Chapter 749 A Man and a Woman at Odds, Breaking the Window
When Ouyang Rong and Rong Zhen were arguing heatedly, Song, Yi, Duan and the others around them remained silent.
Just as Ouyang Rong finished speaking, Rong Zhen fell silent.
Yi Qianqiu spoke up for the first time ever.
The nostrils beneath the white mask trembled slightly.
I don't know if it's some kind of empathy.
“Prefect Ouyang, you can yell and shout at whomever you want, but you absolutely cannot vent your anger on Lady Rongzhen. Do you know that you are one of the biggest beneficiaries of this victory celebration? How high is your name listed in the victory report? Do you know who secretly secured this for you?”
"It's true that the celebration ceremony was initially intended to lure the rebels of Tiannan Jianghu, but if it was just a simple lure, why would Lady Rong go to such lengths? And why would she make so many trips to Xunyang City to invite you and guarantee your presence today? Look at the others, did she invite them like that? They can come or not, it's up to them."
Her fierce eyes glared angrily at Ouyang Rong:
"Also, the defenses at Shuangfengjian have been prepared for a long time, with each part linked to the next. You just heard it yourself. Whether you come or not will not make any difference. It's better if you don't come, as it will save Lady Rongzhen the effort of protecting you."
"So Lady Rongzhen went to invite you here early this morning. Did you really think that the situation was so dire that you were indispensable? Did you really think that you were a genius and that the situation couldn't be done without you? Wasn't she just afraid that if someone wasn't present at this celebration ceremony that was for someone's benefit, it would be difficult to report to Luoyang and ask for credit? Besides, if you stay by the Buddha statue and get through this wave, you can get more credit for jointly suppressing the rebels."
“Prefect Ouyang, think carefully about whether your attitude towards Lady Rongzhen was excessive. What do you mean by wanting both? There’s no such thing as a perfect solution. Even if you are a scholar of the Xiuwen Academy, you have no right to speak to Lady Caishang, who is by the Emperor’s side, like that.”
Rong Zhen hadn't expected Yi Qianqiu's words to be so sharp, cutting through the silent air.
Furthermore, it seems that something is about to be revealed.
She stared blankly at the fierce-looking female general, her small hands unconsciously clenching together beneath her palace sleeves.
Ouyang Rong also turned his head, looked at Yi Qianqiu's sharp tone for a while, and suddenly said:
"Commander Yi, you must be saying this to someone else. But please forgive my bluntness, if it weren't for my cowardice and fear of being beaten, Brother Huaimin really wouldn't bother coming."
He nodded:
"Yes, as the saying goes, when a scholar encounters a soldier, reason is useless; the ancients were right."
"you!"
Yi Qianqiu was like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, his fur standing on end, his anger rising three feet high.
Rong Zhen quickly pulled Yi Qianqiu, who was about to roll up his sleeves and beat someone up, to his side. She grabbed his arm, pulled him behind her, and tried to calm him down.
"Alright, Commander Yi, don't be impulsive. Leave this to me. There are some things that I did not do properly."
She whispered, her ears turning bright red as if they were engorged with blood, and for the first time ever, she uttered a self-reproachful remark.
"What's wrong with it? You did nothing wrong!"
Yi Qianqiu waved her hand. She was very tall. Although she was a woman, she was tall and strong. Rong Zhen's petite body could not block her. Instead, it was as if she was leaning against her.
The tiger-faced female general easily stepped over Rong Zhen, her white-armored head thrust forward, and she spoke in a muffled voice to Ouyang Rong:
“Governor Ouyang, I am not well-educated and have not heard many words of sages, but I understand a very simple principle: even if someone is utterly wicked, as long as she is kind to you, you should still remember her kindness!”
Ouyang Rong stared straight ahead, remaining silent.
On the other side, Duan Quanwu remained silent, supporting his sword, and stayed out of the whole affair.
