Chapter 46: The Darkened Young Husband

That day marked the first time Wang Pang had been slapped across the face since reaching adulthood.

It felt burning, searing hot!

An irrepressible wave of hatred and humiliation surged from the depths of his heart, almost shattering his reason. If the person who struck him hadn't been his own father—even if it had been the Emperor Zhao Xu himself—he would have struck back. As a proud genius, he could not tolerate his dignity being trampled upon by anyone.

What was even worse was that his father didn't realize his own mistake in the slightest, not even offering a single word of apology.

He returned to his inner quarters and smashed everything in sight like a madman. If his wife hadn't stopped him, his next step might have been setting the house on fire.

He hated this father of his—a rigid, dogmatic, and stern father; a father who only wanted to play the saint; a father who allowed himself to be lifted onto a pedestal by others and felt no remorse. To fulfill his lifelong reputation, he was willing to treat everything else as expendable collateral.

Then, his hatred shifted toward Lü Huiqing. This former compatriot from the south, who was just as clever as he was, had been the first to betray his father, thereby triggering all the subsequent disasters. Clearly belonging to the same faction, why couldn't they pull together in full alignment instead of constantly drawing lines between themselves?

And after that, without realizing it, his thoughts drifted to Li Chang'an.

It was him—this pest of a troublemaker. If not for the "Gazette Editorials" cooked up by this Li Chang'an, so many chain reactions would never have been set off. Why couldn't this damned prodigal son appreciate his father's painstaking efforts to save the nation and its people? Why was he so stubbornly refusing to take up a post in the Chancellor's Mansion? Was it really such a grievance to serve as a seventh-rank literary attendant in the Chancellor's Mansion?

When the servants reported back to the front courtyard that Wang Pang had gone mad, Wang Anshi felt a pang of regret as well, but he could not afford to soften his heart. If life was always smooth sailing, how could the Wang family ever cultivate their next generation of successors?

While he remained still, the political strategists in the room stirred. Shen Chengliang, a scholar from Jiangxi who had followed Wang Anshi for many years, quietly made his way to the back courtyard.

*Tap, tap, tap.* A knock sounded. Wang Pang lay on the bed without moving a muscle, staring blankly at the ceiling.

"Yuanze?" Shen Chengliang called out softly, walking straight into the room. He righted an overturned stool and sat down against the wall.

"Yuanze, you've been wronged, taking the blame on behalf of the rest of us."

By this point, Wang Pang had already recovered his wits enough to realize that he had simply stood in the line of fire.

"With setbacks coming one after another, public sneers, malicious mockery, and slander have risen like the wind, impossible to suppress. The Chancellor carries a heavy burden in his heart, too. Although the rest of us possess the talent to assist in governance, we truly lack the means to control public opinion. If this continues, our New Policies are bound to die prematurely halfway through."

Like a senior colleague, Shen Chengliang spoke in an unhurried, steady, and sincere manner, laying bare the innermost thoughts of the strategists.

State reforms required more than just fame and courage. They demanded practical methods, concrete measures, and the ability to find the crucial thread amidst a thousand tangled problems.

Matters like the national debt were the fundamental basis of reform—grasping a policy that could produce instant results to first solidify the realm's confidence in the transformation. In truth, Lü Huiqing's defection might even be a blessing in disguise; after all, everyone in the world now knew that the national debt was an integral part of the New Policies.

The most urgent task for the Chancellor's Mansion was to secure a second implementable policy. It could not be something like the Green Sprouts Law, whose benefits were invisible in the short term. After much deliberation, only military reform of the Imperial Guard truly aligned with the Chancellor's objectives.

As long as they could devise a cost-saving reform plan—even if it only served as a subject for debate in the Hall of Government Affairs—the figures behind the Chancellor would no longer press down on them with such unbearable urgency.

"In my view, we should take others as our teachers and urgently recruit our own people to build a faction determined to rise to power through reform."

Shen Chengliang hesitated to use the word "clique," knowing that forming cliques while serving as Chief Chancellor was something only one man in the Great Song dynasty—Zhao Guangyi—had ever dared to do.

