Inside the Xuan box, things quieted down.

Gu Yiwu straightened his face and continued speaking.

"Zi Yu, I'm not kidding. This Empress Dowager Dugu is indeed powerful. I admire her and want to see her. I don't know her full name. I guess only those who are close to her know it..."

"Brother Gu, I heard that this Li Dugu has no family from her mother's side, and there are no royal relatives from the Dugu clan in the court. I heard that she was born a commoner, all her relatives are dead, and she met the late Emperor Dali during the war."

A student from the Hall of Justice nearby suddenly added.

"Oh?" Gu Yiwu frowned. "A lone commoner girl? This makes more sense. Why did most of the civil officials in the court support her? She was in charge of the government and raised the young emperor. In the end, the imperial power would still be returned to the young emperor."

"But I didn't expect that this Dugu would be of humble origin. I thought she was from an ancient family or a fairy sect, and that's why she was so beautiful."

Gu Yiwu changed the subject and said seriously:

"But it doesn't matter. Empress Dowager Dugu is very good at taking advantage of power, especially the power of our Confucianism. She uses Confucian scholars and orthodox ethics to control the court and public opinion in Dali and intimidate dissidents."

"Of course, she must also set an example and practice etiquette and never go beyond it."

"It must be because of this that our Linlu Academy agreed to confer the title of Emperor Dali on the young emperor, and Meng Xuezheng from the academy sent us here to help her."

Gu Yiwu turned his head and squinted at the long and thin broom in the corner.

"Well, now that the young prince has ascended the throne as he wished under the manipulation of the Dugu family, he has inherited the throne, and the power of Dali has been smoothly transferred."

"But there is a difficult brother-in-law in the court, who also serves as the regent. Well, I don't know what the specific exchange of interests was when she lured Li Mingyi to her side. And outside the court, there is also Zhou Dufu, who is far away from the emperor and controls a million border troops. He obeys the imperial edict of the previous dynasty."

"It will be difficult for the Dugu family to deal with these two in a short period of time. Well, Li Mingyi's threat is relatively better. As long as we use clever means and keep him under pressure, as the young emperor grows up, we can completely stop his thoughts. For now, we can win him over and stabilize him."

"What if, just in case, this Regent Prince Li Mingyi still has some other ideas in mind. He still has wolfish ambitions, but does he dare? He has already missed the best opportunity. What if he is a high-ranking warrior? Can he change the trend of the dynasty and the will of the people?"

"Under our Confucian ethics, the legitimacy of the throne seems to have no real power and is illusory. It can be trampled on at will in troubled times. However, in a dynasty that has been established and is stable, the orthodoxy of the throne is a mountain comparable to the Mysterious Cauldron of the Nine Continents, which can suppress even a first-class warrior and make him unable to move at all."

"Just like Zhou Dufu who is in control of the Western Army in the west, even though he has millions of soldiers under his command, doesn't he still seem to be suppressed by the Dugu family and Li Mingyi, and has lost his righteousness?"

"As long as you don't have overwhelming strength to overturn the table and start another chaotic world, it's all in vain. You're just confined by a circle and slowly waiting to be drowned by the general public opinion."

Gu Yiwu shook his head.

"But this does not mean that the mother and son can rest easy. The young emperor is still a young emperor after all. There is only one last piece of firewood left to start the new dynasty..."

He suddenly stopped talking.

Zhao Rong stood in front of the observation deck and squinted at the stage in the hall downstairs which was gradually becoming lively.

He tapped the back of the chair with his fingers and listened quietly.

At this moment, his face was calm and he uttered two words softly.

"Fengshan."

Gu Yiwu nodded and said slowly:

"The previous emperor of Dali promoted the Fengshan ceremony in order to have his army march south and reach Beiwangque in one go, but he died on the way. The Dugu family probably set their sights on the Fengshan ceremony, hoping to use this important ceremony as the most solid foundation for the young emperor's throne."

He let out a long breath, his voice full of emotion.

