Zheng Ji quickly rushed to the altar in the city and saw Zheng Chao kneeling on the altar, recounting the many faults of the Zheng family and asking for forgiveness from God.
Zheng Ji first ordered someone to capture Zheng Chao's servant.
Then, he went up to the altar himself, facing the disaster victims crowded below the altar. Looking into the distance, he saw more people gathering here.
Most of the people below the altar are disaster victims. After more than half a month of flooding, they are homeless, have no food to eat, and have long lost their image and appearance.
At this moment, they looked up at the man who was high above them, with neatly dressed clothes and hair in a long gown with wide sleeves, and suddenly realized that those who had truly suffered from this natural disaster did not seem to include these nobles.
The nobleman spoke in a normal tone, but he still had an innate sense of superiority, as if he was condescending just to stand there and talk to them.
"I am the head of the Zheng family. Since my brother was dismissed from the position of head of the family, he has been acting erratically due to hatred towards the family. He often makes crazy statements that are not in line with the reality. You don't have to take his words and actions today seriously."
He didn't care whether the people believed it or not. He just needed to give an explanation, deny what Zheng Chao said, and then label him crazy.
He walked up to the kneeling Zheng Chao, lowered his eyes and said, "Brother, the clan is busy, it is not appropriate to make a fuss anymore, just follow me back."
As he said this, he extended a hand to Zheng Chao.
Zheng Chao looked at the exceptionally clean hand. He had been working with Cui Jing on the dike repairs these days, and he had not seen such a clean and white hand for a long time.
But this cleanliness and nobility was only superficial, just like the upper-class aristocrats who were good at writing and painting in his eyes.
Zheng Chao looked at the hand and asked, "Jianzhi, do you still remember what we learned the most when we were studying together as children?"
Zheng Ji said nothing, or rather, he always disdained to pay attention to Zheng Chao.
"It is the way of a gentleman." Zheng Chao grabbed the hand that Zheng Ji offered him, and after standing up slowly with some effort, he let go of Zheng Ji's hand and said, "What we have learned since childhood is the way of a superior gentleman."
"Just like your name, Zheng Ji, Jian means to benefit all living things in the world." Zheng Chao looked at the people behind him and said, "I have always believed that this is the truth. When we grow up, we can use what we have learned to benefit the world."
"But when I grew up, they suddenly changed their way of speaking for some reason!" Zheng Chao felt it was absurd and said, "The way of a gentleman does not exist. There is only self-interest! When I talk to them about gentlemen again, they think I am crazy!"
"Why is this? Why is there such a truth in the world!" Zheng Chao's voice became louder and louder, his expression became more and more excited, and there was pain in his red eyes: "The so-called upper-class aristocrats are just a coat that looks noble. They think they are noble and high up in the clouds, and they cut off the road to the clouds. In their eyes, those poor and common people who suffer from injustice below the clouds are as lowly as ants, as dirty as mud, and as ignorant as livestock!"
Zheng Ji was not moved by his pain at all. He just wiped the dirt off his fingers with a handkerchief and curled his lips sarcastically: "Brother, these naive words, why don't you come back with me and talk about them later."
Zheng Chao took a few steps back and said, "Such a noble family should not exist in this world!"
He pointed his finger at Zheng Ji: "But if it weren't for you, it wouldn't have disappeared in this way. It was you who colluded with Xu Zhengye, and it was your blind and arrogant ambition that led the Zheng family and even all the nobles in the Central Plains to a dead end! Those innocent people should not be buried with your mistakes!"
Zheng Ji's expression finally changed.
The people behind him were talking noisily. His eyes darkened slightly as he walked towards Zheng Chao, his voice low and cold: "No, the Zheng family has not lost yet, and it has not reached the end of the road."
Zheng Chao's eyes were filled with sorrow and anger. "How do you think you've lost? Do you think you've lost if you watch all the members of the Zheng family die in front of you until no one is left alive?"
Until now, his cousin is still trying to take the lives of innocent members of the Zheng family as a final act of resistance!
Zheng Ji looked Zheng Chao in the eye and spoke in a voice that only the two of them could hear, word by word: "What about brother? Do you think that just by donating grain and praying for blessings, you can save the Zheng family?"
Zheng Chao also looked into his eyes: "No, this alone is far from enough. Two more things need to be done. One of them needs me to do it..."
Zheng Ji frowned subconsciously. Just as he was about to speak, Zheng Chao suddenly raised his hand without any warning, and an extremely sharp dagger appeared in his hand without any warning.
“Puff——”
Zheng Chao suddenly stabbed the dagger into Zheng Ji's chest.
"Ling An told me that I had to lure you here first, let you relax your vigilance, and then, make sure to hit you in one fell swoop..." Zheng Chao's voice trembled a little, but his eyes were extremely firm.
