Water Margin begins as a captain in Yanggu County

Chapter 388 I suffer, I suffer...

Inside the prefectural government office in Hanyang City.

Wang Fu finally arrived and also bowed before the emperor.

Upon seeing Wang Fu, the emperor turned his head away, not wanting to pay him any attention.

After paying his respects, Wang Fu kept moving closer and asked, "How has Your Majesty been lately?"

"Hmph! With a heartless scoundrel like you, how can I possibly be any better off?" At this moment, the emperor truly resembled a child throwing a tantrum, his expression one of utter rage...

"Your Majesty, the fear between life and death is immense, and I have no choice but to obey," Wang Fu replied, expressing his helplessness.

At this moment, the emperor turned his face towards him and said, "In the past, you had tens of thousands of troops defending the fortified city of Datong. Tens of thousands of troops..."

It's blame...

Wang Fu nodded: "Your Majesty, the soldiers and men of the North are all already loyal to the Prince of Yan, and even many ministers are with him... Alas... It's not that I want it this way, but the Prince of Yan has been planning this for who knows how long. Just like in Dongjing, just like in Hanyang now, doesn't Your Majesty know? The Prince of Yan has already won the hearts of the soldiers and men of the land, and also the hearts of many scholars and literati. It is truly a matter of the hearts of the people, which cannot be changed by human effort..."

"Nonsense! Could it be that I have truly lost this country?" Zhao Ji still refused to believe this fact.

Wang Fu sighed and said, "Enough, enough. I have come here on business..."

"What is it?" The emperor was not easily angered, and his tone remained unchanged.

"It's still about the edict of self-reproach, Your Majesty..." Wang Fu looked troubled.

"I won't write it!" Zhao Ji waved his sleeve in front of Wang Fu and turned his head away.

“This…” Wang Fu said helplessly, then bowed, “Then I will go myself and tell the Prince of Yan that if His Majesty does not comply, I am powerless to help…”

As he spoke, Wang Fu seemed to actually walk out, but after taking only three or five steps, he heard the emperor behind him say, "Come back!"

Wang Fu was very obedient and immediately turned back.

"Tell me how to write it!" the emperor asked.

"Your Majesty, writing a self-reproach edict is actually not difficult. I have already written that proclamation. Your Majesty only needs to follow along point by point, adding some words of self-reflection after each point, expressing deep remorse and sincere feelings. These words are not difficult..."

Wang Fu was very serious.

"Hmph!" The emperor still harbored resistance.

“Your Majesty, I know this is no easy task…” Wang Fu expressed his understanding to the emperor, and then said, “Then I will write it down, and Your Majesty can copy it. Please make sure it is copied well, after all… the Prince of Yan will personally review it later…”

The emperor waved his sleeve again: "Then write it!"

Wang Fu could wait no longer. He bowed respectfully, and there was a table beside him with writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone. He quickly began to write.

As he said, this time it was really not difficult to write; it was just a matter of matching each point of the manifesto...

Of course, there also needs to be some opening and closing remarks, which inevitably involve things like "Heaven and Earth, I am guilty; ancestors above, I am unfilial..."

It wasn't long, just a few hundred words.

It has the number of words that can be written on a large sheet of paper, and it is very convenient to post it anywhere in the world.

After finishing writing, before the ink had even dried, Wang Fu hurriedly invited the emperor over to take a look.

The emperor read it for a moment, then burst into tears, crying out, "With this edict of self-reproach, I am truly a sinner for all time, forever infamous. My descendants will curse me endlessly... Even in the afterlife, I will never find peace..."

It's also because Wang Fu wrote it so well.

The emperor was weeping and wiping away tears, which worried Wang Fu. Could it be that the emperor was no longer willing?
His task was urgent. After writing and copying it here, it had to be sent to the Prince of Yan immediately. Once the Prince of Yan had reviewed it and was satisfied, it had to be immediately engraved and printed throughout the country.

If he didn't do this job well, Wang Fu feared that the Prince of Yan would beat or kill him...

Wang Fu was truly terrified. He kept recalling the scene he had witnessed: on the steps of the main hall in Tokyo, Geng Nanzhong's head rolled back and forth on the ground...

The head fell to the ground with a swift stroke of the blade, its eyes still open...

In desperation, Wang Fu spoke to the emperor, saying, "If Your Majesty does not write this, will you not live to see the end of the day?"

These words startled the emperor, who cried while wiping away tears, "Write, I'll write, okay? I'm suffering, I'm suffering..."

