Chapter 23: The Father's Generation (Part 1, Seeking Votes in Four Updates)

  Seeing Song Jiu escape, the three men put their knives back in their scabbards and chased after him. The two family servants also followed suit. Song Jiu ran fast, and the five of them chased after him just as quickly. They chased for over an hour, from the East Water Gate to the Tai Temple, from the Tai Temple to the Xiangguo Temple, from the Xiangguo Temple to the Xuande Building, and from the Xuande Building to the Yushi Platform. Song Jiu was panting heavily, shouting in his heart that he had done nothing wrong - all he did was sing a little ditty and ask someone's surname, so why were they chasing him with such desperation? The capital city was crowded, and there were many patrolling soldiers. Song Jiu couldn't shake off the pursuers, so he rushed towards a group of soldiers and shouted loudly: "Brother soldiers, someone is trying to kill me!"

  A dozen soldiers stopped in their tracks, only to see the three young men, and immediately looked away, pretending not to have seen them. Song Jiu was so angry that he wanted to scold someone, but had no choice but to continue fleeing. He was exhausted, and the five people behind him were equally exhausted. The smallest one had already been left behind, a family servant who had been injured also fell behind, while two larger ones chased after them with another servant, shouting: "You little rascal, you may be able to run away, but you can't escape the temple!"

  Song Jiuzi gave a cold snort and said, "You're right, are you saying I won't be going home from now on?"

  It just so happens that in front of us is the Kaifeng Prefecture, where the sky and earth are vast, and there's definitely no such big king. The only one who can be bigger is the emperor himself. However, the Kaifeng Prefecture isn't an easy place to get into either. Two bailiffs grabbed him, while two young men chased after him, wanting to start a fight. Several other bailiffs intervened, asking: "Pang Dalang, Pang Erlang, what did this little guy do to offend you?"

  Although he was stopped, it was limited. Song Jiu couldn't take it anymore and got punched a few times. Song Jiu understood in his heart that this stop was just for show, and he still had to get beaten up. He could only use his fists as drumsticks and beat the big drum at the door. And in his heart, he thought of another thing - Pan! "Pan Mei!" The surname Pan is a hero general, who else but Pan Mei? If it were Pan Mei, he would understand. He was a hero general and also a handsome man, young and dashing, with outstanding martial arts skills. Only Pan Mei could have such a beautiful daughter. How did Song Jiu not think of this before? Song Jiu wanted to slap himself in the mouth. What's wrong with him for "flirting" with Pan Mei's daughter? This trouble was big!

  Zhao Kuangyi heard the drumbeat and had the three men brought up. When he saw them, Zhao Kuangyi didn't ask about the case, but just smiled - he knew everything!

  Song Jiuyi's heart was uneasy, could it be that this king also wanted to come and protect his officials? He hastily bowed and said: "Your subject greets Your Majesty, your subject has a grievance to report."

  "Do you have grievances? Remember Xiao Ying's initial words: 'Two hearts embroidered on a Luo robe, if not grievances, what grievances?'"

  It's all because of this sentence.

  Song Jiou said a rude word at the time, and it was settled afterwards. But he wrote a good little poem, which made people spread it around. Song Jiou didn't know Pan Lian'er, but someone else did, although they couldn't say it publicly. At first, people in the capital were wondering who that "Lian'er" was, but in some noblewomen's inner circles, there were jokes about Pan Lian'er being ambiguous. Zhao Kuangyi, who had been the prefect of Kaifeng for a few years and was only 25 years old, socialized with the younger generation and heard about this matter. However, under his wife's persuasion, the Pan family didn't bother Song Jiou. Nevertheless, when Song Jiou contacted that little "Bing" again, the gossips in the capital started talking once more, inevitably bringing up Pan Lian'er again. Unable to bear it any longer, Pan Lian'er instigated her two brothers to go to Song's house and cause trouble.

  He found it very amusing in his heart. This kid is good and bad, but every time he's with him, he always makes people feel happy.

  There are many stories behind it.

  Xiao Li said it was Song Jiuna's ancient prose of the imperial examination, while Da Li said it started from Pinghu South. During the Five Dynasties period, Ma Yin established a regime in Tan and Shao states, but was attacked by Li Jing who was not willing to be quiet. Li Jing quickly took over Hunan, but got stuck in the muddy battlefield and suffered at the hands of Chai Rong in the north. Ma Yin's general Liu Yan took advantage of the situation to recover Hunan. Soon after, Liu Yan was killed by his subordinates, and the beneficiary was Zhou Xingfang.

