Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 741: Why pretend to be a chaste and virtuous woman?

"Tsk tsk, that's really a bit too much. What can a ten-year-old do? Even if he wants to, he doesn't have the strength."

Inside the study room of Kaifeng government office, Fang Chongyong was reading the book “Hunting Beauties in the Western Regions” with great interest, commenting on it from time to time.

I have to say that the writing is very good. You can tell at first glance that it is produced by a Tang Dynasty cultural figure with a very impressive background.

The main plot of this book is mainly about the protagonist whose father is a high-ranking official. When he went to the Western Regions to serve as an official, although he was only ten years old, he still had countless women because of his lust.

There are all kinds of people, including the subordinate's sister, the friend's elder sister, the roadside flower girl, the medical officer's daughter, the cousin's distant cousin, etc.

From Hu Ji to Han women, from the Nine Zhaowu clans, Turkic, Persian, Han Chinese families, and common people, these women came from different backgrounds. There are dozens of them in total, and there are almost hundreds of words to describe them.

“The person who wrote the book really put a lot of effort into it and his insights are extraordinary.

The gameplay is surprisingly different, which is great.”

Fang Zhongyong commented on it, put the book on the table, looked at Yan Zhuang and asked, "Why don't you appreciate it too? I think it's well written."

"Uh, sir, this is not necessary."

Yan Zhuang declined with an embarrassed look on his face. How could he possibly read this book in front of Fang Zhongyong? It would be better to take it home and read it secretly.

This method of throwing dirty water on the lower three roads is not uncommon, but it is very effective. The key is that Fang Zhongyong cannot defend himself. The more he talks about this, the worse it gets.

It would be embarrassing if a lot of "Princess Huanzhu" appeared in the end.

"It would be a pity if you don't watch it."

Fang Zhongyong said something meaningful.

He had ordered Zhang Guangsheng to lead people to seal off all the bookstores in Bianzhou, first to close them all and not allow anyone to enter or leave. Then he would send people to search for each book one by one to see how many "banned books" they could find.

Fang Chongyong flipped through the book again, his eyes narrowed into slits.

This is not an ordinary "pornographic book", but a satire on a certain official who does things unscrupulously through pornographic books.

Although the pornographic and violent plots in the book are explicit, they are not the main content.

What this book essentially wants to express is that the protagonist is extremely lustful and resourceful, and it can even be said that he is full of clever tricks.

Of course, all his schemes are about seduce women, and his overall image is that of a fool who knows nothing except his talent in seduce women.

Taking advantage of the position of imperial envoy to the Western Regions appointed by the imperial court, the ten-year-old protagonist finally got dozens of beautiful women by force, bribery, threat, and even by simply promising huge profits.

When you meet a woman of low status, go for it right away, and never leave it overnight.

Those who are in a high position and cannot take direct action will threaten the woman's father, brother or husband, forcing them to hand over the woman.

Many of these methods of getting women into bed can be directly applied in official circles, which proves that the author is definitely an official.

If you are not an official, you cannot write such a sinister plot.

This is not just a pornographic book, but a banned book with political satire. Replace the women with officials, and replace the pornographic and violent plots with officials obeying orders. This is a political realist novel, an exposé of the officialdom.

The author of the book implies that a certain official achieved his current position through flexible and despicable political tactics.

Soon, Zhang Guangsheng returned to the government office.

"Officials, we have found this person."

Zhang Guangsheng reported in a deep voice.

"Is this person an official in Bianzhou?"

Fang Zhongyong asked with a smile.

Zhang Guangsheng was shocked, then nodded and said, "Your Majesty has a keen eye. It was indeed written by an official from the Ministry of Rites."

"In the Ministry of Rites, that must be Xiao Yingshi, right?
He shouldn't have written his own piece. Even if he tried to hide his talent for writing, not many people could have imitated him.

In fact, I have long suspected that it was this beast."

Fang Chongyong sneered.

Xiao Yingshi was a great writer in the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, and his writing style was unique. Even if he wrote some erotic articles, it was not something that others could imitate. Fang Chongyong had read Xiao Yingshi's essays during the imperial examination, and they were 80% similar to this one.

Zhang Guangsheng sighed and said, "It was indeed Xiao Yingshi. He thought he was keeping it a secret, but in fact he was a teacher in Bianzhou for a year and many people knew him. Although he asked a servant to deliver the manuscript, he did not pay much attention to keeping it secret, and many people knew the servant."

The protagonist of this book is actually called “Fang Qing”, which means frivolous. The name suits his character, but everyone knows who the book is talking about.

If this character is just an insignificant person, what's the point of reading it? It is because it alludes to "that one" that there is a kind of forbidden pleasure in reading it!
Oh my, it turns out that the official was so romantic when he was young.

