Chapter 151 Lord Sun's Sense of Crisis
Xu Zhenying was silent.
The room was deathly quiet; one could even hear the whistling of the north wind outside. The candlelight on the table even sensed the unrest in the room and jumped a few times in panic.
"With your resources, why don't you go it alone? Nearly 600,000 taels of silver is enough for you to capture cities and territories."
Jiang Yongkang was speechless for a moment. He didn't know how to answer this question, and he didn't know whether Xu Zhenying was taking the opportunity to test him.
Xu Zhenying seemed to see through his thoughts and smiled, "Don't be nervous. I don't like to test people's hearts. I'm just curious. You are both talented in literature and martial arts, and you have so much wealth. Why did you choose me?"
Jiang Yongkang was silent for a long time before he finally said slowly, "City Lord, you and I are two completely different people. I rebelled because of hatred. I hated the world, I hated the Zhou Dynasty, and I hated the Zhou family father and son. But you rebelled because of love."
Xu Zhenying got goosebumps when he heard this.
This... is too corny, right?
"Don't be so corny. I have selfish desires. I'm not a saint."
"I know." Jiang Yongkang smiled slightly, and the hostility in his body receded a lot. His eyes became inexplicably gentle. "I know you want to say that you like to control your destiny. But I can see that you are very philanthropic. You love this world, you love this world's people. You can't bear to see the turmoil in the world, you can't bear to see people displaced. You want to save everyone in this world, you want everyone to live the life in the world you imagine. You have great love in your heart-"
Xu Zhenying was stunned.
"And I am nothing but a maggot in the sewer. I only want to destroy this world. If it weren't for you, I would have already lost all hope. I don't want to be an emperor. I only want to be a knife, a sharp knife that can cut through all the injustices in the world!"
Jiang Yongkang stared at Xu Zhenying with a piercing gaze, his eyes suddenly gleaming with brilliance, as if shining brighter than diamonds. "City Lord, you not only possess great love, but you also possess the wisdom, means, and determination to control the world. I have a strong intuition that you will be the one to change history!"
Xu Zhenying's heart was filled with excitement.
She never thought that in this strange world she would meet someone who understood her so well and had such high hopes for her!
"History will never be changed by me alone, but by you, me, and them! Jiang Yongkang, if you don't betray me, I will never betray you. From today on, we are comrades."
"Comrade?"
“If we share the same virtues, we share the same heart; if we share the same aspirations, we share the same ideals.”
"What ambition, what path?"
Xu Zhenying's words were deafening, like the first cry of a baby bird in the night sky.
"Strive for the happiness of all mankind all your life!"
——————————————————————
Xu Zhenying spent his first year in Lan County after traveling to the Great Zhou Dynasty.
This year was also a year of disasters for the Xu family.
The Xu family now lived in the county government office. Huang had everyone clean up the house early in the morning. She also took a group of children to buy red paper and red silk to decorate the house. She also asked Xu Deyuan to write a few spring couplets to hang at the entrance of the county government office, creating a festive atmosphere.
Xu Zhenying even showed some mercy and released Lao Liao and his men, allowing them to join a literacy class in the spring and then go out to reclaim wasteland.
Originally, the Xu family was worried that Lao Liao would come out to cause trouble, but Xu Zhenying said that there were only a few people in Lan County who knew Lao Liao, so how could such a person cause any trouble?
So the Xu family also agreed.
This time, Xu Zhenying was particularly kind and allowed Sun Qingchen to go to the inn to reunite with his family on New Year's Eve, which really shocked Sun Qingchen.
To be honest, Sun Qingchen has been with Xu Zhenying for a long time and has become familiar with Xu Zhenying's temper.
Xu Zhenying is indeed a man of great talent.
How many of the county magistrates whose cities were destroyed could live as comfortably as Sun Qingchen? Especially in neighboring Ye County, where it was said that Li Datou had stabbed the county magistrate with more than a dozen holes, his head and body separated.
Not only did Sun Qingchen have good food and drink every day, he was also not under house arrest. He just had to follow Xu Zhenying all the time.
At first, he thought Xu Zhenying was unfamiliar with government affairs and wanted to keep him around to get more guidance. But after more than a month, Sun Qingchen finally understood everything.
