EBE Chapter 103 Liquidating the Old Party
Chapter 103 Liquidating the Old Party
Northern Song Dynasty, Xining period
In this timeline, Wang Anshi has just been dismissed from his post as prime minister and is preparing to go to Jiangning.
He just didn't expect that Miss Lin, who was acting as a storyteller, would tell this story.
So, it turns out, I can't even protect my own works!
However, I was right about him. Yuan Du (Cai Bian) is indeed a good kid!
I just wonder how he is doing now that he was implicated and demoted because of me!
……
Lin Ke continued, "These three were known as the three giants of the New Party during the Shaosheng era. Shortly afterward, subtle changes occurred in the political landscape, but both the New Party and the Old Party were aware of the situation."
"However, in my view, factional strife seems to be a cycle. Just like when Wang Anshi was determined to reform, with the support of Emperor Shenzong, he sent a group of conservative officials to the provinces. As a result, Empress Dowager Gao began to persecute the new party when she came to power. And now the new party is starting to purge the old party."
"As prime minister, Fan Chunren must have been heartbroken by this situation, but he was powerless to reverse it, just as he was powerless to stop Empress Dowager Gao from persecuting the New Party. So Fan Chunren suggested to Emperor Zhezong that he be transferred to a post outside the capital."
A scion of a prominent family in the Ming Dynasty: Due to differing political views, he resorted to factionalism and suppression!
A Tang Dynasty official: However, the old party still went a bit too far!
……
"After Fan Chunren left, the Avengers Alliance formed by Emperor Zhezong and Zhang Dun and others began to fire on the Yuanyou ministers."
"And this fire also spread to Su Shi, Zhang Dun's former friend. To trace the root of this matter, we have to go back to the first year of the Yuan You era, when the old party began to suppress the new party."
"That year, the first person to be punished by the old party was Lü Huiqing. He was also a good friend of Zhang Dun and had once followed Lao Wang. He carried the expansionist ideology that the old party disliked. At first, his punishment was only a demotion of four ranks to Suzhou."
"But the old party members think this person is so annoying, and the punishment is so lenient. He must be executed!"
"Therefore, Liu Zhi, Wang Yansou, Su Zhe and others submitted a memorial requesting the execution of Lü Huiqing."
"However, Lu Gongzhe at the time felt that executing a minister was too serious, since most of the Song Dynasty officials were exiled."
"In the end, it was Empress Dowager Gao who intervened and demoted him to the position of Deputy Military Governor of Jianning. This man had betrayed Old Wang, so we won't say anything about him. However, this punishment was a bit severe for a high-ranking official. To put it nicely, a military governor is a high-ranking prisoner, a person awaiting punishment."
A scion of a prominent family in the Ming Dynasty: Doesn't that mean I won't be able to become an official?
A skilled farmer in the Tang Dynasty: Could there be a cause and effect?!
A scholar from the Ming Dynasty: Why are they all betraying our old Wang?!
Wang Anshi of the Northern Song Dynasty: ...
"Later, when Lu Gong saw the letter of demotion written by Fan Bailu, he became very annoyed. How come this kid was cursing him the whole time!"
"Don't you know that everything Lü Huiqing did was ordered by Emperor Shenzong of Song? Criticizing him is tantamount to saying that the late emperor was wrong! Do you want to die?!"
"Moreover, most of these appointment letters were written in the tone of Emperor Zhezong. Let me ask you: have you ever seen a son scold his own father?"
"In short, Fan Bailu didn't break down, but Lü Gongzhe did, and he was furious. Actually, Fan Bailu didn't think that if Emperor Zhezong ever gained power, he would probably want to kill them long ago if he knew that he had insulted his own father like that!"
Northern Song Dynasty scholar Lü Gongzhu: Speechless... Rewrite it for me!
Fan Bailu of the Northern Song Dynasty: No! I refuse!
"Just as the two were disagreeing with each other, Su Shi, who was serving as a drafter in the Imperial Secretariat, stepped forward and offered to write the document!"
"However, I once heard a story, though I don't know if it's true or not. When Su Zhe came to the capital to take the imperial examination, he heard some gossip about Emperor Renzong. During the examination, he scolded Emperor Renzong, and unexpectedly, he was appreciated by Emperor Renzong for it."
"Just by looking at this, you can tell that Su Zhe has a very sharp tongue. And how much better is his brother, Su Shi!"
The optimist Su Dongpo: ...
Su Zhe, a professional expert in fishing: ...
"So in this article, he vehemently criticized Lü Huiqing, and even included Emperor Shenzong of Song and Wang Anshi. Just imagine how Lü Gongzhuo felt after seeing this!"
