In the Song Dynasty, there was no law or order.

When Wang Anshi arrived in Bianliang by train, he was also shocked by the prosperity of Bianliang now.

He saw that the expansion area outside the city was at least two times larger than the city before.

The former suburbs have now become high-rise buildings.

If you want to get to the Ministry of Personnel from the train station, you have to hire a carriage or sedan chair, and it takes nearly an hour and a half to get there.

According to the driver, the east, west, south and north urban areas have each extended more than ten miles, which means that the area of ​​Kaifeng City has not only doubled, but may have expanded several times.

Because the area of ​​Kaifeng City was about 53.2 square kilometers before.

If the original east, west, south and north city walls were about 7.3 kilometers in average length, even if the north and south or east and west extended only 10 miles, adding up to 10 kilometers, the area would increase six times.

Just like a square with a length and width of 1 meter, the area should be 1 square meter.

But if the length and width are increased to 2 meters, the area will become 4 square meters, which is 4 times more than the 1-meter square.

So it can be imagined that the current Bianliang City is much larger than before.

However, even so, Wang Anshi saw that the population was extremely dense, the streets and alleys were very crowded, and many streets were blocked, and Kaifeng Prefecture had to direct traffic.

This is normal.

Kaifeng Prefecture cooperates with the Statistics Department to do statistics and planning every year.

The data at the end of last year was that the urban area of ​​Kaifeng Prefecture was 382 square kilometers, an increase of 7 times, and the population?

It was 3.17 million.

This means that there are more than 8,200 people per square kilometer, and the population density is comparable to Shenzhen, the most densely populated city in my country in later generations.

But in later generations, Shenzhen is full of high-rise buildings, while the Song Dynasty is mostly bungalows, which shows that the density of the Song Dynasty is far better than Shenzhen.

But in comparison, today's Bianliang is already good.

You should know that Bianliang used to be 53.2 square kilometers crowded with 1.5 million people, and in the period of Song Huizong, it even exceeded 2.6 million people. The population was so dense that it was no different from people squeezing people.

In this full of surprise, Wang Anshi arrived at the Ministry of Personnel, and then he was taken all the way into the palace and entered the Political System Institute.

The Institute of Political System was full of flowers at the end of February.

The small garden outside was covered with green grass, and the warm sunshine was shining down, which made people feel relaxed and happy.

There were many officials coming and going outside the institute. In addition to the officials of the Institute of Political System, there were also officials from other departments who came to deliver official documents or report matters, including senior officials wearing scarlet robes.

Wang Anshi was not arranged to enter the institute, but entered the backyard of the Institute of Political System from the side door, in a reception room.

The official who led the way pointed to the chair and said, "Sit here first."

"Okay."

Wang Anshi sat on the chair and waited. The attendant brought him a cup of tea and the door was closed.

After about a quarter of an hour, Zhao Jun, who was wearing a purple robe, pushed the door and walked into the room, saying, "Is Jiefu here?"

"Zhiyuan!"

Wang Anshi hurriedly put down the half-drunk teacup, stood up and bowed, saying, "Your subordinate Wang Anshi greets Zhiyuan."

Zhao Jun looked him up and down and smiled, "It's been almost five years since we last met. You've become a lot darker."

"Thank you for your concern, Zhiyuan."

Wang Anshi bowed again.

"Hahaha, sit down."

Zhao Jun said with a smile.

"Thank you, Zhiyuan."

Wang Anshi sat down.

"It's hard to invite you now."

Zhao Jun sat on the chair and joked, "At first, I wanted to put you in Bianliang, but you refused because your grandmother was old. Later, your grandmother passed away, and I wanted to promote you again, but you didn't want to stir up the trend of skipping levels. Now you've been demoted, are you satisfied?"

"As long as I work for the people and share the worries of the court and the government, Wang Anshi is willing to be demoted."

Wang Anshi said without changing his expression.

Zhao Jun laughed.

The current Wang Anshi is no longer the same as the one in history.

