The new era of chaos begins in the Song Dynasty

Chapter 322 Thousands of troops pay homage to the capital

The timing of Li Gefei's resignation was too coincidental.

It happened to be around the same time that Su Xianggong capsized his boat and fell into the water.

How did he achieve such precise timing and escape in time?

Did Li Momei know in advance that something was going to happen to Mr. Su?

Otherwise, how could the two of them cooperate so well!

Driven by some thoughtful people, this malicious rumor quickly became the most popular topic in the capital, and its popularity even surpassed the incident of Da Su and Zhang Xianggong falling into the water and missing.

There is no doubt that someone is behind this.

Even Ergou can guess who is behind the trouble.

Indeed, Li Gefei's visit two days ago severely punished the malicious Zhao Guan family.

Zhao Ji originally thought that Li Gefei couldn't bear the pressure of losing his reputation and wanted to abandon his mentor to protect himself. Isn't this an inappropriate hypocrite?

Pretending to be very aloof? !

Who would have thought that Li Gefei was so lucky that Da Su, who was able to control him, actually sank into the river on his own.

Of course, Zhao Ji would definitely applaud the fact that the two old guys sank into the river, especially since the other one who sank into the river was Zhang Zihou.

Not being able to punish that guy severely was a benefit to the old guy.

Li Gefei's smooth escape was as jarring to Zhao Ji as when a mung bean fly landed on the delicious meal.

Therefore, Zhao Ji, who was very unhappy, asked Cai Jing for advice and planned the spread of this rumor that was harmful to others and not beneficial to himself.

Normally, this kind of rumor cannot hurt Li Gefei in the slightest. After all, it is an unfounded thing and there is no evidence. How can we still convict Li Gefei based on "unfounded" speculation? He is a serious scholar-official with a worldwide reputation. , it’s easy to get into trouble by doing this.

However, there is another kind of people in this world called the upright Sumen children.

Almost all of Su Dongpo's disciples are geniuses. They are basically geniuses at writing poems and articles. There are only a few who are truly strategic and intelligent. There are even some geniuses with partial IQ and extremely low EQ.

This is more embarrassing.

The raging rumors did not affect others, but caused chaos among the Su clan disciples.

A few of the more mindless people gathered together to ask Li Gefei for clarification. Fortunately, the most prestigious people persuaded everyone, and then they recommended Chao Buzhi, who had the best relationship with Li Gefei, and another person. Li Lao, a disciple of Su Shi, went to Li Mansion to inquire.

Because of his drunken gaffe at the Xiyuan Gathering, Chao Buzhi felt sorry for Li Gefei, and felt guilty and remorseful in his heart. He asked him to go to Li Gefei's place to find out what was going on, but Chao Buzhi really couldn't say that.

However, Chao Buzhi couldn't wait to go to Li's house. He was an honest person. He had done something sorry for Li Gefei, so he wanted to come to Li Gefei's house to explain and sincerely apologize. As for Li Gefei not forgiving him, that was Li Gefei's business. , Chao Buzhi himself was not very worried.

Li Lao was also Su Shi's favorite disciple. He was orphaned at the age of six and could study hard on his own. He was known to Su Shi for his little literary skills and was praised by Su Shi as a talent with "the enemy of ten thousand people".

Li Lao, Chen Shidao, and the four former scholars of the Su family, Huang Tingjian, Qin Guan, Chao Buzhi, Zhang Lei and others, were called the Six Gentlemen of the Su family.

It's just that Li Lao and Chen Shidao were not born at the same time. When they were successful in their studies, they coincided with Wang Anshi's reform of the imperial examination system for selecting scholars, that is, changing the teaching materials.

This put most of the scholars, except for Wang (Anshi)'s disciples who had prepared in advance, into an extremely embarrassing situation. The knowledge they had studied hard for ten years suddenly became useless.

There are as many disciples of Wang Anshi as there are thousands of people in the world, and there are many good and bad; and there are many scholars who have been squandered by Wang Jinggong, there are tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of scholars.

Destroying someone's future is like killing one's parents. The hatred in it is so great.

If Wang Anshi wanted to be Shang Yang, almost no one in the Song Dynasty would object. On the contrary, everyone had high hopes for him. Because the entire Song Dynasty knew clearly from top to bottom that the Song Dynasty had indeed reached a point where reforms were necessary.

But no one thought that Wang Anshi's ambition would be so great. He not only wanted to be Shang Yang, but also wanted to be the second Wenzong, the second Confucius, and the second Mencius. In the Ming Dynasty, he wanted to be the second Zhu Xi.

To use a relatively ancient term, this is a struggle for the road, not just the so-called redistribution of class interests.

This is the most fundamental reason why Wang Anshi's reform was desperately counterattacked and suppressed by the old party, especially Sima Guang and others, especially after the death of key Wang Xue talents such as Zhang Dun and others.

At that time, Chen Shidao, who was as famous as Li Luo, directly dismissed Wang Anshi's bad behavior of changing teaching materials and chose not to take the exam.

