Chapter 347 Something Happened in Dayun Temple (Big Chapter, Please Give Me a Monthly Ticket)
When Taifu Chu first read this letter from Wang Changshi, he thought it was quite pleasing to the eye, but as he continued reading, it was no longer the same.
The gray eyebrows of Master Chu were getting more and more furrowed. He should praise his students, but why did he praise Qiao Yang? This was his student, what did he have to do with that lousy fisherman? Master Chu was getting more and more annoyed. He read three lines quickly and finally mentioned him at the end of the letter. Oh, but he mentioned him like this: "If there is a chance, Master Chu, please ask Qiao Jijiu on behalf of your student." "Annoying!"
Tutor Chu expressed his feelings at the moment in the simplest words.
He wanted to burn the annoying letter, but when he raised it above the candle, he brought it back - burning the letter was not a big deal, but it would be bad if it set the house on fire.
The old tutor, who was now very afraid of death, picked up the scissors that she had just used to cut the picture of the little man kowtowing, and cut the letter paper into pieces in dissatisfaction.
The old servant who had just returned saw the pile of scraps of paper in front of his old master and asked in surprise: "...are you going to frame them all?"
The old master snorted, "Why frame it? Burn it!"
The old servant was accustomed to such great emotional ups and downs. When he stepped forward to collect the scraps of paper, he heard his old tutor laugh "Hey" without any warning.
Master Chu leaned back in his chair, his anger suddenly subsided by seven points, and he said generously: "Ignorance is not wrong..."
Although he was considered someone else's student, his students were the best, and this was obvious to all.
On a summer night, with the window half-open, a slight cool breeze blew in from outside. The Master turned his head to look outside the window frame and saw that the lantern hanging in the corner of the corridor was dim. He immediately said, "Why is the lantern not lit? Have someone light it up quickly..."
The old servant quickly took people to light the lamps.
It was a rabbit lantern, which was out of place in this elegant and simple residence, but the old owner treasured it very much and had never allowed anyone to take it down since he hung it up on the night of the Lantern Festival.
It's just that the old master has been staying in the Ministry of Rites recently, so the rabbit lantern and the servant who lit it have become passive and lazy.
The old master looked through the window and saw that the lamp was lit again, emitting a gentle candlelight. Only then did he feel safe and satisfied.
He will keep this lamp on until his students return. As long as there is a lamp, there is hope, just like before.
The green rabbit lantern swayed gently in the wind, and the light swayed with it, like a naughty child holding a green lotus leaf in his hand, flapping it in the water, swinging it, creating layers of ripples on the water. The night was like the water surface, slowly swayed by the light of this small rabbit lantern until the first ray of daylight came.
The secret letter of request, sent by Eunuch Pan in Jiangdu, quickly arrived at the capital and was presented to the emperor.
The next evening, Yao Yi returned from the Dali Temple, changed out of his official uniform, and went to pay his respects to his mother.
The courtyard of the old lady of the Yao family was very lively at the moment. The couple from the second branch and the Yao Xia siblings were all talking to the old lady.
The servants were standing guard outside, with only a personal maid standing by, fanning the old lady with a large palm-leaf fan. The old lady listened to her granddaughter's request, smiled, sighed, and shook her head: "Axia, why don't you ask your mother first if she agrees..."
Ever since Chang Suining took over the post of governor of Jiangdu, Yao Xia could no longer stay at home and asked to go to Yangzhou to visit his cousin every few days.
Today, Yao Ran received a letter from home, and he could no longer suppress his feelings, so he brought up the matter again.
After bowing to Yao Yi who had walked in, Yao Xia walked up to his mother Zeng and shook her hand: "Mother, please let me go..."
Zeng patted her daughter's hand and said, "Axia, you have to know that life in Jiangdu is not so easy now..."
"Mother, my daughter is not afraid of hardship!"
Zeng sighed and said, "Mother, what you mean is that life in Jiangdu is already difficult now, and it is not convenient for Governor Chang to support an idle person like you who only knows how to eat."
Yao Xia's face turned bitter, and he felt unable to refute.
After all, she doesn't know much, but she eats a lot.
"Father and mother..." Yao Gui couldn't help but said, "Why don't we go to Yangzhou to study?"
