"Prince, has Your Majesty really rejected Mr. Linchuan's suggestion of reform?" Su Shi asked Zhao Yan with a fishing rod in his hand under the willow tree on the bank of the Bian River. Although he came to Zhao Yan in name today, his whole body was not focused on fishing.

"That's right, hasn't this incident been spread all over the capital?" Zhao Yan suddenly raised the fishing rod and fished a half-foot-long carp out of the water. Then he smiled and picked the fish off the hook, while answering Su Shi's words. It has been two days since Wang Anshi met Zhao Shu. The outside world had been full of controversy about Wang Anshi's suggestion of reform but Zhao Shu rejected him. Therefore, Zhao Yan was not surprised that Su Shi came to ask him about this matter today.

"The rumors outside are hard to tell the truth. Although I heard some of them, I was not sure, so I came to the prince to find out the news." Su Shi did not shy away from anything and admitted his purpose very frankly.

"Haha, although the rumors outside are a bit inaccurate, most of them are correct. For example, Mr. Linchuan did propose to his father that reforms were too risky, so he refused." Zhao Yan hung the bait leisurely, then threw the hook into the water again with a swing of his hand, waiting for the fish to take the bait.

"But I also heard that His Highness the Crown Prince is very supportive of the reform, and even expressed his support for the reform in front of His Majesty. Is this true?" Su Shi asked anxiously again, as he seemed to have unusual concern for this matter.

When he heard Su Shi ask about Zhao Xu's attitude towards the reform, Zhao Yan finally couldn't fish leisurely anymore. He sighed and put down the fishing rod in his hand, then turned his head to look at Su Shi and said, "Brother Zizhan. Before I answer your question, I would like to ask first, do you think Mr. Linchuan's reform is really feasible?"

"This..." Su Shi couldn't help but show a hesitant expression on his face when he heard Zhao Yan suddenly ask this question, but in the end he gritted his teeth and said, "Although the outside world unanimously believes that only by using Mr. Linchuan's reform can the accumulated problems of the Song Dynasty be eliminated. However, I think it is a bit risky to start the reform rashly. At least in my opinion, there is no time for the Song Dynasty to have to reform, so it is best to slowly plan it and start from small things. Eliminate the accumulated problems of the Song Dynasty without realizing it."

"Huh?" Zhao Yan also looked at Su Shi with some surprise when he heard this. In the original history, Su Shi was originally a firm reformist faction, but later he saw with his own eyes that the reform brought heavy disasters to the lower-class people, and he felt a little shaken in his heart. So he put forward the famous "Summary of Cold and Summer" in history. It was between the reformist faction and the conservative faction, hoping to ease the contradiction between the two factions. Of course, it was mainly to change the radical attitude of the reformist faction.

Unfortunately, with Wang Anshi's personality, either his friend or his enemy, Su Shi was suppressed and asked him to leave the capital for him. But even so, he still could not escape the revenge of the reformists. As a result, the Wutai poetry case broke out, causing him to stay in prison for more than 100 days and was almost killed in the end. Fortunately, the Song Dynasty had a ancestral teaching that he would not kill the scholars and officials. This made Su Shi escape by chance. After this incident, Su Shi completely changed his attitude towards reform. However, Zhao Yan did not expect that Su Shi had changed his attitude towards reform in advance, which was unexpected.

"Prince, do you think my thoughts are a bit conservative?" Seeing Zhao Yan not speaking when he heard his words, he looked at him with an inexplicable look, which made Su Shi smile bitterly.

"Haha, Zizhan misunderstood. Actually, I was just very surprised, because your attitude towards reform is actually similar to mine. I also think it is a bit too risky to implement reform now." Zhao Yan suddenly laughed and said, "First there was Shen Kuo, and now there was Su Shi. Although their opinions were not the mainstream among scholars, they were the elite among scholars, so Zhao Yan could also see from them that some elite scholars in the Song Dynasty were not completely confused by the bright prospects of reform.

"I didn't expect that the prince actually had the same views as me. It seems that we are really heroes who have similar views!" Su Shi couldn't help laughing when he said it at the end. He did have some different views on reform. However, now all the scholars in the world support reform very much, and even his friends are like this. So he usually tries to hide his true thoughts, but today he tells Zhao Yan the truth, but he didn't expect that Zhao Yan has the same views.

Seeing Su Shi's happy look, Zhao Yan couldn't help but smile. It seemed that Su Shi had been working very hard during this period. After all, he obviously had different opinions, but he didn't dare to say them out, so he would definitely not feel very good. Then he thought of another question and asked again: "Brother Zizhan, you have a wide range of friends. What do scholars outside now, especially those young scholars, think about reform?"

