Prime Minister

Chapter 1155: The People of the World

Chapter 1155: The People of the World

Zhongshan.

After dinner every day, Wang Anshi would ride his donkey from his home to Dinglin Temple, and he would go there every day.

This was Wang Anshi's personality. He couldn't stand sitting still. He either lay down or walked. He always had to find something to do from time to time and refused to let himself rest.

Whenever Wang Anshi was unhappy with his career, he would argue with the emperor and ask for retirement. On the day he was appointed prime minister, he wrote a poem: "Frosty bamboo and snowy bamboo by the Zhongshan Temple, I will return home to spend my life in seclusion."

So what if I really retire now?

Wang Anshi rode a donkey into the mountains, and everywhere he looked were pure mountain flowers and birds flying with the white clouds.

Zhongshan is still the same as it was back then.

But during the nine years in power, everything and everyone is still in front of my eyes day and night. Everyone says that we should let go, but when it comes to letting go, can we really let go?

In fact, my mind is full of ruminations and I cannot have a peaceful day.

Wang Anshi lamented why his heart could not be at peace when he really wanted to be at peace.

The sound of pine trees was like waves. Wang Anshi raised his head and patted the donkey that had stopped. The emperor had given Wang Anshi a horse to use for walking after his retirement, but unfortunately the horse died of illness not long ago, so Wang Anshi had to use the donkey instead.

He would rather ride a donkey than a horse.

Some people joked that donkeys are more stubborn than horses, just like Wang Anshi.

Wang Anshi arrived at Dingli Temple.

There was a monk named Juehai who was living in Dingli Temple. He and Wang Anshi hit it off right away.

After they sat down, they began to talk about Zen and poetry, both of them speaking witty and amusing words.

Wang Anshi said: "I collected the words and found 'Jiangzhou Sima's blue shirt is wet'. I wanted to use the whole sentence to match it, but I couldn't figure it out no matter how hard I tried."

"One day I asked a young man, and he said, why not use 'The disciples of the Pear Garden have new white hair'?"

Upon hearing this, Juehai was delighted and said, "What a great sentence, what a great poem."

"The tears of Sima Jiangzhou and his green shirt" comes from "Pipa Song" and "The white hair of the disciples of the Pear Garden" comes from "Song of Everlasting Sorrow", both were written by Bai Juyi, so they can be called wonderful couplets.

Wang Anshi was unwilling to be idle, so he composed a collection of poems.

The so-called collection of verses is to pick a line from the poems of one or several people and re-compose a new poem.

After Wang Anshi retired, he devoted himself to this study. His collection of poems even surpassed the original poems and formed a trend among the literati in the south of the Yangtze River.

Wang Anshi is indeed extremely talented. After retiring, he occasionally did this and it became very popular for a while!

Wang Anshi said: "I saw the white crane cry that day, and I wrote a poem for you."

“The cry of the white crane is pitiful, the cry of the red flamingo is hateful.

The white cranes are extremely quiet; the red flamingos are countless in noise.

The white crane cannot be summoned, and the red flamingo cannot be driven away.

Changsong died of filthiness because of the red crane.

The Taoist of Beishan said, "The beautiful are beautiful by themselves, why should I be happy?"

The evil ones are evil themselves, why should I be angry?

If you leave, you leave on your own, why should I chase you?

It comes from here, so why shouldn’t I refuse it?

Do I hate noise and seek quiet? Do I prefer elixir to white?

You think that I have no one to rely on after the pine tree dies, so I will leave the shade and sit in the open air. "

After hearing this, Juehai asked, "Who do the white crane and the red crane in the poem refer to? Are they Zhang San Xianggong and Zhang Zihou?"

Wang Anshi laughed and said, "Even you think so. In fact, the white crane is the master and the red crane is auspicious. I use this metaphor and it has nothing to do with government affairs."

After hearing this, Juehai felt relieved. Xingxiang was the other monk who had argued with him.

Jue Hai said: "I am worrying too much. People in the world are speculating too much. Everyone in the world is talking about them. Even I, an outsider, can't help but be curious."

