Cyber ​​Daming

Chapter 652: A Bowl of Tea for a Thousand Years of Infamy
"You named him, he killed someone. These are Li Jun's exact words."

In the book room of Zhenbao Village, Zhang Siyuan sat cross-legged beside a low table with a helpless look on his face, grinding ink while saying, "What do you think is wrong with the brains of the people in the Spring and Autumn Society? Why did they do such a stupid thing?"

Zhang Fengyue knelt upright, holding a brush and writing with ink. What he wrote in black and white on the rice paper was a detailed list of teaching categories and the educational plan of this small bookstore.

"So do you think this name should be chosen or not?"

"If you look at it from my perspective, then of course it goes without saying that I will not only help Lao Li catch the person, but also help pass the knife and collect the body. The more I kill, the happier I am, because the dead are not my family members anyway."

After Zhang Siyuan expressed his attitude, he suddenly changed the subject: "But you are different from me."

"What's the difference?"

Zhang Fengyue didn't even raise his head and continued to slowly add and modify the details in the plan.

"As of now, the New Donglin Party and the Chunqiu Society are indeed incompatible. But no matter how the two sides argue or fight, to put it bluntly, it is still an internal conflict of the Confucian Order."

"Although you asked Lao Li to go to Songjiang Prefecture to help Yang Bai Ze, after all, there is a personal relationship between the two of them, so it is acceptable on the surface. But if you push the people from the Spring and Autumn Society out for him to kill, in the eyes of others, you are helping outsiders to deal with your own people. If you are not careful, you will become the target of public criticism and your prestige will plummet."

Zhang Siyuan frowned, "I now even suspect that the reason why the Spring and Autumn Society is so crazy and dares to fight to the death with Li Jun is actually not because of Xu Haichao, but the real purpose is to target you!"

Zhang Fengyue did not comment, but asked calmly, "So what you mean is that I should reject Li Jun's request?"

"That won't work. If you refuse, the trust you and Li Jun have worked so hard to build up will be gone. Without his help, you will have to deal with Longhu Mountain and Donghuang Palace alone, plus the Spring and Autumn Association. Two fists are no match for four hands."

Zhang Siyuan paused in his grinding motion, stared at the dark ink in the inkstone, pondered for a moment before speaking slowly.

"So I think, since the Chunqiu Society wants to die, let them die. But you can't be the one to betray people."

Zhang Fengyue said, "Oh, I can't do it. Who will do it?"

"I."

Zhang Siyuan said without hesitation.

"What's the difference between you and me?"

Zhang Siyuan chuckled and said in a relaxed tone: "As long as you expel me from the Zhang family and sever the father-son relationship, there will be no difference. In the eyes of everyone in the Confucian Order, I am a playboy who is not in tune with the rules. It is normal for me to do something to disobey my father for the sake of brotherhood."

"That was in the past. It's different now. Now it's not a small fight to save face, but a fight for life. In their eyes, it's the same whether you come forward or I come forward in person."

"So what are you going to do?"

Zhang Siyuan's face became tense, and he asked tentatively, "You are not really going to reject Li Jun for the sake of the overall situation, are you?"

"Why would you refuse? It's just some clever tricks, and it doesn't count as a big picture in my eyes. If it's not a big picture, why should you care about it?"

At this time, the old man finally finished writing the plan and read it again carefully from the beginning.

After making sure that there was nothing missing, he carefully placed it on the other end of the low table to dry in the shade, and continued to write three large characters on a new piece of paper.

Yan Dongqing.

Zhang Siyuan looked at it intently and felt that the font was unbridled and wild, and a sense of unruly aura came over him.

"He is a rare talent, with the spirit and courage to win in a narrow road. So I am not surprised that he can grow into a leader of the younger generation of Confucianism and set up a party to confront and fight with the New Donglin Party."

"But it is precisely because of this arrogance and pride that he will not be willing to be inferior to others, become a tool in the hands of others, and let others dominate his own destiny."

