A product of wealth and nobility

  Three watches one million one thousand words seeking votes and collection

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  Song Jiuzai brought tea to the building, where two people were sitting in a elegant room. One of them was recognizable, Zhao Kuangyi, and the other was a middle-aged man, about 40 years old, but actually 37 years old. He looked slightly older due to his long military career and later becoming emperor, which took a toll on him. He had a round face, wore a soft, flat hat with a low and flat top, also known as a "ping-style small top", a type of hat that was commonly used by both high-ranking officials and ordinary people. Like Zhao Kuangyi, he had a round face and was chubby, but there were many differences between them. This man looked more majestic and seemed to have a more pleasant demeanor than Zhao Kuangyi, who appeared stern and serious.

  Two people sat together, and this person was still sitting in the main seat, but Song Jiu didn't know his identity yet?

  Song Jiuknowing that this Taizu Emperor was a rare emperor who was close to the people, felt a bit intimidated and carefully walked forward, bowing down and saying: "Your minister pays homage to Your Majesty, pays homage to the Great King."

  Song Ji felt ashamed of his nervousness, wasn't he just an emperor? He was also human. But he didn't know that his performance had already made Zhao Kuangyin look up to him. In this era, ordinary people who saw the emperor could hardly speak, and some were so nervous that they would tremble with fear.

  Zhao Kuangyin smiled slightly: "At ease."

  Song Jiuzai stood up and asked, "May I sit down?"

  "You once said in Hezhou that you wanted to have a cup of tea with me and talk about your feelings. Are we going to have tea here or in the palace?"

  "It's all right, it's good, I'm so nervous that I can hardly breathe, when I entered the palace, I couldn't even speak."

  The truth is, Liu Gonggong was amused, no wonder Er Dawang said that when talking to this kid, one has to hold back their laughter.

  "Then it's here."

  Song Jiu was still a bit nervous, Zhao Kuangyin had revealed his identity, the attendants did not dare to slack off, the imperial garden was not far from here, and an attendant immediately invited a team of attendants to be on guard, upstairs and downstairs in the teahouse, outside the teahouse, everywhere there were soldiers standing, fully armed, holding bright weapons. Song Jiu had seen such scenes many times before, he could still sit steadily, already a first-class bravery.

  Zhao Kuangyin said: "Jiulang, have some tea."

  "Your Majesty, I dare not take on your single word of request."

  "It's not necessarily so, if you put me and the imperial court in your eyes, then Second Brother would not have a headache."

  Headache?

  "Never mind about that, earlier those few short songs of yours although were sung off-key, the lyrics weren't bad, why not properly take the imperial examination?"

  "Your Majesty, those few short songs are the best among all the short songs I have written over the years. In my humble opinion, it's better to improvise and write in the 4-6 sentence rhyming style, I am not capable of that."

  "If it's not written well, then don't write it, why bother with flowery language?"

  "Your Majesty, how many great men of ancient times wrote in parallel prose? Parallel prose originated from the Wei and Jin dynasties, a time when the country was in decline. Although the Tang Dynasty also used it, they overemphasized military power and neglected literature, which led to the An Shi Rebellion disaster. If Your Majesty wants to promote cultural education and value literary governance, you must restore the original appearance of ancient times and cannot continue to use parallel prose as the mainstream of writing, even though it is elegant but empty, or sounds pleasant but is full of clichés and unclear in meaning."

  The four-six parallel prose is a parallel prose with four characters and six characters in between, occasionally with two, three, five, seven characters also possible. However, by the Tang Dynasty, it developed gradually to perfection, even if there were intervals of two, three, five, seven, eight, nine characters, they could not be considered standard four-six parallel prose. That is why the famous article "Tengwang Pavilion Preface" can only be considered non-standard four-six parallel prose.

  Of course, they are magnificent. The Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng, The Rhapsody on the Palace of A Fang, and The Lament for the South, these articles are all magnificently written.