Wang Anshi said without further comment: "Both of them are ministers, so I cannot comment on them any more. Although I have retired to Zhongshan, many people in the world make far-fetched interpretations, thinking that I use poetry to allude to political affairs. This is really a great annoyance and a burden."

Jue Hai said: "It is my fault."

Wang Anshi said: "That's right, that's right. The master is a true outsider, and he is not immune to the speculations of the world, let alone the world."

"In fact, my heart is not at peace yet. I don't want to say too much, and I don't want to speculate too much about others. I don't know if I will ever let go in this life."

Juehai sighed: "My husband is not concerned about fame and fortune, but the people of the world."

"Since you are afraid that the hard work of writing and searching will make your mind unhealthy, why don't you just sit in meditation and let it go?"

"Sitting in meditation never hurts anyone. For several years I wanted to compose the 'Eighteen Beats of the Hujia' but failed. Now I have finished it while sitting in meditation at night."

Wang Anshi laughed and said, "I never sit in meditation. Peace of mind can only be achieved while walking or lying down."

Jue Hai said: "Sir, you have a broad mind. You really regard fame and fortune as nothing, and are willing to be as indifferent as a monk. I admire you!"

……

In Yanhe Hall.

Zhang Yue looked at Cai Bian and Wang Anli. Yes, what Wang Anshi said was true.

After Zhang Yue was appointed as prime minister, he wrote to Wang Anshi almost every once in a while, and there were hundreds of letters between them. Wang Anshi learned from the last time he showed his letter to Shen Jichang, and never showed Zhang Yue's letters to anyone else.

But Zhang Yue is different.

Zhang Yue often told Wang Anshi about political affairs and classics in his letters, as if he was just having a casual chat.

Zhang Yue also praised Wang Anshi's words: "His writings are comparable to Confucius and Mencius, and his career is better than Yi Gao's." Zhang Yue knew that Wang Anshi was a flatterer, so he often said this in his letters.

In front of Wang Anli and Cai Bian, Zhang Yue did not shy away from the story that he was Wang Anshi's "suck-up".

Of course, this is true.

Zhang Yue really admired Wang Anshi back then, and he admired him to the extreme. Liang Qichao commented that Wang Anshi was the most perfect man after three generations, which had a great influence on Zhang Yue.

However, when Zhang Yue was in the Xining Reform period, he realized that the new law did have many drawbacks. As an official in charge, he had many objections to the new law.

This went from admiring Wang Anshi to criticizing and questioning Wang Anshi.

But after Wang Anshi was dismissed, Zhang Yue was in Wang Anshi's position. Zhang Yue began to take Wang Anshi's reform seriously again, such as the "one morality" he had criticized before and the various policies in the new policy.

It was discovered that Wang Anshi did have his own difficulties, and even Zhang Yue himself continued to promote some of Wang Anshi's ideas and the many conveniences brought about by the reform.

So Zhang Yue started to accept it again.

People all say that Yang Wei is Yang Sanbian, but Zhang Yue also became "Zhang Sanbian" at some point in time.

Therefore, Zhang Yue also praised Wang Anshi in his letter.

Of course, the most important thing is whether Wang Anshi agrees with Zhang Yue’s changes to the new law?

The answer is that Wang Anshi hardly gave in.

After Wang Anshi retired, he was indeed not as stubborn as he was when he was in office. But Zhang Yue was unable to get him to support him.

But Zhang Yue thought of another way. He discussed it more in the letter, often hinting at it, trying to flatter it and listing the facts.

As a prime minister, he was so humble in praising a former prime minister, and the other party felt somewhat benefited from it.

Therefore, Wang Anshi's tone towards Zhang Yue in his letter was indeed somewhat softened.

Of course, among the hundreds of letters, there are not many letters with a softened tone, only a few.

However, Zhang Yue collected all these letters with softened tones, and then took them out of context and showed them to Cai Bian and Wang Anli.

This led the two to the conclusion they reached in Yanhe Hall.

