: The Proud Student

Wang Anshi's expression was very firm, and Chen Yuan smiled relaxedly. He didn't want to talk about this topic anymore, because he had already made up his mind that he would try it even if it seemed impossible.

"Mr. Fan is now preparing to implement the new policy. What do you think?"

Two consecutive issues are the hottest topics in the court now. Wang Anshi has obviously considered these things: "Sir, students think that the implementation of the new policy can completely alleviate the current drawbacks of our Song Dynasty, but the court has not yet made any movement. Students are worried that if it delays for a long time, there may be more trouble."

Chen Yuan leaned back and tapped his fingers gently on the table twice: "What disadvantages will arise?"

Wang Anshi said: "Students think that when reforms are carried out vigorously and vigorously, there should be no slight drag. Like this new policy, the news has spread among the people before it has been implemented. Those who oppose the new policy will come up with various strategies to fight against it. In particular, each page of Liu Yong's newspaper has a large space of discussions about the new policy, which is really inappropriate."

Chen Yuan looked at him and couldn't help but think, was it that he was really wrong? But as soon as this concept came out, Chen Yuan forced it down. He firmly believed that he was not wrong and reforms must be done slowly.

Just as I was about to talk about my own ideas, a table next to me suddenly stood up, dressed as a scholar, and walked straight towards Wang Anshi: "What brother said was surprised, the new policy could not solve any problem. If it was forcibly implemented, it would inevitably harm the country and the people."

Chen Yuan glanced at the scholar, who was about the same age as Wang Anshi, but his tone of speaking revealed great confidence.

Wang Anshi was robbed by him and his face turned red: "I wonder if you can ask me, why will the new policy harm the country and the people?"

The man smiled, sat beside the two of them, and saluted at them with his fists: "I'm Sima Guang, I'm disturbing a cup of tea. You two won't drive me away, right?"

Chen Yuan slowly smiled and picked up the teapot and poured Sima Guang a cup of tea: "I also want to know, which of the ten policies of Lord Fan is a disaster to the country and the people?"

Sima Guang had just returned to Bianjing to work and did not know Chen Yuan. Even if he knew him, he would say whatever he should say: "Everything is a disaster for the country and every one of them is a disaster for the people!"

Wang Anshi is also a sharp-talking person, and his words are not inferior to Sima Guang. When he was about to get up to debate, Chen Yuan waved his hand to signal him not to speak.

"Then you just tell me one by one."

Sima Guang was not polite: "Let me talk about the 'clear promotion and demotion' first. Once this method is released, how many officials in the Song Dynasty want to go home to farm? These people are also scholars with status, and they will dismiss their official positions without any faults. There is no such precedent in my Song Dynasty. The idea of ​​promotion depends on the grades is good, but who can clearly explain the grades? Isn't that equivalent to no standards?"

Chen Yuan thought for a moment: "The achievement depends on what he has done for the local people. If he is such a mediocre official, of course he has to rush home."

Sima Guang said, "Okay, then I would like to ask my brother, if a local official has sent me a praise for him, is it considered that he has done a good job?"

Chen Yuan nodded: "Of course!"

Sima Guang smiled: "I used to be in the Song Dynasty. When the emperor sent an imperial envoy to inspect the places he managed, he found that the places he managed were not retrieval of the roads and did not close their doors at night. The people were simple in customs, and the roadside business and traveled in a wide range of peace and contentment. Should such a local official be promoted?"

Chen Yuan nodded even more: "That's natural."

Sima Guang sighed: "It's a pity that the imperial envoy did not promote him, but killed him. Do you know why? Because that person is the nephew of Grand Master Pang of the dynasty, and the imperial envoy responsible for the inspection was Lord Bao."

When answering him, Chen Yuan knew that he was going to fall into a trap. He just wanted to see what Sima Guang's trap was. He said immediately: "How can brother Tai summarize the entire Song Dynasty in one thing? Then Pang Yu used deception methods. How many traitors in the Song Dynasty are like that?"

Sima Guang said: "Then how many Lord Bao in the Song Dynasty can see through those evil people? If it were changed to other imperial envoys and the system of the new policy, I think Pang Yu would not only not be killed, but also enter the court. Such a person would only harm one party in the place, but if he entered the court, he would harm a country!"

Chen Yuan nodded slightly at this time: "What he said makes sense. Then, how can Jungongtian harm the country and the people?"

Sima Guang heard Chen Yuanyi and continued to say that, he picked up the teacup and took a sip: "What is the purpose of Jungongyuan? Lord Fan said that it is to take out the excess public land and distribute it to the people who have no fertile land. But this cannot solve any problem at all. Yu Shigong only took more and obtained less. What should the people do after they get that little public land? Every year, when they encounter famine seasons, they still have to ask the rich to borrow grain, and if they don't pay it back over time, they should use the land to pay off their debts."

Chen Yuan interrupted: "But it can at least solve the current problem."

Sima Guang nodded: "Brother Tai said very well. Now it seems that dividing public land to those refugees can make them more stable. But what about the future? If you encounter such a famine again, will you still divide public land? At that time, will the literati and doctors still be willing to divide it?"

Chen Yuan smiled very happily: "Switch to say."

Sima Guang also became more and more excited about Chen Yuan, a listener who was willing to listen, and refuted one by one. During this period, Wang Anshi wanted to refute many times, but Chen Yuan stopped him with a wink. It can be seen that Sima Guang is a typical person who supports the current policy.

When he was completely dismissed by the other nine points, Chen Yuan suddenly asked, "There are still martial arts preparations, why don't you say it?"

