Prime Minister

Chapter 186
Afterwards, Mrs. Yang called Zhang Yue to the door again, and roughly talked about the marriage contract.

Yang also revealed the inside story she knew to Zhang Yue.

It turned out that Ouyang Xiu not only acted as a guarantor for the marriage between himself and the Wu family, but also played a role in matching, among them Ouyang Fa and his wife Wu Shi who ran errands for him.

Only then did Zhang Yue understand what happened.

The official politics of the Song Dynasty was somewhat different from that of the Ming Dynasty.

Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang first killed all the meritorious officials, and then executed the empty seal case to kill the civil servants again. Therefore, all officials after the Ming Dynasty were in danger. Official politics were not as complicated as those in the Song Dynasty. Officials did not dare to blatantly engage in politics. marriage.

For example, Shen Shixing, the chief assistant of the Wanli Dynasty, and Xu Xuemo, the minister of the Ministry of Rites, were officials in the same dynasty, and they were relatives of their sons and daughters. This was impeached by the censor, forcing Xu Xuemo to resign.

The marriages between officials in the Ming Dynasty were basically from the same hometown. For example, Shen Shixing and Xu Xuemo were from the same hometown. The two had no intention of forming a party at the beginning. At that time, the official ties were through teachers and students.

But the Song Dynasty was different. The most important official relationship in the Song Dynasty was the in-laws.

For example, the families of the prime ministers Lu, Han, and Wu took the lead in doing so, so that many of the current prime ministers were the sons-in-law of the former prime ministers.On the contrary, in the Ming Dynasty, there were very few father and son prime ministers or Weng son-in-law prime ministers.

Ouyang Xiu himself is a good example. As for Zhang Yue, he regards him as his nephew, so when he met, he expressed the meaning of arranging Zhang Yue's marriage.

At that time Zhang Yue didn't think much about it, he thought it was just a kind kiss. In the past, none of the seven aunts and eight aunts told you about kissing, but Ouyang Xiu's proposal of kissing had a different meaning.

Therefore, the marriage between Zhang Yue and the Wu family is said to be unexpected, but there is a hint of destiny.

If it was delayed earlier, how Zhang Yue knew Ouyang Xiu would all depend on Zhang Wangzhi and Zhang Youzhi's recommendation.Ouyang Xiu had a very close relationship with the Zhang family in Pucheng, and they had been in contact since Zhang Dexiang. In history, Zhang Dun was recommended by Ouyang Xiu for the position of the examination hall.

As for Zhang Wangzhi, why did Zhang Wangzhi recommend Zhang Yue?

Except that Zhang Yue is their student, the most important thing is that Zhang Yue comes from the Zhang family in Pucheng.

Therefore, unless Zhang Yue is dedicated to being a salted fish, as long as he works hard, he will meet Ouyang Xiu sooner or later.

The marriage is doomed, so to speak.

However, what Ouyang Xiu is better than crony officials is that he also values ​​talents, and he has supported such as Sansu, Zeng Gong...

Having said that, the marriage between Wang Anshi and Wu Chong's children was also arranged by Ouyang Xiu.

Wang Anshi was recommended to Ouyang Xiu by Zeng Gong, why did Zeng Gong recommend Wang Anshi to Ouyang Xiu, because Wang Anshi's mother is Zeng Gong's aunt...

Later, Wang Anshi's younger brother, Wang Anguo, also married Zeng Gong's younger sister...

Some people joked that the struggle between old and new parties in the Northern Song Dynasty was one group of relatives beating another group of relatives, which is not unreasonable.

Yang said: "Right now it's a verbal agreement, the two parties haven't exchanged posts, but we still have to walk around, and I'll take care of gifts for you, but you don't need to go these days, Mrs. Wu will go back to her hometown to visit her relatives."

"I want you to visit again when Wu Dacao and his wife return to Beijing."

Zhang Yue said: "Everything is according to the second aunt's order."

After hearing this, Mrs. Yang happily said to Zhang Yue: "Your marriage is thanks to Bachelor Ouyang. You should walk around his house frequently. What kind of person is Bachelor Ouyang? For your marriage, Second Aunt is happy for you from the bottom of my heart."

