Meishan Su family, Su Yun is the most virtuous

Chapter 355 Decision!

"Sir, it's time to make a decision."

Ruan Chuanqiao pushed the secret report across the table, and the copper bells on the eaves were jingling in the sudden night wind.

As the candlelight flickered, Su Yun's eyes were always fixed on the three names annotated with cinnabar: "Dou Nian'an".

Su Yun picked up the cold teacup and said, "Zhen Zhonggui has been in charge of the Imperial Household Department for many years, but he can't suppress Dou Diaoyan?"

His fingers unconsciously stroked the paperweight - it was a gift made by students of Meilin Academy using pebbles from the Yellow River beach.

"That old eunuch is relying on the power of the Ci Sheng Temple!"

Ruan Chuanqiao punched the nanmu armrest and said, "The document that sealed Zhixing Hall yesterday was stamped with the seal of the Northern Pacification Division of the Imperial City Division!"

Su Yun pushed open the carved wooden window, and the lights of Luoyang City turned into spots of light in the rain.

When he resigned and returned to the south, Dou Nian'an was able to chase him to the Huaihe River crossing. Now he dares to attack Meilin Academy.
"Three secret orders: The core members will go underground tonight and immediately go through Tongguan in batches disguised as salt merchants;
Official members are guided to Mizhi Market;

Peripheral members stand by in silence. "

"It should have been done long ago!" Ruan Chuanqiao grabbed the bamboo hat and was about to rush out, but suddenly turned around and asked, "Sir, are you really not going to Mizhi?"

Su Yun looked at the palace lanterns swaying in the rain: "Someone has to guard the flames in the open."

Ruan Chuanqiao nodded and said, "Then I will go and make the arrangements."

Su Yun waved his hand and said, "Go ahead, be careful."

Ruan Chuanqiao smiled and said, "Sir, don't worry about me."

Ruan Chuanqiao didn't even feel disappointed. He went there with full of fighting spirit, as if he had been looking forward to this day for a long time.

Su Yun shook his head. In fact, the best outcome would be to continue to infiltrate the imperial court and the literati community.

If it can continue to develop for a few more years, the foundation of the Su Society will be more solid, more people will be influenced, and there will be more core personnel, which will naturally be more helpful for future matters.

Rebellion, after all, requires the support of a large number of talents.

No matter which era, scholars are the backbone elite. Being able to get enough scholars to work for you is of great significance to your ultimate success.

Historically, the descriptions of the rise of various rebellious forces are mostly as follows: a certain scholar took the initiative to visit, and talented people from all sides came to surrender...

The Su Society has only been in existence for a little over a year, and is actually still on the rise. It is a pity that it is now forced to go underground.

However, Su Yun quickly changed his mindset. Whether an organization can succeed depends on whether it can withstand the wind and rain. The court's real suppression this time may not be a bad thing. It will be a profound tempering for Su Xuehui!

During this process, some people will fall behind, some will betray, and some will even turn their guns against their former comrades, but it doesn’t matter. Only by experiencing this kind of blow can we forge a team that can win the battle!
……

Lu Gongzhu hurried to Chongzheng Hall and found that the emperor was not in the hall, only Empress Dowager Gao and Wen Yanbo.

Wen Yanbo sat on the brocade cushion given by Empress Dowager Gao, with his back hunched, and seemed uncomfortable.

Wen Yanbo snorted coldly when he saw Lu Gongzhu coming.

Lu Gongzhu hurriedly greeted Queen Mother Gao and said, "Greetings to the Queen Mother, and to Duke Wen!"

Wen Yanbo snorted and said, "Mr. Lu, have you taken my words to heart? I braved the wind and rain to come to your house and tell you about the Su Society, but now several days have passed, and you haven't reported this to the Queen Mother yet?"

As Lu Gongzhu listened to Wen Yanbo's rebuke, cold sweat broke out on his back.

He was well aware of the importance of this veteran of four dynasties - Wen Yanbo had made outstanding contributions in suppressing the Beizhou Rebellion during the Renzong Dynasty. Although he has now retreated to the second line, he still has a significant influence in the old party.

