Meishan Su family, Su Yun is the most virtuous

Chapter 154 Political Farce! (5.1k, good news, the average subscription has exceeded !)
Su Yun also looked at Zhang Xu in surprise.

Zhang Xu's words were no longer just a simple compliment, but a strong endorsement!

If the things he said were all allowed, then he, Su Yun, would be the great contributor who brought Mencius into the Temple of Confucius with the help of a book called "Collected Commentaries on Mencius"!
Such achievements are worthy of being called a great Confucian sage!

Zhao Xu was also a little surprised by Zhang Xu's reaction, but then a smile appeared on his face. It seemed that Zhang Xu understood his intention. Very good, he was a smart man.

But, he is also... a villain.

But Zhao Xu didn't care.

He knew very well what kind of person Zhang Xu was. In order to climb up the ladder, this man even framed Su Shi, his former good friend, and even went so far as to put him to death. He knew exactly what kind of person he was.

Historical books say that emperors should employ virtuous people, but that was just for propaganda purposes.

What kind of people to use depends on the needs of the emperor. If you want to do something, it is most appropriate to use these villains, because they have no bottom line and no persistence, and everything is based on the needs of the emperor.

But when the country is in danger and the old is in transition, we must employ wise and loyal people, because we need our subjects to be devoted to their country and their families.

After being beaten up by himself, Zhang Xu immediately changed his direction and did not hesitate to support the nephew of his enemy. Although his behavior was despicable, it was good enough as long as he could achieve his goal.

However, Zhao Xu still needs more support.

Zhao Xu looked at the others and said, "What do you think of what Mr. Zhang said?"

Everyone looked at their noses and their noses at their hearts, but no one spoke.

It's not that the "Collected Annotations of Mencius" is not good. After they knew about today's small lecture, they all urgently read the "Collected Annotations of Mencius". The book is naturally excellent, and even the most picky people cannot say it is bad. This is also the reason why they were as steady as a rock after listening to Su Yun's explanation today, because they have all read the book.

However, Zhang Xu proposed to carry Mencius into the Confucian Temple to enjoy worship, to promote "Mencius" from the "Zi" section to the "Jing" section, and to include "Mencius Collected Annotations" in the imperial examination question bank. These three things were more important than the last. Although they were prime ministers, if they agreed to these three things, they might face great criticism!

Seeing that no one spoke, Zhao Xu was not surprised, and asked again: "Then, do you think that Su Yun's commentary on the Mencius is inappropriate?"

Everyone was silent again.

Zhao Xu laughed and said, "That's well said, I think so too, well, I have benefited a lot from it.

Let’s put it this way, Ju Zheng. What you have said today is less than one-tenth of the collected notes. From now on, you will come and talk to me every day. If you have time, you can also come and listen.

If there is nothing else, let's just call it a day today."

Just as Zhao Xu was about to stand up, Wang Gui suddenly said, "Your Majesty, I have something to say."

"coming!"

Su Yun and Zhang Dun both raised their eyes, with a wary look in their eyes.

If we could disperse like this today, it would naturally be the best thing. Although the ministers did not agree with the three things raised by Zhang Xu, they did not question the "Collected Commentaries on Mencius", which means that everyone agreed!
From today on, the Collected Annotations of Mencius will be the sage's annotations recognized by the emperor and the ministers. It will not be so easy for others to attack the Collected Annotations of Mencius as heresy.

Zhao Xu frowned slightly, looked at Wang Gui, and said, "Wang Qing, if it is not related, we can talk about it separately later."

There was a hint of warning in his words. He was quite satisfied with the result of today's imperial lecture. The ministers could remain silent, but if they insisted on jumping out to accuse him, that would be a slap in the face.

Wang Gui smiled and said, "Your Majesty, what I want to say is really related to this collection of annotations of Mencius."

Zhao Xu took a deep breath and nodded, "Please go ahead."

Wang Gui glanced at Zhang Xu, and then said loudly: "I think the three things mentioned by Minister Zhang are most appropriate. I agree with them."

When these words were spoken, everyone was even more surprised than when Zhang Xu spoke. Even Zhang Xu looked at Wang Gui in astonishment.

Zhang Xu: Are you playing me?
Wang Gui did not even look at Zhang Xu, and said in a loud voice: "The issue of carrying Mencius into the Confucian Temple was repeatedly mentioned when Lord Jiefu was the prime minister, but the conditions were not ripe at that time, so it was shelved.

But now, our friend Su Juzheng has re-annotated "Mencius", and his annotations are extremely excellent. In fact, it has been proved that both Mencius and the book "Mencius" have been underestimated.