"Five years is not a long time. Look at those special performances. It took many years to get such a fame from a teenager to a white man. If you don't work hard, I'm afraid not only the marriage will not be successful, but the fame will also be difficult."

Speaking of this, Yang said encouragingly.

Zhang Yue said with a smile: "Even though Second Aunt is reassuring, I will concentrate on studying when I go back to Taixue."

"It's not only important to study, but also to make friends. Don't think that if you have a vague name, fame is the most important thing." Yang said again: "Your second brother also told you..."

Zhang Yue frowned and said, "Second Aunt, don't tell him about this."

Yang paused for a while and said: "Sanlang, it's been so long, there is a bond of flesh and blood between brothers..."

Zhang Yue said: "Second Aunt, I met Brother Dun at Mr. Gu Ling's house that day, and he said that he just looked down on my brother and me, and thought that our family's shallow water place could not raise dragons. That's why he It is said that life should be thrown away, and there is no need to be nostalgic, what he said is reasonable, but I was left behind by him."

"When the abbot brought people to raid my house, my elder brother and I had already died once. I don't have this second elder brother. Now he is living in rich clothes and rich food, so what if he is Jinshi No. 5? He still doesn't feel what he did back then. There's something wrong with that."

After listening to Zhang Yue's words, Mrs. Yang sighed: "Sanlang, I shouldn't mention the matter of the second brother in front of you. I know you are a kind person, as long as the second brother apologizes, but he will never say no to it. out."

Seeing Mrs. Yang, Zhang Yue said: "Second Aunt, I didn't expect him to admit his mistake. Please forgive me for my nephew's nonsensical words, and I will leave first."

Yang stood up and said, "Forget it, Sanlang will make hard work and enterprising for the next five years, so don't ask me anything else."

After Zhang Yue left the Yang Mansion, Zhang Yue's eyes were a little moist, and he would not blush when he quarreled with outsiders on weekdays, even if he was extremely angry, but for some reason he would cry when he quarreled with his family.

The next chapter focused on reading, except for sending the engraved seal to Sojizhai, he was studying hard at Taixue and Chen Xiang on weekdays, in preparation for the Guozijian examination in August next year.

So at the end of the year, Zhang Yue thought that he would not go to Ouyang Xiu's house for some days, so he hired a carriage to go there.

In the snowy weather, the noise and bustling of Bianjing City has not been slightly reduced, and cars are coming and going in the streets and alleys.

Zhang Yue went to the door as soon as he got out of the car.

At this time, several cars and horses were parked outside the door, Zhang Yue knew that there were guests here, and the door was talking to several servants of the visitors.

The servant spoke with some local accents from Sichuan and Shu, and he seemed to have known Ouyang's family for a long time.

There is an endless stream of people visiting Ouyang Xiu's mansion every day, this scene is not unusual for Zhang Yue.

When Zhang Yue arrived here, the servant saw Zhang Yue and said with a smile: "Mr. Zhang's family is here. The master is meeting guests. Mr. Da Lang and Mr. San Lang are in the front hall. The villain will guide you."

"Don't dare to do anything." Zhang Yue waved his hand and walked closer.

The servant on the side asked: "Who is this scholar?"

The servant smiled and said, "You just came to Beijing from Sichuan and don't know anything, let me tell you slowly..."

Ouyang Xiu's mansion in Tianshui Lane is the courtyard of Sanjin.Zhang Yue can be regarded as familiar with the road.

Zhang Yue walked to the front hall, but saw Ouyang Fa Ouyang Fen chatting with a young man.

Ouyang Fa saw Zhang Yue and said to the young scholar with a smile, "Zi You, let me introduce you to a good friend."

Zhang Yue thought, Ziyou is from Sichuan again, could it be...

Zhang Yue looked at the young man, who was dressed in a blue robe, and at first glance he felt very dignified and dignified.

Zhang Yue saluted and said: "In Zhang Yue of Xiapu City, I met Brother Ziyou."