Wang Fu had already spread out a large sheet of paper, even licked the ink off the brush, and presented the brush with both hands next to Zhao Ji's right hand.

The emperor took the brush and began to write, weeping as he did so.

After only three or five words, Wang Fu became extremely anxious and quickly snatched the large sheet of paper away: "Your Majesty, I'm afraid the Prince of Yan will not like this handwriting..."

“He’s just a warrior… what does he know…” Zhao Ji still had words of resistance.

Wang Fu was even more anxious: "Your Majesty, the Prince of Yan... Didn't Your Majesty say before that the Prince of Yan is a man of great refinement?"

"He lied to me, he lied to me!" Zhao Ji cried, tears streaming down his face...

Wang Fu was quick as well, spreading out new paper: "Your Majesty, come, write carefully, write well. The Prince of Yan once praised Your Majesty's calligraphy, saying it was like 'willow leaves swaying in the wind,' naturally elegant and lively. Your Majesty, come, again..."

Wang Fu was extremely anxious, but he patiently tried to coax her.

With the brush in his hand, Emperor Huizong glanced at Wang Fu and burst into tears: "Tell me, throughout history, have there ever been a ruler and his subject like you and me? My grief is beyond measure..."

After saying this, Zhao Ji burst into tears.

Wang Fu was moved to tears: "Your Majesty, write it... write it well! Otherwise, that ruthless warrior might really kill someone..."

"Write! I will write!" With that, Zhao Ji raised his left sleeve and wiped his face with it, then picked up the brush with his right hand.

The brushstrokes are described as flowing like dragons and snakes, seemingly slow yet fast, each stroke carrying a sense of sorrow.

"Good, good, good..." Wang Fu was overjoyed. He pointed to the model text beside him, pointing to each word one by one, and reading it aloud as he did so, for fear that the emperor might accidentally copy it wrong and have to start all over again.

By the time he finished writing the last character, Wang Fu was drenched in sweat. When the emperor finished writing the last character and put down his pen, he seemed completely exhausted.

Wang Fu suddenly added, "The only person under heaven, Your Majesty, and the only person under heaven..."

It was still Zhao Ji's signature monogram, which could not be omitted under any circumstances.

"Sigh..." Zhao Ji, who was already exhausted, sighed, picked up the pen again, and with a few light strokes, the monogram was at the end.

"Excellent, that's the pinnacle!" Wang Fu praised sincerely.

"Alas..." The Emperor shook his head repeatedly: "To reach the pinnacle of achievement, yet write such a piece of writing... I am truly distressed..."

As she spoke, she began to cry again.

Wang Fu ignored everything else and immediately bent down to blow on the ink, blowing it up and down, left and right, to dry it as quickly as possible.

But you can't blow too hard, so you don't blow the ink everywhere.

Wang Fu was so dizzy and disoriented from blowing his pipe that he felt completely overwhelmed...

Zhao Ji, standing to the side, began to weep and sing: "For forty years, my home and country have been separated by three thousand miles of mountains and rivers. Phoenix pavilions and dragon towers reach the heavens, jade trees and coral branches form a misty canopy. How could I have known war? In an instant, I became a captive, my waist and temples withered away. The day I hastily left the ancestral temple was the most poignant. The music hall still played farewell songs, and I wept as I faced the palace maids."

After singing those few lines, the emperor exclaimed with deep regret, "I used to laugh and talk about Li Yu, the last emperor of the Southern Tang Dynasty, but I never imagined that I would become like him today... I have truly become like him!"

But looking to the side, Wang Fu seemed not to have heard a word, simply collecting the large sheets of paper, getting up and leaving without turning his head, only saying one sentence: "Your Majesty, please take care..."

What kind of officials are these? Emperor Huizong was even more distressed... He was sentimental and found it most difficult to bear...

Perhaps the worst thing I should have done, the worst thing I should have done... was that day when I hastily left the temple...

Looking around, there wasn't even a palace maid...

Only rows of soldiers stood outside the door... hearing the crying, they would occasionally peek inside...

Wang Fu has left, but he still has many tasks to complete. He must keep an eye on the craftsmen to ensure the carving is exactly the same, without losing even a fraction of the spirit and charm.

Who understands that the essence of spirit and charm cannot be lost even a fraction? Wang Fu understands!

Even Cai Jing understood this in the past, and even Tong Guan, a eunuch who had never received any formal education in his childhood, eventually came to understand it...

On the contrary, Su Wu only half understood...

The proclamation against Zhao Ji that preceded it had already been sent on fast horses to all parts of the country, and the subsequent edict of self-reproach was also sent on fast horses to all parts of the country.