Because of the Song-Xia War in history, the imperial examinations originally in the first year of Kangding were cancelled, and the new examinations were not opened until the second year of Qingli.

At that time, Wang Anshi, who was 21 years old, passed the imperial examination and should have been the first, but there was a sentence in his article that Zhao Zhen did not like very much, so he was changed to the fourth.

But now the Song-Xia War was fought, but it did not have much impact, leading to the cancellation of the imperial examination.

So Wang Anshi participated two years in advance, and at the age of 19, he passed the imperial examination and surpassed Su Song, Huang Tingjian's father Huang Shu and Su Xun to become the top scholar on the gold list.

He served as the chief inspector for half a year, and was then awarded the title of Yin County Magistrate for a term of three years.

In the fourth year of Qingli, that is, in 1044 AD, his term of office ended and he went to the Ministry of Personnel for inspection.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Jun had to solve the last problem of the three redundancies, the redundancy of soldiers, and the generals and nobles did not accept the toast, so Zhao Jun ordered a thorough investigation.

Fu Bi, the Minister of War, needed to organize a group of imperial envoys to go to military camps in various places to investigate the army.

Among them were Wang Anshi, Huang Shu, Su Xun and other Jinshi who were waiting for the end of their term, so they were all selected as investigation envoys.

Although he encountered assassination during the mission, Wang Anshi calmly commanded and destroyed the conspiracy of the generals and nobles, and his contribution was not small.

At that time, Zhao Jun also met him in person, encouraged him, and directly announced in front of him that he would be appointed as the sixth-rank supervisory censor.

In the Northern Song Dynasty, the local areas were divided into county magistrates and county magistrates according to the region and population size.

After the Jingyou reform, the grades were reclassified.

Among them, the county magistrate is generally between the ninth rank and the seventh rank, while the lowest county magistrate is the seventh rank, and the county magistrate of Sijing is the fifth rank.

Since Wang Anshi was born as the number one scholar, he was directly appointed as the seventh-rank magistrate of Yin County after observing the government for half a year, and was promoted to the sixth-rank censor, which was considered a normal promotion.

However, the difference in power between a local county magistrate and a censor at the imperial censorship station is like that of a local county magistrate in later generations, and the director of a review and investigation department in a central inspection office. They are both at the division level, but their powers are completely different.

And with merit and normal promotion, this is not considered a leapfrog promotion.

Unexpectedly, Wang Anshi refused Zhao Jun's promotion appointment on the grounds that his grandmother was too old and did not want to leave the Jiangnan West Road area too far.

In desperation, Zhao Jun could only arrange a trial in Shuzhou for him.

Shuzhou is Qianshan City in Anhui in later generations. It is relatively close to Wang Anshi's hometown, and it is also from the sixth rank, which meets the promotion requirements.

The only pity is that compared with the power of the imperial censor to impeach and picket officials, the power of the general judge of a state is obviously much smaller. There is no incomparability between the two sides.

But Wang Anshi enjoyed it very much.

After the three-year term expired, his grandmother also died of illness. Due to his outstanding political achievements and Wang Anshi's talent, Zhao Jun still wanted to transfer him to the central government.

Unexpectedly, he still refused, saying that he did not want to stir up the trend of leapfrog promotion, so he could only follow the usual practice and was promoted from Tongxuan to Zhizhou, and was transferred to Shezhou, which later became Shexian County in Anhui Province.

This year is Wang Anshi's year and a half as the magistrate of Shezhou. He originally did well and was deeply loved by the local people, but he was finally transferred to Bianliang with a transfer order.

But this time he accepted it.

Because the imperial court had demoted him from the position of governor and changed him to a seventh-grade inspection censor, which was demoted a full five levels, he naturally had no reason to refuse.

Hearing his words, Zhao Jun smiled and said: "It's good. You, a little comrade, are very enlightened. You won the top prize at the age of nineteen, and you are only twenty-eight this year. At this age, you don't have to be proud of yourself, but guard against arrogance." Stop being impatient and calm yourself. This state of mind is amazing. In my opinion, many Jinshi who are older than you and who are in the same period as you or even those in the previous periods are not as good as you."

