The opening inventory of the top ten young emperors

[This imperial examination can be said to be the pinnacle of Ouyang Xiu’s life and political career.]
[Before this, Ouyang Xiu was impeached and expelled from the court because he supported the Qingli New Deal. After the New Deal failed, he went to a small place to serve as a prefect. He served as such for many years.]

Qingli New Deal?
As the name suggests, it is a new policy implemented during the Qingli period.
And his current reign title is Qingli.

Song Renzong felt a little depressed when he looked at the memorial impeaching Fan Zhongyan for treason.

The new policy failed, and Ouyang Xianggong was impeached and expelled from the court, and he would not be able to return for several years. Then there was no need to mention the main force of the new policy, Fan Zhongyan and others. Now, someone has fabricated charges against them and wants to put him to death?

The new policies proposed by Fan Zhongyan did have many bold aspects.
He proposed a total of ten new policies, seven or eight of which were contrary to the ancestral precepts set by Taizu, which was indeed a bit difficult to deal with.
However, since the court has serious problems, it should be improved. We cannot wait until it is too late to regret.

Thinking of what Tianjuan Apozhu had mentioned before, the two emperors Huizong and Qinzong, the Jingkang Shame, and Song Gaozong who was living in a corner, Song Renzong's heart became heavier than a stone.
If his new policy had been successfully implemented this time, would there have been no subsequent devastation and humiliation?
[Ouyang Xiu's most famous article is called "The Drunken Old Man's Pavilion", in which the sentence "The Drunken Old Man's interest is not in wine, but in the mountains and rivers" has become a famous sentence through the ages, and it is also a portrayal of his mood during this period. ]

[While being demoted, he did not give up on himself, but still treated everything he was about to face with a normal attitude.]
[Isn't this the same as when he was in the palace examination, he was determined to be the top scorer, but ended up being the last one in the palace examination. After all the ups and downs, he finally developed a calm state of mind? ]

[It was this state of mind that made him more fair and wise in selecting people and making friends in the future. Like Song Renzong, he had a selfless and upright heart.]

At this point in the video, a comment appeared above the video:
[@Anti-wolf brother who loves changing his vest: Did the Qingli New Deal really fail? ]

It seems that this actor is playing the role of Song Renzong before the New Policies of the Qingli Period.

Lei Xiaomeng thought for a moment and replied:
[The Qingli New Deal failed after one year and four months. The reason why it lasted so short was that the purpose of this new deal was not so simple. ]

[Before the new policy began, the Song Dynasty had fought three battles with the Western Xia and lost three times. Domestic rebellions were surging again, and the problem of "three redundancies" once again made the Song Dynasty face huge deficits.]

[Under such circumstances, Song Renzong, in order to reverse the situation and take the initiative, would do his best to promote the new policy.]

【As for one year and four months later, the Song Dynasty and the Western Xia Dynasty negotiated peace. The domestic rebellion was also suppressed. The new policy began, which had a deterrent effect on those officials. Therefore, Song Renzong achieved his goal, and coupled with the difficulty of implementing the new policy, he ended it. 】

Looking at the heavenly scroll, Song Renzong's expression was gloomy.
Now, it has been exactly one year since the reform began.

Tianjuan was wrong about this. He wanted to reform. The three redundancies had seriously affected the people's livelihood and officialdom in his Song Dynasty, and even the army was unable to fight.
Otherwise, how could the chaos before the new policy was implemented occur?
However, these have touched upon the fundamentals of national policy, so it is normal for the ministers to oppose them. Even he frowned at the contents of the ten new policies.
It would be great if there were new policies that could be implemented without disturbing the national policies set by our ancestors.

[Speaking of this, only Wang Anshi and Zeng Gong are left among the Six Great Masters of the Song Dynasty.]
[It goes without saying that Wang Anshi was the prime minister who later pushed for political reform during the reign of Emperor Shenzong of Song.]

