants to harm you, I will punish him severely, but this matter should not involve the entire Jiangnan Trading Company."

"I think this not for career advancement, but for the livelihood of the people in Jiangnan. I hope you can understand."

"Tonight, I will meet with the wise old man again and ask him not to embarrass the merchants who buy national debts, especially you. What do you think?"

Wang Anshi nodded.

The Jiangnan Trading Company is powerful and affects the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people.

The provincial government had no choice but to support it.

Otherwise, if it leads to stagnation of commerce in Jiangnan or outflow of wealth, it will be a huge disaster for the people of Jiangnan.

When it comes to local officials, the first thing they consider is stability.

What's more, apart from its lack of enthusiasm in purchasing government bonds this time, Jiangnan Trading Company still has a very good impression among the people.

……

And this moment.

In a luxurious house.

Tao Yiren reported all the ways in which Wang Anshi was prevented from purchasing government bonds and his resistance to the white-bearded old man sitting in a mahogany chair in front of him.

This old man is none other than the president of Jiangnan Trading Company, Zhisou.

"I asked you to solve the problem, not to make it bigger. No matter what, we must not be branded as the Jiangnan Trading Company that prevented Jiangnan merchants from buying government bonds!" The wise old man had a grim look on his face.

"Yes, yes." Tao Yiren nodded quickly.

The wise old man thought about it.

"I predict that the state government will summon you soon. By then, except for the serious crimes such as burning ships, dropping objects from high altitudes, and prohibiting the sale of medicinal materials, you must confess to the words you threatened him with and say that this matter has nothing to do with Jiangnan Trading Company."

"Also, at the monthly meeting at the beginning of next month, I will expel you from the trading company."

"What? Zhisou, I...I have made great contributions to the trading company. You can't...do this...do this..."

The wise old man shook his head slightly.

"I'm doing this for your own good. I'll let you join the society again when there's a chance. Now you can leave!" The wise old man had a gloomy face.

"Yes." Tao Yiren had no choice but to retreat quickly.

After a while.

As soon as Tao Yiren returned to the jewelry shop, he met the yamen runner who summoned him, and then followed the yamen runner to the provincial government.

……

The front hall of the provincial government.

Gu Yue sat in the middle of the lobby, and Wang Anshi stood beside him.

The prefect was ill and had difficulty getting out of bed.

As a Tongpan, he could only take on the responsibility of being the prefect of Hangzhou.

After a while, Tao Yiren walked in quickly.

He saluted and said, "I am Tao Yiren, your humble servant, and I am here to see Judge Gu. I wonder why the judge has summoned me?"

Gu Yue's face was cold.

"Do you know the person on the right?"

"I know him, he's An Youwei, a medicinal materials merchant." Tao Yiren answered truthfully.

"This Manager An sued you for preventing him from buying government bonds, and for burning his ship, killing him, and cutting off his financial resources. Is this true?"

Tao Yiren thought about it.

"Gu Tongpan, I did use words to stop him from buying government bonds, but I didn't do anything else. The reason I stopped him was because he was too ostentatious and said that only those who bought government bonds were good businessmen. I just couldn't stand it."

"In addition, this matter has nothing to do with Jiangnan Trading Company. It was all my personal fault. I just threatened him with words. This is not a serious crime, right?"

"And because of this, just now, the president has expelled me from Jiangnan Trading Company. It will be announced at the monthly meeting on the first day of next month. I am already unlucky enough..." Tao Yiren said a lot of things, but there were only two main points.

First, he only used words to scare Wang Anshi and denied everything else; second, this action had nothing to do with the Jiangnan Trading Company.

He was certain that Wang Anshi had no evidence, and Wang Anshi indeed had no evidence at the time.

After listening to this, Gu Yue said, "Come here, take him to the state prison first, and order him to sign and seal what he just said, and then examine it carefully. If we find evidence of his crime and he has concealed something, I will punish him severely!"

Tao Yiren was taken away immediately.

Gu Yue looked at Wang Anshi and said solemnly, "Manager An, as long as I can find evidence against you, I will punish him severely."

"Thank you, Judge!" Wang Anshi bowed and left the government office.

……

As soon as Wang Anshi left the provincial government office, a middle-aged man dressed as a butler came up to him.

"Manager An, the wise old man wants to see you."

Wang Anshi couldn't help but be overjoyed, as he was finally going to meet Zhisou, the helmsman of the Jiangnan Trading Company.

A moment later, in a private room of a teahouse.

Wang Anshi finally met the wise old man with gray hair and beard.

The wise old man looked at him with a smile on his face.

"Mr. Wang, please take a seat." The wise old man made a gesture of invitation.

Wang Anshi was stunned. He didn't expect that the wise old man could guess his identity.

