Daming Super Dimension Company, President Zhu Yuanzhang!

"Take a look at this." Li Shimin took out a memorial and handed it to Xiao Ran.

Xiao Ran opened it and read it, and couldn't help but raise his hand to slap his forehead, "I had forgotten about this."

"In the seventh year of Zhenguan, floods hit more than 30 states."

Natural disasters are always terrifying no matter when they occur, and even in future generations there will be casualties in natural disasters.

Li Shimin frowned, "How could so many states suffer from this disaster?"

The memorial he saw only mentioned the presence of a flood.

Xiao Ran shook his head. "I just remember that there was a flood in August of the seventh year of Zhenguan. As for what the situation is now, I am not sure."

"You want food to deal with the flood?"

Li Shimin said in a deep voice, "The court has enough food. I will try to send as much relief food as possible, but I am worried that too many people will be killed or injured."

"Then I will prepare things for you that will be used for disaster relief in the future." Xiao Ran said immediately.

"Well, I'll go with you then."

Xiao Ran returned home and suddenly asked Li Shimin to wait for a moment, then turned around and brought Zhao Kuangyin over.

……

The first year of Xining
Funing Hall

When he saw Xiao Ran, Zhao Xu quickly stood up and walked over.

"Mr. Xiao."

When he approached, Zhao Xu was stunned by Zhao Kuangyin's face.

Xiao Ran introduced them, "This is Emperor Taizong of Tang, and this is your ancestor Emperor Taizu of Song."

"If you want something rich, let them teach you."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xu immediately bowed and saluted, "Grandfather, His Majesty Emperor Taizong of Tang."

On the way here, Li Shimin briefly understood Zhao Xu's current situation and said, "Please bring me the account book of the Ministry of Revenue."

If we want to make our country strong, we must clean up the Ministry of Revenue.

Zhao Xu immediately ordered someone to find the minister of the Ministry of Revenue and bring the account books.

Xiao Ran and others took their seats.

The eunuch outside the hall suddenly came in and said that Wang Anshi came to see him.

Li Shimin and Zhao Kuangyin were slightly curious.

"Wang Anshi's reforms are acceptable and he is capable of handling great responsibilities," said Li Shimin.

Xiao Ran smiled and said, "Wang Anshi is quite famous in history. He is one of the Eight Great Masters of Tang and Song Dynasties."

“What are the Eight Great Masters of Tang and Song Dynasties?”

"The Eight Great Prose Writers of Tang and Song, also known as the Eight Great Prose Writers of Tang and Song, is a collective name given to eight prose writers of the Tang and Song dynasties, including Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan of the Tang dynasty and Ouyang Xiu, Su Xun, Su Shi, Su Zhe, Wang Anshi and Zeng Gong of the Song dynasty."

Zhao Xu on the side was surprised, "It turned out to be them."

Xiao Ran continued, "Their fame is inseparable from the officialdom." "Ouyang Xiu's father was an official. After his father died, he went to live with his uncle who was honest all his life, and later embarked on the path of imperial examinations."

"But Ouyang Xiu's road to the imperial examination was very bumpy."

"In the first year of Emperor Renzong's Tiansheng reign (1023 AD), the seventeen-year-old Ouyang Xiu took the imperial examination in Suizhou. His essays were praised by many people, but unfortunately he failed because his essays did not conform to the official rhyme. In the fourth year of Tiansheng reign, he took the provincial examination again and passed. He was recommended to the Ministry of Rites. He took the Ministry of Rites examination the following year, but unfortunately failed."

"In the seventh year of Tiansheng, Ouyang Xiu took his articles to Xu Yan of Hanyang, who kept him as his disciple and then took him across the river to Beijing. The following year, with Xu Yan's recommendation, Ouyang Xiu became the first place in the imperial examination and the first place in the provincial examination. Not long after, he participated in the palace examination and ranked 14th in the first category, and became a Jinshi. He failed to become the first place in the imperial examination because he was too outstanding and the examiners wanted to dampen his spirit."

"Ouyang Xiu officially entered the officialdom and was transferred many times until the third year of Jingyou. Fan Zhongyan, the acting governor of Kaifeng Prefecture, wrote a "Picture of Officials" to satirize Prime Minister Lü Yijian. Lü Yijian retorted that Fan Zhongyan formed a clique for personal gain. Fan Zhongyan criticized Lü Yijian and was dismissed. Many officials and ministers pleaded for mercy, but Gao Rune, the Right Censor, did not write a letter. Therefore, Ouyang Xiu and others attacked and blamed Gao Rune. Gao Rune wrote a memorial to refute, and finally, Ouyang Xiu was demoted to the magistrate of Yiling County."