Wang Anshi said solemnly: "Xiaoguan doesn't think that being young and going to high school is something to be proud of. He only knows that the fathers and elders of the world are supporting us, and we should repay our kindness to them."

"good."

Zhao Jun nodded with satisfaction and said, "Do you know why I want to transfer you to Kaifeng?"

"Please tell me, Chancellor."

"Because I think you are a very ideal person, someone who is willing to fight for his ideals all his life, and this is exactly what I value about you."

"The lower officials are frightened."

Wang Anshi said hurriedly.

"No need to be modest."

Zhao Jun waved his hand and said, "Do you know what you should do at your age?"

Wang Anshi thought for a while and said: "I should ask for orders for the people."

"no."

Zhao Jun shook his head and said: "This is not what you should do at this stage."

"That is?"

Wang Anshi was puzzled.

In his philosophy, being an official means asking for orders from the people, right?

However, Zhao Jun said: "If I tell you and tell you what you should do at this stage, will you listen?"

"If what the Court says makes sense to me, I am willing to do it."

Wang Anshi said.

"very good."

Zhao Jun was even more satisfied.

Don't follow blindly, and don't be submissive just because the other party is the highest-ranking officer.

Having the ability to think independently is the best quality.

Because although a yes man can be used easily, he cannot become the talent he needs.

If you don’t have your own opinions and are used to following orders, how can you analyze the country’s ills and find solutions?

Therefore, Zhao Jun is training Wang Anshi as a prime minister.

Even if he is only seven years younger than me, he may not necessarily be his successor.

But at least after Fan Zhongyan and Yan Shu retire, the Constitutional Yuan will have a suitable helper.

Otherwise, Zhao Jun would have to do everything himself, focusing on technological development, financial status, education, and national plans. It would be too tiring.

"I think you must learn knowledge first at your age."

Zhao Jun said.

"Learn?"

"Yes, it is not traditional Confucian knowledge, but new thoughts and new concepts."

"Please inform the court to make it clear."

Wang Anshi was confused.

"It's very simple, learn some new ideas, arm yourself with knowledge, don't be blind, think carefully, look at the essence of things, not the surface, but also look at the long-term."

"We must seek truth from facts when doing things. Adhere to practice as the only criterion for testing truth. Persist in criticism and self-criticism. If you make mistakes, correct them."

"Don't be proud, study with an open mind. Good seedlings will eventually grow into towering trees. Our goal is to let the people enjoy the cool weather and have food and clothing without worries. We must firmly believe that our cause is great."

"Don't pay attention to those comments that attack you, and don't be discouraged. If you have faith in your heart, just do it. Even if you face the accusations of thousands of people, as long as it is for the people of the world and the cause of the country, don't be afraid."

"Analyze things and understand things. Go to the grassroots more, communicate more with the people, find out where the problems are, and then solve them without any mental burden."

"If there are corrupt officials, demons and demons who obstruct us, we must strengthen our beliefs, don't shrink back, and don't be afraid. Because the more our enemies oppose, the more it means we are right, and we must fight them bravely."

"But if you find that something is not right, that you are not doing well enough, or that what you think about and what you do have two different results, then you have to think about what mistakes and omissions there are."

"Don't be stubborn, and don't go all the way. Ideology and politics are flexible. Keep your bottom line, but you must also be brave enough to admit your mistakes."

"When a county magistrate governs a local area, there may be opportunities for trial and error."

"But if you are in charge of a country and enact wrong laws and failed policies, the development of the entire country and the lives of the people will be in jeopardy."

"So we must implement the principle of looking at the essence through phenomena, and implement the principle of learning and accumulating knowledge."

"When you issue policies in the future, even if you think the direction is right, but there is a problem in some link in the middle, causing the country to deviate from the original path and leaving the people in dire straits, you have to think about it."