The other party also returned the courtesy and said: "So it's Mr. Zhang Sanlang. I just heard my brother talk about the big name. I'm Xia Meishan Su Zhe, and Ziyou is my cursive script."

Zhang Yue lost his voice: "It turns out that Xiao Su..."

Zhang Yue hurriedly said: "I'm rude, I'm rude. I have admired your name for a long time."

Su Zhe smiled gently and said, "I've heard of Sanlang's three-character poems. The words are simple and easy to read, and I try to teach my children to recite them, but there is one thing I don't know. I don't know how Sanlang knows my father's nickname is Laoquan." ?”

Zhang Yue felt ashamed when he heard the words.

Su Zhe said: "This time I am attending my mother's funeral, and I went back to my hometown with my father and elder brother to finish the funeral. I chose a place called Laoquanweng on the side of the village as my Su family's treasure. The reason why this place is called Laowengquan is because Because someone said that on a moonlit night, a handsome old man with white hair would often sit here, but he would disappear when he walked in. That’s why my father named it Laoquan, and at this time Sanlang’s three-character poems had not yet been introduced to Sichuan.”

It turns out that Su Laoquan's name came from this way. In the second year of Jiayou, Su Xun's wife Cheng died of illness. After the father and son returned to their hometown, Su Xun chose the land of Laowenquan to build a house, so he called himself Su Laoquan.

Zhang Yue thought to himself, is it so difficult for me to just copy a poem?

So he said with a cheeky smile: "There must be God's will in the dark!"

Su Zhe was taken aback when he heard the words, but said nothing.

The Ouyangfa brothers all laughed, they didn't know that when Su Zhe and his family came to Beijing from Meizhou, they met a monk on the way.

At that time, one of their servants was struck by an evil spirit, and it was the monk who came forward to rescue him.At the time of parting, the monk and the father and son said, "This time I go to the capital, and if I meet you early, it will be auspicious. This is a noble person."

Everyone didn't understand what it meant at the time, the Su family father and son even chose to enter the city from the west of Beijing early in the morning on the third day, but they didn't see any noble people.

Now Zhang Yue blindly guessed Su Xun's name, Su Zhe thought to himself, this Zhang Sanlangjun, Xing San, and Zhang Zi also has a word Zao, could it be the nobleman that the monk said?
Both Su Zhe and his elder brother believed in the sayings of Buddha, old ghosts and gods.But he didn't reveal it, but observed Zhang Yue silently.

At this time, there were slightly hurried footsteps in the courtyard.

Zhang Yue looked out the door, but saw a man in a light blue shirt approaching.

Zhang Yue looked at him carefully and saw that his cheekbones were quite high, and his cheeks were thin and long. Su Xiaomei once made fun of his appearance, saying that it would take a year for a tear to flow to the corner of his mouth.

Recently, Zhang Yue has also learned how to look at people. According to the photo book, a man with high cheekbones is very ambitious, assertive, and has political ambitions.

"Brother Zizhan (brother)!"

Su Zhe, Ouyang Fa's brother, stood up to salute.

Zhang Yue also got up to salute, Su Shi greeted with a smile, then stroked his short beard with few stems and looked at Zhang Yue and said, "Who is this young gentleman?"

Su Zhe stepped forward to introduce, and Su Shi also greeted Zhang Yue.

Ouyang Fa pulled Su Shi to sit down and said: "Just now I heard Ziyou mentioned that he passed the Three Gorges to see the magnificent scenery, and now I have heard half of it. Brother Zizhan, how is the scenery of the Three Gorges?"

Su Shi sat down and talked eloquently.

The father and son went out to Shu this time, and they traveled on land for nearly a month, and then boarded a boat from Shifo in Jiazhou to see the victories of the Three Gorges all the way.

Although the scenery of the Three Gorges is beautiful, the waterway is very dangerous, with both turbulence and dark rocks.

Ouyang Fa and Zhang Yue couldn't help but feel a surge of emotion when they heard Su Shi's story about a group of people riding a boat on a boat like a galloping horse in the wild waves.

