Chapter 544: Su Zhe's Path

On December 2nd, the second year of Gaia, in Tianjing City.

This was the third day that Ouyang Shuo was in charge of Tianjing City, and the atmosphere in the city had changed drastically.

The demolition site of the Tianwang Palace was in full swing. The precious wood that was dismantled was piled up like a mountain on the square in front of the Tianwang Palace.

On the square, batches of inspectors gradually appeared.

Even farther away, the gentry and businessmen on the boundaries of Xunzhou County and Zhen'an County all heard the news and rushed to Tianjing City in an endless stream to participate in this auction feast.

Ouyang Shuo had to send a message, and immediately ordered the Department of Commerce to select some of Hong Xiuquan's imperial belongings from the dozens of carts of property looted, and participate in the auction.

"Remember, select those private and worthless items for auction."

Ouyang Shuo told the officials of the Department of Commerce like this.

"promise!"

"Also, the price should be higher, and the publicity should be more enthusiastic."

"promise!"

While carefully accepting the promise, the officials of the commercial department secretly wiped off their cold sweat, and had a more intuitive understanding of the rumored "smart" and "calculating" of the monarch.

Of course, in Cui Yingyou's mouth, it is black heart and greed for money. He is just a low-level official in the Department of Commerce, but he dare not be as domineering as Director Cui.

On the other side, the barracks in the west of the city was also busy. The 100,000 Taiping Army are hurrying to pack their bags, and tomorrow they will embark on a journey to the designated location for reorganization.

As for some undercurrents in the army, after Ouyang Shuo threw out the bait, it was calm for a while.

The only surprise was that last night, Lin Qirong, the garrison general of the local army, got drunk in a restaurant because he was about to go on a long journey, and then went to the brothel alone to have sex.

Because of being drunk, Lin Qirong "accidentally" fell into the small river in the city and unfortunately died. It wasn't until the next morning that street cleaners found Lin Qirong's body floating on the water and immediately reported it to the police.

According to the appraisal by Yamen Wu, Lin Qirong died of drowning, so the possibility of homicide was ruled out.

This matter is over.

When Zeng Tianyang got the news, although he felt that something was wrong, he couldn't verify it. After all, Lin Qirong was really addicted to alcohol. According to his subordinates, they did drink together last night.

After the game ended, Lin Qirong abandoned his subordinates and left alone, and then got the news that he drowned and died.

In the end, Zeng Tianyang could only attribute this matter to a coincidence.

"It's ridiculous!"

Zeng Tianyang felt very dissatisfied with Lin Qirong's disappointment.

Seeing that a big event is expected, but lost an ally for no reason, how can Zeng Tianyang not be angry. What made Zeng Tianyang even more angry was that last night he went to test Shi Zhenji's tone again.

This time, Shi Zhenji refused bluntly, which surprised Zeng Tianyang.

"A wolf-hearted dog!"

In Zeng Tianyang's view, Shi Zhenji's refusal was a betrayal of the king.

While cursing Shi Zhenji, Zeng Tianyang became more afraid of that prince. Just a simple meeting changed Shi Zhenji's position, how can Zeng Tianyang not be shocked.

"Unfortunately, I have no way out, and I will never owe the Heavenly King's grace in this life."

Zeng Tianyang was alone, sighing into the air, his expression surprisingly lonely.

Perhaps every "bad guy" has an unknown past. In fact, from another perspective, in Hong Xiuquan's view, isn't Zeng Tianyang the most loyal and reliable courtier?

Often positions are different, and the evaluation of people will also go to two extremes.

***********

Lin Fengxiang's mansion, Ouyang Shuo's study.

After dealing with the two thorny issues of the Heavenly King's Palace and the Taiping Army, Ouyang Shuo finally had time to inspect and meet the civil servants in Tianjing City.

Among them, the one who received the most attention from Ouyang Shuo was naturally Su Zhe.

Compared with the boldness of his brother Su Shi, Su Zhe is calm, introverted and composed. It is this character that allows Su Zhe to go further than his brother Su Shi in the officialdom.

Of course, deep down, the two brothers have something in common.

Su Shi, a great writer of a generation, once commented on his younger brother in this way.

"Ziyou's writing is really better than servants, but the world doesn't know it, so he thinks it's not as good. He is a deep person, and he doesn't want people to know it. His writing is like a person, so the ocean is calm, there is a voice of singing and sighing three times, but his outstanding spirit is never enough. No."

From this, it can be seen that Su Zhe is low-key and restrained.

Su Zhe was deeply influenced by his father and brother in his life and learning. He is famous for his prose, especially good at political and historical theories. It was precisely this specialty that Wang Anshi, who was the prime minister at the time and wanted to reform the law, was transferred to the third division of the Department of Regulations.

Su Zhe has profound insights into Wang Anshi's "Young Crop Law" and other reforms. It is a pity that Su Zhe's theory was contrary to Wang Anshi's ambitious thinking at that time, and went to the opposite of the reform.

Soon, Su Zhe was demoted from Beijing because of disagreement with Wang Anshi, and his official career was bumpy.

It wasn't until Song Shenzong died, Song Zhezong came to the throne, and Empress Dowager Xuanren listened to the government behind the curtain, intending to abolish the new laws of Wang Anshi's period, that Su Zhe was reused again, and finally all the way to the prime minister.

Later, Song Zhezong came to power, and the Xinfa faction regained power. Correspondingly, Su Zhe, who belonged to the faction that supported the abolition of the new law, was naturally relegated repeatedly, and since then, there has been no chance of recovery.

From Su Zhe's life experience in officialdom, we can also get a glimpse of the frequent party disputes in the Northern Song Dynasty.

