Chapter 52: Retaliation, Verbally Pummeling Wang Anshi into Unconsciousness

June 23, regular court session.

Wang Anshi washed and dressed early, and the carriage was already prepared outside. Today was the day of the imperial council, where the "system of stationing troops" was to be discussed once again. It was bound to be a fierce battle.

To maintain inner calm in the face of major events described a man like Wang Anshi, who still had the leisure to care about his daughter's calligraphy.

"Go on, for a young lady, practicing to this extent is quite enough!"

Madam Wang pushed him out the door and gave their daughter a wink. The young girl made a funny face and hurriedly fled the study.

Before boarding the carriage, the steward routinely presented the public gazettes collected from the marketplace to the chancellor.

Ever since Wang Pang had started running a gazette, Wang Anshi had grown increasingly attentive to such publications; sometimes public sentiment was stark reality, and he could not afford to ignore it.

He boarded the carriage and skimmed through them casually.

There was nothing particularly urgent—merely trivial city news regarding high-ranking court ministers, such as who was leaving the capital and who had returned.

Just as he was about to close his eyes for a nap, a sudden thought struck him, and he flipped back through the pages.

Yes, it was this one. Beneath the headline "Deceiving Heaven and Destroying Ancestors, Ruin is Imminent," there was a line of small text: "A Discussion on Chancellor Wang's Basis for Reform and the Legitimacy of the Great Song."

His heart skipped a beat. He knew this vernacular style intimately; only one person loved to use it.

He folded the paper and searched up and down for the author's name, only to find it disguised under the alias "Master Seeking Truth"—masking one's head and tail was the mark of a coward.

Reading the text in detail, he was instantly thrown into a towering rage.

"What is the Mandate of Heaven for the Great Song? To unify China, to pacify the realm within, to bring peace and happiness to the four classes. Yet Chancellor Wang treats the Mandate of Heaven as something not to be feared..."

Nonsense! He struck the carriage wall in fury, startling the driver, who thought something had happened.

When has this old man ever said that the Mandate of Heaven is not to be feared in reference to the mandate of the Great Song?

"Since antiquity, we have seen those who destroy themselves, but never a nation that brings chaos upon itself. If the Great Song loses its Mandate of Heaven, may I ask the Chancellor, who shall succeed it?"

"The laws of our Founding Emperor and Emperor Taizong harmonized civil and military officials, treated people with kindness, governed the populace with leniency, and vigorously promoted commerce and industry. Only thus did we attain a century of prosperity for our Great Song, Bianjing—the earthly paradise containing every corner of the world—and harmonious neighboring states on all sides. I ask you, casting aside the ancestral laws, how does the Chancellor intend to treat the world?"

"Exploiting middle-income households with the Green Sprouts Loan, grinding down soldiers with the Troop Stationing Law, squeezing merchants with the Market Exchange Law, and coercing impoverished farmers with the Equalized Field and Tax Law..."

A surge of blood rushed to his head, leaving him dizzy, his ears ringing, and his head splitting with pain.

"Stop the carriage, stop! Quickly, go to the medical clinic!"

Without a second word, the driver turned the carriage around and headed straight for the Daqian Medical Bureau outside the imperial city gates, which was specially established for dignitaries.

"Chancellor, the ride is rough, hold on tight!"

The driver cracked his whip twice in the air. Hearing the command, the horse broke into a gallop, racing wildly through the morning streets of Bianjing.

The Three Departments, Branch Office of Finance.

Lü Huiqing could now be considered a junior chancellor of sorts, and the Three Departments were, after all, three of the Six Ministries.

However, following Emperor Shenzong's reforms, the rank of the vice commissioners had been lowered somewhat, and he was currently holding the substantive fourth-rank post of concurrently administering the Office of Finance.

Therefore, he too was qualified to attend the imperial council.

How should he present Wang Anshi with a difficult problem today? Now that he finally had a handle on him, if he were to feign magnanimity and let it go, wouldn't the anger he had suffered a few days ago from Wang Pang's ridicule have been in vain?

He kneaded the memorial in his hand over and over again. After pondering for a long time, he shoved it back into his sleeve.

If others do unto me on the first day of the lunar month, I shall do unto them on the fifteenth; where was there any room for guilt?

How could a great man standing between heaven and earth...

Wang Pang was likely the last of the relevant people to learn the news. Serving as an Imperial Lecturer, he was required to explain the progress of the new laws to the emperor every three days.

He was on duty today and had set off even earlier than Wang Anshi.

Upon arriving at the palace, he held a brief morning meeting with his colleagues, arranged the tea and pastries required for the imperial council, and only then found the time to sit down and rest.