In the capital, soldiers were posting proclamations everywhere.

The streets were deserted as everyone watched, and busybodies read and recited it.

Curses erupted.

"This is a disloyal and unjust traitor! Su Wu is a national traitor! This is truly a strange story in the world. How can there be a subject who attacks his own ruler?"

"Traitor to the nation! Traitor to the nation must be executed!"

"Shameless! How laughable! Wang Fu is also a traitor to the country. He passed the imperial examination and was just a nobody outside the Donghua Gate. He ate the emperor's food and yet he turned his back on his master!"

"Traitors should be killed!" As the curses rose, rebuttals followed: "You scholars are truly unable to distinguish right from wrong, and speak with utter shamelessness! May I ask one question: Is there a single falsehood in this proclamation? Which one is false? You all live high and mighty, enjoying the good life, while we commoners suffer under a foolish ruler! This emperor is a complete idiot, ruining the country and its people..."

"That's right, the Emperor is a tyrant!"

"Those huge stones he transported from a thousand miles away must have cost an immeasurable amount. If they had been replaced with flatbread, I wonder how many people they could have fed..."

"What Daoist Master or Sect Leader? Bah!"

“When the Jurchens came, he ran away; when the Prince of Yan came, he ran away. It was he who abandoned the country and its people, not the country that abandoned him, nor us who abandoned him!”

"How dare you! You dare to publicly criticize the Emperor! I will report this to the Kaifeng Prefecture and have you imprisoned and punished!"

"You still imprisoned me and punished me, but do you call the shots in this capital city of Tokyo now? Huh? What's your name? I'll report to the military camp and have the soldiers of the Prince of Yan kill your whole family!"

"You...you...you scoundrel! You have no sense of loyalty, no sense of shame!"

"You son of a bitch, your whole family are scoundrels! You've wasted your education, you can't distinguish right from wrong, you can't tell black from white..."

"It's all your fault! You don't teach the Emperor to do good deeds, you even help him do bad things! It's all because of you dogs, you treacherous officials, you're all treacherous officials..."

"Since ancient times, heaven, earth, ruler, parents, and teachers..."

"Strike, strike the treacherous officials..."

Commoners use their hands, scholars use their mouths...

However, this single proclamation truly threw the city of Tokyo into chaos.

The proclamation was still going, and it had reached Hebei.

In Daming Prefecture, there were people reading the proclamation.

There were countless spectators, but few scholars among them. When the Jurchens ravaged the land, scholars were almost wiped out. It was only these families that were wealthy and had plenty of food, and the women were beautiful, clean, and fragrant...

There were a few literate people who didn't want to read, but they were pushed by the crowd to do so...

Reading and listening to it naturally aroused public outrage...

"This emperor is a beast! We pay taxes and levies to him, yet he sits and watches us suffer. What a beast..."

"Worse than an animal..."

"If the King of Yan had ruled the world, how could things have come to this? Why have we suffered such a calamity..."

"They've even blocked the Prince of Yan outside the Great Wall, ready to fight or kill him... How could they not rebel?"

"That beast deserves to be torn to pieces!"

……

A manifesto was sent to JD.com...

The streets were bustling with activity.

The excited voice asked, "Does this mean... our king is going to become the emperor?"

"I don't think that's what they said, is it?"

"Isn't it obvious? Our king is about to become the emperor. Who in the world can defeat our king? Now that the proclamation has been issued, we can just seize the emperor and he will be on the throne!"

"That makes sense! We wouldn't... the capital city in the future might just be Dongping Prefecture, would we? That would be wonderful, absolutely wonderful!"

One scholar murmured, "Ignorant fool. No matter what, the capital can't reach Dongping Prefecture..."

"How do you know? What if the King intends to move the capital to our Dongping Prefecture?"

"Dongping Prefecture is too far east... Do you understand?"

"That's true. Now that Your Majesty has become the Emperor, you should naturally have the world in your heart..."

"No matter what, this time, everyone from Dongping Prefecture is a national hero, right? My uncle's son is currently a captain in the army, and he'll definitely be a general someday. He'll be the governor of some prefecture then, hehe. When that happens, I'll go and serve him, and with a little help, I'll enjoy endless wealth and honor... He's still young, and he might even be promoted and ennobled in the future, hahaha..."

"What's this compared to what I've got? My cousin is a captain now, a real cousin. If he could find me a job someday, it would be a really good one..."

The streets were filled with joy...

Yet, in many houses, all sorts of emotions are present...