"Duke Wen's teaching is correct."

Lu Gongzhu bowed and said, "It's just that the Su Society has always been secretive in its actions. I'm still having people investigate carefully, but I haven't found anything wrong yet.

In fact, when they compiled the Record of Investigating Things and Extending Knowledge last year, I asked the Imperial College to check the contents, but they were all miscellaneous studies such as arithmetic and agriculture.

"Uncle Hui is confused!"

Wen Yanbo slammed his cane on the ground, "If it was just arithmetic and farming, why would Cheng Yichuan knock on the door at night?

Last month, the land registers of the Henan government office were stolen, and the Zhang family, a wealthy family in Luoyang, sent people to my house overnight to complain - they saw with their own eyes the students of Meilin Academy climbing over the wall into the warehouse!

There was a sudden thunder outside the hall, raindrops hit the tiles with crackling sounds, and a strong wind blew into the hall, blowing the account books on the desk with a loud noise.

Only then did Lu Gongzhu notice that the yellowed rice paper was densely packed with records of land changes in certain counties and villages in certain years and months, with annotations on the margins such as "seizing civilian land" and "falsely reporting famine". "This is the land file that the Su Society secretly copied from the county government offices in various states," Wen Yanbo's skinny fingers traced over the ink, "They calculated according to the method of the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art that 70% of the official land in Luoyang is actually controlled by eight aristocratic families.

When the Zhang family's head came to see me the day before yesterday, he changed his carriage to a plain one without the family emblem - this was because he was afraid of being targeted by the mob! "

Lu Gongzhu's heart tightened and he quickly looked at Queen Mother Gao, only to find that she also looked a little nervous, but not angry.

Then I remembered that Empress Dowager Gao probably came from a noble family after all, and she must have done a lot of similar things - we are all family!

He recalled the border report forwarded by the Privy Council a month ago, that refugees in Huanqing Road attacked the county government office and snatched grain books. At that time, he thought it was just an ordinary famine, but now he thought that it was exactly the same method used by the Su Society.

Just as he was about to speak, he saw Wen Yanbo pull out a volume of "On the New People" from his sleeve, the pages of which were full of red ink annotations.

"Look at this sentence, 'The world is not the property of the king, but of all the people', and this sentence, 'The system of officials is like a big tree with insects. You should cut off its branches to save the roots.'"

The old minister's voice trembled, "Back then, Wang Anshi at least talked about 'following the teachings of the ancient kings', but these crazy students want to overturn the teachings of Confucius and Mencius!"

When Lü Gongzhu heard this, his face suddenly changed and he said, "Duke Wen, let me see!"

Lu Gong snatched the New People's Theory from Wen Yanbo's hand, and sure enough, he saw the two sentences "The world is not owned by you, but by all the people", and "The system of official protection is like a big tree with insects. You should cut down its branches to save the roots"!

Lu Gongzhu looked at Queen Mother Gao in shock and said, "You are planning a rebellion, Queen Mother!

I suggest that the Su Xuehui be immediately banned, the core members be put in jail for investigation, the Meilin Academy be abolished, the Su Xue books be banned, the influence of the Su Xue influence be completely eliminated, and the Su Xue disciples be removed from important positions and exiled out of the capital!"

When Wen Yanbo heard what Lu Gongzhu said, a look of joy immediately appeared on his face.

But Queen Mother Gao, who had always been wary of Su Yun, hesitated at this moment and said, "Isn't it a bit of an overreaction? It's just a learning experience. The students are young and energetic, and their passion for the country is understandable."

Wen Yanbo's face turned pale when he heard this: "Your Majesty, are you really going to sit back and watch the country collapse?"

Wen Yanbo's walking stick slammed heavily on the ground. The octogenarian's hair and beard stood on end, and a cold light like a knife flashed in his cloudy eyes.

"When Wang Anshi changed the laws of our ancestors, he still knew to use the "Three Classics New Interpretations" as a cover for Confucianism;
Nowadays, the scoundrels of the Su Society dare to take Mencius's saying "the people are more important than the king" as their guiding principle!