It was the first time that Zhang Siyuan heard his old man evaluate a young Confucian scholar in this way, and he couldn't help but be amazed.

"The matter of the Xu family in Songjiang Prefecture would not have caused any serious damage to the Chunqiu Society, but it sounded a wake-up call for him."

The old man paused, then suddenly laughed out loud: "No, he should have seen clearly his situation a long time ago. This time he just took advantage of the situation to make a fuss. He knew that if he continued to fight me step by step, his end would be death. So he decisively chose to take an unconventional approach and gamble his life and property."

Zhang Fengyue shook his head and said, "It's not bad to be able to achieve this step. It's just a pity."

"Old man, please don't rush to judge others. Can you explain the doorway here in a simpler way?"

Zhang Siyuan was confused and found it difficult to understand what his father meant.

"Where did you learn 'Mathematical Arts'?"

The old man glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, with a hint of disappointment in his eyes.

"That's your specialty, how can I not study it seriously?"

Zhang Siyuan smiled shyly and said, "My current 'Numerical Arts' are not weak. No one can hide under the muzzle of a gun. Every bullet hits its target and never misses."

As father and son for many years, the old man knew Zhang Siyuan's bad character very well. He was too lazy to argue with him about what the real "mathematical art" was. He snorted and stopped talking.

Zhang Fengyue reached out and picked up the teaching plan with the dried words on it, then stood up and walked out of the study.

According to the contents listed in the plan, he will visit the 32 students in the library one by one today.

This is a laborious task, so we must hurry.

Confused Zhang Siyuan still sat there, staring blankly at the low table.

The long paperweight that had been holding down the teaching plan was thrown down when the old man stood up, and landed right on the three characters "Yan Dongqing", like a guillotine cutting them in half.

"Old man, don't be in such a hurry to leave. You haven't told me what to do!" Zhang Siyuan suddenly came back to his senses and asked loudly.

Zhang Fengyue kept walking and waved his hand, saying, "If you are interested, go ask Pei Xingjian yourself. Ji Yang's family has made butter tea. If you go too late, it will be cold and not tasty."

"Why should I ask him? This is your New Donglin Party's business. You are not anxious, so why should I be anxious?"

Zhang Siyuan looked at the old man's receding back and muttered unhappily.

"This is the whole story. The old man is addicted to teaching in the foreign land. He dislikes me for not understanding what people say, so he asked me to ask you, Uncle Pei, myself."

In the Chengdu government office, Pei Xingjian looked at the projection of Zhang Siyuan in front of him, a mischievous smile on his old face.

"As the old saying goes, a dragon gives birth to a dragon, and a phoenix gives birth to a phoenix. Siyuan, how come you can't even understand this?"

Zhang Siyuan rolled his eyes: "Uncle Pei, if you say that, I will let Li Jun kill them all. If he kills one of your people, don't blame me."

"Hey, when you were wearing open-crotch pants, I held you in my arms. Now that you've grown up, you don't want to associate with us old guys. I finally get to see you today, why are you so angry over a joke?"

Zhang Siyuan looked embarrassed and angry: "Speak or not? If not, I'll leave."

"Okay, okay, I'll explain it to you."

Pei Xingjian, who was sitting on a bench, was scratching his back with a needle, twisting his body left and right. He seemed to have finally scratched the itch and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Siyuan, let me ask you, why do you think the old man wants to attack the powerful families?"

"Scrape the bone to cure the poison, kill the chicken to scare the monkey. Unite our hearts and minds to fight the foreign enemy together." "There are so many clans in the Confucian Order who have shit under their butts, why did he choose the Xu clan to be the first one to be attacked?"

"Of course, because Xu Haichao is the backbone of the Spring and Autumn Society."

"Then have you ever thought that scraping bones to treat poison is a method that kills one thousand enemies but injures eight hundred of your own. If you want to be safe, you should start from the outside and work your way up to the inside, from the lightest to the heaviest. Why would you pick the hardest bone to chew right away?"