When Madam Cheng received the news, she was terrified. She never expected things to turn out this way so suddenly. This was a rebellion, a matter of life and death. If it failed...

They will not fail... How skilled the soldiers of JD.com are in battle!

There wasn't much information, and it was unclear what had caused the outburst, leaving one feeling uneasy...

It is said that old Zong Ze sat in the government office, sighing incessantly.

Sitting to the side was Zhang Shuye, who had come on official business but happened to be there when the proclamation arrived...

The two sat opposite each other, speechless for a while.

"How could things have turned out like this..." Zong Ze murmured to himself.

Zhang Shuye replied, "Actually... how could we not have thought about it in our hearts? It's just that before, we were unwilling or dared not to really think about it deeply..."

"Aren't we, you and I, also traitors?" Zong Ze said weakly.

"Yes, you and I are both traitors, recorded in history as one of the most infamous bandit leaders..." Zhang Shuye was also powerless and helpless...

"That……"

"And your son, and my son, are both in the army..."

"Sigh... My heart is in turmoil, I don't know how to put it..."

“My heart feels the same way, but I feel more helpless than anything else…” Zhang Shuye shook his head and continued, “To put it bluntly, loyalty and righteousness are in my heart, but I also think that it is as if I have rendered meritorious service to the emperor, as if I have risen to prominence, yet I am ashamed. I am not a gentleman, but rather a scheming and despicable person, a person who forgets righteousness for profit. I really am such a person…”

Zong Ze looked on with a bitter expression, raised his arm, twirled it between Zhang Shuye and himself a few times, and sighed, "Alas..."

"Blame the Emperor, blame the Emperor! My old sir, it's all the Emperor's fault! If he were wise, would we be in this situation today? He's driven us to a dead end, to a dead end..."

Zhang Shuye spoke helplessly...

It also lies in reconciling with one's own heart.

Things have come to this point and cannot be reversed; the only option is to accept them.

"A foolish ruler ruins the country; this is no exaggeration!" Zong Ze agreed with this statement.

The two exchanged a glance, looked at each other, and found it difficult to say anything more... their hearts filled with mixed emotions...

At this moment, I can't just die...

If one is immortal... what more can be said about all the myriad experiences?
Such is fate...

Inside the Li family mansion, Yi'an Jushi (Li Yi'an) was shedding tears, wiping them away repeatedly...

Li Hang sighed and said, "Sister, don't worry. None of this has anything to do with us. Throughout history, countless dynasties have changed hands. And every time that happened, the people of that era couldn't have died, could they? They're all still alive, aren't they? Your brother here is a dissolute man, and I'm not good at studying. Whether it's the Song or the Yan, I'm just a playboy, good for drinking and listening to music..."

And look at the elder sister, she remains silent...

The younger brother continued, “If the country were truly lost, it would be the emperor’s fault, and no one else could be blamed. He is so incompetent, what can be done? Fortunately, fortunately… the people of the world have not suffered from the ravages of war because of this. Don’t they know that at the end of the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, even Cao Cao, the King of Wei, wrote in his poem, ‘Ten thousand people died, white bones were exposed in the wilderness, and for a thousand miles there was no rooster’s crow…’ And Wei Zhuang of the Tang Dynasty wrote, ‘The roads in all directions are deserted, brothers and sisters fell into the well together, and the corpses hanging from the beams have turned to ashes…’ Alas… all is well now…”

And look at the elder sister, she remains silent...

The younger brother then said, "Sister, I think the Prince of Yan is much better than the Zhao family!"

"Sigh...go ahead...go ahead..." The older sister raised her hand, saying little else...

Suddenly, her younger brother said, "Sister, why don't you... go to the capital?"

"What am I going to do?" the older sister asked, looking up.

"Just now, a lot of people rushed to my door looking for me, chattering away. They were from the Li family, and the Zhao family from Qingzhou, all saying that my sister should go to the capital..."

Li Hang didn't hide anything; once he got to this point, his sister naturally understood.

In the current situation, countless benefits of following the leader's lead are at stake; if you don't take them, someone else will...

Yi'an Jushi seemed to be angry: "Go if you want!"

"Okay, that's my answer to them!" Li Hang wasn't the kind of person who would scheme and plot, and he certainly wouldn't take his sister seriously and try to force her.

Li Hang went out, but then heard someone behind him say, "Sigh... I'm going to the capital to take a look, but tell them that I'm not going to do these things for them, so they'll give up..."

“Okay! I’ll go prepare the car. I’ll come along. I’ll go do whatever I want, sister…” Li Hang nodded and went out.

(End of this chapter)