[That reform was much more thorough than the Qingli New Deal and was more supported by Emperor Shenzong of Song at the time. Unfortunately, this reform also ended in failure.]

What, the reform under my rule also failed?
Song Shenzong was stunned and immediately became furious.

Those old men, who only wanted their own salaries and protection, must have slandered the reform. This was the case during the reign of my great-uncle, Emperor Renzong. In order to stop the reform, they even forged a letter, falsely accusing Wen Zhenggong of plotting a rebellion and deposing Emperor Renzong.

It is really a great book that Fan Wencheng, a scholar without any military power, wanted to rebel. Did he think that rebellion could be accomplished just by talking about it?
Not to mention others, even his great-uncle himself didn't believe it.

However, the letter was forged so realistically that even the handwriting was exactly the same, and even Wen Zhenggong himself could not tell the difference.
With no other choice, he could only ask to go to other places to patrol the border. Although his great-uncle also agreed, the next year, the ministers who promoted the reform were dismissed from their posts. The reform ultimately failed.

He wanted to see what tricks these stubborn old men would come up with this time. He accepted them all. He was not like his great-uncle, who would grant their wishes whenever they made a fuss.
He is determined to carry out the reform to the end!

At this moment, two comments appeared above the video:
[@Anti-wolf brother who loves changing his vest: Is there any way to solve the problems of our dynasty without overthrowing the laws of our ancestors? ]

【@The Ideal Youth with Great Aspirations: But what evil means did someone use to make the reforms promoted by Mr. Wang fail?】

Although Lei Xiaomeng was reviewing Song Renzong at this time, and he was still a good emperor. But seeing the barrage of "Anti Wolf Brother" still sighed in his heart.

[Your Majesty Kanglang, although Song Renzong is universally recognized as a good emperor, he also has his limitations. In any era, wanting to change the status quo through reform has its compromise and speculation.]

[If you want to change the drawbacks of your era, you can't just rely on reformers, you need a complete overthrow and GE. ]

[This includes your successor Song Shenzong. He supported the new law much more than you did, but because of the limitations of his class, he also had a huge difference with Wang Anshi's ideas in the later period, which ultimately led to the failure of the reform.]

As for the ideal youth, she responded:
[Your Majesty, as the lady replied to Your Majesty, the reform failed mainly because you no longer supported it. Of course, before that, many vested interests also resisted fiercely. This also put a lot of pressure on you. ]

【But you dismissed and punished all those who rebelled. For example, Su Shi was framed and exiled to Lingnan because he belonged to the old party when you were carrying out reforms.】

[However, although Wang Anshi's reform failed, it did achieve some results. For example, the situation we mentioned before, "soldiers do not know their generals, and generals do not know their soldiers", has been improved. ]

[But all of this collapsed when you fought against the Western Xia, winning first and then losing. You died of depression at the age of 38 because you couldn't stand the fact that you were defeated by the Western Xia. After your death, your reforms were completely abolished by the Queen Mother. The reforms were a complete failure! ]

Song Renzong: What? These ten new policies are already very mild reforms, but the ones that follow are more radical? Even if they are really implemented, they may not solve the problems?
So was everything I did before in vain?
Emperor Shenzong of Song: What do you mean the reform failed because I no longer support Mr. Wang? Why wouldn't I support him? And he died of depression at the age of 38 after winning the war against the Western Xia? Was he mad to death?
Afterwards, the reform was completely overturned, or was it overturned by the Queen Mother?

The grandparents and grandchildren were both very surprised and wanted to post comments in a hurry, but something even more frustrating happened.

[Dear Majesty, hello. Your points are less than five points, and you cannot send barrage. Please save enough points before continuing to send. ]

By the way, the old lady gave them five points each before, so they could post their first bullet screen. It was the points earned from this bullet screen that supported them to post bullet screens until now.
As a result, I was so excited that I posted too many comments and used up all my points.

Ahhh, how can I earn points?