Zhang Siyuan was stunned when he heard this, and the expression on his face suddenly became quite complicated.

"Uncle Pei, are you saying that the old man did this on purpose? Why?"

"The old man is doing this to tell the Spring and Autumn Association and the people behind it to be more sensible and not to come out and cause trouble at this time. Even if everyone still wants to fight in the end, they have to wait until the outsiders are dealt with, and then everyone can slowly settle the scores behind closed doors."

Pei Xingjian said calmly: "The people behind the Spring and Autumn Association understood this, so they chose to give up Xu Haichao. Yan Dongqing, who was in charge of the Spring and Autumn Association, also understood this, but he regarded this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and grabbed it."

Zhang Siyuan blurted out, "What opportunity?"

"An opportunity for him to start his own business."

Pei Xingjian said slowly: "The people above can easily give up Xu Haichao, but Yan Dongqing cannot. Although people often say that scholars are the most ruthless, if the leader of a party is also ruthless and can sit back and watch his capable generals being killed without any reaction, who would be willing to work for him?"

"Yan Dongqing was unwilling to be just a puppet on the stage, and to step down in disgrace after losing the support of the people. That's why people from Liu Tao and Hong Hu showed up in Songjiang Prefecture that night."

"Although it ultimately failed to change the outcome of the Xu family's demise, this move has proven Yan Dongqing's attitude. It also made the members of the Spring and Autumn Association feel a little dissatisfied with the master behind them."

"I don't understand one thing."

Zhang Siyuan frowned and asked, "Why did Yan Dongqing use people from Liu Tao and Hong Hu instead of his own people from the Chun Qiu Society?"

"This is where he is smart. Those who died were all his master's people, but what he gained was Yan Dongqing's reputation as a righteous man. Who wouldn't want to do such a business with no investment and huge profits?"

Pei Xingjian sneered disdainfully and continued, "Yan Dongqing is not only smart, but also ruthless and greedy. After the Songjiang Prefecture incident was just settled, while the people above him had not yet reacted to deal with him, he did the same thing again and started to retaliate against Li Jun without stopping. He used the spies he planted in Liu Tao and Hong Hu to continue to drag the two families down with him."

"In the ambush at Zhenlu Court, in addition to the two families I just mentioned, he also involved Longhu Mountain and Donghuang Palace, and set up a big battle. What was the result? Only a Six Strategies soldier who was obviously not very smart died."

Pei Xingjian paused and stared at Zhang Siyuan: "Why do you think this is happening?"

The other party's words were like a thunderclap in Zhang Siyuan's heart. He suddenly realized something and said in a deep voice, "Because he never thought of killing Li Jun from the beginning?"

"Of course he wanted to kill, but he also knew that the chances of success were too small. Even the people he sent knew this, so after their attack failed, they immediately turned into birds and beasts and scattered. They ran away and wished their parents hadn't given them two more legs, so that Li Jun wouldn't have the chance to save a few more heads."

Zhang Siyuan asked: "But by doing this, he not only offended Li Jun, but also became a traitor. Just for a reputation, is it worth it?"

"In life, the most important thing is fame and fortune. Even if he didn't do this, he would have suffered the same fate as Xu Haichao. But now he has gained fame. Isn't it worth it?"

"Even if what you said is right, Uncle Pei, Yan Dongqing is only helping himself."

Zhang Siyuan was puzzled and said, "If there was no Spring and Autumn Society, he would be just a Confucian scholar. What could he achieve alone? He can't be as strong as Li Jun, right?"

"How could he be alone? He only betrayed his master, not the Spring and Autumn Society."

Pei Xingjian shook his head and said, "For the sake of a subordinate, he dared to personally extinguish the last flame of the sect's Wuxu. He is fighting to the death with the re-emerging Wuxu. Who dares to take the position of such a loyal leader?"

"Even if he really loses the current Spring and Autumn Association, a man will die for his friend. With the support of the people, he can always set up a Spring and Autumn Association of his own and be reborn from the ashes, which is exactly what he wants."

