The sun was setting in the west, and the warm sunlight was shining in the small courtyard. The shadows of the leaves under the loofah rack were mottled, making the faces of the people at the table dim and unclear, making it impossible to see their true appearance.
The food and wine on the table had been removed and replaced with tea and fruit. Zhao Hao rubbed the lighter several times before lighting the cigarette without a filter in his hand.
The secretary behind him did not replace a complete cigarette for him, because this was the boss's habit. The activated carbon filter tip can filter out harmful gases in the smoke, but it also makes the smoke taste bland. So when his brain needs nicotine, he would pinch off the filter tip.
In fact, the secretary also wears an ivory and sea willow cigarette holder, but she only uses it when Zhao Hao is in a good mood. He will definitely find her annoying at this moment. A qualified secretary will not do anything to annoy the boss, but only to make the boss feel comfortable.
Zhao Hao smoked in silence, his face expressionless, yet his whole body exuded a gloomy and terrifying aura.
You could hear a pin drop in the entire courtyard, and everyone was so nervous that they could hear their own heartbeats.
Yan Shannong and He Xinyin both felt as if their lives were hanging by a thread. Hu Shizhong was so frightened that his face turned pale, and when he was refilling the tea, the tea spilled all over the table.
At that moment, Zhao Hao, who was always amiable, revealed his might as the boss of Jiangnan Group, commander-in-chief of the coast guard force, and overlord of the seven seas of the Ming Dynasty.
After finishing a cigarette and slowly putting it out, he nodded and said slowly, "Go on."
Yan Shannong breathed a sigh of relief. He had seen many great men in the world, but this suffocating feeling of oppression was something he had never experienced with Elder Yan and Elder Xu.
Perhaps only the Emperor Jiajing of that time and Mr. Zhang today have such an aura that can calm down many heroes with a casual touch?
He Xinyin also calmed down and continued:
"In the final analysis, you chose to make do with the situation in Jiangnan, and now you have to pay for it. Although you have been running an education for 20 years, there are still too few people receiving education, and most of the graduates have been sent overseas by you. So the common people are still easy to fool. When the court takes action, if the local gentry and scholars say you are a traitor, do you think they will be shaken?"
"Then may I ask why you teach me, sir?" Zhao Hao asked sincerely.
"You need to enlighten the people! Relying on schools alone is still too slow. You need to give lectures on a large scale, and infiltrate the fields, streets and alleys! Let us go back, let the Taizhou School fight for you, and let the people distinguish right from wrong, and stop blindly following others! Only then will you have hope!"
Zhao Hao asked, "What do I hope to do?"
"Protect yourself, what else do you want to do?" He Xinyin rolled his eyes and said, "As long as you can protect yourselves, more poor people can read and understand reason. By then, everyone will be a saint, and the world will naturally be harmonious!"
"Is this the line of struggle of the Taizhou School?" Zhao Hao smiled and raised his hand. The secretary quickly handed him another cigarette. This time he lit it directly, took two puffs and said, "I thought you were going to instigate me to change the dynasty."
"Absolutely not!" Yan Shannong said without hesitation: "The royal power of the Ming Dynasty is prosperous, and the emperor has not lost his virtue. How can a saint like Lord Zhao be a traitor?"
"Even if the emperor is immoral, you cannot think of replacing him!" He Xinyin also said seriously: "Otherwise, what justice can there be in your unprecedented feat?"
"If Zhou can be defeated, can't the world be taken?" Zhao Hao said with a faint smile.
"That's right." Yan Shannong nodded and said, "Heaven and earth are in Yi. To change the heaven without changing it, to change the earth without changing it, is the highest good!"
"But Confucius said: 'Tang and Wu's revolutions were in accordance with Heaven's will and in response to the will of the people.'" Zhao Shizhen said indignantly.
"The Master also said: 'Bo Yi and Shu Qi starved to death at the foot of Mount Shouyang, and the people still remember them today.' These are all the words of Confucius. Why are they different and why are they called the same?" However, the eldest nephew, who was good at making inventions, was obviously no match for He Xinyin when it came to eloquence.
"Tang and Wu have the benevolence to save the world, and Yi Zhi has the righteousness of a ruler and his subject. Since both are good, they are both beautiful!" Zhao Shizhen argued.
"How can we achieve both?" He Xinyin smiled and said, "It is Wang Xinzhai's 'Zhou can be defeated, but the world cannot be taken.' At that time, Weizi was still alive. He welcomed him and made him king. He retired to Feng and kept his duties as a minister. Then he could have achieved both the benevolence of saving the world and the righteousness of the monarch and his ministers. Moreover, Wu Geng would not have rebelled and Yi Zhi would not have died. This is what is called the principles running parallel without contradicting each other!"
"This..." Zhao Shizhen held it in for a long time, and finally said four words: "Scholar's opinion!"
"Okay." Zhao Hao scolded, and his nephew had to shut up.
Yan Shannong had also tied up his disciples and said to Zhao Hao with an apologetic smile, "Since Mr. Zhao is familiar with Wang Xinzhai's Sayings, have you read my teacher's prose, Fu on Eels?"
"I'm ashamed to say that I haven't read it." Zhao Hao shook his head: "Please enlighten me, Mr. Shannong."
"Take one of my master's miscellaneous works." Yan Shannong ordered his disciple. Hu Shizhong responded and walked into the house quickly.
Two guards followed closely behind, one in front and one behind.
After a while, Hu Shizhong brought out a thread-bound book. Yan Shannong took it and handed it to Zhao Hao with both hands.
