Chapter Thirty Continues to Fool Around

  "Master Xian Shi Gao Yi, I must report this to the authorities!" Tong Guan said sternly.

  Wen Fei shrugged his shoulders, actually not very interested in official rewards and the like. He was not a person of the Northern Song Dynasty, even if he came to this space-time of the Northern Song, he would just treat himself as a passing guest, with an attitude of playing with the red dust, naturally he wouldn't take all this too seriously!

  But this kind of carefree attitude is even more in line with the ancient people's understanding of immortals. Let Tong Guan and the others be born, this is indeed the feeling of a high-ranking Taoist.

  A few more words were exchanged before Tong Guan said, "Immortal Master, I have come this time to pay my respects and also to attend to some official business. The imperial court has appointed me as the recipient of the military affairs of the five routes in Shaanxi..."

  Zhang Shuye looked at Wen Fei's confused face and knew that this immortal didn't understand many common sense things. Moreover, the official titles of the Great Song Dynasty were too complicated, with duty officials, rank officials, and dispatched officials, whose complexity could make an outsider hit a wall. Furthermore, Tong Guan was a eunuch, who had his own independent official ranking system, making it even more complicated. So he explained in a sentence: "It's just the military supervisor!"

  Wen Fei said that other Wen Fei was not clear, but as soon as he mentioned the supervisor, Wen Fei immediately understood. Can't help despising the emperor of the Song Dynasty!

  Zhao Kuangyin was originally a usurper who seized power and took the throne by force, so he was naturally afraid that others would follow his example and plot against him. Therefore, not only did he make the official system extremely complicated, but he also didn't trust the military generals at all, often dispatching eunuchs to supervise the army during battles.

  You think about it, most of the eunuchs who died were serving in the palace, and most of them had some mental abnormalities. Running out to supervise the army, they didn't understand military affairs, but relied on being close to the emperor, and liked to give orders on how to fight. This way, winning a battle is difficult!

  It turns out that Tong Guan is here to do this kind of unremarkable work, and Wen Fei can't help but look down on him a bit. In his heart, he thought, I had thought that Tong Guan valued me so much. He came all the way from Kaifeng to Lanzhou to see me, it turns out he was actually here to supervise the northwest, and seeing me was just an incidental thing. Damn it, I was moved for nothing!

  He is not very familiar with the history of Northern Song Dynasty and has never specifically looked it up. Even the matter of Tong Guan being enfeoffed as a king was something he heard from his old man during their chats!

  This is Wen Fei's problem, he can't bear to part with the things he likes. But for things he's not interested in, he often neglects them and doesn't even notice. It's like the old saying goes, "he wouldn't even help pick up an oil bottle if it fell over!"

  He clearly knew he was going to hang out in Northern Song, but didn't even bother to look up information about it. But this is also understandable, Wen Fei doesn't even bother to read the instructions or background of any game, let alone understand the rules. He just muddles along in the game. When things get really tough and he can't pass a certain level, only then will he turn back to take a look.

  So although he could say that Tong Guan would be crowned king after the child emperor, he had no idea what good things this scoundrel Tong Guan, who was monitoring the northwest, could do!

  Wen Fei's expression was so obvious that Tong Guan felt embarrassed. But then Wen Fei said bluntly, "No wonder the Song Dynasty always loses battles, tsk...".

  Tong Guan's face immediately fell as he said, "How can the immortal master speak such words? The great Song dynasty is prosperous and powerful, with strong soldiers and horses..."

  Wen Fei rolled his eyes and said, "It's not even half as big as the Tang Dynasty, let alone how many war horses do you have? You're still strong and vigorous."

  Wen Fei's words made Tong Guan almost choke to death, and even Zhang Shu Ye felt extremely embarrassed. If someone else were in your presence, saying how bad your country is, and every sentence hitting the nail on the head, making you unable to refute, I'm afraid they would also feel as embarrassed as these two! And who knows, maybe they would even become enraged with shame.

  Luckily, it's not clear whether Wen Fei Xianren's words are useful or Tong Guan's heart is broad. Seeing him stand up and bow to Wen Fei: "Master says so, must be teaching me something. I'll listen carefully!"

  Wen Fei was taken aback, these words were just casual remarks, and they were all mentioned when he had a drink with his old man last time. If Wen Fei himself had to give advice to Tong Guan, that would be a real disaster. Who doesn't know that Wen Fei is not interested in history and has always been poor at it?

  "This is easy to say, but hard to do!" Wen Fei said casually, fortunately, he had not run his previous business in vain, at least he had not forgotten how to fool people. While speaking empty words, his brain started spinning rapidly: "Professional things should be solved by experts themselves. Ah, it's like a carpenter making furniture, a bricklayer building houses, and a cooper making barrels. You can't let a cooper build houses or a bricklayer make furniture, can you? Can this thing be done well? Or when a bricklayer is building a house, a cooper is on the side directing him, saying to do it this way and that..."

  Zhang Uncle Ye and Tong Guan both smiled wryly, this matter has long been a familiar tale. Not only did people of later generations know about it, but many knowledgeable scholars of the Northern Song Dynasty had already seen the problem early on. They also wanted to solve it, but it was still like what was said at the beginning. Zhao Kuangyin's Chenqiao mutiny, wearing the yellow robe, took away the world of the Later Zhou Dynasty's Chai family. When his younger brother Zhao Guangyi came along, he followed in his older brother's footsteps and staged a coup, taking away his older brother's world.

  The founding emperors of the Song Dynasty, Taizu and Taizong, both obtained the throne through plotting and usurpation. Naturally, their paranoia was quite severe, not only did they distrust military generals but also civil officials, designing official titles to be complicated and confusing. They wanted those in power to have no legitimate claim to authority, thus being unable to use their power to rebel.

  For example, the most familiar Daqing official Bao Zheng, also known as "Hei Lian Bao Gong" in operas, held the title of " Deputy Envoy of the Imperial Secretariat, Gentleman of the Chamber with Separate Carriage, Upper Light Chariot, Marquis of Donghai County, Enfeoffed with 1800 households, Real Sealed with 400 households, Bestowed with a Purple Gold Fish Bag, Posthumously Honored as Minister of Rites" when he passed away, totaling 45 characters.

  If journalists nowadays could travel through time and space to interview Bao Zheng in the Song Dynasty, asking him if he could shorten his title, he would probably say no, because removing any word would make it impossible to accurately and completely express his identity, status and scope of duty.

  This long string of official titles actually doesn't have a single redundant word, it's really impossible to change even one character!