Meishan Su family, Su Yun is the most virtuous

Chapter 353: Su Shi's Records of Economics

After careful statistics, Su Yun discovered that the Su Society had quietly developed across the territory of the Song Dynasty, with nearly a thousand members from all over the country.

At first glance, this number sounds impressive, but when it is spread out over counties and cities across the country, it is not that impressive.

You should know that the total number of state-level units in the Song Dynasty, including prefectures, military regions, and prisons, exceeded three hundred.

Currently, most of the more than 1,000 members are concentrated in larger state capitals.

Among them, the state capitals with the largest number of personnel only had 20 or 30 people;

The smaller group only had four or five people.

However, it is not easy to develop to this point in just a few months.

What is more worth mentioning is that these thousands of people are not ordinary peripheral members, but the backbone members of the Su Society.

They are the backbone of the normal operation of the SU Society.

If we include the peripheral fans attracted by Su Xue, their number is at least dozens of times that of the core members.

In the Song Dynasty, hundreds of thousands of scholars took part in the imperial examinations every year, and the Su Xuehui had successfully attracted the attention of tens of thousands of young people.

It can be said that among the scholars in the Song Dynasty, there were probably very few who did not know about the Su Society, which is enough to prove that the influence of the Su Society had spread widely.

Next, the task of the Su Society is to work hard and attract more scholars to join.

After all, the greater the influence, the more support you can get when you do something.

However, at the moment, Su Yun only allowed the Su Society to focus on spreading Su learning, and did not dare to mix too many political theories into it, so as not to arouse suspicion from the court.

But he also knew that a big tree attracts the wind. Once the Su Xuehui grew stronger, the imperial court would never sit idly by and would definitely take repressive measures.

Therefore, we must now make every effort to strengthen the Su Society as much as possible, select available talents from it, and work hard to influence them.

Even if these people do not follow Su Xue's teachings to rebel against the Song Dynasty in the future, after replacing the Song Dynasty, young people who have been influenced by Su Xue's teachings will still be an important force in governing the country.

In short, if we can influence one more person, we will have more hope.

Su Yun looked at the statistics in his hand and nodded with satisfaction.

Although only more than a thousand members were recruited in the first seven or eight months, the Su Society will usher in a period of vigorous development in the future.

After all, the previous few months were spent laying the foundation, and now that the foundation is stable, the explosive period is about to come.

As expected, after the Spring Festival of the third year of Yuanyou, news from all over the country flew to Bianliang like snowflakes, which was very exciting.

The number of formal members of the Su Society has surged to five or six thousand!

In addition to the Meilin Academies that had already been established in Luoyang, Bianjing, Zhending and Yingtian, good news came from the Su Studies Associations in nearly ten states, including Hangzhou, Meizhou, Ezhou and Huangzhou - they had raised funds and were preparing to open new Meilin Academies.

According to feedback from Su Xuehui in various places, they warmly invited well-known scholars and wise men in the local area to give lectures at Meilin Academy, and vigorously spread the classic works and ideological concepts of Su Xue.

At the same time, the Su Xue Society further expanded the influence of Su Xue through various forms such as writing books, distributing leaflets, and holding speeches.

Su's school of thought is deeply favored by the general public and scholars because of its focus on people's livelihood and advocacy of fairness and justice.

Its wide range of dissemination and profound influence far exceed other schools such as Wangxue and Chengxue.

In many local towns, Soviet studies societies have gradually become a political force that cannot be ignored, like a surging wave, impacting the traditional political landscape.

……

Han Youan sat at the desk, holding a pen in his hand, but he didn't write for a long time and looked a little distressed.

Han Youan has been in Xuzhou for seven or eight months. He serves as the judge in Xuzhou and is considered the third or fourth most important figure in Xuzhou.

However, although he was highly regarded by the prefect of Xuzhou and was respected by other state officials, and his life was very comfortable, he was still a little anxious.

For no other reason than the Su Society.

To be honest, the Xuzhou Su Xuehui had developed quite rapidly under his promotion, but he had heard about the development of Zhou Xingji and others in various places. In comparison, his achievements in Xuzhou were nothing.

How could Han Youan bear this?

He is one of the Six Sons of the Su School, and is also a young talent known as the Little Su Yun. How could he let others outdo him!
However, Han Youan did make some efforts, but development still needs to follow its basic laws, and it cannot be accelerated just because he wants to.

Suddenly, footsteps were heard from outside. Han Youan looked up and saw that it was the backbone of the Su Society.

The young man smiled and said, "Brother Jingning, a letter from the capital."

Han Youan was immediately cheered up and quickly took it. There were four words written in iron pen and silver hook on it: From Jingning personally.

It's a letter from sir!
Han Youan put the letter into his sleeve and smiled at the young man, "Thank you."