Xu Zhenying is as familiar with government affairs as if he has been working in it for decades!
From city defense security, to encouraging people to resume production, to developing standardized breeding industry, to distributing land in the spring, and even forcing women to join the army, this series of operations is incredible.
If it were an ordinary person, it would take at least four to five years to sort it out.
However, the makeshift team under Xu Zhenying managed to run the huge business in Lan County efficiently.
Looking at Lan County today, the people are well fed and well clothed, and are full of energy. They are as close as a family to Xu Zhenying and others. Even now, countless people spontaneously send things to the gate of the county government.
One or two eggs, a handful of vegetable leaves, an old hen, one or two pairs of insoles, all kinds of things. The soldiers at the gate repeatedly stopped this phenomenon, but it only got worse. In the end, it was only when Xu Zhenying ordered that all the things be distributed to the poorer people in the city that the situation was barely stopped.
But Sun Qingchen also had a strong sense of crisis because of this.
It has only been over a month, and Xu Zhenying's prestige has far surpassed that of Sun Qingchen.
Sun Qingchen had worked hard in Lan County for so many years, and considered himself a good official who loved the people like his own children. The people were also very sincere to him. But now, the people had probably forgotten that Xu Zhenying and his men were just a bunch of bandits!
After more than a month of contact, to be fair, Xu Zhenying is truly a talent. Judging from her daily behavior, you can't tell that she is a woman!
It was because she was a woman that Sun Qingchen looked down on her at first, but in just one month, he saw all the great changes in Lan County, especially Xu Zhenying's series of actions after the spring.
——The refugees were divided into different groups and given land.
——Education for all.
Others might not notice it, but Sun Qingchen is a smart man and naturally knows what these two measures mean.
The distribution of land among the refugees meant that they would be completely devoted to Xu Zhenying. Perhaps they would no longer listen to the imperial court, but instead listen to her family.
Universal education means that Xu Zhenying will spread her anti-heavenly things such as pinyin, calculation, physics, chemistry, common sense, etc., and then these 15,000 people will become her followers, Xu Zhenying, and be used by her alone!
Sun Qingchen felt a chill down his spine just thinking about this!
If he had not confirmed that Xu Zhenying was a woman, he would have been worried that Xu Zhenying had the intention of rebelling!
Xu Zhenying is even more terrifying than those bandits in the north! If we don't get rid of her before she becomes too powerful, there will be endless trouble in the future!
No, we must warn the prefect and ask Jinzhou to send troops for support!
Sun Qingchen went to the inn with such an uneasy mood. He hadn't seen his wife and children for more than a month, and he was worried about them. He went upstairs quickly and saw two soldiers guarding the gate. Sun Qingchen was furious, but he didn't dare to act rashly. He just pushed the door open and walked in.
Then he closed the door with a "bang".
"Husband?"
“Daddy!”
Several voices sounded simultaneously in the room.
Sun Qingchen has a son and a daughter. The eldest is a girl who is just over nine years old, and the second is a boy who is six years old, just in his prime.
Sitting on the bed was his mother, Mrs. Sun, who was nearly sixty years old.
The family hadn't seen each other for a long time, so they were naturally overjoyed and hugged each other and shared their feelings.
Sun Qingchen cried and cursed, "That damned Xu Zhenying has imprisoned my mother in this inn. I am unfilial, for letting my mother, at her age, suffer such humiliation. Mother, you have suffered so much..."
Old Lady Sun wiped his tears and said apologetically, "Son, don't say that. That mountain king treats us very well. His grandmother often brings elderly women from the city to visit me, saying that they are doing some kind of activity to comfort the lonely and widowed elderly. Don't laugh at me, but I'm happier now than when I lived in the backyard! By the way, since you are now working for that mountain king, can you help us ask when the Women and Children's Health Promotion Association will be established? If the king doesn't mind, I, an old woman, would also like to join..."
Sun Qingchen was stunned when he heard this.
His wife, Gu Yunxia, coughed softly and quickly helped her mother-in-law up. "Mother-in-law, my husband just came back. What nonsense are you talking about?"
Seeing his wife's evasive expression, Sun Qingchen felt uneasy. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw books and rice paper on the table of the two children. He strode over and saw that the two children were learning pinyin!