"And this 'Edict of Demotion for Lü Huiqing' also had an important influence among the old party."
A top student from the Ming Dynasty: That was a really harsh rebuke! As expected of you, Su Shi, the great literary master!
A young general from the Han Dynasty: Haha, Lord Lü must be even more tired now!
Lü Gong of the Northern Song Dynasty wrote: ...
"However, Zhang Miao was powerless to help at this point. He had already been transferred to a post outside the capital, and the one who impeached him was his former friend's younger brother, Su Zhe."
"So how did these two end up like this?"
"In Su Shi's hometown of Sichuan, Emperor Shenzong once waged a series of wars with great force. In order to raise funds, he sharpened his knives and began to exploit the people of Sichuan by imposing a tea monopoly system, which caused widespread resentment among the people."
Knowing this situation, how could Su Shi possibly support the expansion of the border? This went against Zhang Dun's ideas, and he later even criticized Shen Qi, Zhang Dun, and other representatives of the expansion of the border.
"The friendship between these two, which lasted for more than 20 years, has been broken just like that. You should know that when Su Shi was caught up in the Wutai Poetry Case, he wrote a letter saying that only Zhang Dun and Zi You sent him letters and medicine. But now they have parted ways. It is really a pity."
A young man from a prominent family in the Ming Dynasty: Alas, my good friend has drifted away like this!
A Tang Dynasty official: Once you enter the court as an official, you have absolutely no say in anything!
A wealthy second-generation playboy from the Song Dynasty: Different stances…
"In fact, it was not a problem for Emperor Shenzong of Song to want to reform and change. It was just that the Yuan You reform of the old party in the court seemed to be targeting people rather than the issues. At this time, there was still infighting and factionalism."
"They would never have known that the Northern Song Dynasty would fall 27 years after the death of Emperor Zhezong in 1100."
Emperor Zhao Kuangyin of the Song Dynasty (spitting blood in anger): !!! Damn it...?
The optimist Su Dongpo: How is this possible!?
Sima Guang of the Northern Song Dynasty: ...
Wang Anshi of the Northern Song Dynasty: How could the Song Dynasty have come to this?!
……
Lin Ke sighed and slowly said, "Otherwise, how could there be the terms Northern Song and Southern Song? This is also related to the national policies of the Song Dynasty."
"As we all know, the national policy of the Song Dynasty was to emphasize civil affairs and suppress military affairs. This policy created a prosperous culture and a wealth of talented people in the Song Dynasty. However, it also led to a weak military, a problem of redundant officials causing financial waste, and so on."
"However, this is not the main topic today, so I'll just mention it briefly."
Emperor Zhao Kuangyin of the Song Dynasty: No!
Sima Guang of the Northern Song Dynasty: Tell me more!
"On the other hand, Su Shi's article in which he vehemently criticized Lü Huiqing finally brought him trouble, since it also criticized Emperor Shenzong and Wang Anshi. So it's hard to imagine how his father, Emperor Zhezong, and Cai Bian, who greatly admired him, would treat Su Shi!"
"That's right, Su Shi went to Lingnan to eat lychees! Actually, if you take Su Shi as an example, he was just sharp-tongued and unforgiving, but he never persecuted other members of the New Party, unlike Liu Zhi, who wouldn't stop until he got you exiled!"
"This is all thanks to Su Shi. The two brothers, Su Shi and Su Zhe, were blessed with strong luck. They survived in Lingnan and Hainan. Who would have thought that it would be the people who took care of them who would fail first?"
"On another note, after getting rid of the brothers Su Shi and Su Zhe, Zhang Dun and others also gained control of the Censorate."
"So in April of the first year of Shaosheng, Cai Bian began to avenge his father-in-law Wang Anshi, and he started attacking the old party on the issue of compiling the Veritable Records of Emperor Shenzong!"
"He wants to overturn the verdict on the new policies by revising the Veritable Records of Emperor Shenzong, and also get back at those who spoke ill of Emperor Shenzong back then!"
"To put it simply, this time he was targeting the old party for Wang Anshi's sake. They were the ones who led the smear campaign against Wang Anshi in order to negate the new laws. Zeng Bu also submitted a memorial agreeing to this: requesting the court to use Wang Anshi's 'Daily Records' as a reference for compiling the new version of 'Veritable Records of Emperor Shenzong'."
"Since this involves King Cheoljong's father, King Cheoljong has no choice but to agree immediately!"
The father of a rebellious son in the Ming Dynasty: How a good eldest son should be filial to his father!
A certain treacherous son of the Ming Dynasty:...
Emperor Shenzong of Northern Song Dynasty, Zhao Xu: Moved
……