Granny Song's old face was wrinkled like orange peel, and her tone was somewhat cold as she said:
“Scholar Ouyang, regarding the Donglin Buddha, the Emperor values and appreciates you, and I also respect you. But that is no reason for you to be willful and pretentious now. The Buddha has already been built, so what’s the use of saying these things? I don’t know what you’re agonizing over.”
"Could it be that you're blaming the Sage and the King of Wei for not informing you, the Governor of Jiangzhou, beforehand about the secrets of Tian Shu and the Buddha statue? That would be rather ungrateful."
"You are indeed the local official, but the Sage is your sovereign and father. You are acting as the emperor's shepherd. The Sage cares more about the common people than you do. The construction of the Heavenly Pivot and the Great Buddha has the Sage's good intentions."
"National affairs concerning the country and its people are to be weighed and decided by the sage and the princes and dukes of the Council of State. If you are concerned about national affairs, you should first gain experience and wait until you have the opportunity to enter the Council of State. If you are not in the Council, do not speak too much and disrupt the order of the relationship between the emperor and his ministers. I don't know where you picked up those bad habits of scholars and literati who complain about the government."
"The emperor and the court ordered you to make the statue. Just make it and that's it. What does it serve? To put it bluntly, if you don't come, plenty of others will. The emperor treated you with exceptional courtesy last time, so you should be satisfied. Know when to stop, repay the emperor's kindness with your life, and I will still call you Junior Scholar."
"It doesn't matter how Deputy Supervisor Song addresses me."
Ouyang Rong stood with his sleeves tucked in, his face sharply defined in the sunlight, giving him a resolute air. He spoke with a firm and resounding voice:
"If the arrangements made by those above were all correct, why did the rebellion in the southwest and the destruction of Buddhist temples in Xingzifang occur, resulting in unnecessary suffering and loss of life?"
Granny Song frowned darkly: "What do you mean? Are you dissatisfied with the Emperor?"
"Deputy Supervisor Song is very good at labeling people, and he can't stop talking about 'sage'. If you didn't know better, you'd think he ran a hat shop. He's quite happy with it."
Granny Song's nasolabial folds twitched slightly:
"I won't waste my breath on you, young man. I'm not as pretentious as you Confucian scholars. All I know is that all land under heaven belongs to the king, and all people within the realm are his subjects. The sage governs all directions and herds millions of people, prioritizing the overall situation. Some sacrifices and upheavals are only temporary and localized, but what they bring is the long-term stability of my Great Zhou and a prosperous era where all nations pay tribute. This is the true righteousness, and everything else must serve it."
Ouyang Rong held up two fingers and calmly said:
"Sacrificing a small act of righteousness in exchange for a greater one is worse than not sacrificing anything at all."
"As for a prosperous era, it depends on whose prosperous era it is. Is it a prosperous era for a small group of people, or a prosperous era for everyone? Is it a prosperous era for the nobles and powerful families in the two capitals within the pass, or a prosperous era for the tens of thousands of families in the ten provinces? This is a question that all the ambitious people in the world need to think about carefully."
He lowered one finger, then raised only one, and, leaving Granny Song speechless, said:
"Also, I hate making choices the most. It's like you have to choose one thing for everything. What's with all the sacrifices to save the big things? What's with all the giving up of this to get that? I say that's bullshit. Can't you have it all?"
"Forgive my crudeness, but I want it all, whether it's Longcheng or Jiangzhou, whether it's my small family or the big family. No one is born to be someone else's victim."
"Absurd! Can you even do that?"
"Whether you can do it or not is one thing, whether you do it or not is another. Just because you think you can't do it doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. That's really clever. But there are too many clever people in the world. It would be better to have more fools."
Ouyang Rong shook his head:
"So I'm different from you. I'm stupid, but I want it all."
Granny Song asked, "Are you blaming the Emperor?"
Rong Zhen immediately looked up and interrupted:
“Senior Song, Ouyang Lianghan didn’t mean that. You’ve misunderstood. He was worried about the country and its people and feared that someone above was deceiving the emperor.”