Just when the two emperors were getting anxious, Tianjuan was still slowly talking about the six great families during the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song.

【But did you know that later, the party that pushed for reform was called the New Party. The brothers Su Shi and Su Zhe belonged to the Old Party. 】
[It must be said that during the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song, various schools of thought flourished and could debate with each other, which was indeed a major feature of the court at that time. However, it was precisely because of Emperor Renzong's tolerance that so many unconventional talents emerged. ]

[Although Wang Anshi was also a student of Ouyang Xiu, and even passed the imperial examination and entered the official career several years earlier, his political views were not well received by Renzong during his reign.]
[After reading his articles, Emperor Renzong thought he was too radical. But even so, he did not demote him. He allowed him to continue to serve as an official, but he was not given a high position. It was not until the reign of Emperor Yingzong that he was demoted from the court.]

Song Renzong: ...what the Heavenly Scroll says...is very true...

Emperor Shenzong of Song: Mr. Wang is a man of great talent. I really want to thank my great-grandfather for leaving this talent to me.

【During the reign of Emperor Shenzong of Song, Emperor Shenzong began to use him to preside over the reform. Unfortunately, after being demoted twice, the reform failed.】
【Later, because of the failure of the reform, he was blamed for a long time for Song Shenzong. He believed that the reason why the Song Dynasty fell so quickly was because Wang Anshi's reform damaged the foundation of the country.】

Song Shenzong: I have many questions about this matter... Why haven't I accumulated enough points? Why can't I post a barrage?

[However, a poem that is familiar to everyone is Wang Anshi’s representative, which is "Plum Blossoms". ]
[A few plum blossoms stand alone in the corner of the wall, blooming in the cold. I know it is not snow because of the subtle fragrance. In just twenty words, I can appreciate the noble and exquisite beauty. Just like Wang Anshi.]

Zhu Houzhao... I have been reciting this poem since I can remember. It is indeed the best poem for enlightenment. There are many more, all written by the Eight Great Masters of Tang and Song Dynasties, but Zeng Gong is rarely mentioned.
But this is not important. These old stories of the previous dynasty and the pedantic literati are not what he cares about most. What he is going to do today has little to do with the inventory of the Heavenly Scroll.

[V@Super IQ, serious chuunibyou patient: I have purified penicillin, how do I inject it? Does it require special equipment? Do I have a blueprint? ]

Ha, this "Chuunibyou patient" is really unique!

[A syringe is needed. The relevant pictures have been sent to Your Majesty. During the Zhengde period, the West already had medical instruments similar to syringes. Your Majesty can look for them among the imported goods. Perhaps there will be unexpected discoveries.] Zhu Houzhao's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he immediately ordered Qian Ning beside him: "Qian Ning, quickly ask someone to look for the tribute instruments called syringes from various countries."

"I obey your command!" Qian Ning said, and immediately asked the eunuch to go to the storehouse to look for it.

"Your Majesty, we have found the blueprints and logbook of Zheng Sanbao's treasure ship that you asked me to look for last time."

After sending the young eunuch away, Qian Ning immediately smiled.

"Found it?" Zhu Houzhao raised his eyebrows, "Didn't you say you couldn't find it?"

Last time, he asked someone to help him find the treasure ship blueprints and the ship log, but nothing was found. It turned out to be just as Tian Juan said, and disappeared without a trace after a fire in the palace. And it was just when he ascended the throne.

The eunuch who was in charge of the storehouse was afraid of being punished, so he never reported it. In addition, he had been living in the Leopard House, and all the good things were transported there. The guards of the storehouse in the palace were lax, and no one asked about this thing, so it was delayed until now to be exposed.

Zhu Houzhao was so upset that he beat the eunuch who was in charge of the case severely and sent him to the imperial mausoleum. But things are lost, they are lost, and can never be found again.
So during this period, he sent people to several shipyards during the Yongle Dynasty to see if he could find any clues there.