Sun Qingchen's face turned pale, and he almost immediately flipped open the stack of papers on the table. Then he immediately understood -
The two kids are clearly learning the knowledge from Xu Zhenying's universal education, and their learning progress is almost the same as that of the refugees!
Well, guard against thieves day and night, but you can’t guard against thieves in your own home!
Xu Zhenying actually infiltrated his home!
Sun Qingchen's face was extremely grim, and he suppressed his anger. His eldest daughter, Sun Chaolu, immediately came over and said flatteringly, "Dad, look, after using the pinyin that Teacher Xu taught me, my younger brother can already finish reading the book 'Spring and Autumn Annals'!"
The eldest daughter seemed to be afraid that her father would be angry, so she quickly opened the book on the table and pulled the six-year-old Sun Wen over. When Sun Wen met his sister's encouraging eyes, he immediately began to read the pinyin on the book.
"In the fifth month of summer, the people of Ju invaded Xiang. Wu Hai led his army into Ji. In the eighth month of autumn, on Gengchen, the Duke and the Rong made an alliance at Tang. In the ninth month, Ji Lieshu came to surrender his daughter. In the tenth month of winter, Bo Ji returned to Ji. Ji's son Bo and Ju Zi made an alliance at Mi. On Yimao, the twelfth month, Lady Zishi died. The people of Zheng attacked Wei."
Even though Sun Wen was only six years old, at the age of enlightenment, just starting to learn the Thousand Character Classic and the Hundred Family Names, Sun Wen was not stumbling at all, but rather reading fluently...
Sun Qingchen immediately took the book and saw that each character was marked with a few scribbled charcoal symbols. He knew this thing. Xu Zhenying and his group called it pinyin, and they said that if you learned these sixty or seventy symbols, you would be able to recognize all the characters.
Sun Qingchen naturally disagreed at first. If studying was really that easy, why would he have to study hard for ten years?
But now six-year-old Sun Wen can read it word for word according to the spelling rules above.
Sun Qingchen finally realized the seriousness of the situation. He had calmed down, but instead felt a chill run down his spine. He couldn't help but pick up the book and scrutinize it, not missing a single symbol. He even asked his eldest daughter, "Zhaoxia, tell me, how do you pronounce this pinyin?"
The eldest daughter immediately acted as a teacher to her father, pointing to the words in the book and saying, "Father, this b is the initial consonant, pronounced 'bo'. This ao is the final vowel, pronounced 'ao'. Together, it's b-ao, meaning thin."
Sun Chaoxia explained to her father how to pronounce a few words. Sun Qingchen, who had passed the imperial examination, naturally understood it immediately. According to Xu Zhenying's method, as long as he mastered these musical notes, he could pronounce them accurately.
I have to admit that this method can indeed help beginners to quickly memorize.
At the same time, for those who have no basic knowledge, as long as you learn pinyin, you can also write!
If this simple method of learning to read is truly promoted throughout the county as Xu Zhenying suggested, then from eighty-year-old women to four or five-year-old children, who wouldn't be able to learn to read and write? If you can't write, just use pinyin. With just these letters, you can express yourself in writing!
Thinking of this, Sun Qingchen's heart felt like it was falling into an icy cave!
He thought of something deeper!
What would the scene be like if everyone could read?
Because of the proliferation of knowledge, the people will no longer be ignorant. After learning pinyin, they can slowly learn characters. After learning characters, they can slowly read and understand. The Zhou Dynasty will no longer respect scholars, and the status of the gentry will no longer be the same as before. If the people are no longer ignorant, how can the court rule?
Sun Qingchen seemed to see a corner of the world collapsing.
Xu Zhenying...what on earth does she want to do?!
The eldest daughter looked at her father, who was in a trance, and could only lower her head and ask, "Father, what did I do wrong?"
Fearing that Sun Qingchen would blame their children, Gu Yunxia quickly took the blame herself. "Husband, this is all my fault. Although the king confined us, he sent people to inquire about our well-being every day. Not only that, he also told us about your recent situation every day to reassure us. As a result of this, I let my guard down. When he asked to find a teacher to teach them, I...didn't refuse."
Sun Qingchen's expression softened as he helped Gu Yunxia up. "How can you blame me, Madam? That great king is indeed different from other bandits. Other bandits burn, kill, rob, and abuse people, but he..."