The young man looked at Han Youan's sleeve reluctantly. Han Youan laughed and scolded, "This is a letter my mentor wrote to me. You can't read it."

The young man smiled shyly and said, "No, no, I just wanted to see the handwriting of Master Su. Hey, it's really beautiful."

Han Youan smiled and said, "My master's calligraphy is also outstanding among the officials in the court. Of course it is beautiful, but this is a private letter and I can't show it to you. If you have the opportunity to go to Beijing in the future, you can ask my master for a piece of calligraphy."

The young man then left happily.

Han Youan quickly sat back at the desk and opened Su Yun's letter.

The letter paper has a dark plum pattern as the background, and the master's teachings are faintly visible in the vigorous ink.

[Youan, my disciple, is like meeting you in person.]

When the winter plum blossoms first bloom in Bian Jing, I, your teacher, often recall the time when I discussed philosophy with you in the snow.

Now I heard that you are in charge of association affairs in Xuzhou and are doing things more and more organized, which makes me very happy.

However, there are three winters of thoughts and a hundred years of worries, so I must carefully advise you:
The Meilin Academy should be built for a hundred years. Its construction method can refer to the Meilin Academy in Luoyang, which has a wonderful landscape design based on the mountain terrain, and planted plum trees in the front yard, making the "sparse shadows slanting across" a spiritual totem for scholars.

In terms of fund raising, we can discuss with Cai Fenghui the "co-management of culture and industry" model and allow him to operate shops outside the academy, following the example of the cooperation with Yingjiang Academy.

A copy of "Memorandum on Water Control" is also attached. People like Song Lu, the magistrate of Pei County, can be invited to explain the practical work of "building embankments to ensure the safety of the people" and incorporate the Su school's "people-oriented" concept into river engineering cases.

Studying should be like salt melting into water. Remember your senior brother Ah Hui's method of "fame and fortune drive people". The policy paper on people's livelihood should be coated with sugar:

For example, they used "children's education" as an excuse to discuss household registration reform, and "commercial tax auditing" as an excuse to discuss tax fairness.

I recently heard that you have encountered obstacles in clearing up hidden fields. You can order the staff members in the meeting to submit the annotations of the "Plan for Equalizing Fields". This is called "taking advantage of the situation without showing up."

Scholars from poor families are the foundation, and the society's funding regulations should follow the example of Fan Wenzheng's school Tian, ​​setting up a "Xueyuan Six Sons"-style literary society to enable the recipients to observe each other's character.

Another way is to follow the example of Ganzhou's tax exemption and allow poor scholars to copy books to pay for their capital, which can avoid the suspicion of "favoring" and also help with proofreading. The congregation is divided into three grades, and the core staff must pass the "disaster relief inspection" test before they can be promoted, just like when the teacher tested the ability of the Ahui to drive people.

Formal members are required to submit "Notes on People's Livelihood" regularly, and those with excellent results will be awarded a bronze medal with plum pattern.

The main purpose of the peripheral members is to spread the ideas of Su Shi's philosophy and conduct additional research.

A bag of plum seeds is also included, which are taken from the plums planted by Dongpo in Mingchang Tower. I hope my disciples will remember: the fragrance of plums must be quenched by frost and snow, and the great truth must be conveyed through fireworks.

I may visit Xuzhou after the spring, and hope to see thousands of trees in bud.

The twenty-third night of the twelfth month of the fourth year of Yuanyou

At the end of the letter was stamped with a red seal that read "Meishan Su's". Plum petals were mixed into the seal paste, and there was a faint plum fragrance.

Han Youan read the letter carefully, his eyes welled up and tears flowed down.

His voice choked with sobs, he whispered with emotion: "Teacher is so caring and thoughtful, and I am really grateful to you!"

He wiped away his tears, calmed himself, and then bent over his desk to carefully write down the key points on a piece of paper:

1. Construction of Meilin Academy: vigorously promote the construction of Xuzhou Meilin Academy.

Plant plum trees extensively and create a beautiful plum forest landscape.

Build the academy into a cultural center of Xuzhou, and at the same time learn from the successful business model and experience of Luoyang Meilin to enhance the influence and appeal of the academy.

2. Covert academic layout: In view of the current situation, in order to prevent possible suppression by the court in the future, a covert academic layout is implemented.

Cleverly integrate the political theories of Su Xue into the research on local people's livelihood issues, and closely integrate Su Xue with local governance practices.

Extract universal concepts of state governance from actual governance to ensure that Su studies develops in a relatively safe environment.

3. Funding for poor candidates: Establish a special funding program for poor candidates.

Help students from poor families who are determined to study, provide them with financial support and learning opportunities, cultivate more outstanding talents, and strengthen the power of Su studies.

4. Member hierarchical management: Carry out hierarchical management of members and build a three-level system of "core staff-formal members-peripheral members".

