Chapter Thirty-One: High Political Awareness
The "Zhūmì Fùshǐ" at the beginning indicates Bao Zheng's job position, equivalent to the current Deputy Minister of National Defense.
"Chaoran Daifu" indicates Bao Zheng's rank, in the Northern Song Dynasty, civil servants were divided into twenty-nine levels, and Chaoran Daifu belonged to the thirteenth level.
"Give Shi Zhong" indicates Bao Zheng's salary level. In the early Northern Song Dynasty, civil servants' salaries were divided into twenty levels, and "Give Shi Zhong" belonged to the twelfth level. Officials at this level could receive 45,000 copper coins per month.
"Shàng Qīng Chē Dū Wèi" indicates Bao Zheng's level of merit, which is the eighth out of twelve levels for Northern Song Dynasty officials.
"The Duke of Donghai Prefecture" indicates Bao Zheng's rank. In the early Northern Song Dynasty, there were twelve ranks for high-ranking officials, and the Duke of Donghai Prefecture belonged to the ninth rank.
"Having a fief of one thousand eight hundred households" indicates that Bao Zheng has a kind of honorary privilege, meaning the court allocated one thousand eight hundred peasant households to serve him (in fact he couldn't even order around one household).
"The actual fief of 400 households" indicates the benefits that Bao Zheng actually received, indicating that he could receive a subsidy every month, which was equivalent to the taxes paid by 400 peasant households (each household was generally calculated at 25 cents, and Bao Zheng's actual fief of 400 households would have earned him around 10,000 cents in subsidies per month).
"The Purple Goldfish Pouch" indicates Bao Zheng's dress level, which means that when he goes to court, a small purple pouch embroidered with goldfish can be hung on his waist - this is a special treatment that only officials above the third rank can enjoy.
The last title "Posthumous Gift of the Minister of Rites" was conferred by the emperor after Bao Zheng's death, indicating that the emperor missed him very much and did not let him become the Minister of Rites when he was alive, but also had to let him do it once after his death.
For example, take Su Dongpo. If you flip through the History of Song, and see that his first official position was "Da Li Ping Shi", then you would think that Mr. Dongpo had been a judge in the Supreme Court. If this were placed in the Tang Dynasty, his understanding would be absolutely correct, because "Da Li Ping Shi" is short for "Da Li Temple Ping Shi". The "Da Li Temple" was the highest judicial organ, so "Da Li Ping Shi" would of course be equivalent to a judge in today's Supreme Court.
But Su Dongpo was an official in the Song Dynasty, and during his time, "Da Li Ping Shi" did not work at the Da Li Temple, but rather it was a title used to determine the seniority and salary of low-ranking civil officials who had just entered the bureaucracy. In fact, when Su Dongpo first became an official, his full title was "General Gentleman Guarding the Great Justice Temple Evaluation Officer Signing Fengxiang Prefecture Governor's Office Public Affairs", where "General Gentleman" determined his rank, "Guarding the Great Justice Temple Evaluation Officer" determined his salary, and only "Signing Fengxiang Prefecture Governor's Office Public Affairs" was his actual job position, equivalent to the assistant of the Magistrate of Fengxiang (in the early Northern Song Dynasty, there was no such title as "Magistrate", the correct term was "Provisional Magistrate of Fengxiang Prefecture").
The emperor's paranoia has reached this point, even official positions can't be unified.
It's even more deadly for those military generals who hold the power. When fighting, they would give you a battle plan in advance, and you have to arrange your troops according to the emperor's plan. Even if the emperor is thousands of miles away and has no idea about the environment here, if there's a pit, you still have to jump into it. Otherwise, the supervisor will come out and point at your nose, saying that you didn't follow the emperor's order...
Obeying the emperor's order and losing a battle is not a big deal. But if you don't obey, even if you win, you'll still be dragged back and beheaded!
Not only did the emperor suspect, but even those scholars and officials also suspected together. The greatest military achievement of the Northern Song Dynasty was Di Qing, who had actually pacified a rebellion of a southwestern ethnic minority. As a result, he was constantly ostracized by those scholars and officials with lingering doubts until his death.
What was even more unfortunate for Wang Xianzhi was that he led the army to recover Xi Prefecture, allowing the northwest to return to the Song Dynasty's territory once again. That battle was extremely brilliant, capturing all the Tibetan nobles and bringing them back to the capital, it can be said that it was a thorough and clean victory.
However, this enraged the powerful Shi Daifu group, saying that Wang Can was too cruel when fighting in Xizhou, killing many people. Let the Qiang and Tubo tribes hate to the bone marrow, thinking of revenge every day (Qiang Tang Zhū bù yuàn zhān rù gǔ suǐ, rì tú bào fù).
So Wang Ze had committed a crime, and he let the Song Dynasty be in danger at all times. So this old brother who won the battle and expanded the territory could only be exiled. Halfway through his journey, this unlucky old brother thought it over and decided to hang himself...
Many insightful people in the Song Dynasty recognized its harm. However, this was a national policy of the Song Dynasty, or rather, the Zhao family's policy, which would not be changed at all. Military generals were inevitably suspected and supervisors were inevitably dispatched... So Wen Fei said so, and neither Zhang Shu Ye nor Tong Guan could do anything but smile wryly!
Tong Guan said, "What the immortal master said makes sense. In terms of fighting, our family is really no match for those military generals. When it comes to real battles, our family will never pretend to be knowledgeable and give reckless orders!"
Zhang Shu Ye listened and was shocked, saying: "In that case, I will thank General Tong on behalf of the soldiers in the army!"
Wen Fei originally was just talking nonsense, seeing the two being so serious, he also felt a bit embarrassed. He burst out laughing and said: "This is great, I have something to give to Officer Tong too!"
As he spoke, he took out a pair of binoculars from his luggage. They weren't anything special, just something he had bought online for a few hundred yuan. Wen Fei enthusiastically instructed Tong Guan on how to use the binoculars. Following Wen Fei's instructions, Tong Guan walked out of the tent and looked up, and suddenly a tree that was originally tens of meters away seemed to be pulled right in front of him. He was startled and reached out to touch it, only to find himself grasping at air.
He took down the telescope and looked at the trees, which were still tens of meters away. He couldn't help but sigh repeatedly, saying: "The treasure of the immortal family is indeed extraordinary, such a treasure cannot be owned by a mortal like me, I should present it to the emperor!"
Wen Fei is sweating profusely. Look at their political quality, no wonder they can be trusted by the emperor. It turns out that they never forget to flatter at all times!
It was Zhang Shu-ye who played with it for a while and saw the military value of this telescope. With this treasure in hand, the enemy is still far away, and every move can be seen clearly. However, when Tong Guan said to present it to the emperor, Zhang Shu-ye had no choice but to swallow his words.
At that time, Emperor Huizong of Song was an emperor who liked strange and unusual things the most. I suppose seeing such a novel object, he would surely love it so much!
Wen Fei only brought this telescope, originally intending to give it to Tong Guan for use in battle. But he also offered it to Song Huizong, so be it, no big deal. Anyway, winning or losing has nothing to do with him. This great Song dynasty era was completely treated by him as a virtual online game.