I suggest that Mencius should be worshipped in the Confucian Temple, and the book Mencius should be included in the classics section. As for whether it should be included in the question bank, this can be discussed later."

Su Yun and Zhang Dun exchanged glances in the air, and they both saw each other's confusion: Wang Gui, what are you going to do?
Wang Gui agreed with two things and put one thing aside. The two things he agreed with are actually the most important.

Whether or not Mencius was included in the question bank did not actually have that much impact on Su Yun, but by pushing for Mencius to be included in the Confucian Temple and Mencius to be included in the Classics Department, once these two things were accomplished, Su Yun would become a contemporary Confucian wise man and a master of classics!

After Su Yun dies, he will also be enshrined in the Confucian Temple, and it will not be a problem for him to be worshipped in the east and west wings of the Confucian Temple.

Su Yun's father, Su Lin, was also to be carried into the Chongsheng Hall of the Confucian Temple for worship.

Although he didn't know what Wang Gui meant, Zhang Dun was sharp enough to seize the opportunity and stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I agree with Prime Minister Wang's proposal. Please confer the title of Mencius on the Mencius and include the book Mencius in the Classics!"

After Zhang Dun's statement, three of the ministers agreed with the matter. Now only Cai Que and Sun Gu remained.

The reason why Zhang Dun did not express his opinion before was because he was not sure whether Cai Que and Sun Gu would support it.

In his opinion, Wang Gui would definitely not support it, and it would be difficult to accomplish this with only him and Zhang Xu.

Now that Wang Gui suddenly agreed, there was nothing to say and he could just rush into it. No matter whether Cai Que and Sun Gu would agree or not, with the support of these three people, the emperor could make the decision on his own.

Sun Gu looked at Zhang Dun, then at Su Yun, with a hint of disgust in his eyes, and snorted coldly.

He heard that Su Yun was very close to Zhang Dun and originally thought it was just a rumor, but now Zhang Xu, Wang Gui and Zhang Dun all strongly support Su Yun, and it seems that Su Yun has completely joined the New Party.

But Zhang Xu and Wang Gui were the ones who wanted to put Su Shi to death. You, Su Yun, as a member of the Meishan Su family, betrayed your clan and defected to the enemy. Haha, you are an ungrateful villain!
Cai Que lowered his head slightly, looking a little hesitant.

As the leader of the New Party, Tsai Que naturally knew the inclinations of Wang Gui and Zhang Xu. What Zhang Xu did today was nothing more than making up for offending the government yesterday. As for Wang Gui, haha, he was probably stabbed in the back by Zhang Xu, so he simply did the opposite and offered his loyalty to the government.

But Zhang Dun...

Cai Que had some doubts about Zhang Dun's recent actions. He first opposed the reform, then took advantage of this incident to jump into the Council of State. Recently, he has been very close to Su Yun, the nephew of the old party, and even brought Su Zhe back from the local area. Now he is still supporting Su Yun. This makes him very suspicious of Zhang Dun's position.

Cai Que knew that Zhang Dun and Su Shi were friends, and he also knew that Zhang Dun had once confronted Wang Gui, Zhang Xu and others for Su Shi. But when these things were put together, Zhang Dun's position became somewhat questionable.

Well, of course, the most important thing is that Zhang Dun entered the Council of State.

If Zhang Dun was the magistrate of the East Court at this time, he might not have so many doubts, but now Zhang Dun had entered the Council of State and was facing a critical moment of reform. Apart from Wang Gui, the one who made him feel most threatened was Zhang Dun.

At this time, Zhao Xu looked at Sun Gu and Cai Que.

Sun Gu remained silent. Cai Que coughed lightly and said, "I have no opinion."

Although he had doubts about Zhang Dun, Zhang Dun was already supporting Su Yun at this time, and he didn't want to be the bad guy.

To be honest, even if Su Yun was promoted to a higher position, even if he became a master of classics, he was still a young man. It would take 20 or 30 years for him to grow up, so he did not pose much of a threat to the current situation.

But if he rejected Zhang Dun's proposal in person, Zhang Dun would probably be dissatisfied with him. He still needed Zhang Dun's full support for the current reform. He knew clearly what was more important.

Cai Que's statement won the hearts of the people on the spot. Except for Sun Gu who did not express his opinion, the other four people all supported it, and the matter was passed.

Zhao Xu nodded in appreciation towards Wang Gui and Zhang Xu. These two are pretty good.

