No war in the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 48: Knowledge of the World

Su Ze looked at Cai Xiang, and the other party was also looking at him.

Su Ze then remembered that it was in the third year of Emperor Renzong's Jingyou reign, eight years ago, when Prime Minister Lu Yijian was in power.

At that time, Fan Zhongyan wrote a report on "Chart of Officials", accusing Lü Yijian of abusing his power for personal gain and appointing people based on personal connections. However, Lü Yijian used the censor Gao Rone to counterattack and falsely accuse Fan Zhongyan of forming a clique, and banished him from Bianliang.

Yu Jing, who was the editor of Jixian Academy at that time, wrote a memorial entitled "On Fan Zhongyan's Inappropriate Punishment for His Speech" to defend Fan and was demoted to Taizhou; Yin Zhu, the proofreader of the Imperial Library, wrote a memorial admitting that he was both Fan Zhongyan's teacher and friend, and was demoted to Tangzhou as well; Ouyang Xiu, who was the proofreader of the Imperial Library at that time, wrote a letter to impeach Fan Zhongyan's censor Gao Ruone, accusing him of currying favor with the powerful and catering to Lu Yijian, saying that he no longer knew what shame was in the world, and was also demoted to the magistrate of Yiling County.

Cai Xiang, who was only 25 years old at the time, saw that all the speakers were banished and felt unfair, so he wrote the poem "Four Sages and One Unworthy", praising Fan Zhongyan, Yu Jing, Yin Zhu and Ouyang Xiu as virtuous people, and severely criticizing Gao Ruone as an unworthy person.

After the poem was completed, scholars and common people inside and outside the capital rushed to copy it, and it was as popular as paper in Luoyang.

Now that Lü Yijian was overthrown by his presentation of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival", Cai Xiang naturally thought that he was a gentleman like Fan Zhongyan and showed a friendly attitude.

Then the clerk took the four treasures of the study and handed them to Su Ze. Cai Xiang said:
"Mr. Su, please present your thanks."

After officials are selected, they need to write a statement, also called a petition, which can be seen as a military order before taking office, or a policy program after taking office.

Generally speaking, selecting people and appointing officials is the responsibility of the Court of Censorship, and Chen Biao only needs to stay in the Court of Censorship.

However, Su Ze was an official appointed and dismissed by the emperor himself, so Su Ze had to submit a report to the emperor.

Su Ze took the pen, thought for a moment, and wrote directly on the paper:
"There are tens of thousands of Ande Guangsha, sheltering the world's poor people with joy."

After finishing writing, Su Ze put down the pen and did not write another word.

However, when Cai Xiang and Zhang Yaozuo saw Su Ze complete such a sloppy petition, they were both amazed.

The Northern Song Dynasty has always attached importance to the demeanor of scholars and officials. In other words, this "demeanor" means "pretending to be cool."

Officials with outstanding demeanor are more likely to be noticed by their superiors, and such officials can easily reach key positions.

For example, Fan Zhongyan and Han Qi were such officials.

On the contrary, people like Liu Yong were regarded as "frivolous" by officials because of their romantic affairs and were never valued in their lives.

Su Ze's memorial only used one line of Du Fu's poem, but it was in line with the original intention of establishing the store and house affairs. This poem also showed Su Ze's ideal, which was to solve the people's housing problems through the store and house affairs.

Cai Xiang couldn't help but say:
"Su Jun has great ambitions!"

After saying this, Cai Xiang ordered the clerk to deliver Su Ze's petition to the palace, and then handed Su Ze's letter of appointment to him and said:
"I hope Mr. Su can realize his dream in the store and house business."

[Ten points of spiritual energy detected. Do you want to absorb it?]

This letter of appointment was written by Cai Xiang himself. As a famous calligrapher in the Song Dynasty, he was naturally able to absorb the spirit of literary context.

