After inspecting the teahouse, Wang Qinruo returned to the government office and was notified that a descendant of the Zhang family was visiting.
This ‘Zhang’ refers to the Zhang family of the late Prime Minister Zhang Qixian. A closer look at the relationship between Wang Qinruo and Zhang Qixian can be traced back to the sixth year of Taiping and Xingguo (981).
At that time, Zhang Qixian was the deputy envoy of Jiangnan West Road. During his tenure, he met Wang Qinruo by chance.
And when Wang Qinruo came to Beijing to apply for the examination, Zhang Qixian wrote a letter of recommendation to Wang Qinruo, so that Wang Qinruo got the opportunity to meet the famous scholar Qian Yi.
Qian Yi is the son of King Qian Chu of Wuyue, and Qian Chu is the elder brother of Qian Chu. In other words, Qian Yi and Qian Weiyan are cousins.
During the Taiping and Xingguo years, Wang Qinruo was just an unknown scholar, although he was well-known in his hometown.
But in the capital, he is a little transparent.
It was Zhang Qixian's letter of recommendation that gave him the opportunity to visit Qian Yi.
From then on, Wang Qinruo stepped into the sight of the ministers of the DPRK, and this was also the beginning of his fame.
Later, Zhang Qixian had a prosperous official career. By the time Wang Qinruo entered the official position, Zhang Qixian had already occupied the position of prime minister and assistant minister.
Wang Qinruo, who is keen on fame and fortune, will certainly not give up this opportunity.
At first, Wang Qinruo was in a humble position and was basically on the "taking" side.
It was not until the third year of Xianping (1000) that Wang Qinruo waited for the opportunity to repay.
At that time, Wang Qinruo was sent by the Zhixing Yuan (combined with the cases decided by Dali Temple). He teamed up with Zhang Qixian and took the opportunity to squeeze out Zhang Qixian's political enemy Wang Ji.
After this incident, the relationship between Wang Qinruo and Zhang Qixian took a further step.
In the future, if Wang Qin can rise to prominence, it will be closely related to Zhang Qixian's promotion.
Therefore, when he heard that a descendant of the Zhang family was visiting, Wang Qinruo quickly asked his entourage to lead him to the backyard to meet him.
Not long after, a young man in his twenties, dressed as a scholar, was led to a side hall.
"My younger brother Zhang Ziyin has met Wang Xianggong."
After entering, Zhang Ziyin bowed to Wang Qinruo respectfully.
"sit."
Wang Qinruo pointed to the chair next to him with a smile. Although it was his first time to meet Zhang Ziyin, given Zhang Ziyin's seniority, he was probably the grandson of "Wen Dinggong".
"My good nephew suddenly came to visit today, but what happened?"
Generally speaking, if it is a serious visit between scholar-bureaucrats, they will basically send greeting cards in advance.
To take a step back, even if you don't send a greeting, you will inform the host in advance.
When people arrive, you have to entertain them, right?
Visitors with different identities and distances have different hospitality standards, and some things are not always available at home.
Therefore, a certain amount of time must be given to the host to prepare.
A sudden visit like Zhang Ziyin's is actually something that is not in line with etiquette.
"Thank you for your concern, Shibo. Fu Yuan (Zhang Ziyin's name) is here today, mainly to deliver a letter to dad."
With that said, Zhang Ziyin took out a letter from his arms, then stepped forward and presented it to Wang Qinruo with both hands.
"Shibo, please take a look."
Seeing the words on the envelope, Wang Qinruo immediately recognized the identity of the writer and also found out whose child Zhang Ziyin was.
It turned out that the other party was Zhang Zongli's son.
Zhang Zongli is Zhang Qixian's second son, and he is very low-key. Although Wang Qinruo knows him, they don't have much interaction with him.
"Okay, nephew, please wait for a moment."
Immediately afterwards, Wang Qinruo opened the letter in front of Zhang Ziyin. When he saw the news widely circulated in Beijing at the beginning of the letter, he couldn't help but be secretly surprised.
Of course he already knew this news.
After all, he was once a prime minister. No matter how miserable he was, he would not become blind.
In fact, when Wang Qinruo learned that the Queen Mother was going to call him back to the capital, he was secretly happy.
The Queen Mother certainly did not forget this old minister.
But as time went by, his expectations became lower and lower.
Two months have passed, and still no edict has been sent to Beijing.
Something must have happened in the palace, maybe the officials didn't agree.
After a while, after reading Zhang Zongli's letter, Wang Qinruo finally understood why the edict had not been issued for a long time.
It turns out that Yushitai is causing trouble!
What a Liu Yun!
Wang Qinruo sneered in his heart. If Liu Jun hadn't interfered, he might have returned to the capital this time and resumed his Xiangyin.
"Thank you for your hard work, my dear nephew, who has been traveling and traveling all the way."
"Guangfu, please make arrangements for your wise nephew to stay in the east chamber."
"Xie Shibo."
"Fu Yuan will retire first."
Zhang Ziyin stood up with great foresight, and then followed the Wang family's servants out of the side hall.
Although he didn't know what his father said in the letter, one thing was certain: his father must have something to discuss with Mr. Wang.
When he asked himself to leave, it was probably because Mr. Wang needed time to think about it.
After Zhang Ziyin left, the smile on Wang Qinruo's face suddenly disappeared, and he was seen with a sullen face and slowly fell into deep thought.
Zhang Zongli indeed wrote about important matters in his letter. He wanted to join forces with Wang Qinruo to overthrow Liu Yun, the censor Zhongcheng.
And the cause of all this has to be traced back to the dispute between Zhang Qixian and Li Hang.
During the Chunhua period, Zhang Qixian was dismissed as prime minister, which had a lot to do with Li Hang, although Li Hang was later dismissed from politics.
But the relationship ended just like that.
During the Xianping period, the two became prime ministers at the same time. Later, due to the Lingzhou incident, the conflict between the two became more intense.
In the third year of Xianping (1000), in the same year as Li Hang, Zhang Yong impeached Zhang Qixian for drunkenness and misconduct, which led to Zhang Qixian being dismissed from the prime minister again.
This time he was dismissed from the prime ministership, which was closely related to Li Hang.
Although both Li Hang and Zhang Qixian have passed away, the conflicts between them have continued to the next generation.
Naturally, the Zhang family was hostile to Wang Zeng, who inherited Li Hang's political legacy, and Liu Yun and Liu Yun were also included in Wang Zeng's party.
Bringing down Liu Jun was only the first step in Zhang's plan.
When Liu Jun is deposed, Zhang will use his connections to build momentum for Wang Qinruo.
Of course, Wang Qinruo himself must also be involved. After all, the campaign is for Wang Qinruo to return to Zhongshu.
How could Wang Qinruo stay out of such matters that involve personal interests?
For Wang Qinruo himself, it was indeed of great benefit and no harm to him to return to the capital. However, Wang Qinruo was not carried away by the desire for power.
He still has to think about it carefully.
After returning to Beijing, of course he thought, who doesn't want to dominate the world?
But there is one thing that he must consider.
The attitude of the Queen Mother!
Official attitude!
Thinking of this, Wang Qinruo felt that it was necessary to know the news in the palace.
While compiling "Cefu Yuangui", Wang Qinruo met the eunuch Liu Chenggui. Later, they became political allies and their relationship was further bound.
Now, although Liu Chenggui is dead, Liu Chenggui's adopted son Liu Congyuan is still active in the palace.
Wang Qinruo planned to contact Liu Congyuan and inquire about the specific situation in the palace.