Just as he was about to drink a cup of cold tea and prepare to leave, urgent news came from outside: Chancellor Wang had collapsed outside the imperial city.

Throwing protocol to the wind, Wang Pang bolted out of the room and ran toward the city gate.

How could his father have collapsed? There had been no particularly distressing matters recently, save for the rumors that his eldest sister was to marry Wu Ante, which commoners whispered was a marriage between powerful ministers and a bad omen for the state.

Even so, it shouldn't be enough to anger him to the point of fainting. The mouths of Bianjing residents were such that they could curse for the duration of an incense stick if they saw a sparrow flying across the sky; there was no need to take it to heart.

The reforms had reached a critical juncture. If his father fell now, all previous efforts would be wasted.

The Hall of Diligent Government was two miles away from the city gate. Having run the entire distance in one breath, he remarkably was not too out of breath today, and even felt that breaking a sweat was rather refreshing.

Rushing into the medical clinic, he saw his father lying on a bed while a physician was administering acupuncture.

"Father... Father?"

Wang Anshi opened his eyes, his pupils full of exhaustion. Seeing Wang Pang, he managed a faint smile.

"Father, what caused this?"

The physician grew anxious, rolled up his sleeve, and almost swept Wang Pang aside with it.

"This is a critical moment! This old man is administering needles to save a life. If you cause trouble again, I will not treat him!"

Wang Pang cast a worried look at his father and had no choice but to step back.

At that moment, the driver Wang Xiaoqi handed over a stack of public gazettes. "Young master, the master was angered by reading these filthy things."

Wang Pang took them, carefully examining them page by page, and soon spotted the issue titled "Deceiving Heaven and Destroying Ancestors, Ruin is Imminent." Reading on, it was indeed infuriating enough to kill a man.

Without looking at the author's name, one could tell just from the atrocious writing style that it had to be Li Chang'an.

Instantly, the fury in his chest blazed like the midday sun in a clear sky, seemingly intent on burning the entire mortal world to ashes.

His father was his heaven, his everything, the meaning of Wang Pang's existence, and the ultimate anchor for all his actions.

Li Chang'an, how dare you provoke and insult my father like this? I will tear you limb from limb.

Consumed by rage, Wang Pang had lost his reason.

Apart from his father, he could command no resources whatsoever, let alone arrest and punish Li Chang'an.

No, wait—he thought of someone: Lü Huiqing.

This man owed his father; he owed the Wang family. He had to act; otherwise, he would be reduced to an ungrateful scoundrel.

With a sidelong glare at the physician who was still treating the chancellor, Wang Pang flicked his sleeve and stormed out of the medical clinic.

Li Chang'an, I want you dead!

Li Chang'an was currently happier than ever. After so many days of hard work, Wang Fu had finally let the little chubby boy come out to play with him again.

Su Mai had failed to lose weight and had instead grown another layer of fat.

Children were supposed to start school by age ten, and the Great Song made special provisions for capital officials: official academies specially set up by Bianjing Prefecture, open free of charge to the children of officials.

Yet this rascal had been chased out after just three days.

When the teacher said the sky was round and the earth was square, he asked the teacher how to prove it; when the teacher said the primal breath transforms into myriad lives, he asked the teacher to explain the process; when the teacher said human nature is inherently good, he mischievously cited numerous examples of children doing evil.

His own naughtiness was one thing, but he also corrupted other children and even circulated something called *The Great Sage's Journey to the West* during class.

The libationer of the official academy personally sought out Su Shi, stating that the child possessed innate knowledge bestowed by heaven, and that the humble temple of the official academy could not accommodate such a true Buddha.

After enduring a few days of "stir-fried bamboo shoots in pork" (beatings) from his mother, the boy announced that he wanted to stay by his uncle's side to learn and become a scientist.

Wang Fu thought to herself that if someone could actually keep him in line, it was still better than him acting like a monkey; otherwise, the Su family's reputation would be utterly ruined.

Therefore, early this morning, while Su Shi went out to work, mother and son rented a carriage and came outside the city.

"Uncle, Uncle! You forgot our brave quest! Wuu wuu wuu, you didn't even come to see me, I won't be your Robin anymore..."

"A real man doesn't shamelessly shed baby tears. Besides, you've gotten so fat you can only play Zhu Bajie, not Robin.

A brave quest? Oh, you mean that thing about measuring the speed of sound! Sigh..."

The little chubby boy pulled out a palm-sized notebook. "Look, I've recorded it day by day, and a whole ten-day period has already passed!"