"Your Majesty is wise. Didn't you ask me to send people to the shipyard to look for it? Finally, a copy of the blueprint of the treasure ship was found in the home of a steward. It is said that his great grandfather was obsessed with shipbuilding and copied it privately."
"But later, the maritime ban was lifted again. Fearing being implicated, the family concealed the incident and dared not show the blueprint to anyone. They only viewed it in the dead of night."

If the son of that family had not been so unpromising, he would have wanted to pawn the blueprint, but he thought it was too cheap and took it back, exposing his wealth. The pawnshop's waiter at the time, now the owner, took note of it and told them when he found it, but it's probably still hard to find.

"Is this true?" Zhu Houzhao was delighted. "That's great. It would be even better if the ship's logbook could be found as well."

"I have an idea about this matter." Qian Ning said mysteriously, "In recent years, there is a popular story book in Ming Dynasty, which tells the story of eunuch Sanbao's voyage to the West."
"Storybook?" Zhu Houzhao curled his lips. "How can we take the things in the storybook seriously?"

"Your Majesty, you don't know that the things described in this story are as if the author saw them with his own eyes and heard them with his own ears. However, the Ming Dynasty has banned the sea, and no one goes out to sea. The author of this story is said to be a young man, and it is impossible for him to have ever been out to sea, so..."
"So, he may have read the real ship's log!" Zhu Houzhao immediately understood.

He smiled and patted Qian Ning on the shoulder: "Little Ning, why didn't I see that you are so capable before? And Zhang Yong. I really buried you all these years!"

In the past? In the past, Liu Jin was extremely powerful. Not to mention the court officials, the Eight Tigers had to follow his lead. People like Zhang Yong who were disobedient had been secretly dealt with by him countless times. How dare they show up?
This time, Liu Jin was captured, and Zhang Yong was an adult and was on business outside, so naturally someone else should stand up for His Majesty.

However, despite his thoughts, Qian Ning said modestly: "Your Majesty, I am only helping you with some small things. I am satisfied as long as you are happy. I don't have time to think about anything else."
"Okay, if you can find Zheng Sanbao's ship log, I will reward you handsomely!" Zhu Houzhao was even more pleased.

After this inventory by Song Renzong, he finally understood what he lacked, which was capable talents.
Originally, he relied heavily on his teacher Yang Tinghe. But when he thought that after his death, his teacher would overturn all his policies, he felt very uncomfortable.
So recently he asked him to inspect the Yellow River. In short, he just didn't want to see him.

Later, he thought Yan Song was a good man who could do things, but Tianjuan said that he turned out to be a treacherous prime minister. How could he use such a man? He had him thrown into prison from the beginning.
But later he forgot what bad things Yan Song had done, and no one had found out that he had done anything illegal, so he had to release him for now, but he was determined not to employ him again.

In addition, there are several old ministers in the cabinet. However, Li Dongyang is old and Jiao Fang has been demoted.
Liu Jian and Xie Qian, two old men, one resigned, and the other lost his edge. Moreover, their ideas were too old-fashioned, and even if they came back, they would still be a hindrance to him.
He didn't want to be dictated to and bossed around by them anymore.

So, Zhu Houzhao is worried now!

There were many things he wanted to do. He wanted to go to sea, build a big ship, create a steam engine, and find the America that Tianjuan mentioned.
He also wanted to fight against the Japanese, expand his navy, earn money through overseas trade, and create penicillin.

But looking around the entire court, it was full of scholars who were good at writing articles. They were all corrupt scholars who could only teach others how to do things but could not do anything themselves.

He simply couldn't find the right person to take charge of the things he wanted to do.
This really worried him to death.

If there was a way to make the talents of Zhengde Dynasty "blowout", it would be great. Of course, the talents he wanted were not the kind of literati who could only write poems and talk about military affairs on paper, but capable officials who could do things and were pragmatic.

As he was thinking, he heard Tianjuan start to list the last of the six great masters, Zeng Gong.

