White-robed Minister

Chapter 234 0232 [Winter Solstice Festival]

Wang Gui, who had just been promoted to vice prime minister, immediately went to look for memorials from many years ago after the lecture on the classics.

It was sent by Du Qi, the transport commissioner of Guangxi, who himself had been dead for twenty years. The memorial detailed the lineage of the rulers of Jiaozhi, the mountains and rivers, the military strength and the people's conditions, and also included a strategy for dealing with Jiaozhi.

Wang Gui planned to copy it down and present it to the emperor himself the next day.

Although he was promoted to vice prime minister, he had very little say in the Secretariat. He was afraid of criticism, so he dared not support Wang Anshi's reforms, but at the same time, he did not oppose them.

To continue gaining the emperor's favor, they naturally had to come up with other methods.

Since the emperor likes war, let's just cater to his tastes.

Wang Gui was unfamiliar with the military affairs of the Northwest and Hebei, and had been searching through old reports on the border regions. He finally found an old report from more than twenty years ago. Today, Xu Lai spoke at length about the ten-year campaign against Xia, and the emperor listened with great interest. This further strengthened Wang Gui's resolve to report on the border affairs.

The following day was the winter solstice.

The Winter Solstice, New Year's Day, and Cold Food Festival were the three major festivals in the Northern Song Dynasty, and each one was a seven-day holiday.

Officials in the capital were required to attend the grand court assembly, and sometimes the court would also hold grand suburban sacrificial ceremonies.

Wang Gui carried the report from Jiaozhi, along with his own strategy, and set out at the crack of dawn.

Chen Xiaoyi escorted Xu Lai out, and they walked for a short while to the outside of Donghua Gate. Putting aside other matters, this house, bestowed by the emperor, was certainly convenient for commuting to work.

Many lower-ranking officials will also be attending today's grand court assembly, including even the personnel selection officials in Beijing.

Xu Lai, dressed in a purple robe and carrying a gold fish-shaped pouch, attracted attention even before entering the Donghua Gate. Outside the Zuochengtian Gate, a large number of officials and candidates were queuing up. After Xu Lai appeared, many officials even left their queues to come and greet him.

Regardless of whether they knew each other or not, Xu Lai was always polite and warm in greeting everyone.

He is now a court official, so he can continue walking in and queue up at the Inner East Gate.

They met Su Shi on the way, and the two bowed to each other in greeting.

Su Zhe had been demoted and banished from the capital, and Su Shi was also very unhappy with his position.

This year, he was impeached for using his father's funeral boat to smuggle incense and medicine. Although it was found to be a fabrication, he still suffered a humiliating defeat. Su Shi repeatedly offered to resign, but the emperor felt guilty and not only refused to approve his resignation but also promoted him.

The higher he was promoted, the more criticism he faced, as if he had used his deceased father to obtain his position.

"Greetings, Master Xu," Su Shi said, bowing.

Xu Lai smiled and said, "Why are you being so formal, Zizhan?"

Su Shi smiled wryly: "I'm ashamed."

Su Shi hasn't written any famous lines in recent years, especially this year, when he's only written third-rate poems of complaint, not even as good as Xu Lai's third-rate frontier poems.

While venting his frustrations in his poems, he also satirized the court's improper personnel appointments. These complaints and satires later became one of the pieces of evidence in the Wutai Poetry Case.

After thinking for a moment, Su Shi whispered a reminder: "Be careful of Xie Jingwen when you do this."

Xu Lai asked, "Isn't Xie Jingwen one of Wang Anshi's men? How come among all the reformist officials, he's the only one who impeached me recently? And he's also impeached other reformist officials recently."

"This man has gone mad—" Su Shi began to explain simply.

Meanwhile, Wang Anshi promoted Xie Jingwen to be a censor and to suppress those who opposed the reforms. Xie Jingwen was impatient and impeached people indiscriminately, even going so far as to impeach Zeng Gongliang.

Zeng Gongliang is now the prime minister. Although he opposes the Green Sprouts Act, he occasionally supports other reform measures. Wang Anshi does not want to completely break with Zeng Gongliang.