Sun Qingchen wanted to say that a blunt knife could kill someone, but looking at the eager eyes of the people in the room, he was afraid of scaring the women, so he didn't say it out loud.
Seeing his daughter, Sun Chaolu, looking frightened, Sun Qingchen wondered what she had done to displease her father. He felt distressed. He patted Sun Chaolu on the head, a fatherly smile on his face, and asked softly, "Chaolu, tell me, besides teaching you pinyin, what else did your teacher Xu teach you?"
Sun Chaolu immediately took out paper and pen as if presenting a treasure, and also got a charcoal pencil from somewhere. Sun Qingchen was very familiar with this charcoal pencil. He followed Xu Zhenying, and Xu Zhenying had no intention of avoiding him. It can be said that he knew everything about Xu Zhenying, so he naturally knew this charcoal pencil.
Xu Zhenying also said that he would ask a craftsman to modify the charcoal pencils in the spring so that children can practice calligraphy better.
To him, this was naturally a retrograde act.
"Daddy, Teacher Xu also taught my brother and me how to calculate area." Sun Chaolu didn't hide her innocence at all, and she thought her father was asking sincerely. The little girl was naturally overjoyed, wanting to pour out everything Xu Yinxi had taught her. "Daddy, look at this right triangle. Teacher Xu said that using the theorem of hypotenuse equals three, leg equals four, and side equals five, we can quickly calculate its length and height. After marking the elevation of this triangle with auxiliary lines, we can simply multiply the length of the lower line by the length of the height to calculate the area. Teacher Xu also said that this calculation method can be used when dividing the land after the spring, so that every household will get the same area of land!"
Upon hearing this, Sun Qingchen realized the seriousness of the matter. He looked over and over at Sun Chaolu's notes and kept asking his daughter questions.
Sun Chaolu proudly explained to her father the methods of calculating the area of various figures, as well as the mathematical problem of chickens and rabbits in the same cage.
"Daddy, Daddy, Teacher Xu said the chicken and rabbit cage problem is very simple! For example, there are pheasants and rabbits in a cage. There are 35 pheasants and rabbits on top and 94 legs on the bottom. How many pheasants and rabbits are there? Just put the 35 heads in the first row and the 94 legs in the second row. Divide the number of legs by two, subtract half the number of legs from the number of heads, and subtract the number of heads from the remainder. Now the number left in the first row is the number of chickens, and the number left in the second row is the number of rabbits."
Sun Qingchen naturally refused to believe it. He hurriedly took the charcoal pencil and wrote and drew on the paper. It took him a long time to come up with the same answer as his daughter.
Meanwhile, his two children were clapping their hands and saying, "Daddy, you're too slow!"
Along with Sun Chaolu's cheerful voice, Sun Qingchen's face became panicked.
Because he suddenly realized that the physics, chemistry, and common sense that Xu Zhenying vigorously promoted did not seem to be empty talk or heresy, but a brand new discipline that was simpler, easier to promote, and easier for people to understand and use!
At this moment, Sun Qingchen's fear of Xu Zhenying reached its peak!
What does this woman want to do?
Where did she get this knowledge?
Is she cultivating her own followers, or does she want to... compete for the world?
If this is true, then Xu Zhenying must be eliminated!
Otherwise she will disrupt the entire Zhou Dynasty!
However, Madam Sun had already noticed that something was wrong with her husband. She bit her lip slightly, but didn't know what to do.
"Husband, what's wrong with you?"
Sun Qingchen licked his dry lips, an awkward smile forming on his face. He then glanced at Madam Sun and said, "Yunxia, come with me."
The two walked to the corner of the room.
Sun Qingchen's face turned pale, and the hand holding Gu Yunxia trembled slightly. It took a long time for him to calm down. "Yunxia, can you go out normally?"
"Occasionally, yes. Although the great king has sent guards, the guards are lax and he doesn't seem to completely regard us as prisoners."
"Okay, very good." Sun Qingchen's expression eased slightly. "I will write a secret letter later. Find a chance for someone to send it out of the city. Deliver it to the Jinzhou governor. Remember, this letter cannot be handed over to anyone else. It must be delivered to the governor personally."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
