[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-a-literary-genius-in-the-song-dynasty":3,"chapter-a-literary-genius-in-the-song-dynasty-a-literary-genius-in-the-song-dynasty-chapter-2":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","A Literary Genius in the Song Dynasty",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2336385,4568,"Chapter 2: Wearing the King","a-literary-genius-in-the-song-dynasty-chapter-2",2,"\u003Cp>This county magistrate, newly transferred from Qin Fenglu in the northwest, had a dark, weathered face, deeply lined like that of an old farmer rather than a scholar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But when his sharp gaze swept over the crowd, the hall instantly fell silent as a falling needle could be heard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>County academies differed from prefectural academies; in the reign of Emperor Renzong, prefectural academies appointed a dedicated “Professor” as their head, while county academies were overseen by the local county magistrate himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The county magistrate held the power to approve or reject their applications for promotion to the prefectural academy!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, for these county academy students, this final policy essay before the county examination was critically important—it directly determined whether they could leave a favorable impression on the newly arrived magistrate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Pan spoke, his voice hoarse, like coarse sandstone worn by the winds of the northwest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“In the fifth year of Jingyou, Li Yuanhao usurped the imperial title and declared himself emperor; our court raised an army to punish Xia. Though peace has now been agreed upon, the northern border threat remains. You students shall take ‘Strategies for Defending Against Xia’ as your theme and present your views.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No sooner had Li the magistrate finished speaking than a chorus of sharp intakes of breath filled the examination hall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though the Song-Xia war had occurred during Emperor Renzong’s reign, for these scholars from Sichuan, both time and space made it feel impossibly distant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The war began in Baoyuan second year and ended with the “Qingli Peace Accord” in Qingli fourth year—lasting over five years—but the Qingli Accord had already been in effect for twelve full years!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beyond the Guanzhong and Hanzhong regions, the very notion of “Xia” was alien to these Sichuan scholars—so alien they had no vague image of it at all, let alone the ability to compose a lengthy policy essay on the subject.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Neither Great Song nor Sichuan had known war for a long time; few discussed military matters, so “Strategies for Defending Against Xia” had never once appeared as a possible exam topic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>—In other words, this question was wildly beyond the syllabus!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Out of the corner of his eye, Lu Beigu saw the two students who had supported him moments earlier now ashen-faced; one had even overturned his inkstone, spilling ink across the lower hem of his blue robe, staining it in a messy, dark blotch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Silence!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The academy supervisor’s sharp cry restored stillness to the hall, leaving only the rustle of turning paper.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, no matter how much these students cursed inwardly, they had no choice but to grit their teeth and write a policy essay to submit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Beigu lowered his gaze to grind ink, his mind flooding with historical records of Northern Song and Western Xia like a spinning lantern.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The first Song-Xia war ended in three major defeats for the Northern Song—at San Chuan Kou, Hao Shui Chuan, and Ding Chuan Zhai. Though Xia had temporarily submitted and the two states now enjoyed peace, its wolfish ambitions had never faded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Four more Song-Xia wars would follow, the most famous being Emperor Shenzong’s five-pronged invasion; due to the sheer volume of records, modern historiography had produced a mountain of research.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Beigu dipped his brush, paused briefly in thought, and several distinct approaches immediately surfaced in his mind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet, compared to the stale conventional arguments, he wished to write something truly transcending the era’s understanding.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he pondered, his wrist hovered above the inkstone, pushing and pulling the inkstone block—a motion so unusual that the student beside him cast a startled glance; ordinary people ground ink in circular motions, not back-and-forth strokes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Beigu remained oblivious, having already shaped his argument in his mind, and lifted his brush.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He could gradually correct these unnatural details later; what mattered now was avoiding taboo terms and steering clear of modern habits—never use “Northern Song” or “Western Xia” in a policy essay.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Meanwhile, the other students in the hall had also begun writing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Magistrate Li Pan paced among them, pausing occasionally to observe, yet his frown deepened with each step.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Most students had no idea where Xia was located; a few who knew something vaguely wrote essays that sounded passionate but were utterly nonsensical.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Take this student named He Cong, for instance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Xia is a barbarian tribe of the western frontier; we should emulate Emperor Wu of Han and launch a great army to raze their courts and root them out.