When Zhao Yan asked about other people's views on reform, Su Shi couldn't help but show a worried look on his face: "Mr. Linchuan claimed to have been in trouble for thirty years. This is not an empty talk. His appeal among scholars is absolutely beyond imagination. Originally, most scholars had great hope for his entry into Beijing to become an official in the capital and were very supportive of the reform. However, the officials rejected Mr. Linchuan's idea of ​​reform and only arranged a noble official position for him, which disappointed the world's study. Therefore, most scholars have been talking about the court for this time!"

"This is similar to what I expected. Unfortunately, they only thought about the benefits that reform may bring, but forgot the huge risks of the reform itself!" Zhao Yan couldn't help but sneer at the end. Now these scholars are waving flags and shouting for reform, but when the reform really begins, most of them have become firm oppositions, which is a bit ironic to think about.

"What the prince said is that scholars are actually very easy to be encouraged, especially when they see a beautiful prospect, which makes them ignore the difficulties of the process." Su Shi also sighed at this time, and then spoke again, "As for the young scholars you mentioned in the Imperial College, the Imperial College and the Geophysical College, these students are even more impulsive. Many of them are the backbone of the reform. Even because the court did not adopt Mr. Linchuan's suggestions for reform, these students were excited. Maybe they would probably come to block the palace gate and petition again."

As expected, Zhao Yan also thought to himself when he heard this. The thing he was most worried about finally happened. After seeing Zhao Shu rejecting Wang Anshi's proposal in Chuigong Hall, he thought that with Wang Anshi's reputation, those impulsive young students would probably petition again. After all, they had tasted the sweetness of the last annual monies, so this time they would probably impose it according to the law. But this time it was different from the last time. After all, the reform was not a small annual monies, so even if they gathered to petition, they would probably not be able to force the court to agree. If there was a stalemate at that time, it would likely cause bloody conflicts.

Thinking of the tragedy caused by the student movement in later generations, Zhao Yan couldn't help but feel chills all over. Fortunately, the students were just invisible and were not really motivated, which gave them time to find a way to solve this hidden danger, but this was not an easy task.

"It seems that the prince has also anticipated the danger. If the students go to petition again without overestimating their abilities, the court will probably not agree so easily this time!" At this time, Su Shi smiled bitterly again and said that the reason why he came to Zhao Yan this time was that in addition to inquire about the news, he was mainly worried that the students would have conflicts with the court, so he wanted to ask Zhao Yan to think of a solution. After all, Zhao Yan is in charge of the Academy of Geophysics and has great prestige among young scholars, so if he comes forward, he can definitely convince some scholars to give up the idea of ​​petitioning the court.

Zhao Yan was frowning when he heard this. He naturally wanted to stop the students from clashing with the court, but this matter was very difficult. At least now he couldn't think of any feasible solution.

"Monkey King, can you publish articles in newspapers and explain the risks of reform to the students, so that some people will understand the court's difficulties?" At this time, Su Shi suddenly suggested that the newspaper was specially formed because of the last student petition, and it was also a tool for the court to control public opinion. Su Shi was also very clear about these, so he thought of the newspaper first.

"It's not easy!" Zhao Yan smiled bitterly when he heard this, "Although newspapers can control the direction of public opinion, Mr. Linchuan is now too famous, especially among young scholars, which has extremely strong appeal. However, our newspaper has just been created and has not yet formed its own appeal. Therefore, even if we explain the reason why the court refused to reform in the newspaper, few people may be able to listen to it. Instead, they will think that the newspaper is a lackey of the court, and the reputation we have accumulated before will be wasted, so the newspaper is not very useful now."

When Zhao Yan said this, he couldn't help but feel a little regretful. If he had known this, he would have made the newspaper out sooner. After several years of accumulation, the newspaper will form a strong appeal. Even if the students want to gather to petition, I am afraid that as long as the newspaper publishes an article, many students will be alerted.

Su Shi actually knew that the influence of the newspaper was too immature, and now he couldn't help but sigh when he heard Zhao Yan's words. But at this moment, a servant suddenly rushed over and handed over a letter to Zhao Yan. When Zhao Yan opened the letter and read it for a moment, he suddenly slapped his thigh and smiled: "Brother Zizhan, God is simply helping me in the Song Dynasty. We have a way!" (To be continued)
Chapter completed!