Chapter 41: My Money!

"What a magnificent painting!"

Zhao Zhen gazed at the *Along the River During the Qingming Festival* scroll as the eunuch unfurled it, expressing his heartfelt admiration.

This long scroll depicted the bustling prosperity of the Bianjing capital, capturing scenes of daily life with such vividness that the figures seemed to breathe. The sections featuring the Bian Bridge and the Bian River were rendered with such precision that they mirrored reality itself.

To see all of this captured upon a scroll was truly overwhelming.

With the Song Dynasty suffering from long-term military setbacks, the only thing the emperors of the Zhao-Song lineage could truly boast of was their so-called "civil governance."

Bianjing, a super-city whose population had surpassed that of Tang-era Chang'an, had always been the pride of the Song imperial house. Emperor Taizu, Zhao Kuangyin, had once compared the four rivers of Bianjing to jade belts, boasting of the prosperity of the city under his rule.

Zhang Yaozu kept his head lowered. The moment he had seen the painting, he knew it would scratch the exact itch of the Emperor; this work would undoubtedly satisfy His Majesty.

"Bring it closer!"

At Zhao Zhen’s command, the eunuch Zhang Maoze hurriedly led a younger attendant forward a few paces.

Still unsatisfied, Zhao Zhen stepped down from the jade dais and approached the *Along the River During the Qingming Festival* to examine it more closely.

As he peered at the fine details, he noticed dense, tiny characters written in a fly-head script. These markings seemed to disrupt the harmony of the painting, appearing quite jarring.

Zhao Zhen leaned in further, only to realize that these tiny characters were names.

"Lu Gongbi?"

Wasn't this the second son of Lu Yijian?

As Zhao Zhen continued to scan the names, he found they were almost all scions of the most powerful ministers of the current court. His expression gradually turned cold.

He quickly realized that these names were written directly over the houses depicted in the scroll. What could this possibly mean?

At that moment, Zhang Yaozu raised the memorial written by Su Ze and said to Zhao Zhen:

"The donor of this painting, Su Ze, has also submitted a memorial for Your Majesty’s imperial perusal."

Zhang Maoze stepped forward, took the memorial from Zhang Yaozu, and presented it to Zhao Zhen.

"Your subject, Su Ze, kowtows."

This petition had been written by Su Ze himself. He had been practicing his calligraphy diligently of late, and with the foundation left by his predecessor, the characters were at least legible, though they still appeared somewhat unrefined compared to the work of geniuses like Wang Anshi or Zeng Gong.

However, Zhao Zhen paid no mind to the handwriting, focusing instead on the contents of the memorial.

By the time he finished reading, Zhao Zhen was consumed by a towering rage. He returned to the *Along the River During the Qingming Festival*, finally understanding the meaning behind the names written over the houses.

These names represented the owners of the properties!

In the Bianjing capital, within the area near the Bian Bridge alone, over thirty houses depicted in the scroll belonged to Lu Gongbi!

Beyond that, a vast number of other properties were registered under the names of the powerful offspring of Lu Yijian’s faction!

In his memorial, Su Ze had also itemized that within Bianjing, the number of properties under Lu Gongbi’s name alone reached over five hundred!

According to Su Ze’s statistics, the total number of properties controlled by these powerful scions exceeded five thousand!

When these were added to the properties of the Ministry of Palace Works contracted out by Lu Gongbi, the total number of houses under the control of Feng Shiyuan—a key figure in this network—neared ten thousand!

Su Ze had also crunched the numbers: the monthly rent for a house in Bianjing was at least fifteen strings of cash. This meant that the properties controlled by Feng Shiyuan generated a monthly income of one hundred and fifty thousand strings of cash!

A string of cash was equivalent to a tael of silver. The most piercing part of Su Ze’s argument was that he had linked this sum to the annual tribute.

It was well known that the "Treaty of Shanyuan" required the Song to pay the Liao Dynasty an annual tribute of two hundred thousand bolts of silk and one hundred thousand taels of silver.

The annual rental income of Lu Gongbi and his fellow powerful scions alone exceeded the tribute the Great Song paid to the Liao!

Zhao Zhen’s eyes turned bloodshot. He wanted to shout aloud that this money belonged to him!

But as an emperor who had reigned for decades, he managed to control his emotions. He turned to Zhang Maoze, the head eunuch of the Imperial Pharmacy, and commanded:

"Summon Li Yonghe!"

Before long, Li Yonghe, dressed in his red armor, entered the Chuigong Hall. After he bowed to Zhao Zhen, the Emperor gestured for the eunuchs to bring the *Along the River During the Qingming Festival* before him.

Seeing the vivid scene, Li Yonghe was quite astonished.

Zhao Zhen said in a chilling voice:

"Do you see the small characters on the painting?"

Li Yonghe looked closely, finally spotting the fly-head script written over the individual buildings.

"Your Majesty, I see them."

"Order the Imperial City Guard to investigate whether the owners of these houses are indeed the people named in the script."

Li Yonghe, the Commissioner of the Palace Guard, was responsible for the Imperial City Guard, which was tasked with monitoring high-ranking officials.

He suddenly realized that these names belonged to the young heirs of the conservative ministers, led by Lu Yijian.

A chill ran through Li Yonghe’s entire body. If these names were confirmed, it would trigger a massive storm that would sweep through the entire court!

But he dared not defy the order. He accepted Zhao Zhen’s command, and two eunuchs carried the *Along the River During the Qingming Festival* as he departed the Chuigong Hall.

At the Petition Drum Court, Su Ze did not know what had transpired in the Chuigong Hall, but he knew that once the painting reached Zhao Zhen, the matter was as good as done.

The Song Dynasty had a long tradition of using art to offer remonstrance.

For instance, several years prior, Fan Zhongyan had submitted the *Chart of the Hundred Officials* to impeach Lu Yijian.

Fan Zhongyan had mapped out the promotions of capital officials, highlighting those who had been promoted in violation of court regulations, thereby mocking the Prime Minister for his failure to select the virtuous.

Of course, that petition had failed because Fan Zhongyan was then serving as the Judge of the Imperial Academy, not in the Censorate. Lu Yijian had seized the opportunity to argue that Fan was overstepping his authority by impeaching a Prime Minister, and he labeled Fan’s supporters as his accomplices, ultimately inciting Zhao Zhen’s suspicion and leading to Fan’s exile from the capital.

A more famous instance of using art to remonstrate in the Song Dynasty occurred after Wang Anshi’s reforms, when his student Zheng Xia submitted the *Chart of the Displaced People*.

At that time, Wang Anshi’s reforms were meeting resistance, and a severe drought and locust plague in Guangzhou had driven refugees into the capital. Zheng Xia painted the *Chart of the Displaced People* and wrote a memorial to accompany it, pleading with Wang Anshi to halt the new laws.

When Emperor Shenzong saw the painting, he ordered the reforms to stop, issued a decree of self-reproach, and immediately abolished the square-field, militia, and green-sprout laws.

It was a major setback for Wang Anshi’s reforms, and he was subsequently dismissed from his post as Prime Minister.

Remonstrating through art was far more impactful than a simple petition—much like how a modern-day visual presentation is more intuitive and striking than a plain text report.

By using the *Along the River During the Qingming Festival* as a catalyst, the impact was even greater. Su Ze had offered no commentary in his memorial; he had simply presented his statistics on the properties held by the heirs of Lu Yijian’s faction and compared their profits to the tribute paid under the *Treaty of Shanyuan*.

But that was more than enough.