Sima Guang was stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly: "I'm not hiding my brother. In the next step, I always believe that to ensure peace in the Song Dynasty, we should demonstrate our virtues and cultivate the good of foreign countries. This statement of martial arts preparation is not only a waste of people and money, but also arouse those generals into the court! I think we can only seek a place in the court after more than ten years of hard study. Those martial artists can be on an equal footing with us with all their strength. Is this fair? But long live, now we have made up our minds. We are ministers, so we cannot say anything."

Chen Yuan heard that he did not object to this because Renzong was already doing this. But he still had a big opinion in his heart.

Chen Yuan clapped his face: "What you said is right, everything makes sense. I've been taught."

Sima Guang politely clasped his fists: "Where is a little shallow view, it is a great honor to be recognized by Brother Tai. I don't know the name of Brother Tai? When I saw him today, I feel like I'm getting old at first sight. I hope I can communicate more with Brother Tai in the future."

Chen Yuan smiled: "I'm here to Chen Shimei."

Sima Guang first smiled: "Oh, it turns out to be Brother Chen."

After saying this, his face changed drastically: "Chen Shimei? You, you?"

Chen Yuan stood up and said, "Listen to you is better than reading for ten years. Sima Guang, I'm just very surprised. Since you want to cultivate virtue, why do you still write an article for Liu Yong on how to pacify Dangxiang?"

Sima Guang quickly came to his senses, but there was no smile on his face. He knew that Chen Shimei's main force in implementing the new policy. This time, Pang Ji asked Sima Guang to come back, the main reason was that among those young people, many people followed Chen Shimei and Ouyang Xiu. He wanted to use Sima Guang's reputation among those young people to save some situations.

"Mr. Chen is really good at taking down the official position. If the official had known Lord Chen's identity, how could he think of convincing Lord Chen!"

Chen Yuan was still smiling and poured Sima Guang a glass of water: "I just want to know, why did you write that article about how to pacify Dangxiang? Why don't you be gentle with your virtue?"

Sima Guang snorted: "With virtue and Huairou depends on whom. For Li Yuanhao's reality, who used the Liao Kingdom with our Song Dynasty and then attacked the Song Dynasty with his backhand. Can Huairou be used?"

Chen Yuan nodded: "What he said makes sense. To be honest, I am very interested in the questions you just said. There are many of them that I have never thought about, such as the promotion of the official. It seems that we are too anxious and we must first introduce a more appropriate system."

Sima Guang and Wang Anshi were both stunned. Sima Guang never expected that Chen Yuan could listen to his opinion and didn't know what to say for a moment.

Chen Yuan said at this time: "Let's do it first, Lord Sima, I hope you can help me think of that system when you go back. If you have any opinions, you can come to me at any time. I am very happy to see you here today. As for how we can go on and off in the court in the future, that will be the future. I will treat you today, which is considered to be a friend."

Sima Guang sighed. He admired Chen Yuan's mind very much. He immediately clasped his fists: "Don't worry, your friend is up to you, but I still oppose your new policy, and this will never change."

Chen Yuan smiled and pointed at Sima Guang with his fingers: "I will succeed, look at me!"

Chen Yuan will really succeed, but the reason is very simple. In fact, Fan Zhongyan’s new policy is a good reform. Don’t look at what Sima Guang said is useless, but this opportunity is really the best opportunity for the Song Dynasty to be reborn.

There is a main reason why this reform failed in history. First of all, the concept of reform only sparked among a small group of people in the upper class of the elite group of scholars and officials, and there was no consensus at all, let alone let the people and grassroots officials know.

This has changed because of Chen Yuan's arrival. He is vigorously promoting the new policy, and he lets the people and grassroots officials know what the new policy is to do. At the same time, the newspaper he opened has given the reformists and conservatives a platform for quarrels. In the quarrel, there are actually many issues that can be agreed upon.

The second reason is that in history, Renzong carried out this reform on a completely whim, and Fan Zhongyan was too hasty, which made this reform lack a certain organizational force and seemed much hasty. He lacked the planning and design of the time expectation of the time from the launch to the completion of various reform undertakings, sequence and operational guarantee measures, which gave the opponent a flaw in attack.

But Chen Yuan will now let Renzong continue his whim. He will suggest Fan Zhongyan to do it one by one, such as the promotion of an official. Chen Yuan thinks what Sima Guang said makes sense. If there is no perfect assessment mechanism for such things, it is best not to apply a strong medicine!

Reforming things is the most important thing to be anxious.

Chen Yuan was confident that he would succeed. When he said this to Sima Guang, Sima Guang also smiled and bowed slightly: "Should you wait and see."

Sima Guang and his fellow travelers left. When they left, the scholars also came to say hello to Chen Yuan. When they left, Chen Yuan greeted Wang Anshi: "Anshi, let's go."

Wang Anshi stepped forward and whispered, "Just call me Jiepu. By the way, why didn't you let the students refute him just now? Students will definitely refute his truth one by one."

Chen Yuan nodded: "I believe you have that ability, but what can you do if you refute it one by one? Can you convince him to change his position?"

Wang Anshi was stunned. He really didn't have this confidence.

Chen Yuan patted his shoulder: "Since we can't change him, what's the point of listening to him finishing his words? Jiepu, you are very talented, but you have to remember that your opponent's opinions are your best medicine."

Wang Anshi hugged his fists: "The students have been taught."

Chen Yuan suddenly said: "There is still one year before the autumn examination next year. Are you interested in going to Dangxiang to do something with me?"

Wang Anshi was overjoyed. This was an opportunity for him, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Going to Dangxiang means being able to do things for the court, so that he would have a little more capital than others after he was admitted to the imperial list. He said now: "Thank you, Lord Chen! Students dare not obey orders!"
Chapter completed!