Granny Song snorted coldly, flicked her sleeves, and didn't want to argue anymore. She couldn't win against these scholars when it came to arguing.
When Rongzhen raised her head again, the flush on her face had faded considerably, and some things seemed as if they had never happened.
She gazed at Ouyang Rong and said:
"I understand what you mean, but the matter of the Donglin Buddha is a national policy that must be implemented in Xunyang City. I am acting under orders and cannot change it, nor can you. Instead of competing with it, we should take control of it and manage the risks. As you just said, this is also a kind of 'wanting everything' and we will do it."
"Furthermore, before we arrived, the Imperial Observatory had no intention of bringing the war to Jiangzhou, nor did it intend to clean up the Jianghu in the south."
"Because before this, the secrets of the Buddha were strictly kept secret, and very few people knew about them. The plan was to build it in secret. We did not expect that the people of Tiannan Jianghu would know about it. The Xingzi Lake Buddha incident happened when we were not prepared."
Her tone was very sincere.
Ouyang Rong looked at her for a moment, then took a deep breath and said:
"So how did they know about Emperor Wen and the great formation?"
"It's possible that the golden Buddha head that was lost in Guizhou leaked this information. Judging from the statements made by the two women of Yunmeng Jianze when the Xingzi Lake Buddha incident occurred, it was probably the Kuangfu Army who spread the news and used the Tiannan Jianghu as a tool."
Rong Zhen's pretty face tightened as she said:
“The Jianghu in the south has always been unruly. Once the Buddha statue is completed, they will have the power of life and death, and they will certainly not be happy about it.”
Ouyang Rong frowned: "Life and death at will? The area covered by the array involving Tian Shu and the Great Buddha is so vast that it can make everyone in the Tiannan Jianghu feel insecure?"
Rong Zhen lowered her eyes and said:
"It is the supernatural power of the Emperor Wen."
"They must have known the power of this formation and felt powerless to resist, so they thought of destroying the Buddha statue before it was completed. Wasn't that the same thing that happened with the Xingzi Lake Buddha?"
Granny Song interjected, saying irritably:
"The construction of Tian Shu and Donglin Buddha was not originally intended for them. The sage wanted to pacify the four directions, bring peace and tranquility to the world, and create an era of peace for all generations."
"But it's just as well. Since they jumped out to be troublemakers and took it personally, let's just let them have their way. Besides, the Kuangfu Army incident happened afterward, making the construction of Tian Shu and the Four Directions Buddha even more necessary."
Rong Zhen pursed her lips, then continued the old woman's words, which included a roll of her eyes:
"Initially, there were objections within the Imperial Observatory when the Prince of Wei and his group pushed for this project. However, subsequent changes in the situation highlighted the necessity of the Celestial Pivot and the Four Great Buddhas. It was only then that Luoyang began to fully promote this project..."
Rong Zhen's expression turned serious. Pointing to the gleaming golden head of the Buddha behind him, he said:
"Fortunately, with your help, it was successfully completed. Ouyang Lianghan, actually, the situation today is not as critical as you imagined. As long as the Buddha stands there, they won't be able to cause any trouble."
"In addition to the thorough preparations I just mentioned."
She shook her head and said:
"They only stepped forward to stop us because they were afraid of the Buddha's power, but what's most ridiculous is that they probably don't know that the Donglin Buddha has already been secretly built, and that the great formation is ready, just waiting for them to jump in."
Ouyang Rong nodded:
"Understood. Lady Rong now controls the Great Buddha and can mobilize the Emperor Wen. She can kill anyone who stands in her way. Once she deals with these rebels in the Tiannan Jianghu today, Lady Rong will be able to control the entire Tiannan Jianghu. So, I was just being presumptuous. There's no need for me to stay any longer. I'll take my leave now."
Rong Zhen spoke somewhat anxiously:
"Wait, don't go."
Ouyang Rong calmly said:
“Anyway, there’s no shortage of people here. I really want to go back to the city now. As the governor of Jiangzhou, I should go where I should be. I need to protect the people in my territory. You can fight your battles.”