Due to the bureaucratic system of the Song Dynasty, the status of the literati in the Song Dynasty was relatively high. It was the golden age of the political life of ancient Chinese intellectuals, and they actively participated in political life.

The political characteristics of the Northern Song Dynasty were characterized by weakness, poverty, and frequent party struggles.

Since Fan Zhongyan, the famous literati in the Northern Song Dynasty have almost without exception been involved in the vortex of party struggles. Political turmoil has influenced and determined their fate and deeply affected their literary creation.

The two brothers Su Shi and Su Zhe naturally couldn't stay out of the matter.

Perhaps, it was because he was deeply poisoned by party struggles that Su Zhe kept a respectful distance from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's party struggles after appearing in the wilderness. Between Tianwang and other factions, he has always maintained neutrality and handled government affairs in a low-key manner.

Even during the game between Shi Dakai and Yang Xiuqing, Su Zhe, as the head of the civil servants of the Kingdom of Heaven, kept silent. Ouyang Shuo entered Tianjing City, while Su Zhe simply stayed behind closed doors.

Until this morning, Su Zhe was personally summoned by Ouyang Shuo.

Previously, Ouyang Shuo didn't consider Su Zhe when delineating the three governors of Xunzhou County. It wasn't that Ouyang Shuo had prejudice against Su Zhe, or that he questioned Su Zhe's ability.

In fact, there is nothing wrong with Su Zhe's ability to govern a county with the ability of Su Zhe as the prime minister of the Song Dynasty. Moreover, in the Northern Song Dynasty, the bureaucratic system was already extremely perfect, and the experience of officials was even greater.

During the Northern Song Dynasty, the affairs of the yamen were complicated, and the requirements for the ability of officials were also higher. Therefore, compared with Bao Shuya and other civil servants in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods, Su Zheshi was not far behind in terms of ability.

In fact, as early as when he learned that Su Zhe was an official in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Ouyang Shuo thought of a position that was most suitable for Su Zhe, and that was the post of director of the Department of Science, Education, Culture and Health under the Administration Department.

Following Fan Zhongyan's transfer to the prefect of Wuzhou County, Xiao He became the director of administration. The Department of Science, Education, Culture and Health, which Xiao He was concurrently in charge of before, has always been taken care of by Xiao He.

Among the four major departments, the Administrative Department is already heavy with government affairs.

For Xiao He, it is extremely inconvenient to hold multiple positions. Xiao He has been submitting official letters to the princes to propose a new director of science, education, culture and health as soon as possible.

The problem is that the Department of Science, Education, Culture and Health is actually related to the foundation of Ouyang Shuo's territorial reform in the coming year. It has a very important relationship, so how can Ouyang Shuo rush to draw up the candidate for its chief officer.

And Su Zhe, who is both a writer and a prime minister, has a long history of family education and is decent, so he naturally entered Ouyang Shuo's vision, and he was a suitable candidate for the Director of Science, Education, Culture and Health.

In addition, the Department of Science, Education, Culture and Health serves public infrastructure and has nothing to do with party struggles, but it urgently needs insightful people to lead it. It fits Su Zhe's temperament very well.

Because of this, Ouyang Shuo had the confidence to persuade Su Zhe to come out again.

Ouyang Shuo chose to be in the study instead of the main hall. He summoned Su Zhe to express his closeness.

The meeting between the two was uneventful.

For Su Zhe, the name of a prince doesn't really mean much. Shanhai City was able to attract Su Che, but it was because of Fan Zhongyan's existence.

In the Northern Song Dynasty, whether in the officialdom or in the literary world, Fan Gong had his special status. To Su Zhe, being able to obtain Fan Gong's allegiance is a great recognition in itself.

Especially after listening to Junhou's introduction to the Department of Science, Education, Culture and Health, Su Zhe's mood that had just calmed down once again caused waves. But all the literati who were born in the Northern Song Dynasty were not eager to devote themselves to officialdom.

For them, being an official is not to enjoy the glory and wealth, but to serve the people and show what they have learned.

As Fan Gong said in "Yueyang Tower": Worry about the world's worries first, and enjoy the world's joys later.

This statement is the most vivid portrayal of the literati in the Northern Song Dynasty who cared about the fate of the country and the suffering of the people, and were willing to worry about the future and destiny of the country and contribute to the people of the world.

Su Zhe is no exception.

Being able to take charge of the Department of Science, Education, Culture and Health is not an opportunity for Su Zhe to serve the people.

"My humble minister pays homage to the lord!"

At this moment, Su Zhe formally pledged his allegiance to Ouyang Shuo.

【Name】: Su Zhe (King Class)

[Title]: One of the Eight Great Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties

【Dynasty】: Northern Song Dynasty

[Identity]: Official of Shanhai City

[Occupation]: civil servant

[Loyalty]: 70 points

[Commander]: 35 [Force]: 25 [Intelligence]: 75 [Politics]: 80

[Specialty]: Wending (increase the administrative efficiency of the territory by 15%, increase the cultural index of the territory by 5%, and increase the level of integrity of the territory by 15%)

[Evaluation]: Su Zhe, courtesy name Ziyou, was a litterateur and prime minister in the Northern Song Dynasty. A certain official has a talented talent and pure Confucianism. Be sensitive to things but be cautious in words, be determined to the Tao and supplement it with skills. Fang Wen's move in the early days borrowed the reputation of Shilin. Yue from Jianyuan, Jinzhi Ciye. There is not one person who inspires the suave and positive theory; embellishes Wang You, who is so unlucky that he blows it all up.