He had heard that Governor Chang ordered a hundred people to copy the books collected by aristocratic families in Jiangdu... and the Saint had approved Governor Chang's action yesterday!
If he could go to Jiangdu to study, he would have the opportunity to come into contact with those books. Not only would he be able to meet Governor Chang and Ran Mei, but he might also be able to learn something.
Old Madam Yao's joking words broke the boy's wild thoughts: "Agui, this is a good idea. Why not take your uncle's head with you? That would save trouble and save you from having to chop him off someday..."
"Stop making a fuss, no one is allowed to go." The second master of the Yao family said seriously, "This Governor Chang has been very flamboyant, and he must have aroused suspicion from the emperor. Our Yao family is different from other families. Your uncle is an official in the court, and there were rumors about him and Governor Chang... If we send you all the way to Jiangdu, once people know about it, we will have a hard time explaining it."
Yao Gui and Yao Xia looked at each other when they heard this, vaguely realizing the interests involved, and for a moment they became silent like wilted chickens.
Yao Yi sat down and sighed, "With those two outside, I already have enough headaches. You two should just stay at home."
"Those two"? Which two? The Yao family members reacted for a moment, and almost immediately realized what was going on.
Yao Xia looked at her uncle. It turned out that her uncle not only counted her cousin, but also Sister Chang... Her uncle still had the desire to be someone's concubine's father.
The second master of the Yao family was very worried about this. Well, he had just been thinking of distancing himself from the scary governor Chang, but his eldest brother immediately pulled him back.
Why is it that my brother is so obsessed with being a wild father?
Facing the complicated gazes of his family members, Yao Yi realized that he had said something wrong and tried to say it seriously: "Anyway, you are not allowed to go there again."
The remaining two lambs must be kept closely in the pen and not allowed to go anywhere else.
Old Madam Yao took out Yao Ran's letter and asked the nanny to give it to Yao Yi.
After reading it, Yao Yi looked at the powerful handwriting and couldn't help but sigh: "Ran Er has changed a lot..."
This change comes from the inside out, and can be seen in the wording and handwriting of the letter.
Yao Yi also often received individual letters from his daughter. From those letters, he seemed to be able to see that a bird that was originally imprisoned in a cage, weak and injured, gradually shed its injured feathers, stretched its bones, grew new flesh and blood, and its wings gradually became fuller.
And in recent letters, Yao Yi can feel that this bird has the vision and determination to look further, it wants to fly higher, and even has a booming ambition.
Yao Yi was shocked and felt mixed relief, but more than that, he felt the anxiety of being a parent.
At the same time, he knew clearly that the mentor who enlightened his daughter's ambition must be the other leading lamb who made him most worried.
The lamb never wrote to him, but only had a "conversation" with him once in Ran'er's letter, asking Ran'er to greet him on his behalf.
Yao Yi has been paying close attention to the developments in Jiangdu and keeping an eye on Chang Suining's every move in Jiangdu.
She had boldly asked for the post of governor of Jiangdu, and now she had copied the aristocratic family's collection of books without asking for permission later... Yes, the saints had approved it, even against all odds, but approval did not mean recognition, it was just that they "had to" do it due to the current situation.
These suspicions and dissatisfactions will accumulate in invisible places, and when the crisis that created this "have to" disappears, she will inevitably face a crisis...
Everything she did in Jiangdu gradually pointed to the word that local officials hated the most - centralization.
She first selected and recruited talents on her own, thereby avoiding the power division and constraints of the court; she also managed to get wealthy businessmen to donate silver and prominent families to donate books. Not only did she stabilize the situation in Jiangdu, but she also took advantage of the situation to tie herself up with these Jiangdu's "landlords" and forced them to work for her.
Now she has used this method to keep Jiangdu's collection of books. Although those books originally belonged to Jiangdu, they were scattered among the various clans in the past. But now, they are all in her hands...
In terms of the number of books in her collection, she was naturally far inferior to the imperial library, especially after the imperial court confiscated the books in the Central Plains.
However, the imperial court had strict restrictions on the use of its collection of books. Distributing them to scholars all over the world was an overly loud and idealistic slogan. To realize it would be a destined long process.