It's just like that classic quote.

To take things out of context.

——Excerpt from "Don't Take Things Out of Context".

Zhang Yue thought Wang Anshi would definitely scold him if he knew that he had quoted his letter out of context. But Zhang Yue did not lie.

The letter was written by you, Wang Anshi, right? I did not change a single word of it.

As a prime minister, reputation is extremely important, Zhang Yue cannot lie. It is just like the saying "Don't tell all lies, and don't tell all the truth".

Wang Anli was opposed to the reform in the first place, and after reading the letter, he believed it without a doubt.

As for Cai Bian, he didn't say a word.

Zhang Yue guessed that Cai Bian was very meticulous and might have doubts about these letters, so he only needed to write one letter back and ask Wang Anshi.

However, Cai Bian did not express his opinion.

Zhang Yue did not force him to choose sides between Wang Anshi and himself. In another historical time and space, Cai Bian was extremely loyal to Wang Anshi and followed his father-in-law's ideas throughout his life.

But today, Cai Bian clearly followed himself and Wang Anli and dealt a fatal blow to Zhang Dun.

After Wang Anshi, the New Party had already become a loose organization.

Among them, Lu Huiqing, Zhang Dun, Li Chengzhi, and Zhang Shangying can be considered to be from the same lineage, while others like Deng Wan, Lu Jiawen, and Zhang Xu were all attacked and exiled by Zhang Yue.

Shen Kuo and Zeng Bu, two traitors, had already defected to Zhang Yue.

The remaining Cai Que, Xue Xiang, An Tao, Pu Zongmeng and Cai Bian did not form a joint force, but each established their own faction or was the emperor's close party.

Not counting the factions that Zhang Yue had cultivated over the years, coupled with the support of Cai Bian and Wang Anli, the blow suffered by Zhang Dun was indeed visible to the naked eye.

……

In Yanhe Hall, the winner has been decided.

Many people had a premonition that the weather would change during the Yuanfeng year.

Zhang Yue calmly walked down the hall, and slowly left Yanhe Hall amidst a crowd of people. From afar, he watched Zhang Dun waiting for him in front of the hall with a grim face.

Zhang Yue thought to himself, you are really a stubborn person.

It is impossible for Zhang Yue to confront someone face to face now. How could a prime minister get so angry that he would roll up his sleeves and curse at someone?

Zhang Yue walked up to Zhang Dun and said, "Prime Minister, there are three most worrying problems in the world today. I have to speak out."

Zhang Yue said: "Please speak!"

Zhang Dun said: "First, no matter what happens in the world, there is no distinction between right and wrong."

Zhang Yue thought to himself, okay, you are scolding me for being a peacemaker.

“Second, honest people become more humble, while useless people become more arrogant and presumptuous.”

Zhang Yue thought to himself, are you accusing me of rejecting dissidents and not being able to distinguish between loyalty and treachery?

"Third, if you look for reasons for everything and acquiesce to all bad things, no one will do things for the world. Since the Prime Minister took office, he has been seeking the middle way in everything, but how can you get the middle way if you just seek the middle way blindly?"

“Without great strength to break down barriers, how can one achieve success?”

"In the end, it's just patching up, it's useless! Sooner or later, it will lead to the misfortune of the people of the world. I am really disappointed in the Prime Minister! The Zhang family will have a criminal because of this."

Zhang Yue was furious when he heard this. Zhang Dun had this ability to completely ignite people's anger with just a few words.

When others heard this, they dared not say anything, as this was related to Zhang Yue's family affairs.

Zhang Yue said: "According to the rules of the Chapter, since I became an official, I have taken the heavens, the earth, and all things as my teachers. Any criticism is my teacher, not my enemy."

"I accept your words. But you are just you. It is not your turn to speak for the people of the world."

"what!"

Zhang Dun smiled, took off his black hat and said, "I'll wait and see. If I'm proven wrong in the future, I'll call you brother!"

After saying this, Zhang Dun threw his crown away and left!

The next day Zhang Dun resigned from his post and was demoted.