No war in the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 65: A show of force

According to the instructions in Cai Xiang's handbook for new officials, the most important thing for a new official is to pay a visit to his superiors.

The affairs of the store and the house were under the jurisdiction of the Taifu Temple, so Zhang Fangping, the judge of the Taifu Temple, was Su Ze's immediate superior and he had to meet him first.

However, Su Ze had already learned from Zhang Yaozuo that his immediate superior did not seem to be satisfied with him.

Zhang Fangping came from a poor family. Although he was an honest official, he always kept his distance from the gentlemen of the Qingli period such as Fan Zhongyan.

In Zhang Fangping's opinion, except for Fan Zhongyan and Han Qi, the rest of them like to form cliques for personal gain. They are all empty talkers who talk big but cannot be down-to-earth. They often use the excuse of being a celebrity to live a dissolute life. They are not people who do their jobs well at all.

Although Fan Zhongyan was capable, his ideas were too radical and it was difficult for him to accomplish anything.

In the end, this group of people's troubles will seriously damage the vitality of the court.

Zhang Fangping hated the reformists, so naturally he did not have a good face towards Su Ze who submitted the "Shop and House Market Exchange Law".

Zhang Fangping certainly knew that such a detailed and reliable new law could not have been created by Zhang Yaozuo, a relative of the emperor, but must have been the work of Su Ze.

So after hearing that Su Ze was coming to take office today, Zhang Fangping rarely raised the Mingtang of Taifu Temple and ordered the officials and yamen runners in the temple to stand on both sides, which was to give Su Ze a warning.

When Su Ze walked into the official office of Taifu Temple, he felt that the atmosphere was a bit tense.

After seeing the situation in front of the Mingtang, Su Ze understood what his boss was thinking.

However, Su Ze did not show any fear. Judging from historical records, Zhang Fangping was a typical conservative scholar-official of the Northern Song Dynasty.

These people have one thing in common: they have excellent personal morals but are conservative politically.

The main reason they opposed the reform was not that they thought the new law was not good enough, but that they felt the new law would become harmful to the people during its implementation, so they believed that not changing the law was better than changing it.

Judging from the results, their ideas may be correct. Many reforms in the Northern Song Dynasty eventually turned from good laws into laws that harmed the people.

He has good personal morals, which shows that he is a true gentleman.

Since he is a gentleman, he would not use conspiracy with a powerful official like Lu Yijian.

In the historical timeline before Su Ze traveled through time, Zhang Fangping had recommended Wang Anshi because of his talent, and he also recommended the Three Su brothers.

After Wang Anshi implemented the new law, Zhang Fangping simply expressed his clear opposition. When the emperor did not listen to him, he resigned and left Beijing, and did not make any other moves.

In a sense, an opponent of a true gentleman is even more harmless than a collaborator of a hypocrite.

When Su Ze walked into the Mingtang, he saw Zhang Fangping wearing a purple official robe, which indicated that he was an official of the third rank or above.

On his head is the Jinxian three-beam crown, which is a crown that can only be worn by the chief officials of the various departments of the Southern Court.

In addition, the jade belt is a conferral and is only given to high-ranking officials of the third rank and above, while the goldfish bag is an honor that only those with official positions in the library, that is, scholars of the imperial court, can have.

As a candidate of the lowest rank and an official with imperial favor, Su Ze naturally did not have any of these.

Not only Zhang Fangping, but other officials in the Mingtang were also minor officials wearing crimson, purple and green official robes and could only stand outside the Mingtang at this moment.

It really is a show of force.

Su Ze didn't mind. He handed in his "certificate of appointment" according to the procedure, which was a letter of appointment issued by the Court of Justice. The clerk beside Zhang Fangping took the certificate of appointment, checked it and presented it to Zhang Fangping after confirming that it was correct.

Zhang Fangping then bestowed the seal.

Because the store and house affairs were not under investigation, Su Ze got two seals.

One was his official seal as the left and right wing store manager. In addition to his official title, this seal also had Su Ze's name engraved on it, which was considered his personal seal. The other was the official seal of the store and house affairs department. All official documents and notices issued by the store and house affairs department had to have both seals to be effective.

Under normal circumstances, the official seal of a department is controlled by the chief official, who is in charge of store and house affairs. This is the so-called official seal officer. Therefore, the official seal officer has the power to have the final say in his own yamen. Without the official seal of the office, nothing can be done.

But now there is no chief officer for the store and house affairs, so Su Ze naturally becomes the official in charge of the store and house affairs.

Following Cai Xiang's instructions, Su Ze checked the seal to see if it was intact and whether there were any typos on the official seal engraved with his name. After confirming that everything was correct, he saluted Zhang Fangping again.

Zhang Fangping cleared his throat, and Su Ze knew that the next step would be "discipline training".

Admonition and training refers to the teachings and warnings given by superiors before lower-level officials take up their new posts.

Normally, these are words used to persuade subordinates to be diligent in their work, love the people, and not to engage in corruption.

However, it was obvious that Zhang Fangping was unwilling to miss this opportunity. He said a few polite words and then began to talk about Su Ze's "Shop and House Market Trading Law".

Zhang Fangping said:
"The people are like water; they can carry a boat, but they can also capsize it. If the market exchange laws for shops and houses are implemented, they will compete with the people for profits."

"Officials, in order to improve their personal prospects, will make 'profit' the goal of their policies, using the amount of wealth extracted from the people as a means of evaluating their performance."

Zhang Fangping looked at Su Ze and said:

"It was originally intended to be a good law to protect the people, but it ended up being a bad law that harmed them. Are you at peace with this, Mr. Su?"

Sure enough, it came.

A gentleman like Zhang Fangping really drew his sword with dignity and expressed his dissatisfaction right away, completely ignoring the fact that the "Shop and House Market Exchange Law" was a new policy of the court approved by the government and sealed by the Council of State.

Everyone also looked at Su Ze. Facing such a harsh reprimand from the chief officer, even a veteran official would be trembling with fear, but Su Ze, a newcomer to the officialdom, remained calm.

Seeing Su Ze’s expressionless face, Zhang Fangping became even angrier. He said a few more words and ended the “discipline training”.

Then Su Ze said, "Your humble servant requests to speak in person."

To apply in person means to apply in person.

A petition was an official document in the Song Dynasty, written to superiors, mainly used to report situations, different from the "memorial" submitted to the emperor.

To apply in person means to state the application in person, which is equivalent to requesting to report to Zhang Fangping in person.

Zhang Fangping paused. Su Ze's request to speak in person was also in line with official rules, so he could only wave his hand and let Su Ze speak.

Su Ze said:

"I believe that whether a law is good or bad depends not only on the law itself, but also on the people who enforce it, and even more so on the guidance and assessment of those who enforce it by their superiors."

"As the temple judge warned, the law is a good law, but if the people below implement it incorrectly, it will become an evil law that harms the people."

"But the country has such a long history of problems. How can we not implement it just because it might go awry? Wouldn't that be like throwing the baby out with the bathwater?"

Zhang Fangping was speechless for a moment.

Su Ze continued:

"Since the temple judge is worried that the 'Shop and House Market Law' will harm the people, why not send more people to supervise me? When I really do harm the people, they can impeach me and report me."

"I believe that with Judge Zhang overseeing this, the 'Shop and House Market Exchange Law' will be implemented from a good law into a good policy, benefiting the people of Bianjing!"

(End of this chapter)