Through a strict assessment mechanism, we screen out politically reliable and capable talents and build a team of high-quality and disciplined members.

After recording all the key points one by one, Han Youan breathed a sigh of relief.

Mr. Su Yun's letter came at the right time and solved all his recent confusions.

With this clear guidance, he already had a clear direction in his mind on how to proceed with the next work.

At the same time, most of the Sumen disciples in various places also received secret letters similar to Han Youan's.

These letters carry the arrangements for the affairs that Su Yun mainly wants to promote in the near future.

These four things are closely linked and carefully planned.

On the one hand, it is to promote the rapid development and growth of the Su Xue Society, absorb more talents, and spread Su Xue thought;

On the other hand, we maintain a cautious attitude to prevent possible suppression in advance. By setting up a three-layer member firewall, we can reduce risks and avoid irreversible situations.

Among them, the construction of Meilin Academy and the funding of poor students can not only promote the rapid development of Su Xuehui, but also play an important role in winning people's hearts and minds, allowing more people to understand and identify with the philosophy of Su Xuehui.

While promoting these four things, Su Yun also began to collect information on the implementation in various places.

Based on this, he plans to compile a guide book as a training manual for members of the Su Society, providing members with systematic learning and practical guidance.

In Su Xuehui and Meilin Academy, Su Yun planned to build a teaching system oriented towards people's livelihood:
Special course settings: Meilin Academy offers special courses such as "Su Xue and River Engineering" and "Research on Land Tax Reform".

Combining the classic texts of Su Shi with actual cases of local governance, just like referring to the annotation model of "The Policy of Equalizing Field Sector", the successful experience of "work-in-lieu-of-relief" in the construction of the Huangzhou dam is analyzed in detail.

It enables Su Xue theory to be transformed into practical and operational governance solutions so that students can put their knowledge into practice.

Minsheng Hall Meetings were held regularly, modeled after the imperial lecture system of the Song Dynasty, with scholars and local officials participating.

Debates were held around important topics such as household registration reform and commercial tax auditing, incorporating the concept of "fairness and justice" in Suzhou philosophy into policy discussions to promote the application and development of Suzhou philosophy in actual government affairs.

Construction of a three-level people’s livelihood service network.

Selection of backbone personnel: Led by the core staff, a group of backbone personnel proficient in agricultural policy, water conservancy and other fields are selected to form a team of "people's livelihood inspectors". These backbone personnel regularly go deep into prefectures and counties to conduct field research and understand the actual situation at the grassroots level.

Grassroots information collection: The "one member manages ten households" system is implemented at the member level.

Formal members are required to submit "Notes on People's Livelihood" on a regular basis, recording in detail grassroots data such as tenant taxes and grain price fluctuations.

Build a grassroots information network to provide rich first-hand information for Suxue research and decision-making.

Concept dissemination: At the dissemination level, popular picture books such as "Dongpo Asking about Farming" were created, and with the help of storytellers in the market, Su's philosophy of people's livelihood was widely disseminated among the people.

At the same time, we will refer to the successful experience of building the Luoyang Meilin cultural landmark to enhance the penetration and influence of Suxue concepts.

Establishment of risk buffer system: Establish an "academic-practice" dual-track archive to manage knowledge in a secure and hierarchical manner.

The core theories of Su Shi's philosophy were stored in a secret room in the academy for safekeeping, and only relatively neutral content such as water conservancy and agricultural technology was retained in public documents.

Learn from advanced archive management experience to ensure the safety of Suxue knowledge and reduce risks caused by external factors.

The fundamental reason why Su Yun carefully planned these measures was to enable the students of Su Society to truly have the ability to govern the country.

He knew very well that only by cultivating a group of knowledgeable and capable students could he make a difference in governing the country in the future.

Otherwise, even if the rebellion is successful in the future, if the country still relies on those old-school officials to govern, it will be difficult for the country to achieve good development and prosperity.

In the following months, Su Yun received feedback from Su Societies in various places and learned about the achievements they made in the implementation process, as well as many of their experiences of setbacks.

Gradually, this book named "Records of Su's Learning and Applied to the World" was finally compiled into a book.

Looking at the revised volume of "Su Xue Ji Shi Lu", Su Yun nodded with great satisfaction.

With this book, the dissemination of knowledge is no longer word of mouth, but has taken the form of books.

Through this book, students of Su Society can truly learn how to practice in government affairs.

They are not just learning a lot of sage words, but when they are actually asked to deal with practical matters, they are dumbfounded and confused.

In the end, he could only leave the work to the clerks, while he traveled around, built pavilions, and wrote poetry.

In the end, if the clerks did not do their job to their satisfaction, they would scold them for being slippery and so on. If they even caused public resentment, they would chop off a few clerks' heads. In the end, they would be awarded the reputation of being an honest and upright official.

(End of this chapter)