  After Zhou Xing's death, his 11-year-old son Zhou Baoquan succeeded him. Another brave general under his father, Zhang Wentuo, immediately rose up in rebellion. The ministers by Zhou Baoquan's side sent an envoy to the Song Dynasty for help. When the envoy arrived at the capital, this was a rare opportunity - they could head west into Ba-Shu or east into Southern Tang, but Zhao Kuangyin remained calm and told the envoy to go rest first. It wasn't until Gao Jichang of Jingnan died that his son Gao Jixing succeeded him, and when the ministers died, Zhao Kuangyin sent an envoy to offer condolences. The envoy returned with some information: although the armor and weapons of Jingnan were in good order, they only had 30,000 troops; although the grain harvest was bountiful, the people were suffering under cruel governance.

  Zhao Kuangyin burst out laughing and immediately issued an edict, ordering Murong Yanzhao to lead the army on a campaign, with Li Chuyu as the deputy envoy of the Secretariat monitoring the military. The large army marched south, necessarily passing through Jiangling. Murong and Li Chuyu used strategy to easily capture Jingnan, forcing Gao Jichong to surrender. At this time, Murong fell ill, but Li Chuyu performed well, so he was ordered to lead the army to pacify Hunan. However, news arrived from Hunan that Zhang Wentuo had already been pacified and thanked the Song Dynasty, saying that the Song army did not need to march south anymore. Zhao Kuangyin issued an edict: "The army has come a long way with great difficulty; why do you refuse the king's army and bring about your own destruction?"

  Zhou Baoquan refused to listen and became even more extreme. He ordered the land gates closed, bridges dismantled, and ships loaded with stones and wood sunk at the docks. Li Chuyu was shocked and intimidated, and after defeating them, he killed many prisoners of war. He selected dozens of fat ones from among them and, in front of the prisoners, boiled them in a large pot to feed his soldiers... Not only did he kill prisoners, but also his own people, especially those under Murong Yan's command. Murong was already ill, and in a fit of anger, his condition worsened, and soon he died. Under Li Chuyu's brutal rule, both the military and civilians in Hunan and Jingnan rebelled.

  Zhao Kuangyin did not want such a victory, what's the difference between him and Shi Hu Zhu Wen? What he regretted most was Mu Rong's death, that was his iron brother, when he became emperor, he still called him "brother" in private. When he heard of his passing, he wailed loudly, the officials came to advise that a ruler should not show excessive grief for a close minister, and the crying should be moderate. Zhao Kuangyin said: "I don't know where my sorrow comes from."

  So sad that I don't even know where the sadness comes from!

  Li Chuoyong was dismissed, and the situation in Hunan also became a mess. Zhao Kuangyin had to issue an edict declaring that all those who had caused trouble in Jingnan and Hunan would be pardoned and exempt from paying taxes for that year, in order to placate the people.

  Chaos has ended, death has passed, and those who are still alive have things that are still alive.

  Zhao Kuangyin saw many problems from this first expedition expansion, a great man must learn to think, that is, after the Pinghu South and other things, Zhao Kuangyin was ready to seriously plan his Jiangshan. He already had some ideas in his mind, but at this time, he saw a fatal article.

  The imperial examination came to an end, and Tao Gu emerged from the Ministry of Rites, announcing that Li Jingyang and seven others had passed. Tao Gu continued, "Your Majesty, I have another petition." Song Jiuxian was unable to write a poem in the eight-legged essay style, so he wrote that piece of ancient prose instead. Tao Gu demanded severe punishment for Song Jiuxian. At this time, there was no system of anonymous submissions, and Zhao Kuangyin saw Song Jiuxian's name and said, "Song Jiuxian, what a wonderful name!"

  "Your Majesty, a name is just a person's alias. If the name is good or bad, it will affect one's fate. Later on, I'm afraid all people under heaven will change their names to Song Jiu, Song Sheng, Song An... If not for this name, I would have ordered his arrest. This article is extremely presumptuous and reckless, please severely punish him."

  Tao Gu was well-versed in Confucian classics from a young age and later became famous for his writings. He served in the Later Jin, Later Han, Later Zhou, and Song dynasties. Although he had some lowly character traits, he had considerable talent. When the Song dynasty was established, he made some contributions to setting up its systems and institutions.

  Especially his rhyming couplets are well-written, so he is extremely resentful of this article by Song Jiu. However, nine is not only a homophone for "long time", but also an auspicious number in itself, and he cannot help but admit that the name is too auspicious for the Song dynasty.

  "Is it just an article, Taoling? This also needs to be severely punished. What can I use to let people from all over the world speak out?" Zhao Kuangyin was delighted and patted him on the shoulder, comforted him a few words, and sent Tao Gu away, but he dispatched someone to call himself and said: "Second brother, you secretly investigate."

  Tao Gu thinks that this article appearing in the imperial examination is a literary masterpiece, but Zhao Kuangyin sees something else, especially the sentence "Seeing the Five Dynasties' regional commanders being able to control their rulers, releasing all military power, making them weak and easy to control, I fear they do not know that their descendants will eventually be trapped in enemy countries. Seeing the chaos in Hunan, officials and civilians want to think about changing the emperor's life, with desires for power and profit competing with each other, I fear they do not know that miscellaneous and complicated things will follow one after another, and the country will be troubled by financial difficulties."