"What the previous Emperor Li used to add icing on the cake has now become the most important life-saving talisman for the young emperor and the Dugu family. It can be said that fate plays tricks on people."

"During this Fengshan ceremony, once the young emperor has successfully offered sacrifices to heaven and earth, there is no need for exaggerated and rare auspicious signs like the goddess scattering flowers. Some auspicious signs that conform to the customs of Lidi will suffice, so that the people of Dali who are watching the ceremony can see them. The importance of this will be no less than what happened a month ago when Dugu family maneuvered between various forces and finally used the etiquette of our Confucian scholars to send the little prince to the throne."

"The throne of the young emperor of Dali is coated with a layer of mysterious golden light, and the imperial power is granted by heaven..." Gu Yiwu frowned for a moment, "Well, these people from Lidi seem to respect the ancestors of Lidi, the ancient Li clan very much."

"Auspicious signs can also be interpreted in this way, to promote the idea that the ancestors of the earth bless the young emperor. We don't need to teach such things. The Empress Dowager Dugu must be very skilled at it by then."

Gu Yiwu paused.

"Confucian ethics, the divine right of the emperor, and the people's hearts, if they use these three important tools properly, this pair of orphans and widows will be completely safe and will become the helmsman of one of the most powerful dynasties in Wangquezhou."

He grinned.

"Zi Yu, we came to Dali this time to take the Fengshan Ceremony as an assessment, so we naturally stood on the side of the Dugu family. We will try our best to get high scores in the assessment, and the Dugu family and the young emperor will use the sacredness of the imperial power as a talisman. Together, we will get what we want."

"Haha, besides, it can be considered as making friends. In the future, when you have nothing to do, you can come down the mountain and visit Dali."

Zhao Rong remained silent.

No shake of head and no nod.

The burly scholar stopped smiling when he saw this.

He scratched his head out of habit and asked in a cautious tone:

"By the way, Tzuyu, how was my talk? Was there anything I missed?"

Zhao Rong glanced at him.

Suddenly he whispered, "Two warriors."

Pause.

“Don’t underestimate it.”

"Those two warriors? Li Mingyi and Zhou Dufu? Are you... worried that they might disrupt the Fengshan ceremony?"

Gu Yiwu frowned and pondered, "Well, of course we have to guard against them. The personal strength of a high-quality warrior comparable to the Golden Core Realm should not be underestimated."

"However, Dugu is not a simple woman. I believe she must have known this and made some preparations. For such a large dynasty, there must be people or things that can compete with these two warriors..."

He muttered something and shook his head.

"These are actually things that Dugu Shi needs to consider. Dali is her territory, and it is deeply related to the safety of her and her son."

"Since Dugu invited us here, she must be confident that we can hold the Fengshan ceremony with peace of mind. Even if she doesn't, we are her lifeline. We are here on behalf of Linlu Academy. Who dares to cause trouble and provoke us?"

Gu Yiwu curled his lips and spoke in a high-pitched tone.

The students of the Justice Hall around nodded one after another, or smiled at each other, or gently stroked the pure white jade disk at their waists, or looked down at the bustling scene downstairs indifferently.

In fact, along the way, before Zhao Rong made a "decision", although the journey was hurried, most of the students were still in a state of going down the mountain to play and relax.

This includes the mentality of completely trusting the arrangements led by Zhao Rong and Gu Yiwu and just following their orders.

There are also some other mentalities.

In front of the observation deck, Zhao Rong frowned slightly, not knowing what he was thinking about.

The back of Zhao Qian'er's hand, as white and flawless as jade, pressed against the teacup in Zhao Rong's hand.

She raised her hand and poured another cup of hot tea for Rong'er. Then she glanced at him, turned her head and frowned, and said crisply:

"Don't make noise, we are talking about something."

Seeing some dissatisfaction on Fairy Zhao's pretty face, the students of Justice Hall shut up and sat up straight, even more upright than Gu Yiwu, who had vowed to go and find out the situation in Dali but turned around and bought a girl from Dali.

