A powerful minister of the Song Dynasty

Chapter 136: Check Someone for Me (Part )
Snapped.

Emperor Zhao Zhen clapped his hands subconsciously.

A mystery that had puzzled him for many years was solved, and he was very excited.

Song Xuan.

Song Wenwan!
You are a little beggar without parents, and you ran back to your hometown in Tianfu without even saying hello.

It was not until today that he revealed his true colors and did such a big thing.

It really is a happy and carefree life!

Zhao Zhen was shocked when he thought of the little beggar who had left a deep impression on him in his childhood and who not only survived but also made a name for himself.

He felt relieved and wanted to laugh.

After all, after becoming emperor, he really became a lonely man.

The booklet in the emperor's hand was suddenly closed by Zhao Zhen with a sound.

Whether it was Empress Dowager Liu or the prime ministers who wanted to see the contents of Yan Shu's letter, they all looked at the emperor.

Suddenly such a sound was heard.

Could it be that the emperor was dissatisfied with Yan Shu's treatment?
The censor Xin Ruoxu's eyes lit up. He waited for the emperor to get angry, then his goal would be achieved.

Zhao Zhen panicked when he saw everyone looking at him, then raised the booklet in his hand:

"The story is so well written that one can't help but applaud."

The joyful expression on the face of the censor Xin Ruoxu fell again.

It turned out that the emperor liked the absurd story written by Song Xuan.

What's so appealing about a monkey?

This kind of vernacular novel is not even worth mentioning.

Xin Ruoxu's father was once the prime minister of the Song Dynasty, and he was related by marriage to Ma Liang, Lu Mengzheng, Lu Yijian, Wang Gui and others.

So when Lu Yijian sent someone to deliver the message, he jumped out immediately.

Now that he saw that his goal had not been achieved, Xin Ruoxu's face was covered with sweat. He kept his head down and did not dare to look at Lu Yijian.

thing.

It went wrong.

Liu E stretched out her hand and asked the eunuch to bring her the vernacular novel.

Liu E looked carefully.

It's about a monkey that jumped out of a stone.

What's the point?
Empress Dowager Liu threw the booklet on the ground and it was picked up by the eunuch.

Emperor Zhao Zhen saw this scene.

A trace of embarrassment and confusion flashed across his face.

Although Liu E raised Renzong since he was a child, she did not give him much maternal love.

The queen doesn't need to raise the child herself. There are many people around her who can raise children and do it better than her.

Although Liu E had strict requirements on Zhao Zhen in education and life, at this time Liu E was the regent as the empress dowager and held the power of the court.

Although Renzong was the emperor in name only, he was no different from a puppet.

In fact, with the growth in the past two years and the education from the ministers, Zhao Zhen, as the emperor, realized his responsibilities as the emperor and began to feel somewhat dissatisfied with his mother's dominance.

"I am the Emperor of the Song Dynasty!"

But Zhao Zhen, who had always been gentle and patient, did not want to fall out with his mother.

He could only keep reminding himself that he was still young and needed to wait for the right time before taking power.

The emperor did the same thing this way, and the regent empress dowager did that way.

To put it bluntly, it is still a question of obedience testing and the right to speak.

In Liu E's eyes, Zhao Zhen was the guarantee of her power.

This is also why many ministers knew that Liu E was not the emperor's biological mother, but no one dared to tell the emperor.

How dare you, a subject, sow discord among the royal family? Are you seeking your life?

What power does the current emperor Zhao Zhen have?

Therefore, the Queen Mother won.

Liu E ignored the embarrassment that flashed across the emperor's face and simply asked:
"If you've read it all, then let's discuss this. Did that student named Song Xuan violate the laws of the Great Song Dynasty?"

"Your Majesty, I have thoroughly researched the Song Dynasty laws on this matter, and there is no indication that this is inappropriate."

Wang Zeng immediately stepped forward to respond.

He had already found out everything and was just waiting for someone to take action.

Today, Xin Ruoxu, the censor, came out to impeach.

The Xin Ruoxu family and the Lu family are related by marriage.

It is possible that Lu Yijian was behind this matter.

He promoted Ding Du to the position of Hanlin Bachelor. Could it be that he was going to turn around and overturn the verdict on "Dou Chou"?
Wang Zeng couldn't figure it out.

But if someone wants to take the position of prime minister, more than one person will have to be moved. Even if the prime minister is dismissed, there is still the deputy prime minister who ranks before Lu Yijian to take over.

Therefore, the change of prime ministers in the Song Dynasty usually required the positions of several people to be moved. There was no extra position for you to move around.

Wang Zeng also calculated the turnover of Song Xuan's bookstore himself, and found that it could make at least 500 strings of cash a month.

As prime minister, he received a monthly salary of 300 strings of cash, 200 pieces of clothing, one piece of gauze, and 100 dan of grain.