  The Song Dynasty has already started to take action on releasing military power, preparing to seize the right of control, a right that is saddled with reins, so as not to have stories about eating human flesh. For example, releasing military power through wine cups, or using Xue Ju and Lü Yuqing as participants in political affairs. However, large-scale actions have not yet been taken.

  Zhao Kuangyin saw this section, can't be surprised?

  Moreover, Song Jiu's words were quite reasonable, and this would overthrow all the constructions in his mind. It is unknown whether Song Jiu was mistaken or not, but he couldn't be just a 19-year-old scholar who thought ahead of himself. So Zhao Kuangyi sent someone to secretly investigate, and as a result, they unintentionally discovered Song Jiu's father, Song De...

  This is the real reason why the court values Song Jiu, not that crane. For this, Zhao Kuangyin even went to the river in person, first when installing the crane, it was what he said, the machine came out, but people were hard to deal with, how to distribute the benefits of the river, and what ideas would be produced by the labor force in Hebei. The second time Song Jiu gathered, he brought Zhao Pu and his subordinates to the scene, Song Jiu's words almost stunned Zhao Kuangyin. However, Song Jiu was all about money in the end. Zhao Kuangyin was so angry that he couldn't help but cry on his way back to the palace. Later, various things such as mathematics, machinery, abacus, chalk, and containers entered Zhao Kuangyin's eyes, the young man had many shortcomings, but had to admit that he had talent. However, there is one thing that Zhao Kuangyin did not notice, that is accounting, Song Jiu was teaching an incredible method of calculation, unfortunately, it was hidden in a deep courtyard and people didn't know about it.

  Zhao Kuangyi knew the thoughts of his elder brother, and proposed to appoint Song Jiu. However, Zhao Pu opposed it. All that happened behind the scenes, Song Jiu was definitely unaware of, nor did he know that his name had unknowingly brought him many benefits. Seeing that things were not going well, he bowed and said: "Your Majesty, this is just a coincidence. Even if there are places where I am at fault, Your Majesty should consider my contributions to the Great Song Dynasty and let it go. Two elder brothers, I apologize."

  Pan Mei's two sons also ignored him and said to Zhao Kuangyi, "Second Great King, I also want to sue this little boy, please ask the great king to deal with it."

  "Pan Dalang, Pan Erlang, what do you think should be done?"

  "Seduce a respectable woman's daughter, and receive 100 strokes of the cane."

  The Song Dynasty's legal system was relatively simple, with the most severe punishment being death. In the early Song period, the previous dynasty's clan extermination, lingchi, beating to death, and exposure in the market were still retained. It wasn't until the Zhenzong era that these death penalties were abolished one by one, leaving only hanging as a method of execution. Public beheadings and exposure in the market became less common, and this was not the case for Song Nine.

  The next was the punishment of gathering sticks, branding, exile and labor all together, first beaten, then tattooed on the face, and finally exiled to do hard labor. This Song Jiu didn't deserve it either.

  Furthermore, the official's punishment is exile. In the city of exile, there is a certain degree of personal freedom, and one can exchange letters with relatives and friends, teach locals, live with family members, but cannot leave the city, and must report to the local authorities every ten days. Song Jiu couldn't enjoy any of these privileges.

  Finally, there is the rattan stick. The rattan is used to hit the buttocks with a small thorny rod, at least ten times and at most fifty times. The stick is made of a three-foot-long bamboo stick, also hitting the buttocks, at least sixty times and at most one hundred times. In short, the punishment has developed in the direction of leniency. During the Tang Dynasty, not only was the beating heavy, but the part that was beaten was also cruel, with legs, back, and buttocks, often able to beat the offender to death. But this won't happen in the Song Dynasty.

  If Song Jiu knew the bailiffs, they would go easy on him, and sixty lashes would be nothing more than a slight pain for someone with thick skin like Song Jiu. But they couldn't hit him, these bailiffs seemed to know the two Pan gentlemen well, as long as one lash was given, it would definitely be heavy-handed, and even if it were only sixty lashes, Song Jiu wouldn't be able to withstand it. Zhao Kuangyi really sentenced several dozen lashes, relying on his own "harassment of others", he could also sentence him.

  Moreover, it seems that this sinister Second Master really wants to see himself being beaten. Song Jiu's mind quickly turned around, his eyes rolled over, and a plan formed in his head. Zhao Kuangyi watched him, not blinking once, waiting to see how this little guy would perform. On the surface, he was sitting upright with a serious expression, but inside, he was laughing loudly. No wonder Magistrate Liu said he was a living treasure. Song Jiu said: "Your Majesty, it's fine if you really want to beat me a hundred times, but if you break me, there will be no one left to teach those students."

  Zhao Kuangyi originally did not want to hit him, but upon hearing this, he gave the order: "Guards, take this man away and give him a hundred heavy blows. Remember, it's heavy blows!"