As Su Shi talked along the way, the three of them were unconsciously fascinated. Sometimes they saw rough waves here, and occasionally looked up to see a hut isolated on the cliff, a woodcutter carrying the blue sky on his back to cut firewood up the mountain, and goshawks soaring among the mountain peaks.

Afterwards, Su Shi told some fairy legends about Goddess Peak, and the three of them were fascinated by it.

In the end, Su Shi said that during this trip, the two of them have joined together more than a hundred poems, which are called "Southern Journey Collection" and have been entrusted to be published. At that time, each of them will give a copy.

All three are happy.

Zhang Yue said with a smile: "I am ashamed to accept it."

Ouyang Fa said: "Brother Zizhan always likes gold and stones, so you can carve a chapter and give them as a gift, isn't it good?"

Su Shi asked in surprise: "Is Du Zhishan engraved?"

Zhang Yue said with a smile, "I know a thing or two."

After finishing speaking, Zhang Yue handed Su Shi a spare badge that he had with him, but Su Shi couldn't put it down after seeing it, and couldn't help asking: "Sanlang, I have learned the method of the current chapter. I don't know if I can teach Su."

Zhang Yue couldn't help but said: "Okay."

Su Shi laughed loudly when he heard the words, while Su Zhe wiped off his brother's sweat. It was like this when they first met. Fortunately, Zhang Duzhi didn't refuse.

Not long after, a servant came here and said to Ouyang: "The master hosted a banquet in the mansion for the guests of the Su family. The master also heard that Mr. Zhang Sanlang is also here, please come to the banquet together."

Zhang Yue listened and said in his heart, okay, Sansu will see you together.

Zhang Yue followed the crowd to the main hall.

But I saw Ouyang Xiu chatting with an old man who knew the destiny.

There is a high probability that this old man is Su Laoquan.

Su Shi and Su Zhe passed the Jinshi examination in the second year of Jiayou, but they have not yet been awarded an official. As for their father, Su Xun, he has not yet passed the Jinshi examination.

Of course, Su Xun's article is very well written. Zhang Fangping, the number one scholar in the Song Dynasty, read Su Xun's article, and once sighed, "Zuoqiu understands the national language, Sima Qian is good at narrative, and Jia Yizhi understands the kingly way, and the king is both."

After that, Zhang Fangping recommended Sansu to Han Qi and Ouyang Xiu in a letter.

Two sons became Jinshi, and Su Xun wept with joy and wrote a poem, "It's easy for an old man to climb the sky, it's difficult for him to go to the imperial examination, and it's hard for a child to pick up mustard." '

This poem is quite 'Versailles'.

In the third year of Jiayou, Song Renzong felt that such a talented person should not be left behind, so he asked Su Xun to take the exam in the Sherenyuan, but Su Xun refused.

Su Xun explained to his friends in letters that he was very old and had to take the exam, so it was embarrassing for people to weigh the quality of the article.I am a person who writes articles that do not meet the standards of the exam. If the court thinks my articles are good, they will use them, and if they are not good, they will not.

In the fourth year of Jiayou's reign, the imperial court called him to Beijing again for the examination.

It happened that Su Xun's two sons also finished their mother's funeral, and the father and son entered Beijing together from Shuyi.

After Su Xun came to Beijing, he met Han Qi and Ouyang Xiu, father and son, three noblemen in their official careers.

He came to see Ouyang Xiu today not to seek an official for himself, but to hope that Ouyang Xiu can support his two sons.

The two brothers are both young and the first, and the eldest son Su Shi is so talented that even Ouyang Xiu praised others. After 30 years, no one knows the old man's article, only Su Shi's.

Although the second son, Su Zhe, was slightly inferior in talent, he was steady and prudent in his speech.

My two sons are talents that can be cultivated, and my father is nearly fifty years old, bumping into walls everywhere and achieving nothing.If they follow their own footsteps, they are afraid that their achievements in the officialdom will be limited in the future.

So Su Xun found Ouyang Xiu and wanted him to take care of his two sons, it didn't matter whether he was an official or not.

However, Su Xun didn't expect that at this time Ouyang Xiu and Han Qi had some differences of opinion in the court over the matter of discussing tea.