Wang Pang propped himself up against the bed, combed back his disheveled hair, and straightened his robes.

"Brother Shen, thank you for your comforting words. I am quite well now!"

Shen Chengliang wanted to say more, but seeing that the young master clearly intended to show him out, he could only retreat with a trace of regret.

Wang Pang's mind returned to a single person: Lü Huiqing. He remembered when he had demanded to know why Lü had betrayed his father, the man had given a serious reply: "In Wang Jiefu's eyes, there are only saints and sacrificial straw dogs. He wants to live as a man, not as a tool in the hands of a saint."

It seemed another person had also once asked him whether he intended to remain his father's shadow for the rest of his life.

Now, he finally made his decision.

The path of the sages was far too crowded. Why not choose the path of hegemony and statecraft instead?

His father was too rigid; having spent far too much time away in the provinces, he had lost touch with the developments in Bianjing. If one wanted to use power to accomplish things, one could no longer constantly put on the airs of a saint. Every dark scheme, military strategy, and political entanglement had to be utilized. If you did not strike at your enemies, they would not simply die on their own.

Without the means of struggle, there could never be true unity.

Soon, Wang Pang was freshly groomed and proudly boarded the carriage of the Chancellor's Mansion to pay a formal visit to Chancellor Sima.

The Gazette—what a marvelous tool. Even someone as greedy as Li Chang'an was fighting to get his hands on it; it certainly couldn't be bad. Since it could be used to spread gossip through the marketplaces, it could equally be used to propagate the New Policies and give the politically-minded citizens of Bianjing something to occupy their time.

Before long, he successfully secured the second official Gazette license from the Censorate.

With this in hand, he possessed a platform to assemble his own team and mobilize his father's pool of strategists. From then on, he would truly act as the young chancellor.

Yet, just as he was recruiting personnel and planning the content, Li Chang'an's essay, *Empire and Tea*, was published. Within two days, it set the capital ablaze and soon shocked the entire realm.

From the imperial family down to high-ranking ministers and common folk, the universal topic of conversation was how the Great Song had suddenly produced a chancellor-level talent exceptionally skilled in state management.

Moreover, under Ouyang Xiu's orchestration, Zhao Xu appeared distinctly impatient to get in touch with this great talent as early as possible to serve as a consultant and strategist for the reforms.

Crossing the river and then demolishing the bridge?

Could it be that the Emperor had lost confidence in his father so quickly?

No, absolutely not. His father could not become the laughingstock of the world, otherwise he himself would also...

Lü Huiqing—yes. Although that man had base morals, he was exceptionally skilled in plotting...

***

Li Chang'an awaited the first wave of imperial messengers. An imperial edict issued directly by the Emperor summoned him to enter the palace to serve as a Pre-Imperial Lecturer and Economic Advisor.

Ever since the reign of Emperor Renzong, receiving a direct imperial edict of this sort was practically an invitation meant to be declined. Unless one was an imperial son-in-law or a noble of high aristocratic lineage, ordinary scholar-officials simply treated it as a procedural gesture to elevate their own prestige.

Li Chang'an expressed his gratitude for the imperial favor, then firmly declined the appointment.

Soon, Su Shi brought word that Chancellor Fu Bi had requested leave and returned to Luoyang, and was thus not currently in the capital. Su Shi told him not to worry; as long as he refused to take the bait of such hollow flattery tactics, the opponents would have no leverage against him. He advised Li Chang'an to consult with Teacher Ouyang Xiu before making any moves.

Ouyang Xiu—that straightforward, blunt fellow?

Li Chang'an placed no hope in him. Someone who had been repeatedly duped by embezzlement suspects into writing articles for them might not necessarily be sharper than himself.

Fortunately, Qian Weiming and the rest of the newspaper office brothers soon returned.

Gathering the core members, Li Chang'an had them analyze the situation.

"Any ideas?"

The brothers looked at each other in blank dismay. Having cleared their minds of work the previous night, the scent of face powder and perfume still lingered on their clothes.

After waiting for a long time, not a single person uttered a sound.

"Me? May I speak?"