Xie Jingwen's impeachment strained the relationship between Wang Anshi and Zeng Gongliang.

Furthermore, his impeachment of Su Shi was ultimately found to be a fabrication and frame-up, which even displeased the emperor. This made Wang Anshi increasingly dislike Xie Jingwen, and he privately reprimanded him several times.

Xie Jingwen, believing he had been abandoned by Wang Anshi, decided to completely let loose and even impeached Xue Xiang. Xue Xiang was Wang Anshi's most trusted local power holder and one of the core figures of the reform faction.

Xie Jingwen has now become a mad dog, attacking and tearing at officials from all factions indiscriminately. Reformists, centrists, and conservatives are all targets of Xie Jingwen's impeachment.

Wang Anshi was driven to the brink of despair by him and regretted promoting such a person in the first place.

Xu Lai speculated, "Xie Jingwen was despised by scholars, even the reformists, for framing you. Feeling he could no longer stand, he simply impeached people indiscriminately, including the reformists. This was to prove that he was an upright and loyal minister, an incorruptible and outspoken person."

Su Shi nodded and said, "That should be the case, which is why I reminded Xingzhi to be careful. Whoever is in the limelight the most, Xie Jingwen will impeach them."

"A clown jumping around like a tree trunk," Xu Lai said disdainfully.

Su Shi lamented, "It's hard to guard against petty people."

The grand court assembly on the winter solstice was very solemn, and even foreign envoys attended. Envoys from the Liao and Western Xia dynasties were present, but the emperor did not receive them, and officials did not discuss peace negotiations with the Western Xia envoys.

As for the Liao Kingdom's mediator, they are still en route and are expected to arrive close to the New Year.

After going through the complicated ceremony, it was already past noon.

Officials from the Secretariat and Chancellery reported in turn the congratulatory messages from the court officials and the auspicious omens from the local areas. Following this, the emperor hosted a banquet to reward the officials, who in turn toasted the emperor.

Today, even the officials in charge of selecting officials are present, and there are so many officials that it's impossible for them to eat in the palace. The so-called banquet is actually a food distribution; the officials are given some wontons to take home and cook for themselves.

Even the food containers for the wontons had to be brought by the officials themselves.

After receiving the wontons, Wang Anshi did not leave immediately, but was kept behind by the emperor for a private talk.

Wang Gui, carrying the report from Jiaozhi, also ran to the side hall next to the main hall. He couldn't even wait until after the winter solstice; he wanted to show his face to the emperor now.

Xu Lai didn't care about any of that. He carried the wontons home and chatted and laughed with the officials he knew along the way.

"Your Majesty, Wang Gui, the Vice Chancellor, requests an audience."

"What's he doing here? Let him in."

When Wang Gui arrived at the side hall, besides the emperor, there were Wang Anshi, a eunuch, and a historian who wrote the daily records of the emperor's activities.

Wang Gui stepped forward to pay his respects and said in front of Wang Anshi, "Your Majesty, I have received a memorial from Du Qi, the former Transport Commissioner of Guangxi, concerning Jiaozhi. This memorial details the lineage of the bandits who have seized Jiaozhi since the late Tang and Five Dynasties period, as well as their geography, roads, passes, military affairs, and customs."

"Oh?" Zhao Xu was indeed very interested.

Wang Gui continued, "I have heard that much of the Privy Council's writings concerning Jiaozhi have been lost. Therefore, I have copied them down for Your Majesty's perusal."

Emperor Zhao Xu had a eunuch bring the document, and after reading it carefully, he said to Wang Gui, "You have put your heart into this; I am truly pleased."

Wang Gui was overjoyed and quickly said that it was his duty to share the emperor's burdens.

Then the emperor sent him away.

After Wang Gui left, Zhao Xu handed the document to Wang Anshi.

Wang Anshi discovered that Wang Gui had not only copied the report of the Guangxi transport commissioner, but had also offered his own advice on dealing with Jiaozhi. He immediately said to the emperor, "Jiaozhi is indeed ambitious and should be guarded against. However, Wang Gui's plan is extremely unwise."

Zhao Xu asked, "Why?"