Sansu and his sons are well-known sages all over the world, Han Qi and Ouyang Xiu all want to take advantage of their fame.Su Xun was exhausted talking about his two sons, and Ouyang Xiu didn't make a promise, so he couldn't help but feel anxious.

Seeing Zhang Yue and others coming, Ouyang Xiu smiled and said, "Ming Yun, the children are here, let's sit first!"

At the moment Ouyang Fa quoted Zhang Yue to meet Su Xun.

Su Xun was worried. Although he didn't expect why Zhang Yue could be seated, he didn't think about it carefully.

As for Zhang Yue, he breathed a sigh of relief. In case someone asks, how do you know that the old man calls himself Laoquan?How about that?
Everyone went to the back hall to sit, and Ouyang Xiu had a wedding banquet for the guests, so the cook in the house was always preparing dishes.

This meal is very rich.

Even with the younger generation around, Su Xun still said: "Scholar, when I took the name of the second son, I saw that the wheels, spokes, and hood were all responsible for the car, but Shi (handrail) was the only one who didn't do anything. No Shi is not a car. I named the dog Shi because I was afraid that he would not be a decoration."

"As for the ruts, all the carts in the world are driven by the ruts, but when it comes to the merits of the carts, the ruts are never in it. In the future, even if the car is destroyed and the horse dies, it will not be blamed on the ruts. Such a rut is between misfortune and good fortune. It’s useless, but it’s not an exaggeration.”

Zhang Yue also sighed in his heart after hearing Su Xun's remarks.

The so-called father's beloved son has far-reaching plans for it.Shi is good for the exterior decoration of the car (country), but he does not have to bear its responsibility.

Zhe is the wheel mark of the car, and he participated in the work but if things don't work out in the future, he can't blame himself.

Zhang Yue suddenly thought of Su Shi's poem, Everyone adopts a son to hope to be smart, but I have been fooled by smartness all my life.But the boy is stupid and rude, and he will come to Gongqing without disaster or difficulty.

I have to say that the three father and son...

At this moment, Ouyang Xiu said: "A few months ago, the imperial court issued an order to open the examination department, and Chen and Qian were admitted to the fourth class of the examination department. The emperor said that the admission to the fourth class of the examination department is the same as the second and third Jinshi."

"I think Ming Yun might as well let them have a try?"

Su Xun's eyes fixed when he heard this, he wanted Ouyang Xiu to arrange careers for his two sons this time, but Ouyang Xiu encouraged Su Shi and Su Zhe to take the exam.

He knows how difficult it is to control subjects.Unexpectedly, Ouyang Xiu pointed out such a way for their brothers.

Recommended by two ministers in the first pass of the department.

In the second pass, you have to write [-] articles for the ministers of the two systems to comment on, and then you are qualified for the exam.

As for the most difficult thing is the system exam, the scope of the questions is the Eleven Classics and Commentary, the Seventeen Histories, the Seven Books of the Martial Arts and so on.

The examiner will ask six questions, which are called the Six Theories of the Secret Pavilion.

These six questions, each with more than [-] words, must be written within one day and one night.

That is, at least [-] words, there is no time for you to conceive, just pick up a pen and do it.

In the end, the prime minister and other ministers will personally evaluate the top and bottom, and there will be two assessments, and finally those who enter the fourth class will have to pass the emperor's imperial examination.

Ouyang Xiudao: "The next academic examination should be in August next year. If we start to prepare now, it may be successful by then."

Su Xun said: "The difficulty of the court test..."

Ouyang Xiu smiled and said, "Ming Yun thinks about it more."

Zhang Yue heard the words and also knew the difficulty of the system of examinations. The Su Shi brothers can now directly serve as officials. In fact, there is no need to spend another two years preparing for the system of examinations.

But unless you have great confidence in yourself.

One of the Su Shi brothers ranked fourth in the Jinshi examination in the second year of Jiayou, and the other ranked not high in the fifth. If they get a good result in the examination, it will undoubtedly shorten their official career by a few years.

Ps: This chapter refers to "The Biography of Su Dongpo" by Mr. Lin Yutang.

(End of this chapter)