All in all, his profit is definitely much higher than Song Xuan's, but this is the treatment of a prime minister, and low-level civil servants are not as good as Song Xuan.

If Yan Shu had not said in the letter that Song Xuan was sincere in wanting to share the profits with Yingtian Academy to repair school buildings, provide meals for teachers and students, and expand the campus, Wang Zeng would not have carefully checked whether this matter was legal or not.

Because Wang Zeng knew very well that running a school was an extremely expensive thing, the fact that Yingtian Academy, a private school, was able to run smoothly for decades was entirely due to the generous donations from local villagers.

Now that both the Zhao and Cao families had no spare money, Yan Shu could only find ways to raise money to run a school, otherwise everything would be empty talk.

"Since it doesn't violate the laws of the Song Dynasty, there's no need to say more." Empress Dowager Liu glanced at Cao Liyong:
"Minister Cao has met Song Xuan before. Do you understand his temperament?"

Cao Liyong didn't expect to be called out suddenly, so he spoke subconsciously:
"Replying to the Queen Mother, this boy is generous in his dealings with others, has great insight, and is talented. If he can pass the imperial examination in the future, he will definitely be able to serve the court."

Liu E was quite surprised.

Cao Liyong, who has always been difficult to get along with, would speak so highly of a student.

Everyone knows that Song Xuan is talented.

They also understood his insight from the policy papers he wrote.

In particular, Li Mingde, the ruler of Western Xia, cooperated quite well in causing trouble on the border.

Now that the emperor of the Song Dynasty has ascended the throne at a young age, both the Khitan and the Western Xia want to test the strength of the Song Dynasty, hoping to gain some advantage.

Lu Yijian became even more convinced that Cao used him to openly boast about Song Xuan in the court, which meant that he really wanted to take him as his son-in-law.

It seems that Lao Cao has great ambitions!

In the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a dual government system, with the Privy Council and the Secretariat checking and balancing each other.

There has been no large-scale war so far, and the prime minister and the head of the Privy Council do not communicate with each other.

It was only during the Qingli period, due to the war between Song and Xia, that the prime minister concurrently served as the Privy Councilor.

Integrate all the resources of the Song Dynasty and decentralize power immediately after the war is over.

But then again, who among those who can stand here is not a smart person?
"Since Yingtian Academy is short of money and is a government-run institution, how can we allow a young student to earn money to support the academy?"

"The court has to allocate some money and food. Yan Shu didn't tell the court about his difficulties. Does he think I will ignore him?"

As soon as Empress Dowager Liu said this, everyone fell silent.

"You should draw up a set of rules. I know that many of this year's Jinshi graduates came from Yingtian Academy."

"Here."

After today's meeting was over, the prime ministers returned to the Secretariat, and Cao Liyong returned to the Privy Council. After thinking for a while, he went home to continue writing letters.

Zhao Zhen also left here and directly called his trusted eunuch Yang Huaimin, asking him to summon the marriage official from the Investigation Department under the Imperial City Department.

Gao Zunfu, like his father, was a son of a military family and entered the government through family connections. His daughter, Gao Taotao, born a dozen years later, also served as a government official.

"Meet the official."

Gao Zunfu was very surprised. He didn't know why the emperor suddenly summoned him, so he kept his body bent.

Only in formal occasions would ministers kneel to the emperor; common people only needed to bow when meeting the emperor.

Zhao Zhen looked at Gao Zunfu and said, "Can I trust you?"

Hearing this, Gao Zunfu immediately knelt on the ground:

"Your Majesty, I have fought for the Song Dynasty since my grandfather, and so did my father. I am willing to serve you at your service and swear allegiance to you until death."

Not everyone can guard the emperor's house. Most of them must have a clean record for three generations.

Although the military generals were suppressed, their descendants generally had an official position in the imperial guards and would have no worries about food and clothing for the rest of their lives.

Gao Zunfu was very excited. Could it be that the emperor was going to rebel against the empress dowager?
"Okay." Zhao Zhen's serious expression changed to a gentle one. "I want you to help me find someone."

"Please let me know."

"Song Xuan."

In the main hall, Empress Dowager Liu E was receiving Liu Ye.

Liu Ye was going to Henan Prefecture to serve as prefect.

This person had been from the county for generations. After the capital was moved to the Northern Wei Dynasty, he settled in Henan.

During the chaos of the Five Dynasties at the end of the Tang Dynasty, the lineage of the old families could not be traced. However, the Liu family, from the twelfth generation ancestor Huan Jun, the Secretary of the Northern Qi Dynasty, to the eleventh generation Ye, were all buried in Henan, and their family records are preserved.

So Liu E summoned him alone.

Liu E knew that their family was a prominent clan and wanted to see Liu Ye's family tree, saying that she might be of the same clan as hers.

As a result, Liu Ye was very rude and refused the first few times.