Wang Anshi said, "Wang Gui's plan is nothing more than to have Guangxi secretly strengthen its military and prepare for war, while sending envoys to appease the false ruler of Jiaozhi. However, the Great Song has never taken the initiative to show goodwill. Now, suddenly sending envoys to appease them in a grand manner will not only make our Great Song appear weak and damage the prestige of the Celestial Empire, but it will also arouse suspicion in the false Jiaozhi dynasty, making them think that we are going to launch a surprise attack. They will definitely prepare for war in advance. Once they prepare for war, even if we do not attack Jiaozhi, Jiaozhi may take the initiative to attack Guangxi."

"Indeed," Zhao Xu asked again, "but there are indeed reports from Guangxi that Jiaozhi (Vietnam) is secretly colluding with the Guangxi tribes and has been frequently making unusual moves on the Guangxi border for many years. How should we deal with this?"

Wang Anshi said, "Replace the incompetent officials in Guangxi and appoint capable officials who are familiar with the border affairs of Guangxi. Reorganize the army to prepare for unforeseen circumstances, but we must not provoke border conflicts. The war in the Northwest has cost countless amounts of money and grain, and we still need to manage the newly recovered lands. The court no longer has the financial resources to wage a war in the Southwest."

Zhao Xu asked, "Should we allocate firearms to the Guangxi army?"

Wang Anshi thought carefully and said, "Important cities such as Guizhou and Yongzhou can be equipped with some firearms."

Xu Lai carried the wontons home and saw that all the shops along the way were closed for the holiday.

Even the shop's employees wanted to go home to celebrate.

The whole country will have a three-day holiday, and gambling will be allowed for three days.

Yes, gambling has always been prohibited in the Song Dynasty, at least legally. Gambling is only permitted during major holidays.

Walking south for several dozen steps, Xu Lai heard a lot of noise coming from the direction of Xuande Gate and couldn't help but ask, "What's going on over there?"

Chen Xiaoyi replied, "If the Golden Rooster is seized, there will be a general amnesty this winter solstice."

The "Golden Rooster Snatching" event was only held during major holidays when prisoners were granted amnesty. After the event, there were also performances of acrobatics, magic, and other arts.

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A chicken pole, thirty or forty meters high, is tied to the top, with a golden rooster holding a red banner in its beak, on which are written the words "Long Live the Emperor".

The prisoners, released on amnesty, climb up a rope, and whoever grabs the golden rooster first wins. At a height of thirty or forty meters, a fall is certain death, making it extremely dangerous and thrilling.

Many people will come to watch the spectacle.

Xu Lai chuckled and continued on his way. When he got home, he found it both lively and deserted.

The place was deserted because all the newly hired servants had been given leave to go home for the festival, and they had even been given new clothes and shoes as a reward.

It's lively, isn't it?

Xu Lai's house was surrounded by people delivering holiday gifts!

Wang Anshi's house was certainly more lively.

However, neither Xu Lai nor Wang Anshi proactively invited anyone, nor did they accept any gifts from anyone.

The servants who came to deliver gifts, unable to complete their tasks, were all now stuck at the side gate of Xu Lai's house, blocking the alley.

Xu Lai saw this from afar, immediately turned around and left, returning home through another door.

There's not much else in the house, but there are a lot of doors.

The house is very big.

"My lord," Pianpian said, both amused and exasperated, "some of those who brought gifts arrived before dawn. We couldn't get rid of them no matter what we did, and they've been standing there ever since."

Xu Lai said, "Ignore them."

Pianpian said, "Lord Cai and Lord Gong have also sent people to deliver gifts. It is inconvenient for me to invite their servants in alone, so I can only ask Wang Hou to secretly invite them back."

"Well done," Xu Lai praised.

The damselfly ran over excitedly: "Third Uncle, these are the shoes and socks I brought you for the Winter Solstice!"

Xu Lai said happily, "Haha, bring it here and I'll change into it."

It is a custom for younger generations to give new shoes and socks to their elders on the Winter Solstice. Ideally, these should be handmade.

(Please forgive me if any chapter has missing punctuation marks; it's a bug in Qidian's anti-piracy system.)

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