Rongzhen pointed to the ground: "This is the place you should be right now. Trust me."
Ouyang Rong shook his head again: "I only want to go back now. I am not needed here. Please help prepare the boat, Lady Rong."
Rong Zhen suddenly addressed Yi Qianqiu and the others:
"I would like to speak with Governor Ouyang alone. Please wait a moment."
With that, Yi Qianqiu and the others temporarily withdrew.
Only two people remained on the platform.
Like Ouyang Rong, Rongzhen stood gracefully with her hands tucked into her sleeves.
Her first question was:
"Ouyang Lianghan, have you forgotten what we agreed on before?"
"What did you say?"
"If you want to go higher, we also want to go higher... Commander Yi was right about some things. We should take credit for the Buddha's achievement today, and I will help you take it too. Let's go higher together. This is... this is the friendship between colleagues, and it's also for the sake of more people, isn't it?"
Ouyang Rong asked suspiciously, "When did I say that?"
Rong Zhen stared straight into his eyes, speaking each word clearly:
"Have you forgotten? We agreed to continue working together, and we also agreed to return to the capital together to do something for the people. We also agreed to work the same shift at Yingtian Gate in the Imperial City."
Ouyang Rong frowned, vaguely remembering that it had been mentioned before.
Rong Zhen sniffed, swallowed, and looked to the side with her dark eyes:
"I have a good memory; I remember everything you say. You, on the other hand, often forget what you say and don't take it seriously. You're always like this..."
Ouyang Rong felt a slight throbbing at his temples, as if he were having a headache.
He searched through his memories and vaguely remembered that there was such a thing, that he had promised, but he forgot what happened that day... He felt it was hard to deny it.
While Ouyang Rong hesitated, Rong Zhen spoke again, uttering a single sentence:
"Do you still remember that you promised to do your best to help me capture the rebels in the Jianghu of the South? Do you remember? You haven't forgotten that either."
Ouyang Rong's gaze sharpened slightly.
After a moment of silence, he turned his head to look at the white mist on the river and said somewhat calmly:
"Yes... I do remember something like that."
Are you going back on your word?
Ouyang Rong shook his head with a forced expression.
Rongzhen tilts her head:
A gentleman's word is his bond...
After a moment of silence, Ouyang Rong reluctantly spoke:
"A journey of a thousand miles cannot be overtaken."
The palace-dressed girl, standing with her sleeves tucked behind her ear, had a smile bloom on her naturally icy face, like snow melting in spring. However, she quickly concealed it and said in a crisp voice:
"Alright, you stay at Twin Peaks and help me catch that lecherous thief."
Ouyang Rong immediately held up two fingers, stating his terms:
"You can stay, but you have to agree to two things."
"Go ahead and say it?"
"First, since I'm helping you capture the owner of Butterfly Love Flower, you have to tell me the whole story about the plan to capture this person. You can't hide anything like you did with the celebration. That way... I can help you with your advice."
Rongzhen nodded decisively.
"good."
Ouyang Rong's expression remained unchanged as he lowered one finger and continued:
"Secondly, if there is any situation in Xunyang City, you must immediately arrange for a boat to send me back, and you must not try to stop me."
Logically, this should be a simpler condition, but Rong Zhen's expression showed some hesitation.
After a short while, under Ouyang Rong's gaze, Rong Zhen nodded somewhat reluctantly:
"OK."
"good."
Ouyang Rong let out a long breath, then walked forward with his hands behind his back:
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go."
The girl in palace attire followed with light steps.
Both of them habitually moved forward with their sleeves tucked in, one tall and one short, the man in front and the woman behind, as they descended the platform.
They summoned Yi, Song, Duan, and the others who were waiting.
Yi Qianqiu was getting a little impatient. As soon as he returned, he asked casually:
"Have you two finished whispering to each other?"
The surrounding air fell silent instantly.
(End of this chapter)
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