——This is to dig up the foundation of the Zhao Song Dynasty! "

He pointed tremblingly at the "Record of Investigating Things and Extending Knowledge", and the yellowed pages were densely marked with diagrams of field measurement.

"Look at what these lunatics are teaching the people to count. They are calculating the ratio of government farmland to private farmland, and the real and fake granaries in prefectures and counties! How is the theft of government documents from Meilin Academy different from Zhu Wen's sending soldiers to steal the seals of military governors in the late Tang Dynasty?"

Seeing that Empress Dowager Gao's fingertips were unconsciously rubbing the Buddhist beads on her wrist, Wen Yanbo suddenly stood up, took two trembling steps forward, and his old body almost knocked over the incense burner in front of the emperor: "Ren Temple Court, Beizhou Wangze rebelled, and I broke the city in three days;

In the eighth year of the Qingli reign, there was a mutiny in the Forbidden City, and I was stationed at Daqing Palace in the dark of night. Now, the Su Xuehui is a hundred times more cunning than Wang Ze, and a thousand times more vicious than the remnants of Xia Song!
If the Queen still remembers the Jinghu uprising caused by Cheng Lin, the Three Officials' Commissioner, investigating the land tax when Empress Zhangxian Mingsu was in power, she should immediately issue an edict "

The conversation stopped abruptly here, and when Wen Yanbo bowed deeply to the ground, his official hat almost slipped off: "It doesn't matter if my old bones are buried under the prison cart of the Censorate.

But if the nine palaces of the Song Dynasty were to be burned to the ground by the evil fire of "equal distribution of land" and "abolishing shackles", the history books would be written in iron, and future generations would only remember that it was the Empress who indulged these wolves in Confucian robes!"

Empress Dowager Gao was frightened by Wen Yanbo's fierce attitude. Fortunately, the pearl curtain in front of her blocked his expression, allowing her to calm down her panic. She looked at the secret memorial presented by Wen Yanbo and spread out on the desk.

When his eyes passed over the words "Su Xuehui", "Equal Field System", "Night Copy of Land Registers", etc., his brows frowned slightly.

The current undercurrent of the situation is very similar to the unrest caused by Wang Anshi's previous reforms - but this time, radical sparks have emerged from the roots of the old party that she personally supported.

She calmly closed the memorial and said to Lu Gongzhu, who was standing on the stairs, "Since Duke Wenlu has reminded you, Uncle Hui should investigate and handle the case according to the regulations."

Lu Gongzhu frowned slightly: The Queen still trusts Wen Yanbo so much!

During the period when Empress Dowager Gao was in power, she had great trust in Wen Yanbo because of his status as a veteran of four dynasties and his prestige in stabilizing the political situation.

So when Wen Yanbo pointed out that the Su Xuehui threatened the interests of the scholar-official class, Empress Dowager Gao took quick action, sending the eunuch Dou Nian'an to investigate the Meilin Academy and tacitly agreeing to the restrictions she had proposed on the Su Xuehui.

Lu Gongzhu suddenly felt helpless. He had assisted Empress Dowager Gao in ruling the country for three years with all his strength, but he was still no match for the trust that Empress Dowager Gao had in Wen Yanbo.

However, he also knew that Empress Dowager Gao's trust came from Wen Yanbo's experience of assisting in government with Sima Guang, as well as his achievements in suppressing military rebellions and rectifying the administration during the reigns of Emperor Renzong and Emperor Yingzong.

Lu Gongzhu bowed his head and said, "Yes, Madam."

Seeing that Lu Gongzhu had accepted the order, Empress Dowager Gao breathed a sigh of relief, and then said to Wen Yanbo: "Duke Wenlu, the confiscation of the Su Academy may cause riots among the scholars, so you have to take care of it. You are highly respected and you will surely be able to calm these young scholars."

Wen Yanbo nodded and said, "I, this old minister, will go directly to the Imperial College to take charge!"

(End of this chapter)