Chapter 155 The Filature of the Song is Getting Started

After the Mid-Autumn Grand Sacrifice, Lu Haowen, the Duke of Lu, submitted his resignation from the position of Public Counselor and Chief of the Secret Pavilion. The matter was announced smoothly, but it did not cause too much of a stir in the court or among the people.

There were three reasons for this.

First, the court had actually restarted the Green Sprout Law, coupled with the national grand sacrifice, and the grandiose pronouncements of turning defense into offense in the imperial gazettes, which somewhat obscured the matter.

Second, the position of Public Counselor, also known as Pingzhang Military and National Affairs, was originally detached from the Department of State Affairs and did not interfere with general affairs. From the beginning, it was an extraordinary position, specifically to accommodate virtuous and senior officials. Whether or not it could be used depended entirely on the Emperor's own intentions. In other words, Lu Haowen's previous tenure in this position was inherently a political gesture of transition and appeasement of veteran officials. Now that he had overseen this transitional position for more than a year, and was about to move forward, continue the past, and turn defense into offense, it was time for him to leave.

Third, Lu Haowen himself was indeed almost seventy years old, and he had never been one to crave power and profit. This move was not unexpected. Moreover, those who really understood the situation of Lu Haowen's family would probably understand even more that, even from the selfish perspective of pursuing political reputation, Lu Haowen should pursue a clean retirement, rather than continuing to seek power.

Why?

The reason is admirable. Since the founding of the Song Dynasty, there have been a total of six Pingzhang Military and National Affairs officials, namely, Lu Yijian, Wen Yanbo, Lu Gongzhu, Cai Jing, Li Gang, and Lu Haowen. Among them, the three named Lu were all from the same family. Lu Gongzhu was Lu Haowen's grandfather, and Lu Yijian was the father of Lu Haowen's grandfather.

Leaving aside Cai Jing's shameful end, and Li Gang's subtle relationship with the current Emperor, the Lu family, starting from Lu Yijian's uncle, Lu Mengzheng, entering the position of chancellor, had lasted for more than a hundred years. By the time of Lu Haowen's generation, it seemed that the saying 'the blessings of a virtuous man will end after five generations' was about to come true. In fact, Lu Haowen was disheartened by the Jingkang Incident and had already asked his son, Lu Benzhong, to buy a house in Guangxi, preparing to refuse all official titles from the court and die there.

But who would have thought that a fall into a well in the Mingdao Palace would force out five generations of three dukes, plus three generations of Public Counselors?

Compared to Han Xiaozhou being scolded relentlessly, Lu Haowen should have withdrawn early, even if only to boost his family's achievements.

However, it must be emphasized here that, from an outsider's perspective, Zhao Jiu may have given Lu Haowen the position of Pingzhang Military and National Affairs precisely because of this Lu family tradition. But in reality, the Zhao Emperor was not that knowledgeable. He gave Li Gang the position of Pingzhang Military and National Affairs because of Cai Jing's Pingzhang Military and National Affairs, and then gave Lu Haowen this Pingzhang Military and National Affairs position because of Li Gang's Pingzhang Military and National Affairs.

Essentially, it was for the sake of a smooth transition in the political situation. How could he have thought that it would involve Lu Haowen's family achievement points?

Of course, after so long, Zhao Jiu could not remain confused. Although he was not clear at the beginning, he should now understand it with a little prompting. After the ceremony, he returned to Tokyo and originally wanted to give this proper Public Counselor a good title, but after checking the records, he realized that Lu Haowen's title and peerage were all prepared and could not be changed at all, because his ancestors had the same titles and peerages.

For example, Zhao Emperor had always wondered why Lu Benzhong, with his dissolute appearance, had the title of Little Master Donglai in academic circles. At this time, looking at the books, he realized that the Lu family was the hereditary Marquis of Donglai!

As long as the head of the Lu family wore a purple robe, he was destined to be the Marquis of Donglai. And once he became a chancellor, he was destined to be the Duke upon retirement, the Duke of Shen, a hereditary Duke of Shen. Even in a semi-retired state, there was a hereditary Pingzhang Military and National Affairs position.

Of course, with Lu Haowen's merits and the current state of this special period, there would definitely be additions.

Therefore, an imperial decree soon came down, stating that Lu Haowen's meritorious service was high, and he was specially granted the title of Prince of Shen, added the title of Grand Tutor, and remained the Chief of the Public Pavilion as before.

This treatment of being granted the title of Prince while alive was clearly a step higher than Xu Jingheng's title of Prince of Danyang. Of course, after all, it was a retirement treatment, and it might not be stronger than Han Shizhong's title of Prince of Yan'an, plus Junior Guardian and the Jiedushi (military commissioner) of three towns.

But in any case, after seeing this result, everyone could only say that the current Emperor was indeed generous in personnel matters, giving power and substance to those in office, and giving titles and positions to those who were leaving office. At least, he would not be ridiculed like Xiang Yu, who held onto the official seal and was reluctant to give it to others.

Back to the present.

It is said that after three consecutive days of ceremonies on August 15th, two days later was the Grand Assembly on August 21st. From the morning of that day, autumn rain began to pour down, and the cold air rose slightly.