But the collection of books in her hands is different. It is a library that is most intuitive and most accessible to readers all over the world.
The only owner of this library is Chang Suining.
These books are considered sacred objects by countless literati, and she will be the only distributor.
Military power, financial power, and book collection are now all in her hands. In just a short period of time, she has become the true and undisputed ruler of Jiangdu.
Her movements were swift and she always hit the vital points. Not to mention those officials who could only criticize her with words in the court, even he who had expected it in his heart was unable to react for a while.
He even felt that... her methods of centralizing power were too skillful!
But who taught her these methods?
Recently, Yao Yi often sat up suddenly in the middle of the night after tossing and turning, frowning and thinking about this matter.
Based on his intuition, he suspected that there was someone behind Chang Suining who was secretly directing and instigating him...
But Yao Ran's letters repeatedly stated that everything was Chang Suining's own decision. Even her subordinates and retainers often felt panic and confusion because of her bold and unexpected actions...
But Yao Yi still almost firmly believed that there must be someone hidden behind Chang Suining, who was just hiding in the dark and had never shown up... Otherwise, everything that happened to her could not be explained by common sense.
As the Minister of Dali Temple, he was more perceptive than ordinary people, and when he was secretly looking for people before, he also knew the details of Chang Suining's experience from childhood to adulthood... With such experiences locked up in the boudoir and not shared with outsiders, how could she, alone, create the current Jiangdu Governor who is well versed in political tactics?
It was neither the assistant officers and retainers around her, nor Chang Kuo's style... Who was guiding her in secret? Yao Yi was unsure of what the "that person" who was very likely to exist was thinking, and secretly decided that he must find "that person".
After returning home, he wrote a letter to Chang Suining and Yao Ran respectively. The one to Chang Suining was intended to test and remind him; the one to Yao Ran was to repeatedly ask his daughter to pay more attention to the matter and to write to him immediately if she found any clues.
…
The next day, when Xiao Min led the triumphant army into the city, the people of Beijing lined the streets to welcome them.
The next day, Li Xian led 50,000 troops to leave the capital to support Dongting and suppress the rebel army led by Daozhou rebel Bian Chunliang.
When Li Xian rode his horse out of the city, he could still see some remaining flowers on both sides of the official road. They were left by the people when they came to greet Xiao Min when he entered the city yesterday.
But today, the day he set out for the battle, there was none of the lively scenes of yesterday, and no officials came to see him off. His aunt only said that the military situation was urgent and ordered him to march quickly... At this moment, everyone should be at the morning court to celebrate the triumphant army and reward Xiao Min and his party.
Li Xian gripped the reins tightly, urged his horse over the withered flowers, and galloped away.
This time, he will definitely return to the capital with Bian Chunliang's head.
He wanted to prove to his aunt and everyone that he, Duke of Han, Li Xian, was the one who could truly help Dasheng save the situation!
As for Cui Jing, who had been in the limelight for too long, and the Chang Kuo father and daughter who were now fearless because of the battle against the Japanese army, their fate would be like the flower mud that was crushed under his feet! The army was moving forward, but not everyone had the same determination and confidence as Li Xian.
The troops under Bian Chunliang were even more brutal than Xu Zhengye. If Xu Zhengye had previously been on good terms with the noble families and had conspired with them, most of the victims he had injured were ordinary people, and he was under the banner of restoring the Li family's rule, so he would have been somewhat respectful.
In contrast, Bian Chunliang's army, who was born as a salt merchant and openly raised the banner of rebellion, was very "equal", with no distinction between the rich and the poor, noble and humble. Wherever he went, even the nobles were robbed and slaughtered. His methods were barbaric and cruel, and he treated the children of the nobles with extreme humiliation, showing no humanity at all.
Moreover, because of their repeated victories, they dealt heavy losses to the imperial army, and their unstoppable momentum along the way, their reputation for killing gradually grew in power, and they had vaguely formed a deterrent effect of "making people panic before the battle even begins".
At this moment, most of the 50,000 troops following Li Xian were nervous, not knowing what the outcome of the Battle of Dongting Lake would be.