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>—Typical empty rhetoric of a pampered noble youth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Raze their courts and root them out” sounded mighty, and such a strategy had been attempted before: Emperor Xingzong of Liao once led a hundred thousand troops across the Yellow River, advancing four hundred li into Xia territory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What happened? The Xia army skillfully scorched the earth and cleared the fields; Liao’s supply lines were severed, they suffered a crushing defeat, and Emperor Xingzong barely escaped with his life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Pan’s expression grew darker still—until he reached the boy whose clothes were soaked through, and glanced at the opening lines.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Xia stretches south to Hehuang, north to the great desert, west to Guazhou and Shazhou, east to Quye.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It possesses the richness of the Ordos, the defensibility of Hengshan, ten thousand armored troops, and stands as a great kingdom of a thousand li.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Pan needed only two lines to soften slightly—the boy clearly understood Xia’s geography, military strength, and territorial extent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, in Li Pan’s eyes, this level was merely “adequate.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the boy could now advance arguments akin to Fan Zhongyan’s “gradual fortification,” then Li Pan, well-versed in northwest frontier affairs, might award him a B-minus.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But as Li Pan continued reading, his pupils contracted sharply!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The entire essay had turned toward a direction he had never encountered before!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yet upon closer inspection, Xia’s governance is in truth woven with commerce as its sinews and armor as its skin—practicing trade while hoarding the might of cavalry and archery; this is what it means to wear a king’s robe while wielding market profits, to hold weapons while counting copper coins.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“In ancient times, Guan Zhong governed Qi by using the ‘light-heavy’ method to strangle Hengshan; Fan Li weakened Wu through the ‘Ji Ran’ strategy.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Now, Xia’s scheme lies in monopolizing the Silk Road, leveraging camel and horse transport to strengthen its military resources, flaunting its weapons to demand trade.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It has established marketplaces at Yanzhou to exchange blue salt for rice and millet; at its western border, it sets up mutual trade posts to exchange horses for ironware.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Caravans weave back and forth like threads, while soldiers hide among them—like flies and mosquitoes sucking blood; at first, no pain is felt, then the body weakens, the insects grow fat, and when the poison finally strikes, the disease is beyond cure.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In Lu Beigu’s view, Xia was never a normal state—it was fundamentally a tribal alliance controlling trade routes by force.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Analyzing Xia’s geopolitical position through an economic lens was, in this era, an entirely novel approach.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This fresh yet grounded argument drew Li Pan’s full attention with a single glance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, while serving on the Qin Fenglu frontline, Li Pan had once pondered why the Song court’s “gradual fortification” strategy could only curb Xia’s expansion, never truly subdue it or fully repel its raids.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His conclusion then was that the “gradual fortification” strategy placed too heavy a burden on Song finances—the court could not sustain endless construction of garrisons and permanent garrisons. There was method to it: building a fortress wasn’t simply drawing a dot on a map—it required selecting sites based on water sources and terrain, and ensuring the garrison could withstand a siege by tens of thousands of Xia troops.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In other words, because the Song army lacked cavalry and had too few troops capable of open-field combat, it had to compensate with numbers and fortifications. But conversely, the more garrisons and troops stationed on the northwest frontier, the greater the fiscal strain—so this strategy could never extend all the way to the Helan Mountains. The Song and Xia were thus locked in stalemate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet this boy’s essay proposed an entirely new strategic vision, diametrically opposed to “gradual fortification!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this moment, Li Pan’s demeanor had turned solemn; his eyes fixed intently on Lu Beigu as he wrote.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He urgently wanted to see what kind of strategy this uniquely original essay would propose for defending against Xia.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>——————\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>① Hehuang refers to the two valleys formed by the Huang and Huang rivers, occupied in this era by the pro-Song Tangut Tibetan leader Gusuoluo, a key ally of Northern Song against Xia.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>② Guazhou and Shazhou were formerly held by the Guiyi Army; in this era, the dominant power there were the Uyghurs, nominally subordinate to Xia but with lingering tensions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>③ “Light-heavy” method to strangle Hengshan: During the Spring and Autumn period, Duke Huan of Qi sought to conquer Hengshan, a state skilled in weapon forging. Guan Zhong, applying his “light-heavy” economic theory, raised the price of Hengshan’s weapons, triggering a frenzy of purchases by other states. This caused Hengshan’s people to abandon farming for forging. Then, in autumn, Qi blocked trade routes and raised grain prices, forcing Hengshan to submit to Qi.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>④ Ji Ran’s strategy: The Records of the Grand Historian’s “Biographies of Merchants” records that Fan Li studied under Ji Ran, who taught him seven principles: “value circulation,” “maintain balance,” “avoid stagnation,” etc. Fan Li used them to enrich and strengthen Yue.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1586,"2026-06-20T21:44:14.864Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","b5226b9a85124b4b1335b9ed7b30eaea2eebbe9477cc8000bf9d8c8c4e6a3d2e","a-literary-genius-in-the-song-dynasty-chapter-3","a-literary-genius-in-the-song-dynasty-chapter-1",56,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fa-literary-genius-in-the-song-dynasty-cover.jpg"]