On this day, the Zhao Emperor naturally did not go to the martial arts training ground to practice archery. The Grand Assembly was uneventful. With the endorsement of the chancellors and the prior approval of the senior officials of the Secret Pavilion, the package of fiscal measures of national debt - Jiaozi (paper currency) - New Green Sprout Law was formally passed.

However, after the assembly, the Zhao Emperor did not return to the inner palace to hug his little daughter, tease the cat, and walk the dog. Instead, he returned to the nameless stone pavilion to sit for a while and conduct the routine 'mulberry and fish activities'.

This was not because the Emperor was deliberately pretending to be diligent. Rather, the so-called 'mulberry and fish activities' had long evolved into a metaphor for some other affairs after the fish pond and mulberry forest took shape.

For example, Yang Yizhong would conduct his daily intelligence report here; Liu Yan would send the military secret reports that arrived yesterday without urgent markings; and Lan Gui, the Senior Supervisor of the Palace Service, would compile some summaries of the Department of State Affairs and political affairs with the on-duty Jade Hall Scholars. Finally, if the next day was a regular day for the imperial gazettes, the Zhao Emperor would also read the proofs of the next day's gazettes here.

The overall political situation, military and national affairs, the prices of goods in the capital, public opinion at home and abroad, and the personnel and rumors in the army were all listened to, but today's Grand Assembly inevitably delayed it a little, so it was a bit late.

In other words, although Zhao Jiu did not deliberately learn the daily work format of some great American presidents in later generations, he objectively achieved a similar daily work flow to that of later American presidents. This did not matter, after all, there were also people who listened to intelligence briefings in the Oval Office, and there was Roosevelt, right?

However, it is worth mentioning that, perhaps because great people always have something in common, Zhao Jiu, although he could not send tweets, had contracted another problem from that person - he liked to interrupt and ask questions when people were doing intelligence summaries, then make unwarranted complaints, and interfere with the normal work of the staff in extremely low-end ways.

"The Xixia envoy understood it this way?"

Amidst the pattering rain, Zhao Jiu, who had changed into thick clothes, suddenly interrupted Yang Yizhong's report and frowned. "He regarded everything as a precursor to war? Lu Gong's resignation was because I wanted to get rid of the old officials and start a war? Granting the title of Prince was because I wanted to reward them heavily to seal their mouths? Reopening the Green Sprout Loan, issuing Jiaozi, and selling national debt was disregarding the people's livelihood, desperately trying to make money to prepare for a gamble? The Mid-Autumn Grand Sacrifice that just passed and the eulogies and commentaries in the imperial gazettes were also stirring up people's hearts before the war?"

"Yes!" Yang Yizhong answered crisply.

"Then, me not practicing archery today is also to conserve energy, preparing to shoot at Wanyan Wushu across the Yellow River?"

"..."

"How did the Imperial City Division directly obtain this memorial from Gao Shouyi to Li Gan Shun?" Zhao Jiu suppressed the desire to complain and asked about another matter. "So precise?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, this person's memorial was only copied by himself, and he even had a scribe who was specially selected for his literary talent. However, this scribe was a Guanzhong scholar who escaped to Xixia to avoid the chaos of the Jingkang Incident and was easily bought by us." Yang Yizhong answered clearly.

"Why not write this kind of confidential report himself?" Zhao Jiu pressed for an answer.

"To let Your Majesty know, Li Gan Shun likes to be elegant. Except for some military generals, officials' memorials mostly require literary talent. The Gao family, from which Gao Shouyi came, is a famous family of Confucian officials in Xixia. His elder brother, Gao Shouzhong, is a minister who is in charge of the national academy in Xixia and can be called the master of Xixia's sinology. His father-in-law, Xue Yuanli, is even among the chancellors and is the person who promoted sinology as the national learning for Li Gan Shun. Therefore, although Gao Shouyi is from a yamen (government) family and is basically incompetent in literature, he does not dare to be without literary talent."

"I understand." Zhao Jiu nodded repeatedly and then sighed. "In this case, it is no wonder that this Gao Shouyi revealed a flaw... Grand Supervisor Lan, transcribe this matter into a note and send a copy to each of the chancellors and the Lu Gong's family, telling them that even the Xixia people are so particular, and the Song Dynasty cannot lag behind. Even if the sons of the chancellors are incompetent, they must not be ignorant of the original learning."

Lan Gui, who was attending to him, was stunned for a long time before he understood and quickly responded. He raised an umbrella and went to the public office on the side to find the on-duty inner official to write the note.

"What else?" After Lan Gui left, Zhao Jiu continued to ask.

"Also, Gao Shouyi repeatedly mentioned in his letter the strength of the Song Dynasty's Imperial Army, the ability of the Prince of Yan'an and Commander Yue and other commanders to fight, and that Your Majesty's will to fight is undiminished. Then, he used the fact that Xixia's 30,000 elite troops were destroyed by Wanyan Lou Shi in Yinshan before, saying that Xixia is now really unable to participate in the affairs of the two great countries, and that the two great countries have irreconcilable hatred. He advised Xia's ruler, Li Gan Shun, to properly handle border affairs and not to attract the prying eyes of the armies of the two countries..."