The box suddenly became quiet again.

After a while, a student broke the silence and smiled at the quiet Zhao Rong, with a slightly helpless tone.

"Mr. Zhao is still too cautious. Just like when he taught us how to write, he considered too much... This is of course a good thing in terms of learning, but there are some things outside of learning that don't need to be so troublesome."

"Just like what Brother Gu said, who dares to mess with us in the Fengshan matter? Not to mention those far away, Dali is right next to Duyou City, right under the nose of our Linlu Academy. There shouldn't be any fools among these people from the mountains who can get to a high position, right? Besides, even if we encounter troublemakers who don't have eyes, we don't need to take action, Meng Xuezheng will solve it in the first place."

The student smiled and said, "Young Master, although we have some conflicts with Meng Xuezheng, these are all internal affairs of the academy. If outsiders bully or provoke our Mochi students outside the academy, it would be a slap in the face of Linlu Academy, and Meng Xuezheng would be the first to get angry."

Gu Yiwu nodded and waved his hand.

"That's right, Ziyu. Besides, the conflict between these two warriors is even greater right now. They are confronting each other in the east and west of Nanxing County. This should be Dugu's strategy of pulling one to fight the other and driving away the wolf and swallowing the tiger."

He smiled and said, "With this smart woman as an ally, we don't have to worry about many things, which saves us a lot of trouble. Let's go to Hanjing and meet this ally."

Zhao Rong tapped the back of the chair with his index finger and paused.

Coming back to my senses from my thoughts.

When I came to Duyou City from my hometown Da Chu, I experienced many things along the way.

The fire in Chongxu Temple in Zhongnan, the debate between Confucianism and Taoism on the top of Mount Taibai, the death of a good friend in Wei, Qin Jianfu saving his son and killing Li Mingda in Liangjing...

Unlike Gu Yiwu and others who have been staying in Duyou City and Linlu Academy for many years and are "high and mighty", Zhao Rong has witnessed and participated in the fights between these worldly monastic forces and knows the intricacies involved, not to mention the most powerful dynasty in the northern part of Wangque.

No one knows how many forces are involved in the chaos and power struggle caused by the death of the previous emperor. It may not just be their Linlu Academy, but some other major forces in the nearby Duyou City may also be affected.

Just when the atmosphere in the Xuan box had begun to relax.

Zhao Qian'er suddenly turned around, her expression was indifferent, and her voice was also indifferent: "What if the Fengshan ceremony fails?"

The atmosphere in the room suddenly became silent.

The deathly silence made the air seem frozen.

About three breaths passed.

Gu Yiwu opened his mouth to speak, but Zhao Rong had already patted the back of the chair and turned around.

"Why are you such a crow, stupid girl?"

He raised his hand and tapped Xiao Qian'er on the head with his fingers. The latter groaned softly, lowered her head and accepted it obediently.

Where is the calm and profound look from a second ago?

Zhao Rong stopped letting everyone talk and turned to them with a confident smile:

"We will definitely get high scores in the Fengshan Ceremony, so don't worry."

Gu Yiwu and the students of Justice Hall breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the smile on Zhao Rong's face.

Facing the young scholar with a warm smile in front of them, some students felt as if they had found their backbone again.

Just like the impromptu speech Zhao Rong gave at the foot of Linlu Mountain in the calligraphy class he led, and just like when he walked up the nine steps alone in the open space of the auditorium before setting off and faced Meng Zhengjun's back alone.

At this moment, Zhao Rong looked around and said with a smile, "Yiwu, have you had a lot of fun in Zuixianlou these days? I think you have tried all the interesting things, right?"

Gu Yiwu was slightly stunned. He didn't expect him to ask this. Aren't they talking about business?

He looked a little embarrassed, "Ahem, Tzuyu, what are you talking about?"

The burly man stole a glance at Zhao Qian'er, like a mouse meeting a cat, and said seriously:

"We are all decent people. We won't touch anything indecent, no matter how interesting it is! Tzuyu, don't even think about drinking wine. We won't accompany you!"

