The Great Song Dynasty: You were put in charge of teaching, and you produced a whole bunch of prime

The night wind of Bianjing rushed into the meditation room through the half-open window, causing the candlelight to flicker wildly. Ouyang Xiu stared at the still-wet ink drawing on the table, his beard trembling as if he were being electrocuted. The thing drawn on the drawing was square and neat, with a corner missing and patched with gold—anyone who had read a few history books would know what it was.

"The Imperial Seal of the State?!" Ouyang Xiu's voice cracked, and he almost choked on his breath. "Headmaster, this is a thing that can wipe out nine generations of your family! This thing was lost as early as the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Are you trying to forge it...?"

"Shh—" Jiang Lin put his index finger to his lips, idly twirling a calligraphy brush in his other hand. "Master Ouyang, keep your voice down. The walls may not have ears, but it wouldn't be good to scare the monks in this old temple."

"This isn't just a matter of being frightened!" Ouyang Xiu exclaimed anxiously, pacing back and forth. "If this forgery of auspicious omens is exposed, it's a capital crime of deceiving the emperor. Besides, the Western Xia people aren't stupid. Do you think they'll believe you when you say it's the imperial seal?"

"When the truth is taken for falsehood, even falsehood becomes truth." Jiang Lin tossed his pen aside, slumped back in his chair, and looked as languid as if he were discussing what to have for dinner. "The Imperial Seal is just a piece of broken stone. It's valuable because Qin Shi Huang used it, because Liu Bang held it, and because of the eight characters engraved on it. The key isn't the stone, but the human heart."

He pointed to the picture, his eyes gleaming with shrewd calculation: "That Prince Li Liangzuo of Western Xia, doesn't he boast of being an expert in Han studies and want to be the legitimate ruler of China? Then we'll give him that title. But if we presented this stone, it's fake. If he 'begged' for it himself, or if 'divine will' allowed him to see it, then it's real."

Shen Kuo finished half a cold steamed bun, wiped his hands, and leaned closer: "Headmaster, I've brought all the chemical reagents. Do you want this stone to glow green, turn red when it comes into contact with water, or make a ghostly howling sound in the middle of the night?"

Ouyang Xiu felt a chill run down his spine. This was hardly practical application of knowledge; it was clearly the work of a charlatan gang!

Jiang Lin snapped his fingers: "Cunzhong, this time we're going to go big. I want this stone to not only glow, but also to 'reveal characters.' Moreover, these characters can't be seen normally; they can only appear at specific times and under specific lighting."

Shen Kuo's eyes lit up, and several mineral powder mixing schemes flashed through his mind in an instant: "Understood! Go get it right away, give me two hours."

Watching Shen Kuo run off excitedly, Ouyang Xiu sighed and sat back down in his chair: "Even if the stone is ready, how are you going to get Li Liangzuo involved? He's staying at the post station, surrounded by guards."

"That's where we'll need to borrow Su Shi's name," Jiang Lin said with a half-smile, looking at the literary giant. "Doesn't Li Liangzuo want to outshine Su Shi in literary talent? Then let Su Shi 'remotely' scold him. The harsher the scolding, the better, until he's so angry he has no choice but to come out and fight back."

Ouyang Xiu was taken aback for a moment, then smiled bitterly: "If Zizhan knew that you were using his reputation like this, he would probably cry himself to death in Daming Prefecture."

"It's alright. He's the top scholar of the Song Dynasty. It's his duty to take the blame for the country." Jiang Lin waved his hand without any qualms. "Lord Ouyang, please find a few reliable storytellers and throw some coins into the beggars' den. Before dawn tomorrow, I want the whole of Bianjing to know one thing—Su Zizhan has written a final poem, vehemently criticizing the Western Xia prince as 'a monkey in a crown, not even human in clothes.'"

Ouyang Xiu took a deep breath and looked at the excessively young headmaster of the academy before him. This man acted eccentrically, even to the point of being unorthodox, but in this desperate situation, only such mad methods could possibly tear open a gap.

"I... will take care of it right away." Ouyang Xiu straightened his clothes, pushed open the door, and disappeared into the night.

Jiang Lin looked out the window, his gaze gradually turning cold. He tapped the table lightly and muttered to himself, "Li Liangzuo, since you like to talk about face, then I'll peel off your face, and the faces of all those spineless cowards in the Song Dynasty court, and trample them into the mud."

……

The next morning, before the thin mist had even dissipated in Bianjing, an undercurrent known as "gossip" had already caused a stir in the streets and alleys.