But Li Lao felt that he was so talented that he only read Wang Anshi's classics and meanings, and then ran to take the exam with confidence.

Li Lao was indeed very good, and he was also outstanding when he took the exam according to Wang Anshi's question frame. However, because he was too outstanding, the new party members responsible for presiding over the scientific examination showed his flaws, and then his test paper was deposed.

Some people may ask, is it a flaw if the article is too good?

It really is.

Before the reform, Wang Anshi spent ten years cultivating his disciples and believers, among whom there were indeed many elites, such as Cai Bian, Wang Wujiu, Lu Dian (Lu You's grandfather), etc.

Basically all of these outstanding people obtained honors in the first scientific examination after Wang Anshi reformed the imperial examination. Of course, there were also a few non-Wang scholars with similar ideas like Li Lu mixed in this scientific examination. Geniuses.

And by the time Li Luo went to take the scientific examination, there were no truly outstanding talents among the Wang Xue disciples who took the examination.

Li Lao was like a big buffalo in a sheepfold. How could the reliable New Party official who presided over the situation let him get what he wanted without being blind?

Later, after Zhezong ascended the throne (not yet in power), the new party was suppressed and the old party headed by Sima Guang came to power. Li Lao went to take the exam again, although he was quite worthy of the then Minister Zuopushe and the minister (prime minister) Lu Dafang. However, because he had taken the New Party Classics test and his writing was relatively brilliant, he was looked down upon by the paranoid Sima Guang and still failed.

From then on, Li Luo gave up his interest in scientific research and no longer had any intention of becoming an official.

At this time in the original timeline, Li Lao was supposed to be living in seclusion in Changshe, devoting himself to writing articles and books.

However, because of Li Gefei, Li Lao came to the capital to serve as Li Gefei's editor and editor, assisting Li Gefei in editing ancient books and volumes and compiling books and chapters.

During the time when Li Gefei was corrupted and greedy for power, Li Luo left Li Gefei and prepared to find a place to live in seclusion, but the place he focused on was the destined Changshe.

As soon as Li Luo left, rumors about Li Gefei and Da Su quickly broke out.

Now Li Lao's heart is extremely complicated. He feels guilty for not understanding Li Gefei earlier, and is sad about Da Su's unfortunate accident. He is even more eager to know whether there is any connection between Li Gefei and the disappearance of his mentor.

In this way, Chao Buzhi and Li Lao went to the door of Li's house with their own concerns.

No matter what Chao Buzhi and Li Luo had done, Li Gefei was also very happy that his two friends came to visit him at this time. When the three of them met, they all noticed that the other person's eyes were red.

The three of them are all intelligent people, how could they not understand their respective moods.

They didn't speak yet, but they all hugged each other and cried.

After the three of them poured out their sorrow for a while, they each collected their feelings and went to the courtyard to talk.

Chao Buzhi was relatively simple and apologized to Li Gefei first, saying that he made a drunken blunder, which caused a lot of rumors about Li Gefei in Beijing.

But Li Gefei shook his head and said: "This matter is no wonder or blameless (Chao Bu's word). Brother, Cai Jing and his gang regard me as an enemy. Even if you have never made a mistake, similar rumors will definitely appear."

However, Li Lao stood up from the stone bench on the side, bowed to Li Gefei and apologized: "Fool Li Lao is blind in eyes and heart. He cannot understand Mo Mei Gong's thoughts, so he has betrayed his kindness and righteousness. He is guilty of the greatest crime!"

Li Gefei stepped forward and helped Li Lao up, and said seriously: "Uncle Fang (Li Lao's nickname) is aloof, good at writing, and clumsy at calculating people's minds, even humans! What a crime!"

Li Lao stood up, stared at Li Gefei's eyes, and said: "Brother Wen Shu (Li Gefei's nickname), if I have any offensive words next, I hope that Uncle Wen will forgive you!"

At this time, Chao Buzhi, who was next to him, shouted: "Uncle Fang! Don't lie! I believe that Uncle Wen's character will never live up to the rumors. As friends from the same family, how can we doubt it?!"

Li Lao said seriously: "Just because you can't doubt your fellow disciples, I have to ask clearly!"

Li Gefei looked at Li Luo calmly, without blinking, and said to Li Luo: "Uncle Fang, if you have any questions, just ask."

Li Yayi asked without giving in: "Uncle Wen, does he know about the rumors in the capital in the past two days?"

Li Gefei said: “I’ve heard a little bit about it!”

"Uncle Wen resigned and his mentor fell into the water almost at the same time. What's the explanation for this?"

However, Li Gefei's eyes became wet, tears burst down his face, and he cried loudly: "This is my fault! Li Gefei is an incompetent and ungrateful person. Not only can he not protect his mentor, but he is protected by his legacy. How mediocre it is!"

When Chao Buzhi and Li Lao heard this, they looked at each other. There was actually something going on inside!