Zhao Jiu's heart stirred slightly, and then he asked with a serious expression: "Why do I feel that this Gao Shouyi is scaring Li Gan Shun?"

Yang Yizhong was slightly stunned.

Zhao Jiu thought it over and felt more and more right: "Think about it, this Gao Shouyi is also quite old. No matter how yamen-like and from a Confucian family, how could he not have military common sense as a Xixia minister? If I really send troops, the mobilization of troops and supplies must be impossible to hide. How could he not know that I have no intention of starting a war immediately?"

"That's true." Yang Yizhong also nodded slightly in agreement.

"Therefore, if I am not mistaken, this guy is essentially doing the opposite, exaggerating the Song and Jin to a certain extent, not allowing Li Gan Shun to restore the field army." Zhao Jiu sat in the pavilion, holding his hands and sneering. "Didn't it say before that there are two major factions in Xixia, the Han faction values literature, and the Fan faction follows martial arts? Gao Shouyi's identity, no matter how you look at it, is a backbone of the Han faction, right? Crows are generally black all over the world. Since Li Gan Shun has followed the Confucian officials and practiced sinology, he deserves to suffer the backlash from this kind of person..."

Yang Yizhong remained silent.

"The Xixia envoys have come again this time, of course, because Wanyan Han died and they are temporarily worried about the north." Zhao Jiu continued to analyze. "But in essence, it is still because the Battle of Yao Mountain proved that we can match the Jin army... And Xixia cannot really turn against the Jin people because of the internal turmoil in the Jin Dynasty. I am afraid that Li Gan Shun will still deal with the situation in the future as he did with the Khitans and the Song in the past, being duplicitous and hedging his bets."

Yang Yizhong still did not speak... because he knew in his heart that these words were essentially Zhao Emperor talking to himself more often.

"That's good. I'll help this Xixia envoy." Zhao Jiu thought for a while and said seriously. "If we can really scare Li Gan Shun, not to mention anything else, it would be good to reopen the Hengshan Douling and supplement the Fan cavalry."

"May I ask Your Majesty, how do you want to scare him?" Yang Yizhong finally spoke.

"I want to write a note to Li Gan Shun." Zhao Jiu thought for a while, looking at the rain and said seriously. "Go and urge Grand Supervisor Lan to have our Three Illuminations Scholar come here to write."

Yang Yizhong naturally did not dare to neglect and immediately went to the public office to find Lan Gui and the on-duty Hanlin Scholar. After a while, he quickly returned with Lan Gui and Fan Zongyin. The latter officially advanced to the inner office after Lu Haowen officially retired and became a Hanlin Scholar, formally evolving from a Three Illuminations Attendant to a Three Illuminations Scholar. Today was the first day he was on duty as a scholar.

Since it was the first time he was a scholar and it was the first day he was on duty, although the weather was cold and rainy, Fan Zongyin was still proud and determined to write some proper documents. However, he did not expect that the first job would be to write that kind of inexplicable private note for the chancellors, and he was naturally a little discouraged again.

At this time, hearing that the Emperor was going to write a letter to the ruler of Xixia, the newly appointed Jade Hall Scholar was naturally both surprised and happy. He did not even care that his 'jade face' was wet by the rain. He went directly to the pavilion and bowed his hands, sincerely saying: "Does Your Majesty want to use a private letter to boast of military power? I don't know what format to use, how many words, how to address the Xia ruler? I will write it immediately in person."

"No, it's not a letter, just a note. No need for an address. Just write two sentences casually." Zhao Jiu sat upright in the pavilion, holding his hands and said seriously. "There are only two things to say in the note. First, before the Battle of Yao Mountain, Minister Yuwen sent an envoy to see him, but he pretended to be deaf and mute. I am very unhappy..."

Fan Zongyin was speechless and helpless, but he endured it after all and just nodded in agreement.

"Second, I heard that he admires sinology and has also written poems. I went to see his poem 'Ode to the Lingzhi', but it was just a mediocre piece of writing. You must know that I don't even dare to inscribe my 'Green Jade Table' on a stele, but he actually inscribed his 'Ode to the Lingzhi' on a stone, which is simply an insult to civilization... Let him immediately destroy the stone inscription after receiving the note, otherwise I will publicly ridicule his literary level in the imperial gazettes and let the whole world know that he, Li Gan Shun, is a monkey in a hat."

"..."

"Do you understand?" Zhao Jiu, holding his hands, looked up and urged.

"Yes." Fan Zongyin reluctantly nodded again. "I will write it now."

"Just write it like this. After it's written, I can sign it..." Zhao Jiu thought for a while and finally added something. "Send him another copy of the *Records of the Grand Historian*, just say that I am afraid he can't find the source of the 'monkey in a hat'."

Fan Zongyin hesitated but finally bowed and listened to the imperial edict.

ps: Oh my god, Zero Fox Nine appeared, and An Zong was seventh cutest. I'm going to move the train station to be third cutest... I was wondering why there was no update yesterday but it was still second on the historical sales chart.