"You..." Zheng Ji's expression was shocked, his eyes were bloodshot, and his face suddenly turned pale. He raised his hand with all his strength, grabbed Zheng Chao's hand holding the dagger, and tried to push Zheng Chao away.
Zheng Chao clenched his hands together and thrust the dagger in again with such force that Zheng Ji stumbled back.
"thump!"
Zheng Ji fell to the ground, and Zheng Chao also fell on him, still holding the dagger, tears rolling down his eyes: "Jianzhi... You didn't expect that I would kill you, even I didn't expect it!"
He pulled out the dagger violently and stabbed it again with great force.
Suddenly, screams broke out from below the altar.
Just now, Zheng Ji had been standing with his back to the people. It was not until this moment that the people under the altar saw clearly what was happening.
Several clan members who came with Zheng Ji were also horrified: "Zheng Chao, how dare you murder the head of the family!!"
They tried to rush to the altar but were stopped by unfamiliar faces guarding the altar.
The Zheng family members were furious: "It was premeditated...Zheng Chao had it premeditated!"
"Go and invite the clan leader!"
There was panic all around. The monks who were sitting cross-legged and chanting on the altar also changed their expressions and kept chanting Buddha's name. When they were about to walk down the altar in panic, they were stopped by a girl holding a sword.
"Masters, don't be alarmed. This is just part of the Heavenly Sacrifice."
The monks: “……!”
I didn't tell him there was such a ring beforehand! But seeing the sword in the other party's arms and the followers behind him, the leading monk pretended to be calm and chanted a Buddhist mantra, and asked him tactfully whether such a "ring" would appear again next time.
The youngest monk had the most horrified look on his face. He thought that when he got excited about killing, he would probably kill them as a sacrifice to the gods!
Could they be part of this? "No." Chang Suining looked at Zheng Chao, who was kneeling on the ground, and said, "No more people will die."
Zheng Chao cut off a piece of Zheng Ji's sleeve and held it up high together with the bloody dagger, saying in a trembling voice: "Gods and Buddhas above, I have killed the culprit!"
This scene was filled with an eerie piety, and some frightened people said, "Could he really be a madman?"
"Looks like he's really crazy?"
“…”
"No, he's not crazy!" Suddenly a young man said in shock, "He's Mr. Caotang!"
Mr. Caotang?
How could it be Mr. Caotang?
Most of the people in Xingyang have heard of this name, especially the scholars.
About seven or eight years ago, a man suddenly appeared in an abandoned thatched cottage outside the city and gave lectures. At first, no one went to listen, but because he did not have any formalities and everyone could listen, after a few times, he had several students.
Later, the name of Mr. Caotang spread, and more and more students came to listen to his lectures, but his lecture times were irregular, and sometimes no one came for three to five days. Even so, there were still many studious scholars who came to listen to his lectures.
But no one knew the name of this Mr. Caotang, and he had never shown his face. He usually wore a gray robe and covered his face with a straw hat and black gauze. He claimed that his face was disfigured and should not be shown to others.
He was recognized at this moment because of his voice.
The face can be concealed, but the voice cannot be hidden from the students who often attend the classes.
The dozen or so scholars surrounding the altar were all shocked.
They never thought that under Mr. Caotang's straw hat, he was actually a descendant of the Zheng family.
"The eldest master of the Zheng family is Mr. Caotang!"
The voice quickly spread throughout the crowd, attracting more and more scholars to come.
Also coming along were the troops brought by Li Xian.
When the anxious Zheng family members heard that Li Xian had come to this point, they were all horrified: "How could it be so fast..."
The head of the family clearly arranged people to ambush Li Xian on his way into the city! Where are those people? ! Seeing the people being forced to avoid to the sides and the soldiers approaching quickly, the Zheng family members looked ashen.
The master of the family is dead, and the butcher's knife is coming...
One of the tribesmen staggered back and took out something from his sleeve, his eyes gradually becoming determined.
After a moment, there was a sharp and loud sound of arrows whistling above everyone's heads, three times in a row.
The location of this altar is the only way to the Zheng family.
The place was crowded and the atmosphere in the city was strange. Before Li Xian approached this place, he had already learned about Zheng Ji's murder.
At this moment, approaching the altar, his horse slowed down.
He looked up at the gloomy sky above his head, and the last sound of arrows faded away.
"Don't you think it's too late to report the news now?" Li Xian smiled indifferently, looked at the situation above the altar, and the smile faded. He said loudly: "Luoyang Yuan family has admitted that the collusion between the Central Plains nobles and Xu Zhengye was all instructed by Zheng Ji, the head of the Xingyang Zheng family!"
As he spoke, he gave an order in a cold voice: "Capture all the members of the Zheng family! Anyone who dares to resist will be killed without mercy!"