“Besides, he is a Confucian Rank 1, but he is able to mobilize so many Rank 3 masters from the Six Strategies and the Great Swan. If you were his master, wouldn’t you be wary? Even if you are not worried, what about the East Palace and Longhu Mountain? These two families have unclear relationships with Yan Dongqing!”

Pei Xingjian sighed suddenly and said with emotion: "A young junior can actually gather a huge and complex force, and after enduring for so long, he can seize a fleeting opportunity and decisively bet all his family assets on a gamble. Such cunning and courage are beyond my reach."

"Yan Dongqing has made a good calculation."

Zhang Siyuan sneered, "But in my opinion, he still made a mistake. He shouldn't have provoked Li Jun. He is not a man who would hesitate to take action!"

"Yes, this is also the reason why the old man said 'what a pity'. One of the two mistakes Yan Dongqing made this time was to provoke Li Jun without knowing the consequences."

Zhang Siyuan was surprised and asked, "What's the other point?"

"It was his fault that he didn't understand the old man."

"Where did this start?"

Pei Xingjian said, "Siyuan, you came to me today because Yan Dongqing gained a good reputation for himself, but turned around and threw the problem of betraying the members of the Spring and Autumn Society to the old man, forcing the old man to choose between his own reputation and Li Jun, right?"

In Zhang Siyuan's view, this is indeed an unsolvable problem.

Otherwise, he would not have proposed such a ridiculous suggestion as "severing ties with the Zhang family", and would not have rushed to find Pei Xingjian.

"Indeed, on the surface, no matter what choice the old man makes, it would be tantamount to cutting off one's own arm. But Yan Dongqing's mistake is that he mistakenly thought that the old man, like him, would care about this damn reputation."

He looked at Zhang Siyuan deeply and said, "Siyuan, you care a lot, so you changed from a bystander to an authority today, and you are so confused. The old man knows your intentions, so he doesn't want to say these words in person, but just asked you to ask me."

"There is no need to make a choice from the beginning to the end. Li Jun can kill anyone from the Spring and Autumn Society as he wants. What we should think about is not to let this matter drag down the Confucian Order."

"Of course I care. Who would want their father to bear such an ugly reputation?"

Zhang Siyuan showed a bitter expression, shook his head and said self-deprecatingly: "But what's the point of me caring about it alone? Others don't care at all, and even think it's not as important as a bowl of freshly cooked butter tea."

Pei Xingjian wanted to comfort her, but he didn't know where to start, so he could only remain silent.

"Uncle Pei, tell me the truth. Did he know about Yan Dongqing and his master very early on, and also knew about the relationship between the Spring and Autumn Society, Liu Tao and Hong Hu?"

"Ah."

Pei Xingjian lowered his brows and responded softly.

Zhang Siyuan was puzzled and said angrily: "If you know this, why do you still want to raise a tiger to cause trouble for yourself?!"

"Siyuan, you are his son, you should know his thoughts better than me."

Pei Xingjian said slowly: "If the old man wanted to be the emperor, he had countless opportunities over the years, but he never had such an idea."

"I remember it very clearly. Many years ago, it was also on New Year's Day. At that time, when he was still the president of the New Donglin Academy, Li Bufeng and I went with a group of people to celebrate the New Year for him."

"That day, the old man got drunk for once. He told us that if possible, he would like to be a teacher at the New Donglin Academy. The silkworm will not stop spinning silk until it dies, and the candle will not stop shedding tears until it burns down to ashes."

Pei Xingjian's eyes were dazed and his distracted gaze seemed to be seeing the scene of that year.

"Even if he couldn't, he would only be willing to be a minister of the Ming Dynasty in his lifetime. This was his obsession that everyone knew about throughout his life."

Pei Xingjian paused for a long time, so long that it even made people feel that he would not speak again.

Zhang Siyuan on the side waited very patiently, standing quietly the whole time, and finally heard Pei Xingjian's last words.

"Perhaps, this is the old man's only weakness."

(End of this chapter)