  But it's hard to write with the requirement of rhyming couplets throughout, and mainly using four or six characters. So Li Bai's talent was evident when he wrote a letter of self-recommendation to Han Chaozong, where he only used a small amount of antithetical phrases to express himself, without daring to write in parallel prose or use the four-six format for this letter. Li Bai didn't make it, and few others did either; Song Jiu certainly didn't. But ordinary scholars aren't like Song Jiu - when they get to the examination hall, they have their own ways of dealing with things. The Song dynasty was quite humane: the examiner sat behind a screen, and if the candidate didn't understand something, he could stand up and ask from behind the screen; the examiner would clarify from behind the screen. This doesn't count for fill-in-the-blank or explanation questions - this refers to poetry, rhapsody, argumentation, and policy essays. Private books weren't allowed in the examination hall, but candidates were permitted to bring in the two rhyme dictionaries "Qie Yun" and "Yu Pian".

  This is inevitable, the examinees include people from Hebei, Shandong, Shaanxi, and Huainan, and later there will be people from Sichuan, Hunan, Lingnan, and Jiangzhe. The pronunciations of these places are also different from those in later generations. After the Yuan and Qing dynasties conquered Central China, all regions across the country were influenced by the northern barbarian languages, but it was not the Khitan or Jurchen language that became Mandarin Chinese. Instead, they influenced the pronunciation of Chinese, while the Central Plains pronunciation also influenced theirs. That is to say, even in Northern China, Mandarin Chinese is a foreign language.

  The pronunciation in different places is still different, and these two books are necessary for correct rhymes and sounds.

  These candidates are not good enough, but they have a way to deal with it. They keep flipping through two books of rhymes and then desperately pile them up. They take out one sentence at a time, antithetical couplets, and press the rhyme, but when the whole article is read together, readers often don't know what to say.

  There are also good writers, but few. As long as you can write well, and your other subjects aren't bad, you can get into high school. But how many people can put it down? In fact, if you don't write well, the examiner is not a fool, unless your family has a strong background. However, once the anonymous system is implemented, everyone will be equal. Therefore, an article that is hastily pieced together is not as good as not writing one at all. Song Jiuyi had no background and couldn't write well, so he wisely chose not to write, but was dissatisfied, and wrote this ancient prose instead.

  The story begins from here...

  "You also say that we should promote the rule of law and attach importance to governance, but why do you also say that seeing the five dynasties' methods of controlling their rulers is enough to control them, releasing all military power, making their strength weak and easy to control? I fear that you don't know that your descendants will eventually be trapped by enemy states. Seeing the chaos in Hunan, officials and people want to think about changing the emperor's life and revolutionizing the old system, because they want to fight for power and interests, but I fear that you don't know that miscellaneous and complicated problems will follow one after another, and the country will be trapped by financial difficulties."

  Song Jiuxian was delighted with what he had written, but this sentence caused Zhao Kuangyin a lot of distress.

  Song Jiuxin was unaware, first he was stunned, looking up at Zhao Kuangyin, thinking to himself, you old man is busy with a million things, how do you have time to pay attention to the exam paper of a failed candidate?

  But it's not easy to answer.

  Yesterday, in the Kaifeng Prefecture's public hall, Song Jiuke saw some things and realized that the system was not perfect. The incident of releasing military power had occurred, but it still did not completely release military power, and there were still some fake prefectures and towns in various places. They wrote a passage that was aimed at the future, but could not be entirely aimed at the present. One can eat food randomly, but one cannot speak randomly. He pondered: "Your Majesty, observing the subtle to know the obvious, the feudal townships are definitely not feasible. A ruler with ability can control them, but without ability, they will inevitably cause the country to collapse. Taking back the military power of the feudal townships is correct, but completely abandoning martial arts and emphasizing literature is also incorrect. As for the struggle for power, the court has implemented the system of appointing officials based on merit, but there are still incidents like Li Chuyun's case. With Your Majesty's ability, Later Shu and Southern Tang are not worth worrying about. Therefore, I venture to guess that Your Majesty will reform in order to bring about a peaceful era for all eternity, so as not to let the people suffer from war and chaos. Hence, at that time, he wrote down this passage.

  "It's not good to interpret, nor is it good not to interpret. It's not good to hold on to the reins tightly, nor is it good not to hold them at all. Must I rule by doing nothing?"