【Finally, let’s talk about Zeng Gong. He is the least prominent among the six great writers of the Song Dynasty.】

[Why do we put him last? Because if the five previous masters were either the incarnation of Wenquxing, or were extremely talented, or were born with extraordinary talents, or had a family background in learning, then Zeng Gong was just an ordinary talent. ]

[Zeng Gong's success is simple and unpretentious, which comes from his hard work. 】

[Zeng Gong's personality is just like his articles. He does not have eye-catching nouns or fancy phrases at the beginning, nor does he have shocking views. What he says and discusses is very practical! ]

Yes, this is the kind of talent.
Zhu Houzhao's eyes lit up.

But you have to be more pragmatic. It's best to be able to specialize in a specific job or craft, but you can't be an ordinary craftsman who only knows how to do things but doesn't know the origin. You need to have brains.

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but listen carefully.

[Therefore, among the Eight Great Masters of Tang and Song Dynasties, Zeng Gong is the most low-key one. Even because of the characteristics of his articles, we did not learn many of his poems in our elementary and junior high school textbooks. Naturally, we have no impression of him. ]

[For example, why did Su Xun become famous? It was because he wrote "On the Six Kingdoms", and the first sentence of the "On the Six Kingdoms" is: "The destruction of the six kingdoms was not due to the disadvantages of the army or the poor fighting skills, but the fault was bribery of Qin." The opening sentence is eye-catching. ]
【Zeng Gong, however, was good at ordinary narration, and rarely had eye-catching sentences. This is why people did not have a deep impression of him. 】

[However, a simple and pragmatic writer like him could only become famous during the reign of Emperor Renzong. Because if you read his articles in depth, you will find that they are logically rigorous, versatile, and grand.]

From this point of view, he is a simple scholar who is flashy but not practical.

Zhu Houzhao was originally full of anticipation, but after hearing Tianjuan's words, he became worried again.
Sure enough, Zeng Gong didn't seem to be the person he wanted to use.

【However, just a few years ago, an article written by Zeng Gong appeared overseas. This article only had 124 words, but it was sold at auction for 100 million yuan. Seven years later, it was sold at auction for 200 million yuan again. To say that one word is worth a thousand gold is to underestimate it.】
[This article is the famous "Situation Post". Every one of the more than 100 words on it is so beautiful that you can't help but admire it even if you magnify it ten times.]

Auctioned for 200 million?
Although the ancients could not understand the currency of later generations and had no reference, since "a single word worth a thousand gold" is an underestimation of it, it shows its value.

Especially Song Huizong, when he heard about this, he became concerned about it and immediately asked someone to bring Zeng Gong's calligraphy, intending to copy it carefully.

At this time, a barrage of "graffiti monsters" floated in the air:
[@十全老人绘怪: This calligraphy is now in my palace. It is indeed exquisite and makes people love it. ]

Seeing the barrage of comments from "Graffiti Monster" and thinking about the reason why the painting was later lost overseas, Lei Xiaomeng couldn't help but reply to his barrage.

[Your Majesty, Emperor Qianlong? Do you know how this "Situation Post" was lost overseas and how it was found? ]

[Your Qing dynasty closed its doors to the outside world, allowing Westerners to enter the Forbidden City and steal many of China's treasures. This copy of "Ju Shi Tie" was lost overseas for several years because of this. It was eventually bought back by a patriotic friend.]

[You have to spend your own money to buy back things that belonged to your ancestors. What a sin! ]

Qianlong, who was looking at the scroll with complacency, was stunned: Westerners broke into the Forbidden City and stole a large number of Chinese treasures, including this "Situation Post"?
Aren’t those Westerners just barbarians, an uncivilized nation who can’t even bend their knees?

They broke into the Forbidden City?
Wouldn't the fate of the Qing imperial family be as miserable as that of Emperors Huizong and Qinzong?
How could his Qing cavalry be so weak?
Impossible, absolutely impossible!
(End of this chapter)