No war in the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 10 Imperial City Division

A figure behind him asked, "Captain, do you want to arrest the criminal now?"

Another figure said, "Let's wait and see. He's carrying something, so he should be meeting friends and seeing his followers first!"

Two figures were chasing Su Ze, obviously very professionally. Su Ze didn't notice that there were followers behind him at all, and he just came to Wang Anshi's house.

The other group of people were more amateurish. They followed Su Ze more closely and soon reached the door of Wang Anshi's house.
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Wang Anshi was already standing at the door waiting.

As soon as he saw Su Ze, Wang Anshi immediately came forward to greet him.

The two exchanged a few words, and Su Ze began to observe Wang Anshi's house.

Compared to the noisy neighborhoods in the south of the city, Wang Anshi's neighborhood is close to the Imperial Street and closer to the imperial city, and its location is much better than Su Ze's.

Su Ze knew Wang Anshi's family background. His father once served as the magistrate of Jiangling Prefecture. When he was a child, he lived in Jinling for a much longer time than in Linchuan, Jiangxi, where he claimed to be. Su Ze heard Wang Anshi speak with a hint of Jianghuai Mandarin.

However, this does not mean that Wang Anshi came from a prominent family, because Wang Anshi's father died when he was a teenager, and because Wang Anshi's father was an honest official, his family soon fell into hardship.

Even when Wang Anshi was a teenager, his family made a living by digging wild vegetables on Zhongshan Mountain in Jiangling.

Wang Anshi's grandmother and mother were still alive, and he had four younger brothers and three younger sisters. Although he had two half-brothers, they no longer had much contact with their family, so the burden of the family still fell on him.

Yes, Wang Anshi’s biological mother was also his father’s second marriage. Divorce was very common in the Northern Song Dynasty and was not discriminated against.

Later, in order to take the imperial examination, Wang Anshi and his family moved to Bian Jing. Over the years, as Wang Anshi became more famous, their lives became slightly better.

"Wang Lang, is the master at home?"

When visiting someone's home, one must first greet the elders of the other family. Song called his parents "adults". Wang Anshi himself was a person who paid attention to etiquette, so he was even more happy about this and said to Su Ze:

"Jiaci is in the backyard, Su Lang, come with me."

Su Ze respectfully bowed to Wang Anshi's mother, Mrs. Wu. Mrs. Wu was indeed of extraordinary temperament, but she looked a little old due to the hardships of life, and her hands were covered with peeling skin and blisters. Su Ze had seen such hands on many neighbors who worked as laundry workers for wealthy families. It seemed that the Wang family was still very poor in Bianjing, and even Wang Anshi's mother had to help others with laundry to make a living.

Then Wang Anshi asked his younger brothers and sisters to come out and meet Su Ze. His four younger brothers were Anguo, Anshi, Anli and Anshang. His three younger sisters also had some of Mrs. Wu's temperament, but they were still young and a little immature.

Sure enough, what the history books said was correct; Wang Anshi was a very stubborn person.

This stubbornness was not only reflected in his later reforms, but also in his friendships.

As long as Wang Anshi took a fancy to you, you would be his close friend, and he would treat his friends wholeheartedly.

If you are looked down upon by Wang Anshi, he will not hide his thoughts at all. No matter how hard you try to make friends with him, Wang Anshi will not even look you in the eye.

Just at this moment, another guest knocked on the door, and Wang Anshi pulled Su Ze to greet the guest.

Su Ze soon saw a young man with a serious face.

This young man was probably about the same age as me, but he looked serious and seemed like a middle-aged bureaucrat in his forties or fifties.

As the host, Wang Anshi immediately began to introduce:
"Zeng Gong, also known as Zeng Zigu, was also a good friend of Anshi. Zeng Zigu's policy papers were well-known in the capital for their vigorous and powerful writings."

"This is Su Ze. Su Lang has a lot of insights into current affairs and is very knowledgeable!"

Well, I just traveled through time and I have already met two of the Eight Great Masters of Tang and Song in the Chinese textbook.

There were four other people he might have seen, including Ouyang Xiu, a senior official of the dynasty, and the three Su brothers, who should still be studying at the time. Su Ze saluted Zeng Gong politely, and Zeng Gong also returned the salute formally.

Zeng Gong had a solemn and serious character, and was also very filial.

At this time, Zeng Gong's father was an official in another place, and Zeng Gong was preparing for the imperial examination in Bian Jing while supporting a large family.

Zeng Gong's family was different from Wang Anshi's. His mother was his father's stepmother. Zeng Gong treated his stepmother as if she were his biological mother, and treated her younger brothers and sisters equally. This virtue was also respected by scholars in Bian Jing.

With these two great gods around, the task of collecting cultural energy should be completed smoothly.

Just as the three of them were about to enter the house, Su Ze heard a familiar voice again.

"Su Ze! Didn't you say you were going to study hard at home? Why are you out drinking again?"

A girl in a ruqun rushed out from the street. It was Su Ze’s childhood sweetheart Zhang Chulan.

It turned out that after Zhang Chulan came yesterday, she was still worried about Su Ze. Early this morning, she took her servants to ambush at the door of Su Ze's house, and followed him all the way out to Wang Anshi's house.

Seeing that Wang Anshi was going to host another banquet at home, Zhang Chulan naturally thought that Su Ze was hanging out with his old friends again, and couldn't help but rush out.

Wang Anshi and Zeng Gong were both very smart people, and they had guessed the general idea in their minds.

Faced with such things, Wang Anshi was tactful and watched with interest from the side, while Zeng Gong frowned. He had a straightforward personality and was not very interested in such things.

Su Ze also had a headache. He was clearly doing something serious, but he inexplicably felt like he was caught cheating. What was going on?

Seeing that more and more neighbors were gathering at the door, Wang Anshi was about to go out to smooth things over when another group of people gathered at the door.

Leading the group were two officers, one fat and one thin, and behind them were more than a dozen armored imperial guards. They quickly drove away the crowd and surrounded Wang Anshi's house.

"The Imperial City Department is doing business! All outsiders, please leave!"

When they heard the three words "Imperial City Division", the officials nearby immediately dispersed, but they all closed their doors and peeked in from inside the house.

When they heard the words "Imperial City Administration", Wang Anshi and Zeng Gong also frowned.

A fat officer came forward and said to Su Ze:

"The Imperial City Division has been ordered to investigate the case of the demon book. The suspect is Su Ze. Someone has reported that you wrote the demon book. Come with us back to the division to investigate!"

Upon hearing this, Zeng Gong, who was always calm, also changed his expression.

Zhang Chulan's face turned pale. She stood in front of Su Ze and said:
"Did you catch the wrong person? With Su Ze's talent, can he write a demon book?"

Su Ze was also a little puzzled. He exhausted his memory but could not find any connection between his previous life and any demonic book.

At this moment, Wang Anshi stepped forward and said, "Does the Imperial City Office have the imperial edict?"

Unfortunately, this time was different from the last time. Fat Dusi quickly took out a yellow badge.

The thin officer beside him immediately said:

"Take those suspected accomplices back for investigation as well!"

(End of this chapter)