The other students of the Justice Hall who were a little scared of Fairy Zhao's 'looking at people to kill' eyes, all nodded.

"No, I absolutely won't drink. We still have something real to talk about."

"Mr. Zhao, I have to criticize you for this. Fairy Zhao is here, how can you be so fickle?"

"That's right. You can't be unfaithful when she's not around. Don't worry, Fairy Zhao. We'll always monitor Mr. Zhao..."

"..."Zhao Rong.

Zhao Qian'er glanced at the students who were nodding like chicks pecking at rice.

Why are you in such a hurry to correct it if I didn't drink it?

Zhao Rong smiled helplessly.

After Gu Yiwu solemnly reiterated this, he continued:

"Well, we are already quite familiar with this place. I have always heard you listening to music and drinking tea on the first floor. There seems to be something lively going on on the first floor tonight. I heard that the top prostitute is here. But you said you would come over before, so we didn't go to join in the fun. We booked a private room upstairs to wait for you."

He shook his head. "I just didn't expect there to be so many guests here. I went to book a room during the day, but only this Xuan-shaped box was left. However, the angle of this box is not bad, and you can see the lobby on the first floor clearly. The rooms next to it with a better view are already occupied."

Zhao Rong smiled and waved his hand, interrupting Gu Yiwu's words, "It's okay, there's no need to be here... I told you to have a good time, order something fun, join in the fun, and make sure you have fun."

He lowered his head and patted his sleeves. "Let's go down. There should be a lot of people coming today. I heard that there is a very interesting fairy down there. We can't miss it, otherwise we will disappoint many people."

This young scholar, who was dressed like a young man from a wealthy family, suddenly became weird.

"Brother Yiwu, everyone, let me tell you, the grooming of prostitutes is very particular. Many of them are proud and arrogant women. They value fate, otherwise no matter how much money they pay, it will be useless. And if they like someone, well, let's go and see who among us is so lucky. He's buying all the drinks tonight..."

Hearing Zhao Rong's laughter.

Everyone looked at each other.

…

At the beginning of the stairs on the third floor of Zuixianlou, the figure of a woman in gorgeous clothes appeared again.

Yue Niang smiled and walked slowly to the door of the Xuan box.

She rolled her eyes slightly, glanced at the wooden sign with the word "Xuan" on the door, rolled up her sleeves, and raised her hand to knock on the door.

Suddenly, the door was opened from the inside, and Zhao Rong and his group came in one after another and met Yue Niang face to face.

Yue Niang bowed gracefully, "Mr. Zhao, I saw earlier that you seemed to be interested in the Fairy Luoxiu from our building. She is going to go on stage on the first floor soon. I was thinking about you, so I came to remind you. Are you interested?"

Zhao Rong smiled like a spring breeze. "What a coincidence. I was just about to go and see her with my friends."

Yue Niang smiled sweetly.

Zhao Rong and others chatted with her for a while, then said goodbye and went downstairs.

Yue Niang responded with a smile, bowed and knelt, and watched Zhao Rong and his group, who were talking and laughing, disappear at the stairs.

After the corridor on the third floor had become quiet again, the woman in gorgeous clothes stood quietly with her hands folded outside the door of the Xuan box.

Suddenly, Yue Niang turned around and walked in the opposite direction.

As she passed the No. 1 box, she glanced at the thick door.

Yue Niang did not stop and came to the door of the No. 1 box a few steps away. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door twice.

Move gently.

During the subsequent waiting time, she stood upright in front of the door, with her hands on her abdomen and a respectful expression.

No longer the frivolous smile from before.

About two breaths later, the door of the No. 1 private room was opened by a woman with a cold face and dressed in a white gauze dress.

Looking over the shoulder of the woman in white gauze into the box, there were two groups of people in strange clothes standing on the left and right sides of the room.

There was silence in the Tianzi No. 1 box, and everyone seemed to have been waiting here for a long time...