At this moment, most of the people in the city were talking about the grand scene when Xiao Min's army entered the city yesterday. For the people in the capital, this triumphant army was inseparable from General Ningyuan. Although General Ningyuan was unable to return to Beijing with them due to the fight against the Japanese army, seeing this army was like seeing General Ningyuan.
Speaking of General Ningyuan, recently they always hear something like "Yu Jiangdu ordered a hundred people to copy the collection of books", but ordinary illiterate people do not realize the true significance of this topic, so most of them only have a vague understanding and are not very keen on discussing it.
But it was different for scholars. This incident caused quite a stir among them.
In the past two days, this topic has frequently appeared in Dengtai Tower, and scholars who go to admire the painting "Tiger Walking in the Mountains and Forests" have been coming in an endless stream from morning to night.
Meng Lie saw it and felt that this picture of a tiger seemed to have become a real landscape.
Thinking back to when Chang Kuo had used this to evade his four thousand taels of wine and drinks bill, and even took away a jade pendant from him, he had wanted to curse at him at the time, but now thinking about it...it wasn't really a loss, right?
Moreover, he heard that the Chang family girl in Jiangdu could be exchanged for ten thousand taels of silver from a wealthy businessman with just four characters... If this is the case, not only did he not lose money, but he actually made a huge profit? That morning, before Dengtai Tower opened its doors to welcome guests, Meng Lie went up to the second floor alone and quietly admired the tiger painting that made him a huge profit.
I still remember that night, Master Chu said that this painting had "the style of Her Royal Highness Princess Chongyue"...
But he was just a businessman, with little attainments in calligraphy and painting, so he couldn't see any mystery.
Does this painting really resemble your style?
Or rather... the real doubt in his heart was not about this painting.
What he really wanted to ask was why the path that girl was taking now, and everything she revealed while walking on this path, gave him a feeling that she was very similar to His Highness?
He tried to get an answer from Wu Jue, but he didn't know whether Wu Jue was unwilling or unable to give it, which always made him feel that he was just trying to be perfunctory and evasive.
Thinking of Wu Jue's deteriorating health and the fact that even the famous doctors they invited were helpless, Meng Lie couldn't help but frown.
The street outside the building was already very busy, but Dengtai Building did not do morning tea business, so there was no rush to open. The waiters inside the building were still wiping the tables and chairs slowly.
Meng Lie came down from the second floor and went to the backyard as usual, but saw a servant walking towards him in a hurry.
This servant was nominally a family servant, but in fact he was Meng Lie's confidant who had followed him since his early years. Like Meng Lie, he was an old acquaintance of Dengtai Tower who knew the situation well.
Seeing that the servant had a strange expression at this moment, Meng Lie had a bad feeling in his heart.
"Master, something bad has happened..." The servant hurried forward, and without even the time to salute, he lowered his voice and said, "Over at Dayun Temple...something has happened to Master Wu Jue!"
Meng Lie's eyes were shocked, and he immediately said, "Prepare the car!"
…
At the same moment, Qiao Yang, who had finally waited for the ten-day break and wanted to sleep in, was woken up by the servant, who said that Master Chu had arrived.
Qiao Yang complained in his heart, but he had to get up. When he was getting dressed, the slightly cool breeze in the early morning blew in, causing him to sneeze several times in succession.
After washing up in a hurry, Qiao Yang went outside to meet the guests. He smiled and bowed to Master Chu to apologize: "...I didn't know you were coming today, so I couldn't get up to greet you. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for a long time."
"Okay, let's go." Master Chu stood up from the chair with servants carrying fishing rods and fish baskets, and said coldly.
"Fishing so early..." Qiao Yang hurriedly followed: "The fish haven't woken up yet."
Master Chu said unhappily, "You can go if you want."
"Go, of course I have to go..." Qiao Yang smiled amiably: "You finally came here, how can I not accompany you."
Master Chu walked forward humming, and Qiao Yang keenly noticed that the old man seemed to be in a state of emotion.
So, I tried to test him with words on the way.
He actually asked the question, but the old lady said in an ambiguous tone, "There's nothing we can do. We were robbed."
"Thief?" Qiao Yang asked hurriedly, "What did you lose? Has the thief been caught?"
A big chapter of 5,000 words ~ I will make up for the update due to my leave on the 1st, and will make up for it later.
(End of this chapter)
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