Those despicable means used to get women are really...really amazing. It must be the government itself.

A real man should be so despicable! If he wasn't despicable, how could he have the current foundation?

People who read the book would have such thoughts, which made the book sell out quickly. After repeated reprints, the book became a complete hit.

Xiao Yingshi didn't care much about money, so he didn't pay much attention to these things. If he knew that the book would be a big hit, he probably wouldn't have dared to write it.

Xiao Yingshi did not have the courage to turn against Fang Chongyong, and could only throw dirty water on him behind his back. He also had a kind of unique sense of superiority as a cultured person, as if "I was scolding you, and you don't even know it".

"Check other bookstores to see if there are any other problems. As for Xiao Yingshi, don't touch him for now. I will invite him to the government office to have a good talk later."

Fang Zhongyong waved his hand and said, he didn't seem very angry.

Xiao Yingshi's name was not among those who colluded with Li Wei.

In other words, Xiao Yingshi did not have the courage to participate in "rebellion", but he was very capable of throwing dirty water behind people's backs.

This man was just a "old man from the previous dynasty" who missed the heyday of the Tang Dynasty and couldn't stand Fang Zhongyong. He also knew that Li Wei was a fool and would not follow that weakling to make trouble.

Disliking a powerful official like Fang Chongyong and supporting a puppet emperor like Li Wei are two completely different things.

In view of this, Fang Chongyong did not sentence Xiao Yingshi to death. This was completely different from the nature of the group of people he decisively dealt with last night.

"Xiao Yingshi has definitely never been to the Western Regions, where people can be frozen into popsicles at night.

Look, the protagonist Fang Qing went out hunting and had sex with a Hu girl in the desert at night. How could he think of such a thing!

Not to mention being frozen into ice, how fun would it be to be covered in sand?"

Fang Chongyong laughed and scolded Yan Zhuang and others.

Xiao Yingshi was a man of letters with a rather fanciful way of thinking. In his writings, the protagonist Fang Qing's playing with women had to be somewhat outrageous, but not too outrageous.

For example, the story about Fang Qing raping a woman from the Li Tang royal family cannot be written about, and some stories involving the Tianlong family are best not written about either.

Therefore, he could only express his desire to slander in certain places and in a curious way.

Yan Zhuang, Zhang Guangsheng and others looked at each other. In fact, they thought it was quite interesting, but they couldn't say it in front of Fang Zhongyong.

At this moment, a personal soldier pushed the door open, knelt on one knee, and handed a letter in his hands to Fang Chongyong with both hands.

"Sir, a beggar handed it to me. The beggar said that someone else gave it to him, but that person has gone away. He really doesn't know anything."

Could it be that Xiao Yingshi knew about the incident and wanted to take advantage of it?

Fang Zhongyong complained in his heart, secretly cursing Xiao Yingshi for being cowardly, and he would not do anything to such a person. Fang Zhongyong took the letter carelessly, opened it, and then his face changed drastically!

A person who was completely indifferent to the pornographic book that slandered him actually changed his face when he saw this letter! This is enough to show that this letter is of great importance.

"Sir, what did the letter say?"

Yan Zhuang asked doubtfully, feeling a little itchy.

"This letter was written by Lu Qi. He wants to offer Tangzhou to seek a ladder for advancement in Bianzhou."

Fang Zhongyong sighed leisurely and handed the letter in his hand to Yan Zhuang.

"Is this true or not?"

After reading the letter, Yan Zhuang was in disbelief.

Lu Qi was exiled to Tangzhou by Li Yu and served as the governor of Tangzhou. He had no military power and could not command the army of Tangzhou.

However, since Lu Qi said so, this person must have a trump card in his hand, but he just won't show it to Fang Chongyong and the others.

Only if Fang Zhongyong agreed to Lu Qi in black and white, would the other party reveal his plan.

More importantly, Tangzhou was the first stop of the Bianzhou Army's land route westward to Jingxiang, and it was very important. Once the war started, if Tangzhou surrendered without a fight, then the Bianzhou Army along the way could form a snowball trend and fight all the way to Jiangling along the Yangtze River.

"Lu Qi is truly a villain. Li Lu just demoted him and exiled him to Tangzhou, and he immediately rebelled."

Yan Zhuang said with disdain.

Fang Zhongyong gave him a strange look.

I remember that in previous history, after the Anshi Rebellion, Yan Zhuang seemed to have successfully "jumped ship" and had not yet been liquidated by the Tang court.

Since he behaved like this, Lu Qi's rebellion when he encountered setbacks might just be the norm in this era and not worth making a fuss about.

Xiao Yingshi's pornographic articles were nothing more than gossip. Fang Chongyong did not bully men and women in Bianzhou on weekdays, so these things were just embellishments of some people's daily entertainment and would not cause people's indignation.