Unexpectedly, a surprise came just after he became an official. Su Ze put away his official certificate, and Cai Xiang reminded him:

"According to the laws of the imperial court, officials must arrive at their assigned places within a specified timeframe after receiving their official certificates. Failure to do so will result in punishment by the imperial court. Mr. Su is serving in Bianjing, so he doesn't have to worry about arriving. He only needs to arrive at the Department of Stores and Houses within a month to complete the handover. If he's later than that, he'll be impeached by the censors."

Next, Su Ze discovered that this famous calligrapher was actually a chatterbox!
Cai Xiang explained in detail everything that should be paid attention to when taking office, including the auspiciousness or inauspiciousness of the taking office date, the ceremonial rituals that need to be completed, how to hand over the account books, how to prevent his subordinates from causing trouble, how to establish authority in the office, etc.

Zhang Yaozuo was about to yawn when Cai Xiang said:

"It's Cai who's nagging, but these are just my own experiences. Many new officials, due to inadequate handling of their duties, have been tarnished from the very beginning, ruining their careers for the rest of their lives."

Cai Xiang was a Langzhong in the Ministry of Personnel Examination, so he naturally knew the mistakes that many new officials had made. He also valued Su Ze's talent and did not want him to be tarnished by these trivial matters.

After listening carefully, Su Ze said:
"Doctor Cai, what you said could be written into a book. If it could be used to warn new officials, it would help more people avoid detours and help new officials familiarize themselves with government affairs more quickly."

Cai Xiang was stunned for a moment, and he asked doubtfully, "Can this be made into a book?"

Su Ze said seriously:

"A thorough understanding of worldly affairs is knowledge, and a sophisticated understanding of human nature is writing. What Doctor Cai said is all words of understanding human nature and a sophisticated understanding of human nature. How can it not be made into a book?"

After hearing these two sentences, Cai Xiang's eyes lit up. He murmured these two sentences over and over again, and felt that Su Ze's two sentences were profound.

Su Ze continued:

"The words of the sages can be eternal truths of the great Dao, or they can be the words of experience of predecessors like Doctor Cai. Being able to inherit the wisdom of the predecessors and provide guidance for future generations is also a great merit, isn't it?"

After Su Ze's two compliments, Cai Xiang actually started thinking about writing a book.

Su Ze said again:
"I happen to know a bookshop that I can help Doctor Cai print and publish it."

Cai Xiang thought for a moment, nodded, and said:

"Then I'll give it a try. If it can really help new officials avoid some detours, it will be a great deed."

A smile appeared on Su Ze's face.

When he was at Zhang Yaozuo's house, Su Ze discovered that the books left by the predecessors lacked the spirit of literary context.

The reason why the "Collected Works of Mr. Changli" sent by Ouyang Xiu contains the spirit of literary context is because of his own annotations.

According to Su Ze's speculation, it must be the original manuscript of the author himself in order to contain the spirit of literary context.

That's why Su Ze persuaded Cai Xiang to write a book. Cai Xiang was not only a famous calligrapher, he was also a poet and a literary figure.

The books he personally wrote will definitely have a sense of literary context.

That's why Su Ze had an idea and persuaded Cai Xiang to publish a book.

When they came out of the Court of Justice, Zhang Yaozuo looked at Su Ze with a completely different look.

Originally, Zhang Yaozuo thought that Su Ze was a scheming and decisive manipulator.

But today I discovered that this guy’s ability to flatter is even better than mine?

With just a few words, he persuaded Cai Xiang to make friends with him and even persuaded him to write a book.

This kid is so terrifying!

Zhang Yaozuo finally understood why Zhang Xiuyuan valued Su Ze and recruited him at all costs. He was so scheming at such a young age. As long as time passed, he might be able to become a prime minister!

Zhang Yaozuo boarded the carriage and said to Su Ze:

"The affairs of the store and the house are complicated, and the government won't let you work for nothing."

"Su Ze, the emperor has issued an oral order. If you are really in big trouble, you can be granted a request."

Su Ze immediately said:

"Uncle, I have something to ask. Could you please ask the emperor for help?"

"what?"

(End of this chapter)