He suspected that the other party was trying to taunt him, so he pretended to be calm and said, "Wise Old Man, who is Wang Tuiguan? You have the wrong person. I am An Youwei."

"Wang Anshi, courtesy name Jiefu, is a key official in the Reform Department and currently serves as the Salt and Iron Procurator of the Three Departments. I believe that your contribution to the Reform of the Song Dynasty ranks among the top three. The first is Su Liang, Su Jingming, and the second is Fan Zhongyan, Mr. Fan."

Hearing what the other party said, Wang Anshi stopped pretending.

"I am indeed Wang Anshi. How did you know that?"

The wise old man said, "I have been to Bianjing and saw you arguing with a scholar on the street. As it happens, I have a photographic memory. Although you disguised your face, your expression, movements, and especially the tone of your speech are exactly the same as Wang Jiefu's. I will not be wrong."

"You came to Hangzhou for the national debt issue, right? Doesn't the court advocate voluntary participation? Why do you say one thing in public and another in secret?"

"It is true that it is about the national debt, but I am here because someone is maliciously blocking Jiangnan merchants from purchasing national taxes, not to get Jiangnan merchants to purchase national debt. May I ask, wise old man, are you the one who is blocking them?" Wang Anshi asked in return.

The wise old man smiled and said bluntly, "Yes."

"Why?"

"The law cannot punish the masses! It's not easy for the merchants of Jiangnan Trading Company to make money. Everyone is unwilling to use the money to buy national bonds. However, there is a small group of people who are mavericks and do not fit in. For the unity of Jiangnan merchants, I naturally have to admonish them. Whether they listen or not is their own business. Does my doing this violate the laws of the Song Dynasty?"

Wang Anshi was speechless. The other party's action showed that he had no sense of patriotism, but it did not violate the laws of the Song Dynasty.

The wise old man said again: "Official Wang, I will give you a favor today. Please return to Bianjing as soon as possible! If I tell the people in Jiangnan that the medicinal materials merchant An Youwei who bought 80,000 national bonds is Wang Anshi, an official of the imperial court, what do you think the merchants will think?"

"They will feel that the court is insincere and is cheating merchants out of their money. I'm afraid that merchants from other places besides Jiangnan will also shout for their money to be returned!"

"Don't worry, no one in the Jiangnan Trading Company has violated the law. They just think that it is safest to keep their money in their own hands, that's all."

After saying this, the wise old man left.

……

An hour later.

Su Liang, Cao Yi, and Wang Anshi gathered together, looking worried.

The final result of the investigation turned out to be——

Jiangnan merchants are selfish and have no sense of family and country, so they are unwilling to buy national bonds; because of the reason that "the law cannot hold everyone responsible", they prevent other Jiangnan merchants from buying national bonds.

This result disappointed Su Liang and the other two.

The disclosure of Wang Anshi's identity made the three of them even more helpless.

"It seems that the national debt of Jiangnan is like this. We still need to teach these businessmen a lesson on patriotism in the future, otherwise they will become a cancer." Cao Yi said.

at this time.

A piece of news reached Hangzhou City.

The Liao emperor Yelü Zongzhen died at the age of forty. He was posthumously named Emperor Shengmi Xiaozhang and his temple name was Xingzong.

He died in the palace on the fourth day of August, and then Yelu Hongji succeeded to the throne.

Upon hearing the news, the people of Jiangnan were very excited.

During the Song-Xia War, Yelu Zongzhen took advantage of the situation and increased the annual tribute, which led to a sudden increase in taxes in the south of the Yangtze River.

Now that he has passed away, it will be a huge blow to the Liao Kingdom, and its internal strife will surely become more serious. This will be of great benefit to the Song Dynasty in recovering Yanyun.

……

In a secret room of a luxurious mansion.

With tears in his eyes, the wise old man walked slowly into the secret room and entered the innermost part.

At the innermost part is a square table with a portrait hanging above it.

The wise old man walked to the portrait, knelt down, and sobbed, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, you... why did you leave? Our... our plan has not yet succeeded? I... I am still waiting for you to appoint me as prime minister!"

The person in the portrait is none other than the Liao Dynasty Emperor Yelu Zongzhen.

At this moment, a carriage stopped at the back door of Zhisou's house and an old man walked out.

The old man had a ruddy complexion and strode towards the door.

He was Yu Jing, the transport commissioner of Liangzhe Road and the prefect of Hangzhou.

He claimed to be seriously ill and bedridden, and handed over all official affairs of Hangzhou City to the magistrate Gu Yue.

In fact, he is in good health and has no problems at all.

At this moment, Su Liang's spy who was hiding not far away happened to see Yu Jing.

(End of this chapter)