But this letter from Lu Qi involves this year's major strategies, and its importance cannot be compared with those pornographic books!

"Xiao Yingshi is really lucky. After seeing Lu Qi's letter, I am too lazy to deal with him."

Fang Zhongyong sneered and did not comment.

"Sir, what should we do with this letter?"

Yan Zhuang asked doubtfully.

Lu Qi is still hesitant like this, which seems to be a test. It doesn't seem right not to reply, right?
"You are a whore, and you still think you are a chaste heroine? If you want to take off your clothes, just do it quickly, why are you playing the game of holding the lute and half covering your face!
Don't pay any attention to this guy, he will write to you again!"

Fang Zhongyong waved his hand and didn't want to pay any attention to Lu Qi at all.

Suddenly, he seemed to remember something.

"I can't not reply either. What if Lu Qi thinks that I didn't receive the letter? It would be bad to bother him by writing letter after letter.

That's it, then."

Fang Chongyong spread a large piece of paper on the table and wrote three words in huge font: Got it.

"That's it."

understood?
Yan Zhuang and the others were dumbfounded. Could this be called a reply? Would he die if he wrote a few more words?
"Official, will this..."

"I have been polite enough."

Fang Zhongyong said in a cold voice. Actually, he wanted to reply with an "oh". The killer move of the scumbag in the previous life was to add an "oh" if she had read the message but didn't reply. He didn't believe that he couldn't suppress Lu Qi.

But on second thought, the villain hides his penis, and the thinking of a villain like Lu Qi cannot be guessed by common sense. It is right to suppress him, but it is not okay to break his nerves.

We can learn from the bad woman’s “fish pond raising method”.

Let's keep Lu Qi hanging for now. Anyway, Li Guangbi will be here soon, so the only one who will be anxious is Lu Qi.

If he had sold it earlier, he could have made some money.

When Li Guangbi defeated the Jingxiang army in Hongzhou, even if Lu Qi wanted to sell it, he couldn't get a good price.

As Fang Zhongyong thought about it, he handed the book "Hunting Beauty in the Western Regions" to Yan Zhuang and said, "Go and do your work. That's it for Lu Qi."

Yan Zhuang took the book and glanced at Fang Chongyong. He had an illusion that the other party was not angry about this kind of "pornographic book" with innuendos, let alone being furious.

I have to say that officials are indeed much more magnanimous than ordinary people.

Yan Zhuang complained in his heart.

……

After a tiring day at the Ministry of Rites, Xiao Yingshi returned to his simple house.

He came to the bedroom, opened a small wooden box, took out some loose tea and put it into a blue and white porcelain cup. The servant had already boiled water and slowly poured the hot water into the cup.

The tea leaves float on the water like a solitary boat, and the fragrance enters the nose and touches the heart.

This is a small courtyard built by the government in Bianliang City, which is considered an "official residence". When Xiao Yingshi no longer lives here, the government will take it back and allocate it to other officials.

"Fang Qing did a good thing by asking Lu Yu to promote loose tea. Ordinary people can now afford to drink tea."

Xiao Yingshi sighed and talked to himself, feeling a little guilty. The production process of loose tea is much simpler than those tea bricks, and the cost is much lower, so most people can afford it.

Xiao Yingshi also knew that Fang Qing was very capable and managed the Bianzhou court well.

To be fair, if there was no Fang Qing in Bianzhou, there would be countless people in the world who would be lonely and helpless. His pornographic book described Fang Qing as a man with talent but no moral integrity, which was really an exaggeration.

But there was no way around it, this was a matter of right and wrong. Xiao Yingshi could not have emulated Yuan Zai in his quest for favoritism.

Fang Qing wanted to usurp the throne and change the dynasty. This was his greatest original sin and had nothing to do with his personal morality.

Of course, Xiao Yingshi still had some sense of propriety and did not write "Fang Qing is impotent". If he had written that, he would probably have brought disaster upon himself.

At this moment, someone knocked on the gate of the courtyard. The voice was very urgent and rude!

Xiao Yingshi frowned slightly, walked to the gate, opened the door, and found Yuan Zai standing in front of him with his hands behind his back, followed by two burly imperial guards.

"Mr. Xiao Ying, please follow me to the Kaifeng government office. The emperor wants to see you."

Yuan Zai spoke to Xiao Yingshi in an official tone.

This time he brought Lu Jing back to Bianzhou, which was considered a success in "persuading surrender". Yuan Zai was a little proud at the moment, and he did not hide it in front of Xiao Yingshi.

"What does the official want to see a nobody like Xiao?"

Xiao Yingshi asked doubtfully, but he had a bad feeling in his heart.

"Don't you know what you have done? Do you still need to ask Yuan?"

Yuan Zai scolded with disdain.

(End of this chapter)