When Chao Buzhi stopped but was about to ask Li Lao, he comforted Li Gefei and asked, "Why did Uncle Wen say this? You and I are all benefited by our mentor. You were criticized in the past because you were protecting your mentor. How about that?" Can you exaggerate?!"

Li Gefei wiped his tears with his sleeve, but led the two of them to the study.

Then he took out Su Shi's handwriting from a small wooden box and handed it to the two of them to read. He said: "My mentor was far away in Hangzhou, but he knew that I was trapped in Beijing, so he wrote a secret letter to persuade me. I accept it." After receiving the letter, I immediately went to Shuqiu."

Chao Buzhi and Li Lao finished reading Su Shi's letters one after another, and they both suddenly said: "No wonder Uncle Wen (brother) suddenly resigned from his post. It turns out that this is the reason!"

Li Gefei sighed sadly: "On the second day after I left my post, I received the news that my mentor was traveling to Muzhou, and the boat capsized. My mentor and Zhang Zihou fell into the water at the same time and disappeared. As I expected, I was afraid that something happened to the boat. It was the teacher’s intention!

If it weren't for my involvement, why would my mentor do such an extreme thing? ! "

Li Lao was orphaned since he was a child and regarded Su Shi as his father. After hearing these words, he couldn't help but cry with sadness and bitterness. There was only an inexplicable sourness mixed in it.

But Chao Buzhi shouted: "Uncle Wen, please don't lie! My mentor has his own rules for doing things, so how dare you blame yourself! Zhang Zihou also fell into the water with his mentor and disappeared. It can be seen that it is not an accident, but an accident!"

The three of them said something again. Li Gefei originally wanted to stay with the two of them, but Chao Buzhi and Li Shao were eager to help Li Gefei eliminate the rumors, so they took Su Shi's handwriting with them.

Soon, the inside story spread about Li Gefei's resignation after receiving Da Su's letter.

Although the disciples of the Su family have not stated it clearly and there is no solid evidence, some people have raised the speculation that Su Shi capsized his boat and sank himself to save his disciples.

However, the Sumen disciples did not admit it directly or deny it.

If this speculation is true, then Su Shi's personality quality will really be infinitely improved.

The last example of a teacher sacrificing himself to protect his students was when Pang Ji took the blame for Mr. Sang Gong and resigned from his job in order to protect Sima Guang.

That time it was Sima Guang who was stupid and caused a big mistake. Although Pang Ji's self-sacrifice was noble, it was inevitably suspected of favoritism. And what Sima Guang did later on was relatively unremarkable. Apart from cultivating [Zi Zhi Tong Jian], he basically had no notable achievements. On the contrary, he did a lot of bad things.

As a result, many people in later generations felt that Pang Ji's sacrifice was not worth it, and Pang Ji's image among the people gradually evolved into that of the traitorous Master Pang.

But Su Shi and Li Gefei are different here.

Li Gefei made no mistake. On the contrary, he was the one who was persecuted, and so was Su Shi.

Both of them had the intention of sacrificing themselves to protect each other, so Su Shi's sacrifice seemed extremely noble and brilliant.

This made Su Shi's reputation among scholars and people soar like a rocket.

In fact, according to the plan of maximizing interests, Su Shi's "sacrifice" solidified into fact is undoubtedly the optimal solution.

Not to mention this during his lifetime, Su Shi's posthumous reputation will definitely shine through the ages and become a saint-like existence, and his descendants and disciples will also benefit immensely.

Naturally, Zhao Guanjia and Cai Jing were very unwilling to see this situation. They tried every means to deny and suppress this "terrifying" speculation, but with little success.

After all, at this time, people like to see a holy and perfect person appear.

It would be fine if it were a living person. No one wants to hold a living sage above their heads. The pressure is a bit unbearable.

The key is that this person is dead, who would care about reputation with a dead person.

In desperation, Cai Jing gave Zhao Guan's family a bad idea, asking the Zhao'an rebels who were about to arrive in the capital to perform military exercises inside and outside the capital to divert everyone's attention.

The Great Song Dynasty suffered from the phobia of the Five Dynasties War Rebellion. At this time, an army suddenly appeared in front of the capital to perform martial arts. Who has the mind to care whether Su Shi is a saint or not?

The most important thing is to quell the hidden dangers of chaos.

As a result, several secret edicts were sent to the main force of the Zhao'an rebel army, which was less than a hundred miles away from the capital.

Then Yancheng, Chenzhou, Xihua, Taikang, Yanling and other prefectures and counties opened their treasury one after another and used the best equipment and materials to arm the rebel army into a magnificent and impressive division.

Then, like proud swans, tens of thousands of troops arrived in Xianping County in a mighty formation. At this time, they were only thirty miles away from the capital.

News of the arrival of the "unknown" army flew into Bianliang City like snowflakes, and the whole city was immediately in an uproar.

The princes in the court were quarreling, while the people were in panic, fearing that random troops would enter the city.

Only Zhao Guanjia and Cai Jing, who knew the inside story, sat firmly on the fishing platform and looked down at the panic-stricken living beings with malice.

(End of this chapter)