Wang Gui responded to Zhao Xu with a smile, and Zhang Xu also had a smile on his face, but he was gritting his teeth in his heart: The Prime Minister of the Third Imperial Decree is worthy of being the Prime Minister of the Third Imperial Decree, he has completely lost his dignity!
Wang Gui also sneered in his heart: Zhang Xu, ah Zhang Xu, no matter how cunning you are, how can I let you be the only one in glory?

Although the current situation was somewhat beyond Zhao Xu's previous expectations, Zhao Xu did not hesitate and said with a smile: "In this case, please ask the Political Affairs Hall to arrange this matter. Invite Mencius to the Confucian Temple. The Hanlin Academy, various cabinets, the Secretariat, etc., should submit the book "Mencius" to the Ministry of Classics and advertise it to the world."

Wang Gui, Cai Que and others all stood up and obeyed the order.

After walking out of Erying Palace, Su Yun felt dizzy.

Is this how it happened?

Originally, he was prepared to fight with others for hundreds of rounds, and the "Collected Annotations of Mencius" would have to go through many tests, but today he just gave a speech, and then watched Zhang Xu, Wang Gui and others put on a big show, and things just happened in a muddle? Mencius entered the Confucian Temple, and the book "Mencius" became a classic, and from today on, his "Collected Annotations of Mencius" was the official annotation of Mencius recognized by the court?

Su Yun found it absurd.

Especially Wang Gui and Zhang Xu, they were supposed to be the iron triangle of one camp, but now they have fallen out with each other and stabbed each other in the back during the imperial lecture. I have witnessed such an absurd situation with my own eyes!
what!
Su Yun was deeply aware of one thing at this time, that is, when the political struggle is extremely intense, even the most absurd things can happen.

And if you weren't in the situation and could see clearly, you would even think that those big shots were fools.

When Su Yun of later generations read history books, watched movies and TV, he always felt that the decisions made by the big figures in them seemed stupid, and then he would have an illusion: I would be much more powerful than them!
But what happened today suddenly made him understand: it’s not that they are stupid, but when they are in the situation, there are countless situations that force them to make immediate decisions.

For example, if Zhang Xu did not submit his loyalty to Zhao Xu today, he would not be able to remain as the Vice Prime Minister for long and would probably be demoted soon.

Party struggles are of course important, but for people like Zhang Xu, what is the purpose of party struggles?
It’s for the purpose of becoming an official!

His surrender today was also to keep his position as Vice-Chancellor and to become an official.

So, although he seemed to have broken with Wang Gui, there was nothing wrong with this decision as far as his own interests were concerned.

There was also nothing wrong with Wang Gui's approach. The basis of his official career was to follow Zhao Xu closely. As he himself said, he was not a member of the New Party, but a member of the Emperor's Party!

Wang Gui was not stupid, on the contrary he was extremely smart. His goal was to be Zhao Xu's Chen Zhizhong.

Chen Zhizhong was the prime minister during the reign of Emperor Renzong. He came from an excellent family, but he was an imperial official. However, because he followed Emperor Renzong closely, Emperor Renzong liked him very much.

Although many court ministers looked down on Chen Zhizhong and thought he had no talent, after his death, Renzong even argued with the ministers for a long time to give him a good posthumous title. Finally, under his insistence, he gave him a good posthumous title.

Therefore, people like Zhang Xu, Li Ding, Shu Dan, and He Zhengchen all got closer in order to better follow Zhao Xu's footsteps. Once these people threatened him, he would abandon them without hesitation.

In today's situation, Zhang Xu is shamelessly fawning on Zhao Xu. How can Wang Gui tolerate this? He would rather let Su Yun gain the advantage and let Zhao Xu know that I, Wang Gui, am the best lackey of the wise and powerful emperor!

Su Yun shook his head and stood at the gate of Erying Palace. It was almost noon. The bright sunlight in midsummer was very dazzling, making Su Yun a little dizzy, but at this moment he felt somewhat clear-headed.

So this is what politics is.

It turns out that the world is really just a huge makeshift team.

The filter has been broken.

Not long after Su Yun returned to the Imperial College, Zhen Shixuan arrived.

"Zhen Zhonggui, you are here again?"

Su Yun was a little surprised.

Zhen Shixuan smiled happily and said, "Congratulations, Master Su. Oh, no, I have to teach you. You are the most powerful master of classics in the world today!"

Su Yun also laughed when he heard this, and then said, "Please wait a moment."

Su Yun took out a handful of red envelopes from the cabinet, stuffed two into each of the imperial guards behind Zhen Shixuan, and stuffed the rest into Zhen Shixuan's hands.

Zhen Shixuan was shocked and said, "No, no!"