As the sound of the voice fell, the soldiers behind him immediately surrounded the altar.
At the same moment, hearing the three sounds of arrows, the family members in Zheng's house who knew the situation looked shocked and confused.
These three sounds of arrows meant failure... But how could it happen so quickly? They had clearly arranged an ambush, so how could it be ineffective?
The next moment, they learned from the servants who rushed into the hall in panic that the head of the family, Zheng Ji, was dead, and died at the hands of Zheng Chao!
"Heaven wants to destroy our Zheng family...!"
The older tribesman spat out blood and was supported by the panicked crowd.
"We can cut off the Zheng family...but we can't let those shameless villains get away with it!"
"Now that things have come to this, we will follow the patriarch's final instructions!"
Several tribesmen quickly ran out of the hall.
Throughout history, the real heirloom of the gentry has not been money and property, but the precious books handed down from generation to generation.
As the head of the aristocratic family in the Central Plains, the Zheng family had countless books in their collections.
The whereabouts of these books that have been passed down from generation to generation have always been a secret within the clan. According to their importance and rarity, they are stored in several book storage pavilions. The location of each book storage pavilion is secret, equipped with mechanisms, and guarded day and night.
It was not just the Zheng family that was like this; most other aristocratic families were like this as well. Therefore, in recent days, Li Xian had interrogated and forced to death countless young men from aristocratic families in order to find out where the books of each family were stored.
The key to the Zheng family's library has always been kept by successive family heads, but last night, Zheng Ji handed the key to a clan member.
"I have killed the culprit Zheng Ji! In terms of seniority and direct bloodline, I am now the head of the Zheng family!" Zheng Chao knelt on the ground above the altar: "I am willing to donate all the Zheng family's land, property and books. I am willing to make the Zheng family in Xingyang demote themselves to commoners. I am willing to take the children of the family to teach and preach in the world with my guilty body, and return myself to the world to atone for the sins of the Zheng family!"
After saying this, he kowtowed again, stirring up water droplets.
And at this moment, the Zheng family collection of books that he was willing to donate was about to be burned.
All three of Zheng's libraries were covered with pine oil.
“… Whatever, whatever!”
"Today, I will live here forever with my Zheng family!"
A member of the Zheng clan had a grief-stricken, maddened look on his face and was about to take the torch from a servant when he was suddenly shot through the knee by an arrow from behind, forcing him to kneel forward on the ground.
The sound of orderly footsteps soon entered the library, and the servant was frightened and dropped the torch in his hand.
A figure quickly flew forward, caught the torch, and breathed a sigh of relief: "Fortunately..."
Yuanxiang handed the torch to the person beside him and asked him to take it out and put it out.
The tribesman with the arrow in the knee dragged his injured leg and struggled to stand up. He looked at the tall figure who walked in, his eyes shocked: "It's you..."
"Cui Lingan!"
He asked angrily: "What are you going to do?"
The other party had already attacked him, so he naturally would not imagine that this person was here to help his Zheng family! Cui Jing ignored him and only ordered to check the library, extinguish all the candles and move them out, clean up the kerosene, and guard inside and outside.
The tribesman was quickly dragged out and thrown on the stone steps.
"It's you. The master's plan has been disrupted...it's you who did it!"
"This is your maternal home! We share the same roots as you!"
"Cui Jing, you aided and abetted the tyrant and brought shame to the nobles... You shall not die a good death!"
“…”
Listening to the curses from the tribesmen, Cui Jing never looked back.
Soon, he saw members of the Zheng family fleeing in panic. Some women were running with children in their arms, their hair loose and their hairpins and rings falling.
Some tribesmen also rushed up to him and cursed at him.
A young man rushed out from the side, holding a sword and running towards Cui Jing.
Cui Jing did not let anyone hurt him. He raised his hand, grasped the sword blade, exerted force in his hand, and broke the sword body.
The young man was repelled by the force and stumbled back, holding the broken sword in his hand and gritting his teeth: "Cui Ling'an, you will be punished by heaven!"
The young man's deep and cold eyes were as calm as the abyss: "I am the only one who is condemned by God, but you can live, why not?"
Watching the young man leave without stopping, the boy held the broken sword, standing there in a daze. Finally, he knelt on the ground powerlessly, screaming in pain.
At the altar, when Li Xian wanted to take Zheng Chao down, he was stopped.
Looking at the girl who suddenly appeared above the altar, Li Xian's eyes moved slightly: "General Ning Yuan, why are you here?"
This plot can end tomorrow ~ It's the end of the month, and I want to get some monthly tickets, but I have no books to recommend, so cough cough cough, today I will recommend you a book of my own, a short book, without any rebirth or time travel, but it should be a happy book to read ~ "The Auspicious Time Has Come" is attached with a direct link, in case anyone likes it?
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