When Liu Ye was summoned again today, he couldn't refuse, so he pretended to faint and have a stroke, and ignored the Queen Mother.

This was not the first time that Liu E recognized someone with the surname Liu as a relative in the court.

The main reason is that Liu E was born a singing girl and came from a poor family, which made her extremely inferior. Even the life story of her parents was fabricated.

Of course, Liu E inevitably fell into the trap of thinking, "If I am so awesome, I must have an awesome ancestor to better demonstrate my strength!"

It has been a common practice since ancient times to find powerful ancestors for oneself.

Liu E had some governing methods, but when it came to recognizing ancestors, she was many times inferior to Zhu Yuanzhang, who also came from a poor background.

Now she is the regent as the queen mother, but her own family is small.

The only relative she had was her ex-husband's brother who had changed his surname and could not provide her with much help in the court.

Not everyone recognized Liu E's position as regent.

In particular, some scholars and members of the royal family were skeptical about her power.

Therefore, Liu E urgently needed to find a group of followers in the court, and finding relatives was a very easy thing to do.

But Liu E discovered that not all scholars and officials were like Zhang Qi.

In addition, there was a rumor that Liu E was going to wear a dragon robe.

Is she trying to emulate Wu Zetian?
Then who would be willing to stick with her?

It's too late to hide.

When Liu E saw that Liu Ye had suffered a stroke, she was horrified.

His face looked extremely ugly again.

He would rather do this than admit that he is related to me.

Look down on me so much?

Outrageous!

But she had no way to directly dismiss Liu Ye from his official position, so she could only be angry secretly and sent someone to call the imperial physician to treat him.

……

Yingtian Academy.

The wooden speaker in Fan Zhongyan's hand is used to amplify his volume.

Fortunately, there were only 388 freshmen, and the one at the bottom was Fan Xiang, who was just as impressive as the first.

Fan Zhongyan was sure that the students could hear clearly a speech of such a scale.

As for the accent issue, I will send out the requirements of the new headmaster later, to all students, not just the freshmen.

In addition to the new students entering, there were also many old students there ready to listen to what the new headmaster had to say.

According to their understanding, Master Qi has been in this position for more than ten years and now that his beard is grey, it is time to let the younger generation take charge of the academies.

Everyone lined up.

As the first one in the group, Zhang Fangping held his head high and chest out, but was also a little nervous.

He is the one who does not make a sound for three years but suddenly makes a stunning sound.

As for Song Xuan, he didn't care at all, but was a little curious about his new deskmate.

A little bit effeminate.

Your surname is Zhu, so don’t try to act like Zhu Yingtai!

"Brother Zhu, are you feeling unwell?"

Song Xuan held a folding fan in his hand: "I see you are sweating a lot."

Zhu Yu quickly shook his head: "Thank you for your concern, Brother Song. It's a bit hard for me to accept so many people coming here all of a sudden."

"Oh."

Song Xuan nodded.

It turns out to be social phobia!

Then I feel relieved.

After all, in this era, although women can study, they cannot take part in the imperial examinations.

Such as the talented woman Li Qingzhao.

However, talented women like Li Qingzhao often came from wealthy merchants or scholar families.

They are usually educated at home by their father, brothers or hired teachers, and rarely go to county schools or state schools outside.

Because they don’t charge at all!
"Brother Zhu, there's no need to worry about this kind of thing. People can adapt to new environments very quickly. You'll get used to it in a few days."

Listening to Song Xuan's words of comfort, Zhu Yu nodded and hoped so.

The weather was hot, so Yan Shu and a group of elderly teachers did not go on stage. Fan Zhongyan gave a speech himself, and then Song Xuan said a few words to motivate everyone.

Anyway, it doesn’t matter if students get sunburned. If they can’t even bear this little bit of hardship, how can they endure the hardship of studying?
Fan Zhongyan watched the students enter the venue in an orderly manner, and saw many senior students standing around the small square.

"Twelfth Brother, are you nervous about speaking on stage later?"

"I'm not nervous."

"Hahaha."

Zhang Fangping burst into laughter when he heard this. Their Class A was sitting on the far left, completely disregarding the rule that Class A must sit in the middle.

Wang Yaochen was a little surprised, and Zhu Yu also secretly glanced at Song Xuan.

Is he going to speak on stage?

"Did Shi Erlang get the news in advance?" Wang Yaochen asked softly.

"Well, the headmaster told me in advance to prepare so that I wouldn't be unable to say anything when I go on stage to give a speech today!"

Nowadays, in the Song Dynasty, speeches like this generally don't involve reading a script in public.

If you don't even memorize the script, you are not qualified to speak.

Or if you can't even perform on the spot, how can you make us admit that you have talent?

Wang Yaochen said "oh", realizing that Song Xuan's essay was well written and talented, and then whispered:
"Shi Er Lang, is it true that part of the profits from your bookstore will be shared with the academy?"

(End of this chapter)