Su Yun did not let Zhen Shixuan stuff it back, and said with a smile: "Zhen Zhonggui came to announce the good news, but he refused to accept even a red envelope. Is this true or false happiness?"

Zhen Shixuan felt a little embarrassed and nodded, "Okay, then let's take advantage of the good fortune of the Su family. The Su family, please accept the official's order."

Su Yun bowed quickly.

Zhen Shixuan looked solemn as he read out the oral order on behalf of Zhao Xu.

There are two main things he talked about. One is that Su Yun should prepare a small imperial lecture, but instead of reading the Annotated Mencius, he would talk about the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Of course, the ministers would not go there that day.
Second, after this imperial lecture, you must prepare well for the imperial examination and don’t let me down. I hope to see you in the palace examination.

After listening to this, Su Yun felt speechless.

So, the Three Kingdoms is your true love, right?

Su Yun even thought that Zhao Xu asked him to compile annotations for Mencius just to pave the way for the Romance of the Three Kingdoms?
Also, you want to see me in the palace examination?

Hehe, you may be disappointed. With my current academic ability, it would be a great achievement for me to pass the preliminary examination. As for wanting me to pass all the tests and enter the palace examination... you are thinking too much.

But despite the complaints, Su Yun still quickly agreed.

Zhen Shixuan said with a smile: "Master Su, do well in the exam. I also want to see you in the palace examination."

Su Yun gave a smile that met social expectations.

On the second day, Su Yun went to Chongzheng Hall to talk to Zhao Xu about the Three Kingdoms. Su Yun thought that Zhao Xu was interested in the characters of the Three Kingdoms, but he didn't expect that Zhao Xu was more interested in the economic system, political reforms, talent utilization, and military issues.

This made Su Yun very happy, because this was his most original work. Zhao Xu really knew what was good.

When Su Yun met a book lover who was knowledgeable about books, he naturally did not hide anything. He quoted from classics and talked about various systems, political reforms, talent selection, and military knowledge. He picked out everything he could to talk about, and Zhao Xu was fascinated.

When night fell and the palace gates were about to close, Su Yun was released from the palace only after Sun Sigong reminded him.

Zhao Xu exclaimed, “I originally thought that the Meishan Su family was already amazing for having three Su brothers, but I didn’t expect that Su Yun is even more amazing than his elders.

I thought that Su Yun did his best to write the content of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but now it seems that he only wrote the basics.

Well, probably in order not to disrupt the flow of the story, I only wrote a few words, which is great.

Hey, Meishan Su Clan, it seems that Su Yun is the most virtuous. "

Sun Sigong, who had just returned from seeing Su Yun off, heard this and smacked his lips: "Among the Meishan Su family, Su Yun is the most virtuous. The emperor really has a keen eye for talent."

Zhao Xu laughed and cursed when he heard this, saying, "Flattery!"

Sun Sigong laughed and said, "I don't agree with what you said. I am saying that if you hadn't had the wisdom to identify talented people, how could the Annotated Mencius be what it is today, and how could Su Yun be what he is today?"

Zhao Xu chuckled, but didn't say much. He just smiled and said, "With Su Yun's talent, even without me, he would have shined sooner or later. I don't have the face to take credit for this."

Sun Sigong wanted to say a few more flattering words, but Zhao Xu had already fallen into deep thought and quickly stepped aside.

After a while, Zhao Xu suddenly asked, "Have you arranged everything for the test?"

Sun Sigong said quickly, "Don't worry, sir. I have made my words clear to you. There will be no misunderstanding."

Zhao Xu nodded, looking somewhat worried, and asked, "Did you get back Su Yun's files from the Imperial College?"

Sun Sigong quickly took out the file, which turned out to be the test papers of Su Yun's several monthly and quarterly exams.

Zhao Xu looked at it for a while, then suddenly threw the test paper to the ground and cursed, "What kind of crap is this!"

Sun Sigong quickly packed up his things and said, "Your Majesty, I heard that Su Yun spent a lot of energy writing the Annotations to the Mencius. I don't think he has much time to learn these.

Moreover, he had not attended any formal schooling before entering the Imperial College, so it is quite good that he has reached this level."

Zhao Xu reached out and took the test paper, looked at it for a while, sighed, and said, "It's actually not bad.

Ask the examiner for a reference material and send it to Su Yun so that he can prepare well.

Tell him that after the Autumn Examination, he must focus all his energy on preparing for the Spring Examination. I can help him with the Jie Examination, but I cannot help him with the Rites Examination. Let him take care of himself!"

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(End of this chapter)