In the teahouse, the storyteller struck his gavel, spittle flying everywhere: "Ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you about Su Zizhan, the newly appointed top scholar of our Great Song Dynasty, a veritable literary star descended from heaven! Upon hearing that the Western Xia barbarians wanted to forcibly marry our princess, Scholar Su was so enraged in Daming Prefecture that he broke the railing and immediately picked up his brush and wrote a 'Proclamation Against the Barbarians'!"

"Oh? What did it say?" The listeners below stopped eating their melon seeds and craned their necks.

"Scholar Su's insults were so elegant! He called the Western Xia prince Li Liangzuo 'a remnant of the Xianbei tribe, illiterate, who stole human clothes and pretended to be a man!' He also called him 'a toad that wants to eat swan meat, but when it looks in the mirror, it's all hair!'"

The crowd burst into laughter. Although everyone knew Su Shi was a brilliant writer, why did this poem sound so down-to-earth? Who cares, as long as it's satisfying to criticize!

Meanwhile, beggars on various street corners were singing a rhyme that had come from who-knows-where: "The King of Western Xia, with long legs, came to Bianjing to find Meiniang. He's no good at literature, no good at martial arts, he's only fit to go home and herd cattle and sheep."

These rumors spread like wildfire throughout Bianjing in just half a day, and naturally even reached the heavily guarded post station.

"You bastard! You worthless scoundrel!"

Inside the main hall of the inn, accompanied by a series of cracking sounds, a beautiful Song Dynasty porcelain vase was smashed to pieces on the ground.

Li Liangzuo was only sixteen, a time of youthful vigor and vitality. He did indeed have some non-Han features, with a high nose and deep-set eyes, but he was dressed meticulously in a Han Confucian robe. At this moment, his young face flushed a deep purplish-red, and his chest heaved violently.

"'Stealing clothes and pretending to be a husband'? What is Su Shi anyway! He's just a minor official who only knows how to write about romance and nature, yet he dares to insult me ​​like this!" Li Liangzuo held a copied "manifesto" in his hand, his knuckles turning white from the force.

The envoy beside him, Yeli Yuqi, a burly man, was gnawing on a lamb leg. Hearing this, he mumbled a piece of advice: "Prince, we're here to get married. Why bother with those pedantic scholars? Once we get the princess back, that will be a victory for our Great Xia. Let them curse us then; it won't cost us anything."

"You know nothing!" Li Liangzuo whirled around, his eyes filled with malice. "For our Great Xia to stand in the world, it's not just about swords and horses; it also needs legitimacy and culture! If I swallow this insult today, the world will only say that the Western Xia royal family are uncivilized barbarians, unable to even out-argue a Song Dynasty scholar! Even if this marriage goes through, I'll be a laughingstock for the whole world!"

The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. This humiliation was more unbearable than having swords pointed at him. He had been promoting Sinicization within the Western Xia state and boasted that he understood etiquette better than the Song people. Now, to be so belittled by Su Shi, whom he admired most, was tantamount to digging up his very foundation.

"Go! Issue me a challenge!" Li Liangzuo snatched the paper and pen. "I'm going to hold a banquet at Fanlou, in front of all the celebrities of Bianjing, and compete in literature with that Su Shi! I want him to know who the real talent is, and who is just a monkey in a crown!"

"Prince, this isn't appropriate..." Yeli Yuqi frowned. "Our main task is..."

"Enough nonsense!" Li Liangzuo roared. "The whole city is laughing at me now. If I don't win back, how can I face that princess? Get to it immediately! Tell the Ministry of Rites of the Song Dynasty that if Su Shi doesn't dare to come, he's a coward. From now on, all Song Dynasty scholars will have to kneel before the hooves of my Great Xia horses!"

When the news reached the Ministry of Rites, the pro-peace officials who were drinking tea nearly swallowed their teacups. How did a perfectly good marriage proposal turn into a battle of wits? And why was Su Shi being challenged by name?

What troubled them even more was that Su Shi was still in Daming Prefecture! He was thousands of miles away, and they couldn't fly over there.

Just as the Minister of Rites was so anxious he wanted to bang his head against the wall, in the meditation room of Xiangguo Temple, Jiang Lin listened to the report from the secret guards and yawned with satisfaction.

"The fish has taken the bait. Save it. Is your 'baby' ready?"

In the corner, Shen Kuo, sporting dark circles under his eyes, held a dusty stone in his hands, a strange smile on his face: "Headmaster, this isn't just a bite, it's practically going to break his teeth."