"Think about whether you are wrong or whether there is an error somewhere in the middle."

"Then after you find the problem, you can change it and find a solution instead of seeing that it is wrong and still keep going like this."

"Do you understand it?"

Zhao Jun stared at him straightly.

Zhao Jun had analyzed Zhao Zhen and others before that Wang Anshi's reform was not inherently bad, nor was it a tyranny.

So why did it end up causing people to be separated from their wives and families, and even their families were destroyed?

It means that there are huge mistakes in the middle links of governance, and the officialdom is not done well, allowing the officials below to turn a good policy into a bad policy.

Whether Wang Anshi knew the problem or not, the fact was that he did not solve the problem, but continued to implement the reform policy, which made the people's lives even worse.

Therefore, if Zhao Jun really wants to train him, he must first change Wang Anshi's thinking, influence him subtly, ask him to learn from himself, learn "Zhao Jun's Thoughts", and make him one of his own.

Otherwise, if he is still the same Wang Anshi in history and has not changed his policy even if there are problems, he is obviously not suitable to succeed Zhao Jun or join the Constitutional Yuan as a prime minister.

At this moment, Wang Anshi was a little dizzy by these words.

But after digesting it for a while, he gradually came back to his thoughts, and then slowly said: "Zhiyuan's words are like wise words. I will think about them carefully."

"Well, study hard and watch well."

Zhao Jun added: "If you don't understand, then let me ask you finally, what insights did you have from the local area to Bianliang?"

"Although the local area has improved slightly in recent years, it is still poor and far less prosperous than Bianliang."

Wang Anshi thought for a while, and then said with emotion: "In just four or five years since I last came to Beijing, I am amazed by the changes in Bianliang."

"Do you know why?"

Zhao Jun asked.

Wang Anshi thought for a moment and said, "Because Bianliang is the center of the world."

"That's just one aspect of it."

Zhao Jun smiled and said: "I just asked you to see the essence through the phenomenon, how come you forgot it so quickly?"

Wang Anshi cupped his hands and said, "I'm a stupid official. Please tell me clearly."

"Because of Bianliang's geographical location, political factors and the court's planning, this is a factor in many aspects."

Zhao Jun said: "Bianliang is located in the middle from east to west, north to south, and has developed water and land transportation. It is not too far to go to all parts of the country, so it can easily become a transportation and economic hub. In addition, the imperial court regarded this place as the capital, and merchants gathered here, and goods and new things from all over the world It is also the easiest to concentrate, so cement and steel are quickly circulated here, jointly building this prosperous city. "

"I see."

Wang Anshi suddenly realized it, but he was thinking in his heart, isn't that similar to what he said?

But thinking about it carefully, it seems that what he said was indeed not as detailed as Zhao Jun, and his analysis was not as thorough as the other party. For a moment, he felt a little ashamed.

Zhao Jun continued: "The reason why I tell you this is to tell you why you should not just look at things on the surface, but on the essence. As a county magistrate, you have to think about how to make the county develop better. , the people have no worries about food and clothing, and agriculture and commerce are prosperous, but if the people of this county are only concerned about the surface and don’t care about the essence, nothing will be accomplished.”

"Similarly, to be a governor of a state, a transit envoy, or even a prime minister of a country, you must find the key and where the problem is, so that you can realize your ideal step by step."

He knocked on the table lightly and said: "It's like this table will ring when you knock it. Can you understand why it rings? Maybe it's easy to understand this truth, but how should a country develop and become prosperous? , is not a simple matter, you need to learn more, listen more, think more, and ask more. Only in this way can you make progress and understand the way of governing the country. "

"This is why practice is the only criterion for testing truth."

Wang Anshi was already convinced. He stood up and said respectfully: "I am enlightened by the words of the Zhiyuan. I am willing to follow the arrangements of the Zhiyuan. I just hope that I can study hard and arm myself with knowledge!"

Zhao Jun said happily: "You can teach me."

Wang Anshi.

You will eventually get on your own ship!