"Among them, Ouyang Xiu's "Letter to Gao Sijian" was highly sought after and became famous."

Wang Anshi's eyes lit up when he entered the hall, and he saluted Xiao Ran.

"Mr. Xiao, you also know a lot about Mr. Ouyang's life?"

Li Shimin looked Wang Anshi up and down.

Zhao Kuangyin kindly asked Wang Anshi to sit down. "There are many literati in the Song Dynasty, but only a few of them can be passed down to later generations. I'm afraid Ouyang Xiu's literary talent is comparable to yours."

"Mr. Ouyang is a man of great talent, and I dare not be proud of myself," Wang Anshi said modestly.

Xiao Ran looked at Wang Anshi and thought of something, "Ouyang Xiu implemented the Qingli New Deal, although it also failed."

“I have heard of it, but I don’t know the details.”

"This happened during the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song, so I won't say much. After his new policies failed, he began to be transferred and demoted. In the fourth year of Huangyou, Ouyang Xiu resigned from his post to mourn his mother's death. Soon after, the court reinstated him, but was blocked by officials in the court. In the first year of Zhihe, after the mourning period was over, Ouyang Xiu was summoned to the court. Some people in the court were worried that he would be reused, so they forged his memorial requesting the removal of eunuchs for profit, in order to anger the eunuchs. In the end, Ouyang Xiu was appointed as a Hanlin scholar."

"In the second year of Zhihe, Emperor Xingzong of Liao died, Emperor Daozong of Liao ascended the throne, and Ouyang Xiu was sent as an envoy to the Liao Dynasty."

"In the second year of Jiayou, Ouyang Xiu was in charge of the imperial examination of the Ministry of Rites, and he admitted Su Shi, Su Zhe, Cheng Hao, Zeng Gong and others."

"In the second year of Zhiping, Ouyang Xiu was involved in the Puyi dispute and was attacked by the censor Lu Hui and others. During the debate between the two sides, Ouyang Xiu appreciated Jiang Zhiqi's opinion and promoted him. At that time, Xue Zongru, the cousin of Ouyang Xiu's wife, was impeached for committing a crime. Ouyang Xiu was unwilling to take action, so Xue Zongru spread rumors that Ouyang Xiu had an affair with his eldest daughter-in-law Wu Chunyan. In order to protect himself, Jiang Zhiqi immediately submitted a memorial to impeach Ouyang Xiu."

Zhao Xu suddenly sighed, "I had already investigated the matter thoroughly and punished him, but Ouyang Xiu asked to resign. I had no choice but to let him go to Haozhou, but I didn't expect him to submit petitions one after another to request to be appointed as a scholar."

"After this incident, Ouyang Xiu realized that he was not suitable to stay in the court. He should be in Qingzhou now, waiting for you to appoint Wang Anshi to carry out the Xining Reform. Ouyang Xiu will write "On the Green Seedling Money" to point out the drawbacks of distributing the Green Seedling Money in the temple."

Xiao Ran's eyes fell on Zhao Xu, "But you didn't listen. He stopped on his own without permission and was nearly fined."

"What are the drawbacks?" Wang Anshi asked anxiously.

After Xiao Ran left, he wrote down the details of the reform and thought hard about how to solve the problems that might arise during the reform.

"One is to suppress the distribution, that is, to force the distribution, and the other is to distribute the autumn ration money."

Xiao Ran paused for a moment and said, "If you want to reform, you might as well call Ouyang Xiu back to discuss it."

"I'll summon him right away." Zhao Xu said.

After Zhao Xu left for the time being, Zhao Kuangyin could not help but ask, "Except for Ouyang Xiu and Wang Anshi, what about the others?"

"Su Xun, Su Shi and Su Zhe are known as the Three Su's. Su Xun is the father of the two and has passed away."

"Although Su Shi and Su Zhe were brothers and served as officials at the same time, their experiences in the court were very different."

Some jokes from later generations emerged in Xiao Ran's mind, and he almost laughed out loud.

Noticing the smile on Xiao Ran's face, Li Shimin and his companions looked puzzled. (End of this chapter)