  "Is it 'governing by inaction'? Those are the angry words of Sima Qian due to the castration of Emperor Wu of Han. Who says that Emperors Wen and Jing were governing by inaction? They weren't governing by inaction, but rather making subtle adjustments. As a result, the country was developing, with minimal turmoil. This kind of governance is even more difficult. Sima Qian, bookworm! Li Bai, crazy scholar! Therefore, there are wise rulers in the world who cannot be used."

  "Nonsense! If you have the talent of Sima Qian or Li Bai, I would dare to use you too."

  "This, this... Your Majesty, I am even less capable than them, so I am just a humble commoner."

  Zhao Kuangyi finally couldn't bear it and burst out laughing.

  "Song nine, should I also learn from Wen Jing, and govern with subtle adjustments?"

  "Your Majesty, I saw someone from the south come to the capital in winter and thought it was cold, so even in summer he didn't dare take off his pants. And then I saw someone from the north come to the capital in summer and felt it was hot, but by winter he only wore a single layer of clothing. Isn't that strange?"

  This is not a trivial analogy.

  Zhao Kuangyin's expression changed, he stood up and said: "Serve tea, serve the best tea."

  The owner was already dizzy, not knowing whether he was happy, excited, nervous or afraid. Since the guards came to clear the scene, several people stood there, constantly waving their fans, with blank minds. When they heard Zhao Kuangyin shouting loudly from upstairs, they were busy and forgot to bring water, but Liu Gonggong took over and the few of them hastily went downstairs.

  Zhao Kuangyin said: "Is there no eternal system?"

  Song Jiuxing gradually relaxed from his initial tension, thinking to himself that this was the Emperor, and although he had a thousand years of experience, the other person's brain was definitely more useful. He thought for a moment before responding: "There is no eternal system, only eternal principles. What are principles? Principles refer to measurements, standards, and norms. A country's strength lies in its internal governance, which is crucial, as well as its civil administration, which cannot be neglected, nor can its military preparedness. When the Tang Dynasty first began, the population was sparse and the land was empty, so it was possible to partially implement the equal-field system and the fu-bing system. Later, with 90 million households of common people, both the equal-field system and the fu-bing system were completely destroyed. Times are different, principles are different."

  "Easier said than done."

  "Your Majesty, it is easy to talk about but difficult to do. Therefore, governing a large country is like cooking a small fish, and one must be cautious."

  "What is Zhi? What is Du?"

  "Your Majesty, I am but a humble subject."

  "No need to be a humble commoner anymore, I hereby appoint you as a Confucian scholar."

  Rulin Lang is a ninth-grade civil servant, also known as a yilu official. From now on, Song Jiu can receive some salary from the court, but the main source of income for Song officials is still various rewards and bonuses. Not only must one have a civil servant position, but also an official position; having both a civil servant and an official position does not necessarily grant decision-making power, which requires being a difang official. To be a difang official, one must first have an official position, so the official position is even more important than the civil servant position. It's not bad, at least from now on he's no longer just a common citizen. Song Jiu happily said: "Thank you, Your Majesty."

  "You're welcome, go on."

  "I just want to say one sentence: a country's rise and fall, every ordinary person has the responsibility; as an ordinary citizen, we should also love our country and care about national affairs."

  "A country's rise and fall, every individual has a responsibility, it sounds good, but don't spread this word outside."

  "Your Majesty... I understand." Song Jiu couldn't help but chuckle, there were still many places in the Song Dynasty that had not been conquered yet. Later Shu, Southern Tang, Southern Han, Northern Han, Wu Yue and Chen Hongjin's Min State had barely surrendered to the imperial court. Strictly speaking, even Annam, which belonged to China, was unknown whether Taizu would be interested after this. Dali, Xiqiang, Tubo, if every country's rise and fall were like this, with everyone having a responsibility, Zhao Kuangyin would be very sorrowful.

  "Besides."

  "The common people must also love the country, only then will the nation have cohesion. But if one is not in a position of power, they cannot make decisions for the state. The true decision-makers are Your Majesty, the prime minister, and high-ranking officials. The greater the power, the heavier the responsibility. Since ancient times, being an emperor has been the most difficult job."

  "How dare you!" Liu Gonggong used his duster to whip Song Jiubao's head.

  "Grand Duke Liu, don't be anxious, Song Jiuzi, I ask you, why is it most difficult to be an emperor?"