Zhao Hao took it in his hand and saw that it was a copy of Wang Gen's Miscellaneous Records. He smiled and said, "Okay, I'll go back and read it carefully."
As he said this, he stood up and said to Master He Xinyin and his apprentice with a smile, "It's getting late. I can't be a rude guest who refuses to leave. Bye."
"No, no, Mr. Zhao is a great guest, and it is a great honor for our humble home." Hu Shizhong hurriedly helped Yan Shannong to stand up. He Xinyin also stood up and said calmly: "Honest advice is unpleasant to the ear, and good medicine is bitter. Don't be ungrateful."
"No, no, today's trip is definitely worthwhile. It's really like listening to your words!" Zhao Hao clasped his fists solemnly and said, "Thank you, take care!"
"Uh..." Master He Xinyin and his apprentice were stunned when they heard this. They always felt that something was not right.
After sending Zhao Hao to the door, He Xinyin came back to his senses and said, "Brother Zhao, what about my lectures when I go back..."
"I've said it before, you can come and go freely." Zhao Hao smiled and waved the book "Wang Gen's Miscellaneous Records" in his hand, then got on the dark four-wheeled carriage.
After watching the convoy drive out of Ningbo, Master He Xinyin and his two disciples returned to the courtyard.
Hu Shizhong helped Yan Shannong sit on a bamboo recliner and massaged his tired master's legs.
He Xinyin was full of energy. He stood silently for a while with his hands behind his back before he said depressedly, "Isn't it nonsense to listen to your words?"
"Are you still struggling with that sentence?" Yan Jun took a sip of tea, smiled bitterly and said, "Don't taste it blindly, it's not nutritious."
"I was just holding my breath. We fought together as master and disciple, but all I got in return was this..." He Xinyin picked a cucumber from the shelf in frustration and wiped it roughly on his sleeve.
He and Yan Shannong saw that Zhao Hao sympathized with the people and protected the Taizhou School. They were eager to stimulate Zhao Hao's sense of crisis through strong lobbying, sow discord between him and the gentry class, and thus influence Zhao Hao's decision-making. As long as he leaned a little more towards them, the Taizhou School would make a fortune.
As a result, Zhao Hao almost had the intention to kill them...
It was really frustrating to think about it. He Xinyin put the cucumber into his mouth, took a bite, then frowned and spit it out.
"Bah, damn, loofah!"
"This is normal. Zhao Hao is now the best in the world in terms of both reputation and substance."
Yan Jun's evaluation of Zhao Hao behind his back was much higher than when he was in person.
"That's right. One third of the officials in the court are his father-in-law's cronies, and half are his students. Zhang Juzheng dares to call himself regent, so how can he not be regent? Not only can he be regent, but he will be even more powerful! It's no problem for him to undermine the Wanli Emperor in the capital!" He Xinyin actually nodded in agreement, as if those alarmist words just now didn't come from his mouth. Sure enough, there was not a single truth in the mouth of the gold medal lecturer.
"Then you should understand that the saying 'God's power is unpredictable' also applies to him." Yan Shannong said calmly: "Lobbying once won't change anything. For us, what's more important than what he said is that he came here today."
"Yes." He Xinyin understood what his master meant and said, "For a big shot like him, all his schedules are arranged. He came to us most likely because his father-in-law is really dying. Once Zhang Juzheng dies, his father will take over as the Prime Minister. He knows that once Zhang Juzheng dies, we will go back. He wants to evaluate whether he should let us go back."
"He said he can come and go freely." Hu Shizhong whispered.
"Yes, just remember this." Yan Shannong nodded and said, "Go ahead and do it when you get back. In this place covered by the sky, no one dares to do anything to us."
"Yes. I will go back to Jiangnan as soon as I finish my lecture here." He Xinyin nodded, still regretfully saying: "What a pity, what a pity..."
I’m afraid I will never have the luxury of meeting Zhao Hao and having a deep conversation with him for an entire afternoon again.
"Grandmaster." Hu Shizhong couldn't help but ask softly, "Will Zhao Hao return to the mountains and rivers in the future?"
"No." Yan Shannong shook his head decisively and said, "Only this matter, I am very sure. If a person wants to rule the country, he will definitely not give up the five skills of controlling the people, but instead enlighten the people!"
"Maybe he just wants to use water to capsize the boat." Hu Shizhong said.
"If he wants to capsize, the support of the big landlords and bureaucrats is enough. What he lacks the most is the support of these people." Yan Jun looked hesitant and lowered his voice:
"Didn't Emperor Wuzong's boat capsize and fall into the water when he returned from his southern tour?"
"Ah?" Hu Shizhong opened his mouth wide. He had naturally heard that it was the civil service group that killed Emperor Zhengde, but he always felt that it was too strange and unbelievable.
But my master was a person of that era, and his teacher, Xinzhai Wang Gen, was serving under Master Yangming... If even he said so, there might be another hidden story behind that matter!
Then think of the successor Emperor Jiajing, who was almost strangled to death by a palace maid in his sleep. He was so scared that he never dared to return to the Palace of Heavenly Purity for the rest of his life. Later, although Emperor Longqing lived in the Palace of Heavenly Purity, he installed 27 dragon beds and did not let anyone know where he slept...
Moreover, Emperor Longqing ruled the country with ease and handed over all power to civil officials, so it is hard to say that he did not have the intention of avoiding disaster.
After all, no one dares to say whether the Ming Dynasty will have another emperor who capsizes and drowns...
p.s. Write another chapter.